"What is this?" All thirty of the Mursayade clone fragments spoke together.
"You've got multiple bodies, I count thirty." Wu Hai scanned around, Vector rushed up.
He felt like his eyes were deceiving him, he rubbed at them. Vector ran his hands along one of Mursayade's body and felt his strength being pulled away. He released and had difficulty breathing.
'Huh?' Vector wobbled a bit and regained his composure. "Zao. Touch for shoulder and tell me what you think."
Wu Hai produced a few robes but he didn't have thirty on him. Kuzunoha and Vira passed several of them something to wear. When they had run out of robes the rest were given sheets or cloth to cover themselves. "I'm going to try it." He nodded toward the closest Mursayade and put his hand across her shoulder.
There was a draw on his energy until he let go. "Hmm. You're able to draw on the energy of those you come into contact with. Your appearance is.. just wow. You're quite gorgeous."
"She's drawing from my power." Misozi called out. "All thirty of them."
"Mursayade, I know this is.. well, fortunate for you but it seems like your ability to draw energy is out of your control. Would you be willing to roll again?" Wu Hai wasn't going to force her to give up any sort of newfound power, but if she was unable to control herself the cost of their journey could greatly increase and the pace would slow.
"I don't have a problem with that, but.. are all the transformations like this?" She felt around her body, all of the bodies felt around themselves, she could feel more than a hundred hands caressing her softly.
Vector's nose ran again, he shook his head. "I'll go get them." He rushed inside and came back with the bag.
All thirty of the Mursayade's came out and picked up one or two of the Gygax, when the bag was full, the Original Mursayade threw them out once more..
It was not what the group expected.
Great gusts of winds accumulated, it threw everyone but the Mursayades and Wu Hai from the top of the Ship.
Each of the clones took on an aspect of the dice thrown and then they combined into One..
All thirty of them were different, for a moment but only a moment. When they recombined, a strange and clear light shrouded her body.
Mursayade's original body felt disconnected from the others, she remained close to her newly crafted appearance, her stone like skin became more supple and her wings became sharp bars like sword blades. A few of the robes of the new Mursayade's ripped during their transformations, Most of those that had changed bore the appearance of Beastliness, when they disappeared their robes fell to the floor.
"Vector." They all called out, somewhat worried.
Wu Hai did not expect what had just happened to Mursayade. He swallowed hard. "What just happened?"
"I don't know. I don't feel the others any longer but they all changed before they disappeared!" Mursayade had tears rolling down her eyes, she looked around and saw many other versions of herself vanish from existence. Her body quaked and she fell to her knees. "Why are they still here.. .am I real? .. am I the real or the .." She threw up.
"You're real, you're real." Wu Hai grabbed her shoulder and noticed that the draw wasn't happening anymore. "You're safe. Lets go inside."
Everyone nodded, they went inside and after an intense crying fit, all the girls looked at each other. It was strange. Mursayade had no siblings, being one of Mike's wives, she had been around other women but she had always been assertive and dominant. Surrounded by others while in such a state, she wondered if Vector would ignore her in the future, his appetites were noticed by her long before she became a wife. She was angry with him for so long, and now, that feeling of resentment had multiplied, the memories of all the girls had returned to her in that instant. She felt like she had lived 30 lives in that brief moment, all of her memories were enhanced, clarified and judged by her other selves during their brief existence.
"Mursayade. You should lay down and rest." Vira gave an idea that was immediately rejected.
"No." Pretty much all of the others said it unison. "We're all here for you Mursayade, just relax and when you're ready we can go hunting."
"I'm ready to go hunting whenever she's feeling better." Kuzunoha had just finished absorbing energy and her energy levels were at a high.
"Lets wait to make sure she's not negatively affected." Wu Hai stated the obvious.
An Hour passed. Mursayade had sat back up, had water and even gone to the bathroom since it her transformation. It wasn't a hurry for her to venture out, the group left Honey by her side to help her recovery and went out to hunt.
"We're going to have to come up with a hunting plan, maybe a fighting rotation but Mursayade has to learn to control her new body, so for now remember that if your opponent is giving you problems, switch out." Vector was right, the last fight had been challenging because of their lack in coordination.
"What's your strategy?" Wu Hai spoke while they flew, the Ship remained a few kilometers behind their position and hidden from sight.
Vector thumbed an idea around. "This would be much easier if we acted like a proper party. We need a tank, two ranged dps, one melee dps and a healer. I'm obviously stuck as CC /slash/ dps for the moment, Kuzunoha is great at ranged dps. We can do without a healer for the moment but we definitely need someone leading the charge and Tanking."
"Tanking." Wu Hai shook his head. "Avoidance is better than taking their hits, being forced to take the strikes will result in our being hurt and needing a healer. We just have to avoid being hit." 'An Avoidance Tank? No. That's too much of a glass cannon.' "What about using puppets?"
"Puppets?" The pagoda had plenty of puppets that were used for sparring, they were actually pretty good but lacked battle intuition and couldn't dodge for shit. Vector slapped himself silly. "That's fucking brilliant. Go get some of them and lets try."
Wu Hai dropped the Pagoda into the swamp, it expanded, tilted, listing in the mud. He flew into the mud and entered through the front shield once the door had opened. "Qu."
Calling out, he had expected Qu to come out rather quickly but Qu's absence was probably due to Qingchi's birth. 'Maybe he's recovering.' Wu Hai took out the token in his possession and made his way to the Core to check on Qu.
"Qu?" He called out again, in the middle of the pedestal Qu's Core was rotating but had a system of cracks across its body. Many different colored flames flickered around it. 'Qingchi?' "QU!" Wu Hai looked at the core closely, along its edges and the fine cracks on its surface were runes and spellwork.
There was no response.
"What the fuck Qu. Come out or I'll give your Core to Kim Li." It was an empty threat, he just wanted to see if a reaction would happen but there was no change. No changes meant that Qu was indeed recovering and from the looks of it, the damage was extensive. Enacting Protocol 9 had been a last ditch effort to save everyone else, it was something that Master Jiang, Qu, Kim Li and Wu Hai had spent many days writing and creating. The protocol was in place to save lives, if it had been more than just a single sliver of his soul, Qu might have been completely destroyed.
Sinking his energies into the Core, Wu Hai could feel Qu's spirit cursing and yelling.
("QU!") Wu Hai projected himself into the Core's consciousness. Before he could get an answer, the Yelling had given him a headache and a scorching feeling was burning at his soul. ("QU! EXPLAIN, WHAT'S HAPPENING!")
("MASTER, THANK YOU, YOU'RE HERE! GET THIS WOMAN OUT OF HERE!")
'Impossible' Wu Hai's senses panned around and then he saw her, Qingchi. Her blazing spirit was rolled into a ball in the center of the Core. ("QINGCHI!")
("Uncle, I Don't Understand!") Qingchi's ability to read minds had vanished, she had been asking Qu questions from the moment she had arrived in that place but Qu's reaction had been pain and hardship. Qu was part of the Pagoda, if she was just within the pagoda then he wouldn't care but her spirit was in the core itself. ("HOW!")
("I don't know how your soul translated into the Pagoda's Core, Tower City was only connected to Qu's Avatar. Maybe.. 'Maybe' when we enacted protocol 9, your spirit took the opportunity to fuse with him rather than vanish. Maybe you're just using him as a host.")
("PARASITE!") Qu was yelling at Qingchi repeatedly, he was being burned as well, unable to escape his core like a human could never escape their beating hearts.
("Calm Down Qu, Think of something.") Wu Hai put his mind to task. ("Can I transfer your soul to an object?") Wu Hai asked Qingchi delicately.
("An Item Spirit...") Qingchi shook her head in disbelief. ("Is it really my only choice?") She began to cry again.
Wu Hai pulled his senses out of the Core and paced.
He slapped the communication stone on his shoulder. "Vector, continue the hunt without me, something's happening with Qu, Qingchi's in his core. I have ideas but I'll need time. Go on with out me, come back to the Pagoda when you're done for the day."
"Are you sure?" the Crystal cracked in Vector's hand.
"Yes." Both of their Crystals shattered, Wu Hai flashed away to the Library.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Vector explained to the girls and they stuck close the Pagoda during their hunt.
Vira led the charge in Zao's absence. "Cut left."
Vector was dodging the incoming snake's bite.
It was Enormous and White in color, a florescent Green flowed from its lips that left little doubt over its toxicity. Vira stabbed with her claws, raking it down the throat of the Snake and wrapped her legs tightly.
The snake's mouth was pinned together by many arrows and it was struggling to stay alive.
"Quickly, before it dies." Vector grabbed the Broken tooth and started to skin the snake alive, he peeled away several feet of its skin, some yards of it came off when he gave it a rip.
Organs spilled out and kept pulsing with its energy. "Gather whatever you can, store it away." Vira wanted the fangs but it was unlikely that she could get either without sincere risk. She settled for a large sample of its poison, a long crystal tube and jar appeared in her hands, she inserted it into the neckline and the green fluid began to come out. Removing the gland would undoubtedly kill the snake.
"OKAY!" Vector was standing overhead, an extremely large axe appeared in his hands and it came slamming down on the neck of the beast near its head. If it was possible, he wanted Kuzunoha to grab the head to take it away before its life force stopped. It was a test if nothing else, heads held many things and secrets.
The neck was broken and flew apart from the body. Kuzunoha caught it by the jaw and stored it away as fast as possible. When she looked back, the snakes body had already turned to stone.
"Did you get it?" Vira asked, the fangs were perfect for her if she could find a way to replenish the poison. If nothing else, they were ideal for tough situations and a trump card that any of them would want.
"I did." Kuzunoha pulled it back out and the head rolled across the ground.
"Yeh'ess" Vira pulled the arrows out and opened its mouth. Both fangs were in perfect condition, the snakes mouth had been pinned during most of the encounter. "I should have Misozi examine its structure so I don't waste anything." Storing it away, she turned to Vector. "How big is the Spirit stone?"
"Its this." He pulled out a stone the size of his palm. It was white with green lacing throughout its exterior. "You're a bit obsessive about this snake, why don't you take this one if we don't find something more suitable for you later." Vector passed it over and stored it for later. "We should continue to hunt, we need five more stones at least."