Chapter 0: Naraka
It's been a long day at your university-- It was midterm week, after all...
It's been a long day at your university-- It was midterm week, after all...
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Character Sheet
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
Name: Teejay Vasquez
-- "No, it's not T.J. It's Teejay. It doesn't stand for anything because my parents hate me or something."
Age: 20
--"I'm not a teen anymore, but I don't feel like an adult yet. TEACH ME HOW TO ADULT!"
Weapon:
Abhaya Mudra
--"You have chosen the Abhaya Mudra. The Abhaya Mudra is a small, red revolver that uses Karma as ammunition. The chamber is composed of 6 Karmic Vents, which allows it to store 6 charges for 10 Karma.
The barrel is ornate, covered in mysterious symbols whose meanings don't reveal themselves to you.
When the trigger is squeezed, the gun uses one of six charges to fire a baseball-sized fireball.
Though normally weak, the fireballs have a slight chance of causing Karma Bleed, allowing you to reload the Abhaya Mudra with the enemy's own Karma.
Despite having a chamber for storing Karma charges, the grip contains a magazine composed of solid crystal. When ejected, the Abhaya Mudra cannot function.
As you gain Sankhara through battle, you unlock more options for the Mudra."
Inventory:
Corruption Core
-- "A sphere with a black, glassy exterior. You can feel the whirring of a motor within."
Skills: --None--
Objectives:
Where the Hell am I?
-- "Stop being lost."
-- "No, it's not T.J. It's Teejay. It doesn't stand for anything because my parents hate me or something."
Age: 20
--"I'm not a teen anymore, but I don't feel like an adult yet. TEACH ME HOW TO ADULT!"
Weapon:
Abhaya Mudra
--"You have chosen the Abhaya Mudra. The Abhaya Mudra is a small, red revolver that uses Karma as ammunition. The chamber is composed of 6 Karmic Vents, which allows it to store 6 charges for 10 Karma.
The barrel is ornate, covered in mysterious symbols whose meanings don't reveal themselves to you.
When the trigger is squeezed, the gun uses one of six charges to fire a baseball-sized fireball.
Though normally weak, the fireballs have a slight chance of causing Karma Bleed, allowing you to reload the Abhaya Mudra with the enemy's own Karma.
Despite having a chamber for storing Karma charges, the grip contains a magazine composed of solid crystal. When ejected, the Abhaya Mudra cannot function.
As you gain Sankhara through battle, you unlock more options for the Mudra."
Inventory:
Corruption Core
-- "A sphere with a black, glassy exterior. You can feel the whirring of a motor within."
Skills: --None--
Objectives:
Where the Hell am I?
-- "Stop being lost."
Last edited:
Chapter 0.1
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
Like the numbers before, the object into your hand morphs into various shapes and colors. Finally, it settles into a red revolver.
Thick, red, unfamiliar characters flash into your face. Like the letters and numbers in the upper left area of your vision, you can instinctively read the symbols. "Abhaya Mudra", they read, though you still have no idea what that means.
Your cybergoth outfit glows and morphs. When the light is one, you find yourself wearing a pair of beaten-up red converse shoes, black pants smeared with red paint-- you're silently thankful that they're not the figure-hugging type of pants--, a black shirt, again smeared with red paint, and a red jacket textured like it's made of alligator leather.
You give yourself a once-over and-- Holy shit-- you're glad you did, since you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. You have three swastika armbands on your left arm. You're definitely getting rid of those.
After a few seconds of pulling, you find out that they won't budge, as if they're sewn to the jacket. You find that you also can't take off the jacket when you try.
You shrug-- you suppose it's not really worth it to get worked up about swastikas in a dream. You figure you'll just talk to the student counselor about it, if you even remember the dream in the morning.
You spin around, taking a good look at your surroundings and arbitrarily name them after compass directions.
There is a sprawling city to the north, a weird forest to the south, and some kind of large rock formation to the west.
For good measure, you also look up and find that the moon has been replaced with a large, holographic, Aries sign.
Where do you go?
[] North
[] South
[] West
(Also, roll 1d100. I'll take the lowest of three rolls from DIFFERENT users)
Thick, red, unfamiliar characters flash into your face. Like the letters and numbers in the upper left area of your vision, you can instinctively read the symbols. "Abhaya Mudra", they read, though you still have no idea what that means.
Your cybergoth outfit glows and morphs. When the light is one, you find yourself wearing a pair of beaten-up red converse shoes, black pants smeared with red paint-- you're silently thankful that they're not the figure-hugging type of pants--, a black shirt, again smeared with red paint, and a red jacket textured like it's made of alligator leather.
You give yourself a once-over and-- Holy shit-- you're glad you did, since you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. You have three swastika armbands on your left arm. You're definitely getting rid of those.
After a few seconds of pulling, you find out that they won't budge, as if they're sewn to the jacket. You find that you also can't take off the jacket when you try.
You shrug-- you suppose it's not really worth it to get worked up about swastikas in a dream. You figure you'll just talk to the student counselor about it, if you even remember the dream in the morning.
You spin around, taking a good look at your surroundings and arbitrarily name them after compass directions.
There is a sprawling city to the north, a weird forest to the south, and some kind of large rock formation to the west.
For good measure, you also look up and find that the moon has been replaced with a large, holographic, Aries sign.
Where do you go?
[] North
[] South
[] West
(Also, roll 1d100. I'll take the lowest of three rolls from DIFFERENT users)
Chapter 0.2
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
You head south, or rather, what you defined as south, into the forest. You note that the forest looks artificial. There's a clear divide between the forest and the red desert, almost as if the trees were cultivated to act as some sort of park. You've never been to a real forest before, and you're still pretty sure that the transition into dense trees should be more gradual.
You shrug, and just go with it.
The trees are leafless, resembling gnarled hands reaching up into the sky.
You quickly get lost, losing sight of the edge of the forest.
By luck, you find the remnants of a stone path and follow it. It leads you to something like a gazebo, outfitted with stone seats. The roof, also made of stone, has mostly caved in on one side. Dust and rocks litter the floor of the gazebo.
In the ruins, you spot an odd sphere. The exterior looks like it's made of black glass and you can feel the whirring of a motor within.
You look closer at the sphere-- strange letters label it a 'Corruption Core'. It's smooth, seamless, black glass. You bounce it onto the stone floor, then catch it. It didn't chip or crack, so it's relatively tough. Still, with a name like 'Corruption Core', you doubt it does anything good.
Regardless, you pocket it. If there's anything you learned from procrastinating by playing video games, it's to take anything that isn't nailed down.
Another ruined stone path extends further into the forest.
[] Follow path forward
[] Follow path back
[] Rest in gazebo
[] Other
((At any time, when not in battle, just say Inspect [x] where [x] is anything in the scene and I'll try to elaborate more on that thing. I'll edit it into a post, rather than making it its own post))
You shrug, and just go with it.
The trees are leafless, resembling gnarled hands reaching up into the sky.
You quickly get lost, losing sight of the edge of the forest.
By luck, you find the remnants of a stone path and follow it. It leads you to something like a gazebo, outfitted with stone seats. The roof, also made of stone, has mostly caved in on one side. Dust and rocks litter the floor of the gazebo.
In the ruins, you spot an odd sphere. The exterior looks like it's made of black glass and you can feel the whirring of a motor within.
You look closer at the sphere-- strange letters label it a 'Corruption Core'. It's smooth, seamless, black glass. You bounce it onto the stone floor, then catch it. It didn't chip or crack, so it's relatively tough. Still, with a name like 'Corruption Core', you doubt it does anything good.
Regardless, you pocket it. If there's anything you learned from procrastinating by playing video games, it's to take anything that isn't nailed down.
Another ruined stone path extends further into the forest.
[] Follow path forward
[] Follow path back
[] Rest in gazebo
[] Other
((At any time, when not in battle, just say Inspect [x] where [x] is anything in the scene and I'll try to elaborate more on that thing. I'll edit it into a post, rather than making it its own post))
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Chapter 0.3
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
You dust off one of the gazebo's long benches and lie down on it. The stone roof directly above you has mostly crumbled away, giving you a good look at the eerie night sky.
A red, holographic 'Aries' symbol is prominent, unmoving in the sky even though you suppose you've walked at least half a kilometer. The aries symbol is encircled, making it that much more prominent.
Looking closer, you see that the circle surrounding the symbol is made of many smaller symbols. Like the symbols on your gun, you can't read them.
In the distance, you can hear the sound of shrubbery and earth moving. You guess that it's probably the local fauna. You hope it's used to humans. Regardless, you mostly ignore it. You've never been one for animals, after all.
[] Go toward the sound
[] Follow the path forward
[] Follow the path back
[] Other
A red, holographic 'Aries' symbol is prominent, unmoving in the sky even though you suppose you've walked at least half a kilometer. The aries symbol is encircled, making it that much more prominent.
Looking closer, you see that the circle surrounding the symbol is made of many smaller symbols. Like the symbols on your gun, you can't read them.
In the distance, you can hear the sound of shrubbery and earth moving. You guess that it's probably the local fauna. You hope it's used to humans. Regardless, you mostly ignore it. You've never been one for animals, after all.
[] Go toward the sound
[] Follow the path forward
[] Follow the path back
[] Other
Chapter 0.4
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
You sit up and get off the stone bench. Dusting yourself off, you go into a crouch and sneak from tree to tree. You make sure you have your gun drawn. It doesn't look like it has any bullets, but it should be good for intimidation.
The broken stone path quickly disappears behind the cover of the trees, so it might take some effort to get back.
You make your way to a small clearing filled with bright red flowers. Years of watching anime have trained you to recognize the flower as lycoris, though you're not sure WHY they're so prolific in anime.
There is a robotic figure sitting in the center of the field of flowers. it's wearing a cloak that seems to be made of burlap.
The metal man looks relaxed, just lying in the field of lycoris with his hands behind his head. When you look closer, floating symbols appear on him, labelling him as "Sneak Shadow". You're not sure if he can see the letters too, but this seems to alarm him.
He sits up, guarded and draws a metal katana from his hip.
You've alerted Sneak Shadow.
[] Attack
[] Retreat
[] Try to talk to it
-[] What do you say?
[] Other
The broken stone path quickly disappears behind the cover of the trees, so it might take some effort to get back.
You make your way to a small clearing filled with bright red flowers. Years of watching anime have trained you to recognize the flower as lycoris, though you're not sure WHY they're so prolific in anime.
There is a robotic figure sitting in the center of the field of flowers. it's wearing a cloak that seems to be made of burlap.
The metal man looks relaxed, just lying in the field of lycoris with his hands behind his head. When you look closer, floating symbols appear on him, labelling him as "Sneak Shadow". You're not sure if he can see the letters too, but this seems to alarm him.
He sits up, guarded and draws a metal katana from his hip.
You've alerted Sneak Shadow.
[] Attack
[] Retreat
[] Try to talk to it
-[] What do you say?
[] Other
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Chapter 0.5
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
You make your way to the center of the clearing.
The trees surrounding the clearing splinter as the invisible robot slashes each one. You wonder what the purpose of this is. Intimidation, perhaps?
You draw your gun. Peering into the chamber, you wonder how you'll fight with an empty revolver. You rationalize that since this is a dream, you should be able to dream up some bullets.
Karma: 1590
Bullets: 6
The chambers of your gun glow with an eerie green light.
You aim at where you assume Sneak Shadow's feet are, based on how the flowers are being pressed down and shoot. A large fireball darts from the tip of your gun. Bullets: 5
He takes the hit and the fireball EXPLODES on contact, throwing the scrawny bot against a tree.
It looks like he didn't expect that much firepower from your gun.
What do you do?
[] Shoot the ground and use the explosion as a cover to retreat
[] Shoot at the bot while he's down
[] Wait for his next attack and counter
[] Other
((My life has been overtaken by A SQUID NOW YOU'RE A KID NOW))
The trees surrounding the clearing splinter as the invisible robot slashes each one. You wonder what the purpose of this is. Intimidation, perhaps?
You draw your gun. Peering into the chamber, you wonder how you'll fight with an empty revolver. You rationalize that since this is a dream, you should be able to dream up some bullets.
Karma: 1590
Bullets: 6
The chambers of your gun glow with an eerie green light.
You aim at where you assume Sneak Shadow's feet are, based on how the flowers are being pressed down and shoot. A large fireball darts from the tip of your gun. Bullets: 5
He takes the hit and the fireball EXPLODES on contact, throwing the scrawny bot against a tree.
It looks like he didn't expect that much firepower from your gun.
What do you do?
[] Shoot the ground and use the explosion as a cover to retreat
[] Shoot at the bot while he's down
[] Wait for his next attack and counter
[] Other
((My life has been overtaken by A SQUID NOW YOU'RE A KID NOW))
Chapter 0.6
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
You shoot the bot while he's down, but he picks up a handful of plant material and red sand and throws it at your fireball, which explodes prematurely.
The scattered sand ignites, obscuring your field of vision.
When the dust and fire clear, the bot's gone. You don't see his footprints anymore so he either retreated into the forest, or is hiding somewhere.
Either way, he's out of sight.
The clearing is a mess now, with trampled and burnt flowers. The trees he slashed in an attempt to intimidate you are now bleeding red sap.
[x] Walk to the West
You would walk to the west... but you realize you don't know where the west is. Your designations earlier were arbitrary.
[X] Walk towards whatever direction is to the left of you.
You walk to the direction to the left of you, and then keep going left. You eventually walk around in a complete circle.
[] Stay in the clearing
[] Try to head back to the Gazebo
[] Other
The scattered sand ignites, obscuring your field of vision.
When the dust and fire clear, the bot's gone. You don't see his footprints anymore so he either retreated into the forest, or is hiding somewhere.
Either way, he's out of sight.
The clearing is a mess now, with trampled and burnt flowers. The trees he slashed in an attempt to intimidate you are now bleeding red sap.
[x] Walk to the West
You would walk to the west... but you realize you don't know where the west is. Your designations earlier were arbitrary.
[X] Walk towards whatever direction is to the left of you.
You walk to the direction to the left of you, and then keep going left. You eventually walk around in a complete circle.
[] Stay in the clearing
[] Try to head back to the Gazebo
[] Other
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Chapter 0.7
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
You decide to head back to the gazebo. Before you do, however, you
[x] Inspect the red tree sap.
The sap is slightly sticky, but very thin and fluid. It also smells vaguely metallic.
Getting back to the gazebo was easier than you expected. The hard part was figuring out which direction you originally came from, but other than that, it was just a matter of following your mostly undisturbed foot prints.
You're back at the mostly ruined gazebo.
With the path to the clearing behind you, and the ruined, stone gazebo in front of you, there are ruined cobblestone paths radiating from the stone gazebo leading left and right.
You aren't sure which one leads out of the forest and which one leads further in.
A bright red Aries symbol is high in the sky.
Karma: 1590
Bullets: 5/6
[] Back to the clearing
[] Left cobblestone path
[] Right cobblestone path
[] Other
[x] Inspect the red tree sap.
The sap is slightly sticky, but very thin and fluid. It also smells vaguely metallic.
Getting back to the gazebo was easier than you expected. The hard part was figuring out which direction you originally came from, but other than that, it was just a matter of following your mostly undisturbed foot prints.
You're back at the mostly ruined gazebo.
With the path to the clearing behind you, and the ruined, stone gazebo in front of you, there are ruined cobblestone paths radiating from the stone gazebo leading left and right.
You aren't sure which one leads out of the forest and which one leads further in.
A bright red Aries symbol is high in the sky.
Karma: 1590
Bullets: 5/6
[] Back to the clearing
[] Left cobblestone path
[] Right cobblestone path
[] Other