Combined Forces #5

• Tough as Dirt and Star & Scale met up inside Venture Ridge to discuss the particulars around how the two groups, filled with some of the most powerful individuals in Vault, would handle the threat of another Constellation War and Gift's desire for the Divinaxiom.

• Zeb laid out a plan in which the Divinaxiom should be destroyed, and informed Tough as Dirt about Gift's origins from another world and his ultimate goal of destroying all of the gods, both Creation and Multiverse.

• Before they could go too far down the path of planning, however, Speaker rang the warning bell, alerting the groups to people arriving at Venture Ridge.

• Thought they expected Gift, the arrival was actually the Nails of Vast: Rax, Zawala, and Temult who had arrived to once again attempt to abduct Zeb and Eden to take them to the Final Sea.

  • The Nails told Gideon he was one of them and should be fighting with them in service of their shared master, but Gideon felt no compulsion to agree.

• Before the Nails could make a move, however, another sect of enemies appeared, lead by Tayth, a monstrosity in service of Thrax, there to end the lives of Tough as Dirt.

  • With two powerful enemy groups each after different goals, Star & Scale and Tough as Dirt decided to team up, and took on the battle.

    • After a couple close calls, the groups were able to defeat their shared enemies.

• However, during the battle, Gift had arrived and confronted Gideon in an attempt to take the Divinaxiom.

  • After the battle, Gift entreated the groups, telling Gideon he was the only one who could safely remove the device from Gideon's chest. He was also very clear about his priority of destroying all the gods. Apparently, he had been sent in an effort to mop up the gods after the Constellation War by a man named Jericho on another world. He was then meant to give that power over to his master, but his master was dead, so he would do his duty, and keep the power contained within the Divinaxiom forever.

  • Zeb attempted to reason with Gift, but there was now more Talus within the automaton than the friend they'd found all those months ago. Gift ended up attacking Zeb when the Vadian continued to try to interfere with Gift's conversation with Gideon.

  • Gift apparently also had a special connection with Elowyn, who had said he'd enjoyed getting to know over the past few weeks.

• Gideon denied Gift's request, and seeing forcing the issue would be unsuccessful, Gift left to bide his time until he could take the device from Gideon, one way or another.

• Zeb expressed his desire to use Venture Ridge as a headquarters for the "Harrowguard," a movement he wanted to start in order to stop the threat of Vast on Vault. The two groups parted ways with a promise to stay in touch through the Dream Tether and work together to create a defense against Vast, should the fight at the Final Sea come to a disasterous end.

Star and Scale LEVEL UP TO 10