>>29392954
((Archives are located at http://archive.foolz.us/tg/search/subject/monsterhearts%20quest/type/op/order/asc/
and also at
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Monsterhearts%20Quest

I now have a Twitter, at https://twitter.com/MonsterheartsQM. It is a roughly reliable way of knowing when a quest thread will be up, to within about an hour's margin of error, and will contain a link to each thread once they're up.

>>29392954
>[]Go to see Esther. Maybe there’s something in her notes that will give you a clue about what to do next.

>>29392954
Esther

>>29392954
Esther

>>29393029
>>29393048
>>29393178
((Voting unanimous, writing now.))

>>29393447
While you've never been to Esther's house before, there's really only one part of town an old money family is going to be living in. You head north, moving through streets of increasingly large and fancy houses with tall fences, wide gardens, and two or three expensive brand new cars in the driveway. By the time you pass the gates leading to Isabella's place, each of the houses you can see could easily be described as a mansion. It's at this point that you realise you have no idea what Esther's surname or actual address is. And given the last phone call you had with her, she's probably a bit too busy fighting for her life to be able to give you directions.

On the other hand... let's see. White painted country house. Fake Roman style. Fake Tudor-style... Grey stone castle covered in Gothic windows and towers. Would Esther's family really be that predictable? Well, time to find out.

There's no obvious guards or security as you walk down the drive, but you feel a growing sense of apprehension. A wide stone staircase leads up to two firmly closed large wooden doors, and while there’s no knocker or door bell, there’s a rope dangling to one side of the entrance which presumably serves the same function. Or you could look for another way in. Conditions inside the house might be tricky, and you might want to scout things out first. There’s enough carving and decoration on the front of the house that you might be able to climb up to a window, and to one side of the main stairs there’s a smaller set of stairs leading down to a plainer door that looks slightly ajar. Which way do you want to go?

[]Go up to the main door and ring the bell. See what happens.
[]Try climbing up. You might be able to see something through a window without alerting anyone inside.
[]The smaller door is the easiest way inside. Go down into the basement.
[]Custom

>>29393932
>[]Try climbing up. You might be able to see something through a window without alerting anyone inside.

File: 1389304561166.png-(226 KB, 500x340, 1368122843443.png)

226 KB PNG

We are back on!
Finally got a twitter too.
Welcome back MH.

>>29393932
[x]Try climbing up. You might be able to see something through a window without alerting anyone inside.
Scout first.

>>29393932
Didn't we have her number? Lets give her a call and tell her we are at the door.

>>29394245
She was in a fight and she might not be the one to answer the phone.

>>29394245
You do have her number, but as noted previously, she's probably a little bit busy to answer her phone.
>>29394103
>>29394165
Okay, roll 2d6 to see how your climbing attempt goes. Best of first two.))

Rolled 3, 6 = 9

>>29394336

Rolled 5, 1 = 6

>>29394336
ere we go

>>29394390
(( Roll of 9 +2 Volatile = 11, full success. Writing now.))

>>29394448
This isn't too hard, actually. You grab another wide, ornate ledge and pull yourself up to one of the high, arching second floor windows, perching on a large gargoyle and leaning over a little so that you can see inside without blocking the window too obviously.

It doesn't look like anyone inside would spot you anyway. The scene inside the house is complete chaos. You're looking into a massive room, bigger than your entire house, with several sets of stairs leading up from the main floor to various open galleries that overlook the lower section and lead off into wide corridors. It's full of people, some of them mostly human looking except for shining green scales replacing their skin, a wide snake's head set directly on their shoulders, or serpents instead of arms, and some of them simply enormous green snakes, their heads the size of cars and their bodies filling corridors and stretching off into the darkness. There's a fight going on, but it doesn't seem to have any sides or alliances - everyone is turning on everyone else, lashing out at whoever comes closest with any weapon they have to hand. Some fight with swords, knives or the same sort of short, stiff whip that you saw Esther use. Some are using furniture, chair legs and their bare hands. One man appears to have wrapped his disturbingly elongated torso around one of his opponents. You can't see Esther anywhere, but this room looks like the centre of the house. If you want to get to her, you're going to have to be clever.

What do you want to try and do?

[]Try to climb higher. Maybe if you can get to the roof you can walk across the house without going through the melee.
[]Call up Esther and ask her where she is. Hopefully you won't be interrupting anything.
[]Open the window and try to sneak around the edge of the room.
[]Custom

Welcome back, MH. I missed you.

>>29394970
[x] climb higher

>>29394970
[ ✓ ]Call up Esther and ask her where she is. Hopefully you won't be interrupting anything.
No way we are finding her in this mess. Even if we do find her, if she isn't alone we can do anything. And if she is alone, she'll be able to asnwer the phone anyways.

>>29394970
>[]Try to climb higher. Maybe if you can get to the roof you can walk across the house without going through the melee.

>>29395035
>>29395189

>>29395055

(( 2 to 1, more climbing. Right, another 2d6 roll, please.))

Rolled 5, 4 = 9

>>29395376
We gonna fail. I feel it coming.

Rolled 5, 2 = 7

>>29395376

Rolled 6, 5 = 11

>>29395376

>>29395394
((Apparently not. Writing.))

>>29395469
There's a spire here you can use to pull yourself, up, and a pointed ledge framing the top of the window to lean one foot on - the climb to the top of the house is a slow and careful affair, and the building seems to have more storeys than you remember seeing from the ground, but eventually you pull yourself over a stone gutter and up onto a sloping but not too steep roof covered in dark grey slates that seem far too reminiscent of scales. The rooftop stretches out in front of you, pierced in places by small towers with their own conical roofs and windows and occasionally doors offering access to the interior at any number of points. Further away there's what looks like a keep, with its own battlements rising a little way above the normal rise and fall of the roof. You start to walk towards the nearest tower - any entry point is going to be better than the crowded battlefield you saw before.

The dark grey slates provide very little in the way of contrast or distinct boundaries, so the peaks and dips of the roof are virtually invisible until you reach them. You reach the top of one such peak and look down to suddenly find a man working on the roof almost right in front of you. He doesn't look like the warring figures below - he has his back to you, but you don't see any green scales or snake parts, just regular skin and dark hair, and he's wearing ordinary workman's clothes rather than the embroidered suits and even more archaic clothing you saw before. Still, you don't know how friendly he'll be to someone sneaking around on the roof of his boss's house, so you quietly start to step backwards, over the crest of the roof again -

Your foot hits a loose slate, which goes clattering away down the slope. Damn it.

The man drops his toolbox and starts to stand up, and as you turn to run a blur moves past you, almost too fast for your eyes to follow. Standing in front of you, in the path of your retreat, is a man who's definitely not human.

((Cont.))

>>29396387
His hair is gone, as is his human-looking skin. The man in front of you now has jet black eyes, two slits instead of a nose, and dark olive-gray scales covering his body, much darker than the bright green scales of the snakes in the main hall. His shirt has turned into a black waistcoat, with a small coat of arms on one pocket, much easier to move in. Or to fight in, given his careful, balanced stance and his muscular, scaled arms. He frowns, looking you up and down, and speaks in much the same careful, controlled tones you’re used to hearing from Esther, although there’s a definite accent in his voice that you can’t immediately place.

“Who might you be, then, sneaking around on the roof like this? Not one of the family, clearly. Some enemy, a spy or assassin, looking to take advantage of our troubles? An opportunistic thief? Either way, we have our own ways of dealing with intruders, here...” He clenches his fists, watching you carefully.

What do you want to do?

>>29396413
"None of the above, I'm glad to say. Rather, to a certain member of your family, I am what could be referred to as a... client, of sorts. I have some pressing time-sensitive business to discuss with said party, if you'd be so kind as to stand aside?"
Or to put it another way, try to persuade him to allow you passage - without directly naming Esther for as long as possible.

>>29396413
"I am none of those things. I am in need of help from one of the family members, Esther. Things were so hectic that sneaking around somehow looked like a better idea than ringing the bell. Maybe i am lucky to run into you actually, could you direct me to Esther?"

>>29396574
Yeah, there is no way he is letting us go without confirmation from a family member. we have to give Esther's name now.

>>29396574
>>29396648
>>29396729
((Writing))

>>29396946
"None of the above - rather, I am to a certain member of the family what might be referred to as a client. I have some pressing time-sensitive business to discuss with said party, relating to your present troubles, so if you would be so kind as to lead me to them, or at least to stand aside?"

The man's eyes flicker oddly for a moment, then he starts to laugh. It's not a very reassuring laugh - you can see the inside of his mouth, which is completely black apart from the two long white fangs. He pauses and composes himself, although he's still grinning.

"You certainly talk like they do, though you could be faking that. Still doesn't explain why you're up on the roof here. Or who you're even looking for."

"Given how hectic things were downstairs, I figured it was a better idea than trying to walk through the front hall. Look, I need to talk to Esther. I need her help. Do you know where she is?"

He frowns at the name 'Esther'. "That's not a name I'd be expecting to hear from a stranger. Either you're a very, very good spy, or you're for real."

"Wouldn't Esther be able to tell you either way? You might as well just take me to her and ask her."

"Ja, no, it might not be that simple, you see." He glances towards one of the towers, looking a little worried. "Miss Esther might not be entirely... well, at the moment. You said you saw what things were like downstairs..."

"I talked to Esther on the phone a little while ago and she sounded fine. She said some of her family weren't doing as well, though."

He studies you, then nods. "If you're lying to me, I'll have your head, but if Miss Esther is all right then we might be able to get people organised a bit. She may not have rank, but at least she's got some brains. She'll be in the library tower, most like. Just there." He gestures to a largeish tower that doesn't look too far away. "Try to keep up." Another blur, and he's gone.

((Cont.))

>>29397852
You reach the tower after a few minutes of walking carefully across the slates, watching out for any more unexpected guardians. There’s a small door leading out onto the roof, which opens to a push, leading into a small, round room with walls covered in bookshelves. Esther sits at a small reading table, talking with the man you were just speaking to. On the far side of the room, what looks like it might be a staircase leading down is completely blocked by the body of another of the enormous green snakes, a sword driven up to the hilt into one of its eyes. Esther looks up when she sees you, and waves you over.

“Thank you, Hendrik. Check the south tower and see if it is clear or can be made clear, then report back.” Another blur, and you’re alone with Esther. “Come sit down, Chris. Thank you for coming. Hendrik told me you were alone - are there others waiting for your report, or are there further crises in the town and you are all that can be spared?”

>>29397879
"A crisis is most assuredly what we have on our hands. Gloria and Ajani have been captured by a being that even the Winter King is afraid of.
"Do you know anything about Excrucians?"

>>29398355
((Where the hell did everyone else go? Well, can't really wait any longer for additional votes, writing now.))

>>29398464
"A crisis, definitely. Ajani and Gloria got themselves captured by something the Winter King is afraid of. What do you know about Excrucians?"

Esther frowns, tapping her fingers against the cover of one of the books on her desk.

"Unfortunately, very little indeed. My father mentioned the name 'Excrucians' also, but, well..." She gestures at the corpse blocking the stairway. "He is in no state to give us further information on them. Although I believe there is some connection there to this mysterious sound which has greatly disturbed so many of my kin. Do you have any more information of use on them? Anything else which might be distinctive or of note?"

"Hm. Maybe their eyes? Very distinctive eyes, like a sky filled with falling stars."

Esther snaps her fingers suddenly, getting up and looking over a bookshelf. "Falling stars, falling stars... there's something here, I'm certain of it. Falling stars... here." She pulls a large leatherbound book from the shelf and flicks through it, stopping on a large picture of an eye coloured black with many thin white streaks. "The Children of Harumaph," she reads out. "Very little known. Where they walk, cities die, nations fall, gods bleed. Harbingers of the end of all things." She pauses, setting the book down on the desk. "Well, that's... there's nothing here about fighting them, Chris. There's not even legends of fighting them. The book just says to run as fast as you can and pray that it's good enough. Anything can be fought with enough knowledge, demons, angels, even dragons die. But these things are supposed to be truly unstoppable. And now they're here."

She closes the book, and looks up at you, fear in her eyes. "My family... I think they've gone mad with fear. That's why they're fighting, to escape, to get what they need to get away. How can we get them out of here? We... we need to evacuate the whole town, we can't possibly do that in time, even working together. What do we do?"

>>29399220
"What do we do? Esther. I don't know about you, but this is MY home. I'm not about to run just because some the children of some beastie I've never heard of show up and no one knows how to fight them. You said it yourself, everything dies. Sometimes it's just a matter of choosing when and how. And I'd like to die with some dignity."
"So step one, we go swat some sense into your family. We get our friends out of trouble, and we try and get whoever we can save out of here."
"I've already died once. I'm not afraid to do it again for my friends."

(my apologies if wildly out of character, I've only read this thread, and glanced over the rules. But it seems you're having a slow night, and I've thought this was a cool idea.)

>>29399220
I have no idea what we can do in this situation.
Might as well go with>>29399394

File: 1389321147670.jpg-(178 KB, 659x357, kitty and puppy.jpg)

178 KB JPG

>>29398464
Sorry, I took a nap... have a picture of a kitten and a puppy in recompense.

>>29399220
"Pfft, they're not that tough. I-

"Oh wait, actually, they are that tough, never mind. Yeah, let's get the hell out of dodge."

>>29399394
>>29399597
((Slow night indeed. That's very good, though. Writing now.))

>>29399644
((Aww. Recompense very much accepted. Don't worry about it.))

>>29399394
This IS wildly out of character seeing as the Man in White told us that the Excrucians were well out of our power range and that he would have trouble with them, and his power dwarfs that of the Spring and Winter Courts.

>>29399686
Can we please not do something that is obviously stupid, and that the Man and everyone else warned us against doing?

>>29400246
Yeah, plus we had that vision about how if we saw a woman with falling stars in her eyes, we should run and not look back.

OH WELL. RIP, Chris.

>>29399686
"Esther, I don't know about you, but I'm not about to abandon my home just because these things show up and no one knows how to fight them. You said anything can be fought, anything dies, right?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure that applies to these beings. I'm not even sure they count as beings. They're more like... concepts. How do you fight a concept?"

"I don't know. But even if we're going to run, we need to run with a bit of order and organisation. Step one, I guess we need to go swat some sense into your family. Step two, we get our friends out of trouble, and we try and get whoever we can save out of here. I'll help you however I can. That's what friends do for each other, right?" You take Esther's hand and pull her to her feet. She takes a deep breath, composes herself, and nods stiffly to you. As she's walking over to the corpse of the giant snake (her father, did she say?), Hendrik dashes back into the room.

"The south tower is cleared, miss, and I've got a few of the guard assembled there. There's a bunch more holed up in the keep, but I'm not sure how we're going to get to them. There's a lot of people between here and there."

Esther kneels down and pulls a long sword from the giant snake's bloody eye in one swift motion.

"Ja, Hendrik, I know. Don't worry." She turns, sliding the sword into her belt and standing tall and stern. "In whatever way we can, we're going to fight."

>>29400429
Do we know the cell numbers for Avril and Jill by heart?
If Esther's phone is still working, we need to warn the two of them and see if we can get the Spring Court to start clearing out.

>>29400429
((Sorry, guys, but it's 3am over here. Next thread will be next Tuesday. Questions, comments, etc. below - if I don't answer them before I finally fall asleep, I'll answer in the morning or next thread. Also, hopefully more Fade to Blacks will be written up soon.))

>>29400246
>>29400292
>>29400319
((We're not locked in to fighting Excrucians head on, relax. Although I will note that if you don't like how the story is going, vote or make suggestions more often.))

>>29400483
((Uh... well, probably not - how many phone numbers do you know off by heart? - but your own phone is currently working fine, you know.))

>>29400488
>Also, hopefully more Fade to Blacks will be written up soon.
They better. I want to read the threesome scene! Grr!

>>29400515
do we at least have their numbers in our phone?

>>29400515
>but your own phone is currently working fine, you know
Huh. Could have sworn that it got broke when we were running away and had a warehouse roof crash on us.

So let's call up Avril and Jill, tell Jill to go to her aunt's place and get ready to run, and tell Avril that we've got to get the Spring Court ready to run.

>>29400615
((Yes, you most definitely have Avril's mobile number in your phone. And... let's see. Yes, you did get Jill a new phone after her old phone was destroyed, so it makes sense that you have its number too.))

I fell asleep... Everything didnt go to hell while i was sleeping so that's good.