[TartoonHand94]

The threateningly loud pipe organ music should be enough to awaken Phosphora.
Upon waking up, she would discover she was in a dark padded room with a cold pair of shackles around ankles. The shackles were chained to a heavy metal pin that anchored her to the ground. Upon the pin was a familiar crest: the shape of King Bowser Koopa’s head. This could only mean one thing.

“One of my all-time masterpieces.” A voice on the other side of the room praised himself at the song’s ending fermata. “…Until today~!” He said with a self-indulgent smirk, turning in his chair to face Phosphora, his eyes glistening brightly with ambition in the dark.
“Ah, you’re awake. Good… Phosphora, was it? I can imagine you are quite frightened.” he deduced with a prudent tone she might recognize from Arlon the Serene. “Perhaps if you knew why you’re here, your fear would be slightly lightened.”

“I’m sure you recognized my piece. It was written for Lord Bowser himself to accompany his final battle against Mario in the castle siege of 64.” He explained nostalgically. “’Twas only one of many classic Boss Battle anthems I’ve composed in my tenure. Those were the good old days…before He was born…” His content tone withered into a grumble.

“I am positive that you’ve heard my work, but indulge my curiosity: surely you’ve heard of Me~.” He cheered himself by asking coyly.“I’ll give you a hint: My melodies have meliorated the marches across enemy mainland! My refrains have flooded the foyers of the most foreboding of fortresses and found the fanfare of the most fabulous of fights! I am known as the Maestro of Mayhem, the Konductor of the Koopas, and most recently, the Pompous Prodigy!” He dramatically introduced himself.

“Ludwig Von Koopa!”

“Please, please, hold your applause. Save your breath, I’ll need it.” He activated a single spotlight upon himself and proceeded to stand upon his stool and take a bow. He then activated the rest of the lights in the room, revealing that Phosphora was inside a sound-proof booth with a stand and sheet music before her. Ludwig was seated at an entire desk’s worth of switches and knobs, on the other side of a glass window.

“Welcome to my recording studio! Consider this an honour young Phosphora, for yours is the privilege of assisting me, the great Ludwig Von Koopa, in creating my next masterpiece!” He let off a bout of evil laughter as the spotlight flickered like a bolt of lightning. “Lord Bowser has great plans in development for the Life Sphere and naturally, he has commissioned me to compose an accompaniment.” He explained, returning to a formal tone. “After the renowned Eastern-inspired ambiance I made for his successful tourist trap, and the march of his much less successful wedding (Who does he think he is not inviting me?), The New Donk City Festival has inspired me to include a special ingredient in my next concoction: a solo vocalist!” He exclaimed his stroke of genius. “I tried to get a hold of Mayor Pauline herself, but New Donk security’s gone way overboard with their security. Ape-proof, they call it.” He shrugged begrudgingly.

“And that’s where you come in my little yellow songbird.”
Ludwig smiled oh so pleased with himself as a white cube descended into the booth to stop just in front of Phosphora’s face.
“Sing for me and I shall open your cage and let you fly free.”
He offered in a friendly voice.
“However, if you don’t… I’ll make you Scream for me instead.”
His voice became less amicable.
“What do you say?”

---

Upon emerging from the pipe into the Rouge Port sewers, Peach and Arle would discover a set of Koopaling tracks leading to the ruins of what looked like it used to be a very important tower.
Above the front door prominently stood a recently upholstered sign, “Roy Smooth Sounds”
Past the rickety revolving door sat an elderly Magikoopa secretary at the lobby front desk, in the middle of a phone call.

“Good afternoon dearies. Do you have an appointment with Maestro Von Koopa?” She put her gossip on hold to do her job.
“So sorry, but the Maestro’s currently in a recording session and he’s Very strict about his No Interruptions policy.” She shrugged, lazily looking at his schedule.
“Is there anything else I can do for you ladies while I wait for security to arrive and throw you out?” She asked ever so politely as she hammered the security button.

[Mari]

"...Your sewers are ...weird." Arle remarked in bewilderment, receiving a pat on the head in response. What awaited them, however, was the world's rudest secretary. "Uuum..." Peach replied, unable to process how they'd gone from hello to calling security before she even opened her mouth. Arle, however, wasn't having any of this gag. "...Actually, here!" Arle casually replied, pulling out a hungry cookpot full of dirt and placing it on the secretary's desk. After a moment, a piranha plant burst forth from the dirt, shambling its thorny body as it rose to tower over the secretary before curling over to glower down at her, its wicked mouth full of sharp, pointy teeth. A globlet of drool fell off, splattering against her desk mere inches from where she sat as it slowly inched closer to her, teeth bared in a ferocious smirk. "Think you'll be sticking around? I need someone to watch my plant until security gets here." Arle leisurely added, smiling brightly from behind her man-eating plant.

((Arle is attempting to threaten the secretary to get her to change that attitude of hers. She has a few seconds to comply. Else, if she has not fled her desk or otherwise convinced Arle to pull the plant back, it will lunge out at her and attempt to devour her!))

[heirtothemonado]

Phosphora groaned a bit as the loud organ music rudely woke her up. Who was playing that? "Where am I?" The lightning lass slowly got up and looked around. her eyes settling on figure of Bowser's head on....a pin that was shackling her to the ground?

A voice behind her interrupted her thoughts. Turing around, she laid eyes on what looked like the Koopas she had seen around the Life Sphere, except that none of them had hair, let alone hair like that. As Phosphroa tried to make sense of it all, the strange looking Koopa started talking to her.

"That's some interesting music." Phosphora said. "Although classical isn't really my style." She paused as the Koopa introduced himself, rather pompously, as the nickname name would indicate, as Ludwig von Koopa. Phosphora stared blankly at him if the few moments of silence that followed. "Sorry, never heard of you, or your music for that matter. Although I do recall hearing something similar....somewhere. I don't remember"

"If all you  wanted me to do was sing for you, then I don't understand what the kidnapping was for. That's what I came here to do anyway. Fire up the music, Luddy. I'm ready to sing my heart out." Phosphora called out.

---

Phosphora
Damage: 0%
Status: Ready to sing

[TartoonHand94]

Phosphora’s ignorance caused Ludwig to do a rather painful sounding face vault off of his stool.
“Alas. True genius is never recognized in its time.” He moaned sorrowfully as the world’s smallest violin was activated on his way down. “Then again what more could I expect from an uncultured fräulein such as yourself? …” He mumbled sorely, climbing back onto his stool.
Ludwig’s finger was almost on the button when against all odds, Phosphora agreed to sing for him.
His eyes widened. “…You…You Will?” He stammered, making it obvious this was not the answer he was expecting.
“Why that’s… Splendid! Wunderbar!” An uncommonly earnest smile grew across his face as he were genuinely touched by her agreement. He looked down at his hand about to push the button and sheepishly withdrew it immediately in a mixture of embarrassment…and shame.
“A-Alright then…” Ludwig panted, flustered and unprepared for this moment. “In that case,” he pushed another button, lowering a pair of headphones for her to put on and switching his output from the booth speakers to the headphones.

“As you can see from the music sheet you’ve been provided, the melody is there but the lyrics aren’t.” Ludwig pointed her attention to the blank space above each bar. “That was not an oversight. My methods are unorthodox, but then again, genius never is.” He chuckled with a self-flattering flick of his hair.
“This, combined with your ankle situation, was carefully arranged to inspire a very specific sound from you. I call it ‘Method Singing.’” He began to elaborate. “For I am searching for a vocal performance with a sense of Vulnerability. Of Uncertainty. Of Curiosity. A sound of Discovery! Of Revelation! A sound of Newfound Understanding!” His voice built more dramatically with each new adjective. “I want you to Guess my lyrics!” He finally revealed with a familiar bout of cackling. Taking a breath and regaining his composure, he activated the control panel and began recording. “Let’s make some Magic!”
“Ludwig Von Koopa’s latest masterpiece, Phosphora vocals, take 1.” He signalled Phosphora to begin.

((Phosphora! Congratulations, you picked the option that’ll leave you unharmed. From now on, each turn, you may make 3 Charisma rolls to fill up the Note Block and guess 3 letters in Ludwig’s song. Every roll will count and there’s no penalty for guessing wrong, except of course, you’ll have to sing longer. You can ask Ludwig for hints between takes.))

_ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _  _ _
[♪ Note Block ♪] [0%]

---

The secretary returned to her phone call, not paying the mage any mind until a ferocious Piranha Plant burst forth from Arle’s cookpot and licked its lips at her.
“Eeek!” She shrieked, likely deafening the poor soul on the other line. “Oh! Would you look at the time! It’s time for my break! Back in five!” She sheepishly copped out, hammering another button that activated a trap door, enabling her to escape.

Arle might not want to put her plant away just yet, as security had finally arrived.
They didn’t come marching in through the double doors at the end of the room, but up from under the tiles of the floor below their skirts.
“We!” Two Rocky Wrenches chanted in harmony as they sprung up from under their manhole covers.
“Will!” Two more appeared beside them forming a row of four.
“We!” Another set of Rocky Wrenches piped as they popped out before the first four.
“Will!” The last two arrived, making eight.
“Rock!” Then down from the ceiling dropped a mighty heavy looking Thwomp, damaging the tiles he landed on near Peach.
“You!” A second came down and crushed the secretary’s desk, just narrowly missing Arle and her plant.
“Tee-hee! Get it? Because we’re Rocky Wrenches and they’re like giant Rocks?” the last Rocky Wrench giggled, earning exasperated glares from the other seven.
“Uh-Anyway…Battle Stations, Boys!” He shouted as he and three of his peers armed themselves with wrenches while the other four ducked under their lids for protection.
The two Thwomps rose off the ground and positioned themselves better above our heroines.

((Peach! Rocky Wrenches A and C are throwing wrenches at you! Together they’ll deal 10% damage.
Roll 10 to avoid them both at once and go ahead and attack them however you please.
But more importantly, roll 15 to avoid the Thwomp A trying to squash you. Its completely invulnerable and will deal 20% damage and inflict Mini status if it gets you!))

((Arle! Rocky Wrenches F and H are throwing wrenches at you! Together they’ll deal 10% damage.
Roll 10 to avoid them both at once and go ahead and attack them however you please.
But more importantly, roll 15 to avoid Thwomp B trying to squash you. Its completely invulnerable and will deal 20% damage and inflict Mini status if it gets you!))

((Rocky Wrenches B, D, E and G are all currently protected by their manhole covers. Is there a way to get to them like this?))

	Rocky Wrench A	Rocky Wrench B	Rocky Wrench C	Rocky Wrench D
	5 HP	5 HP	5 HP	5 HP
	10 Threshold	10 Threshold	10 Threshold	10 Threshold
Thwomp A 15 Threshold					Thwomp B 15 Threshold
	Rocky Wrench E	Rocky Wrench F	Rocky Wrench G	Rocky Wrench H
	5 HP	5 HP	5 HP	5 HP
Floor: 60 HP	10 Threshold	10 Threshold	10 Threshold	10 Threshold	Floor: 60 HP

[heirtothemonado]

Goxf2tzRp_1d20+1 (Charisma Roll 1) Letter: R
p_1d20+1 (Charisma Roll 2) Letter: T
p_1d20+1 (Charisma Roll 3) Letter: E

As Ludwig pressed the record button, Phosphora looked over the music that he had given her. There weren't any lyrics, so......was Phosphora supposed to make something up, or just.....

As the music started up, Phosphora started to vocalize wordlessly. Which, under normal circumstances wouldn't be a bad thing. But Phosphora was, shall we say, not a very good singer. While to herself, she sounded pretty good, to anyone else in the room, especially Ludwig, her voice scratched and screeched like a dying Swoobat. and her pitched was all over the place. Hopefully Ludwig was competent at auto tuning, because he's going to need it.

---

Phosphora
Damage: 0%
Status: Singing terribly

1d20+1·1d20+1·1d20+1

[Mari]

o7AQRQhkp_1d20+1 (Arle's Wrench Dodge)
p_1d20+2 (Peach's Wrench Dodge)

Arle and Peach both nearly lost it as they were all-but-crushed by the intrusion of a thwomp. Arle's knees wobbled a bit, turning to jelly for a very brief moment before she regained her composure. Arle then squatted down, ducking to dodge a bunch of wrenches flying overhead! However, looking up revealed a problem with this course of action. A Thwomp was lurking right above them! Nearby, Peach yelped as she was struck by a wrench. "--Momwatchout!" Arle blurted out, summoning a transparent wall of magic to block the thwomp above her from crushing her. Nearby, Peach saw the thwomp coming down toward her and promptly hid under Perry with a start, using his canopy to absorb the impact, which was in turn braced against the ground!

((Arle and Peach are bubble shielding the thwomps!))

Peach then stood back up to confront Rocky Wrench A, storming over and scooping it up with Perry!

p_1d20+5 (Peach's Devour; KOs the Rocky Wrench A and fully heals Peach)

With a gulp, the rocky wrench was banished to Peach's stomach, where it wouldn't be poking its head up any time soon. Her body made quick work of the weak enemy. Meanwhile, Arle found herself in a similar predicament. However, as she turned to confront the rocky helmets her piranha plant went ahead and did the honors by lashing out and chomping down on one of the moles.

p_1d20+3 (Arle's Piranha Plant's Devour; KOs the Rocky Wrench F and grants Arle a +2 in the Rocky Wrench's two highest stats)

The piranha plant dragged the mole out of its little pit and gobbled it up whole! To Arle's shock though, this was promptly followed by a sudden pressure in her belly. Arle tensed as she felt movement from deep within her, her cheeks turning slightly red as she became intimately aware of an unexpected guest. Yet, the mole's struggles did not last long and it soon succumbed to her stomach's retalliation. Arle stifled a hiccup, setting the piranha plant back down. Alright, it sucked to be that mole but she didn't have time to think about its feelings. She was sure her body would deal with everything so she wouldn't have to think about it anyway.

Forcing herself to focus on the battle at hand, Arle noticed some pods that were still underground, covered by a thick metal top. She couldn't attack them directly, but she knew exactly how to deal with underground enemies and it seemed like just the thing she needed to clear them out in one fell swoop. A bracelet around her ankle bean to glow. Arle bounced forward and drove that leg onto the floor, creating an impact wildly disproportionate to her actual weight, sending a powerful shockwave shooting out through the ground, passing straight through their protection!

p_1d20+4 (Arle's Elephant King Bracelet; Does 26% Damage to all of the Rocky Wrenches)

"--That was very clever of you, Arle. But let's leave these Thwomps alone." Peach complimented before hesitantly suggesting, lifting up her dress slightly so that she wouldn't stop on it as she lead the way in fleeing deeper into the castle with Arle.

Princess Peach 150 / 150 HP 15 / 45 Shield Status: Normal Vibe Charge (3)

Arle Nadja 180 / 180 HP 25 / 55 Shield Status: Normal Well Fed (?/?)

1d20+1·1d20+2·1d20+5·1d20+3·1d20+4

[TartoonHand94]

Before Phosphora could even get a few bars in Ludwig’s outrageous hair stood on end and he violently threw his headphones off his ‘ears’. Being a Koopaling, he didn’t have visible ears on the outside, but like most reptiles, he was capable of wearing with his skull.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Ludwig commanded, tapping his control panel with a conductor’s baton out of force of habit. Realizing what he was doing, he used the baton to press the Stop button before placing it down gently.

“Amature Ausrüstung!” He grumbled, taking his distain out on his control panel by kicking it, only hurting his foot in the process. “Ein Stück Müll!” He yelped in pain clutching his foot as he spun around in his chair. He passed a frustrated hand over his erect hair and pulled on it, somehow getting it back to the way it used to be.

Regaining his composure, he sat back up in his chair in a manner most dignified and replaced the headphones over where his ear should be. He then turned the communicator back on.
“Pardon my excitement, Phosphora schatz, it appears the equipment wasn’t prepared for that.” He formally excused himself. It suddenly seemed clear he was more upset at his recording equipment than her singing. Taking a moment to studiously adjust almost every knob, switch, lever and dial on the board, Ludwig turned up to Phosphora again.
“There, that should fix that.” With the confidence in his tone it seemed as if Phosphora's voice had yet to bother him at all. Had he not heard her yet?
“Okay schatz, when you’re ready or not: Ludwig Von Koopa’s latest masterpiece, Phosphora vocals, take 2.” He signalled Phosphora to continue.

_ _ _ _ _   _ _ R T _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ E R  _ R
[♪ Note Block ♪] [13%]

---

“Ung!” The two Thwomps grunted as they bounced off Arle’s bubble shield and Perry respectively, pounding the ground beside our heroines with a crunching thud. “Hurng!”
They looked at each other in shared frustration and refusing to give up just yet, they jumped back into the air and repositioned themselves for another coming down party.

“Bingo!” Rocky A. cheered himself for nailing Peach with his wrench. The celebration was sadly short lived, as the next thing he knew was darkness. Not the darkness below his manhole lid, but another darkness entirely.
Rocky F. met a similarly bleak fate when before he could react, he was gobbled up by the piranha plant meant for the secretary
“...SWITCH POSITIONS!” Rocky C. who was now first in command cowardly cried out, much to Rocky H.’s agreement. But before the two could duck down and somehow convince the other four to pop up and take their place, Arle smashed the floor with her Elephant King Bracelet, KO’ing the two remaining exposed moles.

This manoeuvre didn’t work out the way Arle was expecting it to, however: due to the already flimsy state of this structure, the floor itself took the brunt of her attack, cracking and crumbling, causing the next four Rocky Wrenches to emerge just to see what was going on.

“Where’d the other guys go?” Rocky D. asked, looking around frantically.
“We’ll deal with those deserting cowards later!” Rocky B., who was now first in command decided. “Don’t let the intruders get away!”
Obeying the new boss, the two Thwomps came crashing down in front of the exit, hoping to squash any princesses or mages trying to make an escape. This would serve to damage the floor below them even further if they missed.

((Peach! Arle! The Thwomps haven’t given up on you yet! Roll 15 or higher twice to dodge them again or use your bubble shields to avoid 20% damage and Mini status.))

Had our two heroines been missed by the Thwomps, the Rocky Wrenches would have them just where they wanted them. Just like the fallen soldiers before them, they proceed to pelt Arle and Peach with wrenches.

((Peach! Arle! Rocky Wrenches B, D, E and G are throwing wrenches at you now! Together they’ll deal 10% damage to each of you. They never learn, do they? Roll 10 or higher twice to dodge them and then go in for dessert.))

	Rocky Wrench A	Rocky Wrench B	Rocky Wrench C	Rocky Wrench D
	KO	5 HP	KO	5 HP
		10 Threshold		10 Threshold
Thwomp A 15 Threshold					Thwomp B 15 Threshold
	Rocky Wrench E	Rocky Wrench F	Rocky Wrench G	Rocky Wrench H
	5 HP	KO	5 HP	KO
Floor: 23 HP	10 Threshold		10 Threshold		Floor: 23 HP

[Mari]

((I would like to point out that you just baited me into trying to KO the hiding rocky wrenches in one post and then treated them like they were invulnerable in the next, Tartoon. Since rolling evidently holds no potential for satisfaction here, I'm just going to go ahead and stop rolling and you can just continue deciding whether I'm succesful.))

Thwack! A thwomp landed right at Peach's feet and narrowly missed her. Her arm reaching out to block Arle from accidentally running into it, the mage nearly dropping her potted plant in the process. Y'know, that pot it was planted in did kinda look familiar in hindsight. Peach glanced up at the Thwomp for a moment, thinking about her experiences with enemies from her world. Calls to 'catch' the intruders were heard. Catch them? ...CATCH THEM?? What were they talking about?

None of these enemies were capable of horizontal movement.

Grabbing Arle's Arm, Peach gave her a sharp tug and just kinda yanked her aside, slipping around the Thwomp in front of her on the 3D plane they currently existed on. With the Thwomp between her and the moles, they'd find they couldn't even see the fleeing girls let alone hit them. The sound of clicking heels could be heard as they both just kinda made a break for it, hand in hand and heart in heart. ...It was times like these that Arle had to wonder how Peach ran so fast in high heels. She could barely keep up even over short distances!

Princess Peach 150 / 150 HP 20 / 45 Shield Status: Normal Vibe Charge (3) Devour CD: 1

Arle Nadja 190 / 190 HP 33 / 55 Shield Status: Normal Well Fed (Dex/Con) Devour CD: 1