You are Ben Parker, super-powered criminal and thief extraordinaire. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, you underwent a miraculous change, and adopted the identity of "The Huntsman"! You also adopted the identity of "Spider-Man", for anyone that doesn't know about your illegal exploits, but that's besides the point.Archive:https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Max%20Spider%20QuestLast time:Ben befriended Gwen Stacy, recovered his REAL brother, and fought for the right to bring Slip's suit under maggia control, only for it to end up in the hands of Max Dillon! Finally, the city is beginning to move once more, and Ben finds himself constantly looking over his shoulder, in search of the next threat that might endanger him and his family.Rules:Most dice rolls will be 1d100. Modifiers will be added depending on the situation or on the alien being used(Usually +10 or -10). Crit successes and crit fails apply. Crit fails can be overridden by crit successes, but crit failures cannot override crit successes.How to Roll:To roll dice, type “dice+1d100” in the options field without the quotations. To roll dice with positive modifiers, type “dice+1d100+modifier number” in the options field without quotations, and with an actual modifier number. To roll dice with negative modifiers, type “dice+1d100+-modifier number” in the options field without quotations, and with an actual modifier number.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV (embed)Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd (embed)Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s (embed)10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE (embed)Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2 (embed)Good luck and have fun!
“Any idea what we’ll encounter over there?” you asked. “That being said, how are me and my team supposed to GET there in the fist place?”“Peter will let you inside.” she said, gesturing to Pan.He just huffed at you indignantly.“There’s but a couple of besties roaming ‘round the Neverland forest. We’ve got lions, tigers, bears…” Pan said, listing creatures off on his grubby little fingers.“Oh my...” you interrupted.Pan just kept talking. “Wolves, flamingoes, crocodiles…” he continued, just barely managing to suppress a shudder. “You watch out fer those crocodiles, ya hear? Especially the one that makes a ticking noise as it draws near. A right nasty one, that!”Huh. Well what do you know? The Tick-Tock croc is real too.“Oh! And mermaids. Ya can’t forget to tell him about the ‘mermaid incident’!” Pan said, cackling to himself as he pointed to Hill.Hill’s perpetual frown deemed to deepen at that.“There’s nothing to tell.” she said, far too eagerly.“What’d she do?” you said, unable to resist the urge to pry. Hill shot you a sour look.“She shot one of the mermaids! Nearly stabbed another, but I’d pulled ‘em apart before then.” Pan confirmed.“No!” you said in a scandalized tone. “Isn’t that like 500 years of bad luck or something? I mean, it’s gotta be up there with ‘kicking baby unicorns’.”“The bitch tried to drown me!” Hill snapped in a rare display of genuine emotion. “Besides, I didn’t kill her. It was a clean shot.”“Ya shouldn’t have gotten so close!” Pan said, waggling a finger at her. “They splash you with water as a warning. If ya get any closer, then you’re liable to end up going for a midnight swim. You know, the sort that you don’t just walk away from.”“I was just asking for directions.” Hill protested.“You don’t speak their language like I do.” Pan countered. “Besides, my presence is the only one they’ll tolerate at their lakes, shores and coves.” he proudly declared.“I can’t for the life of me understand why…” Hill muttered under her breath.Pan chose to ignore that. His selective hearing was incredibly acute.“They’re highly unsocial as a people. They hide from pretty much anyone and everyone, even the faeries.” he said.“Everyone except you.” you confirmed.“You’re darn right! We’re thick as thieves, me and them.”“There also appear to be multiple factions at play on that island.” Hill cut in, regaining her composure. “There are the ‘Redskins’, a Native American tribe that appears to be on friendly terms with the Lost Boys.”“Just like the stories...” you added.(Cont.)
“And let’s not forget the birds. You do NOT want to mess with those birds!” Pan urged you. “They’re sacred creatures!”You just shrugged at him. You weren’t planning to pick a fight with random wildlife, unless they picked a fight with you first.“And of course,” Hill continued. “We have the Neverland Pirates and their trusty Captain, James Hook.”“Dastards, the lot of them!” Pan shouted. “You’d be better off running them through without a second thought!”He then proceeded to whip out his dagger and stab at empty air. You took a few steps back, just in case.“What’s the deal with you recruiting this little squirt? I hope he’s more impressive than he is in the movies.” you said to Hill.The look she gave you was slightly sympathetic, but she didn’t sound amused in the slightest when she next spoke. “He might not look like much, Pan is a master with his weapons of choice and an excellent athlete. He can fight off an entire pirate crew by himself, kill a den of bears single handedly and he’s capable of flying at incredible speeds.” she said.You looked back at Pan still stabbing at empty air and dancing around the room. You found it very hard to see this kid as a competent foe, but you’ve seen weirder.“If you say so.” you said, sighing heavily. “Send me the details and I’ll get back to you later. I want to talk this over with my team first.”Hill nodded, but made no motion to hand you anything remotely resembling a dossier or a case file. Instead, you felt your phone buzzing multiple times. You really needed a more secure phone at some point.—---------On the way back to your base, you had some time to think about Hill’s proposal. Sure, it had all the makings of an epic mission that would likely go down in history for being one of the most batshit insane things you’ve ever done. And it was(probably) for a good cause! Children’s lives could be at stake.But at the same time, you weren’t sure if you could justify going anywhere with the city in its current state. Russian mobsters might still be after your brother, mercs and terrorists were running rampant through the streets, and Electro was still out there somewhere. Let’s not even mention the constant anxiety that the “Chameleon situation” was giving you every single day.(Cont.)
What were you thinking?>You could use the money. Especially after Silvermane postponed your payday.>You’re far from charitable, but those kids need your help. And you have something of a soft spot for strays.>You might just pawn this mission off on someone else that might be inclined to help.(Who?)>As much as it pains you to turn down a job like this, you can’t leave the city right now.>You don’t feel comfortable taking on a magical job without a magical crew member. Maybe Hill has an agent that you can rent out for the day?>You’ll wait to hear what the others have to say before you make any concrete decisions.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5302467>>You’re far from charitable, but those kids need your help. And you have something of a soft spot for strays.I'm sure it'll be fine, Cindy will take care of things. Actually, I kinda wanna bring her with us...
>>5302467there are just too many unknowns. Especially on the logistics on how to get to and from Neverland and what the cell service there is like.And even if we can be contacted in case of emergency and we are able to abort the mission at any time, I don't think this'd be the kind of muscle they should hire for a job like that.>As much as it pains you to turn down a job like this, you can’t leave the city right now.>>5302460for all we talked about keeping them seperate we never actually voted on it. We even ignored the vote where we would tell Silvermane about wanting to keep them seperate.We need to get separate costumes unrelated to either and then stage a grand scale fight between our two personas
>>5302467>You’re far from charitable, but those kids need your help. And you have something of a soft spot for strays.I think I know just the team>Cindy (she deserves a light hearted magical adventure after all she's been through)>Anastasia (Expert tracker, would probably appreciate a few rare trophies)>Glass (He'll insist on coming anyways, and the mutant kids might react better if they see him with us)As for Flint, Felicia, and Prowler...I think we can leave them to their own devices.One thing I wanna do though is get them in contact with Julia and Madame Web so they can take some of those freelance hero jobs while we're away.I'm sure they'd appreciate the extra pocket money.
>>5302467>You’re far from charitable, but those kids need your help. And you have something of a soft spot for strays.>You’ll wait to hear what the others have to say before you make any concrete decisions.>>5302474Personally, I find it to be way too much effort for too little benefit.Might as well go for that thief with a heart of gold, that does crimes but helps every once in a while. It's a comic classic.
>>5302481>Might as well go for that thief with a heart of gold, that does crimes but helps every once in a while. It's a comic classic.Honestly, not a terrible idea.We could totally cultivate a good reputation while still being a gun for hire sorta guy.
>>5302481>>5302485I don't mind either way, but we should commit to either or
>>5302503I mean, Ben IS a thief with a conscious, so it seems only natural that our superhero persona would be somewhat morally ambiguous as well.
>>5302480I like this, +1
>>5302522I hope you realize I only put those roster picks up there for the sake of getting the idea out, it's not part of my actual vote.We'll likely decide the roster when we actually get our team together for a meeting.
>>5302503I'm going to commit dropping the whole two personnas bit.I remembered that on top of all the ones listed last tbread, the people on the underground fighting ring also should know our identity as the huntsman, and so does Julia, Madame Web, Moon Knight and the Morb.The only people that do know us a spdier-man is a couple of SHIELD guys and whoever watched that livestream.So I'm going to vote to fuse the silver costume with the fur one and call ourselves the Huntsman.
>>5302472>>5302474>>5302481>>5302485>>5302480>>5302522>>You’re far from charitable, but those kids need your help. And you have something of a soft spot for strays.Writing...
>>5302627>The Daily Bugle has a fresh quote from the vigilante hero Huntsman > "Fuck them kids lmao"
>>5302640Jokes on Jameson, nobody reads the fucking news anymore.
>>5302648He would make for a good podcaster though.
While you’re far from charitable, those kids need your help. Just imagining someone like Condy being hunted by pirates, crocodiles and God knows what…you don’t even want to think about it. You’re starting to think that you’ve got something of a soft spot for strays.—------When it came time for the meeting to be held, you shared with them some of your feelings on the matter. As you expected, Glass wholeheartedly agreed, being the most ready out of anyone to dive headfirst into an unknown mystical realm. As much shit as you give to Xavier’s school, you had to respect the willingness to sacrifice life-and-limb for a cause that they believed in.Prowler and Felicia just seemed to be struggling to wrap their heads around the matter.“Pirates I can deal with.” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “But mark my words, Spider. I am NOT wrestling a crocodile for you”Despite the seriousness of declaration, you still sensed more than a little amusement in her voice and expression.“That’ll be a tough one for sure.” Prowler nodded. “Most of my darts won't even be able to penetrate the skin. Same goes for your bullets.”“The best I can do is web them up so that they don’t follow or attack us.” you put in.“I’m sure we can do better than that.” Glass cut in, reshaping his arm into a long, thin blade. His skeletal hand was still somewhat visible in the opaque material that had replaced his flesh.“You’re a lifesaver, Glass.” you said, breathing a sigh of relief.“Also, are we just going to gloss over the fact that Peter Pan and Neverland and all that are completely real?” Felicia added. “How many other fairy tales are actually real?”Prowler shrugged. “Considering the world we live in, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some truth to everything we’ve been told as kids.”“Why do you guys think that Hill is so invested in this?” Flint asked, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started. “She has to be getting something out of this, right?”“I’d bet it has something to do with that Neverland Pirate gold.” Felicia said, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “Think about it. Neverland is stuck in the past, so they probably still use metal coins for currency, or something similar. I’d bet money that S.H.I.E.L.D has got their eyes on Neverland for its uncontested resources.”You rubbed your chin thoughtfully, unintentionally mirroring Flint. That would certainly make sense. Hill hires you because you don’t represent a greater power, and you grab the kids and dip back out, not wanting to spend more time there than absolutely necessary. Even if you stumbled across some buried treasure or something of the like, you can only carry so much back with you. Hill probably doesn’t have that problem.(Cont.)
“I think I should stay behind, Benny.” Flint declared, interrupting your thoughts. “It sounds like there’s gonna be a lot of water over there, and I don’t do so well with getting wet. Now, if you need someone to keep your folks safe, I’m your man.”What will you say?>”I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”>”I still need you as a heavy hitter, just in case we run into something unexpected.”>”We might have to round out our team a bit more before we embark on this expedition.”(Make some roster changes.)>”I might have to call in some favors for this one.”(Who?)>”This mission suddenly just got a lot more expensive.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5302653>”I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”>I should probably contact Callisto about this, a bunch of kidnapped and lost mutant children should be right up her alley.
>>5302653>>”I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”>”I might have to call in some favors for this one.”(The Toomes)Having a flier would have helped a LOT during the Slip mission, and Hill also kind of suggested it. Let's see if Starling is up for the spot, I don't trust Toomes.
>>5302655+1
>>5302651I think he'd just start saying outrageously stupid shit to get hate clicks.Meanwhile Huntsman would have a JRE style podcast that consistently ranks number one in viewership.>"Anyways, that's why I don't fuck with magical creatures no more. You ever deal with anything like that Huntsman?">"Oh yeah, fucking Vampires man. Almost drained me and my nephew a couple times.">"Christ.">"Yeah man, it was wild. Arachne, can you pull up that video of that vampire chimp ripping a cop in half.">"...">"Crazy...so, you ever done radioactive spider venom?"
>>5302653>”I think I’ll take you up on that offer.">"Anybody on this job who hasn't watched Peter Pan, please correct that as soon as possible.">”We might have to round out our team a bit more before we embark on this expedition.”(Make some roster changes.)>"I think I'll call Anastasia Kravinoff. We're probably gonna be running around in forests and swamps, so an expert tracker would do us a world of good.">"I'm also gonna check with Cindy. I figure she'd be more than happy to come along, and she's probably bored as hell anyways."
>>5302655This.
>>5302652Who's Condy?
>>5302655Support
>>5302672Adding Anastasia because she would be a good fit, too. Can you imagine the phone call?>Hey babe, wanna go kill a centuries-old legendary crocodile in a fairy tale dimension? Cool? Cool. I’ll pick you up Saturday at 8.
>>5302655Ditto, also we should pick up some doubloons or something from Neverland also, anyone ever read Peter and The Starcatchers? It's YA but pretty neat >>5302661Retired Huntsman doing a JRE podcast would be hilarious, just nothing but him shitposting at heroes and getting Swatted by Skrewball
>>5302697>Ditto, also we should pick up some doubloons or something from NeverlandNaw, what we need to do is bring something to help us carry all our swag.NEVERLAND LOOT LIST>Captain Hook's hat>Captain Hook's sword and scabbard>Captain Hook's hook-hand>Tick-Tock (preferably alive but dead works so long as we can get back in time)>As many gold doubloons as we can carry
>>5302697>Peter and The StarcatchersI did. Entire series. Was interesting at points. I'm surprised anybody else knows about it, much less read it themselves.
>>5302697I can see it now.>"So I'm pretty sure Reed Richards doesn't fuck his wife.">"Bro you kidding me? He's probably doing it from the other room man.">"Naw see, if he can stretch anything he wants, and she's STILL hitting up Namor...">"Oh I see. Yeah no he's probably too busy making another bullshit ass doomsday device.">"He's built like, what, ten in the last three years? Isn't he supposed to be a super hero?">"See, this is why I'm with Doom. Richards just ain't no good for the city."
>>5302675She's your second adopted daughter! Don't you remember, anon?>>5302697>>5302719I'll have to give it a read myself.>>5302640>>5302648>>5302651>>5302661>>5302697>>5302738Having Ben run a talk show/podcast in his retirement genuinely sounds amazing. Currently wondering if anyone would be up for a "passing of the torch" if Ben ever retired. Although, that's entirely dependent on what you guys do and which ending you achieve.>>5302655>>5302660>>5302672>>5302676>>5302697Taking these. Writing...
>>5302757If Benny ends up having a kid, I'd be more than willing to let them take up the mantle when it comes time to hang up the suit.
Oh man, reading through that last update is painful. That's what I get for rushing, I suppose.
>>5302738Imagine if one day, Doctor Doom made a public appearance to New York City, but then he brought in big amps and music gear, and started singing the entirety of this album in a surprise villain concert. What would people think?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EtVJP0Dml4
>>5302779>Doom gains massive amounts of clout in the US through the smashing success of his debut rap album>Big time heroes pretend to hate it in public, but they listen to it on repeat in private>Reed catches his son listening to his musicA dastardly scheme indeed!
“I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” you said, clapping your friend on the shoulder, and releasing a plume of sand right into your face.You coughed and waved it away with a hand, silently cursing yourself for forgetting not to do that without warning. Flint’s control over his particles and his reaction time could use a little work. You’d have to keep that in mind whenever you managed to pull together a training regimen.“I should probably contact Callisto about this. A bunch of kidnapped mutant children should be right up her alley.” you said.Glass nodded. “I’d definitely feel a lot better with her in our corner.”“She looks halfway like a Neverland pirate already.” Felicia said with a smirk. “All she needs is the hook and the peg leg.”You all shared a laugh at that. You even heard a rare chuckle from Prowler.After that, the meeting was pretty much wrapping up for the day. Flint would be staying behind to look after the family, Felicia and Prowler will be modifying some of their gear to better suit Neverland’s terrain, and Glass would be…doing whatever Glass does when he isn’t here. You’re not entirely sure what his hobbies are.You didn’t dwell on the thought for long, as you had to focus on composing a response to Hill’s job offer. It looks like you're going to Never Neverland.What will you do in the meantime?>Spend some time with someone. (Who?)>Check Madame Web’s bounty board.>Meet up with Callisto and explain the specifics of the Neverland job.>Create some more gadgets with Prowler.>Workshop some gear and gadget ideas with the others.>Bug Toomes about the schematics for that power source until he sends it to you.>Propose a new costume idea to Black Cat.>Visit Phin’s shop.(Write-in.)>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5302789>>Bug Toomes about the schematics for that power source until he sends it to you.
>>5302789>Create some more gadgets with Prowler.Web bombs, to replace the ones we spent performing spider bukkake on Typhoid Mary>Bug Toomes about the schematics for that power source until he sends it to you.We need that for Slip' to work on his stealth suit
>>5302789>Meet up with Callisto and explain the specifics of the Neverland job.>Bug Toomes about the schematics for that power source until he sends it to you.
>>5302789>>Meet up with Callisto and explain the specifics of the Neverland job.>Bug Toomes about the schematics for that power source until he sends it to you.>Spend some time with someone. Cindy see if we can finally get her a thing to be able to speak and spend some time with her
>>5302789>Bug Toomes about the schematics for that power source until he sends it to you.>Propose a new costume idea to Black Cat.>A more temperature appropriate version of your classic Huntsman costume. A full-body spandex suit isn't exactly ideal for swamps and lagoons after all.>Call up Anastasia and ask if she doesn't want to come along for the Neverland job. Make sure to mention there's a legendary crocodile involved.
>>5302939Support
>>5302719Yeah it was pretty neat, I liked how Tick Tock was one of those primeval bus sized Crocs too also Hummingbird Tink>>5302939Ditto >podcast Huntsman getting various villains (although more usually Villainesses)>Actually has a neat niche in getting former minions doing interviews about serving under villains
>>5302939This.
>>5302939Supporting and adding write in:>Ask Cindy if she's up for a fairy tale adventure
>>5302939>>5303007>>5303046>>5303074>>5303076Writing...
Over the course of the next few hours, you proceeded to blow up Toomes’ phone, filling his inbox with countless voicemails and flooding his notification window with angry message after angry message. Eventually, he gave in to your constant pestering and sent you a rather large, detailed file on the substance that he’d created to power his suits.You thanked him, and passed the file on to Prowler. He noted that the structure of the compound was admittedly complex, and it would take a while for him to figure it out. Maybe you can get Sam in on this to speed up the process.>You’ve obtained the formula for Compound V!—------After that was done, you picked a quiet little corner to have a nice chat with Ana. And by “quiet little corner”, you meant your roof.“Huntsman. What is it?” she answered in her usual stern tone.“I got a new job and I was wondering if you’d be interested in tagging along. It seemed like it’d be right up your alley.”“You wish to hunt something together?” she asked, a bit of excitement creeping into her voice.“Well, some of the guys that we’ll be tracking down need to be taken in alive and unharmed, but I think everything else is free game.” you said in reply.There was a long pause over the line before she spoke again. And when she did, it was straight and to the point.“Explain.”And you did. You explained the thing about Peter Pan, the mutant children, the pirates, and even the Tick Tock Croc. Anastasia didn’t say anything throughout the entire explanation.Finally, when you were done, she made a somewhat derisive snort.“Those are just fairytale myths.” she said. “What makes you so sure that the boy you saw wasn’t just that. A boy, playing pretend and telling made up stories.”You almost said that the information came from a trusted source, but you weren’t entirely sure if that was the right word to describe your relationship with Hill. It was more of a…mutually beneficial agreement where both of you decided not to ruin each other’s lives.“It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to ever happen.” you finally said.“Hm. I suppose not.” she admitted. “But if you truly believe that ‘Neverland’ is a real place…then I will need to make room for more trophies in the Kravinoff Estate.”“Hell yeah! They’ve got giant crocks, wolves, flamingos, giant birds-”“Mm. We will leave the birds alone.” Ana interrupted. “If the fairytales are to be believed, the birds provide a vital resource to the people of our realm.”“Oh? What do they do?” you asked, becoming mildly intrigued.“They are like…storks. They deliver children to men and women that cannot have children of their own.” she explained.“Okay, there is no way that the stork exists too!” you protested. “I refuse to believe it!”(Cont.)
“In your own words, ‘it would not be the weirdest thing to happen’.” Anastasia argued.Why was the world you lived in so massively fucked up in every conceivable way? You were beginning to lose count of all the times that your perception of reality had been violently rearranged.The conversation with Ana went on for a little while longer, before she said that she had to go. But not before promising that she would like to accompany you on your expedition into the unknown. You’d be lucky to have two expert trackers on your side in all this. And you’d be even luckier if you could find a moment alone with Ana. You’d love to be able to brag about having sex in Neverland!—-------Sometime later, you found Felicia pouring over the details of a job that she’d been planning. She refused to tell you what it was about, but judging from her mischievous grin, it was sure to be an interesting one.After she’d cleared the table, you pitched her your idea for a new suit. You wanted something that was more temperature appropriate for the harsh jungle climate of Neverland. You had to assume that it’d be rather warm most of the time, and all that fur on your current Huntsman suit would only make you sweat. Not to mention all the suffocating spandex that’d be covering every inch of your flesh.Felicia gave you a sympathetic nod and admitted that she’d been looking for a way to beat the what as well. You were almost sad to see the skintight, leather catsuit being retired to her closet, but all of you needed to be at the top of your game for this mission.>Did you have anything in mind for the costume’s design?(If so, post it in your reply!)
Oh actually, I just re-read that vote. If it's simply a redesigned version of the current Huntsman suit, then you don't have to reply, and I'll continue the update after I get some sleep. If you have any suggestions for alternative designs and functions however, feel free to post them!
>>5303145>Inquire with Peter Pan about the climate of the island and then put some trust into Ana for a design
>>5303150This
>>5303150SupportHaven't been able to follow since around a week, quite happy Ana is back in the game
>>5303143>>5303150 +1
https://youtu.be/CD-E-LDc384
Not a vote, but…> You’d love to be able to brag about having sex in Neverland!Yeah. No way THAT could possibly end up a strange and unfortunate rumor…
>>5303046Dank Peter Pan shadow was cool, and the finale with the rocket launch battle was also very cool
>>5303150>>5303163>>5303191>>5303193Taking these too. Writing...>>5303191Glad to have you back, anon>>5303266Just bought the first book on audible. I'll give it a listen sometime later
Over the next hour, you and Cat were brainstorming design changes to your classic costume. So far, you’d already removed the hood, scrapped the fur cloak and shortened the sleeves, leaving your bare arms exposed with a gap between your gloves.It didn’t look bad at all, but you weren’t quite satisfied with it yet. At some point, you suggested the idea of asking Pan about Neverland’s climate. And when you paged Hill about it, you got a surprisingly fast response.Apparently, Neverland’s climate varied greatly, but leaned towards the warmer side more often than not. Even then, the ocean breeze and the chilling winds of the Neverpeak Mountain and its surrounding ridges tended to be harsher than most people anticipated.Felicia frowned when you relayed this information to her. This would make dressing for the occasion a little more complicated. So, you decided to call in a little more help.—-------It was approaching midnight when Anastasia had finally arrived at your place. Prowler had left long ago to try and figure out the secrets of the Vulture’s power source, Flint was fixing up the dents that you’d put into the Wallcrawler, and Felicia was up late planning her top secret mission.All eyes turned to Ana as soon as she walked through the door. Black Cat gave her a curious look, and Flint got up from what he was doing, preparing for a fight if the situation called for it.Ana’s sharp gaze passed over your companions and stopped when they’d locked onto you. She strode over to you without hesitation, ignoring the strange looks that everyone else was giving her.“You said something about preparing hunting gear.” Ana said, phrasing it as a statement, rather than a question.You nodded. “We need some advice on designing suits built for variable weather.” you replied.Felicia slid her designs over to Ana, who snatched it up to examine it closely.“Are you planning on using Polyester or Nylon?” she asked.“Neither. Polyester isn’t nearly as breathable as most people make it out to be. I think Rayon would be the better selection here.” Felicia said.Ana nodded approvingly. “Excellent choice. The cotton-spandex blend that the Huntsman wears would retain far too much moisture, and would ultimately end up suffocating his skin.”Felicia raised an eyebrow at that and shot you a teasing glance. She was probably thinking of all sorts of reasons for why the huntress was so familiar with the fabric of your suit. And most of those assumptions would probably end up being right.“You got a design in mind?” Felicia asked, that same easy-going smile raising the corners of her lips.Ana gazed at the paper thoughtfully, before nodding. “I might.”—------(Cont.)
You, Felicia and Flint waited patiently for her to finish her drawing. You were completely fine with letting her take her time. Unfortunately, this opened up a golden opportunity for Cat to tease you about your nightly conquests and bedfellows. Flint even gave you a congratulatory pat on the back, despite the fact that you’d pointedly avoided going into any sort of explicit detail.You breathed a sigh of relief once Ana was finally done with her drawing…and blinked several times. It was good! Like, really good!The attention to detail and like-like depiction of you dressed in her proposed costume idea was honestly more than a little flattering. The breathable fabric was set to be dyed in a very dark shade of gray, with slashes of brown mixed in. But the most eye-catching feature was the long, dark cloak that was draped over the shoulders. It had a fake fur neckline with a fabric dyed so dark that it seemed to absorb all light around it. The billowing cloak went down well past your knees, and you were more than a little worried that it would get caught on something or drag against the jungle floor. Not to mention the fact that it’d hang over your face while you were crawling along walls and other surfaces.However, Ana reassured you that the cloak was easily removable, and could be stowed away until you needed it later. It actually sort of reminded you of the cloak that she always wore.Felicia whistled. “I’ve got to admit, Annie. You’ve got a good eye for fashion.”Anastasia seemed to bristle at being called “Annie” but decided not to comment on it as she nodded. Felicia pretended not to notice.“As do you.” she replied simply.Feeling satisfied with her input, you thanked her for her assistance and complimented her on the quality of the drawing. She seemed to take great pride in that.“Thank you. I have often practiced sketching various portraits of wild animals with my father. The key is to have patience, and to keep erasing to a minimum.” she said.“I’ve tried drawing a few times, but it never comes out right.” Flint said, marveling at the concept art.“Oh come on, Flint. You know I’ll always hang your art up on the fridge for everyone to see. You can even borrow some crayons from Cindy’s stash. I’m sure she won’t mind.” you said, earning you a punch on the shoulder that hurt more than you’d like to admit.“As I said, patience is key. Do not let your frustration from a lack of immediate progress impede your efforts.” Anastasia said. “You will improve if you practice. Just keep practicing.”Flint nodded and smiled slightly. You’d like it if your good buddy could pick up a new hobby or passion. It was something to keep his mind busy in the waking hours of the night.—------(Cont.)
Some time later, Felicia and Ana had departed at almost the same time, getting into a heated discussion of the various applications of fabrics, weaves and meshes that you couldn’t quite keep up with. Flint picked a quiet corner of your base to practice drawing when he thought you weren’t looking, and you decided to let him keep believing that. The urge to embarrass him like he had with you was incredibly strong, though.It was already well past midnight, but you still had one more trip to make that would end this impossibly long day on a good note. You headed out and swung towards the nearest sewer grate that you could find.—--------Coming down to visit the Morlocks on your own wasn’t nearly as creepy as it had been on the night that you encountered BugLizard Connors. The sounds of creaking pipes, dripping water, and the roar of cars rolling overhead had all just become background noise. Despite all that, your heart nearly jumped out of your fucking chest when you saw a human figure at the edge of your spider signal’s light, moving out of the way just fast enough to avoid being identified. The light splashing of water was the only evidence of you not having hallucinated the event. You turned the corner cautiously, finding Callisto waiting for you patiently halfway down the tunnel. With a wave of her hand, she urged you to hurry up, and you did.—-----Once she’d led you into the Morlock’s domain, the two of you sat down to discuss the Neverland mission. Callisto nodded along and listened without interrupting, even once. When you were finished explaining, she leaned back on her wooden crate and folded her arms.“Mutant children lost in a magical realm, huh? That sounds like it’d be right up Charles’ alley.” she said. “They’re always traveling to different dimensions and shit.”“So…you won’t help us?” you asked.Callisto put up a hand to silence you. “I never said that.” she shot back. “I just said that I’m not normally invited to join those little field trips, and nor do I want to. But…I can’t in good conscience let some little tyke get eaten by a crocodile while I’m sitting on my ass down here.” she said with a sigh. “I’ll help you find those kids.”What will you say?>”Thanks. I’ll be sure to handle some of those ‘home improvement’ upgrades that we talked about when we get back.”>”You’re just a big softy, aren’t you? That eyepatch, the punk look, and all those sharp knives you’ve got squirreled away are all just for show.”>”I’ve got another expert tracker coming with us, so I think we’ve got a really good chance of finding them quickly.”>"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you with actual money?">”I don't suppose you’d have another Morlock that might be willing to join us on our little expedition.”>Write-in.
>>5303455>”Thanks. I’ll be sure to handle some of those ‘home improvement’ upgrades that we talked about when we get back.”>"I'm gonna let the kids decide where they wanna go, so you might need to start making arrangements for a few more regulars down here.
>>5303455>>"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you with actual money?"
>>5303455>"I'm gonna let the kids decide where they wanna go, so you might need to start making arrangements for a few more regulars down here.>"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you with actual money?"
>>5303455Thanks. I’ll be sure to handle some of those ‘home improvement’ upgrades that we talked about when we get back.”>”You’re just a big softy, aren’t you? That eyepatch, the punk look, and all those sharp knives you’ve got squirreled away are all just for show.”>”I’ve got another expert tracker coming with us, so I think we’ve got a really good chance of finding them quickly.”>"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you with actual money?">”I don't suppose you’d have another Morlock that might be willing to join us on our little expedition.”
So, what’s the consensus on feeding Hook to Tick-Tock?Also, Spotbros, we won
>>5303455>”Thanks. I’ll be sure to handle some of those ‘home improvement’ upgrades that we talked about when we get back.”>”You’re just a big softy, aren’t you? That eyepatch, the punk look, and all those sharp knives you’ve got squirreled away are all just for show.”>”I’ve got another expert tracker coming with us, so I think we’ve got a really good chance of finding them quickly.”
>>5303455>”Thanks. I’ll be sure to handle some of those ‘home improvement’ upgrades that we talked about when we get back.”>”I’ve got another expert tracker coming with us, so I think we’ve got a really good chance of finding them quickly.”>”You’re just a big softy, aren’t you? That eyepatch, the punk look, and all those sharp knives you’ve got squirreled away are all just for show.”>But I'm not one to talk, given that I'm been doing the same thing
>>5303502After we steal all his valuables, I couldn't care less what happens to the guy.
>>5303509Steal the spots right off him!
>>5303693Captain Hook, Anon.
Who and where was spot mentioned?
>>5303458>>5303466>>5303475>>5303487>>5303505>>5303506>”You’re just a big softy, aren’t you? That eyepatch, the punk look, and all those sharp knives you’ve got squirreled away are all just for show.”>”Thanks. I’ll be sure to handle some of those ‘home improvement’ upgrades that we talked about when we get back.”>"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you with actual money?">”I’ve got another expert tracker coming with us, so I think we’ve got a really good chance of finding them quickly.”Taking these. Writing...>>5303502That looks fantastic! Super excited for this movie
Apologies for the fat delay, folks. Been writing the update on and off, but I'm going through some things. Gonna post as soon as I'm available again.
>>5304104Get some rest Chief
>>5304104Dear SpiderQM,I hope everything is going ok for you.Can't do much as I'm an anon on a wallpainter image board, but you still have all my support
>>5304104I'm going to bake a cake today in support of you!
>>5304104Take a day off brother, no use forcing yourself when you're spent
>>5304104Time for sleep, QM. IRL always takes precedence.
“You’re just a big softy, aren’t you? That eyepatch, the punk look, and all those sharp knives that you’ve got squirreled away are just for show.” you teasingly said.To your surprise, Callisto returned your smile, but it was far more mischievous than your own had been. “Look who’s talking! You adopt any new teenagers lately?”“I guess I walked right into that one.” you admitted. “Thanks for agreeing to help, by the way. I’ll be sure to handle some of the ‘home improvement’ upgrades that we talked about when we get back.”Callisto nodded. “Good. Things are getting pretty rough up there, so I’ve got more and more homeless passing through seeking shelter.”“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you with actual money?” you asked.Callisto just shrugged. “Not like I’m gonna do much with it.”“What have you been doing with the money that I gave you that one time?”“I just give a little bit to homeless kids that don’t have anywhere to go. Not everyone wants to be a part of a community or a shelter, you know?” she said.Suddenly, you began to realize that your joke of Callisto being a big softy didn’t seem like such a stretch. You might have to think about giving her more money for the homeless people that pass through.The conversation eventually drifted back to the specifics of the mission, and you found that you were able to ignore the stares of some of the more spiteful and socially inept Morlocks.“I’ve got another expert tracker coming with us, so I think we’ve got a really good chance of finding them quickly.” you said.She raised an eyebrow at that. “Is this a new hire that I haven’t met yet? I have to meet everyone on your payroll, remember?”“She’s more like a specialist that I called in for a favor. She’s an expert huntress, or something.” you said.Callisto gave you an odd look and leaned forward on her crate. “You keep strange company, Huntsman.”“Don’t I know it.” you said, taking a moment to look around at the Morlocks milling about and pretending not to notice you. If Callisto took offense to that statement, she didn’t show it.—--------Feeling satisfied with yourself, you headed back up to the surface and ran through a mental checklist. Both Anastasia and Callisto were on board. Individually, they were supposedly great hunters. Together, they just might make this mission seem like a cakewalk.Absently, you thought about inviting Cindy as well. You remembered that she was also a fairly decent hunter and tracker, but that wasn’t why you thought of her. It had been a while since the two spent any meaningful amount of time together. With the Silvermane job and the whole thing with your brother going on, you’ve both been busy with your own stuff these past few days.(Cont.)
A trip to Neverland might just serve as a nice distraction from her problems. Sure, it was dangerous, but you were fairly certain at this point that she was a far better fighter than you were. She could take care of herself, even if you and the others weren’t there to protect her. But even then, you didn’t like the idea of bringing her to a mystical island that was infamous for its ever-growing(and shrinking) population of kidnapped children. And you’d be even less comfortable letting her get anywhere near Pan. You were pretty sure he’d be coming along with you to guide you to Neverland.As you entertained the thought of pummeling a fairytale creature, your phone started buzzing in your pocket. The Morlock tunnels aren’t so useful for their cell reception.When you went to check your notifications, you found yourself feeling confused, threatened and intrigued.The first was from Matt. He wanted to meet with you to talk about something tomorrow. According to him, it was important. The two of you haven’t been doing much talking since that night at the Midnight Mission. Things have been a bit awkward, and you really aren’t sure how to broach the subject. Maybe now you’d finally have your chance.The second message…was definitely the more ominous of the two.It was from Tombstone. Apparently, he wanted to discuss the details of a new job that he wanted to offer to you. You haven’t seen the guy ever since you botched his Vulture job. Toomes got away, and Silvermane lived to see another day. Both of which he probably attributes to being your fault. And he’d be absolutely right to think so.This was almost certainly a trap…but you couldn’t help but feel curious about what he was trying to accomplish here. If he truly wanted to kill you, then he and his men would be rather hard pressed to fight their way through both Flint and Glass. As scary as he was, you severely doubted that he’d come out on top if it came to a war between the two of you.And if he really did want to hire you…then what the hell could be so urgent that he’d come to you about it?How will you respond to these messages?Matt:>You’ll head on over in the morning. You’ve been meaning to catch up with Matt anyway.>Try to throw him off by asking if you can meet him now. If he’s trying to pull one over on you, then you won’t give him time to prepare.>You might have to skip out on this one. There's a possibility that Matt’s finally decided to put you behind bars for being a murderer.>Write-in.Tombstone:>Of course you’re not going! This is obviously a trap!>You’ll go, but you’re bringing as much backup as you can possibly spare.>You’ll go to meet him, and you’ll go alone. You’re not afraid of Tombstone anymore.>Write-in.Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5304107>>5304115>>5304117>>5304180>>5304237Thanks for the support, guys! There was some family drama that I had to deal with, and I was feeling thoroughly exhausted afterwards. If I ever need to take a short break between updates, I'll let you all know beforehand.
>>5304644>You’ll head on over in the morning. You’ve been meaning to catch up with Matt anyway.>You’ll go, but you’re bringing as much backup as you can possibly spare.
>>5304644>You’ll head on over in the morning. You’ve been meaning to catch up with Matt anyway.>>You’ll go to meet him, and you’ll go alone. You’re not afraid of Tombstone anymore.
>>5304647No worries. Hope everyone is OK and so are you! >>5304667Support
>>5304644Matt:>You’ll head on over in the morning. You’ve been meaning to catch up with Matt anyway.Tombstone:Don't care not voting
>>5304653Ditto>>5304647>inb4 Tiger Lily is quite the looker >and she thinks Ben is quite the looker too, by dint of being the only man that smells of soap while not being related to her or a pirate
>>5304644>Try to throw him off by asking if you can meet him now. If he’s trying to pull one over on you, then you won’t give him time to prepare.>You’ll go to meet him, and you’ll go alone. You’re not afraid of Tombstone anymore.
>>5304644>Try to throw him off by asking if you can meet him now. If he’s trying to pull one over on you, then you won’t give him time to prepare.>You’ll go, but you’re bringing as much backup as you can possibly spare.
>>5304644Matt>You’ll head on over in the morning. You’ve been meaning to catch up with Matt anyway.Tombstone:>You'll go and have Glass clearly visible next to you while Flint hides nearby
>>5304644>>You’ll head on over in the morning. You’ve been meaning to catch up with Matt anyway.>You’ll go to meet him, and you’ll go alone. You’re not afraid of Tombstone anymore.
>>5304653>>5304667>>5304668>>5304725>>5304949>>5304673>>5304942>>5305212>>5305447>>5305477>>5305811Matt:>You’ll head on over in the morning. You’ve been meaning to catch up with Matt anyway.Tombstone:>You’ll go to meet him, and you’ll go alone. You’re not afraid of Tombstone anymore.Taking these. Will start writing after I finish eating.
The following morning, you found yourself procrastinating as you waited for your suit to air dry. You’d given it that thorough washing that it desperately needed, and as a result, the amount of sleep you achieved was less than ideal. Oh, well. At least you could sneak in a nap between your meeting with Matt, and your meeting with Tombstone.That’s right. Against your better judgment, you decided to meet up with the big albino cheese. Alone.You had a lot of time to think about it while you were scrubbing sweat out of your suit. You were gonna have to acquire a specialized washing machine for the sole purpose of cleaning your suits. Or maybe you’d just buy a Cleaners’ shop and use it as a cover for money laundering. Decisions, decisions…Anywho, you didn’t hate your odds if it came down to you mixing it up with Tombstone. Sure, he was big, and he had a lot of guns on his side, but when has that ever stopped you? You escaped the Vulture’s trap at your old hideout and got away with all of your bits intact. Hell, you beat Typhoid fucking Mary!Even if you couldn’t beat him and his goons in a straight up fight, running was always an option. And you’ve always been good at that.Ironically you were far more nervous about meeting Matt than you were about meeting one of the most ruthless gangsters in New York. IN the past, you never truly car4ed wha6t other people thought about you. It was easy enough to try and convince yourself that your parent’s clear contempt for your lifestyle didn’t bug you at all, but you weren’t about to get into that.Over the years, Flint was one of the only ones that you could reliably call a true friend. In your line of work, trust was a luxury that all the paychecks in the world just couldn’t afford you. You had friends and contacts that you were on good terms with, but very few of them were within your circle of trust. You’d been considering revealing your face to Felicia and Prowler. Mostly because you were getting tired of wearing it around your warehouse. These days, it felt like you saw that mask more than you saw your own face.You’d once considered letting Matt and Angela in on your secret. But if you were being terribly honest, that would get messy real fast.You shook your head and pulled your costume on. It’d dried enough for you to wear it comfortably. It should air dry on your way to the meet-up. Might as well stop worrying about trivial nonsense and get this over with.—---------By the time you’d arrived at the location that Matt designated in his text, your costume had more or less dried to a point where you barely paid attention to the few damp spots that were left on your back. The fur took the longest to dry and required the most maintenance.(Cont.)
You paned your gaze around the neighborhood at large, your elevated position giving you a superior vantage point for doing so. You didn’t doubt that Matt probably patrolled this area fairly often. It looked like the kind of place where drug deals and shoot-outs happened more than they should.“Benny.” said a familiar voice from the shadows. You turned to see Matt in full-costume, walking towards you with an unreadable expression on his face. “We need to talk.”Before you could get a word in, however, Matt just rolled right over you.“This city’s been an absolute wreck ever since that gang war broke out. I know you’re acquainted with Silvermane, and I know his men were involved in this dispute.” Matt continued, his voice giving nothing away. “I want to know what they’re all after, and what’s going to happen next.”What will you say?>”Silvermane hired me and my crew to snatch Richard’s suit for him. But now it's in the hands of an ambitious engineer.”>”I never meant for all of this to happen. It all started as a simple job, and now it's getting out of hand.”>”You won’t have to worry about Silvermane for a while, I think. This war has hurt him way more than either of us expected it to.”>”What are you planning to do?”>”Before I get into that…I wanted to make sure that you and I are cool. We haven’t really had a chance to talk since…you know.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5305911IN the past, you never truly car4ed wha6t other people thought about you. It was easy enough to try and convince yourself that your parent’s clear contempt for your lifestyle didn’t bug you at all, but you weren’t about to get into that.
>>5305912You won’t have to worry about Silvermane for a while, I think. This war has hurt him way more than either of us expected it to.”>”What are you planning to do?”>”Before I get into that…I wanted to make sure that you and I are cool. We haven’t really had a chance to talk since…you know.”
>>5305914Oof! Gonna be honest. I'm not sure what happened there. Gonna have to proofread these more often
>>5305912>”You won’t have to worry about Silvermane for a while, I think. This war has hurt him way more than either of us expected it to.”>”Silvermane hired me and my crew to snatch Richard’s suit for him. But now it's in the hands of an ambitious engineer.”>”What are you planning to do?”
>>5305917Doesn't bother me. I just know some QMs are anal about that stuff if they upload it to archive.
>>5305919It's a feelsbad for sure, but I think my ego can stand to take the hit. Deleting it now would make voting a bit more messy, since anons might start deleting votes to respond to the proper post
>>5305921K I won't point it out. Also was wondering if you have a draft of your ideas for the quest? I remember you said stuff about venom and carnage. Stuff is going to get crazy
>>5305912>”Silvermane hired me and my crew to snatch Richard’s suit for him. But now it's in the hands of an ambitious engineer.”>”I never meant for all of this to happen. It all started as a simple job, and now it's getting out of hand.”>”Before I get into that…I wanted to make sure that you and I are cool. We haven’t really had a chance to talk since…you know.”
>>5305912>”Silvermane hired me and my crew to snatch Richard’s suit for him. But now it's in the hands of an ambitious engineer.”>”I never meant for all of this to happen. It all started as a simple job, and now it's getting out of hand.”>"And Matt, ever since what happened that day, I've been trying to be better. I've even set up some rules for my group and been helping people. Thanks for giving me a chance"
>>5305912>”Silvermane hired me and my crew to snatch Richard’s suit for him. But now it's in the hands of an ambitious engineer.”>”I never meant for all of this to happen. It all started as a simple job, and now it's getting out of hand.”>”You won’t have to worry about Silvermane for a while, I think. This war has hurt him way more than either of us expected it to.”
>>5305912>”Silvermane hired me and my crew to snatch Richard’s suit for him. But now it's in the hands of an ambitious engineer.”>I tried my best to stop the chaos this was causing. I managed to save the man trapped in the suit.>"And Matt, ever since what happened that day, I've been trying to be better. I've even set up some rules for my group and been helping people. Thanks for giving me a chance"
>>5305912>"First, trivia pop quiz: how did I beat your little protege, and why did it work?"Last thing we need is the Chameleon getting a lead on the suit and handing it off to the Russians. I’m not particularly picky about the rest of the vote, though I do recommend we take it easy on spilling the extent of our involvement. Just tell him everyone wants the suit, Silvermane is no longer in the running, and that the fighting will probably continue until it’s either destroyed or permanently bonded.
>>5305912>>”You won’t have to worry about Silvermane for a while, I think. This war has hurt him way more than either of us expected it to.”>>”What are you planning to do?”>>”Before I get into that…I wanted to make sure that you and I are cool. We haven’t really had a chance to talk since…you know.”
>>5305923I have a rough outline of events that WILL happen, and events that very likely COULD happen based on your decisions. Certain interesting events and interactions have been missed due to some of the decisions you've made already. Some good, some bad. A vote that gives you a clear advantage in one aspect might lead to you missing something interesting and potentially beneficial down the road, such as progression in a character's story, or obtaining a useful tool or piece of information. I will almost certainly never tell you when this happens, but it's lead to some pretty interesting twists and turns in the story. Even I don't know how things are gonna shake out sometimes.There are a lot of things that I have planned, but Peter is too young for some of them to happen without making things weird, so I'm mostly messing around and doing prep work for future events right now.The outline I'm going by is more like a tree or list of events that need to take place before I can start skipping months, or even years. Another thing that I'll have to figure out is how the lives of the heroes and villains around you will change over the years. Like, legacy characters will probably be 100% more relevant as time goes by, and I want to show the impact that age and the current state of affairs in this setting have had on Ben and the supporting cast.Venom and Carnage showing up is something that I'd like to happen later, when a few more things are established in this setting. It'll be an entire event, and I'm very much looking forward to what's going to come from their introduction to the story.
>>5306035Awesome. Loving the story and characters. When I get some cash I need to find some artists to do some commissions for our costumes
>>5305916>>5305918>>5305926>>5305932>>5305953>>5305984>>5306032>”You won’t have to worry about Silvermane for a while, I think. This war has hurt him way more than either of us expected it to.”>”Silvermane hired me and my crew to snatch Richard’s suit for him. But now it's in the hands of an ambitious engineer.”>”I never meant for all of this to happen. It all started as a simple job, and now it's getting out of hand.”>”What are you planning to do?”Combining:>”Before I get into that…I wanted to make sure that you and I are cool. We haven’t really had a chance to talk since…you know.”and >"And Matt, ever since what happened that day, I've been trying to be better. I've even set up some rules for my group and been helping people. Thanks for giving me a chance"The sentiment is incredibly similar, so I hope you guys don't mind.>>5306043Glad to hear it. Be sure to post them here if you do! I deeply appreciate it when anons post art for my quest. I love to see my players being that invested in the story and characters. I need to find some artists to commission for a few pieces that I have in mind. I had two in mind, with the poses all planned out and everything. One for Ben and Cindy, and another with the entire Desperado roster. There was also one for Black Cat and Cindy that I'm still thinking about.
Before you began speaking, you took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.“You won’t have to worry about Silvermane for a while, I think. This war has hurt him way more than either of us expected it to.” you said.Matt raised an eyebrow at that, but contributed nothing to the conversation.“He hired me and my crew to snatch Richards’ suit for him. But…now it’s in the hands of an ambitious engineer.” you continued, letting your shoulders slump a bit. “I never meant for any of this to happen. It all started out as a simple job, and now it’s gotten way out of hand.”With that admission out in the open, Matt silently pondered the ramifications of what you’d just told him. You found yourself growing increasingly nervous about what he might say, and it hadn’t yet dawned on you how ridiculous that notion might be. You weren’t some sweaty teen asking a girl out to the spring formal.Finally, Matt nodded and folded his arms over his chest. “Alright. That explains a few things.” he said, in a far more mild tone than you would’ve expected. “Any idea where the engineer is?”You shook your head. “Nope. Me and my team tried to track us down, but he somehow managed to give everyone the slip.” you said, no pun intended. “His name’s Maxwell Dillon, by the way.”“I’ll have some friends look into it sometime later. If you find anything else out, be sure to send it my way.” he said, not quite looking at you as he spoke. He seemed to be listening for something.“What are you planning to do?” you asked.“For now, I need to focus on minimizing the damage that these mercs and crooks are doing to the city. That means increased patrols around the shadier parts of town. I’ll probably have to call in some favors and shake a few capes out of inactivity.” he declared. “We don’t need looters and rioters when we’re already struggling to get back on our feet.”After what you saw at the hospital that your brother was staying at, you agreed with him completely.Matt turned as if to walk away, but you called out to him before he could get far.“Hey, Matt. Are we cool? I know you and I haven’t talked much ever since…you know.” you said, feeling far more awkward than you reasonably should.Matt turned his head a fraction, but didn’t make any further movements.“Ever since that day, I’ve been trying to be better. I’ve even set up some rules for my group, and I’ve been helping people too.” you said, hoping that your argument was a convincing one. “I guess what I’m trying to say is…thanks for giving me a chance.”There was a long pause after that, and you found yourself emulating that very same nervous energy from before. The silence had almost become unbearable, when Matt finally turned his whole body around to face you.(Cont.)
Though it was slightly strained, and a bit brittle at the edges, Matt had an unmistakable smile on his face.“Thank you, Benny. That means a lot. It really does.” he said, not a trace of doubt or suspicion in his voice. “I know that any judgment coming from me just comes off as sounding hypocritical, but I truly think that we all have to try to do better. It isn’t an overnight change, and it takes constant work, but the fact that you’re putting in the effort is a good step in the right direction.”Suddenly, all that tension that had been building up in your muscles relaxed all at once. The knowledge that you weren’t about to lose a potential friend was far more of a relief to you than you would’ve thought.“And if you’re not too busy,” Matt continued. “I could use some help cleaning up these streets every now and again.”>”I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself. I’ve met far worse people in my lifetime.”>”I’ve got some time before my next appointment. Sure, why not?”>”How about we get something to eat first. I’m starved.”>”Maybe another time. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. But I appreciate the invitation.”>”I’ll give you a call if I run into Max. Just in case you feel like taking a swing at him.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5306110>”I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself. I’ve met far worse people in my lifetime.”>”I’ve got some time before my next appointment. Sure, why not?”>”How about we get something to eat first. I’m starved.”Also what happened between us?
>>5306110>”I’ve got some time before my next appointment. Sure, why not?”>”I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself. I’ve met far worse people in my lifetime.”>Falling is human, but rising is divine. Or atleast that's how I think the saying goes, never payed much attention.
>>5306110>>”I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself. I’ve met far worse people in my lifetime.”>>”I’ve got some time before my next appointment. Sure, why not?”
>>5306123We killed Moon Knight's brother because he was part of the vampire conspiracy.We probably should have a talk with him too one of these days,
>>5306130ah I remember that, thought we did something else
>>5306124+1
>>5306130>We killed Moon Knight's brother because he was part of the vampire conspiracyHe'll be back
>>5306123+1, though Tombstone is next
>>5306110>>”Maybe another time. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. But I appreciate the invitation.”>>”I’ll give you a call if I run into Max. Just in case you feel like taking a swing at him.”We gotta get prepared for tombstone
>>5306110>”I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself. I’ve met far worse people in my lifetime.”>”I’ve got some time before my next appointment. Sure, why not?”Learning some fighting from Stick would be sick, especially if we can do his blind fighting with our Spidey Sense Also, have this this Tinkerbell
>>5306412Have this one
>>5306123>>5306124>>5306200>>5306128>>5306350>>5306373>>5306412>”I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself. I’ve met far worse people in my lifetime.”>”I’ve got some time before my next appointment. Sure, why not?”Taking these. Writing...>>5306412>>5306596Goth Tink is incredibly based!
“I’ve got some time before my next appointment. Sure, why not?” you said with a shrug, joining him at the rooftop ledge.He gave you an approving nod, and you gave him one of your own.“Oh, and I think you’re being a little too hard on yourself.” you added. “I’ve met far worse people in my life.”Matt’s expression was an unreadable one, but you thought you sensed gratitude mixed somewhere in that flurry of emotions. He didn’t respond with words, and simply leapt from the building, plummeting headfirst with his arms spread out. You followed his example a moment later, allowing the blind man to get a good head start so you could trail after him.—------Over the course of the next few hours, you and Matt went on an absolute warpath. With his supernatural sensory capabilities, you hunted down and squashed any kind of delinquent activity that required direct intervention. Neither of you spoke very much, and he didn’t attempt to pry into your life. You were simply enjoying each other's company.At certain times, Matt would turn his head slightly and scowl in a random direction. When you asked him about it, he simply told you that there were some cruelties that he couldn’t prevent or punish. It took you a moment, but you figured that he was talking about crimes of the domestic level. Parents abusing their children, husbands beating their wives, and the frequent bullying that went on between younger kids. Superheroes could do nothing to change such things, as the problem stemmed from issues on a societal level. Or maybe it was human nature for people to want to take advantage of another’s weakness. You’ve seen far too much shit to consider yourself any sort of optimist, but you guessed that any cape had to be something of an optimist to keep doing what they do.It was better than being a cop, at least. Now there was a thankless and dangerous job! Hill and Callisto might call you crazy, but even you’re not crazy enough to go toe to toe with high level metas with only a pistol.With each and every engagement, you found yourself watching Matt fight. You were studying his every move, the way he’d react to incoming attacks, the fluidity with which he would parry blows and return them in the blink of an eye. Every movement felt practiced and rehearsed to the point of obsession. If there’s anything that you learned from a life of violence and juvenile behavior, it was that real fights were far messier and ended much quicker. Especially when two practiced martial artists were going at it. All it took was a single mistake.But this? Watching Matt fight here and now…the whole thing felt choreographed. You were really going to have to convince this guy to personally train you someday.—--------(Cont.)
Eventually, you and your friend had to part ways, as it was nearing the time for your meeting with Tombstone. All sorts of thoughts ran through your mind on your way to his building, and you were wondering whether what you were doing was truly wise.Early in your career, you’d resolved to take out Tombstone and eliminate the competition. Looking back on it, your plans had been far grander than they are now. Criminal empires are overrated anyway. Having a small, but manageable team works far better in your favor.—-----The moment you’d crossed into Tombstone’s territory, you made a point to pay close attention to your spider-sense. You might not be able to sense all types of surveillance, but you could certainly sense a sniper lining up his crosshairs from any distance.Strangely, enough, you didn’t feel anything remotely threatening in your general vicinity. How strange…By the time you arrived at the albino’s building, you scaled the shear surface and crawled up into the open window leading into Tombstone’s office. He’d left it unlocked, just like he promised. When you entered the room, you found Tombstone waiting for you, leaning on his desk with one massive hand. His expression was one of mild irritation, but not downright hate or contempt.You took a moment to glance around, frowning at the lack of an ambush waiting for you. Despite you standing this close to the big guy, your spider-sense still wasn’t going off! It was almost off-putting.“Huntsman. So glad you could show up.” he said in that menacing, verbose tone of his, sounding anything but.You just shrugged. “You know I wouldn’t miss this for the world. We’ve got some serious catching up to do.”Tombstone’s eyes narrowed slightly, and you could’ve swore that his pupils shrank a bit. “That we do. But now is not the time for that.” he said, pushing off of his desk and walking over to a bland looking wall. He pressed his hand against a part of the dark material, and it sank slightly as a hidden pressure plate revealed itself.Behind that pressure plate. A black, reflective slate slide open. Tombstone placed his hand upon it, and an audible click from a mechanism deep within the wall signaled the large man to take a step back.Suddenly, the wall slid open, revealing a long hallway leading into another room.“Follow me. I want to show you something.” he said, entering the hall without looking back.You hesitated, but eventually decided to follow once you were sure that there was a sufficient amount of distance between the two of you.The cramped, narrow space gave you an uncomfortable feeling. You were almost certain that you could run circles around Tombstone without him landing a proper hit on you, but in this kind of environment…you were feeling a lot less sure of yourself.(Cont.)
About a minute later, Tombstone’s broad back was no longer blocking out the light coming from the connecting room, and he stepped aside to allow you to enter beside him.In the middle of the well-lit room, you say something that you couldn’t quite explain. A cube of opaque plastic sheeting was surrounding what you assumed was a bedridden patient. Their breathing was labored, and the rhythmic beeping of an EKG machine and other life support devices filled the silence.You squinted, trying to identify the person inside, but Tombstone decided to save you the trouble.“This…is my daughter.” he said. “The Goblin did this to her. I’m sure of it now.”You looked down to see his hands clenched into fists, his veins popping as dug bloody crescents into his palms.What will you say?>”What happened? The Goblin attacked her?”>”This is why you weren’t trying to snatch Slip’s suit. You were worried about your daughter.”>”You want revenge. Did you bring me all the way here so that you could ask me to whack Gobbie for you?”>”To be fair, the guy looked and sounded unstable from the start. Not an ideal business partner to have.”>”Why show this to me? I’m not exactly in your circle of trust, Tombsey. In fact, I was 90% sure that this was going to be a trap.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5306888What happened? The Goblin attacked her?”>”This is why you weren’t trying to snatch Slip’s suit. You were worried about your daughter.”>”You want revenge. Did you bring me all the way here so that you could ask me to whack Gobbie for you?”>”To be fair, the guy looked and sounded unstable from the start. Not an ideal business partner to have.”>”Why show this to me? I’m not exactly in your circle of trust, Tombsey. In fact, I was 90% sure that this was going to be a trap.”All of the above
>>5306888>”What happened? The Goblin attacked her?”>”You want revenge. Did you bring me all the way here so that you could ask me to whack Gobbie for you?”>”To be fair, the guy looked and sounded unstable from the start. Not an ideal business partner to have.”>”Why show this to me? I’m not exactly in your circle of trust, Tombsey. In fact, I was 90% sure that this was going to be a trap.”
>>5306888>”What happened? The Goblin attacked her?”>”Why show this to me? I’m not exactly in your circle of trust, Tombsey. In fact, I was 90% sure that this was going to be a trap.”
>>5306888>”What happened? The Goblin attacked her?”>”This is why you weren’t trying to snatch Slip’s suit. You were worried about your daughter.”>”You want revenge. Did you bring me all the way here so that you could ask me to whack Gobbie for you?”
>>5306900Supporting.
>>5306892>>5306897>>5306900>>5306920>>5306947>”What happened? The Goblin attacked her?”>”You want revenge. Did you bring me all the way here so that you could ask me to whack Gobbie for you?”>”Why show this to me? I’m not exactly in your circle of trust, Tombsey. In fact, I was 90% sure that this was going to be a trap.”Taking these. Writing...
>>5306888>”What happened? The Goblin attacked her?”>”You want revenge. Did you bring me all the way here so that you could ask me to whack Gobbie for you?”
>>5307029Whoops! This too
“What happened? The Goblin attacked her?” you asked.Tombstone shook his head. “Not directly, no.” he said, not taking his eyes off of his daughter’s vague silhouette. “Sometime during the attack on the Vulture’s base, she started showing some rather serious symptoms to a virus that we couldn’t quite identify. We traced the time of exposure to when my daughter was without my protection or superveillance. It was all a bit too convenient.”“But that doesn’t mean that the Goblin did it.” you argued.Tombstone just nodded, still not looking you in the eye.“We managed to pull camera footage of an individual known as ‘Hazrat’ at the scene during the time of her exposure. I think it’s safe to say that the rat bastard used a chemical weapon or a manufactured virus to infect my little girl.” he explained, his shark-like teeth grinding against one another as he spoke. “On his own, he doesn’t have much of a motive. But according to the media, Hazrat is a known associate of the Green Goblin. Once we’d pieced that together, it all started to make sense.”“He’s been using your daughter as a bargaining chip.” you concluded.Tombstone’s jaw clenched at that, but he made no move towards you.“In exchange for my daughter’s life, and what little of her ‘good health’ she has left, I’ve ordered my men to follow the Goblin’s orders to a T.”“You want revenge.” you said, looking up at him. “Did you bring me all the way over here so that you could ask me to whack Gobbie for you?”To your surprise, Tombstone shook his head. “No. Nothing so simple.” he said in a low rumble.“Then why show me this?” you asked. “I’m not exactly in your circle of trust, Tombsey. In fact, I was 90% sure that this was going to be a trap.”Tombstone turned to face you then, an aura of menace radiating off of him as he loomed over you.“I don’t want you to kill the Goblin, Huntsman. That’s something that I intend to do with my own hands. Slowly…and painfully.” he declared, his knuckles popping as he clenched his fists until they turned even whiter than they normally were. “No…I want you to bring down everything that the Goblin has stolen from me. I want you to sabotage my operations.”At that point, your brain kinda just…shut off. Tombstone wanted to hire you to tear down his empire? All because the Goblin had his grubby little green fingers dipped into it?(Cont.)
How will you respond?>”Isn’t that a little…extreme?”>”That still doesn’t explain why you called me specifically to deal with this.”>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”>”You’d better be serious about this. Because if you aren’t…there’s no going back.”>”...How much?”>”Sorry…but I can’t. That’d put me right in the Goblin’s crosshairs, and I’m trying to keep my distance from him right now.">"I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now. I might know some friends that'd love to shut down your operations, though.">Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5307052That still doesn’t explain why you called me specifically to deal with this.”>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”
>>5307052>”That still doesn’t explain why you called me specifically to deal with this.”>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”
>>5307052>”Isn’t that a little…extreme?”>”That still doesn’t explain why you called me specifically to deal with this.”>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”>”You’d better be serious about this. Because if you aren’t…there’s no going back.”
>>5307052>>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”...How much?”
>>5307052>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”>"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm already on GG's shitlist, and given our less than stellar past, no one would bet that yoy would be hiring me to deatroy your own faction. So I'm in Tombstone, as soon as I finish a job I have lined up the Desperados will start"
>>5307052>”...How much?”
>>5307052>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”"I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now. I might know some friends that'd love to shut down your operations, though."
>>5307052>>”Isn’t that a little…extreme?”>>”That still doesn’t explain why you called me specifically to deal with this.”>>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”>"Also, I don't like the thought of two crumbled crime empires in New York. You must have heard what happened with Silverman. That'd make it extra easy for Kingpin to literally take all of the underworld."
>>5307052>"I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now. I might know some friends that'd love to shut down your operations, though.">”Believe me, they’re more than competent.”I say we hand this over to Daredevil and White Tiger because we’re already compromised. We’ve no doubt been seen entering Tombstone’s window just now, and Gobby will put two and two together. If Daredevil does it, however, we have a solid alibi in that we were elsewhere and taking down crime organisations is just the kind of thing heroes do. Putting us, our team and, potentially, our family in Green Goblin’s crosshairs is a very bad idea.Plus we actually are kind of swamped with work right now.
>>5307522Those are some good points.>>5307097 I'm changing my vote to>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”>"I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now. I might know some friends that'd love to shut down your operations, though."
>>5307052>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”>"I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now. I might know some friends that'd love to shut down your operations, though."
>>5307609Any possibility you can tell me which IP you were before, or what your previous vote had been?
>>5307609>>5307754Oh no wait, I see what you did there. My bad. Just waking up
>>5307757Guten morgen.
>>5307053>>5307060>>5307072>>5307085>>5307455>>5307490>>5307521>>5307522>>5307609>>5307659>”That still doesn’t explain why you called me specifically to deal with this.”>”Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter? He has to have it somewhere.”>”Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.”>"I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now. I might know some friends that'd love to shut down your operations, though."Took me longer than it should've to count these up and decide which ones I would take. Writing...>>5307765Mornin' anon
“That still doesn’t explain why you called me specifically to deal with this.” you argued.A flash of annoyance swept across Tombstone’s face for a moment, but he quickly schooled his expression. “That’s simple. It’s because you’re a pest. A thorn in the side of any respectable crime boss with proper roots dug into this city. A free agent with no allegiances and no orders to follow.” he said. “But above all, it’s because you’re a selfish bastard. And like many others before you, I think you’d jump at the chance to get me out of the picture so that you could capitalize on my absence.”“...I guess that’s fair.” you admitted, not feeling the need to engage the gangster in criminal politics. “Why don’t I just try and steal the cure for your daughter. He has to have it somewhere.”The big albino gave you a thoughtful look and shifted his stance slightly. “That’s probably easier said than done. You have no way of knowing what the antidote looks like or where they might be keeping it, and that would require far too much work on either of our part to pull off.” he said. “But…if you’re feeling particularly foolhardy, then you are welcome to try. Just don’t bring him knocking on my doorstep when you do fail.”You tried, and failed, not to scowl at that.“Have you tried letting someone else look at her? There are some pretty smart people on the other side of the fence.” you suggested.Tombstone sighed slightly. “I know. And I have considered it, but there’s too big of a chance that they might imprison her for her connections to my operations. And without my resources to aid either of us, she won’t be shown any favor or mercy in the courtroom.” he explained. “However…if this goes on any longer, then I might be forced to take such a course of action. Her life is more important than her future.”You nodded, understanding a bit of what he was saying. “I’ve kind of got a lot on my plate right now. I might know some friends who’d love to shut down your operations, though.”Tombstone raised an eyebrow at that. Then, he nodded.“That might be a more favorable solution for both of us. By dividing up the work, we can cripple the Goblin’s forces quickly, and without incriminating either of us.” he concluded.“If this does succeed, we can discuss payment at a later date.” he continued. “And furthermore, if you happen to come across anything that looks particularly valuable while you’re attacking my men, you’re welcome to keep it.”Now there was a nice thought! It almost made you want to do it all by yourself. Almost.Tombstone reached into his jacket pocket, and you jerked back reflexively. Noticing this, he proceeded to pull something out, slowly and carefully, never taking his eyes away from yours. What he pulled out was a black, rectangular device that looked vaguely familiar.
“On this drive, you’ll find everything that you need to know to ruin me. It contains very sensitive information that could result in the catastrophic failure of my operations if it were to ever fall into the wrong hands.” Tombstone said, handing it over to you. “Take care of it.”—------With that settled, Tombstone let you out of his secret passageway and watched as you swung away from his building. You had a lot to think about here. Tombstone hiring you to take out his own men was utter insanity! It made sense, in a way, but you hadn’t expected it from a guy like him.And even with Tombsey out of the picture, you still had the Goblin to worry about. He was making moves, and you weren’t sure what end he was working towards. All you could do was hope that he’d leave you alone and get taken out by some other cape or disgruntled meta. This would be the second time that you’ve outright interfered with his plans, though. It probably wasn’t good for your health to mess around with someone as dangerous as him. But then again, it came with the occupation.Who will you pass the information along to?>Daredevil>White Tiger>Maria Hill>Spider-Woman>Moon Knight>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5307811What's the most money we can collect by popping this pinata? And how to best actually dismantle this empire?I say we first go to our own personal hacker friend first since they likely know best how to navigate digital information like this>Julia Carpenter
>>5307811>>Moon Knightwe need to talk to him and see if we're cool anyway we'll have matt help us with electro this is more knight's forte anyway
>>5307811>Daredevil>White TigerTaking down organised crime is DD’s whole MO.
>>5307812I like the way you are thinking. +1
>>5307811>Daredevil>White Tiger
>>5307812Support
>>5307811>Daredevil>White TigerI think Matt and Angela would greatly appreciate a more direct task than "Save the city from itself".Also Hill and Spider-Woman don't really handle street stuff.Moon Knight is also probably busy establishing a new chapter of Khonshu's cult.
>>5307824>>5307834>>5307843>>5307847>>5307856>Daredevil>White TigerTaking these. Writing...
As soon as you were able, you handed the data off to the two people that you knew for certain would make the best use out of it. Matt and Angela.Angela was glad to see that you were doing okay, and she was even more excited to hear that you were trying to do better. You didn’t want to be on either of their bad sides.When you presented the drive and explained the situation surrounding it, both seemed surprised by the sheer scope of the underground politics that you’d been wrapped up in lately. Honestly, you couldn’t blame them. You can barely remember how simple your life was before all this metahuman nonsense swept you up into a whirlwind of bullshit and constant trickery.They took the drive and thanked you for giving them a good starting point towards cleaning up the city. Tombstone’s absence won’t be missed, but it’d be noticed for sure. Things will be sweet for a few weeks, until someone else tries to muscle in on his old territory. In a less than ideal scenario, there might be multiple factions fighting to control it. Only time would tell.Nevertheless, both your friends seemed pleased by this development. You just hoped that they’d be prepared to deal with the inevitable fallout of their actions. Most capes weren’t nearly as responsible as they claimed to be, but you had high hopes for these two.—------Over the next few days, you and your team spent most of your time preparing for Hill’s mission. It was the next best thing to a job that you had while you waited for Silvermane to get his shit together. During that time, Electro hadn’t made any new appearances, and the Chameleon refused to come out of hiding. You were fairly nervous about both, if you were being honest. You absolutely hated loose ends. Especially ones that threatened your identity and your loved ones.Speaking of loved ones, Flint had left to watch over your family a few days back. He would relieve Cindy, giving her time to relax, sleep, spend time with the folks, or just sneak out and fight crime. You didn’t particularly like the idea of her flying solo just yet, but you figured that she had spent far too much time cooped up in that hospital already. She was trained from birth to protect the weak, and her instincts must have been screaming at her to get up and do something ever since those looters attacked the hospital. You weren’t cruel enough to try and hold her back. Especially when she had more training and combat experience than you did.Callisto required the least amount of preparation. Once she’d found someone to look after the Morlocks while she was gone, she pretty much just sat in on your team meetings and read over the debrief that Hill sent over. Her knives and some light rations were the only things that she was planning on bringing. Taking her lifestyle into consideration, you’d somewhat expected her to be a light packer.(Cont.)
Anastasia would drop by every now and again, but most of the time, she’d been using your warehouse to store her weapons and the various pieces of hunting gear and equipment that she was planning on bringing. All were newly acquired, as far as you could tell. For someone that slept in the park, your friend with benefits was surprisingly well connected.Prowler had taken Felicia’s advice and made some adjustments to his suit. He removed the cape and some of the extra layers that offered him more protection in battle. That was about the only thing that changed, however. He was still adamant on covering up every inch of his skin. Not that you were one to talk.Felicia’s costume change had been, by far, the most eye-catching. She somehow found a way to expose even MORE cleavage as she increased the width and depth of the already considerably deep V-neck of her catsuit, and swapped out the leather for something more breathable.Glass mostly just sat around and chatted idly with Callisto. Neither had any special skills that you needed during the prep phase, so you were content to let them be.What will you do to prepare for this mission?>Swing on over to Phin’s shop to get that new suit built.>Get some work done at Phin’s shop.(Write-in.)>Build some more gadgets with Prowler.(Which ones?)>Fix up the Wallcrawler with Prowler's help. You'll have to ask Hill if you can bring it with you on your expedition.>Coordinate with “Lost Boy” and learn as much as you can from him.>Make another supply run so that your family has everything they need before you depart.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5307905>Fix up the Wallcrawler with Prowler's help. You'll have to ask Hill if you can bring it with you on your expedition.>Coordinate with “Lost Boy” and learn as much as you can from him.>Make another supply run so that your family has everything they need before you depart.The way the crawler just kinda glides over terrain will be a help for those on our team who aren't as mobile as us.
>>5307905>Coordinate with “Lost Boy” and learn as much as you can from him.>Swing on over to Phin’s shop to get that new suit built.>See if Phin can't fabricate a custom machete while you're there, preferably something a little more durable than plain old steel>Swing by the local army surplus store and pick up a slouch hat (pic related)FASHION!
>>5307920Supporting mainly for the hat.With that pretty sure we can keep going at it with Kravinov
>>5307922The hat and the machete just seem like good picks for trailblazing.I'm gonna assume we won't be able to swing around much, so being able to bushwhack without having the fucking sun in our eyes is important.
>>5307905>Coordinate with “Lost Boy” and learn as much as you can from him.>Make another supply run so that your family has everything they need before you depart.I'm not bringing in a giant wheel to a jungle.
>>5307920I also support H A T.No need for a machete though, we already got a super knife.
>>5307931My friend, a machete and a knife are two different tools.
>>5307920+1 don't forget to add a whip
>>5307940Webs are essentially infinite whips when you think about it
>>5307941Where there's a Whip, there a way>>5307920Ditto
>>5307992But I don't want to go to war today.
>>5308004
>>5308023You missed opportunity to have the filename be nay, nay, nay
>>5308035Aw fuck you're right
>>5307920>>Make another supply run so that your family has everything they need before you depart.+1 to that and this
>>5307905> Swing on over to Phin’s shop to get that new suit built, and ask about a custom built machete>Coordinate with “Lost Boy” and learn as much as you can from him.>Make another supply run so that your family has everything they need before you depart.
>>5308350>Felicia’s costume change had been, by far, the most eye-catching. She somehow found a way to expose even MORE cleavage as she increased the width and depth of the already considerably deep V-neck of her catsuit, and swapped out the leather for something more breathable.someone's jealous
>>5307910>>5307920>>5307922>>5307931>>5307940>>5307928>>5308159>>5308307>Coordinate with “Lost Boy” and learn as much as you can from him.>Swing on over to Phin’s shop to get that new suit built.>See if Phin can't fabricate a custom machete while you're there, preferably something a little more durable than plain old steel>Swing by the local army surplus store and pick up a slouch hat>Make another supply run so that your family has everything they need before you depart.Taking these. Writing!Also, I'm a little more than halfway through Book 1 of Peter and the Starcatchers. It's an interesting read, for sure.
>>5308350Speaking of her ass and costumes…
As soon as you were able, you swung over to Phin’s shop to request that your new suit be constructed. It took you longer than usual to get his attention today. The inside of his shop was fairly cluttered, so you assumed that he was either backed up with orders or was obsessed with some new pet project of his.When you got down to talking, you discovered that it was the former. Apparently, many of the mercs that had participated in the hunt for Slip had come to him for specially crafted weapons and equipment. It wasn’t terribly surprising when you took a moment to think about it.While he was glancing over the schematics that Black Cat drew up, you mentioned that you were in need of a machete. Phin just looked up and stared at you. You stared back.Eventually, the Tinkerer sighed and went into the back to rummage around for something. You heard a lot of banging and cursing before he came back out, and in his hands, he held a considerably sharp machete.Apparently, it was made out of a highly durable and highly resistant steel alloy. You tried to spring for something more exciting or fantastic, but he just shook his head, saying something about using rare metals to coat weapons is almost always a terrible idea. As he constructed your suit, he started to bicker about the Black Panther literally throwing Vibranium at his enemies, and how kids today who play too many video games expect more exotic metals to “do more damage” than they reasonably should.You eventually got bored and decided to head out while he worked, leaving your new machete at his store so that you might pick it up later. Carrying it around all day would quickly get…uncomfortable.—------While you were still in your civvies, you dropped by your local army surplus store and picked up a nice little slouch hat, just in case the weather in Neverland wasn’t as fair as Pan claimed. Thankfully, this store in particular hadn’t been hit by any looters. You quite liked the staff that worked here.You decided to wear the hat on the way out, only to remove it when you changed back into your spidey suit. You wouldn’t have minded walking to the supermarket, but you knew damn well how hard it was to fight your way through those crowds when it got really busy. Better to get there faster, rather than get stabbed by some old lady with a rusty screwdriver.—------Just as you thought, the stores were crowded, the shelves were empty, and the staff was hard pressed to keep up with demand. You simultaneously felt bad for them, and grateful for your own luck. You’d be caught dead before you worked retail.Sure, you’ve worked with your fair share of shady scumbags, but these customers were downright savages! You’ve been shoved, elbowed and you were pretty sure someone was trying to steal your wallet right now.No, wait…No, yeah. They’re just touching your ass. Fucking sickos, man.—---(Cont.)
When you went to drop the supplies off at the hospital, you were disappointed to find that Cindy had already left before you’d arrived. She was probably out there fighting crime at this very moment. You weren’t so much worried as you were regretful that you couldn’t check in on her.—--Everyone in your immediate family was in the room to see Rich again. He was looking much better now. You suspected that he’d be recovered enough to be released once you were done with your current mission.You and your brother exchanged knowing looks, but said nothing that didn’t fit into the formal brotherly banter that the two of you maintained in public. You’d need more privacy before you could squeeze any new info out of him.After a few minutes, your parents offered to leave so that you and Vic could stay with Richard. You and Vic refused at almost the same time, telling them to take their time catching up. Vic caught you in the hall sometime later, and you were forced to explain that you would be gone for a few days, and maybe a week at most.When pressed on the matter, you just told her that you were doing some community service to help out New York’s youth. That earned you a flat look from your sister, which you supposed was better than an outright frown.Regardless, she’d learned long ago not to have these sorts of conversations in front of children. Especially kids as perceptive as little Peter here.You gave both of them a hug and went your separate ways for now. You probably wouldn’t see them again for a while. All you could do was hope that Neverland wasn’t terribly difficult to return from.—------Somehow, you weren’t surprised when Peter was the one to pick you up and fly you to the Helicarrier. The kid was surprisingly strong for someone his size. You made a joke about him granting you the ability to fly with faith, trust and pixie dust. But instead of receiving the derisive sneer that you were expecting, he just gave you a knowing smirk.If that hadn’t been unusual enough, Pan’s voice was different today. It wasn’t hard to tell that he’d changed his accent from Irish to British, but you were unsure as to why. When you inquired about the change, he simply apologized for his being short with you the other day. In his own words, he was having a particularly bad day, and too much time spent at the “Pixie Hollow” has had a negative influence on his attitude.You didn’t understand everything that he was saying to you, but you couldn’t deny that he was far less insufferable than he had been when you’d first met. Maybe you’ll hold off on pummeling him for now.—------(Cont.)
When you next sat down, you and Pan were in a room with Hill in the back, who was rapidly tapping and sliding her fingers along the surface of an ultrathin tablet. You figured that she was trying to supervise the two of you, while simultaneously attempting to get some work done. She only looked up when Pan hocked a wad of spit onto the floor. Her eyes seemed to follow it as it traveled and spattered onto the floor.For a moment, no one said anything about it, and Hill let out a long, suffering sigh before going back to her work. Moments later, a tiny little black Roomba swiveled towards the spot and began cleaning it enthusiastically.“So,” Pan began to say. “What do ya want to know?”What will you ask?>”How’re we going to get to Neverland in the first place? Does it exist in this world, or in another one?”>”What can you tell me about the magical creatures that live there?”>”You said that there are multiple factions at play in Neverland. Tell me more about them.”>”Tell me about the mutant kids that you brought to Neverland. What were their powers?”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5308610>”How’re we going to get to Neverland in the first place? Does it exist in this world, or in another one?”>”What can you tell me about the magical creatures that live there?”>”You said that there are multiple factions at play in Neverland. Tell me more about them.”
>>5308610>>”What can you tell me about the magical creatures that live there?”>>”You said that there are multiple factions at play in Neverland. Tell me more about them.”
>>5308610>”You said that there are multiple factions at play in Neverland. Tell me more about them.”>”Tell me about the mutant kids that you brought to Neverland. What were their powers?”>"How many kids are we going in to pick up, mutant and non-mutant? This goes without saying, but we have to plan accordingly.">"I can assume you have a reliable method of getting us into Neverland, but what about getting back out?">"Also I'm gonna put this out here right now, but do you care what happens to Tick-Tock? Because I could use a new pair of crocodile skin boots.">(Speaking to Hill) "Is this gonna be an entirely on-foot expedition? Or are we bringing any vehicles to help transport the kids safely?"
>>5308610>”What can you tell me about the magical creatures that live there?”>”You said that there are multiple factions at play in Neverland. Tell me more about them.”
>>5308645+1
>>5308645Support
>>5308610>>5308645 +3
>>5308645>>5308662>>5309061>>5309238Was halfway done with the update when I was leaving the house! Sorry for the delay. Writing...
“You said that there are multiple factions at play in Neverland. Tell me about them.” you demanded.Pan rocked back in his chair, his feet resting at the edge of the table. He looked like he might fall backwards at any moment. “Hm. I told ya about the Pirates. They never really band together or anything, and are usually busy fighting each other half the time.” he began, a pensive look on his face. “There’s the Redskins, Tiger Lily an’ her tribe. We’ve got good relations with them. So ya should be fine, so long as I’m with ye.” he proudly declared.You barely suppressed an eye roll, but Hill wasn’t so well reserved.“Ooh! There’s the Knights of the Black Castle, too.” Pan recalled. “Their domain’s in shambles, but there’s still a few wandering around, carrying out their old king’s orders, even in death. Nasty folk, they are.”“So we don’t want to run into them.” you concluded.Peter shook his head. “Not if we can help it, no. I can always fly past ‘em, but the rest ye won’t be so lucky.”Watch out for the Neverland Knights. Got it.“Those are the most relevant ones. You’ll never get to see how the Mermaids operate down in the murky depths, and the Fairies are real picky about who they let roam freely around Pixie Hollow.” Pan explained. “Don’t bother them, and they won’t bother you.”“Tell me about the mutant kids that you brought to Neverland. What were their powers?” you asked, changing the subject.Peter scratched his head, shut his eyes and inhaled deeply. “One of ‘em could shoot fire out of his hands, another could pitch boulders like they were pebbles, and I think one could fly?” he said, not sounding entirely sure. He strained to recall anything more, and to you, it looked like it was a physical effort for him to jumpstart his memory.Hill was now staring at him thoughtfully, and you got the impression that she wasn’t entirely surprised by this development.“Alright…” you warily began. “Why don’t you tell me how many kids we’re supposed to rescue. Mutant and non-mutant. This goes without saying, but we have to plan accordingly.”He frowned at that. “IF they want to leave, you mean.”There was that urge to pummel him popping up in your head again. It was particularly tempting at this very moment, in fact.“Just tell me how many kids are there.” you demanded.Grudgingly, Pan closed his eyes once more and rubbed at his temples. This time, he was straining so hard that you thought he might pop a blood vessel!“If you haven’t figured this out by now, Lost Boy here has the memory of a goldfish.” Hill informed you, not looking up from her tablet this time. “He has trouble remembering anything significant between days, and he’ll even forget things that he considered to be important within a few years.”(Cont)
Peter was glowering at her now. “Hey! My memory’s not that bad!” he protested. “I just…get a bit mixed up sometimes, is all.”“Uh-huh.” Hill said in a dry tone, clearly unsympathetic towards the Boy Eternal. “In short, he doesn’t remember how many mutants or kids he brought over, or what their powers were. That’s why our intel has been shaky from the start. You’ll have to gather information as you go along.”You glanced back at Pan, who was now leaning even further back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head, silently pouting. It would’ve been adorable if it were coming from literally any other kid.Were you really supposed to entrust your life to this guy?“I can assume you have a reliable method of getting into Neverland, but what about getting out?” you said.He fixed his gaze on you and sniffed. “Of course. I can bring people in and out as I please. No problem.” he said, waving the question away. It didn’t sound like he intended to tell you anything further.You glanced at Hill, who nodded her agreement, before continuing. “Alright…I’m just gonna put this out there,” you began. “But do you care what happens to Tick-Tock? Because I could use a new pair of crocodile-skin boots.” you said, pointing to your feet.Both Hill and Pan stared at you in silence for a few moments. Peter was giving you an appraising look. Eventually, he shrugged, an amused grin spreading across his face."Do ya know the one sound that makes every animal in any environment on Neverland flee with their tails between their legs?" he asked. "Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock." he said in a sing-song voice.You were about to respond, but you were promptly silenced by the sound of an actual ticking clock! And it was coming from…No! Was Peter making that noise with his mouth? How!? It sounded like an honest to God's mechanical clock!"Tick-Tock's the king of his domain. And his domain is…wherever he feels like it is at that time of day, really. No one fights him on it or argues the point, lest they end up as his lunch." Pan declared with a cocky grin. There was no fear or trepidation in his tone. You thought it was something approaching respect or reverence, but you couldn’t be entirely certain. "But if you really want to press your luck and do something as stupid as taking him on, be my guest. I’m sure it’ll be a great show for the rest of the Lost Boys." he concluded.You narrowed your eyes at him. That sounded like a challenge. And with Anastasia and Callisto at your side, you liked your chances against the freakishly overgrown fairytale croc.You turned to Hill, who was just watching the exchange with a mild look of disinterest on her face."Is this expedition gonna be entirely on foot, or are we bringing vehicles to transport the kids safely?” you asked.(Cont.)
Hill exchanged glances with Pan, who shook his head.“The terrain might be a bit tricky for you to use a vehicle effectively.” Hill replied.“The jungle canopy’s too thick, and so’s the brush.” Pan added. “Whatever you ended up bringing would get stuck in a matter of minutes. Trust me.”So you were going to walk all over the island with little to no intel while Pan flew circles around you? Wonderful…—-----The conversation died out sometime after that. Neither Pan nor Hill were saying anything concrete about your method of transportation. All you knew was that you were supposed to be meeting her on a boat for some reason.Feeling as if you’d left that meeting with more questions than answers, you let Pan take you back down to the ground. While you descended, you noticed something odd that should’ve drawn your attention earlier. Despite Peter flying right above you with the sun setting behind him, he didn’t cast a shadow.When you asked about it, he made a sour face that you didn’t think was meant for you.—------Upon returning to Phin’s shop, you were delighted to find that your new suit had been finished. And he had your machete ready to go, too!The sleek, breathable mesh felt incredibly soft in your hands. It was a noticeable difference from your usual lightly armored, fireproof threads.Absently, you wondered what you should call it. Every new suit needed a designation.What will you call it?>"The Hunter’s Cowl">The “Jungle Spider” suit>The “Hot Pursuit”>Write-in.>Leave it up to Score!Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
Gonna break the update up here. When I wake up next, I'll continue writing, whether the vote's been concluded or not.Finished the first book, by the way. I'm excited to see what the sequels are like.
>>5309424>Leave it up to Score!I can tell you really want this one, so go ahead.
>>5309424>The “Hot Pursuit”What can I say, I like puns.
>>5309424>Leave it up to Score!
>The Croc Eater
>>5309487+1
>>5309424>>Leave it up to Score!
>>5309424>The "Leave it up to Score!" Suit
>>5309424>“Whatever you ended up bringing would get stuck in a matter of minutes."Wonder how the Big Wheel would fare…
>>5309563You ever got a stick stuck in the spokes of your bike? Well, imagine that multiplied by all the trees in Neverland.
>>5309565>a stick stuck in the spokes of your bikeThanks Obama
>>5309424>The “Hot Pursuit”
>>5309442>>5309486>>5309494>>5309527>>5309534>>5309546>>5309561Finally back! Gonna be running today. Writing...
After much deliberation, you decided to name your new suit “The Hot Pursuit”! Because it’s built for warm climates, and you’ll be chasing after those kids in Neverland!When you communicated this sentiment to Phin, you got an odd look in return. You guessed there was no accounting for taste.>You’ve acquired the “Hot Pursuit”!>You’ve acquired a Reinforced Machete!—----------You decided to wear the suit back home, and you were delighted to find that it was far more comfortable with the breeze blowing through your suit to cool your body down. The cowl was slightly cumbersome, but you soon realized that Phin built in another feature to help with that.When you wanted to put it away, all you had to do was slip it off your shoulders and fasten it around your waist, giving you a snazzy looking waist-coat in the process. You felt a bit like a cosplayer, but you couldn’t deny that you were loving the way that it looked on you.When you next walked into your lair wearing your new suit, you got a few whistles from Felicia and, surprisingly enough, Callisto. You would’ve liked to hear what Anastasia had to say about your new costume, but she wasn’t currently present in the room. In fact, she hadn’t come back until much later in the night, creeping in through the window when she thought no one was looking. When you pressed her on the issue, she simply said that she had been laying the groundwork for the mission that she’d been sent here to do for her family. Before you could ask her what that involved, however, she clapped you on the shoulder and gave you an appreciative nod.“I am glad the suit fits you so well.” she said, looking you up and down.That comment pushed out the majority of your rational thoughts, and the night ended with some light flirting and casual banter.—----The following day, you and your group finalized your preparations and made for the rendezvous point that you and Hill had agreed upon. There, a S.H.I.E.L.D shuttle picked you up and flew you out over the ocean. Before you forgot, you sent a series of long messages to Cindy, detailing the fact that you would be gone for a while and that she should take care of herself. If push came to shove, you knew that Vic would provide for her in any way that she could.—------For the most part, the trip was a silent one. There was a clear tension in the hangar as everyone tried to avoid prolonged eye contact with one another. Prowler was noticeably uncomfortable around so many armed guards, and Callisto and Glass pretended not to be bothered by them in the slightest. Felicia and Anastasia were perhaps the most calm out of the group. One was confident in her abilities, and the other was confident in the fact that she’d be able to get her way, no matter what happened. And considering the way that those guards were stealing glances at her, she was probably right.(Cont.)
Sometime during the middle of your flight, you remembered that you had your slouch hat, and slipped it onto your head. The slight, but sudden movement was enough to draw everyone’s attention, and you were quickly made aware of the fact that everyone was now staring at you.A snort form Felicia is what broke the silence. “Spider?” she said, clearly struggling to keep a straight face. “What is that?”“What, this? It’s my new hat. Keeps the sun out of my eyes.” you proclaimed.“Is there a point in wearing one over your mask?” Prowler asked, speaking up for the first time all morning.“To keep the sun out of my eyes!” you repeated, becoming slightly agitated and more than a little defensive.“That is what the cowl is for.” Anastasia added. “Could you not have slipped that over your head instead?”You gave her a betrayed look. “I thought you said you liked the look.” you said.The corners of her lips curled into a slight smirk as she spoke. “That was before I saw the hat. Now…I’m not so sure.” she said, a bemused expression on her face.“As much as you might consider it a fashion faux pas, I think it’s a very sensible accessory for him to wear.” Callisto put in. “If he hadn’t brought it, he might’ve been blinded by the sun’s glare reflecting off of Glass’ shiny, brittle ass.”This earned her a shove from Glass, who chuckled right along with her. Even the S.H.I.E.L.D agents seemed to have joined in on the good natured laughter.“No, you know what? Fuck you guys. I like this hat.” you declared. “And good luck dealing with that sunburn you’re gonna get, Cat.”Felicia lazily waved you off and pulled a tube of sunblock out of her pack. “Aww, don’t be like that, Spider.” she cooed, batting her long eyelashes at you furiously. “I’m gonna need some help putting it on later, and I thought you’d want to be first in line.”Everyone cast expectant glances over at you, and you suddenly found yourself put on the spot. Normally, you wouldn’t have minded in the slightest, and would return her flirtations without a second thought. But with Anastasia here, you couldn’t help but feel awkward about the whole thing.Luckily, before the silence stretched on for too long, the pilot decided to have mercy on you, and announced that you’d be landing within the minute. You breathed an inaudible sigh of relief, and just barely managed to catch Black Cat winking at you out of the corner of your eye. You were definitely going to be poking her bare, red skin when she got sunburned later.—------(Cont.)
Upon landing you were surprised to see that you were being dropped off on a rickety old pirate ship that looked to be several centuries old. It had clearly seen better days, with its underbelly riddled with barnacles, the railing green with slippery moss, and the floorboards splintered from misuse and lack of care.Cautiously, you all stepped onto the boat and inspected it for any clean place to drop your bags, and unsurprisingly, you found none. Standing in the middle of the deck was a stern-faced woman with dark skin, and even darker hair tied into a bun. Her arms were covered in a jumbled mess of tattoos and markings that didn’t seem to correlate with one another in the slightest. She wore a uniform that vaguely reminded you of the ones that S.H.I.E.L.D agents wore, but her outfit consisted of lighter blue accents with gold trimmings. You didn’t recognize the emblem placed over her left breast, but you decided to commit it to memory.“Welcome to the ‘Gambler’s Guess’.” the woman said in a pleasant, sophisticated voice. “I’m Pandora Peters, Director of W.A.N.D.”You approached her and reached out to shake her hand. “Huntsman. Nice to meet you.” you said, glancing at the wooden wand strapped to her belt.She seemed to notice you looking, but said nothing about it.“Not exactly the luxury cruiser that I’d been expecting.” Cat said, wiping a long line of dirt along the railing. “S.H.I.E.L.D really pulled out all the stops for this one, huh?”That last jab was directed at Pandora, but she made no meaningful outward reaction that you could detect. The awkward tension was broken by the whooping and hollering of an adolescent boy.Knowing what you would find, you glanced up to see Peter Pan precariously balanced upon the crow’s nest, a rusted spyglass in hand.“Ahoy there!” he shouted, before gesturing towards the ship. “What do ya think? Ain’t she a beaut?”No one answered him. Not seriously anyway. The S.H.I.E.L.D shuttle had already departed, leaving you stranded on this rickety deathtrap. You were honestly surprised that it hadn’t sprung a leak.It was now becoming painfully obvious why Hill hadn’t clued you into her plans.“Me and Hill are gonna have to have a chat later.” you said with a sigh.—------For the third time today, you were met with a mind-boggling revelation when Peter swooped down, grabbed the wheel of the ship and actually started to sail it.He barked out a few commands here and there, teaching you sailor’s lingo along the way, as you prepared to set sail. Somehow, the thing was actually moving!If it wasn’t so filthy, you might’ve actually been impressed by the whole situation. You’ve been on ferry’s a couple times before, but never on an actual boat.(Cont.)
There was nothing of note in any direction for miles, and that gave you a slight feeling of anxiety and panic. No buildings meant no web-swinging. You were out of your element, and your life was completely in the hands of someone else now.Nevertheless, you had a long voyage ahead of you. If Pan truly meant to sail all the way to Neverland, then you’d be here for far longer than you'd anticipated.Feeling slightly annoyed at that, you tried to put it out of your mind for the moment.Who will you pass the time with?>Pandora Peters. You’re curious to hear more about this “W.A.N.D.” organization.>Black Cat. You might just take her up on that sunscreen offer.>Anastasia. Out of everyone, she seemed to be the most invigorated to be out on the open ocean.>Prowler. He didn’t look too steady on his feet, and spent most of his time bent over the railing.>Callisto and Glass. They seemed to be having a knife throwing competition with Peter Pan.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5309804>>Pandora Peters. You’re curious to hear more about this “W.A.N.D.” organization.
>>5309804>Prowler. He didn’t look too steady on his feet, and spent most of his time bent over the railing.There probably isn't much that we can help with, but it doesn't hurt to try.>Pandora Peters. You’re curious to hear more about this “W.A.N.D.” organization.Information is always good.
>>5309804>Black Cat. You might just take her up on that sunscreen offer.
>>5309804>Prowler. He didn’t look too steady on his feet, and spent most of his time bent over the railing.We gotta help our buddy.
>>5309830Fuck, sent too early. When we’re done with Prowler,>Pandora Peters. You’re curious to hear more about this “W.A.N.D.” organization.
>>5309804>Pandora Peters. You’re curious to hear more about this “W.A.N.D.” organization.
>>5309804>Prowler. He didn’t look too steady on his feet, and spent most of his time bent over the railing.then>Anastasia. Out of everyone, she seemed to be the most invigorated to be out on the open ocean.In that order.Prowler can swim...right?
>>5309804>>Anastasia. Out of everyone, she seemed to be the most invigorated to be out on the open ocean.>>Prowler. He didn’t look too steady on his feet, and spent most of his time bent over the railing.
>>5309848>Prowler can swim...right?This would be a terrible time to embrace a stereotype.
>>5309808>>5309815>>5309830>>5309832>>5309841>Prowler. He didn’t look too steady on his feet, and spent most of his time bent over the railing.>Pandora Peters. You’re curious to hear more about this “W.A.N.D.” organization.0Taking these. Writing...
You spent a considerable portion of the day hanging around Prowler, who had spent a considerable proportion of the day slung over the railing and dry heaving. He was doing a decent job at keeping his breakfast in.“How’re you holding up, buddy?” you asked“Kill me…” he groaned, just barely managing to make the words out.“That bad, huh?”“Never been good on boats. My brothers tried taking me a few times, but it always ended up with me throwing up more than I caught.” he said.“More food for the fish.” you said with a shrug.Prowler gave you an unenthusiastic laugh. “Funny. They used to say the same thing. Said I was chumming the waters.”“Why’d you keep going if you knew you got seasick?” you asked.“Because my brothers are shitheads. Someone’s gotta keep them out of trouble.” he proclaimed.You nodded. “And because you love them.”Prowler inclined his head marginally in what could possibly be considered a nod. “Yeah. That too.” he admitted. “I’m the youngest of nine.”“Nine siblings!?”Prowler’s laugh had some cheer to it this time. “Yup. Nine brothers, a deadbeat dad and a mom that drank herself to death.” he said, gazing out at the sea. “We’ve only ever had each other. I can barely remember my parents at this point.”You stared at Prowler, wondering what sort of face he was making underneath that mask.“Did you get put into the system?” you said.He shook his head. “Orphanages break up families, and we all wanted to stay together. I mean, it was hard, sure. But at least we had each other, you know?”You remained silent, gazing out at the rolling waves alongside your business partner. As far as you knew, this was the most he had ever said about himself to you, or anyone else on the team.“I know what you mean. Family is everyth-”You never got to finish. Your uplifting words were interrupted by Prowler lifting his mask and retching violently. You patted him on the back when he was done, but you could tell that it wasn’t doing much to make him feel any better.“Is there anything I can get you?” you asked.He nodded weakly. “Yeah. Give me your hat.”“My hat? Why?”“So I can have something to throw up in while I’m below deck.” he said, groaning to himself.“How about some water? I’m gonna get you some water.” you volunteered, deciding not to rise to his bait. While this ship may have been incredibly shabby, it was also fully stocked with enough food and water to last you all several days or more. The real scary thought came from you wondering what you would do if any one of you needed to use the bathroom.You suppressed a shiver and headed below deck. Prowler was gonna become dehydrated if you didn’t get him something soon.(Cont.)
—------Several hours later, Cat took over for you and stood beside Prowler, poking fun at him in that good-natured way that always seemed to piss him off. And while he might have protested her arrival, he made no effort to actually get away from her.In the meantime, you decided to go and bug your mysterious new host. Pandora was standing on the opposite end of the boat, her eyes closed, and her hands folded behind her back. Floating above her, a spiky, white crystal had been forming. Its mass was slowly building, and it was rotating in the air, seemingly uninfluenced by the rapid pace of the Guess.When you had gotten close enough, the crystal fell apart and her eyes crept open. She watched as the remnants of the mineral fell back into the water, swept away and scattered by the rolling waves.When she turned to face you, her expression was blank. She didn’t seem angry or even annoyed by your disruption. Just curious.“Huntsman.” she said. “Is there anything that I can do for you?”What will you say?>”I’d like to know more about what it is that W.A.N.D. does.”>”Is that wand at your hip the real deal? Can you actually use magic?”>”What were you doing back there?”>”I was wondering if you could tell me how this hunk of junk is supposed to make it to Neverland?”>”What do those tattoos on your arms mean?”>”Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5310163>>”Is that wand at your hip the real deal? Can you actually use magic?”
>>5310163>”Is that wand at your hip the real deal? Can you actually use magic?”>”Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.”
>>5310163>”Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.”>”I was wondering if you could tell me how this hunk of junk is supposed to make it to Neverland?”>”What do those tattoos on your arms mean?”
>>5310163>”I’d like to know more about what it is that W.A.N.D. does.”>”Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.”
>>5310163>>”I’d like to know more about what it is that W.A.N.D. does.”>>”Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.”>"And if you're the kind of person who needs to now that, Ana and I killed Baron Blood, Snowsnake and Carpathian, as well as some no-name vampire cultists.">"Speaking of- what can you tell me about the egyptian god Khonshu?"
>>5310407You forgot to tell her our credit card details and social security number, champ.
>>5310413we already told someone from shield what we did and they told us they have their supernatural organization.and as far as Hills blackmail went she knew a lot of what we did.
>>5310413This
>>5310163>”Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.”
>>5310407+1
>>5310174>>5310177>>5310238>>5310253>>5310407>>5310442>>5310453>”I’d like to know more about what it is that W.A.N.D. does.”>”Is that wand at your hip the real deal? Can you actually use magic?”>”Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.”Taking these. Writing...
“I’d like to know more about what it is that W.A.N.D. does.” you declared.Pandora reached out with one hand as if to grab something. Beginning from the tips of her fingers to the base of her wrist, her whole hand disappeared behind what you could only describe as a curtain of air. It was like her body was being photoshopped in real-time. When she pulled her hand back out, it was wrapped around the handle of a hot, steaming cup of coffee.Pandora took a sip before speaking. “‘The Wizardry, Alchemy and Necromancy Department’. Otherwise known as W.A.N.D. We deal with supernatural threats, even within premiere metahuman teams.” she explained.“I thought S.T.A.K.E. were the ones that dealt with that stuff. That’s what Cho told me.” you said.She scoffed at that. “Cho is a brilliant man when it comes to science, but he doesn’t know the first thing about the realms of magic.” Pandora proclaimed. “S.T.A.K.E. is more of a strike team for supernatural threats. We handle much of the logistical side of things. W.A.N.D. has successfully thwarted many potentially world-ending crises without anyone ever knowing about them.”“Kind of like the stuff that Doctor Strange does.”“Strange is very powerful, yes.” she agreed. “But that makes him just as much of a threat, if not more of one when he loses control or becomes possessed by an extraplanar entity.”“And how often does that happen?” you asked.“More often than you would think.” she replied, shaking her head. “Although, I personally find Modred to be the more threatening wizard, what with his connection to the Other.” she muttered to herself.“I honestly didn’t expect you to be so open with this information.” you admitted. “What with you being a super secret organization and all.”Pandora grinned at that. “It’s no trouble. I can always erase your memory if you learn something that I don’t wish you to remember.” she said.You resisted the urge to take an immediate step back. Her smile wasn’t inherently sinister in nature, but you couldn’t help but feel like she had you at a severe disadvantage.“You see,” she continued. “You and your friends over there are what’s known as ‘Flicker-minds'. You have no inherent protection from mind altering spells, and as a result, are incredibly susceptible to mental manipulation. It’s how we control the public’s perception of us and the various supernatural threats that plague our dimension.”You just blinked at her. Even Hill didn’t admit to such shady practices out in the open like this. But you guess when you can fuck with people’s memories as you please, it becomes much less of a concern.(Cont.)
Desperate to change the subject, you searched for something to latch onto, until you spotted the wooden wand strapped to her hip. “Uh…hey! Is that wand at your hip the real deal? Can you actually use magic?” you said.Pandora casually glanced down at her belt, and with her free hand, she snapped her fingers and closed her hand slightly. The wand practically jumped into her gloved hand, sliding comfortably within the space that she’d left open for it.“Yes, and yes.” she confirmed. “However, I use a rather unusual method for casting magic. The wand is more of a focus that I fall back on for rituals.”“Unusual method?”Pandora nodded and took another sip of her coffee. “It is a relatively new practice called ‘Spellweaving’. I picked it up from an extraplanar archmage that had stumbled upon my personal astral space.” she explained. “She was a giant spider that walked on her hind legs like a human. Imagine my shock when she just walked inside like it was no problem.” she said, an amused grin spreading across her face.Several bells rang in your head all at once. It wasn’t your spider sense, but the inklings of an epiphany. She might be talking about that thing that Madame Web was telling you about a while back. Did that mean that she wasn’t bullshitting you when she was talking about Spider-Gods?“It’s a brilliant technique, really. But insanely complex in many ways.” Pandora continued, not noticing your shock. “Think of it like…coding, but for magic. Instead of using established spells, I craft my own, visualizing the runes and spellforms in my mind’s eye and adjusting them as needed.”“What’s the difference?” you asked.“Meddling with an established spell can lead to catastrophic results, and is often advised against. But if you create your own spells from scratch, then you can customize them to your specific needs. You get to decide the range, radius, effect, and just about every aspect of the spell.” Pandora said, becoming much more animated now. “The obvious downside is that this process is far slower than popping out an established spell. And there are many opportunities for failure. But with some practice, and much experimentation, spellweaving can become a powerful and versatile tool for any mage.”“Sounds complicated.” you said in reply.Pandora released her wand and allowed it to slip back into its holster on its own. “Very.”Over the next few minutes, Pandora tried to explain advanced spell theory to you, but you weren’t able to soak up much of the information. So, you decided to change the subject again.“Would you happen to know about a supernatural creature that steals voices? I have a friend that might’ve fallen victim to one.” you said.(Cont.)
Pandora studied you for a moment, took another sip of her coffee, and swirled it around in the cup. “She might have been hit by a powerful silence spell or a curse.” she suggested. “How long has this been in effect?”“A little over a month now.” you said.Pandora’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Silence spells don’t last nearly that long, and they usually aren’t fixed onto one specific person. A curse would be more likely here, but it would take a rather powerful witch or alchemist to accomplish such a feat. Explain it to me in detail.” she demanded.And you did. You went over the entire event several times, explaining everything that you learned from Cindy’s side of the story, and your brief investigation into the matter. Pandora nodded along the entire time, but near the end, she had an unmistakable sour look on her face.“What’s wrong?”“Hm. It would have been better if a witch or alchemist was behind it.” she said with a scowl. “Curses can be broken, and spell arrays can be nullified. This, I’m afraid, is far worse than I would have expected.”“You know what it is. Tell me.” you demanded.Pandora shook her head. “If I tell you, I will have no choice but to erase your memory. Because if you seek to pursue this creature, then I fear that you will doom us all to suffering its wrath.” she declared. “So I suggest you change the subject, Flicker-Mind.”There was a clear threat in her tone as she spoke that last sentence. You could tell that she was dead serious.What will you say?>”Can’t you just give me a hint? Or maybe we can call in someone more powerful to deal with it.”>”Please. I need to know.”>”So you’re totally fine with letting this thing roam free in my city. What if it attacks again?”>”You don’t care that a little girl is stuck without a voice for the rest of her life?”>”...Do you think you can teach me magic on the way to Neverland?”>"Can you explain the whole 'spellweaving' thing to me? I'd like to try it sometime.">"I want to hear more about that giant spider that you were talking about earlier.">”If you’re here, I’m guessing that the island’s situation is worse than we thought.”>”Does Hill actually care about the kids on that island, or is she after something else?”>”What’s your opinion on ‘Lost Boy’ over there?”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5310529>”Can’t you just give me a hint? Or maybe we can call in someone more powerful to deal with it.”
>>5310534Also,>Use spell-weaving to magically-web up our head as tinfoil against mental manipulation before she retaliateI mean, makes sense that Spiderman have abjuration-like property in addition to his speed, stamina, strength, cunning and technological prowess.
>>5310529>”You don’t care that a little girl is stuck without a voice for the rest of her life?”>"Can you explain the whole 'spellweaving' thing to me? I'd like to try it sometime.">"I want to hear more about that giant spider that you were talking about earlier.">The being that taught you spellweaving? It's what decides who get spiser themes powers. It seems I'm one of it's totems on reality, and porbably Spider-Woman too. And if she taught you how to do thia new magic, so have you. Don't want to help your fellow chosen protector of the multiverse?
>>5310529>>”Please. I need to know.”
>>5310536That, uhh, doesn't exactly work the way you think it does
>>5310529>"Can't. I made a promise and I intend to keep it.">"Not to mention the Great Weaver and Khonshu have a particular interest in seeing this matter resolved."The best lies flirt with the truth.
>>5310575Supporting this.>>5310536How To Spontaneously Combust 101
>>5310529>”Can’t you just give me a hint? Or maybe we can call in someone more powerful to deal with it.”>"I want to hear more about that giant spider that you were talking about earlier.">”...Do you think you can teach me magic on the way to Neverland?”
>>5310575>>5310529>”...Do you think you can teach me magic on the way to Neverland?”>"Just enough to where I'm not a sitting duck when magic is involved. I should probably learn some of this anyways, being a Spider Totem and all..."
>>5310529>>”Please. I need to know.”>”So you’re totally fine with letting this thing roam free in my city. What if it attacks again?”>”You don’t care that a little girl is stuck without a voice for the rest of her life?”
So this is a bit of a weird one for me. I usually try to keep the minimum of supported votes to at least 3 or more before passing them. But it's been a while and the most I have is 2 per vote.>"I want to hear more about that giant spider that you were talking about earlier."This is the only vote that has more than two, so I either allow every vote that has at least one other supporter, or I only allow this one, which doesn't seem entirely fair.How would you guys like to proceed? Should we wait for more votes or try to pile in a bunch of the other votes?
>>5310529>>5310548I'll change to>”Can’t you just give me a hint? Or maybe we can call in someone more powerful to deal with it.”>"I want to hear more about that giant spider that you were talking about earlier.">”...Do you think you can teach me magic on the way to Neverland?”
>>5310829Puke in
>>5310534>>5310538>>5310583>>5310632>>5310832>”Can’t you just give me a hint? Or maybe we can call in someone more powerful to deal with it.”>"I want to hear more about that giant spider that you were talking about earlier.">”...Do you think you can teach me magic on the way to Neverland?”I might be retarded here. Could've swore that the giant spider vote had three instead of two, but I guess that problem's been fixed.>>5310835t. ProwlerWriting...
“Can’t you just give me a hint? Or maybe we can call in someone more powerful to deal with it.” you suggested.Pandora shook her head. “No hints. This isn’t a game.” she shot back. “Trust me, you don’t want to pursue this. Your little friend was lucky that she only lost the ability to speak from her encounter with it. It could have done far worse than that.” she said, looking you right in the eye as she did so.You were both glaring at each other now. Yours was a defiant one that clearly told her that you wouldn’t drop this matter so easily, while hers was a warning. She was watching you carefully, sizing you up and waiting for you to do something particularly stupid.With a physical effort, you eased the tension in your balled up fists and forced yourself to take a step back. Pandora seemed to relax a bit at that. Then, she took another long sip of her coffee.Fine. If she didn’t want to tell you, then you’d have to ask someone else or do some research on your own time. Maybe Morbius will know something.“I want to hear more about that giant spider that you were talking about earlier.” you said.Pandora nodded and passed her coffee mug through that curtain of air. When she pulled her hand back, it was empty. “Certainly. The Spellweaver is a powerful archmage of great renown and infamy in her native dimension. She was once a much smaller, but incredibly cunning giant spider that had very little knowledge of the world around her.” she explained. “She didn’t go into any great detail, but it was apparently very difficult for a giant spider creature to become properly enrolled into a magic academy. Many treated her as a pet, or would outright attack her in the halls without issuing a challenge. She suffered great prejudice, and received a very nasty title as a result of her retaliation towards the constant threats. ‘Mage Hunter’.”“Is that bad?” you asked.“Apparently, it's a name given to those that slaughter mages outside of formal duels. Throughout her lifetime, she’s slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands of mages. And a good chunk of those kills were performed in self defense.” Pandora said.“Damn…”“Indeed.” Pandora agreed. “She was well known for inventing the method known as ‘Spellweaving’. I adapted my techniques from hers, but I can only do so to a limited degree.”“What do you mean?” you said.“She was capable of spinning her webs into intrinsic runic patterns that mimicked spellform construction, down to the microscopic level. Her precision with this technique was only made more terrifying by her ability to simultaneously cast up to eight advanced spells.”(Cont.)
You glanced down at your forearms, your mind practically spinning with possibilities. If the Spellweaver could manipulate her own webbing to such a degree, you wondered if you could somehow do the same. It sounded like an insanely complicated technique that was beyond your grasp for the moment. But maybe someday…“And she told you all this herself?” you asked,Pandora shook her head. “Some of it, yes. But I learned more by traveling to her native dimension and purchasing a revisionist history of her saga. It was a rather good read.” she said, looking a bit wistful.“...Do you think you can teach me magic on the way to Neverland?” you blurted out.Pandora’s eyes focused on you once more, and her eyebrow lifted ever so slightly.“In the limited time we have on this ship? Probably not. Most fledgling mages take years before they can properly sense and manipulate the mana around and within them. You’d have to be something of a prodigy in order to pull it off. And even if you somehow managed it, I couldn’t think of a more irresponsible thing to do than trying to teach a fledgling mage how to throw a fireball without first knowing the proper fundamentals.” she explained. “Any spells I taught you would likely be incredibly basic.”How will you respond?>”Why don’t you try to cram as much info into my head as you possibly can until we get there. I might surprise you.”>”Is there any recommended reading? Maybe you have a spellbook or two that you aren’t currently using?”>”Where would I go if I wanted to learn how to use magic? Are there any secret schools hidden in New York?”>I don’t suppose you’re looking for any apprentices right now, are you?”>”Is there any way for me to speak to the Spellweaver? Do you think you can set up a meeting or something?”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5310928>”Why don’t you try to cram as much info into my head as you possibly can until we get there. I might surprise you.”The tried and true throw shit at the wall and see what sticks.
>>5310928Why don’t you try to cram as much info into my head as you possibly can until we get there. I might surprise you.”We can do it
>>5310928>”Where would I go if I wanted to learn how to use magic? Are there any secret schools hidden in New York?”>”Is there any way for me to speak to the Spellweaver? Do you think you can set up a meeting or something?”>I've recentky learned that there is a multiversal web conecting spiders-themed powers. Maybe she is one of these spider totems aswell.
>>5310928>”Is there any way for me to speak to the Spellweaver? Do you think you can set up a meeting or something?”>”Is there any recommended reading? Maybe you have a spellbook or two that you aren’t currently using?”
>>5310928>>”Why don’t you try to cram as much info into my head as you possibly can until we get there. I might surprise you.”
>>5310934This
>>5311005+1, where is Magic for Dummies?
>>5310934>>5310951>>5310965>>5311005>>5311059>>5311215>>5311410>”Why don’t you try to cram as much info into my head as you possibly can until we get there. I might surprise you.”>”Is there any way for me to speak to the Spellweaver? Do you think you can set up a meeting or something?”>”Is there any recommended reading? Maybe you have a spellbook or two that you aren’t currently using?”Roll 1d100-10, bo3!
Rolled 8 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>5311515
Rolled 13 (1d100)>>5311515
>>5311521-2>-2... Is that a critical failure?
Oof
>>5311521>>5311523That is indeed a crit failure. According to the rules, however, a crit fail can be overridden by a crit success. So there's a slim chance of recovery here.
Rolled 92 (1d100)>>5311515>>5311529I LIKE THOSE ODDS
>>5311541bery niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice
>>5311521
>>5311560It's still a failure because of the -10.
>>5311521>>5311522>>5311541It looks like I might have to wait a while before implementing the Spellweaving system. That last roll had no modifier, so it's an 82. So close!>>5311573What he said. The minus 10 mod is a lot more powerful than I ever could've anticipatedWriting...
Did we just lobotomize ourselves?
>>5311529Question, how would we have even recovered with the -10? Wouldn’t that have made a roll of 100 impossible?
>>5311596A nat 100, even reduced to a 90, still would've counted as a crit success. Crit successes aren't made impossible by negative dice mods. The negative mods just increase your chances of failure.I might have to put that in the rules later.
>-2!“Why don’t you try to cram as much info into my head as you possibly can until we get there. I might surprise you.” you said.Pandora rubbed her chin thoughtfully and looked you up and down. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to give you an aptitude test. I was only planning on training until we reached our destination, anyway.” she admitted. “Very well. You must pay careful attention to everything that I’m about to tell you. Because a single mistake is all that it takes to screw up a spell.”—-----Over the next few hours, Pandora did her very best to drill the basics of spell theory into your head. You halfway expected the others to listen in on her lecture, but apparently, Pandora had set up something called a “privacy ward” before the lesson began. Only you were allowed to hear what she had to say.It was probably for the best, too. More students meant more questions and more time spent teaching, and time was certainly not on your side. It would seem that she took the term “crash course” quite literally. She paused very little in her explanations, and she offered even less time for you to ask questions.This was less of her being a bad teacher, and more of her taking your limited amount of time into account. You’d still need to apply what you’d learned, and she would have to correct you when necessary.Once you’d had the fundamentals drilled into your head, she let you practice drawing out spellforms on blank sheets of paper that she’d been pulling from some invisible storage space. It was a bit difficult with the boat rocking violently and the horrid state of the floorboards, but you’d somehow managed it.You practiced this for about an hour or two before she was satisfied enough to let you continue. When you asked her why, she explained that most mage practitioners imagine their own handwriting when they mentally crafted their spellforms. Sloppy handwriting meant sloppy spellcrafting.The next step was teaching you how to see through your mind’s eye. She stressed the importance of learning how to sense the ebb and flow of mana around you, but you didn’t have nearly enough time to learn such an essential trick.Pandora compared what you were about to attempt to a man using a faucet to fill a water bottle with water that he couldn’t naturally perceive. It would be hard for you to know when to stop, lest the “bottle” overflow and the spellform fail. It would just have to be something that you intuit on an instinctual level.In short, Pandora was trying to see if you were indeed a prodigy. The margin for error was quite large here. There were no training wheels involved in this lesson.Unfortunately, you weren’t a quick enough study to be able to open your mind’s eye in the limited time that you had available to you. So, Pandora decided to do something rather extreme.(Cont.)
She reached into her storage space and handed you a black ball. You stared down at it for a while, turning it back and forth to study it as the sun’s rays glinted off its reflective surface.“Pop that into your mouth and crunch it between your teeth.” she instructed.“What is it?” you asked.“You don’t want to know.” she promised.You looked up at her sharply. “I think I do.”Pandora rolled her eyes. “It’s the blood of a black mage, alright?”You instinctively dropped the marble of black blood, only for it to float back up into your hand. You assumed that was Pandora’s doing.“If it falls onto that floor, it’ll be even less appetizing. Now stop making a fuss and take the damn thing.” she demanded.“No way! What if it gives me some sort of magical disease, or curse? What if it gives me AIDS?” you said with a gasp. “What if it gives me magical AIDS!?”Pandora pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Yes, Huntsman. You caught me. This has all been a plot to give you magical AIDS. Such a clever flicker-mind you are.” she said, her words dripping with sarcasm. “Do you want to learn magic, or not? We don’t have enough time for the simple and clean method, so we’re going with the quick and dirty method.”You carefully examined the ebony marble and grimaced. With more than a little trepidation, you popped it into your mouth and crunched it between your teeth. A vile-tasting ichor oozed out of it and spread onto your tongue. It tasted of salted iron and sour, rotten grapes. It was all you could do not to throw up right then and there. But by some miracle of God, you managed to swallow it.You suppressed a shudder as Pandora nodded her approval.Neither of you said anything as you waited for something to happen. Three minutes passed by, and you were left wondering if you’d just been tricked into introducing a foreign substance into your system.You were about to voice those concerns when the entire world shifted around you. You staggered backwards, becoming slightly panicked as the sound of heart began to pound in your ears. The corners of your vision turned red, giving your surroundings a sinister, ominous feel to them.“It looks like it finally kicked in.” Pandora said, shifting her stance. Her every movement seemed to blur as she left after-images in her wake.You tried to mutter a complaint, but your mouth suddenly became bone dry, and you could barely hear your own words.“Try moving your hand in front of your face.” she instructed you, her voice warbling and lingering in the air unnaturally.(Cont.)
You did so, and blinked at the trail of light that you traced through the air with the tips of your fingers. It was almost certainly a hallucination brought on by the ebony marble, but then you realized something. These lines closely resembled the runic patterns that Pandora had you drawing earlier.That must be it! She wanted you to use the hallucinatory effects of the drug to draw out your spellforms. With your third eye closed, this was the only way for you to effectively cast magic.“Take it slow, and be careful. Remember what I said earlier about ‘little mistakes’.” she said.You nodded and began drawing the spellweaving command for “Agitation”. It was a formula that allowed the caster to disrupt the natural state of an element or object. Pandora advised you to practice drawing it as often as possible, as it would become a baseline for almost every attack spell that you would use in the future.Next, you had to draw the lines that would decide the range and radius of the spell. This was equally, if not more important than getting the lines for agitation right. It was a careful, nerve wracking process, made even more dangerous by your shaking, jittery hands.Suddenly, Pandora’s expression grew grim. She dug into her storage space, pulled out a small pouch and began pouring out powder in a circle around you. Her blurred figure nearly caused you to lose concentration, but then, you noticed something else. More than halfway through the spellweaving process, you saw it. A clear mistake that you’d made early on in the formula. You’d somehow inverted the radius lines, which were now intersecting and overriding the range lines.“That isn’t good.” Pandora confirmed, somehow aware of your plight. “Do me a favor and hold onto that for a moment, so you don’t blow yourself up. I need to set up a few quick wards.”Panic shot through your whole body, and you struggled to maintain the lines swirling in front of you. That was proving difficult to accomplish in your current state, so you decided to try a different method. Continuing the formula, you added some unnecessary expansions to the formula. It was like trying to use advanced calculus to add 2 and 2.Your own breath was echoing loudly in your mask, and you tried to follow Pandora’s flowing movements with your eyes.“Almost done. Just a little longer…” you said, in a surprisingly reassuring tone.You added yet more lines. Anything to prevent the spell from activating early. Just had to-“Alright. You’re free to release it.” Pandora confirmed.And as soon as you did, a strange sensation washed over you. Every inch of your flesh rippled on the surface, making it feel like you were made entirely of bubble wrap. It wasn’t so much painful as it was incredibly uncomfortable. Even your eyeballs felt like they were pulsating!(Cont.)
All at once, the ring of powder surrounding you blew away in the breeze, revealing a detailed runic circle of protection. Upon closer inspection, you thought that there were actually two of them. One meant to protect you, and another meant to protect your surroundings from you.After a few minutes of this bizarre sensation, you collapsed to the floor, never leaving the circle. Pandora’s black boots filled your vision as you struggled to breathe.“You inverted the range and radius lines, and failed to properly adjust the amount of mana flowing through your anchor point lines. she explained. “Because of that, you sort of just casted an uncontrolled agitation spell on yourself.”You didn’t say anything. Just focused on breathing and staying conscious. And you were struggling to do either.“You were right about one thing, though.” she admitted. “You did surprise me. I thought for sure you’d pulp yourself with that spell. You’re sturdier than you look.” she said, sounding amused.And then, she started to walk away. “That will be all for this lesson. I highly recommend that you give up on your pursuit of the arcane arts, lest you hurt yourself, or someone close to you.”Your mouth moved to try and say something in return, but no words came out. You wanted to ask her about meeting the Spellweaver, or borrowing a tome or two. Your thoughts felt so…slippery. You were struggling to think straight.More feet surrounded you. They belonged to your allies. You could vaguely hear Pandora explaining something to them, before the lights went out entirely.—------Over an indistinguishable period of time, you regained and lost consciousness, over and over. And every time you did, you saw a new face standing over you. Their expressions varied between amusement, curiosity, and genuine worry. Sometimes it was Cat, and sometimes it was Anastasia. Every now and again, you even thought you saw Prowler, Pan, Callisto and Glass. You were surprised to see that Prowler had taken a break from puking in order to visit you.Pandora’s figure was the most fleeting of the few, and she seemed to be studying you with every pass she made.Eventually, you stopped getting visitors altogether. Rain as cold as ice poured down on you from above like a waterfall, and the boat rocked violently, as if it were being tossed around by some malicious sea god. You saw and heard your crewmates stumbling around and preparing for another harsh wave to hit. They were shouting at each other, and at you, but it all felt so distant to you. It hadn’t even occurred to you to wonder why amidst all this chaos, you hadn’t moved a muscle within Pandora’s ward. You were soaking wet and your skin felt like ice, but it at least gave you something to drink while you suffered through the side-effects of your botched spell.(Cont.)
Absently, you glanced around the deck, and your eyes caught onto Pandora, standing at the edge of the railing, wearing what you assumed was some sort of compact scuba gear. Looking past her, you saw an immense water spout, stretching towards the heavens, and leaving a massive whirlpool in its wake. And the sip was being pulled right into it.In fact, you were pretty sure that the whole ship was turned sideways, fighting against the current.Pandora turned, met your gaze for a few moments and gave you a wave. She looked about ready to jump. You barely had enough strength to stop her, even if you wanted to.What will you do?>Reach out to her. Jumping into a storm that size would be suicide!>Flip her off. She was trying to leave you to your fates!>Give her a thumbs up to wish her luck. She probably had a separate mission from yours.>Signal everyone to crowd around you for protection against the storm.>Pull yourself to your feet and web everyone to the mast before they get thrown over.>Close your eyes and let yourself rest.>Write-in.
>>5311642>Close your eyes and let yourself rest.Accept being a spider flushed down the drain
>>5311642>Flip her off. She was trying to leave you to your fates!
>>5311642>Give her a thumbs up to wish her luck. She probably had a separate mission from yours.Typical spook...
>>5311642>>Signal everyone to crowd around you for protection against the storm.>>Pull yourself to your feet and web everyone to the mast before they get thrown over.
>>5311642>Give her a thumbs up to wish her luck. She probably had a separate mission from yours.
>>5311642>Close your eyes and let yourself rest.It's probably some magic bullshit
>>5311642>>Close your eyes and let yourself rest.Fucking glowies
>>5311642>>Give her a thumbs up to wish her luck. She probably had a separate mission from yours.
>>5311643>>5311655>>5311677>>5311687>>5311696>>5311697>Give her a thumbs up to wish her luck. She probably had a separate mission from yours.>Close your eyes and let yourself rest.Taking these. Writing...
With great difficulty, you lifted one hand and gave her a thumbs up. Wherever she was going, it was probably to do a job different from what you were assigned. And in this storm, she’d need all the luck she could get.She gave you an appreciative nod in return, and a moment later, she disappeared over the edge. You didn’t even hear a splash. Not that you expected to hear anything in waters this turbulent.You let your head fall back and rest against the hard, chipped-No, wait. The floorboards were no longer chipped. Their condition was almost immaculate, in fact. As if it were brand new.You decided to pay careful attention to them when the next wave hit, and there, you saw it! Little splinters of wood were washing up along with the water, settling into the cracks and repairing themselves a moment later. Sometimes, a particularly vicious wave would slam into the bow, bringing a wooden board along with it and washing a portion of moss away from the railing and mast. Little by little, the ship was repairing itself in the storm.You wanted to watch the whole thing, to see this through and ensure the safety of your allies, but your body felt so heavy and cold. You’d been using up all your energy to stave off sleep this entire time, and now, it felt impossible to hold out any longer.Slowly, your eyes closed shut, and darkness enveloped your mind.—-------You next awoke to the sound of seagulls passing overhead. The sun was warm on your face, and the waves were gently rocking you back and forth in your catatonic state.You rolled onto your stomach with a groan and carefully rose to your feet. Without thinking, you stepped outside of the ward and panned your gaze around the deck. You allies were staggering to their feet, in a similarly groggy state and looking around, the same as you were.None of you spoke. You exchanged a few nods and meaningful glances, but nothing more than that. You all approached Prowler with a bit more caution. Considering the state that he’d been in over the course of the trip.Glass seemed the least shaken up out of the group, with Anastasia being a close second.There was a short roll call, and everyone sounded off, with Pandora Peters, of course, being the only one missing. When the others expressed confusion and panic at this sudden development, you gave them an account of your experience during the storm. No one seemed to have any idea of where she went, why she would jump overboard, or whether she survived the ordeal in the first place.Considering the confidence with which she committed the suicidal act, it was probably best to trust in the magician’s ability, and try not to think too hard about it.Instead, the shocking changes in the environment and its weather conditions were taking root in the forefront of your mind. The skies were clear and blue, and the waves were nowhere near as choppy as they had once been. It was like you were in a different place entirely.(Cont.)
“Land ho!” shouted the familiar voice of a prepubescent boy from up above. You all craned your necks to look up at him, and then trailed the path that his finger was pointing towards. And there it was.A massive island with towering mountain peaks, unnaturally deep valleys, a jungle teeming with life, and some rather distinctive landmarks, such as a cove with a bizarre rock formation that greatly resembled a human skull.“Neverland.” you breathed, not able to believe your eyes.There was a moment of stunned silence that descended upon the entire group as you gazed in awe at the-Your spider-sense flared into action, and you leapt back just in time to avoid a tentacle as thick as you were wide. It flopped against the deck in an attempt to drag you beneath the murky depths.“Everyone get back!” you shouted, but there was no need. Everyone could see them now.Massive tentacles reached out from beneath the water’s surface, stretching up until they nearly reached the mast in height. And then, without warning, the unseen sea beast slammed them onto the deck, causing the entire boat to rock violently. Your adhesive ability was the only thing that stopped you from falling over. You were honestly impressed that the whole boat hadn’t capsized from that hit. The Guess must be sturdier than you were led to believe.“Drowners!” Pan shouted.You directed your attention at the tentacles, only to find humanoid figures climbing over them and onto the deck. They were grotesque things, skin cracked and bodies bloated with gasses and fluids. Their clothing was tattered, and they had rusted weapons at their hips that still looked like they would be effective at killing.You reached for your guns almost instinctively. And you would’ve shot, if not for the sharp pain in the back of your head telling you to dodge!Your body jerked to the side just in time to avoid being snapped in half by a serpentine creature with a flat head. It hissed at you angrily, displaying a mouth full of too many needle-like teeth. It reared back to snap again, but it stopped all of a sudden, its whole body shuddering.Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock.Everything on the boat stopped moving all at once, looking unsure of themselves. You and your friends weren’t an exception to this. And all at once, everyone looked up to see Peter Pan, mouthing the words, doing his damndest to impersonate a ticking clock.He frowned at you angrily. “Well don’t just stand there like a lump! Do something!” he shouted, pulling out his shortsword and dagger to meet the Drowners climbing up to meet him.Understanding dawned on you then, and as a unit, you started to move. It was time to retaliate.(Cont.)
What will you do?>Whip your pistols out and take out as many of these ‘Drowners’ as you can.>Hit the sea serpent with an explosive sucker punch to the jaw!>Use your knife and machete to take out the sea serpent’s eyes.>Glue the serpent’s mouth shut with webbing.>Swing from the mast and start tossing these guys back into the ocean.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5311796>>Hit the sea serpent with an explosive sucker punch to the jaw!
>>5311796Use your knife and machete to take out the sea serpent’s eyes.>Glue the serpent’s mouth shut with webbing.Hope it's not a hydra
>>5311796>Try to stick these "Drowners" with explosive marks and then fling them at the sea serpent with your webs
>>5311796>Glue the serpent’s mouth shut with webbing.>Swing from the mast and start tossing these guys back into the ocean.Always debuff first.
>>5311796>Hit the sea serpent with an explosive sucker punch to the jaw!
>>5311796>>Swing from the mast and start tossing these guys back into the ocean.
>>5311796>Glue the serpent’s mouth shut with webbing.Then, if there’s time,>Swing from the mast and start tossing these guys back into the oceanDisabling that serpent’s primary means of attack should be our main priority.
>>5311819>>5311840>>5311973>>5312114>Glue the serpent’s mouth shut with webbing.>Swing from the mast and start tossing these guys back into the ocean.Roll 1d100, bo3!I'll update when I get home from work tomorrow.
Rolled 26 (1d100)>>5312184
>>5312193Alright I'm going to stop rolling. Sorry guys
Rolled 75 (1d100)>>5312184watch this
Rolled 65 (1d100)>>5312184Please don't have a magical hangover
>>5312202Three out of four ain’t bad.
We're finally here boys... the promised Neverland...
>>5312193>>5312202>>5312210Taking these. Writing...>>5312196Keep rollin', boys. Even if you get a nat one, keep rollin'
Rolled 1 (1d1)>>5312950gotcha
>75Before the sea serpent could turn back around completely, you jumped onto the back of its neck and glued its mouth shut with a thick glob of webbing. It thrashed about violently, hoping to throw you off in the process, but you were already looping your webs around its jaws to prevent it from snapping at you again.By the time that you jumped off, it was already diving back underwater in the hopes that it could somehow wash the stuff off. The serpent would be sorely disappointed.Not wanting to waste a second more, you shot a webline at the mast and started to swing from it, giving you a good view of the situation from above. Felicia and Prowler seemed to be having the hardest times fighting these things. Their usual disabling techniques just weren’t working as well. They didn’t seem very capable of feeling pain.The same couldn’t be said for the other three, however. Anastasia and Callisto were killing them indiscriminately, while Glass was just gliding back and forth over the deck, pummeling them in a flashy display until they stayed down or went overboard.Deciding to help your friends out, you started snagging these shambling, water-logged zombies with aimed weblines, and tossing them overboard just as fast. This was clearly working to relieve the pressure on your friends, and they shouted their gratitude as you passed by.Now, this was by no means a permanent solution, since they would just climb back up once they’d recovered enough. But it did work to stagger their forces a bit, and limit how many could be allowed on deck at any given time. Your teammates were now coordinating their attacks, and you really got a good chance to see why Callisto considered herself to be the best hand-to-hand combatant amongst her fellow Morlocks.Even without her knives to prop her up, she seemed to move with a practiced ease that allowed her to dominate the flow of battle without so much as breaking a sweat. Pair that with her weird green tentacles, and she was a force to be reckoned with. Those arms seemed to be infinitely useful when it came to grappling, tearing, bludgeoning, tripping, and even wielding multiple weapons, all at once.Glass and Anastasia weren’t far behind her when it came to sheer combat potential, but there was no mistaking who was pulling their weight the most. You fellow huntress seemed intrigued by the whole thing, rather than disgusted. In the back of your mind, you had to pray that she wouldn’t see this as an opportunity to hunt a “different” kind of beast.Seeing as how your friends were able to handle themselves, you directed your attention upwards so that you might lend a hand to Pan…and blinked.Multiple drowners were climbing to meet him, far faster than they should be able to move with those bloated bodies. They swiped at him, and swung their rusted swords, but none could reach him. He was just too fast.(Cont.)
But instead of retaliating with his sword, the Lost Boy did something far more impressive. He twisted in mid-air, tucked his legs in, and his whole body…blurred for a moment. You heard a pop, and one of the drowners went flying! Another series of pops, and several more went hurtling back down to the sea.You strained your eyes to see what was happening, and you almost couldn’t believe it when you saw it! Peter was repeatedly flying into the drowners like a human cannon ball, his form blurring with each movement. Those “pops” you were hearing was very likely Peter breaking the sound barrier with each dash.Hill told you that he was fast, but this was ridiculous!It all happened in the blink of an eye. Mere moments later, all of the climbing drowners had been swatted away by Peter’s cheeky move. He was grinning madly now.“Everybody stand back, and prepare to be amazed!” Peter declared, whipping his swords out and raising them into the air. Then, Peter began to spin.The Lost Boy descended onto the deck as a whirlwind of flashing steel, slashing away at each and every tentacle that was exposed and above water. It was like watching a weed whacker mow through a tangle of vines!Eventually, the beast decided that now was an optimal time to retreat. Without its tentacles for the drowners to climb back onto the ship, or its drowners to toss them overboard for an easy meal, the overgrown lizard cut its losses and dove for the murky depths it called home.Once its massive shadow disappeared completely below the water, you all allowed yourselves to breathe a collective sigh of relief.What will you say?>”I don’t remember those from the books. Can I get a quick lore check?”>(To Pan) “I thought you said that the clock sound sent Neverlands ‘beasties’ running with their tails between their legs.”>"Good shit, team! I bet he'll think twice before he attacks another ship like that.">”Why didn’t that thing just tear the ship apart with its tentacles. Using the drowners seems like a waste of time.”>(To Pan)”Damn, you really brought kids here!? The hell are they supposed to do against that thing?”>”Alright, where to now?”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5312991>(To Pan) “I thought you said that the clock sound sent Neverlands ‘beasties’ running with their tails between their legs.”
>>5312991>(To Pan) “I thought you said that the clock sound sent Neverlands ‘beasties’ running with their tails between their legs.”>”I don’t remember those from the books. Can I get a quick lore check?”
>>5312991>(To Pan) “I thought you said that the clock sound sent Neverlands ‘beasties’ running with their tails between their legs.”>”Why didn’t that thing just tear the ship apart with its tentacles. Using the drowners seems like a waste of time.”
>>5313022+1
>>5313022Support
>>5312991>(To Pan)”Damn, you really brought kids here!? The hell are they supposed to do against that thing?”
>>5312991>(To Pan)”Damn, you really brought kids here!? The hell are they supposed to do against that thing?”>>”I don’t remember those from the books. Can I get a quick lore check?”
>>5312991>(To Pan) “I thought you said that the clock sound sent Neverlands ‘beasties’ running with their tails between their legs.”>”Why didn’t that thing just tear the ship apart with its tentacles. Using the drowners seems like a waste of time.”>”Alright, where to now?”Seems someone or something is coordinating them
>>5313074Manaka
>>5312996>>5313014>>5313022>>5313027>>5313028>>5313059>>5313074>(To Pan) “I thought you said that the clock sound sent Neverlands ‘beasties’ running with their tails between their legs.”>”Why didn’t that thing just tear the ship apart with its tentacles. Using the drowners seems like a waste of time.”Taking these. Writing...
“I thought you said that the clock sound sent Neverland’s ‘beasties’ running with their tails between their legs.” you said, turning to face Pan.He scratched the back of his head in confusion. “It does! Or at least, it’s supposed to. I’ve never had that happen before. Most animals give me a pretty wide berth when I make that noise.” he said.“Well, why didn’t that thing tear the ship apart with its tentacles? Using the drowners seems like a waste of time.” you asked.“That tattoo lady enchanted it. It’s a lot sturdier than your typical ship. But that doesn’t explain why drowners and strafes are working together now. Something is seriously wrong here.” he concluded.“I assumed it was a symbiotic relationship.” Anastasia put in. “The smaller ones throw the crew overboard while the big one eats.”“Those ‘drowners’ probably have brain parasites controlling their bodies or something.” Callisto added.Pan shook his head. “Even still, it’s not natural. Neither have ever been known to cooperate on anything.”While you all chewed on that, Pan decided to steer the ship towards a nearby shore. You took this opportunity to drink in every second of the island’s majesty. It was honestly unlike anything that you’ve ever seen before. The air was so fresh and free of pollution, and the sky was so clear and blue that you thought it had been painted onto some infinite, ever-expanding canvas that you couldn’t see. And as you drew closer, you saw something even more unbelievable.Down by the shore, coasting on some large, flat rocks, were half naked women. They were downright gorgeous, with long, flowing hair that covered their bare chests. It was like someone photoshopped a supermodel to an unrealistic, unobtainable degree. The only thing that broke the illusion was your sudden realization that their lower halves didn’t line up with the rest of the ensemble.The three beautiful women had tails. Fish tails. They were mermaids.As you wrestled between attraction, disappointment and fascination, one of their eyes met yours. They were a clear, crystal blue that somehow held more beauty, depth and splendor than the ocean itself.The mermaid’s face was expressionless for a moment, and then she turned to face her friends. They all glanced towards you, and then away again just as quickly. And without a sound, or so much as a splash, all three of them fled into the shallows and swam out in search of deeper waters.(Cont.)
Although, now that you thought about it, Anastasia had a very different look in her eye. Unsurprisingly, she intended to do far more than just watch these majestic creatures. It’d be a really awkward thing to have to explain to Pan later.—----When you made land, you and your companions did a quick equipment check before entering the jungle. You and Anastasia had your machetes out to clear the dense foliage, Cat had some super potent bug-spray to protect against bites, and your rations were divided evenly between the group. With all that settled, all you had to do now was follow Pan to his tree fort, where he and his Lost Boys lived.Who will you chat with along the way?>Black Cat>Prowler>Callisto>Anastasia>Glass>Peter Pan>Walk in silence.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5313274>AnastasiaIt's been a minute since we caught up with her, and I doubt she'll want to chat later when she's tracking the kids.
>>5313274>AnastasiaTime to flirt
>>5313274>AnastasiaWe have to be cool to Big Muscle Jungle GF; we had like 2 crit fails in front of her recently.
>>5313274>Peter Pan
>>5313274>Anastasia
>>5313274>Callisto
>>5313274>>Anastasia
>>5313291>>5313292>>5313332>>5313357>>5313489>>5313498It's probably safe to call this vote, but I'll have to respond to it tomorrow. Some days I have to decide between more sleep and more updates, and more sleep tends to win out more often than not.Also, I'm sure some of you have noticed that I'm not updating as early as I used to. This is because I've started resting before I write, just to make sure that I'm not rushing.
>>5313589Goodnight Score
>>5313589"Slower" update rate is fine for me; easier to follow the quest
>>5313589While I liked your more frequent posting I’m fine with it now since I usually work most of the day, and check in every few hours to see if there’s been an update
With you and Anastasia already in the lead, it wasn’t particularly hard to strike up a conversation. The two of you were the only ones with machetes, after all.However, you had Prowler, Callisto and glass helping you to clear thick branches and brambles every now and again. Prowler had some sort of vibrating, retractable blade that he could slip in and out of his gauntlet, Glass had those razor sharp arm blades of his, and Callisto could snap thick branches like twigs with those powerful tentacles of hers.But most of the time, it was just you and the huntress leading the charge, following Peter at a reasonable distance. He seemed a lot less cheery than he was during your miserable voyage. That attack from earlier must still be bugging him.“The wildlife here is quite unusual.” she said, hacking through a curtain of vines.“What tipped you off?” you asked, clearing a path through a particularly dense patch of foliage. “Was it the giant sea beast or the water-logged zombie pirates?”She flashed you a small grin and shook her head. “For starters, I haven’t seen a single animal that wasn’t a healthy, full grown adult. There are no babies, no eggs in any of the bird nests that we’ve seen so far.” she said, looking thoughtful for a moment. “If I had the time, I’d try to dissect and study a few specimens.”“Maybe the kids are just hiding from us. Or maybe we haven’t been looking in the right places.” you proposed.Anastasia gave you a skeptical look. “I don’t think so. A large part of me wants to believe that the fault lies with Neverland’s…strangeness.” she said carefully, scanning her surroundings. “The very same strangeness that caused Peter Pan to stop aging. I think the concept of true death might be a foreign thing to this island’s residents.”You raised an eyebrow at her and adjusted your hat. “You think the animals are immortal too?” you asked.Anastasia gave you a small shrug. “I think at some point, the circle of life, the natural order of things, was broken irreparably. I think that the people here might be trapped in time. Unable to give birth to children through natural means. This might be why Peter Pan feels the need to bring children from our world.” she explained.“So we won’t die so long as we’re here?” you said, pushing a sizable boulder out of your path.Anastasia remained quiet for a moment to ponder your inquiry. Finally, after about a minute, she shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. As visitors here, we exist outside of this island’s magic. In the fairy tale, the Lost Boys still grew up, even after coming here. Although, I’m not entirely sure, as some aspects of the story could have been changed for the author’s convenience.”(Cont.)
You both glanced at Peter’s back, then. You remembered reading the story when you were young. About how Peter would sometimes murder the Lost Boys to prevent them from growing older, and to “thin the herd”. You desperately hoped that you didn’t have a child murderer on your hands here. Because if you did…you wouldn’t be able to guarantee that there’d be enough him left for a return trip. Forever young he might be, he was still considerably older than any of you. In reality, this guy was nothing more than a simple-minded dwarf.At least, that's what you tried to tell yourself. You weren't so sure that you were capable of committing such savagery against someone that looked that young. It probably wouldn't sit right in your stomach.“Maybe we shouldn’t test that theory.” you suggested.Anastasia nodded her agreement, and happily changed the subject.What will you talk about?>Brag about your victory over Typhoid Mary.>Tell her about Gwen’s struggle with her sanity.>Talk about the current state of New York’s gangs and crime bosses.>Explain the whole "Electro" and "Slip" situation to her.>Describe Cindy’s new costume to her, as well as the role that she’s taken on.>Ask her more about her family.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5314247>>Brag about your victory over Typhoid Mary.I swear I'm actually cool sometimes
>>5314247>>Ask what she has been up to. You remember her having come to New York on some sort of mission herself.>>Ask her more about her family.
>>5314257Support
>>5314247>Explain the whole "Electro" and "Slip" situation to her>Ask what she's been up to. You remember her having come to New York on some sort of mission herself.
>>5314253My brother in Christ, actions speak louder than words.Save the bragging for pillow talk, we're gonna show her exactly how the Huntsman gets shit done.
>>5314247>>Ask what she has been up to. You remember her having come to New York on some sort of mission herself.>Tell her about Gwen’s struggle with her sanity.
>>5314273In bed
>>5314257This.
>>5314357Hey, Benny already impressed her enough for a not-so-quick romp, so I think there's a good chance for a repeat.What remains to be seen is if Benny understands his powers enough to get "creative" with them.
>>5314257This and also >ask if she wants to help hunt the creature that took cindy's voice when get back We gotta get her talking again its clearly affecting her
SpiderQM SpiderQMTaking a nap like a SpiderQM does
>>5314257>>5314264>>5314359>>5314392>>5314269>>5314282>>Ask what she has been up to. You remember her having come to New York on some sort of mission herself.>>Ask her more about her family.Sorry for the wait! Writing...
>>5315429>SorryI'll forgive you every time
“What have you been up to? You came to New York for some mission you were on, right?” you asked.Anastasia seemed to sigh at that. “That is true, yes. My father wished for me to track down an old enemy of his. I have found him easily enough, but he’s given me strict orders to observe him until he can arrive to deal with it personally.” she said, trying, and failing to suppress a scowl.“You don’t seem too happy about that.” you observed.She shrugged. “My father has extremely high expectations. And sometimes…sometimes it feels like meeting them is next to impossible. It is as if he doesn’t trust me to see this mission through on my own.” she said, violently hacking through a particularly thick patch of briars and brambles.If you were being entirely honest, you were kind of happy that she was being told to stay put. It meant that you got to spend more time with her. Not that you would dare to say that out loud right now.“Maybe this mission is actually super important, and you’re the only one he trusts to get it right.” you suggested.That got you a derisive snort in response. “Highly unlikely. If he trusted my judgment, he would allow me to see this mission through to the end, without his supervision or having to hold my hand. I am not a child.” she said, angrily. Then, she seemed to calm down some as she made a physical effort to rein in her emotions. “I feel as if this mission was only an excuse to get me out of the way.”A heavy silence descended upon you and lingered there for a while, until you decided to be the one to break it.“Tell me more about your family.” you requested.Anastasia gave you a speculative glance, seemingly weighing the risk of divulging your curiosities. After about a minute, she nodded.“My family’s wealth comes from Russian Royalty. My father and his father before him were members of an aristocracy long gone now. By the time the Soviet Union came into existence, he had already lost much of his wealth and prestige. And so, he used his hunting prowess to relive some of the glory that was denied him. He really leaned into it, gained a reputation for being as fearsome as the beasts that he would pursue.” she said.The Soviet Union!? How fucking old was her dad!?“For a while after that, he did some work for the organization you call ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’. My father was recruited by Nick Fury himself to be part of a specialized unit. He was one of the original ‘Avengers’.” she continued, an amused expression on her face.You stopped dead in your tracks.“Your dad seriously worked as a government agent?”(Cont.)
“He was no incorruptible superhero, but the work that he and his team did was still very important to the world’s survival and prosperity. Not many people know of this.” she said with a smile. “Do you remember the vampire that we killed together? Baron Blood?”“How could I forget?” you said, glad that your mask could hide the flush in your cheeks. That night was magical in more ways than one.Anastasia’s grin turned mischievous for only a moment, before it went back to being wistful. ”My father and his team fought the Axis Powers during the war, and Baron Blood was among the enemies that he slew personally. It was a different man under the costume, but I still took some pride in bringing down the man that thought it wise to carry on the mantle. Like I was doing my family a service.” she admitted, sounding a bit embarrassed. “It’s childish, I know.”“No!” you said a little too quickly and a little too loudly. “No, I don’t think so. It’s kind of sweet.”The smile she gave you was warmer than anything that you’d ever received from her. It caused your skin to tingle and your heart to skip a beat. You basked in the warmth of the moment for a few minutes longer, before Anastasia continued.“Sometime after that, my father met my mother at a social gathering. He was loudly bragging about all of his great conquests and the trophies he’d collected. My mother thought him a blowhard and a fraud, so she walked up to him, and threw her drink in his face.” she said, snickering to herself. “When my father caught up to her and explained that everything he said had been true, she apologized, and the two became close friends.”“And then they became something more?” you added.She nodded. “My mother’s family was incredibly wealthy as well, and with their combined forces, the Kravinoff family became something truly great and respectable!” she declared.Anastasia sounded like she really loved her family. She was proud of who she was, and what they did. It was her whole life. But you felt like she was unsure of where she stood with her father. She didn’t know whether he thought her worthy of walking in his footsteps. Of being a true Kravinoff.Before either of you got a chance to say anything more, Peter made a truly horrid noise that cut through any and all conversation. It was like a strangled rooster got thrown into a woodchipper. The worst part about it was you knew exactly how good of an impressionist Pan was, so the fact that he’d made that sound on purpose filled you with more than a little annoyance.But as you stepped into the clearing that he flew through, you quickly understood why.(Cont.)
A truly massive tree fort stretched up towards the canopy and out in every direction. The trunk of the tree itself was wider than most building’s you’ve seen, and the trunks were so thick that you could scarcely imagine this tree being anything but a couple thousand years old. Maybe even more!As you and the others gaped at the impossible scenery before you, Peter wasted no time in flying up to the top of the tree fort. Even from down here, you could see tiny little specks milling about and playing. They were children, you knew, but seeing them that high up without any sort of safety precaution made your breath catch for but a moment.You waited a few minutes, conversing amongst one another as Peter had a very animated argument with some of the kids up above. Eventually, he flew back down with a small boy in his arms. The child’s raggedy patchwork cloth had been fashioned into a raccoon costume. It was probably the most adorable thing you’ve seen since coming to this island.“Tell these guys what you told me.” he urged the boy.The raccoon boy nodded. “The Lost Boys that you’ve come here for. The gifted children. They’re gone!” he exclaimed.“Gone?” Callisto asked. “What do you mean ‘gone’? Did someone take them?”The boy shook his head. “They had a huge fight. Tore up half the fort and dang well nearly killed us in the crossfire! Then after that, they all left, saying that they’d find a new home!”You all looked at Peter, and you were surprised to see that he had a haunted look on his face.“Pan?” you said.His eyes slowly slid over to you. “This is bad, Henry.” he said, looking at you. “I know what made that Strafe behave so strangely, now.”You were so tense that you couldn’t be bothered to correct him for forgetting your name again.“One of the kids that I brought over. They had the ability to control animals, making them do what they said and making them stronger if they were close enough.” he said, looking angry now.“You’re saying that one of the mutants attacked us?” Glass said. “Why?”“Maybe they knew what we were here for.” Prowler suggested.“And they don’t want to leave…” Felicia concluded, her face falling a bit.You all remained silent as you took a moment to ponder that line of logic.“Where did the others go?” Anastasia demanded.The raccoon boy shrank back a bit, but didn’t falter. “Tossa went to the Black Castle, Croaker went to the Piccaninny Tribe, and I think Squirt went to go join the faeries up at Pixie Hollow. I don’t know where the other two went.” he admitted with a shrug.(Cont.)
You all exchanged worried glances with one another. You’d only just gotten here, and the situation had already spiraled out of control. There was no telling how much danger these kids were in, but you were slowly starting to realize that they might just be the danger here.What will you say?>”Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children’?”>”What do you know about the regions that they fled to?”>”Are there any other ‘gifted children’ that stayed here in the tree fort?”>”How do you like it here? If you or the others have ever thought about going back home, you’re welcome to come back with us.”>(Pull him aside.)”Is Peter treating you guys alright?”>Write-in.Where will you go first?>Piccaninny Tribe>The Black Castle>Pixie Hollow>Attempt to track down the remaining two.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5315593>”Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children’?”>Piccaninny Tribe
>>5315593>(Pull him aside.)”Is Peter treating you guys alright?”Black castle
>>5315593>>”Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children’?”
>>5315593>>”What do you know about the regions that they fled to?”>>”Are there any other ‘gifted children’ that stayed here in the tree fort?”>Attempt to track down the remaining two
>>5315593>"What was the fight about?">>(Pull him aside.)”Is Peter treating you guys alright?”>>Attempt to track down the remaining two.
>>5315593>”Are there any other ‘gifted children’ that stayed here in the tree fort?”>”Are there any other ‘gifted children’ that stayed here in the tree fort?”>Attempt to track down the remaining two.
>>5315664The first one was meant to be>”Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children’?”
>>5315590>the Piccaninny TribeTHE WHAT?>>5315593>Pixie HollowAren't the Pixies here super hostile to outsiders?
>>5315761>>5315593>”Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children>(Pull him aside.)”Is Peter treating you guys alright?”Almost forgot my questions
>>5315593>”Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children’?”>”What do you know about the regions that they fled to?”>”Are there any other ‘gifted children’ that stayed here in the tree fort?”>”How do you like it here? If you or the others have ever thought about going back home, you’re welcome to come back with us.”>(Pull him aside.)”Is Peter treating you guys alright?”>Attempt to track down the remaining two.
>>5315761Maybe not outright hostile but they still wouldn’t want us there alone I bet.
>>5315608>>5315620>>5315623>>5315629>>5315642>>5315664>>5315696>>5315761>>5315774>>5316212>”Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children’?">(Pull him aside.)”Is Peter treating you guys alright?”>Attempt to track down the remaining two.Taking these. Gonna start writing after I'm done eating.>>5315761>>5316632Yes! But nearly every experience you have will be much better so long as Peter is there to smooth things over and translate. It's pretty much the main reason he's been told to come along.
He lives!
>>5316652Yes! These past few weeks have been a bit rough, but I do want to get back to doing more consistent updates. Since I have more time before I have to go to work today, I'm gonna try and cram in a few more updates in order to get the ball rolling.I appreciate your support and understanding during these times, and I'm glad that I still have players sticking around.
>>5316655Just take it easy. Don't get burned out and know we're here for you!
“Can you tell me about the abilities of these ‘gifted children’?” you asked.The raccoon boy nodded. “Tossa tosses rocks with her mind. That's why we call her ‘Tossa’.” he explained. “She can also throw daggers without touching them.”You glanced at Callisto, who seemed to be thinking the same thing that you were. She was either a telekinetic, or she could manipulate minerals with her mind. Either way, you doubted that any of these kids had a detailed description and classification of the gifted children’s powers. But a hint would be good enough for you to anticipate any sneaky tricks.“Croaker’s the one that talks to animals. He tells them what to do, and he can make them really big if he wants to!” The raccoon boy continued.So Croaker commands animals and mutates them. Got it.“Squirt can shrink and become really small. We didn’t notice when she left, because it’s really hard to keep track of her.” the raccoon boy said, sounding a bit exasperated. “She can shrink things that she touches too, so be careful of that. Squirt likes to play all sorts of silly pranks on people.”Now THAT was going to be hard to deal with. You didn’t know how good Callisto and Anastasia were at tracking, but it had to be extraordinarily difficult to track down a smurf that barely left footprints.“And then there’s the other two. Gordy could shoot wind from his hands, and Grover controls plants. I’m honestly surprised that Grover didn’t choose to stay. He loved this here old tree.” raccoon boy said, glancing back at his tree fort.You thanked the boy and pulled him aside for a moment, drawing stares from everyone. Pan’s was the most skeptical and hostile of the bunch, but he still joined their discussion after you left.When you had gotten a good distance away, the raccoon boy glanced up at you, his innocent eyes betraying how nervous he felt.You knelt down to meet him at eye level and lowered your voice before speaking. “Is Peter treating you guys alright?” you asked in a hushed tone.He glanced momentarily at Peter, and then back at you. “Of course. He protects us and teaches us how to hunt and survive.” the boy protested. “Sure, it gets hard sometimes when he isn’t here, but I’d take this over my old life any day. I have a home, a real family, and I don’t have to go to sleep cold and hungry anymore.”You just stared at him. Part of you had expected him to speak of adventures and child-like whimsy, but it would seem that he’s put a decent amount of thought into this.He met your gaze with his own, eyes blazing with determination. “Neverland might be dangerous, but it’s not so different back there, now is it?” he declared.(Cont.)
You wanted to argue, but you simply couldn’t in good conscience ignore the countless alien invasions and supervillain plots that threatened your life in the past, even before you got into the super-criminal biz.You just nodded and escorted him back to rejoin the others. Once there, you expressed your desire to go after the children that hadn’t been accounted for. The others seemed to agree, but Peter was leaning more towards checking on the Redskins. You promised to do it as soon as you made sure the others were safe.—-------After receiving a brief description of the other kids, the huntresses got to work. With Callisto’s sense of smell and Anastasia, traditional hunting and tracking techniques, it didn’t take long for them to pick up their trails. For a while, they walked in the same direction. Grover in front, leading the charge, and Gordy in the back, slinking along, possessing considerably less confidence than his comrade.Along the way, both women taught you a thing or two about tracking prey that you found incredibly interesting, but difficult to pick up. They noticed slight changes in the terrain, slight impressions in the ground, foliage that had been disturbed by a recent passing. It was as if they were wandering around in their own backyard.You weren’t sure if you could notice such things on your own, or even if someone tried to point it out to you. But it would be nice to learn a little about hunting if you were going to call yourself “The Huntsman”. It also wouldn’t hurt to have a proper set of skills that would impress your resident Russian.At some point, the two trails split. One, Grover’s trail, led deeper into the jungle. While Gordy’s led further out, nearing the coast and the sea beyond it.According to both women, there were multiple scents present now, and Callisto thought it likely that both children might have been ambushed by pirates.Peter seemed to scowl at that, his hand gripping the hilt of his dagger as he stared distastefully in the direction of the sea.Which trail will you follow?>Grover>Gordy>Split the team.(Write-in.)Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5316762>>Grover
>>5316762Does either of the trails seem to indicate one or both were captured?Grover is in his element in a jungle filled with plants, so I'm more worried about...>Gordy
>>5316762>Gordy
>>5316762>GordyThat's not good.
>>5316762>GordyKid’s probably attacking anything artificial out of fear.
>>5316787>>5316803>>5316831>>5316848>>5316857Writing...
Almost unanimously, all of you decided to follow Gordy’s trail. And as time went by, it became significantly easier to follow, even for an amateur like you. Disturbed foliage and dirt quickly evolved into demolished trees and deep craters in the ground.At first, you were deathly afraid for the kid, but the more you examined the trial of carnage, the more you began to feel like he could handle himself just fine in most situations.In fact, you were pretty sure that the raccoon kid might’ve been under-selling Gordy’s ability. What he described as “wind blasts” seemed more like projectile hurricane winds to you.This started to seem more plausible when you came across your first corpse. Unsurprisingly, it was a pirate’s body.His clothing was raggedy, and his head was clean shaven underneath a red bandana. He had a thick, bushy handlebar mustache above his lip, and an eyepatch over one eye. His remaining eye was open, glazed over and milky in its color. He seemed to be staring off into some distant horizon that you just couldn’t see.Callisto stood back as Anastasia checked the body, knowing that this fell into her area of expertise. Peter didn’t seem to care much, one way or another. He simply floated around in a circle, glancing around impatiently and tapping his arm with a finger.“His skull has been fractured, his neck was broken, and I believe his spine might be shattered in multiple places.” she reported. “He could have died from any of these, really. But I do not think he has been dead long.”“You sure? He’s smelling a little ripe.” Prowler said.Peter snickered at that. “That’s just how pirates always smell. Despite being around all that water, they probably only bathe around once every few months.”“Is the kid really strong enough to do that?” Cat asked him, glancing at the body.Peter made a speculative expression for a moment, before nodding. “I’ve seen him do worse. He once threw a gust of wind that tore the flesh clean off a wolf. Truth be told, I think he was more scared and surprised than the wolf was.”Cat seemed to cringe at that. Glass just frowned.“These kids need proper training. Young mutants are prone to hurting themselves and others when they don’t have a handle on their powers.” Glass said.“I thought you hated it at Xavier’s.” Callisto said.“I did. But I know that some of the stuff they were doing was necessary to give those kids some agency in their lives. It’s not fun being at the mercy of your own powers.” he replied, giving Callisto a look that you couldn’t quite decipher.She stiffened for a moment, and then looked away, gazing out at the sea.—---(Cont.)
Once Anastasia had gotten everything she’d been looking for, you got back on the trail and continued further along the coast. More toppled trees and deep indentations in the dirt popped up with increasing frequency, until you came across a field that seemed to be free of trees, foliage, or fauna of any sort.Standing in the middle of the field, panting heavily was a chubby boy, covered in cuts and bruises. He had reddish hair and freckles that dotted his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. His clothing was caked with dirt and torn in several places, but you were sure that it had once been made to resemble a piglet.You knew his eyes were on you, but you just couldn’t force yourself to look away from the ravaged bodies at his feet. They were of varying degrees of distance relative to his position, but the symptoms were all the same. None of them had any skin left on their bodies.The corpses were all tender, corded muscle and exposed bone. But what bothered you about the whole thing was how clean the injuries had been. It was as if someone had just peeled them like a grape.You cautioned a step forward, and Gordy raised his hands defensively. He had a wild look in his eye. The boy was like a feral cat, poised to strike and run at the slightest provocation.What will you do?>”You’re Gordy, right? Is that your real name, or your new name?”>”It’s okay. We’re here to help you, not hurt you.”>”Do you wanna go home with me and my team?”>”I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. And I know things might seem scary right now, but I’m gonna need you to trust me so I can get you somewhere safe.”>”You’ve gotta stop running around like this! You’re going to hurt yourself if you're not careful.”>Remove your cloak, remove your weapons and approach him with open arms.>Remove your mask and approach him slowly.>Let Peter Pan deal with this. He knows this kid better than you do.>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5316937>>”It’s okay. We’re here to help you, not hurt you.”>”I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. And I know things might seem scary right now, but I’m gonna need you to trust me so I can get you somewhere safe.”
>>5316937>”You’re Gordy, right? Is that your real name, or your new name?”And once he’s answered,>”I heard you’re a mutant. I actually have a couple of good friends who are mutants. Would you like to meet them?” (Call Callisto and Glass forward)Building a connection is vital, and Callisto probably has a lot of experience calming down terrified mutants. This is her time to shine.
>>5316937>>5316933Oh instead of the big bad wolf that blows houses down, its a piggy kid. Makes sense. He needs to not cry all the way home
>>5316937>”You’re Gordy, right? Is that your real name, or your new name?”>”It’s okay. We’re here to help you, not hurt you.”>Remove your cloak, remove your weapons>”I heard you’re a mutant. I actually have a couple of good friends who are mutants. Would you like to meet them?” (Call Callisto and Glass forward)
>>5316937>”It’s okay. We’re here to help you, not hurt you.”>”You’re Gordy, right? Is that your real name, or your new name?”>”I heard you’re a mutant. I actually have a couple of good friends who are mutants. Would you like to meet them?” (Call Callisto and Glass forward)
Probably a weight sensitive kid, likely bullied about it and putting him in a pig costume wasn’t a good move. Don’t put the name “Gordy” out, just not remove our mask but every weapon and the cloak. No sudden movements but slowly get half the distance closed. Introduce the team and explain that Pan is here just to guide us. Ask him if he’s injured.
>>5316937>Remove your cloak, remove your weapons and approach him with open arms.>Remove your mask and approach him slowly.
>>5316937>”It’s okay. We’re here to help you, not hurt you.”>Remove your cloak, remove your weapons>”I heard you’re a mutant. I actually have a couple of good friends who are mutants. Would you like to meet them?” (Call Callisto and Glass forward)
>>5316966>>5316969>>5316989>>5317013>>5317085>>5317057>>5317439>”It’s okay. We’re here to help you, not hurt you.”>Remove your cloak, remove your weapons>”I heard you’re a mutant. I actually have a couple of good friends who are mutants. Would you like to meet them?” (Call Callisto and Glass forward)Taking these. Writing...>>5316978He's already done quite a bit of crying!
“It’s okay. We’re here to help you, not hurt you.” you urged, removing your cloak and dropping your weapons to the ground. Mostly it was your knife and dual pistols. You hadn’t had much of a chance to use any of these since you showed up, but you liked to be prepared.Gordy watched you carefully, but said nothing.“I heard you’re a mutant. I actually have a couple of good friends who are mutants. Would you like to meet them?” you offered, calling Callisto and Glass to the forefront.The two of them stepped forward, seeming more nervous for the kid’s wellbeing than for their own sake.“Hey, kid. I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I think we have a decent idea of what you’re feeling.” Callisto began.Gordy looked up sharply at her, as if to say something, but no words came out.“You’re terrified of your powers.” Glass cut in. “You’re scared that you can kill so easily, without much effort on your part. So you’re constantly holding back, keeping your distance from people, having nightmares about what it would be like to cut loose for once, just for a second.”Gordy lowered his arms, his eyes widening out of shock instead of fear this time, as he took a moment to inspect the transparent man before him.“My powers are pretty straightforward. But they can be used to do some pretty nasty stuff.” Glass continued. “One day, when I was still working for X–some powerful people, I met a mutant named Sage. She gave me a temporary boost so that I could realize my full potential. For only a few minutes, I managed to hit Omega Level. I developed a technique that my mentor called ‘Diamond Dust’, where I release tiny glass particles into the air.”“W-what does it do?” Gordy asked, speaking for the first time since you’ve seen him.“When people breathe in bits of glass, they get tiny little lacerations on their organs. The people that I used it on…they died without knowing what was happening to them. I could kill people without beating them in a straight up fight.” Glass explained, looking rather remorseful. “I once had a guy gloat about how much better he was than me, right before he dropped dead from breathing in too much Diamond Dust.”Callisto gently patted him on the back, and Glass seemed to take a moment to gather his courage before continuing. “Everyone was telling me how cool my powers were, but honestly…I was scared out of my mind. I felt like a monster, and no one else seemed to care. No one except the younger students. They all looked at me funny when they found out. Started keeping their distance.” he said, examining his skeletal hand through his opaque outer layer. “I left the team, and the school soon after that. Callisto here took me in. If you can see past the eyepatch and constant scowl, she’s about the nicest person a mutant could ever meet.”(Cont.)
For once, Callisto didn’t scowl back at him. Instead, she slowly approached Gordy, not bothering to drop the weapons that she undoubtedly had stashed away on her person.“When I was younger, my powers manifested out of nowhere and…ruined my life. I had it all back then. Money, good looks, and a decent shot at being a pro-tennis player.” she said, rubbing her wrist thoughtfully. “Point is, I became a freak, and I started living in the sewers because I didn’t want the world to look at me. I joined and led a community of mutants down there, and I haven’t looked back ever since.”“Y-you live…in the sewers?” Gordy asked, clearly perplexed by the notion. “W-why would you do that? It sounds filthy.”Callisto grinned at that. “Oh, believe me, it can be! But it’s also home to a lot of good people, and I want to protect that for them. Everyone needs somebody, no matter how much they might say otherwise. Even someone like me, who went down there to be alone, I ended up trading one family for another.” she said, her tone light and conversational. “And do you know what one of the most important parts of my job is?”Gordy shook his head.“It’s teaching people how to use their powers.”Gordy seemed to glance down at his hands fearfully, but Glass cut in before he could say anything.“Mutants need control if they want any type of agency out of their lives. I knew a girl up there who could kill people with a touch, and she had zero control over her powers. Had to wear gloves all the time.” Glass said. “But that doesn’t have to be you. You don’t have to hide from people or live in fear of your powers. If you can master them, control how much power you put out with your wind blasts, learn how to limit yourself in everything that you do, then you’ll be much better off for it.”Gordy gripped his hands so tightly that you were certain he was digging bloody crescents into his palm.“I don’t w-w-want to hurt people…!” he sobbed, tears rolling down his plump cheeks as he dropped to his knees. Peter was there in the blink of an eye to catch him, pressing his head against his shoulder and stroking his head gingerly.Despite his small stature and immature nature, you couldn’t deny that he gave off the impression of a proper older brother in this scenario.You all watched and waited until he calmed down. When he finally did, Peter scooped him up like a sack of potatoes and floated up into the air.“I’m going to drop him off to be with the other Lost Boys. He needs his brothers.” he declared.No one protested.“Where should I meet you?” he asked.>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him next.>Follow him back to the Lost Boy’s fort. You want to keep an eye on this kid.>Use Peter’s map to find one of the other kids’ locations.(Piccaninny Tribe/Black Castle/Pixie Hollow)>Write-in.
>>5318215>>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him next
>>5318215>>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him next.
>>5318215>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him next.That was a good shot of depression juice. Now I feel really bad.
>>5318215>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him next.Man what a scene. I feel bad for that kid. Callisto and Glass are way too good for a villain team
>>5318215>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him next.We can convince Pan to bring them back when we get all of them.
>>5318215>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him nextBest to get as many kids out of danger as we can.>>5318322Hey, we’re not villains! We’re just businessmen, giving the people what they want.
>>5318215>Back where Grover’s trail split off. You want to go after him next.
>>5318322While we're definitely a criminal, specifically a thief and a murderer, that doesn't necessarily make us villains.Now if Benny just straight up started eating people because of his funky spider genes, that'd be a different story.
>>5318322We will be villains when we try to conquer the world or blow up the up.For now Ben is more of the dashing rogue sort. Well, if you skip to the part where he mellowed out a bit.
>>5318421Whatever it is, we have standards and principles. Benny isn't just a piece of shit thief, he's got some redeeming qualities.He just doesn't care much about what the law has to say, and I say more power to him.
>>5318224>>5318235>>5318245>>5318315>>5318322>>5318325>>5318390>>5318400>>5318403It's unanimous! Writing...
On another note, what are you guys hoping for from Tick-Tock? I’m betting he’s some absolute beast right out of a fossil collection, like Deinosuchus. Maybe even bigger.
>>5318458Whatever he is, just remember that we gotta carry his fat ass back to the ship.
>>5318462I mean, maybe not ALL of him. We only really need the head, plus maybe some strips of skin to make the iconic Huntsman man-purse.
“We’ll meet you back where we picked up Grover’s trail.” you promised.Pan nodded and lifted off into the air. You bent down to collect your weapons and cloak, trying to get over the complex emotions that you were feeling. No one said anything on the way back. Cat was playing with a gold doubloon that she lifted off of the dead pirate, though she didn’t look particularly happy about it.By the time you’d made it back to where you left off, Peter Pan was already there waiting for you. Gone was his usual cheerful, carefree demeanor, now replaced by a determined frown. And you couldn’t be entirely sure because of the masks, but you were pretty sure that you were all wearing similar expressions.—-------Grover’s path had been a lot harder to follow, as there weren’t any toppled trees to hop over. Instead, Callisto and Anastasia seemed to follow the areas of overgrown foliage that didn’t quite match up with everything else. Their ability to spot the tiniest differences in their environment was downright baffling!Thankfully, your search progress was expedited by Pan’s efforts, who’d been dipping out and above the canopy to search by sky. His most recent dive seemed to bear fruit, since he was now excitedly leading you through the jungle, zigzagging between trees at incredible speeds. It was getting a bit hard to keep up with him.When he led you through a clearing that was blocked by some particularly overgrown fronds, you nearly tripped. Standing before you now was a pirate ship, made entirely of plants and tree bark!Its parts and pieces were gnarled and unrefined. It used vines instead of ropes, and a thick blanket of interwoven leaves in place of a sail. The mast was a large oak that seemed rooted to the deck.And standing atop it was a young boy with tan skin and a cloak of leaves covering his body.“Peter! Thank goodness, you came!” he said, his voice filled with genuine relief. “Did you happen to find Gordy out there?”Peter swooped down and embraced Grover, holding him close and tussling his dark, curly hair a bit. “Yes. I found him, Grover. He’s a bit shaken up, but he’s safe and sound at the tree fort.” Pan reported.All at once, the tension seemed to melt out of Grover’s body. “Oh, thank goodness! I was so worried when those pirates jumped out. I was actually about to head out and look for him with my new invention.” he said, gesturing to his ship.Pan looked it over as well. He seemed genuinely impressed. “What is this thing, anyway?” he asked.Grover laughed heartily. “Can’t you see, Peter? It’s a ship! I’m going to use it to take down Hook and the rest of his pirates!” he declared, throwing his arms out and closing his eyes.Suddenly, a multitude of vines shot up, wrapping their earthy tendrils around a pile of rocks, and started loading them onto the ship. They looked vaguely spherical in shape.(Cont.)
“Is he using rocks as cannonballs?” Cat asked.Grover snapped in her direction without opening his eyes. “Yes! Good eye! I need some sort of weapon if I want to cripple Hook’s defenses.”“Well isn’t that adorable?” Cat said, placing her hands on her hips.Peter leapt off the bow and floated down towards you, looking worried. “Herman, I need one of you to help me talk him out of this.” he whispered, looking at you in particular. “Engaging the Jolly Roger on a rush-job of a ship like this is only asking for trouble! Especially with the sea creatures behaving as strange as they are!”You all exchanged glances.What will you say?>”He’s right, though. If Captain Hook is as much of a menace as we’ve been led to believe, then he deserves what’s coming to him.”>”What if we agree to do it ourselves while he stays home? That way, he doesn’t get hurt, and we get to sink the Jolly Roger.”>”Why haven’t you killed Hook, yet? How long have the two of you been fighting, anyway?”>”Maybe we can point out the fact that his new boat isn’t anywhere near a body of water? That seems like a massive oversight to me.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
I say we get some help from Cat to convince him of his logistical errors. He has no crew with ship experience besides maybe Peter, he has no intel on the Jolly Roger’s whereabouts or weaknesses, his ship is patchwork at best and the situation has evolved to a point where any prior knowledge might be null. We should convince him that Hook WILL be taken down and he WILL be helping the effort, but we need to gather our forces first.Plus if we can’t convince him with logic, we can always fall back on the fact that he’s a hormone-driven teen, and Cat has two very big diplomacy modifiers attached to her chest.Anyone got some ideas for putting all that into words?
>>5318512I think she's smart enough to know what to say. We can just take her aside and speak with her. Also don't we have 3 girls with different assets? Anastasia and Cat have it all don't they and Callisto was legs and ass?
>>5318494>"Peter, you're absolutely right. This ship can't take on Hook...yet.">(to Grover) "Listen, this ship is impressive, but it could be even better. I think if you really took your time with it and worked with Peter, you could make an unbeatable vessel.">"In the meantime, I need you to get back to the other kids and stay put for now. Do you think you can move the ship there for the time being?"
>>5318494>>”Why haven’t you killed Hook, yet? How long have the two of you been fighting, anyway?”
>>5318513Alright, coomer-mode engaged.FEMALE COHORT'S SPECIALITIES (as I remember)>FELICIA>Outstanding Assets: Breasts and Hips>Specialty: Extreme Cleavage >ANASTASIA>Outstanding Assets: Abs and Ass>Specialty: Pixie-Cut>CALLISTO>Outstanding Assets: Legs and Ass>Specialty: Tentacle Arms
>>5318522well let's put them to work lol
>>5318513Sorry, I should have explained more clearly.I was volunteering Cat primarily because she’s in all likelihood our best logistics expert when it comes to things like this, tied with Prowler. Her whole thing is planning and pulling off heists, and to do that you have to be able to account for every little detail. If there’s anyone who can poke gaping holes through his sad excuse of an attack plan, it’s her.She’s also our most experienced diplomat. She’s very good at reading people and has experience her charms to get what she wants. If reason falls short, the tried-and-true power of booba could be essential to convincing this kid not to go on a suicide mission.
>>5318494>”What if we agree to do it ourselves while he stays home? That way, he doesn’t get hurt, and we get to sink the Jolly Roger.”>”Maybe we can point out the fact that his new boat isn’t anywhere near a body of water? That seems like a massive oversight to me.”
>>5318494>”Why haven’t you killed Hook, yet? How long have the two of you been fighting, anyway?”>Get Felicia to talk to Grover
>>5318512Supporting tactical Cat. Emphasis on non-coomer part of the plan; but if everything else fail...
>>5318494>Kid, something weird is going on at the sea. Tick Tock, drowners and a giant sea monters were working together, and coordinated, to attack us.>You did a wonderful job if the ship, but Hook got one that was made with materials meant for that. I bet if you had acess to proper tree and some time, you could make one that blow the Jolly r9ger out of the water.>We need to find the other ones that got lost during the attack before even thinking of trying to take down the bad guys. What if something happens to them while we are busy with them?
>>5318524>>5318513>>5318521>>5318586>>5318957>”Why haven’t you killed Hook, yet? How long have the two of you been fighting, anyway?”>Get Felicia to talk to GroverWriting...>>5318522Great job! Maybe we should have a "Coomer analysis" pastebin as well.
“Why haven’t you killed Hook, yet? How long have the two of you been fighting, anyway?” you asked.Peter sighed. “Because things tend not to die in Neverland. If you’re a resident, then you’re as much a part of the island as the earth beneath your feet. But if you’re a visitor, well…”“You don’t get the same benefits.” Prowler concluded.Peter Pan nodded.“Either way, we should probably figure out a way to get Grover to step down.” you added. “And so, I nominate Black Cat for that honor.”Cat’s eyes went wide for a moment as she looked at you. “Why me?”“Well, you’re our logistics expert. I was hoping that you could go up there and start poking holes into his plans and show him how unprepared he is.” you declared.Felicia glanced between you and Grover, sighed and broke away from the group. She strode over to the ship with that same sultry sway of her hips that drew you in when you first met. And you weren’t the only one looking, either. Grover seemed to notice as well.“Hey, tiger. I hear you’re getting ready to set sail, soon.” Cat said in a conversational manner, as she allowed her claws to gently drag against the bark.Grover swallowed hard, and it seemed like a physical effort for him to drag his eyes back up to meet hers. “T-that’s right! The Verdant Voyager should be sea-worthy in another hour or two!” he proclaimed, pulling out a long blade of foliage that seemed to straighten and wrap around his hand as if it were an actual sword.Cat’s smile didn’t falter, but she allowed some doubt to creep into her expression.“Are you sure? Has this wood been treated? There’s a good chance that it might soak up all that water and sink like a rock. And if that wasn’t an immediate problem, the bottom of the ship is too asymmetrical for it to stay afloat long.” she observed.When Grover didn’t understand, Cat went on to explain how the buoyancy of a boat was decided by the proper balance and exact geometry that went into their construction. Grover was noticeably flustered by this, but Felicia wasn’t letting up anytime soon.“Also, that sail is a serious fire hazard. You do know that pirates employ archers, right?” she asked. “All it would take is one flaming arrow to set it ablaze, along with the rest of your ship.”Grover rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he pondered the implications of this obvious design flaw.“So you’re saying that I should…weave cactus fibers into the sail and use damp wood instead of dry wood?” he said.(Cont.)
Cat’s grin widened. “Think bigger. You can construct plant barriers that block projectiles and fold onto the sides of the ship when you aren’t using them. You can create a canopy that hides members of your crew during the fight and shields you all from the sun. There’s endless possibilities here!” she proclaimed. “But you’ve gotta take your time, draw out some proper blueprints, and do the math. If you don’t then this thing won’t make it a single mile out at sea.”Grover’s cheeks went red and he hung his head in shame. He was clearly embarrassed by his lack of oversight, but he seemed more upset with himself than any of you. Finally, he nodded and lifted his head.“You are right. I was too hasty in the Verdant Voyager’s construction. I just…I just wanted Hook and his men to pay for what they’d done!” he exclaimed, clenching his hands in frustration.“And they will. You just need to be a bit more patient.” Cat pleaded.“She’s right.” you said, stepping forward. “If you took your time with this thing, it’d be an absolute monster of a ship!”Grover smiled weakly at that. “I suppose there are few modifications that I can make while I wait.” he admitted.“Great. But how do you plan to get this thing back to the tree fort?” Peter Pan asked.Grover's smile widened, then. He closed his eyes and brought his arms up, causing the clearing around you to shake and rumble. Felicia backed away cautiously as the entire ship started to move. Then, the Verdant Voyager lifted into the air, its mossy underside completely propped up by a series of thick vines and tree limbs that resembled legs.“Onward!” he commanded. And the ship moved in the direction that he pointed his leaf blade in. In the direction of the Lost Boy’s tree fort.“Well there’s something you don’t see every day.” Callisto said as the rest of you stared at the retreating land ship, with Peter Pan flying directly beside it.Where will you go next?>Picaninny Tribe>Black Castle>Pixie Hollow>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5319460Black castle
>>5319460>Black Castle
>>5319460>>Black Castle
>>5319465This is me
Once Peter had successfully escorted Grover and the “Verdant Voyager” back to the Lost Boy’s base, the rest of you set off towards the Black Castle, where the one called “Tossa” was supposedly being held.Along the way, Pan gave you all a rough summary of the Black Castle’s origins. Neverland apparently had a long history of violence when it came to the Redskins and “visitors”. Due to their past experiences with slavers, pirates and the British navy, they’d grown hostile and incredibly wary of outsiders washing up on their shores. They had a strict policy to capture or kill most, if not all of them, in order to prevent them from abusing the members of their tribe. After a particularly unusual set of events, Peter and his Lost Boys became good friends with the Picaninny Tribe. Hook and his pirates do not share the same luxury.However, there is, in fact, another faction that persists to this very day, and has done everything in their power to resist the Redskins’ efforts to force them off the island.Some British settlers and explorers did end up making a small settlement on the island. But unlike the others, they actually managed to fight off the Redskins’ raids with the help of their trained soldiers and their fearless leader. Over time, the chain of command seemed to deteriorate a bit, and a change of leadership was proposed. That was when the leader of the village declared himself "King", thus giving birth to an inherently flawed monarchy. As his first order, the First King of Neverland ordered his subjects to construct an obscene Black Castle in his honor.The Castle was left unfinished, as the King’s subjects rebelled against him and started something of a civil war. The constant infighting led to the near total collapse of their infant civilization, and the death of the First King. But unbeknownst to them all, they had already been touched by the magic of Neverland’s faeries.The wars never ended, since no one could actually die. And anyone that declared themselves as a successor to the First King’s rule mysteriously “vanished” in the night, never to be seen again. At some point, they had used the crown as a weapon to vanquish their enemies, but it was eventually locked away in their deepest dungeon, for fear of it being used against them.Now, the Kingdom of the Black Castle lies in ruin, and its knights haunt the castle grounds, deathless and loyal to the end.Just when you were about to ask more about the crown and the First King, however, a clatter of metal stopped you all dead in your tracks. You suddenly found yourselves surrounded by a ring of knights wearing bright colorful ribbons and adornments to differentiate them. They were all holding weapons and standing completely still.(Cont.)
You hadn’t seen it from the beginning, but you were fairly certain that these knights had just “pulled themselves together” as if they didn’t possess any bones. The grass was so tall here that you hadn’t even noticed that you were walking past them. But since your spider sense wasn’t blaring in the back of your mind, you could only assume that they weren’t going to attack you just yet.“I speak on behalf of ‘Lord Reagent Tossa’!” one of the knights shouted, his voice hollow and resonant as his helmet flapped open and closed. It was as if he was using it as a mouth. “You now trespass on Black Kingdom territory! Leave now, or suffer the consequences!” he declared.“That isn’t what she said.” another knight cut in, their helmet making the same exact bizarre movements. You couldn’t see anyone actually inside the armor! “She said ‘Don’t let anyone inside if they don’t have a proper army behind them!’. Our Lord does appreciate a good challenge.”The other knight seemed to bristle at that, which came off as a loud rattling as his whole body shook in exaggerated anger.What will you say?>”We just want to talk to her. Can’t you just bring us to her?”>”Wait. A kid rules your kingdom now? How’d that happen?”>”No offense, but I’m pretty sure that anyone here is a better fighter than any of your guys. We’ll take our chances.”(Press on.)>”How are you guys moving in those suits? How are you even still alive?”>”Where are we supposed to find an army on such short notice? Would she be willing to lend us one for a friendly little war game?”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5319528>”We just want to talk to her. Can’t you just bring us to her?”>"If she ask, juat tell her our army composition is of few high cost specialists"
>>5319528I sense the opportunity for mischief and infiltration.>”If none of you can agree on what the regent said, how am I supposed to know which one of you to trust? The only solution if for us to go to the regent and hear it straight from her mouth. Unless you’d like to take your chances disobeying her orders?”Either they believe us and take us straight to Tossa with no resistance or they don’t believe us and send someone back to check. Either way, less trouble for us.
>>5319547Supporting Loki
>>5319528>>”Wait. A kid rules your kingdom now? How’d that happen?”>”No offense, but I’m pretty sure that anyone here is a better fighter than any of your guys. We’ll take our chances.”(Press on.)
>>5319547Support
>>5319547This works Supporting
QM, could you fill this in a bit to show where the stripes and other details are on our current suit? Doesn’t have to be fancy, just enough for me to get an idea.
>>5319547Devious. +1, this cuts through the politick chase.
>>5319547+1
>>5319547>>5319549>>5319571>>5319645>>5319791>>5320358Taking these. Writing...>>5319756I'll give it a go when my tablet's finished charging!
“If none of you can agree on what the Regent said, how am I supposed to know which one of you to trust? The only solution is for us to go to the Lord Regent and hear it straight from her mouth.” you proposed.The knights exchanged cautious, and slightly confused glances with one another. It looks like they’re gonna need another push.“Unless you’d like to take your chances disobeying her orders.” you added.That got them all rattling and shaking as they murmured amongst one another. Finally, after about a minute, they turned back to you and lowered their weapons.“What you’ve said is sensible. Very well! We shall bring you before our Lord Regent so that she might decide your fate in person!” the first knight declared. “Please, do not resist.”On his command, the knights behind you formed into a line and raised their spears to point at your back. Everyone just shrugged and marched along with the other knights. Everyone except Anastasia, that is. She seemed to bristle at being ordered around, and you were certain that her grip around her spear had tightened considerably. But thankfully, she remained civil the entire time.Cat had that same easygoing smile on her face that she usually did, and Prowler was likewise scowling like he usually did. Callisto and Glass were muttering to one another, but you could only pick up a few words here and there. Anastasia was glancing around warily, and trying her very best to ignore Peter Pan’s chattering as he floated next to her ear.As you went deeper into the Black Kingdom’s domain, you started to notice just how decrepit their society had become. Most buildings were either in complete ruin or had fallen prey to overgrowth. The kingdom subjects that milled about and watched you from afar seemed…strange somehow. Like the knights, their movements were unnatural. They were too jerky and sudden.And that’s when you noticed the hands of a peasant woman who was trying, and struggling to wash her clothes. She didn’t have fingers. Just cloth-like mittens in place of her hands. The more she soaked her clothes, the more water-logged her hands got. The sight was so pathetic that you were almost tempted to help her, but you had more important things to deal with right now.—-----It was no mystery to you what the “Black Castle” might be. There was no doubt that it was the insanely massive, unfinished obsidian structure that towered over everything else in the village. Given the state of every other structure here, you were just surprised that they’d managed to build it this tall. The village’s walls weren’t even finished!Or maybe they had been at some point, and they were just destroyed as a result of the Redskins’ raids or the constant infighting. You didn’t know, and you didn’t much care. As long as you could pull this kid out and get her back to the tree fort, that was enough for you.(Cont.)
Just then, you were brought out of your thoughts by the sight of multiple large stone blocks flying overhead. You watched as they flew all the way over to the unfinished gate, settled into place and cemented themselves until they were a natural part of the structure.“It looks like your friend’s been busy.” Cat observed.Peter scowled, but said nothing.—------As the dim-witted knights led you over the drawbridge and through the castle gates, you could feel an unusual sensation washing over you. Your vibranium dagger rustled in its sheath, and your machete seemed to rattle, along with your guns. When you looked around, you saw that same uncomfortable feeling reflected on your allies’ faces. Everyone except Glass, that is.It was then that you remembered raccoon boy saying that Tossa could manipulate metal, as well as earth. Maybe this was just her way of checking everyone that approached her domain.Hoping that you hadn’t just made a terrible mistake, you tried not to let any of your uncertainty show in your body language as the head knight announced your presence.“Lord Regent, Tossa! We bring with us trespassers, and we cannot agree on what the right course of action would be when dealing with them. We humbly request that you impart onto us your wisdom regarding the matter.” the knight with blue ribbons pleaded.For a while no one answered. You took this opportunity to glance around the room and take in your surroundings. The decor was gothic in nature, and just about as dark as its name would imply. The staircase and walls seemed to stretch up towards infinity, a small gap in its imperfect architecture allowing you a glimpse of the dark clouds hovering above.But then, a small disk descended down from that gap, growing larger and larger as it drew closer. When it finally stopped, it was hovering in front of a throne so large that you thought it might have been carved by and for giants. It almost took up the whole throne room!A young girl with dark skin and a wild tangle of curly hair stepped off of the platform and onto the throne. Her clothes were an elegant and elaborate weave of colorful ribbons and decorative buttons and pins. And resting atop her head, was a dull, gold crown.She shot an agitated look at her knights and folded her arms behind her back as she paced back and forth atop her massive throne.“Did I not make myself clear before when I directly ordered you not to allow anyone into my kingdom!” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation. She had a distinctly African accent, and her face was marked with tiny little scars. Surprisingly, her eyes were blue, and her gaze was sharp. You sensed intelligence in those eyes. More than a child should have. It somewhat reminded you of Pete.Tossa’s knights shuddered before her, struggling to find something to say that would placate their Lord Regent and forestall her wrath.(Cont.)
What will you say/do?>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”>”Playtime’s over. It’s time to go. Things are too dangerous around here for me to leave you here without protection.”>”If I can get past your defenses without so much as a scratch, then that means others will too. You’re not safe here.”>”I’m not gonna lie. With a little work, this would probably be a better home for the Lost Boys than the tree fort.”>Snag her with a webline and make a break for it!>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5320563>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”>”If I can get past your defenses without so much as a scratch, then that means others will too. You’re not safe here.”
>>5320563>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”>”A little too sparse in terms of gold and jewels by common standards, of course, but it clearly works for you.” (Try and say it in a casual manner that leads her into asking what we mean)I don’t think there’s much we can do to convince her to leave at this moment, so I suggest we keep up our little Loki act. Maybe we can convince her to lead her knights into battle with promises of plundering Hook’s shit.Long-term, though? I think we should convince her of how hard and unrewarding being a queen is. If there’s anything that shocks a kid out of assholishness, it’s the brutal reality of hard work, and there’s not much harder than rebuilding a city and caring for its very downtrodden inhabitants.
>>5320563>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”>”I’m not gonna lie. With a little work, this would probably be a better home for the Lost Boys than the tree fort.”
>>5320563>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”>”I’m not gonna lie. With a little work, this would probably be a better home for the Lost Boys than the tree fort.”>”A little too sparse in terms of gold and jewels by common standards, of course, but it clearly works for you.” (Try and say it in a casual manner that leads her into asking what we mean)
>>5320563>>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”
>>5320563>>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”>>”I’m not gonna lie. With a little work, this would probably be a better home for the Lost Boys than the tree fort.”
>>5320732Support
On second thought, maybe I’m being too hasty about it. Changing to support >>5320732
>>5319756So I think this particular suit would be pretty similar to the "Hot Pursuit". But instead of the lines on the shoulders and torso converging into a spider on the back, they're made to look more like tiger stripes. Anastasia designed you a suit that's more in line with the signature Kravinoff style.>>5320567>>5320609>>5320688>>5320698>>5320732>>5320827>>5320840>(Bow respectfully)”It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.”>”I’m not gonna lie. With a little work, this would probably be a better home for the Lost Boys than the tree fort.”Taking these. Writing...
>>5320853Anastasia is a top tier wife
You lowered your head in a gesture of respect and acknowledgement. Everyone else just looked at you.“It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Regent Tossa. You have a, uh…lovely kingdom here.” you said.Tossa brightened at that.“Ah! An intruder with manners! What a lovely change of pace.” she said, her eyes scanning the room until they stopped on Peter Pan.“Peter! You are here as well? It’s rare to see you with outsiders. And adults, at that.” she continued, her eyes narrowing slightly.“You have to come back with us, Tossa. These people are insane!” Peter claimed. “They’ve killed more rulers and regents than any of us can count on our fingers and toes combined! And they’ll turn on you just as quick.”Tossa let out a derisive snort. “That is because the previous rulers allowed infighting to impede their progress before they got a chance to rebuild. I do not have such meager problems, as I am fully capable of preventing any wars or battle from breaking out, single-handedly.” she declared, wiggling her fingers in the air.Suddenly, several knights went stiff all at once. They groaned and grunted, but their resistance meant nothing when pitted against their ruler’s raw might. Without a moment of delay between any of them, the puppeted knights marched out the throne room with robotic, jerky movements.“And I can do that without even breaking a sweat! The time of petty infighting and civil disputes has ended! Under my rule, this kingdom can finally be something worth looking at.” she proudly announced.You took another moment to look around and nodded approvingly. “I’m not gonna lie. With a little work, this would probably be a better home for the Lost Boys than the tree fort.” you admitted.Tossa folded her arms over her chest and gave you a beaming smile that exuded confidence and pride. “A wise observation, my friend! You are some of the most delightful intruders that I’ve had all week.” she said with a hearty laugh. “Once I can get this kingdom back on its feet, all will be welcome! Travelers, Redskins and even the rest of the Lost Boys!”“Except the Redskins don’t trust anyone that claims themselves a citizen of the Black Kingdom.” Peter cut in. “There’s no way you’ll be able to get them to trust you. The attacks won’t stop!”Tossa’s expression grew remorseful. “I am sorry, Peter. But there is very little I can do about that. If the Picaninny Tribe wish to oppose me, then they will continue to suffer the consequences until they learn that cooperation is the key to our survival.” she proclaimed, shaking her head sadly.“Their dated customs and superstitions have corrupted their judgment for far too long! It is high time that they start thinking about what a future with our walls protecting their borders would mean for them.”(Cont.)
Everyone except the knights exchanged worried looks. Tossa sounded like a tyrant in the making. You didn’t know a lot about the Redskins, but never in the history of ever has forcing people out of their homes ever ended well.What will you say/do?>”Let us talk to the Picaninny Tribe before you do anything hasty. I’m sure we can figure something out.”>”Where I come from, Native Americas weren’t too big on changing their ways or beliefs because people told them to. Isn’t there anything I can do to talk you out of this?”>”Ruling and managing a failing kingdom isn’t a walk in the park, you know. There’s all sorts of things that you have to take into consideration. You’re gonna have to make some hard decisions and a lot of sacrifices along the way.”>”You might be able to control stone and metal, but that won’t stop an assassin from sneaking into your room at night. The thing about terrible and dangerous people is that they can think of a lot of ways to kill you.”>”Fine. You leave me no choice. I hereby challenge you for the right to rule this place!”>”This is what happens when I try to be nice…”(Snag Tossa and her crown and make a break for it.)>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5320880Let us talk to the Picaninny Tribe before you do anything hasty. I’m sure we can figure something out.”>”Where I come from, Native Americas weren’t too big on changing their ways or beliefs because people told them to. Isn’t there anything I can do to talk you out of this?”>”Ruling and managing a failing kingdom isn’t a walk in the park, you know. There’s all sorts of things that you have to take into consideration. You’re gonna have to make some hard decisions and a lot of sacrifices along the way.”
>>5320880>”Let us talk to the Picaninny Tribe before you do anything hasty. I’m sure we can figure something out.”>”Where I come from, Native Americas weren’t too big on changing their ways or beliefs because people told them to. Isn’t there anything I can do to talk you out of this?”>”Ruling and managing a failing kingdom isn’t a walk in the park, you know. There’s all sorts of things that you have to take into consideration. You’re gonna have to make some hard decisions and a lot of sacrifices along the way.”
>>5320880>”Where I come from, Native Americas weren’t too big on changing their ways or beliefs because people told them to. Isn’t there anything I can do to talk you out of this?”>”Ruling and managing a failing kingdom isn’t a walk in the park, you know. There’s all sorts of things that you have to take into consideration. You’re gonna have to make some hard decisions and a lot of sacrifices along the way.”Go go gadget reality check!Really, has she never read a history book? People being forced into roles they don’t want does not a happy nation make.
>>5320892Just give them alcohol and shiny beads
>>5320894And blankets with absolutely nothing wrong with them whatsoever.
>>5320896Hey a smart people would have checked them!
>>5320880>"You know, Machiavel may have said that it's better to be feared than loved, but it's quite harder to do that when your people are immortal and have a bigger history of killing their ruler than the french">"Let me guess, you got a handle of your powers, and now you feel you are at the top of the world right? I felt like that when I began, until I met someone whose only ability was being able to see while being blind, and he beat me up. Only because he had way more experience than me">Ask Callisto to explain to her rulership to her, she is the one with the most experience with leading a community.
>>5320882>>5320886>>5320892>”Let us talk to the Picaninny Tribe before you do anything hasty. I’m sure we can figure something out.”>”Where I come from, Native Americas weren’t too big on changing their ways or beliefs because people told them to. Isn’t there anything I can do to talk you out of this?”>”Ruling and managing a failing kingdom isn’t a walk in the park, you know. There’s all sorts of things that you have to take into consideration. You’re gonna have to make some hard decisions and a lot of sacrifices along the way.”Taking these. Writing...
“Ruling and managing a failing kingdom isn’t a walk in the park, you know.” you began. “There’s all sorts of things that you have to take into consideration. You’re gonna have to make some tough decisions and sacrifices along the way.”Tossa nodded. “I am aware. But the fact that the inhabitants of my kingdom do not require any food or water works in our favor. All of our agricultural production and water gathering would purely be for the Redskins and the Lost Boys to partake in. They will have more than enough to eat and drink.” she promised.Anastasia seemed impressed by that. It was a good deal, for sure. Especially when you had subservient people that wouldn’t question you if you told them to farm for food that they couldn’t eat. But this whole plan hinged on the fact that the Redskins would just pick up everything, move into the Black Kingdom and relinquish their independence.“Where I come from, Native Americans weren’t too big on changing their ways or beliefs because people told them to. Isn’t there anything that I can say or do to talk you out of this?” you asked.Tossa sighed and placed her hands over her hips. “I’m afraid that neither of us will have much of a say in the matter. Croaker is over there as we speak, building his forces by manipulating and mutating animals. I believe that he intends to attack us once he finally manages to lure out Tick Tock. And once he’s mutated…”Tossa shuddered and shook her head full of curls. “We need to be ready for when that happens.” she said.Alarm ran through your group all at once. But the first to outwardly react in any meaningful way was, of course, Peter Pan.“He’s crazy if he thinks that he can control Tick Tock! It’ll swallow him and the rest of the Picaninny Tribe whole!” he exclaimed.“That was my thought as well.” Tossa admitted. “But if he truly is powerful enough to bring him under his control, then none of us will be safe. He is already a gargantuan creature to begin with. Once you add Croaker’s ability to the mix…we might not be able to stop him, then.”Everyone was silent for a long time as they took a moment to process that. This time, you were the first to speak up.“Let us talk to the Picaninny Tribe before you do anything hasty. I’m sure we can figure something out.” you proposed.Tossa gave you an assessing glance, and then returned to looking at some faraway thing that you couldn’t perceive.“Very well. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you, though.” she said, crouching down to sit at the edge of her throne’s seat. “But be aware that after you leave, I shall be closing my borders to anyone that isn’t native to my kingdom. I cannot endanger my people any further.”You nodded in understanding, realizing that you’d been dismissed. You all turned and started walking away, and the knights were rattling along after you.
Peter looked like he wanted to burst out and fly out towards the village ahead of you. He looked incredibly worried for the people that he called allies. The only thing that was stopping him was your need for a guide in these strange lands.“So it sounds like a war’s brewing. We’ll have to do something to stop both of them, I think.” Callisto mused.“They’re just kids. Why the hell are they fighting like this?” Prowler said.“Because they make their own rules here.” Glass replied. “No adults to tell them what to do. They have the freedom to do and be whatever they want.”“No matter how terrible.” Cat added.Anastasia scowled. “Perhaps we should meet with the other boy before making any decisions. The girl’s assumptions might be unfounded.” she proposed.“And if they aren’t?” Prowler asked.She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Then we will do what we do best.”“And what is that, exactly?” Cat asked.“What else? We hunt.” Anastasia declared, marching forward ahead of the others.Everyone else turned their gazes to you, and you just shrugged. You’re not used to the other people in your group giving the big motivational speeches.“I think I might have a plan.” Peter interrupted. “But it’s gonna be risky.”“Lay it on us.” you demanded.Pan nodded. “If we can find Squirt, then we might be able to use her power to shrink both Croaker and Tossa. If we give them a timeout, then we might be able to stop this whole war before it starts!”What will you say/do?>”That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how are we supposed to find little Squirt?”>”Let’s just talk to them first and see where that gets us.”>”Didn’t this kid try to attack us earlier on the boat? Maybe just stopping him would be enough to stop a war.”>”Tossa could’ve been lying about all this. Her ambitions make her more dangerous than any of the other Lost Boys.”>”I think we should try and bring some of the other Lost Boys into this. Sure, they might be kids, but they’re powerful enough to make a big impact in case things go south.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5322311>>”That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how are we supposed to find little Squirt?”
>>5322311>”That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how are we supposed to find little Squirt?”>”I think we should try and bring some of the other Lost Boys into this. Sure, they might be kids, but they’re powerful enough to make a big impact in case things go south.”Also>"Peter, we need you to go flying know to the Tree House of the Lost Boys, and fast. Ask Grover if he has some especial ability like talking with the plants. If not then just bring each Lost Boy that is good at traking in the Verdant Voyager.">"Take us where Croaker was last seen first and then we meet everyone there to start a search party"
>”That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how are we supposed to find little Squirt?”
>>5322311>”That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how are we supposed to find little Squirt?”>”Let’s just talk to them first and see where that gets us.”>”Didn’t this kid try to attack us earlier on the boat? Maybe just stopping him would be enough to stop a war.”Walk softly and carry a big stick.
Where's all this Peter pan lore coming from
>>5322389I dunno but I love it>>5322367+1
>>5322311>”That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how are we supposed to find little Squirt?””Let’s just talk to them first and see where that gets us.”>"Peter, we need you to go flying know to the Tree House of the Lost Boys, and fast. Ask Grover if he has some especial ability like talking with the plants. If not then just bring each Lost Boy that is good at tracking>"Take us where Croaker was last seen first and then we meet everyone there to start a search party">>5322425Earlier they were talking about a series of books Peter Pan and the starcatchers so I think that is the source
how long has she been in charge and what's stopping them from immediately murdering her in her sleep? she was controlling the guards patrolling way out already (their jerky movement)
>>5323143She's probably blocking off access to her personal chamber with some boulders.It's what I'd do.
>>5323147You need to be careful with that tactic, someone may appear that can just punch the bolder out of the way.
>>5323161That would be loud as shit though. Really, anything short of just magically poofing the boulder out of existence would probably wake you up due to the sound caused by moving metric tons of stone.
>>5323169It was a joke about Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5
>>5323184Best RE
>>5322322>>5322335>>5322367>>5322397>>5322336>>5322425>>5322878>>”That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how are we supposed to find little Squirt?”>”Let’s just talk to them first and see where that gets us.”Taking these. Writing...>>5322389>>5322425>>5322878Some of it comes from that, some comes from the original story, a decent chunk of it comes from my ass. The lore is a mix od patchwork and personal flavoring, but I'm glad that you guys are enjoying it so far!
“That’s honestly not a bad plan. But how’re we supposed to find little Squirt?” you said.Peter snapped his fingers and shot you a wide grin. “That’s where Tinkerbell comes in!”Everyone exchanged curious glances.“The little pixie from the movies, you mean?” Cat asked.“I’ve no idea what a ‘movie’ is, but yes.” he replied. “Tink’s magic and diminutive stature should do us good during our search for Squirt. I’ll just have to take a quick trip to Pixie Hollow and see if I can convince them to help.”“How long will that take?” Callisto asked.Peter shrugged. “Not sure. But you’re probably gonna want to meet with Croaker in the meantime. Just to get an idea of what’s going on with the tribe.”You were a little wary of meeting with the tribe without Peter to introduce you, but you knew that if this plan was going to have any chance of working, Peter Pan needed to find Squirt as soon as possible.“Good luck.” you said.“You too, uh…” he said, scratching his head in confusion. Of course he forgot your name again.“Just go.” you shot back.“Right!”And just like that, Peter Pan shot upwards and out of the canopy. You heard a slightly muffled sonic boom as he sped off in the opposite direction.“Let’s hope that the natives aren’t feeling too jumpy today.” Prowler said.“Yes. For their sake.” Anastasia said with a slight scowl.Glass seemed to dislike that attitude of hers, but he said nothing so confrontational out loud. Using Black Cat’s picture of Peter’s map, you all made your way towards the Picaninny Tribe, wondering what you would do or say to prevent them from attacking you on sight.Last thing you remembered, they weren’t too welcoming to outsiders that weren’t Peter or one of his Lost Boys. This entire plan hinged on the slight possibility that Peter could convince the faeries to help find Squirt, and that you could have a non-violent negotiation with the Redskins.Fingers crossed.—----------As you got closer and closer to Redskin territory, you were surprised that no one had come out to confront you yet. You didn’t doubt that you were being followed or at least watched from a distance, but so far, nothing had happened. Your spider sense hadn’t even gone off.Oh! Spoke too soon!You hopped back without thinking about it, and the ground beneath where you had just been standing exploded, as if it had been struck by a sledgehammer! Everyone grew tense, and without having to be told, you and the rest of your team assumed a defensive formation, weapons at the ready.As far as you could see, there were no enemies around. Was it possible that you tripped over a hidden trap or something?“Uh…Pow pow?” Cat said warily. “You might want to switch to thermals.”(Cont.)
Prowler grunted, but did as she said. Then, his eyes went wide as he swiveled his head from left to right. “What the fuck…”“What? What is it?” you demanded.“Looks like…giant chameleons. They’re everywhere.” Cat marveled, adjusting the focus of the lenses that slid down over her eyes.“How big?” Anastasia asked.“A bit bigger than an economy hatchback.” Prowler replied as he slowly paned his gaze around the area. “But it looks like we’ve got even bigger problems coming our way.”“Bigger than SUV sized chameleons?” Callisto inquired.And right at that moment, you heard the flapping of wings and the chirping of birds. As you looked up, a multitude of shadows enveloped your view of the canopy and swooped down to land all around you.They were…giant sparrows?Yes, they were! And they had people sitting atop their backs! Native Americans with bows, spears and slings at the ready. The men were scarcely dressed with their bare chests and tattoos, only having a loincloth and fur boots to cover themselves with. The women were far more conservative in this regard, as they wore loose fitting garments that left much to the imagination.One woman in particular caught your attention. She looked younger than the rest, and was strikingly beautiful. She had long, dark flowing hair that ended in braids, with colorful strips of cloth interwoven within them. Her face was marked with paint that drew attention to her eyes and gave her a rather serious look. Just like the other women, she was dressed conservatively, revealing very little skin and leaving you to wonder what she would look like without the stifling poncho.For a while, no one said anything. Everyone was waiting for someone to make the first move. Anastasia looked about ready to lunge for their throats at any given second.What will you say/do?>”Uh…take us to your leader?”>”I’m guessing Croaker made these for you. Does that mean that you’re on his side?”>”How well do you guys understand English? Should I have brought a translator?”>”Easy, now! We’re friends of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys!”>”Can you call off the chameleons? We’re not here to attack you.”>"Hey, Prowler? I think the natives are feeling a little jumpy, after all.">(Raise your right hand) “How.”>Write-in.Pastebins:Character Sheet:https://pastebin.com/1ZihFYSV Equipment and Gear:https://pastebin.com/WAhveFAd Contacts:https://pastebin.com/WdcFXD2s10 Commandments of the Desperados:https://pastebin.com/Qpr2jVPE Costumes:https://pastebin.com/5Jie54X2
>>5323664Ba weep granna weep ninny bongOffer them a piece of the butterfinger you always keep in your right pocket >(Raise your right hand) “How.”
>>5323664>>”I’m guessing Croaker made these for you. Does that mean that you’re on his side?”>”Can you call off the chameleons? We’re not here to attack you.”
>>5323664>>”Uh…take us to your leader?”
>>5323664>”How well do you guys understand English? Should I have brought a translator?”>”Easy, now! We’re friends of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys!”>”I’m guessing Croaker made these for you. Does that mean that you’re on his side?”>"Can we meet him? We want to talk before things get out of control, like preventable mistakes being made or friends turning on eachother"
>>5323664>(Raise your right hand) “How.”>"We're not looking to disturb your tribe, we only wish to speak with the boy who did...this"(Gesture towards the birds and chameleons)>"We're just trying to stop another war before it starts."
>>5323831+1
>>5323664>”How well do you guys understand English? Should I have brought a translator?”>”Easy, now! We’re friends of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys!”
>>5323831+1I cannot resist the cliche
>>5323831Support.We’d better hope these guys don’t have a problem with the Lakota, because Google says that’s where the word háu is from. If we fuck this up, it could go down like greeting a Rabbi with “sieg heil”.
>>5323708Switching to this because the “how” thing has finally made me sufficiently paranoid.
>>5324524So you swap to a different vote that also says how?
>>5324601I think anons worry is that how plus raising the hand can be interpreted as the lakota greeting háu, but it on the start of a phrase is easier to see it's a foreign language.But I'm not a mind reader.
>>5324609Forgot to say the actual important part, that the dysney movie would be wrong and they get offended instead of accepting the greeting.
>>5324601It doesn’t say how, at least not in the same manner. We’re not imitating a greeting.Is this metagaming or reasonable knowledge to assume Benny has? I had to search it up on the internet. Fuck, I dunno.>>5324609Yep. Mind reader confirmed.
>>5324620Well, it is a common wild west trope and 1953 movie had the indians say it during the song, so we could assume it is right.But the rest of the lyrics were gibberish and not eveything was one to one, so it'a not a giant leap to think it might be wrong.In the end it all depends if Score would be willing to put a trap option, but he has been cool so far.
>>5323831>>5324127>>5324342Taking these. Writing...
After taking a deep breath, you brought up your right hand and met the young woman’s eyes.“How.”Anastasia groaned out loud and shook her head.For a moment, nothing happened. The woman frowned slightly and glanced at her fellow tribesmen. Some were frowning along with her, but two of the men were smirking and snickering as they exchanged words in a language that you weren’t at all familiar with.Finally, the young woman returned her gaze to you and raised her right hand as well.“How.” she replied.Yes! You successfully made contact!This only made the two men start laughing out loud. If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve thought that their laughter was derisive or mocking in nature.When you didn’t say anything more, the young woman cocked an eyebrow.You lowered your hand and cleared your throat. “We’re not looking to disturb your tribe,” you began, using some of the American Sign Language that Cindy taught you to punctuate your point in case they didn’t understand your words. “We only wish to speak with the boy who did…this.” you said, gesturing at the giant sparrows and to where you assumed the giant chameleons were positioned.The Redskins exchanged more words in their secret language as they conferred with one another.“We’re just trying to stop another war before it starts.” you said.All manner of conversation stopped abruptly when they heard that. They all turned their attention onto you once more, their gazes harsh and scrutinizing.After what felt like forever, the young woman nodded and gestured for you to follow.“Come.” she demanded, before kicking her sparrow in its side. Instead of taking to the skies, it skipped along the jungle floor like a pigeon searching for breadcrumbs. It was surprisingly nimble for its size, and it sort of reminded you of one of those mechanical bulls that tried to throw off drunk people in bars. The other birds followed, and you breathed a sigh of relief.All of you exchanged surprised glances, with you being the most surprised that that didn’t end in violence. You were almost certain that you might’ve fucked that up.—-----Following the Redskin bird riders, you became increasingly aware of the fact that chameleons were watching your every move, no matter where you went. Cat and Prowler seemed to be trying to keep an accurate count of them, as well as keeping track of their positions. There were far more in this environment then there should have been.Anastasia proposed that this “Croaker” kid might be capable of ramping up the breeding processes of other animals, giving him the ability to create an army of roided up mutant monsters.It sounded reasonable, but you didn’t like the idea of having to deal with invisible enemies during a fight if negotiations broke down.(Cont.)
All thoughts of giant invisible chameleons were blown away when the trotting birds led you into a village that was far smaller than it had any right to be. Considering how these guys have been here for over a century, you would’ve thought that they put some effort into expanding their territory. But then, you remembered what Anastasia said about there not being any newborn animals on Neverland. Maybe the same applied for the people that lived here.If that were the case, then expansion would be almost pointless without people to fill the villages. As it stood, their land seemed particularly crowded with overgrown animals. Most being creatures that you didn’t think belonged in an ecosystem like this one.The Redskins didn’t seem at all disturbed by the presence of these giant animals. On the contrary, they were coexisting
