Vote closed
She Who Wears The Crown Of Hell
- Thread starter Baughn
- Start date
- Crossover Sci-Fi
That's actually an adaptation of the game.
The original manga was this weird afterlife thing where BRS was essentially a janitor who got tangled up souls to move on.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
That's certainly a way to describe it. I won't spoil anything, however; let's just say I think it's worth reading.
Looks like every single character got 50% or more, so this will be a group outing. Including Hiro is a good move, as far as Mato's mother is concerned.
Don't worry; Utau does so love singing for children. This is going to be a lasting memory.
Dammit voters, you had one job.
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
... I don't want to spoil the mood, but shouldn't it be everyone except for Kagari, because three people out of seven voted for her?
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
That's... true. I miscounted. But if it's "Everyone, except Kagari"...
It's a possible thing. It's something Mato might do. It's just going to have consequences that I don't think this vote really justifies, so I've got to check -- does everyone who didn't vote for Kagari actually intend for her to be the odd one out?
Highwind
To Rise From The Ashes
- Location
- Brazil
As the one person who voted to bring no one else along, I can state with complete honesty I wanted Kagari to be equally as left out as everyone else.
...I'd be okay with bringing her along now that we're locked in on bringing everyone else, but I guess it's too late to change my vote.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
There's no such thing as 'too late' until I actually start writing this. Yeah, the vote is nominally over, but... eh. Usually I'd have looked at that result and asked if you really mean to deliberately leave Kagari, and only Kagari, out.As the one person who voted to bring no one else along, I can state with complete honesty I wanted Kagari to be equally as left out as everyone else.
...I'd be okay with bringing her along now that we're locked in on bringing everyone else, but I guess it's too late to change my vote.
If that were the case, then cool, I can work with that. But as an accident it's a bit much.
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
I didn't want to take Kagari and Mato's brother in order to be able to talk about Black★Rock Shooter more openly. Given that Hiro is coming with us? I'm fine with the whole team coming. It is wrong to leave only one person aside.
- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I do have one job, which is to maximize friendship opportunities heedless of all possible consequence and I do not apologize for it!Dammit voters, you had one job.
Fiat ... amplectendum, I think? ... ruat Caelum.
- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
Personally I only wanted the two I voted for but if we're inviting practically everyone might as well go full hog
- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
Starting reading it and have to say the way you described how 'Overcome' would be about using Mako's personal world to devour reminds me of how the Stagnated Souls make their own domains especially since Mako here really died. This makes me wonder if the ufo halo thing is our helper like how manga Rock has Ron the snake since Mako seems to have become something like a Black Shooter. Will we devour the souls of demons we kill to become more powerful? Will Mako regain herself? ( I wanted to paste the picture of Rock saying she wanted to regain herself but SV isn't accepting the picture)
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
While I did use it for inspiration, I would warn against taking that analogy too far. The star isn't something like that.
So... I guess Kagari is coming, then. It won't be a problem I'm sure. ;-)
(This is your biweekly warning that your author is a troll. In the meantime, I finished up the initial write-up of Mato's character sheet. You'll see shortly how it applies.)
- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
Interesting seems like we can just create weapons if we want to. Are the weapons temporary or limited to us or could we potentially give them to allies as well
Intriguing seems like we we've become something more than human which gives us bonuses to some stuff, malus to other and flat out makes divine techs impossible to learn. This implying we're some kind of demon related assuming demon is opposite of Divine or does Divine just mean a skill level thing and not like a holy element?
This is concerning in that our social links can be interested as an attack if they're high enough even if it wouldn't seem that way IC since it mentions lack of alterations as possible.
Nice little bit of Mako's past with her dad
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Temporary. Other people can touch them, but for mechanical purposes it'd be best to think of them as visual effects. Standard Exalted stunting rules apply, however.
Note that I made some minor changes after you quoted the sheet, in order to simplify parts of the math.
- Location
- United States of America, Michigan
Finished the BRS manga. Was a kind of wild and random trip but fun. Standard BRS message of facing your feelings head on despite the pain they can cause. The final boss being the soul of a firefly was hilariously dumb but great.
Wanderer: 2.3
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Mato quickly gave up on the idea of catching up with the mysterious climbers. She didn't know who they were, or even if any of them were human. If they were, they certainly weren't going anywhere hospitable — unless they knew some secret route over the mountains, or across the plain. She doubted they would help.
Besides, she had bigger problems right now. She needed water, badly enough that it was starting to tell.
"Doesn't look like paradise, huh? Kohachi?" Her voice was hoarse with thirst. Her head felt fuzzy, but she didn't have the time to worry about that.
Pretending she was talking to her friends helped a little. She remembered Kohata saying she wanted to visit Okinawa someday.
"I don't know," Kohata would have said, sounding disappointed. "It looks pretty boring."
Kohachi would be annoyed. Mato smiled wanly. She could almost feel Kohata's exasperation as she made her way down from the plateau. Kohata was an avid hiker on top of everything else. She'd tell her something useful, like 'don't step on the rocks that are going to slide'. Like that one right there.
Mato paused, adjusting her footing to avoid it.
But Kohachi wasn't there, and Mato was alone.
Okinawa. Where was it again? Somewhere south of Japan, she recalled vaguely. Not around here, that was for sure. This place was hot, dry and sandy, but that was where the similarities ended. In the distance, Mato could see the mountains rising up into the sky. The sun beat down mercilessly.
If Kohachi had been here, she would have known what to do next. Kohachi would be used to this. She'd been to California once.
"What do you think? The stream?" she asked, glancing at the star that pressed against her. It had been quiet for a while, but maybe it was listening. It seemed a little anxious.
The stream sounded good. Water was more important than anything else.
Once she entered the desert proper, it didn't seem like she'd be able to see it anymore, but she should be able to navigate to the mountain at least.
The star floated over to her shoulder, settling there. Its light shone warmly upon Mato's skin. It felt like friendship, and basketball. Lemonade, and...
Yes, it must be worried about her. Well, it was only fair. She ought to worry about it too.
Mato wistfully thought of the lemonade her and Rock had been drinking before she was dropped into this world. It hadn't been anything special. Just one of Hiro's concoctions. But it was sweet, and cool, and delicious, and she missed them both desperately. A pulse of sadness passed through her, washing her vision with blue for a moment; she rubbed her eyes.
The desert was sandier here. As she trudged on, she quickly lost sight of the river.
If the glimmer she'd seen in the distance was in fact a river, rather than a mirage, or a... a flood dragon, or something. She sighed heavily. Hiro would have known what those were supposed to look like. Maybe her sister was telling stories to Hiro right now; maybe even stories of what Mato was doing in the desert. If Hiro was here, he'd be...
That would do, she told herself.
She slapped her cheeks a couple times, feeling a little foolish. It was hard to concentrate, but she could at least try.
"...I wonder how mom is doing," she muttered to herself.
It had been... had it been a day already? She thought it might have been. She'd be a missing person, just like Yuu had been when they'd... been...
The thought didn't want to resolve, and as she kept walking, she looked down at her feet.
Her combat boots were also platform shoes. How on earth had she missed that?
She stopped dead.
"Oh."
She'd been wearing these ridiculous things for a day, and she hadn't noticed. She was whole centimetres taller than normal, and she wasn't so much as stumbling. Her balance was perfect.
Mato palmed her forehead. Her mind was wandering too much.
Her head was starting to hurt.
She tried to keep walking, but after a while, she sat down on the ground. She leaned against a rock, closing her eyes. So far there hadn't been any monsters, and the stream lay ahead of her. She was thirsty, and her legs didn't hurt from the constant walking. Somehow.
So why was she sitting here?
Mato opened her eyes, staring into the distance.
Her head hurt, and she kept thinking about her friends. Was that just because she missed them? The way the memories popped up, without so much as her say-so, felt off.
How long ago had she met Yuu? What was the first time she could remember? It had been... their first day in high school, surely. Their first class together. She had older memories, but they felt wrong and lopsided.
No… that wasn't right.
She regretted immensely that she'd never talked to Yuu about their past, because she suspected high school wasn't the first time they'd met. Just like Yomi, 'Kotori Asobi'. That wasn't her name, and she didn't think she'd ever called her that, but her memories were scraping oddly at each other. She'd seen Yomi's family name on the class roster, read it as 'Kotori Asobi', and that had been a crazy enough oddity to guarantee she'd introduce herself. It was just about love at first sight.
Had that ever happened?
[Skill check: Psi+WIT: 3d10s7 vs 1: 4 <9; 10; 8>. Critical success.]
Yomi had been so shy, so timid, so–
Was that really true? Mato frowned at the memory. Had Yomi always been shy? Nervous, right? Worried about Kagari? Not the sort of girl that Mato would have usually befriended, though she often had a little trouble working out what that fragile, half-broken 'Mato' from last year would have normally done in any given situation. It wasn't the broken, nervous Yomi she'd actually befriended that had attracted her, though.
Yomi had filled a hole in herself. Mato hadn't simply been sure that she should; she had felt it. Despite the total lack of evidence, she'd known that Yomi was an elegant, beautiful girl whom Mato could stay with, who'd bring back the life she knew she was missing even if she didn't realise why. It even turned out to be true, but not until well after she'd, well, shot up the broken parts of Kagari.
And wasn't that a little odd?
She looked up at the sky, shading her eyes with one hand, while she traced the cracks in her memories as best she could. When she'd woken up here, something had broken. Lots of things had broken, but now she had extra memories of Yomi. Yomi in middle school, laughing at a joke, Yomi with her hair tied back, Yomi eating ice cream with her friends in grade school, Yomi running, Yomi swimming…
Yomi, looking at Mato, and seeing a bubbly, excitable girl.
Something had snapped. Something was different now, and she didn't know quite what that difference was.
There was no way she could have known that Yomi. For that matter, there was no way Mato could call herself excitable. But when she was with Yomi, even before she and Rock had their little tiff, she almost felt that way again. Maybe she'd healed a little bit recently, but the last time she'd been that upbeat had been well before they'd met. Middle school. Early middle school, before the thing with her dad had started killing her.
That wasn't depression. It wasn't something she could overcome just by finding a friend. The reason she'd turned into a flat, cardboard cut-out of herself had been because half of her mind had been blown to little pieces by a mess of impulses that neither her nor Rock understood...
So she shouldn't have recovered that easily. Not even halfway. Not without all the effort that she hadn't spent until half a year later. And she certainly shouldn't remember Yomi seeing her that way, when she was certain she hadn't acted it.
Mato scrabbled at the pieces of her memories, frantically now, trying to fit them together again. Something was wrong. It was as though she was looking at her own reflection from behind.
Yomi was cheerful, and happy, but she was also cold and unemotional. Because of Kagari. Mato had kept seeing the part of her that wasn't there, but should have been. And Yomi had... seen the same thing in herself? So, Mato had pieces in her mind that belonged, not to herself, but to Yomi's conception of her?
She suddenly felt sure that's what had happened.
The same pieces she was using to think about this?
When Mato had been with Yomi, she'd felt like herself again. Did that go both ways? If so, then why? Why had she...
And why was her head pounding so hard, anyway? It felt like her thoughts were all trying to tear their way out. They were still obeying her commands, but sluggishly. There was a dull ache in her temples, and a strange pressure, like someone was squeezing her brain between thumb and forefinger. She tried to stop her thinking, but it didn't work.
She stood up slowly, brushing sand off her clothes with the back of her hand. This place resembled a desert — yes — but there was another place that felt a lot like this. Black Rock Shooter's world.
Not the scenery, because there sure weren't skyscraper-sized swords sticking out of every tree, but there was a certain lack of pressure that made her head feel like it was coming apart. A 'something' that was always there in reality, that she was always pushing against, but which didn't seem to exist here. Without it, there was nothing holding her together.
She stared at the sky. It was blue, with nothing but that awful star at its zenith. The sun; she'd call it a sun, even if it wasn't. The sun wasn't moving, but it was pulsing, and the pulses were growing stronger. With each pulse, she felt less and less stable. The air was thinning around her, and she felt dizzy and faint. Far from holding her together, this world was trying to pry her apart.
It felt like it had noticed her.
The sun grew brighter with every passing moment. The blue grew darker, deepening until it was almost black. There was a sound like thunder in her ears, and her vision began to blur. She stumbled forward, reaching out blindly for something solid, and fell face-first onto the ground.
Mato curled up inside her hoodie, hugging herself tightly. The sun was so bright she could see it even if she closed her eyes, even through the back of her head.. It was energising, in an unpleasant way. It was trying to break her apart. Again. It wanted to eat at her insides. But she wouldn't have it.
Those memories? They were all hers... no, they were all her. She'd learned that lesson at too high a cost to forget it today. Did it matter where they came from? No. She liked the way she was today. These fragments of her past were important. She needed to hold on to them.
This time she didn't fight. So much of her soul was broken; she hadn't even noticed, before this wave of power came crashing over her. It was all lighting up at once, every single one of her thoughts trying to escape. She held on tight, and told them to find a different way to fit together. With a supernova pounding on her head, every single one of the cracks and gaps was being forced open wider and wider.
She was going to lose control. She was going to fall apart. She couldn't do anything else.
But it was going to be okay. All of this light meant that they could see. Everything inside of her was lit in bright relief.
Her last coherent thought was of Yomi.
***
The sun dimmed. The pressure faded away. The pain left her head.
Mato opened her eyes. It was still shining brightly overhead; just a little less brightly than before. Her own star hovered between it and her, pulsing in contrapoint to the far larger supernova overhead. A lot of its cracks, she could see, had disappeared. There were perhaps half as many as before.
What had happened?
She looked around. She was lying on the ground, facing the sky. Her own star was still burning steadily, but the sun seemed to have lost some of its energy.
Though her thoughts weren't as clear as she thought they should be, they were far clearer than before. They calmed down as she grasped for them, settling down into a familiar pattern, and she slowly got back to her feet. Nothing hurt. All she felt was energised.
She took a deep breath, and stretched her arms wide. She was not going to give her enemy a single scrap of information. Not one word, nor gesture, nor glance.
If that even made any sense.
"You can stop now," she said aloud. "I'm not falling for it."
Nothing changed. The sun stayed exactly where it was, pulsating slowly. If she squinted, she might convince herself it was slowly growing dimmer, but it otherwise remained silent.
Of course it did. It was a star.
Mato shook her head, giving it a long look, and turned around to walk towards the mountain. Whatever else had changed, she was still thirsty.
***
[Skill check: Survival+INT: 4d10s7 vs 1: 2 <2; 1; 8; 9>. Pass.]
[Skill check: Luck: 2d10s7: 2 <9; 9>. Excellent luck.]
The rest of the trip, thankfully for her peace of mind, was uneventful. Mato walked along the path, feeling more and more energetic with every step. It felt like the sun was warming her up from within, and the wind blew gently across her skin; if she didn't know better, she might have thought she was out for a stroll on the beach.
As she approached the mountainside, she found…
She wasn't an expert in mountaineering, and for a lot of these mountains, she'd have needed to be. There were crags. There were cliffs, and rocks, and dead trees that had fallen over the edge. There were places where she could climb, but only if she knew how to use ropes. Or maybe not even then.
The point was that this wasn't easy walking, but there was a ridge, and it had a–
Well, not a trail. Calling it a trail would be a disservice to trails, but she did at least spot footprints. Someone had come this way before. The group from earlier, she presumed.
She followed them carefully, climbing up the steep ridge as best she could without slipping, until she reached a ledge overlooking an enclosed valley. It was full of fog, thick enough that she couldn't make out details, but there was a small… forest. An actual forest, with at least a few hundred trees. There was even a small building set among the trees, and a stream flowing past it, into the ground. The entire valley seemed to be covered in waterfalls and streams, more becoming visible for every second she looked. There was even grass covering the valley floor.
At first, Mato wondered if she was in a dream. Then she saw the figure sleeping in the middle of the valley, and realised that no, it was still more likely to be a nightmare. It wasn't human; that was for sure. Unlike the 'hill giant' from earlier, this one was more defined. Its body was roughly humanoid in shape, but it was clearly bipedal, with two arms and legs, and a head with a mouth. It wore only a loincloth, and carried a club in one hand.
In other words, it looked like one of the orcs from Hiro's computer games. The only difference was size. It was, at a minimum, the size of a four-story building.
There was something odd about it, though. It had a sort of aura — or rather, it made her want to look at it. The effect wasn't strong, but if she hadn't been used to watching her thoughts, she probably would have fallen for it.
Mato glanced at the orc again, then away. Was it really asleep? Or maybe just pretending?
It wasn't somewhere she wanted to be.
Mato continued up the ridge, trying not to look at the valley as she went. Once she reached the top, she stopped to catch her breath. Giving a last glance down, she could see that the valley was empty except for the orc and its... house? No, it'd be far too large to fit inside.
No sign of anyone else, though. Just a few trees, and that building down there. It was fogging up again.
She was nearly at the stream she'd originally headed for. It also ran into the valley, but then disappeared into the fog. Regardless, she thought it smartest to stay away from the monster, and after another half-hour of hiking she'd made her way up the ridge to a plateau behind the back-side of the valley. From this height, she could see that the stream led down from a lake.
It had cut its way deep into the rock — three or four metres on average, closer to ten in places — which, if Mato had been more knowledgeable in the field and could have recognised the rocks, she would have known meant she was on a sedimentary mountain. That, combined with the cut and the sudden dive into the underground, meant it was probably limestone.
Being a city girl, she did not especially care.
Several hundred metres above the valley, the stream widened out considerably, becoming more of a placid, slow-moving river. On the side she'd come from there was nothing but rocks and gravel, but on the other side there was moss, ferns and tall reeds growing by the water's edge. Further from the water the greenery deepened, until a kilometre or so from the river there was a massive forest. She could almost hear birds chirping in the distance.
The stream curved around to meet with a smaller stream running out of the woods and joining it. This was where Mato decided to take refuge. She sat on a boulder in the middle of the bank, and watched the scenery for several minutes.
Getting a drink was… a thing. But to get that, she'd need to get up, and…
The star nudged her.
She nearly fell over when she made to stand. She'd nearly forgotten while she was walking, and her body wasn't tired, but this was, nevertheless, tiring. Walking through this strange place was tiring. Edging around possible monsters, wondering if at any second she'd be attacked — all of it was tiring. Nothing had happened, but yet…
Her mind was tied into so tight a knot, she felt lucky she couldn't feel it creaking.
The world persisted in leaving her alone. Mato scrambled down to the river, feeling her muscles tremble at the sudden use after they'd nearly gotten used to relaxation. She stumbled into the water, leaned down, and splashed cold water on her face.
Then, she drank.
It was the sweetest water she'd ever tasted in her life. It was like drinking nectar, and she gulped it down greedily. The coolness washed over her throat and stomach, waking her up instantly. When she'd finished, her belly full, she stood up straight and took a deep breath.
For the first time since she arrived, she felt good. Like everything was going to be all right.
She stepped back over to the boulder and lay down underneath it, finding a spot where the sun still reached her. The water had been refreshing, but now she felt utterly tired. Exhausted, even. She closed her eyes, and let herself pretend she was simply sleeping on a beach. Her body had had enough, and it was letting her know in no uncertain terms that it needed time to recover.
She also needed food and shelter, but she knew better than to try to think about that yet. First things first. Sleep.
ooOOoo
The dice of this quest are going to be like that, I see. Very well; for today I have been defeated.
Inspiration: Kagutsuchi's Light. XP: +1. Now 1. Bonus effect: Stability +1.
Stability is now 6/7. As a result, all reduced stats have recovered.
The XP system in this story is a little different from what you may be used to. Instead of being required for all character upgrades, it represents moments of inspiration. Any upgrade you can do with XP, you can also do without — doing so is simply slower. In many cases the slowness can be ameliorated by finding a teacher, although finding a teacher in the vortex world is a high bar in itself.
Moments of inspiration are also what open up the most critical character upgrades in the first place, unless you do find a teacher. They may in some cases do other things, all beneficial. No moment of inspiration can ever be repeated.
Using XP allows you to acquire an upgrade with a standard action. Without it, this requires downtime. In general this means a minimum of one week, but the number will increase over time, whereas XP-based training always takes one day or less. In rare cases a development option may have an XP-less timespan short enough that spending XP is meaningless, and disallowed.
Since XP is not absolutely required for advancement, it will also be harder to come by. It requires moments of genuine realisation, not simply victory in a fight. That said, I would not recommend sitting on it unless you see no decent use for it at all. The vortex world is a dangerous place, and you cannot use these points if you are dead.
***
Development options
Generally speaking, options you don't take won't go away. You'll find them listed under the character sheet, instead. A listing like this will only include any new options.
Options are gained from moments of inspiration, exploration, or need. If you think something in the latter category is missing, you can suggest an addition. It will only be allowed if it's something Mato could genuinely think of, and has the prerequisites for achieving.
[ ] Before you can understand the world, you need to understand yourself. You're here in Rock's body. How? You have a star, apparently. Why? And while you can't seem to achieve the feats of strength your sister managed, you are at least half as durable as her. Did you inherit any of Rock's other traits?
- Primary skills: Psionics, Intelligence
- Time: 1 standard action
[ ] You desperately do not want to be alone. There may be no helping that, but you have a star, and recent events suggest there might be more pieces of your friends lurking in your soul than you think there probably should be. With no other options for companionship, exploring those remnants feels like something between reminiscence and wishful thinking. Nevertheless, it would help your state of mind.
- Primary skills: Psionics, Wits
- Time: 1 day
***
With her thirst quenched, and no immediate threats to her life, the tutorial is largely over. You can now take whatever action you think is sensible. These are generally limited to something that will fit inside a single update, as it's otherwise likely to get derailed midway. That may happen regardless.
The examples below are, as usual, examples.
Investigation:
[ ] There is a lake a few hundred metres away. You should certainly take a look; there might be fish! You have no idea how to fish, but stabbing the fish will probably work. You also don't know how to prepare fish. Does it need to be cooked?
- Primary skills: Survival, Luck
[ ] There is a forest, which now that you're thinking about it feels suspicious. If you're going to stay close, then you might want to have a look. There might also be fallen wood you could use to build a fire, or shelter. Then again, you're fairly helpless right now.
- Primary skills: Survival, Occult, ???
[ ] There's a valley. The valley has… sadly… another giant, though this one looks less like a collection of rocks, and more like an orc. It also has a house. Plainly, the orc is some form of guard. It might not be aggressive. There might be help to be had there.
- Primary skills: Charisma, Diplomacy*
* Note: Mato takes a -2 internal penalty (to dice count) for using a skill untrained.
Exploration:
[ ] Search for a rock formation that will work as an ad-hoc shelter
- Primary skill: Luck
[ ] On second thought, you'd rather be elsewhere.
- Write in where. However, a strategy for dealing with the water issue is recommended.
Development:
- Pick one of the development options. The sun does not seem to be setting, and Mato can deal with not eating for a few days if she has to. Though she'd rather not.
Besides, she had bigger problems right now. She needed water, badly enough that it was starting to tell.
"Doesn't look like paradise, huh? Kohachi?" Her voice was hoarse with thirst. Her head felt fuzzy, but she didn't have the time to worry about that.Pretending she was talking to her friends helped a little. She remembered Kohata saying she wanted to visit Okinawa someday.
"I don't know," Kohata would have said, sounding disappointed. "It looks pretty boring."
Kohachi would be annoyed. Mato smiled wanly. She could almost feel Kohata's exasperation as she made her way down from the plateau. Kohata was an avid hiker on top of everything else. She'd tell her something useful, like 'don't step on the rocks that are going to slide'. Like that one right there.
Mato paused, adjusting her footing to avoid it.
But Kohachi wasn't there, and Mato was alone.
Okinawa. Where was it again? Somewhere south of Japan, she recalled vaguely. Not around here, that was for sure. This place was hot, dry and sandy, but that was where the similarities ended. In the distance, Mato could see the mountains rising up into the sky. The sun beat down mercilessly.
If Kohachi had been here, she would have known what to do next. Kohachi would be used to this. She'd been to California once.
"What do you think? The stream?" she asked, glancing at the star that pressed against her. It had been quiet for a while, but maybe it was listening. It seemed a little anxious.
The stream sounded good. Water was more important than anything else.
Once she entered the desert proper, it didn't seem like she'd be able to see it anymore, but she should be able to navigate to the mountain at least.
The star floated over to her shoulder, settling there. Its light shone warmly upon Mato's skin. It felt like friendship, and basketball. Lemonade, and...
Yes, it must be worried about her. Well, it was only fair. She ought to worry about it too.
Mato wistfully thought of the lemonade her and Rock had been drinking before she was dropped into this world. It hadn't been anything special. Just one of Hiro's concoctions. But it was sweet, and cool, and delicious, and she missed them both desperately. A pulse of sadness passed through her, washing her vision with blue for a moment; she rubbed her eyes.
The desert was sandier here. As she trudged on, she quickly lost sight of the river.
If the glimmer she'd seen in the distance was in fact a river, rather than a mirage, or a... a flood dragon, or something. She sighed heavily. Hiro would have known what those were supposed to look like. Maybe her sister was telling stories to Hiro right now; maybe even stories of what Mato was doing in the desert. If Hiro was here, he'd be...
That would do, she told herself.
She slapped her cheeks a couple times, feeling a little foolish. It was hard to concentrate, but she could at least try.
"...I wonder how mom is doing," she muttered to herself.
It had been... had it been a day already? She thought it might have been. She'd be a missing person, just like Yuu had been when they'd... been...
The thought didn't want to resolve, and as she kept walking, she looked down at her feet.
Her combat boots were also platform shoes. How on earth had she missed that?
She stopped dead.
"Oh."
She'd been wearing these ridiculous things for a day, and she hadn't noticed. She was whole centimetres taller than normal, and she wasn't so much as stumbling. Her balance was perfect.
Mato palmed her forehead. Her mind was wandering too much.
Her head was starting to hurt.
She tried to keep walking, but after a while, she sat down on the ground. She leaned against a rock, closing her eyes. So far there hadn't been any monsters, and the stream lay ahead of her. She was thirsty, and her legs didn't hurt from the constant walking. Somehow.
So why was she sitting here?
Mato opened her eyes, staring into the distance.
Her head hurt, and she kept thinking about her friends. Was that just because she missed them? The way the memories popped up, without so much as her say-so, felt off.
How long ago had she met Yuu? What was the first time she could remember? It had been... their first day in high school, surely. Their first class together. She had older memories, but they felt wrong and lopsided.
No… that wasn't right.
She regretted immensely that she'd never talked to Yuu about their past, because she suspected high school wasn't the first time they'd met. Just like Yomi, 'Kotori Asobi'. That wasn't her name, and she didn't think she'd ever called her that, but her memories were scraping oddly at each other. She'd seen Yomi's family name on the class roster, read it as 'Kotori Asobi', and that had been a crazy enough oddity to guarantee she'd introduce herself. It was just about love at first sight.
Had that ever happened?
[Skill check: Psi+WIT: 3d10s7 vs 1: 4 <9; 10; 8>. Critical success.]
Yomi had been so shy, so timid, so–
Was that really true? Mato frowned at the memory. Had Yomi always been shy? Nervous, right? Worried about Kagari? Not the sort of girl that Mato would have usually befriended, though she often had a little trouble working out what that fragile, half-broken 'Mato' from last year would have normally done in any given situation. It wasn't the broken, nervous Yomi she'd actually befriended that had attracted her, though.
Yomi had filled a hole in herself. Mato hadn't simply been sure that she should; she had felt it. Despite the total lack of evidence, she'd known that Yomi was an elegant, beautiful girl whom Mato could stay with, who'd bring back the life she knew she was missing even if she didn't realise why. It even turned out to be true, but not until well after she'd, well, shot up the broken parts of Kagari.
And wasn't that a little odd?
She looked up at the sky, shading her eyes with one hand, while she traced the cracks in her memories as best she could. When she'd woken up here, something had broken. Lots of things had broken, but now she had extra memories of Yomi. Yomi in middle school, laughing at a joke, Yomi with her hair tied back, Yomi eating ice cream with her friends in grade school, Yomi running, Yomi swimming…
Yomi, looking at Mato, and seeing a bubbly, excitable girl.
Something had snapped. Something was different now, and she didn't know quite what that difference was.
There was no way she could have known that Yomi. For that matter, there was no way Mato could call herself excitable. But when she was with Yomi, even before she and Rock had their little tiff, she almost felt that way again. Maybe she'd healed a little bit recently, but the last time she'd been that upbeat had been well before they'd met. Middle school. Early middle school, before the thing with her dad had started killing her.
That wasn't depression. It wasn't something she could overcome just by finding a friend. The reason she'd turned into a flat, cardboard cut-out of herself had been because half of her mind had been blown to little pieces by a mess of impulses that neither her nor Rock understood...
So she shouldn't have recovered that easily. Not even halfway. Not without all the effort that she hadn't spent until half a year later. And she certainly shouldn't remember Yomi seeing her that way, when she was certain she hadn't acted it.
Mato scrabbled at the pieces of her memories, frantically now, trying to fit them together again. Something was wrong. It was as though she was looking at her own reflection from behind.
Yomi was cheerful, and happy, but she was also cold and unemotional. Because of Kagari. Mato had kept seeing the part of her that wasn't there, but should have been. And Yomi had... seen the same thing in herself? So, Mato had pieces in her mind that belonged, not to herself, but to Yomi's conception of her?
She suddenly felt sure that's what had happened.
The same pieces she was using to think about this?
When Mato had been with Yomi, she'd felt like herself again. Did that go both ways? If so, then why? Why had she...
And why was her head pounding so hard, anyway? It felt like her thoughts were all trying to tear their way out. They were still obeying her commands, but sluggishly. There was a dull ache in her temples, and a strange pressure, like someone was squeezing her brain between thumb and forefinger. She tried to stop her thinking, but it didn't work.
She stood up slowly, brushing sand off her clothes with the back of her hand. This place resembled a desert — yes — but there was another place that felt a lot like this. Black Rock Shooter's world.
Not the scenery, because there sure weren't skyscraper-sized swords sticking out of every tree, but there was a certain lack of pressure that made her head feel like it was coming apart. A 'something' that was always there in reality, that she was always pushing against, but which didn't seem to exist here. Without it, there was nothing holding her together.
She stared at the sky. It was blue, with nothing but that awful star at its zenith. The sun; she'd call it a sun, even if it wasn't. The sun wasn't moving, but it was pulsing, and the pulses were growing stronger. With each pulse, she felt less and less stable. The air was thinning around her, and she felt dizzy and faint. Far from holding her together, this world was trying to pry her apart.
It felt like it had noticed her.
The sun grew brighter with every passing moment. The blue grew darker, deepening until it was almost black. There was a sound like thunder in her ears, and her vision began to blur. She stumbled forward, reaching out blindly for something solid, and fell face-first onto the ground.
Mato curled up inside her hoodie, hugging herself tightly. The sun was so bright she could see it even if she closed her eyes, even through the back of her head.. It was energising, in an unpleasant way. It was trying to break her apart. Again. It wanted to eat at her insides. But she wouldn't have it.
Those memories? They were all hers... no, they were all her. She'd learned that lesson at too high a cost to forget it today. Did it matter where they came from? No. She liked the way she was today. These fragments of her past were important. She needed to hold on to them.
This time she didn't fight. So much of her soul was broken; she hadn't even noticed, before this wave of power came crashing over her. It was all lighting up at once, every single one of her thoughts trying to escape. She held on tight, and told them to find a different way to fit together. With a supernova pounding on her head, every single one of the cracks and gaps was being forced open wider and wider.
She was going to lose control. She was going to fall apart. She couldn't do anything else.
But it was going to be okay. All of this light meant that they could see. Everything inside of her was lit in bright relief.
Her last coherent thought was of Yomi.
***
The sun dimmed. The pressure faded away. The pain left her head.
Mato opened her eyes. It was still shining brightly overhead; just a little less brightly than before. Her own star hovered between it and her, pulsing in contrapoint to the far larger supernova overhead. A lot of its cracks, she could see, had disappeared. There were perhaps half as many as before.
What had happened?
She looked around. She was lying on the ground, facing the sky. Her own star was still burning steadily, but the sun seemed to have lost some of its energy.
Though her thoughts weren't as clear as she thought they should be, they were far clearer than before. They calmed down as she grasped for them, settling down into a familiar pattern, and she slowly got back to her feet. Nothing hurt. All she felt was energised.
She took a deep breath, and stretched her arms wide. She was not going to give her enemy a single scrap of information. Not one word, nor gesture, nor glance.
If that even made any sense.
"You can stop now," she said aloud. "I'm not falling for it."
Nothing changed. The sun stayed exactly where it was, pulsating slowly. If she squinted, she might convince herself it was slowly growing dimmer, but it otherwise remained silent.
Of course it did. It was a star.
Mato shook her head, giving it a long look, and turned around to walk towards the mountain. Whatever else had changed, she was still thirsty.
***
[Skill check: Survival+INT: 4d10s7 vs 1: 2 <2; 1; 8; 9>. Pass.]
[Skill check: Luck: 2d10s7: 2 <9; 9>. Excellent luck.]
The rest of the trip, thankfully for her peace of mind, was uneventful. Mato walked along the path, feeling more and more energetic with every step. It felt like the sun was warming her up from within, and the wind blew gently across her skin; if she didn't know better, she might have thought she was out for a stroll on the beach.
As she approached the mountainside, she found…
She wasn't an expert in mountaineering, and for a lot of these mountains, she'd have needed to be. There were crags. There were cliffs, and rocks, and dead trees that had fallen over the edge. There were places where she could climb, but only if she knew how to use ropes. Or maybe not even then.
The point was that this wasn't easy walking, but there was a ridge, and it had a–
Well, not a trail. Calling it a trail would be a disservice to trails, but she did at least spot footprints. Someone had come this way before. The group from earlier, she presumed.
She followed them carefully, climbing up the steep ridge as best she could without slipping, until she reached a ledge overlooking an enclosed valley. It was full of fog, thick enough that she couldn't make out details, but there was a small… forest. An actual forest, with at least a few hundred trees. There was even a small building set among the trees, and a stream flowing past it, into the ground. The entire valley seemed to be covered in waterfalls and streams, more becoming visible for every second she looked. There was even grass covering the valley floor.At first, Mato wondered if she was in a dream. Then she saw the figure sleeping in the middle of the valley, and realised that no, it was still more likely to be a nightmare. It wasn't human; that was for sure. Unlike the 'hill giant' from earlier, this one was more defined. Its body was roughly humanoid in shape, but it was clearly bipedal, with two arms and legs, and a head with a mouth. It wore only a loincloth, and carried a club in one hand.
In other words, it looked like one of the orcs from Hiro's computer games. The only difference was size. It was, at a minimum, the size of a four-story building.
There was something odd about it, though. It had a sort of aura — or rather, it made her want to look at it. The effect wasn't strong, but if she hadn't been used to watching her thoughts, she probably would have fallen for it.
Mato glanced at the orc again, then away. Was it really asleep? Or maybe just pretending?
It wasn't somewhere she wanted to be.
Mato continued up the ridge, trying not to look at the valley as she went. Once she reached the top, she stopped to catch her breath. Giving a last glance down, she could see that the valley was empty except for the orc and its... house? No, it'd be far too large to fit inside.
No sign of anyone else, though. Just a few trees, and that building down there. It was fogging up again.
She was nearly at the stream she'd originally headed for. It also ran into the valley, but then disappeared into the fog. Regardless, she thought it smartest to stay away from the monster, and after another half-hour of hiking she'd made her way up the ridge to a plateau behind the back-side of the valley. From this height, she could see that the stream led down from a lake.
It had cut its way deep into the rock — three or four metres on average, closer to ten in places — which, if Mato had been more knowledgeable in the field and could have recognised the rocks, she would have known meant she was on a sedimentary mountain. That, combined with the cut and the sudden dive into the underground, meant it was probably limestone.
Being a city girl, she did not especially care.
Several hundred metres above the valley, the stream widened out considerably, becoming more of a placid, slow-moving river. On the side she'd come from there was nothing but rocks and gravel, but on the other side there was moss, ferns and tall reeds growing by the water's edge. Further from the water the greenery deepened, until a kilometre or so from the river there was a massive forest. She could almost hear birds chirping in the distance.
The stream curved around to meet with a smaller stream running out of the woods and joining it. This was where Mato decided to take refuge. She sat on a boulder in the middle of the bank, and watched the scenery for several minutes.
Getting a drink was… a thing. But to get that, she'd need to get up, and…
The star nudged her.
She nearly fell over when she made to stand. She'd nearly forgotten while she was walking, and her body wasn't tired, but this was, nevertheless, tiring. Walking through this strange place was tiring. Edging around possible monsters, wondering if at any second she'd be attacked — all of it was tiring. Nothing had happened, but yet…
Her mind was tied into so tight a knot, she felt lucky she couldn't feel it creaking.
The world persisted in leaving her alone. Mato scrambled down to the river, feeling her muscles tremble at the sudden use after they'd nearly gotten used to relaxation. She stumbled into the water, leaned down, and splashed cold water on her face.
Then, she drank.
It was the sweetest water she'd ever tasted in her life. It was like drinking nectar, and she gulped it down greedily. The coolness washed over her throat and stomach, waking her up instantly. When she'd finished, her belly full, she stood up straight and took a deep breath.
For the first time since she arrived, she felt good. Like everything was going to be all right.
She stepped back over to the boulder and lay down underneath it, finding a spot where the sun still reached her. The water had been refreshing, but now she felt utterly tired. Exhausted, even. She closed her eyes, and let herself pretend she was simply sleeping on a beach. Her body had had enough, and it was letting her know in no uncertain terms that it needed time to recover.
She also needed food and shelter, but she knew better than to try to think about that yet. First things first. Sleep.
ooOOoo
The dice of this quest are going to be like that, I see. Very well; for today I have been defeated.
Inspiration: Kagutsuchi's Light. XP: +1. Now 1. Bonus effect: Stability +1.
Stability is now 6/7. As a result, all reduced stats have recovered.
The XP system in this story is a little different from what you may be used to. Instead of being required for all character upgrades, it represents moments of inspiration. Any upgrade you can do with XP, you can also do without — doing so is simply slower. In many cases the slowness can be ameliorated by finding a teacher, although finding a teacher in the vortex world is a high bar in itself.
Moments of inspiration are also what open up the most critical character upgrades in the first place, unless you do find a teacher. They may in some cases do other things, all beneficial. No moment of inspiration can ever be repeated.
Using XP allows you to acquire an upgrade with a standard action. Without it, this requires downtime. In general this means a minimum of one week, but the number will increase over time, whereas XP-based training always takes one day or less. In rare cases a development option may have an XP-less timespan short enough that spending XP is meaningless, and disallowed.
Since XP is not absolutely required for advancement, it will also be harder to come by. It requires moments of genuine realisation, not simply victory in a fight. That said, I would not recommend sitting on it unless you see no decent use for it at all. The vortex world is a dangerous place, and you cannot use these points if you are dead.
***
Development options
Generally speaking, options you don't take won't go away. You'll find them listed under the character sheet, instead. A listing like this will only include any new options.
Options are gained from moments of inspiration, exploration, or need. If you think something in the latter category is missing, you can suggest an addition. It will only be allowed if it's something Mato could genuinely think of, and has the prerequisites for achieving.
[ ] Before you can understand the world, you need to understand yourself. You're here in Rock's body. How? You have a star, apparently. Why? And while you can't seem to achieve the feats of strength your sister managed, you are at least half as durable as her. Did you inherit any of Rock's other traits?
- Primary skills: Psionics, Intelligence
- Time: 1 standard action
[ ] You desperately do not want to be alone. There may be no helping that, but you have a star, and recent events suggest there might be more pieces of your friends lurking in your soul than you think there probably should be. With no other options for companionship, exploring those remnants feels like something between reminiscence and wishful thinking. Nevertheless, it would help your state of mind.
- Primary skills: Psionics, Wits
- Time: 1 day
***
With her thirst quenched, and no immediate threats to her life, the tutorial is largely over. You can now take whatever action you think is sensible. These are generally limited to something that will fit inside a single update, as it's otherwise likely to get derailed midway. That may happen regardless.
The examples below are, as usual, examples.
Investigation:
[ ] There is a lake a few hundred metres away. You should certainly take a look; there might be fish! You have no idea how to fish, but stabbing the fish will probably work. You also don't know how to prepare fish. Does it need to be cooked?
- Primary skills: Survival, Luck
[ ] There is a forest, which now that you're thinking about it feels suspicious. If you're going to stay close, then you might want to have a look. There might also be fallen wood you could use to build a fire, or shelter. Then again, you're fairly helpless right now.
- Primary skills: Survival, Occult, ???
[ ] There's a valley. The valley has… sadly… another giant, though this one looks less like a collection of rocks, and more like an orc. It also has a house. Plainly, the orc is some form of guard. It might not be aggressive. There might be help to be had there.
- Primary skills: Charisma, Diplomacy*
* Note: Mato takes a -2 internal penalty (to dice count) for using a skill untrained.
Exploration:
[ ] Search for a rock formation that will work as an ad-hoc shelter
- Primary skill: Luck
[ ] On second thought, you'd rather be elsewhere.
- Write in where. However, a strategy for dealing with the water issue is recommended.
Development:
- Pick one of the development options. The sun does not seem to be setting, and Mato can deal with not eating for a few days if she has to. Though she'd rather not.
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Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Thanks go to @ShadowAngelBeta and @Quickshot0 for the usual beta work~
Success and failure ride on the dice, which I am certain will calm down soon. And not, say, join the other four horsemen.
Success and failure ride on the dice, which I am certain will calm down soon. And not, say, join the other four horsemen.
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jwolfe_beta
Semi Genre-Savvy Overlord
- Location
- Canada
Whew, Mato's got a source of water so we're out of the immediate crisis zone for the moment.
I am abruptly reminded of the differences between Persona Shadows and SMT Demons.
It seems like those distinctions might be quite relevant, at the moment.
Uh. Yes.
Like the distinctions between an apple and an orange.
Shadows and Demons are completely different things. Shadows only look like Demons because of a quirk of the setting.
(Demons create a shadow from the cave entrance on the cave wall, humans living inside the cave also make shadows on the wall, where the two overlap is where a Shadow gets its form from. Its only copying what it sees.)
I agree with the implication that California is a hellscape.
Also glad to see the dice favoring us for now. We need all the help we can get. As for the vote, I think the 2nd development is probably better for us. Figuring out everything we can about the state of our mind should probably be a priority.
Going for the lake sounds good to me, although I really don't like the luck check there. If anyone else has any better ideas I'd be all aboard.
Nolrai
weak to fangs
- Location
- Porltand
[X] You desperately do not want to be alone. There may be no helping that, but you have a star, and recent events suggest there might be more pieces of your friends lurking in your soul than you think there probably should be. With no other options for companionship, exploring those remnants feels like something between reminiscence and wishful thinking. Nevertheless, it would help your state of mind.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Just to quickly note, if you want to spend XP on this you need to do so as a subvote. Otherwise it'll take a day.