Peridot

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**Peridot** is a minor character in ***Ascent: Trials of Vore***. She is a gem-based humanoid life-form, an exiled scientist in her own universe prior to her arrival in the Tower.

She first appeared in *Floor 3 - Greed and Glory* - befriending Ashley Gray, among others - but would not initially appear to survive the 3rd Floor challenge set by Mordium, though in reality her gem survived her ordeal and was handed over to "Double G".

She has been succesfully removed from the Tower, and is currently in Mordium and Double G's home universe.

## Appearance

At the time of her being on the 3rd Floor of the Tower, Peridot - per the implication of her name - was almost entirely various shades of green in appearance, including her diamond shaped afro, which sported gaps in its lined sections - likely attack damage - running to the center of her face. In addition, though lacking gaps, her head itself showed cracks running to her nose, but not touching it.

She also sported a type of gauntlet on her right hand - capable of summoning balls of green energy for combative purposes - ended by four cylinders pointing to a fifth in the floating approximation of fingers. Her other arm was longer, enough that it seemed too long for her. Her left leg was covered in a green metal plating while her right was bare. As underclothing, she wore a skintight jumpsuit painted by varying shades of green, that covered her entire body save her arms and head.

Notably, Peridot's chest and rear were unproportioned, her right breast being an A-cup while her left was as big as a soccer ball. Her butt was the same, her right cheek as big as a yoga ball and the other completely flat, with thighs and hips to match. She also wore a cracked, yellow visor.

Her green, triangle shaped gemstone seemed to be integrated into her jumpsuit, pointing down her "cleavage", though its tip seemed to be broken off, likely being the cause of her deformities.

Following her reverting to her gem-state and Double G's stated intention to repair her gem, it is unclear what she will look like in the future.

## Personality

As an individual, Peridot tended to come across as somewhat easily annoyed, mildly grumpy, quick to anger and difficult to understand, something her injury-induced muteness drew a higher than usual amount of attention to. Despite this, however, she was also praised for being intelligent, relatively friendly and cooperative to those she got along with, and thoughtful in the plans she made ahead of time.

## History

### Background

At one time after her birth in her home universe, Peridot - apparently one Peridot among multiple - was a head scientist for an individual known as Yellow Diamond - a powerful and seemingly well-known figure amongst her gem-based race's society - before an undisclosed incident lead to Yellow Diamond attempting to shatter - kill, in other words - Peridot's gem.

Though Peridot would escape and go on the run, her former superior's actions likely resulted in her developing physical deformities in the form of mismatched proportions and muteness, due to damage sustained to her gem in the murder attempt. At an unspecified time after this, she would find herself in the Tower, making it as far as the 3rd Floor. ***(Floor 3 - Greed and Glory)***

### ***Ascent: Trials of Vore***

#### 3rd Floor

In the lobby area of the 3rd Floor of the Tower, Peridot would enter into a fight against a bloodthirsty, shadowy man in order to defend a witch - Nuon - healing a medieval musketeer - Crow - whom the shadow man seemed intent on killing for "experience". The shadow would be quickly dispatched by the arriving Overseer of the floor – Mordium - bringing the fight to a swift conclusion.

The cloaked Mordium would greet the group - Peridot included - congratulating those who had made it so far and ushering them into the next room - a shop of some kind, the items it sold locked in indestructible cases. Peridot would meet several other climbers, including Growa - a busty pirate - and her crew, as well as Ogborth - a large olog troll - the human girl Ashley Gray, the young elf Syl, and a frog-woman by the name of Ferra. Once all were present and introduced, Mordium would explain the rules and nature of the floor’s challenge.

The group were to fight in an arena adjacent to the shop, for which they would have to work together, rather than against each other, to combat waves of opponents - some of whom were hungry predators trained to fight climbers. Each of the five rounds would consist of three waves and a boss, and there would be a final boss at the conclusion. Those left – or even alive, at that time would win access to the 4th Floor without complaint of their number, due to a deal Mordium claimed to have made with the next overseer up.

The climbers would also be told that they were not allowed to eat defeated opponents. Floor unique coins earned in the arena could be used between rounds to buy equipment and upgrades from the shop.

Before battling begins the group would also be introduced to ”Double G”, the shop’s biker jacket clad keeper - who would state surprise at meeting a Peridot - as well as the Morcels, a race of small black balls serving as part of the infrastructure of the floor, and that would be acting as both aides and opponents who would attempt to drag climbers out of both the arena and contention. The group would also be given the opportunity to give up their climb, Mordium offering the genuine chance to live peacefully on the 3rd Floor, an offer that would remain open for the duration of the challenge.

With that out of the way - and a shout of good luck from Double G - the group would be ushered into the arena. For the first round, the arena would appear as a medieval fighting pit that appeared to be being livestreamed for the overseers of higher floors to watch via a camera hidden behind the stands. Mordium would greet the viewers, taking the moment to subtly remind the group of his offer before introducing each group member in turn as the Morcels helped the group in last minute preparations, such as providing ammunition and potions.

As the battle began, enemies would flood into the arena from various gates. The first round would be all Morcels, and all heavily armed with helmets and guns to robots of all types. The round would fly by, many climbers - Peridot likely included - having combat experience enough to easily handle the opposition. The bosses of the round, a trio of hopping, dome-shaped attack vehicles dubbed the Monstanks, would prove to be the first real challenge the climbers would face on the floor, Peridot teaming up with Syl and Ashley - and technically also Ogborth - in the ensuing battle through use of her gauntlet's energy blasts despite difficulties in communication stemming from her muteness. At least once, Peridot would be shielded from an oncoming attack through Ashley protecting her with her shield. Through persistent damage, however, the group would defeat all three vehicles, bringing the round to a close and reaping a coin reward that the pirates would greedily take a large share of, Peridot combining her coins with Syl's and Ashley's.

In the breather period, Peridot would use coins to purchase several flashbang grenades, using them to demonstrate her gem storage ability to Ashley and Syl - albeit getting annoying and giving up when Syl mistook her relevant sign language as saying her name was first 'Gem' and then 'Emerald' - and would witness the pirates try and fail to steal a cannon well above their price range, Double G firing a warning shot at them. Despite their prior misunderstanding, however, Peridot would wait for Ashley with Syl before entering into the next round.

For the second round, the arena would change to be made of sandstone. The battle would see the defenders pitted against an army of nude giantesses with extreme curves. A difficult fight would ensue, during which Peridot would have to comfort Ferra after the latter failing to consume an opponent made her temporarily ill. The round would be capped off by a boss fight with two mega giantesses: Lokee - a tall woman with a comedically insane hourglass figure - and Little Hon, who was taller than Lokee - albeit with a lesser figure - and was able to manipulate black hole-like portals and spit grey balls of paralyzing mist to catch prey. While Ogborth would go toe to toe with Lokee, Little Hon would go after Peridot - the green gem-woman having to drag a still recovering Ferra out of harm's way - and the rest of the group, several of the pirates falling to her and her teammate, the group being stunned by Peridot using a flashbang to repel one of Little Hon's hand attacks, before extreme force - and excessive anger, including Peridot, Syl and Ashley using their own weapons as physical bludgeons against Hon - took the duo down. Peridot individually would need to be calmed down from continually beating an already unconscious Hon.

In the next breather, Double G would offer his condolences to the pirates, their group again taking the bulk of the coins for upgrades and attempting again to steal the cannon, though he would again shut them down with a final warning. The rest of the party - a shocked Peridot, who took the pouch of coins off Syl's hands to both prevent the pirates seeing them and snap Syl out of her 'greed trance', included - despite pooling their coins, had little to work with, but would settle on pain absorber gauntlets for Ferra’s fragile hands. One of the pirates would make an aggressive attempt to shake down the group for coins for the cannon, but Ogborth would counter them. Amidst a conversation in which Double G would explain the greed mechanic to Ashley, he would commend a present Peridot for thinking around the problem ahead of time by coming pre-armed with her gauntlet and buying flashbang grenades early on.

In the third round, the arena would change again, the ground being smooth stone and the walls collapsed rock, covered by dim, possibly underground light. The opposing side would again be an army of Morcels in robotic vehicles, against which the pirates, Ogborth and Ferra would take the front line, everyone else - Peridot included - playing defense. They would make relatively quick work of the waves of enemies, but with Growa - to everyone's annoyance at her and her companions' idiocy - forcing Mordium to skip explanations, the two bosses would be faced without introduction. One - a Morcel-scale steam train with carriage-mounted guns - was known as the Lorry Mk1.5, while the other - a giant “worm” tank made of cylinders and able to burrow with its drill - was called the Driller Mk1. As the fight got heated and Ferra was shoved off by the Lorry - Mordium assuring the group that she would be fine as long as she held on - Ogborth would use the aggressive pirate - only now recovering from greed - as a projectile, knocking the Driller into the Lorry and causing a pile up that would total the latter.

Before this, however, Peridot witness Ashley being struck by a stone chunk from the Driller’s digging, breaking her back and causing her to black out in immense pain as Nuon came to her aid. The Driller’s claws would attempt to remove Ashley from the arena, but Ferra would arrive, punching it hard enough to give Nuon an opening to destroy it.

Peridot - and the rest of the group - would see Ashley in the arena again following her recovery, reuniting with her for the fourth round after Crow and Nuon had bought upgrades and the pirates had acquired a now conspicuously enchanted cannon. The arena now sported smooth stone walls, blue skull pillars, and a waterlogged stone floor. The group would be met with another wave of curvy giantesses, some very muscular or even near immobile, Mordium declaring it a ‘mini-boss rush’. Peridot would see Ashley use her new sleeping gas rounds to take out a large chunk of the opposition, quickly bringing on the round’s true boss, who would turn out to be Big Hon - Little Hon’s older and larger sister, big enough that her head alone could barely fit inside the arena - who was pissed at the defeat of her sibling, something Peridot would be understandably tense over.

Peridot would see the pirates suddenly be paralyzed by a curse Double G had put on their cannon as payback for their theft attempts, leaving them open to Big Hon. Many of the pirates would fall through Big Hon’s holes and into her gut in the chaos, the rest of the group scrambling - with mixed success - to rescue anyone they could and keep them out of harm’s way. Peridot would, amongst this, manage to rescue one of the pirates from Hon's grasp. Gradually, the group would wear Big Hon down, hitting her hands as they emerged from her holes, damaging and choking her enough with her own mist balls and bombs that, under pressure, Hon would withdraw from battle.

Freed from paralysis, Growa would be surprised at Ashley having protected her despite Ashley's affirmations of their being a team. She would curse herself for the trouble she and her crew had caused the group, lamenting having given into her greed despite believing she was above it, not having stopped her crew from falling the same way and almost costing Ashley her life. Despite Ashley trying to dissuade her and insisting she'd been helpful, she would take Mordium’s offer. The other remaining pirates - the one Peridot had rescued included - would give up too out of loyalty, a tearful Growa thanking them for remaining by her side. With their decision made, Mordium would lead them out of the arena, Growa wishing the others luck.

Back in the shop, though all present, including Peridot, would try to comfort her, Ashley - wound up enough to be on the verge of punching someone - would blame herself for Growa quitting, despite the pirate being alive because of her. Double G would grab her by the shoulders and get through to her - with aid from an annoyed Peridot, slightly perplexed by G's way of speaking unnecessarily in terms of time travel, and a confused Syl - convincing her it was Growa’s choice to leave, given she was climbing for greed, unlike Ashley, who had meaningful goals in her desire to get home. This would convince Ashley to take the blame off herself. Double G would take the moment point out that few overseers were likely to give the same offer of safe harbour, Peridot and the others being told to cherish the time of relative calm, Double G not minding if they took out pent up frustration provided they didn’t break anything. During this time, Peridot would also learn that her gauntlet was too advanced for the Morcels to upgrade.

The group would return to the still stony - but now darker - arena for the final round. They would be faced with a last onslaught of Morcels - nothing held back - piloting a variety of machines, including a smaller Lorry, and a surprise Monstank. Though the group would carve a path through the enemy forces, they would be tired by the end, when the last round bosses - a set of four individually unique attack helicopters dubbed the Four Horsemen for their names and abilities, and the Apache Primes overall - arrived.

The attack would quickly begin, the group diving for cover among the round’s wreckage, Peridot would initially find herself taking refuge inside the blasted shell of the Monstank with Ashley and Crow, the latter lamenting the situation he’s found himself in by coming here. The trio would be chased from their shelter by the flies of the Famine Caller - one of the copters - however, though Ashley would soon after take it down, while two others - the estilence Gasser and the War Rager - would be dealt with by Nuon, for the former, and Syl and Ferra for the latter.

Peridot, however, would be cornered by the last remaining Apache Prime: the Death Harbinger. Being cornered, with help from Ashley and the others not coming fast enough, Peridot would - despite being mute - desperately disarm herself, conveying the desire to give up to her opponent, who would let her leave to one of the gates, quickly moving to make her way there before the Harbinger changed its mind. Ogborth would attempt to intervene, however, trying to down the Harbinger with a cannon shot. The attack would go wide, though, tearing the back fin off the vehicle and sending it flying into the wall, right where Peridot would be standing, the green woman sharing a final gaze with Ashley before the crashing vehicle would seem to crush her.

Nothing would seem to be left. Ashley would break down, Syl comforting her while Ogborth screamed in guilt over what he had done to Peridot, later confiding his feelings on the matter in Ashley, who would forgive him. After the group had completed the floor's trial, they would - on the elevator to the 4th Floor - affirm their intention not to let the Tower break their group up, Ashley in particular would again restating her goal of reaching the Tower's top, not only for herself or her present friends, but also for Peridot.

In reality, however, Peridot had survived the encounter in the 3rd Floor's arena, albeit in a dormant state, reverting to her gem form, its relatively intact state indicating her still being alive despite needing time to reform. Having been handed it by the Morcel pilot of the Death Harbinger, Mordium would pass it on to Double G, implying to him that she could make for a good assistant due to her reforming ability, given the last Tower-bound assistant of Double G’s who tried to leave the area of the external universe structure connected to the Tower turned to dust. Mordium would claim to think Peridot would be fine despite that, though, due to her nature, as well as Double G's having stated access to welders capable of grafting pieces of peridot onto her gem to heal it.

On departing the Tower via an elevator up to his store, Double G would find that, to his relief, Peridot’s gem was still with him, proving Mordium right and giving Peridot a future. ***(Floor 3 - Greed and Glory)***

## Abilities

* **Gem-based Anatomy:** As a seemingly gem-based race, Peridot appears to have a very unique physiology centered on the green gemstone embedded in her chest. This gem seems to serve as the "core" of her being, from which she can regenerate should her body be damaged or even completely destroyed. This also makes it a weak point, however, as destruction of this gem can result in death, or "shattering", while any damage to the gem can cause long-term injuries or deformities, such as warped body proportions or muteness.
* **Gem-based Storage:** As an apparent extension to her gem's physiological aspects, Peridot can use it to store multiple small objects - such as flashbang grenades - in a non-physical form, seemingly surrounding them in a green glow before they're pulled inside. It is unknown what would happen to stored objects were Peridot to be "shattered".

## Equipment

* **Energy Gauntlet *(formerly)*:** A green gauntlet that was consistently attached to Peridot's right hand, serving as an extension of her arm. It was ended by four cylinders pointing to a fifth in the floating approximation of fingers. The gauntlet was capable of summoning balls of destructive green electrical energy for combative purposes. Peridot disarmed herself of this device on forfeiting the 3rd Floor's trial, being crushed and made dormant before she could recover it.
* **Flashbang Grenades:** A series of standard fare flashbang grenades, capable of producing a briefly blinding flash on activation. Peridot purchased 5 flashbang grenades from the shop on the 3rd Floor, between rounds, then used at least one of them in the floor's arena, the rest remaining stored in her gemstone. It is unknown if she still possesses them following her defeat.

## Relationships

### Affiliations

* **Yellow Diamond *(formerly)*:** Little is known of Peridot's former superior, except that Peridot served as one of her head scientists prior to an incident that led to Yellow Diamond attempting to kill her. Given this, the fact that Peridot went on the run and the likelihood that Peridot's deformities were the result of Yellow Diamond's attack on her gemstone, it is unlikely that they departed on anything even remotely resembling good terms.

### Friends

* **Ashley Gray:** Ashley and Peridot got on well as friends, despite their limited time for interaction before things came to an abrupt end, at least from Ashley's perspective. They seemed to work well together in the 3rd Floor's arena, having each other's back on several occasions despite Peridot's muteness making communication difficult and Ashley's initial confusion at Peridot's ability to store objects in her gem. Ashley would bear witness to Peridot's "death", initially unable to help her escape her situation out of fear, then unable to act in time to stop her being seemingly crushed. Ashley, like her other companions, is unaware that Peridot is still alive, believing her deceased and having become determined to reach the top of Tower in her memory. Peridot's side of this situation is currently unknown.
* **Syl:** Syl and Peridot got on well as friends, despite their limited time for interaction before things came to an abrupt end, at least from Syl's perspective, Peridot managing to keep her out of greed related trouble on at least one occasion. They seemed to work well together in the 3rd Floor's arena despite Peridot's muteness making communication difficult and Syl's wonder over Peridot's ability to store objects in her gem, as well as her initially misidentifying her name first as 'Gem' and then as 'Emerald'. Syl would bear witness to Peridot's "death", and - like her other companions - is unaware that Peridot is still alive, believing her deceased. Peridot's side of this situation is currently unknown.
* **Nuon:** Peridot was not seen to interact directly with Nuon at many points after helping the witch carry Crow prior to the 3rd Floor trial. It can be assumed, however, that through their common association with other climbers taking part in the 3rd Floor trial, that at least got along amicably, given there were no apparent arguments or points of contention between them. Like the others, Peridot was mourned by Nuon after her supposed death.
* **Ferra:** Peridot and Ferra seemed to get on relatively well, despite their limited interactions. They fought side by side in the 3rd Floor arena, Peridot comforting Ferra at one point when failing to consume an opponent made her briefly ill, and dragging her out of the way of Little Hon's attacks when she wasn't able to move in time. Their exact opinions on each other were unclear, however, Peridot's mild disgust at Ferra storing coins in her mouth aside, though Ferra - like the others - would mourn Peridot following her supposed death.
* **Ogborth:** Aside from their cooperating in combat in the arena, little is known of Peridot and Ogborth's direct interactions, if they had any. Despite this, though, Ogborth was greatly remorseful for his role in causing Peridot's supposed death, especially given his initial intent had been to protect her - having come to see her - and his other companions - as significant individuals, believing that none of them deserved to die.
* **Crow:** Despite limited chances for interaction, Peridot and Crow seemed to get along well enough, Peridot seeming mildly surprised by his level of respect for her going as far as to address her as 'madam', while Crow saw a kindred spirit in Peridot's going into situations well prepared. Like the others, Crow mourned Peridot's supposed death, though it is not known if Peridot would in turn learn of his own later, much more real demise.

### Others

* **Mordium:** Peridot's exact opinion of Mordium is unclear, as they had very few face-to-face interactions despite him being the 3rd Floor's overseer and her group's host for the arena, though she would initially seem annoyed at how much he was capable of knowing about her. Despite this, however, Mordium seemed genuinely distressed by her demise, prior to his learning that she had in fact survived in a dormant state.
* **"Double G":** Though Peridot seemed to find "Double G" a confusing and annoying individual who spoke in terms that seemed out of place, G in turn was pleasantly surprised to encounter a Peridot - among other individuals - and would later compliment the green woman on her thinking and planning ahead in her choice of weaponry, namely her bringing a weapon - her gauntlet - ahead of time, and selecting another - her flashbang grenades - from the shop on the 3rd Floor early on in proceedings. Additionally, Double G seemed to find her interesting enough that, upon her dormant gem being recovered, he took up Mordium's suggestion that he attempt to repair before she reformed and give her freedom from the Tower through making her his assistant.
* **Growa:** Like many of the others, Peridot's opinion of Growa and the pirates wasn't the best, due to their greed and overall attitude. Despite this, however, Peridot still leapt to rescue one of the pirates when they would otherwise be unable to escape Big Hon's grasp.
* **The Morcels:** Peridot had very few direct interactions with the Morcels outside of the arena, where her being in combat with them left little room to form any opinion of them other than that of enemies, something that her fall at their hands - Ogborth's intervention aside - may not have helped with. It is unknown, in turn, if the Morcels held any collective opinion of her, though it should be noted that the Morcel pilot responsible for her death felt obligated to recover her gemstone and hand it over to Mordium.