On that note, now that we are talking about initiative, here's some mechanics clarification for everybody: A crit success or a fail while rolling for initiative doesn't have any extra effects, unlike normal dice rolls. It just makes you go extremely fast or slow narratively, and the rest follows the normal rules of initiative.
If two people tie on initiative, I'll just flip a coin to decide who goes faster.
..........................thats it. I give up. These dice are gonna give me gray hairs and or a jeart attack. Wake me up if we somehow survive this or if if we change control to Akemi once all hell breaks lose. Love the writing, fear the dice, and i need icecream to nullify the stress of MrKermie rolls.
*Toon Dark Magician Girl Appears* Till next time folks! Keep the hope alight! *poof!*
[X] Plan: Fight Smarter And Harder -[X] (1st Upgrade) Mental - [X] Pressure Points
--[X] Say a cool catchphrase? --[X] Burning bright; even against the consuming Darkness. -[X] Plan Start With A Finisher
-FLASHBACK-
It takes you a split second to think of what to say. Your enemies are using the powers of Void and Darkness, so just… say something about beating up those two things. You pose with your arms crossed, before pointing at Kuromi and then bringing your fist back to your chest!
"I'll be winning this fight, Kuromi, because I'll keep burning bright; even against the consuming Darkness!"
Kuromi's grin just gets larger. "Not too shabby on the theatrics there…" -FLASHBACK END-
9:05 PM, Somewhere Secluded
February 15th, 2080. Saturday.
Both you and Kuromi simply stay put for a second sizing each other up.. The night breeze seems to stand still, as the neon blue lights of Kuromi's suit blink on and off.
And suddenly, on an invisible cue, you both dash towards each other. You both jump up and fly through the air, meeting in midair with a single punch, your fists colliding against each other. The Void Glyph shines bright purple, and Kuromi's violet eyes seem to deepen a bit further into darkness.
As you put everything you have into this clash, one of the neon markings on Kuromi's jumpsuit seems to shine a bit too brightly. You lose your focus for just a moment, and that's enough for Kuromi to notice that, disengage by flying back, and kick you straight in the stomach. You land in the sand, kicking up grit and seaweed as you land. Kuromi smiles.
"Hmph. Looks like you're all out of practice. This'll be easy!"
The hell is she doing?
[MOVE]
Out of nowhere, a holographic keyboard seems to spawn, without any projector to be seen. Kuromi continues to fly away and out of your reach, before she starts to type on the keyboard with one hand.
"Just give up, Maruki-Chan~! I've already analyzed your strengths, your moves, and your many weaknesses, such as your lack of brainpower right now." Kuromi mocks, continuing to type while pointing at you in the most fucking infuriating fashion.
"Oh, shut up alrea—"
You're cut off by Kuromi slamming the side of her fist into the enter key, causing the keyboard to disappear.
"[Code Activate: Break Structure!]"
Before you can even raise your hands to defend yourself, something changes. It's as if your armor contorts and shifts against your will, before a crack appears in the blue and black carapace of metal protecting you.
As the crack expands, you suddenly feel electricity coursing through your veins, burning at your synapses and limbs, before you're sent flying backwards at top speed. You slam into a rock wall, and you can feel blood start to spurt out of your mouth and seep into your armor.
Crap. Get up, Rei!
You… need to kill her. And fast. While these "Code" attacks seem slow, there doesn't seem to be anything you can do to actually block them once they've fired. However, she keeps on hovering just out of your range. How do you…
[FUCKING] [SHOOT]
Oh right! You have the wonderful power of gun violence, how'd you forget? As you get up, you reach your hand down to your legs. Somehow, your gun simply appears in your hands. Apparently, these Rider powers come with a free Hammerspace spell. Interesting.
Kuromi seems to be powering up another attack, but as she does, you jump above the smoke, and unload a full mag of bullets in her direction while she can't see you.
"Awfully dumb of you to think that would work!" Kuromi grins as she looks up and jumps away the second she hears your first shot. The bullets barely even graze her skin, and as it does, you notice something interesting. The neon lines that you previously thought were decoration seem to disperse, before relocating to the site where the bullets grazed her. Nanobots?
"Would you stop insulting me, you damn old lady!?" You yell, "you're the dumb one here! The gray hair makes you look 40 years older!"
"Why thank you!" Kuromi smiles again, as she begins to crouch. "Hanzo and Hina say it makes me look more mature."
Wait a minute. You recognize that crouching/squatting position. She's trying to…
Locate the enemy's weakness. Crouch down to get a lower center of gravity, and then dash in with your knife to jab and open them up.
You know that move like the back of your hand. As you ready up your spear again, Kuromi jumps up from her squat and dashes in with a hidden knife. You duck her initial swipe at your neck, before shoving her away with your spear's hilt. She stumbles back, before throwing her knife at you.
It hits you in the crack in your armor that she opened up earlier, but you just manage to grab it and throw it away right as it almost sinks into your armor. "Not so foolish now, am I, Hacker?!"
The black and gray haired girl visibly grits her teeth, before coating one of her hands in electricity. Her eyes glow in that same purple again, before her feet leave the ground and she flies at you. "Ok I was having fun, shut up and die already! I didn't even want to spend more time here than necessary!"
She pulls her fist back, as you simply brace yourself.
Atry.
You've got it!
Kuromi's fist collides with your waiting open palm. "DIE!"
The impact sends both of you back again, the sand creating a cloud of dust in the air. However, when it clears, Kuromi opens her eyes… and sees her fist caught in your hand. Her psychotic grin immediately starts to slip off her face faster than Akemi slipping off the face of the Earth.
"Oh."
"Checkmate."
You begin to breathe in, before your Void hand seems to drag out some of Kuromi's prana— her very life energy, which you see as glowing purple particles, is absorbed into your body.
Kuromi wrenches her hand away from you, but the damage is already done. You reach out your hand, before snapping your fingers. "You've already lost this duel. Sorry."
The belt around your waist lights up again.
LEVEL UP! CAST ON!GARGOYLE II!
In a blinding spectacle that practically forces your opponent to look away, your armor shifts and starts to lighten, before in a flash, a new layer of pure black armor takes its place as your top layer.
Kuromi gets up, and starts frantically punching and kicking at you, aiming for all your vitals. Another guild technique, but in Kuromi's frantic panic, she missed most of her hits, hitting only your outer armor— and not even the cracked parts. You won't say that it doesn't hurt, but you just stand there, parrying away the attacks effortlessly with your limbs.
Just to piss her off a bit more.
"I— NO! I have to win this. Why- won't- you- die?!" Kuromi roars. She rears her fist all the way back, gearing up for one last hit—
That she'll never get, as you slug her in the face as she powers up her punch. Even though you're starting to get exhausted, you grin through your helmet. "Rule 3 of killing, kid. There's no room for acting overdramatic when a basic application of force will do the trick."
As Kuromi stumbles back, you slam your fist on the Driver one more time.
ONE TURN KILL! EMBLEMA ATONEMENT!
You take your spear, have it transform into a glowing blue scythe, and swing it at her in a series of attacks that leaves a wound that looks like a claw mark on her chest.
She starts to fall back, seemingly falling in slow motion due to the magic surrounding her.
That's our magic for you. Now, finish this!
You grab her shoulder to stop her from falling back, and as her eyes start to widen in horror, you let go and put your left leg up, and with a single forwards kick—
BAM!!!
The magic seems to break all at once, and with a flash of blue, she's sent flying back at top speed, right into a nearby cliff face.
You walk over to her at a brisk pace, before clearing out the smoke at her impact site. It seems that you left a small crater on the rock wall, though nothing that could put the seaside cliff above you at risk of collapsing. Right below the small crater, you see Kuromi. She's untransformed, completely unconscious and on the floor, and it looks like she's bloodied, with a particular amount of injuries on her stomach.
You could kill her now. It would take the smallest amount of force. You begin to raise your foot…
Before putting it down, as a wave of both revulsion and disappointment seems to wash over you as the Rider armor starts to dissipate. You turn her head over, and really look at her face. She's not much older than you, actually, she might be younger— maybe 16? 18, even.
You lift her body up into a fireman's carry, before beginning the trek to the nearest place you can get Jun to pick you up.
Himari Kuromi
(AKA Operative Foxglove)
HP: 55
Stats:
Technical: 40
Physical: 35 [Other stats unnecessary at the moment.]
Resistance: N/A
Weakness: N/A
Traits:
[Dark Magical Girl]
Despite acting very subtle about it, she's powered by ???. While this gives her a lot of power, she is also vulnerable to Social and Magical attacks. Every two turns, have anybody who isn't actively mentally protected roll a Mental saving throw (DC 40). If it fails, they have to roll with -10 to their next roll.
[Assassin's Guild Member]
Ready and willing to kill you if you fail this encounter. Don't fail.
Passives:
[Not Really F-ing with this]
Runs away at 25 HP for this encounter. If reduced to 5 HP or less, she is instead incapacitated for you to interrogate.
Base exp gain halved to 50 if she runs.
[Adaptive Firewall]
When hit, she gains resistance to the last type of damage you hit her with, but she changes her weakness to something random, rolled from a table. Hitting her with a weakness does x3 damage.
[Pressure Points]
Signature Passive of the Assassin's Guild. Her Crit Threshold reduces to 90.
Attacks:
Basic Attack
DC: 40
Scales off of Technical. Shock an opponent for 1d6 electric damage. For every 20 this rolls over DC, add 1d6.
Weaken Opponent
DC: 60
(Usable Once Per Scene)
Signature Attack of the Guild. Deal 1d8 piercing damage to one character. For every 10+ this rolls over DC, lower Crit Threshold when attacking that character by 5 instead of applying Over Damage.
Sudden Kill
DC: 90
(Usable Once Per Combat)
Signature Attack of the Guild. Deal 4d8 piercing damage to one character. If this Crits, deal x4 damage.
(Note: all Code attacks scale off of Technical, and must be used once each before they can be used again.
[Code: Disable]
DC: 60
Deal 2d8 Electric damage. When an enemy is hit by this, roll a d12+2. Their next attack deals that much less damage. (Cannot go below 2.)
[Code: Break]
DC: 70
Deal 3d8 Electric damage. When an enemy is hit by this, the next attack on them does 1.5x damage, or +5 damage, whichever one is higher.
[Code: Shelter]
DC: 70
Gain 2 actions on your next turn. Get a bonus +15 health, +5 extra for every 10 you roll above DC. Bonus health does NOT stack, and dissapears after 3 turns.
[Code: Dodge]
DC: ???
Set the next 2 DCs for your opponents attacks to whatever you roll with this. (Maxes out at 75) Then, get a bonus action with your roll halved.
[Code: Recharge]
DC: 50
Must be used after all four other Code attacks are used. Deal 2d6 damage to ALL combatants, and then end your turn. You may use all Code attacks again.
Rei health: 52
Kuromi health: 55
Rei rolls for initiative. (1)
Kuromi rolls for initiative. (17)
Rei Health (40/52)
Rei uses her gun!
(DC 40)
21+17=38. Almost success. Damage halved.
5/2=3.
Kuromi Health (52/55)
Kuromi gains Pierce resist.
Kuromi gains (rolls on table) Light weakness.
Kuromi uses Weaken Opponent (DC 60)
80+35=117.
Crit threshold against Rei lowered to 65!?
1d8=6. 6+5=11 piercing damage.
Rei Health (29/52)
Rei uses Wake Up Centurion! (DC 60)
83+17=100
7d10=54. 54 Awakening gained!
Rei transforms into Atry! Current Awakening (57-35=22.)
(Rei's health is now (34/57)
Rei rolls a mental saving throw to resist [Dark Magical Girl]. Success.
Kuromi uses Sudden Kill (DC 90)
46+35=81. Near Success, damage halved!
4d8=21/2=11.
Rei Health (23/57)
Rei uses Emblema Atonement(DC 40)!!!
96!!!!!!!!! Critical Hit!!!?!???
(The QM is actively frothing at the mouth right now. What.)
QM Note: As Kuromi doesn't have the Nemesis trait (which is reserved for the main villain of each arc, who I wanted at minimum 3 updates for their fights) she literally just fucking dies. While normally this wouldn't happen, since you would have had to roll 100 for the Insta-Kill, Pressure Points lowered the Critical threshold for that effect from 100 down to 95.
(If you were putting on the battle music, stop it here.) 30 Minutes Later…
"You telling me you managed to bag—"
"yes, but we've gotta move—"
"Alright, drive Jun, drive." "You owe me you kn—" "Ok, here should be a good spot to stop." ???
Sometime late at night???
You are Asahi Kuromi, and that's a weird thought to be thinking right now. You were meant to be taking this loose end for the Guild out, and retreating if she managed to deal any serious damage to you. But you were knocked out and have been unconscious because…
Oh yeah, now you remember! She kicked you so fucking hard that it made you almost vomit up your guts and catch a glimpse of heaven.
Or a glimpse of the Void. You don't really know. It was a lot of pain. All that you're sure of is that it just left you 100% sure that you should have left the combat assignments to Big Sis Hina.
You try and observe your surroundings, but no dice. You can't see any tech to interface with, and even with your enhanced vision, it's too dark to see a thing. Your hands are tied, and you're suspended above the ground.
Suddenly, just as your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, someone turns on a light.
"Agh! I get that I spend too much time looking at screens, but this is too much for me!" You scream.
As you blink your eyes to deal with the light, you can see both the loose end who nearly killed you, and somebody with black hair and purple highlights. You also realize that you were being held up by chains strapped to a punching bag this whole time.
The second guy waves at you. The bags under his eyes indicate that he either definitely doesn't want to be here, or hasn't gotten enough sleep because he was doomscrolling social media at night. "Hey there. I'm Jun Akimitsu, and my friend over there is Rei Maruki. Apparently from what I've heard, you tried to kill her."
You begin to reach for your knife, but you realize it's pointless. You don't have a single weapon or burner phone on you— they must have confiscated your things. You change up your plan, beginning to snake your hands towards the back of the red punching bag.
"Maybe I tried. What is it to you? I didn't actually get anybody killed. It's more like Rei over there almost made me cough up more blood than All Might."
Rei shakes her head. "Look down. I got some stuff to heal your injuries."
You crane your head to look at your stomach. The blood and wounds have been wrapped with professional ease, and the unbearable pain has started to subside.
"What do you want from me? Money? Info? Whatever other horrible things most kidnappers want from their victims? If you wanna torture me to get my body parts, go for my ears first. My boss can get me some new ones." You continue to try and wriggle out of the chains. Almost there…
Rei shrugs. "Don't worry, we just want that second one. The rest of those things are way above my pay grade."
Jun closes in on you. "Once we're done with that, I'm gonna be watching you 24/7. If you don't want me to send you to either rehab or therapy, or worse, the government, you're gonna help me and Rei with our hacking and "illicit" business. Sorry."
"Well, if you're gonna be watching me, I've got one piece of advice. Don't watch the eyes…" you say, as you hold up your two now untied hands, "watch the hands."
You slip out of your binds, and dash behind the bag! You can escape, through that tiny window they left behind you! You jump to safety—
And all your hopes and dreams immediately vanish, as your face slams and then squishes against the window.
"Yeah, I made my windows bulletproof so that I don't get shot by a regretful buyer. Sorry, but we're going to be tying you up again now." Jun drawls.
You just groan, as Rei begins to lift you up and drag you into a chair. You (as in Rei) have the time to ask THREE questions from the strange girl before you need to sleep.
Vote in plan format.
[ ] Why did you accept my offer for a Duel?
[ ] Why did you hack my computer? Is there any more surveillance on me?
[ ] Just what are "Magical Girls"?
[ ] How the hell do your powers work?
[ ] What are the powers of the Void?
[ ] Who are… Hanzo and Hina?
[ ] ??? (Write In, Recommended)
-Good and in-character write-ins can lower Social DCs!
-One to two write-ins are recommended.
Atry and Gargoyle's Advice: (Both these spirits have reported that after what you pulled with that finisher, they feel "somewhat drained". As such, both of them sound like they're taking a nap somewhere in the back of your soul. Atry herself just told you to make sure you don't say anything that would totally piss Kuromi off before vanishing.) Author's Note:
@SolarGemX, you are now officially in charge of doomposting before all fights now, so that Rei and Akemi can roll better. Carry this honor with pride.
In other news, QM was found dead in a ditch after he got a crit on the most important, crucial, and coolest part of the plan, thus giving him a heart attack. However, as normal, both Space Oddity and Perhaps/Maybe updates will be coming out one-two days after voting is finished. If they happen to contain weirdly specific references to the damned screams of hell, well, it is what it is.
Happy voting, heroes! (How is your luck so good???)
Good questions, but I have one thing to say: Kuromi only talked about Hina as her "big sister" in her POV during her internal monologue. Outside of that, she referred to Hanzo as her "boss" and mentioned Hina in an offhand comment. As such, Rei would have no way of asking this question.
@SolarGemX, you are now officially in charge of doomposting before all fights now, so that Rei and Akemi can roll better. Carry this honor with pride.
In other news, QM was found dead in a ditch after he got a crit on the most important, crucial, and coolest part of the plan, thus giving him a heart attack. However, as normal, both Space Oddity and Perhaps/Maybe updates will be coming out one-two days after voting is finished. If they happen to contain weirdly specific references to the damned screams of hell, well, it is what it is.
Happy voting, heroes! (How is your luck so good???)
......thank you? .....I think? I domt know if that is how it works... We still nearly died.... also yeah.... dear Aha my poor heart... those rolls man... also, no ofence dear QM but... If we were lucky... umm.. luck-ier we would have had Akemi in that fight, still happy about the crit though!
[X] Plan: Interrogation for dummies or ~ABC~ ~123~ ~DoReMi~ ~Tell me what i need~ -[X] Why did you hack my computer? Is there any more surveillance on me?
-[X] What are the powers of the Void?
-[X] Who are… Hanzo and Hina?
I suck at write in's and any other time I made a plan it led to....interesting times. So im going with whats being offered. Let other people(smarter or cunning people) make a witty question.
As you've probably noticed by now, I put links to music on in each fight, and in some events. This threadmark will be to compile and note down all these pieces of music just in case the media links break.
If this Quest was an anime, these (or a Japanese equivalent of) would be the music to the opening and ending sequences.
(QM Note: these songs were chosen because of their lyrics.)
Pray For Me said:
I fight the world, I fight you, I fight myself
I fight God, just tell me how many burdens left
I fight pain and hurricanes, today I wept
I'm tryna fight back tears, flood on my doorsteps
Life a livin' hell, puddles of blood in the streets
Shooters on top of the building, government aid ain't relief
Earthquake, the body drop, the ground breaks
The poor run with smoke lungs and Scarface
Who need a hero? (Hero)
You need a hero, look in the mirror, there go your hero
Who on the front lines at ground zero? (Hero)
My heart don't skip a beat, even when hard times bumps the needle
Love, let's talk about love
Is it anything and everything you hoped for?
Or do the feeling haunt you? (Haunt)
I know the feeling haunt you (haunt)
This may be the night that my dreams might let me know
All the stars are closer
All the stars are closer
All the stars are closer
As you've probably noticed by now, I put links to music on in each fight, and in some events. This threadmark will be to compile and note down all these pieces of music just in case the media links break.
If this Quest was an anime, these (or a Japanese equivalent of) would be the music to the opening and ending sequences.
[X] Plan Balance Concern And Info Gathering
-[X] Are you okay? No, really, are you okay? I've noticed that you have a void glyph...
-[X] Who are... Hanzo and Hina?
-[X] Did you start a fight with me hoping that if you lost, I would free you?
If we want to use write-ins here, we're going to need to think on what we believe are the most important questions to ask here... but for now, voting for the following plan.
[X] Plan: Interrogation for dummies or ~ABC~ ~123~ ~DoReMi~ ~Tell me what i need~
Balance Concern And Info Gathering doesn't really do all that much info gathering in my eyes, so I feel like it doesn't fully make use of the opportunity to interrogate our attacker here.
[X] Plan: Interrogation for dummies or ~ABC~ ~123~ ~DoReMi~ ~Tell me what i need~
Although, I do like Petroleum's suggestion...
[X] Plan Interrogative Concern
-[X] Why did you hack my computer? Is there any more surveillance on me?
-[X] Who are… Hanzo and Hina?
-[X] Are you okay? No, really, are you okay? I've noticed that you have a void glyph...
Well, everything seems fairly calm for next week. You'll definitely be able to find Akemi, and most of Jun's stuff is being ridiculously expensive. Sounds about right.
Well, everything seems fairly calm for next week. You'll definitely be able to find Akemi, and most of Jun's stuff is being ridiculously expensive. Sounds about right.
