Improvisation

Gil didn’t waste time, and immediately threw himself through the portal. Despite Noa’s immediate g rated tirade about how he was a lying meanie, he was genuinely trying to help. His best idea was to rework his existing plan while Silky tried to keep Noa calm.

He’d been planning on purchasing an extra stamp with 4 normal credits converted into stamp credits. Since “extra stamps” counted as a different binding than normal stamps, he could have used it to capture Noa if the sphere managed to grab Terra. Unfortunately, now he had to take care of Terra-the-Seru instead while Terra-the-wolf relaxed in his capture sphere, on the verge of **** by old age and borderline useless to him.

He ran to the money changer, made his purchase, and rushed to the small box under the tree. He nearly tripped over the pile of small game animals Zena and Keilnei had dropped off earlier in the day. Moments later, he jumped out of the portal and slammed the Extra Stamp down onto the small green creature. Then he hefted Terra and turned back to the pulsing yellow pillar.

“Silky, come along.” He ordered, “I might need you.”

“Gil,” Terra spoke into his mind. “I can see your thoughts. I know you didn’t intend this. Please, we must speak. In only a few minutes I’ll revert to an egg. The power of a Genesis Tree will allow me to hatch. I’ll be fine, Noa-“

“Shut up, I have a plan.” He snapped at her, running to the Arcane Sanctum. Thankfully, it was fully charged. He tossed the Ra-Seru to Silky before they got inside, and was glad to have done so.

The process of Terra fusing to a host was far more graceful than that of the Gimard; she almost seemed to melt and shape herself around Silky’s palm, forming a fingerless green glove. Despite this, the effort was clearly **** for everyone involved. Terra drew in massive amounts of energy as she reshaped to fit Silky, enough for the Sanctum to plummet to zero percent. Silky fell to the ground, and for a moment Gil worried he had royally fucked up, but she still lived. In fact, her tier jumped from 2 to 4 (augmented) over the course of the process.

“Damn.” He said appreciatively. “Not bad. Too bad it doesn’t touch her sell price.”

Unfortunately, she was also down for the count. When Gil examined her, Terra glowed and he heard her in his mind.

“This is a very strange girl.” Terra said, “I’m afraid we will need to let her rest. She won’t awaken for hours, I suspect. I haven’t had time to get to know her and ease the transition. Please, I’ll be fine here. Help Noa. Get her somewhere safe.”

She was answered with a noncommittal grunt. Gil was busily going over his missions, hoping for something worth trying or an angle to aim for.

Convince a Ra-Seru to take you or a non-native retinue member as it’s bearer without compromising its mind.

Reward: 5 Credits, Memento Vive, Unlock Basic Inventory upgrade for purchase.

Success!

Memento Vive- allows the user to sell one member of the retinue without killing them or erasing their memories. They will be sent back to a relatively safe location in their homeworld with their memories intact and all augments reset. If they are dead, they will be resurrected. They will remain captured, but their sell price will become nothing.

“Not what I was hoping for… unless…”

Mission: Save a non-retinue member from Seru possession by physically carrying them out of the mist and into a safe area.

Reward: 0 credits, Scroll of Wish (5th Edition)

“Well that’s an idea…” Gil mused, “Damn, no. She’s pretty strong and that’ll only work if she gets possessed in the first place. They might just kill her. Mission later, triage now.”

He ran through all of his other items, looking for anything that would allow for a quick capture. If he sold Ireena or Rose with the Shiho card he could get a binding or an effective binding, but in both cases that would mean leaving the girls in the form of an unpowered high school student. Not worth the loss of power, even if they survived the ensuing chaos. He still had a blue capture ticket if he really wanted to go for broke, but then it would be nearly impossible to capture one of the seru for his personal use if he saw something more animalistic.

He had a few Doors of Light, which could get Noa out of the cave at the very least. Of course, then she’d have no clue where to go. Still, it was her best chance. He grabbed a few of the healing leaves Candress had already stowed for later, forming something that looked like a plan in dim light.

“Noa.” He said, stepping through the portal with Silky slung over one shoulder. “I’m sorry, but we need to leave to get you help. Terra is hurt, but she will be ok.”

“You’re leaving me?” She asked, eyes going wide. The poor thing looked like she was on the verge of tears.

“Only for a short time.” Terra promised, with more hope than sense. “Perhaps Gil could leave his friend Blackpaw with you?”

Gil sighed.

“Fine.” He agreed. “He isn’t smart like Terra, but he’ll do what he can.”

If all else failed and they both died, Gil could always sell Blackpaw, or resurrect him with a character card. Those things had gone from something of a novelty to an invaluable resource as he learned more about how they worked. He wanted more. For now, though, he showed Noa how to use a Door of Light to flee in the event that she couldn’t stay any longer, and rushed out to find backup. He needed to think of a damn plan.

••••••••••

And our last poll for this segment… what are we doing before Gil dips out? Who are we leaving, if anyone?

https://strawpoll.com/GeZAR1w5RyV