Vitcity

"It doesn't like water, does it? Good to know."

Nora will cast full power Eldritch Blast, aiming the empowered water spell directly at the tower's exposed core.

"Our end goal is rescuing Alice. We'll be no use to her if we're exhausted after back to back battles. But we do need to destroy those things. We can use the nearby alley to rest out of sight and plan our next move."

Nora turns to Alpha. "I saw your boss flying around, smiting some angels that were after me. Do you have a way to contact her out in the field? Would she help with destroying these towers?"

Nora

"Yeah, I can reach the boss.  But we're already all hands on deck and already had to call in some outside help... whatever that means.  Last I heard she said she would do her best to keep the angels in the air focused on her instead of swooping down every 2 seconds," Alpha says as you duck into the alley.  "I mean, she used a lot more words like 'insolence' and 'smite' but you get the idea."

"You're right we can't waste too much time dealing with the towers or whatever," Tom says.  "What would Alice say?  Something about how you win by checkmating the king and capturing the other pieces is just a means to the end?"

"But Alice would be a queen?" Tia asks.

"...Right.  Checkmate the queen," Tom agrees without arguing.

As you wait to see how the tower will react, it draws closer to the alley, slamming down out in front.  Instead of the tower you expected, it's a large knight mounted on a stone horse.  It looks into the alley, staring.

Ah.  Of course.  A knight wouldn't have any legal moves to advance into a narrow alley with its movement pattern...


Aron

The snake explodes just as it starts to lunge at the woman.  It gets knocked slightly off its trajectory, and she's quick to grab its tail as it flies past.  She swings around, whipping and slamming it into the ground.  She winces and grabs one of her arms.  "Th-that's more like it!" she cheers you on.  "But something with a little more kick-"

The woman is interrupted as the snake recovers, flicking its tail and launching her backwards as she skids into a car with a thud.

Nora

"Yes... It's one of the most common openers in chess and Alice ground it into my head," Tom mutters. "White opens pawn to d4, Black either accepts with pawn d5 and White follows with pawn c4, or Black refuses with uh... other... stuff."

"Uh... What?" Alpha says.

"You kill off a pawn to let your queen and bishop move better," Tom explains.

"What...?" Tia repeats.

"Chess babble," Tom says. "Join the chess club in spring. So...?"

Nora

"That's what the other group is for. And, I mean, if we have to use them as bait then we have to use them as bait. But, uh. If this particular one can't move this way, why don't we just... hit it from here until it dies?" Alpha raises their sword. "T- Sappho, can you do that spear throwing thing?"

"Yes!" Tia says.

"I mean it's still kinda slow," Tom says. "And it might run off. And it doesn't exactly solve the speed or stamina problems. Though, uh... maybe Alice is limited to proper chess board numbers of units? At one time anyway."

"Eh. I can call the others if you want to use them now," Alpha says. "Just don't get so enthusiastic trading pieces you can't put the queen in mate or whatever chess words you'd use."

Nora

"I mean, I would, if it weren't for the fact it seems to be Celestial and resistant to T- Sappho's Soul..." Alpha trails off. "Ugh, OK, can we stop pretending this isn't pretty obviously Tia? Showed up right around when the Soul guardian disappeared, clearly uses Soul magic, not to mention everyone talking about how she has a forked tongue. Which she keeps flicking in and out."

"No I don't," Tia says, covering her mouth.

"Right, so, anyway." Alpha ignores her and presses on. "Yeah, it's not a great matchup for us."

A large, flaming bird that you vaguely recognize as the one from the park flies by, tackling the knight. The knight shudders, then resettles and goes chasing after the phoenix as if flies down the street.

"Hey, sorry we were late." Mareena hops down the alley in her usual dancer outfit. "You all alright, dears? Mmmm, you look alright. OK, we'll go deal with that. What are you waiting for? On your way. To the left. Hop, hop."

"I'm not a bunny," Tia says.

"But you like them," Alpha says. "And won't stop going on about, uh... Sproink?"

"Sssssproink," Tia repeats.

"Great. Come on. And stay behind me a bit." Tom leads the way out of the alley, then down the street. "The tremors are coming from that way... But I don't think we're getting in without a fight. Look." Ahead you spot the conservatory tied to the museum, along with a trio of giant pawns sitting by the entrance. "At least she's not being subtle about where she's holed up... But why the... uh... Is that a, uh... conservatory? The star place?"