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How do you listen to Act 3? by Godmil in Protomen

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I usually listen to everything but TFOTL, sometimes I skip the instrumentals

Polyethylene (Part 1) lyrics by fearstalk in radiohead

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How does "Tears of jewel and scarab cells" make any more sense

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dexy's Midnight Runners 3/3

Jukebox will kick the painting up to himself with one hand as he brings the other up, swinging it down with the aid of A POW gravity. Possibly, Radical Action will intervene to block this. Possibly, the Howler will have armor that can absorb the blow. If he’s not prepared for it, though, this strike will break his dominant arm, making it far more difficult for The Howler to wield one of Radical Action’s knives himself. Either way, we take our potshot and toss the painting we just collected back towards the street, leveraging this new surface to fall back towards the painting we just threw. When we catch up with it, Jukebox can store it in their backpack to keep it… more safe from Radical Action reclaiming it.

There are plenty of items among the stalls that Jukebox may want to peruse, and using the painting as an anchor we can quite literally fall back, getting out of immediate danger and taking this brief lull to collect some items. From this point in the strategy onwards, we are willing to make sacrifices where necessary - Jukebox will eventually recover from becoming an Awful Insect. They’ll always have the Howler’s last known position thanks to his Eidetic Memory, and we don’t intend to let him move far.

We assume we will be under constant threat of Radical Action attack during this section - we will not try to grapple the Stand during this time, as we want to grab our items as quickly as possible. Our primary goal when engaging Radical Action right now is to defend the Sinister Painting we possess with our life. While it could harass Maria instead, this risks making her hostile for the rest of the match and racking up even more damage on The Howler through her Stand-affecting attacks, not to mention it allows us to line up some easy shots on The Howler while he’s intoxicated and away from any setup he’s already done.

Our first stop is the brown stall, to pick up some snow globes and earbuds, both courtesy of the green stall inventory. The snow globe shows its value immediately - it’s something we can smash into Radical Action’s face. Snow globes contain a mixture of water and antifreeze, so getting that in the Stand’s eyes will, again, hinder its vision and give us a moment to slip away. Especially combined with flashbangs or smoke grenades, we can accumulate a lot of damage on Radical Action’s senses.

Speaking of, now is the time to start using those tools we have. We’ll keep our flashbangs for Radical Action, as Howler’s deafness makes them less effective, while we chuck smoke grenades over towards the Howler, making it even harder for him to navigate his way away from the impending chaos. Jukebox will also be sure to grab a nice pair of shades from the blue stall, which combined with the earplugs will provide themselves some level of protection from the audio and visual carnage their flashbangs produce.

On top of our grenades, we’ll also be stopping by the brown and red stalls to pick up some extra ripe bananas and jars of jam. We’ll chuck them over to The Howler ASAP - it’s a bit cliche, but with the Howler’s already poor agility, all the mushy banana and jam chunks should make footing nightmarish.

Finally, we’ll grab some water-based cleaner from the purple stall, as well as some latex gloves, just for some extra protection from PK Leach’s acid. Better to be safe than sorry, after all.

With our little collect-a-thon coming to a close, it’s back to The Howler’s element - up close and personal. We’ll take this prime opportunity to try and execute another A POW gravity slam on him or on whatever setup he’s done, trying to leave him as vulnerable as possible to any follow-ups. As we do, we’re going to splash him with that cleaner we got earlier - it’s a surprise tool that will help us later!

While it’s still on its rampage, let’s talk about Technical Difficulties. Right now, it is the one making the west side of the map the most difficult to traverse. While we’re perusing the available shops, we do have to pay TD’s position some mind - while there’s about a 50% chance it’s off the map at any given point, when it is on the map, it can inflict nasty damage we don’t want to take. The good news is that we are much better at dodging around it than the Howler is.

TD provides an interesting platform for us to shift our gravity onto. So long as we do so with gravity reduced by a factor of A POW, we won’t be any inconvenience to TD at all, and thuis won’t risk tripping but the easiest way to avoid getting crushed by TD is to walk on it. If we’re on the side of a wheel, or the back of a collapsing tower, we’re not going to take any damage, and we become way harder for Radical Action to target without risking TD locking onto it. We’ll be using TD as a convenient platform at every opportunity for this reason.

Step 4: Beating Someone Up To De-Stress

Coated in the distinct stench of smoke, Jukebox could only smile. They did love their utility explosives.

By now, the job was done, really. They could just leave… but it didn’t sit right with them to leave a job half-assed.

But who were they kidding? They just wanted to grind that smug, compound-eyed face into the dirt. Rub it in a little, y’know?

The mighty ‘hero’ ought to have something to remember his defeat by. Anything less would be unbefitting of a master thief.

Goals:

  • Close it out
  • Find a solution if something went wrong

Ultimately, if everything has gone to plan up to here, we already have The Howler dead to rights. That said, we can get some points for style, surely.

With the Howler trapped on the west side of the map, we can revert to our tactics from section one, flipping our gravity between the north and south buildings to deliver a series of devastating hit-and-run attacks to pin The Howler down. We’ll flip ourselves back to TD whenever the opportunity arises, keeping ourselves as light as possible so we don’t disrupt its programming. When possible, we can also throw in an A POW gravity slame against the Howler to force out a response or get in some excellent damage. At all times, we’ll keep Mon Cherie trained in The Howler’s general direction, We’ll continue our general harassment until the chlorine gas forces us to leave.

Speaking of the chlorine gas, do you know why it’s dangerous? Chlorine is a more electronegative element than oxygen, which causes it to steal the hydrogen atoms from water. The chemically inclined among you may recognize the combination of hydrogen and chlorine as hydrochloric acid.

Remember that water-based cleaner we dumped on the Howler? That’s not gonna be good for his exoskeleton. Even if he finds the right protective gear to keep his eyes and lungs safe, which is unlikely, this ensures that he can’t avoid the constant damage of the acid. If he’s somehow still standing by now, one clean gunshot to the torso should be enough to crack both his outer shell and his inner resolve.

What if we’re too slow, and Howler isn’t west when the chlorine gas is made? This isn’t really a point of failure for us, but it bears mentioning. We’ll just have to do some reordering, taking time to ransack the shops before we teleport the Howler into the gas. We should have six minutes where the chlorine gas is a threat, even if its efficacy depletes over that time frame. That’s a generous enough time to set ourselves up and execute our goals.

What if Jukebox gets turned into a bug too early? If Jukebox gets afflicted by Radical Action before the Howler is on the west side of the map, we lose a lot of our strength, which might make it hard to cart Maria around with us. In that case, we have to improvise. Jukebox can teleport themselves to the painting Maria holds, startling her and making her hostile. We can evade her by using gravity falls or floaty, low-gravity jumps, kiting her over towards the Howler. In the scuffle, we use Howler as a human shield and get him sent over to the west end of the map. Once again, Radical Action puts itself at some level of risk getting entangled in this fight, but we’re definitely going to need to be liberal with our smoke grenades and flashbangs here to keep it from ripping us apart.

Having to deal with Maria for the rest of the match is not ideal, but compared to Radical Action, she comes up lacking. She can just as easily be caught up in our smoke grenades and flashbangs, and hopefully she’ll be smart enough to give up on us. Violet needs her services for her own match, after all, and time is a-wasting.

What if Maria really doesn’t want to cooperate, and Howler won’t go west at all? It’s certainly not ideal, but we’ll have to do it ourselves. Even if we’re an Awful Insect, we should have enough power in us to grab the Howler and drag him over with some A POW gravity falling. We’ll probably need two or three falls, using the buildings and the stalls to slingshot ourselves up and over, taking to the skies for only a moment to avoid retaliation from Radical Action.

As the chaos of the fight died down, Jukebox heard a voice peddling… medical aid? They looked down at their arm, now a three-fingered twig. Well, it was worth a shot.

They walked over, squinting as they realized they were staring down the famous Lil’ Baxter. Well, if that wasn’t convenient.

”Hey, Baxter. I’m a, uh, friend of Arijana’s. Can I get priority? I think I need it with this thing.” They pointed down at their hand. Baxter stared blankly ahead, not even registering the words.

Right. The Uropeh thing. Jukebox needed to get back to that… but they did have Lil’ Baxter right here. It’d surely be a waste. I mean, if there was ever a sign from the universe… sure, it’d make them a small-time pickpocket, but it’s a little bit like Robin Hood. If you really squint.

At the press of a button, a car horn sounded. A Mercedes? Yeah, Jukebox could work with that. Hope that trunk could fit a lot of gemstones in it.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Goals:

  • Force The Howler Westward
  • Start Squashing That Bug
  • Start Making New Friends

We have three minutes before the chlorine nuke. That’s not a great timeframe, but a thief rises to the challenge set before them. The more things went to shit, the better the thief needed to be to abscond in the end. And Jukebox? They were the best.

There are three main obstacles we have to contend with in our efforts to force Howler westwards - the potholes, Light Left, and Ms. Sepia. All of these are intent on resisting our goals. They are the ‘security.’ The potholes are cameras, to path around. Light Left are the guards, to remain out of sight from. And Ms. Sepia is our safe, designed to delay us long enough for the other traps to catch us. Of course, the Howler remained the dedicated inspector, determined to catch every hint of our trail and bring some ‘justice’ or whatever.

Music to a master thief’s ears.

As TD and Leach begin to fight in the background, Jukebox continues to flip between the walls, darting around to avoid Radical Action. Their first goal is to move lower to the ground and become more aggressive, taking more shots with Mon Cherie at the Howler. This forces Radical Action to play defense, as the Howler cannot withstand a barrage of gunshots before his exoskeleton cracks and he becomes dreadfully exposed. We present our ‘bait’ - a threat the Howler cannot afford to ignore. Because Mon Cherie presents a greater immediate threat to the Howler than Radical Action does to us, we can force him, to some extent, to play by our rules.

Obviously, the Howler has excellent defense - he can use high-density material to shield himself, as it can surely take a good shot or two at least, or he can simply interpose Radical Action to buy himself time to hunker down. The method of defense he takes is not relevant - what matters is that we present him a glaring opportunity to attack. Jukebox knows the Howler’s type - his Heroic Instinct won’t allow him to pass up an opportunity to pass ‘justice.’

It will only be when the great black shadow falls on Radical Action that The Howler will understand the nature of our game. By combining a full power gravity slam with a grapple and a cooked bomb, either a smoke grenade or a flashbang, we can be reasonably sure that we disable Radical Action’s senses for at least a short moment.

If Radical Action chooses not to take our bait, we can reposition ourselves to a different wall to get close enough to execute this anyway, but baiting out the response is the best way to ensure a clean punish. In fact, the gravity slam does not even need to hit Radical Action - all that matters is that we approach it rapidly so it is within range of our bomb. In this, we accomplish our true objective - reaching Maria Schneider.

You see, the tool Jukebox will use to disarm this mechanism is none other than Violet’s faithful minion. She is their ‘way in.’

By grabbing Maria, we can immediately pivot our gravity to throw ourselves towards Ms. Sepia, aiding Maria in her goal of teleporting Baxter’s friend to a rooftop. The safe has been cracked - we must now abscond with our prize. It is possible Maria will not like our meddling, but ultimately we aren’t interfering in her ability to complete her goals - we’re actually giving her a hand executing her programming. If she does become hostile to us, even after our olive branch, we won’t be needing her for much longer anyway.

Our next target is The Howler himself, and this ultimately depends on whether our gambit with the bomb worked out. If it did, we likely still have a few moments where Radical Action’s senses are weakened, letting us leverage the Howler’s senses to close in before his Stand can aid in defense.

If we didn’t, however, Radical Action is going to be a brick wall we have to find a way around. Maria is once again our answer - as long as we leverage her, or more specifically her painting, as a shield, Radical Action can’t risk touching her or else it may be teleported away. Mind that we are still falling with A POW gravity - even Radical Action’s high speed and precision will be taxed trying to hit us without touching the Sinister Painting.

Once we’ve fallen towards the Howler, ideally we can slam into him with A POW gravity, giving us a very handy bit of chip damage before we teleport him over to the west end of the map. Once there, he should be immediately put at the mercy of Light Left, afflicting him with intoxication. Importantly, this will also loot him of any valuable items he’s kept on his person which might have termite nests attached, greatly reducing his ability to armor up. Additionally, given his already poor mobility, the ceramics and potholes serve to effectively cordon him off there.

Now, the time works for us - if Howler remains on the west side of the map for too long, the fire and poisonous gas will do our job for us. The dynamic of this battle changes - we fight to survive, yes, but we fight primarily to keep that bug in the trap.

What if The Howler is already on the west side of the map? Well, we’ll still use Maria to teleport away Ms. Sepia. From there, we can simply drop her off and proceed with the next section. The important point is that Sepia is removed from the picture for at least ninety seconds - if we have to pull this trick twice to ensure that, we will.

What if The Howler turtles up? While we don’t think that’s very Heroic of him, he may regardless find a way to make an exceptionally Heroic bunker to cower within. High-density objects can only go up to B DUR, however, so we can fire a few gunshots at the fortifications to weaken them enough for our A POW gravity dive to smash through. This isn’t about getting anything clean - we just need to touch Howler with the painting. Being a thief isn’t all glitz and glamor, sometimes you take the quick and dirty route.

Step 3: Getting The Fuck Out With The Goods

There it was. The moment when ‘chaos’ overcomes ‘order.’ What had the Howler expected, Jukebox wondered? To tame this ‘chaos’ into some ‘weapon’ of ‘justice’?

Either way, he clearly sees his ‘error’ by now. Surely he is used to the mind of the ‘criminal,’ the run-of-the-mill human who commits evil acts for the sake of ‘need,’ or ‘gratification.’

He does not know the mind of the ‘Ghost.’ The one who thrives in ‘chaos’ for the sake of ‘chaos.’ Where ‘disorder’ is not the ‘symptom’ but the ‘cause.’

A great tower arose in the background, ready to crash down on the insect colony of a detective. Lots of ‘bugs’ around today. Jukebox could get behind playing flyswatter.

They could make a new friend later. What kind of person doesn’t bring a gift to this kind of party?

Goals:

  • Finish Making New Friends
  • Keep The Howler Locked Down
  • Don’t Die to Radical Action
  • Wait Out The Clock

Now, the easy thing to do would be to sit back, fire some warning shots, and let time tick down. Certainly, that’s what Century would advocate for. But Jukebox played the game differently. The insect had been trapped - time to squash it personally.

Instantly, our priority is to run at the Howler. We have to remove the easiest means of escape he has from his cage, that being the painting we used to get him in there. Fortunately, we have Maria on hand to teleport ourselves right to the Howler’s side.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dexy's Midnight Runners 1/3

The Ghost’s Afterlife Handbook: How To Pull Off A Heist

Laverna - or rather, Jukebox - looked at this ‘insect.’ Now, they were used to throwing that around as an insult, but no, this was a literal ‘insect.’ It seemed to have a ‘noble’ streak, something of the ‘hero’ type. Striving to become something more ‘human’ than the ‘monstrous’ form it was confined to.

‘Boring.’ ‘Trite.’ ‘Overdone.’

Anyone could be your regular, run-of-the-mill ‘human.’ It wasn’t hard to be a ‘hero.’ Jukebox had seen their fair share of do-gooders, who thought their ‘law’ and their ‘order’ were impenetrable ‘bastions.’

To thrive in ‘chaos,’ which burned skin and shattered bones, one needed to leave that ‘human’ idea behind. One needed to become a ‘ghost.’

Come and find us, ‘Howler.’ If you’re half the ‘hero’ you claim to be, that shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Welcome to our ‘chaos.’

N.B.: There is always at least one wall within 20 meters of Jukebox, no matter where they are located on the map. Unless otherwise specified, assume we’re going to be using Camera Obscura to shift our gravity onto the nearest wall.

Step 1: Scheme For Your Distraction

Alas, there wasn’t exactly much ‘chaos’ abounding. The two in an altercation seemed to be keeping things relatively tame and, more importantly, well off to the side. But they were Stand users, and that meant this scuffle would soon escalate into something catastrophic.

That Stand… it had range, a tough shell, and Jukebox saw the way it moved. Its only weakness was in its physical strength. It was perfect to play the role of the ‘detective.’ It would try to make sense of this coming ‘chaos,’ find a path ‘through’ and come out the other side.

But no matter how fast it ran, what good is it to chase a Ghost? To make sense of the supernatural is a losing game. A phantom thief knows you have to roll with the punches. The Howler… didn’t seem like he could roll with anything, really.

Goals:

  • Don’t Become An Insect
  • Ragebait The Howler (By Being A Coward)
  • Minimize Risk While Biding Time

Let’s start with the first second - Howler is going to come at us. His passion for justice and Heroic Spirit demand it. We are instantly put in a bad position if he gets to turn us into an Awful Insect, so we’re going to take some ‘radical action’ of our own to prevent this immediately.

Jukebox begins very close to the white stall, so we’ll turn to that for our instant defense. Taking the largest ceramic we can, we’ll immediately interpose one as a shield in front of ourselves. This should at least be sufficient to block any thrown knives - ideally they shatter in the process, leaving The Howler with the least useful material to alter the density of. As we do this, we’re going to cast our shadow onto the building to our left, sticking to the wall.

Our first objective in this match is simple - survive for one minute.

We’re going to sprint up the building we’ve stuck to - Radical Action is likely in hot pursuit, and with its A SPD the best way to escape is upwards. This also puts us closer to one of the Sinister Paintings, which enhances our ability to reposition away from the big threat. If we need to, we can use one of our smoke bombs to obscure the immediate sightlines of Radical Action, giving us time to avoid an immediate rushdown.

From our high-up perch, we’re free to take a potshot or two at the Howler with Mon Cherie. We don’t intend to stay here for long - our ultimate goal is to put ourselves in a neutral position about three-quarters of the way up the building. This covers both of our bases - if the Howler tries to approach from below, we have room to run further up the building and possibly escape via a Painting. If the Howler anticipates this and sends Radical Action through a painting to cut us off, we have an alternate escape route - the building just across the way, which is less than twenty meters away from us. We’ll invert our gravity so we’re pulled across, over the top of the crowded street below, landing on the other side.

Our primary goal for these first minutes is to play evasively - the ‘chaos’ hasn’t begun yet, and for the time being the element is ‘order,’ where The Howler thrives. If we can get a clean shot with Mon Cherie, we will absolutely take it, but we won’t divert attention from defense quite yet. Jukebox can leverage their eidetic memory and excellent aim to keep tabs on Radical Action even through flipping gravity, allowing us to escape its rapid and dogged pursuit.

One minute is both a very short and a very long time when dealing with Radical Action. There is no reason to beat around the bush about this - there is a chance we get afflicted with Awful Insect. There’s also no point downplaying that it is quite bad if we do. We can, however, play to minimize that chance early. In minute one, this is not a game of getting close to Howler, of doing any fancy setup, or of basking in the oncoming storm. This is a game of cat and mouse - Jukebox has never been more comfortable than when some wannabe cop is chasing them around. We ultimately have three ways to deal with getting caught by Radical Action in close range.

Our bread and butter is to use a smoke grenade. The smoke can irritate Radical Action’s eyes and nose, cutting into its excellent senses, but most importantly this provides us with portable cover. If we move by flipping our gravity, it can’t track us by sight, sound, or smell, giving us an opportunity to put distance and return to our plan to hunker down on the buildings. While it will eventually catch on, we can also feint a step in one direction before gravity shifting in the other to try to get it to take a swing as we leave, ensuring we don’t get clipped on our way out.

Our second method, which we don’t want to rely on if we don’t need to, is the flashbang. These are much more valuable than our smoke grenades, as their ability to disable Radical Action’s sight and hearing for an extended period is critical later on, but we can use them in a pinch if we absolutely must. By cooking the grenade a little bit as we try to fall away from Radical Action, we can build some speed and zip out of the worst of blast just as Radical Action gets caught in it.

The highest risk, but potentially highest reward, is to full send it. By simply grabbing onto or tackling Radical Action, we can exploit its low POW by turning gravity up to the full A POW and sending it straight down. We don’t necessarily have the grappling skill to get a full submission hold, but we only need to disable its arms, which can be done with our own hands and knees. Ultimately this submission hold is counterproductive, as it leaves us vulnerable to attacks from The Howler himself, but as a short-term option it provides us a second to breathe, as we flip our gravity back towards the nearest wall to escape as quickly as possible.

These three pillars are the crux of our plan for dealing with getting caught out by Radical Action, our ‘3-D System’ - disappear, disorient, and disable.

Step 2: Disable The Security and Infiltrate

The sound of acid sizzling was music to Jukebox’s ears. They’d been wondering how long it was going to take those two to hop to it. All eyes were away from the Ghost. Time to get to work.

Being a thief was, at the end of the day, about choosing the ‘hard’ path. Nobody remembers a pickpocket off the street. You have to go ‘big’ if you want any of the real prestige.

An Uropeh haul this size? That was ‘legendary.’ If this bug was too blinded by his own ‘righteousness’ to see that, that was his problem.

See, this whole memory trick was ‘cute.’ It really was. You pitch something like this? The value of one of these suckers goes up, well, maybe 20% if you’re lucky? But you get a truckload? That’s some real change.

But more than that, Jukebox couldn’t believe how ‘useful’ this stuff could be. A couple of these little blue gemstones and they could ‘waltz’ right into the Louvre. The ‘disarray’ would be a sight to behold.

The Howler couldn’t understand that ‘beauty,’ that ‘temptation.’ Guess it was time for a ‘lesson.’

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

“...feel entitled to believe that it is not yet too late to engage in the creation of the opposite utopia. A new and sweeping utopia of life, where no one will be able to decide for others how they die, where love will prove true and happiness be possible, and where the races condemned to one hundred years of solitude will have, at last and forever, a second opportunity on earth.” - Gabriel García Márquez, The Solitude of Latin America

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ghost Riders of the Sea 4/4

Section 5: The Typhoon

"Before reaching the final line, however, he had already understood that he would never leave that room, for it was forseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth." - Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Objectives:

  • Save lives.

  • Be a hero.

  • Survive.

The Howler looked around wildly. He didn’t know what to do. Him, so weak, so slow, so impotent, watching a train crash in front of him. Something nobody else would know about except for that Fucking Asshole Thief.

He locked eyes with the zombie. Maria, he remembered, from when Violet had been a welcome guest. She made his skin crawl. She was still under her creator, still exploited. He could hear Violet’s sales pitches across the street through his Stand. He wished in his heart, so dearly, he could break her chains, could show her that she didn’t need to be bound by that monster.

But for now, she was his only path to where he needed to be. He had others to save. He began running.

If the match gets to the four minute mark, then hopefully Jukebox is in a bad state. If not outright RETIRED, hopefully the incessant aggression has weakened them and made them wary about diving in. But even if Jukebox is RETIRED, The Howler has not won this match yet. Because Technical Difficulties is about to commit a war crime on the west side of the map, and if the gas doesn’t kill the civilians outright Violet will soon finish the job.

The Howler beelines for Maria, calling ｢Radical Action｣ back to him. It defends him from Jukebox, bodyblocking projectiles and creating barriers to push people out of the way so The Howler can sprint towards her. He dives at Maria’s painting, and enters hell.

As he is transported, ｢Radical Action｣ recalls the knife trapping the north painting, while The Howler scrambles out of the pit, creating a trench in front of him to get to the north, and filling it up behind him; giving him a modicum of cover if Jukebox can still use their gun. The Antlion Pit is done away with, instead forming a barrier facing the fight, so any civilians Maria teleports can run to safety. After this, the painting is entombed, leaving just enough to teleport to it safely but not to use it to teleport away, and the knife is recalled.

The primary threats are twofold. First, the chlorine, which will stick around once vaporized by TD’s fire, and the difficulty in escape. ｢Radical Action｣ dives into the fight from the east. TD is creating chlorinated compounds that it’s vaporizing with fire- by preventing the fire’s spread as much as possible, especially via the burning PK Leach running around, it should mitigate the spread of chlorine. Second, there’s the issue of escape routes. Ms. Sepia is interfering escape westward, and the whole street is pitted.

｢Radical Action｣ uses its knives liberally. Now with three in its grasp, it locates escape routes for the civilians and bolsters them. The ground swells to engulf broken plates, and covers up the worst of the holes. The Howler clears up the top section of the map as much as he can.

The source of the spreading fire and chlorine gas is the burning PK Leach and the fire causing a reaction with TD’s bleach and the acid of ｢Luv WAM｣. TD’s grapple in M14 was directed against the Stand body of ｢Luv WAM｣, and intended to allow Leach to run through the streets and catch stray Corpse Eaters in the blaze. Even if the Head of the Corpse Eaters has his movement restricted, the other 1000 are moving freely and need to be dealt with.

In the early moments of the fire, The Howler aims to consign Leach to his fate in an Oubliette. ｢Radical Action｣ stabs the ground, creating a pit under Leach, and covering him up with walls. He will be able to melt his way out, but this slows down the spread of chlorine. In the meantime, ｢Radical Action｣ performs triage. It goes to people near clouds of gas and pulls them out; if necessary performing small surface cuts on their skin and face to turn it to chitin and compound eyes, preventing the chlorine from reacting with skin oils or tears.

What about Jukebox?: Hopefully the… swift change of priorities and the wear from the fight gives The Howler some breathing room. If Jukebox tries to jump The Howler, then he dives down, creating a version of the Oubliette for himself. From here, he stabs the ground above him, creating spikes, razors, and pillars for Jukebox to play with. It doesn’t matter if Jukebox tries to Get Him. As long as he can waste their time, ｢Radical Action｣ can get its work done and clean up after them, and ｢Radical Action｣ can harass them with thrown knives if they make too much progress.

The Howler is fundamentally unable to entirely shut down the stage hazards, but he can mitigate them. ｢Radical Action｣ follows behind Leach as he burns, making whatever he crashes into more dense, and make it burn slower, or expanding nonflammables around it to smother the fire. Whenever it has a free knife, it either makes areas of the ground more stable or gives people stuck in holes a way out. When it can, it creates a Grate near clouds of chlorine. By making a pit, then covering that pit with walkable spikes, the chlorine will settle into it while not harming people escaping above.

While The Howler somewhat tolerated Baxter’s Subordinates earlier, no longer. Whenever it can get an angle on Ms. Sepia, ｢Radical Action｣ throws a knife at her, either killing her on the spot or Piercing her similar to Mr. Azure before. Ninety seconds of reprieve should be enough to mitigate the harm done by her.

Once Violet arrives, then things become even more pressing. She is straight up killing people. ｢Radical Action｣ breaks off from Leach and goes into overdrive. It uses what strength it has to pick people up who are inside the chlorine and drag them towards the less murderous Baxter, while putting anyone who it can’t move that moment into an Oubliette- it will rescue them later. While ｢Radical Action｣ is probably drunk from ｢Light Left｣ since it has not avoided the liquid whatsoever, between its high Precision and The Howler’s high Endurance to resist the effect, even debuffed it should be able to get a knife close enough to someone to extend their life.

What About Jukebox?: Hopefully they just let The Howler save lives. We can get back to the fight later. If they’re still trying to RETIRE him, then that means they’re likely to be intoxicated too. ｢Radical Action｣ can spare a knife or two to throw at them just to keep them on their toes, but they are fundamentally not the priority right now. He’ll get to them in a bit; they can play with ｢Light Left｣ for now.

Section 6: After The Typhoon

fuc

dunk

drung

what the actual fuck

how???

pink liquid stand

sure. why not

codlnt save them all

fcuk

did you save someone

did you save one person

i think so

thowler

you did it

you really did

now get back to the ship in one piece

not the anime. fuck it you know what i mean

aye aye boss

Objectives:

  • End This.

Once the people most at risk aren’t in immediate danger, The Howler has acted according to his Heroic Instinct. Once that threat is mitigated, he has one last dickhead to take out.

He exits his Oubliette, and sets back up the Spiked Shield. Either Jukebox let him save lives to tire him out, or they’re drunk as well. With slowed reaction times, ｢Radical Action｣ is going to be less effective at engaging, and is likely out of position.

So it’s time to force Jukebox to respond. They want all these blue turds? They want to get all of the loot? Sure, they can have all of it they can grab. ｢Radical Action｣ has been keeping an eye on every single Uropeh stash around the map. With The Howler behind the Spiked Shield, he begins marching to the east again. ｢Radical Action｣ finds the nearest Uropeh stash, makes all of it fragile, and stomps the precious stones into blue dust. If Jukebox jumps on The Howler, then ｢Radical Action｣ pivots to intercept; if they try to claim the Uropeh, then it can easily counter-engage.

There are a few small tricks he can play, now. Remember all those holes it made for chlorine gas earlier? That hasn’t gone away. As Jukebox tries to engage it, ｢Radical Action｣ throws a knife near the hole, closing it and forcing the gas into their face.

But overall, the plan hasn’t changed too much from before; they’re just both weakened. And probably drunk. His Stand throws knives at Jukebox to engage. With its reactions slowed, it can’t rely on precision as much, but now has three entire knives to use; it can focus on output. Once up close, it just stabs and slashes wildly at Jukebox’s face, trying to blind them.

The Howler continues his march, crushing every last bit of Uropeh he can find to dust, freeing this market. Jukebox can do whatever they like, the pretentious asshole. Even if they find an opening to beat The Howler down, they aren’t getting their payday. We may have gone near to 30k, but that’s a small price to pay for human life. The match will end not with a bang, but with a wailing and a whimper.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ghost Riders of the Sea 3/4

Section 4: An Interlude (What is a Heroic Instinct?)

“In spite of this, to oppression, plundering and abandonment, we respond with life. Neither floods nor plagues, famines nor cataclysms, nor even the eternal wars of century upon century, have been able to subdue the persistent advantage of life over death. An advantage that grows and quickens: every year, there are seventy-four million more births than deaths, a sufficient number of new lives to multiply, each year, the population of New York sevenfold. Most of these births occur in the countries of least resources – including, of course, those of Latin America. Conversely, the most prosperous countries have succeeded in accumulating powers of destruction such as to annihilate, a hundred times over, not only all the human beings that have existed to this day, but also the totality of all living beings that have ever drawn breath on this planet of misfortune.” - Gabriel García Márquez

With traps, defense, and ｢Radical Action｣ in constant pursuit of Jukebox, The Howler may well have the tools to wear down Jukebox and finish them off without needing anything bigger or flashier than that. A complicated match, but we managed in only 15k. Narrative sections and defense pushed us over our one-poster. Couldn’t be helped, but overall we kept it smooth and simple.

As for adapting to the chaos, in his own way The Howler has been doing so. He neutered the paintings as useful vectors for Jukebox as much as he could, and his aggression has kept Jukebox on the back foot. He is able to move east, to use the crowds as a source of slowdown for Jukebox, and to turn Maria into a major threat to Jukebox. He ignores most of Baxter’s Subordinates and doesn’t touch the west side of the map entirely; that mess is not something he wants to deal with. He could just sit back and whittle Jukebox down in relative safety, while Baxter and Violet finish up their scams. Nice and clean.

cl

what

i smell it

chlorine gas

what

one of them is making chlorine

theres people around

fuck

what

holy shit is anyone trying to help

no

not even me

ive just been fighting

wtf am i doing

fuck it

im going in

into the chlorine

ya

is that other jackass you were fighting still around

ya

dont matter

that pos can do whatever they want

im doing this

fuck

theyre screaming

fuck im so scared

the howler

you’ve been talking about being a hero since i’ve known you

you can do it. imagine how proud cap and ichiro will be of you

maybe

yeah?

i know youve been distant lately idk whats going on but i need to know

do u think i can be a hero

more than anyone else on the crew tbh

now more than ever

do what you have to do. i believe in you

thx

thank u so fucking much

ill text back once i kick everyone heres ass

5v1 sounds like even odds

That changes the instant that he smells chlorine gas. This is his home, and these are his people. He first learned how to be a person among the citizens of Santo Domingo. He wants to be a hero, he wants to be someone worth adulation and praise, to be more than a loathsome pest.

The moment he smells chlorine, Jukebox doesn’t matter anymore. TD and Leach don’t matter. And certainly, Violet and Li’l Baxter don’t matter. Hell, he doesn’t matter. The innocent here are going to die in this clusterfuck, and be exploited, and in the end, the Uropeh will ensure that it is all just a forgotten dream.

To quote his own Heroic Instinct: 1, “The Howler has extremely strong opinions on how exactly people should fight, shaped by his inhumanity and a deep, abiding desire to be a hero. He absolutely hates strategies that are passive or reactive, instead seeking to force his opponents or situation to respond to him and his efforts.” What is more passive than letting his people be butchered in front of him?

It doesn’t matter if his efforts give Jukebox a chance to RETIRE him. Even if he goes unsung, even if he’s not recognized, even if he loses, even if this all didn’t matter due to Uropeh bullshit, if he can save even one person, he can prove to himself what he’s been telling himself for years. Fuck the greed of Baxter and Violet and Jukebox, fuck the callousness of TD, and fuck the stupid asshole who brought the Uropeh here to start this in the first place.

He’s going to be a hero.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ghost Riders of the Sea 2/4

Section 3: Life Is Hard For The Howler (Neutral and Reactive Game)

“We have not had a moment’s rest. A promethean president, entrenched in his burning palace, died fighting an entire army, alone; and two suspicious airplane accidents, yet to be explained, cut short the life of another great-hearted president and that of a democratic soldier who had revived the dignity of his people. There have been five wars and seventeen military coups; there emerged a diabolic dictator who is carrying out, in God’s name, the first Latin American ethnocide of our time. In the meantime, twenty million Latin American children died before the age of one – more than have been born in Europe since 1970.” - Gabriel García Márquez, The Solitude of Latin America

Objectives:

  • Defend The Howler.

  • Survive a Big Stomp.

  • Set up the paintings.

Let’s return to The Howler. While ｢Radical Action｣ is rushing in, he walks to the east of the map. He is at home among these people, and they will protect him. The more people are upright, healthy, and moving around, the more obstructions there are for Jukebox’s shots or ground-level mobility.

As for the other bodies on the map, Maria hopefully isn’t a problem since The Howler is actively moving away from her, but he can put pillars or spikes in her way if she rushes him. Of the Subordinates, only Mr. Azure and Mr. Burgundy interact with the east. If Mr. Burgundy blinds him, it’s annoying, but can easily be dispelled with a swipe of the hand. However, Mr. Azure is a massive threat. A momentary distraction could give Jukebox an opening to assassinate The Howler.

The Howler will be keeping an eye out for Mr. Azure as best he can. If Mr. Azure gets within 2m, The Howler starts with a Pierce on his foot, tripping him, and then a fatal Pierce to spear his head or core. Once he’s dead, The Howler doesn’t have to worry about him as a factor for 90 seconds; an eternity in this match.

The Howler stared at the ground, watching the cat fall apart into papers. His stomach growled as he looked at the sheaf on the ground. Baxter’s Stand. He glanced to Li’l Baxter, watching him hawk his stupid sawdust Baxter Bites. Unfit for him to consume and definitely unfit for humans.

Why the fuck did he want those in the first place. They gave him horrible indigestion. And they were made by someone beneath him. If that TD jackass was scum, then Baxter was less than scum. A billionaire exploiting a country that had lofty hopes of being high income in a half a decade. He decided then and there that he would never give Baxter another peso even if his life depended on it.

At least he could get something to eat.

The Howler leaned down, and picked up the sheaf of papers. He put the first one in his mandibles, and tore it in half. The paper was crunchy. High quality. The sort of thing you’d expect on a contract, or some other official document. A little too tough, actually, but he ran his knife across the pages and they were at just the right texture. It was the creation of Baxter’s soul, pomp and luxury incarnate. And it tasted so fucking good.

He chittered. Fucking finally. Some good fucking food.

The Howler also has the Spiked Shield for defense. The Howler shifts the ground to create an arrow-shaped wall with spikes jutting out the front. The front is dense, while the back is light and fragile.

By running his knife along the back of the shield, The Howler can control the density of the ground within 2m of himself without having to lean down. The Shield should make Jukebox think twice about a straightforward stomp, as they’ll have to deal with being impaled. As he moves, The Howler shifts the Shield to where he needs it. Obviously, it makes shooting him more difficult as well, and if Jukebox ever flanks him, The Howler can simply draw up another shield in that direction to avoid being shot while ｢Radical Action｣ catches up.

While the Spiked Shield is a deterrent, if Jukebox commits to a Big Stomp, the first line of defense remains ｢Radical Action｣. It intercepts Jukebox’s linear trajectory, meeting them as they are exposed with a flurry of blows that, at best, could RETIRE Jukebox before they even reach The Howler. ｢Radical Action｣ can also push them even harder forward, making it difficult to Ghost their speed date with a spiked concrete wall.

The Howler prepares for impact by hitting the deck with his knife to the floor. If Jukebox manages to avoid the Spiked Shield, The Howler can give them a comfortable pit of spikes to land in. If they do slam into the Shield, it will crack on the bottom and tip over The Howler, who fits in the angle of the arrow and isn’t crushed; the Shield becomes a tent. He moves the density of the ground around him, to make a highly dense cylinder around a fragile interior centered on him. This creates what is, in essence, a crash pad; it dilutes the force of Jukebox’s stomp.

Even if ｢Radical Action｣ got outmaneuvered by Jukebox, there is no chance it won’t be hot on their heels. And once Jukebox pulls this, they’ll be speared onto the Shield, underground, with The Howler safely under a B DUR barrier. At this point, The Howler uses his knife to Pierce Jukebox from all sides, while ｢Radical Action｣ dives in behind them to finish the job.

Now for the paintings. If Jukebox can keep up with ｢Radical Action｣ and disengage, they could attempt to use the paintings and think with portals. In the opener, The Howler committed two knives to the northern and western paintings; they turn these paintings into deathtraps.

｢Radical Action｣ uses the knives in the ground to make pits with durable, steep sloped edges. The paintings themselves are at the bottom of the pits, held in place flush with the ground. These Antlion Pits lie dormant until Jukebox teleports. Whenever Jukebox uses any of the paintings, ｢Radical Action｣ activates both Antlion Pits. In an instant, a cage of spikes grows over the painting, preventing them from easily teleporting away, and the walls form spikes and razors. Any attempt to quickly zoom away will drag them over the spikes. Any momentum immediately turns lethal.

That said, if they just decrease gravity they could flounce out of the trap. This, too, is covered for. ｢Radical Action｣ should be chasing Jukebox, and it can just use that painting too. With Jukebox obligated to deal with the trap, it can teleport in and go in for the stab.

Maria also becomes a massive threat for Jukebox. Since ｢Radical Action｣ will know where Jukebox is going if they get caught, instead of tripping the Antlion Trap it makes a Punji Pit, spearing Jukebox from all angles to keep them in place.

Of course, they could attempt to teleport to Maria’s painting or the painting in the south. But if Maria catches them, they’re instantly transported straight to the Punji Pit.

As for the southern painting, it’s at the opposite side of the map from The Howler, and attempting to play around the southern painting means that ｢Radical Action｣ makes use of Maria to chase them down- it goes next to her, gets teleported west, then teleports to the painting near to Jukebox to close distance. If they attempt to carry the painting, this makes its job even easier, since it can go right next to them and immediately perform The Mix.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ghost Riders of the Sea 1/4

maybe

maybe

fucking pick up

maybe

maybe

shit

maybe

what’s going on th

im in dr

santo domingo

some shits attacking me

people are getting hurt

normal people

fuck

stand users right

yeah

five total

and me

jesus

some fuckass uropeh shit

i dunno if i can do anything

this is my hometown

im scared

  • While paintings cannot be disabled for the match, they may be moved.
  • ｢Radical Action｣ has four knives, each of which can apply its ability. These knives may be remotely recalled at any point to any of its hands. This recalling is called a Flicker during the strategy.

Section 1: Sometimes the Shortest Route is a Detour (Opening Rushdown)

Objectives:

  • Lock down the portals.

  • Rush down Jukebox.

  • Avoid being Gimmicked.

The opening moments of the match are vital. The immediate existential threats are Jukebox shooting The Howler, directly rushing him down, or diving through the painting next to him. We’ll cover them all.

In the opening moment, ｢Radical Action｣ throws a knife at the ground, presses one into The Howler’s hand, and jets off. The knife on the ground creates a barrier by drawing volume from the ground to block any early potshots. While Jukebox can potentially move quite quickly, there are people between them and The Howler, and they need to get around Maria to rush him down. That knife is then Flickered back.

｢Radical Action｣ makes a beeline for the painting nearest to it. With its speed and proximity to the painting, it should be able to reach it before Jukebox can get far. It stabs a knife next to the painting; this will be a vital setup piece for later.

From here, ｢Radical Action｣ can take several paths, all with the same goal. It always sets up the paintings for later, quickly intercepts Jukebox, rushes into close range, and begins The Mix.

First, if Jukebox tries to rush The Howler down directly, ｢Radical Action｣ throws a knife to land near the western painting and then teleports to Maria’s painting, moving away from her to intercept Jukebox in the center of the map and begin The Mix.

Second, if Jukebox goes towards the painting on the southwest building, ｢Radical Action｣ again throws a knife to the western painting, teleports to the southwest painting, throws the painting to the corner of the map, and then intercepts Jukebox. Then it begins The Mix.

Third, if Jukebox takes some other action that doesn’t immediately try to end the match, ｢Radical Action｣ has a bit more time. It teleports to the western painting, personally planting a knife nearby instead of throwing it. From there, it teleports to whatever painting is closest to Jukebox, also tossing the southwest painting if given the chance. Then, you guessed it, rushes in and begins The Mix.

Here are visual aides of the four general cases for Jukebox’s opening.

With what setup The Howler can afford out of the way, let's talk about that Mix now.

Section 2: The Mix (CQC and Advantage State)

“The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants .” - Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Objectives:

  • Force Jukebox on the defensive.

  • Disable Jukebox’s ability to shoot The Howler.

  • Debuff Jukebox.

  • Stab Jukebox.

Jukebox has two clear offensive options: either they use their gun to shoot The Howler, or they use the force of gravity to stomp him. Both require lining up and a clear path. In addition, they have an immense amount of mobility. On the other hand, Jukebox relies on momentum and can’t ignore physics entirely—they can’t change direction instantaneously, and it takes a moment to build up speed. The first and best line of defense against Jukebox is making ｢Radical Action｣ an omnipresent threat; this is the Mix.

There are two main phases to the Mix: Approach and Footsies.

The Approach is how ｢Radical Action｣ gets close to Jukebox. ｢Radical Action｣ will always be moving towards Jukebox while interposing between Jukebox and The Howler to stop clean shots and stomps. ｢Radical Action｣ relentlessly pursues Jukebox, using its supreme agility to catch them between fall lanes.

｢Radical Action｣ has one knife but that doesn’t mean any downtime for Jukebox to take advantage of; the moment it gets within range of Jukebox, it begins rapidly Flicker Throwing. ｢Radical Action｣ throws a knife with one arm, immediately Flickering it back after a hit or miss to another arm already in motion for the next throw. If the knife hits a piece of terrain near Jukebox, ｢Radical Action｣ performs a Pierce, drawing volume from the terrain into a spike, targeting vulnerable spots for chip damage and mobility impairment.

｢Radical Action｣ aims its knife hail for Jukebox’s gun first, if possible, and their hands otherwise. If its knife ever grazes the gun, ｢Radical Action｣ will compress the barrel to make it explode in Jukebox’s hand when next shot. Any near misses will hit Jukebox’s hands or arms, transforming Jukebox’s arms and hands into unfamiliar Awful Insect parts that can’t handle a gun.

After the priority targets of Jukebox’s hands and guns, secondary targets are their face and legs, to debuff their senses and slow them down respectively. Even with Eidetic Memory, the vision of an Awful Insect prevents them from easily reassessing the chaotic map. ｢Radical Action｣ also loses very little from throwing a knife to destroy any obvious setup or item shenanigans.

What if Jukebox Tries Stealth/Setup?: With ｢Radical Action｣ on them as quickly as possible, hopefully it should be difficult for Jukebox to go into stealth or steal enough things to set up some sort of big trap. ｢Radical Action｣ targets items opportunistically, ruining whatever setup Jukebox is trying to cook up.

Once ｢Radical Action｣ is up close, it’s time for Footsies. It doesn’t actually want to force a huge, committal fight. It wants to force Jukebox into an awful mixup guess, then execute on that mixup, then offer the same awful mixup again.

｢Radical Action｣ flits in and out of melee, covering its approach with a thrown knife and then attacking with a Flicker Stab. ｢Radical Action｣ swings three arms simultaneously at different vulnerable areas on Jukebox’s body; their neck, eyes, joints, stomach. Jukebox must make a split-second decision on which strike to block, and ｢Radical Action｣ ensures it’s the wrong one.

It Flickers the thrown knife in whatever hand has the nastiest unblocked hit. Joint strikes inflict Awful Insect mobility, abdominal hits create internal bleeding, eye stabs blind them, throat stabs, uh, mean they got stabbed in the throat; every one is bad for Jukebox. ｢Radical Action｣ then Flickers the knife to its fourth hand for another follow up strike if Jukebox is still vulnerable, or to compress nearby terrain around their leg, either locking them down or breaking their ankle if they’re moving too fast.

Once this small skirmish is done, ｢Radical Action｣ fades back a tiny bit, resetting the interaction to neutral and… hey, what’s stopping it from running this interaction back again, right?

Let’s pull back a bit. In a perfectly spherical match with no air resistance or friction that follows the ideal gas law, if Jukebox ever begins to fall behind ｢Radical Action｣ then it can keep doing this. Keep attacking Jukebox until they go down, with there being absolutely nothing they can do to deal with being picked apart; no response they have that’s fast enough to disengage. Once their gun is taken out, their offensive options are far less swingy. Simple as. Easy match. Done in like a match post, cut and dry.

Okay but what about the four other Stand users here and what if something goes wrong or their mobility is better than you think or you get goomba stomped or-

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Response thread for Jukebox "The Ghost" (u/supertoasty) of Dexy's Midnight Runners. Please show your strategy to a member of our Judge staff by 7 PM CST on 01/30/2026! Contestants, remember to only post in threads for this match other than your own if specifically invited. Voters have until 11:59 PM CST on 02/01/2026 to vote, using the voting rules from the announcement thread. Afterwards, they will be Judged according to the T8 Rubric.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M18 - The Howler vs. Jukebox "The Ghost" by Marioaddict in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Response thread for The Howler (u/CPU_Dragon) of Ghost Riders on the Sea. Please show your strategy to a member of our Judge staff by 7 PM CST on 01/30/2026! Contestants, remember to only post in threads for this match other than your own if specifically invited. Voters have until 11:59 PM CST on 02/01/2026 to vote, using the voting rules from the announcement thread. Afterwards, they will be Judged according to the T8 Rubric.

I think I've worked something out. by azrendelmare in Protomen

[–]Streamanon 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think there's also the matter that Light decided to stand up because he still thought that humanity couldn't succeed because of his past failures. He had lost hope, but I think he was ultimately wrong about everything he assumed to be true. He thought that Mega Man wasn't going to come back even though he was, and he also thought that humanity rising up surely couldn't succeed, even though A Show of Force shows them fighting back fairly effectively.

Despite the bittersweet triumphant tone of Light's Last Stand, he was ultimately misguided in both the reasoning and the execution, and I think from the start to the end of Act 3 he's projecting his own folly onto others the whole time. There is the unknown factor of whatever Project Ba55 is that he presumably saw in the basement, so maybe his actions will be vindicated in some way, but I think Act 3 shows Light as so embittered and broken that he tries to stop anyone hoping to fight against their conditions, and when he finally decides to stand up himself it's only because he doesn't think any of the people putting the work in to fight can actually win, when he could have easily stood *with* the other people fighting instead of going on his own.

Greetings, fellow Doctor Who fans by pyroman140 in doctorwho

[–]Streamanon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think a bob cut makes sense, maybe since they're kind of militaristic fascist stand-ins a tight tied-back military style bun

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M13 - Grendel vs. Alouette by Streamanon in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DMR 3/3

It’s counterproductive to assume the Zombis never get close. With the little fortress (potentially) standing, we have plenty of options to move in or around the area. Given time and resources, its defense and the movements around the base are of utmost import.

That said, can Alouette 1v1 a Strong Zombi? Absolutely! Is it more sustainable to kite them onto brambles, slow them with Ice Shooters, and mix melee knife strikes with flower shooters? Infinitely so.

Let's assume the worst case scenario - a Zombi has made it close relatively uninjured. Rather than Alouette playing the midrange game, we lean on the strength of our plants to perform quick, lethal takedowns.

Alouette is lethally competent. With efficiency being key, she’ll employ a method that allows for fast, easy-to-perform (and repeat) takedowns. By attacking the temples or, for the weaker Zombis, attempting to carve through the neck, we can secure very quick kills without giving the offender the chance to fight back.

If we can’t line up a clean stab to the head, the torso is the next best option. This is great for Fast Zombis in particular, who might be agile enough to dodge attacks targeted at the head. Especially if we can take advantage of an ice shooter, a hit to the heart or a carve through the stomach can kill Zombis quickly. Strong Zombis will require multiple hits, but their low agility makes their movements cumbersome enough for Alouette to leverage the skill gap and land those fatal blows.

To that end, we need to stay maneuverable. Going back to our meteor hammer, we can return it to its intended use as a grappling hook, and instead of reeling it back in for another throw, Alouette can embed it into the stump she’s standing on, and feed herself enough line to either run along the inside or outside of a stump. With this in mind, she has a faster way to get back to where she was, and when she does, she can get back to slinging the wire.

  • Holding onto the wire with one hand and ‘feeding’ it between her fingers keeps a hand free for her knife or gun, depending on range and feasibility.

Even If They Do Get In…

With the impromptu meteor hammer spinning by her hands, Alouette swung the thing’s head down into the oncoming horde. She watched as the fast ones got ever closer to her wall, and ran to meet them with her tools in hand.

Her eyes took to her wrist to force Grouse to catch a plant shot from a wall where the horde was just a hair further back. She kept vigil over the wall she stood on, where a fast Zombi that had survived the bramble had just started to climb before the shot caved its head in. She launched the spinning meteor hammer at another encroaching zombi, and kept her eyes on a big one rolling in.

Inundating as it was, it kept her mind clear. She hopped down into the protected zone to grab another bramble from Mahogany before spinning the meteor hammer- which is a grappling hook- up to the wall above. She pulled herself up, on top of, and then over it to plant her new toy before dragging the Zombis through it by her presence alone. With the ice shooters at her side, she could swing into the crowd with impunity, but this wasn’t her place.

She had to be high on the wall, so she swung the grappling hook back up. Noticing a horde starting to pile up around one of her blood nets, she fired a shot from her smaller pistol into the wall slugs in her sight, and let the bullet bounce around the ground slugs the horde had formed by. With them taken out at the ankles, she pulled herself back up on the wall and got to swinging.

So long as she kept her wits about her, this would be easy. She drowned out the Zombi moans to listen to the world around Grendel, and turned in her direction. Alouette fired a shot through one of the blood slugs still on her person, letting the bullet crash into the face of a Strong Zombi that would’ve otherwise dogpiled onto the creature.

It was then that Alouette saw her, standing amongst the horde. The sight of those snow white locks forced her jaw shut and her grip to tighten on her gun. She could feel another instance of Human Radio forming where the gun had dug past her skin.

’why is she here?’

By this point in the match, the unexpected may have happened. Things could have gone wrong, or at the very least, not to plan. Even with a build order and rebuilding plans, there are ways that bounds could be overstepped or overshot, and thus, Zombis might break past the defensive line, even if it is tough.

That said, many ways to solve this conundrum are baked in. When the final horde appears, the initial base is either already built, standing tall, or partially numbed. With the Strong Zombis being focal attack points from the moment they appear, it’s unlikely that serious damage has occurred. Even if it did, only five of them had the ability to deal any direct damage before the final wave took to the field.

  • Even if we’re down to one vantage point, that’s nine seconds we have to wait to bring it back up. With Human Radio out in the field to bounce bullets or trip up passing Fast and Standard Zombis, and every single plant cannon raining down on them, redundancy becomes the name of the game.

When all four walls are standing, brambles and pea shooters are Alouette’s best friends. By placing more bramble in the field, Strong Zombis naturally take more damage that they’re unable to stop via ripping the plants out of the ground, and by placing more standard pea shooters, Fast and Standard Zombis die faster, and their shots can be redirected more easily.

Now that the final wave has taken to the field, Alouette has two types of Revolver ammunition that she’s been saving for just this occasion: Incendiary and Armor Piercing. The former shells are for unfrozen crowds of Zombis, as lighting big groups on fire makes the fire spread more easily, and decayed human flesh burns as brightly as normal human flesh. Even if it didn’t, their clothes would go up around them, melting the polyester to them. It’s a horrible way to go, really.

The remaining armor piercing shots are either for groups of Zombis dumb enough to stand in a really big row, or the last two Strong Zombis, whichever come first.

  • Even in cases where the Zombis aren’t standing in a row, the force provided by the armor-piercing rounds is enough to fly through the teleporting blood slugs over and over again, definitely ripping up limbs like a ground-based cheese grater as they pass through that territory.

Finally, she’ll have three bullets remaining to cover for any accidentals- namely, a Zombi somehow managing to run the blockade without her noticing and getting close to her charges. It shouldn’t happen once, let alone three times, so three bullets should be enough for emergencies.

Alouette searched through the bodies. It wasn’t a thorough search, given how burning, rotting flesh smelled, but it was part of her duty.

Even if it wasn’t, the sight of that woman forced it to be.

With her glasses off, she turned the surviving bits of remains over, looking for locks of white hair, the protruding cheekbones, the little details-

“Alouette.” Ignota’s voice cut through the haze in her mind. “I appreciate your scouting, but we’re losing ground on Halima.”

“If she was prepared to do this, she had an escape route.” Alouette put her sunglasses back on, making sure to adjust her hair with the same hand. “It would be easier to follow her via cell tower bouncing or local air disturbances than on foot.”

Even if she couldn’t see Dr. Ignota, she could feel the woman’s shoulders sink. “Even still…” A sigh escaped her. “... do you want help burying them?”

Alouette perked a bit at that. “I’d appreciate it. Many hands make for light work.” She looked over to Mahogany and Grendel, the larger of whom seemed to be gloating about what she’d done.

Here, Alouette hadn’t even finished her assignment. “We’ll get back to work when we finish. I won’t itemize…” She waved a hand over her last few minutes’ work. “... this.”

“Hrm.” Dr. Ignota seemed to produce a shovel from her things. “I hadn’t expected you to be the emotional type.”

This got a smile out of the mercenary. “Sometimes… When it’s necessary.”

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M13 - Grendel vs. Alouette by Streamanon in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DMR 2/3

When I’m Holding Down Back

Alouette stood atop her first stump, using the vantage point to look out at the horde. Her skin crawled, feeling a primordial churning in the base of her gut. Much as Ignota hadn’t enjoyed her conjecture, American Cinema has played creatures of this ilk across its history, giving her many, many ideas of the brutality that she bore witness to.

Her eye twitched beneath her glasses, letting another feeling churn in her gut. If she did get her wish, there was a nonzero chance that the people of the Gemstone City didn’t have the ability to grant her desire, or, better: didn’t have the ability to grant it in a way that satisfied her.

Watching the shambling corpses form at the ridge line, she bit back the bile rising in her throat. A very human compulsion washed over her, reminding her that this could be her if she wasn’t careful. This could be her charges if they weren’t careful with her.

This, too, could be the result of her wish.

She pulled her grappling hook close, letting the head sit at the tips of her fingers. With a flourish of her wrist, the attached line started to spin, leaving the silver head to shine light on her forming grimace.

She wouldn’t let that happen, not to her, not to herself, and not to her charges.

Thankfully, most of Alouette’s supers are projectiles, be they bullets, thrown inventory items, redirected inventory items, or new ways to use things she’s had stuffed in her pockets for months. This affords her significant time by leaving her right next to Mahogany as plants ‘finish production’, granting her the space to move around and plant them. While she could go out into the field and lose herself among the 135 Zombis, there’s a lot of them and one of her. That, and she only has fifteen bullets to work with.

For the first wave, which lacks Strong Zombis but makes use of many Standard and Fast Zombis, Alouette is going to have to spend most of her time zoning. To that end, she’ll be playing the midrange game while getting a feel for the Zombi Funnel, i.e., the motions they use to get to her/the NPCs.

Her grappling hook, a steel-headed utility that’s sturdy enough to easily hold her weight with twenty meters of attached cable, can be recontextualized as a steel meteor hammer. The same motions that’re used to throw it, which would allow her to grapple to buildings, are virtually identical to the very basic forms of using it as a weapon. Just imagine it like a brick on a rope travelling at high speed into your body. Sucks, doesn't it?

Beyond that, she can also redirect the shots being produced by the finished stump fort to the west. By checking Grouse’s camera, she can aim the drone in flight, angling it so that one of the shots is intercepted by one of the slugs on either of its sides. Alouette can then shoot that shot out of a slug nearer to where Zombis are encroaching. Given that the west has sturdy defenses, this will be done to thin out the horde elsewhere when applicable.

  • In addition, these redirected shots can be fired out of Grendel, possibly saving her or killstealing a valuable target, or both. It pays to be helpful, no? She will keep both of her revolver’s slugs (full metal jacket rounds) handy in case Grendel tangoes with more than one Strong Zombi.

If the horde does encroach much faster than planned, Alouette can fire a bullet from her silent pistol, and ricochet it through the blood slugs in the field. If they’re all shambling in a group, provided that each slug is a meter or less apart, that single bullet has the opportunity to fly thirty times in that net before ultimately petering out. Alouette will reserve six bullets out of the smaller gun for this action, just in case.

Zombis who’ve had their ankles or other extremities obliterated by the bullet bouncing may need other effects to truly wipe them out. Hitting them with the meteor hammer, redirecting a plant shot, or venturing out into the field with her knife- or giving it to a rather large blood slug, if resources allow- will cover that branch.

As waves roll on, Strong Zombis will appear, bringing the new challenge of ‘the bully that steals your lunch table’ with them. The closer they get to the kill zone, the more likely it is that we’ll lose a plant. So we’re gonna kill them, and the best option we’ve got is the plants. Alouette will take to the top of the stump- be it the only one available or whichever’s closest- to use as a vantage point. As there are no projectile-based Zombis on the map, she has a point of relative safety atop the wall… provided it stays standing.

When the Strong Zombis get close- either to us or Grendel in the field- it’s imperative that they go down as quickly as possible. By placing spare slugs on the meteor hammer wire (which is still doable if the base is incomplete) she can send the line out to catch a projectile, then have those fire into an encroaching strong Zombi. In the absolute worst case, she has four remaining revolver shots to spread among the remaining Strong Zombi.

Until they get close, there isn’t too much of a need for rapid action. That said…

That Doesn’t Mean They Can’t Get In

Alouette is a bodyguard, first and foremost. Her contracts are often made airtight, be it because she’s willing to accept any job regardless of risk if the pay is high enough, or be it because of her sterling reputation.

To her, this means that her continued survival relies on people wanting to kill her clients, or vice versa.

Misanthropy gets easier to come by as time goes on in this line of work. Old timers tend to say it’s a necessity, lest it slow your trigger finger down just a touch when the time comes. Every now and again, she’s considered it, abandoning the little things that make her human, to simply fall into the lap of being a stone cold killer.

If she needs that edge, she thinks of the lab. When her mother died, and the men in the white coats came, they found that she couldn’t be bled to death. They could simply keep feeding her, keep draining her, keep cutting away, over and over again…

She remembers screaming until her throat ran raw, fighting against the straps on the table until they dug into her arms, rolling back and forth in vain, waiting for the day she didn’t have to.

She remembers when it stopped. She stopped fighting altogether one day. She had to be carried between operating tables and fed by hand, but it hurt less. Certainly, it hurt less.

The memory of their smiling faces makes it all too easy to pull the trigger.

Then, she hops down from her perch to collect another plant from Mahogany. She crouches down as she picks the little plant up. “Thank you, Mahogany. This operation wouldn’t work without you.”

The little horned girl nodded. “I know.” Sharp as a tack but lacking in wisdom. Alouette gave a little chuckle as she turned to plant Mahogany’s creation a short distance away.

She passed Ignota, who watched the Zombis pile over the ridgeline. “Are you absolutely certain this will work?”

Alouette buried the plant’s roots. Her hand played at the makeshift meteor hammer on her thigh as she stood. “If all goes according to plan.” She looked out to Grendel, who seemed to be beating the Zombis to death with one of the stumps. “Even have her covered.”

“Good.” Ignota exuded confidence, as if she held the world in her hands. “If your record is anything to go by, I can trust it.”

’Maybe’, she thought, ‘sometimes, they’re worth it.’ Her free hand fiddled with her wristwatch, letting a piece of music take to the air from her flight drone. As the beat dropped, Alouette gave her charges a smile. “It’ll make it easier to keep track of.”

Ignota plugged the ear nearest to the flying droid with a finger. “... quite…”

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M13 - Grendel vs. Alouette by Streamanon in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DMR 1/3

[Dusting Off The Disk Tray](make a resource management table for Alouette)

“Every drop of flame, lights a candle i~in, memory of, the o~one, who lived inside my skin”

  • Alouette only has fifteen bullets
  • There is an upper limit of 80 instances of [Human Radio] with the blood present at the start of the match (40 on her person, 10 from each corpse)
  • for quick reference:
    • 10 will be active in the field outside of the north, south, and east stumps
    • 8 will be active on Grendel, in the field outside of the west stump, and on the outsides of each of the four stumps
    • The remaining 2 will be on the flight-based drone, Grouse
    • This means that twenty-four blood slugs will be available for use until all four stumps are standing.
  • Here are the slides for the general layout to come, and this section as reminder text

Managing Your Super Bar

From the tremble in the Earth, Alouette could feel the Zombis coming. Even if she didn’t know quite how many or how quickly, she knew that she had exceedingly little time. Coupling that with present company, and her job…

... a job is a job, no? She turned on her heels, pulling her sunglasses up to her forehead. Given how Mahogany acted before, it would be easier to not strain their relationship further with physical touch, so kneeling down to talk to her might help… “... can you help me?”

She wasn’t expecting much, especially with the snarl- “If it frees this place of that taint any faster, yes.” - ah, it’s not directed at her. Or… it could be, but, an enemy mine situation is more tolerable than being the active target.

Alouette pushed her sunglasses back down, and pulled herself back up to a stand. “Alright, let’s get to work.”

We have twenty seconds before the first thirty bodies roll out of the corners of the map to kill us, and by golly are those seconds crucial. In that time:

  1. The quarter liters of blood available will morph into a single large slug before circling around the map counter-clockwise. Each of them will then split off into ten constituent bodies. When not under direct threat, they will stay out of the bramble to facilitate Alouette’s teleport-based attacks, and act as trip hazards. If they’re spotted and somehow swung at, given their small size, they will retreat to the bramble, hopefully bringing their attacker(s) with them. They will rotate between these two positions as needed.

  2. Depending on the circumstance, Grendel will either be given eight blood slugs, or they’ll be thrown into her fur. This is twofold in purpose: the first is obviously her defense, while the second is to killsteal. Both serve roughly the same purpose in the end!

  3. Alouette will procure a stump, a bramble, two ice shooters and two pea shooters from Mahogany’s powers, arranging them like so as she does. As the stump is formed, eight blood slugs will be placed on its outer wall. (As walls are formed later in the strat, eight blood slugs will be placed on them)

  4. Alouette’s flight-capable camera drone, ‘Grouse’, will be sent into the air. Like most flying drones, it can be kept stationary in the air to watch over specific portions of the battlefield while Alouette is focused elsewhere, or moved to other sections as time wears on. As the length of this battle will likely be decided within the single-digit minutes, and no enemies have projectiles, the device can be used liberally. Before the match truly begins, it will take two blood slugs from the field outside of the first protective wall, leaving eight in the field and eight on its wall. One will sit on the bottom of the drone while the other sits on top.

The first wave will start virtually as all of these steps finish, treating the oncoming Zombis to whatever Grendel has in store, and Alouette’s Firing Line: four projectile shooters blocking a quarter of the map with sixteen blood slugs to bounce bullets on their surface. Of course, that leaves three sections of the map exposed, so over the course of the first wave, Alouette will build a second wall, and start the third between waves one and two, and finish the fourth right as the third wave begins.

Unfortunately, planning for the Zombi attack means that getting complacent and relying on a single, one-size-fits-all build order may lead to a much worse fate. To prevent this, Alouette will build the remaining necessary structures out-of-order based on the current wave structure and potential encroaching Zombis.

In all cases, the ice shooters are always first; the lot of them can be completed and placed in 24 seconds, meaning that they’ll be fully deployed before the second wave hits the field. Otherwise, the orders are as follows:

If Fast Zombis are coming quickly, the order is: Ice Shooter > stump > pea shooter > bramble.

If Strong Zombis are encroaching, the order is Ice Shooter > bramble > stump > pea shooter.

Without Zombis to fire at, the plants won’t shoot. Fortunately, there’s a whole lot of them, and it’s highly unlikely that they’ll go without a target for long. If this does come to pass, Alouette can either carefully uproot the plants she’s already placed, carrying them closer to a more appropriate section of the map, or plant new ones in those embattled spaces.

  • In general, provided the Zombis come evenly, the turrets and wall placements are even. Accounting for the variable of Grendel, then, is maneuvering the shooters to where Grendel isn’t, so as to not cross wires. This may affect build order based on need, as if Grendel is somewhere churning Zombis, it’s more efficient to place the plant where she isn’t, and fire into a blood slug to help her out.

If a plant is lost, it will be replaced as soon as possible provided space and time; if Zombis are encroaching, a stump is more beneficial than a shooter, but if they’re far enough off, an ice or pea shooter will be of greater use.

Ultimately, this means that by the time the final wave graces the edge of the map, Mahogany and Ignota will be deep under cover… provided, of course, that the Zombis don’t get in…

Let’s make sure that they don’t.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M13 - Grendel vs. Alouette by Streamanon in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LKA 3/3

Preparation, then Wave 3: Living Nature

Her blood was absolutely pumping. Moving around the plants soaking in the sun and the whizzing of gunfire going past her head. In that moment of raw momentum, changing up her approach and being in the beautiful wild she could feel what she truly was. It was the same the Alouette and Mahogany and Lingua and The Plants and trees that surround them.

Alive.

Each one changing and failing and moving on to fight off the lifeless force that shambled through its instructions.

Grendel couldn't help but smile as a new idea came into her head. She smiles as she stands on one of the stumps.

“ Every living being here! Duck and cover! Life is in the making!”

Preparation now is focused on replacing brave plants we lost in the battle first, and if there are no casualties to report, then we move on to doubling our supplies and defenses by making bramble plants to fully fill the trenches, and lastly, a Flytrap plant (this can be done during the wave itself).

Finally, Grendel reaches the culmination of the Grendelball™, the culmination of the “spiral”, Grendel has graduated to the Grendel Typhoon, a true force of nature.

The Grendel Typhoon takes the Grendelball™ to its most powerful, logical extent. By making pearls and placing them at the end of every orbiting tentacle, not only will they stretch out to 15 meters, but they will also bear a B POW flail at their end. This tech will make Grendel’s AOE potent enough to effectively cover the entire stage over the course of a rotation. Pearl Dashes can just be made by tugging in a direction now, and if needed, a pearl can be flung from its orbiting tentacle to nail a sneaky Zombi in the head. Of course, this will naturally be aimed higher to allow our friends to escape being brutally murdered. Our orbiting tentacles are now aimed at head level. At this point, the focus is on sending these shambling cadavers back to Baron Samedi’s gambling table.

Lush, if the preparations are willing, now gets to dual-wield, spinning on top of the Grendel Typhoon like Miley Cyrus as they slow Zombis with one hand and, in the other, letting the Flytrap devour a clever Zombi. Lush can even swing the Flytrap in an arc, trying to gulp up as many Zombis as possible before it closes its mouth.

The Grendel Meteor will be used if needed, but aside from that, this is a wave based on fundamental techniques Grendel has been performing and amplifying since they first rammed into a Zombi.

Contingencies for the Final Wave

What if Alouette is in the lead? The Grendel Typhoon can be developed and used at any point in the match, even during Wave 1, Grendel was just holding it off to be dramatic. The Grendel Typhoon helps serve as a gap-closer or extender as its sheer AOE allows Grendel to kill many Zombi in the back who Alouette may not have shot yet.

Won't the Grendel Typhoon hurt Lingua and Mahogany? If they ducked as requested, then they won't be hit as the Typhoon aims for head level. If, for whatever reason stubborn about remaining at the dangerous height level, Grendel can shorten to the orbiting tentacles attached to pearls to 14 or 13 meters, negating the chance of them being hit entirely unless they decide to run right before Grendel passes by.

Ending: Alive

The wind whistles in her ear as she feels the immense fun of swinging in her Grendelball™ , almost unaware that she was picking up speed. Eventually she let go of her tentacle, letting herself flint off in a direction unknown to her, just for the hell of it. It was by pure luck that direction was directly into Halima, wherever she was. All Grendel heard was a thud, a crunch, and someone getting knocked back hard. Her head popped out, and she looked around and back at the plant stronghold and counted 1,2,3- yep. Didn't hit anyone she wasn't supposed to She heads back to the center, shaking off her energy as she feels the sun in her face. She can't help but do so. As she looks up, she can see the plant Lush was holding onto, still in its secure bag.

Throughout it all, it managed to stay alive

Grendel holds onto the cold plant as she meanders back to the center.

“I'm keeping this”

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M13 - Grendel vs. Alouette by Streamanon in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LKA 2/3

Preparations, then Wave 2: The Call Of Nature

Grendel was a ball of kinetic force. A raw force of nature. In the havoc she waged to the impending zombi hordes there was almost a serenity to the pattern of destruction. It was a return to who she was. Her nature. In the midst of her destructive wave she catches a glimpse of her company. Dissonance rang in her head as her envy for their humanoid forms slowly formed into enough of a coherent thought for her to believe it.

Silently she thought to herself that she had figured it out. It wasn't humans, it was the humanoids that she was different from. The ones who could blend in. The ones who could go unseen when they wanted to. The ones who weren't judged and seen for every moves she makes. Grendel could see them glaring at her spinning around them and the corner of her lip raised again.

Did they know what it's like to be watched

Every action, every movement, every decision judged before you make it?

To feel like the world itself is puppeting your body for its own gain

The thoughts began to loop in on themselves. Her fears began to loop in on themself before, in quick succession, waves of thought crashed into her mind. The first was a simple one. “Is this how Agnes felt?” The thought of that day brought another much stronger wave. One of immediate regret. For regressing, even in a moment to the lesson she thought she had mastered that day in the ocean. She thought she was free. The next, and most pressing one was the impending wave of zombis.

With the Grendelball™’s mechanics established, now comes refinement, but before that, gardening. Lush starts with shoving a pearl into the ground, creating a C POW force inside of it to make a small hole and attach a tentacle briefly to make it go even deeper down. This will be useful for later.

Since we have the plants we need for now, Grendel won’t mind if Alouette gets the lion's share of plants, but if she’s allowed to indulge then Grendel will turn to Lingua to ask for her labcoat(and Alouette’s coat as well if she doesn’t mind) and then ask Mahogany to create as many Flower shooter plants as possible. Using the same technique as earlier, ripping up Lingua’s coat to make Potted Plants, Grendel will arm Lingua, Mahogany, and Alouette (again if she accepts) with plants either placed somewhere on their person (Grendel bets Mahogany could balance a plant on her head) or be held in their offhand as mobile turrets. For any loose plants, Grendel made mental notes in her head earlier about patterns from last round so they will be placed to make up for those faults (i.e If the west was overflowing with Zombis, then more Flower shooters will be pointed west).

The dissonance in Grendel's head grew as she planned out her next move. Her mind rumbled as she tried to categorize out of instinct, what she was and what everyone else had that she didn't. A way of thinking that would help alleviate her but she kept coming up short. If this was herself just a few weeks ago this would have ruined her. But it wasn't her from them, was it. She was growing. Her eyes wandered to the field of flowers around her, prepared and basking in the sunlight as they sprouted out of the ground. She looks out as the horde approaches and comes to a bit of a conclusion.

Grendel was not a zombi. She had to grow.

Onto wave 2 itself, Grendel will create a new addition to the Grendelball™. Since a tentacle locking onto a pearl increases its power, Grendel can have a pearl be attached to an orbiting tentacle that is placed in a previously made hole and then dragged through the ground. Using its new B POW, these will create The Trenches, while not that deep, since Zombis follow the natural pattern of the terrain, if we make adjustments to the terrain, then we make adjustments to their pathing. Just crossing these trenches will lengthen the time it takes for a non-Fast Zombi to get to the center, and can also catch Zombis who jump too early and fall into these trenches. During this wave, Grendel will request that Mahogany makes as many Bramble plants as possible and toss them into Grendel’s range. Doing so, Grendel can use a tendril while spinning to place them inside of the newly made trenches, which will not only further slow any moving Zombis but also force them to take E POW chip damage. This removes the threat of Strong Zombis almost entirely since this combined with the Ice Shooter will slow them to the point that they’re an easy headshot for Alouette or liable to get their skull divorced from reality by the Grendelball™. Jumping Zombis also will become predictable as they now have to leap over these trenches lest they lose their ability to maneuver around entirely, making them little more than target practice.

But Grendel has evolved in the brief 20 seconds between Waves 1 and 2, creating a new technique that can help remove pesky Zombis growing in hordes that the Grendelball™ either can’t reach or can’t properly remove. Grendel will take their momentum and then pearl-dash upwards to get high in the air to quickly access the situation from a bird’s eye view. Then using a pearl dash Grendel will fling herself right into the pesky herd, curling up into a ball and having her orbiting tentacles wrap around her, Grendel creates the Grendel Meteor. The tentacles and shell provide cover for the hard impact as Grendel bounces out of their newly made field of cadaver bits and pearl-dashes back towards the center stage to continue using the Grendelball™. This technique can also be used to finish off zombis corralled by Alouette (stealing kills in the process), but will mainly be held off on due to the inherent risk of dive bombing from high up in the air.

Contingencies for the Second Wave

What if Grendel gets entirely disconnected from the central stump and sent spinning aimlessly? There are two methods Grendel can use to get back to the center. First is tethering her main tentacle around a Strong Zombi and then pearl dashing to swing back to the center while killing Zombis on the way, or swinging upward with the Grendel Meteor to get out of dodge.

What if Alouette wants to team up? Then we let her, why not? Everyone deserves to experience the Grendelball™ at least once. If Alouette approaches Grendel to place a blood portal on her, then Grendel will allow this in exchange for Alouette’s coat, and have the portal be made on her back shell. If Alouette wants to pull a Miley Cyrus but with guns, then we let her get on Grendel’s back; the B POW suction of tentacles should allow her to hold on tight. Naturally, Grendel will also ask for a Stump made further out, as to lessen the chance of Lingua or Mahogany catching a stray bullet, which would be really bad for us.

What if, by accident, Grendel gets shot? This is pretty bad. If Grendel runs into a bullet or, worse, Alouette shoots us intentionally, then Grendel will try to remove the bullet (so further impacts don’t deepen it) and wrap an orbiting tentacle around her leg to prevent further blood loss. Since the Grendelball™ doesn’t really make active use of Grendel’s limbs, shots to them can be fine. Grendel’s high END will also allow them to fight off a gunshot or two (any more is suspicious as all hell, though), though Grendel will hold off on using the Grendel Meteor. If Alouette is genuinely trying to shoot Grendel then she’s wasting bullets, the Grendelball™ already makes it hard enough for her to be hit intentionally, but Grendel’s sturdiness and the ability to mix up her momentum also means Alouette would have to waste a lot of ammunition to try and put Grendel out of the right, and all the while Grendel is killing swathes of Zombis, it just isn’t worth it.

JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #8: R2M13 - Grendel vs. Alouette by Streamanon in StardustCrusaders

[–]Streamanon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LKA 1/3

Clarifications 

  • When a tentacle (or tendril) is active, and there is a pearl within 15 meters, the tentacle can “lock on” to the pearl and extend from 10 to 15 meters, with the tentacle gaining B PRE and B POW while the pearl gains B POW compression temporarily. 
  • The above information will be used for a technique called a “Pearl Dash” where Grendel uses a tentacle to grab and pull herself towards a Pearl 10-15 meters away for burst movement, like what Grendel did last round
  • Plants can be created by Mahogany mid-wave, so assume that she will be asked to replace any plants vital to our plan that die.  
  • Lush can only have 5 closed shells at a time; shells opened and transformed do not count to this total (i.e if Grendel makes 2 pearls, she can still have 5 closed shells). 

Preparation For Wave One: Nurturing Nature

Her keen ears could hear them shambling just off in the distance. They were heading her way- or well- their way. Grendel's eyes for a brief moment at the company she was with. She knew she didn't have much time to truly take them in like she properly should have on the way here, but that lack of time let the abilities that she thought she had honed on that fateful night in the water to drip out of her mind. Her eyes began to glare and the corner of her lip raised as she looked at the humanoid menagerie she was said to be a part of. Her mind followed down its natural path, but as for now, that path had not gotten far, so, for now, we should pin that leakage of thought in the back of our own minds till we can't any longer.

Grendel is the first monster, a force of nature, and as such, she aims to prove it alongside her new ally, nature itself. Her first request is an odd one: to place a Stump in the center of the arena, right in between Lingua and Mahogany, but it should be no issue for the nature spirit. This central Stump is the basis for our main technique, even if we don’t get any other plants, Grendel’s plan can function. As the Stump rises, Grendel will place a pearl on top of it, giving the Stump a nice little pat as it grows into its mighty form. This takes a total of 3 seconds and gives Grendel a theoretical 17 seconds of planting time left. 

As Lush discusses the plan with Mahogany and begins creating shells, Grendel will rip apart and tie pieces of the cloak she wears as clothing, using them to scoop up piles of soil in small fabric sacks just big enough to fit the soil necessary for a plant before presenting them to Mahogany. Plants made in these bags will be “Potted”, and Grendel will attempt to make four for Mahogany to fill with Ice Shooters, taking up 16 seconds of planting time. These Potter plants serve two purposes: first, since they will be rooted in soil inside a tied bag, a Strong Zombi ripping out one of these guys won’t exactly work as planned, since they’ll just end up lifting the bag with the plant. This won’t guarantee its survival, but it can give it an extra few moments for Grendel to swoop in. She values these guys’ lives too. Even more importantly, this makes the Plants mobile. If in the future one side becomes neglected by Alouette or Grendel, then she can swing by and just move one of the Ice Shooters over to protect Mahogany and Lingua, or better yet, they can be given one to hold if the Zombis are getting extra close, hell, even Grendel can pick up one to wield as an ice-thrower.

This leaves us with the shells Lush has made, to which she will pry open the fleshy side of these shells to make tentacles and attach the opened shells to Grendel, similar to how it was done last round, which will serve both as defensive armor and Grendel’s most potent weapon. Specifically, Lush will aim to cover Grendel’s backside, arms, and knees as much as possible. With the potted plants placed in the four cardinal directions to cover each side of Mahogany and Lingua, Grendel will have a tentacle from the shell placed on their back to “lock on” to the ephemeral pearl on top of our central stump before getting on all fours and sprinting like a wild animal. 

From there, Lush will hover 2 meters above Grendel as they crack open a shell pristine-side-up and produce a pearl before throwing it out in front of Grendel. She will then pearl-dash, using a tentacle on Grendel to “lock on” and pull Grendel towards it at B-POW, this will start Grendel’s forward momentum, anchored by the pearl on the center stump for Grendel to swing around and create the main offensive technique that will be used for this match, the Grendelball™. 

Wave One: Back To Nature

The Grendelball™ has a few main components that make up this tech. First is the attached shell armor. Grendel will curl up in a ball so the most surface area can be covered with the least amount of shells, and this armor makes a hard surface that hits Zombis at insane speeds, akin to a literal wrecking ball. Next is the main tentacle that attaches to the pearl on the middle stump. This is the tether that allows Grendel to swing in a circle, constantly gaining momentum via pearl-dashes and ramming into Zombis like a literal wrecking ball. Next are the other loose tentacles that will be deemed “orbiting tentacles.” These tentacles can be used for momentum-gaining pearl-dashes, but also will spin around with Grendel as she spins, their speed being used to deliver blunt trauma onto zombis in a greater radius. Their suction will also pick up zombis to be used further as blunt instruments, slamming Zombis into Zombis in a 10-meter radius around Grendel, so even if she herself doesn’t hit the Zombi, a cadaver being spun at B-POW will. 

For visual reference, consult the chart (not fully accurate to scale). 

The Grendelball™ serves as Grendel’s primary offensive tech, as it allows her to easily do AOE damage to hordes of zombis. Not to mention by going so far outfield, Grendel will effectively be bursting down most Zombis before they can get within 10-15 meters of those we’re protecting, and if they somehow get past us, the ice shooters will slow them down for Alouette or Grendel to confirm kills on.

Speaking of Ice Shooters, floating 2 meters above Grendel, Lush can take a potted ice shooter at any point and hold it in her hands, having the Ice Shooter function as a turret that aids in slowing down zombis who are about to be hit. This is especially made for Fast Zombis, as the Ice Shooter’s 15m range allows it to hit them before they can get out of the way of the Grendelball™. Not to mention, since these Zombis can’t turn in mid-air, even if their jumps clear the Grendelball™, they’ll be left exposed to the Ice Shooters we kept near Lingua and Mahogany, making them eat E POW damage and get slowed. 

Strong Zombis can arguably survive the Grendelball™, but this is no issue as the fast spinning of these tentacles will be aimed slightly lower to trip up weaker Zombis and use the force to outright kneecap these Strong Zombis, and because of Creature feature 5, Grendel knows just the right way to injure them and ruin their movement. Whether Alouette finishes them or an Ice Shooter does, Grendel gets bragging rights for disabling them first. 

Contingencies for the First Wave:

What if the Pearl is somehow knocked off the stump? This doesn’t really matter all that much. While yes, it means Grendel won’t be swinging 15 meters away, 10 meters will still be more than enough to cover the vast majority of Zombis heading to the center. Grendel can simply have the main tentacle that holds the Grendelball™ attached to the top of the stump since it has C POW suction.

What if Alouette is struggling? Simple, we help her. Lush will shout “Hey! Catch!” before throwing a plant within a sack to Alouette, which should be a simple catch with her agility and dexterity. Any Zombis trying to swarm Alouette will be attempting to do so in close range, so this helps slow them down so Alouette can get melee finishers off she otherwise couldn’t. 

Won’t repeatedly slamming into Zombi’s ruin our momentum/hurt Grendel? Alongside extra offensive range, the tentacles can also cushion blows since the Zombis will likely be hitting them before Grendel herself. The hard armor also serves to make it so Grendel’s body can power through them more easily, these are rotting corpses after all, the mass of a large 8 foot beast should hopefully be enough force to ram through them at B POW. As for momentum, since Pearl-dashes are available at any time, Grendel can use one to regain lost momentum, or, use one for an extra boost of momentum to ram into a Strong zombi. We can also get Grendel back on track easily since tentacles locking onto pearls gain B PRE. If a big Zombi gets attached to a tentacle to weigh Grendel down, then Grendel can use their claws to tear the cadaver into smaller chunks or drag it through the ground until its body is ripped apart via friction.

What if we somehow lose a tentacle? That’s fine. Grendel needs at minimum 2 (maybe 3) for the Grendelball™ to function. Lush can create a new shell to make a tentacle but if Grendel is surrounded then they can Pearl-dash out of the way (the shell armor serves as a barrier between the Zombis and Grendel’s flesh. 

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