>>27567611
Sprint straight for it while dodging its attacks and tackle it outside.

Then hold it down and keep punching it in the torso.

No weapons.

>>27567611

we need to immobilize him, we might be able to trap it in earth, but we need to get him outside, don't want to wreck the inn.

drive him outside.

>>27567611
Pick up the table and charge him with it.

Use it like a shield, and combo attack with our spear.

<Wait here.> You tell Mal.
You peer up, looking at Ann backing rapidly away, and then Bruno takes another deep breath. You duck back just as more flame tears over your head. Everything is getting hotter... But he needs to take a breath every time he spits more flame. You wait past one more burst...

And vault over the table, barreling toward Bruno. Your weapons left behind for more speed, you watch Bruno slowly breathe in, his eyes brilliantly red... And tackle him, pushing him down and out of the tavern. He spits flame in the air, but seems to miss both you and Ann proper.

You pin him down, straddling his form, and start to punch.

>Roll martial combat! Mediocre, Medium difficulty!

Rolled 87

>>27567799
ATTATATATATATATATA

Rolled 55

>>27567799

clench your teeth Bruno!

Rolled 100

>>27567799
Punch punch punch!

>>27567841
He is so punched.

>>27567841
#rekt

Happy birthday, Exabyte!!

>DC: 55 but it didn't really matter because you got a nat100!

You punch Bruno in the chest almost a dozen times before one of his arms come up to claw at you. Your response is simple. You roll to the side, grab the offending arm, and flip his entire body around you, slamming his torso into the ground. The remnant snarls, its tail lashing up to slash you with its other claw, but you catch that as well, and flip the creature around.

There you sit, both arms caught, with your knee in Bruno's humanoid back... And you start to pull. You pry back his arms, and hear something crack savagely.

Your spine tingles... And then, on a strange impulse, you twist both arms.

Bruno's real body comes popping out of the rubbery, scaled body. The scaled body twists aside, out of your grip, and then rolls to its feet. There, it stands- a humanoid, headless form, scales and claws aplenty. It gibbers at you, mindlessly, and its claws come flashing toward you with lethal speed. You easily duck aside, and slam your knuckles into its chest. Another slash comes at you, but you block it by grabbing its own forearm, and counter with another punch to the chest. A third counter- and then a fourth. And a fifth and a sixth. It slows, making your job even easier, and almost a dozen powerful jabs later, it stops trying to claw at you- but you don't stop punching. Your knuckles bruise, dashing against the scales that hard, but something inside your spine is ticking- pulsing, swelling with power. Your new heart pounds hard, something building up-

>Field too long!

>>27568023
The headless remnant pounces at you.
You respond with an uppercut, harder than you've done anything ever before. The entire remnant, overwhelmed by power, goes sailing into the air, landing behind you with a flumph.
It goes still. Very still, but from here, you can see something twitching inside of its neck.
You punch it in the neckhole- and grab something inside- something pulsing, similar to your own.
And then, physically, you tear it out.

The rest of the body bursts into smoke, and next thing you know, you're holding a twitching, writhing creature, a single red eye on the top of its head. It reminds you almost of a millipede, if millipedes only had a dozen legs.
The parasite. Interesting.

But your heart is still pounding- growing stronger... somehow.

>Remnant heart sideeffects!
>[] Mutation. [Your body mutates, growing remnant-like components.]
>[] Regeneration increase. [Regeneration becomes a Skill that you can use, provided you get time to take a break]
>[] Revert to human. [Begins the process of returning your humanity, removing any weaknesses to light or fire you currently have]

>>27568046
Mutation pls

>>27568046

>[X] Revert to human. [Begins the process of returning your humanity, removing any weaknesses to light or fire you currently have]

We are to damn vulnerable to Light/Fire right now.

>>27568046
>[x] Revert to human. [Begins the process of returning your humanity, removing any weaknesses to light or fire you currently have]

"Now what?" <Now what?> <Now what?>

>>27568046
>[x] Regeneration increase. [Regeneration
becomes a Skill that you can use, provided you get time to take a break]
A way to heal from all those constant injuries without Miriam nagging us!

>>27568046
>>[x] Revert to human. [Begins the process of returning your humanity, removing any weaknesses to light or fire you currently have]

QUESTION: Is this a one-time only thing?

>>27568046
>>[X] Regeneration increase. [Regeneration becomes a Skill that you can use, provided you get time to take a break]

>>27568046
>[] Mutation. [Your body mutates, growing remnant-like components.]
Don't be scare.

>>27568046
Mutation please, but I think I may be outvoted
rolling to combine loss of light/fire weakness and mutation?

>>27568046
>[] Regeneration increase. [Regeneration becomes a Skill that you can use, provided you get time to take a break]

>>27568046
>[] Revert to human. [Begins the process of returning your humanity, removing any weaknesses to light or fire you currently have]

Being weak in daytime and weak to fire is kind of terrible

>>27568046
>[] Mutation. [Your body mutates, growing remnant-like components.]
pls

>Perfectly split votes.
>Woo, guess I'll get to do all three.

You look down at the writhing, squealing parasite- and that pounding in your heart slowly settles. Breathing becomes hard for some strange reason- and something writhes inside of you, growing and coiling through your body. Like vines curling around your ribs and lungs...
Quite suddenly, you feel... less uncomfortable, out here in the light.

"Now what?" You ask, looking back. Tarda looks at the writhing creature in your hand, and then looks down at bruno.
"What." She says, staring down at it. "How."

Ann rushes over to Bruno, and everyone else makes their way out of the tavern.

After Tarda shakes herself off, she holds out her palm.
"Hand it to me." She says, suddenly. "I need to contain it and find out who sent it."
You hand it to her, and a few moments later, it goes still. Almost like it's sleeping.

Ann looks down at Bruno, worried. Bruno's unconscious, curled up on his back. He seems okay to you, at a glance.
Back inside, Mal and Miriam are worried- but to you, it looks like nothing's burned. Like the fire wasn't entirely there.

>>27568046
Can we vote for two?
[x] Regen
[x] Human

Looking like a mutant isn't going to help.

>>27568232

>was this choice a one time thing?

first thing, get Bruno inside and somewhere comfortable and check if he really is okay.

>>27568299
>I don't know if it's a one time thing or not. I'll decide later. If Revert to Humanity would have won by a landslide, it would have been a one time thing.

You take another deep breath, and make your way to Bruno. As you do, the strange grip on your lungs start to relax, and you can breathe easier once again.
"Let's get him inside." You say. "Somewhere comfortable."
Ann nods quickly. You carefully scoop Bruno up.
As soon as you do, his eyes open.
He squeaks happily, and immediately begins begging for food.
"He's okay!" She says, and pulls up some dragonmeal. Bruno starts trying to scrabble out of your hands to get to it.

Behind you, your spine tingles powerfully- and you look back at Tarda and Mal. The former crushes the parasite in her palm. You hear her grind her teeth, and wipe the black ichor she'd crushed out of the parasite onto her cloak.
She's *furious*.
"Kaederi. He's still alive." She snarls. "We'll have to remedy that."
Her tone of voice makes you shiver.

>>27568388

"take a breath and calm down, please tell us everything you know about him."

>>27568388
"Can't we just teleport a piece of the sun onto him with magic?"

"Take a breath and calm down." You say.
"He's had this thing in that creature for the last ten years." She snarls. "He's been watching for me to find my way out. This was him trying to kill me."
"Please tell us everything you know about him." You say, finally.
She takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes.
"Kaederi, Sixth Wizard. Head of the Domain Project." She says. "He's good at making servants, and has accomplished cross-country teleportation. He's skilled at metaspacial spells."
She closes her eyes. "We were... friendly rivals. One day he'd come by and stress-test my runes, another day I'd go to his lab and test out his domains. One day, I got trapped inside. I thought it was a simple accident- that there was some kind of time dilation that made me wait for years instead of minutes before he'd let me out. But as time passed, I realized. He'd trapped me inside so that he could get to my notes for the Runic Project. And he got them, I assume."
"Can't we just teleport a piece of the sun onto him with magic?"
"He has resistance to those sorts of attacks." She says. "I have a plan, though... and I'll need your help for it.
Marcus stares on.
"... Runic Project?" The young man asks.
"Yes, yes, it's how runes work." Tarda says. "That's not important right now."
"... I think it's very important." He says.

>>27568563
I thought wizards were good at keeping secrets.

you know, about them selves... lol women

>>27568563
I think its not very important Marcus
In fact, it is so unimportant you should go outside for a bit so we can discuss our banal and unimportant lives

>>27568563
"You want to help us get the notes back from this Kaerderi person?"
I'm employing the great "put the problem off even if it will probably come back worse later" strategy here.

>>27568563

"I have a petty good idea what you're thinking about but now is not the time."

also if he touches that stone he'll die horribly.

>>27568563
"Let's worry about the guy trying to kill us."

>>27568563
Concur. I'm curious about the Runic Project. Want to learn some spells.

"I have a pretty good idea what you're thinking about, but now is not the time. Let's worry about the guy trying to kill us." You say. "You want to help us get the notes back from this Kaederi person?"
Slowly, he nods.
"Yes, that would be a good idea." He says.
You turn to Tarda, and she nods approvingly.
"I'm going to make a weapon." She says. "But I'm going to need parts. Three of them I can think of, and I don't think any of them have moved." She says.

You and Marcus stare at her, while you translate for Mal.
That's when a flying Remnant arrives, screeching out of the air- and Tarda brandishes her hand. The Remnant bursts into smoke, and collapses in a pile of wings and limbs.
"And it looks like he's trying to hold me here by sending things to the village." She says. "I need something from the ruins to the south of here; Rebel's core. I also need some enchanted silver from the noble district in town, and some notes on Servants from underneath the High Lord's mansion."
You translate for Mal.
<And you need all of these rather fast, yeah?> He asks in response.
"The faster the better." Tarda responds, as you translate. "It would be smartest if the three of you split up."

>>27568781
"I'll head for Rebel's Core. I should be able to hide from the Remnants better."

>>27568781
"Before we go, Tarda, can you examine my heart again? When I was fighting the parasite, I felt it... move. Like it was squirming."

>>27568781

Mal to the High lords mansion, Marcus to the noble district, he's more suited for those small remnants

we can go get the Rebel's core

we'll need to know what it looks like and where to look.

so far our choice to release Tarda hasn't been a disappointment.

"I'll head for Rebel's Core. I should be able to hide from the remnants better."
"They're not remnants." She says, finally. "Not servants, either. Rebel- the Mind Project- has its own defense system, deep in those ruins." She says. "Talk through them if you can, but... they can be dispersed with enough force. Use your weapons."

A second and third winged remnants come soaring over- but before Tarda can brandish her hand at them, they both burst into flame... And Ann stands there, a rune in hand. The rune starts to crumble in her palm.
Tarda turns to you. "And remember to carve that rune with something as you travel."

"Where should we go, miss?" Marcus asks.
"You can go to the noble district, to the east." You say. "The district with the tallest towers."
"You're looking for silver that gleams in the darkness." She says. "It doesn't matter what it's made into, just bring as much as you can."
Marcus nods and salutes.
<Mal, you can go to the mansion. Find and bring those notes.>
Mal nods. <I can do that, bro.>

"Before we go, Tarda." You say. "Can you examine my heart again? When I was fighting the parasite, I felt it... move. Like it was squirming."
She touches your chest, and nods to herself.
"It's claiming parts of your body. Growing... tendrils, reaching around your organs. It is squirming." She says. "I don't know what it's going to do."
"What does Rebel's core look like?" You ask.
"I don't know." She says. "But Rebel itself is... focused on you. Maybe it will show you. At the least, it's at the very heart of those ruins. You'll need to fight your way past the defense systems. Do you think you can do that?"

>>27568985

"I'm about to find out."

let's make haste.

>>27568985
"Could you give it your best guess? Cause I'd rather not wake up tomorrow with a third arm or something."

"Could you give it your best guess?" You ask. "Because I'd rather not wake up tomorrow with a third arm or something."
"It's all but stabilized for now." She says, hand pressed against your chest. "But as it is, it's almost... trying to brace itself inside your body. It's grown a lot of vines- almost like a potato- and wrapping them around your internal organs... The tendrils are hardening, though- so at the least, you'll survive mortal wounds easier."
You nod, and take a deep breath.
"Well, I'm about to find out how I'll do." You say.
"Good luck." She says.

Miriam just stares, eyes wide, as you quickly arm up, grabbing your equipment. Marcus sets off into a march toward the city, and Mal just talks with Dalton and buys more gunpowder.
You give her a nod.
"This is all happening really quickly." She says.
"It is." You respond. "I'll be back eventually."
You make your way to the south- which is the direction you saw the ruins earlier, alongside those strange, glowing humanoids. You give Miriam a wave, and walk.

>"And remember to carve that rune with something as you travel," Tarda said.
You look down at the blank rune. You can carve any words you know on it- even a mix of a shaping and element rune, though you won't be able to use one without the other, that way.

>What carve?

>>27569217

Healing is tempting but I think we should carve an element in to the rune, we're severely lacking in those.

>either Fire or Lightning(if possible)

>>27569217
Remnant Rune. Might as well ride something there.

>>27569294
Lightning.

>>27569217
Heat ray.

>>27569217
DEATH

File: 1380916916833.png-(174 KB, 534x677, Mal.png)

174 KB PNG

>Pic: Thanks, MrQ from the IRC!

You walk, taking in the air, and enter the clearing from before. There's still the charred circle from where Cromwell blasted that heart from before, and where you fought Failure. The weather is clear, and the sun is shining. You don't feel as uncomfortable as you did this morning, in the light. You walk past, and think...

A few moments later, you come to a decision. You carve the kystaran word for 'lightning' onto the rune, spelled with energy, heat, and light all together. The rune burns in your palm, and your spine tingles lightly.
>Lightning. 12+3 uses. Shaping rune is optional- and not required.

You pocket the rune, and recite the word under your breath. Yes, you know how to pronounce it fine.

You walk past the clearing, and spend almost half an hour walking through the forest. Eventually, you can see the ruins below you.. And patrolling them are four differently-colored beings. All of them are vaguely humanoid, gleaming with unnatural light... And they're all levitating unnaturally. They're transparent, as well, if you can squint past the gleam they give off. The defense system- one of them are orange, one is blue, and the other two are grey, uncoloured.
In between all four of them, you can see a set of spiral stairs, coiling downward.

You step a bit closer, and the blue one pauses and looks at you.
<Intruder?> It buzzes. It reminds you almost of a golem. Your spine tingles.

>Response? If you intend on attacking, you'll need to roll.

>>27569427

"I am a visitor, what must I do to gain entrance to this place?"

be ready to dodge.

>>27569427
No, just a visitor

File: 1380917698907.png-(344 KB, 663x703, Wanderer.png)

344 KB PNG

>Pic: Thanks again!

<I am a visitor.> You say. <What must I do to gain entrance to this place?>
<You require a visitor's bronze badge to enter this base.> It says, the voice warbling unnaturally. <You may find one on the first floor by entrance officials. Please proceed carefully. Any defense systems past the first floor will attack any visitors without their badge.>

It buzzes again, and re-enters the patrol. <Take care, visitor. Welcome to the Rebel Project.>

Warily, ignoring the tingling in your spine, you step closer. None of the floating, glimmering humanoids even look at you. You walk right past them, and make your way down the stairs.

You find yourself in a long hallway, once ruined, though it had been repaired. You walk down the hall- and a great, closed door stands in front of you. Complete with a sign; Warning, Intruders will be shot on sight. Find a visitor's badge!

You look to the side of the hall- and there stands a glass window to what looks like some kind of office, complete with desk. Sitting inside is a simple, brass badge- but behind it, in the room itself, are two more of those strange defense systems. One orange, and the other grey. They simply stare at you. You jiggle the door to get into the office, but it's locked.

>Roll required!
>[] Smash down the window, snatch the badge, and run forward.
>[] Try to pick the door's lock and walk in.
>[] Ignore the office, walk in without any kind of 'badge'.

Rolled 14

>>27569616
>[X] Try to pick the door's lock and walk in.

a violent entry is probably a bad idea.

Rolled 15

>>27569616
>>[] Try to pick the door's lock and walk in.

Rolled 7

>>27569616
>[x] Try to pick the door's lock and walk in.

Rolled 24

>>27569616
Pick the lock we need a steakthful approach

Rolled 23

>>27569616
[x] SMASH WINDOW GRAB BADGE

Well that failed horribly.

these rolls man.

>DC: 45. Failure!

You carefully, slowly stick your lockpicks into the door. You haven't used these in a while, so you're a bit rusty, but it shouldn't be hard to pick this thing...
Carefully, you start nudging the tumblers into place, holding them in place with your other tool, and then, finally, you trigger the last tumbler.

And then you twist it. With a terrible crunch, something happens. You pull your lockpicks out- and the end of one is entirely gone.

You jiggle the handle, but it doesn't turn. You grab a third pick, and try to work the door again- but there's something jammed inside.
You've broken the lock, it seems- the tip of one of your picks are jammed in there, making it impossible to open.

>[] Smash window grab badge?
>[] Just simply walk past without?
>[] Other?

>>27569777
>[X] Other. Kick through door lock.

Rolled 16

>>27569777
Smash window grab badge

Rolled 69

>>27569777

>[X] Smash window grab badge?

I need to decide these things faster...

Rolled 70

>>27569777
>[] Smash window grab badge?
Excessive force solves everything.

>GM Rolled Result: 83
>DC: 55. Success!

You twirl your spear overhead, and make your way over to the window proper.
The two defense systems stare at you, vaguely humanoid. They look almost... curious.
You smash the window with the but of your spear, and both humanoids brighten. With your other hand, you grab the badge, pull it back- and duck just as something blue lashes out at you. The projectile tears above your head, shining blue- and you hear the sound of ice cracking when it collides with the wall. Everything grows colder, and frost crawls along the walls.

The blue remnant is doing something with cold. Good to know.

Something slams into the locked door, trying to knock it off its hinges. Both systems are buzzing angrily at you. You skid under the window, as the blue system soars over you. You run right past them, toward the door.

The door behind you, to the office, explodes next to you. The System barrels out, and raises a palm. You barely dodge two beams of hot, red light. One scrapes your arm- and it burns, painfully. But you're alive. You tear open the door, and slam it shut behind you.

You wait some time, and take a deep breath... But nothing starts smashing on it.
It seems they have certain territories.

You walk down the hall, continuing down stairs. At the heart of the ruins is where you need to go, apparently.
<... Why are you here to meet us?> A voice asks. You look back, and there's the hooded, robed woman, her eyes brilliantly red.
She looks just like that woman from your past.

That ghost is back, apparently.
<Are you here to destroy us? Or fix us?>

>>27570086
"Fix you? What's broken?"

>>27570086
I would love to fix you, if I can. If you are not out to kill everyone, that is. What are your goals?

>>27570086

"I have no reason to destroy you, and I don't know if I can fix anything down here. I need more information."

"Fix you?" You ask. "What's broken?"

It murmurs to itself, but doesn't respond in a way that makes sense for some time.
"It hurts." It says, finally, in lelan. "We're confused. Nothing makes sense. Everything is strange."

"I need more information, and I don't know if I can fix anything down here." You say. "If you're not out to kill everyone, that is. What are your goals?"

It tilts its head, and takes a few steps forward.
A dagger comes out from under its robe.
<We don't want to be hated.> It says in Galdian. <Failure hates us. Do you hate us?>
It tilts its head, and speaks in lelan once more. "Why do you have so many names?"

>>27570214
No, I don't hate you. And I like fresh starts. New town, new name.

>>27570214
"I don't think I hate you."

"And it's because I've been a lot of people."

>>27570214
<It's okay, I hate Failure too.>

"Occupational security."

>>27570214
"No, certainly not. I haven't had time to form a judgement of you."

"No, I don't hate you." You say.
The woman under the hood smiles and raises the dagger higher. As if you'd encouraged her.

"And because I've been a lot of people. I like fresh starts. New town, new name."
<All of your names are Anonymous.> It asks, unsure.
Your head suddenly pounds, and the walls grow dark- almost like they're melting away. <... We hurt you.> It says, a tone of realization in their voice.
You blink- and suddenly, instead of standing in front of you, in a robe with a knife, the ghostly woman is now a man, his hair wild and leonine, two pushblades on each arm. She looks like E.E now.

<Do you hate us now?> He asks, and cackles. He suddenly stops cackling- and looks at you, raising an eyebrow.
<You do.> He says, this time in kystaran, and you feel your head pound more. <This one's no good. Which one don't you hate?>

>>27570394
I object

>>27570394
<just be your self>

>>27570394
I don't hate you, but I would rather you stopped waving that dagger at me and looking in my head

>>27570394
"I don't hate anything."

"I need your help though."

"Just be yourself." You say.
He recoils, as if afraid, and a moment later, he bursts into smoke.
Gone again.

You look around- and you realize you've been walking all this time. The strange floating Defense Systems are watching you warily, but the moment they see your badge they go back to what they were doing.
On you walk, keeping an eye out for that ghost, but eventually, you stand in front of a strange, black sphere, floating in the air. It's about as large as your head, perhaps a bit smaller, but your spine tingles like never before when you stand in front of it.

You have a distinct feeling that this is the core.

As soon as you think that, there's a loud crash from above your head. The entire ruins start buzzing, and the defense systems all start rushing toward the surface.

>>27570544
Throw a bolt from our steamsling at it.

You can never be too careful. If it's not trapped, then scoop and scoot.

>>27570544
"Hello?"

>>27570544
Touch the sphere with the gauntlet!
Both of them.

You take one of your steamsling bolts from a pouch, and throw it at the core, carefully. It simply taps it, and bounces off.

You nod to yourself. It isn't trapped. You touch it- and it doesn't attack you.
"Hello?" You ask.
<Failure is coming to hurt us.> The core whispers, very quietly. <Please, help us leave here.>

There's another shake, up above.

You pick up the orb, and rush back toward the surface.

By the time you get up there... All of the Defense Systems are disturbed, little more than sparks of light, gently falling to the ground.
In front of you stands the same remnant from the other day- the one that had fired the projectiles at you. Except... It's bigger, more muscled. One of its arms were no longer haphazardly spiked, but now it's made of a single, enormous blade. The other arm has even more pipes, airsacks in the shoulder constantly breathing in and out.
You barely dive out of the way as it fires at you.

===

>You are The Assassin.
Your name is Malchak, son of Chieftan Felldarn and you're here for notes. Notes on magic things, for that cute girl in the portal.
On your back sits firebombs, poisons, and you hold a musket in your hands. You're not very good in melee, but extremely good in ranged combat. Setae-palm gloves sit on your hands, and your mutant eyes allow you to see in the dark.

Tou're currently standing in front of a mansion, where you'd first met your bro.
However, things are... different, now. Two tall remnants growl out at you, both with strange steel shields over their arms. Their hands fuse together in a strange way- shaping themselves into a lance, or something similar. They have digitigrade legs, made for charging.

Luckily, you're stealthy enough for neither to have seen you yet. One is standing beneath the tower- the entrance your bro had used- and the other is standing in front of the doors, keeping them closed.

>What's the plan, Mal? You'll also most likely need to roll.

>>27570852
Go use the entrance we used the first time?

I remember Mal said he'd climbed on some place we passed over. Something like that, at least.

>>27570852
It's probably best to engage at range. We don't want to sneak in and get discovered on the way out when we're much closer.

Can we set a trap with the firebombs?
Take our time to line up a kill on one remnant, and bait the other one into a fiery death.

Rolled 65

>>27570852
What about the cellar doors at the back, didn't we unbarricade them?

If not, then throw a firebomb at the one closest, and shoot the musket at the other.

Rolled 87

>>27570852
Just go around the back and climb up a wall until we find a way in. Failing that, get to the roof on the far side and climb down to enter where bro did.

Lucky thing you'd been here before, at least. Carefully, you creep past the remnants, around the building. The grass is soft on your feet- at least, the places where there aren't char marks where you'd burned that monster with bro. There are no entrances here, but there is a way in. You gently put your palms on the wall.
You start to climb. Rather easily, honestly. Training back when you were an orphan was harder than this. You find yourself on the rooftop of the mansion, stepping across baked clay shingles. They're rough underneath your feet, and one slips as you step on it, but your balance is impeccable.

There it is! Your hook! You'd missed it. You approach the hole in the ceiling, where your grappling hook sat, and pulled it out of the edge of the hole. The rope snapped, last time you were here. You take one of the ropes you'd purchased, and reattach the two. Then you set the hook where it was before, and slowly climb down. The floor is still covered in glass, but you don't quite care.

Your eyes flex, and everything brightens, your vision focusing on anything that moves more than color. You look around, out the windows behind you at the two remnants. Still undetected. Good.

You're in the main hall of the mansion, and from what Tarda said and Bro translated, the notes should be down this hall... You gently pull open the door, and creep into the hallway.

And another remnant is patrolling. The hallway is so small that if it sees you, it'll charge, and there's nowhere for you to dodge. You could fight, of course, but the thing has a *lot* of armor on its chest and arms. You're not sure you can pierce it.
The best idea would be to sneak by, you think.

>What's the plan? Sneak? Fight? Set a trap and lure it in? Whichever you do, roll!

Rolled 47

>>27571036
Throw some debris away from the area we need to be, hopefully to draw it away, then sneak by. I figure if we fight it, the ones at the front will be drawn in by all the noise.

Rolled 21

>>27571036
Set up a trap to attack its legs. Then do some noise so it runs into the trap

Rolled 6

>>27571036
Trap please.

>>27571036
It's a remnant, so it's still weak to fire. It might just be worth using a firebomb, if it won't ignite the building.

Rolled 1

>>27571180
forgot my dice

>>27571188
You forgot the +, so it rolled a one.

Rolled 37

>>27571202
Uh... About that...

Rolled 94

>>27571216
ugh

Rolled 38

>DC: 45. Succ- oh, nat 1. Oops.
You heft up some stone rubble in your palm, weighing how heavy it is, and wrap your hood around yourself.
It helps you focus. You heft the rubble, and fling it over the patrolling remnant's head.

It doesn't even notice it move through the air, its eyes dull in the darkness- but it definitely hears the clattering. The remnant turns around, and quickly rushes over to where the rubble had fallen. You kneel to the ground, and set up a small firebomb, complete with flint to light it if someone crosses the cable. A perfect trap

In bare feet, you sprint toward the door. The remnant looks down at the rubble, and then with a strange, growled word, starts to turn around. You spring into the air, and catch onto the ceiling with your setae-palm gloves, sticking to it. You press your feet against each wall, and slowly wait as the remnant walks below you, going back to its patrol.

Which is when the ceiling comes loose on you, and you fall on the Remnant. You gasp, and pain blooms in your back.
The gibbering grows louder...

===
>You are the Mutant.

Your mushrooms are coming in well today. Oh well, it's still bright out. Time to sleep.

===
>You are the Wanderer.

In front of you stands a powerful remnant, sent here by Failure. One of its arms are a huge curved blade, and the other is a strange arrangement of pipes and tubes. The second arm has many airbags, which keep inflating and letting the air loose, letting the pressure fire bolts at you. You duck behind one of the walls, the bolts slamming into the stone behind you.
The Remnant is coming closer.

>What's the plan? You'll most likely need to roll here as well.

Rolled 91

>>27571272
LIGHTNING + BLAST RUNE.

Rolled 84

>>27571272
LIGHTNING LANCE
LIGHTNING BLAST
LIGHTNING TIME LANCE BLAST

AHHHH

Rolled 37

>>27571272
If there's cover nearby, load our steamsling, duck out and take a shot at the pressure bags then roll to safety.

>>27571322
LIGHTNING TIME BLAST

DO IT DO IT

Rolled 73

Still hiding beneath cover, you whirl up, and fire a steamsling at one of the pressure bags. It bursts into smoke, and the creature recoils, but it has plenty other bags. You try to reload, but it raises its arm again, letting more bursts of bolts at you. You dive out of cover, out of its line of fire, and quickly search through your runes.

You leap behind a pillar as it fires again, the bolts slamming into the pillar behind you, and you look down at your runes.

You have it. You lean out from behind the pillar, hold out your palm, and say three words in kystaran, focusing on the runes in question.
<Lightning. Time. Blast.> You say.
>Lightning: 12+2 uses remaining.
>Time: 1+0 uses remaining.
>Blast: 4 uses remaining.

Something roiling with power bursts from your hand, and barrels into the remnant.
Which is when you realize how it killed so many of those defense systems. The blast bounces off, slamming into the ground in front of the remnant. There it sticks, roiling and refusing to burst.

The remnant doesn't even seem to care.
You don't have a good feeling about this...

It steps closer- and the timed burst activates in time. Lightning slams out of the sphere, and the remnant howls, contained within a cage of lightning. It tries to swing its arm, but electricity coils into it. Small fires spring into existence around it, and it howls more. The airbags swell...

And the black smoke coming out of one of the pierced airbags burst into more flame.
You dive behind the pillar again just as something explodes, a plume of plasma, lightning, and thunder blowing past you. The pillar serves as good cover. A moment later, it settles, and you look back at the remnant.

No, you correct yourself; it's just a pile of charred ground, now.
<You killed it. We're saved, for now. Failure has failed.> The Rebel Core in your bag says. Your head pounds, as it talks to you.

>>27571442
>Whoops, dice. I was testing the 'no + means nat 1' thing, and forgot to take it off.

Rolled 95

>>27571442
Huzzah! We had best get back soon, just to make sure that everything is okay with our friends... cough cough.

Where is Steve during all of this?

"Hey Rebel, why did you pick her of all people?"

>>27571442
"What a shocking remnant." We're obliged to one-liner this chump.

<Rebel, we're going to meet some people now. Is that okay?>

>>27571442
"That was...actually, nevermind, no taunting Murphy."

Book it back to Town.

"What a shocking remnant." You say. "Rebel, why did you pick her of all people?"
"Didn't want to be hated." It says. "We want to be liked."

Your head pounds again as it talks.
"So you... picked up someone I liked from my head." You say.
Rebel buzzes under your hands.
<We did.>

No wonder it kept coming at you with a knife, then. Because you still loved her when she was doing that last time.

You find yourself back at town by the time sun starts to set, and Marcus is completely covered in some kind of ichor- his blade covered in red blood. On his back is a bag full of something that keeps clinking.
"Good. Two out of three." Tarda says. "Where's that barbarian kid?"
"Mal?" You ask, and Tarda nods.
You look at where the mansion should be.
It's the closest thing to the village out of the other two destinations.
He should have been back by now.

>>27571581
"I'll go and find out."

Rolled 43

>>27571581
You really need to pick better, Rebel. That was the worst choice you could have made.

I'll take Steve and try to find him. We should be able to see him from the air, at least.

Have there been any more attacks here?

"I'll go and find out." You say. "I'll take Steve and try to find him. Have there been any more attacks here?"
"Now and then." Tarda says. "But I gave that little girl a fire rune. She's taking care of them."

You look over to Miriam. She, some of the farmers, and Dalton are standing inside. Just outside, Ann stands there, a small pile of runes sit next to her, all engraved with Fire.
A small cluster of flying remnants tear out of the sky, and dive- but they're already aflame before they get close.

You make your way into the tavern, and find Steve. He's a bit more distorted than before, after healing up from the wounds from last night, but he obeys your order to follow you. Then you make your way back outside.
"I'll take Steve and try to find him." You say. "We should be able to see him from the air, at least."
"Good luck." She says. "Mr. Third Talon, I need you to go to that forge and start hammering the silver..."

While Marcus follows Tarda's orders, you give Steve his own- to take you to the air.

The mansion is burning. That's the first thing you notice, at least. Remnants are standing around it, the strange rhino ones from before standing around it, staring at the flame.
You hear a gunshot, the galdian bullet slamming into one of the remnants' plating, doing little to no damage. You look at the mansion itself- and Mal is sitting in one of the windows, musket in hand.

His rags are swamped with his own blood. More rhino remnants come barreling out of the woods, crowding up around the flaming house. There's nowhere for you to land down there without being attacked, and you know that Steve can't carry two people.
<Come on, Madax-fuckers.> You hear Mal snarl, reloading. His arm is twisted badly, but he seems to be handling his musket with the other fine.
Behind you, two flying remnants come, aiming directly for you and Steve.

>What do?

Rolled 3

>>27571734
Lightning + Self.

Have Steve get under us, then activate it and let the Flying remnants hit us. Hopefully it's a sphere of electricity.

Then, once the flying ones have been dispatched, have Steve go grab Mal.

Rolled 49

>>27571734
Tarda's turning Ann into quite the little war machine.

>>27571734
Lightning the rhinos! Use just flat lightning for now.

We'll get Steve to carry Mal while we run on foot.
Steve's strong enough to carry Mal on the ground, isn't he?

Rolled 33

>>27571734
Does Mal have the notes? Can we see from here?

Spear the Flying remnants out of the air as they get close.

>DC: 35. Success!

You peer at Mal once more- and you can see that he's carrying a small book, though it's just as bloodstained as the rest of him.
<Come on!> He snarls. <I've survived more than this, you bastards.>

You order Steve to drop you, and fight the flying remnants.
With your other hand, you grab your spear... And fall inbetween the group of rhinos.

Mal notices you- and his eyes widen.

<Lightning.> You snarl, and lightning coils around you, zapping the various remnants circling you. Above your head, Steve snarls, tearing off one of the wings of one of the flying remnants. It falls out of the air.
>Lightning: 12+1 uses remaining.

Mal gets on his gun once more, and fires a second shot- sending the second remnant to the ground.
The rhinonants around you collapse, twitching uncontrollably, and your lightning rune wears off. You don't have long before they'll start to recover. You quickly start stabbing some of them in the backs with your spear, but you don't quite have enough time for all of them.
<Steve!> You call. <Grab Mal!>

Steve flies toward Mal, and tears him into the air, out of the window. And then you see.
Malchak, once a galdian Bashiki, is missing a leg.
He's burned the stump, from what you can see.

>>Roll required!
>[] More Lightning use?
>[] Fight the two remaining rhinos!
>[] Retreat on foot, dodge attacks.

Rolled 94

>>27571902
Holy shit Bro! Your leg!

More lightning! Maybe do a lightning time burst again if we need to cover our exit.
We've got so many uses of lightning there's no reason not to use it.

Rolled 86

>>27571902
Well, I guess we won't be adventuring with our Bro any more.

Advocating Lightning + Surround

>>27571902
Shit let's get Tarda to kill Marcus and cut off his leg, then magic it onto Mal to fix him.

Rolled 42

>>27571902
We should find Mal's leg so Miriam can stitch it back on. She's a witch, right?

>>27572034
Thanks for running on your b'day, Exabyte.

>DC: 60. Success!
<Holy shit, Bro! Your leg!>
<It won't grow back.> He grumbles. He has his musket clenched in one hand, and the book in the other, both swamped with blood.

You clear your throat.
<Steve, set him back down in the village.> You say, in Kystaran.

Slowly, around you, the Rhino remnants get to your feet... And another group come out of the trees, chasing you.
One wears the glyph on its forehead.
"I told you it was a bad idea to release her." It says- and then charges.

<Lightning.> You roar. Your rune trembles in your palm, and bursts into lightning, bigger than before. The rhinos collapse.

Then you turn around and barrel into the fire, toward the open doors.
If you find Mal's leg... It can be reattached.
<Bro!> Mal calls. <Be careful! There's a monster in there!>
You disappear into the flames, and the mansion rumbles beneath your feet.
You hear something growl, angrily.
It doesn't sound like a remnant.

>End of session!
>My twitter is at @futureexabyte
>The IRC is #Exabyte on Rizon.

>>27572061
Whee! Thanks for running Exabyte!

Just out of interest, how fireproof are we now?

>>27572060
>>27572071
Due to the fact that the vote was tied, you actually just counteracted your weaknesses. You're not reverting to human again, but you no longer have remnant weaknesses. Fire will still hurt you, because it's *fire*, but no more than it would have before.
Similarly, you don't yet have a Regenerate *skill*, but you do regenerate more quickly than you did before.
If anyone's curious, I rolled Longer Legs on the mutation chart. If you'd have chosen that, you would have gotten longer legs. Bonuses to sprinting, jumping, dancing, etc.

>>27572094
Mutation sounds terrible. But the fact that you have a table for it is incredibly interesting.

>>27572137
I ripped it from the 40k rogue trader RPG, and planned to reroll if I ended up rolling something that didn't work.