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You wake up from your slumber and look around you. An extremely ornate bedroom filled with crystal-like decorations fills your view, sunlight shining from the large window to the right of your bed.
>"No dreams this time huh?"
You'd rather it stay like that. You can't remember exactly what your last dream was like, but you can remember the odd, uncomfortable sensation it gave you, like a hundred insects crawling through your skin...
>"Ah Storkie, you're awake!"
Your partner calls out from the bathroom while brushing her hair with a comb. She's still wearing the unfitting pajamas the Queen gave to her, but her plugsuit is wrapped around her arm, she'll probably change into it soon... You hope she doesn't do that in front of you again. Your own pair of PJs is lying neatly on top of the cabinet, gently folded. No way you're gonna wear some stranger's clothes!
>*growl*
Your stomach rumbles fiercily. Right, you haven't eaten anything in a while.
>"The Queen popped up a minute ago, said we could eat breakfast with her on Floor 3 if we didn't take too long. What do you think Storkie? Cus personally, I'm all in for it!"
Of course she is, glutton... Anyways, you wonder if you should just trust this Icicle Queen lady and do whatever she says. Sure, she has welcomed you nicely SO FAR, but you never know when someone with power could betray you and poison your food or something when you least expect it! Happens all the time in political dramas... Not that you're really someone worth killing, and you don't think you've done anything to anger her yet...? Or maybe it's better to get on her good side, she IS the only one around here who seems to have an idea of how to get you home after all.

What will you do?
>Go to Floor 3
>Go to a random other floor
>Go to the lab floor, maybe you can snoop around for more info
>Leave the tower and look around town
>Stay in your room for now, just to be safe...
>Write in

>Look out the window for a bit
>Go to Floor 3

>You hope she doesn't do that in front of you again.
I really wish she did though

>>5948694
>Go to Floor 3
I'm all for snooping, but if this Icicle Bitch is waiting for us then we probably shouldn't do anything suspicious. Also welcome back, QM! Good to see this back on the catalog!

>>5948694
>Go to Floor 3

>>5948694
>>Go to Floor 3

>>5948694
>Look out the window for a bit
>Go to Floor 3

>>5948694
>>Go to the lab floor, maybe you can snoop around for more info

oh big booba on the catalog hehe big booba

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>>5948767
>>5948872
>>5948943
>>5949005
>>5949041
>"Mm... Yeah, I suppose having a nice meal for once wouldn't- GAH!"
You take your eyes away from the bathroom for a second to ponder, and before you've realise it she has already started taking off her clothes! Ugh, typical...
To save you the embarassement, you decide to look out the window for a bit. A blueish grey cloud of smog covers the skies of the Capital, giving it a distinct gloomy vibe that reminds you of your hometown. Tall concrete buildings poke out from below, leading your eyes downwards to the busy streets, filled with fancy men and women walking from one place to another with bags and suitcases, looking like the classic depiction of a businessman in a kid's cartoon.
>"Alrighty Storkie! Let's gooooo...!"
Screams out your now fully clothed partner as she rushes towards the elevator door. She must be hungry, but so are you! You hurry behind her while rubbing your still sleepy eyes. A better woman would brush her teeth and wash her face after waking up, but you're not that woman.

With a press of a button, the floating platform takes you downwards, into a majestic, highly decorated dining room. Just like your bedroom, it is covered wall to wall in fancy, crystal-themed decorations, naturally including a massive chandelier hanging above the cartoonishly long table sitting in the center of the room. The Queen sits at the far end of the table, reading a newspaper while munching on jam-covered bread.
>"Ah, there you are ladies! I was wondering if you were going to show up!"
She motions to the two chairs sitting right in front of you, you both sit down. You plates are empty and all the food is sitting on the other side of the table.
>"Ah, apologies!"
The Icicle Queen lifts up her magic blue staff and points it at the trays of food in front of her, suddenly a gust of snowy wind emerges from nowhere, lifts them up and carries them to your side of the dinner table.
>"Back when we made this table my friendship circle used to be... uh... bigger... Regardless! I'm sure you have something you want to discuss with me while you feast?"
Uh? Do you? She kind of already went over a whole explanation of her dimensional whatever-the-fuckery theory or whatever yesterday. Is there anything else you could ask her?
>Ask her about the Capital
>Ask her about herself
>Ask her about the staffs
>Ask her if you can help her with anything
>Ask her if she can give you some money
>Tell her you know where the Elf Queen staff could be
>Don't ask her anything, just keep eating
>Write in

(Reminding everyone how I'm gonna do things:
>Expect only one update per day, I may do more if I have the time but it's better to just expect one to be sure
>My IP changes a lot cus sometimes I post from work and sometimes I post from my phone (like rn)
Thank you for your patience!)
>>5949056
They're very necessary I promise

>>5949186
>Ask if we can have the newspaper when she is done with it
>Eat the food

>>5949186
>>Ask her about herself

>>5949186
What happened with your social circle?

>>5949186
>>Ask her if she can give you some money

>>5949186
>>Ask her about the Capital
>>Ask her about herself
Booba quest is back

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>>5949206
>>5949248
>>5949354
>"...what happened to your "friendship circle"?"
You munch down on some bread and jam as you ask. Might be a bit of a personal question depending on the situation, but she didn't sound THAT sad talking about it, so it probably won't hurt to ask...
>"Ah yes, I was refering to my... old adventurer party. I believe I have alluded to this previously but, before I was the Icicle Queen, and before this was "The Capital", I was nothing but a simple adventurer, and this town was nothing but "Balurd's Mountain"."
She points to a photo (or maybe a painting? Do they have cameras over here??) of herself, another woman and a timid boy huddling together in front of this very same table. She's not eating her food anymore.
>"We would travel across the RoGenBrand Kingdom, finding treasure, hunting for food, defeating members of the CMYK cult. It was... quite a fun time indeed..."
Ah fuck, nevermind, THERE's the sadness coming in... Yeah, it'd probably be best not to delve into this any further-
>"Oh no! What happened?!"
Gah! Your partner speaks up before you can even think of a way to change the subject, spitting out food from her stuffed cheeks with each syllable.

>>5949612
>"Well... It is quite an uninteresting story, but skipping right to the end, the short of it is that they... did not believe in my research into this world and its properties. I tried to explain to them about a thousand times that our world was in danger, that everything as we knew could fade away into the Black in the blink of an eye. You travel with your companions for half a decade and that's how they treat you, I suppose..."
"Yeah, that sounds kinda like crazy talk." You say in your head.
>"Yeah, that does sound kinda like crazy talk..."
Says your partner, with impeccable timing, as always...
>"Pehaps, not even I can prove it is a fact until the machine is fully operational... Well, not matter! Once the Elf Queen's staff is in my possession. we will finally be able to complete the QST and save everyone! The world will be saved, AND I will prove them wrong! With the forest covered in mushrooms, the Elves will have to escape somewhere into Readon's Canyon. Their capture is an inevitability. Do not fret, we will get you home safe and sound very soon! in fact, you two being here is the only proof I need that my theories are correct. My machine will work, I am certain of it!"
Yeeeah... You're still not sure you 100% trust this interdimensional travel talk either. Let's hope a better option for getting out of here shows itself before it's too late...
>"Regardless, now that breakfast is over, I shall go back to my research! And while you're here-"
The Icicle Queen reaches her hands down her pockets, pulls out two extremely colorful pieces of jewelry and hands it to you and your partner.
>"These are subtractive stones, if you wear them around your head, they shall make you immune to any interference from the CMYK cult. Trust me, they are everywhere, no matter how many we take them down, they keep coming back."
You tie the gemstone around your head, you don't really feel any different. But considering these CMYK guys have access to mushroom goo that controls your brain, some protection from that would definitely be nice.
>"That will be all ladies! Feel free to explore the Capital at your leisure! Or just stay in your rooms all day if you would rather, that is basically what I do, after all! Oh-Hohoho!!"
With a hearty laugh, she takes hold of her staff once again and limps her way towards the elevator. She doesn't look old enough to have a limp like that happen naturally, you wonder if it happened before or after she stopped "adventuring". You look at her plate, one and a half pieces of toast, one almost fully eaten. Guess she wasn't that hungry.

What will you do now?
>Go back to your room
>Walk around town
>Search for Anis, the girl with the Elf Queen's staff, around town
>Follow the queen to the lab and look at the research process again
>Look around the unexplored tower floors
>Write in

>>5949613
>>Look around the unexplored tower floors

>>5949613
>>Walk around town

>>5949613
>Look around the unexplored tower floors

>>5949613
>>Look around the unexplored tower floors

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>>5949756
>>5949894
>>5950299
As you and your partner enter the elevator, mischievous thoughts start to brew in your brain. You move your finger to one of the floating buttons at random. The doors open, revealing a room you haven't visited before. You take note of the floor number, 7.
>"Uuhh... Storkie, this isn't the bedroom..."
>"Yeah, I know~"
>"Uh..."
>"C'mon, let's just look around a bit! If she didn't wanna have us come here she would've told us beforehand or put up big "DO NOT ENTER" signs all over the place, right?"
>"Mmm... Yeah!!"
That was quick. Your partner goes from nervous to excited in a flash and jumps carelessly into the newly opened room. Sometimes, very briefly, you wish your mind worked like hers does...
You look around the inside of the new area you've discovered. Plaques, displays and pictures are spread across the room, reminding you of a museum, although a really tiny one. A red carpet and golden accents on the walls gives it a very different vibe to the rest of the "blue crystal"-themed Tower, like you've walked into a completely different world... again.
You move to one of the displays, a bottle with some sort of green liquid inside, tucked inside a glass dome. You read the plaque placed in front of it.
>{That potion we got from that old lady a day after we met (?????). Sarah said we had to save it for an important fight or something, but we ended up never using it. I guess we never will...}
One of the names has been scratched (or maybe burned?) out and is completely illegible.

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>>5950456
You move on to more of the displays.
>{My own Creaturepedia (Name Pending)! A lot of creatures I wrote about in here are extinct since we, you know, killed them all... I still hope I can get it published at some point though! The drawings must be worth SOMETHING at least, they took a lot of effort!}
>{Sarah's new Orb prototype! Her magic studies really have come far, when I met her she could barely cast a spell, now look at her go! She's really determined to make magic more accessible to non-mages, and I fully support her, but... She's been hanging around that dusty library a bit too much, you know? I wish she'd just get out some more and hang out with us like the good o(????????)}
>{A weird artifact we found in that cult's church. It looks like some kind of puzzle cube thingy but neither I nor (?????) have been able to crack this one out yet. Sarah says she wants to look into it, I guess I'll leave it to her!} (The display case is completely empty.)
More and more cases and plaques cover your view as you move deeper into the museum-esque room. They all follow a similar pattern, a collection of artifacts being described by a rather informal narrator. It seems that whoever is supposed to read these signs should already know what all these objects are.
Looking at the paintings and/or photos spread around the walls, it seems this room's contents belong to the three adventurers you were introduced to earlier. The Icicle Queen and her two companions, a rather, uh, "large" woman with short wavy hair and a goofy grin, and a skinny nervous man with a worried look on his face in every single image. Their names, with the exception of whoever "Sarah" is, are scratched out in all of the exhibits. You doubt this isn't on purpose. If it were you, you'd have scratched out the name "Sarah" alongside the others, it gives you bad memories.
>"Huh, that's weird..."
You shift your view to the final item on the exhibit, sitting at the far side of the room, directly opposite to the elevator. A huge frame, clearly meant for a beautiful painting, instead holds a, to be frank, rather ugly drawing of a stick figure girl holding a sword, drawn on a torn page of a notebook. You almost burst out laughing just at the sight of this tiny crude drawing inside the giant display, or at least, you would have done so, if it didn't look so...
"Sarah", that name again. Some text below it displays something or other, you can't really figure out what it means, and you don't really care either. You just know you don't like it, not one bit.
>"Y'know Storkie, I think this Sarah and that Queen lady might be the same- Storkie...?"
You wipe some sweat dripping down your forehead and head back towards the elevator. Your partner follows behind you, looking worried. You got all the information you needed, turns out it was just a stupid old room filled with some old stuff no one cares about. Yeah...

>>5950459
ANYWAYS, what will you do now?
>Steal something from Floor 7
>Go back to your room
>Walk around town
>Search for Anis, the girl with the Elf Queen's staff, around town
>Go to another random floor
>Write in

>>5950460
>>Walk around town

>>5950460
>>Walk around town

>>5950460
>BIG TIDDY

>>5950663
god bless fat tits

>>5950460
>>Walk around town

>>5950598
>>5950662
>>5950708
You quickly press the Floor 0 button and hurry out of the Tower's gate, yearning for some "fresh" air.
>*inhale*"Ahh~"
Much better! The smell of factory smoke covers your nostrils and gives you a nostalgia-driven energy boost. You suddenly feel like walking around town, taking in the sights, breathing in more of this air. Maybe that way you can keep this delicious nostalgic feeling running a little longer inside your mind before it loses its value.
>"Heyy, Storkie!! Why'd you run away like that outta the suddenl?!"
>"Huh? I dunno..."
>"Really...? *huff* Don't scare me like that ever again okay?! I've never seen that look on your face before, I thought something happened-"
>"It's nothing, alright?! Anyways, since we're going to be staying here while that teleporter device thingy isn't ready yet, how about we look around the place? No way I'm gonna be stading around all day doing nothing in that gaudy-ass bedroom."
>"Y-Yeah! Totes agree! Wow, I never thought I'd see the day YOU'd want to leave your room to hang out Storkie! Usually I have to drag you out kicking and screaming..."
>"Well, maybe if they had an internet connection or something I'd weight in my options..."
Your partner looks at you disapprovingly. She's always trying to get you away from your net duties, she just doesn't get it...

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>>5951213

As you walk around the Capital, you notice people look at you in a different, more concerned fashion once they notice the "subtractive stone" thing wrapped around your head. Maybe it shows you're affiliated with royalty or something? Or is it because of its relation to that creepy cult shit? Either way, you don't really mind it. In fact, it makes you feel more respected and important!
Your mind had felt extremely cloudy ever since you arrived on this planet, and yet, now your head feels extremely light, like a huge weight had been lifted off your shoulders. Is that related to the stone somehow too? Or maybe that name you saw earlier... Nah, that was just a coincidence, surely.
Alrighty, walking around is fun and all, but it's pointless if you don't have a destination in mind. But there are so many places to go... Okay, focus! What could you do right now that would both benefit you and require no money? Well, you could get some kind of freelancer work to get some money I suppose, but you have no idea what the people around here even do, or what they even want! Maybe it's best to focus on learning more about that "magic" crap, and those Orb things too, maybe you could figure out how to use them better if you went right to the source! The Orb factory-
>"The department store!"
Your partner screams out, in the middle of your train of thought.
>"Storkie look! A department store!! Ohh, look at those dresses~"
Ooh no... You know how she gets, if you let her in there with you you can say goodbye to the entire afternoon.
>"Let's go in!"
>"Ah, err... Well, I think visiting that Orb factory we saw earlier could give us, you know, more information about this world... Could help us get home, y'see...?"
>"But... We almost never get to hang out like this... It's always work and work and work, and the rest of the time you're always busy with your internet friends..."
Crap, she looks really down. This might affect your group morale pretty bad, but then again, she shouldn't be playing around when you're in the middle of a mission! You should be getting information, not looking at clothes you can't even buy!
What will you do?
>Drag her to investigate the factory
>Split up and go to the factory alone
>Go into the store with her
>Don't go in neither, continue walking around the streets
>Ask around if there's some kind of quick work you could do to get money
>Write in

>>5951217
>Ask around if there's some kind of quick work you could do to get money

>>5951217
>>Go into the store with her

>>5951217
>>Go into the store with her

>>5951217
>Drag her to investigate the factory

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>>5951425
>>5951438
>"Ugh, alright fine! But just for an hour, okay?"
>"Yay! Thankies!"
You sigh as your partner pushes open the double doors and runs inside, she immediately homes in on a rack filled with all kinds of dresses and stares at it in amazement.
>"Haah..."
You follow behind her as she jumps from one rack to another, like you've done several times in the past. Staying enough of a distance away that she knows you're with her, but not close enough that someone will think you're together if she does something embarassing... At least, that's how it usually goes. You two are the only people wearing plugsuits around here, so it probably doesn't even matter, now that you think about it...
>"...yeah, fuck it."
You decide to look around the store after all instead of just standing around like usual. But no way you're going to look at dresses, might give off the impression you're some kind of fancy partygoer or somesuch! Let's see here... Ah, a counter filled with a bunch of pendants, bracelets, rings and other small accessories, perfect! You're technically wearing a pendant thingy already, so it shouldn't look that weird anyways.
>"200 hex for a bead bracelet huh? ...I have no idea if that's cheap or not..."
Surely if they have "magic" or whatever around here a measly bracelet without any special properties shouldn't be THAT impressive, right? Come to think of it, if you did your "dice+1d20" thing while buying it and you got a high number, would the price like, go down? How would that even work? Isn't that a pre-fixed price-
>*whisper*"Ah shit..."
A rather fancy-looking old lady walks up to the same counter you're staring at. She's wearing a large amount of gold accesories, and her face is covered with makeup. Shit, this is the one type of person you just can't stand... Well, maybe one of many.
You try to avoid eye contact and wait for her to go away, hopefully without any snobby comments being made towards you appearence. However, as your eyes slide towards her to briefly check on her position, you notice something. She grabs a ring straight from the counter, stand and all, and places it inside of her purse! Hey, you can't do that! You don't know how much a hex is in cyberdollars, but you know it's not zero! Actually, these guys barely have technology, much less any security. Unless there are some "magic security cameras" or something hiding around, you could probably grab anything, stuff it down your plugsuit and run away scott free...

What will you do?
>Tattle to a store worker
>Call her out on it
>Steal stuff too
>Tell your partner
>Continue doing what you were doing
>Write in

>>5951969
>>Tell your partner

>>5951969
>>Steal stuff too

>>5951969
>steal stuff too
Worst comes to worst we can just say we didn't understand how to pay! In our dimension they totally just scan the merch and electronically bill us on the way out, honest!

>>5951969
>>Steal stuff too

>>5951969
>Tattle to a store worker

>>5952144
>>5952218
>>5952392
Eh, to hell with it. You turn away from the old woman and walk towards a different counter. You look to your left and right and check out your possible options. Necklaces? Naah. Perfume? No way. Nail polish? Would rather be caught dead! Crap, did you pick the lamest possible spot to steal stuff from?! This stuff looks kind of expensive you suppose, but it's not like you can sell it to anyone, you don't even know how much "hex" is worth! You've never really jived with this girlish kinda shit anyways, you'd much rather have all men and women wear the same androgynous, all fitting clothes. Ah~, life would be so much less stressful like that... You decide to move to a different area, but, before that-
>*whisper*"Here we go!"
Walking a bit further away from your partner and her endless costume gawking, you approach a collection of shelves covered in much, MUCH more useful paraphernalia! Sunglasses? Yes please, you hate sunlight! Water bottle? Yup yup, really useful! Sunscreen? Well, you never know when you might need it! Bug spray?! Aw hell yeah babyyyy~!
>[Ugh... Y-yo yo yo amiga, enough with the stuff a'ight? Ya' pockets are full, stuff's gonna start pokin' out!!]
Ah yeah, shit. You've just been stuffing the... stuff down your suit without thinking, you completely forgot it actually had a carry limit! You grab one last bottle of bug spray and hold it against your chest, the nanomachines in your plugsuit quickly wrap themselves around the container and pull it inside. However this time, instead of the object disappearing completely, its shape still remains where you had originally placed it, and you can feel the rough glass rub against the thin layer of technology that's between the spray and your skin. You never thought buying that slightly more expensive model with the bigger 4D pockets would ever actually be useful until right now... With sad feeling in your heart, you (subtly) remove the bottle from your chest and place it where you had taken it from.
>*whisper*"Alright, that should be enough to cover my outside trips for the next decade-"
>"Storkie-"
>"EEEK!!!"
You quickly cover your mouth and look around. Everyone looks at you with a scared expression and then turn away as they make eye contact with you. That is a pretty natural reaction to a situation like that. You hope you didn't give yourself away...
>"Wh-What happened Storkie?!"
>"S-Sorry... What were you going to say...?"
>"Umm... I was gonna say that I'm done... We can leave now, if you want...?"
>"Y-Yeah yeah, let's do that!"

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>>5952662
You grab your partner's hand and dash towards the entrance. Extremely subtly, of course. All customers and staff members turn away from you once you approach them, looking really scared. Alright, that loud "EEK" you let out earlier was one thing, but they seem legit afraid of you, you wonder why that is... Once outside, you let out a huge sigh and wipe the sweat off of your forehead. You never thought stealing could be so easy and so stressful at the same time!
>"H-How is it sunset already! We went in there in the beginning of the afternoon!"
>"Heheh, time goes by when you're having fun, Storkie!"
"Having fun"? All she did was look at clothes! You can do that on the internet, for pete's sake! And it's not like you had any fun, so that logic doesn't even make sense- Ahh, whatever, whatever...
>"Sorry we couldn't do what you wanted today Storkie... I really really thought it was just gonna take an hour! Ugh... I'm so dumb sometimes..."
She looks to her side and holds her elbows in her hands. Ugh, you hate when she gets like that. She's supposed to be be the HAPPY one of your duo, damnit!
>"It's... fine, don't worry about it. It's not like we have a time limit or something. We'll do what I wanted to do tomorrow, alright?"
>"Y-Yeah! Okay..."
>"Oh, and one more thing-"
You reach down towards your plugsuit, and from it you pull out-
>"Lipstick?! How?? We don't have any money-"
A nice and shiny, teal lipstick case.
>"Ahh~. Yeah, while you weren't looking I, like, won some weird contest thing they were holding. Apparently whoever won that got some free lipstick or something, no one wanted to buy it I guess. I rolled a 20 with my weird dice power thing, so they just gave it to me, crazy huh?"
You hope she doesn't ask for specifics about this very unspecific lie you just made up on the spot. Knowing her, she probably won't.
>"Ah... Hahahah! That's just like you Storkie... Winning something you didn't want..."
So she already knew you didn't want it huh? Well, that makes sense. She IS your partner, after all.
>"That's right, so, since *I* don't want it-"
You stick your arm out, placing the lipstick on her hand.
>"You can have it... I guess..."
She smiles as you fumble your cheesy line up at the very end. You're not very good at this kind of "duo bonding" stuff. Sometimes you wish you were just by yourself in the world, not having to worry about meeting expectations, or spending your precious time and energy caring for other people. However, some other times-
>"Thanks, Storkie..." *hug*
It's nice to know that someone spends their precious time and energy caring about you...
........
>"...I-It's sunset, we should probably move out!"
Where will you go?
>Back to the tower, a few hours before dinner
>Keep walking around town
>Go to the factory still, even though it's almost nighttime
>Write in

>>5952663
>>Keep walking around town

>>5952663
>>Keep walking around town

>>5952663
>Back to the tower, a few hours before dinner

No update tonight, was helping my sister with some studying and we just finished now (almost 2 AM). Luckily it's sunday so I can probably squeeze out two updates during the day.

(Oh yeah also, in case a tie happens I'm just gonna go with the >keep walking around town option since it technically won)

>>5952663
>>Keep walking around town

>>5952808
>>5953129
>>5953692
You decide to continue walking around town, even though it's almost nighttime. You're not a 12 year old, you can go back to bed whenever you want! Your partner agrees (probably because she wants to hang out more...) and you both walk away in a random direction.
About half an hour goes by and you both haven't said a thing to each other since then. You look back at your partner, she's looking at the lipstick in her hand with a small smile on her face. Not the usual goofy peppy grin she wears all the time, a more natural and calming smile.
You feel the urge to tell her to shove that thing inside her suit already and focus on the sights of the big city, but it's been too long since you've spoken, complaining now would just be awkward, not like you've been paying attention to the sights either. You've never been one to... give out gifts or anything like that. There are birthdays and Christmas parties of course, but you've always considered giving out presents during those more of a "social necessity" than anything else. If you don't have a present you might as well not show up, but if you don't show up people will think you're a socially inept weirdo. If it were up to you, you'd just have Secret Santa happen over the internet while you were watching some spaceship model kit review videos on the side, if you couldn't afford the delivery then you definitely couldn't afford a decent gift.
However... When you gave her that lipstick, that you picked at random and didn't even pay for, something inside you stirred up, like a metaphorical cog had begun spinning after being immobile and rusty for half a century.
>*small voice*"We should... go out shopping more often."
>"Mm...? Did you say something Storkie?"
>"Uh? Ah... I said it's getting dark, we should probably head back..."
>"Mmmm... *squint* Suuure."
Her smile shifts into a suspicious and smug look. Crap, she definitely heard that.

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>>5953995
As you turn away and start heading towards the gigantic Tower, you spot three figures in an alleyway on the other side of the almost empty road. You look around, all the few civilians still walking around at this hour seem to have noticed them too, and are actively trying to avoid that part of the street. You move in closer, you notice that two of the figures are wearing black robes over their heads, and they're surrounding the third figure, whose appearence you can't quite make out. In the two people's hands are two glowing red Orbs, from what you remember those ones explode if you throw them against the ground. If these people don't have guns over here, could this be the equivalent of an armed robbery... Or maybe it's just something unrelated, you shouldn't just assume the worse about everything! You remember seeing that red Orb in use before, and its explosion could be pretty powerful, it could probably even hurt you if you weren't careful.

What will you do?
>Jump into the alley and see what's happening
>Try to get in closer without being seen
>Attack the robbed figures right away
>Shoot the robbed figures from afar
>Walk away, none of your business
>Write in

>>5953997
>>Jump into the alley and see what's happening

>>5953997
>>Jump into the alley and see what's happening

>>5953997
>Try to get in closer without being seen

>>5953997
>>Jump into the alley and see what's happening

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>>5954042
>>5954047
>>5954822
Uggghh... Yeah, if you didn't find out what was happening over there it'd probably be stuck in your brain forever as an unsolved mystery, and then it would pop up in your thoughts over and over while you'd be doing mundane things.
>"Hey, stay here. I'm gonna check something real quick. Hiyah!"
You warn your partner to stay put to not put her in any danger and, with a small grunt, you squat down and casually leap over the street. landing right in front of the hooded figures. Just to show off, no dice needed.
>*serious voice* "Stop right there, criminals."
You put on your best Batman impression and approach them, you actually have no idea if they're criminals or not, and you don't really care either. But if you can scare them off then you can just delete this moment from your brain files and just move on with your life. They turn towards you looking mad as hell, you try to get a good look at whatever they were looking at, but the alleyway is way too dark. You notice what looks like tattered clothes under those robes, must be some low class folk commiting some thievery, another thing that reminds you of your hometown...
>"YOU stop right there, who the fuck are you??"
Says the guy as he lifts his Red Orb like a baseball pitcher and grimaces at you. The girl next to him looks at the subtractive stone wrapped around your forehead and speaks up.
>"Never seen a stone like that before, is it a gang insignia or something? You better not square up with us, punk!"
>""Square up"? Kid, I'm telling you from experience, never "square up" with people you've never seen before. That's always how movie bullies get their comeuppance, and you definitely don't wanna be one of those-"
>"Shut it, bitch!"
The girl also lifts up her Orb and stares at you smugly. Usually you'd just beat these brats up on the spot, but you'd really rather not get an explosion to the face (even if they are probably bluffing...)
>"You're clearly not from around these parts, so listen up. Anyone who messes with the Flowers Gang is gonna get their petals rocked off, especially cuties like you..."
"Petals rocked off", really? That's gotta be- Wait... Did she call you "cute"?! You try to think the last time someone (who wasn't your ex, fuck that guy) called you that, but you can't seem to remember. Usually they just comment that "your hair is oily" or that "your eyebags keep growing" and etcetera.

>>5954943
>"-etting in our territory so we- HEY ARE YOU LISTENING?!"
>"Huh...? Ah, yeah yeah sure. Carry on."
The girl squints and leans over to her buddy.
>*whisper* "What do you think bro?"
>*whisper* "Dunno sis, she's at least a passing grade though, that stone thing looks really expensive too. If she's a bust, we can probably just sell it and get some cash."
>*whisper* "What about the girlie back there though? We can't carry both outta here!"
They look back inside the alleyway, at the figure you can't quite make out.
>*whisper* "Well, to be honest I doubt she'll be worth anything... I kinda just wanted to get her for myself."
>*whisper* "What?! I thought we agreed she looked hot!"
>*whisper* "Nah sis, your tastes are just kinda fucked..."

Alright, these guys are clearly gonna keep chatting up until tomorrow morning unless you do something. Clearly there's a girl back there that you could rescue, but these guys are pretty distracted so you can probably just sneak away and pretend this never happened. What will you do?
>Just punch them up before they can throw their Orbs
>Jump away and shoot them with your gun
>Grab the "girlie" and run away
>Motion to your partner for help
>Walk away quietly
>Write in

>>5954947
>Motion to your partner for help

>>5954947
>>Motion to your partner for help

>>5954947
>>Grab the "girlie" and run away

>>5954947
>>Grab the "girlie" and run away

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No update tonight, had to drive around running errands all day today and I'm mad tired (plus this next one should be a bit longer than the usual). Maybe next time I should do one update every other day instead of once a day since it takes me like two hours to write these pretty short updates, not super skilled at the whole writing process yet but I try. See you all tomorrow hopefully.

>>5956027
That's absolutely fine

Rolled 1 (1d2)

Alright, back to it.
>>5955023
>>5955135
>>5955278
>>5955392
Rolling for this

>>5954947
>Grab the "girlie" and run away

>>5956704
>>5956703
Nevermind I guess I'm not rolling for it anymore, huh

>>5955278
>>5955392
>>5956704
Yeah, you're not about to beat up two (probably homeless) children just because they threatened you with bombs, you have to set an example as the only adult with an IQ above 20 in the vicinity, violence is never the answer!
>[What 'bout all the pointy ear peeps you knocked into next thursday huh?]
>*whisper* "Shush! And stop reading my mind files!"
Regardless, since you can't beat up these twerps you might as well help out the girl they're harassing, like a true spacefaring hero would! ...Not that you are one really, you just watch a lot of movies.
>*whisper(loud)* "I've explained to you about a thousand times sis! Skinny girls are not gonna sell well with the rich folk! They like them titties as big as possible! And your "smelly girl" fetish is just weird!"
>*whisper(louder)* "You don't get true beauty bro! Chicks that prep themselves up all nice are all hoes! The smelly, ugly ones are the true keepers!"
>*whisper(louder)* "What do you MEAN "are all hoes"?! We WANT the "hoes"! That's our thing!"
While they're arguing about whatever the fuck, you slide into the alleyway and wrap your arms around the small silhouette laying down on the floor. As you lift her up, you notice that she's extremely light, her limbs also feel rather boney, maybe she's homeless as well?
>"AARGH! The fuck are you doing?!!"
>"Eep!"
They noticed you! No problem though, as they ready their Red Orbs, you squat down and jump over their heads. They must have the collective reaction time of a blind mule, because they throw their Orbs at your previous location a full second after you've lept. A loud *BOOM* echoes throught the neighborhood, people look out of their windows and carriages in fear, the tiny slivers of grass growing in between the concrete begin to burn, and soon a small fire blazes up into the night sky. The combined explosions send the two dumbasses flying a couple feet, they land face first into the asphalt but then quickly lift themselves back up, looking embarassed.
>"C-Crap! Sis, let's get outta here!!"
>"Y-Yeah bro! Flowers Gang, move out!"
They do a goofy little pose and then run away into the darkness of the night street. You leap away once again, landing right in front of your partner, who had began to run in the direction of the explosion.

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>>5956789
>"St-Storkie! What happened?!"
>"Honestly, not totally sure. I found this girl though- *gasp*!"
You look at the girl you've been holding for a solid minute now. It's Anis, the girl who should be in possession of the Elf Queen's staff! Surprised, you flinch and move your arms away, releasing the pointy-eared girl and making her fall onto the dark street, Her face looks peaceful, you wonder if she got knocked out by those punks or if she's just a heavy sleeper.
>"W-Wait a sec Storkie, isn't this the girl with the thing we need, to do the thing that... turns on the other thing... that let's us get home?!"
>"Yeah the staff- Wait, where is it?!"
Crap, you lift up her body and twist it around, there's no Elf Queen staff to be found! Did she hide it somewhere, or is it back in the alleyway?! You jump back there to check, pushing aside the men throwing Blue Orbs at the blazes to put it out. The fire created by the explosion makes it easier to see inside, but sadly there is no staff there either, just a single trash cans and loose bricks from the big boom that just happened. It's an incredibly small alleyway, the only way it could be in there is if she purposefully hid it away somewhere.

What will you do?
>Take her back to the tower and show her to the queen
>Sneak her into the tower and keep her in your bedroom until she wakes up
>Try to wake her up right now
>Leave her on the street, no staff, no point
>Write in

>>5956791
>Sneak her into the tower and keep her in your bedroom until she wakes up

>>5956791
>>Sneak her into the tower and keep her in your bedroom until she wakes up

>>5956791
>Sneak her into the tower and keep her in your bedroom until she wakes up

>>5956791
>>Sneak her into the tower and keep her in your bedroom until she wakes up

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>>5956972
>>5957068
>>5957171
>>5957398
With the frail girl in your arms, you and your partner rush back towards the Tower. Usually you wouldn't help out a girl that tried to hurt you several times, but you need the location of that staff ASAP right now! Plus, she never really... succeeded in even putting a scratch on you, without her minions she's probably harmless... Probably...
Using the cloak of night and your partner's... generous proportions to your advantage, you squeeze Anis in between yourself and your partner and then activate your partner's plugsuit inventory feature, which can suck up any item, or in this case people, into a sort of 4D pocket. Some parts of her body do end up sticking out of the suit, but using your own body you can hide the anomalies pretty well and pass through the guards at the Tower's gates without issue.
As soon as you enter the elevator, you breathe a sigh of relief and pull out Anis from the plugsuit's pocket before she runs out of oxygen. You rise up to your bedroom floor and toss her into your bed, the better lighting in your room allowing you to see the details of her appearence more clearly. Her clothes are tattered and torn, the tips of her fingers are covered in a blueish tint, and she's covered with bandaged spots from head to toe.
>"Quick Storkie, do you remember the girl scout first aid training??"
>"Uhh... Not really, no..."
>"Poop! Uh... I think you're supposed to... remove the clothes after you check she's breathing... I think? Well she's definitely breathing at least so that's good..."
You can't even feel embarassement as your partner removes the torn up shirt and skirt from her body, considering they're barely covering anything with all that wear and tear anyways. Your suit's heating system doesn't allow you to feel the true temperature of this town firsthand, but if her fingers are going blue you have to assume it must be quite cold out there, you grab the blanket and wrap it around her bare body, is that really enough?
>"Storkie... Maybe we should ask for some help? We're not exactly qualified..."
That could be a good idea, if it weren't for the fact that this girl could know the location the one thing that could allow that Icicle Queen chick to open a hole to other realities (or whatever she's trying to do, honestly you're still not sure if you buy her story...). If she hid it somewhere on purpose, you doubt they'll use gentle means to get the info out of her, and much less if she resists them.

What will you do?
>Tell the queen about Anis and the staff (if she's even awake at this hour)
>Tell the queen about the encounter with the gang (w/o bringing up Anis)
>Sleep it off and see if she is better in the morning
>Stay awake until she wakes up
>Write in

>>5957680
>Sleep it off and see if she is better in the morning

>>5957680
Go and get the healing GRN orb.

>>5957772
I'll support.

>>5957772
+1

>>5957772
+1

No update tonight... again. Yeah, I'm definitely getting a better schedule next thread. Weird that it keeps happening every 3 days though.
In other news, here's a question. Some other quests have a Twitter account where they post updates and art and stuff, is that a thing that you people would like me to make? Because to me right now it feels like it'd be kind of reduntant when everyone who likes the quest would probably be on the thread already anyways, but maybe there's some secret benefit to it I'm not seeing? I wouldn't really have behind the scenes stuff to post there either since it's all either spoilers or things I've already shown here.

>>5958321
Twitter is for qms who like to go on long term hiatus. For you /qtg/ and the thread is enough.

>>5958321
An update every 2 days is a perfectly acceptable schedule

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>>5957772
>>5957841
>>5957849
>>5957897
>"W-Wait Storkie, I just remembered!"
>"Eh?"
>"Remember that weird homeless guy that explained to us how Orbs work? He said something about green Orbs being used for healing, right? Something like that?"
>"Oh yeeeah..."
You had completely forgotten about that until just now, since you've never really seen one be used like that, but that is definitely worth a shot. The only problem is, where will you get one? You have no idea where people even get the stuff, and even if you knew, the "Orb Shop" or whatever the hell it's called is definitely closed at this hour.
>"...The lab..."
You remember your visit to the Tower's laboratory. They were using a bunch of green Orbs to power up their little machine thing, right? Surely if you just grabbed one of them it wouldn't be an issue.
>"I'll go snatch one up real quick, be right back."
>"W-Wait! Are you sure you should do that? What if they're busy or something and you bother them by showing up unannounced?! I know you like being straight to the point Storkie, but I REALLY don't want them getting mad at us and kicking us out of the tower..."
>"Tch... Yeah, I guess you're sorta right. Fine, I'll pretend to be all nice and polite, just this once..."
>"Yay! That's the spirit!"
You'd much rather not go through all this trouble, but you'll do anything for a chance to get out of this place and back to your normal, peaceful life...
You enter the elevator and press the lab floor's button. In a flash it lifts you up all the way to the top of the Tower. As the doors open, you realise that no one is sitting around at the entrance. Perfect, maybe you can just sneak in, grab the Orb, and leave without anyone even knowing!
As silently tip toe your way through the lab's hallway, you hear a bunch of people, presumably scientists, talking about something or other in the room right next to the experiment's room. Crap, looks like you'll need to sneak around some peeps after all. Not a problem though, you're a master at not getting noticed, spent all of high school mastering the craft! ...Though maybe you should use your "dice+1d20" thingie... just to make sure... Unless that also fucks you up by rolling low enough. Crap indeed. Maybe you should actually try to be polite for once? You never know, maybe the good old "scientists are evil psycho jerks" cliche isn't actually all that accurate. If anything else fails, there IS a large cabinet full of sciency containers, unknown samples and shiny stones, you can always just hide in there until they eventually leave... They will leave at some point, right?

>>5959327
What will you do?
>Sneak into the experiment room
>Rush into the experiment room, grab the Orb and run away as fast as possible
>Listen in on the scientists' conversation inside the cabinet and wait until they go away
>Knock on the door and politely request if you can borrow a green Orb (make up some lie on the spot)
>Be honest and tell them you need the Orb to heal a homeless girl (maybe they'll think you're noble or something)
>Ask the scientists on what floor the Queen's bedroom is so you can ask her about the Orb
>Write in

>>5959330
>Knock on the door and politely request if you can borrow a green Orb

>>5959330
>>Knock on the door and politely request if you can borrow a green Orb (make up some lie on the spot)

>>5959330
>>Knock on the door and politely request if you can borrow a green Orb (make up some lie on the spot)

>>5959330
>Listen in on the scientists' conversation inside the cabinet and wait until they go away

Yeah, considering this keeps happening I'm just gonna officially say that the schedule's changed to 5 updates a week

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>>5959486
>>5959500
>>5959536
>*whisper* "Alright, focus... Be polite..."
You slowly step over to the door and knock on it in a rhythmic manner, like a little girl trick-or-treating for the first time. You concentrate all your facial muscles into forming a nice, innocent smile on your lips, you'd try to immitate your partner's smile, but that'd just make you look psychotic. You need to look totally normal for this to work!
>"Yes?"
A scientist opens the door and peers into your eyes grumply. He's wearing a full set of protective gear, goggles, mask, gloves, you name it. You quickly avert your gaze into the inside of the room, trying to get a good look at what they're toying with over there. You notice some kind of magenta-colored goo splattered over the table, with some bits of reddish flesh poking out from underneath. That color, it reminds you of that gross mushroom forest your partner landed on when you both arrived here. Is it the same stuff perhaps?
>"...Yes...?"
>"Ah... Uh, sorry~ Errm... Sorry to bother you this late into the night, but my partner... She hurt... her... toe! Yeah, she bumped her toe against the bed real bad! If you wouldn't mind, could you please give me one of your... What do you call it? Green Orbs? The ones that heal, yeah? Please~?"
The man's face shifts slightly, you can tell even through all that protective gear.
>"Uhhh... Th-There's some in that drawer over there ma'am... Th-The one that says "GRN Orbs"... right there?"
>"Oh... Teehee, you're right~ Ah, I'm so stupid sometimes, sorry for wasting your time..."
>"I-It's fine...!"
He looks to the side and shuts the door on your face as fast as he can. Was that fear, nervousness... Or something else? Personally, you hope it was romantic attraction! About time men around here started having taste! Either way, you got what you wanted. Who knew being nice could be so helpful, maybe you should try that more often instead of-
>['Nstead of punchin' all ya' problems to death?]
>"Shush!"

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>>5960909
You rush back to your room with the Green Orbs in hand (you brought a few extra ones, never hurts to have too many supplies!). You and your partner huddle up on top of the unconscious girl.
>"So, how do I do this again?"
>"I guess you just rub it around right?"
You grab the Orb and lightly press it against the frail girl's skin, the plastic-like shell opens with a *pop* and the bright green insides pour out and magically enter her skin, her arteries and veins glow as it flows through her entire body.
>"...uh...umm..."
A grunt escapes her lips as she meekly opens one of her eyes. Looking around her wounds, they've definitely healed a little bit, but they're far from being back to normal. Guess if these things were THAT good at healing people would just never get hurt at all in this world...
>"...uh.... EEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!"
Like a housecat after being splashed with water, Anis jumps out with a yell, startling you immensily. She rolls out of the bed and crawls on all fours towards the window, again reminding you of a scaredy cat. Before she can realise she can't escape that way without gravely injuring herself, you both have her surrounded.
>"AHHHH- *cough cough* Hah... Eheh... Hahh.... AAAHHHH!!!"
She turns back to face you, squeezing her back as hard as she can against the wall, like it'll eventually allow her to phase through it and escape. Sudden coughs and giggles pop in every now and then inbetween all her screaming, her mind must be really jumbled up. Her eyes look at your own like you were just caught murdering her closest friend. Regardless of her mental state right now, you really need to get some info out of her about that damn staff!

What will you do?
>Interrogate her (Aggressively)
>Interrogate her (Calmly)
>Let your partner deal with her
>Try a good cop bad cop routine, that always works in the movies!
>Do nothing and wait for her to calm down on her own
>Write in

>>5960912
>>Try a good cop bad cop routine, that always works in the movies!

>>5960912
>>Try a good cop bad cop routine, that always works in the movies!

>>5960912
>Interrogate her (Aggressively)

>>5960912
>>Try a good cop bad cop routine, that always works in the movies!

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>>5961224
>>5961279
>>5961632
>*whisper*"Alright, I have an idea. You get her to calm down and start talking, and if she gets too comfy I pop in and keep her on edge! Y'know, so she won't try to trick us with her ancient magic forest mind tricks or whatever!"
>"I-I... guess I agree with the first half of that... at least..."
>"Good enough! C'mon, do your thing!"
Your partner gets down to her knees and crawls to the screeching girl, whose voice has already gone hoarse from the incessant yelling, which has now turned into small, quiet sobs. Anis curls up into a ball and hug her knees tightly, but her eyes still stay alert and vigilant, glaring directly at your partner.
>"....aahhh...*sob* haahhh... Eheh...*sob* hahh..."
>"Shhhhh... It's okay, it's okay. You're safe here, I promise I won't hurt you, Storkie won't hurt you either, right?"
>"For now..."
>"Shush! I-I know that you're afraid, and that we're not exactly the people you want to see, but... We do REALLY need your help right now."
>"*sob*Ahh...Wh-*sob*Why- Ah... Heheh... Ahhhhhh..."
>"Shshshhhhh... I know I know, Storkie is scary and looks like she might rip your head off at any moment, trust me, I would know."
>"Hey! She tried to kill-"
>"HOWEVER, you gotta believe me on this. Whatever those other people on the street were gonna do to you, it was gonna be ten times worse. I saw your clothes, they weren't like that the last we saw you. They hurt you, didn't they?"
>"...uhhh...*sob* M-Mhm... Heh..."
Anis meekly nods her head and looks to the side, like she's embarassed.
>"Good, good. Can you tell me what those people that hurt you looked like?"
>"...I-I d-*sob*don't... I don't..."
>"You don't remember? That's fine. Can you remember if they were wearing, I don't know, robes, by chance?"
>"N-N-No... I-It...Eheheh... *sob* It was... A s-suit... a-and t-t-tie..."
Your partner huddles up closer to Anis, who has no almost completely dropped her guard.
>"I see, I see. Don't worry, they can't hurt you anymore. I'm here for you, okay?"
>"O-O-*sob*Ok-Okay..."
>"I may not look like it, but I'm pretty strong! I promise you, if anyone tries to hurt you again, I'll be there to protect you- Ah!"
Anis jumps up from her spot and hugs your partner tightly, rubbing her gross snot-covered face all over her hair. Ew, you're glad you didn't have to do the goody-two-shoes talk...
>"Waaaaahhhh!! I-I w-*sob*was s-s-supposed to b-be-*sob* ...I-I... Ehehe... I-I had th-the... WAAAHHHHH!!"
Your partner pats her back and shushes her for a couple of minutes, how very motherly of her. Not that you would trust that dumbass with your baby or anything, but her child-like way of thinking does come in handy sometimes. After a couple of minutes, Anis quiets down completely and begins speaking in her usual tone, sometimes interrupted by a small sniffle or sob here and there.

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>>5961733
>"I-I... I h-had the s-staff right i-i-in my h-hands...Heheh... I-I was the Q-Q-Queen...! I-I-I w-wanted th-that s-s-since I was a k-kid... ehehe... B-Being special... E-Everyone p-p-paying attention to m-me..."
>*mumble*"Yeah you're special alright..."
>"Storkie, I swear to gosh! What did I tell you about being nice to people, just a minute ago!!"
>"Yeah well, I think the nice time's over, it's bad cop time!"
You push Anis away from your partner and glare her down, she looks back at you in absolute fear, you notice the sobs slowly returning back to her tone of voice, which has gone back to confused and depressing mumbles.
>"Alright, bitch! Don't try to act all nice to me, even though you tried to kill me like what? Twice? You think I was sobbing like a little bitch back then, huh?!"
>"Ahhh.. *sob* haaahhh.... *sob*"
>"Storkie!! What the frick are you doing??!"
>"What the fuck are YOU doing?! I told you what the plan was, you were buttering her up WAY too much, she was going on about her childhood or whatever! That's completely unrelated! She was gonna get you all warmed up so you'd forget about the plan completely!"
>"Yeah, because your plan is ridiculous! Sometimes you need to be nice to people, or you won't get anything from them-"
>"And sometimes you gotta be the asshole too! I bet she thought she got away with all the shit she pulled on us when you went in with that softy ass hug! I gotta teach her that she bit off more than she can chew!"
>[Ya' did kill all her peeps, tee-bee-eff...]
>"Shut up you! I'm sick of-"
Suddenly, your partner reaches her hands forwards, grabbing the collarbone area of your plugsuit, and shoving you against the wall. It doesn't hurt, obviously, but this course of action is so sudden you can't help but exhale heavily like you've just been punched square in the lungs.
>"Shut the f-fr-F-FUCK UP FOR ONCE AND LISTEN TO ME!"
>"..."
You've seen her angry before, but this is something else. Like you've just insulted her dead grandma or something. She looks like she might start crying at any moment, you know being harsh like this isn't her cup of tea. You still think you're in the right being angry at that little gnome twerp, but maybe your partner isn't totally wrong, at least not this time...
>"...Th-The... Th-The g-guy with the s-suit... H-He took the s-staff..."
You look back over to Anis, she looks just as shocked as she was before, but not out of fear this time, if you could look at your own face right now, you'd probably have the exact same expression. Your partner releases her grip on you and you fall ass-first into the carpet, she clenches her fists tightly and runs to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
>"...The guy with the suit... huh..."
>"...Y-Y-Yeah..."
Both you and Anis stare wide eyed at nothing.
>"S-..Ehehe...S-Sorry, f-f-for t-trying to h-hurt you b-b-before..."
>"Don't... worry about it..."
That's definitely not how it usually goes in the movies...

>>5961735
It will probably take a few minutes for you to fully recover, but after that, what will you ask her now?
>More details about the robber of the staff
>The location of the robbery
>What the robber did
>How she's doing
>Leave her alone for the night and go sleep it off
>Write in

>>5961736
>More details about the robber of the staff

>>5961736
>>More details about the robber of the staff

>>5961736
>More details about the robber of the staff

>>5961736
>>How she's doing

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If the QM or players are interested at all interested, I'd like to cordially invite you to (and of course Storkie or her, uh, bubbly partner) to participate in that greatest of /qst/ community events, the official crossover husbando/waifu (or king & queen) contest! I believe the QM or someone from this quest had expressed interest in the QTG?

Taking nominees now, and for the next four days.

>>5961634

>>5961736
>What the robber did

>>5961736
>More details about the robber of the staff

No update today, the anime I was watching finished and I'm still thinking about it so I can't write, I'll try to draw an Easter celebration pic with the girls tomorrow as an apology

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>>5961925
>>5961936
>>5962039
>>5962871
>"...well then."
You lift yourself back to your feet, walk up to Anis, and stretch your hand out towards her.
>"C'mon, get up."
After hesitating for a moment, she meekly places her hand in yours. You squeeze it tightly and pull her up as well. If you're going to be working together, even if it's just for this moment, you'll need to both be on an equal footing... literally and metaphorically, you mean. Either way, you probably shouldn't be too harsh with her from now on, or else you won't get any info.
>"Th-Th-Thanks... Heheheh...."
>"First of all, can you stop with the laughing? No offense, but it makes you seem very... punchable."
>"EEK! E-Ermm... I c-can't really c-c-control it, I s-suppose... eheh- Ah, whoops..."
>"Ugh, I guess I'll just live with it then... Anyways, second thing. Can you tell me more about the guy that, uh, hurt you? Anything notable about him that comes to mind?"
>"Ah... W-Well... I'm n-not sure... Ehehe... He w-was wearing a wh-white suit, h-had some g-gloves on... I th-think I saw some k-k-kind of red p-pin on his ch-chest... Eheheh...."
>"What about his face? Anything notable about that?"
>"I d-don't like l-l-looking at p-people's faces... Th-They're always s-s-s-staring... A-Always..."
>"Yeah, I bet..."
You've noticed this for a while now, but Anis hasn't really looked at you directly in the eyes once during this entire conversation, she just keeps looking at the bathroom door, then shifts her attention to the bed, then to her tattered clothes, then to the door again, over and over in a loop. You can't blame her though, she must be extremely nervous right now.
>"Alright then, that's not much to go off on, but maybe if we ask the Icicle Queen for help-"
>"Th-The Icicle Queen?! Hehehhe.... N-No no no! Y-Y-You can't t-t-tell her about m-me, please! H-Hehehehe..."
>"Right right, I got it! Don't worry, I'm sure we can ask her indirectly without tipping her off, like "Oh, we got attacked by some gang-types last night, could Your Majesty tell me more about them?" or something."
>"Y-Y-You're really, R-REALLY not t-telling her a-a-about m-me, r-r-right...?"
>"Don't worry about it, you're safe!"
Until you get that staff at least, but you're not gonna tell her about your true motives, at least not for now.
>"Man! That staff is such a pain in the ass!"
>"I-I-It's a g-g-great source o-of GRN l-light, it m-makes sense s-s-someone w-would try t-to steal it...! W-With it, you c-c-can use most GRN spells w-without any training, a-a-assuming y-you know how to u-use m-m-magic in the f-first place..."
Ah, that shouldn't be a problem then. From what you heard from earlier, everyone in this part of the world has stopped using magic when those little Orb things became the new hotness.
Either way, that's definitely very little information to help you find this mystery man. That red pin might be something useful though, it's the only notable detail you could gleam from that dude's description.

>>5964551
What will you do (after a good night's rest of course, it's really late)?
>Talk to the Queen about the white suit man
>Sell Anis out to the Queen, maybe she can get some extra info from her
>Look around town for the man on foot, maybe ask some people about him
>Investigate the scene of the crime
>Write in

>>5964553
>>Sell Anis out to the Queen, maybe she can get some extra info from her

>>5964553
>Talk to the Queen about the white suit man

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Bit early, but happy Easter everyone!

>>5964553
>Talk to the Queen about the white suit man

>>5964553
>Sell Anis out to the Queen, maybe she can get some extra info from her

>>5964553
>Talk to the Queen about the white suit man

>>5965036
>>5965142
>>5965518
After explaining to Anis once again that you'll ask the Icicle Queen about the man WITHOUT endangering her in the process, you drag yourself to bed and collapse on the spot like an office worker after crunch time's finished. You've been living your life pretty much on full auto since high school, so being in this strange place for such a long period of time, having so many unexpected situations thrown at you every hour of every day, is making your mind quite tired.
A good night's rest later (with no strange dreams once again, thank god), you wake up and spring out of bed, ready to have a conversation with the Queen. You look towards the bathroom door, your partner is inside, facing the mirror and combing her hair. You can't get a good look at her face, but knowing her she's still pretty upset about last night, not because of your actions, but because she screamed at you and now she feels bad. Better to not talk to her for now and wait for this whole thing to pass over.
Dodging Anis, who had slept on the (luckily carpeted) floor last night, at the last minute before tripping over her, you make your way to the elevator and press the Floor 3 button, which takes you directly to the dining room. Inside, the Icicle Queen is once again sitting at the far end of the cartoonishly long table, however this time, instead of casually feasting and reading a newspaper, she's staring down a piece of paper intensily with a pencil in her hand.

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>>5965567
>"Ah, good morning my lady. Please, have a seat and enjoy the meal, I am rather too busy at the moment to do so myself..."
>"Don't mind if I do!"
You jump onto your assigned chair and begin feasting on some nice toast, jam and cookies. You'd think rich people would have some super fancy caviar omelettes or whatever for breakfast, so it's surprising all she has are the breakfast basics you'd find in any average middle class home. Though maybe this food is rather rare in this world compared to your own, you wouldn't know.
>"What are you doing by the way?"
>"Oh, this? Do not worry, I have to plan out a simple scouting mission through the Fungal Queen's territory, to locate the staff, you know?"
>"Right, right... Is that really something the queen should be doing, don't you have like, generals or something to do that stuff for you, while you just chill out all day collecting tax money?"
>"Pffft~ Ohohohoho! You are a riot, my lady! Of course, I COULD do such a thing, but I would much rather leave the decision-making in my own hands instead of leaving some randomly picked buffoon in charge. The Elf Queen's staff is one of the most powerful and important relics in the entire world, it will require extreme scrutiny to be obtained, and I cannot burden anyone else with that mission except myself."
She must not really trust her men if she can't even trust someone to plan out a simple scouting mission. You can't really comment on that though, all your scouting mission orders are automatically obtained and processed by AI and sent to you through your wrist manager, so the people in your world probably don't trust someone to do such a job either.
>"A-Anyways, sorry to bother you about this, but last night me and my partner got, uh... Attacked by this weird guy wearing a white suit with like, a red pin on his chest or something... It was dark as hell so I can't really remember..."
>"I see, that would be a member of the Obsidians I assume. One of the three most dangerous gangs that inhabit this Capital."
>"Oh, I... see. So can you, uh, deal with them, I guess? They were kinda rude you know?"
>"Ohoho! Sorry my lady, but I refuse to deal in such affairs, it is simply too bothersome, and I have much grander matters at stake you know? The world could be destroyed at any moment, the Elf Queen's staff is our top priority. Everything else will have to wait until then."
>"Do you know where they, like, congregate I guess, at least? I can beat them up myself, I just want some payback for last night!"
>"Unfortunately, no. I have not bothered to track their hideout's movements over the last few months, it would just be too bothersome."
Great, she was no help whatsover then. But without her, how are you even gonna find where these dudes hang out? If you reveal they have the staff she would probably raise up her entire army to find these creeps, but otherwise...

>>5965568
>"Ah, but if you would not mind playing detective a little while, the Flowers gang's hideout is actually quite well know. If you visit them and ask for help, they would most likely help you beat their fellow rival. How about it?"
>"Great! That could work! Where do they hang out?"
>"The high class gentleman's club on the west side of town, Jardin. It is how they obtain most of their funding, and during the daylight it doubles as their meeting grounds."
A gang that meets up during the day? That's rather strange. You remember two of their members wanting to kidnap Anis yesterday, so you doubt the women in this "gentleman's club" are entirely willing. Regardless, the staff is top priority, if you're gonna have to team up with a gang to get it, then so be it!
What will you do now?
>Go to the club straight away by yourself
>Tell the Queen the Obsidians have the staff
>Settle things with Anis and your partner and bring them both to the club
>Go back to the scene of the crime to investigate, maybe you don't even need to deal with the Flowers
>Ask where you can learn more about the Flowers first before going
>Write in

>>5965569
>Settle things with Anis and your partner and bring them both to the club

>>5965569
>Ask where you can learn more about the Flowers first before going

>>5965569
>>Settle things with Anis and your partner and bring them both to the club

>>5965569
>Go back to the scene of the crime to investigate, maybe you don't even need to deal with the Flowers

>>5965569
>>Settle things with Anis and your partner and bring them both to the club

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>>5965619
>>5965759
>>5965767
After eating your refreshing plate of homemade breakfast, you head back up to your room. You hope your partner isn't still upset about last night, it'd be a real bother for her to get stuck on sentimentalities when the possibility of going back home is THIS close to being grasped!
The elevator doors open to Anis, now wearing your pajamas that you immediately rejected a couple days back, being inspected by your partner.
>"Aaaand... Yep! It fits you perfectly! Sorry that we don't have a smaller size, but it's better than you going around naked!"
>"Y-Y-Yes... I-Indeed... Eheh..."
>"Mm? Ah hey, Storkie! Good morning!"
>"A-Ah... Good morning..."
Your partner greets you with the same old big smile as always. Hm, guess she isn't that upset after all then! Perfect.
>"Alright girls, listen up. I spoke with the Icicle Queen, she said there's a club downtown owned by a gang that could tell us where the other gang that too the staff could be. I don't like messing with this kinda shit without a backup plan, but it's the only option we have besides randomly wandering around."
>"Alright Storkie, sounds like a plan!"
>"W-W-Wait... I-I'm c-c-coming too...??"
>"Indeed, it's your staff, so it's your problem. You're coming with us whether you like it or not!"
>"Sh-She kinda has a point Anis, sorry..."
>"A-Ahh... B-B-But... I d-don't think I'll b-b-be much help..."
>"Why not? You can use magic and stuff, right?"
>"I-I have a c-c-condition... I c-can only R-Roll 1s, n-n-no matter wh-what..."
You've felt before how Rolling a high number really improved your physical and mental abilities immensily. Rolling a 1 would probably feel the exact opposite of that. No matter how good you are at something, if you Roll a 1, you'll fail no matter what, in a catastrophic way too most likely.
>"Hmm, I see. Have you tried... NOT Rolling, though? Maybe that could help?"
>"N-N-Not Rolling? I-I-I suppose I've n-never tried... Ehehe... B-B-But without R-Rolls, h-h-how d-d-do you even d-do... anything...?"
>"By... working, I guess. Good old hard work, you know?"
>"H-Hard w-w-work...?"
>"Yeah, like, instead of rolling a magic die and basing your skills on that, you just... learn how to do the thing normally?"
>"M-Mmm... Eh-Eheheheheheh..."
Regardless, it doesn't matter what she thinks, you're dragging her into this either way. Your partner too, though she'd be happy to hang out with you either way. The members of the gang apparently only hang around the club during the day, so you should move out quick before the sun sets.

What will you do?
>Kick down the club door, enter like you own the place and find the boss
>Pretend to be a customer to get access and then find the gang leader inside
>Pretend to want to work at the club to get access and then talk to the boss
>Ask if you can join the gang and then meet up with the leader
>Try to sneak your way inside, like through a vent or tube or something
>Write in

>>5967676
>>Pretend to want to work at the club to get access and then talk to the boss

>>5967676
>>Pretend to be a customer to get access and then find the gang leader inside

>>5967676
>Try to sneak your way inside, like through a vent or tube or something

Turns out I relaxed a little too much during the weekend so I need to catch up on my graphic design work today and also my gf wanted to sext tonight but that's less important. So no updates tonight, which I wouldn't feel the need to announce normally, but we're going down lower on the catalogue than I'd like for this early in the thread so I felt the need to bump it a bit.

>>5967676
>Pretend to be a customer to get access and then find the gang leader inside

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>>5968077
>>5968430
>"Alright girls, we're here."
A few minutes of walking around town during the early afternoon and here you are. Club Jardin, supposedly the home of the Flowers gang. It's a rather large building, covered with greenery and surrounded by shrubs and vines, which is quite unusual for the snowy, low temperature climate of the Capital, they're probably just maintained with magic or something.
>"Y-Yes I c-can s-s-see th-that... B-But how d-d-do we get inside...?"
Says Anis, who's now wearing not only your spare pajamas you don't want, but also a cap (to hide her pointy ears!) and pair of sunglasses you stole from that one store, just in case someone recognising her as an elf would lead to some trouble.
>"Easy! We just pretend to be customers, ask to see some hot girls, and once we're inside we run around the place until we find the boss, then we ask them for help getting the staff back."
>"Yeah Storkie, but didn't she say the place is only open during the night? Wouldn't it be weird if we asked them to let us enter while they're closed?"
>"Pssh, you clearly haven't watched a detective film before. When they're closed is when they sell the "special goods", y'know? Private shows and the like. Just watch me..."
You walk up to the door and knock on it, just lightly enough to make some noise inside the building. You gotta look wealthy and sophisticated for this to work, you can't be knocking all desperate like.
Almost instantly a slim man pops out from behind the door, wearing a green suit and sporting a really goofy hairdo.
>"Hey there ladies~ Sorry, but we're not hiring right noooow~"
He says as he adjusts the small sunglasses sitting on top of his nose.
>"Heya there~! Sorry, but we're not here to get hired, we're here for the goods, y'know?"
>"Oooh~ Suuuper sorryyyy~ Yeah, you're gonna have to wait a bit ladyyy~ We open in-"
>"No no no, not THOSE goods. The REAL goods, you get me? *eyebrow wiggle*"
>"Mmm~? I dunnoooo~?"
Ugh, this guy talks too slow! It's like he's high or something! Did they hire this guy on purpose to annoy anyone who tries to enter before business hours into leaving forever?
>"The REAL REAL goods, you know??! *whistle whistle* *makes hourglass shape with hands*... You know??!"
>"Eeehhhh~ We don't sell wine glasses heeeere ma'aaaam~ Just the wineee~ You're gonna have to wait for that too thouuugh~"
>"Grrrr...!"
>*whisper*"S-Storkie calm down!"
>"Grr- *inhale* ......... *exhale*. Mister, I apologize, but I believe you're not understanding me correctly. I am referring to the secret stash of, quote on quote, goods, that you may be selling at this hour, as to hide it from your usual clientele due to its higher value... Capiche?!"
>*whisper* Nice job! *thumbs up*"

>>5969311
>"................ Huh~?"
>"Oh, for the love of-!"
You karate chop the man straight in the neck, his eyes bulge out like a goldfish out of water and he falls to the ground like a log, spitting out a drop of blood on the grassy entrance floor.
>"A-Ah, Storkie!"
>[Aaaand anotha' one to the count!]
>"Shut up, you don't know if he's dead or not! And you can't blame me here, that dude was just going on and on and on! It was clearly a mafia trick to dissuade intruders..."
>"I suppose you're right, Storkie..."
>"H-How c-c-conniving..."
Anis bought your excuse at least. In reality you just didn't want to deal with that guy for another minute, but it is true that you shouldn't wait around too much, who knows where that staff could be at this moment, you need to hurry it up!
Once inside, you see what you'd expect to see at this kind of place. A couple of stages with silver poles in the middle, surrounded by soft couches and chairs, probably filled with baby duck feathers or some shit. What you didn't expect to see when you entered, however, is the incredible amount of flora spread all over the room. Vines and shrubs cover the walls of the building, dirty looking rose thorns spread through one of the poles, grass fills the cracks on the floor tiles and ceiling. It's almost like this building was abandoned a long time ago and left to the elements... How mysterious.
Taking a step into the main room, your nostrils are hit with a strong stench, like every old lady perfume was combined into one, and then left to rot for a few hundred years. How would anyone get their rocks off in a room that smells like this?!
>[Activating Gas Mask]
The smell is so bad in fact, that your plugsuit apparently thinks necessary to activate your gas mask add-on. You hope you didn't inhale anything too toxic, sometimes it only takes a single whiff to kill you instantly! You look back at the other two, your partner also has her gas mask on, and Anis has one of those face masks things you both used in the mushroom forest over her face too.
You should probably hurry, since these add ons drain quite an annoying amount of battery power from your suit, and you'd rather not die in a strip club of all places!
What will you do?
>Walk into the "manager's room"
>Walk into one of the "private rooms" to the sides
>Walk up the stairs
>Go into (what you think is) a small vent in the corner
>Punch the walls, maybe there's a secret entrance somewhere, like in the movies!
>Call out for the boss really loudly
>Sit on a chair and wait for someone to show up
>Write in

>>5969314
>Walk into the "manager's room"

>>5969314
>>Walk into the "manager's room"

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>>5948692
>those bazoogas
tit-sama, I kneel

>>5969314
>>Walk into the "manager's room"

>>5969314
>Walk into the "manager's room"

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>>5969436
>>5969494
>>5969612
>>5969712
You walk up to the door with the big "Manager" sign on top, that's probably where the big boss would be hanging out, right? You twist the knob, locked eh? No problem!
>*CRASH*
You kick the sturdy wooden door with a quick and easy movement of your left leg. You start to wonder, is this really a gang's hideout? You don't want to underrate your strength, but that seemed a little bit too easy to break through. You'd think they would have like, a magic voodoo enchantment on the doors or something... Kind of underwhelming.
The inside of the manager's office is also filled with vines and grass, but the smaller size of the room makes it look like they're covering a larger amount of space. A single table sits on the back wall, right next to what you think is a bed, you're not quite able to tell under the large layers of moss.
A yellow pear-shaped plant you've never seen before sits to the right of the entrance, it opens and closes its mouth-like hole as it releases some yellow mist into the air. You're glad the gas mask is already on, because that DEFINITELY looks poisonous, or at the very least would give you some bad allergies. How do people even do business in this place when it looks like this?
>"S-Storkie, come look at this..."
Your partner is looking at the moss-covered bed, you walk up to her and take a closer look at it. There's a sudden bump in a section of the moss, with something lightish pink sticking out from below the sea of greenery.
>"Is that..."
You stick out your hand and wipe some moss away from that spot. A pink mass of flesh, something that is soft at first, but becomes hard once you sink your fingers into it and touch its inner core. Whatever it is, it definitely was something with bones, and it definitely is not living anymore. You'd rather not think about that too much.
>"H-H-Hey, I c-c-can hear something h-happening upstairs... Ehehe..."
Anis says as she pokes her head into the manager's office, too afraid to step in. Glad she finally made herself useful for something with those big ears of hers.
Welp, looks like coming into this room was a waste of time after all, best to just go upstairs and talk to the boss already, if you're gonna make a deal with them you probably shouldn't mess with their stuff more than you already have either. Unless...
>Steal some stuff from the manager's table, there's gotta be some valuable stuff here somewhere
>Investigate the weird corpse(?) further
>Investigate yellow plant
>Walk into one of the "private rooms" to the sides
>Go into (what you think is) a small vent in the corner
>Just go upstairs
>Write in

>>5970091
>Investigate the weird corpse(?) further

>>5970091
>>Steal some stuff from the manager's table, there's gotta be some valuable stuff here somewhere

>>5970091
>>Steal some stuff from the manager's table, there's gotta be some valuable stuff here somewhere
>>Investigate the weird corpse(?) further

Got sick this morning and the meds have been killing my head all day, I feel bad taking so many small breaks but it's better than me writing a shitty update by accident because my brain is dying

>>5970091
>>Steal some stuff from the manager's table, there's gotta be some valuable stuff here somewhere
>>Investigate the weird corpse(?) further

>>5971653
Really shouldn't worry about it. Your health first.

Still sick, just want to bump the thread. I feel my throat clearing up a bit so I'll give it a 70% chance of an update tomorrow (right after I come back from watching the funny lizard vs monkey movie)

The funny lizard vs monkey movie was way less entertaining than I had hoped it'd be. Updates back in a couple of hours.

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>>5970136
>>5970299
>>5970372
>>5972421
Contrary to your instincts, you decide to investigate the weird fleshy thing further. Maybe it's natural curiosity, or maybe you just don't want to go to sleep tonight with this on your mind.
You place your hand on the bumps in the moss and push it away, keeping your eyes half-squinted in case you end up finding something really gross. Slowly more and more of the mysterious corpse is uncovered as your rub away more and more of the aggressively overgrown plantlife, staining the dead body's palid skin with its disgustingly bright green coloration. It is indeed a human (or at least a human-looking person) like you thought. Her eyes are bloodshot and wide in what you can only assume is fear, her mouth is partially open, but otherwise just standing in a sort of neutral position. Looking at her hands, you notice her fingers clenching down on the covers below, refusing to let go even when you tug at her wrist. What do they call that again, rigor mortis or something? You can't remember the details exactly, but it's something about only being dead for less than a day, meaning this girl hasn't been here for a long time. But how did such a large amount of moss grow on top of her in such a short period of time then? Does moss even grow over dead bodies like that?
>"A white suit..."
You're so distracted by the grotesque look in this girl's eyes that you don't even realise what she's wearing, a white suit (at least you think it's white, it's covered in gross green moss stains...) with a weird pin in front of her chest. That's that other gang's trademark look right? Did she sneak in here as well yesterday, but met some kind of nasty fate? Man, these people really don't fuck around... You can't see any wounds or bleeding of any description, maybe she died from this gross smell that's covering this whole building? You joke in your head, but it could actually be true. Or maybe it's related to the moss somehow?
You investigate her pockets, but sadly if there was anything you could get from them it's long gone at this point, makes sense, if you killed a chick you wouldn't leave her wallet full of cash and expensive new holo-phone laying around unattended.
Saddened by the fact you just uncovered a dead body without getting anything in return, you decide to go up to the manager's table, in the hopes that there'll be some nice goodies waiting for you. In a surprising twist, there actually are!
>Obtained 1250 Hex!
>Obtained 3 GRN Orbs!
You really hope Hex converts 1-to-1 into cyberdollars, because if so that is a LOT of money! Like, not millionaire levels of money, but "eat a good breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack and 4 AM snack for a week or two" levels of money.
What will you do now?
>Investigate yellow plant
>Walk into one of the "private rooms" to the sides
>Go into (what you think is) a small vent in the corner
>Just go upstairs already
>Write in

>>5974191
>Just go upstairs already
Ok Oba.

>>5974191
>>Walk into one of the "private rooms" to the sides

>>5974191
>Walk into one of the "private rooms" to the sides

>>5974191
>Walk into one of the "private rooms" to the sides

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>>5974386
>>5974408
>>5974491
Going back to the first room, you take a right turn and randomly enter one of the four "private" rooms spread through this area. Inside is a small, tight space, with two mossy folding chairs staring directly at a vine-covered strip pole sticking out of a small stage in the corner. Wow, what a ripoff, imagine paying extra just to sit in a cramped room without a bed or anything.
Is there even a point to this kind of place if you don't get to have sex at the end? Why wouldn't you just look at naked ladies from the comfort of your own home, WITHOUT throwing money away like an idiot? How inefficient. You'd call the men that visit this place primitive, but your world has near-identical locations all over your hometown too, still standing to this day.
>"I'll never understand men, I suppose..."
Regardless, even though you don't see any dead bodies this time, you do see some bills tucked away in the corners of the stage, hidden away behind a layer of tiny grass patches and something that could be mold, might as well grab some of those!
>Obtained 30 Hex! (Total: 1280)
>"S-Storkie, what are you doing?? We heard the voices upstairs remember, let's go check that out!"
>"Shut up, I'm exploring!"
>"No you're not, you're just stealing all their money! The ladies that work here probably worked very hard for that!"
>"Oooor, maybe they robbed some orphans or something. They're a gang y'know, they'd do that type of stuff."
>"The money was ON the stage!!"
>"Maybe they have so much money they use it as decoration then, I dunno- Oh cool, a coin!"
>Obtained 1 Hex! (Total: 1281)
You notice a pretty large wine bottle laying next to one of the chairs, wrapped around some roots that stretched up through the cracks on the floor. You unfortunately cannot read the label due to multiple layers of stains covering it up, but there's definitely some liquid inside. Whether you want to drink it or not is something you'll have to figure out later though, can't drink it in here even if you wanted to because of the gas mask.
>Obtained wine(?) bottle!
>"But Storkie, weren't we here to ask them to help us? Why would we steal from them and then ask them for help??"
>"They're not gonna find out, dumbass! Stop worrying so hard, this building has zero security, if they get robbed that's their problem!"
>"Mmm..."
That girl whines so much about every stinking little thing! She always wants to take the high ground, but when you actually make sense (which is usually the case, naturally!) she just mumbles like a baby and cowers away! Doesn't she know you're the brains of the operation?! And the brawn too, come to think of it... The point is, she's your partner, she shouldn't be doubting you so much every step of the way!
Anyways, rant aside, what will you do now?
>Investigate yellow plant in the other room
>Go into (what you think is) a small vent in the corner
>Go outside and try the wine out
>Just go upstairs... maybe?
>Write in

>>5974905
>Go into (what you think is) a small vent in the corner

>>5974905
>>Just go upstairs... maybe?

>>5974905
>>Just go upstairs... maybe?

>>5974905
>>Just go upstairs... maybe?

>>5974905
>>Go into (what you think is) a small vent in the corner

>>5975203
>>5975246
>>5975645
Alright alright, enough messing around. Following Anis' lead from a couple of minutes ago, you walk up the stairs in the direction of the voices. A couple of thick roots block your path but you easily jump over them without breaking a sweat, Anis has a little less luck, but your partner lifts her into her arms and follows behind you like she's a mama kangaroo taking care of her kid.
>"O-O-Over th-there-"
>*whisper*"We can hear it now too genius! We're like a foot away from the room!"
>"Eep! *whisper* S-S-Sorry... ehehe..."
>*whisper*"Don't be mean Storkie, she's just trying to help!"
>*mouth fart noise* "Whatever..."
Indeed, the room stands a couple feet away from you, its doorway is covered in roots and vines of various shapes and shades of green. Behind the door you can hear voices, but you can't tell exactly what they're saying, it all sounds like gibberish.

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>>5976502
>*whisper*"Alright girls, here we go... One, two, three... STORK KICK!!"
You shout the name of your attack as you kick down the door with all your strength, you expected it to be pretty resistant with all that sturdy plantlife wrapped around it, but it went down without an issue. Not that you were doubting your strength either, of course.
>[Uuuuh... Duderinas, I'm detectin', like, huge amounts of wack stuff in the air yo. I'm increasin' the gas mask power intake, ya' better thank me later!]
A large amount of greenish fog leaks out of the kicked down doorway, quickly filling the area you're standing on. Your OBA decides to help for once and increases the potency of you gas mask's filter, which is cool and all, but it'll also mean your battery will start to drain SUPER fast! You better wrap this up real quick...
>"Anis you should probably go back downstairs, I don't think that piece of cloth around your face is gonna help you against a fog this thick."
>"Sorry Anis, but Storkie's right... Don't worry though, we'll go back down in just a second, okay?"
>"R-R-Right...."
You said that, but you were more worried about her personality. Whether you're gonna politely ask for the Flowers Gang's help or beat up everyone in the room until they're forced to help you,nher wimpy personality would just get in the way.
>"Byb...Bybybyb..."
>"Hoxaylm uhx mbipylm! Ch mjcny iz iolmyfpym! Iol echx gofncjfcym!"
Inside of the foggy room you see the shapes of about 15 to 20 people, walking around in circles, rolling around on the mossy ground, rubbing themselves against the wall. All while speaking absolute gibberish with different tones and intonations for every "word", a complete verbal assault on your ears.
The room itself is, again, completely covered in plants of all kinds, the difference however, is that the ones in this room seem to be way bigger than normal. Roots trailing through the floor have grown to massive sizes, and so have the vines and orchids growing out of the walls. You notice a bush of massive strawberries growing from one corner, while your feet kick down thorny roses that color your path like grass patches.
>*huff* ... *Puff* "Mmm...? Who goes there? I hear steps without voices, how unusual... My mind playing tricks, perhaps?" *huff* *puff*
A sultry female voice peaks out through the fog from above. As she loudly inhales and exhales, the fog only seems to grow thicker, and the roses around your feet only seem to grow smaller. Are you hallucinating? Maybe the filter on this gas mask add on isn't as perfect as you were hoping. You'd ask how these people can even breathe in this environment, but something tells you it's related to some kind of magic voodoo bullshit....

Your plugsuit has [70%] battery remaining! What will you do?
>Politely ask for help
>Beat up everyone, these people are weird...
>Talk while hiding your motivations, maybe you can get some info first
>Shoot people with guns [More battery usage]
>Write in

>>5976503
>Politely ask for help

>>5976503
>>Beat up everyone, these people are weird...

>>5976503
>Beat up everyone, these people are weird...

>>5976503
>Talk while hiding your motivations, maybe you can get some info first

Didn't update yesterday by accident, for some reason I thought it was one of my off days. Update in 6ish hours.

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>>5976836
>>5976727
>"HEEEYY!! WE DON'T WANT ANY TROUBLE, WE JUST-"
You scream out at the top of your lungs at the shadow covered by fog, hoping that you can resolve this as quickly as possible so you can leave before you get rashes on your face from these weird plant chemicals in the air, or maybe something even worse!
>*huff* *puff* "Strange... I can still hear something... Almost like the sounds of a half-dozen RED Orbs being fired at once, spat out by the beak of a tall avian beast... How odd..."*huff* *puff*
>"Huh... WHAT?? Hey man, can you tell your boss that-"
>"Gur znal! Gur znal! Wbva gur znal!!"
You try to approach one of the weirdos rolling around on the ground, but all he says is total nonsense! Is this really a meeting? They're not even talking to each other! Well, you tried your best, but there's only one thing left to do when dialogue doesn't solve your problems...
>"STORK PUNCH!"
You charge up a strong punch and aim it directly at the babbling guy's face, he flies off into a wall and slams back first into some kind of tree trunk, or maybe some kind of root? Either way, you doubt he's waking up from that any time soon.
>"Storkie, pull your punches a little! These people are more fragile than us! And... what's with the attack names you've been doing lately?"
>"Pretty cool, right? Since we're far away from home, I figured I could try being a little bit cringey, it's actually kinda fun..."
>"Heheh... I'm not sure I like how violent you've been acting around here, but I appreciate that you're opening up a little more! ...Though super hero attack names aren't really my thing..."
>"Even when I'm having fun, you just gotta rain on my parade don't you?! Well, I'm gonna start doing it twice as much now! STORK GRAB! STORK KIIICK!!"
You grab a random Flowers Gang member who happened to be nearby, throw her into the air, and kick her diagonally upwards, towards the shadowy figure you assume is the leader.
>"Woah woah woah! Not cool, dude!"
The shadow moves to the side as the body flies into her direction, but the movement is so abrupt it ends up blowing away a large chunk of the fog in that area, allowing you to get a full view of the mysterious woman. Yep, definitely the boss type. She's sitting down atop a throne made out of various types of flowers and vegetables, being held up middair by massive vines attached to the ceiling that move her throne at will throught the air.
>*huff* *puff* Birdlings should play with their seedlings, not with my underlings! Ah~ nature, how confused you can be..."
She takes a huff out of a strange device in her hands, which almost looks like one of those long smoking pipes, but with weird bobs and knobs randomly attached to it, giving it a very clunky look. As she puffs a bright green smoke into the ceiling, out from inbetween the upper vines comes a thin, cilindrical plant. It aims its hole directly at your head, and quickly begins firing a rapid barrage of what you assume are seeds towards your face.

>>5978088
>"Agh! Ahh! Hey, come down here and fight me like a woman!!"
You place your arms in front of your eyes to shield them from the incoming attack, which was actually hurting you quite a bit. Another two tube-like plants emerge from above as the woman once agains puffs her smoke, and they all begin to fire in your direction as well!
>"Ah, Storkie be careful!"
Your partner grabs you by the waist and pulls you back, hiding you both behind a large stump of some kind. You lean over the side to take a peek, the fog is rapidly building up once again around the woman, if you wait much longer she's gonna be completely encased in the stuff once again. The tube-like plant that fired at you at the beginning spits out the last of its internal contents, withers away and falls down to the floor. It's probably not supposed to shoot out that many seeds at once naturally, is the fog somehow controlling the plants? That'd be pretty bad, considering this room is full of both of them!

Your plugsuit has [60%] battery remaining! What will you do?
>Rush attack!
>Shoot at her from here [More battery usage]
>Try to sneak up on her
>Use your GRN Orbs on yourself / on the ground / throw them at her
>Try to talk it out again
>Run away!
>Write in

>>5978089
>>Try to talk it out again

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>5978089
Attack the vines she's lying on!

>>5978089
>Try to sneak up on her

Last minute bullshit won't allow me to update today, still need to bump the thread though

>>5978089
>>Shoot at her from here [More battery usage]

>>5978089
>Shoot at her from here [More battery usage]

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>>5979102
>>5979318
"Alright that's it! Time to bring out the big guns! Or, well, the only guns we have..."
You move both of your hands to your hips and squeeze your fingers into your plugsuit, the nanotechnology that composes it molds itself inside your fists, its shape twisting around in your hands. After a second has passed, you pull your hands away from your body, tearing a hole into your suit that quickly regenerates before you can even blink. Sitting in your palms are two pristine plasma pistols, ready to deliver some hot action!
You stick your arms from behind the stump you're sitting behind and fire two shots aimed directly at the two ceiling plants bombarding you with seeds. As the plasma shots hit their elongated barrels, their green gooey insides come bursting out, and they fall to the floor deflated and emptied out.
>*huff* *puff* "What's this? A birdling specialized in GRN magic perhaps...? How absurd! The wonders of nature truly are beyond our comprehension..."
You shoot one or two blasts at the woman, but the dark green fog and the slight movements of her throne make it hard for you to get a good shot in. As she puffs her green smoke at the ceiling once again, a pair of gigantic vines that covered the ceiling suddenly come to life like giant tentacles. With all their strength, they slam themselves into the stump you were using for cover, ripping it away from the ground and knocking it into a nearby wall.
You ready your pistol and aim directly at the vine's origin point on the ceiling, shooting two shots into its center mass that create a pair of massive holes in its stem, causing it to rip apart under its own weight and fall down to the ground. But as you prepare to take on the second vine-
>[Woah woah woah dudette! Chill it out, ya' gonna run outta juice!]
>"Yeah, I'm also gonna die if I don't use said juice! Shut up-"
Two lights quickly fly past from behind you, landing directly into the vine's middle and ripping its tip clean off. Your partner walks up to your side, also holding two pistols in her hands.
>"Oh, uh... Thanks. I'm surprised you still have your weapon add ons downloaded, though you'd replace your pistols with water guns that shoot pink lovey hearts or something."
>"Eh?? Is that actually a thing Storkie??"
>"Ugh... Nevermind, let's just deal with this bitch already."
>"Sure, but don't forget Storkie, we're here to get information, not just kill random people!"
>[Heh, yeah. She forgets that a lot.]
>"Tell "the people" to stop being asshats then! I swear..."
You and your partner are fully ready to fight, but unfortunately your suit's battery life doesn't last forever. Your partner should have a bit more than you do, but you don't fully trust her with hitting a target hidden in a dense fog. No concrete proof that she's a bad markswoman or anything, just a feeling in your gut...

>>5979502
Your plugsuit has [30%] battery remaining! Your partner's plugsuit has [50%] battery remaning! What will you do?
>Both spam shots at the fog until you hit her or her vine throne
>Have your partner cover for you while you try jumping/climbing towards her
>Wait around until the fog hopefully subsides and attack her then
>Try sneaking up on her
>Use your GRN Orbs on yourself / on the ground / throw them at her
>Try to talk it out again
>Run away!
>Write in

>>5979503
>>Try sneaking up on her

>>5979503
>Have your partner cover for you while you try jumping/climbing towards her

>>5979503
>>Have your partner cover for you while you try jumping/climbing towards her

>>5979503
>>Have your partner cover for you while you try jumping/climbing towards her

>>5979503
>Have your partner cover for you while you try jumping/climbing towards her

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>>5979657
>>5979881
>>5979884
>>5980122
>"Okay, I have a plan. You shoot at her while I go around the back."
>"Okie dokie!"
You don't actually have a plan, but you can probably figure something out real quick. Let's see, that bitch's hanging out about 5 meters above you, probably too high to jump directly onto her platform, but maybe you can hang from the bottom and swing your way up? But how would you even know where to jump exactly? You don't want to fly directly into a mass of dark mist, catch conjunctivitis or whatever and then slam down on the cold hard floor on top of that. That'd just be the peak of humiliation.
How about the walls perhaps? With all these vines and plants hanging out of the sides, it'd probably be pretty easy to climb, right? Only problem is that aggressive flora could poke out beside you at any moment and knock you back down again. You doubt it'd kill you or anything, but you don't want to get seriously hurt on a mission as ridiculous as this one has been. Mmm, how about-
>"Woaaahhhhhhhhh! *thunk*"
The huge vine platform the Flowers Gang leader had been sitting upon comes crashing down to the ground, spreading a cloud of green dust all over the idea.
>*gasp* "Storkie did you see that shot?! I got it right in the stem! That was awesome!!"
>"...Oh... Okay then..."
>"So, what's the next part of the plan?"
>"Mm? Oh, uh... I, uh... I think we should go-"
>"Pfft, I'm joking Storkie! I can tell when you have a plan and when you don't, stop being silly!"
>"Grrr... Fine then! Let's get this over with already..."
Slightly upset, you walk over to what remains of the plant-based throne. There she is, the lady herself, with her body spread out on the floor, not moving a muscle. You walk over to her and check her pulse quickly, she's alive thank god, or else this whole thing would've been pointless. You notice to the side the pipe-like device she had in her hand laying on the ground also, still emmiting that nauseous smoke into the air.

Your plugsuit has [20%] battery remaining! Your partner's plugsuit has [30%] battery remaning! What will you do?
>Leave her here for a bit and wait for her to wake up
>Drag her outside the club
>Drag her back to your bedroom at the Tower
>Inspect the pipe-like thing
>Try to talk to the gang members in the room
>Use a GRN Orb on her to see if she wakes up
>Get outta here!
>Write in

>>5980247
>Inspect the pipe-like thing
Hopefully it has a off switch.

>>5980247
>>5980394
+1.

>>5980247
>>Inspect the pipe-like thing

>>5980247
>>Inspect the pipe-like thing

>>5980247
>Drag her outside the club

>>5980247
>Inspect the pipe-like thing

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>>5980394
>>5980415
>>5980479
>>5980564
>>5981477
You walk up to the pipe-like device and pick it up, careful to point the fume-spewing bit away from your face. Let's see... Which bit of it do you want to touch first? You don't want something to break and leak smoke into your eyes.
>"Mmm... There's gotta be some way to turn this off, right? ...Ah, here we go."
You lightly touch around the pipe until you find a piece of it that looks unscrewable enough and start spinning it around. Soon enough the part you were unscrewing plops neatly into your hand, and with it the bright green smoke also begins to fade away, turning into a much smaller amount of a darker green smoke, more similar to the type you'd actually see coming out of smoking pipes from your world.
With the danger of skin diseases gone, you relax a little bit and take a look at the thing you are holding. It's a cilidrical glass vial with some kind of magenta-colored slime inside it. It reminds you from the slime you saw back at the mushroom forest, but what would something from there be doing all the way over here? Eh, doesn't really matter you suppose.
The plants covering the walls of this room begin to twist and turn, as if in agony, before drying up and withering down to the ground, some even disappearing into dust upon landing. The members of the gang fall to their knees and slam face-first into the ground. Man, what was in that smoke even? Surely it must be more than just some pink slime with some voodoo mixed in...
Either way, you should focus on the mission for now. You have that lady and all these gang members subdued, now it'd be a perfect time to ask them some question! ...If they were awake, that is.
>[Ey', it's just like ya's first casualty over 'ere! Ain't that a coinky-dink!]
You would reply to you obnoxious companion, but frankly this day has been so tiring that you'd rather just ignore it. You walk over to the knocked out woman, slam your ass into the ground, cross your legs, and close your eyes.
Guess we wait for now...

Was already having some scheduling difficulties, but then this morning I started having some tech difficulties too, so I just decided that was a sign to pause it here for now. Sorry the last month of posting has had a lot of pauses, I need to plan my shit a bit better.
Hope you're all still having fun reading this, feel free to ask anything, and I'll see you all again in a month or two! (and also at the waifu wars thread, that'll be fun!)

Also here's the archived thread!
>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5948692/

>>5981919
Thanks for running QM.