Perhaps For Love, Or Maybe Justice (A Tokusatsu/Magical Girl Quest)

Kermie · Jun 30, 2024

[X] Plan Making Sense of an Upturned Life
-[X] Search for Akemi. (DC 100, Mental)
-[X] Work the cashier at Animate.
-[X] Have a responsible talk with Arata and Mai and give them a suitable explanation for what you did.
-[X] Make sure your internet security is good. (DC 45)

-Search for Akemi.

Tuesday, February 6, 2080
6:00 AM
An Undisclosed Tokyo Apartment

You wake up early the next morning, immediately getting to work.

What the… hey, this is absurdly early for a kid like you.

"Oh hey, it's good to see that you woke up, Atry."

Hmm, you didn't expect that the voices in your head would have their own sleep schedule.

[EXPLAIN] [OBJECTIVE]

You reach down to turn on your PC. A Fire Glyph you bought and inscribed onto the machine last month burns to life as the PC turns on. An Energizing Fire Glyph did require you to invest about 1400 more yen into the cooling system, but the one month with no plug needed battery charge was worth it.

(Considering the fact that you might need to go on the run with your desktop in your backpack someday, the 1 month long battery charge had also been a necessary precaution.)

You click through the startup screen, making sure to activate your secret fingerprint scan so that you don't get locked out of your own computer.

Then, after some more nudging, you go into the dark web.

…which to be honest, doesn't even look that different from the regular web. Sure, you put it on dark mode as a joke, but Tor just looks like a regular web browser to anyone that would or could look over your shoulder.

With a few searches, you eventually get to what you're looking for.

drk.find.com

…Are you actually fucking serious right now.

"Well, it's the best option for now! Besides, all the other websites have like, 100 different trackers."

[WE] [DEAD]

Ignoring the strangely concered voices in your head, you type in the words Kaneko and Akemi before putting in the keyword Assassin in the next box.

The website loads. And loads.

You look over at the PC box. The cooling fans and Fire Glyph seem to be working overtime, as the website gathers data from all over Japan.

[61+17=78]
[Close enough. I'll lower the DC by 20.]

Eventually, the loading circle comes to a stop, on Results for "Kaneko Akemi, Former Assassin."

…and absolutely none of the five small boxes down there show Kaneko's name. Of course she'd take on a fake name.

For better results, buy our premium subscription!

…or hack us, but don't act surprised if you get malware.

And right below that, a Tor extension notifies you that:
75 trackers have been detected.

You start to feel a sweat drop appear on your forehead. Next time, you'll just go to investigate in person…

-Fixing your Internet (DC 45)

Once it becomes clear your dark web investigation won't bear much fruit, you clear all your data and swap over to Firefox.

It's about time that you got some new antivirus.

Now that you don't have to worry about your internet exposing you to 50 different criminals, thugs, and assassins, you scroll through a few tabs. You skim a few stores, looking for something you might theoretically be able to carry over to the dark web.

[12+17=39. Near Failure.]
[DC halved for next attempt. (DC 22)]

After about an hour or two searching for reliable VPNs, you've settled on SharkVPN, partially because the reviews have been glowing, but also because sharks are awesome and funny.

(Which, on that note, reminds you of that time your handlers made you fight five sharks underwater by rotating them. It was honestly quite fun once you got your Air Breather Glyph on.)

Girl, that is not a normal childhood experience!

Ignoring the comments of the spirits in your head, for all its strengths, SharkVPN doesn't seem good enough to take into the dark web. Unlike some other security programs, it doesn't come with a robust antivirus. But the problem, unfortunately, is that the VPNs with antivirus either require Glyph support or aren't good with privacy.

You'll likely have to continue the search for better internet security next week, when you have more time.

Ah well, that's a problem for Future Rei. It's 7:00. Time to get to work!

-Animate Job (DC 35, Social)

Animate Akihabara.
7:30 AM

The cashier lane is going by slowly today. Some other kids are manning the other floors, but you and Arata are the closest, since the other employees are busy and don't come early in the morning.

You take a deep breath, as you scan a twenty-something's Gundam kit on the cashier. Almost on autopilot, you say thank you, and give your best "customer service smile".

God, you love Arata and Mai, but you also can't wait until you find a better job.

As you're daydreaming, Arata waves at you from his cashier aisle, before pointing down your lane at you next customer. Oh no.

A somewhat chubby but not obese man saunters down the aisle, wearing both the generic stupid shirt and the shit eating grin that always signifies an otaku. And not a good one, either.

"Hello there, madam, I would like you to inspect my product for any signs of tamper." He holds up the product, which is a hastily opened figure of Generic Waifu #2963.

"…Why would you want me to do that?" You ask.

He grins, pushing the figure forward. "As a woman working here in the biggest anime store ever, you'd obviously know about any product errors here, right?"

You grit your teeth and start looking for what he's talking about, and as you do, he keeps blathering on and on and on and on and…

[5+17=22. Complete Failure.]

You can't take this any more. Fuck it.

You leap over the counter and tackle the stupid otaku.

A few minutes later, Arata manages to drag you away from the counter and that loser.

The second he lets go of your shoulders, Mai gets directly in your face. She wastes absolutely no time with what she wants to say.

"Maruki. Explain. Right now."

-Saving Throw: Explaining to Mai (DC 65)
"Mai, I think I'm going insane. Have been since Monday."

Mai just does that old thing where she just stares at you. And keeps staring, and keeps staring…

Is she analyzing your face right now with her robotic eyes? Hold up, has she always done that?

Eventually, she sighs. "It didn't get out on the internet, so we'll just scrub the security footage."

[40+17=57. Near success.]

[Mai will not fire you, but this week's job action will only give you 1 Income. Next week, you MUST work at Animate, or get fired.]

Mai sighs. "But that talk we said we were having? Get in the back room. You, me and Arata are talking. Now."

"What'd I do to deserve this?!" Arata squeaks (not speaks, squeaks) over in the back.

Mai waves at some of the other employees, and types on a holographic screen on her arm so that she can tell all the floors to keep doing their jobs while she's away.

As she's doing that, you think about how you're going to explain yourself.

[ ] Say Everything
-Tell Arata and Mai everything. Your ex-assassin past, the fact that the Void Glyph may have temporarily reawakened your bloodlust, and Atry.
-???

[ ] Don't Overdo It
-Tell Arata and Mai that the Void Glyph increased your bloodlust, and that Atry joined you and may be the source of your new Rider powers.
-Mai might believe you, but you have no idea how Arata will react.

[ ] Embellish The Truth
-Tell your coworkers just that being sucked into the void did something to you, and you likely were succumbing to some sort of psychosis when you ran.
-Arata might believe you, but you have no idea how Mai will react.

[ ] Let The Intrusive Thoughts Win
-Punch Mai and Arata in the face and run away, and take 3 Income (for a total of 4 gained this week) while you're at it.
-You will be unable to come back to Animate Akihabara, but Sunshine Bar is hiring…
-Rei, what in the Seven Hells and 6,660 Shades compelled you to even THINK about that idea?
-[ABSOLUTELY] [NOT]

[ ] Something else? (Write-in)
-Write ins should be formatted as a quote from Rei, or her saying something.

Gargoyle II's Advice:
(This spirit seems to be silent. It seems that they feel that they should not give advice here.)

Atry's Advice:
Remember, while Arata might still be a bit confused, Mai remembers both of your previous encounters in vivid detail. I'll leave it up to you to decide how to use that information.

Author's Note
A bit of a slower chapter. I had to do some cleaning in my house, so this one took a bit longer. On a good note, I've fleshed out the Magic and Tech systems that you'll be seeing next update.

Also, one more thing (and I promise it isn't another Summerfest plug). Another user I've been following on the Quest Idea Thread, @ScorpioSting, just posted their first Quest, Zodiac Squadron.

It's a new quest, still in chargen, but if you're a fan of anime, spies and psychics it's already showing a lot of promise. Don't forget to vote, on both his quest and mine.

Kermie · Jul 1, 2024

Known Spell Recipes:

(Water or Air)+(Escaping or Moving)+("Repositioning)=Fluidity.

(None yet.)

Current Spells:

Fluidity Of Water (Flowing Fluidity)
DC 35, Active
2 Uses Remaining

This Spell transforms your body underneath the Rider suit into a partially water based body. It gives you higher speed, cloaks you in a clear bluish aura, and lets you both dodge and take attacks easier.

On success, for 2 turns every single enemy gains a -20 malus to hitting you. On higher successes, (DC 60/90) physical damage dealt to you (Blunt/Slash/Pierce) is halved, and the enemy hit DC gets even higher. (Instead of -20, it'd be -30 and then -40). However, you gain a weakness towards Ice. After successful casting during combat, gain a bonus action.

You may then gain the option to [Run Away] during combat, if this is in your inventory or already active, which does exactly what you think it does.

Critting (Nat 95+) will just make you pretty much intangible for one turn, but you will still be weak to Ice, so watch out for that!

Failure on this spell will instead fizzle out these effects immediately and inflict you with the Drowning status effect in your next combat/turn.

(Can be upgraded with the Air, Fire, or Void Glyphs.)

(None so far.)

Tech Upgrades:

(Ask Nakamura for this later.)

Current Tech:

M1 Silenced Pistol "Shinigami"
The one thing you were able to sneak out of your assassin training during your desperate escape. A silenced pistol from the armory, and a damn good one at that.

(Can only be used twice per combat.)

Condition: Almost Brand New (2 uses before condition degrades.)
Grade: 3
Attack Roll Type: Mental
Damage: d20 Piercing Damage

Special Traits:
Concealed:
-This weapon can be always carried around you in public, since it's always hidden.

Lethal Weapon:
-On rolling over DC by 20 or more while aiming at a (Civilian) or (Mook) target, instantly kills the target.

Repair Kit (3 Cost)
Grade 2
Condition: Brand New
Consumable
You haven't bought that many pieces of tech, but getting into self-repair saves a lot of money.
-Can only be used two times.
-Increases another piece of tech's durability.

(Modded) Nintendo Quasar (2 Cost)
Grade 1
Condition: Brand New
Hey, it's the newest Nintendo! I've got this cool one that can run some modded and pirated games, but the Pinkertons might teleport over to my shop if I keep it on me for too long. Mind if you take it off my hands.

-Allows for additional interactions with Kuromi.
-If enemies inflict mental ailments on you such as Stress, playing some video games might help out your recovery.

Spell Eater (3 Cost)
Grade 2
Condition: Great (d90)
This one's a traditional charm, but for some reason— you know that thing where some things get infused with Glyphs randomly? Yeah, it does the opposite of that.

-Once during combat, when you are hit with a Magical attack, this talisman will absorb it.
-At the end of your turn, it will explode, lowering its durability/condition and dealing half the magic damage to both you and a random enemy.

Auto Shocking Taser (4 Cost)
Grade 3
Condition: Good (d80)

…It's exactly what it sounds like. Please take it off my hands.

-Once during combat, (maybe twice if up against a [Nemesis] enemy,) when hit, make that enemy take a physical saving throw.
-The taser will deal 3d10 Electric Damage, or half as much on a success.
-Yes, it's just Hellish Rebuke from D&D. What's Hasbro gonna do, sue me?

Hypercharge Fixer
Apparently, you've still got a gun? Alright then, this Glyph enhancement might be of interest to you.
-You may use this on any weapon. It'll allow that weapon's special move to be used twice per combat.
-Applying this to a weapon will be available as a free action next week.

Magitech:

Recollection Enhancer
Grade 2
I heard that you met "Kuro" Kira. Lucky…
Well, if you're trying to make Spells with her help, you've got to try out this thing. Apparently, it can extract even the weirdest of memories.

-One use (but extremely cheap) piece of Magitech.
-Instead of rolling from a predefined table when gathering Memories, I'm going to screenshot ten verbs I found from this word generator, and then give them to you as a memory options.
-Gives you a lot of possible variety when it comes to spells.

Kermie · Jul 3, 2024

Scheduled vote count started by MrKermie on Jun 30, 2024 at 3:00 PM, finished with 34 posts and 19 votes.

11 people have voted
[X] Don't Overdo It
- ScorpioSting
- Zetakille
- King_Rule
- Vanestus
- ThatGuyWithIdeas
- veekie
- GGreader
- Solarstream
- Brainbow
- Fabricati
- Wootius
8 people have voted
[X] Say Everything

Kermie · Jul 4, 2024

[x] Don't Overdo It

Animate Akihabara's Back Room
Tuesday, February 6, 7:45 AM

You're currently sitting down in Animate's storage room.

…Ick. It's so dusty here.

In front of you, you can vaguely spot boxes upon boxes of anime merch. Behind those boxes, Mai and Arata are pacing around. You can't hear what they're saying, but you can probably guess what they're saying.

Mai, this is way over my pay grade! Or yours, for that matter.

She is MY EMPLOYEE and I will take care of her. Even if it means having difficult talks once in a while.

After a while, both of your friends step back over the boxes.

Mai just looks at you, then sits down on the floor in front of you. Arata does the same, sitting down right next to her.

"Maruki, I'd like you to start from yesterday. Explain."

Oh fuck.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IwVWrR6Ptxg&pp=ygUQb25lIHdpbmdlZCBhbmdlbA%3D%3D

For a second, you really, really consider running away.

[NO] [STAY]

But the booming voices in your head don't really seem to agree with that. So you keep staying seated.

"Ok. It started when I went outside to look for the guys you were hearing late at night. They were called Skull Masks, and they were lead by this weirdo calling himself the Dokurokan. They saw me and one of their goons shot me in the gut with something that looked like the doohickey that killed Shinzo Abe."

Mai nods. "That was the first gunshot we heard. Speaking of that gunshot, are you ok?"

You pull your apron to the side, pull up your shirt a little bit to show your gut. All things considered, you probably aren't even going to need to check with a doctor for it. The bullet wound has already almost faded, likely thanks to your newfound powers.

"Somewhere around that time, you guys came out as well, because you both were kidnapped."

Arata grunts affirmatively. "Yeah, these weirdos in discount skull masks came in and just dragged both me and Mai outside. Thought I was having a fever dream."

"Well, it wasn't a dream, I can definitely confirm that. Sometime after, I saw both of you guys, and they were planning to sacrifice you."

Mai raises an eyebrow— likely on purpose, considering her mechanical face and all that. "You were trying to shoot one of them, right? Where'd you get a concealed carry gun? It's stupid hard to get one in Japan."

Shit. Make something up, quick!

"I was panicking. It was a model gun from the store nearby, and I was trying to bluff them with a gun that looked like it could actually shoot."

Arata raises his hand. "Hold up, how do you know they were trying to specifically sacrifice us? It just seemed to me like they were trying to take us as hostages."

"It was the outlines showing the purpose implanted into that weird Glyph. It said trio and sacrifice, and you already saw that one guy turn to dust upon touching it."

Upon remembering the Skull Face that turned to dust, you all involuntarily shudder. It's not something you'll be able to think about often.

"Since I didn't want you to die, I decided to have both me and their leader take the place as the cost for the void thing."

"Terrible move. You should have yelled about friendship beforehand to increase your chances of coming back from your heroic sacrifice by 5%." Mai says.

"MAI! You've been watching way too much anime again!" Arata yells, before chopping Mai on the head.

"Hey! That's coming out of your monthly pay!" Mai screeches, as she playfully pushes Arata to the floor.

"I WORK MINIMUM WAGE, YOU WITCH!"

You start to chuckle, before eventually you fall to the floor, laughing. Both Arata and Mai are giggling too, as they jokingly try to hit each other.

Man, you don't know what you would be doing without these guys.

Eventually, you all stop giggling. Arata sits back down on the floor next to you, and tilts his head. "Oh yeah, one more thing— what happened to you after you got sucked into that weird void?"

You just cough. Mai's also staring at you now as well.

"Well, that'll take a bit longer to explain. Can I explain the second part of my story a bit faster?"

At around that point, you start to just really really quickly skim through the more fantastical elements of your story, such as being sucked into the void, meeting Atry in hell(?), and gaining superpowers.

It's fine. It's all fine.

Both Arata and Mai stare at you, mouths agape. And that's really impressive for a HumaGear like Mai, who physically shouldn't have the urge to do that.

Mai blinks away her stupor first. "Hand me that deck you were talking about."

You fish through your bag, before handing it over to Mai. Both you and Arata immediately flinch away.

Mai looks at the top of the deck, and she looks at the bottom. She shuffles the deck and then holds it up to her face.

Mai tosses the deck back to you. "Analysis complete. Visually, it just looks like a normal 52 card poker card deck."

No, that can't be right! You look at the deck again— it's got the same brown back, and most of the front sides of the cards are blank, with the exception of the one card showing Atry and Gargoyle. And there can't be more than 15, maybe 20 cards.

What even is this thing?

"But when I switched to enhanced vision," Mai continues, "I did see a clear trace of magic. One unidentifiable under the classic fire, water, air, earth Glyph system. But I didn't see anything else."

Mai casually taps the deck you now hold in your hands, and as if on cue, Atry and Gargoyle fly out of their card, in a ghostly spiritual form. They do a coordinated aerial flip before coming to a stop and a float in front of Mai.

Atry waves her hand multiple times in Mai's face, but Mai doesn't even flinch. "I'm picking up some extra signals now that it's been handed back to you, but not enough for me to get a picture of the "Atry" who you were talking about."

Atry waves her hand one more time, and then looks back at you. "I don't think she even knows I exist. Sorry kid, I'm leaving the explaining to you." She then disappears into thin air, likely back into her card.

"Oh, and one more thing, Rei. Show me that Glyph on your hand."

You slowly put up your hand inscribed with the Void Glyph. While the stylized symbol of a black hole with a circle around it makes it look like a normal black ink tattoo, it's still extremely sensitive to the touch.

"So… Can I still work at Animate? I promise, I won't have this thing do this to me again." You hesitantly ask.

Mai analyzes you one more time. It seems that both her and Arata will pass this last judgment silently.

(Social Check, DC 65)
[Total: 57+17=74]

Mai stands up, and silently grabs your other hand so you can stand as well. "Alright, I've heard enough. You can take some extra time off this week if you want. My only recommendation is that, as per company policy, you should really get someone to check up on your hand. And go find some gloves!"

(Social Check, DC 75)
[Total: 86+17=103]

Arata stands up as well. "It'll be fine, Mai. Besides, Rei's the bravest person I know. If anybody can deal with practically being pulled into a real life anime, it's you, Rei."

Eventually, the day ends, and you all manage to get out of the store without another otaku harassing you.

Mai warns you that you're still in hot water with the company that runs Animate though, so you should watch out for that. Tackling people doesn't come without consequences.

[2 Capital earned.]

Wednesday, Feb 7

You only work part time at Animate, so once you're done mopping the floors, you walk over to the closest hospital.

More specifically, once you get to where you need to go, you take an immediate right from General Check Up over to Magical Services.

The name's a misnomer, now that you think about it. A lot of doctors you've been to, both legit and underground, use healing glyphs in more normal checkups and procedures.

What MS really does is help out people who have been affected by Magic. As you look down at the Void Glyph, you're unsure what it is, but you know it's got to be some sort of magic.

A receptionist waves you down for an appointment, and with some faked credientials, they sit you down for an appointment.

You know the rest: disgustingly sterilized smelling rooms, 5 minute wait whether you're perfectly fine or bleeding out, and a doctor that can't take questions or complaints for shit.

Eventually however, the doctor walks in, you exchange pleasantries, and then she uses one or two [Identifying] glyphs on you. She's just an average person, nobody to be excited about.

The appointment begins normally: "how are you?" "What have you been up to?"

So anyways, some time passes, and eventually, the doctor takes a look at your hand.

"Ah, is this a tattoo?" She inquires.

"Erm, no. It's a Glyph that appeared on me." You confess.

The doctor immediately gawks, looks at the glyph again, and full speed sprints out of the room.

"…Oh."

She might have just been a bit startled by that.

"A bit? She just ran away from me, Atry."

Two minutes later, a considerably calmer nurse hands you two letters from Dr. Kana. One of them apologizes, as the doctor says that so called "unidentified human-engraved" Glyphs are "completely out of her paygrade."

The second letter is a letter of reccomendation to the most qualified mage in the local area.

It seems that we've gotten a bit in over our heads.

"Girl, would you stop saying so much "bit"? I get it!" You say out loud.

The nurse just raises an eyebrow. "…for your sake and mine, I'm going to pretend you didn't just speak to the air."

"S-Sorry!"

Thursday, Feb 8
Edge of Kyoto, Japan

You walk into the apartment building slowly. You took a sonic train powered by a mixture of both fire and air glyphs, but it still took a damn long time to get here.

It should be worth it though: apparently, the very mysterious person you're about to meet is one of the best Magic users in Japan: she was crowned an Archmage by the government, but nobody's seen her face.

You walk through the halls of Tamara Apartments, before eventually stopping at the room you need to be at.

Room 666? Geez, this Archmage is not trying to be subtle.

[OBVIOUS] [CHUUNI]

"Gargoyle, how do you even know that word?" You joke, as you ring the doorbell.

Nothing. You ring it six times, and by the seventh, you're just barely considering bashing down the door.

No! That's a bad thing that normal people do not do, Rei.

You're about to yell at the voice inside your head, before you hear somebody start to talk from inside the apartment.

"We're closed! Get out, or I can call the Special Forces on you!"

"…Miss, Japan doesn't have SEALs or any equivalent of such."

"Well, the government gave me a hotline to some very important people! Give me a reason for you to be calling or GET OUT!" The loud voice squeaks.

"I got a recommendation letter from Dr. Kana."

At that, the door seems to fly open automatically, even though nobody was there to open it.

You walk through the door, and take in the tiny (well, that's just standard size for this country) apartment. Ideas for new spells and some glowing glyphs lay strewn out across the room, and drawings of multiple spell ideas are pinned to the walls.

And then suddenly, you feel a whoosh in the air behind you, and a hand on your shoulder—

(Physical Check, DC 65)
[Total: 49+12=61. Near Success.]

"BOO!"

You don't even flinch.

Well, that's an overstatement. You do flinch, but not enough for your assassin reflexes to immediately make you chop your would be assailant in the face.

Behind you is a small girl, wielding a cane. And she's… floating in midair?

"Heh! Thought you'd be more scared! Well, you definitely had better reflexes than the pizza delivery guy yesterday."

As you come down from the adrenaline, the girl seems to float… no, that's the wrong word. With her cane, it seems like she's walking on air. Or her feet are helping her swim through the air.

The short girl grins, and leans into you.. "Well then? Show me your letter, or get kicked out. Unless you wanna try and kill me?"

As she gets closer, you realize that you recognize her face…

"Kuro" Kira

(Image made with Picrew by @earth4120)
Not her real name. A twenty-something who was assigned to your… "special" case. She walks using magic and her cane, as she has a certain disability. She was titled an Archmage by the government, meaning that she's one of the top 5 magic users in the entire country.

As a prodigy in Magic and other sciences, she's been unofficially crowned as the "Mini-Sized Magus." (Don't call her that though! She hates that title!)

An Archmage? You were seriously so important that you'd be recommended to someone of this caliber?

You use your index finger to just slowly push her floating body away from your face, and with your other hand you hand her the letter of recommendation.

She turns over the letter, before ripping it open, and seemingly speedreading through the entire thing.

She clicks her cane one more time, before whatever floating effect she was using seems to wear off and she falls onto the couch. "Alright, show me the hand." she demands, in a tone that shows no room for getting out.

Over the next few minutes, Kira examines your arm under at least 5 different scientific tools, pulling out tool after tool from various hidden compartments on the couch. Finally, after poking and prodding at you, she looks back up at you.

"Ok, we've got to talk. How in the world did you get this on your hand? It's clearly a glyph, but it doesn't fall within any of the four elements."

She then flips over yet another panel on the couch, before slamming a button. The curtains close.

"Oh, and don't worry, the government won't be able to surveil us anymore." She nonchalantly comments.

"Do you really need so much security?" you ask.

She stares at you, with a look that says: "you serious?"

"I'm an Archmage. No. 4, to be exact. The security's practically mandatory for someone of my power, even if I don't like it. Now, as for the glyph, I'd like to be able to study it, before one of my other friends or Archmages gets to do the same."

You yank your hand away. "What's in it for me?"

She rolls her eyes. "You don't seem like the type of person who needs too much money, so why don't we make a deal? I'll craft you all the Spells you might want from the reject materials I have, since you clearly live a dangerous life. In exchange, you'll get help with your weird mystery Glyph." She puts her hand out.

Dammit, she figured all that out just from being with you for ten minutes? She's too smart for her own good. But the deal's way too good for you to pass up.

You shake her hand. "Deal."

Magic
As a free action each week, you'll be able to craft a Spell with Kira. If you don't want to only craft one spell, it will cost one Minor Action per extra spell per week.

Each spell consists of three parts: A Memory, a Purpose, and a Glyph.

Memories will be gained either through the natural progression and milestones of the story, or by taking the Minor Mental Action (Recall Memory). Memories will either significantly boost or worsen the next part.

A Purpose is what you want the spell to do— this will be decided via a write in.

You'll find unused Glyphs after fights or by buying them. When you choose a fitting Glyph, it may or may not bestow an elemental effect upon the spell that'll give it better properties.

The final effect of the spell will be decided by the QM. While Glyphs and Memories that have higher synergy with the Purpose will get you a better potency of Spell, if you're able to argue in thread what you're picturing, I might make it better.

(Now, discussion doesn't just motivate the QM, it motivates the character as well!)

Finally, you'll name the Spell. One word names, please!

And finally, once that's done, you'll get a Spell, which will either be Active (combat) or Passive (activated to give a small Perk at the start until the end of each week). Every Spell has limited usages, and once those are gone, it breaks. (But Kira may be willing to remake it for a price that was cheaper than first creating it.)

You currently have the memories of Killing, Escaping, and Changing.

You currently have a Fire and Water Glyph. The Void Glyph is also always present. Adding a Memory and Purpose to the Void Glyph may trigger certain extremely powerful effects, which unlike the other types of glyphs, cannot be controlled.

[ ] Make your first Spell.
-[ ] (Memory)
-[ ] (Purpose)
-[ ] (Glyph)
-[ ] (Name)

[ ] Pass on making a Spell for now.

After all that's done, Kira happily waves you off. "Goodbye then! I'll see you next week for another appointment!"

"Next week? I live in Tokyo, and you live in Kyoto. How am I even supposed to go to your house?"

Kira just smiles, and she throws her cane to the side. To your surprise, it flies through the air, and pokes a small cupboard. The cupboard door sinks into the floor, revealing an air Glyph, which ignites, before you see a portal appear.

"That should take you back to Tokyo. If you wanna come back here, just give me a call."

You slowly nod, before you walk out through the portal into a small Tokyo alley. You see her wave at you from her couch before the portal closes up again.

What a strange girl. She kind of reminds me of one of my old friends.

Friday, Feb 9
The day after that, you spend some more time trying to find Akane, and texting Kira. Eventually, while she talks about a spell she made, she mentions something interesting.

Mini-Mage
-> By the way, while we were talking yesterday, and you kept on ignoring my attempts to figure out your mysterious backstory, I realized something.

You
-> I'm going to ignore that second comment. What did you figure out?

Mini-Mage
-> You probably need all the weird and wacky stuff you can get your hands on for whatever illegal things you're trying to do. Why don't you go over to my old friend for that?

-> (Location Sent)

You look over from your phone over to the mysterious deck Atry's currently residing in.

Why not? We need a break from looking for Akemi anyways.

Kinzoku Workshops
Somewhere in Shibuya

You pull up to a crowded building. After searching through this district, you've managed to find what you're looking for.

On floor 3 of the building you've been looking for, the sign to the door says: "only for inventors and eccentrics!" Judging by what Kira's told you, that means you're in the right place.

As you open the door, the smell of metal and the sounds of machinery hit you straight in the face.

All around, both teens and adults seem to be messing with some inventions. And in the middle of it all, one man is sitting down, tinkering with a small little gadget. He turns around on his spinning chair. "Oh hey!" He yells, "you must be the girl Kira sent! I'm Nakayama! I built a lot of the stuff here!"

Kinzoku Nakayama

(Image made with this Picrew)
Kira's friend, lovingly dubbed by her as the "Maddest Scientist". He's in a similar situation as Kira, being a young prodigy in his field.

Underneath his aloof and somewhat kooky image he projects to the world, lies a sensitive yet fiercely passionate young man.

"Yeah, Kira said you'd help me out." You respond.

"Sorry! Could you repeat that?! I can't hear you over the sounds of machinery!" He yells back.

It is almost ear splittingly loud where you were standing, and it's even louder over on the other side of the workshop, where a few 3d printers are whirring. "Sorry about that." You say, once you get a bit closer to the man. "Anything here up for sale?"

Nakayama just smiles and waves his hand. "Oh, don't worry, it's nothing. If you're a friend of Kira, you're a friend of mine. So if you're in the mood for buying, what do you want?"

Tech System
Tech is divided into six Grades, which represent how powerful and useful it is. From highest to lowest, the grades are:

??? (Grades 7 and up. This is currently unavailable.)
Superweapon (Grade 6)
Rider/Hero Level (Grade 5)
Military Grade (Grade 4)
Average Weapon (Grade 3)
Scientific Curiosity (Grade 2)
Civilian Tech (Grade 1)

Depending on your current highest Grade of Tech and to a lesser extent, your Relationship Level with him, Nakayama will offer different things in his shop each week. (Determined by background rolls.) After a while, you may also ask to upgrade your weapons, but that's for later.

Rider Form Weapons do not count for Highest Grade, so don't ask.

[ ] An auto shocking taser. (Grade 3) (4 Capital)
[ ] A Spell Eater (Grade 2) (3 Capital)
[ ] A (modded) Nintendo Quasar. (Grade 1) (2 Capital)

(These will all stay around until the end of next week.)

(Modded) Nintendo Quasar
Condition: Brand New
Hey, it's the newest Nintendo! I've got this cool one that can run some modded and pirated games, but the Pinkertons might teleport over to my shop if I keep it on me for too long. Mind if you take it off my hands.
-Allows for additional interactions with ???.
-If enemies inflict mental ailments on you such as Stress, playing some video games might help out your recovery.

Spell Eater
Condition: Great (d90)
This one's a traditional charm, but for some reason— you know that thing where some things get infused with Glyphs randomly? Yeah, it does the opposite of that.
-Once during combat, when you are hit with a Magical attack, this talisman will absorb it.
-At the end of your turn, it will explode, lowering its durability/condition and dealing half the magic damage to both you and a random enemy.

Auto Shocking Taser
Condition: Good (d80)
…It's exactly what it sounds like. Please take it off my hands. Don't ask what it was supposed to be.

-Once during combat, (maybe twice if up against a [Nemesis] enemy,) when hit, make that enemy take a physical saving throw.
-The taser will deal 3d10 Electric Damage, or half as much on a success.
-Yes, it's just Hellish Rebuke from D&D. What's Hasbro gonna do, sue me?

[ ] Pass on buying something for now.

Eventually, you manage to get back home to Tokyo. The second you see the couch, you just collapse onto it. It's been an exhausting week by a normal person's standards, and you spent enough time in the workshop that now you smell like machine oil.. "God, I'm glad I'm back."

What now?

"Maybe I'll do some more searching for Akemi. But for now, just let me sleep."

Planning Time!
Week 2: February 11-18
Current Amount Of Capital: 8
Current Objective: Find Kaneko.

Major Actions
You currently have THREE of these.
(QM Note: you may take two more Minor Actions and one more Major, but it's worth noting that Burnout will have its consequences week 3.)

[ ] Search for Akemi. (DC 80, Mental)
-If you plan right, you can do it this week, almost guaranteed.
-DC lowers by 20 when you get close by 35 or more, but don't expect the DC to just be halved.

[ ] Pay off a contact from the criminal underworld.

-Costs FOUR Capital.
-Reopens contact with the Black Market and Underworld. You'll know what they're doing, but they won't notice you.
-… unless you buy too many things.
-As a free favor, your contact will give you some leads, lowering the DC to Search for Akemi for the next week and this week by 20.

[ ] Try to look for other local heroes. (DC ???, Mental)
-Does not attempt to look for either Secret Society— that is pretty much impossible at the moment.
-At the moment, success is not likely in the slightest due to Monstrous Composition, but you might be able to get the DC down.
-If you roll high enough, there's a small chance you might get to meet the local hero of Shibuya or Akihabara…

-[ ] (NEW) Investigate a rumor you heard. (DC 60/80/100, Social)
-Recently, thanks to your surveillance of the Akihabara area, you've heard that a new masked hero has appeared. And he isn't you.
-This might be a good chance to get a look into the so-called "hero culture."
-Will disappear after three weeks.

-[ ] (NEW) Look more into the Void Glyph with Kira's help. (Medium DC, Magical.)

-Kira's already said that she was interested in doing this.
-Lowers the DC of (Try and Harness the Void Glyph.)
-May unlock new Magic options with Kira.

-[ ] (NEW) Look more into Umbra. (Medium-High DC, Mental.)

-While you haven't been pursued by them yet, you know that Mr. Skull Face likely still remembers your face.
-It's better that you get a drop on them first.
-May trigger a small combat encounter on failure.

Minor Actions
You currently have THREE of these.

Physical Actions

-[ ] Fight and interrogate a group of Skull Faces.
-Will trigger a small combat encounter.
-On success, you might get some more info about your new pursuer…
-[ ] Go to your local dojo.
-You've already paid the subscription fee for this month, so don't worry about Capital.
-Upgraded version of the other Physical action that was going to be here, so it will give a pretty good amount of EXP.

-[ ] Explore Tokyo
-Why? Why not?
-You may meet some interesting people.

-[ ] Explore Kyoto
-Kira has a portal, so you may as well use it.
-You may meet some interesting people.

Mental Actions

-[ ] Try and narrow down your first leads on Akemi. (DC 55/75)
-There is a chance.
-Will lower the DC for finding her by either 10 or 20.

-[ ] Take a break at the library. Learn something.
-Increases EXP, dice type for increase depending on how high a Mental roll goes.

-[ ] Attempt to research the history of Kamen Riders and Magical Girls. They're not just some urban legend. (DC 50/70)
-Might make certain checks a bit easier.

-[ ] Recall Memory (DC ???)
-You'll discover the DC(s) for this after first doing this action.
-May give you some more insight into Rei's past, and produces a Memory for a spell.

Social Actions

-[ ] Work the cashier at Animate.
-Must be taken this week, otherwise you'll get fired.
-Unfortunately will only give 1 Capital this week.

-[ ] Try to socialize with Aoi, make sure the bar's ok. (DC 75)
-Might grant access to a new part-time job.
-Even if the check fails, you'll still get to socialize with Aoi.

-[ ] Spend some time with ___

Mai (may get a promotion? Probably not.)
Arata (may unlock "build Gunpla" side option.)
Kira
Nakayama
~~Aoi~~ (already covered above)

Magical Actions
-[ ] Try and channel the powers of the Void Glyph. (DC 85)
-???

-[ ] Talk with the strange spirits you've just met.
-Get some insight into the lives and ideas of Atry and Gargoyle.
-???

-[ ] Try and do some research on that mysterious deck of cards you found. (DC ???)
-Incredibly likely to get you nothing at the moment, but there is a chance.
-Maybe once Akemi's mysterious benefactor comes in, you might have a better idea of what's going on.

Technical Actions
-[ ] Ask the Mad Scientist for something new to defend yourself with.
-Force refreshes Nakayama's shop, with a bonus chance of getting something rarer.
-Three items that can be used in daily life or in combat will pop up for purchase, and may remain there if not chosen. (prices may fluctuate)
-You will not know how much something will cost until you see it.

-[ ] Make sure your internet security is good. (DC 22)
-May meet ???
-Other benefits unknown.
-At least your face won't be showing up on Google for a while.

-[ ] "Safely" "Prototype" something with Nakayama.
-This one might hurt.
-Advances your progress towards more Tech features, and Nakayama working with you on Rider stuff.

Free Actions
-[ ] Think of a name for yourself.
-Will make Rei officially decide on the name she wants to be known as while she's a Kamen Rider, (Roze) and also the name of her equipment.
-Doesn't need to be taken right away.

-[ ] Craft A Spell
-Only the first usage of this action is free.
-This action may be used multiple times in a turn, but the second one and up costs one minor action.
-You'll be able to decide what you want once we get into the week proper.

-[ ] Buy something from Nakayama.
—[ ] What?
-Will cost Capital.

(Modded) Nintendo Quasar (2 Cost)
Grade 1
Condition: Brand New
Hey, it's the newest Nintendo! I've got this cool one that can run some modded and pirated games, but the Pinkertons might teleport over to my shop if I keep it on me for too long. Mind if you take it off my hands.

-Allows for additional interactions with ???.
-If enemies inflict mental ailments on you such as Stress, playing some video games might help out your recovery.

Spell Eater (3 Cost)
Grade 2
Condition: Great (d90)
This one's a traditional charm, but for some reason— you know that thing where some things get infused with Glyphs randomly? Yeah, it does the opposite of that.

-Once during combat, when you are hit with a Magical attack, this talisman will absorb it.
-At the end of your turn, it will explode, lowering its durability/condition and dealing half the magic damage to both you and a random enemy.

Auto Shocking Taser (4 Cost)
Grade 3
Condition: Good (d80)

…It's exactly what it sounds like. Please take it off my hands.

-Once during combat, (maybe twice if up against a [Nemesis] enemy,) when hit, make that enemy take a physical saving throw.
-The taser will deal 3d10 Electric Damage, or half as much on a success.
-Yes, it's just Hellish Rebuke from D&D. What's Hasbro gonna do, sue me?

-[ ] Buy something from Kira.
—[ ] What?

Earth Glyph x2 (3 Capital, 50% off!)
Air Glyph x1 (2 Capital)

Advance more progress in Magic with Kira to get more options here.

-[ ] Anything else? (Write in, please @QM)

Gargoyle II's Advice:
[FIND HER] [NOW]

Atry's Advice:
You probably don't have to investigate that rumor about masked heroes now. Maybe next week, though…

Author's Note:

Please make sure to vote for the tech and magic stuff in a SEPARATE vote from your plan, on a separate line!

I promise more stuff will happen next time, and you'll get to see Magitech sometime around Week 3-4. Unfortunately, you rolled well on background rolls, so you managed to not get [REDACTED].

Oh, and since I gave a shout out to a small quest last time, let's continue with some more shoutouts!

Dark Magical Girl Quest by @RexHeller was actually directly inspired by this Quest, if you couldn't tell by the similar threadmarks. As for the rest, they're still in character creation, so why don't you go over and find out?

If you liked the mysterious benefactor who's currently helping out Kaneko, you'll just ABSOLUTELY LOVE the big bad evil lady doing the character creation!!!/j

Plan Template:

[ ] Cool Plan Name
-[ ] Major Action
-[ ] Major Action
-[ ] Major Action (you may add one more of these)
-[ ] Minor Action
-[ ] Minor Action
-[ ] Minor Action (you may add up to two more of these)

Anyways, happy voting, heroes, and Happy Independence Day!

Kermie · Jul 6, 2024

Alright, so don't panic— the vote isn't over yet, this is just another thing.

Specifically, this is about Akemi. She has the same past that you have, so she has both the stat buffs and a gun, identical to yours and with the [Instant Kill Mooks] trait.

She also has the Tech Bane trait, which makes her worse with dealing with tech equipment… which includes the gun. Which, when broken, would cost an exorbitant amount of capital to repair.

So, you know that her kit is incohesive, I know that her kit is incohesive, and so does [REDACTED].

So, I'm going to give you a trade off. In the top of this thread, there is a poll. If voted for, I'll have [REDACTED] help change out Akemi's weapon and fighting style during week 2. Think of this as a more early benefit of picking [Aid From A Friend.]

To put them all down in order:

The Gun:

The default option, granted by her assassin background. The one I was going to go for, before I realized that it doesn't work with Akemi's stat spread.
Surprisingly easy to upgrade.
Can instantly kill mooks.
D20 damage is stupid for early game.
Durability still scales off of technical, so might break.

Sword:

Don't ask where [REDACTED] got this for Akemi. Just… don't.
Doesn't have the same damage or IK potential as the gun, but it replaces her basic attack.
This makes her a lot more consistent over a longer battle.
Also upgradable, but somewhat harder to upgrade.

Magic:

Buffs Akemi's Magical, letting her deal A Lot more damage. However, it will also debuff her Physical by a small amount.
Opens up Double-Element and Double-Memory Glyph certification for Akemi a lot more easily.

Hand to Hand:

Buffs Akemi's Physical, letting her take A Lot more hits. However, it will also debuff her Magical by a small amount.
Unlike the others, this one still carries over its benefits to out of transformation, which allows her to kick butt even when affected by anti-magic.

Kermie · Jul 7, 2024

Scheduled vote count started by MrKermie on Jul 4, 2024 at 4:43 PM, finished with 36 posts and 9 votes.

6 people have voted
[X] Plan Making Preparations for the Future
-[X] Find Akemi
-[X] Pay Off A Contact
-[X] Look Into Void Glyph With Kira
-[X] Work At Animate
-[X] Talk with the strange spirits you've met.
-[X] Make sure your internet security is good. (DC 22)
3 people have voted
[X] Pass on buying something for now.
2 people have voted
[X] Craft A Spell (Memory: Escaping, Glyph: Water, Purpose: Repositioning. Name: "Fluidity")
- Ashen Cross
- blankmask
2 people have voted
[X] Craft A Spell (Memory: Changing, Glyph: Water, Purpose: Disguise. Name: "Disguise")
- ThatGuyWithIdeas
- Zetakille
1 people have voted
[X] Finding Our Feet
-[X] Find Akemi
-[X] Pay Off A Contact
-[X] Look Into Void Glyph With Kira
-[X] Work At Animate
-[X] Craft A Spell (Memory: Escaping, Glyph: Water, Purpose: Repositioning. Name: "Fluidity")
-[X] Talk with the strange spirits you've met.
-[X] "Safely" "Prototype" something with Nakayama.
- ScorpioSting
1 people have voted
[X] Finding Our Feet
- iamweirdo
1 people have voted
[X] Plan Making Preparations for the Future, Escape Spell
-[X] Find Akemi
-[X] Pay Off A Contact
-[X] Look Into Void Glyph With Kira
-[X] Work At Animate
-[X] Craft A Spell (Memory: Escaping, Glyph: Water, Purpose: Repositioning. Name: "Fluidity")
-[X] Talk with the strange spirits you've met.
-[X] Make sure your internet security is good. (DC 22)
- veekie
1 people have voted
-[X] Buy something from Nakayama.
—[X] Nintendo Quasar
-[X] Craft A Spell (Memory: Escaping, Glyph: Water, Purpose: Repositioning. Name: "Fluidity")
- PetroleumMedium!

Kermie · Jul 8, 2024

Author's Note: This is a chapter intended to be read between 1.4 and 1.5. It covers exactly how Rei (and by extension, this Quest) gets her first personal Spell, Flowing Fluidity.

It's also an excuse for me to worldbuild the Glyph system. Enjoy!

"What's in it for me?"

Kira rolls her eyes. "You don't seem like the type of person who needs too much money, so why don't we make a deal? I'll craft you all the Spells you might want from the reject materials I have, since you clearly live a dangerous life. In exchange, you'll get help with your weird mystery Glyph." She puts her hand out.

Dammit, she figured all that out just from being with you for ten minutes? She's too smart for her own good. But the deal's way too good for you to pass up.

You shake her hand. "Deal."

It's as if lightning reverberates through the room. Kira seems to smile deviously, as if you've just made a contract with the devil. "Hahaha! Finally, I'll get to research something interesting!"

I think that you're just overthinking this.

She puts her finger to her cheek; it looks like she's thinking.

"Why don't we make you a Spell first? You seem awfully doubtful of my capabilities in Magic, so why don't I prove you wrong. And besides, I always prefer to fulfill my end of these deals first."

You raise your eyebrows. "…Why not? It seems like you're awfully confident about this."

With that, Kira reaches out, and grabs your arm. She leans back a bit, and taps on the couch frame, right behind the cushion you're leaning on.

Suddenly, a compartment in the wall flips over, revealing two deactivated Glyphs. In their deactivated state, they just look like metal disks with a Fire and Water symbol on them, which is surrounded by a lined circle. She tosses both of them over to you.

Kira smiles. "Alright, think of these two Glyphs as your starter pack. The rest, you can buy from me, for discount prices at that."

"For real?" You narrow your eyes. "I can just buy Glyphs from other people, you know…"

Kira just shakes her head. "That won't work, most people will just sell you premade Spells with Glyphs and Runes already set, and most civilian-use spells— Cantrips— will just get you the power equivalent of a Four-Hour Energy. You won't find pure Glyphs at a cheaper price than me. Hand me my phone?"

Since she can't do it, you reach over to grab her phone from the other side of the couch. You quickly glance at it— it's black (obviously, this woman wants to color code her whole life) and there's a cute witch hat sticker underneath the clear case.

"Hey! Stop staring at my stuff!"

She stretches out over the couch and snatches it from your hands. She puts in a passcode, before swiping over to an app.

"Alright, I can do a lot of things for you, and build you some Spells that you can't find on the normal market. What would you want?"

She then starts scrolling through what is clearly a google doc filled with the most deranged ideas.

"Fifteen Hour Energy equivalent?"

"Weirdly specific, no."

"Canceling out your need for oxygen?"

"I'm not a pro swimmer."

"Well, then what do you want? I'm not psychic."

That really gets you thinking. What do you need?

Well, we have Fire and Water to work with. Aside from that, we have to consider both our combat style and its weaknesses.

We can't transform without using that Void thing, so we'll be assuming that we'll be fighting with a very aggressive and self destructive style, which counteracts some of the benefits my combat strengths give you.

So, we'll have to make a spell that allows us to move more fluidly— something that can make up for the loss of the aerial gymnastics I'd normally use.

"Fluidly"… Atry, you're a genius!

"Why don't we make a spell that can increase my flexibility, by like, turning me into water?"

Kira looks up from her phone, and straight into your eyes. You can practically see sparkles.

"Ohh… we are gonna be friends. Alright, sit tight right there."

Kira pulls out a few magnifying glasses, before scooting over and trying some Glyphs on herself. She leans in, and with a flick of her hand activates an [Identifying] Glyph, her eyes glowing blue.

"Alright, first off we'll be implanting the Glyph. I'd imagine you want this to be an Internal Spell, so that people can't just take this off you, right?"

You nod. External Spells are used by the average civilian, and are usually just Cantrip-level. However, that's too dangerous for you— if you try that, it might get taken away from you, since they'll be contained in the form of a physical object.

Kira takes the Water Glyph, and presses it to your arm. You hiss— it's been a while since you've gotten a Spell implanted into you, and the cold metal feels unfamiliar.

You feel the energy of the Water Glyph flow into you— it feels like jumping into a pool on a hot summer day, like being submerged in cold water, like getting a drink after a day in the desert. The Water symbol glows on your left arm now, and the used up Rune Disk weakly falls to the ground.

Kira grabs her phone. "I've gotten my phone jury rigged for this. Now, close your eyes, and think of a memory that relates to your intended purpose. I'll transform it into the Rune you'll need."

"And this is very important— for Rune transformation, the memory has to be Vivid. I'm thinking like, you remember the sensations that you felt, the exact words you said."

"Alright, don't worry about me. I've got something in mind.

You close your eyes.

In the distance, there's a mansion, tucked all the way at the top of a grassy mountain. It's the safehouse for the Assassin's Guild: your parents, trainers, and watchers.

And both you and Akemi are running down that mountain. You stumble and start to roll down the incline, but suddenly, a hand reaches out to grab you. It's Akemi!

She yanks you back up and motions for you two to move into a small clearing. There's some trees and brush covering you. It's a temporary hiding place, but it won't hide you for long.

"Chances are the Guild bots will switch to heat vision mode as the sun goes down." Akemi gasps, trying to catch her breath. "So…"

Akemi looks away from you. She's doing that thing she does again. Whenever she's planning one of her schemes, she always looks away, and it always seems like she's not quite there, not quite aware.

"We've got to go our separate ways. It'll be harder for them to catch us."

"Are you sure about that? You know that neither of us know much about the civvie world."

"I know, but it's our best shot. Only come and try to find me if you're in big trouble. I'm talking active threat to your life."

"So, see you never?"

"Yeah. Hopefully."

You lock gazes one last time and nod, before getting up and running away in opposite directions.

You open your eyes. In front of you, shimmering words hover in front of your eyes.

a mansion, tucked all the way at the top
stumble and start to roll down the incline
not quite there, not quite aware
getting up and running away in opposite directions

You put a hand to your head. Damn, it hurts. And while you still have your same memory, it's clear that it's less vivid now. If it was in 4k before, now it's closer to 1080p. Still clear as day, but going back to it feels less emotional, less terrifying.

Kira grabs the words out of the air, before gently pressing them once more to your arm. The words stretch and turn, before turning into words on the Glyph. Then, the glowing blue glyph symbol disappears.

"I've personally named the spell "Flowing Fluidity," Kira says, "Try it out. Shout the name in your head."

You take a deep breath. "Atry, can you try to do this for me? I'm just wondering." you think.

Sure, why not.
Activate First Spell Protocol, Flowing Fluidity!

The Water symbol, which had previously disappeared, burns back to life on your left shoulder. You stand up, and walk up to the nearby mirror.

You touch your hand to your face. It seems semi-transparent now. It looks like below your skin, you can see the pattern of ocean waves rippling. You take another deep breath, and walk back over to the center of the room, Kira's gaze landing squarely on you.

And you leap into the air, touching the ceiling. You land on your feet, run around the apartment, and do a flip over the kitchen counter. it feels like you can't be stopped, not by anything. Not by your body, not by your bones, not by anybody. You vault back over the counter, and as you go back over to the couch, it feels like your feet are sliding off the floor.

Kira can't seem to get the grin off her face. "Incredible… it's like you're an octopus! This is awesome!"

You will it in your head, and suddenly, the spell stops, along with the momentum you had. The power flows out of your veins, and the Glyph mark on your arm stops glowing blue.

But the power's clearly staying with you. This new spell is yours.

Fluidity Of Water
DC 35, Active
3 Uses Remaining

This Spell transforms your body underneath the Rider suit into a partially water based body. It gives you higher speed, cloaks you in a clear bluish aura, and lets you both dodge and take attacks easier.

On success, for 2 turns every single enemy must roll for a higher target DC. (60 instead of 40.) On higher successes, (DC 60/90) Physical damage is halved, and the enemy hit DC gets even higher. (Instead of 40, it'd be 70/80). However, you gain a weakness towards Ice. After successful casting during combat, gain a bonus action, with possible +10 modifier.

You may then gain the option to [Run Away] during combat, if this is in your inventory or already active, which does exactly what you think it does.

Critting (Nat 95+) will just make you pretty much intangible, but you will still be weak to Ice, so watch out for that!

Failure on this spell, (which would currently require you to roll a 17 or lower, btw) will instead fizzle out these effects immediately and inflict you with the Drowning status effect in your next combat/turn.

(Can be upgraded with the Air, Fire, or Void glyphs.)

Author's Note:
I'll be back in about 1-3 days, everybody. In the meantime, you enjoy your new spell.

Kermie · Jul 10, 2024

[X] Plan Making Preparations for the Future
-[X] Find Akemi
-[X] Pay Off A Contact
-[X] Look Into Void Glyph With Kira
-[X] Work At Animate
-[X] Talk with the strange spirits you've met.
-[X] Make sure your internet security is good. (DC 22)

-Work At Animate
Animate Akihabara
Monday, February 12, 2080
1:00 PM

Your week starts off how most of your weeks have started off, actually— by busting your ass while working.

Animate is apparently collabing with this one gacha game you haven't heard of. "Litmus Company", apparently?

Either way, any collaboration with any game just means a lot more work for you and the rest of Animate. Especially considering that there'll also be a pretty good sale on the same day.

Hundreds of gacha addicts and F2P players who are now dropping that title stream through your aisle, mostly because they're too lazy to do self-checkout.

[Social Check (DC 35) ]
[Total: 96+17=113. Critical Success]

Of course, it doesn't bother you. Your hands fly, as you practically throw piece after piece of merch into the scanner.

Holy fuck, look at you go!
[IMPRESSIVE]

If anyone could see you right now, they'd say that you're "in the zone."

Ignoring the fact that that commonly misattributed phrase should be used for sports players— check out that Gundam, scan that Outis print, you would agree, as you've been keeping up your best— make sure that Sinclair standee isn't ripped, Rei, customer service— just tell that otaku to talk to Mai, smile this whole time.

Alright, just a bit more, and you'll truly be done…

"Maruki-chan, are you good?"

You blink, as a hand is waved in front of you. It's Arata."

"Seriously, Rei. You've been moving nonstop for hours now. According to Mei, that was one of our biggest events ever, and you crushed it!"

You look at your hands. They still feel like they want to move, and checkout one more item. Then, you look up at the clock.

Animate Akihabara
7:00 PM

Oh damn, your shift's already over?

You start to walk out of the store with Arata, and as you do, you hear a familiar ding from your phone.

Boss (Hidejima)
>You're getting a raise for that. By my calculations, no normal human being should have even survived that.

[2 Income Gained!]
[You are now safe from being fired for what you did last week.]

-Talk with the strange spirits you've met.

Tuesday, February 13, 2080
2:00 PM

After an uneventful day doing… not much, actually, and finishing your shift at Animate, you've just been sitting in your room, scrolling through your feed.

What are you looking at?

You just keep scrolling. "It's nothing, I'm just on X. Or Twitter, as they used to call it."

From across the room, Atry manifests in her spirit form once more, before ghostily (is that even a word?) floating over your shoulder.

"Hmph. Sounds boring. All these stories are clearly fake."

"What, do you have anything better to entertain me with?"

Atry places a hand underneath her chin, and goes into a "thinking" pose. "Well, I could tell you about where I came from."

Now that gets you interested. You immediately sit up. "Ok, that definitely sounds way more interesting."

Atry smiles. Her grin looks… awfully toothy.

Atry's Recolllection: Memories of an Empire

Ok, let's do this one last time.

My name was Atry, and for about seven years I was, and I still am, the pilot of the Second Gen Aerial Combat Knight: Gargoyle II.

I lived in one of the top provinces of the Centuri-La Empire. We are a huge nation, thriving off of the political magical power we have. That's because about 100 years ago magical meteors fell from the sky down to earth, and gave us the materials to make an equivalent of what you call "Magic".

However, the meteors spread their magical power indiscriminately. While plenty of good things were born from the magic of the meteors such as "The Spirit of Fire" from whom a lot of our helpful spirits are descended, monsters were born as well.

The shadows of the light that the meteors gave off also absorbed their own magic, and they became shapeshifting monsters called "Shades".

Because of the constant Shade attacks, Centuri-La had to up their military force. That's where me and Gargoyle come in.

Gargoyle is actually an artificial being forged using the meteor material, which was made for flying. Meanwhile, I became a prodigy in air combat. Because of that, once we were assigned to each other and teamed up, we rose through the ranks quickly.

Eventually, we both defended Centuri-La's eastern frontier along with some like minded friends, known as "The Dragon Knight Order Of Centuri-La." I was their commander. Centuri-La at large knew me as "Auxila the Dragonblaze" which is a kickass title if I have to say myself.

But recently, I found myself fighting a really bad Shade. It was… new… and I found that it kept on changing form so much that I couldn't lock on and shoot it down with my missiles.

Eventually, it got a bite in on me and Gargoyle, and I found myself falling through this weird void.

And after some time, I woke up and found you.

That gets you thinking. "…Atry, do you think that those Shades were created by Umbra?"

Once she's finished with her story, Atry shakes her head. "I doubt it. Shades are confirmed by the best scientists in our world to be a naturally occurring phenomena."

"…But I can't deny that there's a possibility that Umbra's powers and the Shades derive from the same source."

-Pay Off A Contact
Wednesday, February 14, 2080
8:30 PM

After another hard day of working at Animate, you're back here in your Tokyo apartment.

And you're about to do something you just know you're about to regret.

Atry and Gargoyle (who is out of the giant robot form and seems like a tiny sprite) are floating behind you.

You 100% sure about this?

"Yes, I am, Atry." you groan out, as you start to punch in a number that you really didn't want to ever call again on your phone.

The phone rings once, then twice.

"Hey hey hey there, Rei! Why the hell are you calling me right now."

Jun Akimitsu

(This image was made with this great Picrew by @didimidal!)
Your old friend, almost as close to you as Akemi. He is a Broker in the criminal underworld of Japan— meaning that he deals in illicit goods and intel with anybody and everybody. However, after he spent about a million yen scrubbing your identity from the International Assassin's Guild's database, he decided to make a pact of non-contact with you— until now.

"Jun, I got shot, got Rider powers, killed at least six men, and now an organization called Umbra is trying to kill me. Help."

There's an audible silence on the other end of the line. However, after a while, you can hear the clicking of a keyboard. Jun speaks in a tired tone:

"Wire me 50,000 yen from a burner phone and I'll see what I can do."

You do a fist pump. Nice!

An Undisclosed Warehouse In Tokyo
11:00 PM

You walk into a dark and abandoned warehouse. The door's unlocked, but you know better than to just walk in. You grab a ladder nearby, before pulling yourself up and through one of the windows.

You drop down the pallets, before landing right behind Jun. He turns around, and even though there's barely any light to see in this warehouse, you can tell that behind his bangs, he looks so tired.

He throws you a phone. "Here. Hide this from the police, but I got you a Dark Web account under the name "Akane Reika". You can also log into it from your computer. Oh, and you can definitely buy almost anything from there, just run it by me first."

You look back up at Jun. "Wow, thanks… but what made you get this generous? The Jun I know would have asked for a least a million more yen before even beginning to consider all this."

Jun just shakes his head. "According to my sources, Umbra is this absolute behemoth of a criminal consortium, even though it's like they just appeared out of nowhere! Just a few months and they'll be on roughly equal footing with the Guild. And if— no, when that happens, we're all cooked. Seared. Charred. Probably deep fried at tha—"

"Jun! Focus."

Jun coughs, and awkwardly readjusts his glasses. "Yeah. As I was meaning to say, if you really are a Kamen Rider now, you're probably the only hope I have to not go broke. Consider this discount a… term of credit for later."

"If you don't want to go bankrupt, you could go legit. Work with me at Animate, man a cashier."

"Hah! Doing that? I might as well try and write a novel for all the money it'll make me. Goodnight, Rei."

"Night, Jun." You turn to walk out of the warehouse. But before you leave, you turn your head back to ask for one more thing.

"Oh, and one more thing, Jun: could you give me some hints towards finding Akemi?"

Underworld Heat: (5/100) Almost Completely Unaware of Your Existence
Current Amount Of Capital: 6

Tutorial: Black Market

In the Black Market, you will be able to buy two things: Illegal Goods and Intel. Illegal goods work like Kira and Nakamura's offerings, in that they're free actions where you can spend capital in order to get some goodies. Just like in those two shops, spending more personal with Jun can also give you more features, such as bringing back old offerings.

Intel however, can get you some of the plans for one of the many factions working in the background. Alternatively, you can get some info on specific subjects, such as certain KRs, MGs, or people.

Intel will roll a background Mental roll with advantage for Jun, and he will then relay you the info he found at the beginning of next week.

Be wary however. Buying too many things of either type will increase your Heat, which tracks your chances of being noticed by the criminal world you tried so hard to get away from,

Heat can be decreased by not buying from the Black Market for a week or two.

Hypercharge Fixer
Apparently, you've still got a gun? Alright then, this Glyph enhancement might be of interest to you.
-You may use this on any weapon. It'll allow that weapon's special move to be used twice per combat.
-Applying this to a weapon will be available as a free action next week.

burn until unburiable
Oh, this spell… this one is super illegal. Like, holy fuck, if the police catch you with this, it's wraps.
-When casted successfully, deals ?d8 (likely 2d8) Fire damage each turn to a single enemy for the rest of the combat, until they're unconscious.
-And then after they're unconscious, until they're dead.
-And then after that, until their bones have turned to ash and they're been an active hazard to everyone in their area.
-Basically, extremely powerful spell that also has a good chance of setting you on fire and/or sending you to jail if you use it at the wrong time.

Recollection Enhancer
I heard that you met "Kuro" Kira. Lucky…
Well, if you're trying to make Spells with her help, you've got to try out this thing. Apparently, it can extract even the weirdest of memories.

-One use (but extremely cheap) piece of Magitech.
-Instead of rolling from a predefined table when gathering Memories, I'm going to screenshot ten verbs I found from this word generator, and then give them to you as a memory options.
-Gives you a lot of possible variety when it comes to spells.

[ ] Hypercharge Fixer (3)
[ ] burn until unburiable (4)
[ ] Recollection Enhancer (2)

[ ] Pay for Intel about…
-[ ] Akemi
-[ ] Umbra (3)
-[ ] Assassin's Guild
-[ ] ??? (Write In, please @QM)

QM Notes:
(With the exception of Umbra, all Intel is currently priced at 2 Capital.)
(Umbra is very hard for Jun to figure out at the moment, so he will roll Mental without advantage.)
(If you want to buy multiple Goods or Goods and Intel, put it in a plan, please.)

[ ] Pass on buying something for now.

Gargoyle II's Advice:
[DO NOT BUY] [>2]

Atry's Advice:
You should definitely try and grab some intel on Akemi. I have a feeling that we won't have enough time for dealing with any other threats if we don't find her next week.

Author's Note:

Remember how I said this would come out Thursday? Well, I thought I'd write this slower, but as it turns out, having One Winged Angel on loop in the background does a lot to make you write faster.

Anyways, say hello to Jun! I kinda wanted to make him a dark counterpart to Aoi— while she's extremely socially capable but still a civilian, he's an awkward fuck who still has a lot of connections in the underworld.

Please leave a like and comment if you enjoyed, and happy voting, heroes.

DragonUnitOmega · Jul 12, 2024

Hey there! I'm just here to ~~do my end of the deal~~ drop off a review of the story itself, so you readers of this quest won't be seeing me participate in in it (probably. We'll see how I feel later).
And, for you specifically @MrKermie, before I even start, I just wanna give a disclaimer that I am not that familiar with quests. I have only participated in one, and the rest I've simply read the main story, which aren't many. So any convenentions or such that are normal/accepted in Quests will likely be missed and any criticisms/comments about them should be taken with a giant shaker of salt.
Now with those disclaimers out of the way... -puts on review glasses- It's time for to (poorly attempt to) analyze the quest generators and first story update of "Perhaps For Love, Or Maybe Justice"!

Okay, so first we're gonna get the more..."negative" stuff out of the way, so we can end on a happy note! And first on that lost that is that I like the character creation post as an intro more than the actual first "chapter" of the story as an intro. Why is this "negative"? Well, you see... That world creation intro is not what is posted in the contest thread. What is posted is the first story update, and when I had initially read that, I...quickly decided to skim through the entry. X/ But when I read the very first post ven though as a story the first here, read the rest of the creation sections, and then read thr first proper story update, that's when I was a lot more invested. I don't know for sure it was simply timing on when I read the contest entry version, but I think the reason why I was more interest that way is because, one, as I said, I like the opening lines. They were a fun start, reminding me of main game Pokémon intros and the personality tests in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, but with a little more self-awareness (aka a hint of genre savvy) and a little more humor as it decribes how the worlds of Magical Girls and Kamen Riders don't (presumably) mix often. And then we get into the mindset and such and so on, getting invested in the character, as well as a little intrigue on this disembodied voice that may or may not play a part later on, and so by the time I reached the story update again, it simply felt like a natural continuation. Again, kind of like with Pokémon and its Mystery Dungeon spin-off. But when it was just the story update, the one shown in the thread...I didn't like it because it was both too abrupt and barebones. The first few lines were just a simple "mc eepy, friend wakes em, they both get movin". You are told you're in Akihabara, but that's just the heading, and not everyone is going to have seen Akihabara, and that's it. And therein lies the reason for my initial neutral feelings/urge to skim came from and why it wasn't the case when I read from the begining of the thread. The details I wanted were from before the story update, and thus when I reached it again, I wasn't as bothered by the lack of description. Not to mention the character creation sections set my expectations on how much description I should expect (ie "oh of course the descriptions are simple. It's the characer creation. Others have to decide all the details" vs "oh it's a story, I'm gonna need (x) amount of description, exposition, characterization, etc etc")
Or it could just be a me thing, who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Either way, I'm not sure how you could fix that considering that, despite my preference, I can see why you had the first story update as the actual entry in the contest. Story wise, there isn't much going on in the very first creation post, even with the fun intro, while the actual story is in, and starts at, the first story update.

Next, I'm not sure how to feel about the spoilers and stuff. While images I feel like excusing by virtue of knowing the frustration of figuring out how the eff you're supposed describe some more complex things that somebody might never have seen before, like a monster design original to a series (like Pokémon), I'm not as willing for the mechanics explanation in the middle of things. Maybe it's probably fine/more accepted in quests, as again I've only read...very few, but...idk. I feel like those stuff in spoilers could just be put at the end of a post, because it kinda feels clunky like this, being in the middle of the narration (oh and also the lines of showing the rolls too; if this was a story set in a game-world with HUDs and such, I'd roll—heh—with it, but it isn't, so...). It's not like a video that has an OST playing so that your story has a soundtrack. And sure, you can ignore them, but again, as someone more used to simple old stories and fics, they break the flow of the lines and paragraphs.

Speaking of lines and paragraphs. I don't blame you for making it like this, 'cause I didn't notice it until someone pointed it out to me either, but...a lot of the lines could be easily made into paragraphs. Like these:

MrKermie said:
Arata groans.

"C'mon, can't we have a break, boss? You know it takes soooo long to get up there."

MrKermie said:
You look up at your destination, a huge skyscraper painting blue and yellow on the top.

As civilians pass both of you by, you can just barely squint to see the logo. Animate Akihabara.

It's the anime store you work at, constructed 10 years ago in 2070 once the whole excitement about magic had died down. It's apparently two floors bigger than its predecessor, Animate Ikebukuro.

Personally, you don't get the hype, about Magic, that is. That's probably because you were just seven when the Glyphs started appearing, and by that time you had already been focusing on trying to survive in the Assassin's Guild for one year or so.

MrKermie said:
You just stand there as you're falling into the void and smile.

Well, at least I went out protecting my friends.

"Looks like you won't get the chance to do so. We'll both be sacrificed, won't we?"

All of these could be easily turned into paragraphs.

Arata groans. "C'mon, can't we have a break, boss? You know it takes soooo long to get up there."

You look up at your destination, a huge skyscraper painting blue and yellow on the top. As civilians pass both of you by, you can just barely squint to see the logo. Animate Akihabara. It's the anime store you work at, constructed 10 years ago in 2070 once the whole excitement about magic had died down. It's apparently two floors bigger than its predecessor, Animate Ikebukuro. Personally, you don't get the hype, about Magic, that is. That's probably because you were just seven when the Glyphs started appearing, and by that time you had already been focusing on trying to survive in the Assassin's Guild for one year or so.

You just stand there as you're falling into the void and smile. Well, at least I went out protecting my friends. "Looks like you won't get the chance to do so. We'll both be sacrificed, won't we?"

See? Still looks fine, right? Okay, that last edit/quote can be the same as the original version for impact, but that's my point. Before someone pointed it out to me, I did my best to keep things as paragraphs as much as possible so that the single lines would have impact, but I still ended up still ended up splitting it up more often than I thought and lessened the impact/emphasis of the lines I did want to have a big punch, partially because of writing on a phone meaning that paragraphs and lines fill up space differently, and partially from simply being used to seeing the lines breaking up a lot, like what you're doing. Of course, there are times when you want to break form, but when done with purpose. And using the above as an example...I can't see why would you want to emphasize anything but the last quote, and even then you could group "You just stand there as you're falling into the void and smile", "Well, at least I went out protecting my friends", and "'Looks like you won't get the chance to do so. We'll both be sacrificed, won't we?'" together.
Again, don't blame you, and honestly you could also take my approach as basically going extreme in the other direction, but felt like pointing it out 'cause it reminded me of how I wrote before. And again, not all of them I felt like needed to be its own lines, just a noticeable chunk. Some of them felt properly dramatic. Like this:

MrKermie said:
You aim with shaky hands. C'mon Rei, just shoot—

If you can't take a life, you have no value.

You were never met for this life, but you will live in it even if it kills you.

Or, well, it certainly felt properly dramatic to me, at least. Speaking of that.

MrKermie said:
You were never met for this life, but you will live in it even if it kills you.

I assume that's a typo. Is that supposed to be meant?

And with that out of the way...let's finally get to the positive stuff! Er, mostly. That cliffhanger does have me wanting to read the rest of the story thus far...but not enough to do that right now. Maybe later, when there have been more updates. And when I don't have other things I wanna do first. Maybe. (No promises...) Anyways, first off, I really love the concept of this Kamen Rider/Magical Girl fusion. I haven't watched any Magical Girl anime (unless Symphogear counts) and am still pretty much new to Kamen Rider (only have seen a few series), but still, I love it for the same reasons why I love both Pokémon and Digimon: they share central themes yet execute it different, making interactions between them make sense yet interesting to see how they would relate with each other. So I'm happy to see this exist! Next...I am a Persona fan. So the moment I see Tarot, you immediately get brownie points. I don't know what you're doing with them yet ~~and may never will~~ and I'd have to sit down longer and analyze it to figure (hopefully) it out, but I'm happy to see it. I think my favorite part is Rei herself so far. Despite all the hiccups I point out above, I still want to root for her and was basically going "cmon cmon, you can do it, rei! get outta there!" by the end, and again, REALLY wanted to see if she'd be fine because of that dang cliffhanger. So you gotta be doing something right to make me care enough about her in such a short time. I can't tell if it's thie story update/chapter itself or the slowly getting attached to her by reading the creation sections. Either way, again, you must be doing something right. ...or maybe im just easily attached to anyone named rei or maruki or a sucker for former assassins trying to live a happy life (glances at yor forger). That could also be a big factor on why. Who knows? In any case, that's...all I got to say. Sorry if I didn't have to much on good things to say. I'll blame the update being short for that.

ahem. Hence why I wanted to end it off on a nice note. I hope that my feedback could help at least somewhat, despite me not exactly really being qualified for it or something like that with my lack of familiarity with Quests. ^^; Good luck in your quest and the contest! I hope your quality continues to improve and your Muse give you inspiration!
~~now fellow writers reading this if you also want a review like this for your story or quest just follow the instructions here because i too am in the contest and bribing others~~

And now I biden thou farentheewell.

Kermie · Jul 13, 2024

Scheduled vote count started by MrKermie on Jul 10, 2024 at 1:52 PM, finished with 17 posts and 10 votes.

5 people have voted
[X] Pay for Intel about…
-[X] Akemi
5 people have voted
[X] Plan Important Intel and Magic Crafting
-[X] Akemi
-[X] Recollection Enhancer

Perhaps For Love, Or Maybe Justice (A Tokusatsu/Magical Girl Quest)

Alright, what weapon should Akemi have?

Let her keep the gun!

Give her a sword!

More Magic!

Hand to Hand!

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