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>>1020736
“Ah, so you want to hear a story, child?” The old woman slowly rocked back and forth on her rocking chair, reaching out with her thin, frail hands to turn on a small bedside lamp.

The old filament turned white as its light filled the small room while the woman slumped back into her chair, making sure her audience was prepared for the last story of the night.

Cracking her hands, she cleared her throat, “So where should we begin?”

“From the beginning, Great Gran!” cried the little girl from her bed, clutching her stuffed toy. “Tell me of what it was like before all of this. Of The War, and what happened after.”

Pale moonlight began to envelop the small room, shining brightly on the little girl’s light-hair like golden fleece, while the old woman’s strands of aged white shone like freshly fallen snow.

“The War?” The woman adjusted the pale hood over her head, a hood long since faded white after years of use, “The War was a thing before my time, I’m afraid… but I do know one story of what happened sometime after that’s just as good.”

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>>1020742
With beaming eyes, the girl almost jumped out of her bedsheets and quickly sat attentively at the bedside.

“Are there pirates? Oh, how about dragons! Those are always the best stories.”

A wide grin formed on the woman’s wrinkled face as she tried to hold in her laughter.

“No, no. No pirates, or dragons.”

An answer to which the girl could only quietly mumble to herself, crossing her arms in disappointment.
Placing an aged hand of reassurance upon her shoulder, “Now, now, child. This story is just as good.”

And the old crone began her tale, slowly reminiscing in memories long since passed.

“Twenty years or so after The War, on an island east of the Kingdom of Atlas, and northwest of Vacuo. A war broke out which would result in an order of brave knights struggling to survive-“

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>>1020750
“Uhh…Great Gran, there isn’t an island between Atlas and Vacuo….” The girl interrupted as politely as she could, “It’s just open waters.”

The old woman frowned, “You wanted a story of what happened after The War. You never said anything about whether or not geographical details made sense. So please don’t interrupt, dearie.”

Clutching her stuffed toy, the girl quickly went silent.

“As I was saying,” the woman resumed, “This is a story of the war that erupted on the island of Scintilla, a war that would shatter the order of knights, ruin countries, and change the island’s fate forever. At the time, many Scintillans thought they were witnessing a conflict that would end quickly and with little bloodshed, especially after The War just a few years ago. ‘How could such horror come after such a tumulus time?’ They asked themselves. Little did they know, the Scintillan War would be their…”

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>>1020768
Days of Ruin – Prologue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaHEWdv2Gw0

“You might be thinking this is another of Gran’s old stories about a knight saving the kingdom, and marrying the princess, but no. This is the story of a man I once knew. He wasn’t exactly the epitome of knightly virtue. In fact, just the opposite!”

Slowly rummaging through an old pocket, the woman pulls out a small copper coin with both its sides caked in blueish-green patina, “Before I get to the meat of the story, I’ll have to tell you why he was there in the first place.”

With a small ping, the crone flipped the coin into the air, “The young man I knew was a mercenary, one of the thousands hired by the Duchy of Lumeneth to fight the Principality of Luxburg, a man called…”

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>>1020836
“Nemo!” Bailout shouted.

>=2 YEARS BEFORE THE END OF THE SCINTILLAN WAR: MID-AUTUMN=

You wake up bleary eyed as you quickly shoulder your rifle, seeing if you were under threat. It had only been two weeks since you’ve been posted here in this hole in the ground, and for two whole weeks, you and everyone else have been dying of sheer boredom if sickness didn’t take you first, and you’d be damned if you didn’t get to shoot something.

But instead of being greeted with the sounds of explosions or rifle fire, you only see your friend, Robert “Bailout” Rook.

Lowering your rifle once you realize that you weren’t under attack, you slowly stretch your limbs as you reluctantly get up from your seat, and pulling your jacket closer to your body.

Everyone back at Mantle talked about how battles were exciting affairs where one wrong move could mean your demise, where heroes were born, and legends were made….Unfortunately, they forgot to mention the sheer amount of waiting involved.

Bailout helps you up onto your feet and dusts off your shoulders, “Don’t worry Sleeping Beauty, nobody’s come to kill us yet, but at this rate, old age and sickness will probably do the job for ‘em.” Motioning to a few ill conscripts down the eastern trench, “I hope the rest of our gang is doing alright in their sections.”

>“Being paid to sit on our asses doesn’t seem so bad, Rob.”
>“So why are we in a muddy hole in the ground again?”
>“Where’s everyone else?”
>Other

>>1020846
>“So why are we in a muddy hole in the ground again?”

>>1020846
>>“Where’s everyone else?”

>>1020846
> Other

[X] THE FLESH OF FALLEN ANGELS

>>1020736
>>1020742
>>1020750
>>1020768
>>1020836
>>1020846
That's quite the lengthy opening sequence...
>“So why are we in a muddy hole in the ground again?”

>>1020846
>"So why are we in a muddy hole in the ground again?"
So it begins.

>>1020846
>“Being paid to sit on our asses doesn’t seem so bad, Rob.”

>>>/a/

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>>1020846
"So why are we in a muddy hole in the ground again?" You ask as you stretch your neck from side to side.

"Depends if you want the long or short version of events, Sleeping Beauty," Bailout chuckles, pulling a cigarette from his pocket.

>Long Story
>Short Story
>Other

>>1020967
>>Short Story

>>1020967
>Short Story

>>1020967
>Long Story

>>1020967
>Short Story

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>>1020967
“To make a long story short, our employer wants us to hold this flank because they think the Luxburg bastards are consolidating their forces to make a push into countryside for much needed resources: Dust, food, metal, etc. Fortunately, Lumeneth is sending their best to hold that front, and unfortunately, that leaves mercs like us with half-trained conscripts.”

Bailout takes a nice puff of his cigarette before continuing.

“I’d take a bet that half of these guys haven’t even been in a fight before” lowering his voice. “Anyways, I’ll try to at least give these conscripts some pointers. Call me if you see anything.” Bailout strides along through the trench, “Last thing we need is to be the only survivors when something actually happens.”

“Good luck, Bailout.” You say, and he quickly disappears in the labyrinth of the trench network.

With nothing else to do, you slowly peek your head over the top as you scan the battle scarred landscape of No-Man’s Land, a far cry from fields that would normally be ripe for harvest at this time of year. And once again, you see nothing but a few toppled trees, craters, and mud. Lots and lots of mud.

Dark clouds in the skies above begin to slowly obscure the sun as distant thunder can be heard in the far distance.

Looks like a storm’s coming.

You don’t know why, but you feel a pit growing in your stomach.

>See how your friends are doing along the front.
>Make Trench Art.
>Watch No-Man’s Land
>Other

>>1021088
>>See how your friends are doing along the front.

>>1021088
>See how your friends are doing along the front

>Watch No-Man’s Land

>>1021088
>Watch No-Man’s Land

Just resist looking at any picture of your girlfriend that's how the trench marks you

>>1021088
>>Make Trench Art.

>>1021088
>>See how your friends are doing along the front.

Tell them that we're gonna retire to marry our childhood lover once this mission is over. Wear our reddest shirt.

>>1021088
>>See how your friends are doing along the front.

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Wondering how your friends were doing, you pull out your radio, “This is ‘Nemo’, how’s it at your end, guys?” Hopefully, Ferron would answer because last thing you needed was to be in a conversation with a door.

Your radio crackles to life with a muffled voice, “This is ‘Jaeger’ (Thomas), ‘Steady Hands (Ferron) is with me. Don’t see anything, over.” And the radio quickly went silent.

“Just as succinct as usual,” you say to nobody in particular.

“This is ‘Bishop’ (Gwyn),” the soft female voice leaves your ear piece and embeds itself into your mind, “Nothing I can’t see, Nemo. Perhaps we can meet up back at base later when we’re out of here?”

>”Sure thing, Bishop.”
>”Maybe we can do more than that?”
>”Let’s get the job done first.”
>Other

>>1021297
>>”Sure thing, Bishop.”

>>1021297
>”Sure thing, Bishop.”

>>1021297
>"Sure thing, Bishop."

>>1021297
>”Sure thing, Bishop.”

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>>1021297
“Sure thing, Bishop.”

“See you soon, Nemo." She chimes, "Take care of yourself.” And the channel goes quiet.

If it wasn’t for the numbing cold, you’d notice that a wide grin was stuck on your face. Gwyn was friends with you as long as you could remember. Her white hair would shimmer as light struck it, and her bright red eyes were like perfectly cut gemstones.

Maybe she feels like it’s more than just a friendship?

---
An hour passed as you continue to watch No-Man’s Land. Bailout eventually returned with a few slightly better trained men to help man your position.

>Roll 1d20

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>1021446
Rolling

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>1021446

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>1021446

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>1021446
So how you doin dice? Best of first three or what?

>>1021491
Best of Three AKA Higher is Better with Crit Override

>>1021446
In the distance, a large cloud…no, a wall of smoke blacker than anything you’ve seen before drifts slowly towards your trench line.

At the piercing chime of an officer’s whistle, everyone trains their gunsights towards the black smoke.

If there was one thing you would remember from this battle for the rest of your life, it would be how quiet it was when everyone aimed their guns at the approaching smoke.

Was it out of fear, excitement, or maybe even acceptance?

Everyone was sitting in a hole in the ground for the past two weeks waiting for the bastards on the other side to make one wrong move. Now that they actually were doing something, you’re not sure that you want to know what everyone else was thinking.

All you know is that your trigger finger’s itchy.

>OPEN FIRE
>Try to see past the wall of smoke
>Other

>>1021496
>>OPEN FIRE

>>1021496
>OPEN FIRE
No time to think, go go go!

>>1021496
>>Try to see past the wall of smoke

>>1021496
>Try to see past the wall of smoke

>>1021496
>>Try to see past the wall of smoke

>>1021496
Squinting your eyes, you try to peer into the vantablack smog encroaching upon your position.

Just what the hell were those Luxburg soldiers doing?

>Roll 1d20

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>1021601

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>1021601

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>1021601

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>>1021601
All you can see past the smoke are a few gaunt figures, perhaps human? If they were Grimm, they’d be attacking by now.

Men around you slowly start speaking in hushed, confused tones as the smog slowly comes to a stop a few feet in front of them.

Seconds pass, and nothing happens. And seconds become minutes.

“The hell’s going on, Bailout?” You ask, “Don’t you have a Semblance that can tell you something like that?”

“Bloody hell if I know,” he shrugs, “And it doesn’t work like that!”

Just as a the cacophony of confusion began to reach its apex, an odd sound quickly brings silence to everyone’s lips.

Faintly, a feeble engine’s puttering could be heard through the rolling smog wall.

“Do you hear that?” you call to Bailout.

The puttering of engines ever so slowly grows louder as dead silence falls upon your line before the sound of the officer’s whistle signals everyone to prepare for battle.

The sound of a single person's footsteps drudging through the muck and mire grow louder, and louder until 'it' leaves the smoke just half a yard away.

A lone gaunt machine simply walks out of the black cloud, its head pivoting on a simple neck scanning the terrain in front of it.

>"What the fuck is that?!?"
>OPEN FIRE!
>Stay quiet
>Other

>>1021679
>OPEN FIRE!

>>1021679
>OPEN FIRE!

>>1021679
>>Stay quiet

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>>1021679
Nobody needed the order to be said.

Half a dozen shots ring out, sending the machine onto its back as it feebly shoots a large gout of flame from its wrist mounted weapons.

But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the revving of many more engines starting up drowns the entire battlefield in a cacophony of chaos, and the whistling of artillery shells raining death.

The machines march as the whole trench line lights up with gunfire.

Half a dozen machines armed with machine guns can be seen marching towards you while Luxburg stormtroopers armed with shield, blade, and gun were slowly making their way closer, ready to raid.

>Take out the machines
>Take out the stormtroopers
>Other

>>1021765
>Take out the stormtroopers

>>1021765
>>Take out the stormtroopers

>>1021765
>Take out the stormtroopers

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>>1021765
The ground explodes with artillery fire as mud, men, and machines are sent flying into the air. Regaining your balance, you line up your sights, you take aim at the Stormtroopers while Bailout and the rest focused on holding the line against the mechanized onslaught.

>Roll1d20

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>1021829

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>1021829

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>1021829

>>1021829
Your accurate rifle fire drops the approaching Stormtroopers, and you quickly go back to blasting bits and pieces off of the machines.

The fighting continues for an hour but still, the tide of Luxburg warmachines slowly marches on, and you barely have enough time to catch your breath.

“This is Aegis Three!” Jaeger yells over the radio, probably one of the biggest surprises of the day. “We got a major problem here! It’s not Lux-SHIT! Get your asses over here, now!”

“Nemo, go without me!” Bailout fires his rifle, “I’ll hold the line. Take a weapon, and just get to Jaeger!”

You nod as bullets whiz just over your heads.

>Take a shotgun
>Take a submachinegun
>Take a trench mace
>Other

>>1021924
>>Take a trench mace

>>1021924
>>Take a trench mace

>>1021924
>Take a trench mace

Melee combat!

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>>1021924
Running through the trench, you pick up a gnarled trench mace that Bailout had been making, its head coated with rust.

You run through the confines of the trenches for what seemed to be an eternity, the screams of men echo through the narrow corridors and passageways, climbing over rubble as well as the dead and dying until you reach Steady Hands and Jaeger’s section of trench which was oddly completely devoid of life.

As you make your way closer, you hear the sounds of a shotgun blast, and the clash of steel upon steel. Rushing through passages of splintered wood, you see Jaeger locked in heated battle with a heavily knight wielding a weapon resembling a Warhammer combined with a shotgun, and from the looks of it, Jaeger’s going to be the first one to tire.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Steady Hands unconscious with a bloody stump where her arm used to be. If she didn’t get

>Distraction: “Hey asshole!”
>Attack: Shoot him
>Attack: Melee
>Other

>>1022020
>>Distraction: “Hey asshole!”

>>1022020
>Distraction: “Hey asshole!”

>>1022020
>>Distraction: “Hey asshole!”

>If she didn’t get
What happened to the rest of it?

>>1022020
>Distraction: “Hey asshole!”

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>>1022020
“Hey, asshole!” You yell in your hopes to distract him.

For what it was worth, you did catch the knight’s attention.

With a window of opportunity Jaeger quickly disengages by leaping back to Ferron, pulling her over his shoulder, and quickly using an Aura enhanced jump back to friendly lines. You can just imagine his talk about his Hunter skills despite being a dropout.

However, with Ferron and Jaeger out of the equation, that just leaves you with another problem.

“I do not know whether to consider you brave or foolish, but I will give you an honourable death.” The Knight twirls his Warhammer as he charges towards you.

>COUNTER CHARGE
>DODGE
>FLEE
>Other

>>1022101
>COUNTER CHARGE
ENGAGE

>>1022101
>COUNTER CHARGE

>>1022101
>>COUNTER CHARGE

Rolled 2, 10, 16 = 28 (3d20)

>>1022101
Perhaps out of desperation, or combat high, you decide to meet the Knight in direct combat.

You meet the Knight’s advance with one of your own, hefting your trench mace high in preparation to strike.

>Roll 1d20

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>1022156

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>1022156

>>1022156

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>1022168
>>1022156

>>1022156
The Knight pulls the trigger of his warhammer, enhancing his swing with added recoil. Quickly ducking, you spin, and slam your mace against his head, sending his helmet flying into No-Man’s Land and making him drop his mace.

Reeling from the blow, he enters a shoulder charge, knocking you onto the muddy ground. You can’t keep on fighting on equal terms too long, otherwise, you’ll lose the battle of attrition.

Now standing above you, he raises his foot prepared to stomp you into the ground.

“I’ll crush you like a bug!” He yells, sabaton high in the air.

>Pull him down
>Throw mud in his face
>Block
>Other

>>1022190
>Pull him down

>>1022190
Pull him down

>>1022190
>Pull him down

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>>1022190
Summoning all of your strength, you pull his leg from underneath him, making him fall flat on him face.

Now was your opportunity!

You roll over, and clamber on top of your fallen, but not yet defeated opponent, and then shove his face into a muddy puddle.

Aura may protect people from harm, but they still need to breathe.

The Knight struggles to get up, but with all of your body’s weight upon his arms and back, it was a hopeless undertaking.

What seemed like an eternity passed as you drowned him. By the time the deed was done, your hands were still shaking. Perhaps the Knight was still trying to cling onto life in the afterlife, but didn’t know he died.

Gwyn and Bailout would eventually find you half-awake against the wall, and upon further examination of the Knight, would eventually lead to the Scintillan Knight’s forgoing their neutrality, and bring about their destruction.

---
>= 2 YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE SCINTILLAN WAR: MID-AUTUMN

You wake up from the dream....

>>1022238
>And that's it!

Thank you for all those that attended my first attempt at a long term quest.

Please leave feedback if possible.

We'll continue next week Saturday at 6pm PST.

>>1022241
>>1022238
And a link to the archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=RWBY%20Quest

>>1022241
Hey, thanks for running. Your writing seemed pretty good for quest standards to me. Only thing I would caution against would be having overly long segments like the intro. Otherwise, good job.

I've never actually seen more than the first episode of RWBY but this quest seemed interesting. Hopefully that won't be too much of a problem.

>>1022241
Thanks, it was pretty entertaining.
You got a twitter or a discord or something? So we can know when you plan on doing your next quests.

Speaking of, do you have a set schedule on when you plan on running?

>>1022475
https://twitter.com/Venator_QM

Why even call it RWBY at this point? There are other franchises with weapons what are also guns you know.