songerein | { battle against the story eater }

BATTLE AGAINST THE STORY EATER

The Story Eater has arrived.

More details on everything can be found here. We will request any thread submissions for certain prompts during AC and TDM threads will count. For more information, refer to the Game Notes.

Players who made boss submissions, if you are creating a prompt in your toplevel or wish to create a designated prompt for your boss, please comment here which will be used as a directory.

I. ON THE MOON

Those on the moon will at first feel overwhelmed, possibly even forced to the ground by the sheer enormous force of the nightmare energy that continues to pour out where the Story Eater had once stood. It feels as if they had extremely underestimated its power, and those of a weak mind will already feel the effects of the nightmare latching onto their worst fears. However, a cold air brushes over them and the ground beneath warms as it pulses white. In an instant, the oppressive feeling disappears, clarity returning to them.

It's too early to fall now, little dreamers, a sultry voice whispers in their ears with a laugh as another sighs, the softer voice like a melody. Quick, before the blessing loses its effect. The rest is up to you.

A. Tapir Calvary. The tapirs may have been hanging back for a while, but they will pop in, all eager to feast upon the nightmares that appear. Of course… Like anything, too much is dangerous for them as well. While they are able to withstand the seemingly endless amount of nightmare energy as if they are just swimming through flooded waters, after eating too much they start to wobble and complain of their stomachs hurting. This in turn makes them irritable, and instead of stopping to eat, they start eating more. Stop them before they eat themselves sick. Those that start to exude a dark mist and start turning black need to be quickly taken off the moon or sent into a dream. If they are not… They will disappear to somewhere unknown.

B. Slenderman and Cupid. There are two particularly strong foes that will be working with the Story Eater. "Slenderman" will be just like it was when it first appeared by the castle, feasting on nightmare energy and using shadows to its advantage. It will be a tough foe to kill, but explosive wisps and pure dreamotion light will be effective against it. Cupid will be insane and will try to inflict hatred upon any struck by his arrows. He is more unstable and will be more susceptible to those who try to purify it with love and kindness. (Cupid will most likely move to attack the town so he is available for On the Ground prompts.)

C. Wisped Away. With the amount of monsters and damage caused by the Story Eater directly and its creations, deaths are inevitable. Normally for those who have fully integrated into the world, like the fae and the dragons, this would have been permanent. However, perhaps due to the unusual nature of the Story Eater, they will be "graced" the same fate like the dreamers that inhabit Reverein. Their physical body may disappear, but their "soul" turns into condensed dreamotion energy and takes the form of a wisp. (Characters can and will be turned into wisps if they die so these can also apply to them.)

🛑 Because of the high likelihood of the original body suffering a traumatic event, the wisp will be extremely vulnerable and has a high risk of turning into a noctaere. They will flash red and black and the deeper the color, the closer they are to changing. Find and help purify them via dreamotion.
🚦 Escort vulnerable wisps to the portal so they can be taken to a safehouse and calm down.
💣 Some wisps will not feel negative emotions and instead will want to continue to fight. Although they are still vulnerable, because their dreamotion energy is so condensed they have the ability to explode without any harm to themselves to either inflict damage on the creatures OR to help purify those afflicted with pure dreamotion energy. These wisps will be gold in color.

II. ON THE GROUND

As soon as the Story Eater appeared, those of strong magical prowess had attempted to erect a barrier to protect the town and its surroundings from the brunt of the fallout, but it could not keep up forever, especially as those who try to keep it in place begin to quickly fall as their own nightmares take over. Thus while it's still safer than what's going on on the moon, the same afflictions can still be felt and experienced.

A. Support the Barriers. There are two different barriers currently protecting Reverein and the surrounding areas. Not only must they be defended from attacks, they also need help to stay up.

🧱 The sand walls erected earlier will stand tall and withstand most physical attacks, but eventually they will begin to crumble and create gaps. They must be quickly patched up and defended as the Story Eater's minions, creations, and those turned into noctaere start to push through.
🔮 The magic barrier is fueled with dreamotion and serves to help keep the effects of the nightmare energy lowered so that most of the people inside can withstand it. However, as those who are trying to keep it up fall, replacements are needed. To help, the moles from before bring up crystals that anyone can help channel and use to help as a power source to empower the barrier.

B. Aid Relief. Those who have been injured and brought back from the moon or from around town will be ushered into designated locations set up for healing. Be it physical or mental, they will be treated and protected by those who remain on defense. However, as the battle goes on and more people are afflicted, supplies and personnel will wear out, so additional aid will be needed. This may even require venturing out to get much needed herbs or supplies unless someone can dreamotion them up.

III. SPECIAL MONSTERS & BOSSES

The Story Eater is using its powers to take on the forms of an individual's worst nightmare or enemy. This could be anything. Below is the full list of special bosses and mob monsters that were submitted by players and can be encountered both on the moon and on the ground. Refer to the original links for more information. Players are still free to create and use anything that is not on the list, especially f their character's worst nightmare is something else. IMPORTANT! While any of these are capable of killing, those marked with the red flag (🚩) indicate that these are more likely to perform kills or destroy the individual to turn them into wisps.

A. Monster Mobs. Typical monster/mob creatures that while numerous are the weakest and easier to defeat. Physical attacks will be enough, but dreamotion or using Aspect abilities will inflict more damage.

🍆 Sinner Demons. They take on any form based on the type of sin they committed. Could take on the form based on the person they face.
😱 Devils. Takes on forms based on the fears of people.
🚨 Garlean K-9 Soldiers and hunting dogs. These soldiers aren't here to help and will be targeting anyone they come across.
👻 Cursed Spirits. Spiritual beings manifested from cursed energy as a result of the negative emotions that flow out of humans. They cause harm to humans and seek humans out to harm them.
💨 Redead. Emits a scream that immobilizes temporarily, moves towards target and jumps on back to deal damage.
🐍 Nagas. Breathe and spew toxic miasma and prolonged exposure to it can cause weaker beings to transform into nagas themselves. Archnaga's venom is corrosive in both liquid and gas forms. Can also swallow large objects. 🚩
🕶 Shadows. Shadow-like blobs and tables and headless dancers and things. Fairly weak.
💎 Zeugles. Aggressive genetically enhanced animals; must destroy the core inside to completely destroy them.
🤺 Sword Retrograde Army. Sword tsukumogami summoned for a cause to change history. Generally stronger than normal humans with some spiritual powers.
👹 Demons. Can hide their horns and wings to appear more human, otherwise their true form is more monstrous. They range from committing harmless silly pranks to more violent and murderous. 🚩
🎭 Four Masks. Drains one's sanity until they go berserk with potential to summon Atman (boss).
🔊 Noise. Affect people with weaker willpower and play on their negative emotions or nightmares.
📰 Xeroms. Monsters capable of attacking, infesting and draining emotions dry leaving the victim an empty husk.

B. Solo Bosses. Some nightmares manifest into one singular entity with greater powers and considered a higher leveled "boss." They do not appear as often or in number as the monster mobs and some may be controlled by players.

🍬 Gumball Waterson. Cartoon character turned creepy due to nightmare energy, but still on the sillier side. Body parts morphing or separating from him, getting into weird places, driving invisible cars, surviving crazy falls; basically whatever might be funny at that moment.
👂 Parrah & Nayo. Twin puppets that are not physically strong, but they're very annoying and are the "like to break people by talking" type of antagonist.
🙍‍♂️ Takaya Sakaki. Charismatic but otherwise a weaker enemy capable of standard Persona based magical and physical attacks and capable of summoning nightmare based Personas.
🐀 Rasputin. Can summon minions, destroy things, conceal nightmares within illusions.
🔥 Firelord Ozai. Can bend/generate fire and lightning, strong physical abilities.
🦋 Valentino. A charismatic moth demon capable of controlling smoke and has pheromones that can attract those to him.
🧝‍♀️ Gaea. Goddess of the Earth. Stronger when tethered to Earth. Powers include geokinesis, chlorokinesis (control of plants), creation of sentient life forms, atmokinesis (weather), control of animals, transformation.
🌱 Omega Flowey. Can grow vines, venus flytraps, plant stems that shoot, lots of plant based attacks.
🍐 Sephiroth. Sword fighting proficiency, shapeshifting, ability to cause hallucinations, telekinesis of medium sized objects, minor manipulation abilities, materia magic. Potential lethal backstabs. (Prompts available within FFVII toplevels). 🚩
⚡ Raiden Shogun. Scary lady with lightning based attacks, illusions, large-range attacks.
🤖 Shouki no Kami. Divine Automaton that uses lightning based attacks.
💃 Stella. Vile woman who thrives off mentally and physically tormenting.
👑 Paimon . Stolas' father, a powerful demon capable of shapeshifting, teleportation, grimoire manipulation, projection.
🧣 Ardyn Izunia. Has thirteen weapons at his disposal; can cast powerful magic such as striking down lightning, summoning blizzards, fiery explosions; has the power to heal; and is resilient to physical pain.
⏳ Kronos. God-like strength, specializes in sword combat, tough to take down. Has several types of kinesis magic.
💀 Nyx. Only has one main ability: cast death. However it's a slow windup so can be beaten beforehand. 🚩
😾 Wakaba Isshiki. Large sphynx with a woman's head. Heavy wind, almighty, and physical attacks. There can be riddles that are pertinent to those who engage it.
👮‍♀️ Makima. A woman who looks normal but is actually a Devil of immense strength, enhanced smell, domination, and can force manipulation that can damage weak targets by simply staring at them.
🖤 Atman. A very creepy giant mask that will disappear but then reappear after being defeated.
🤸‍♂️ Vholran. Fights with a waterblade. Acrobatic swordsman, mastery over water-elemental astral energy and can cast high power artes.
🎨 Creed Graphite. A Will Artist (spellcaster) capable of casting spells and summoning and controlling Xeroms.
🎼 Ganon. Hate and hunger for power in physical form. Can corrupt anything with darkness, will only be able to corrupt non-PCs unless players want to do something with that.
🌋 Calamity Ganon. Capable of creating Malice (poison substance that can cause other monsters or bosses to go aggro) and raising other monsters from the dead. Can be destroyed by any type of sealing dreamotion magic.
💔 Xehanorts (multiple). Control darkness and use darkness as a weapon; controlling people to his will by turning them into versions of himself, otherwise known as getting "norted" where victim gains yellow eyes and is controlled to his whims and the darkness in their heart/they will follow their darker side. Darkness meteorites can also be a thing.
➕ Emperor Demitrius (final boss form). Basically heal himself back up to full mid-fight so it will take a few rounds to defeat him.

C. Megabosses. Extremely powerful entities that may not even be defeated by conventional means and instead have powers that affect everyone instead. High chance of death. 🚩🚩🚩

🤖 Diaspora. Half the size of Dragon Island and up in the sky, it can disassemble dreamotion energy and knock someone out into wisp form without dying with a beam of blue goop. Has high regeneration, but will be vulnerable to prolonged attacks.
🐲 Dragons (Voids). Faces of dragons that coalesce in from the sky when they decide to attack with high concentrations of nightmare energy. Zhaitan will be capable of turning those who turned into wisps into noctaere in the form of Void Risen. Mordremoth will just descend and smash into small areas to inflict damage. Kralkatorrik will fire a giant beam of crystal fire breath that will encase anyone and anything in its path into purple crystal, and they must be freed before they turn into noctaere.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Real or fake, it was an enlightening encounter. I wonder if the original ended up in my version of Hell or if he was simply voided upon his reliquary's destruction. [He clicks his tongue.] Sloppy work, that, binding his soul to a physical object. Particularly one so fragile.

[He hums thoughtfully to himself as his form returns to normal.]

Judging from the look of it, the reliquary itself was the source of his magic, not his own being. A battery for magical energy of sorts. A quick and dirty way to obtain power but ultimately limited as you saw: just raw energy with nothing to direct it.

Though given how sloppily-done it was, perhaps the binding wasn't intentional. Magic is energy. [He spreads his hands, red-colored light flowing off of the tips of the claws of his left hand and going to his right.] All energy has a tendency to flow along the path of least resistance. In magic's case, unless you're very careful when casting, it will answer the letter of the words used in the spell rather than the intention. He might have attempted to cast something but poorly-worded the spell.

Or he was utterly incompetent. Even odds, I'd say.

Yeah, it looks like it was the case for him. For the longest time, I never exactly got to know how he was able to gain the power onto his reliquary, just that his soul was tied onto it. But I don’t think that anyone would want to attempt to do what he did ever again.

(Alastor’s observations have once again proved her suspicions that the reliquary was essentially acting like a battery for both Rasputin’s magic and life. Thankfully the explanation about magic does get her intrigued by how it can be casted.)

Hm guess he wasn’t being careful enough to consider how magic normally operated or works. Either way, he was that bad in casting that spell big time with those horses.

[Alastor flicks a finger, reassembling the pieces in a red magical aura, examining the reliquary by rotating it.]

Well now...very interesting. It seems I wasn't entirely correct. I can see evidence of a spell miscast which kept him animated, but that wasn't what bound his soul to the reliquary: He made a Deal.

A deal? With who or what? I didn’t know that it was possible for someone to forge a deal to have one’s soul tied onto a reliquary or anything similar to it. Thought it was something of a story meant to teach people not to try to sell out their soul.

(Anya didn’t expect that Rasputin had made a deal in their world that binds his soul onto that glass trinket of his but at the same time she was not entirely surprised to hear it. Whatever that deal was, it must have been enough to make him quite powerful at a cost.)

A demon, of course. Not a particularly powerful one or it wouldn't have used such an intermediary to begin with. Gifting power in exchange for a soul isn't too difficult, but revoking power and claiming a soul can be a bit tricky even with magic on the demon's side of the Deal.

On the occasions someone has bartered their soul for power from me, I bound the power directly to their soul because I have the strength and knowledge to easily claim their soul as my final payment if they violate their terms of the Deal, revoking the power at the same time. Binding both to such a fragile item is an insurance policy for a demon lacking both or either since it'd be simple to shatter the vessel and claim both the power and their contractee's soul.

You breaking the reliquary effectively ended the Deal along with breaking the botched spell. Therefore, your mad monk is either serving their demon for all eternity or having his immortal soul drained of every scrap of power the demon can rip from it. And the former would be preferrable if the demon is as weak as I believe them to be. It will not be a fast or painless process, a Hell all its own.

(Making a deal with a demon is like paying an insurance policy with a hefty price (in this case, soul) and breaking the reliquary is compared to revoking said policy? She is starting to realize that this is probably how he got that his soul tied into that reliquary back home.)

Hm it now makes a lot of sense now. So that demon probably wasn’t that absurdly powerful but still has enough power to forge deals like it on a weaker scale. Never thought that he was secretly working for a minor level demon all this entire time. And I didn’t know that revoked deals can be a nightmare for the demon who made the deal in the first place.

[Think of it a lot like a loan with your soul as collateral. Only it also served as payment when you died.]

Soul manipulation is a very complicated process. Very likely, the magic stored in the reliquary originally came from the demon's own essence. The essence returned to the demon after it was broken in addition to yanking your Rasputin back to the demon's realm.

Though that's neither here nor there. The point is that he's going to be paying for that Deal for a long, long time.

Yeah I’m expecting that he has to pay for it dearly for a very long time. Add in the nasty things he did to get rid of my family and go after me, and he is in for a very prolonged and painful experience in the demon’s realm for certain.

Indeed. If you'd wanted revenge, there is nothing finer than letting a fool have to make good on his Deal! Ha!

Oh yes, that sure makes a lot of sense. Bet that he is going to have to pay for them and can’t back away from it that easily. How fitting for him indeed.

[Alastor bows politely to her.]

Well then, if there's nothing else, I suppose I'd best be on my way to see if there's any other trouble I can squash!

Oh yes, that is not a problem at all. I’ll be heading off to find more enemies to fight with and help out any more people with their own battles. And thanks for the help and information on demon deals too.

{ battle against the story eater }

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