>>42766893

You crawl up the side of a building, your skin suit lightening its hues to match the moonlight. Down beneath you is the uneasy quiet of Schooltown at night.

You bite down a little bit harder on the blade of your knife and scan the streets. A lone trooper's visor glows red with readouts as he looks up towards the sky for an unseen foe. You don't move, confident in the camouflage provided by your skinsuit. A moment's pause. Finally he lowers his gaze and returns to walking his beat.

You're looking to find an Academic, one foolish enough to walk about at night. Descending from your vantage point, you dash from rooftop to rooftop, risking your cover as the skinsuit struggles to change quick enough to match your movement. The average, harmless denizen of Schooltown would think you a ghostly blur. The average guard would think you an enemy agent.

They'd be wrong, if only about the agent part. You're out here only for yourself in a skinsuit you found while delving the old coastal ruins. You seek to sate a certain curiosity you've allowed to curdle inside you for many years...

You finally spot your quarry... with an armed escort. The Academic in his brightly colored robes is clearly visible but flanked by heavily armored guards, their visors glowing as they scan the surrounding area. You quickly approach but are distracted by a woman's cry for help from the alley below you.

You have no deadline for tracking your prey... and there is something alluring in the woman's voice.

>Try and track the academic from the rooftops
>See what trouble the woman is having in the alleyway
>Ignore both and seek to climb the heavily guarded Spire itself.

>>42766968
>Simmons
Investigate the woman. I hate being the hero sometime but has to be done

>>42767374
>check out the woman

You drop down into the nearby alleyway, clinging to the remains of an old fire escape as you hand directly over the action: a man with a knife of his own holding it to the throat of a short-haired woman.

He's distracted with groping her and doesn't hear you drop in, though the blade of his knife glows a red-yellow hue that suggests extreme heat and possibly deadliness.

>Make 3 rolls of 1d100 to take him out, best of three determines the outcome.

File: shitfaced.jpg (19 KB, 440x475)

19 KB JPG

>>42767467

Remind me not to start this late on a Sunday again.

I'll probably kill the thread if we don't get any posters in the next ten minutes or so.

Rolled 50, 34, 70 = 154 (3d100)

>>42767467
It's probably a bit to early in the quest to do a one shot that nobody will be invested in

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>42767830
Is this the question about the dude who woke up in the pod somewhere in New York? Yeah if so we should have followed our protagonist a little bit further before switching perspective

>>42767883
Probably true but I was hoping it would flesh things out. Anyway, success!

>swift kill

>>42767467
You position yourself directly above the would be rapist and come down with both feet on his shoulders, causing him to reel backwards. You jump off again and land on your feet, yanking your own knife from between your teeth as you approach.

He tries to run but you dash forward and sink the knife between his ribs, twisting it ever so slightly to make him drop his own weapon. You pull your knife back out and stab him repeatedly. He groans a little with each blow.

Turning your attention back to the woman, she's sunken to the ground and is cowering there, obviously terrified by the living ghost. You reach out with your hand and stroke her cheek.

You can't let anyone know you've been here.

>Kill her
>Let her go with a warning
>to the victor go the spoils (take advantage)

>>42768011
That's correct. But the players sort of got kicked out of NYC way early so I wanted to give them a chance to see what the surrounding world was like and get a little feel for what the setting actually is, without filtering through the eyes of a naive clone.

>>42768112
>Let her go with a warning

>>42768112
Hey Simmons, weird time to start up, but I'll be here for a bit! Anyway,
Kill her

>>42768112
>>to the victor go the spoils
It's a one shot, live a little.

>>42768112
Tell no one of my presence or we shall meet again and you shall taste my blade

>>42768228
Yeah that went...downhill fast after being captured.

>>42768246
>>42768299
>Warning
>>42768268
>kill
>>42768290
>"live a little"

Warning takes it. Writing fast.

>>42768112
Actually, either kill or rape.

>>42768400
Her eyes look up with gratitude until she feels the knife against her throat again.

"If you tell anyone about this, I will find you and give you a slow death."

Then you draw back the blade and send her scurrying. You recover the dead man's knife, which seems to grow hot with the pressure of your grip, and his belongings: a modest amount of money and the traditional ID card of the Trapper class. There's no picture so you might be able to masquerade as him if any guards push you...

Climbing back up the wall, you seek to rapidly regain sight of your prey to no immediate avail.

>continue hunting for that academic
>assault the Spire
>hunt something, try and present it at the Spire doors as a hunter's tribute

>>42768525
>continue hunting for that academic

>>42768525
>continue hunting for that academic

>>42768525
Academic we have to get back to work

>>42768636
>>42768631
>>42768579
>Continue pursuing the academic

You move swiftly to get as close to the Spire as you're willing to dare just yet. The Steel Birds spread their wings in the darkness, barely visible and yet always vigilant for intruders.

The Academic is making his way there, slowly but steadily in the company of his two guards. You could try and take them out now with your new knife or you could stick to your original plan: keeping to the shadows until they get close to the Spire and sneaking your way in.

Watching the Steel Birds also gives you another idea but you dismiss it as too risky.

>Attack, take their lives and identities
>Stealth your way in
>Try something a little less than cautious

>>42768757
>>Try something a little less than cautious
let us fly!

>>42768757
>Try something a little less than cautious

File: mysterybox.png (702 KB, 768x576)

702 KB PNG

>>42768757
>>Try something a little less than cautious
I clearly won't be able to outvote the mysterybox option so why not.

>>42768807
I'm in we take to the skies

File: spirepeak.png (1.09 MB, 736x926)

1.09 MB PNG

>>42768807
>>42768813
>>42768841

>don't hold back

On second thought, your life is of little value to you compared to what sits inside the Spire.

You climb a nearby building until the night breeze grows to a gust, your hands held to the metal by a mysterious force that seems to emanate from the palms of your suit.

Even cloaked as you are, one of the Steel Birds quickly spots you and dives towards your location, talons out. This is to your benefit.

With all the strength you can muster, you leap off the side of the building..

>Make three rolls of 1d100! Best roll determines the outcome!

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>42768951
WE FLY, PRAISE THE GOO GOD!

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>42768951
You're mine metal bird.

Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>42768951

>>42768987

You fall forward into the darkness. Time seems frozen.

>>42769175

For just a few moments, you think you've missed your jump and the realization that you're about to die almost takes over. But then one of your hands latch with unnatural strength to a metal talon and you feel yourself being jerked about as the monstrosity attempts to rid itself on an unwelcome passenger.

It raises its free talon to attempt to rip you away and into the abyss...

>Roll 1d100 again to survive and take control!

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>42769250
inb4 dice hate you again

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>42769250
Might be a short one shot

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>42769250

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>42769250
not as bad as last time

>>42769306
You don't want to know what the DC for the last roll was.

>>42769321
>saves it

You swing away from the downward swipe of the talon and grab hold of it. You're able to pull yourself up and the gloves of your suit stick well enough to the underbelly of the Steel Bird that you're able to hang from it and maneuver yourself onto the top.

Tilting from side to side, you find you can manipulate the bird's direction. You also notice a small control panel on the head of the bird, which you pry open with abandon. Inside you find hundreds of dials and switches, unintelligibly labeled even to an illiterate like you.

You now have two options:

>try and steer the eagle into one of the windows on the upper floors of the building
>Fiddle with the switches to try and see if you can get it to land safely atop the building.

Roll again in either case.

File: control panel.jpg (99 KB, 612x612)

99 KB JPG

>>42769510

Forgot my pic...

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>42769510
>>Fiddle with the switches to try and see if you can get it to land safely atop the building.

File: destruction.jpg (71 KB, 441x508)

71 KB JPG

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>42769510
>>try and steer the eagle into one of the windows on the upper floors of the building

Rolled 44 (1d100)

>>42769510
>>try and steer the eagle into one of the windows on the upper floors of the building
Bitch I can't read I'm not hitting no switches

>>42769688
>>42769616
>Steer

Give me one last roll or I'll roll it for you.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>42769817
We don't count every roll as part of one big roll pool?

>>42769857

Eh, could do that. And I feel bad shortchanging you guys >>42769578 and its 90.

Okay, writing for the 90.

>>42769909

Confused and perplexed by the switches and knobs, you decide to try and steer the Steel Bird into one of the top floors of the Spire. Shifting your weight strategically, you bring the Bird around and aim for the highest floor with windows you feel are large enough to accommodate both of you.

The Bird crashes through the class with perfect form and you leap off just before it crashes into a maze of cubicles and furniture at top speed, plowing through all of it with ease before striking a guard on the other side of the building and exiting through the opposite window with him still impaled on its beak.

The other three guards on this floor immediately go on high alert.

>try and sneak past and head for the stairs
>take each of them out, stealthily
>announce yourself
>try and leap up and into the ceiling
>light a fire with your knife to distract them

>>42770085
>>try and leap up and into the ceiling

>>42770085
>>light a fire with your knife to distract them

Is >>42770169 and then >>42770115 acceptable?

>>42770279
yes

>>42770279
>cuz that's what I'm writing
You grip the hilt of your new blade tightly and press it to a pile of papers until it begins to smoke and then catch alight.

You dart away as the guards zero in on the rapidly growing flames and attempt to put them out. When you're certain they're preoccupied, you get on top of a desk and leap up onto the ceiling, where you pry a duct loose.

The guards continue to shout frantically as you come to the end of the short duct tunnel and are presented with an option:

>up
>down

Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>42770407

Please, ignore this totally innocuous roll.

>>42770407
lets go up
>>42770430
yea sure

>>42770407
>>up
To the highest room, in the tallest tower.

>>42770453
>>42770460

You climb upwards, clinging to the metal ducts with the gloves of your suit. The guards continue to shout below, indicating that the fire is continuing to rage... Hopefully some kind of automatic system kicks in soon.

Bypassing three levels, you finally reach the highest one and crawl towards a dirty old grate. It comes loose easily with the application of your hot knife to further weaken the aging screws and you silently put it aside before dropping in to the dark room below.

You can barely see in here but the walls seem... colorful? You take a step forward and nearly stumble over a small device with wheels that rolls off into the corner. As it hits the wall it suddenly comes alive with shrill sirens and bright lights, which illuminate the room around you.

It's a child's play area. The floor is littered with dusty old toys and the walls covered in cartoons. There's a bed in one corner and a large pod of some sort in the far left corner of the room. You've seen pods before but they never function, not that anyone knows what they're for anyway.

There's a way out of the room and into the hallway as well, which is unlocked. Looking through and down it you find that this floor is seemingly totally deserted.

Maybe what they're keeping from you is on one of the other floors.

>investigate the pod
>head out into the hallway, see if there are any other rooms
>get back into the duct, travel down 1d3 floors.
>write-in

>>42770676
>>investigate the pod
>head out into the hallway, see if there are any other rooms

>>42770856
>Investigate the pod

You approach the pod. You've seen machines like this is dozens of the old buildings of Schooltown, often in vast arrays. They're not really pods so much as self-encapsulating chairs with cabled helmets attached to them. The helmet on this one happens to be brightly colored, as though for a child.

>put the helmet on, just for fun
>these things never work anyway and there are probably going to be guards on the way

>>42770676
That toy's batteries still work?

From the Before-Time?

Damn everything's batteries last forever.

Maybe it'd be useful as a distraction at a pivotal moment, letting it hit a distant wall and draw attention when it goes off, if we could be sure it wouldn't give off its siren prematurely while carrying it.

>>42770942

Sorry, dropped trip.

>>42770942
>>put the helmet on, just for fun
Confound this small child sized helmet.

>>42770998

You put the helmet on and are startled when the screens inside come to life. A quick sequence of unintelligible numbers and letters pass before your eyes and then a sentence that you recognize only as being a question (due to the mark at the end) appears before your eyes.

Two options also materialize beneath it, one green and one red.

>take the green
>take the red
>remove helmet

File: pointwhereweneededtostop-(...).jpg (101 KB, 1032x720)

101 KB JPG

>>42771088
>>take the green

>>42771088
>>take the green
Learning?

>>42771088
green

>>42771134

You reach out and touch the green. Instantly, you feel something, much like a rod, reach out from both sides of the helmet and ram itself into your temples.

A large red message appears on screen followed by the appearance of a diagram with many words beneath it. The diagram appears to show the process of a machine drilling into both sides of a persons head.

It makes you nervous when two options once again appear below this message.

>Green
>Red
>Take helmet off

>>42771296
>>Green
Terrifying. And yet. When was one's life worth more than adventure.

>>42771296
>>Green
drill baby drill

surgery is fast and quiet right?

File: tumblr_nn8l7kZhal1r4w8k5o(...).jpg (105 KB, 736x446)

105 KB JPG

>>42771418
>>42771472

You swallow and pick the green. You feel the rods instantly begin to spin against your temples, tearing flesh and then...

You lose consciousness for an unknown amount of time. You awake to find yourself in a field beneath a great green tree. In front of you are some numbers that float ethereally in front of you and which, miraculously, you can read.

>09/02/93

All around you are beautiful fields and forests of every kind but, far below, is a circle of upright stones.

>try and touch the numbers
>head down into the forests
>investigate the stones
>try and climb the tree

>>42771590
>>investigate the stones

>>42771590
>>investigate the stones
I hope there's time dilation.

>>42771632
>>42771778

>investigate the stones

You descend the hill towards the stones, which stand as worn and upright monoliths. You've heard of stone circles like this being arranged out in the West but you're not sure what they're doing here.

As you approach the center of the stones, a man flickers to life.

"Welcome New User. In which topic do you wish to begin your studies?"

He waves his hand and each of the monoliths around him displays a word, indicating a subject. You're shocked that you can read them.

>Math
>History
>Science
>Literature
>Art
>"What is this place and who are you?"

>>42771784
>"What is this place and who are you?"
>History

>>42771784
Well. Apparently he already installed language into us.
>"What is this place and who are you?"

The numbers are presumably current date and logout method.

File: Christopher_Columbus_by_C(...).png (762 KB, 492x660)

762 KB PNG

>>42771834
>>42771913

>Who are you?

"My name is Aristotle. And this is my domain!"

The old man spreads his arms in a grandiose manner as symbols and words flash across the sky. They disappear as he lowers them.

"Yes, but where am I?"

"You're in my domain, child. I just told you that."

He refuses to answer any more questions about himself or this place in greater detail than that.

Your curiosity unsated, you select the history program and are immediately vaulted onto the wooden deck of a ship. It rocks back and forth treacherously in the stormy sea as a despotic looking man with a ragged looking beard gives orders to the scurrying sailors all around you.

Aristotle speaks calmly from your side.

"This is the deck of the Santa Maria, as it was when it sailed across the Atlantic one hundred and twelve thousand years ago, in the year 1492. This was before humanity had-"

You cut him off.

"Wait, isn't it the current year three thousand two hundred and twenty five?"

He looks at you bemusedly.

"Poor child, my records are flawless. Who told you that it was the year 3225?"

"It was-"

You're interrupted in turn by a burst of pain and light. The Santa Maria vanishes and suddenly you're looking straight into the eyes of a grinning Academic. You try to head but him but find that the action is too disorientating and swoon backwards instead.

"Did you enjoy your voyage intruder?"

You groan. He turns to his guards and begins to bark orders.

"Take this bitch straight to the holding cells and keep a close eye to see if the implantation will take hold. Give her a steady ration of food and water and let me have her damned suit. I want her in good condition for when the President decides her fate!"

>END THREAD

>>42772110
Well let's be honest odds of mission success were probably low anyway.

File: tumblr_nm54j07huR1rtynt1o(...).jpg (325 KB, 764x1016)

325 KB JPG

>>42772168
You did quite well, all things considered. And literacy is quite the upgrade for this character if you ever encounter her again.

Thread is archived here:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Awakening+Quest

Vote it up if you enjoyed and I'll be around for a little bit for questions.

You can ask about this quest or Exterminator Quest which is having a very special 15th thread tomorrow at 5pm EST.

And twitter is @qmsimmons , obviously.

>>42772224
>a very special 15th thread tomorrow at 5pm EST.
Very special in that it finally follows up on what was decided at the end of thread 2!

>>42772465

And to think it was all due to one fateful vote at the start of thread 3.

I'm pretty hyped for your rescue attempt.

>ivory tower of academia
>literal tower
Oh. ha.

>>42772224
>tagged clone
>in the only thread in which the MC isn't a clone
...right?

File: img_0009-2.jpg (65 KB, 802x576)

65 KB JPG

>>42772642

That's correct, I just used the usual tags I could think of.

>>42772665
Will the canonical tag b eclones or clon esingular then

File: ghostlypeople.jpg (25 KB, 500x672)

25 KB JPG

>>42772718

Clone singular until you locate other clones and/or twins.