Scene #6190: Eye For An Eye, Gift For A Gift

Owner	Pose
Gilgamesh	The frigid North Pole winds blow with an unpleasant force. The chill in the air is bone-deep. And yet it is nothing compared to the ominous feeling that looms above the sheets of ice and water. That chill is a spiritual chill, a chill of foreboding that digs claws into the soul and drags forth deep fears from the deepest part of the heart. That chill comes from the massive tower of ancient Babylonian design that stands now at the heart of the pole, a tower easily the equal of any skyscraper in the modern day. Magical carvings glow red and green without any source of electricity, illuminating the vast tower in a glow of holly jolly horror. Red-and-white ribbons hang out front, barring up the huge stone double-doors with the seriousness of a police line. Beneath the ribbons is the gaze of a stone carving of some sort, which pours off a menacing chill. Off to the side is a small stone hut with the words GIFTE SHOPPE flashing in red-and-green magical neon above it, also barred off by red-and-white ribbons. In front of them both stands Santa Gilgamesh, dressed in his red-and-gold Santa outfit, his Star of Bethlehem crown, his Enuma Elishmas three-segmented candy cane pointed down at the ground. In the distance is a slowly-descending exaggerated Gilgamesh head on a pole, slowly spinning and ticking down. Finally, the head hits the ground. Gilgamesh stamps Enuma Elishmas on the ground. "It is time!" "You mongrels who seek to prove yourselves worthy, you naughty beasts who would achieve niceness through the righteous act of combat, you who would grind yourselves against the prayer wheel of Gilcember to earn your presents...The Tower of Santaga is open!" Gilgamesh swings the candy cane blade. It's a single slash, but it somehow cuts all the ribbons, letting them fall to the ground like an unwrapped present. Unveiled, the stone image on the doors is far more menacing - a strange insectoid creature with multiple arms, holding various holiday symbols like murderous weapons. Its gaze is strangely terrifying as the door cracks open, and Gilgamesh starts laughing, an ominous, ringing laugh. Disturbing music starts to play from within the stone. Gilgamesh's hand goes to his head. "Of course, this tower is patterned after a challenge I myself faced in ancient Babylon! At its head sits a terrible demigod, and I struggled, fought, and bled up its sixty floors to slay it alone!" Gilgamesh waves Enuma Elishmas like a cane. "That's far too much for the likes of you. So your progress will be as a team, clearing floors one by one as a group. And of course, the Holiday Demigod that sits atop this Tower is a pale imitation of the original...but even so it should provide an adequate challenge!" "So go! Start climbing! The Tower of Santaga will consume your holiday cheer and turn it to holiday despair! And you'll learn the true nature of Gilcember! Fuhuhahahahah!"
Cu Chulainn	Cu Chulainn has been waiting days for this. Literally; he's had a tent set up nearby, ice-fishing and drinking coffee with his (irritated) Master, Felt Haddask. The pair are dressed in thick coats made for the arctic, Cu having a hood over his head, and a big bag on his back, including his present, as they approach the tower when the ceremony begins. When Gilgamesh ends his spiel, Cu moves to remove his present from the backpack and step inside. "I'll show you what I'm capable of, King. I'll earn those presents for sure." And then, once he reaches the inside altar, Cu places his present down. It's a lamp. A very tacky lamp with swirly colors, kind of tie-dye. It's pretty nice for what it is, probably costing Cu a fair amount of money, but it's still...not a present someone would really want. And then he turns to the other people who've gathered as he enters. "Alright, people. Let's clear this and get our presents, yeah? We're gonna have to work together if we want to pull this off."
Sanary Rondel	Trudging forward through the snow and cold is someone in a white coat that's flapping way too much to be practical for the cold weather. It's not a bad coat by any means, and it certainly flaps the right way to look cool (in the wearer's mind), but it probably doesn't look quite as cool with the person underneath it shivering and huddling against large, triangular thing in her arms for warmth. Note to self: Do research on unknown places ahead of time. Finally, though, Sanary reaches the staging ground for Gilgamesh's holiday-themed something or another, staring upwards at the giant tower and watching the giant head touching down on the ground. She squints from behind her sole eye while trying to will her ears into functioning enough to hear him, taking very little time to actually get inside once the doors are open. "B-b-big words, but it's a... T-t-tower, right? No problem! W-we got this." Forcing a confident grin to match Cu's confidence, Sanary wipes her face off before setting down her own present. It's an axe! It's an ominously glowing axe emitting a purple light. It's just bright enough that it would light up a dark room, flickering just erratically enough to be infuriatingly inconsistent. This may or may not have any relation to the bags under the healer's eye and her choice of this as the gift.
Android 17	In an artic coat, with a hood, shades to make sure he doesn't get snow blind, and gloves on his hands to cover his fingers so they do not freeze off, and boots to travel through the snow, Seventeen stands there waiting for the ability to go inside. There is fanfare about this guy opening the doors, and of course, putting on all of the heirs of christmas. It's cold as hell, but Seventeen seems to be handling it just fine. He could have flown here, but that's not fun. He took a boat. And walked. And now he is here, with a book in hand. He drops it off at the shope ask asked, which reveals it's a zoological book, something from his own world. What? Did you think he'd bring a dragonball and give it to him? Not without a world ending TP. Seventeen looks towards Sanary. "You...gona be alright there?"
Aoko Aozaki	Padoru Aoko, limited SSR, will be your supporter for this event. But don't make any mistakes, she's not available for summon yet! It's just a tease of great things to come. Or a reach for your wallet. Dressed in a festive green and white outfit largely reminiscent of Santa's helpers and elves, letting her hair handle the requirement for red in the costume, Aoko has embraced the festivities, because she factually has nothing better to do. That's how that tends to play out. "I'm still PRETTY sure I'm untouched by sin, but I couldn't possibly pass this up." Of course, Enkidu is Counter Force, and can immediatly tell this is A Blatant Lie, the kind a Dirty Magician would say to avoid admitting the world itself hates her guts. She spots Sanary and 17, and, naturally, gravitate towards them like trouble gravitates around her. "Heeeey you two! So what do YOU want from 'ol Saint Gil?"
Mercy	Mercy is here, and in her Valkyrie suit - probably to help her deal with the cold. That said, she is also wearing a rather fluffy and cozy jacket. Mei would be proud of her. Then again, if Mei was here, Mercy would probably be more amused. Shaking her head, Mercy wanders over to the altar, opening her coat and rummaging in an inside pocket. She withdraws a delicate wine bottle cut into hexagons, with intertwined real silver and gold inlay. Inside the bottle is a delicate golden-colored liquid. The top is capped with a corkscrew, and then covered with wax with a stamp in it. Over the bottle itself is draped the positively tiniest sign she could get away with, explaining the pear wine, the time it had to age (a lot), and the winemaker. It looks rather indulgent. (It is. It's from her own stash.) "Well, let's get on with this." She drawls, hands on her hips.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga is here. She isn't sure why. She's not even completely sure how. There was a vision involved perhaps, and that always makes things a little on the fuzzy side. Linear time, reality, what have you...sometimes it's all hard to keep track of. If nothing else, at least she's dressed for the weather in a wool dress and fur-lined cloak and hat, and thrummed mittens. She limps toward the tower and the group assembling there and blinks several times. "...really?" she says, looking toward the sky. With a sigh, she shakes her head and looks toward the others. "Well, I'm here, I may as well help. Good day everyone." Then Inga looks again toward the tower, wincing. "I hope there's an elevator," she grumbles.
Sarracenia	Princess Sarracenia has made sure she has a spot right in front of Gilgamesh as that giant head ticks down. She has donned a specially made dress for the occassion, and the cold glare she has fixed on Gilgamesh since she first arrived has yet to thaw at all. The dress is an obviously Santa-themed design. Its long red skirt is trimmed in fluffy white as one might expect from a yule-tide garment, as are the long sleeves. The neck is encircled by a frill that adds some elegance and poshness to the gown, and of course is trimmed in the same fluffy white cotton. The torso of the dress is quite snug on her. Of course, she wasn't going to sit there in the cold. She had her piranha plant soldiers erect a temporary but quite comfy wooden shelter, and the icy glare has been cast from the warm safety of the small cabin's window between sips of hot cocoa. When it is finally time to start, the princess shoulders her massive DK Hammer before stepping out into the cold. That glare of hers remains even as she walks past Gilgamesh. And as she passes him she says only one thing. "Do not think I shall forget being included in the list of mongrels." When she notices Sanary, Princess Sarracenia walks over and tosses a small raccoon-like teddy bear. If caught, Sanary is suddenly clad in a Tanuki suit! As for the present Sarracenia has left? Why, it's a Bob-omb plush that when squeezed pops out a flag with an explosion drawning on it and the word 'BOB-OMB!' in big red letters.
Orchid	Reploids do feel the cold, especially when it is THIS cold. So when Orchid does show up she is wearing a red fuzzy hat, scarf, extra coat, and long-johns. Still, she did show up in time for Gilgamesh's opening display, and politely claps for the King of Holidays, the sound muffled somewhat by the mittens she wears. As for the gift she brings, well, she may have gone in a little extra, but the vibrating device, hidden in a box 4" by 4" by 9" will likely be appreciated. No, it's not one of those. It is an ultrasonic cutter, battery powered, and an extra 'oyster pack' of batteries on which you can test out its utility. "I don't think there will be TOO much dispair," Orchid comments, placing her gift on the altar with the others. "It's no where near tax day."
Maya	Maya did not like the cold like this, given the Desert she called home though it was more of a cold than a hot one. Still, snow much snow and the chill? She'd felt a supernatural chill shill like this in the past. Not quite like this but she had felt on its level before, she moves towards the tower that reminds her greatly of the Architectural styles of her worlds own Babylon. She would push forward toward the tower. As ever Gil was very colourful with his words and still, she had to give him credit for how he strung them together never hitting the level of say a Marine or Sailor. Gil was certainly having fun and honestly, no one was being harmed well who didn't consent to go crawling so she's all right with this heck it looks like a lot of fun. She had brought something, with her. The Gift she has to bring is a formation of crystals which glow faintly with a light of their own and shaped into a strange rune. It's the sort of thing you could hang on a wall and look pretty cool. To find it? Maya had been prowling the markets of the Wold Bizzar of her world to find this strange Crystal decoration. Heck, she'd had to hit up some old contacts to find it but hey it's something different and near to look at. She'll set it down alongside some of the other gifts.
Touta Konoe	It's Christmas time! Or...In this case Enuma Elishmas. That really didn't seem to roll of the tongue. Touta had heard about the coming of Gilcember and when he heard that someone had deemed everyone naughty he decided that something needed to be done. But more than that...Touta has another reason for being here. Cause Touta has a dream. A dream in which he reaches the top of a tower back in his own world. A tower that he probably wouldn't mention to Gil cause it'd probably annoy him to hear that there was a tower nicer than his tower. But a tower that reached into the space itself. So Touta figures that being able to climb a tower like this was gonna be good practice. As he arrives he's wrapped in a large jacket of his own, he may be immortal but he can still end up freezing...Probably. But the important thing was that he had made it and that he intend to help get those who deserved it back on the nice list, and climb the tower while he's at it. One thing he can appreciate about all this though is that there are plenty of familiar faces appearing at the tower and they're all starting to huddle together. Cu, Sanary, 17, Aoko, Orchid and a few others. If it wasn't for the fact they were about to start fighting up a rather large tower he'd probably consider this a party or something. "Glad to see so many familiar faces." He waves to the group as he walks towards the gift station and leaves a small present wrapped in a traditional red and green box with all the ribbons and such. Though inside...Is a bag labeled 'Coal'. Bt if someone bothered to look inside at said 'Coal' they'd realize it was just a big bag of chocolates that looked like coal. Though given the weather...Whoever decided to eat them would let them thaw out a bit first..
Arthur Lowell	Arthur only got here a little bit ago, emerging from his magical spirographic Gate with a thick, warm, much fuzzier robe making for something more seasonal, albeit darker than normal. He drifts weightlessly, a few suns orbiting his body to ensure that he survives the cold. And he listens intently to the opening of the challenge spire. He drifts down slowly, his red winter boots just barely tapping into the snowy ice when the ribbons are slashed. "ALRIGHT, HOMIE." Arthur says, popping his neck. "You wanna bring that SILENT NIGHT ROGUELIKE STYLE up in this, sounds SOLID. I love a good SURVIVAL TOWER gauntlet." He makes an easygoing gesture, and gives a wide grin. "In fact, reminds me of the ol' SBURBAN CLIMBING RITUAL. Got that good good BOSS BRUTALITY up at that top, yeah?" Approaching, he brings out the only white elephant gift that could ever, ever have appeased Gilgamesh. Arthur crafted SWEET BRO AND HELLA JEFF COLLECTION+EPIC OF GILGAMESH ITEM COST: 2 SNOW, 1 CANDYCANE, 5 COAL ITEM: The complete collected Epic of Sweet Gilgamesh and Hella Enkidu. All seven popes once demanded every copy be burned. The book is bound in faux-faux-leather and menaces with blocky jpeg artifacts. He snaps, gives a pair of fingerguns towards Gilgamesh, and winks while grinning. "Let's get that WORTH PROVED up in this bitch. Who ready to get all up in some BRUTAL SURVIVAL ASCENT? I hope homeboy got the RECONFIGURING ITERATORS on this bitch, I'm planning on going NOSE RIGHT TO GRINDSTONE on this motherfucker and getting some BLOOD spilled."
Gilgamesh	Gilgamesh chuckles at Arthur as he passes. "Then you won't be disappointed." The party crosses the threshold into the Tower. They place their gifts upon the altar, whereupon they are swallowed up, vanishing into the stone. At the moment the altar devours the presents, with all fanfare, it spits out...a booklet with Gilgamesh and Enkidu's faces on it, tiny, adorable, and in holiday gear. In the background is a cartoony version of the Tower itself, with a cartoonish Santaga perched atop it, throwing things down. The book is signed, too, in cuneform. Atop, it reads: TOWER OF SANTAGA MANUAL A GILCO-ENKAI GAME The inside of the manual has a brief warning about health and safety before it transitions into a story. THE DEMON SANTAGA HAS CAPTURED ALL THE PRESENTS FROM ALL THE HOLIDAYS! UNABLE TO INTERFERE DIRECTLY, THE KING OF HOLIDAYS, GILGAMESH, HAS CHOSEN YOU TO RETRIEVE THEM! GO! FIGHT! VICTORY! Then it transitions into some very crude drawings of miniature Gilgamesh in his golden armor, swinging a golden sword. FIGHT MONSTERS! The next page has Gilgamesh holding up a candle to banish a dark room. SOLVE PUZZLES! Then it has the small Gilgamesh stepping on a boss and holding up a stocking. WIN STOCKINGS WITH FABULOUS PRIZES! Then it has the small Gilgamesh hanging his head as he looks at a bunch of candy canes in front of the Gift Shop Counter, a small Enkidu laughing maliciously. GET CANDY CANES AND BUY PRIZES TO HELP YOU THROUGH THE TOWER OR REMEMBER THE SPECTACULAR EXPERIENCE! The manual ends with a drawing of miniature Gilgamesh and Enkidu high-fiving atop the strange Santaga's corpse. BECOME NICE AND EARN THE ACCLAIM OF YOUR PEERS AS YOU RESCUE THE HOLIDAYS! Once the party has read the manual, the floor opens. It's a wide, yawning maze, but it's only waist-high. In the distance, there's a bunch of weird goblins with Christmas caps on them. They look bored and tired. Signs above them flash with DEFEAT ENEMIES TO EARN HINTS ABOUT THE PUZZLE! Beyond the goblins, there's a glass case with a cup in it. One of the goblins has a hammer. It's a /tutorial level/.
Orchid	"This. THIS is supposed to be a puzzle?" Orchid asks. She read the manual, she smiled at the pictures. But now she is walking past the goblins. One hand removes the mitten from the other, so the second hand can be withdrawn. "Let's see, that size, assume glass," she mutters, as she deploys a sonic screwdriver. One of the things Nicola Tesla studied was the effect of resonance on things. Both mechanical and electric resonances. Orchid points her tool at the glass, and provided the goblins aren't stopping her, will shoot sound at it. It'll take a little hopping up and down the audible range, but she'll find the resonant frequency of the glass quickly enough, causing it to shatter.
Sanary Rondel	Wiping her face off again, Sanary waves a hand dismissively towards Seventeen before turning to him with a quick nod and a light shine under her nose. "Never better!" In turning to face him, she spots Aoko in turn and raises her hand in a short wave. "Hey, you! Uh. Maybe some kind of shiny magic artifact or something. Something that'll make me even stronger!" A pose here and a flex there for emphasis, and then she reaches forward instinctively to catch the tossed toy from Sarracenia with her face. It's still a catch, though, and the healer finds herself wearing something significantly warmer! "... Huh. Thanks, Sarra! Where do you people get these outfits, anyway?" She asks, gesturing around vaguely. "Do you just keep them in your closets for a year, or...?" Seasonal clothes clearly aren't a thing for the pig farmer. Spotting Touta, that familiar face gets a wave in greetings, and Arthur too gets a wave along with a laugh at his entrance. "Hah! I... I don't get any of those things you said, but hey Arthur!" She's about to move when a book suddenly lands in her hands! It's taking her a pretty long time to read all of it. Once she's finished and sufficiently warmed up, though, Sanary puts her game face on and gets into a runner's pose. She's about to sprint her way right over the waist-high maze, but stops after a single step as something comes to mind. "... It's a test! This is about proving we're not assholes, right? So! We gotta do this right way. I think." Sanary calls out, starting to move at a steady pace while trying not to look like she's peeking at the walls to try and figure out the maze. It's going to take her a while. Upon reaching a goblin, though, she'll give it a light shove with her hand to test its resilience!
Cu Chulainn	Cu Chulainn reads the manual clearly. It's important! Felt is behind him, grumbling. But anyways, the two drop into the maze, and they spot the goblins. Felt immediately moves to check the walls and see if you can safely climb over them, while Cu... Cu plays the game properly. He starts tracing through the maze, stabbing any goblins that hassle him with Gae Bolg, which he summons to his hand and twirls, and looks for the goblin with the hammer. Once he reaches that goblin, he moves to mercilessly end his life with a thrust of the spear to the heart, and take the hammer so he can smash the glass so he can get the cup so he can- Orchid's already smashing the glass. Aww. Well, maybe the hammer will come in handy again later?
Aoko Aozaki	Oh, it's time to go! Aoko offers Gilgamesh her entry ticket, in the form of bringing her hands together and gathering together... no, hang on, she's... she's NOT spending any mana? But there's definitely blue light gathering. Blinding, brilliant blue light. It gathers into a spiral of countless motes and wisps, a galaxy coming into being no larger than a person's head. But it's much more special than that! That energy isn't from the current era. The present, yet again, acquires a debt towards the future. It's relatively stable, in that making it explode would require effort. It's not safe to TOUCH, but it's safe to store. Basically a magical grenade. With, most likely, an expiry date of some sort. Aoko couldn't say when that is. Aoko follows along afterwards, hands disappearing in her pockets. She turns towards Sanary, laughing. "Stronger huh? That axe not doing it? It looked pretty good!"
Android 17	Seventeen looks towards Aoko, giving the red headed mage who isn't a walking sin a wave. "Hello there." he says, fairly laid back. Infact, you might pick up that he's having a blast. Touta shows up next, giving him the same nod and wave. "Long time no see. And yeah, might be fun to hang out with people while doing this all." Towards Aoko's question, he shrugs, "Who knows?" he says, not revealing what he's out to get here. Instead, he looks over towards Sarracenia. "Aren't you? I mean, you were sitting in a guy's lap in public. That's pretty naughty." He says, acting innocent. He knows exactly what he's doing. Towards Sanary he shrugs, "If you say so, I got a extra pair of ear muffs if you want them?" he says, but hey that's on her. With the rules established, he nods...alright. Moving through the Maze, he gets around and then punches the goblins as he comes to them. Hopefully he can get himself a hammer to solve the puzzel. Seventeen takes his time, however, enjoying the fights...and avoiding burtal murder of Union Goblins.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga pulls something from her pouch, a small wrapped gift in brown paper tied with golden ribbon--it's mittens. Nice, warm, woollen mittens. Probably hand-made. Possibly enchanted. There's a disorienting sensation, and suddenly they are dropped into a maze. A maze with walls that are only waist high (or maybe chest high, if you are especially short in stature, as Inga happens to be. It is silly to the others, but already fairly inconvenient for her. It's going to be one of those things, isn't it. There isn't even anyone here that she knows especially well. Inga purses her lips and begins to walk forward through the maze, heading toward the closest goblin, whom she greets with a slight bow of her head. "Evening. I would like to negotiate passage through this maze. In exchange I will offer..." Inga digs into her pouch to see what she has available. She pulls out something wrapped in thin white paper. It's warm. It smells of cumin spiced ground beef. It's a taco. "...I will offer you this taco. I will also offer a glimpse of your future--but I would take the taco."
Zero	Being a robot, Zero doesn't need to dress for the occasion. Arctic temperatures are nothing to a machine like him. The soul chilling effect not as much, but if it's bothering him it's not outwardly visible. A tower appearing in the middle of the North Pole and some king declaring a month named after him is something that not even he could ignore, as much as he wanted to. It's probably gonna be dumb and harmless, but he still feels the need to go just in case. Gilgamesh appears to make his speech before disappearing back in, leaving the reploid feeling absolutely nothing and coming to the conclusion that the man simply likes to hear himself talk. Apparently a lot of people in the Multiverse like to hear themselves talk though, so maybe Zero is the odd one out here. Walking into the tower, the robot places a wrapped box on the pedestal. It shakes, and it lets out a muffled complaint, which means it's probably alive. It's ok though because Zero is a good guy. Zero doesn't get much time to converse sadly, as the ground opens up to reveal a maze. And goblins. DEFEAT ENEMIES AND GAIN FABULOUS PRIZES How about no? Zero removes a pair of hilts from both sides of his waste, a pair of green tonfa blades emitting from their end. The slight whirring sound of charging fills the air as the blades seem to slow slightly brighter, before Zero just slams both of them into the ground. The impact of doing so leaves a small scorch mark on the ground, more more importantly it propels the reploid over both the maze and union goblins, and straight towards the cup.
Arthur Lowell	"Yeah homie, I got that SICK FLOW straight up that GOOD NOISE." Arthur replies to Sanary, as if there's any sense in what he said. Then he regards Orchid's approach. He squints at her as if she's speaking another language. The best he can do is turn to Sanary and be plaintively helpless about this in his gesture. "SANDY, c'mon, gotta be REASONABLE here. You think GILGAMESH is gonna try to ask people to NOT BE JERKS?" He gives a long pause to let that sink in. "Do you think GILGAMESH is gonna be asking people to BE KIND TO NORMALS?" And he kinda leeeeaaans in, making a face that can only be described approximately with ":I". Then he follows Cu. "Yeah, see, THIS is more the way you USUALLY GO. I mean, I'da, you know, gone a li'l less LETHAL but hey, s'all under MEDICAL COVERAGE right?" He follows, letting Cu mostly handle this one. His plan is to focus on the cup's actual uses. Specifically, peering around the chest-high walls and looking for doors with vaguely cup-shaped holes, elevator-looking platforms with cup-shaped pedestals, and other traditional mechanisms of ascent. He also does what anyone should do in a tutorial level, which is assume that it's littered with stuff to help out without being possible to return to it, and so he scours around for CANDY CANE drops off the beaten path.
Mercy	Mercy looks at the manual. The Gilco-Enkai get the worst hidden snort-laugh from her, ever. She clears her throat a bit, before she glances towards the maze. Her wings activate and... barely keeping her feet in the confines of the ah... 'maze'.... does she lazily float along. Really, really lazily. Seriously. If she moved any slower a flower might grow before she makes it to the end. Once there, she gives the Goblins a most terrible gift... not death... but she casually tasers them, with a grumpy look on her face during the whole process.
Maya	Maya does take a moment to look over the book she seems to enjoy the fact of the details that Gil and his partner in crime Enkidu likely put together. She seems to get the just of it. She takes a look at the puzzle ahead of them for a moment and will give her own ticket where is needed. She watches as people just take the blow up the puzzle method. Something feels wrong to her about this with all the wall switch puzzels infesting the old ruins and military bases of her homeworld. She shakes it off as she moves in. She will make use of her magic to blast any hostile goblins away with water spells, as she moves forward, she's actually playing along and making her way through the maze, she's wanting to have some fun with this. She's making to get a hammer as well but it may only require one person in the entire group then again Gil set up this so there may be a twist one might not see at first glance so she's going to make to get a hammer herself if she can find one. She then watches Zero just vault over the maze, yup people are just going to have wun with this in their own way. Also Mercy seems to be quite grump, a grumpy healer is /never/ a good thing.
Sarracenia	"You are welcome, Sanary." Sarracenia says as she reads through the manual. The pictures make for faster reading, and soon she starts through the maze as well. She looks out over the room, obviously considering simply climbing over the short walls as well. But, this is a challenge and it was designed to be handled in a specific way. So, she follows after Cu and Arthur and lets him do all the dirty work. If a goblin does happen to get in her way it earns a quick swat from her hammer before she continues on. She watches those who don't actually go through the maze, then smirks lightly and hmphs. "Breaking the rules is no way to gain oneself a spot on the 'nice' list." she says. Of course, who knows how long it takes her to actually go through the maze properly.
Gilgamesh	Orchid immediately cheats. The goblins don't even move, busy being cut down by Cu Chulainn, pushed around by Sanary, punched out by 17, tazered by Mercy, blasted away by Maya, swatted by Sarracenia, bribed by Inga. They're complete pushovers. Sanary's half-hearted push is enough to knock the goblin over, where it lays, lazily, on the floor. Even the one bribed by Inga just kind of steps out of her way with the taco in hand, gnawing on it as his friends go down. A moment later, the dead ones just respawn in a flickering burst of light. As Orchid goes forward, and as Zero leaps over the wall, they get about halfway through the maze before a popup suddenly just sort of shows up out of nowhere. It's Gilgamesh's face and a word bubble, and it's talking to them! As they try and move around, it hovers in front of them, beeping furiously like an old-school video game making talking noises. It does not advance until Orchid and Zero press it, it gets right in their way no matter which direction they try and go, and it's long and annoying and can't be skipped. The word bubble reads: I AM THE RULES! CHEATING IS AGAINST THE RULES! I'LL TEACH YOU NOT TO DEFY THE KING OF HEROES! ZAP! As they clear the bubble, there's a blast of lightning from the ceiling, shooting down at them. It's dangerous, and serious! It's not a nice little blast! In the distance, a magical red-and-green light flickers on and reads DC - AN EDISON PROPERTY. BUY EDISON TODAY! The goblins stand back up. They're starting to grin, and the weapons of the ones without the hammer are looking awfully sharp. "Fuhuhahaha...did you think it would be that easy?!" "ENKIDU! RELEASE...THE FLOOR BOSS!"
Enkidu	There's a noise from somewhere else in the room. It sounds like a colossal switch is being thrown. There's a buzz, and lights flicker... AT THE FAR END OF THE MAZE, on the opposite side of the room, there is a throne. It's a really big throne. A colossal throne, actually; you could probably fit most of the people in the room on it at once comfortably. It's gilded, with big, comfy red cushions and iconography depicting various holiday themes. It's only visible now because of the Gilgamas lights blinking all around it. Maybe it was activated by someone, or something? ARTHUR'S careful examination doesn't locate any nooks or crannies, but he does find there are in fact secret stashes of candy canes tucked into corners. (ITEM GET: CANDY CANE x4) FELT, meanwhile, finds a tablet affixed to the waist-high wall in one of the dead ends, but it's in incomprehensible cuneiform script. There's a little picture of a cup and some kind of fruit on it, though. Meanwhile, from behind the Active Party comes... a support character?! It's Enkidu, though dressed (or... covered?) in brown fur and looking exceptionally fuzzy. He's got antlers, and a little tail. His nose is bright red, and appears to be blinking. He's as supernaturally pretty as ever; he's just also apparently a reindeer. Person. Thing. "Watch out!" Enkidu the Claydeer says. He's reading off a small tablet in one hand, and his diction is stilted and stiff. "Point towards the throne. Oh." He points towards the throne. On cue, a basket on a wire is lowered down, with a big red and green bow on it. It's set on top of the big red cushion in the middle of the huge throne. Inside of the basket is an enormous pile of golden apples, looking sparkly and inexplicably delicious. "That is where the Floor Boss will arrive! Beware, for you can only defeat him slash her slash it with the correct set of objects in your possession!" Enkidu lowers the tablet, looking satisfied.
Enkidu	After just long enough to appreciate that there's a huge basket of golden apples over there, something else falls from the ceiling: a blob of brownish stuff. It glops on top of the apples like some kind of sauce, oozing all over it. The entire pile quivers. A couple seconds later, there's a loud 'pop~!' The blob is abruptly gigantic, filling up the colossal throne easily. It jiggles with holiday danger. There's another more quiet 'pop,' and a little crown appears on its head. Inside its brownish translucent body, the shapes of the numerous golden apples float. One of them that didn't get sucked up by it bounces off the throne and rolls across the floor. The blob leaps off the throne and lands on it. There's a 'blorp' noise. The blob immediately grows in size. This must be... ,------ / SLIME BOSS / / PETTY KING OF FIGGY PUDDING / ------' ...the floor boss?! "Remember," Enkidu says, "you have to defeat the boss to move on to the next floor! Good luck, naughty mongrels slash clever heroes! I think that's..." Enkidu examines the tablet. He puts it away... somewhere. "Okay. All done."
Android 17	Seventeen, with a look of 'ding ding ding' decides that...he needs a cup. He flies towards the Goblin hammer, looks at him and goes, "I'm taking this." Doing so, he moves towards the cup to grab it. Assuming THIS works, he turns towards the Figgy pudding...pudding and considers his next action. He THINKS the goal is to get the apple with the pudding from the creature...that might...should be the way forward? Hmmm... He decides to let others try what happens if you fail, or cheat first. Also he was sure he took the actions he had avalible this round.
Orchid	"Me and my big mouth," Orchid mutters at the tutorial box. She'll press the advance text button, and take the shock. She also takes in Enkidu's little presentation. Looking at the presented items, and at the stage boss. "A cup, an apple, a cauldron, and a figgy pudding," Orchid says, as she works her way through the maze. She's short enough that trying to go over the walls would be more of a workout than a shortcut. "So I think we need to make cider, and give someone a drink," she says aloud.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary peeks upwards as she spots Aoko's strange light, watching it for those few confusing moments before realizing so many of the group is bounding over the maze or going much faster than her already. Well, maybe she won't be graded on speed. That's in the spirit of... Something, right? Right?! Probably not, if Arthur's wisdom is anything to go by. "... Huh. Yeah, that's true. So we just gotta go as fast as we can, then!" And then she's about to start bounding over the maze as well, somehow managing to stop just in time to see Gilgamesh's face popup. She's had enough ominous shit from her axe to ignore that warning, and goes on to just follow the maze properly while speaking with Aoko. "Ah... Y-yeah. The axe was... Uh." Sanary coughs once, glancing aside while yawning. "It didn't really... /Do/ anything besides keep me awake and scare the pigs when I tried leaving it in their pen. Sturdy, though! You should..." She pauses, glancing around a bit before leaning into with a whisper. "... Not take it later if it shows up. With that warning given, she looks over towards Seventeen at that offer for ear muffs. "Really? Uh... Sure. I don't really have anything to pay you with right now, though. Figured we'd just be exploring or fighting, so all I really got is my gear." She taps a finger on the more normal-looking axe strapped to her back and tugs at the front of the tanuki suit, only then realizing that she can't reach her pockets in this thing. A small price to pay for warmth. Alas, speed is proving to be Sanary's greatest foe today as she spots... THE SLIME BOSS. Also, Enkidu in that fuzzy outfit. She stares at him??? for a while before tearing her eyes away to draw her axe. "Now that's more like it! Let's...!" She pauses, then looks down at the maze she's still only halfway through. Gritting her teeth, the healer continues marching through the maze at a powerwalking pace, but not before sending out some HEALING LIGHT CLOUDS towards Zero and Orchid to help take some of the lightning's edge off! "I'll be there... S-sooner or later! Mazes suck.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga looks to the goblin she gave the taco to. "I /do/ have more tacos," she informs him with a small, uneasy smile. Suddenly, lightning! Inga absolutely gets somewhat electrocuted. It's alright, she'll probably get better soon. A few moments later, she climbs to her feet looking considerably more angry/static-y, stray hairs floating upward from her braids. When all that....other stuff happens, Inga continues to look rather confused, but shakes her head and decides she's just going to go with it. There's some kind of horrible pudding monster with golden apples. Gods only know what they're suppose to do about it. Oh, there's a thought. "You, do me the favor of making sure nothing mauls me for a few moments, will you? I need to focus on the wyrd," she says, turning to Touta. Then Inga's eyes roll back in her head as she allows her third eye to open to peer forward into possible futures...
Aoko Aozaki	Lightning crashes down towards Zero and Orchid! Aoko, unconcerned, blinks at Sanary, whispering back: "Was it cursed? I love cursed items! ... what'd you do with it?" Ah, well, she really should be paying attention to the sudden appearance of a giant slime. The tutorial did say they have to use the floor's item to solve the problem, so... hm, but cooking, really? "Hey, what if we just railgunned the cup into its face? That counts as clever item use, right?" No Aoko it does not. Well, she decides to stay back still. This is way too funny to get distracted by FIGHTING, sheesh!
Touta Konoe	Touta catches the book and gets the quick guide on what is expected of everyone who is suppose to enter thanks to the Intro-level. So he joins the others as they enter the maze. At first when he hears that these Goblins were actually just workers making a living he almost panicked to see them get pierced by Cu though thankfully...Their health coverage literally puts some of the immortals he knows to shame. Upon their respawn though rather then fighting he sorta just looks at them with a stare. "So uh, not sure if we got the same health benefits but if you guys need a good place to work when this is over let me know..." He hands one of them a business card. It's not his but it has his work place on it so he figures that they can take a peek at it later and decide if they'd be interested in working in the monster/demon hospitality business or not. "Alright, so if they're getting the hammer I guess I'll just..." Not touch anything that looks important. Cause most of the time it's magic, and when it is he usually ends up breaking it. So he's not...For now. Instead he just tries to keep pace with the group. It looks like Aoko's really in the spirit as she shoots something that well..."Aoko?! What even was that?! I mean it was cool but that looked like super overkill for an intro level!" Thankfully 17 and Sanary seems to be a bit more calm about how they deal with these workers. And because of them not cheating it looks like they don't get electrocuted. The bad news is that..."So, I guess this tutorial's about to get a bit harder?" Apparently Enkidu the red-nosed Rein...doll's apparence confirms that. His warning brings attention to the most evil pile of pudding he's ever seen. Though since this is the first pile of evil pudding he's seen...Well whatever. This was a boss battle and that was the main thing. Though...Slash? Touta actually hadn't brought his sowrd to this fight so...What was he expected to slash with. He takes a moment to follow Arthur's example and look for some yuletide slashing weapons of some sort that he could work with...Or he would have, but it looks like someone's requested his assistance. "Oh uh, Sure..." Does he even know this person? Well, it doesn't really matter it'd be really awkward to have some get mauled after they asked you to look out for them. If looking out for someone wasn't in the Christmas spirit he's not sure what is...Guess he's on Mook duty.
Cu Chulainn	Felt finds a tablet! He may or may not have also gotten electrocuted in the process, woops. But either way, he joins back up with Cu, and the two continue through the maze. When people cheat and the goblins get mean, Cu...continues to stab them. He puts more into his strikes, underestimating them a little less, as he hopes to move through the maze and get to the pile of apples at the end. If the pair manage to get there, Cu twirls Gae Bolg in his hand and moves to try and plunge it into the Slime Boss and rip an apple out so he can toss it to 17 to figure out. This puts him in 'getting eaten' range, but...he's presumably fast enough to avoid it. "Anyone good at puzzles? Try and figure this out, and don't cheat in the process!"
Arthur Lowell	Arthur stops grabbing up CANDYCANE drops and leaps into action. His innate knowledge and skills related to SPACE are of great use here, giving him an intuitive grasp of navigating the maze as they very suddenly need to move. He intends to surge through the maze in a rush of blinding white light! The folks at the cup, the folks with the hammer, the folks dealing with puzzles -- that's all NEEEERD SHIT for Arthur. His plan is to go right for the boss, dashing as fast as he can. Already, though, he's looking eager for a fight. He doesn't want to violate the maze, but at the very least he can /shout/ over the top. "HEY, you NON-NEWTONIAN MOTHERFUCKER! I wanna feel that POWER! I want you OVER HERE beating the FEAR OF SANTA into my BONES! You got some FORCE in that WOBBLE, ya fuckin' SLIME-MOLD MOTHERFUCKER? Come draw some BLOOD! Come make some BRUISES! YOU BLEEEEED WHAT I MEAN, KING JELLO?" If he can get through it, he's gonna rush at the big thing and try to keep it from advancing on the cup, the hammer, and the friendly folks busy with figuring out the puzzle. He intends to do that with gravity-reinforced heavy broom strikes to its big puddingbody, assuming he can reach that boss. Even if the boss is waiting! He wants to dig right into things and at least see what makes slimeboy so immortal without the mystery cup-products.
Maya	Maya is very glad she was following the maze as she gets the word bubble, as others cheat and also the lighting? Wait release the floor boss? Uh oh here comes the main event it seems and Maya braces herself she needs. Enkidu shows up as some kind of reindeer and gives a warning of the floor boss arrival. PuzzlePuzzle Memories of several things back on her homeworld come to mind and she feels the pang of old frustrations come back. She pushes it down. No this is to be fun damn it. Maya's going to have fun with this. So she will make her way through the maze as fast as she can trying to get to the floor boss where she can do something. She will make her way to the floor boss as others work on figuring out the puzzle with the intent to buy them time she'll start casing water spells maybe trying to dilute the boss but for all she knows it might end up just making it grow bigger and she could end up in some trouble for it. At least this slime isn't as sassy as one she knew so long ago.
Zero	It would seem Zero's first mistake was taking this event seriously. Well, shoot. Nobody said speedrunning was against the rules. He doesn't even get to make it halfway to the cup before he's stopped by a floating text box. "I AM THE RULES" Zero rolls his eyes as he pockets one of his tonfas. The blade of the other tonfa converts into a long triangle shape, which is instantly brought down on the text box with blinding speed. The speed is so blinding in fact that it somehow deflects the following lightning zap. "This is stupid." There's a moment where the reploid silently contemplates if he wants to continue cheating. He might be able to get away with it, but on the other hand getting hit by electricity isn't what he considers fun. He decides that no, he doesn't want to risk it again. Instead he just makes his way towards the pudding-based monster, sword in hand as he attempts to cleave it in twain. Which will probably make things worse given that it's probably going to multiple or something equally dumb given that's a slime monster trope, but unfortunately Zero isn't RPG savvy.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia blushes hotly as Seventeen pushes one of her buttons he knows quite well will fluster her. She watches all the happenings from her very safe place inside the maze and laughs at those who were targeted by lightning blasts. "As I said!" she gloats, smirking. As she continues through the maze, she takes the time to pull out some Bob-ombs and displays her rather strong throwing arm by lobbing explosives at the Pudding even as she keeps following Cu through the maze. "Only with the correct items in our possession...well, one can assume that the items provided are the appropriate items. Perhaps we must place the apples on the cup then hit them with the hammer?" Once people close into melee with the boss Sarra stops throwing bombs and pulls out her own hammer. "Someone catch!" she calls as she starts swing, aiming to knock the apples out of the pudding.
Mercy	Mercy looks at the Figgy Pudding. Er... boss... Mercy reaches out to just scoop out some of the, uh... 'boss?' nearest one of the golden apples. Mercy eats the pudding.
Gilgamesh	The goblin takes the card from Touta and looks at it. "Sorry. We're union. We go to the next gig. If you wanna hire us to populate a dungeon you'll hafta talk to our manager." The goblin then proceeds to punch him in the face. Seventeen, meanwhile, hijacks one of the hammers without trouble. The goblin, now deprived of its weapon, just sits down and waits to be killed. This time, when the goblins respawn, they respawn with colored sheets. One of them is red-and-green, one of them is red-and-white, and one of them is gold-and-silver. The red-and-green goblin has a card in his hand. "Ooooo. We are the ghosts of Gilcember Past," "Present," says the red-and-white one, "AND YEEEET TO COOOOOOOOME!" says the gold-and-silver one. He's clearly the most into it, waving his hands and everything. "If we touch you," Past-y says, "you'll get sent back to the beginning of the maze!" Past-y lunges for Cu Chulainn! Present-y goes surging for Sanary! Yet-y comes floating towards Touta!! A Gilgamesh pop-up adds, THE GHOSTS ARE INVINCIBLE AND CANNOT BE HARMED. DON'T GET CORNERED! USE THE HAMMER TO BREAK THROUGH WALLS AND CREATE ESCAPE ROUTES WHILE YOU TRY TO CORNER THE KING OF FIGGY PUDDING!
Enkidu	Enkidu smiles and waves at Sanary. His(?) nose blinks some more. Assaulting the PETTY KING OF FIGGY PUDDING(tm) appears to be more difficult than it looks. Water spells burst around it, showering the monster -- and it seems to be mildly water-resistant, most of it washing over the surface and onto the ground. It leaves a big puddle. Bits of pudding are in the puddle, though. The thing quivers dangerously --!! A jet of HOLIDAY-THEMED WRATH erupts from the side of the Slime Boss, a column of pudding with a shape like a fist at the end. It opens up and grabs at Maya in mid-flight, propelling her back into the maze and forming into a sort of squishy, constricting ring around her. It also seems to be extremely bouncy, ricocheting her off walls and towards the rest of the group at high speed! Arthur attacks with harsh words and broom-related beats. He finds it quivering at him after the first, and jiggling madly after the second. What look like teardrops of pudding fall from the 'front' of the boss, glorping on the ground. One of the apples, knocked around but not out by the whacking, comes out with the tears. It rolls slowly away from it on the floor. A tremendous pudding-fist materializes and makes to treat Arthur like a very loud-mouthed nail that needs to be driven into the floor. A second one follows, but Zero cuts it off. It turns into seemingly normal figgy pudding and makes a huge mess, but his sabre doesn't slash through the exterior of the creature at all! There's just too much of it! Sarracenia just comes in and hammers the thing with all her might. The entire boss ripples, and there's a tremendous 'BOOM' as it rockets away, sent sailing into the air and over the walls. It ends up hitting the ceiling, bouncing again, and getting dropped towards the floor, crown and all. None of the apples have been knocked free, but they do get bounced around inside of it. Maybe you need something to break the skin...? Aoko, incidentally, is directly underneath the Slime Boss as it goes to land. Moving is probably ideal. Mercy's handful of boss monster is spongy and thick. It is not appetizing in the least. She probably got a bit of dislodged pudding-monster-skin from the water works and general violence.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Well, the gods don't usually ask for money...but...shrug! Inga shakes her head, her eyes returning to non-creepy position. "WE HAVE TO PUT THE APPLES IN THE CUP!" she shouts, cupping her hands around her mouth to make her voice carry toward others. Then maybe feed it to a child, or something? Hopefully putting the apples in the cup will be enough. Inga looks back toward Touta and flashes him a quick smile. "Thank you, here," she says, and pulls a knife--what? That's a strange way to say thank you! Oh wait, she's stabbing herself then throwing blood at him. It's a ward of protection. It shimmers around him a faint, crimson and gold cloud that makes him feel /just excellent/. Peppy and protected! "Alright, forward!" but does anyone nearby have a hammer? Too many walls, not enough hammers. Inga is not particularly adept at smashing through walls, and thus will draw her blood again, ready to heal anyone that needs it--which as she notices Maya sail over her head, she guesses might be her. But as she is being constricted by pudding... Inga hisses an incantation, her blood rising then rushing toward Maya, splashing onto the pudding stuff constricting her. Rather than heal, Inga's blood now appears to burn like acid. Hopefully that will be enough to release her.
Cu Chulainn	Cu Chulainn doesn't get to the boss - he's too busy getting intercepted by a ghost. Dematerializing his spear briefly, he moves that free hand to grab Felt by the coat, and then, he starts running. The Lancer is /fast/. He dodges out of the way, hopefully avoiding Felt getting hit as well, and uses the hammer in his other hand to break walls so he doesn't get pinned in a corner, trying to use his speed to outrace the goblin-ghost. His goal is simple... Cu's going to try and make a winding course that'll tire the goblin, and then return to the figgy pudding and try and attack it for an apple. If instead the goblin isn't tired, he'll continue around this course through the maze. He keeps his ears on alert, so if the goblin tries going the other way, he can avoid it. This is way more effort than Cu actually needs to put into this...but don't tell anyone, he's enjoying it. It's all a big game to him. Felt, meanwhile, is not enjoying it. But who cares about Felt's opinion?
Orchid	As she works her way through the maze, Orchid is still not fighting the Goblins, but will be using her energy shields to push them away. She's not paid enough to hurt the goblins herself. There was an apple that the pudding hadn't absorbed, right? Orchid thinks there was, at least. Once she gets through the maze to the pudding, Orchid is going to go for THAT apple. Once she gets it, she'll... figure out who has the cup. Things are kinda chaotic.
Maya	Maya's experience in being a dungeon crawler works against her,m as she ends up not only cheesing off the slime monsters. Before she can react she's end up getting grabbed buy it. Covered in some portion of goo and flung back into the maze she would bounce around like a pinball heading right for the party. She will come to a stop eventually one way or another either by crashing into someone or she'll end up bouncing between two walls for a bit and finally be left on the dungeon floor dazed and a bit confused. She might even be seeing little Helgak flying about her head for a moment. It's going to take her a second to get back to her feet after being knocked about like that.
Android 17	Seventeen grabs the cup, looking at it and then looking at the creature. Seventeen throws his hammer towards Sanary, once he doesn't need it anymore. He considers the monster, and what is going on. Parts of it cut away turn back into pudding...and don't regrow, but it's very solid and resistant...and attacks with water just seem not to work at all. Normal attacks seem to do nothing to it...grabbing the cup seems like a pointless endevor... Eh, why not. Seventeen dives into the creature. With the cup.
Touta Konoe	Touta seriously needs to talk to these guys about how these unions work later but for now he instead gets punched in the face just out of the blue. There's no malice or anything behind it and it's just so blatantly random that it by passes his defenses. While Inga's blood magic probably would be beneficial to a vampire sadly...He's not a usual vampire and as soon as that blood begins to shimmer into that cloud...It drops to the floor all the same. Sadly this boy doesn't take magical buffs too well... Which is a shame since that would probably come in handy as the ghost of Christmas Yet-y charges at him. He doesn't have a weapon to work with unfortunately and if he dodges Inga's likely to be sent back to the maze. So Touta's forced to improvise... "...I really, really hope that health care coverage you guys have covers this." There's a bit of a sly smile on the boy's face. He did not appreciate getting punched so randomly. The boy takes the wrist of the fist that just punched him, and swings the goblin he gave the card to like a mallet towards the ghost with the strength that is unbefitting of someone Touta's size. He's literally fighting goblin with goblin right now. And if that works out he does recall one of the hints referring to the maze walls being destroyable by the mallets. He doesn't have one of the mallets but if he swings the goblin hard enough he can treat it like one right? "I'll try talking to your boss later. Thanks for the hand by the way!"
Sanary Rondel	"I think so. I mean, how else do you explain it glowing all day and all night? And... Never turning off. Making everything look purple. Never turning off." After Sanary reveals the reason for the bags under her eye, she raises an eyebrow at the suggestion of launching the cup via... Whatever a railgun is. Note to self: Look up what a railgun is later. "Probably! If you.. Uh. Know how to do that by hand or with magic or something." She's not great at puzzles, so Aoko's idea sounds as good as any! Mercy's seems like it could work, too, but the axe healer isn't quite in a position to wait and see when she hears the goblin ghost's announcing their presences. If the Gilgapop didn't announce what they would do, she'd have half a mind to just catch Present-y. Alas, that is not to be, and Sanary is forced to run! "Ah crap oh dammit someone GIVE HAMMER!" She shouts towards nobody in particular and with less grammatical structure than even she has a tendency to use, although the initial shock gives way to more amused laughter. If she's going to look stupid running away from a goblin in a sheet while dressed up as a raccoon bear thing, she might as well enjoy it. "Hah.. Thanks, Seve-" Catching the hammer with her face as well, Sanary barely manages to catch it in mid drop before adjusting her path to go towards the direct of the pudding boss! Instead of striking with the hammer in front of her, though, she starts swinging the hammer all around herself haphazardly as she runs. It's tiring, it's inefficient, but she's banking on making the maze much easier to progress through should she, Cu, or Touta get caught by a ghost! Or for anyone else that's still lost in the maze, for that matter. Also, because she's not confident in her ability to not trip over the waist-high walls going at top speed.
Aoko Aozaki	The third goblin personally offends Aoko. As if the future could inconvenience the present! Absurd. It's the present's duty to inconvenience the future. Sadly, she doesn't have time to ponder about such things when the giant slime monster decides it wants to flatten her up. She moves! Of course she moves. She's not a tank, not even in the slightest. It's a bit of a close call, but leaping away does the trick for now. When she lands, she roots herself in place, though - no more moving. Time to do what she likes doing. Several large spell circles form under and ahead of Aoko as she points her hand towards the slime boss... or maybe more accurately, towards Android 17. "Barrel, expand! Set, and...!" There is a gigantic blue beam. It's larger than the slime creature, but just as it passes through the final circle, it compresses into being rougly 17's size instead. If he can take a falling ship, he can take and scatter a laser inside the boss, surely!
Android 17	Seventeen turns towards the light. The light that Aoko is firing. The ANDROID BARRIER comes to life, because fuck that.
Mercy	Mercy grimaces. Well, she had to try - and hey, why not be the one to do so? That combat-level self-healing is good thing... plus she'd generally know if she got poisoned or not. Yaaay, medicine. That all said and done, Mercy takes a few steps to the side, lifts her staff- and starts swinging at the corner of the blob, aiming to quite literally club chunks out of the Figgy Pudding.
Zero	Swords don't work on gelatinous creatures? He was pretty sure it worked before. Somehow. He can't remember but he feels like it SHOULD HAVE WORKED. Zero falls back upon this revelation, using his Z-Saber to bat away any loose pudding tentacles that aimed to catch him off guard as he used a free hand to unholster his gun. The Z-Saber's beam dissipates as the hilt of the sword is loaded into the top of a gun with a click. Zero doesn't get a chance to fire it off though, as 17 decides to dive into the pudding head first. And then Aoko blasts it. He's fine with this though, watching the spectacle is pretty fun. Also he trusts that at least one of these solutions is going to solve the boss problem.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur puts up both hands, interposing the broom between him and the massive strike. The effect of this is an absolutely massive crushing noise, and Arthur himself likely being smushed heavily into the ground. Though he's encased his body in a shield of gravity, it's hardly enough to block the full bulk of the damage, which leaves a chunk taken out of his HEALTH VIAL. He's still crawling out of the hole made in the ground when it lands from the hammer impact. "HELL YEAH! You ready to WORK for a living, BIG GUY?!" He calls out. Something... Hmmm. Something about this sparks in his mind. Why did the "tears" pull the apples out? What broke the "skin"? Maybe it's emotionally sensitive? Maybe something with the gravity? No, that's just kinetic impulse. Must have been the words. Arthur scrambles out and at least gets to work. A quick flick of the wrist and he can toss the apple he procured to Orchid. "YO, FRUIT FOREST, HEADS-UP!" He calls out. Then he gets back to work. Despite all of his shouts, he actually isn't a huge fan of making emotionally vulnerable enemies cry, which means when he approaches next, he's a little more direct. Specifically, he tries to rush in and angle his approaches around striking where apples are nearest the surface, all with the intent of bashing them towards Android 17, where he can hopefully scoop them right up into the cup. "Gimmie more of that PAIN! I got too much SPARE BLOOD here WOBBLES, you got that OOMPH for me?! C'MON! COME OOOOONNNN!! You think I'm 'boutta earn some NICE LIST without BLEEDING FOR IT? Get me some'a that ATONEMENT, motherfucker! Give GIL all the BANG FOR HIS BUCK!"
Sarracenia	Whether she gets one of the level's hammers or not, Sarra also has a hammer of her own. With her attempt at dislodging the apples a failure, she joins Arthur in knocking apples toward Seventeen. She's really not sure what she can do other than that if smashing and explosions didn't work. "You are even louder than I am!" she shoulds at Arthur. Her swings are much more measured this time, displaying how much skill she actually has in using the oversized weapon.
Enkidu	Orchid does not find an extra apple. She finds a damp spot where an apple used to be. It jumped on it and grabbed it. She does find an enormous festive basket, though! Seventeen, on the other hand, finds... no resistance?! The Cup touches the side of the Boss Slime and passes through it like the surface of water. He goes straight on in. It's kind of like being wrapped too tightly in a sleeping bag. It's weird. The apples are all floating around him, just begging to be cupified, however... that... works...? Sticking one into the cup makes the apple disappear, though, and a tiny golden apple-shaped stud appears on the outside of the cup. So that seems to work! When an apple disappears into the cup, there's a ringing sound in the maze. A bundle of candy canes appears in mid-air and drops off into a remote passage, begging to be retrieved. The Petty King of Figgy Pudding compresses, ready to leap -- but Cu and Mercy keep it down. The spear sinks in just enough to prevent it from moving, anchoring it to the floor. Bits don't fall off, but Mercy makes hollow drumming noises as she hits it. Inside, 17 has to deal with the shocks from each impact, which Sarra and Arthur turn into a sort of art form, moving around the boss to knock the apples towards 17. It still also knocks him around, making it kind of like being inside a really small bouncy castle and trying to snatch things in mid-air during an earthquake. It's fun! Sort of. The Slime Boss responds to his taunts by burbling angrily, and growing two enormous arms. It flexes mightily. Both hands rise up, grasping together, looking like some kind of atomic age Russian wrestler's limbs for dispensing Communist fury. There's another burble--!!! Aoko shoots a big ol' laser into the side of the boss. The ANDROID BARRIER intercepts it, dispersing it. The Petty King promptly explodes. The entire maze gets showered in pudding. It glops over everyone and everything. In the midst of the shower of dessert, golden apples rain down, cushioned by the gooey coating and bouncing all over the place, apparently immune to harm while they're so engulfed. Now all you have to do is retrieve them and stick 'em in the cup! Good work! Enkidu is mysteriously untouched by the pudding shower. They probably didn't make a sprite for that.
Orchid	Hey! A basket! Orchid uses this to first catch the apple thrown at her by Arthur, then the ones raining down. She'll make sure they get into the cup, then will go for the candy canes, hoping that they haven't been wrecked by the drop.
Cu Chulainn	As Cu pins the Slime Boss, he's kind of grossed out by the goop, but, eh, what can you do? As the others attack and grab apples, Cu keeps it pinned... And then it explodes from a laser, covering him and Felt in goop. Cu wipes it off his face and hair, while Felt covers his face. As the apples rain down though, they could grab them... Or, they could get candy canes. So, as apples are put into the cup and more and more candy canes appear, Cu Chulainn moves to use his agility and hammer to pick them up for the group. With Orchid's help, they should be able to collect them all.
Android 17	Seventeen lays flat on the ground still surrounded by the android barrier after Aoko's beam and the barrier collided. He is staring right up at the celing...even as a blob of pudding hits his face. "That was fun." he says, wiping his face off and grabb the cup. He just starts putting apples inside, because that's about all there is to it. He thumbs up at Aoko, then Arthur, who helped push apples into the cup. Once enough apples are gathered, Seventten starts grabbing candy canes. He did work, he deserves prizes too. After all, he DOES have a goal in all of this.
Inga Freyjasdottir	And just as most altercations seem to end, Inga ends up covered in something gross. She pulls out a handkerchief to wipe her face and sighs. Inga reaches down and picks up a few of the apples the rolled near her, holding them in the apron of her dress, then walks over to Seventeen to place them in the cup. "Well done," she says.
Sanary Rondel	"Alright! I'm here to... Hel... P." Sanary bursts out of the maze as she finally finishes swinging that hammer around, leaving a path of destruction in her wake and just a moment too late to actually do anything against the PUDDING BOSS. Not one to let that setback discourage her (too much), Sanary notices that there's also candy canes falling into the maze! Time to backtrack. Nobody seems to be too injured, at least, but Seventeen does get a healing cloud sent his way as Sanary moves to start gathering canes as well. "Yeesh.. You fast people and your.. Fastness. I'll do better once we get to a strength challenge, just you watch!" There's a competitive confidence in her tone as she calls that out, but there's still an amused tone in her voice as well. And just a hint of stubbornness. Or a lot. Yes, a lot.
Mercy	Mercy starts gathering apples after she spots more rolling away. She looks - and acts - content to just... not fight, and instead just chill and collect things to put them elsewhere. It's like she's playing Operation! or something ... just apples into a cup, instead of a plastic bone. "Knew I should've given the blackberry wine instead of the pears." %
Gilgamesh	Once all the apples are restored to the cup, the ghosts disappear, the goblins vanish, the maze flattens out, and there's a loud DAN-DANA-DANNNNN noise. A silver key falls out of the sky, sitting on the floor. A helpful tutorial sign falls out of the ceiling with Enkidu's face on it. REMEMBER TO COLLECT THE KEY TO GO UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL! A treasure chest falls next to it. Another tutorial sign falls out of the ceiling and points at the chest. TREASURE CHESTS SOMETIMES CONTAIN STOCKINGS! DID THIS ONE? The whole room flashes rainbow for a moment as the treasure chest's lock spins like a one-armed bandit. Gilface...Gilface...Gilface! Ch-chack! The chest opens, and everyone gets ONE stocking. As a tutorial gift! STOCKINGS CAN BE OPENED AT THE GIFTE SHOPPE FOR FABULOUS PRIZES!
Maya	Maya recovers from the pinballing she's back on her feet now and is promptly gooped. Maya seems okay with this state of affairs, heck she bursts out laughing. Soon old hold habits kick in and she'll start looting apples, she'll also perhaps try to get a candy cane, not too many she just wants something to remind her of this glorious mess she's fallen into. She will help by turning in all the apples to the cup. She will also happily make off with her stocking as well.
Arthur Lowell	The matter seems to have been solved! Arthur heads out to grab apples and candycane, working on getting them together by CAPTCHALOGUING them into his SYLLADEX. And once it's all done, he raises both hands in VICTORY STANCE! "HELL YEAH!" He exclaims eagerly, pumping both fists, and eagerly digging right into the fun of gambling! Once it's done, he... he actually seems to have /his own/ game systems, because his visible STOCKINGS number actually increments! Somehow he also appears to have gained a portion of SNOW GRIST, CANDYCANE GRIST, and COAL GRIST from defeating the boss as well, which isn't even in Gil's game design, but man it sure seems to be happening. He stretches out, working out the kinks in his shoulder. "Shit, homie. That was HEAVY. Hope they got a SHOWER up in this motherfucker, and a good WASHING MACHINE." He peers around. "Alright, watch for the STAIRS, that shit's DANGEROUS." He warns, looking for the way up, and hoping it's an elevator.
Sarracenia	King Goop explodes...and Sarracenia freezes like a statue. Then she shudders before finally letting out a trembling, "Eeeeeeeeew!" She tries to shake some of the goo off her arms and wipes at her face, and one can practically see steam rising from her. "My specially made Christmas Cutie dress!! Someone will pay for this!!" she exclaims in a shrill voice that might crack glass with its high pitch and volume. She then stomps her way out of the tower and toward her small cabin. But then...there are also prizes! She sighs softly and makes her way over to pick up her stocking before resuming her course toward the cabin her troops built. She steps inside, and emerges a moment later in another Christmas-themed dress. This one is green and looks much more like something one of Santa's elves might wear. Shimmering emerald green with white cotton trim and golden accents. Even a pointed green hat as part of her crown! "Aaah...much better. Thank you all for your assistance in defeating this monstrocity!" she says, suddenly all cheerful again. "You are all welcome to hot cocoa at my personal cabin~"
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga looks toward Sarracenia. She doesn't know her at all, but she nods to her. "I thank you for your offer of hospitality. I accept," she replies soberly, while inside going 'oh boy! hot cocoa! YAAAY!' probably.
Sanary Rondel	The reward: A BIG SOCK. It's a sock. Sanary seems skeptical, but of course she's going to try wearing it now. "This thing's too big." It takes her a while to realize/hear that it's meant to be brought to the Gift Shoppe for prizes. Once she does, however, she puts the stocking away, and munches on a candy cane. She'll pool up her stockings for big disappointment later.
Mercy	Mercy takes her stocking and her candy canes, and heads to the board. "Miss Inga, this is the sign that points to the Gifte Shoppe. It's this way." Mercy points helpfully. Mercy than swings to the side to go hang out with Enkidu.