Lurker > MariaTaylor

Side Game: Make Contact

Using the Skull of Commune, it's possible for the Elder Gods to transfer knowledge or even power from one facet of reality to another. With this ability the players will be able to influence the game world in a unique way. A stat boost associated with one character can be transferred to a character in another group. Don't worry -- The original character doesn't lose any of their stats, it's just a raw boost for the new character.

For those who interacted with the Skull of Commune, they can impart the following bonuses:

Dismas: +Stealth
Mara: +Intelligence
Abom: +Resistance
Cata: +Skill

Here is how the Make Contact bonus works. The person who controls the original character and the person who controls the target character are not allowed to Make Contact. Meaning, someone else must transfer the bonuses between characters. As an example... to transfer the intelligence from Maria (nfun) to Leone (CPU), it has to be done by someone that is not nfun or CPU.

Also, if you already Make Contact one time, you can't do it again. This is to prevent one person from transferring all four bonuses.

The short version; Simply pick a character from the list above (not your own character) and transfer the listed bonus to a character that is also not your own character.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

yeah Matsuda going down here was a big factor into why Zephyr became DEMORALIZED

FunnyBusiness posted...

So the hippo was actually killed, sweet. We lost two great guys, though I figured the death count would have been higher.

I feel like this was a pretty heavy loss and I also put a ton of focus into Matsuda's characterization for this chapter, so I didn't want to overshadow that with a gratuitous death count. better to hold off and let everyone have their own moment before the end.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

The Ditch Party
Dismas the Guilty - eddv
Maria Taylor - nfun
Abom, the Chained Man - decider
Cata Spade - Cata
Goetic - lefty

The Shell Party
Torin Gemmason - Mana
Lancer Aaron - FB
Enoch the Wanderer - crazy
Jen Lowell - pk2k
Leone the Cat - CPU

The Moth Party
Owen the Coward - stan
Beastkin Zephyr - ermine [DEMORALIZED]
Fakeru, Lucky Girl - fake
Jamison, Inspector - maniac
Gunslinger Kidd - drak

Graveyard
Tristan - Punch couldn't save him.
Ignael Gades - He didn't sacrifice himself for the rest of the team because he liked them, you b-baka!
Seth, Golden Agent - Was actually pretty interesting, so I'm sorta bummed I had to kill him off. Oh well.
Punch - Punch couldn't save himself.
Matsuda - You lost.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Then, with its final burst of strength, its final action, it lunged forward and captured Matsuda's entire upper torso inside of its mouth. He felt one of its long tusks impale him through the liver, even as his back broke. But he didn't feel much else after that.

Matsuda had lost.

[End]

Punch and Matsuda have been moved to the graveyard.

12. What will the Moth Team do?
A. Press on with this group.
B. Explore this zone carefully and then head back.
C. Full retreat back to the Shell Party, immediately.

Also, Zephyr has become DEMORALIZED. At this time, Ermine can choose if Zephyr wants to press on with the quest or if he'd rather give up and go home. If Zephyr retreats now he'll be guaranteed to survive to the end of the story, but he won't be involved in any of the final conflicts. If Zephyr does continue to move forward, his effectiveness will be decreased and his chance of dying will be increased until someone inspires him and cures his DEMORALIZED status.

If for whatever reason Ermine isn't around for the next few days, the rest of you can either vote Zephyr out or vote for him to stay.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Fah grabbed one of the door handles and, thankfully, it wasn't locked or stuck or jammed, or blocked from the other side. She flung the door open and threw herself through it even as the monster barreled past her.

As soon as the path was clear, Kidd began firing his weapon. After shooting five of his bullets, he waited with the final one. He wanted to make sure the enemy was as close as possible and that he could land the most effective shot that he was capable of firing.

Jamison shot every bullet from his clip and then took his own advice. One of the last doors along the hallway had already been battered down. And before the creature could reach him, he ducked into there and took himself out of the passageway, out of the harmful path of the enemy.

However, Matsuda was looking at Kidd, and realized that Kidd couldn't move from that spot right now.

If Matsuda ran away... it meant he'd be leaving Kidd to die here.

Though, honestly, maybe he was just trying to make himself feel heroic by saying he was doing it to save Kidd. The truth was that the poker chip was already in his hand. This was something he had already decided on doing.

He held it in front of him, twirling the chip across his knuckles, making it glimmer faintly with a light that didn't seem to be there. It reflected in an alluring, mesmerizing way as he strode forward calmly to meet the charging foe. Matsuda locked eyes with it, unable to turn away. Just as he had done in that alley against Luthor. He knew the odds were stacked against him here, but he was too immature to back down.

The creature actually slowed its charge as it watched the hypnotizing trick being played out before its eyes. The dancing light seemed to catch its attention. And though Matsuda wasn't holding a weapon, though he had no way to take advantage of this, he had brought the charge to a halt. The enemy was standing right in front of him now.

Every few seconds, a heavy burst of air seemed to erupt from its nostrils. It was thinking, now. Matsuda knew. He didn't have more than a few more seconds. He had bought some time but, really, this was it. It was one of the few little tricks he had picked up and it was going to have to pay off now or never. But if he shouted, if he said anything, if he tried to give instructions, it would alert the monster and probably cause it to attack.

All Matsuda could do now was bet on his companions to know what to do.

And, during that time, Kidd had been lining up his final shot.

Matsuda found himself wondering what those last five cards were, from back then.

Kidd's bullet slammed into the other eye of the monster, sending out a spurt of blood and blinding it instantly. With an arrow in one eye and the other one shot with gunfire it couldn't see anything. And, honestly, with that bullet, it had likely reached the brain or somewhere near it. Even as blood was dripping from every gunshot wound on its hide, and now leaking from the two holes in its face, the hulking form of the monster was letting out heavy.... pained breaths. And it was starting to slow down.

Matsuda watched the enemy carefully and realized that it was dying.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Though, as it flailed in its current stage of blood rage, Owen was barely able to scramble away. And as Fakeru slowly levitated backwards and away, she realized she was losing height. Eventually she'd fall low enough that the enemy could lunge back up into the air and reach her again.

In fact, in that narrow corridor, even an enemy with animal intelligence realized the same thing. It had slowed down to a careful gait, choosing to let Owen escape. He was cowardly and unarmed, he wouldn't be a problem. It kept its face steady, its eyes focused, and stalked toward Fakeru as she was slowly falling down.

And that was his vital mistake.

As he kept his head still for just a few seconds, that was all it took for Zephyr to find his shot. Suddenly an arrow nailed the enemy right in the eye, burying itself in the face of the monster. It let out a pained and yet sickeningly powerful roar as it began to shake its head back and forth.

As it suddenly lost half of its vision in that moment it couldn't understand what was stuck inside of its eye or how to get rid of it. Snapping its head left to right it bit and swung its neck wildly, trying to smash anything in front of it. It ended up charging right underneath Fakuru, but this also had the effect of blocking the gunfire from behind; Jamison and Kidd couldn't continue shooting with her in the way of the enemy.

Then, Zephyr realized, he had made a vital mistake as well.

The enemy was now directly on top of him and trying to trample him from above.

All he could do was scream, jumping left to right, as it bucked back and forth, smashing with powerful hooves. With his small body it would only take one hit to completely kill him. Yet, at the same time, with his small body he was probably the one with the best chance here of avoiding that rain of lethal strikes. The monster lashing out at him once it saw he was there, that little ferret, dancing back and forth, trying to swallow it whole. Yet Zeph somehow always remained one step, one inch, ahead of it.

The creature, growing frustrated spun with a powerful force and smashed open one of the doors as well as part of the wall. Zeph was forced to retreat away from the splashing rubble or force being hit by environmental hazards that might have broken his small body. At the same time, the enemy had managed to turn away from him -- leaving only his thick and powerful hide exposed. That was a spot that Zephyr likely couldn't damage with his arrows.

Even if it had been unintentional, Zephyr was forced to fall back again and consider his options. Yet, as he saw Owen there, curled up on the ground, his hands over his head, shaking with fear... Zephyr realized that he, himself, was also shaking. What was going on? His heart was racing but it wasn't excitement. All he could see was the inside of those jaws and how close he had been to death just moments ago. Zephyr, who had always been brave, was legitimately afraid. And his mind was finding every excuse possible to stop him from going back into that warzone.

"Side door!" Jamison yelled. His gun was fully reloaded now. The monster was looking down the hallway. At Fakeru, at him, at Kidd, at Matsuda. The four of them, along with the corpse of Punch, were now in the path of its next charge. "Take the side door!"

He was talking to Fakeru above everyone else here. It didn't matter which door she opened. There might be something inside of there, but it was a risk she needed to take. If she remained in the open hallway and faced this creature in a charge she would be instantly killed. All she could do was get out of the way and allow the others a chance to fire one final hail of gunfire... and hope for the best.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Owen thought about it, but he didn't know how he was supposed to stay alive in this situation either. However, at that time, it was too late to ask Punch what he was supposed to do.

The back leg of the enemy shot behind itself and the hard-bottomed hoof crashed into the side of Punch's face. His skull cracked right on the side of his eye socket, sending the eye blasting out through the front of his face. And all through a mangled shower of blood and brains, Punch lost his grip and went face first into the water.

Owen swung the axe down with all of the force in his arms, though his grip was weak. And as the creature swung its head at the weapon, all it accomplished was knocking the axe out of Owen's hands and sending it flying. He felt a shock go through his body as his arms went numb. The force of this reflecting attack drained the force from his body and sent him stumbling away into the wall.

"Fah! Get back!" Jamison was shouting from somewhere past Matsuda. Somehow he was the only one who hadn't gotten trampled. And, from the moment Punch had commanded them to attack, Jamison had been shooting rounds into the creature. Those hadn't slowed it down at all, but they had been pelting its hide nonstop from the end of his gun.

Matsuda held onto his head, shaking it slightly. Was that what that banging sound had been? Jamison had been shooting the entire time? Matsuda examined his own gun and realized there were no more rounds left in the shotgun right now. There was no way he'd have time to reload it.

Then, having nothing else to rely on, he reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and retrieved a poker chip. He began to walk toward the exposed back of the enemy.

"Hyaaaa--!" Fakeru jumped straight up in the air, a trail of water following upward from beneath her. The enemy lunged with a snapping motion, trying to bite her body in half. Her back touched the high ceiling as she propelled herself higher than the enemy could reach, though its teeth nearly closed in on her glowing sandals from below.

In that moment, with her back against the ceiling, she braced her shoulders against the stone and kicked downward, nailing it right in the snout with her foot. For whatever little amount that accomplished, probably nothing, she at least had the courage to fight back in that moment.

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, huh?" Matsuda muttered to himself. "But, looking at it, isn't this a place where I couldn't possibly win?" Was the game rigged against him once again? Had the designer of this shitty world already decided that he was going to die no matter what?

Maybe, in that case, Matsuda should do as much as possible to help the game come to a satisfying conclusion. Even if he was going to die he could at least help look after the others.

As the monster came back down, it felt an unwelcome surprise waiting for it. Zephyr had known that his weapon was not going to pierce the hide of the monster. And, in that instance, he knew that because of his small size he probably wouldn't be noticed right away. In fact, everyone here might have forgotten about him completely.

But he had pulled his arrow back and waited, biding his time. He just needed to line up one good shot and make that one count. That one arrow needed to be worth just as much as all of the supporting gunfire coming from behind.

Even as Jamison emptied the shells from his gun and began to reload it, Kidd had somehow pushed himself up with one elbow. Kidd was fumbling with the gun in his hands now, trying to hold it level forward, and find a way to help with the supporting fire as well. Even though the guns didn't seem to be having much effect... maybe... if they shot it enough times it would finally give into blood loss and stop moving.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Then, as it saw the terrified company of humans trapped in the narrow corridor before it, the monster thought better. It thought to destroy them all. This creature had been bred with an instinct of hatred for humans, and it would kill everything that it thought that it could. And in that moment it thought it could destroy all of them. And so it would.

"Attack!" Punch commanded them, through blood streaked lips. His body was half submerged in the water, his face and hair all wet, blood streaming down his torso as he hung out of the mouth of the enemy. Then his lower body curled and he planted one of his feet against the bottom edge of its jaw. His other hand pulled back and clenched into a fist.

"Don't stop attacking! Split your backs if you must!" He hammered the enemy with his punch, crushing its snout with as much force as he could muster. As he continued to pummel it, he tried to spur the others into action. There was no way he could pull himself free. But Punch wouldn't lay down and die either. He was going to go down fighting. "You think this thing will let us go if we give up and run? Our only chance .... is to fight!"

It was something Matsuda had always known. He was someone who never learned his lesson. And, in this kind of moment, he'd always do the same thing. It was impossible for him to passively watch on and take the safe way out. He raised the gun and realized if he shot at its face again he might hit the Captain. And, beyond that, the last shot had seem to do nothing.

Instead, Matsuda turned the barrel of the gun upward and blasted away at the ceiling.

A shower of rocks and dirt came flying down from above and struck the creature in the eyes at that moment. Matsuda backed away while using this screen of debris as cover. It was better to let everyone get into the proper position so that they could all attack together. The best course of action was if-

Splash, splash, splash! It came barreling forward through the shallows. Punch had been discarded and trampled beneath it as it shot forward in a full barreled rushing motion. Gunslinger Kidd was there nearest for some reason. Perhaps he had been moving into a position to attack, but at that time all he could do was brace his body for the incoming tackle.

Kidd's shoulder broke as the creature slammed into him, and he found himself dragged beneath its hooves. He rolled to one side and the other, with no clear purpose or direction, only hoping to avoid having his skull split open. Though the water around him was swirling around in the chaos and he felt something bump against his side, Kidd somehow felt that his brain hadn't been smashed to pieces.

Punch grabbed onto the back leg of the monster with his one remaining good arm, even as it tried to charge past him. There was no way he had the strength to stop it or slow it down, but he hadn't stopped attacking. Hell, he didn't even have a weapon.

At that moment he had somehow risen to half of a standing position, though he was still being dragged forward by the enemy, and was totally unable to slow it down. As he looked past the enemy, Punch locked eyes with Owen. The other man had raised the axe above his head but his eyes were filled with tears as he saw the enemy charging at him.

Owen looked past the eyes of the monster and saw Captain Punch, there, staring back at him. Owen was quivering with fear. And in that moment he realized that Punch was trying to tell him something.

"You can't die here," Punch said. "As long as you survive, I'll live on inside of you. And you'll keep Tristan's memory alive as well. So... no matter what... you have to survive, okay?"
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

He thought about how awful life in the city of Hendrake had been. He thought about the Censors who oppressed the people, and the Thieves who took advantage of the people who were already oppressed. How it was impossible for normal folk to get by, because of the stupid war between the childish cops and robbers that had been shooting back and forth at each other for his entire life.

He thought about his honest, hardworking father, and how that man hadn't moved an inch forward despite the fact that he kept trudging on and walking his hardest every day. He had been walking entirely in place. And it was all because of people like this who took advantage of the system and exploited everyone else. And, at the end of the day, guys like Luthor didn't even get anywhere in life.

He looked up at the pathetic man who, in a fit of childish rage, had taken his payout, and yet would still remain in the same place while being exploited by his own kind. And he knew nothing except for pity in that moment. Then, as the pity began to subside, his true feelings came up to the surface. The hatred he had felt for his entire life and had always kept bubbling quietly inside somewhere.

At that time it boiled over, and Matsuda couldn't stop it from releasing.

"Just one thing," Matsuda replied. "You guys are worse than Devils."

He rose to one knee. "Cowardly. Ineffectual. Exploiting others just to get by. And, you know what, Luthor, I think at the end of the day you're probably pretty unsatisfied with your own life, too."

"How does it feel to know that you make life worse for everyone else and you don't even gain for it?"

"How does it feel to be a true piece of shit?"

They put him back down on the ground, and it didn't end there.

As Matsuda was staring death in the face he remembered the feeling of being beaten and battered over nothing. Whether he stood up or if he had laid face down in the mud and said "Thank you, Luthor, for graciously saving my life," had never made a difference. He could be licking the boots of the Lord right now and it would all end up in the same place.

Eventually, in the end, like everyone else, Matsuda was going to lose. Completely. The most devastating bet of all was his own life. And that was something no one could keep riding forever. Back then he had survived. Today he might die. Today he saw the killing intent in the gleam of its eye, that monster before him, as its hot breath overtook his body with a soundless roar. It was like standing at the edge of a valley filled with wind and wanting to turn back, but knowing that he was being pulled forward.

Captain Punch roughly slammed into Matsuda with his elbow, knocking the man away. At the same time, Punch planted his feet and pushed outward with his other arm. He was, foolishly, to no end, trying to hold the monster at bay. He succeeded at forcing Matsuda back and away from the initial strike, but as for stopping the enemy -- that was destined to be an utter failure. That was a bet that nobody could win.

There was a singularly devastating -SNAP- as Punch's entire arm, shoulder, and part of his upper torso were crushed with a single bite. He was ripped off of his feet and thrown face first into the ground at the feet of the monster. It pulled back for a moment, as if it were thinking for dragging Punch into the water with it.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

With one more win he could double that again, and walk away with eighty times profit after sifting through almost the entire deck. And his odds of winning in this situation, based on the last five cards left, were better than losing. He knew that. And Luthor might not have understood everything that was happening, but he must have known that if Matsuda was betting here that Matsuda must have understood something about what was going to happen with those last five cards.

"Will you double it again?" the dealer asked. His eyes nervously went to Luthor. Other people in the hall had begun to take note of the situation. Luthor hadn't come alone, either. Two big men had joined him in watching Matsuda for what would surely be the final hand here.

"Of course," Matsuda said.

"I don't think you want to take that bet, Ante," Luthor told him. The last bit was delivered in a sarcastic tone. Someone who was always going to up the ante would get himself into trouble someday. That day was today. It was clear from the tone. "We both know what will happen if you do."

"Then you should know that it's a bet I definitely want to take," Matsuda said with a cocky smile. Oh, he was still so young and foolish back then. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. That was the way of things, right?

Fuck no.

That wasn't the world he had born into.

That was an illusion that children told themselves.

In this world, sometimes, hell, maybe even most of the time, the game was actually rigged. No matter which cards came down next, Matsuda would never see his payout. All he saw were the cobblestones as he was forcefully, literally, and physically thrown out of the casino. He found himself coughing, though he wasn't bleeding anywhere that he could tell.

His eyes stung. Something had hit him in the nose but he wasn't sure what it was. Too much of that last action had been a blur, after Luthor's resigned sigh and somewhat pained smile. As much as the man enjoyed finally punching down on Matsuda, he had seen those last five cards himself. It mentally hurt him, in this situation, more than Matsuda was physically hurting. He knew that this idiot who wasn't afraid of losing had really been on the verge of actually getting somewhere in life. It pissed him off.

It pissed him off more than he could put into words.

Luthor's face was almost turning red as him and his goons stared down at Matsuda. "You know I could fucking kill you right now, and no one would know or care?" Luthor said. His hands clenched and unclenched into a fist. "How does that make you feel?"

Matsuda was breathing heavily now. No one would care? That was... probably close to true. However, he knew it wasn't entirely true. His dad would definitely care. It was just... that man... wouldn't be able to do anything about it. An honest hardworking man whose son had been unjustly murdered would have no way of going against the Thieves Guild by himself.

He had dedicated decades of his life toward working for the local Lord, but he wouldn't be rewarded. That's because, in the world where Matsuda had been born, the game had been rigged from the very start.

"No, I think I'll spare your worthless life as long as you learn your place. You could have walked away with a nice little profit, but you had to keep pushing it. You little shit." Luthor thought about kicking him while he was down, but then he decided he liked feeling high and mighty in that moment. He backed off, enjoying the view. He was looking down on Matsuda for once. "What do you think? I just saved your life. Don't you have something to say?"

Matsuda thought about it for a moment.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

It was two years before Matsuda was ready to go out into the world on his own again once more. There were still many things he didn't understand. He was still young and foolish. He couldn't figure out why his father pushed himself to work so hard for the Lord, without ever truly being recognized or rewarded. Even though that man was always sick and tired these days, even though he had picked up extra work to cover the debts of his son (and Matsuda knew this is what was going on, and it hurt him even more to know it), his father kept working hard every single day.

Matsuda didn't have the strength of his father, but he couldn't recognize that strength either. He still thought that he needed to be someone who wasn't afraid of losing. Only, now, he had learned a few things. He had his own strength. The next time he went to the gambling hall he made a safer bet. If he lost, he'd still be able to cover the next round, and the next after that. And if he won, he would be able to keep playing.

More than that he learned to play against the odds in a long term sense. He would win sometimes. He would lose sometimes. Knowing that he simply had to find a consistent way of doing things so that when he won it would allow him to play more games, and when he lost it wouldn't deplete his net amount of funds completely. Matsuda began to get better at this.

Matsuda started to become someone who didn't need to work at all. He could simply make money by using this strategy of gambling. It didn't hurt that he had started to figure out how some of the games worked, after so much practice of playing against the odds, that he could predict in a meta sense when it was safe to bet high and when it was better to hold off or to bet low.

It was during this time that he started to develop a reputation.

It was during this time when he first started to make enemies.

Luthor Breddick, a middling tier member of the Thieves Guild, had been placed in charge of watching over the gambling parlor during that time. Needless to say, the point of the house was to win. The house was supposed to win more bets than they lost, and bring home money at the end of the day. Now, Matsuda, by himself, wasn't going to put them out of business.

However, Luthor always felt like they weren't making as much money as they should have been. Not as much as they could have been. And as he quietly watched Matsuda he began to feel like Matsuda by himself was a representative symptom of this curse which had afflicted him.

Luthor was someone who wanted to raise his own position in the world, and he was someone who didn't like the idea of losing. He wasn't someone who could really play the game correctly. He went with the motions and always expected to win in the end. He went with a safe bet every time and never understood why he had been stuck in the same position for so long.

It was during a particular day, at a particular Iron Jack table, when Matsuda was on a particularly notable winning streak. This was the moment that finally broke Luthor; He saw Matsuda there, not afraid of losing, and finally making a push that would show him a great path forward. It made Luthor come face to face with his own inadequacies.

He took a seat beside Matsuda at that moment, before the final hand was ready to be dealt.

Matsuda was watching carefully. Not just the deck, not just the game, not just thinking about his odds, but he knew what this meant. He recognized who had sat beside him and likely why. Today, though, things were going good. Better than they ever had before. He had started this winning streak by betting a small sum, but he had continued to let it ride as he began to watch how the cards were released from the deck and considered his odds of winning at each stage.

At this point he was sitting on a payout around forty times as large as what he had put in.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Entry 12: Worse Than Devils

As Abom and Cata were walking behind, Dismas was leading the group with his arms crossed behind his head. They slowly made their way down into the tunnels. Maria, walking slightly behind Dismas, was reading through a book. As usual, she wasn't watching where she was going. It seemed her attention was more focused on the information in front of her rather than where her feet were taking her at the time.

"If... we see anything with water," she spoke at last, almost to herself, "I think that's a good time to turn and run away."

"Water?" Cata inquired. "Can't you swim? Or are you just afraid?"

"Well, I'm afraid of this." Maria turned over the book and showed it to him. The picture of a truly terrifying creature. "They called it a Water Horse in these notes. But to me, it looks like something much scarier than a horse."

"And no," she added, "I cannot swim."

Even Dismas had to stop and take a look. The illustrations inside showed a monster with a tank of a body, the ability to move surprisingly fast, to overtake its targets in and around the water, and with crushing powerful jaws with two deadly long spears protruding from below. "... I don't envy the ones who have to face off against that thing."

//###//

At that time, Yoshiki Matsuda was staring down the same creature as it came lunging for him. Yet, while he was looking it dead in the eyes, and read its clear killing intent, his mind was clearly somewhere else. He wasn't in the present. Maybe it was just his life flashing before his eyes. All he saw at that time was his past laid out before him.

Sometimes you win, but sometimes you would lose. Aren't you afraid of losing? If you're afraid of losing, if you can't handle the fact that you'll eventually lose in the end, then this game isn't for you. That was the world Mastuda had grown up in. Has father was the kind of man who was afraid of losing and so he never made any moves.

Matsuda couldn't let it end like that. He couldn't be like that.

From a young age he had admired and looked up to his father, but those feelings grew sour and turned into resentment. How much better might their lives have been if Yoshiki Gorona had given it his all? Rather than camping at the foot of the mountain he could have at least tried to climb it. Would his mother still be alive today? They might have been able to afford better doctors, better treatment for her.

But, no, that was his old way of thinking. His childish way of thinking. As he got older, as he became more independent, as he separated himself from his father, after his mother was gone, Matsuda started to find the world was a lot harder than he ever imagined. Sometimes you win, but sometimes you're going to lose, right?

"Isn't that the way things are supposed to work?" He would lay in bed at night, his chest hurting. Sometimes on the verge of tears. He could barely afford to pay for his own cost of living, and sometimes he couldn't afford it. And when he got behind on payments this would only create new debts and new fees that would push him further and further down. "Aren't I supposed to win sometimes? When does that happen?"

It was when he was at his absolute limit that he decided to try his luck at gambling for the first time. He couldn't bet much, and so he took the longest odds possible. It didn't matter. He already had next to nothing. If he lost anything he might as well lose it all. But if he won...

No, this story doesn't end like that. He lost. He was forced to go back to his father and look for reconciliation. And he found it. Their relationship improved. But he knew the debt he brought with him had created a hardship for his father, and although it was unspoken between them, it was something he had to live with.
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

I'm finishing cleaning my kitchen today and will write the rest of the chapter after I finish doing that + eating dinner

it's taking longer than I thought it would!

(started cleaning last night, still haven't finished)
---

~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

I was wondering if you were going to finish the game or not. you'd been flying through it pretty fast and then kinda stopped!

honestly you're close enough to the end that you could finish it out really quickly now. I say just power through it.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Reg posted...

While you guys are correct, I'd rather see somebody play the game with the PS3 sprites than be so put off by their first impressions of the original sprites they just don't play it at all.

I feel the opposite. I think anyone who can't appreciate the original art just shouldn't read it at all.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

pjbasis posted...

Nah. Fundamentally I don't see myself as an agent of change in the world.

pretty much this for me as well.

if I stop going somewhere or shopping somewhere it's usually because they have shitty service, or no longer carry products or services that I'm interested in. I've never thought to myself 'oh I really need to stop giving my money to X so they will go out of business and I can make the world a better place...'
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
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UPS is pure trash. I remember there was a weather advisory one time on a day when I was supposed to receive a package. I was here all day, then the next day I got an e-mail saying that the driver 'failed to deliver' the package because no one was here to pick it up. Which was, 100%, a lie. He just didn't end up going out because of the bad weather.

Then I had to go through the entire process of calling them again and arranging for them to have a time when they could come back and attempt another delivery, all because the driver lied and said that I wasn't here to pick it up the first time.

Guess there was no option for him to select 'was too fucking lazy to drop off the package, I'll do it tomorrow'
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

I did a bit of writing today, and I know we're already on 3 days now, but I just don't have it in me to finish right now. Have a lot of other stuff to do around the house today which means my day isn't really over to the point where I feel content relaxing and focusing on writing.

It's possible I write something during the night, but if not I'll definitely get to this tomorrow.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Steiner posted...

why is this a thing people hate

when I was a kid I remember there were always some adults who were irritable for no reason and would get mad about the stupidest, smallest things.

now that I'm an adult, I see that adults like that still do exist.

some of them post on board 8.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Tom Bombadil posted...

I am watching a show from the 90s because heck yea the 90s

cool! I haven't actually seen it myself but I read the manga and I've played the SRT game where Nadesico was prominently featured. assuming the anime follows the manga pretty closely it was pretty decent.

trdl23 posted...

Just picked up Slay the Spire last night. Pretty fun! I've gotten one clear with each of the three dudes now.

I noticed a few other people who started playing this recently, pretty interesting. it seems like such a simple little game but it has resonated with a lot of players in a short amount of time.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

running some errands today. I may not be in the mood to write when I get finished. hard to say.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

I don't doubt there are people who care, I'm saying "Imagine actually being the person who does"
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imagine actually caring about kings and queens in 2018
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when the wolves cry?
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
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Okay. I'm still a little confused though. Was there a remake or something recently or are you just randomly watching a show from the 90's?
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too lazy to do more than skim this topic but what is going on with nadesico?
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I'll wait for votes on 11 to settle but looks like next chapter is gonna be a Matsuda POV where we brawl it out with KING HIPPO
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
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10. King Hippo
(111111111) A. Legendary PUNCH OUT
(11111) B. Front line blocks, back line retreats
(1) C. Everyone run for your lives!

11. Excavation Group
(111111) A. Research the Elder Gods
(1111111) B. Eradicate Monsters
(1) C. Loot and Leave

The Ditch Party
Dismas the Guilty - eddv
Maria Taylor - nfun
Abom, the Chained Man - decider
Cata Spade - Cata
Goetic - lefty

The Shell Party
Torin Gemmason - Mana
Lancer Aaron - FB
Enoch the Wanderer - crazy
Jen Lowell - pk2k
Leone the Cat - CPU

The Moth Party
Captain Punch - xey
Owen the Coward - stan
Beastkin Zephyr - ermine
Matsuda - trdl
Fakeru, Lucky Girl - fake
Jamison, Inspector - maniac
Gunslinger Kidd - drak
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

this chapter included honestly some of my favorite passages that I had planned in mind for some time now, though I was never 100% sure of course how exactly it would happen or which characters would get to these locations first. hopefully stuff like Maria discovering the skull and -almost- touching it were impactful for the readers in the same way they were for me.

(also still weird because nfun decided to meta troll by naming his character after me)
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Pirateking2000 posted...

I kind of see each choice associating with different members of the team

A: Goetic and Maria
B: Abom and Cata
C: Dismas

it's funny that you posted this, I was actually thinking of posting the exact same thing earlier. and yeah, this is correct. like, spot on.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

"Well, lady, nobody does anything for no reason," Dismas said, starting to sound annoyed. "Mind telling us what that reason is?"

"It's a Skull of Commune. Or, at least, someone was trying to make one." Maria tilted her head, examining the eye sockets before her. It was almost as if she was trying to look into the eyes of a person and examine their intent. "Those familiar with Avel de Countelard's research will know, in his manic days, he theorized a method for contacting the Elder Gods. To share knowledge with them."

"Elder... Gods?" Abom looked somewhat put off by that remark. "Are you saying Cain's son was some cultist blasphemer?"

Rather than answering the question, Maria was more talking to herself. Or maybe she was talking to the skull at that time. "It's a curious thing, isn't it? To have the knowledge of a God. To share the wisdom of something that has existed far above... and far beyond the scope of humanity. Knowing that I could reach out in this moment and try to obtain that knowledge. That power."

"But, of course, knowing that I would never do something like that." Maria, however, wasn't moving any further away from the skull. If anything, she was moving closer to it. "Well... never isn't the right word. I probably could do it. I just might do it."

She began to raise her hand forward. "I... probably will..." She mused it to herself as she reached for the object of her affection.

Then, at that moment, Dismas reached out and grabbed her hand. He squeezed it. So hard that she winced in pain and backed away from the shelf. "Hell no," he said, very assertively. "I don't think so, lady. If you're saying that damn thing is the cause of all this trouble then I don't want you, of all people, touching it."

"I-... I wasn't going to," Maria said, sounding unsure of herself. She held her hand in pain, then glanced away. "At least, I don't think so."

"Heh." Dismas, himself, took a step away from the skull as well. He seemed to be preventing his own greed from becoming a source of temptation in that moment. Then, he looked ahead into the darkness. "Listen, there are dark times awaiting us ahead. We don't need to make things worse for ourselves."

"The last thing I need is some fool making deals with a Devil and bringing an unseen threat to our midst."

At that moment, there was a portal of blackness and light. And from within that web of stars, Goetic emerged. He had returned to the mortal world at last. His bright eyes shined with relief and familiarity as he saw faces that he knew.

And though Goetic was smiling in relief... Dismas answered it with an uncertain frown.

"Just where the hell have you been?" Dismas inquired. "And what have you been plotting?"

[End]

11. What should the group focus on in the excavation site?
A. Look for evidence of the Elder Gods.
B. Look for monster nests and eradicate them.
C. Look for treasure and quietly escape.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

As the noble scion and the monster collided, both of them rolled onto the floor together. Both of Cata's hands were on his weapon and he pushed with it, trying to end this as he used his weight on the top of the beast. Because... if he didn't....

Well, Cata's hands were no longer free to defend himself. The monster swung its claw upward, smacking him in the side of the skull. He felt something sharp penetrate the side of his neck even as he felt the stinging sensation of something getting caught on his hair. Blood began to stream down the side of his face as he twisted his blade and then pushed downward again with all of his strength. "Ag-!.... AHHHH!" He found himself screaming as he forced all of his weight onto his knee, trying to crush the solar plexus of the monster.

And, once again, the blade gripped in both hands, he abandoned defense completely.

Cata bet it all on the next attack, moving his saber in a sawing motion as he yanked it back and then cleaved downward a third time. Thankfully, this time, his gamble paid off. The weapon finally succeeded in cutting right through the horizontal face of the enemy. It grew still beneath him, its arm half raised toward another attack.

Those webbed fingers curled, twitching a few times, before going limp.

It was Abom who was left to help Cata tend to his own wounds as Dismas and Maria cleaned up the mess and began examining the room. Maria seemed a bit disappointed at how much of it had been destroyed during the combat. But, then again, they were lucky to have made it out of there alive. The two monsters waiting beyond in the darkness had been nearly enough to kill their group in that brief moment of surprise.

While this demonstrated how truly deadly the enemy was, it also added weight and significance to the fact that they had effortlessly slain five of them with her help. As much as it was unfortunate how things had gone wrong at the end, it was impossible to deny how effective those scientific skills had been during the first exchange of attacks. A seven against three fight with those monsters is something they would not have won without her help.

After finding evidence of what had been done in this ready room, Maria began to search for a specific object which had been mentioned in the research diary. It wasn't long before she uncovered it on one of the shelves on the left side of the room. And she seemed relieved that it hadn't been on the right, with some of the other destroyed relics.

"How fascinating," Maria said, her eyes gleaming with a strange greed. It was something that reminded of Dismas, but, at the same time, her sense of desire was completely different. It wasn't wealth that motivated her. It was... actually... Cata had no idea what the hell motivated her. That, in this moment, was probably more alarming than anything.

"What is it you've found?" Dismas inquired. He looked at the object sitting there. It was a deformed, small, inhuman skull with a hole punched in the top of it. Somehow the thing had a large amount of gravitas in this situation. While normally one might see bones as nothing more than remains, there was clearly something larger at play here. "It looks grim."

"Insight," Maria told him.

"Beg pardon?" Cata inquired. He held his injured head as he went over to the two. "Can you give us an explanation beyond that?"

"Sorry, I just-... I was thinking, this explains a lot. I don't think Cainas was doing all of this for nothing," Maria concluded. "There was actually a purpose for all of it. Why he brought Avel here, and why they were digging."
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

There was a rush of adrenaline as white clouds of powder exploded into the room before them. All three, including Maria, had done a fair job of lobbing the bombs on top of the enemy at this range. They had hit their targets and launched their attacks close enough together.

Maria held the others back a moment, not wanting them to get caught breathing in those same vapors, and then sent them forward. Abom was the first to crush the skull of an enemy, and he didn't stop there. He went for a second kill by the time Cata was already impaling the first of the monsters nearest to him. Cata heard a slick gasping sound to his right side as Dismas put down one of the other foes.

Then Cata slowly walked forward and put his foot on the chest of the last one. Its eyes began to light up with a burning power as it looked up at him, but that light went out as he shoved his saber into its neck. His shoulders relaxed there, in that position, for just a moment.Then, as he looked ahead into the darkness, his eyes drawn toward the door once more, he saw two shining lights staring back at him... and a faint glow from beyond.

"That wasn't it!" Cata shouted a warning as he pulled his blade free with both hands, as quickly and cleanly as possible. Blood splattered freely as Cata took several steps back and tried to get a good gauge of the position and attention of the enemy.

Yes, yes. It was looking right at him.

It was all Cata could do to hit the ground rolling, trying to move perpendicular to the gaze of the monster. At the same time a burning beam of light shot out across the gap and burned a hole through the floor. The creature needed only to turn its head to cut the room in half. Sections of wood caught on fire or disintegrated instantly. At least a few of those priceless relics were sent shattering to the floor, melted, or worse.

Dismas had dived forward, onto his stomach, but as he slid across the ground he pushed himself back up to his feet instantly. Instead of breaking into a wild battle charge, however, he padded as quietly as possible to the far end of the room while holding the blade of the dagger in his teeth. He must have freed his hands up before diving, knowing he didn't want to accidentally land on the knife.

Abom was on the opposite side, having been out of the path of that beam of light. He moved away from the angle of the door and rattled his chains loudly, barking out some kind of wordless battle cry. "Oy! OY!" He began to spin his irons like a weapon, as if readying a flail to strike, but the enemy was nowhere near him.

Dismas placed his back against the far wall and moved his blade into his hands. His eyes were on the door as he began to inch toward it.

With a shrieking wail, the enemy jumped out of the doorframe and turned toward Abom. Its eyes began to light up with fury and madness. Then, Dismas moved into position behind it and grabbed it by the neck. The dagger was placed against its throat.

Cata began running toward them. Looking into the darkness beyond he didn't know what the risk was. He wasn't like Maria. This wasn't something he could analyze. But he knew that if he did nothing, right now, there was a good chance Dismas was going to be in a lot of trouble. It was no coincidence that he had seen another faint light in the passage beyond, and he doubted this monster here was alone.

Even as Dismas slit the throat of the enemy and let its corpse fall, a shadow appeared in the doorway behind him. Its black claws gleamed against the fading light reflected in the eyes of the dead one beneath it.

"Down!" Cata commanded. Dismas obeyed, and Cata found himself vaulting over the other man as he shot himself through the open door... blade forward. The point of his weapon struck the enemy in the cheek, hitting bone, then the blade bent. It didn't quite snap, but it didn't puncture the face of the foe as deeply as he might have hoped.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

"Their hearing isn't very good," Maria explained to the others in hushed tones. "But we should probably not talk too loudly. I should also mention that, based on the research notes I was reading, they found it impossible to tell when these things were asleep or awake."

"We haven't had much luck either," Dismas said, thinking of the one that almost got Cata.

Instinctively, Cata rubbed his bruised arm. Somehow, having it mentioned, caused the pain to return in a way that he had forgotten. The numbness of the last few hours had been a bit awkward, but that was preferable over this kind of pain. He looked on, into the room, and began counting the monsters. "Five by my count. I don't think that's a fight we can easily win. If at all."

Shall we turn back? That's the question he wanted to ask. But the greed in Dismas eyes said there would be no turning back. And Maria, the other person mostly interested in taking charge and driving the group to go one way or the other, was too emotionally detached from the situation. Fear, which naturally should have prevented her from doing anything too dangerous, seemed to be an emotion that she was missing.

"Fighting them would be dangerous, I agree, but we may have another way," Maria told him. "Based on my risk assessment analysis it should be possible to neutralize the threat quickly, quietly, and effectively without much danger to ourselves."

Abom grunted, tilting his head at that message.

Maria glanced at the big man. "I'm going to knock them out."

Cata felt the hairs on his neck tingling. Was it really fine to go with such a risky strategy? It wasn't like they had tested it out on any of these monsters before. This was the perfect situation for things to go terribly wrong. From his point of view, the level of risk seemed way too high.

"How is your arm? Your aim?" Dismas pressed her. "Are you sure you can take them all down at once?"

"Well... Hm." Maria thought about it for a moment. "I suppose it will be more effective if I rely on your help," she admitted. "I'm used to working alone and so the thought hadn't crossed my mind. Here, give me a moment to mix some kind of bomb delivery method for those powders."

Maria went to one knee and undid her carrying case, taking out some of the supplies she had looted from the laboratory above. "Keep your eyes on the monsters while I do that."

It was a grueling two minutes as Cata found himself watching the darkness beyond once more. Rather than focusing on the threats in the room before them, Cata couldn't take his attention off the far doorway. Once again it was only an open portal; one that revealed the blackness of his deepest imaginations. The threat in his mind was likely greater than whatever could possibly lay down there.

Or, more terrifyingly, it wasn't.

Maria handed a bomb to Cata and Dismas, while taking one herself. With those three throwing in synchronized fashion they should have been able to blanket the area in a thick powder and catch all of the monsters with the knock out gas. Then it would be up to the fighters to move in and slay the beasts while they were down.

Dismas set aside the heavy crossbow, leaving it loaded and leaning against the hall. If Maria needed to pick it up and fire it, the bolt was ready. Though he urged her NOT to do so unless it was an emergency. "The last thing I need is an untrained aim firing a bolt into my back."

For a close situation like this, he borrowed Cata's dagger. The weapon wasn't good in a hand to hand fight, per se, and it wasn't something Dismas would bring into a melee. But for cutting the throat of a weakened and dizzy foe that couldn't fight back... the dagger would do.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

"So we should examine things from a different angle than before," Cata concluded. "The mystery of the estate hinges on the fact that Cain himself probably didn't know what caused all of his mayhem. But there's someone else, someone responsible, for everything that's going on down below... and thus bringing it all back up to the surface." He'd recovered quite a bit already from his near fall. Plus, he surprised himself with this, but he was actually pretty interested in the mystery of it all.

Honestly, it was easy to forget, but Cata Spade was the only one who didn't need to be here for the sake of money. He was here for the adventure. To vanquish monsters and cleanse the land of evil. He was no crusader or warrior of the church, by any means, but he did have ambitions of growing up to be a Hero. Well, that was ten years ago. It was probably too late for those types of dreams, now.

Yet... that mindset was still guiding him. On some level, he hadn't grown up from being that young Lord. A teenager who wanted to become a Hero like those in the stories. Someone disconnected from how grim and brutal reality was. Cata thought of what had happened above, of those who had died already in the hamlet. This was a place where Heroes could perish at any moment.

As he looked on, Cata noticed the others had already begun to move on to the next room. Dismas and Maria were leading them through the passage that should bring the group toward the lower excavation tunnels.

In the winding passage they came across a slavering ghoul that was sucking on what looked to be human bones. Those weren't fresh, and whatever the thing was, it was likely craving warm meat. However, it hadn't seemed to notice them right away... and it was surprisingly Abom who wordlessly crept forward and put the monster out of its misery with one solid swing from his heavy irons.

"That kind of monster..." Abom had a tired and distant look on his face. "... probably shouldn't exist."

"Definitely, by my count," Dismas said, sauntering over the corpse.

Maria simply glanced at Cata and shrugged. "I thought it was interesting, but I've never seen anything like that. Perhaps we should have seen if it could talk with us." However, now that it was laying in a puddle of brains and blood, they'd never get the opportunity to find out.

The group came across a ready room which had been dug out and then bordered with wood and support beams. This kind of place usually served as a miner's camp, but this room was odd and surprising. It looked as if the person who was studying the below ground had also been using this as a go-between experimental chamber.

Relics from below had been gathered and set aside here. There were also several research stations, some of them still manned with supplies, and two bookshelves. Though the books on those, from a glance, seemed to have all been burned or torn to shreds.

To that point, the room was not unoccupied. A small group of those fish-like monsters was lounging around in this room. Their soft eyes blinking with a strange film. The sight of them was unnerving and they produced a sort of natural terror that couldn't be avoided, couldn't be set aside. However, when Cata looked at the others, none of them seemed to be outwardly afraid. And so he did his best to put on a brave face as well.

It was Maria, above all others, who seemed to be unnaturally calm. It was as if she was studying these monsters in a controlled environment, like this was all just some sort of experiment. And yet the thought never crossed her mind that they could turn and begin ripping this party to shreds at a moment's notice. All they had to do was catch sight or scent of the group.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

"Quite the opposite," Cata admitted. "I have to say I'm not familiar with these types of things. I was hoping you could check the lab and see if there's anything of value here." As he was speaking, his eyes were drawn to the more irritable Dismas. He was hoping that Maria helping to find something valuable in the lab would lift the spirits of the damned man.

Right now, Dismas needed to feel like all that digging had been worthwhile.

"Ah. Yes. Of course. I was thinking of taking an inventory before we left, but I suppose I could search for anything valuable rather than just anything useful." Maria began to sort through the ingredients gathered here, which drew the attention of the others. She didn't seem too phased by the fact that she was being watched as she moved things into different piles, made strange faces, and sometimes pushed entire categories of objects away while shaking her head in disappointment. "Ah. Such a shame. I could do much more with a proper assortment of alchemical ingredients. But the raw chemistry here does have some applications."

"Applications?" Cata inquired, leaning in. "Such as?"

"Here, smell this," Maria said. She lifted her hand, her finger now coated in a substance, and moved it near his face.

When Cata took a whiff he found his head grow light, his vision grow black, and then his body went numb. A few seconds of time were lost, at which point he found himself being held up by Abom. The chained man had moved into position behind him and caught him when he fainted.

"Don't..." Cata struggled to speak, as even his mouth felt like it was filled with goo. His left eye wouldn't stop blinking. "---don't... do that again." He was trying to sound stern but he probably sounded like a half-asleep toddler. The fact that he hadn't gotten any rest the night before likely wasn't helping.

Abom was chuckling softly to himself as he put Cata back on his feet, then patted him on the shoulders. Cata wanted to shoot him a dirty look for that, but he caught Maria smirking to herself as well. All he could do now was straighten out the coat and accept that he'd been the butt of that joke.

"Based on the notes I've read, I think these kinds of compounds might work on the monsters in the estate as well. Some of them might also be susceptible to toxic reactions... though this depends on if I'm able to-" Maria had begun to sort of wander down her own line of discussion, leaving the others behind, but it was at this point that Dismas decided to cut things short.

"And valuable? Did you find anything valuable?" Dismas inquired. He crossed his arms, looking down at the piles of ingredients she hadn't thrown away.

"Here, take this," Maria said, as she slid a pile of fibers and two tonics to him. "Those are long sought after by aging men as a sort of cure for lack of vitality. I don't think it actually works, but people are willing to pay for it. As for those tonics, well, let's just say they contain a substance which was outlawed by the Censors. And people are always willing to pay for that."

"Hrm..." Abom glanced at the collection of items warily.

Dismas, however, was already examining the vial. His eyes seemed to gleam through the glass and the liquid. "You're saying Cain was making something like this? Here?"

"No, I shouldn't think so. This laboratory belonged to his son, Cainas." Maria began collecting the other items, the more useful ones, she had laid out on the table. "It's more than likely his father had no idea what was going on down here. Perhaps not even in the lower tunnels."
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Entry 11: Unseen Threat at the Edge of My Mind

The group known as the Ditch Party had left the main caravan group some time during the middle of the night before. It wasn't long until Cata Spade found himself in the underground laboratory beneath Cain's Estate. The plan of locating an underground entrance in the ditches which had been dug around the outside of the estate had gone off the rails pretty quickly. Somehow, and Cata couldn't really explain how she had done it, Maria convinced the group to actually force their way through a lower section of the wall by sifting through the dirt and stone.

Luckily, they had been smart enough to take a few tools off the wagon that they figured Torin and the others wouldn't miss. Unluckily, they'd broken a lot of tools just working through the night to cut their way into the lower levels of the castle. At about this point Dismas' patience had begun to wear thin -- but it was hard to say anything in retaliation. Maria's map had proven to be correct in the end, and the work was already done. She seemed a bit sly in that way... positioning herself so that the damage was already done and the angry party had already been placated before they could speak out against her.

Based on this cunning and manipulative behavior, Cata suspected she might have been a previous member of a noble family... much like himself. But this was nothing more than projection. He couldn't have known how far he was from the truth. Maria hadn't spoken to anyone here about her past yet.

Being somewhat exhausted, the group decided to spend the early morning hours resting here in the laboratory which they had uncovered. The nearest passage leading to the upper floors wasn't nearby, and they'd found probably the most direct entrance to the halls which led into the underground excavation site. Maria expressed more interest in the lab than the underground, but truthfully Dismas was rather curious about what the heck Cain had been digging up here.

In the end, some kind of compromise would likely be found. There was definitely no reason for them to go to the upper halls, where Torin and the others would likely be wasting their time. The irony of the situation was that Punch's party, primarily interested in clearing out monster nests, had already found an antique hall filled with jewelry. And Dismas, who had come here to get rich quick and bail, found himself in a room full of books and flasks and chemical ingredients that held no intrinsic value to one such as himself.

Maria seemed perfectly content, sitting on the edge of a desk and reading through the monster manuals which Dismas had uncovered before. The chained man was leaning against the far wall with his eyes closed and it was hard to say if he was sleeping or not. Dismas had rested for two hours but now he was up and pacing again. Cata had found it impossible to sleep. His eyes were dark and his head was tingling as he had spent the last few hours watching his companions and the darkened halls leading out of this room.

The door had been blasted off the hinges long ago.

This meant it was one of those unnerving rooms where you were always left staring through a dark portal, with nothing to block the open passage beyond. And no matter how much Cata tried, his eyes kept being drawn toward the darkness.

"Maria, a moment here," Cata said, calling her over. "I'd like you to take a look through these ingredients."

The book she was holding was pushed closed lightly. She rose from her seated position, hopped down off the desk, and waked over to where he was. She hadn't slept much either, if at all, yet somehow she didn't seem as tired as Cata felt. "Did you find something useful?"
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

I talk to my mom a few times a year but we live in different states and never see each other.

Never met my father.

(Apparently I'm one of only two people who has voted "I only have one parent and we're not that close"!)
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

GK summarizes it pretty well, but the most important thing is the last line.

Just be careful not to pile them all onto a character that was going to hit the stat cap anyway.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

our eyes have yet to open
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

I'd pick Sacred Stones personally, but I know that's the more unpopular opinion.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

I kinda crapped on this in the last topic about it, but after watching the trailer I can admit there are actually some elements of it which do look appealing. Being able to ride around on giant Pokemon is something I would have killed for when I was still actually into Pokemon like ten years ago.

None of it looks good enough to actually make me want to buy a Switch, though, and there are still some fundamental issues with the game. But it is at least a little bit cooler than I was originally thinking.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

it's really not a hard enough game where you need to grind in the arena, anyway.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

crazygamer999 posted...

Could save it in a word document like Google Docs or something

oh I already saved the entire topic. no worries.

having just the chapters uploaded to google docs I think would be really convenient for the players

but it would also be a ton of work!
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

10. King Hippo
(111111111) A. Legendary PUNCH OUT
(1111) B. Front line blocks, back line retreats
(1) C. Everyone run for your lives!

(note: I went and swapped ed's vote over to A from B, under the condition that trdl and xey both voted for option A)
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

Camden posted...

Is it just me, or does anyone else occasionally craft a legendary and then just... not use it? I crafted Geddon yesterday even though I have no real intention of using him in a deck at the moment.

this kinda describes me as well, but more just because I'll go weeks or even months at a time without playing hearthstone anyway.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

hippo is one of the most badass and unstoppable creatures known to man, btw, and based on Matsuda's reaction you should assume that characters in this setting don't even really know about them or what they can do

so this should be fun!
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

"Hey, we're here to have a look around. There's nothing wrong with that," Punch assured him. "It's better to know what lies ahead rather than wondering what might have been down this passage. I leave that to the brainy guys like you."

As the three of them were talking, Matsuda found himself staring at the water. And then, after a time, he realized that the water was staring back at him. "Ah... hm...." For some reason he couldn't really formulate any perfect thoughts, or give a voice to them. He was oddly transfixed by the eyes in the water that were staring back at him.

Or... no... was that fear that had frozen him? 'Not again,' Matsuda was thinking. He couldn't let this kind of primal, instinctive fear rule over him forever. Even if the monsters in this place held a strange power that seemed to chill the bones of humans and paralyze them. He was the only one who saw it, he knew, and he had to act -- he had to speak. It was his duty to do something or warn the others.

The sound of a light splash drew the attention of the others as its wide and massive head rose from beneath the depths.

"Guys!" Matsuda called out, likely a moment too late to mater, all except for the ones who were furthest away from the sitting room and might not have needed the warning. His own eyes widened as he saw a creature unlike any he had ever seen... emerging from below.

Its face and body were somewhat like that of a horse, but far more bulky and massive... and even, he would go as far as to say, fat. Yet that didn't bring down the intimidation factor of the water horse at all as it swam toward the ground with surprising aquatic agility.

Yes, it might have looked like a fat creature, but it certainly didn't look harmless or stupid. It was hard to see its entire body, due to being hidden under the water, but its massive and wide back and shoulders were intimidating enough. It almost looked like a small boulder floating up from the surface and then barreling toward them through the depths.

Now approaching the shallows.

And as its head rose from the water, trails of liquid dripped down from both sides of its snout. Its mouth opened wide. Wider than he'd ever seen a horse go. This thing wasn't like a horse at all. It was something else. It's face opened wide enough to fit a human inside. A pool of water was sitting inside of his jaw, cresting on the inside of his tongue, as he was still partially submerged.

A roar ripped outward from his throat, blasting the four gathered most closely to the edge of the passageway. It seemed to tear right through Matsuda's bones and draw the strength from his body. In that moment he nearly fainted.

The only thing that kept him alive was the surge of adrenaline as he noticed its long and sharp teeth. Two of them, to be particular, tusks on the inside of its mouth, each as long as a sword. And with that massive mouth and the crushing power of those jaws, Matsuda imagined himself being caught inside. He wouldn't just be skewered, his body would be snapped in half with a single bite.

That horrifying image spurred him into action and stopped him from losing consciousness. "Back!" Matsuda screamed. "Back into the depths!" He blasted it in the face at point blank range with the shotgun.

And it kept coming forward.

[End]

10. Welp. Now what do we do?
A. Punch will lead a direct attack on the enemy.
B. Have the front line cover a retreat so the others can escape.
C. Everyone turn and run. Hope for the best.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

"We could lift someone up through the ceiling," Kidd remarked. "Or the girl can fly up there."

"Not until we know it's safe," Punch replied to that, assertively. He glanced around the room and looked to the two exits on the ground floor. "The water there intrigues me. I wonder where it's coming from, and what might lurk below."

"Below?" Owen said, his face turning even more white.

Jamison went to the puddle and knelt down beside it. He put his hand lightly on the surface on the water. "It's only an inch or two deep," he said, his instincts kicking in. When he was analyzing a scene or something like that he always seemed to speak more confidently. It was only in a situation where he had no authority or expertise that his ability to communicate seemed to vanish completely. "But the way the water rises from beneath that section of the floor, and it hasn't flooded the entire room, seems to indicate one of two things. The floor is uneven, or there's something leading below and the water is coming from there."

To that explanation, Punch went to the door and opened it, with Matsuda at his flank to cover him with the shotgun. Beyond the door was a flooded passageway with a few inches of water in it. And, further down the hall, was door on the right hand side which had been smashed down. The water seemed to be originating from down there.

When the party went down the hall and glanced down into those depths, they could see this door held a stairwell that led down into the abyss below. That had been completely swallowed by the water, and because it was filled, the extra water had started filling the rooms above until it had filled as much space as possible.

"Looks like both, then," Jamison observed to himself as he looked up and down the length of the passage. Though it concerned him a bit that a long hall like this one would have uneven ground, it was hard to deny that was the case. The water puddle in the other room was only an inch deep at most, but here, as he went further west, the water was getting deeper. That meant the passage was sloping down in that direction.

Jamison glanced ahead with curiosity. "I'd like to see what is down here," he admitted honestly.

Punch nodded. "Let's go, then."

Eventually the group came across a sitting hall which had sunken into the ground due to its own weight. Perhaps the water damage had added to this but it was also reasonable to say this might have happened on its own. Kidd was getting increasingly anxious due to the fact that they hadn't spotted any enemies, but Zephyr was totally alert as he watched the rear passage to make sure they wouldn't be ambushed.

A lot of water had poured down the sloped passage and into the collapsed sitting hall, and as a result, this room was more than half flooded with water. Jamison was standing at the edge of the open hallway which led to this room, but he was looking straight down into the flooded chamber. Because the ground broke unevenly, most of the water which had filled up from the sunken passages below had made their way down this long corridor and then formed a pool in this room.

There were chairs and dressers and tables floating haphazardly in the space between here and the opposite entrance of the room. Those all seemed water logged in some way or another. The room had a musty smell to it, as well. "It's been like this for quite some time. I wonder if this might have happened right during... well, whatever went totally wrong here."

Now ankle deep in water, Kidd came forward and stood beside Jamison. "Come on, we'll want to turn back now. I doubt there's any reason to go into a dangerous place like this."

"Yes, you're right. I'm s-sorry for my curiosity even taking us this far," Jamison said.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc

If the Fisher Knights had been sent here in force months ago they likely could have cleaned this place out. Instead, those guys seemed to be perpetually busy fighting corruption within the city. It felt odd for an Inspector because, in a way, it felt like they were doing his job. And almost too zealously. That was why he spent a lot of time doing private work. There was never much to do in terms of official business.

Fah had slowed down her walking, as something Jamison said seemed to have caught her attention as well. Because of her ability to walk on top of the sunken soil, and Jamison being thigh deep in the mud, she was actually looking down at him. "I thought that card looked interesting, too," she remarked. She seemed a bit brighter than she had the day before. Maybe it was just the circumstances. "It had a very occult feeling to it. My little sister was a freak for that kind of stuff, so I guess I have an affinity for it as well."

"Y-You have a sister," Jamison remarked. "She-..."

"But yeah it was crazy when that guy got sucked into a black hole, or whatever that was," Fah went on, not really seeming to care or notice that Jamison was having a difficult time responding to her dialogue. "What was that guy's name again? I totally forgot it." There was an odd sense of unashamed ignorance there.

It was a perfectly natural feeling that someone like Jamison couldn't replicate, because he would always overthink the situation. "His name was very bizarre," Jamison muttered simply. That much was true.

"Up ahead," Punch called out to the group which had begun to lag behind. "Come on now, don't sink into the mud. I've found the hole."

Looking in that direction Jamison realized that the break in the wall was large enough. It should have been visible for some time. Yet, for the last few moments, he'd been distracted with other things. Somehow he had failed to even realize how close they were to their goal until Punch had called out to him.

Matsuda and the others joined him as he went with Punch and the others up a slight slope, taking them out of the soil which had absorbed water, and up to a more dry spot of land that was seamlessly blended with broken stones. There were also collapsed piles of rubble and large bricks which sat to either side of the open portal. The inside was dark and dusty, and it was hard to see too deep into there.

"Well, I don't see anything dangerous inside," Zephyr remarked. "Though it's very wet in there, too. Not much better than out here. And if something is hiding beneath the water..."

"Beneath?" Owen inquired, his face turning white. "How deep is the water in there?"

To answer that question, Gunslinger Kidd brought forth a torch and entered the passage first. As he lit it, they could see the inside of what looked to be some kind of antiques chamber. Some of the display cases had been broken... through strain, or something else. It was hard to say. Others were still intact. And while some of the shelves contained scattered idols and statues and jewelry stands, others had been knocked over.

The entire western side of the room was covered in a thin film of water which seemed to be rising up from below. While, at the same time, the opposite door was blocked off by a broken pile of wooden scraps that had rained down from the ceiling. Going over to that hole allowed Kidd to look directly up to the second floor.
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~* Now I only see your dull imposter ~*
https://imgur.com/tdhOSKc