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>Current Arc: Hunter Exam

The Hunter Association is an organization of the best and brightest humanity has to offer. They tasked with the duty of protecting the people, knowledge and culture of world while preserving the natural world and defending it from those who would do it harm.

To become a hunter one must pass a test known as the Hunter Exam. The Hunter Exam is a test that happens once every year, typically in the first week of January. it is known to have an extremely low pass rate of 1 in 10,000 and a high mortality rate.

The Exam is a set of physical, mental and possibly even spiritual tests to find only the best of the best among the contestants. Failure almost always means death and those who take it are always pushed to their limits and even further beyond.

But those who pass the test are renown as the elite of humanity and are given a hunter license. This license grants them access to 90% of the entire world, 75% access to restricted places in the world, free use of all public utilities, almost 0 legal consequences for murder and most importantly, A lifetime of wealth.

Those who pass will granted passage to a future that any and all living beings would dream of. Can you grasp such a future with your bare hands?

Intro:

https://youtu.be/_uQ3zOQt_p8

Quest Archive:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=hunter%20x%20hunter%20quest

Combat rules:

https://pastebin.com/XqaRwd7j

>Last time of Hunter x Hunter quest

After surviving his encounter with a group of violent psychopaths called the Blackwood gang, Derrick rescues a man named Johnnie Darby who he promises to take home.

Derrick attempts to make his way to the Moonlight Forest in order to reach the Hunter Exam. However, along the way he realizes that he had suffered too much damage in the last fight and reaching his objective would have been impossible whilst he carried Darby on his back.

That’s when he meets Etheline Brooks who comes blazing down the road to the Moonlight Forest on her strange metal war machine.

Derrick is suspicious of her at first. But she proves herself an ally quickly when she heals his wounds and gives Darby a chance to turn his life around by offering the kind fool a chance to work for a multi-million dollar company as a tech researcher.

Afterwards, Derrick and Etheline enter the Moonlight Forest and find themselves amazed at the sheer beauty of the tall dark woods. They look around to find the train that would lead them to the Hunter Exam site. They head to the west in hopes that it would lead them to their destination however they only find disappointment and doubt when they find another contestant in danger and end up rescuing her.

The rescued contestant called herself Vanilla Clayton, who you suspect to be some kind cannibalistic plant lady, but that’s up still under discussion.

After failing to find the train tracks and reaching their of objective, Derrick and Etheline lose sight of where to go next, which is when Vanilla presents them with a set of pictures that show all the contestants that have entered the forest thus far.

While many notable individuals were scattered Among the photos, one in particular stood out to Derrick. One of the pictures show a young woman who looks exactly like Rea Springfield, a friend whose been missing since your encounter with the Blackwood gang. However the woman has one distinct difference from your lost teammate. Her red-colored hair.

Who is that red-haired woman? Is she Rea Springfield? Will they be able reach the tracks in the time left?

Let's see if you have what it takes to seek the truth to these questions.

[Spoiler] And the stomach to handle them.[Spoiler]

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Now comes the wait for people to file in...

>>2032792
here

>>2032792
Oh god I thought you died!!

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>>2033393
HOPE NEVER DIES.

As long as there are those that shall, so shall i write. Never forget that anon.

Seems I've chosen to run at a terrible time, there will be more traffic tomorrow, so i'll run properly then.

But for now, as an apology to the anons who have been waiting, i shall post the write few parts.

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You look to the picture in your hand with a deep inquisitive stare. The woman in this photo bares a disturbingly striking resemblance to your missing teammate Rea Springfield.

Her outfit, her face, her eyes, her weapon, even her stance is the same. But when you look at her hair, you can tell this is not the same woman you traveled with you. One after the other, you see the differences pop up.

putting aside her strange hair, the state of her suit is far too clean, You never saw Rea after the battle ended, however you did see her dive through a window and roll around in cracked concrete before you fought with Blackwood. Her clothes should have dirt and blood on it from the people she shot and yet her suit is as clean as can be. There’s no way she could have carrying a change of clothes like you were, she had neither the means nor place to pack them with her and even if she did change her clothes, that doesn’t explain why or how she dyed her hair.

“-y”, It’d make sense if she was trying to hide her identity, but from who? “-ey.” She killed all of the Blackwood gang, so it can’t be them. Is it another contestant? Maybe the man who was spying on you? But that guy was mainly stalking you and you lost him back at Barry's street.

“Hey.” You don’t want to consider it, but maybe she’s hiding from you. You have no idea why she left without you in the first place after all. You only assumed it was just her way of telling you to not waste time and catch up to her. But what if she’s not waiting for you?

Darby told you she slaughtered 60 people with an invisible monster. No, rather that SHE was a monster. You just wrote it off as Darby being a delirious idiot, but maybe he was speaking the truth?

“Hey.” There’s so much you don’t even know about Rea, you trusted and fought alongside her, but was she fighting with you? Or was she just using you and you took it as friendship?

“Hey!” What if you were lied to? “Hey!” What if Rea’s really a monster? What if- “HEY!”

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You feel a sudden burst of pain to the back of your head. You quickly realize you’ve just been slapped in the back of the head. You turn your head to see Etheline standing behind you after she had to jump up to smack you in the back of the head. Etheline’s face showing an angry pout, her cheeks puffing out as she holds her hand out to slap you again.

You quickly put your hands up in defense and speak, “W-Wait! Hold it, I’m focusing now.” that last skull-shaking strike brought you back to reality, you didn't need another.

Etheline pulls her hand back and sighs, “You worried me for a second there. You’ve been spacing out ever since you looked at that girl’s photo, do you recognize her? Is she a friend?”.

You want to say yes but you’re honestly not sure yourself anymore. Regardless, you shake your head and speak, “She looks a lot like a friend(?) of mine but this isn’t her.”

At least you don’t think it’s her anyway. Rea didn’t seem like the kinda girl to dye her hair at random and certainly not to such a flashy color, she hated standing out too much because how paranoid she was about being targeted.

But you just can’t deny the uncanny likeness, the more you stare, the more you feel like you’re staring at your lost ally. Could she be some kind of twin? Just some random look-like? You know far too little about Rea to even guess who this person is and you don't have enough time to think on it either.

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While you rack your brain for some answers, Vanilla gets tired of waiting and speaks up, “Well look at you pretty boy, you’ve got so many ladies around you that you can’t even tell which is which anymore. While I would love to hear more about your romantic misadventures, we’re starting to run out of time. So I think we should get moving.” She says while tapping her foot at comically fast speed.

The sarcasm sure doesn't help. But she’s completely right, sitting around and thinking about mysteries you have no way of understanding is both a waste of time and energy. You stuff the pictures in your hand into your back pocket and walk over to Etheline.

“I think it about time we get going, has anything changed on the radar?” you ask as Etheline proceeds call Muma over. She then checks the digital map on her phone, She speaks in an inquisitive tone, “Quite a bit has changed in the last hour. It seems that blip to the east is beginning to head back to the center of forest, however his movement is a little erratic which is strange considering he has no magical beast around him." She says while twisting her head.

She continues on after a moment, "I think pretty safe to assume that east is a dead-end considering the man to the east hasn't found anything. Aside from that, there are two more blips that have been identified as human, they just entered the forest a few moments ago.”

“Two more blips? Seems a few contestants are beginning to arrive now.” You state.

“All the more reason for us to get moving, not every contestant is as kind and trustworthy as myself you know.” Vanilla says.

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“Fine then, Seems like we really can’t afford to waste any more time anyway.” You concede and look to Etheline. She calls Muma back and cancels scouting mode on the machine. She then gets on top of the machine and waits for you to join her.

You proceed to get on top of Muma and ready yourself to blast off, full speed back into the forest but then realize that Vanilla still hasn’t gotten on, “What are you waiting for? Hop on.”

You tap the empty spot left on Muma’s top, she walks up to Muma and gives a sharp whistle as she examines it, “I saw this thing jumping around earlier, thought it was some magical beast. But now I can tell it’s some kind of scouting drone isn’t it? Which one of you owns it?” She says as she runs her hand along the exterior of the machine.

Etheline gives a proud smile, “That would be me. She’s my greatest work and one of my dearest friends. I developed her from the ground up with my own two hands! Her name’s M.U.M.A.S.U. But you can call her Muma.”

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“That’s real impressive pinkie, this metal feels like Slat plating for fighting off bullets and heavy explosives. However this isn’t the main plating is it? This is too thin, you’re using this as Applique armor right?” She says with a confidant voice.

“You’re exactly right! The slate plating is for dealing with heavy firearms and light explosives, however it has been made thin to make space for the Dynamic armor beneath, I put conductive sheets between the two different armors and sprinkled conductive material through the slate armor which allows electricity flow freely through it, up to 1200 volts. If any intense physical force strikes against the slate armor, like an RPG or a person hitting the exterior, then it will send out an electric shock strong enough to disrupt the explosive mechanisms or knock a person out cold. You seem to knowledge to figure that out!” Etheline states with an impressed look in her eye.

“Well I used to work in the military. Specifically the engineering and ballistics department. I use to work on tanks and jeeps so you pick up a thing or two. You’re really clever though, with that setup you can cover both long range and close range heavy weapons at the same time. this thing is like a miniature tank. What did you say your name was again?” She asks, a smile forming on her face.

“Etheline Brooks.”

“Brooks….?” You notice a strange look in her eyes as she speaks her last name aloud. She closes her one good eye and speaks, “That’s a good name. I think you and me might be good friends.” She speaks with a sweet smile behind her closed eye, it both extremely appealing and weirdly unsettling, but that just might be all the scars covering her face.

Regardless, Etheline smiles back and nods her head, “Now get on! we can discuss the finer intricacies of tank design and physics on the way.” With that, Vanilla gets on Muma and hugs your waist. Muma dashes off into the forest at full speed make you nearly fall off, but your keep balance by hugging tightly on Etheline's waist, she remains completely unshaken, even going at this insane speed.

Etheline brings out phone and checks the map. You wait for Etheline to say something as you enjoy the sweet and soft feeling of being sandwiched between two girls.

Etheline speaks, “I think it’s pretty obvious that the train is hidden somewhere to the north, more than likely where all those stationary blips are located seeing as they still haven’t moved even after all this time.”

“No new changes?” you ask.

“Well, the blip to the east suddenly stopped moving for some reason while the other blips that entered the forest are moving towards the north, but aren’t anywhere close to us. I don’t think either will really delay us from reaching our goal. The blips to the north are the farthest away from us, so we should hurry along to the north before our remaining time runs out.” She starts to put in the coordinates to north.

Etheline’s right, with the West route being a dead-end and the east blip’s movements clearly indicate that they looked around and failed to find anything, however the lack of movements for the eastern blip is disturbing, why they suddenly stop moving entirely? Could they be trapped like Vanilla? Does it even matter? More than likely the correct path is the north.

The other contestants are beginning flood in so…

>Time remaining: 2 Hours

Where do you go?

>North: You have neither the time nor energy to waste doing anything else. You should head to the objective as soon as possible.

>East: You feel bothered by the lack of movement from the eastern blip, could they have found something? Could something be stopping them? You aren’t absolutely certain that the north is the right way, so you need to go, just to be certain.

[5 votes permitted]

(Will be posted in the morning)

>>2033722
>>North: You have neither the time nor energy to waste doing anything else. You should head to the objective as soon as possible.

>>2033722
>>East: You feel bothered by the lack of movement from the eastern blip, could they have found something? Could something be stopping them? You aren’t absolutely certain that the north is the right way, so you need to go, just to be certain.

Reckless protagonist engage!

>>2033722
>North: You have neither the time nor energy to waste doing anything else. You should head to the objective as soon as possible.

>>2033722
>North
Glad you're back QM.

>>2034112
>>2033735
>>2033743
>>2034047
Glad to be back.

>TO THE NORTH

>writing

There’s no point in going anywhere else now, you’re certain that north is the way to go. You look to Etheline and speak, “Let’s get moving, straight to the north. How long will it take to reach our objective?” you ask.

Etheline nods and explains, “There are 2 blips to the north, they haven’t moved an inch since we scanned the area. Not only that, but any non-humans creatures are straying away from that area, which leads me to believe they haven’t been trapped like Vanilla was and rather are being protected from any hungry magical beasts. but that leads to it's own problems." She states with a worried edge to her voice.

"Problems? What kind of problems? are we talking quick bump in the road problems?" Vanilla asks with a hopeful tone.

"More extreme maiming and possible death problems." Etheline says in a brutally finalizing tone. She continues, "Because of all the magical beasts straying away from the area, they've become something like a giant wall between us and our objective. If we head to the north it is very likely we will attack by some of these creatures."

"We have no way of telling when their going to attack?" you ask.

She answers, "There are so many of them that it's hard to tell which ones are predators and which ones are just creatures passing by. I'm sorry, but we can't use Muma to see detect hostile threats. We'll have to keep a watchful eye if we don't want to get ambushed." She says in an apologetic tone.

You think for a moment and then ask one last question, "How long will we be travelling?"

"It would take an hour for us to our objective.”

You nod your head and speak, “Then we have no time to waste. Let’s get moving.” You in a confidant tone.

You hear Vanilla whistle again, "Most men would quiver in their boots hearing that they might get jumped, you're really one A+ man Derrick." She says in an impressed tone.

You blush a little at her compliment and fix your collar to try and hide it.

Afterwards. You see Etheline punch in the coordinates for the north and feel as Muma sets off towards your objective. You bring your Duffle bag from your shoulder and let it rest in-front of you as you think of what to do next.

Muma dashes and maneuvers through the maze-like forest with ease, Etheline and Vanilla have broken into some kind of talk about Wiring and locking mechanisms that you neither understand nor care about.

You sort through your bag and grab some energy bars and water, a small meal, and probably the only thing you'll get to eat considering the circumstances. You have one hour before you reach the north.

What will you do?

>Talk to your allies

>check your equipment

>>2034828
>>check your equipment

>>2034828
>check equipment
also
>you guys want a bite?

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>>2034842
>>2035248

You decide to not intervene between the two girls conversation and get on with your own business.

You un-zip your duffle bag and check the contents. You still got enough fresh food and snacks in here to last you 2 week. Inside you've also got 4 large water bottles, Canned food, A small portable cooking set, a few changes of clothes and various different outfits to change into for any situation, a laptop and charger, a stack of 50 arrows complete with a holster and a pouch for your bow and 3 different pairs of combat gloves in case of the other pair being ruined along with a medical kit.

That’s all the stuff you brought yourself. However, you do have a few things you received along the way from other people: you’ve got a map from the preliminary exams that hold hints to the various locations of the hunter exam and a strange weapon from Rea before she left you behind.

You’ve already examined the map, so you needn’t read that over again, however this weapon is still a mystery to you….

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You hold up the weapon without taking out of the bag, letting the dim light of the passing fireflies to examine the strange weapon.

At first glance, the weapon appears to be a pistol that resembles a Five-Seven with no real special attachments to it. Rea handed to you during the fight with Blackwood and said that you should only use it during times of emergency and never reveal until then. Back then, she had slipped into your jacket and you could only make out the vague shape of it, but now that you're looking at it, it really doesn't feel or look like anything other then some random gun (Though it's surprisingly clean and maintained)

But there's no way that Rea would just hand you some average pistol, especially if she made such a big deal of hiding from anyone but you till now.

You’d take the gun out and examine it fully, but you don’t want to show a weapon you don’t even fully understand to anyone else. (Plus you don’t want to have to explain why you’re suddenly pulling a gun out your bag.)

Looks like you'll have to give this baby the Derrick special. You pull yourself closer and examine the pistol and find...

>Roll 1d100(+10) to examine the gun

>No DC, the higher you get, the more facts you learn

Rolled 63 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2035525

Rolled 37 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2035525

Rolled 48 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2035525

>>2035534
>>2035563
>>2035858

>Rolled 74
>Close, but no cigar.
>Writing

You look closely at pistol in your hands. However the dim light makes it downright impossible to notice any finer details, you decide to take a bit of a risk by pulling the gun out of your bag and pulling it out into the open air, using your body to keep it hidden, it wasn't much better then when it was in the bag but you still notice something. Two things in fact.

First, This gun is extremely light, it’s feels like it weighs virtually nothing in your hands, the Five-Seven is quite light on its own, most of its weight comes from the number of bullets which can go up to 30 per magazine. But even with the clip inside it, it feels weightless in your hands. Is the magazine empty? You silently press the magazine release and slide the magazine from the gun.

What you see inside makes you pause for a moment. The bullets within are nothing like you’ve ever seen before, and you’ve seen A LOT of bullets in your life. the bullets themselves look extremely strange, it has a hollow-point tip but no casing making, instead it’s littered with holes all across the surface of the bullet where the casing should be.

It looks like a half-finished, naked bullet that would break apart in the barrel the second the primer was lit. However, it's the second thing you notice that makes you realize the truth of it's design. You take one of the bullets from the clip and sniff it.

You smell the acrid scent of ethane and Ethylene along with a faint smell of hydrogen sulfur. This is Liquid Petroleum. More specifically, there's liquid Petroleum in these bullets.

The hell did this mean? Why the hell was there petroleum in bullets?. Is it some kind of incendiary round? No, this doesn't look like any incendiary round you've ever seen, plus most incendiaries use hydrogen gas to light their bullets, Liquid Petroleum is the same stuff that people use to light stoves and fuel industrial machines.

Why would Rea hand you this.... As you think about that, another mystery reveals itself to you. This is a standard Five-Seven clip, a maximum capacity of 10 rounds, you know there are no modifications, you would have noticed them. however, when you look inside,you count 2 rounds missing from this clip, this means that this gun has been fired before, Twice at that.

Rea was the one that handed this gun to and she never showed it to anyone else, that means only she could have fired it. Who did she shoot it at? Why did she shoot it? Why use this gun? She had others after all.

these questions rush into your mind one by one as you discover this. However one questions stands above all the others.

Why did she give it to you

This is a used weapon, a weapon has only one purpose, to kill or attack. but then Where? When? Who? Was it back on the ship? you were with her during the trip to Barry's street, so there's no way she did it then or after.

You get overwhelmed by the implications of this weapons true nature and purpose. So much so that you don't even notice that Vanilla is reaching her hand around you to grab the gun.

Wait what?

(Continued tomorrow)

Damn that took awhile.

>Back

>Writing

>>2037360
welcome back!

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You barely react in time to grab Vanilla's hand and stop her before she pulls the weapon from your hand. You expected her to react loudly, however instead she leans in close to you and whispers into your ears.

She speaks next to your ear, "I was wondering why you were so silent. Is this your weapon? Weird, you didn't seem like the kind of guy who fights from a distance."

You attempt reply to her statement, however she speaks again before you can answer, "So why do have a gun in your bag? How'd you sneak it by airport security? Guns are banned in Zaban, and for the Hunter Exam, something like an un-silenced pistol seems more troublesome than helpful, so why are you carrying one?" She asks with a suspicious edge to her voice.

You were hoping to not have to show this weapon to anyone until absolutely necessary. But how'd she notice? Even if you were being quiet, you should have looked like you were just checking your equipment.

"The smell." She answers, seeming to read your mind.

"You were wondering how I noticed right? Etheline won't notice it because the intense winds are blowing the smell away from her, but the smell was blowing right towards me, there's no way I wouldn't notice. Especially not with the distinct scent Liquid Petroleum." She answers.

You were so engrossed by your discovery you didn't even think of that, She can read you like an open book. You feel a slight drop of sweat run down your face, Vanilla speaks again, "No need to be so nervous. I'm just curious why you have someone else's weapon on you. You wouldn't try and examine your own weapon for so long after all, so this can't be your gun right? if so, who are you carrying it for? Why?" She asks, leaning even closer to you.

How do you respond?

>Lie: You don't want to reveal the true nature of this gun until the you fully understand it. Besides, You can understand her questioning of you but her behavior feels a bit off.... You'd best lie for now.

>Half-Truth: You don't need to give the whole truth, just enough to get her off your back. Literally. After that you might be able to discuss it with her.

>Full-truth: Why are you even being so secretive about this damn thing? You should just tell her what you know about it and maybe you can figure it out together.

>>2037609
>>Half-Truth: You don't need to give the whole truth, just enough to get her off your back. Literally. After that you might be able to discuss it with her.

>>2037609
>Half-Truth: You don't need to give the whole truth, just enough to get her off your back. Literally. After that you might be able to discuss it with her.

Well just say it isn't ours and we got it from a friend, from which we were splited. Just holding the gun for him.

>>2037614
>>2037633

>Half-truths make the best lies
>Writing

You think for a moment about what to say next, you don't understand the nature of this weapon, with a little extra help you might hit a breakthrough. At the same time, you've only just met this woman a few minutes ago, telling her everything just isn't something you can do. But lying would only lead to greater problems down the road.

So decide to comprise, "A friend of mine handed this off to me. He told me that if i was ever in trouble, I should use this to pull my ass from the fire."

Vanilla's eyes sharpen like blades as she thinks on your statement for a moment, after a good 30 seconds she asks a question, "Where is this friend now? And how'd he bring a gun here?"

You answer quickly, "He went ahead of me while we were travelling here and i haven't seen him since. And I don't know, all he told me was that he 'had his methods'". Vanilla goes into thinking again. Everything you've said is the truth, The only strange part about your statements is that you mixed the sequence of events a little and you won't name your friend. But if she asked about that, you can just make up a name or tell her to mind her own business.

Instead, she asks one final question, "Your friend handed you a strange gun from a source he can't name and you took it anyway? What kind of friends do you have?" This time she asks with less suspicion and more astonishment.

You can't help but laugh a little at that, "I ask that question everyday.". That answer was rather lacking, but if the smile on her face was any indication, she satisfied by that. She leans off your back, but doesn't remove her hand from the pistol.

She speaks again, "Well maybe I can help you answer that question, Seems your a little confused on how this thing works. I happen to have a little experience when it comes to ballistics, so might be able to shed some light on your mystery." She says with a wry smile

You see nothing wrong with the idea and let the gun slide from your hand and allow her to pull the clip with it. You look behind you as she examines it. She looks the gun from head-to-toe and seems to find nothing of interest on it, she then moves onto the clip and it's bullets.

She pulls a bullet out from the clip and you see as her eyes widen in surprise, "Did you find something?" you ask. As you speak to her, her face quickly goes back to her normal, deadpan expression, "Yeah, you might want to ask your friend who his supplier is."

You're confused for a moment about she means, then she suddenly shoves the bullet into under your nose. Your about to jerk back as the acidic scent of petroleum and it's foul chemicals invade your nose. However, you catch another scent, one ,much fainter and much that wasn't all you smelled. you take another painful sniff and realize that, underneath all the scents, it kinda smelt like garlic.

Wait, garlic?

Vanilla detects that you've caught her meaning and speaks, "That's right Derrick. That's white phosphorus."

You almost pull your face back in panic, but Vanilla puts a hand to your chest to calm you down, "Don't worry, it hasn't been ignited yet. Don't be jumpy you might trigger it." she says in a deadly calm voice.

You weren't even remotely jumpy, it's only natural that you'd want to be as far away from that stuff as you could. Back in much earlier wars, this was the stuff people used to take down military aircraft and turn people into hard charcoal.

It was so brutal and effective that it was declared illegal to use it, even during times of war, because it's effects were so cruel that people deemed it too brutal a weapon to use, even against your worst enemy.

Vanilla has an exasperated look on her face, "So much for pulling your ass from the fire, you put this stuff in your back pocket and you'd sooner light your own ass on fire." she said, playing the deadly pyrotechnics off as a joke.

"How are you so calm? you're the one holding that miniature napalm strike" you ask, the fear slipping into your voice.

She answers, "This bullet's casing is made of a flame-retardant material and the inner mechanisms are keeping the phosphorus burning."

"What?" you say, barely understanding half of those ballistic buzzwords.

She pulls you closer to the bullet and begins to explain, "Okay, how much do you know about white phosphorus and how bullets are fired." she asks.

"I know that even small amounts of the stuff can sear a human's skin off in a matter of seconds and that smells like garlic when it's ready to be lit. And bullets are fired when the hammer or firing pin of a gun strikes the primer of the bullet after the trigger is pulled." you state confidently.

"You're exactly right, however you missed a vital feature of white phosphorus. Namely, you missed the part where it glows in the dark when it's exposed to oxygen." she says while pointing inside one of the bullet's holes.

You quickly notice why she made that part sound so important. While there is some light from the fireflies, it's still quite dark around you. And you yet you don't see any kind of glow from within or outside the bullet, Vanilla speaks again, "Do you get it now? We know that there's phosphorus in this thing, however we can't see any trace of it on the bullet itself. This mean't one of two things." She held up two fingers.

"A. There was no phosphorus and we are just imagining things. Or B. The phosphorus is inside the bullet, but for some reason, oxygen can't reach it."

Brings her fingers down and continues, "For the explanation sake, let's just assume B. is the right answer. Why can't oxygen reach the inside of the bullet, there are even open-air holes for it to enter through? the answer is simple." she breaks a small smile.

"Something is blocking it."

(Continued)

The true workings of the bullet begin to make sense to you as you gather the implications of that idea, you quickly begin to piece it all together and speak, "If something is blocking oxygen entering the bullet despite it's holes, it meant that something we can't see was placed between the phosphorous and the air, and because of it, it was impossible for it to light without some extreme force, pushing it in." you state.

Vanilla shakes her head at your answer then smiles, "Everything you said is logical. But you're wrong about one thing, the air isn't being forced into the bullet. It's being allowed in."

You get confused again, to which Vanilla begins to explains again with a small laugh, " This is where bullet firing mechanisms come back into play. You already stated how the primer is lit to fire the bullet, but you forgot to mention how the casing is removed to allow the bullet to fly and pierce it's target."

She brings up the bullet again and runs a gloved finger along it, "It's a bit hard to tell, but this bullet actually has three layers too it. First is the casing, while it looks like a naked bullet, there's actually an extremely thin bronze casing that been made to fit the bullet's shape. second is a little more complex, there seems to metal that's been coated in liquid petroleum, hence the smell, and the third layer is the petroleum itself, which acts like a casing for the white phosphorous below it by trapping the oxygen before it has a chance to enter."

And with that, you finally fully understand what she means, you speak, confidence in your voice, "Now I get it. That's why you had me talk about the primer." you start.

Vanilla continues, "When the primer is lit, it will release not only the outer casing, but the liquid casing as well. In essence, when this gun fires a bullet, the bullet light the petroleum coating its insides and propel itself forward with insane speed, once that's been burned out it in a few seconds, the white phosphorus will ignite and burn anything it comes in contact with to ash." she states, revealing the secret behind the weapon's function.

You are both horrified and impressed by this woman's analytical and technological prowess. Despite her one eye and lack of depth perception, she was still able to figure all of that out with only a single examination.

However, this feels like it isn't the first time you've seen these kind of skills in action before. But you can't quite remember where...

Before your allowed to finish that thought, You hear Etheline turn around and speak, "Guys, If you have any weapons on you, you better ready them. We have a problem." She says with a disturbed tone.

You both look toward her and she continues, "We're about 30 minutes away from our objective." she states in a worried tone.

You and Vanilla look at each other and say, "Isn't that a good thing?" in unison. Etheline shakes her head, "Did you forget what I warned you about. We're nearing the mass of monster around the objective, I'd give us about 5 minutes before collision." She states. You grasp the seriousness of the situation at hand and reach for the gun in Vanilla's hand, but she jerks away before you can grab it.

You give her a confused look as she speaks quietly, "I think it's best if i hold onto this flamethrower." she states while looking you in the eye, you give her a questioning look and speak, "Um, why? I just learned how to properly use the damn thing." you ask.

Vanilla continues, "I'm no stickler for the rules, but weapons like this are illegal for a reason. I don't know what you're friend was thinking handing you this monster, If the hunter exam knew you were carrying this thing than they'd disqualify and throw you in state jail." She states.

"Huh? I thought the Hunter Exam allowed any and all weapons?" you ask.

"They do, the weapon itself is not the problem. It's the phosphorus. if they catch you handling that stuff for combat use, you'd be deemed a criminal and be taken from the exam for breaking international law. You'd have no choice but to be taken away by the authorities and fail the exam." She states with deadly seriousness.

She's not wrong, if you were to show the true nature of this weapon, it could get you branded an A-class criminal. Is this what Rea meant when she said use it only during emergencies? you want to believe that but.

As if sense the doubt in your eyes, Vanilla speaks up, "I don't want to act as if I know your friends.But I think he may have been trying to sabotage you." she says in clarifying tone. Sabotage you? There's no way. Is there?

As you struggle to find a counter-point, she continues, " I'm sorry if you really trust him that much. But if he can't even say how he's trafficking black-market chemicals. I think it's about time you start to choosing your friends wisely." She says in a wry tone.

Was Rea trying to sabotage you? After you've done together, you only knew her for two days but you shared so much with her. And helped you greatly in the beginning too. But maybe that was an act. Maybe you just wanted to believe you could find such a great ally so quickly. Maybe it was just you being gullible idiot, just like last time .

You feel old wounds mix with new ones as the sea of doubt from a few hours ago returns to you. As you mind is bombarded with a million different thoughts, Vanilla's voice cuts through and says, "So I think it's best if you just leave gun with me. If you carry it around, it'd just be a hassle. I'll find a proper place to destroy it when i have the chance. So i can i ask you to just let go?" She says in an unusually sweet tone.

What will you do?

>Let go: You'll only get in trouble if you hold onto that pistol. It's time to face the facts, whether she intended to or not, it seems Rea has been trying to sabotage you.

>Hold on: There's something wrong here, your mind is clouded and you can't think straight, you don't know whether Rea has betrayed you or not. But even than it would be better if you kept a hold of that pistol, just in case.

>>2038624
>>Let go: You'll only get in trouble if you hold onto that pistol. It's time to face the facts, whether she intended to or not, it seems Rea has been trying to sabotage you.

>>2038478
>Hold on: There's something wrong here, your mind is clouded and you can't think straight, you don't know whether Rea has betrayed you or not. But even than it would be better if you kept a hold of that pistol, just in case.

>>2038624
>>Hold on: There's something wrong here, your mind is clouded and you can't think straight, you don't know whether Rea has betrayed you or not. But even than it would be better if you kept a hold of that pistol, just in case.

>>2038634
>>2039142
>>2039465
I was just about to post about a stalemate and you jump in.

Nice one tourc.

I'll give the vote 10 more minutes, then i'll write.

>>2039473
I got you.

File: Derrick Holums14.jpg (81 KB, 448x500)

81 KB JPG

>That's my gun

You have no idea what to think anymore. Could Rea have betrayed you? Entirely possible, she made it quite obvious that she was the kind of person who'd do anything to win, even using others.

You've been betrayed once before and it left a deep scar on your life, one that may never truly heal. Because of that scar, you're driven to naturally doubt and avoid others. But even so, you can't help but give people a chance, no matter how cynical or pessimistic you become, it's impossible for you to just go ahead and treat everyone like an enemy.

And that why, "That's why I want that gun back, Vanilla." you say with determination in your eyes.

At first she seems confused by your statement, but she quickly gathers your meaning and speaks up, "So you're willing to trust someone who tried to sabotage you? Of all the things I thought you were, gullible wasn't one of them." she says as she tightens her grip around the pistol.

"It's not trust" you answer, "I don't actually know if i was betrayed. That thing may be a burden that will hinder me, or a trap meant to kill me. But I want to able to carry to my friend's face and confirm the truth for myself. All these 'what ifs' and 'maybes' are pissing me off. I want to be able to see the truth with my own eyes and grasp it with my hands. And i can't do that if I don't have proof to present." you say as you pull at the gun harder and bring it closer to you.

"That sounds like sentimentality to me." she says.

"Sentimentality? Since when has wanting to talk to a friend been sentimental?" You ask without even thinking about it.

The question gives her pause, after a moment, she finally lets go of the weapon and you fall back a little from the sudden lack of pull-back. She sighs and puts her hands up, "Don't blame me if you regret that choice. I would have thrown that thing away first chance I got." she says in an worn-out tone.

"Guess that's a big difference between us. I don't just throw away what's important just because they seem dangerous." you say back.

She looks you in the eye after you say that, you can see your own determined smile in the mirror of her brown eyes.

You stare at each other for what seems like an eternity, her unreadable eyes looking into your earnest ones, and for a moment, you almost feel like you see a flicker of emotion behind that dead-pan expression. Her face contorts for just a moment and in that moment you feel yourself get overwhelmed by a strange sense of fear.

Her face changed into smile, but not one of happiness. No, that was a smile of-

"GUYS, GET READY!!" Etheline's sudden shout breaks you from your train of thought and you turn your head to face her. You see nothing ahead of you and get confused for a moment.

You see her rapidly tapping at her screen in a panic as you speak to her, "What's wrong!? are we being attacked!" you ask.

"Yes!" she answers, "And not just that, it's-" She stops mid sentence as you notice it.

>Roll 1d4

>Good luck

Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>2039541

Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>2039541

File: Spoiler Image (298 KB, 536x556)

298 KB PNG

>>2039551
>Writing

File: aaaaaahhhhhh.gif (510 KB, 320x179)

510 KB GIF

>>2039579

>Rolled 4

Everything goes quiet. the forest becomes enveloped in an overwhelming silence that you didn't notice until now. The birds have stopped singing, the beasts have stopped howling, the critters have stopped whispering. All the sounds you would expect to hear in a forest has disappeared. the silence makes you and the rest of your group go still.

The only sounds that remain are the sounds of the wind blowing by your ears and Muma hydraulics kicking off the ground at full-speed towards your objective. Even Etheline has gone into a trance-like quiet.

You recognize this silence, anyone whose lived in a dangerous environment before recognizes it. You can feel it in your very bones and you shiver at the realization.

You're being hunted.

You were so caught in your conversation that you didn't even notice it before. But now you can feel it, the eyes staring at you from every direction. Etheline and Vanilla feel it too, the feeling of being watched by a predator.

But that's not all, you can't even tell which direction the beast is coming from, it feels like it's coming from all directions.

That's when you figure out, what Etheline was trying to say before she was cut off. You rush at your bag and pull out your combat equipment as you stuff the gun in your jacket. you waste no time as you prepare for the coming threat, as you grab your bow, you speak to Etheline in quick and concise voice, "Which way are they coming from?" you ask as you notch your bow with an arrow.

Your words break her from her trance and she continues to press at her screen rapidly as she speaks quickly, "They've surrounded us on all sides, the first is coming in from..." She goes quiet again as she reads her screen.

You tense up a notch for every second she spends reading her screen, eventually you speak up again with more urgency in your voice, "Which way is it!" you say, louder than last time.

She still remains quiet as you begin to hear strange sounds coming from your left and right. You hear what sounds like the flapping of wings and the dashing of heavy legs. You begin to panic as you ask one more time, "WHICH ARE THEY COMING FROM!!" You begin to shout without realizing, your tension reaching it highest point.

Etheline finally answers, "THE LEFT!! SHOOT TO THE LEFT" she shouts back in a panic as she puts her phone away and opens a hidden compartment on Muma and presses the button within.

In an instant, faster than the blink of an eye, you turn your body and aim to the left.

> Roll 1d100(+10)

>DC:65

Rolled 81 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2039728

Rolled 44 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2039728

Rolled 8 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2039728

>>2039763
>>2039765
>>2039955

>Rolled 91
>Taking a small break to eat and writing

File: Grabdons.jpg (221 KB, 1600x1579)

221 KB JPG

As you aim to the left, you hear the flapping close in, the thick and plentiful trees obscure your view and provide the beast cover, so you can't shoot recklessly. You calm yourself and take a deep breath as you wait for the moment you see it pop from it's hiding place.

You feel seconds stretch into hours and hours become days as you hear the heavy flapping inch closer and closer. You feel your bow strain from being notched too tight, it burst with potential energy, just waiting to be released.

Finally, the sound of the flapping stops, and you see the beast and horrifying visage. It had the head of woodpecker and the body of a monkey. It flew like on four different wings, each attached to a limb of it's mismatched body, yet flew with a falcon speed and accuracy.

It cuts through the air, dodging around the trees as they get in it's way as it slowly glides toward you.

You almost let loose your arrow as you see it but you keep yourself in check as you realize it would just dodge it. Instead you wait for the moment it dodges another tree and shoot it while it's maneuvering.

As it barrel rolls out of the way of an incoming tree, you let your charged arrow fly towards the target.

You hit the mark dead-on, despite it's insane speed. The arrow pierces the beast heart and causes it to crash into the ground with a bloody splatter.

"Hell yeah!" you shout, "Which is the next one coming from Etheline!" you say with your adrenaline building from that skill kill.

Etheline only gives a worried look as she points up to the canopy, just above where you just shot that last monster and what you see causes your burning blood to chill.

there's 10. No 15 of the bastards flying overhead in formation, a hunting party of birds ready to rain hell from above. The one you just killed must have just been a distraction, "Those aren't all of them either, we have another creature approaching us fast from our flank, it should be here in another 5 minutes." She says as she examines her map.

Shit, shit, SHIT. This is the worst possible scenario. The universe must be looking at you with disgust for something you did in a past life. Well fuck the universe! because now you're going to....

What are you going to do?

>Fight like a man!: A few measly birds aren't going to scare you. Tell Etheline to slow down, because you're about to bring the pain train!

>Run like sane person: Yeahhhhhhhh, no. You like living, so it's best you create an opening to escape with.

>>2040590
>>Run like sane person: Yeahhhhhhhh, no. You like living, so it's best you create an opening to escape with.

>>2040590
>Run like sane person: Yeahhhhhhhh, no. You like living, so it's best you create an opening to escape with.

>>2040601
>>2040712

>RUN AWAY
>Writing

As much as you'd love to fight an army of monkey birds, you have an exam your nearly late for, so you'll have to play with these guys later.

As you finish that thought, you look to Etheline, you see her fervently smashing away at her phone, you retrieve another arrow from your bow as you speak, "Yo Etheline, what's our situation looking like? How long before we can get out of this chicken parade." you ask while you watch the bird beasts circle above you.

Etheline looks at her screen while she speaks, "These birds are extremely fast and we're still 20 minutes away from our goal! That other monster is approaching fast as well! I'd be lying if I said we're not a bit cornered." She explains.

"Can't we just blast through 'em? I thought this thing could go faster than this." you ask.

"There's too many obstacles in the way for us to go top speed right now. If I were to really hit the gas we'd leave these birdies in the dust, but then we'd turn into tree sap before we got anywhere." She explains

"Are you saying we're screwed then?" Vanilla asks while pulling out a stack of small knives, which she balances in her fingers. So those are her weapons.

"That's where you're wrong!" Etheline shouts excitedly, "Don't you know Vanilla? Problem solving is an engineer's specialty!" She says as she finally finishes tapping at her screen. As she does that, two large metal flaps extend from inside Muma, giving you more room to move around. She pulls those strange googles on her head and brings them down to her eyes and leans forward.

A smile broader and brighter than any other she's every given runs across her face, "Just buy me some time! The path ahead of us has a lot less trees, If you guys can keep those beasts away from us for another 10 minutes than I'll show what Muma can really do!" She says with an almost scary amount of enthusiasm.

You were a little surprised to see someone as frail looking as her being a part of the Hunter Exam, if you're allowed to be honest for a second, you kinda expected she would scared of the idea of fighting, especially considering how peaceful she is. Guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover.

Regardless, she asked you to buy some time. You notch your bow and watch as Vanilla prepares one of the blades in her hands.

https://youtu.be/wOT3wo708gE

Time to make a grand escape.

>Roll 1d100(+10) To clear a way

>DC:70

Rolling for Vanilla

File: Here we go again.png (30 KB, 206x206)

30 KB PNG

Rolled 4 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2041102
It's been so long i even forgot how to roll, Damn that's bad.

Rolled 63 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2041096
RUNAWAY!

Rolled 17 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>2041096

>>2041121
>>2041124

>Rolled 73
>Nice one

File: Derrick Holums16.jpg (15 KB, 236x374)

15 KB JPG

You and Vanilla watch as the a group of four birds begin to descend upon you. The four birds split into pairs and glide behind you on both sides.

They began to close in on you with a pincer formation. that way, if you shoot down one of them, the other can rush at you while you reload.

You whistle with impressed vigor, this is surprisingly tactical for a bunch over-sized woodpeckers. But certainly not good enough to take you down, you decide to bring your bow down and hang it off your arm and grip the arrow in your hand tightly.

You know they'll just dodge if you try and attack. That's why you can't fire at random, there's sure to be an opportunity where you can take them both down at the same time.

And sure enough, it appears. The birds can maneuver in 3-dimensions in the air, but they have only one form of attack, those huge pointy beaks of theirs. That weapon will be their downfall. Literally.

You wait until the beasts on your side get as close as possible, once they reach attack range, they latch on to Muma's iron exterior and draw their head back to peck at you. In the that exact instant, you stab the bird in front of you in the neck with your arrow and drive it deep into it's windpipe, making it choke on it's own blood. At the same time, you extend the hand with your bow hanging on it towards the path of the other bird as it tries peck at your neck.

The bows tight, strong strings tangle around it's large beak and trap it, you then grab the bow and use it to pull the trapped fiend off of Muma's exterior and drag it towards the ground.

You hold on tightly to the bow as the trapped creature is dragged across the rough terrain, a bloody trail being left behind as it's slowly blended by the ground below. Once it finally stops screeching and fighting, you untangle it's corpse from your bow and let land on the bloody dirt. You then pull the arrow from the bird you stabbed and hear as it's lifeless body falls limply and brutally onto the ground behind you.

You don't enjoy doing this kind of thing to animals, but they were the ones hunting you, so they should be fully prepared for harsh consequences.

However the fight isn't over. You look to see Vanilla throwing knife after knife with impressive grace towards the birds flying toward her. But as graceful as her technique is, her strategy isn't.

She doesn't seem to realize just how nimble these creatures are as she attempts to hit them mid-flight, only for them to dodge and roll out of the way with ease.

You see the bird beasts begin to get close in and ready themselves to latch onto the exterior again.

What will you do?

>Move over to that side: It would be much easier to get closer and stab the birds again, you run the risk of hitting Vanilla if you try and shoot them after all, but then you'll be leaving your wing open for attack.

>Fire at them from your position: The birds aren't focusing on you. it's a little more difficult and risky. if you do manage it, you won't need to move from position, but you run the risk of hitting Vanilla instead.

>Let Vanilla handle it: You can't risk leaving your position and you don't want to hit Vanilla, so it's best you just trust her to be kill a few birds without your help.

>>2042084
>>Fire at them from your position: The birds aren't focusing on you. it's a little more difficult and risky. if you do manage it, you won't need to move from position, but you run the risk of hitting Vanilla instead.

>>2042084
>>Fire at them from your position: The birds aren't focusing on you. it's a little more difficult and risky. if you do manage it, you won't need to move from position, but you run the risk of hitting Vanilla instead.

>>2042117
>>2042209
Whoza, feel asleep at the keyboard. Need to step my game.

Now then,

>Fire at them wins

>Roll 1d100(+10) to hit those birdy bastards

File: 1427324768704.png (225 KB, 616x637)

225 KB PNG

Rolled 90 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>2042902

>>2043009

>Mod 100

You reach into your bag and grab a second arrow that you hold in your pinkie and ring finger as you notch your bow using your index and middle fingers.

With almost super-human grade finger strength, you pinch the strings back with extreme ease and launch one missile after the other towards the birds as the latch onto to Muma's exterior.

The arrows tear through the air with unstoppable force behind them and pierce the heads of the beasts, killing them instantly. They fall off the exterior with a brutal *Crunch* as they land. Vanilla looks towards you with a look of gratitude with a tinge of fear behind it , she speaks, "Nice shooting there robin hood.Keep that up and we might make it out this place here before we become bird feed." she says as raises a thumb in appreciation.

You nod your head and speak, "Speaking of getting out, Etheline! How much further before we get out of this mess?"

She responds while checking the map, "Shouldn't take us more then 3 minutes! And with that last show of force, I think the birds might be too scared to come down."

You look up and confirm that the birds are scattering now, you speak with a pleasantly surprised tone , "Whoa, that was a lot easier than I expected. I guess they really were a bunch of disfigured chickens" you say with a smile on your face.

"Yeah! you must have really put the fear in them with your skills Derrick. Even that beast from earlier ran off!"

Vanilla perks up, "Wait. What beast?" she asks.

Etheline answers, "Don't you remember? there was one other magical beasts chasing us aside from those birdies. It seems to have disappeared entirely from the area and gone off somewhere else. Which is a bit strange considering it was so close before, guess it just gave up because we noticed it "

Now that she mentions it, the heavy footsteps from before seem to have disappeared. That's strange, it sounded like it was almost right next to you when you started fighting those birds.
>Roll 1d100

>DC:80

File: 1432507304598.gif (406 KB, 300x166)

406 KB GIF

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>2043445
IT'S IN THE TREES!

>>2043457
Well, since no one else is rolling. I guess this is the best you've got.

>Writing

File: The Beast's Maw.jpg (31 KB, 400x400)

31 KB JPG

>Rolled 56

>Obliviousness is my name, Quick deaths are my game

Well, as long as you get out of here alive and well, you needn't question strokes of good fortune as they fall to your lap, don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all that.

So against your better judgement, you decide to put your bow away and turn around. But as you do that, you notice something float by your face.

at first, it looks like a distortion in space as you see the world in front of begin to shift and jiggle. But then you draw your head back a little to see what looks like a sphere in the air that slowly bobs up and down and then pops once it passes you.

Was that a bubble?

That was the only thought you were allowed to have as it all happens at once. You see both Vanilla's and Etheline's face contort into a face of surprise and horror as they stare just above your head.

You wonder for a moment what it is their staring at, that questions is answered as soon you turn your head upwards. You almost feel your heart stop as you look up only to see a large set of monstrous teeth materialize in the air above you.

What?

https://youtu.be/KqIRY4BVziY

You feel the fear of death seep into your very veins as you realize your about to have your head bitten off. You stare into the ghastly maw and see your life flash before your eyes .

What is this? Where did it come from? How didn't you notice it? How did Muma's radar fail to pick it up? these questions were irrelevant. There was only one thought running through your mind as you watched the Beast's maw spread open.

You can't die.

>Roll 1d100 to escape.

>DC:70

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>2043726

>>2043735

>Rolled 94

>Today you live, but what about next time

Your body reacts before your mind does. You give up rational thought as survival instincts override your mind. The jaw is massive, you can't duck or weave your way around it, so you take the only other route of escape. You bend inwards and take to air in a single, desperate leap. You hear the loud *Snap* of the beasts teeth as it shuts it jaws where you were standing last.

As you fly through the air, you see Etheline's mortified face as she tries to get Muma to turn around, but before she's able to dial the coordinates, it's already dashed well ahead of you, off into the forest at full speed.

You roll through the air for a moment, unable to re-orient yourself in the air. You land on your back with a painful *Thud*. You gasp in pain as you feel shock punch it's way through your back and spread throughout your body.

You open your eyes a few moments later to the Sunless sky of the Moonlight forest. Your only source of light being the wisp-like fireflys that float gently around your prone form.

You get up weakly, the earlier shock causing you to feel faint. As you get up, you feel a sharp pain run through your left leg, causing you to reflexively grab it. As you grab it, you feel a warm, wet feeling on your pants and quickly realize that your wounds from earlier have re-opened.

It's only then you realize just how dire your situation really is. Both your allies have just run off into the sunset without you, your wounds have re-opened, you only have about an hour and a few minutes before you run outta time and fail the exam, while you still have over an hour of travel time ahead of you. And now you've got some kind of invisible monster to fight while your at it, "Shit! Damn it!" you hear yourself shout from the frustration.

You pick yourself up from the ground. The pain of your re-opened wound stabbing at you from below and mixing with the fear and anger as you curse to yourself, "Damn it. Damn it! DAMN IT!" you say as you force yourself up to your feet.

It hurts to stand, you feel a strange kind of numbness running through your left leg as you try and keep your balance. That jump from earlier must have injured it again.

But you ignore it and stand tall as you examine your surroundings. You see nothing but trees and small rocks. You see no sign of that strange floating jaw from before, you calm down slightly as it seems you've been given a chance to think.

You crouch down and debate what to do next.

What will you do?

>Search for the mysterious jaw: You doubt that whatever that was is is gone, if can't pin down it's location then it may attack you out of nowhere again.

>Escape: You can't waste time here, you are really begin to run out of time, if you run where Etheline was headed, then you might be able to catch up with her and get out of here.

>>2044010
>>Search for the mysterious jaw: You doubt that whatever that was is is gone, if can't pin down it's location then it may attack you out of nowhere again.

>>2044010
>>Escape: You can't waste time here, you are really begin to run out of time, if you run where Etheline was headed, then you might be able to catch up with her and get out of here.

>>2044055
>>2044056

To run and hide?

or stand and fight?

This is quite the important decision so i don't want to just roll on it. So'll wait until one more vote floats in and that'll decide it.

If it takes too long, then I'll roll for it.

>>2044225
>Escape: You can't waste time here, you are really begin to run out of time, if you run where Etheline was headed, then you might be able to catch up with her and get out of here.

>>2046328
>>2044055
>>2044056

Just got back from work, sorry to keep you guys waiting. Let's go.

>Escape wins

>Writing

>Time to make a run for it!

You can't stay here. You have no idea what's hunting you right now but you know one thing the beast is hesitating. you have no idea why, but this gives you a chance, you need to get the hell out of here during this moment of respite.

Let's look things over. You saw Etheline attempt to turn back to get you, that probably means she's heading your way right now using the tracker to find you, while that's great news if true. It also means you can't run very far from current location and, for whatever reason, Muma's sensors can't pick up whatever that jaw monster is, so that means that she'll be at risk when she appears again. Not to mention there's a chance that if you run away, you might just end up running head first into the beast mouth again and it'll give the smooch of a lifetime.

But those are the worst case scenarios, let's be positive right now, if you have anything going for you, it's tenacity, so it's time to look at things from slightly different angle. If you somehow find a way to track this beast, you'll only need to dodge it long enough for Etheline to pick you up and you'll finally get the hell out of this place and you'll only be a few minutes away from your objective.

Then things won't be so painful, right?

With those thoughts in mind you begin to walk slowly in the direction your allies went off to and hope that you aren't completely screwed yet!

>Roll 1d100 to determine how screwed you are

>DC:60

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>2046937

>>2046945

>Rolled 75

>Things are looking up!

File: Bubble.jpg (88 KB, 1200x674)

88 KB JPG

You move quickly. you launch off in a sudden leap. You Ignore the numbness of your left leg and take off into the forest at top speed. Typically, this would be a terrible idea, especially considering you have no idea when and where you're going to be attacked. But in a situation where your enemy can attack you from virtually any direction, it's better to keep moving while staying alert rather than stand around where they can strike at your blindspots.

With that in mind, you dash through the forest, dodging trees and maneuvering over obstacles with ease. back in the city, you climbed up buildings and hopped across rooftops to get around the city. Trees and rocks are a bit different, but every jungle ends up feeling the same, concrete or not.

You keep on your toes and heels as you dash towards your allies last location with a very simple pattern. From the outside, you look like a desperate, scared idiot whose running away with no real goal in mind. That's perfect.

You're intentionally looking as scared as possible in order to tempt your hunter into showing themselves by attacking. This seems contradictory to your original goal, but if you want to escape cleanly, you need to find some way of locating your predator before it strikes.

No matter how silent or quick a hunter is, there are natural factors that will always give away their position before they attack. They may leave a particular scent, or make a specific sound as they attack, or maybe they create some kind of effect before hand.

Something, there must be something!

As you think that, you see something familiar float by your face. The dim light makes them hard to see, but their rainbow-like coloring and gentle flight pattern are unmistakable.

These are bubbles. As a memory of the first attack flashes by your mind, a realization hits like a kick to the back of the head.

You dodge to the side as a set of monstrous teeth materialize in-front of you and disappear after growling in disappointment. You feel your mind rush as you put a piece of the puzzle together.

Bubbles! For whatever reason, bubbles appear just before the monster attacks and that's how you know when it's close. You're glad you took that risk and found that out.

But what now? You can tell when it attacks you, but you have no way of keeping track of it.

This fact makes things easier, but not by much, if want to get out here alive you're going to need more then this.

What will you do?

>Escape into the trees: The beast seems to be landbound. Maybe if you dodge onto higher ground, it won't be able to attack you? It's better than relying pure reflex.

>Try and learn more: You don't know enough about your predator yet, maybe if you bait it like that again, you can learn more. But that is extremely risky, might be better to just go with what you've got.

>Keep running: You can't stick around here, Etheline and Vanilla must be close. You can rely on reflex if you have to! you just need to get out of here.

>>2047293
>>Escape into the trees: The beast seems to be landbound. Maybe if you dodge onto higher ground, it won't be able to attack you? It's better than relying pure reflex.

>>2047301

Seems like i'm running a bit too late to have any real activity. But whatever, even if it's only one person, i shall still write!

>Escape to the trees wins!

>Roll 1d100 to dodge

>DC:70

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>2047563

File: .......png (119 KB, 675x470)

119 KB PNG

>>2047586
...Want me to wait for another roll?

>>2047612
or I can roll 2 more times.

Rolled 41, 54 = 95 (2d100)

>>2047623

>>2047623

As dead as my quest is, the rules state that I won't take rolls from the same ID twice. I should have just run at a better time. It's nearing my bed time, so'll stop here for now. Should be able to run earlier tomorrow.

>>2047679

And looks like you would have failed anyway.

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>2047563
Roll?

>>2047764

See Anon?

Toruc saved it. Good job Toruc! As a reward, i shall write this last post before bed

>Rolled 72

>Toruc saves the day!

File: rngesus.jpg (88 KB, 640x640)

88 KB JPG

>>2047838

File: Spoiler Image (552 KB, 1056x568)

552 KB PNG

You decide it's time to test something. As you run forward, you use you momentum to jump onto the bark of a particular large tree and hop off into another tree with a flip. You continue this process, jumping from tree to tree, until you reach the first large branch you see.

You jump up and grab the branch mid-air and pull yourself up onto branch and observe the ground below. You must have climbed up 25ft, because you can see the entire area below, you find yourself astounded by the fact that, even up here, you can still barely see the top of the treeline, where a tiny amount of light peeks through the leaves.

You look down upon the area, the light above you aiding your sight. As expected, you can only see the fire-flies below and a few unimportant critters scattering about. You wonder for a moment if this creature has wings or some method of reaching high ground, but you don't want to stick around to find out.

Just as you're about to hop along treeline, you see something strange on the ground out the corner of your eye. You turn back to see a large amount of bubbles form out of thin air. They appear rapidly in a pattern, creating a sort of path before they float away randomly.

You watch as this strange path of bubbles gets closer and closer to your location, until they're almost below you, then they stop entirely. As you see them disappear, your filled with a overwhelming sense of danger that alerts to the coming threat.

You see an explosion of bubbles on the ground that cover the entire area below. Instinct alone drives you to jump away from the branch as the beast's teeth chomp the entire branch off in a single bite.

The horrifying strength of this beast's jaw was surprising enough, but the part that blows you away comes afterwards.

https://youtu.be/JuPrBwU8K_Q

You watch as the weak light above shines down upon the invisible beast revealing the beasts true appearance. It's scaly, lizard-like skin shines in the faint light, giving it a slimy slippery look. It's overwhelming size is only dwarfed by it's royal beauty, the purple and white of it's skin almost enchant you with it's gleam.

However, that same beauty belongs to a monster that has done nothing but hunt and hide itself from you. It didn't matter how beautiful it was, a blood-thirsty predator was still a monster.

You look into the beast's monstrous, hungry eyes. In it's reflection, you see your angry, determined face. It didn't matter if you were beast and man, this one exchange of looks was all you needed to understand each other.

It wanted to hunt you down and kill you. And you...

https://youtu.be/UDTGFaC9SZA

You want to escape. No, You're Going to escape. No matter what you're getting out of here. You're getting out of here and achieving your goal. No matter what. No matter the cost.

The real battle begins now.

(TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW)

Okay, seems this thread going to archive in another day or two and being in autosage doesn't help.

I got home even later than last time and I feel far too tired to write. I'll have my first break in a long time tomorrow, so I think I'll archive the thread here.

If anyone's still here, then I'll gladly listen to any comments or criticisms before I archive, if not, then i hope you enjoyed!

Thread archieved.

running again friday, 4:00pm EST.