May 7 20XX

“So these Ghouls you encountered … how much of a threat would you describe them to be?” The voice from the radio crackles as it asks.

“Physically, they are formidable. It would probably take a full Execution Team to completely cleanse Winterpine of them safely.” You answer honestly to Benjamin, “But in terms of a threat to exposing the existence of the arcane mysteries, there’s much less danger.”

“Oh?” Benjamin says, “Tend to keep to themselves, do they?”

“Not exactly … but they apparently have some property which prevents them from being noticed by the denizens of the city,”

“Interesting …” Benjamin comments. You imagine he was busy scribbling down notes on the other side of the radio. It was true he could have waited for your full report to reach him, but with the closest secure Templar facilty, the Winterpine Church, possibly compromised, it was uncertain when that report would come. Besides, you knew Benjamin enjoyed these radio check-ins. He was the very picture of the main temple operator living vicariously through his operative’s stories out in the field.

“Interesting, you say?” You liked to think that the two of you were closer than the average Operator/Operative pair, having grown up in the same Templar-run orphanage. Thus, you tended to indulge his interest by telling him of your work more than was strictly necessary.

“It’s strange …” Benjamin comments, “Despite what you said about that concealing property of theirs, it’s strange that the Main Temple isn’t aware of their existence yet …”

“You aren’t? I would have imagined that the last Operative in this city would have mentioned them ...” You say. That was surprising for you too. Any city with an Exorcist in it was considered to have a major Templar presence.

“Well … it isn’t exactly common for the Maverick Exorcist to make a report.” Benjamin says semi-sarcastically, “I’m not sure if she even has an Operator …”

“Isn’t that problematic?” You ask. The intricacies of Main Temple policies often confused you.

“Well … it usually would be,” Benjamin admits, “But an Exorcist like Isolde is hard to rein in, they’re usually powerful enough to handle any problems they come across and very important assets so it usually ends up … challenging, let’s say, to give them orders.”

“I see,”

“You do don’t you?” Benjamin chuckles, “From what I’ve heard though, Isolde is in a completely separate class of her own in that regard … but enough about things we can’t control. Is there anything else noteworthy in Winterpine? Anything I should mention to the Overseers?”

>”No, there isn’t.” Delilah probably wouldn’t appreciate you mentioning her.

>”I met a noteworthy figure actually, a woman who wields a massive Cleaver …”

>”Yes. It is my belief that the Ghoul presence in Winterpine warrants cleansing via Execution Team at the earliest time possible.”

>Other

Welcome to Modern Fantasy Quest, the story of Tristan, a modern-day Paladin in a not-so-secular world.

Updates are daily. The quest is very slow-paced, but hopefully that doesn't get in the way of anyone enjoying it!

Questions/Comments/Complaints are welcome at any time pls no bully

>”Yes. It is my belief that the Ghoul presence in Winterpine warrants cleansing via Execution Team at the earliest time possible.”

>>3713209

>”Yes. It is my belief that the Ghoul presence in Winterpine warrants cleansing via Execution Team at the earliest time possible.”

>>3713233
>>3713406
You've read the previous thread?

>>3713209
>"Are there any other known Templar Operatives in Winterpine?"

>>3713213
>>3713406
Il change to this >”I met a noteworthy figure actually, a woman who wields a massive Cleaver …”

>>3713209
>"There's a woman here, wields a massive cleaver and describes herself as a freelance competition manager. Claims she can and will singlehandedly wipe out the Ghoul presence in this city."

>>3713209
>>3714222
>...And frankly, I've seen her fight. I believe her.

>Talk about Delilah

“Yes there is,” You reply, “There’s a woman here who wields a massive cleaver and describes herself as a freelance competition manager …”

“Freelance competition manager?” Benjamin laughs, “That sounds like a lazily thought-up code word for ‘assassin’,”

“I suspect she is one as well,” You agree, “But as I was saying, this woman claims she can and will singlehandedly wipe out the Ghoul presence in Winterpine.”

“One woman singlehandedly wiping out an entrenched population of monsters it would take an Execution Team a month or so to take care of?” Benjamin chortles, “I’ve heard funny stories from you before Tristan, but this one almost beats out your story about you trying to headpat a little cultist girl … so, would you take this woman’s claims seriously?”

“Frankly, yes.” You answer, “I’ve seen her fight, and I believe her when she says she can exterminate all the Ghouls in Winterpine in a few days.”

Benjamin gives a low whistle, “Well, that’s definitely worth mentioning to the Overseers for sure … I’ll definitely get back to you on what they say about that.”

“Thank you … I doubt that a figure that powerful would be completely unknown and unmentioned in our records,”

“Well, I don’t disagree … but if she’s really as powerful as you say, the Overseers may end up sending an exorcist to take care of her ...” Benjamin muses, “You’ll tell me how that goes down, won’t you Tristan?”

“Of course I will.” You promise.

“That’s good to hear!” Benjamin says, “Anyways, how did you meet this woman? It better not be a boring story about how you saw her forgetting her purse in a cafe ...”

>”We were seated next to each other on the flight to Winterpine,”

>”I happened to encounter her while hunting down Ghouls in the streets.”

>”Actually … that’s exactly how I met her.”

>Other

Also

>Tell Benjamin Delilah’s name

>Don’t mention her name

>Give a fake name

>>3716231
>Don’t mention her name

I don't care how we state we met her, but let's not mention her name, simply because if she gets wind of someone after her, she's going to know EXACTLY who narc'd, and we want at least a modicum of honest defense to say 'we had to report what happened, but I decided not to give too many details.'

>>3716231
>”Actually … that’s exactly how I met her.”

Don’t mention her name

>>3716231
>"I was getting my ass kicked by a Ghoul and she killed it easily. "

>Don't mention her name.

>>3716256
Like anon says, if she gave us a fake name like we gave her one, and they use it, she will know it was us.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

Tie between >>3716494 and >>3716757
I'll roll a 1d6

Odds
>That's exactly how I met her


Evens
>She saved me from a Ghoul

>”Actually … that’s exactly how I met her.”

”Actually … that’s exactly how I met her.” You say.

You hear a sputtering sound on the other side of the radio, “Huh, really? That was just a guess on my part … think I should get inspected for signs of corruption?”

“I suspect the tests will come back negative,” You tell Benjamin, “Spare yourself the effort.”

“I’ll take your word for it then,” Benjamin replies. Even if he was being sarcastic, it was highly unlikely that he had been contaminated. The mental wards of an Operator at the Main Temple were just as strong, or if anything, even stronger than those of their Operatives in the field, “But anyways, I was wondering … how do you learn a woman you met in some cafe is a cleaver-wielding assassin? I guess returning a lost purse would lead to some conversation, but that much? Damn, she’s one talkative lady, huh?”

“No, that’s not exactly what happened … I met her a second time which was when I learned how strong she was.” You clarify, “I was ambushed by a Ghoul which she killed easily.”

“Damn, really?” Benjamin asks in amazement, “How did she do it?”

“She threw her cleaver and perforated it’s chest from a nearby roof,” You answer.

“And how big was this cleaver?”

“Around 1.25 meters in length and 0.25 meters at it’s widest.”

“Shit, that woman is strong …” Benjamin comments loudly, “And you’re now acquaintanced with her?”

“We’re on speaking terms, yes,” You confirm.

“Okay then,what did she say was her name?” Benjamin asks, his tone businesslike again, “It’s probably false, but knowing it might help in a cross-reference with known assassins …”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot tell you that …” You apologize.

“Huh? Why not?”

>”I am not at liberty to expose her identity.”

>”It would not be right to expose the identity of a woman who saved my life.”

>”I don’t know what her name is,”

>”I’ll die if I do

>”Well, actually I suppose she won’t know if I tell you …”

>Other

Hi MoleQM here. Unfortunately, I'm going on a trip for two days and will be unable to update so I'll inform you dear players of my predetermined flaking beforehand.

To replace my updates, I'll give you a hint instead. Currently, Winterpine is a literal powder keg with a lot of things going on behind the scenes. IMO it would be a good idea to make plans for Tristan if you want him to survive. I'll take any plan you guys come up with while I'm gone into consideration for future updates.

Also, before anyone asks, Jungczant is a Mage sanctioned by the Templar. Take that into account.

>>3719278
>”It would not be right to expose the identity of a woman who saved my life.”

It starts with a D

>>3719278
>"I'll die if I do. She can tell when I'm lying, and since I had to sidestep some questions on the Templar she's already pissed and wary."

As for plans, the first thing we need is info. Any local contacts we can hit up who have been in the city a while? The info Isolde gave us seems woefully insufficient.

[+1 Idealistic]
[+1 Pragmatic]

“It would not be right to expose the identity of a woman who saved my life,” You tell Benjamin, “I would be putting her at risk by exposing her name.”

“Eh? Telling me she exists at all puts her at risk,” Benjamin points out, “Once the Main Temple is aware of her existence, they’ll probably release it to all operatives in the general area and categorize her as a rogue magic-user.”

“But while her identity is unclear, management of her as a threat falls under my purview,” You counter, “It will be my responsibility to make sure she does not disrupt the functioning of society as long as I am the only one in a position to manage her.”

You hear Benjamin sigh on the other side of the radio. “This might be true, but you’ll lose favour with the Council of Overseers. In fact, if the woman you were talking about was any less dangerous, you’d probably lose favour for not assassinating her at the earliest opportunity.”

“So you’re saying you think my reasoning is unacceptable?” You ask.

“Well, not really,” Benjamin replies, surprising you, “But it would help if you had any supporting arguments for not giving a dangerous figure’s name when you also want a cross-reference to determine her possible identity,”

“That’s fair,” You admit, “How about this. I’ll die if I do reveal her name. She can tell when I’m lying and since I had to avoid some questions asked to hide my Templar connections, she’s already wary of me and potentially angry.”

There’s a long pause. Then,
“That could work,” Benjamin admits, “You’re the one managing her as a threat, so naturally you have the authority to judge whether it would be too dangerous to reveal her name or not. I’ll report that to the Overseers then.”

“Thank you for your help again, Benjamin.”

You hear Benjamin sigh again, “You know, you could have taken a more pragmatic approach sooner, Tristan ...”

The rest of your check-in with Benjamin passes uneventfully. Before you sign off, Benjamin informs you of a request from Ike for your contact information. You comply and give him your room number, ending your check-in.

You look at the clock. 2:50. You still had plenty of time left in your day to be productive …

>You take the time to heal your wounds with Minor Healing. (Temporarily memorize Minor Healing).

>You take the time to look over Isolde’s notes. Perhaps that will lead to some insight.

>You need to gather information. The closest thing you have to a contact is the Mage Jungczant.

>You should just rest. Yes, resting will do you the most good …

>Other

I'm back now. Sorry for not updating for so long.

>>3727216
>>You need to gather information. The closest thing you have to a contact is the Mage Jungczant.

Might be able to compare notes.

>>3727216
>Heal self so we don't get ganked by another ghoul

>Hit up Jungczant for info

No problem bb

>>3727216
You take the time to heal your wounds with Minor Healing. (Temporarily memorize Minor Healing)

Well, the first thing you should do was heal your wounds. If you were going to do anything useful outside of your room, you would need to be in decent shape. As you were now, you’d definitely be killed if you encountered a Ghoul.

You wince as you hobble over to your Portable Atelier to retrieve your Grimoire. Even if you had faked most of the pain to Delilah, your wounds did hurt quite a bit. No one simply walked off having their bicep shredded, being choked, and being thrown against the pavement.

As soon as you burn the cantrip into your short-term memory, you climb back into bed and get into a comfortable position. This was going to take a while.

As soon as you feel comfortable, you lift your hand to your temple before actualizing the spell engraved in your mind. Channeling your ego into the area of your consciousness warped into a mental magic-circle, you slowly form the shape of the healing spell. First as an impulse which grows into a wish before developing into an abstract concept. You force the conceptual shape of the spell through the small gate opened within your psyche, before repurposing the nerves connecting your brainstem to your hand into a conduit for carrying abstract concepts. Time seems to slow down to a crawl before stopping completely. For you there is only the struggle between your will and the natural functions of your body’s nerves and it is a struggle that seems to last an eternity.
As it flows through your nervous system, your spell only develops further. By the time it emanates from your palm and fingertips, it has transformed from the abstraction of the concept of healing into a physical phenomenon of healing which manifests with a soft green glow. You feel your headache lessen slightly.

You stare at the clock. It was 2:55.

***

Even with all the mental effort involved in casting it, Minor Healing was only a minor Cantrip, one barely sufficient to heal a handful of papercuts. However, layer enough on top of one another and even a Cantrip could reproduce the effects of any spell.
But only at the cost of significant mental strain. After two hours of continuous casting, you were forced to stop by a growing migraine. It was good that you had chosen to heal your concussion first, if you hadn’t, you suspect that your brains would be pouring from your ears by now.
As is, you managed to take most of the edge off your injuries. They weren’t gone, per say, and would probably reopen if you strained them. They even still throbbed slightly. But you wouldn’t need bandages anymore and would be able to move around normally. Time would deal with the rest.

Regardless, you were feeling more than healthy enough to pay Jungczant the Mage a visit. You smile wryly. It was ironic that Delilah had told you about Jungczant as a potential contact when he was already a contact for you, courtesy of Isolde. From her notes, you knew that Jungczant was a sanctioned Mage, a practitioner and researcher of magic which had been permitted to exist by the Templar due to his non-threatening nature. You also knew that he was quite old, being the most well-known for a series of breakthroughs in Magic-theory that had been achieved in a joint project with Templar researchers.

In other words, Jungczant was an old man who studied a kind of magic too stuffy and theoretical to ever affect the real world. But as a mage, he was also a major contact into the underground world of illicit magic. He would also be the first one in Winterpine to discover anything important about the Ghouls. Hence, why you needed to visit his workshop. The question was how you would do so …

>As a full Knight of the Templar, armed with the full contents of your Portable Atelier

>As a representative of the Templar, armed with a single weapon for prudence’s sake (which one)

>Humbly, as a guest carrying no weapons and trusting in Jungczant as a host

>Other

>>3729273
>As a representative, armed with the folding sword for prudence.

>>3729273
Seconding >>3729733

>As a representative, armed with the folding sword for prudence.

There was no need for displays of excessive force or meekness. You would visit Jungczant as who you were: a representative of the Templar. You would arm yourself, but only for prudence’ sake, as well as to remind him of the Templar’s eternal vigilance.

You arm yourself with your Folding Straightsword before leaving. You also pocket your Grimoire, not that you ever went anywhere without it, as well as Isolde’s notes, in case Jungczant wanted to compare notes. Lastly, upon further consideration, you bring your bulletproof windbreaker as well. If you had been wearing it, you might not have been injured as badly as you were last night. You wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

Ready, you step out your room’s door. A few minutes later and you were striding across the hotel lobby. You look around out of habit. Seeing as it was empty except for a tired looking clerk, you decide it was safe to assume you weren’t under covert surveillance. Not that you could think of anyone in this city that would be interested in surveilling you. You were free to travel to Jungczant’s workshop without having to worry.

But how would you get there?

>You’ll hail a cab seeing as you intended to arrive before sunset.

>You’ll take the public transit, it was cheaper than hailing a cab.

>Was there a such thing as a distance too far to walk?

>Other

>>3731173
>You’ll hail a cab seeing as you intended to arrive before sunset.

>>3731173
>Hail a cab

>You’ll hail a cab seeing as you intended to arrive before sunset

You decide to hail a cab. It would be faster than taking the public transit. It would definitely be faster than walking. And you wouldn’t be at risk of running into any Ghouls.

A telephone call and half an hour later, a yellow taxi pulls up in front of the hotel …

***

“Sir, we’re here.”

“Thank you … how much do I owe?”

“That’ll be a hundred and ten,”

“Here, keep the change,”

“Thank you. Have a pleasant day.”

You find that you’ve arrived outside a tall, dark brick building. So this was where Jungczant’s workshop was. You stride through the front doors …

Inside, you find a small, multi-tiered mall. It was quite the varied place. you see an antique shop in one corner, a masseur’s salon in another, a herbalist’s shop in another. There were multiple chinese restaurants … an interesting place. According to Isolde’s notes, Jungczant’s workshop was located among the offices on the top floor.

The whole building was … strange. Instead of sprawling across the ground, the mall was packed tight, the shops in stacked tiers, with only half a dozen shops on each tier. All of this was arranged around a central open space dominated by a tall elevator shaft connected to the different tiers via thin walkways. If you had to describe the building’s construction, it would be defensible. Gunmen on the upper tiers could easily fire on the levels below them. With the elevator disabled, any attackers would be forced to climb the stairs and take each tier individually. But like a regular mall, there were more than a few people patronizing the shops. Although there weren’t many. This place didn’t seem that popular, or at least, not today.

But the top floor was divorced from all of that completely, built on the ceiling of the cavernous space below. It seemed primarily occupied by office space, you saw signs for small banks, insurance companies, dentists. However, more than half of the offices were empty, with blinds drawn over their windows.

It didn’t take you long to find Jungczant’s workshop, although it took you longer than you would have expected. It was at the end of a long hallway lined with empty offices, closed blinds. In fact, the office the notes directed to you had it’s windows blocked by shut blinds as well.

You reach for the door handle, but something makes you hesitate as soon as you touch it.
was this really Jungczant’s office? It was so unassuming and … You feel your mental wards reject the intrusive thought as soon as you realize you’re having it. The office you had found at the end of the hallway was protected by strong memetic defences. That meant it had to be Jungczant’s workshop.

You test the door. It was l̶o̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ unlocked. You d̶e̶c̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶u̶r̶n̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶t̶h̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶.̶ walk inside.

“May I help you?” A friendly feminine voice asks.

You notice a slight pressure on your mind disappear as soon as you enter the office. You must be in the workshop proper then. You look around for the source of the voice. From behind a small desk crammed into the corner of the small room … ah, a secretary. You shake your head. It usually didn’t take you this long to recover from a minor mental assault. You were processing your surroundings a little slowly ...

“Sorry, may I help you?” She asks again.

“Oh? … Ah. Yes. I’m here to see Jungczant.” You say.

“Jungczant is currently busy with another visitor, but he won’t be long.” The secretary replies, before gesturing at a row of seats on the other side of the room, “Please wait. He will be with you shortly.”

The secretary didn’t inquire about the nature of your visit … interesting. Well, you guess a sanctioned mage must have many different kinds of visitors with private business. But you may as well sit down if it’s going to be a long wait …

>You look over Isolde’s notes while you wait

>You look around Jungczant’s office. It’s a rather interesting place

>You try to make conversation with the secretary (what say?)

>You’re not just going to sit around idly. You’re an important visitor! Demand to see Jungczant now!

>Other

>>3733577
>Look around his office
>Hope the other visitor isn't Delilah

>Look around his office

Instead of sitting down, you decide to look around Jungczant’s reception room. To say the least, it was … strangely decorated. Elaborately carved and painted wooden masks resembling nothing human hung from hooks in the otherwise typical-looking office wall. Half a dozen vases decorated with faded multicolored geometric patterns were placed at regular intervals along one wall. In the corner behind the receptionist’s desk, there was a shrine cabinet holding four ebony figurines. Each figure was misshapen, unproportioned, and strangely damaged. One was impaled with dozens of rusted nails. One had splintered pits where it’s eyes, ears, and mouth should have been. One was wrapped in heavy chains.
The last one was almost twice as big as any of the others, looming over and dominating the shrine. It appeared to have been burnt in a fire. It’s stomach was slit, split open. It had a single, massive eye painted onto the blank surface where it’s face should have been.

Finished looking around Jungczant’s office, you sit down in one of the rickety, cheap folding chairs in the reception area. You look at a clock hanging from the wall. Almost half an hour had passed since you got here. You sigh.

>There isn’t much to do except wait

>Look over Isolde’s notes

>Try to make conversation with the secretary (what say?)

>”Hey, is Jungczant going to take much longer?”

>Other

>>3736166
>Ask about the figures
>Ask how much longer Jungzcant is expected to take with the current visitor

>If a good deal longer look over the notes

>>3736166
>Look over Isolde’s notes

Rolled 2 (1d6)

It's a tie so we will roll a 1d6 to determine what option to choose.

>Odds - >>3737164
>Evens - >>3738310

>Look over Isolde’s notes

If you were going to visit Jungczant to compare notes, you might as well review them so you knew exactly what you were talking about when you finally got the opportunity. You pull the thick sheaf Isolde’s notes out of the brown envelope you had been keeping them in. The first thing you decide to review was the information Isolde had on the Winterpine Ghouls …

Winterpine Ghouls (Official Name Pending)
Category: Eldritch
Size: Medium
Body Type: Humanoid
Intelligence: Non-Sentient

Description
Winterpine Ghouls have bodies that resemble that of a human. However, their limbs are slightly elongated and tipped with sharp claws. Their mouths are filled with needle-like teeth. Their bodies appear emaciated and lack hair of any kind.

Abilities
Winterpine Ghouls are highly durable. Their muscles have incredible tensile strength and their bones are hard to the point of stopping pistol-fire. They are also immune to pain. A typical physical attack will not kill one until their vital organs are damaged to the point of immediate non-functionality.
Winterpine Ghouls have strength, speed, and reflexes greatly exceeding that of the average human. At their fastest, their movements are typically faster than the naked eye can track and at their strongest, they can easily impale a human torso with only their claws. However, their attacks are typically uncoordinated.

Behavior
Winterpine Ghouls are ambush predators who hunt indiscriminately. They wait motionlessly on rooftops until they spot prey in which case they will leap onto their backs and drag them to the ground. Winterpine Ghouls are also partial to use their long limbs to their advantage, holding their prey out at arms’ length, too far away to counterattack. As Winterpine Ghouls are ambush predators, they quickly retreat if an attack does not prove immediately profitable. However, they are known to track prey for long distances.
IMPORTANT: Winterpine Ghouls are highly elusive and only attack individuals in groups if they feel certain that the entire group can be killed.

Combat
Winterpine Ghouls are individually very dangerous when encountered in conditions favorable to them (i.e an ambush). They can easily overwhelm the defensive abilities of the average Templar Knight. However, their defenses are extremely weak and comparatively easier to breach once their initial attack is weathered. For hunting, long-range engagement is recommended. Failing that, encirclement to cut off retreat with the killing blow being delivered with a holy or blessed weapon is recommended. Without sufficient preparations, do not attempt to slay the Ghoul. Instead, attempt to survive the first attack and force the Ghoul to retreat.

By the time you finish Isolde’s profile on Winterpine Ghouls, Jungczant still hasn’t finished his meeting. You wonder who could be visiting Jungczant. Perhaps it was Delilah … was Jungczant Delilah’s friend and client? … no, you remember that Delilah had said her friend had been female. But then why would Delilah be visiting Jungczant then?”

You decide you might as well review Isolde’s notes on Jungczant himself. With the help of the index, you quickly find the appropriate documents. Despite her independent nature and disregard for authority and procedure, Isolde’s notes were meticulously organized.

But just as you were about to start reading the documents, you hear a creak from the doorway. The door handle turns slowly. Suddenly, the door is roughly thrown open. At the same time, before the door even hits the wall, something enters the room and, in a blur of movement, launches a barely perceptible roundhouse kick at your head …

>Block it!

>Dodge it!

Roll a 1d100. The First three will be averaged.

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>3738699
>Dodge

At least we know this isn't Delilah.

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>3738699
Dodge it!

Rolled 4 (1d6)

Due to a lack of a third roll, I will roll myself

>Dodge

2-60 - You completely fail to dodge
61-80 - You get away with a glancing blow
81-90 - You dodge but are driven off-balance
91-100 - You dodge completely

>You completely fail to dodge

Before your mind can register what just happened, your body is already reacting, attempting to jump out of your seat. But it was still too slow. There was always a consequence for being caught off guard this badly.

Your ambusher’s heel catches you in the jaw, whipping your head sideways. You are sent sprawling to the floor so quickly you don’t even have the time to think about catching yourself or breaking your fall with your hands. An irrelevant consideration, you lose consciousness before you even land anyways. But your mind fights it’s way back to consciousness. Your mental conditioning would not permit your mind to be in a state of unconscious while danger was so close by. Not even a second after hitting the ground, you groan as you wake up again.

Whatever had entered from the hallway outside was skilled. Fast and brutal. It was also holding back, you doubt something that could launch such a quick and precise kick would have any trouble staving in your skull.

But it wasn’t overwhelmingly fast. You had seen it’s attack before it had landed after all, even had the time to start dodging. You just hadn’t been ready for it.

>But you will be next time. Rise to your feet and counter it on it’s next attack

>But you will be next time. Rise to your feet, avoid it’s next attack, and find an opening

>But you will be next time. Rise to your feet and counterattack immediately

>And you won’t be next time. Surrender.

>Other

Roll a 1d100. The first three will be averaged

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>3741499
>But you will be next time. Rise to your feet and counterattack immediately.

Hopefully we surprise it while it thinks we're stunned

Also OP you rolled a 1d6 not a 1d100

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>3741499
>But you will be next time. Rise to your feet and counterattack immediately

>>3741535
Wow holy shit, that was bad of me.

Do you want me to rewrite the update or just give you guys a free reroll for when a shitty roll legitimately comes up?

>>3742094
Free reroll seems easiest so you don't have to rewrite

>>3742094
Ro roll is good

Rolled 22 (1d100)

Missing one roll so I will do the honors. 1d100 this time I promise

Did it right this but your numbers are still too shitty for Tristan to do anything.

Would you like to reroll one of the previous rolls?

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>3743627
Yes re roll dat roll

>>3743627
In light of other anons roll I do not want to use the reroll.

>>3743815
Anon the first, what say you to your fellow player's suggestion?

>>3744666
Shit guse no te roll then.
Carry on with thr story.
I know we not a full templa yet but we have had some shitt rolls

>Rise to your feet and counterattack immediately

2-50 - You fail to get up
51-60 - You get up but don’t land a hit
61-80 - You land a glancing hit
81-99 - You land a solid hit

>You fail to get up

A normal person wouldn’t have been able to stay conscious, let alone get up, after being hit by a blow that powerful. You push through the ringing in your head, forcing your body into action, forcing yourself onto your knees and elbows through sheer willpower.

… But only to feel your attacker’s heel dig into your shoulder and push you right back down to the ground.

“You thought you could fuck with me and get away with it, did you punk?” Your attacker’s voice rasps. You recognized it from somewhere.

You try to push up against his foot, but as much as you struggle, it proves futile. Your attacker twists his foot painfully. You gasp. It felt like your shoulder was being ground into powder.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you’re gonna find out what happens when you mess with the Marabunta Gang.” Your attacker says, digging his heel even deeper into your shoulder. You had heard his voice before but where? … Of course! You remember now. You had last heard the voice of the man pushing you against the office floor four nights ago, in the workshop of Pastor Daniel … Nathan, his name had been. The non-human who had slipped away from a mob he shouldn’t have known was coming.

“I’m gonna bleed your cocksucker veins dry and leave you for the cockroaches,” The raspy voice, Nathan’s voice, threatened, “Where I’ll dump your corpse, I hope it’ll be days until the police find …”

Suddenly, you hear footsteps from deeper inside the office. Someone was running into the room …
“You! Wait!” You hear Delilah’s voice. “What’s going on here? Explain to me what’s going on?” Delilah didn’t sound anything like how she usually did. Her voice was cold and businesslike, it demanded absolute attention.

“Who the fuck are … You!” You hear a note of recognition enter Nathan’s voice, “Leo … Do you know this punk?”

“I know him,” Delilah answers, “At least well enough to ask why you want to kill him …”

End of Thread

That's it for this thread. New thread on Wednesday. I won't keep you guys waiting for long. Until then, questions/comments/criticisms until thread 404's itself. Since this is the 10th thread, I'd like some constructive feedback. How am I doing? Are you enjoying Modern Fantasy Quest so far? pls no bully

... So yes, Delilah was in Jungczant's office but players saw that coming from a mile away, right?

>>3744786
It's less that Tristan isn't a fully Templar yet and more the Templar can't afford to fully train their Knights before pumping them out onto the field. Same difference, I know.

>>3746226
Thanks for running!

So Delilah also goes by Leo, which is weird because Leo is pretty masculine.

The story is good, only thing is we've gotten our ass kicked a lot recently and are wondering when we can go back to being the ass kicker like in the first few threads.

>>3747130
Thank you for playing and your valuable input anon!
It turns out it's considerably easier to kick overweight Pastor ass than Eldritch Abomination ass. Tristan will run into all sorts of dangerous and deadly things if he continues to do his job. Perhaps the first few threads were only so easy because I didn't want Tristan to die during the tutorial phase?

So here's a hint that will be important to avoid the permadeath that may lie in later threads: A lot of the enemies in this game are better Tango'd with than Tangled with.

>>3747284
I have realized that, and would happily have tangoed with Nathan if he had given us a chance.

>>3747290
It's hard to tango with someone when they're remarkably pissed off with you.

That being said, I'm thankful that /qst/ isn't as full of murderhobos as I feared. Anons are really intelligent sometimes so I hope the puzzles you'll encounter here won't be too easy.

MoleQM here.

I lied. New thread will be tomorrow. See y'all then.

>>3748716
Waiting warmly

Something went wrong with the files I saved for the quest so the update will actually be very early tomorrow morning.