File: Dark Things.png (122 KB, 350x460)

122 KB PNG

Twitter: @XsQuestmistress

Previous Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/1988677/

Interlude: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/37879167/

Kissing! http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/574453/

Threads in Chronological Order, including writeups by XS : http://pastebin.com/Z53TyK0N
or search for tag: Ryukuza on Suptg

Megaupload of the RTF document of Ryukusa Quest (links to archive included): https://mega.nz/#!d2xySaAJ!jUydCgDx6Q68PH6u4L_qFR03IhSGrAxak_m0PBorN5o

Barrier Combat Guide: http://pastebin.com/rZLwzvGx

>Ryukusa's Treasures

Her name: Ryuu Yorihokura

Rie, the God's Eye Nekomata that protects your Family.

Matagama-no-Shitoki, a necklace kami in its own right that protects Ryukusa from inimical magic.

Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume – Ryukusa's mukade possessed wakizashi; a kami. “Daughter of my Centipede of Rain.”

Gendai-no-Muteki-no-Buki - Invincible Weapon of the Present Age, a secret kami-blade given to Ryukusa by Wakaba that appears to be made of some alloy of titanium.

Seido-no-Shinpi-Tekina-Ken – a mysterious bronze sword given to Ryukusa by the mermaids of Japan; actually found to be the legendary blade Ame-no-Ohabari.

Go-Yurei-no-Rensa, the Five-Ghost-Chain, used to summon or send messages to your (actual) older sister Ryuu Nabiki.

Her Penthouse in the Secret Apartments of Tsathoggua in Shikoku prefecture, Tokyo.

Shikoku Naya, her fashion teacher and seamstress.

Hisaka Subaru, her weaver and dressmaking teacher.

Ryukusa's Family.

>Talismans:
Akari – Black Jade Centipede (Mukade)
Er Yin – Black Jade Scorpion (Sasori)
Kiki – Black Jade Toad (Hikigaeru)
Kiku – Black Jade Lizard (Tokage)
Yui – Black Jade Snake (Hebi)
Inau – Black Coral Ear Cuff (Amatsukami)

File: Yamada Hiei.png (327 KB, 498x911)

327 KB PNG

Ryuu Ryukusa is tall at 5' 8"; 6' in her true form. She is fully grown. Lesbian top.
Matagama Kiku is 4' 1” for ever and ever. Lesbian submissive.
Ryuu Akari is 5' 3" and has another few inches to grow. Sexuality is weird, switch, cosplayer.
Ryuu Yui is 6' 3” and will only grow due to circumstances beyond her control. Dyke, switch.
Ryuu Kiki is 5' 6" and is at full growth. Bisexual bottom.
Er Yin Long is the tall at 5' 10" and is fully grown. Lesbian dominant.
Ryuu Jinyuu is 5' 7" but persistently hovers an extra three inches. Straight.
Hinata-hakase is 6' 3". Sexuality is terrifying.
Hidesato is 5' 5". Straight.
Kushinada is 5' 8". Straighter.
Taisho Ryoga is 5' 9". Who knows.
Hyun Chisato is 5' 4” and is fully grown. Lolicon with plausible deniability.
Rie, just Rie, is 8” tall or 5' 5” and is fully cat. Her sexuality is cat.
Hagyu Genso is 12' 5” standing upright. He is by and large gay.
Mizumi Shoko is 7' 2” is fully grown. Bisexual top.
Yuuhi is 4'11” and is fully grown. Yuuhi a cute.
Tokei Isusangi, Inau-kun is 5' 3” and is much less confused.
Reiha is 5' 5 1/2” and is milfy.
Peta is 3' 2” Peta is \>.</ aka Her Most Imperial Highness Patanjali Piri Yokuhime Kuronogitsune Pa
Detective-san aka Mugon Chujo is fully grown at 5'11” and straight.
Kenji Soomi is 5' 4” and gothic lolita.
Musumi Kanako is 5' 6.5” and is pretty straight.
Hebiki Naoto is 5' 9” and belligerently omnivorous, sexually. You hope only sexually.
Kodachi Umetsume is 5' 4” and fully grown. Practicing asexual.
Melinda Blitzenberg is scattered to the winds and blessed in death.
Toshida Ginka is 5” 3” and fully grown. Turtles have a reputation.
Ryuu Wakaba is a head shorter and also deceased.
Margaret Steinhausen is gratefully dead.
Ryuu Sakumo is dead and spread far and wide.
Ryuu Nabiki is 5' 3” and fully transformed. Embarrassingly straight.
Ryuu Shinju is 4' 11” and fully grown. She is coy, maybe a dodomeki-child.
Ryuu Himeyuri is 5' 5” and is supposedly straight.
Ryuu Fuuta is 5' 6” and slightly less soft.
Kaga Kei is 5' 4” and fully grown. Might be experimental.
Kyubi-san is 6' 3” and fully grown. Hard to say.
Hisaka Subaru is 5' tall and 9' tall, and peculiar as all get out.
Shikoku Naya is 5' 4" (not including heels) and is fully grown. Entirely flexible.
Shinkai Yamada is 5' 7” and is straight.
Shinkai Mikurabe is 5' 2” (without heels) and is probably less straight than you thought.
"Shinkai" Hiei is 5' 10 and is an abomination.
"Shinkai" Serious Onii-san is 5' 6" and is asexual.
"Shinkai" Yoshihano is 6' 1" and may be a little gay.
Tachibana is 5” 7” and mostly asexual.
Natto is 7' tall fully grown, and is a wisp of black smoke on the wind.

>>2015777
>[x] Take the fight to him quickly and powerfully, don't let him try anything weird.
>[x] Barrier Combat: Select One.
>[x] The Prey Comes Apart in Your Cruel Talons.
Combat between those who regenerate is not resolved by attrition.

>>2015777
>[] Take the fight to him quickly and powerfully, don't let him try anything weird.
>[] The Prey Comes Apart in Your Cruel Talons.

>>2015777
Fuck, late for Ryukusa!
>[x] Take the fight to him quickly and powerfully, don't let him try anything weird.
>[x] The Prey Comes Apart in Your Cruel Talons.
I'm fine with the consensus though.

We might as well assume we win this since the alternative allows no planning; what should we hurry to get done before once again taking our seat? Obviously we need to get to Yamada ideally, but if he's smart and has left the area entirely that will probably be time-consuming (granted, a big 'if'). ARE we going to kill him for this, as he deserves, or do we defer to the yakuza's hierarchy and wait to tell his boss about this shit instead?

>>2015777
[x] Take the fight to him quickly and powerfully, don't let him try anything weird.
[x] The Prey Comes Apart in Your Cruel Talons.

>>2015862
He probably hasn't even left the room - Barriers are somewhat lacking in time, so he's probably not even out the door, or at most, in the hallway nearbv.

>>2015777
>[] Take the fight to him quickly and powerfully, don't let him try anything weird.
>[] The Prey Comes Apart in Your Cruel Talons.

File: Lightning.jpg (437 KB, 1082x1500)

437 KB JPG

[X] Take the fight to him quickly and powerfully, don't let him try anything weird.
[X] The Prey Comes Apart in Your Cruel Talons.

Even as he tenses and prepares what may be some kind of special ability, you are on him, your talons actually extending another few inches as you open your hands wide. He tries to slide away from you, using that mystical movement through the shimmering golden radiance that is his destructive power, but you aren't fooled for an instant. You are the Apex Predator here, and you're not limited to the mere six senses of mortals or spirit-children.

You feel the displacement of air as he tries to maneuver around your side, and you drive your talons though his body causing him to reappear, black smoke erupting from the ghastly wounds you tear through his form. Sapphire talons come down through his back, shredding flesh and releasing gouts of the toxic fumes into the air. Then you gasp in shock as you feel talons tear at your scales, ripping into your side and your thigh and buttock – not illusions, actual physical things slicing into your hardened flesh.

Nor are they part of him. The golden radiance of his destructive power is almost thinned to nothing in the instant you strike and the two other areas where he was concentrating it have become actual destructive force – not physical, not even magical, but simply destructive energy focused into a force that causes you injury!

….shit, he's an esper!

Technically not the correct term, but it's one that has been used by your culture for decades to mean psychic power that is used as a weapon. Retreating from one another, you pull back to one side of the room, and he retreats to a corner, pulling in all that golden radiance and driving away the light with thick black smoke and illusions. The attempt to hide himself in shadows really doesn't work on you; it might on another dragonette, but you can see in the dark, and it holds no terror for you. But the fact that the destructive aura is actually an emanation of his mental power is a revelation you could seriously have done without.

File: Iboroh.jpg (577 KB, 1000x1201)

577 KB JPG

With a greater awareness that the strange golden radiance is actually his psychic power made manifest, you now have a much more complex situation to deal with than before. It can be both telekinetic, and a means of teleportation it seems; that explains how freaking fast he is. He's not moving in the same universe you are, he's sliding though it, taking advantage of some higher plane of existence maybe. If he gets the opportunity to figure out more of it, you could be in some real shit.

You forgot how exhilarating this was.

Condensed as it is now, a gleaming ball of roiling black smoke and golden light, it is probably a kind of shield, and not merely a measure of destructive potential. Unfortunately, you have no real way to tell if it's purely destructive and might burn or dissolve what strikes it, or if it's solid, because it seems to have zero interactivity with air or water – the latter you figure out by feeling the moisture in the air. Which does make a certain amount of sense, given it's a mental thing and not a physical thing.

[] You need help now, before this gets out of control; call upon the Tengu.
[] Hurl a chair or something at him – that will tell you enough.
[] You might not be able to call down lightning, but you can channel it through your body – which will hurt you - A LOT. But it will hurt him MORE.
[] He's clearly buying time to heal; you can use that too, because some of those wounds are deep.
[] If it isn't Barrier Combat, it may as well be: Select One

[] No Wall May Stand Before You!
[] Even the Gods Must Bow to Your Mighty Form!

>>2015903
Now that's convenient, I couldn't remember if he got some head start while we messed around before initiating barrier combat.

>>2015915
>[x] You might not be able to call down lightning, but you can channel it through your body – which will hurt you - A LOT. But it will hurt him MORE.

>>2015915
>[] You might not be able to call down lightning, but you can channel it through your body – which will hurt you - A LOT. But it will hurt him MORE.

>>2015915
>[] No Wall May Stand Before You!
Mr Hiei, tear down this wall

Hopefully he doesn't have some anti-lightning trait as well!

Document looks to be working fine for me at least.

>>2015952
Ryukuza is operating on a basic and usually correct presumption that youkai are neither resistant or vulnerable to any given element. That's generally an issue for demigods, oni-children, and dragon-children. Although Natto warned her that her elemental forces would work slowly but be effective, he was entirely unaware of her relationship to true lightning.

This is also why you never see a Fire nogitsune-child or a Water kitsune-child. Even Ginka-chan's kappa nature doesn't make her affinity towards water part of the elemental cycle that Ryukusa is.

>>2015915
>[] He's clearly buying time to heal; you can use that too, because some of those wounds are deep.
>[] No Wall May Stand Before You!

>>2015964
That's good to know for the future then.

>>2015915
>[x] No Wall May Stand Before You!

File: 37c0ea009864925b29bb2d93a(...).jpg (458 KB, 675x900)

458 KB JPG

[X] No Wall May Stand Before You!

You are a creature of destructive power; even your Elements are all destructive in nature, despite the other aspects they have.

So when you call upon your nature as a child of Ryujin-Owatatsumi, you're not just calling upon the form and power of a dragon, but the form and power of the most destructive forces among the elements. Fire, Lightning, Thunder, Tsunami, Flood....this is what you are, what you are made of, as much as Blood, Bone, Flesh, and Sinew.

Curling into a ball and hiding in the corner is not going to protect an abomination from the power of a Dragon!

You take several slow, deep breaths, the shimmering black blood coursing down your back and your legs slowing as your body struggles to heal the terrible wounds. You suspect you'd be paralyzed by the agony if you were in a different set of techniques. Scales and Claws, being your Wood based combat form, is surely helping with that.

You are not looking forward to ending this combat.

Lazily swimming through the air in circles, forming tighter and tighter coils, until you are a thick nest of draconic flesh in mid air, though more massive than him. Your hair shimmers and your scales take on a darker sheen; while you look more polished or like porcelain than made of scales and talons when you are in the form of Horobi, Scales and Claws makes you look far more draconian. This technique exaggerates even that, your horns lengthening, even branching, your talons thickening and the gemstone like nature shifting even further up your arms. The crack in your chest where lightning shimmers and flickers takes on a cruelly jagged look, the lightning intensifying, filling your throat and mouth. Even your eyes burst into flames as you stare at your target.

You can feel Hiei there, healing, his psychic power and illusions coalesced into a thick shell of power. Fell his burning eyes of crimson staring at you, alien thoughts bubbling though his mind. There is curiosity there, and wonder....but most of all....

….fear.

File: Horobi Unleashed.png (233 KB, 900x980)

233 KB PNG

>>2016073
With a roar that sounds more like a crack of thunder than a shout or a war cry, you charge a bolt of dragonette-shaped death, trailing lightning from your mouth, fire and roiling ice from your hands, and an echoing blast of thunder. You see him shift, turning in his bubble of power and poison, eagerly awaiting your charge, the illusion and psychic force meant to slow your charge and deliver you to him devoid of power and threat.

But this isn't some kind of exchange of blows, whatever he might think.

You crash into his psychic shield with the force of a falling meteor, the hammer of the kami called down from the skies. The explosion of destructive energies erupts around you, burning, tearing at your scales and flesh, his claws and teeth sinking into your arms and shoulder. You drive your talons – no, your arms – through his body, shattering the shell of his body, bursting the semi-solid organs within, pulverizing the glassy substance of his black bones. He doesn't even so much as scream; his death is too quick for that. You slam into the barrier behind him, black smoke curling away from your body as the spray of semi-fluid smoke and fragments of glass fall around you.

No, definitely a demon, rather than anything capable of using Barrier Combat. There was no final Blow or Merciful End here, only death.

There is enough presence of mind left in you to prevent the liquids and smoke from entering your wounds or your mouth as you lie there in an exhausted heap, most of your Shen gone, your wounds deep and healing all too slowly. The glassy black fragments of his bones and the noisome fluids of his body evaporate, just as his 'father' had crumbled away and turned to smoke. Soon there isn't even fine black dust left.

Now, however, you are finished, and that means you have a very serious problem.

[] Just let the combat techniques end, and try and remain conscious long enough to stabilize fully.
[] Rest now, just as you are, and hope you heal enough to be functional before enough time passes that Yamada can escape.
[] Pray to Amaterasu-Omikami for mercy and hope she can guide you through this.
[] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.
[] You still have a job to do, and Yamada is not getting away with this. Drop the barrier and give that bastard what for.

>>2016077
>[] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.
Healing is important

>>2016077
>[] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.

>>2016077
>[x] You still have a job to do, and Yamada is not getting away with this. Drop the barrier and give that bastard what for.
The kind of action you wish was on screen and not just in your head! I'm sure the former would never live up to the latter, but still.
I feel like we have no time to waste, and with Natto also gone there should be no hostiles of any note to threaten us at any rate.

>>2016077
>[] Pray to Amaterasu-Omikami for mercy and hope she can guide you through this.
>[] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.
"No worse than platypus venom" is a profoundly unhelpful phrase.

>>2016077
>[x] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.

>>2016077
>[X] Rest now, just as you are, and hope you heal enough to be functional before enough time passes that Yamada can escape.

>>2016115
A man who has stepped on and survived a land mine was stung by a platypus.

He said the injuries and pain caused by surviving the land mine hurt less.

>>2016140
So how familiar is Ryukusa with the feeling of platypus venom exactly?

Because ouch.

>>2016077

>[] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.

>[] Just let the combat techniques end, and try and remain conscious long enough to stabilize fully.

>Do what you can to purify yourself and this place, cleaning and prayers if needed. Among the last things you want from this affair, leaving something this unclean near a Noh play would be pretty bad. Contact Kiku about it when you can.


Let's not forget that this jerkhole was pretty *wrong*, along with being poisonous.

>>2016151

The Clan Ryo probably had her injected with several time, as "training".

>>2016161
Sounds like oba-chan alright.

>>2016151
>>2016161
>>2016164
She was injected with it once as part of her pain control training. She screamed a lot. She was eight.

So, how are you, XS?

>>2016113

As long as we are in the Barrier, we have time.

>>2016140
Precisely my point.

File: SA_0154_small[1].jpg (76 KB, 900x290)

76 KB JPG

>>2016077
>[] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.

>>2016176
Well, on the scale of most painful things int he world, it goes Box Jellyfish Toxin, Stonefish Venom, Platypus Venom, necrotic tissue, and 3rd degree burn recovery.

It is not uncommon for people to attempt suicide or to beg for limbs to be removed in all of those cases.

File: I Win.jpg (360 KB, 724x1024)

360 KB JPG

[X] Concentrate and control yourself. It's not worse than platypus venom, and you kind of need to get dressed.
[+] Clean up as best you can around here, wash stuff down.

Struggling slowly to your feet, you can tell you've got some injuries that would probably be fatal to anyone but a wood dragonette or an immortal like yourself or Yuuhi – and even then you're not positive that you'll be able to manage conscious thought for much longer. You still need blood for your brain to continue working. That being the case you dedicate a portion of your remaining power to stop bleeding from every square foot of your body. You can barely hold all the injured organs together, but surprisingly, you have no broken bones. Well, maybe not so surprising, since they're probably made out of ruby and sapphire using this technique.

Your clothes are totally gone. After the first two passes of Hiei's claws, you were a mess, but the explosion basically vaporized your clothes, which is unfortunate. Matagama-no-Shitoki is fine of course, but she is quiescent, sleeping off the efforts that you put to making this Barrier and protecting you from any curses or magical effects that could have been affecting you.

Which brings up a point. The illusions may have been largely mitigated by Kiku-chan's gift, which means you would probably be dead if it wasn't for Matagama-san. Buki-sama was invaluable as well, and you really need to visit your altar soon. In the mean time....

A gentle rain washes the Barrier clean, and the fact that you purposefully made the Barrier not touch the walls, ceiling, or floor means the theater itself won't be tainted or damaged, though the things inside this room – and possibly the very nature of the room itself – are a total loss. You yourself can't perform any real cleansing rites, mostly because you have exactly zero training, but you will definitely have Kiku-chan or some of her friends from her time in the temples come take care of it. A curse appearing in this room wouldn't necessarily be deadly or dangerous, but it would make for trouble eventually.

File: Human Ryukusa.jpg (193 KB, 915x1280)

193 KB JPG

Basking in the shower, you wash out your hair and scrub your blood from your body. It's strangely pretty, an iridescent black, like liquefied black opal infused with rainbow glitter instead of flecks of fire. You trace the worst wounds, and shudder. These are some very large gaps there, and only your inhuman power is keeping everything inside where it is supposed to be in a few cases. You've never been this badly injured before.

The unfortunate part is that you'll revert to normal size if you....wait. There's a way around that.

You kneel and quickly reach into Nowhere, dragging out lengths of ace bandages. It takes you a long time, and it hurts like being dipped in lava might (the combination of Stone and Fire can overwhelm even a Water dragonette's resistances!), but you wrap most of your wounds very, very tightly in the bandages. It hurts to even move by the time your done, and you can barely breathe....but when you change back....

You blink several times, the world filled with bright sparks and grey mist that isn't Barrier. You're still kneeling, but you are mostly conscious and recovering quickly. There's no way you didn't lose a few minutes, but that shouldn't be too much trouble. More importantly, your plan worked: the bandages, tight as they were, are now normally tight, and doing their job of keeping everything in place and inside. There's some seepage, blood flowing when you lost control of your power, but you draw the blood back in and keep it all in place.

Of course, the real hard part comes up next.

[] Elegant Young Miss Beautiful yukata and geta.
[] Up and Coming Businesswoman: Sharp skirt-suit and high heels.
[] Casual Beauty: Contemporary silk blouse and tight fit pants.
[] Gang Member Chic: Leather jacket, loose jeans, and cool t-shirt.
[] Rich Ronin Warrior: Reverse trap style silk kimono and nice hakama.

>>2016293
>[x] Gang Member Chic: Leather jacket, loose jeans, and cool t-shirt.
Comfy and covering for this battered body.

>>2016293
>[] Up and Coming Businesswoman: Sharp skirt-suit and high heels.
>[] Gang Member Chic: Leather jacket, loose jeans, and cool t-shirt.

Combine those two, I say. We have business, and that business involve putting some gangs in their place.

>>2016293
>[] Rich Ronin Warrior: Reverse trap style silk kimono and nice hakama.

>>2016293
>[X] Rich Ronin Warrior: Reverse trap style silk kimono and nice hakama.

>>2016293
>[] Gang Member Chic: Leather jacket, loose jeans, and cool t-shirt.

>>2016293
>[] Up and Coming Businesswoman: Sharp skirt-suit and high heels.
>[] Gang Member Chic: Leather jacket, loose jeans, and cool t-shirt.

>>2016293
>[] Casual Beauty: Contemporary silk blouse and tight fit pants.
At least we didnt die

>>2016330
Again.

>>2016293
>[x] Up and Coming Businesswoman: Sharp skirt-suit and high heels.

>>2016311
Seconded

Outfit votes brings all the anons to the thread!

>>2016293
>[] Gang Member Chic: Leather jacket, loose jeans, and cool t-shirt.

>>2016293
>[X] Rich Ronin Warrior: Reverse trap style silk kimono and nice hakama.

>>2016293
>[] Casual Beauty: Contemporary silk blouse and tight fit pants.

How mad is Ryukuza about loosing her cloths?
It seems to me actual effort was put into that outfit.

>>2016293
[] Rich Ronin Warrior: Reverse trap style silk kimono and nice hakama.

>>2016416

Actual efforts are put in ALL of her outfits.

>>2016422

Eh, I don't want to go reverse trap now. We have hours before the end of the play.

File: 54d61db1e0957302f2e9bdc6a(...).png (259 KB, 500x820)

259 KB PNG

[X] Up and Coming Businesswoman: Sharp skirt-suit and high heels.
[+] Combine these, please!
[X] Gang Member Chic: Leather jacket, loose jeans, and cool t-shirt.

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

You puzzle over your peculiar situation, and then come up with a solution that will satisfy most of your desires and look nice too.

That's always important. Looking nice.

You need a nap, really.

But you're not going to get one for a while.

Serves you right, dealing with human idiots.

Not that all humans are idiots of course.

Just these ones at the moment.

You actually have a umber you like.

Detective-san was kinda cool.

Chi-chan, she's just adorable, despite her lolicon tendencies.

Not that you are much of one to talk.

At least it's legal loli, right?

…..you're really going to be suffering soon.

With a sigh you stand up and carefully stretch, not at all liking how things shift and move around inside your body. Then you slowly work your way into the outfit you've designed, careful not to lose your power or to move the bandages that are keeping you together. When you are done, you style your hair loosely, and sweep it off to the side. A pool of clear water serves as a mirror, and you apply a butterfly bandage over the most obvious cut that his hidden along your scalp, extending over your forehead. The fact that it is there at all is an indicator of just how badly injured you truly are; your body is stying to heal the critical injuries first.

Kiki-hime is either going to be pissed, or appalled. Yui-chan's going to go ballistic either way.

You tug your sleek royal blue toned hidden-button blouse with the Chinese style collar into place, and then brush your black slacks down gently, making sure any bandage-lines – or panty-lines – are not visible. Tights help with that of course. Silver bracelets (dragon and butterfly themed of course) decorated with Swarovski crystals in mystic topaz colors grace your right whist, while the left sports a slave-bracelet with heavy sapphires and onyx. Chisato bought that for you, long ago, and you had it resized as you grew up.

….It occurs to you that if you had been sexually active at that age, you would have realized she was making overtures. Which is rather sweet of her, and you smile, the memory making you warm. Even then you were loved by someone.

File: A Black Robe.jpg (471 KB, 1050x900)

471 KB JPG

>>2016510
Black zippered ankle boots with thin heels, and polished to a mirror shine of course. Leather belt with a heavy silver buckle depicting a trio of butterfly shapes within a circle, flowers in the wings. Your personal mon, publicly displayed, the same as the one on your back., with drops of gold on the antennae and diamond eyes, a sapphire at the center of each flower.

Over this you tug on a loose leather jacket with the other half of your mon stained into the white leather: a wave washing over Mount Fuji as it erupts, circled by a snake eating its own tail: Ouroboros, also known as Jormungand. The mark of Clan Ryuu. You pull the sleeves half way up, and you take a slow deep breath.

[] You want Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume handy – pull her out and and her into the outfit.
[] Throwing knives and darts are the way to go this time. Easily hidden and deadly.
[] You're going to be fine with just your claws and good left arm. Heh, Good Left Arm.
[] Go-Yurei-no-Rensa may not be a direct weapon, but it suits the outfit – and you may want the help.
[] A bokken might be just the thing, actually – it's a staple, and yours just LOOKS like wood.

>>2016416
Actually, she creates every outfit with love and adoration, and expects them to be destroyed in the course of her work. So, not mad at all....but she does revere their memories when she loses them like this. she will never make another like it.

>>2016513
>[] Throwing knives and darts are the way to go this time. Easily hidden and deadly.

>>2016513
>[X] A bokken might be just the thing, actually – it's a staple, and yours just LOOKS like wood.

>>2016513
>[] Go-Yurei-no-Rensa may not be a direct weapon, but it suits the outfit – and you may want the help.

>>2016513
>[] You want Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume handy – pull her out and and her into the outfit.

>>2016513
Very stylish!
>[x] Throwing knives and darts are the way to go this time. Easily hidden and deadly.
>[x] Go-Yurei-no-Rensa may not be a direct weapon, but it suits the outfit – and you may want the help.

>>2016513
>[x] You want Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume handy – pull her out and and her into the outfit.

>>2016513
>[x] You want Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume handy – pull her out and and her into the outfit.
>[x] Throwing knives and darts are the way to go this time. Easily hidden and deadly.

>>2016513
>[x] Throwing knives and darts are the way to go this time. Easily hidden and deadly.

>>2016513
>[] You want Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume handy – pull her out and and her into the outfit.
>[] Throwing knives and darts are the way to go this time. Easily hidden and deadly.

File: 1468255932196.jpg (385 KB, 624x827)

385 KB JPG

[X] You want Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume handy – pull her out and and her into the outfit.
[XX] Throwing knives and darts are the way to go this time. Easily hidden and deadly.

Weakened and exhausted as you are, you're not going to rusk going unarmed right now, and you don't want to risk your slowed reactions making a difference when you try for a weapon or attempt to reach into an increasingly difficult to navigate Nowhere. That being the case you pull Musume-san out of Nowhere along with a triple-set of throwing knives and darts. The darts go on either inside of your jacket, while the knives get places into your clothing in very specific places and ways to make them hidden and yet accessible. Musume-san goes at your back, of course, and she settles there perfectly, her black case shined and suiting the outfit perfectly.

A flash of inspiration strikes you and you grin. Quickly you fasten your jacket to the blouse at the epaulets, and pull your arms out of the sleeves, With as much time as you can spare spent healing and preparing, you steel yourself, get a nice tight lock on your power, and have Matagama-san dissolve the barrier with you.

So when you strep out of the Barrier the panicking Shinkai Yamada and the shocked Tachibana are confronted with you, arms crossed under your breasts and leaning forwards slightly as you walk menacingly towards them, is a completely different young woman. Armed with a simple wakizashi, wearing high equality business clothing, jerwlery that would put Jojo-sama to shame, and sporting Yakuza choices in style and weapons. No Natto, no Hiei-monster, and you with....

One.

Tiny.

Cut.

To say they merely panic would be giving them the benefit of the doubt.

>To Be continued

File: Elegance Horobi.jpg (178 KB, 850x1105)

178 KB JPG

Before we end today's session, I have a brief and important reminder about the mechanics of Ryukuza Quest for our newer players and that some may like top be reminded of.

Writing now.

>>2016513
>[] You want Ame-no-Omukade-no-Musume handy – pull her out and and her into the outfit.

Our kami-blade deserves to have the spotlight sometime, too

>>2016525

You mean, never make another with a somewhat ressemblance, or never make one that could be mistaken for the destroyed one up close?

>>2016660
Thanks for running XS

Thanks for running!

Wonder if Yamada's wife is somewhere praying for forgiveness for all the wrongdoings she might have done in her life

>>2016652
Well that's the kind of entrance worth all the pain-staking outfit customization in the world.

Thanks for running!

Thanks for writing

File: 3c1f144b64937b30ed9b54804(...).jpg (531 KB, 1253x886)

531 KB JPG

So, in addition to the Five Elements comparisons, I wish to remind anons about Stuff.

Ryukusa's abilities and powers and tools, allies and equipment are all part and parcel of her Stuff. Stuff is a sliding scale in and of itself, which determine three basic things:
>Her quality of life
>Her perceptions of the world
>Her luck, which can influence and affect the outcomes of the Five Elements portion of the mechanics.

While the Five Elements have set scores and are compared in a 'highest number wins' Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanics, Stuff is essentially her experience. When she has a positive amount of Stuff (aka Good Stuff) she is luckier, her outlook is generally happy, and things go well for her. when she has negative amounts of stuff (Bad Stuff) her outlook is more unhappy and worried, darker, and she often suffers injuries and wounds, with her luck being bad.

When Ryukusa wants things, gains new powers, wants allies, or otherwise acquires tools and things she can use, she spends Good Stuff and that lowers her luck, outlook, and causes her trouble. However, all gains from Good Stuff are permanent and absolute. Even if Buki were SOMEHOW broken, Ryukusa would find, make, discover, be given, or otherwise get some kind of replacement. Not necessarily the same or even equivalent in nature, but in value the same (a new ally, series of contacts, or even a new member of her clan to replace a lost Buki-sama, for instance, as opposed to another weapon).

If she expends more Good Stuff than she has, she slips into Bad Stuff. Bad Stuff is unpleasant and includes injuries, damage, wounded allies and clan-members, disruptions to her plans, unpleasant situations arising and other problems. However, the upside is that the plot progresses forward mush faster and more smoothly, which cannot happen as quickly or easily when she has Good Stuff. So Bad Stuff is not necessarily uncool or a detriment to her, just an inconvenience.

The main problem that Ryukusa has is that she doesn't know how much Stuff she has at any given moment. She can estimate how her situation is by what's going on, but the fact is she cannot and will never know exactly where she stands. The QM will not screw the players over using this system, but the players may inadvertently do so - which is not a bug, it's a feature.

(Continued)

File: 4ee5892b38eda8e66b6e17e66(...).jpg (354 KB, 778x1130)

354 KB JPG

>>2016731
So, in closing this session, I must point out that Ryukusa has expended a HUGE amount of Good Stuff over the course of her Date. She has dipped heavily into Bad Stuff, but not to the same degree (what she purchased was incredibly powerful, but not as valuable as the mount of good Stuff spent. However, anons avoided the thing they originally intended the good stuff to be spent on, leaving Ryukusa in a peculiar state of having acquired a lot of Bad Stuff and gaining no benefit from the Good Stuff they spent just yet.

As a result, Ryukusa's psychic abilitiy will crop up much more often in an effort to redress this imbalance, both to remind the players they have a big benefit they are owed, and to suggest ways this benefit may be used to the bettement of Ryukusa and her clan.

Thank you for reading and playing. I will stay a little while to address any questions.

>>2016664
She would never use quite the same materials, and look. she may have a style that is similar but with distinctive and strong defining characteristics that make it different.

>>2016172
I'm tired and in a little pain, but good otherwise.

>>2016745
Would she consider revisiting past styles if it were for the benefit of others? I'm imagining some curious far future for her as a fashion designer.

>>2016736

>what she purchased was incredibly powerful, but not as valuable as the mount of good Stuff spent. However, anons avoided the thing they originally intended the good stuff to be spent on, leaving Ryukusa in a peculiar state of having acquired a lot of Bad Stuff and gaining no benefit from the Good Stuff they spent just yet

Uh?

What did we avoid?

Did we not do everything we planned to do at the beginning of the date?

>>2016745

Well, I hope things go even better soon.

>>2016781
Similar yes, but never exact.

>>2016789
>What did we avoid?
Not sure, perhaps the assistance of the tengu would have had dividends.

>>2016789
You certainly did, and a few other things as well. But a date is essentially delving into the best of the good stuff, and all that goodness and joy and luck goes somewhere - Ryukusa's life can never be balanced enough for her to live in absolute happiness until the quest ends.

As for what you avoided: you made a set of powerful alliances that would have resulted in a great deal of personal power for Ryukusa....which you then avoided using like the plague. So you spent a huge amount of good stuff for incredibly useful and potent powers which she then did not acquire.

The end result was she took a huge hit into the bad stuff with no appreciable benefit. So she has this nebulous cloud of reward hanging over her head and it has no where to currently go, because she can't pick and chose how to spend it directly or consciously.

>>2016810
The tengu cannot phsycially do anything - all the assistance would have been in the form of personal gifts.

>>2016820
>As for what you avoided: you made a set of powerful alliances that would have resulted in a great deal of personal power for Ryukusa....which you then avoided using like the plague. So you spent a huge amount of good stuff for incredibly useful and potent powers which she then did not acquire.

XS, that's indicative of like every quest ever written, anons are STINGY they will always horde until forced otherwise.

>>2016820

Well maybe I'm a bit slow tonight, but aside from the Tengu, I genuinely have no idea which alliance we've done , and even less how they would have resulted in a lot of incredibly useful and potent personal power.

Let alone how we avoided acquiring them

>>2016831

No, really, I have no idea we had anything to spend our Stuff on. You're not hoarding money if you don't see the store.

>>2016848
It's pretty typical for XS quests, I love her but she makes her choices confusing as possible because they're covered in purple so deep the king uses it for his boxers

>>2016831
Except hording demonstrably doesn't work in this quest unfortunately, which is why I posted the reminder, as well as the warning of why the next votes will be a little stranger than usual.

All of Ryukusa's powers, gifts, weapons, and allies outside her 'family' (and including two of them) are the result of immediate expenditures of good stuff to immediate and permanent gains of power, people, tools and toys.

I'm not saying anon did wrong. They are obviously allowed to do what they did. The repercussions are a result of the mechanics of the game, and it's been a very long time since anon was reminded that in Ryukusa Quest, hording power doesn't help Ryukusa, but harms her and her cause. Power and gifts are meant to be used (case in point, the Wishing Jewel), and not using it annoys those who grant it to her (or sometimes the objects themselves, case in point Buki). Kami do not have long memories, and they are fickle and whimsical creatures, not like sane beings at all.

So, no, anon did not fuck up, they just flexed the the rules, and the rules will push back firmly but not dangerously until all is right in the universe once more.

>>2016857

I can usually understand the choices pretty clearly, but here I get the impression I'm not even seeing any choice.

Really I'm lost

>>2016867

>
I'm not saying anon did wrong. They are obviously allowed to do what they did. The repercussions are a result of the mechanics of the game, and it's been a very long time since anon was reminded that in Ryukusa Quest, hording power doesn't help Ryukusa, but harms her and her cause. Power and gifts are meant to be used (case in point, the Wishing Jewel), and not using it annoys those who grant it to her (or sometimes the objects themselves, case in point Buki). Kami do not have long memories, and they are fickle and whimsical creatures, not like sane beings at all.

So, no, anon did not fuck up, they just flexed the the rules, and the rules will push back firmly but not dangerously until all is right in the universe once more.

XS, I'm really sorry if I'm annoying you, but could you PLEASE be clearer?

I have genuinely, honestly 0 idea what you're talking about and it's starting to make me feel like I'm a weirdo.

When did we refuse to get allies, personal power or tools? I've seen no vote about that at any point in the date. The Tengu excepted

>>2016844
Nailed it on the head.

Tengu made an alliance, offered you their 'help' and you refused four times to use it.

Again, nothing wrong with that, it's just working agaisnt the system in place, both that of the world Ryukusa lives in, and the mechanics. They're not designed to cope with hoarding.

>>2016890
Honestly I'm not sure what Tengus help would look like in a combat scenario. Or at all. If I saw some angle where it was a good idea I might have gone with it.

>>2016902
Tengu are clearly like a multitool, just toss them at whatever and it'll probably work!

>>2016902
The tengu, being true kami, cannot physically appear or help in any way. So their 'help' will come in the form of instruction, advice, tutelage; or as gifts, either physical, mental, power, or as items granted.

>>2016914
Heh, powerful but open ended is just the thing that tends to get hoarded. But with this reminder I think we'll be a bit quicker to call on it in the future. Still, I think I'll still be glad we put it off it ends up being a trickier scenario than running up against a pure bruiser.

>>2016902
Anon, they are a group of warrior Kami.

They were mildly annoyed that such an abomination was running around in their vicinity, and offered to help Ryu crush it.

Being Kami they didn’t feel the need to spell this out.

Ryu for her part (at anons insisting the offer be saved) chose to fight the hard way and got badly hurt by Hiei Who Should Not Be.

Now that it’s dead the source of the Tengu’s irritation is likely gone as well. They may spare a brief inquisitive thought about it, then go on their merry way.

They might not even REMEMBER promising to help Ryu because, in their opinion, she chose to deal with it herself. Good on her. Why is she asking for help with this OTHER abomination? She has proven herself a great warrior, what need has she of help?

>>2016940
Fortunately, while they may not understand the reasoning, they will remember their offer to help. the help may be different than what was intended, but they wll still help.

Remember, there is no non-rewarded expenditure of good stuff. There must be a permanent and useful trade involved (such as expending the Wishing Gem, and gaining a n actual demigod sister and the Five-Ghost-Chain).

There is never a 'you totally lose out' option in this game, only a 'well you dodn't get this but you get this equally interesting/cool/powerful thing instead' or 'you are discarding this powerful thing you bought with good stuff, so here is a replacement, which is not even remotely related but just as valuable'.

Ryukusa must always gain in equal value to good stuff spent, even if it is not exactly in equivalent items.

>>2016973
>Five-Ghost-Chain
Is this another sunk cost we've been avoiding too much? I'm never sure when it's a good idea.

>>2016890

Well... color me puzzled, then, because we've kept things in reserve plenty of time. We've yet to use Go-Yurei-no-Rensa to call our sister for her, for exemple, or to use that shark-youkai blood. To say nothing of allies.

I thought you just included "Ask the tengu for help" in this fight because they had been mentioned in the thread earlier.

And as tough as this guy was, this really didn't seem like the fight to use this favor (also, given they're demon-hunting Kami, I half-expected the Tengu to manifest themselves whenever they thought it was for the best, regardless of Ryukusa's opinion on the matter).

I mean, even withoutt me thinking Ryoga probably has more abominations to throw at us, we have the Mill Pond Demon to deal with, and everything indicates this confrontation is going to be tough for Ryukusa.

And even if Kami can be fickle, you've said alliences from Good Stuff were permanent, yet apparently it doesn't apply to the Tengu in particular?

>>2016914
>The tengu, being true kami, cannot physically appear or help in any way.

We've drank sake with a true kami just before going to the play, though. Seemed pretty physical, given your description of him making sure no one noticed the giant guy with the big sword.


>so their 'help' will come in the form of instruction, advice, tutelage; or as gifts, either physical, mental, power, or as items granted.

Well, if you want to resolve the Stuff inbalance, you could simply say that the Tengu show up after the fight, tell Ryukusa it was good, but that she was prideful for not calling for their help, and then rewarding her for the fight to honor their side of the alliance on their term.

File: You Crazy Girl.gif (1.32 MB, 500x280)

1.32 MB GIF

>>2016940
Bonus points for finding the hidden phrase.

>>2016888
>XS, I'm really sorry if I'm annoying you, but could you PLEASE be clearer?
This is a quest about Shinto religious stuff. That would be against the point.

>>2016982
It's only a sunk cost until you use it. Not using it costs nothing, and gains Ryukusa nothing, but remember - such things cannot be 'spent', only exchanged for equivalent value ( see >>2016973 ). While a single use is only a part of the value of the Wishing Gem, use of all five equals one half the wishing gem's value - the other half being a demigod sister who loves Ryukusa and will help her.

We should invite the Tengu to a party. Or maybe a tea ceremony.

Doubt they'd come, but eh.

>>2016989
>Seemed pretty physical

>Tengu show up after the fight, tell Ryukusa it was good, but that she was prideful for not calling for their help, and then rewarding her for the fight to honor their side of the alliance on their term.
Kami don't think/work that way. They can't - if they could, the real world of humans would be a constant disaster area, because of how pervasive and unthining kami are. That's the entire purpose of spirit-children existing - to interact with humans in the place of kami. Susano-Oh wasn't material - nor were the tengu. They appeared and acted like physical beings but they were spirits playing their parts and doing their things. Ryukusa was a witness, a tool, a being of interest, and needed guidance. Susano-Oh and the Tengu interacted with Ryukusa on that basis - but Ryukusa interacted with them like they were people, because that's how they seem to her.

Kiku-chan could explain in more depth.

>>2017023
Party? Unlikely. Tea Ceremony? They conduct those at shrines to them, as well as performing kata and ritual dance and sword-fights. But no one would notice them, except Kiku-chan, unless they had a need to be manifest. they would still be immaterial spirits, unless one possessed a priest or priestess.

As long as we're on the subject, what might come up soon where the concerns of the Tengu are relevant?

>>2017039

Fair enough. Thanks a lot.

>>2017045

Aside from Ryoga having convinced someone more dangerous than a mid-level Yakuza to sponsor his Abomination-creating plan? There the Mill Pond Demon and the apparent curse around the issue.

>>2017045
That is very diffcult to say, because kami don't think like humans or spirit-children. They have several 'modes of thought' and they are applicable in different situations.

Traditionally, Kami possess two souls, one gentle (nigi-mitama) and the other assertive (ara-mitama); additionally in Yamakage Shinto kami have two additional souls that are hidden, one happy (sachi-mitama) and one mysterious (kushi-mitama).

It is safe to say the Yamakage version is the applicable one. Obviously Ryukusa revers and appreciates them, and made offerings, so they are undoubtedly appeased. However, they are still bound by the duty they have no fulfilled, so they will wait until a correct and proper opportunity comes.

>>2017093
>>2017045
You are also forgetting the Iron Shadow demons that made Yuuhi-chan into a nucleomituphobe. Kiku-chan suggested (almost requested) they should be destroyed as well.

>>2016992
I thought it was clever.

But to clarify, there does always exist the possibility that Ryukusa will fall irretrievably into Very Bad Things?

Not death per se, but being tossed into one of the oh so many Hells, or prevented from interacting with the world (a small loss) and her family (unthinkable loss).

>>2017130
That makes me wonder what our Stuff looked like when we got banished to the outer realms.

>>2017130
No, because Bad stuff is 'bought off' by the bad things happening to her. Bad things can't last forever, and she cannot 'overspend'. She will suffer a while, regain Good Stuff, and find a reason or need to spend it.

>Not death per se, but being tossed into one of the oh so many Hells, or prevented from interacting with the world (a small loss) and her family (unthinkable loss).
That already happened to her. The net result was several lifetimes of experience, two true kami and an incredibly powerful and deadly form of protection for Kiki-hime, and the revelation that Kinashut Kamuy is fighting agaisnt the priestess who possesses her (thought that came at a much later date).

With that, I bid good night, though I'll check back periodically to answer any further questions.

>>2017111

Haven't forgotten them, but with those we wanted our sister's help