Yeah I know what you mean, I was asked to do something in the middle of writing it, so I kind of rushed it without rereading to catch mistakes. By the time I looked at it again, people voted for it so I felt like I couldn't fix it .
Why are people voting to write things with our blood? We can still speak, even if we've got the dramatic blood coughs going on. Such is the privilege of the King!
We've got a better excuse, now that we know about the Gold Energy. We'll have to come up with another excuse for any increases in displayed durability if we choose to put it off.
Vote Tally : Original - Magical Girl Monster Quest | Page 37 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.4
[10] Try to leave this Domain for a more hospitable one
[7] You were given an unsigned not to meet someone in the Gym. That turned out to be Tomoe. Apparently some dreams of Gold you've been having were mystically significant. Tomoe had similar dreams of Red, and Jennifer of White. There is also one other you do not know of. Apparently the other colours compete for control of the school, with gold being a wild card that showed up at least once before. Tomoe wanted you to join her as her second in command, due to the previous gold being an ally in the past and because Kui said that you were a good person. However, as future God-king of the universe, you couldn't bow to a king who could not even control a single school, and so rejected her offer, but offered the possiblity of being allies in the future. The kingly way that you had done so however had reminded her of Jennifer however, which made her decide to kill you despite the fact you never met Jen at that point. After which Jennifer entered the scene and, they fought. Tomoe summoned monsters to attack Jen's allies and yourself, forcing Jen to decide to save her follows and be stricken down by Tomoe, or to fight Tomoe and let her followers die. Since you are not a fan of such sadistic choices, you saved her allies, and tried to end the conflict. By offering them both to serve you instead. Allies cannot fight after all, and they seemed unlikely to ever make up on their own. Tomoe refused to see the wisdom of this and renewed her efforts to kill us. Nearly succeeded with Jennifer… and that is when you two showed up.
--[7] no you don't know what happened between the two of them to get them to both hate eachother. Nor do you really know much about the abilities you gained from becoming the King of Gold. You presume that is why you glow gold, like how Jennifer and her followers glow white.
---[7] oh, and I had brought the sword with me to school today, because people had tried to kill you just the day before, and you had no idea whether they would have tried again today or not.
[5] Express through gestures your severe injury and limited ability to speak.
-[5] Write with your blood, "Heal please."
--[3] If healed, or at least your lung unpunctured, lay out the events, focusing on who started to kill who else.
[2] Move to wherever your chances to find a healer is higher.
-[2] Preferably, in the real world.
--[2] If healed, or at least your lung unpunctured, lay out the edited version of events - how you were lured to the gym, nearly murdered, and then rescued by Jennifer and her board.
[1] *hack cough cough wheeze vomit blood* (Translation: I'll be fine. Probably.)
[1] There is something at the heart of this Domain. Something old. Something hungry. It calls to you. You will heed its call.
Total No. of Voters: 14
Of course she picks now to ask the difficult questions. Of course.
Well, at least this situation comes with a ready-made alibi. Time to put to use the greatest deception in the world - the truth.
You tilt your head to the side and spit a copious amount of blood onto the floor. Maybe you should deal with that first, actually.
"It's a bit of a story, Kaleido," you fail to explain, "so maybe we can get out of here first? Something about this place feels wrong. Also, I'm in a little too much pain to properly explain what happened, so if you wouldn't mind waiting..."
Kaleido nods. "Right, I can probably get us out of here. But first things first, you need to be patched up. Skopeo, can you..."
Skopeo steps forward and grabs your arm, gently pulling you to your feet. Carefully, she walks around you, assessing your injuries as she does. One hand remains firmly on your bicep, unnecessarily supporting you as she considers your condition. You shoot her a wry grin, and can almost feel her rolling her eyes under her hood at you.
"brace yourself." she informs you helpfully, repositioning herself in front of you once more. "this will hurt."
Of course it will. Every time you've been healed with magic, it's been horribly intrusive, and uncomfortable enough that you've always sworn off it until you need it again. You sigh, and lower your Pride to allow her to affect you more easily. The feeling is horrible, and you loathe it, but you know you have the will to surpass this challenge, as you do all other obstacles.
She inhales, deeply, and then speaks. a. word.
HEAL.
A white-hot lance of pain rams itself up your spine, followed by a searing agony tearing its way through your each individual nerve. Every fiber of your body shatters and is in the same instant restored to function. The world around you, the symptoms and sensations which encompass your universe, fade away into an agonizing haze within which there is only one constant. Throughout it runs a single unifying thread, a single dominant concept.
Pain. Submit thyself unto thy sovereign the Lord God and be remade whole by his empyreal will.
Slowly, your senses return to you. You are prone on the ground. Your throat hurts, in a raw, dry sort of way. The wood of the floorboards is comfortingly cool against your cheek. The excruciating pain from mere moments ago already seems to be fading, and as you draw your Pride back into yourself, you can feel your Sin purging...whatever the source of that feeling may have been from your system. Your wounds, oddly, seem to have been reduced for the most part except where they have inexplicably expanded. Carefully, you brace your palms against the ground and push yourself first to your knees, then your feet, determinedly ignoring the sudden surge of dizziness that washes over you.
Kaleido is staring at you. Skopeo is staring at you. The executives are staring at you. From their expressions, you get the feeling that Jennifer would be staring at you, were it not for the fact that she's unconscious, thanks to her stab wound...which is currently leaking copious amounts of grayish smoke.
Then Kaleido rushes forward, taking you by the arm. "Victor, are you all right?"
"Of course," you assure her. "I was momentarily mildly inconvenienced, but I feel perfectly functional now. Should I not be?"
"Well," she retorts acerbically, "when Skopeo tried to heal you, you collapsed, screaming, and began thrashing so much you seem to have exacerbated your wounds and repainted most of the wood in a three meter radius. So I'm slightly concerned, you see."
You blink. "Surprising. I can't imagine why I would do that."
"You can't?" Kaleido inquires concernedly. "Then maybe… No, a question for another time. If there's anything in this Domain it'll have heard you when it started screaming. I think we'll want to take your suggestion and get out of here. I can move us somewhere safer, but I need to find a proper connection. The nearest one, I think, is that way. If you'll grab Jennifer, I'll cover the minions, and Skopeo can scout ahead."
Skopeo nods her assent and darts off in the direction indicated. Honestly, it looks the same to you as any other, but you'll trust the judgement of the expert in the field. You move off to retrieve Jennifer.
When you do move to pick her up, you discover something concerning. The smoke concentrated around her has thickened and adhered to here and even now appears to be spreading outward from the wound, as if her tissue has begun to necrose with absurd speed. As it is, there's nothing you can do for her, so you'll just have to hope you figure something out.
You sigh, and scoop Jennifer up and over your shoulder in a fireman's carry as gently as possible, trying not to touch her wound at all. Quietly, you move to follow Skopeo through the darkened halls, as behind you Kaleido carefully shepherds the minions towards you as quietly as possible. Judging from Kaleido's reaction to the idea of encountering something unfriendly, she dreads the prospect, and you might as well indulge her.
With catlike tread, the eight of you steal quietly forward, as subtly as you are capable. Considering that three of you are glowing, and one of you is a gigantic suit of armor, you do fairly well, all things considered. The sound of your footsteps is conveniently muffled by the simple expedient of walking slowly, and your glowing is fortunately rather obscured by the fact that the laboratory, for all its gloominess, is surprisingly well-lit. The warmachine following you is helpfully obscured by the narrow hallways and tight corridors through which you walk.
As you travel, you take a moment to examine the scenery around you. If, as Kaleido claims, these Domains are reflections of the physical world. What does it say that your school is represented by some kind of horrific ancient laboratory? The laboratory itself appears to be in a state of some disuse. A thin patina of dust covers every surface, from the dilapidated old books on the shelves surrounding you, to the floorboards on which you walk. Even the laboratory and it's mechanisms are dusty. Only a few devices show any sign of recent use, and you have no idea what any of them do. Even looking at some of them makes your head hurt.
You shake your head and refocus. You're in no shape for combat; you need to get out of here and rest and recover. And then you need to train even harder so that next time you face an enemy of this caliber, you win handily. Your pride demands nothing less. Though you may face limits, you must always seek to surpass them, for your ambition demands-
And then you pause, because Skopeo has come running back towards your group, and she seems genuinely concerned, which on anyone else, would be a sign of absolute terror. Kaleido, too, seems to have noticed Skopeo's response, and moves quickly to the front of the group as your scout returns.
"problem." Skopeo explains succinctly, gasping for breath. "large room, amphitheater. blackboard at front. classroom. weakpoint at front. occupied. monster, winged humanoid. guardian. like birds of a feather. heretic. needs to die."
"A guardian?" Kaleido breathes. "You're sure? Sorry, stupid question. Of course you are. A guardian. Shit. Either we've got another Moroi, or someone's deliberately created it. So if we engage it, everyone immediately knows we're here. That means... we need to hit hard and hit fast, and then leave the area. I'll hit it, then open a portal. Once I've hit it, you stall it. Victor will cover me. Hopefully..."
The eight of you reach the location Skopeo was describing after another minute or two of walking. It looks more or less as she described. The room has a large blackboard at the front, along with a dissection table, complete with shackles. Perhaps a vivisection table then? There are also arcs of chairs leading back from the front, all centered on the table.
Of course, you notice all of this after the fact. The thing which first catches your eye is the entity pacing the room, sometimes taking short fluttering hops, before returning to the ground. It is a large humanoid figure with an excess of wings, four on its back, two leading up from its scalp, and two more angling downwards from the ends of its jaw or its hair. Its limbs are avian, ending in unpleasantly sharp-looking talons. It is mostly white, but is also covered in gold decoration. It is also a good eight or ten feet tall.
Silently, Kaleido holds up three fingers. Then two. Then one. Then she makes a fist, and you all explode into motion.
Kaleido braces herself and fires a massive beam of light as large as she is tall at the figure, even as Skopeo sprints towards it, sword outstretched behind her. You, with Jennifer draped over your shoulder, sprint towards the table, Kaleido hot on your heels, followed by the minions.
The winged thing is staggered by Kaleido's first blast, and knocked over by the subsequent six. Skopeo does not hesitate to take advantage of this event, with a single spoken word.
BIND.
Again, a surge of pain suffuses you, but with Skopeo aiming for something else entirely and your Pride fully active, you are sufficiently functional to continue running through only a minor stumble. The effects of her word are sufficiently potent that you're willing to accept that loss. The entire floor springs up to bind the bird-thing at her command. The blackboard tears itself off the wall to wrap itself around it. Then the ceiling falls in, burying it further.
All of you pause to stare at this rather anti-climatic resolution to what you were expecting to be a rather difficult experience. Then, with a motion so casual, it seems as though it were brushing aside a light blanket instead of almost a ton of environmental damage, the thing is suddenly standing, so quickly that your eyes simply cannot track the intervening movement.
It is completely unharmed. "YOU HAVE NERVE, DARING TO STRIKE AGAINST ME. YOU ARE FOOLISH, FOR DARING TO STRIKE AGAINST ME. NOW DIE FOR YOUR SINS, WRETCHES." It is also probably unfriendly.
"MAGICAE AUCTORITAS: RAMUS TRANSLATIO" Kaleido practically shrieks, the words tripping over themselves in her hurry to get them out. A not unreasonable reaction from her perspective, you suppose.
The now-familiar wave of rosy light washes out, and the world fades away into pinkness. And stays pink.
"Is something wrong?" You inquire blankly. "We got through a lot faster the other time."
Kaleido fixes you with a look. "The other time, I was able to prepare instead of having to waste the energy to both brute-force a path and shield a bunch of passengers. As it is, we'll probably be here for a few minutes. Which means you have just enough time to explain what the hell is going on with you."
"I'll tell you what I know," you offer, "but I don't know how much it'll help. Red, Tomoe, sent me an anonymous note to meet in the gym, where she told me that the reason I'd been dreaming of Gold specifically recently was because it was mystically significant. There are at least four colors, including gold, red, and white, which compete to control the school. Tomoe tried to recruit me, since the last Gold was allied with her and because Kui vouched for me. I refused, but offered her an alliance in the future. She decided that, based on the manner in which I refused her, I was too similar to Jennifer to let live. At that point, Jennifer entered, and they fought. Tomoe summoned up a bunch of monsters and held Jennifer's friends hostage, which I objected to. By klling her pet wolves and offering to accept them both as servants. Jennifer was going to accept, while Tomoe was moving to kill me. Then she got backstabbed, and you saw the rest."
"There is something very wrong with this school." Kaleido intelligently deduces. "I think I'm going to investigate. It'll go on my to do list, right after we finish cleaning house, and sieging the castle, and negotiating with THRONE, and finding Eidos, and figuring out what the deal is with those weird assholes in the suits. Kui might know something about this, even if he's unwilling to share."
She grins at you. "It'll be fun! We can call it a group bonding activity!"
You have just enough time to sigh, and press your palm against your forehead in synchronicity with Skopeo, as the wall of light fades to reveal...
[] A dark and ominous Castle, surrounded by a besieging army
[] Something that was once a City, now reduced to rubble by some apocalyptic force
[] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
Incidentally, how is Jennifer doing?
[] Poorly. She's losing blood, and is barely responsive. Her wound, however, has almost stopped growing.
[] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
[] Excellently. She's almost awake, stirring weakly on your shoulder, and her injury almost seems to be shrinking. The poison is almost gone. QM: Don't worry about wording votes perfectly, I tend to reinterpret them to suit the character and the situation anyway.
A white-hot lance of pain rams itself up your spine, followed by a searing agony tearing its way through your each individual nerve. Every fiber of your body shatters and is in the same instant restored to function. The world around you, the symptoms and sensations which encompass your universe, fade away into an agonizing haze within which there is only one constant. Throughout it runs a single unifying thread, a single dominant concept.
Pain. Submit thyself unto thy sovereign the Lord God and be remade whole by his empyreal will.
Slowly, your senses return to you. You are prone on the ground. Your throat hurts, in a raw, dry sort of way. The wood of the floorboards is comfortingly cool against your cheek. The excruciating pain from mere moments ago already seems to be fading, and as you draw your Pride back into yourself, you can feel your Sin purging...whatever the source of that feeling may have been from your system. Your wounds, oddly, seem to have been reduced for the most part except where they have inexplicably expanded. Carefully, you brace your palms against the ground and push yourself first to your knees, then your feet, determinedly ignoring the sudden surge of dizziness that washes over you.
Now, this is just a theory, but I don't think our- Actually, I don't think anything about us would react well to something trying to assert dominion over us. Maaaybe the cause of the thrashing and screaming.
[x] A dark and ominous Castle, surrounded by a besieging army
[x] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
The wood of the floorboards is comfortingly cool against your cheek. The excruciating pain from mere moments ago already seems to be fading, and as you draw your Pride back into yourself, you can feel your Sin purging...whatever the source of that feeling may have been from your system.
We almost got exorcised, and we didn't like it. Last time we accept help from a... cleric? priestess? whatever Scopeo is.
[x] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
[x] Poorly. She's losing blood, and is barely responsive. Her wound, however, has almost stopped growin
Do we have a moment to talk about our God and Savior?
I wonder if our constant twitching at hearing Scopeo speak is connected to her being tied with the Voice of God archetype. What with us being powered by a Sin.
I mean, I thought the problem was on her side and it caused a similar reaction in everyone hearing it, but maybe not.
[x] A dark and ominous Castle, surrounded by a besieging army
[x] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
[x] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
[x] Poorly. She's losing blood, and is barely responsive. Her wound, however, has almost stopped growing.
[x] Something that was once a City, now reduced to rubble by some apocalyptic force
[x] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
Hey, I'm just impressed that we actually managed to heal anything through that. We must be pretty strong to be able to take a point-blank shot like that to the face.
[x] Something that was once a City, now reduced to rubble by some apocalyptic force
[x] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
[x] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
[X] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
[x] Something that was once a City, now reduced to rubble by some apocalyptic force
[x] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
Hey, I'm just impressed that we actually managed to heal anything through that. We must be pretty strong to be able to take a point-blank shot like that to the face.
[x] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
[x] Poorly. She's losing blood, and is barely responsive. Her wound, however, has almost stopped growing.
[X] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
[X] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
[x] A dark and ominous Castle, surrounded by a besieging army
[x] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
[x] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
[X] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
[x] An old Church in some disrepair, though presumably still occupied, judging from the singing
[X] Alright. She's still unconscious, but she seems to be stabilizing. Her wound is still growing, albeit more slowly.
.
