With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

CrazyNoVa · Tuesday at 1:35 PM

Mr Zoat said:
Author note: don't click on the link if you or anyone in the room with you is epileptic. You/They will die

For a second there, I thought that was Grayven speaking and I was all like: "What the fuck? Did Pinkie teach him how to break the fourth wall?"

Mr Zoat said:
"Tell me everything that happened to you."

Persuader: "Okay, so it all started the day I was born-"

Grayven: "NOT LIKE THAT!"

Ardy · Tuesday at 4:27 PM

We ever find out what happened with Beatriz/fire? Minor magic aura, crazy rage out of nowhere, increased fire powers, all from a company that disappeared into nowhere that she thought was controlled/giving her powers from a Norse fire giant but wasn't?

PDV · Tuesday at 4:55 PM

Blackshard said:
For that matter, also maybe don't watch the video if you have any other sort of photosensitivity, up to and including "prefers dark mode for reasons of eyestrain".

Unless you're in the mood to recreationally flashbang yourself and be meaningfully impaired for the next half hour or so, I suppose.

It's okay I could use the wakeup anyway

Mr Zoat · 2026-03-04T06:09:57+0000

10th December 2022
09:08 GMT

I raise my shotgun at the demon with the active camouflage and fire. Taggart hesitates for a moment, then he spots the grey blur too and joins in. The stealthy ones aren't any tougher than the visible ones, they're just harder to see. Three shotgun shells are usually enough to kill them, though since the stealth effect doesn't end when they die it's a little hard to work out exactly what killed them.

Endymion didn't need to use his sword in that room, though he's impaling each corpse through the brain to make certain that they're dead. So far none of the things we're fought have shown the cunning to feign injury, but it doesn't hurt to be certain. Honestly, I'm not sure how intelligent these things are. None of them have attempted to communicate, either with us or each other. Mazikeen didn't even bother to raise her plasma gun for this encounter. It's true that we don't have unlimited power packs, but that's not a sensible approach, even if we didn't need her to contribute this time.

The walls to this room have an odd pattern painted on them. It looks like a stencil of a circuit board, with connections and chips painted in blue while the rest is left in the basic dull brown.

I point to the closest wall. "Taggart, is it supposed to look like that?"

He follows my finger, and then shrugs. "Beats me. Better than skulls and demon faces."

Fair enough. He has been clear that he's a marine, rather than someone with a more technical role.

I think that the grey pillar in the centre of the room is the facility's main server, and that the odd arrangement in the floor is part of the cooling system. That doesn't really explain why there are med-packs and boxes of ammunition here. I'd guess that the garrison could have used it as a fallback position, except that there aren't any zombie soldiers in here.

"Taggart, can your personal organiser plug into that thing?"

He shakes his head. "It's not designed to plug into computers like that. Needs a special connector."

"Why?"

"Guess they didn't want grunts messing with anything too expensive. Or filling up their server with pornos." He checks around the server column. "Ah, great, replacement armour! Watch my back while I change."

"Sure." Only one other exit, so this shouldn't be hard. I hear as he start unbuckling his armour and dumping it onto the floor. "I didn't realise you needed a replacement suit."

"This shit's light armour. Vacuum sealed clothes with a few hardened panels. If we're going into combat we're supposed to get issued with heavier stuff. Which I didn't get, 'cause I was supposed to stay on the shuttle. This shit's got better coverage and better toughness."

"Neat. Guess you're taking point in the next room, then."

He smirks at me as he switches helmets. "Go fuck yourself."

"Endymion, is your armour alright?"

He looks up at me, hesitating for a moment. Then he checks himself over with his left hand. "It endures well enough. Besides, we would be hard-pressed to find a blacksmith on Deimos."

"You could switch over to what Taggart's wearing."

"Ballistic panels? Against demon claws? I'll stick with my plate."

"And…" I tap the side of my helmet with my right hand. "'Tuxedo Mask' not back yet?"

He shakes his head. "It won't be like that. It won't even really be a.. change. I'll just slot back into his life, and after a while I'll realise that his family seems more important to me than mine, his interests seeming more significant than those I used to involve myself with… I'll be him once more."

"Once I get repowered, I could… Make you a cloned body or something. We might be able to preserve you."

"You couldn't disentangle us so easily. And… I died a long time ago. It's a comfort to know that Earth survived Metalia's onslaught, even if civilisation was reset. My only regret is that we lost, and there's nothing more I can do about that now."

"Alright. Well… You're handling it better than I would."

"Thank you-."

"Alright, lovebirds." Taggart walks out from behind the server, his new armour… Basically the same as the last, except blue and slightly bulkier. "It's kick ass and chew bubblegum. You ever get confused, check with me."

"Both of us are in relationships with women. How's your personal life, Corporal?"

"Daisy said she'd wait for me. Back the way we came?"

"My armour's sensors don't show any concealed compartments, so unless your map says otherwise..?"

"Back we go. Door number two! On me, Eddy!"

I wait for Taggart and Endymion to pass, before following them up the stairs with Mazikeen. "Not going to suggest that I wear armour, 'father'?"

"Mazikeen, you're about half our size. I don't think it would fit you without severely impeding your movement. But if you want it..?"

"Corporal! Were there any female marines stationed here?"

He glances back as we head down the corridor. "No, the Corps is one big sausagefest. Might be an armored space suit for one of the female researchers somewhere. No idea where they'd keep it, though."

Come up on… A large room now. A few boxes of ammunition and storage crates scattered around the place. Looks like this was a proper storage depot. No demons immediately in sight. The corridor section leading down to it is too narrow for two people to walk down side by side and still have room to dodge. Single file seems to be the best bet.

Taggart and Endymion reach the same conclusion. Taggart heads down hugging the left wall with Endymion just behind him. I take position on the right, gun pointed down towards the entrance in case anything tries rushing them. Mazikeen faces away in case anything tries sneaking up on us.

But nothing does. Taggart and Endymion reach the storage room without incident, advance a short distance and then hold, Endymion motioning for us to follow them. I turn, taking my left hand off the shotgun and tapping Mazikeen on the right shoulder. She turns and heads down the stairs, while I listen to her footsteps and wait for her to reach the bottom. Once she's down I turn and head down after the team.

Huh. A bit bigger than I was expecting, given the support structures they'd need in an excavation like this, but it-.

A door that I'd thought was jammed in the 'open' position slides closed behind us. And… There's no control on this side. Ah, okay, that's a little-.

"RhRAR!"

A pinkie-.

"RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!"

A… Lot of pinkies charge out from behind… Just about every pile of crates-. That's more discipline and coordination than they've show-.

There's a crackly-twinkly noise, and a Baron of Hell teleports onto the top of one of the larger crate piles, green fires wreathing its hands.

And if its mouth could move that way, I think it would be smiling.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-03-04T06:54:41+0000

Mr Zoat said:
10th December 2022
09:08 GMT

I raise my shotgun at the demon with the active camouflage and fire. Taggart hesitates for a moment, then he spots the grey blur too and joins in. The stealthy ones aren't any tougher than the visible ones, they're just harder to see. Three shotgun shells is usually to kill them, though since the stealth effect doesn't end when they die it's a little hard to work out exactly what killed them.

Though I'm pretty sure they Gib the same as anything else. But you guys don't have grenades (none in the games anyway) and Rockets are in short supply until next level. Perhaps there'll be enough launchers for all of you...

Endymion didn't need to use his sword in that room, though he's impaling each corpse through the brain to make certain that they're dead. So far none of the things we're fought have shown the cunning to feign injury, but it doesn't hurt to be certain. Honestly, I'm not sure how intelligent these things are. None of them have attempted to communicate, either with us or each other. Mazikeen didn't even bother to raise her plasma gun for this encounter. It's true that we don't have unlimited power packs, but that's not a sensible approach, even if we didn't need her to contribute this time.

A sword in the brain might well help stop them being revived by another Archvile, but I doubt it. Magic isn't exactly slowed down by logical outcomes.

The walls to this room have an odd pattern painted on them. It looks like a stencil of a circuit board, with connections and chips painted in blue while the rest is left in the basic dull brown.

I point to the closest wall. "Taggart, is it supposed to look like that?"

Ah, the 'high-tech stuff' textures. Usually seen in technological rooms, computer centres and the occasional random door lining.

He follows my finger, and then shrugs. "Beats me. Better than skulls and demon faces."

Fair enough. He has been clear that he's a marine, rather than someone with a more technical role.

And it's far enough in the future that computer technology will have advanced beyond, say, microscopic gold printing on plastic boards. Perhaps it's some kind of optical system?

I think that the grey pillar in the centre of the room is the facility's main server, and that the odd arrangement in the floor is part of the cooling system. That doesn't really explain why there are med-packs and boxes of ammunition here. I'd guess that the garrison could have used it as a fallback position, except that there aren't any zombie soldiers in here.

Same reason they're everywhere else: Gameplay balance.

Gotta have some way for a player to heal up after a tough gunfight...

"Taggart, can your personal organiser plug into that thing?"

He shakes his head. "It's not designed to plug into computers like that. Needs a special connector."

...Because Wi-Fi isn't a thing in this setting, apparently. Then again, Doom was made before easy, casual wireless networking was a thing.

"Why?"

"Guess they didn't want grunts messing with anything too expensive. Or filling up their server with pornos." He checks around the server column. "Ah, great, replacement armour! Watch my back while I change."

The real question is, can either of them run Doom? ...Or whatever videogame took its place in-universe. Duke Nukem 3D? Rise of the Triads?

"Sure." Only one other exit, so this shouldn't be hard. I hear as he start unbuckling his armour and dumping it onto the floor. "I didn't realise you needed a replacement suit."

"This shit's light armour. Vacuum sealed clothes with a few hardened panels. If we're going into combat we're supposed to get issued with heavier stuff. Which I didn't get, 'cause I was supposed to stay on the shuttle. This shit's got better coverage and better toughness."

So he's stepping up to 200 Armour instead of the 100 he was limited to before. Careful though, the good stuff runs out faster because it soaks more damage...

"Neat. Guess you're taking point in the next room, then."

He smirks at me as he switches helmets. "Go fuck yourself."

I mean, I imagine OL's heavy armour probably gives him a maximum of 400 or similar.

"Endymion, is your armour alright?"

He looks up at me, hesitating for a moment. Then he checks himself over with his left hand. "It endures well enough. Besides, we would be hard-pressed to find a blacksmith on Deimos."

Especially one trained to work with no-doubt exotic or magical materials.

"You could switch over to what Taggart's wearing."

"Ballistic panels? Against demon claws? I'll stick with my plate."

"And…" I tap the side of my helmet with my right hand. "'Tuxedo Mask' not back yet?"

Or god forbid, 'Moonlight Knight'? ...Yeah, the 90's anime got weird because of the way the first season ended with a reset.

He shakes his head. "It won't be like that. It won't even really be a.. change. I'll just slot back into his life, and after a while I'll realise that his family seems more important to me than mine, his interests seeming more significant than those I used to involve myself with… I'll be him once more."

Hopefully the two of you have similar feelings about a certain odango'd girl? That was a bit of trauma during the 'Doom Tree' arc that started off the second season.

"Once I get repowered, I could… Make you a cloned body or something. We might be able to preserve you."

"You couldn't disentangle us so easily. And… I died a long time ago. It's a comfort to know that Earth survived Metalia's onslaught, even if civilisation was reset. My only regret is that we lost, and there's nothing more I can do about that now."

Yeah, it'd be a bit hard when they share the same soul. Right down to all the trinkets floating around inside it.

"Alright. Well… You're handling it better than I would."

"Thank you-."

Eh, knowing that you are only the memories of a beloved past floating in a young man's head probably gives him a certain amount of comfort, knowing that he'll be remembered.

"Alright, lovebirds." Taggart walks out from behind the server, his new armour… Basically the same as the last, except blue and slightly bulkier. "It's kick ass and chew bubblegum. You ever get confused, check with me."

"Both of us are in relationships with women. How's your personal life, Corporal?"

Plus, I think the guys outrank you, being a Prince of an ancient kingdom and top Lantern of a corps.

"Daisy said she'd wait for me. Back the way we came?"

"My armour's sensors don't show any concealed compartments, so unless your map says otherwise..?"

Heh. Must make it easy to locate hidden doors. Not necessarily how to open them, given some are triggered by switches or lines on the map...

"Back we go. Door number two! On me, Eddy!"

I wait for Taggart and Endymion to pass, before following them up the stairs with Mazikeen. "Not going to suggest that I wear armour, 'father'?"

She's probably tougher naked than most of the demons they've encountered. Or would be if she was at full strength.

"Mazikeen, you're about half our size. I don't think it would fit you without severely impeding your movement. But if you want it..?"

"Corporal! Were there any female marines stationed here?"

He glances back as we head down the corridor. "No, the Corps' is one big sausagefest. Might be an armored space suit for one of the female researchers somewhere. No idea where they'd keep it, though."

...Okay, that's a sensible question. I don't think classic Doom ever had any female sprites. The 'Quake' series, yes, but...

Come up on… A large room now. A few boxes of ammunition and storage crates scattered around the place. Looks like this was a proper storage depot. No demons immediately in sight. The corridor section leading down to it is too narrow for two people to walk down side by side and still have room to dodge. Single file seems to be the best bet.

Ah, the warehouse area of E2M7. I'll bet the ambush has been tapping their feet in annoyance...

Taggart and Endymion reach the same conclusion. Taggart heads down hugging the left wall with Endymion just behind him. I take position on the right, gun pointed down towards the entrance in case anything tried rushing them. Mazikeen faces away in case anything tries sneaking up on us.

On the upside, the demons are going to be in for a struggle against these professionals.

But nothing does. Taggart and Endymion reach the storage room without incident, advance a short distance and then hold, Endymion motioning for us to follow them. I turn, taking my left hand off the shotgun and tapping Mazikeen on the right shoulder. She turns and heads down the stairs, while I listen to her footsteps and wait for her to reach the bottom. Once she's down I turn and head down after the team.

Slow and steady. Not gonna score a par time for sure, but it's not like there's a pop-up screen between levels telling them so.

Huh. A bit bigger than I was expecting, given the support structures they'd need in an excavation like this, but it-.

A door than I'd thought was jammed in the 'open' position slides closed behind us. And… There's no control on this side. Ah, okay, that's a little-.

Yup, there's the trap. In the game, it's a 'linedef' trigger that closes the door, and it triggered when Mazikeen crossed it, presumably because they're in co-op mode.

"RhRAR!"

A pinkie-.

"RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!" / "RhRAR!"

A sound to make most players sweat a little bit. Unless they have a Berserk pack or BFG handy. And wouldn't you know it, there's one in this room!

...On the other side of the ambush.

A… Lot of pinkies charge out from behind… Just about every pile of crates-. That's more discipline and coordination than they've show-.

There's a crackly-twinkly noise, and a Baron of Hell teleports into the top of one of the larger crate piles, green fires wreathing its hands.

And if its mouth could move that way, I think it would be smiling.

Time to start unloading with everything you've got, people.

Hmm. With a little luck, they could trigger infighting, but I suspect the Baron is where it is to prevent Pinkies getting at it. This run is about to get messy, I think. Sadly, they lack the weapons to require cleanup being done with a mop due to Gibs.

Unless Taggart or OL has a rocket launcher slung behind their back they haven't been using for safety...

NightmareWarden · 2026-03-04T07:13:18+0000

Can't have a killfest unless there's loot!

Duke Long · 2026-03-04T07:58:11+0000

Mr Zoat said:
I raise my shotgun at the demon with the active camouflage and fire. Taggart hesitates for a moment, then he spots the grey blur too and joins in. The stealthy ones aren't any tougher than the visible ones, they're just harder to see. Three shotgun shells is usually to kill them, though since the stealth effect doesn't end when they die it's a little hard to work out exactly what killed them.

'usually enough'

Mr Zoat said:
He glances back as we head down the corridor. "No, the Corps' is one big sausagefest. Might be an armored space suit for one of the female researchers somewhere. No idea where they'd keep it, though."

'Corps'

Mr Zoat said:
Taggart and Endymion reach the same conclusion. Taggart heads down hugging the left wall with Endymion just behind him. I take position on the right, gun pointed down towards the entrance in case anything tried rushing them. Mazikeen faces away in case anything tries sneaking up on us.

'tries'

Mr Zoat said:
A door than I'd thought was jammed in the 'open' position slides closed behind us. And… There's no control on this side. Ah, okay, that's a little-.

'that'

Mr Zoat said:
There's a crackly-twinkly noise, and a Baron of Hell teleports into the top of one of the larger crate piles, green fires wreathing its hands.

'onto'?

It's fun to see such a mundane scenario be a genuinely serious threat to Oh El and friends. It was definitely a good idea to depower them. Though it is a bit of a shame that Sandro had to be temporarily disintegrated, he's quite fun.

Mr Zoat · 2026-03-04T08:46:25+0000

Duke Long said:
'usually enough'
'Corps'
'tries'
'that'
'onto'?

Thank you, corrected.

Neruz · 2026-03-04T16:03:25+0000

Whether the Pinky Demons are intelligent is a damn good question, especially with how new Doom reveals that they are basically Hell wildlife and serve a sort of dual-role as both attack dogs and cattle.

All things considered, probably not.

boo600 · 2026-03-04T19:18:43+0000

Pinky demons…

Now I really, really miss the Praexis demons. They were so useful. They replicated after eating magic, they could eat heat (to reglaciate the arctic circle), they provided Septhian's coworkers with samples of magic from Angelica Blaze, they were morally all right to assimilate…

I wish Paul would just summon a new Praexis demon and assimilate it, but he's apparently he's worried about not having that… you know… special bond.

Ardy · 2026-03-04T19:38:50+0000

I was rereading again and I hope Gamenae recovers. She's smart, competent, powerful, magical, and also OL's special brand of "not evil so long as they have a little advice"

Plus, once Jade dies of old age and goes to the source, well, she's already seen OL naked, consensually, while tying him up. And called him fascinating.

NightmareWarden · 2026-03-05T06:06:20+0000

If you think you saw something? You saw nuttin'.

Mr Zoat said:
John looks out the front windscreen for a moment, then shuts the door behind her. "If he did know, and you get proof, what would you do?"

"Data I stole from his servers probably wouldn't be admissible in court." Unless I was a member of the Justice League and was responding to an attack. Huh, there's the reason to join. "But if I knew to my satisfaction, I'd kill him and as many of his co-conspirators as I could find. Then, release the data to the public. It's the only appropriate response."

"You did say you'd be alright working with Klarion. Back when the Nabu thing-."

"In the short term while we dealt with Nabu, yes.

Y'know, the Greens probably can't use an orange ring for a single mission, but if a single member of the Justice League could handle a ring for an afternoon? Specifically on an afternoon when they were investigating a crime related to Luthor?

Then they'd be able to scan Luthor's servers in-person for their investigation (scratching off scry wards indoors?), leave the building, put the files on Batman's computer, and then take off the ring. We all recall how exciting "Batman with a Ring" seemed before reading With This Ring, right?

Well, the uses of the ring as a tool especially, prior to the League of Shadows lesson, were pretty high. Too bad Paul only got the ability to lend a ring (or recover a ring remotely) AFTER the thing.

Mr Zoat · 2026-03-05T06:18:46+0000

10th December 2022
09:12 GMT

Imps aren't dangerous. They don't move faster than us, their charge time on their fireball is about a second and it doesn't move particularly fast once they throw it. Even an untrained civilian could step around it if they kept their wits about them, and while they will close the distance they don't seem to have a strong desire to do so once they're in range and have a clear shot.

Pinkies aren't dangerous. Their arms aren't long enough to attack with them, meaning that they're limited to biting or goring. And most of their strength is in their neck and back, so while their attacks have a decent amount of force behind them the demons themselves aren't all that fast or agile. Even an untrained civilian could run away from them, for a while at least.

Barons of Hell are dangerous, but in a manageable sort of way. Their plasma balls are faster and more powerful than those the imps throw, but you can easily see them coming. An untrained civilian confronted by a pink-skinned minotaur would probably struggle to keep dodging them, particularly given that Barons of Hell do charge down their targets while throwing plasma at them, but a soldier should be able to manage it. Again, they're not especially agile, so despite the fact that they've got effectively unlimited stamina it's perfectly possible to run away from one, particularly if you've got friends around to draw the aggro when it goes after you.

But the one exception to all that is if you're hemmed in.

"RhRAR!"

Taggart and I don't synchronise our targets, because each pinkie we hit is momentarily stopped in its charge and we need every moment. Endymion darts forwards to slash at one-

"RhRAR!"

-only for it to stop just before he reaches it. He commits and gets flanked on both sides, costing his target a nasty slash across its side while the one on his left grabs his arm in its mouth and the one on his right stabs his chest with its horn.

"Ur-rah!"

Mazikeen tries shooting at the Baron of Hell overseeing things and it does take a couple of hits from her plasma gun, but it's already started throwing. And so have the imps positioned on the other cargo crate piles overseeing the area. And we can't really evade-

My armour takes hits to the cuirass and left pauldron. Imp shots, so the outer plating melts a little and evaporates rather than giving away completely. I'm not going to even try to dodge everything, but I can pick out the green shots from the Baron because it's still throwing.

-because there isn't room and because Mazikeen isn't wearing armour and can't even take an imp shot right now. She's basically hiding behind me which means that she can't keep up the pressure on the Baron, which isn't great for the tactical situation but for the surviving-right-now it's pretty okay because while pinkies aren't that fast it doesn't matter if you can't get away.

Endymion reverse-grips his sword and slides it through the eye and right into the brain of the pinkie biting his arm. It collapses and lets him move away from the one goring him and he's realised that he's out of position. But the one he wounded is charging again, ducking its head to try and toss-.

Taggart switches target, putting a cartridge into the left leg of the one trying to toss Endymion. But the one trying to gore him turns its neck and sends him flying into the side wall anyway and Taggart taking his attention off the front rank means thatoof!

"RhRAR!"

A pinkie slams face-first into me at full charge, and even though I'm braced and wearing full power armour I'm knocked back a couple of steps! Its head swings left and right, horns digging rents in my imp-fire-softened armour. I jam the shotgun up against the right side of its face and fire. Its eye explodes and it's knocked sideways but its horn is still in my armo-. Agh!

It didn't penetrate, but it did poke a hole in the insulation layer and let the residual heat in! Ow!

Psh!

Mazikeen steps to the side and shoots it with the plasma gun, vaporising a chunk of its chest and killing it. And I'm back to-.

My shotgun clicks empty.

"Taggart, launcher!"

"Busy!"

Mazikeen fires another volley into the oncoming pinkies, burning holes into-.

"Invisible-!"

A stealthy pinkie lunges and bites down on the barrel of her plasma gun, cutting it in half! Plasma containment fails, venting most of the plasma into the attacker and obliterating it.

"A-ah!"

But not all. Mazikeen falls back with nasty burns on her hands and forearms, the rest of the plasma gun melted and clearly inoperable. Fuck, don't have time to reload, power armour brawling it is.

Drop the gun because I can reload later. Take a solid stance because I'm not fighting squishy humans here. Flight system active -the ceiling's high enough for me to use it but I'm basically shielding Taggart's side and all of Mazikeen so I can't afford to move much- and charge.

My first punch hits a pinkie right between the horns, feedback from my gauntlet telling me that I just shattered its skull. I shift my weight and uppercut, fist hitting the roof of its open mouth and shattering that as well. It falls, dead or crippled-.

But I'm still taking imp fire. I don't bother noting individual hits, but the exterior of my armour is glowing red and I'm getting more than a little warm inside it.

A bite from the side and I lose a chunk out of my cuirass. A counterpunch and the pinkie loses its jaw and part of its face. But it doesn't die and I'm forced to grab another charging pinkie by the horns to stop it impaling me. I already know that planting my feet won't stop it so I use my flight system instead. I'm pushed back in the air but it slows rapidly and I don't risk getting pushed over, which would get me trampled. Ah, okay, grip, change flight direction to up, drag it off its feet toss and kick-. Actually bowled two others over using it as a projectile. Down to-.

AAARGH!

Green-.

Helmetreleasehelmetrelease!

Get it off just before it completely loses integrity, Baron hit me right in the face! Land right now and ignore the noise and the smell and hope that's not me-.

"Here!"

Mazikeen-. Missile launcher, excellent. Catch it, load-. Loaded, good. Fly over the pinkie mob, dodge the imp fire and the Baron's shot, twist in the air with crates behind me so I don't get shot too badly and aim at the back of the mob-.

Fire. Aim. Fire.

"RhRAR!"

The ones I hit are reduced to shockwaves of meat, while those close to them have their bodies pulverised by the kinetic energy or roasted by the heat. I have no idea why a place like this stocks so many anti-infantry rockets but I'm certainly not complaining.

The line thinned, Taggart-. He's taken out a chainsaw and is laying into the few survivors of the rocker barrage, new armour battered but more or less in one piece. Mazikeen has a medical kit and is injecting herself with something. That-.

"RRRAAWWWWRR!"

Baron-! It moved-!

A fist wreathed in green flame punches through my battered cuirass and ough! I'm knocked onto my back, trying to ignore the pain as the Baron closes and charges its plasma-.

Then collapses as Endymion slices through its Achilles tendon before grabbing its right horn, bringing his sword around and cutting its throat. Green blood spurts-.

Irrelevant. Assess injuries? Nothing immediately likely to be fatal. Get up, get back into the fight.

Timetech · 2026-03-05T06:26:29+0000

Looks like your bold is leaking.

Mr Zoat · 2026-03-05T06:34:30+0000

Timetech said:
Looks like your bold is leaking.

Thank you, corrected.

CrazyNoVa · 2026-03-05T06:42:12+0000

Mr Zoat said:
The line thinned, Taggart-. He's taken out a chainsaw and is laying into the few survivors of the rocker barrage, new armour battered but more or less in one piece. Mazikeen has a medical kit and is injecting herself with something. That-.

AH, CHAINSAW!

THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR!

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-03-05T07:10:31+0000

Mr Zoat said:
10th December 2022
09:12 GMT

Imps aren't dangerous. They don't move faster than us, their charge time on their fireball is about a second and it doesn't move particularly fast once they throw it. Even an untrained civilian could step around it if they kept their wits about them, and while they will close the distance they don't seem to have a strong desire to do so once they're in range and have a clear shot.

At least their shots can be blocked by any mob, with a good chance of triggering infighting if they aren't also Imps. And their projectiles really are that slow, travelling only marginally faster than a 'walking' player (350 map units per second versus 292.)

Pinkies aren't dangerous. Their arms aren't long enough to attack with them, meaning that they're limited to biting or goring. And most of their strength is in their neck and back, so while their attacks have a decent amount of force behind them the demons themselves aren't all that fast or agile. Even an untrained civilian could run away from them, for a while at least.

Honestly, they're practically quadrepedal. Not sure why they stand upright outside of engine limitations.

Barons of Hell are dangerous, but in a manageable sort of way. Their plasma balls are faster and more powerful than those the imps throw, but you can easily see them coming. An untrained civilian confronted by a pink-skinned minotaur would probably struggle to keep dodging them, particularly given that Barons of Hell do charge down their targets while throwing plasma at them, but a soldier should be able to manage it. Again, they're not especially agile, so despite the fact that they've got effectively unlimited stamina it's perfectly possible to run away from one, particularly if you've got friends around to draw the aggro when it goes after you.

Indeed, give a player a decent space to fight them and they can circle-strafe them to death. Honestly a lot easier with keyboard-only or controllers...

But the one exception to all that is if you're hemmed in.

"RhRAR!"

Taggart and I don't synchronise our targets, because each pinkie we hit is momentarily stopped in its charge and we need every moment. Endymion darts forwards to slash at one-

Ah, exploiting the 'Pain State' mechanic of the mobs. Both Imps and Demons (Pinkies and Spectres alike) have a 70% chance to flinch when wounded. A baron, not so much (Only 20%!)

"RhRAR!"

-only for it to stop just before he reaches it. He commits and gets flanked on both sides, costing his target a nasty slash across its side while the one on his left grabs his arm in its mouth and the one on his right stabs his chest with its horn.

And the drawback of running melee-only. A tendency to get mauled in return if you can't force flinches.

"Ur-rah!"

Mazikeen tries shooting at the Baron of Hell overseeing things and it does take a couple of hits from her plasma gun, but it's already starting throwing. And so have the imps positioned on the other cargo crate piles overseeing the area. And we can't really evade-

Yeah, ambushes like this can be nasty for the state of armour and health totals alike. Potentially made worse in co-op when you can hurt allies with your shots...

My armour takes hits to the cuirass and left pauldron. Imp shots, so the outer plating melts a little and evaporates rather than giving away completely. I'm not going to even try to dodge everything, but I can pick out the green shots from the Baron because it's still throwing.

Amazed nothing's started a fight between types yet. Or maybe a Pinkie or two are aggro'd on imps, but OL can't see that from the middle of the crowd...

-because there isn't room and because Mazikeen isn't wearing armour and can't even take an imp shot right now. She's basically hiding behind me which means that she can't keep up the pressure on the Baron, which isn't great for the tactical situation but for the surviving-right-now it's pretty okay because while pinkies aren't that fast it doesn't matter if you can't get away.

And really, strafing in and out of cover is a time-honoured tradition of Doom fighting. Even if that cover is an ally with better armour.

Endymion reverse-grips his sword and slides it through the eye and right into the brain of the pinkie biting his arm. It collapses and lets him move away from the one goring him and he's realised that he's out of position. But the one he wounded is charging again, ducking its head to try and toss-.

Joy of being able to step outside the two or three frames of 'attack' animation the game was limited to: Mobs can do more than one thing now.

Taggart switches target, putting a cartridge into the left leg of the one trying to toss Endymion. But the one trying to gore him turns its neck and sends him flying into the side wall anyway and Taggart taking his attention off the front rank means thatoof!

"RhRAR!"

Keep shooting, they gotta die sometime.

A pinkie slams face-first into me at full charge, and even though I'm braced and wearing full power armour I'm knocked back a couple of steps! Its head swings left and right, horns digging rents it my imp-fire-softened armour. I jam the shotgun up against the right side of its face and fire. It's eye explodes and it's knocked sideways but its horn is still in my armo-. Agh!

Finger on the trigger and keep pumping, or you'll be pinkie kibble, OL.

It didn't penetrate, but it did poke a hole in the insulation layer and let the residual heat in! Ow!

Psh!

OL getting mauled this time around. And no Rings to heal himself until they take down the Cyberdemon. Let's hope he doesn't pick up the wrong medkit.

Mazikeen sets to the side and shoots it with the plasma gun, vaporising a chunk of its chest and killing it. And I'm back to-.

My shotgun clicks empty.

Never a good sound in Doom. Good thing most source-ports have auto-weapon-switching. Except this isn't a source-port...

"Taggart, launcher!"

"Busy!"

Ah, they do have rockets... Just not close at hand. and unless OL wants to suffer some explosive damage, he can't use them this close anyway...

Mazikeen fires another volley into the oncoming pinkies, burning holes into-.

"Invisible-!"

Surprised it didn't get hit amidst the wild sprays at the start.

A stealthy pinkie lunges and bites down on the barrel of her plasma gun, cutting it in half! Plasma containment fails, venting most of the plasma into the attacker and obliterating it.

"A-ah!"

But not all. Mazikeen falls back with nasty burns on her hands and forearms, the rest of the plasma gun melted and clearly inoperable. Fuck, don't have time to reload, power armour brawling it is.

Ow. Definitely gonna need a medkit or two there to patch that up.

Drop the gun because I can reload later. Take a solid stance because I'm not fighting squishy humans here. Flight system active -the ceiling's high enough for me to use it but I'm basically shielding Taggart's side and all of Mazikeen so I can't afford to move much- and charge.

Ah, time to rip and tear... Just not the same without the damage boost of the Berserk pack, though...

My first punch hits a pinkie right between the horns, feedback from my gauntlet telling me that I just shattered its skull. I shift my weight and uppercut, fist hitting the roof of its open mouth and shattering that as well. It falls, dead or crippled-.

But I'm still taking imp fire. I don't bother noting individual hits, but the exterior of my armour is glowing red and I'm getting more than a little warm inside it.

...Then again, functional power armour does make up for it.

A bite from the side and I lose a chunk out of my cuirass. A counterpunch and the pinkie loses its jaw and part of its face. But it doesn't die and I'm forced to grab another charging pinkie by the horns to stop it impaling me. I already know that planting my feet won't stop it so I use my flight system instead. I'm pushed back in the air but it slows rapidly and I don't risk getting pushed over, which would get me trampled. Ah, okay, grip, change flight direction to up, drag it off its feet toss and kick-. Actually bowled two others over using it as a projectile. Down to-.

Really getting into the Doom-Slayer-style glory kills now. Excellent, I can hear the heavy metal...

AAARGH!

Green-.

Helmetreleasehelmetrelease!

Ow, Baron spitball right to the faceplate! That'll ruin anyone's day.

Get it off just before it completely loses integrity, Baron hit me right in the face! Land right now and ignore the noise and the smell and hope that's not me-.

"Here!"

Really gotta do something about the big guy. Unfortunately, while this is a target-rich environment, they're a bit lacking in rapid killing potential...

Mazikeen-. Missile launcher, excellent. Catch it, load-. Loaded, good. Fly over the pinkie mob, dodge the imp fire and the Baron's shot, twist in the air with crates behind me so I don't get shot too badly and aim at the back of the mob-.

Fire. Aim. Fire.

Ah, time to make splash damage work for you...

"RhRAR!"

The ones I hit are reduced to shockwaves of meat, while those close to them have their bodies pulverised by the kinetic energy or roasted by the heat. I have no idea why a place like this stocks so many anti-infantry rockets but I'm certainly not complaining.

Ludicrous Gibs! Time to paint the room red.

The line thinned, Taggart-. He's taken out a chainsaw and is laying into the few survivors of the rocket barrage, new armour battered but more or less in one piece. Mazikeen has a medical kit and is injecting herself with something. That-.

"RRRAAWWWWRR!"

I'm sure Doomguy can patch his armour up easily enough. Bound to be plenty of fresh plates laying around.

Baron-! It moved-!

A fist wreathed in green flame punches through my battered cuirass and ough! I'm knocked onto my back, trying to ignore the pain as the Baron closes and charges its plasma-.

Damn, it went for the melee attack. And sounds like the RNG was on his side.

Then collapses as Endymion slices through its Achilles tendon before grabbing its right horn, bringing his sword around and cutting its throat. Green blood spurts-.

Irrelevant. Assess injuries? Nothing immediately likely to be fatal. Get up, get back into the fight.

Grab some meds, grab some plates and keep circle-strafing!

And this isn't even the final boss fight of the game episode. This sort of thing is why they were taking it slow, really. Conserving limited ammunition and preserving armour integrity, avoiding fair fights... But it also gives the enemies time to set stuff like this up. But unlike the games, they don't get to restart if they die, so the typical gamer approach is out...

Duke Long · 2026-03-05T09:38:11+0000

Ardy said:
I was rereading again and I hope Gamenae recovers. She's smart, competent, powerful, magical, and also OL's special brand of "not evil so long as they have a little advice"

Plus, once Jade dies of old age and goes to the source, well, she's already seen OL naked, consensually, while tying him up. And called him fascinating.

I hope Jade will die at some point, but I doubt it'll be old age. Oh El can easily prevent that, and I don't think Jade would refuse his assistance.

Mr Zoat said:
Mazikeen tries shooting at the Baron of Hell overseeing things and it does take a couple of hits from her plasma gun, but it's already starting throwing. And so have the imps positioned on the other cargo crate piles overseeing the area. And we can't really evade-

'started'? Given the next sentence.

Mr Zoat said:
A pinkie slams face-first into me at full charge, and even though I'm braced and wearing full power armour I'm knocked back a couple of steps! Its head swings left and right, horns digging rents it my imp-fire-softened armour. I jam the shotgun up against the right side of its face and fire. It's eye explodes and it's knocked sideways but its horn is still in my armo-. Agh!

'in'
'Its'

Mr Zoat said:
Mazikeen sets to the side and shoots it with the plasma gun, vaporising a chunk of its chest and killing it. And I'm back to-.

'steps'?

Fun chapter. I'd've guessed Oh El's heavy armour was pretty tough against plasma even with it being a slightly lower-quality version that he rapidly fabricated. Probably explained by the demons using magic plasma.

Mr Zoat · 2026-03-05T09:59:03+0000

Duke Long said:
'started'? Given the next sentence.
'in'
'Its'
'steps'?

Thank you, corrected.

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