You have my attention. Let's see if you can keep it.

File: 1392791792313.png-(350 KB, 848x480, youmaquest3.png)

350 KB PNG

>>30342292

"Over time, metalworking techniques became more *sophisticated* - Decoration, more *intricate*. Gold, a rare and highly valued material, was buried with the dead, so as to accompany its owner into the afterlife. Much archaelogical jewellery comes from, ahem, tombs and hoards. It appears people may have followed a ritual for the disposal of jewellery-"

Close by, a girl yawns. She stifles it, just in time - A small hand cupping her mouth, her gaze flitting (A little guiltily) to the side, settling on you. She's pale, black hair framing elegant features - The same shade as her sombre black uniform.

She has the most striking eyes. Violet-in-violet, fathomless; With the faintest gleam of amused mischief, her lips quirking in a slight smile. Slim shoulders lifting in a little shrug, her gaze still holding yours - As if to say "Sorry.", while communicating her obvious boredom.

[ ] "Don't worry about it. I'm bored, too."
[ ] Smile back.
[ ] Look away.
[ ] Focus. You're getting distracted.
[ ] Write-in.

>>30342486
"Don't worry. I've heard it a hundred times or more. It's understandable."

>>30342486
smile back

>>30342486
[ ] Smile back.

>>30342486
>Focus. You're getting distracted.
Human business first, then lesbian Youma action.
Can't let our cover slip after all!

>>30342528
>>30342581

> [X] Smile back

You smile back, and she cants her head to the side - Those wonderfully expressive eyes narrowing, just a little, in secret amusement.

> "Don't worry. I've heard it a hundred times or more. It's understandable."

More than a hundred. You know it all by rote, now; You've charted the entrances, the exits, accounted for all the contingencies. If you could, you'd put it off forever...

-But it has to be today.

It has to be now.

"-Is it *that* obvious?" Her voice is a hushed whisper - Low, a little throaty, almost a purr. A grey-haired matriarch glances in your direction, and frowns slightly; You notice, but that's all you do.

> Focus. You're getting distracted.

You blink, just once. Focus; Remember the mission. You meditate on what they'll do to you, if you fail - If they have to drag you back. That, you find, clears your mind quickly.

"In this, our museum's prized exhibit, we have a collection of late Bronze Age jewellery - Provenance unknown. Until the late 14th century, gems were usually polished, rather than cut; Colour, and protective power, were highly valued."

With a flourish, the docent triggers the lights. The smoked-glass of the display - The raised cube of armourglass - lights up from within, with a soft incandescence; The pieces within are mostly simple, crude things - A rod, a dagger, ugly-looking earrings and fetishes...

-There.

On black velvet, you see *them*. Four pendants of mercurial metal, polished and undecorated, four gems of unsurpassed perfection set in platinum mountings. They're innocuous, amid the other pieces - But possessed of a subtle craftsmanship, a painstaking attention to detail quite unlike anything you've seen.

(Continued)

>>30342777

It's the colour, perhaps, that catches your eye first: Ruby, emerald, sapphire, diamond. Smooth and unblemished, as if not cut from the earth - But *grown*, planted and fostered to glorious life in some secret crystal garden.

And they *burn*. They burn with inner light. With a radiance unconfined by sight alone, that floods out the visual spectrum, that dazzles you without even passing your eyes.

Such glorious things. You can almost hear the promise within them, humming their secret melodies. The promise, and the curse.

The girl at your side stiffens. "Beautiful," she whispers, her shoulders drawing taut - You glimpse a tear of serenity at the corner of her eye, before her gaze darts to you again. There's something self-conscious in her glance, now - Subtly embarrassed at herself, peeking to the side to see if anyone else has noticed.

She blinks, just once.

"Sir-" Her voice is hushed, now, a little aloof, a little concerned.

"Sir - Your nose is bleeding."

[ ] "It's nothing."
[ ] Excuse yourself. You didn't expect this.
[ ] Excuse yourself: You have to find a mirror, *now.*
[ ] It's time.
[ ] Write-in.

>>30342853
>[ ] It's time.
Of course we pick this.

>>30342853
>it's time

WE ACT NOW.

>>30342853
"You have but one chance. Throw caution to the wind, and come with me. Otherwise... I can't guarantee we'll ever meet again."

Those eyes are as beautiful as these jewels. They will be ours.

>>30342853
>"Sir-" Her voice is hushed, now, a little aloof, a little concerned.
>"Sir - Your nose is bleeding."
Wait, we're not a Girl Youma?

>>30342901

Don't dooooo it. Don't blow our cover.

>>30342884
>>30342892

It's time.

It's *time*.

You break from the group. Long strides, rapping against the polished floor. The crowd parts before you, like the Red Sea; The girl archs a slim eyebrow, says something to a classmate - They giggle, their soft laughter low and somehow muted.

The bathroom is a spacious one, smelling of antiseptic and soap. But that doesn't matter - Only the mirror does. When you close the door behind you, your eyeballs prickle; Your mouth drying, as a pulse begins to tap in your temple.

The dribble of blood oozes from your right nostril, down your mouth and chin, dapples the sink. No hiding that. The glass above the booth-back frosts, as you tilt your face up by the chin to stare-

And look into-

[ ] ...the dead eyes of something with wings of brushed steel.
[ ] -the slitted compound eyes of a nightmare insect.
[ ] -the sulphurous eyeslits of your black helmet.
[ ] -the glowing orbs studding the sides of a nightmare maw.
[ ] -the single, unblinking eye of a cyclops.

>>30343070
>[ ] -the single, unblinking eye of a cyclops.
Spooks

>>30343070
>[ ] ...the dead eyes of something with wings of brushed steel.

>>30343070
>the single, unblinking eye of a cyclops

Polyphemus.

>>30343070
[X] -the slitted compound eyes of a nightmare insect.

>>30343070
>The glowing orbs studding the sides of a nightmarish maw

>>30343108
>>30343135

Your body *warps*. It grows. It shreds through the falsehood of your human guise, and expands. You hear the twisting, crunching sounds of flesh ripping, of bones forcing themselves into new alignments - When your tongue moves in your mouth, it slides along jagged teeth that cut your tongue open, the slice wounds healing in a heartbeat.

Your hands fused into great claws of bleached bone, wreathed in smoking brass that seems moulded to fit - Dense bone ridges and knuckly spines gouging through your papery skin, your legs grinding beneath you; Jointing backwards, brutally muscles beneath the molten brass that sheaths your form, your hooves leaving burning imprints in the ground. You can hear your breathing, raw and animal, cycling in and out of your lungs; Raw flesh and dense muscle bunching and clenching beneath searing brass.

Your eye - Your *true* eye - does not blink. Your long fingers end in black talons, opening and closing, opening and closing, as you expand to fill the space-

The light shatters, with a sound like a gunshot. Darkness descends.

(Continued)

>>30343291

It doesn't matter. You can see in the dark. You can see and fight and kill in the middle of Hell itself.

You see-

From the darkness comes a slow *scrrrttt* of steel on flint; An amber flame growing from a shoulder-high first, red-shading a high-cheekboned face. It touches the end of a thin cigar, between thinner lips.

"Well, well."

He has a dandy's face - His cream-coloured coat impeccably tailored, his smile a little too-wide as he takes a slow draw; Exhaling, wisps of smoke coiling in the air.

"-I didn't think they'd send another one."

Another puff. The lighter clinks shut, the flame of his cigar a moving point of flame.

"You're after the Anathema stones too, aren't you." It's a statement, not a question. White teeth flash in the low-light. "What we have here, as they say, is a failure to communicate. Say..."

"-why don't we team up?"

A saturine smile.

"Two each. That's fair, don't you think?"

The...

[ ] Whirring teeth of your axe churns the air
[ ] Hateful edge of your great sword glows with a fractured un-light.
[ ] Pitch-black head of your mace cracks the tiles underfoot
[ ] Spiked links of your chains rattle
[ ] Jagged wedge of your glaive casts a brutal shadow across the ground
[ ] Murderous edge of your scythe hums with a lust for death

As you say-

[ ] "Who are you?"
[ ] "What are you?"
[ ] "Who sent you?"
[ ] "*Never*."
[ ] "I'll swallow your soul."
[ ] "You're lying to me."
[ ] "If you *cross* me, I'll rip you apart."
[ ] Write-in.

>>30343552

(My apologies, a quick addition for the first choice.)

[ ] Joints of your great gauntlets hum with seething force.

>>30343552
[ ] Pitch-black head of your mace cracks the tiles underfoot
Cyclops with blunt, duh.

[ ] "Who sent you?"

Too many dialogue choices, OP

>>30343552
>Jagged edge of your glaive

>"Ravioli Ravioli give me the formu-oli"

>>30343552
>>30343552

[x]Joints of your great gauntlets hum with seething force.

[x] "You're lying to me."

Lacking too much information, so trust is a no go.

>>30343552
>Murderous edge of your scythe hums with a lust for death

Smile at him, then then tell him. "I've acually been planning this for quite some time, so kindly fuck off back to where you came from."

>>30343618

I'll second this. Cyclops with blunt.

>>30343552
>[ ] Jagged wedge of your glaive casts a brutal shadow across the ground
>[ ] "You're lying to me."

>>30343552

>Jagged edge of your glaive

> [ ] "You're lying to me."

File: 1392796060706.jpg-(81 KB, 853x761, Andy Chambers..jpg)

81 KB JPG

>>30343552
[X] Joints of your great gauntlets hum with seething force.
[X] "What are you?"

Your glaive is a monstrous weapon - The haft a solid length of black iron and ridged adamanite, the rear butted by a brutal spike. It burns with the toxic word etched into the perfect steel, a word that means:

Ruin.

> [X] "Who sent you?"

"Them."

The echo hangs in the air, as the moment stretches into infinity.

> [X] "I've actually been planning this for quite some time, so kindly fuck off back to where you came from."

He smiles a little wider, each soft-shoed step making no sound whatsoever against the floor. "I'm afraid I can't do that. There's only one way back, and no-one likes it. You *know* that, don't you?" that smile asks. "You're just one step above an animal, and even *you* know that."

> [X] "You're lying to me."

His smile broadens.

"Of course I am. Lying's what I *do*. Still - It was worth a try."

The dandy stops smiling, for a second. In less time than it takes for a human heart to beat, you know that the talking is done.

(Continued)

File: 1392796889351.jpg-(133 KB, 1000x875, youmablade.jpg)

133 KB JPG

>>30343862

The smiles broadens until it tears apart, until it rips through his skin and keeps going. He exhales, sharply, and a storm of ash churns in the air - It flies at you, in a swirling cloud, a darkness within the deeper darkness.

Beneath, his armour has the glistening sheen of black oil - His coat flapping in ragged batwings, as he's dressed in hooks and spines. A splinter of midnight bleeds into existence, curving itself into the cruel edge of a serrated, hooked blade.

"-The lie is what we *are*."

His form is razor-edged and awful where yours is brutal and awful, but it is the same. Gleaming black, with a flash of grinning teeth, he leaps at you.

And you-

[ ] Turn your true eye upon him.
[ ] Smash him aside with your glaive.
[ ] Unleash the toxic word entrusted to you.
[ ] Hurl him through the doors.
[ ] Write-in.

>>30343939
>[ ] Turn your true eye upon him.
Let's see what it do.

>>30343939
>Hurl him through the doors

He isn't worth our gaze.

>>30343939
[X] Turn your true eye upon him.


Ze Eye(s) have eet

>>30343939

(Gentlemen, to clarify upon the choices:

Your eye is a potent weapon, that can variously paralyse your prey, slow their motions, or simply petrify them outright. You can also unleash a powerful blast from it, but not yet.

Your glaive, and your enormous strength and resilience, are your main weapons.

Your glaive is marked with the Word of Ruin, which can be invoked - Once - to wreak massive destruction upon your surroundings. When invoked, the Word remains for one scene, which corrodes/decays anything it touches, after the initial release.

Rest assured that I'm rolling for the choices.)

>>30343987
Okay changing my vote from >>30343967 to
>[ ] Hurl him through the doors.

>>30343939
You know what? fuck it. He came to us, and I want to make him regret it. Fucking deck his shit. He's flying right at you, so the added momentum should cause some pain.

>>30343939
>[ ] Smash him aside with your glaive.

File: 1392797347287.jpg-(101 KB, 784x441, 3105959-1332193836.jpg)

101 KB JPG

What the fuck is happening in this quest?

>>30344029
Y'know.
Stuff.
>>30343987
Is that you, JQOP?

>>30344029
I don't know, I'm just picking whatever seems appropriate. I'm not trying to understand it.

>>30344029
I don't know, thats why i'm eagerly awaiting op's posts.

Its grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, I have to sleep now.

>>30344043

(Ah, yep.)

>>30344011
>>30344014
>>30343969

He's fast. He moves like a serpent, like black oil, like a thunderbolt.

You move like a true predator.

Through boiling frost clouds and shifting shadows, your blood-red eyeburns, and your great paw slips from the smog and swats the dandy aside like a fly.

He hits the doors, and keeps going. They explode outwards, off their hinges, with the plosive force of a short-fused grenade; You hear the first screams, and they are good. You hear his grunt of pain, and that is good, too.

He crosses the ground on his back.

You howl, hurling sound from your brazen chest as you break into a barreling run. Masonry judders, beneath each shuddering step - Sparks hissing between your glaive and your armour in a crackling circuit, vapour geysering from the joints of your armour as you shoulder your way into the main chamber, your glaive casting a shrieking wedge across the marble floor.

(Continued)

>>30344091

He skids to a stop next to the exhibit, the raised plinth of armoured glass gleaming like a perfect jewel - Screams echo from other parts of the museum, as the ragged crowd erupts in a flurry of confused panic; Somewhere, a siren begin to wail, the red pulse of emergency lighting casting flickering shadows across the gallery floor.

He has the vast floor space on his side, as he scrambles to his feet - Lipless teeth bared in a smile that's also a snarl, as liquid gore oozes from the great gash on his front. He flexes, mewling, as a cry comes up; The cry of a great mass of people lurching from alarm to open fear, echoing against the dome.

The dandy makes a lethal, hissing sound as his black sword licks out. A grey-haired old woman pitches over, her mouth moving without sound - Already turning grey, already crumbling to dust, as the sword sucks away all of her tomorrows.

The gash on his chest stops bleeding.

"Come for me, then." Each word of the black speech is hissing, sibilant - The meaning burning itself into your mind, bypassing your ears entirely, as the red haze of fury fills your vision. "Most potent of Destroyers, and most despised - How long do you think you can survive, mired in the filth of this world?"

[ ] "Longer. Than. You."
[ ] "Rip. You. Apart."
[ ] "You. Die. Now."
[ ] Write-in.

>>30344227
[x] "Longer. Than. You."

>>30344227
>Longer. Than. You

Though I'd much rather say Suck. My. Dick.
Also, We made the right choice we cyclops. These descriptions of us are fucking awesome.

>>30344260
I think that says more about JQOP than anything. Fucker's good.

"Longer. Than. You."

>>30344227
[ ] "Longer. Than. You."

Use our Eye on him, it should at least slow him down a bit, as we charge him and murderize him with our glaive.

If we see an opportunity to grab one of his legs do so and then smash his face into the ground over, and over, and over again.

>>30344227
[X] "Longer. Than. You. Leech."

> [X] "Longer. Than. You."
> [X] "Longer. Than. You. Leech."

Your voice is a guttural growl, each syllable uttered with immense force - Cracks spiderweb up the walls, the windows blistering with rimefrost. You advance, bloodshot light seething around you like the angry heart of a radioactive furnace.

And then you Look upon him.

Not with your false eye. Your True one.

"Rrrrrrghhh-" He looks away, but not fast enough. Granite dust puffs from his armour, black turning to grey. Veins of stone worm their way across his form, his limbs rebelling as they calcify-

You charge - Deadly, inhuman noises boil out from within you, your muscles bunching grotesquely beneath your brazen armour's bindings. Your spined shoulders glitter in constellations of darkness, as you are upon him in an instant - Before even he, blessed with impossible grace and lightning reflexes, can react.

He dodges.

He dodges the wrong way.

(Continued)

op, why you gotta make such a cool thread when I'm about to go to sleep?

>>30344281

Caught on the fringes, two of the weak prey-things - Humans - stiffen, going blank, freezing in place. The effect is more immediate; The shockwave of your armoured bulk in motion sends fissures skittering up and across their petrified bodies - An arm rolls free, then a head. A torso snaps off from the waist, and strikes the ground with a shattering *crunch* of splintering stone.

Your great paw surges forward, snapping shut in a vising, pincering grip.

You swing him like a hammer, like a maul, with brutal, splattering force. He smashes into the armourglass of the display, starbursts of cracks dancing across the unyielding surface - You do it again, and this time chips fracture off. A third time, and he smashes through it, shards flying out in every direction at once...

-And you roar, as a splinter of ice bites into your flesh. The point of his sword jabs through your gauntlet, in a hasty stab; Your hand spasms open, and he slams to the ground - Scurrying, on his hands and feet, amid the scatter of crude jewellery and semi-precious stones. He has something in his hand-

[ ] FINISH HIM.
[ ] Remember the mission. Find the Anathema stones.
[ ] Hurl him away from the display.
[ ] Devour him.
[ ] Write-in.

>>30344449
FINISH HIM

Can't have him backstabbing us later.

>>30344449
[ ] FINISH HIM.

Don't give the fast, sneaky, fucker a chance to grab things and pull a disappearing act or backstab us.

Stomp on one of his legs to keep him from getting any further and then chop his head off with our glaive.

>>30344449
FINISH HIM

fatality. Don't forget to taunt him, he was talking a big game in the bathroom.

>>30344449

>[X] Remember the mission. Find the Anathema stones.
>[X] Hurl him away from the display.

Stones are priority we must waste no time.

Cool quest OP but i gotta split g'night

File: 1392800418012.jpg-(65 KB, 566x800, youmagirl.jpg)

65 KB JPG

>>30344472
>>30344487
>>30344504

No more *tricks*.

> Stomp on one of his legs to keep him from getting any further and then chop his head off with our glaive.

You heft your glaive with slavering relish, as you bring the full weight of one great hoof down - The dandy howls, as first carapace, then bone, crunches.

He spits out a mouthful of gore. "Don't. *Don't*!" he manages to splutter, a wretched sound - As you plunge your shrieking glaive into his chest. It goes in without resistance, carving clean through what remains of his armour plate, and transfixes his black heart.

His hand twitches, and something fragile shatters against your armour as you wrench your spear free-

There is a brief and sickening suggestion of something massive, something glossy, sprouting from nothingness; It is muscular and segmented, a vast, black-shelled centipede writhing with chattering mandibles. It shoots out in an instant, out of nowhere, noisome flesh curling over to collapse and constrict you, before you can wrench yourself free, engulfed by the greater, more fluid mass-

As the sickening flesh coils around you, you glimpse a flash of white. A form, moving with intent, with purpose - Silver hair flutters, as she lands without sound, her knees bent to take the force of the impact.

She's beautiful.

She has a sword. Her face is set, brow furrowed in concentration, in determination, as she closes the distance in a dead sprint; The audible sharpness of her blade, as it leaves the scabbard, a high, ringing note that cuts through the commotion.

[ ] Write-in.

>>30344610

Is that...A magical girl?

>>30344610
"y-you too.."

>>30344610
Use our Eye on her.

Try to burst free of the centipede and throw it at the girl to give us enough breathing room to grab the Anathema stones.

>>30344652
Seconding this.

>>30344652
>>30344667

You turn the full force of your baleful gaze on her, forcing your True Eye wider - She flinches, surprise - Then disgust - flitting over her elegant features. But her flat-out sprint slows, all the same; Even your claws rend and gouge, shredding the sickening shape's noisome flesh with your claws.

The thing's coils tighten, as it convulses around you; It's a single-minded creature, the skull-wedge of it's head eyeless as it attacks in the only way it knows how - It's trying to constrict you out of existence. But your muscles bunch, as you wrench at the sickening weight; A roar boils from your throat, as furious strength surges through you-

And you fling the flailing, writhing shape at her.

Somehow - Through some fluke, some piece of chance, the throw is wickedly accurate.

She is just ten yards away. Her lissome legs coil beneath her, and she leaps, twisting in midair. Her blade arm juts out at a sharp right angle to her body, as her dive becomes a pirouette - The sword tip burying itself into the thrashing shape, even as she spins. She unpeels flesh, as if skinning an apple - Her body whipping out in a sharp diagonal, blade leaving a complex sigil of gore as she drives the point into the weak spot just beneath the centipede's armoured head.

It refuses to die. It thrashes, nearly dislodging her, as she twists the blade - Planting her feet, impossibly poised. Her lips set in a grim line, as gore fountains across the floor.

(Continued)

File: 1392801559588.jpg-(347 KB, 850x1212, youmagirl2.jpg)

347 KB JPG

>>30344745

You feel a slow numbness spreading up your arm, as you lumber free, towards the shattered display; It's a sickening feeling, one that saps your strength, stealing force from the bellows of your chest.

The little bastard's sword was poisoned.

From the railing above; Twin stars of muzzleflash, and you stumble forward as gunfire hammers into your brass plate, leaving craters - Smoke wisps from the bulletholes, burning like acid. They hurt out of all proportion; The pinprick of the shots are meaningless. The power infusing them, however, burns you.

There's another girl, braced against the gallery - Brass clatters to the ground as her pearl-handled revolvers snap open, releasing spent shells. She doesn't look, as she reloads; More bullets materalize, slam themselves into the chambers, seething with burning light.

You snatch up the ruby stone. It wails, at your touch, as you grasp it in one great paw - The diamond pendant lies amid a scatter of glass. The emerald and the sapphire are still on the raised plinth, gleaming with silent temptation.

[ ] Write-in.

>>30344610
>>30344827

You have great taste in waifus. That's all I'm saying.

>>30344827

THROW YOUR GLAIVE AT HER, and grab those fucking stones.

>>30344827
We're a tough guy, we can take a few hits.

So grab the gems, start with the ones on the plinth, then hunker down and grab the diamond. Get that out of the way.

We're poisoned and outnumbered. We could use some time to recover. Let's just get out of here. Pick a direction and run, if there are walls in the way just go through them. If they follow then try to get to a battlefield that suits us, preferably somewhere enclosed, and without room to run.

>>30344968
I'll second this.

>>30344943

You heft your glaive in one great paw, and - With an effort that rips a roar from your throat - you *hurl* it. The blade carves through the air in an arc of midnight, like a great harpoon; It makes the air scream, as it flies with the unstoppable force of a jet in a terminal dive.

The girl's eyes widen; She hurls herself aside, in the longest impromptu dive you've ever seen, before the wall explodes outwards in a pelting hail of fist-sized rocks. Dust fumes into the air, as your spear begins to eat into the wall - The Word scratched into the perfect steel writhing fitfully, struggling to break it's bindings.

"No-" the silver-haired swordswoman's voice is a gasp, a hushed whisper - Her eyes narrow, fractionally, as she rips her blade free. The centipede spasms one last time beneath her, limbs scratching deep furrows in the ground as you wrench the plinth free-

She springs at you, her frost-rimmed sword carving through the air. The arc is smooth and fluid, and her sword vanishes - It vanishes, because it's coming right towards you. Your glaive is gone, still stuck in the far wall, but you're nowhere close to unarmed; With an roar, you swing the entire plinth like a bat.

(Continued)

>>30345064
Well, I guess when we decide to leave we should head in that direction. Don't want to forget it.

>>30345064

You hit her head-on. Hardwood splinters; The stand literally disintegrates on impact. You hear the *whuff* of breath wrenched from her chest, at the brutal collision - She's snatched away, the blunt concussion sending her form pinwheeling away. Like an acrobat, she arches her back, turning her fall into a flip - She hits the ground in a perfect three-point landing, her heels skidding against the cracked tiles...Before one leg buckles beneath her, a sharp cry wrenched from her lips.

More gunfire, from above - A full storey up. The other girl - Dishevelled, covered in a fine patina of grime - begins to fire again, her shots smashing rippling craters into the floor on all sides. She's standing right next to your glaive, buried in the wall; Her gunfire isn't particularly accurate, but each quantity has a quality of it's own.

The emerald and the sapphire - They've scattered in the hailstorm of splinters, in a way that defies all fortune; As the silver-haired girl finds her footing, her hand closes on the sapphire pendant. You'd swear (If it meant anything) that the emerald is sliding towards her, too.

Two lumbering steps takes you to the diamond. You snatch it up, clenching it in your great fist.

[ ] Retrieve your glaive.
[ ] Attack the swordswoman.
[ ] Throw the plinth at the gunslinger.
[ ] Activate the Word.
[ ] You have two of the four Stones; It's time to retreat.
[ ] Write-in.

>>30345147

> [ ] You have two of the four Stones; It's time to retreat.

Time to bail. 50-50 isn't bad.

>>30345147
[ ] Throw the plinth at the gunslinger.
[ ] Retrieve your glaive.
[ ] You have two of the four Stones; It's time to retreat.

Throw something big and heavy at her, then follow up by leaping up there, grabbing our glaive, smashing through the well and going on our merry way.

>>30345147
[ ] Throw the plinth at the swordswoman.
[ ] Activate the Word

go for the pendants while they're busy with that.

>>30345147
>[ ] You have two of the four Stones; It's time to retreat.

>>30345147
>[x] You have two of the four Stones; It's time to retreat.

>>30345207

> [X] Throw the plinth at the gunslinger.

The plinth is falling apart, in your hands; There's still enough to throw, and you hurl it with all your strength. The girl ducks beneath the railing, and it smashes through a stained-glass window overhead - But as she levers herself to her feet, her crimson gaze burning into you as both revolvers are levelled in your direction...

> [X] Activate the Word

-You trigger the Word.

It is the easiest thing. The Word longs to be free.

The wall explodes, as if beneath the onslaught of a wrecking ball. It buckled, shredding apart in a violent convulsion - Twisted fragments of metal and brick strewn in all directions. The lights go out, as the chandlier overhead comes smashing down like a guillotine - Every window shatters at once, in a knifing rain of glass. Shards rattle against your brass plate, in a fractal rain; The upper storey collapsing to the floor below with a slow, majestic solemnity.

You glimpse the swordswoman's face - Appalled, then horrified, then furious - in the instant before the inner wall of the building crumples outwards. The air is thick with swirling dust, as you lumber forward; Out into the open air. Out into the maze of darkened streets and alleyways behind the building.

You've been preparing for this for a long time.

>>30345157
>>30345207
>>30345263

Your falsehood is gone.

You true shape, your True eye, is revealed to the word. You wrench your buzzing glaive from the ground, as you accelerate - On all fours, like a bull ape. A furious, brazen monster pounding forward on all four limbs, hurling your body mass ahead in an inhuman gallop. The earth quakes, acid drool stringing from your maw with each great bound.

(Continued)

>>30345296

The stones - Ruby and diamond - are clenched in your great fists. Faster, faster - The ground cracking beneath you, as you launch yourself forward; There are startled shouts, screams of high-pitched panic from the trail of destruction that you leave in your wake. You remember your destination, vividly - A pane of flawless glass, a perfect smoking mirror, in the burned-out hulk of what was once a church...

-Without warning, you stumble.

It happens mid-stride. You faltering, as the strength is stolen from your limbs - You pitch forward, and hit the ground at an oblique angle; Your shoulder jarred, hard, as you begin to tumble, rolling over and over again to a bruised, breathless stop. For a moment, you lie there, panting - Only now registering the lies of human fraility, your true form shrouded once more in soft flesh.

You don't have any idea how this happened. Your form - Your false form - was a guise, a illusion to be used once, and then discarded. But now...The weight of the world presses upon you, as you lie panting upon the alley floor...

Your bloody hand grips the ruby-

Wait.

-The diamond. Where's the diamond?

(Continued)

>>30345334

Your breathing slows, as you look down. You feel - Sense, rather, from deep within - a second heartbeat. Slow, steady, as you rise to your feet; Your true form lies slumbering ready to be summoned once more.

But for now, human for the first time-

You feel the primal, seething power of the Anathema stone *within* you.

YOUMA QUEST

EPISODE 1

TO BE CONTINUED?

>>30345358
Figure out how to eat the second one too.

>>30345358
Thanks for running. I enjoyed playing the hulking brute.

What were the other body types anyways? Did they have different weapon loadouts?

>>30345358
Delicious diamond. Nice thread OP, being the bad guy was pretty refreshing.

>>30345358

Gentlemen: This looks like a good place to stop. I'm uncertain as to whether I'll continue this, but I honestly enjoyed myself - You've been a wonderful audience, and it's been a pleasure.

To clarify, this Quest is based off an old idea I had: The PC is a youma, tasked by his master with missions that bring about destruction /increase his power/undermine his rivals.

To explain, in short order, the events that unfolded in this chapter:

The PC, a cyclops Destroyer, was tasked with retrieving the Anathema Stones - Artifacts of ancient and primal power - at the behest of his master. The Stones are (As you might have guessed) the transformation artifacts used by magical girls, like the two that you encountered over the course of the session.

Unfortunately (Or fortunately) one of the stones has merged with the PC, allowing him to sustain his human form indefinently - And, of course, unlocking abilities beyond the typical Youma. (The Youma in the title refers to the protagonist.)

The concept was spawned by my love of magical girl settings, but an inherent unwillingness to actually play as one. The framework of the game to follow would be the PC sent to infiltrate the city on a long-term basis, while encountering the girls in both of their forms.

The inherent dichotomy of it - The PC able to interact with other humans in his falsehood guise, versus being opposed to humanity in general (And the city's magical girls, specifically) in his monstrous youma form - is meant to be a large part of the Quest. Notably, the girls are extremely powerful (In contrast to the PC, who is a monster of the week) and a large part of the encounters involve evading/distracting/avoiding them until you're sufficiently powerful to take them on.

(Continued)

>>30345410
I like it. I want to see it continue. Fight smart, figure out who they are and kill them in their sleep. Or try to corrupt them.

>>30345410

I'll admit that this was born out of an attempt to write something 'lighter' - More playful - than Joker Quest, but it turned out pretty dark all the same. The initial idea would have you as a GARO-esque magical knight fighting alongside the heroines, but it felt a little bit too shamelessly wish-fulfilment. (It might be fun to visit, if there's a demand for it.)

>>30345385

(Yes: The steel-winged form was based off a bird of prey, and was the fastest - Complete with inherent flight abilities.

The insect was the most adaptable, and had the inherent ability to summon a swarm and mutate his body further. He could also discorporate into a huge mass of smaller insects, and had the most survivability.

The dark knight had the best weapons and armour, and was also the most 'respected' of the Youma.

The nightmare maw could consume everything, and was the most powerful magician - With the ability to use Arcanoi, the black sorcery of the Youma.

I'll be happy to answer any other questions you might have, gentlemen. This thread has given me a lot to think about. I'll admit - I have a strange urge to write 'playful' romance for a change.)

>>30345431

You don't necessarily *have* to be evil, to clarify. The Anathema Stone has given the protagonist a (limited) capacity for good - But I'll wholeheartedly agree that evil can be extremely fun.

>>30345439

What did the bad guys want the stones for?

>>30345439
There are more than enough good quests. Lets be EEEEEEEEEEEVIL. Ruining a magical girls faith in mankind and turning her to the darkside would be delicious.

File: 1392806455999.jpg-(345 KB, 1200x1087, badendprecure.jpg)

345 KB JPG

>>30345450

(To create evil magical girls.)

>>30345460

Well, I'm aroused.

>>30345439
It's good to know that whatever option we took it'd have ended up being cool.

And I enjoy playing a bastard, it's fun.

>>30345460
Can we take an evil magical girl out on a date to the park and poison pigeons together?

Rolled 10

>>30345490
>>30345439
Being evil doesn't mean no romace, OP. I'm quite sad I got here after it was done, but I'll be on the lookout for next time.

>>30344610

Is the girl with white hair the girl here?

>>30342486

Because I can't decide which form is hotter. You have to wonder if the girls mind transforming before they get down to the fun part.

>>30345439

>The initial idea would have you as a GARO-esque magical knight fighting alongside the heroines, but it felt a little bit too shamelessly wish-fulfilment.

You should totally do this. It would be like a version of Princess Guard that didn't suck.

>>30345538

(I am, unfortunately, uncertain if I'm going to continue this. However, I'm glad you liked this - This ran a lot more smoothly than my first attempt to run a Quest on this setting.

The first one bogged down a little, in truth.)

>>30345451

A magical girl quest where we're not the little girl. The end of all things is nigh. Breaker did it first, though.

>>30344610

OP, will we be seeing more of this girl?

>>30345296
Wait what? I voted to throw it at the swordswoman.

oh well.

>>30345620
there's no contract though. Or wishes.

>>30345451
>>30345439
'Good' and 'evil' are far too binary. Self-interest is the way to go. We have an opportunity here, that is afforded to few youma; freedom.

I say we toe the line for now, but seek to amplify our own power sufficiently that we can live free of the battle between 'good' and 'evil'. Besides, it'll be fun to fuck with the magical girls' heads, by sometimes acting on their side. Maybe we can get one of our own too, as a counterpart to them. Dominion's boring, so why bother, when you can just keep things so much more interesting?

I just wish we'd gone with a more respectable, or intelligent form. Cyclops seems a bit brutish.

>>30345729

(My apologies: I misread that one.)

>>30345730

> We have an opportunity here, that is afforded to few youma; freedom.

(Exactly.)

> I just wish we'd gone with a more respectable, or intelligent form. Cyclops seems a bit brutish.

I'll admit that it was fun writing a brutish character, though. I enjoyed the chance to narrate the inherent physicality of the protagonist.

>>30345549

It's so chuuni it makes me feel queasy. But I want this, in the most pandering and fluffy way possible. It must be done, so that we can be an unabashed white knight/CHET MANLYSTACHE for a change.

>>30345756
>(My apologies: I misread that one.)
nah, I considered the possibility of being misread, but I didn't bother emphasising the change of target. Also, I got outvoted.

Personally? I didn't realize we were a monster of the week until you mentioned it. It's interesting to think about the perspective of the monster.

This will be...interesting...

>>30345756
There's nothing wrong with physically powerful characters. I usually play magic-users, or techies, but every so often get a hankering to just play a shirtless barbarian who drinks from the skulls of his enemies and bench-presses a couple of horses.

It's just, they tend to be very straightforward characters. There's little room to get clever and creative and duplicitous with them. That's the stuff that really makes games INTERESTING.

>>30345805

(I'll say that /tg/ utilized what it had extremely well, however. With regard to the character, think of it more as a WoD 'splat' as compared to a D&D class: Biased in one direction, certainly, but by no means limited solely to it.)

>>30345805
There is a certain elegant simplicity to our current powerset.

We're fast, we're not agile but we are fast, we hit like a truck, and we can take a hit. Add our Eye to that which can seriously slow an enemy we're going to be able to close the distance on an enemy, even if we take a few hits in the process. And once we're in their face we murder them with our glaive and our hands.

As time goes on I would like additional options, but I like having this solid brutish core that we build on.

>>30345820
/tg/ is composed of player characters, and the poor, beleaguered GMs that have had to put up with said player characters. There is probably few people on this planet, who know more about creative destruction of property, than the population of this board. And you gave them the Ruin glaive. You poor, poor, foolish man. It remains to be seen, how they'll cope with other stuff though. Wish luck, we'll expand on our weaknesses, rather than focus on our strength, until we're over-powered by teamwork and friendship. Monsters-of-the-week are specialists. Recurring characters are more balanced.

Incidentally, what would the other weapons have come with?

>>30345866

(The Word is actually a one-use power; Like a scroll, so to speak. When unleashed, it has an immediate, powerful effect, and then a scene-length effect.

Lesser words only have one or the other.)

> Incidentally, what would the other weapons have come with?

Axe: Hands-down the most damage, damages armour upon impact.

Sword: The most accurate, sets targets on fire.

Mace: Slowest weapon, but area of effect attacks - To represent both the concussive force of impact, and great 'sweeping' swings.

Chains: Ranged, constrict the opponent upon impact.

Scythe: Highest chance of a critical hit, becomes stronger with each kill. (Especially if you mow through civilian targets with it.)

>>30345936
Are these Words provided to, found, or made by the Cyclops?

>>30345973

(The first one; They're the Youma equivalent of specialist equipment, and created by your Lord's sorcerers/Castigators.

The protagonist himself has also been surgically enhanced and modified - His glaive, too, is a weapon specifically crafted to fit his size and mass.)

>>30345995
>Sorcerers
so what you're saying is, if we want more, we either stay loyal to the Lord, hide the fact that we changed while secretly taking advantage of freedom, use our new powers to learn how to make them or make friends with someone who can.

>>30346020

(Yes.)

>>30346093
You really leave all the options open, don't you?

>>30346020
You never know. Aren't we, like, part-magical-girl now? Magical boy? Whatever. I wonder what our False Form looks like..? It'd be hilarious if one of the magical girls fell for us, while not knowing who we are.

Regardless, we might have other abilities available to us now, beyond the Words and our True Form. I still say we should keep that other gem and use it to create our own magical girl, later. A loyal (hopefully) student and companion could prove most useful, in winning and keeping our independence.

>>30346136

(Your False Form is effectively the human guise you had at the beginning of the chapter. Which is extremely unusual - Because 'falsehoods', the disguises you usually receive, are meant to be one-use only.

To clarify, you're effectively a sleeper agent who has just been activated. You do have some level of autonomy, but when you get missions from above, you generally have to fulfil them. How you do it, however, is entirely up to you.

In this instance, you'll most likely have to hand the Anathema stone over. The only constant in the morass that is Youma 'society' are the orders that come from above. Of course, even those in charge aren't omnipotent.)

>>30346207
So...it's possible that the rush of power and greed from the diamond will overturn the decision to turn the stone over?

>>30346223
Or alternately, we might just realize that something unexpected has come up and independently decide to lie through our teeth. Hide the ruby somewhere secure and inform our higher-ups of our 'failure'. I say we pin it on that dandy's interference attracting the attention of the do-gooder patrol.

>>30346297

Ideally, we should turn the ruby over, and say it's the only one we could retrieve. We don't tell 'em about the diamond, so they don't get any ideas about cutting us open.

We need to keep our bosses happy, people. If we don't, they'll probably flay us.

>>30346328
We'll have to retrieve it later. It's far too valuable an asset to leave in the hands of our overlord.

>>30346392

What would we possibly do with it? OP said that they're going to use it to make an evil magical girl. It makes more sense to let them do it, and then charm the girl, rather than tampering with forces that are fundamentally opposed to us.

I also think the sword-girl is the hottest one so far.

>>30346410
Which is easier? Turning a magical girl that's already been created and indoctrinated by our masters; or creating one of our own, from scratch? Besides, 'fundamentally opposed' remains to be seen. That may have been true before, but is it still, now that we're whatever we are? There's too many variables. I council caution and not letting anything go until we're certain it can't be held over us.

>>30346410

She's drawn by Tony Taka, of course she's hot. Joker Quest's OP seems to prefer using his art.

>>30346471

Yeah, but I assume they need to do all the corruptin'. If we tried to use the stone ourselves, we would get a normal magical girl. And the two we fought were BAD ASS.

> It'd be hilarious if one of the magical girls fell for us, while not knowing who we are.

This is totally going to happen. It's a staple of the genre.

>>30346514
>This is totally going to happen. It's a staple of the genre.
Which is why I'm lovin' it.

>Yeah, but I assume they need to do all the corruptin'.
Becoming a magical girl doesn't automatically weld your good/evil dial in the 'good' position, though it seems these stones ARE a focus of positive energy, as evidenced by our ability to act for our own cause, or even the cause of good, if we so chose. Magical Girls generally are chosen BECAUSE they are good people; they don't then BECOME good people. I think indoctrinating a magical girl to the side of evil, would be a separate process. We, meanwhile, wouldn't even need to do that much. Turning humans into forces for capitol-E Evil, is MUCH harder than just offering them power and freedom. I mean, they're halfway to that already!

>>30345439

>The initial idea would have you as a GARO-esque magical knight fighting alongside the heroines, but it felt a little bit too shamelessly wish-fulfilment.

I unironically want this. That would be amazing.

>>30346845
>>30345791
>>30345549

(I might give it a shot, for the novelty factor. I'm kind of pondering what kind of Quest I might run after my present one concludes.)

>>30345439
You know, you can make this a quest about being evil without it being as dark as Joker Quest.
Sure, people are murdered and and the monsters rip each other apart, but you can give it a more optimistic tone.

I kind of got a Devil May Cry impression from the girls, especially the gunslinger.

>>30345799
My first thought was "hey, we are vulnerable".

When OP mentioned the need to grow before we can fight properly, I thought of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFrZlEqMzLU

>>30346478
Twist: OP is Tony Taka

>>30345850

Being super-strong and super-tough is actually the best power, if you have both in sufficient levels. I don't know if you've ever read the comic 'Invincible', but the boring flying brick powerset is absolutely lethal if properly applied.

>>30345385

Sometimes it's fun to just smash headfirst through everything. Most RPGs don't really let you use superstrength in a cinematic way.

>>30348350
>Most RPGs don't really let you use superstrength in a cinematic way.
That really depends on the GM.
The avantage of RPGs is that your powers can actually be utilized in a way that makes sense in-universe.

>>30345936
Gauntlets?

>>30347694
So, do we go for a Rust Kaiser build?

>>30349025

Don't you get it? We ARE Rust Kaiser. We're the big, smashy bastard who ruins everyone's day by hitting them.

We are a big motherfucker.

>>30349614
Wonderful.
First we get a bunch of idiots putting Gundam into everything and now we even have recursive crossover/cameo.
Please don't do that.

>>30349025
>>30349614
>>30349640
who is Rust Kaiser?

>>30349640
that's not how you spell 40K

Good to see thread still lives.

Was awesome, OP, I really hope you continue this one.

>>30349696
>who is Rust Kaiser?
Character from Joker Quest.
He's basically unkillable, no matter how much plasma you shoot into his fucking head. And then he gloats about killing your girlfriend.

>>30349755

> And then he gloats about killing your girlfriend.

That was Bardiel.

Rust Kaiser doesn't talk, much: He's basically sheer violence incarnate. He's almost completely unstoppable and impervious to pain, and is hideously strong.

I'm talking "Punch you into a coma with his bare hands" strong.