Quick Note: XCOM 2 often goes on sale on steam. If you don't have it already, get it (its most recent predecessor is also great and worth playing, it has a different campaign style so XCOM 2 isn't just a rehash). Also, nothing is this thread is directly OV related. More information will be in later posts. It's never too late to join. (unless this has been dead for a few months, but hey, I always welcome the opportunity to play XCOM)

Photobooth (recent stuff at the top): http://imgur.com/a/jtFWN

Hitting the ground running was a lot harder than most people gave it credit for. Especially when you hit the ground running only about three paces before barging through a shimmering wall of portal that left you feeling like the world went topsy-turvy for just a little bit more than 'too long'. It was enough to send Graowr sprawling and reeling, leading to a comical faceplant and ungainly flip back forward onto her feet. She shook her head to clear the momentary teleportation wooziness and was off running again.

A quick stop in at the check-in station to register her arrival, and she was off for her destination. Luckily she'd been given directions to follow, so it wasn't just a blind search. All the same, it took far too long for her to actually find her destination. It was a little confusing to figure out how it all worked, but with a little instruction and checking the email that had sent her here, she got it all figured out. And soon enough, she was in possession of...wow, that was kind of a lot of omnilium.

Not only a lot of omnilium, but her other prizes. There was a kind of...gaudy looking belt (which a helpful note identified as the grand champion's belt, for winning the event), and another item. Some sort of...mask, or visor. It had an unsettling look to it, but the note said it was an artefact, and another prize to go along with winning the competition. There was a description of what it did, which she read over carefully, before looking the thing over more carefully. It sure had an odd look to it. It sent an unpleasant tingle through her hands when she picked it up, as if she'd been shocked. Unpleasant images crawled around the edges of her mind, making her narrow her eyes in concentration. There was something...something off about this thing. It was like... Like something she should've recognized from somewhere, or something, but...

Oh, well. No sense dwelling on it. All of her prizes were swiped and absorbed in one fell swoop, stored more or less safely away within the gooey confines of her body. And with that, her business here was done. She turned and left, quickly breaking into a jog. Spooky mask or no, it was bound to come in handy if she ever got in a tight spot somewhere down the line, and that was good enough for her!

Soldier!

Do you like blowing up buildings?
Do you like ridiculous varieties of guns?
Do you like bad graphics, comically bad voice-overs and B-movie charm?
Do you like multiple classes, such as 'flying energy weapon lady with the boobs' or 'walking tank-guy with ridiculously big swords and artillery'?
Most importantly, do you enjoy firing rockets into massive groups of robots and giant insects, watching bits of them fly everywhere, then shooting the airborne body parts 1. for the challenge and 2. to see them fly off in the distance, only to chant 'EDF! EDF! afterwards?

Earth Defence Force 4.1. Available on Steam and PS4 (but sadly not xbox one).

So yeah, like Starship Troopers the game. Graphics are nothing special, but the gameplay is fun as balls. Particularly fun balls. I doubt anyone else plays it, but just thought I'd send out some feelers. Antennae, whatever.

As you know, the Ashen Steppes is being invaded

I'm submitting Guu's NPC Dama and we have Dominator in on this. But, we can use all the help we can get.

The Ashens maybe the least popular verse, but it's still one many call home. They don't have the empire on their side to bail them out! No, they only have us. We will be outnumbered, we will be back to back on the battlefield as the darkness comes to consume what lives here, but we will stand, and we will perservere!

Are you with me?

Hi, I'm your friendly, neighborhood Proto Man.

Gosh, my surrogate retirement home for the last year or so is being overwhelmed by the forces of scary darkness.  People are dying and/or getting turned into terrible monsters (Sad!)  My best friend is in a margarita sugar coma of sorts, so he can't help me out.

Will you plz help me to kill bad guys and save the world Vasty Deep?  If I get wtf pwned I'll 100% come back as a darkling monster and burn all your fucking homes to the ground and murder your children in their cribs the bad guys might win and that would be no good, by golly!  I'm on my way to the Archipelago to try and save some people and prevent that place from being completely molested by fucking evil people lost to us.

So come help.  Afterwards, we can fritter around for shits and giggles have a lovely little celebration!


Thread in question -- http://omniverse-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=8718

The summer sun was baking the streets of the 5th Tier barrios. April and May had packed out of town in a hurry like a couple of two-buck broads looking to desert their abusive pimp. The only lay left in town was good ol’ June, and she was as hot as they came.

Corsucant was a city of the future, filled with temperature controlled high rises that cared little for the annual rotation of the planet around it's burning star… as long as you were rich enough to get up and out to the Fourth Tier or beyond. For those sweating in the 34th Precinct of the Fifth Tier, you just had to thank your dear sweet abuelita that you weren't born further below.

The street sages and dumpster poets say the “common man” are innumerable on the Fifth, and who knows, they may even be right. The last census had counted millions upon millions of souls, and that was just the ones willing to write their names on the surveys. Who could really tell how many there were hiding in back alleys or bedded three abreast in the bedrooms of every neighborhood barrio.

Whatever the headcount was, this scorching summer day would have been the perfect one to take a tally on. The power had browned out yet again in the 12th Ward of the 34th Precinct and it seemed like every single citizen had spilled out of their suffocatingly hot apartments for the fresh air of the city streets. Men sat on their stoops, fanning their beer bellies with rolled up newspapers while their wives or side-bitches gossiped and compared manicures. Some kind-hearted fireman had opened a few hydrant valves, spilling the avenues with surging, cool water. The neighborhood children splashed, frolicked and fought like ducks in a pond, their bare chests slowly tanning in the endless sun.

Officer John Estes snored loudly in the passenger side of his police cruiser. His seat was reclined as far back as it would allow and his feet were kicked out and resting through the rolled-down window. His blue cap sat over his face, shielding him from the sun… and his partner’s smouldering glare. Officer Carlos Reyes sat erectly in the driver's seat, glancing intervally  at his sleeping partner and the raucous city streets. The man was thin and dark complected, with a pencil thin mustache drawn along his upper lip. He had the skin of a young man, but his haggard and cruel eyes hinted that he had seen more than his years told. On his left bicep he wore a black armband, a symbolic remembrance for his brother, Officer Diego Reyes, who had recently died in the line of duty. (As seen in Chapter 2 of Mad Bull's first adventure, "Long Arm of the Law!") Carlos had become a loose cannon on the force since his brother's death, blaming Diego's demise on bean-counting suits to cheap to buy the department body armor and a rancid public that enshrined cop-killers. The Chief had realized the mourning cop needed a change of scenery, lest he become to much of a liability. Thinking it would help give Carlos some closure (and a hard-nosed babysitter), the Chief had temporarily reassigned Reyes to MAD BULL 34, the last man to see his brother alive.

From his cruiser parked along the curb, Officer Reyes continued to scan the avenue, watchful for trouble. His eye came to a pair of teenage boys talking angrily and gesticulating at the police vehicle. The boys wore short, breezy shorts and muscle shirts to provide some relief during the hot summer day. One began to light a cigarette while the other continued to rant, a wax paper cup filled with soda in one hand.

“It's these fucking pigs that get me going, you know?”

His friend shrugged, still trying to light an end.

“And this cabron, sitting in his car like he owns the block…” he spat dramatically towards the cruiser for effect.

The other teen finally got the end of his cigarette to show tiny flaking embers. He inhaled deeply and puffed out a dank smelling cloud of smoke, just like he had seen in the movies. Trying to give off an air of relaxed machismo, he placated his friend, “That's Carlos Reyes. He grew up here.”

Officer Reyes overhead bits of the conversation and had heard enough to shoot the boys a stern, disapproving look. The scowl was not lost on the youths.

“Then he's a traitor, Chico!” the boy fumed. His friend nodded a bit, not disagreeing. Growing irate, the boy bowed up and spat again at the police cruiser.

“Que pedo, la hada?” he jeered.

Officer Reyes scoffed at the insulting remark and waved the boy away dismissively.

“Vete a la mierda, cabrona. Hago lo que quiero!” the boy replied derisively before throwing the wax paper cup still half full of soda at the parked cruiser. The cup crashed against the driver's side window with respectable accuracy and showered Officer Reyes with hot, sticky Coke. In a fury, Reyes exited the car and stood two legs akimbo. Soda dripped down his sweaty uniform and stained his black armband. He looked down at his sodden clothes and a snarl cracked across his lips.

Quote:Abuelita - Granny
Cabron - Bastard (Masculine)
Que pedo?  - What's up? (impolite)
La Hada - Derogative slang for police (Originates from Puerto Rican gangs in Chicago)
Vete a la mierda - Fuck off
Cabrona - Bitch (feminine)
Yo hago lo que quiero! - I do what I want!

"Well...looks like things are goin' well for us out here..." The lazy drawl of one of the co-commanders of the naval force harassing and corrupting the Vasty Deep drifted up from where its owner sat in the captain's cabin of one of their myriad warships. "Makin' all kinds of progress..."

"What are you saying, Bola?" A swirling cloud of smoke filled the room with an echoing thrum of energy, and under the hazy screen the bulky, metallic form of the other co-commander thunked down, the boards creaking dangerously under his immense weight. "We're barely keeping momentum out there. The Empire finally took notice, and they're putting up more of a fight than we can handle."

"Relax, Klaymoor. Look, we got all those punks over at the island we introduced to our boss's gifts, right? They're keeping us pretty well-supplied, and keeping ol' Admiral Lightfingers occupied pretty well." Bola reclined in his chair, lifting a leg to stomp on the table with a boot, indicating the scattering of maps and charts there. "Besides, progress might have slowed down...but it is still progressing." He flicked a wrist, and his arm erupted in dark fire, a scattering of dark chips hovering over his upturned palm. "And besides...with these bad boys? We can't lose."

"Hmph. Damnable fool...you're half right," the towering tank rumbled. "But don't get complacent, Bola. You've heard what happened. General Laserman was defeated, Coruscant has been freed from our attempts to control it. We've just lost contact with Desertman, in the Endless Dunes. Communications are shaky with Doctor Psyche and the Black Knight, and Plant Man has just informed us that there's some unwanted company that breached his doorstep."

"I know, I know, Klaymoor...I know," Bola said slowly, the haze of dark power around his arm dying down. "Look, we've got the strongest position out of all those schmucks. Sure, anyone who's strong enough to take on Laserman and come out alive is nothing to overlook, but he was pretty sedentary. Had all those robots and Cybermen to do his fighting for him. Probably didn't even make it to the fight himself."

"Just be on your guard, Bola. You and I both know if the Empire's Navy manages to get much more help, what little progress we do have will grind to a halt." The massive hulk of metal and weapons was engulfed in a swirling plume of smoke, and vanished as suddenly as he'd come. "I'm going to make my daily report to Metal Shark Player. Go do something useful with yourself."

"Pleasure talkin' to ya as always, Klaymoor..." Bola mumbled, before heaving a sigh. He let his chair fall forward, boots hitting the ground, and he stood up with all the grace and poise of a man with both legs asleep on him. One hand went to his back, and he leaned this way and that, eliciting a sharp rhythm of sickening pops, cracks and other unsightly noises. "Man...gotta thank big boss Nebula for one thing. Dark power sure does make you forget about the aches and pains of gettin' old."

He lazily strolled across the room, to a shuttered window. Flicking it open, he peered out, just in time to catch sight of something entirely absurd. Several of his subordinates, and many more denizens of the deeps itself driven mad by exposure to dark power, crawling down the barrels of oversized cannons. Launching themselves at distant warships bearing Empire colors. "...well, I think that qualifies for my overseeing duties for the day. They've got it handled."

And he turned around, letting the shutters fall back into place, and went back to have a seat. "Maybe I should just head back to headquarters and guard the portal or something...I don't even think I'm needed out here."

While the world at large has been jacking off to fancy fights, the dark power that has been threatening to consume entire verses has been left entirely unchecked.

As a result, the Vasty Deeps and Ashen Steppes are now suffering from extremely large-scale attacks by darklings (secondaries corrupted by dark power) and darkspawn (beings of pure dark power). It's enough that the Empire has dispatched large-scale forces to the Vasty Deeps to try and stop them, and are currently undergoing a huge naval battle between Admiral Kizaru's naval fleet and waterborne darkspawn and darkling-possessed boats.

In particular, Blue Flame Island has been totally ravaged and nearly wiped out, with survivors hiding and most of the island completely overrun and possessed, forming the core of the fleet fighting the Empire. Sabaody Archipelago is undergoing a similar process, with the Empire totally preoccupied and thus cut off from helping.

In the Ashen Steppes, the Koopa Kingdom are holding back the forces of darkness, but at great cost and with little chance of surviving as things stand. If not helped soon, they will soon form another core of Nebula's armies.

If going to these verses, be aware of the state of things.

I have made another Log Mistake. Will someone please fix my latest Log post to include the new Spent OM of 17250?

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!!

Dust has been getting a lot of kiss action lately! It made sense on the field because he gets all his powers by kissing people, but now he's even getting paid for kisses!! Scandalous? No, not really. It's a kissing booth.

And despite what Gildarts thinks, he had no say in who walked in. (Also, he had no idea!! He wouldn't have done it had he known!!)


To make this fun, I'm going to also open this to questions about said kisses. Not sure how many questions someone can ask about Dust's kissing history, but... Well, we're going to find out!!



KISSED:

Dante's Abyss
Bendy - Three seconds before Dust ripped his throat out.
Abyss - Quick make out before she kneed him in the crotch and then fell into lava.
Erika** - But not Dawn; He needed to play catch up. (Got punched for it, too. She still might be mad.)
Tamsin** - Dust's first 'real' kiss. Defined for being someone that he wanted to kiss for himself and not his power.
Harlan - He kissed Dust. Fact.

Kissing Booth(Beach)
Molly** - yes, that one - Apparently crushing on our Kissing Hero, and bribed him with her cute face and cotton candy.
Rosie - A feisty feline and friend to Isabelle.
Isabelle - Some things are just so cute you have to kiss them. Also, it was her money.
Random Hot Girls - One was named Lexi.
Half-Giant - I mean, did you see the size of those coins?

Beach Thread
Desman** - He kissed Dust on the beach.

TO BE KISSED:

Karl Jak <3
Ezrihel
Ebonywood Hellscythe
Amaterasu


KISSERS(Have threatened/promise Dust a kiss.):

Desman Black



**
RUNNING TALLEY OF FIRST KISSES STOLEN BY DUST: 3
RUNNING TALLEY OF FIRST KISSES GIVEN TO DUST: 1