>>5894665

But you’re not going to spend your vacation thinking about work, no you managed to milk some of the journalist contacts you’ve made by leaking the occasional juicy tidbit for one of the very first batch of Full Dive chips and a download pass for the bespoke game developed alongside it. Commercial VR and even neural-haptic interfaces have been around for several years now, but fairly recently the tech seems to have hit a breakthrough…culminating in every nerd’s dream: a full dive VRMMO! [False World Online], even the name gets you excited! This is all you’ve got planned for at least the next week and up to the next month, depending on how long it takes Quadopt’s review team to look over your and everyone else’s design submissions.

Nothing’s gonna tear you from being one of the first to participate in this piece of history. Barring hunger, thirst, or sudden death anyway.

You glance at the time, 1800 on Friday January 21st. Right on time. You slot the custom chip assembly into the back of your vu-glass rig, and watch as the initialization bar ticks to 100%.

Your stomach drops out below your feet, there’s an intense buzzing in your ears that makes your body tense up, and your vision goes black.

>>5894668

You are a ghost, a formless Observer in the center of what appears to be a triangular cathedral made of white and black marble with exquisite carvings seemingly sunk beneath the surface of the stone. You would be standing atop a raised disc of filigreed gold, if you had physical form. Beyond the edges of the dais at each corner to the room stand plinths, behind the plinths are statues more gorgeous and horrifying at once than anything you’ve seen in your life. You gaze on them, and suddenly feel yourself standing before all three and on the dais, all at once.

One of them is a man-sized cylinder of…some material so dark it seems to actively annihilate light near it, giving its separation from reality an ambiguous sensation. A dozen articulating arm-tentacles extend from the side of the cylinder opposite you and support the cylinder somehow while hovering their pincers about an inch from the floor. A thicker armature extends from the top of the cylinder and holds a toroid of the dark crystal without actually making physical contact. Your gaze is drawn into the core of the loop for several seconds, before you tear yourself away and look at the object on the plinth.

It’s a small puck of bright silver metal traced over by shining gold lines of circuitry. As you look at it, an impulse to pick it up and put it where your skull would be flits by your mind.

>Technocrat: A master of all technology that many would call magical. Equally masterful in a support role, crafting exquisite items or augmetics, or diving into battle supported by a horde of manifested constructs. They are not especially hardy, but it is well known that if the flesh is weak it merely needs to be replaced.

>>5894670

The next is a gaunt and elongated humanoid easily twice your height carved out of steely metal. Its proportions remind you of the creepier renditions on elves you’ve seen, whip thin limbs that are too long. A torso too narrow and too knotted in muscle, which peeks out from gaps in armor that seems to grown rather than donned. Its head is the most disturbing part, the lower half is entirely occupied by a maniac grin of sharpened teeth. The upper half a plain of flesh interrupted with three pairs of predatory eyes, each with a differently shaped pupil. The statue crosses two of its arms over its chest. Its other four arms, two of which are clearly mechanical and two of which look like arm-shaped insects, rest on the hilts of carmine greatswords stabbed into the ground.

The plinth before this one bears a disc made of the same metal as the statue. A dull gray rather than the shiny silver of the Technocrat puck, and shot through with veins of the crimson crystal that the greatswords’ blades are made from.

>Cyberator: The undisputed masters of combat. A Cyberator eschews the intangible expertises of the other classes for versatility in warfare. They might equally specialize into killing their foes, enduring punishment, or evasion and trickery. They may even duplicate some of the more directly combat-useful abilities of the other two classes.

>>5894672

The last is an orb formed from delicate fronds and twigs of every organic material you can think of, all subtly twitching, twining, shifting in nature with a wavelike pattern. It reminds you of the contraction of a heart. If a heart was made from intertwined lines of glossy chitin, pale bone, tree bark, skin, coral, and a hundred other substances you don’t even know the names of. It is held aloft from three strands of green-tinged silk that seem to spread into the marble walls of the chapel room, like a tree’s roots or a mycelial net. You swear that there is meaning encoded into the pattern of oscillation on the orb’s circuit, and you almost reach out to grasp it before remembering that you still lack a physical form.

The plinth bears a disc that resembles a spinal disc. The rim of bone encapsulates a ring of pulsing red meat that has a cord of yellow in its center. The entire thing rises up and down a small amount rhythmically. Evidently it breathes.

>Organitech: A biological specialist, they harvest their enemies to benefit themselves and their allies but their hunger is matched by their creations. Capable exquisite success in crafting purpose built creatures to do their bidding, designing lifeforms that grow alongside their users, helping their allies, or fighting at the front.

>>5894674

While looking at the options in the corners you notice a slight change in the lighting of the temple and look up. You only now realize that there is no ceiling to this area, nor is there a sky above you. Instead, far enough above you that it’s impossible to estimate the distance, there is a carpet of twinkling lights that provide dim twilight. They dot the underside of a huge ceiling that appears to be made of fields of metal, bone, wood, crystal, and other more exotic materials in vast fields the size of mountains. The ceiling is held up by occasional pillars of the same, and it seems the pillars are what spread into and become the patchwork above you.

Before the ceiling, before even the walls of the chapel end, there’s a network of ethereal and iridescent purple fog drifting around. It looks like a series of tentacles interlinked, or the maps of mass between galactic superclusters. The entire structure is in just as constant motion as any of its individual pipelines, and it drifting between you and the ceiling is what shifted the lighting earlier. In response to your attention, the threads of fog descend, and in the midst of one tendril you spot a fourth disc. This one shimmers as though it’s only partially real, and appears to be made of a denser form of whatever the mist itself is.

>Psywarden: Users of strange techniques that may be true magic. Their abilities twist the very nature of the world or fundamental aspects of those within it. Their manifestations bestow blessings and cursings to friend and foe impartially, if their master does not teach them discipline. The flimsiest and least straightforward archetype, Psywardens more than make up for these early deficiencies once they mature.

>>5894676

As you examine each disc, you understand the paths they represent. Now all that's left is the decision.

>Select [1] of the following to be your primary archetype
[Technocrat]
[Cyberator]
[Organitech]
[Psywarden]

I'll let this marinate overnight and at least part of tomorrow as well. First to 3 or whatever has consensus when I resume wins!

>>5894680
>[Psywarden]

>>5894680
>[Psywarden]

>>5894680
>[Psywarden]

>>5894680
>[Technocrat]

>>5894680
>[Technocrat]

>>5894680
>[Technocrat]

I'll let votes accumulate until about noon US Eastern time and then post the next update. There are enough votes that we'll go with whatever has majority/consensus. In the event of a tie we'll have a roll-off between tied parties to see who wins.

>>5894922
Alright, I remembered how to do a trip. Good. Here's the real trip

>>5894680
>Organitech

>>5894680
>[Organitech]

Didn't you make this quest last year around this time, with us as an Organitech? What happened?

>>5894680
>[Technocrat]

>>5894934
I did, but then I got a job working 7 days a week and just ran out of time and energy to dedicate to it. Additionally, I ran that one just to knock the rust off my writing skills (which will be an ongoing process here as well). Thirdly, I've gone into the background and reworked...everything. At this point the background lore is new (and contradicts a few of the elements I'd established in Broken Vessels), the tone somewhat different, the skill trees are almost entirely new, etc. etc.

So I figured I'd just make a new one! Hopefully you like it better, I know I do.

>>5894680
>[Technocrat]
Mechamancer, go!

>>5894680

You contemplate reaching for the disk of condensed fog at first. There’s clearly a certain amount of sci-fi flair going on here, and if there’s ‘true magic’ to compete with that then it’ll surely be something powerful. The Organitech is also appealing, its description sounds versatile and powerful.

But everyone knows that if there’s sci-fi flair then the sci-fi archetype is going to be the best pick.


The you standing in front of the ill defined cylinder of darkness and tentacles reaches for the silver and gold puck on the plinth, and the you standing atop the dais slots it into where your left temple would normally be. Your perspectives viewing the statues fade and you think you catch a faint glimpse of neon blue light in the heart of the toroid-head before you’re snapped back into only existing in one location again.


>[[ Primary Archetype Selected: Technocrat ]]
>[[ Are you sure? ]]

You nod your head, feeling a bit of weight and coolness from the disc as you do so.

Then your vision shifts to the edge of the dais, looking back over it with the statue of the ‘robot’ in the background. It’s somehow more jarring than before, since you just had your first bit of actual tactile feedback in full dive. The puck you selected is floating in midair, and a generic body wearing form fitting shorts and a shirt fades into existence around it. Very generic. An interface with several tabs and innumerable sliders and options appears next to you, looks like something you could delve into for hours or days if you wanted. No machine bits aside from the circuit-disk yet though, looks like.

You wonder what the perspective would've been if you picked the fog.

>Select [1] of the following
>Male Avatar
>Female Avatar

>Select [1] of the following
>A little small
>Average height
>A bit above average height
>Maxed out

>Select [1] of the following
>Practically skeletal
>On the thin side
>Average/Athletic build
>Somewhat stocky/built
>Maxed out physique

>Select [1] of the following
>A relatively normal and grounded appearance
>Some sort of distinctive flair, with a theme of…?
>An absolutely outrageous appearance, with a theme of…?

>Write in?

Character art and/or write-ins are highly encouraged.

>>5895097
>Male Avatar
>A little small
>Somewhat stocky/built
>Some sort of distinctive flair: A great, big, bushy, fire red beard with silver ornaments in it

We Dwarven Forgemaxing here.

>>5895097
Sad no organitech, we were just starting to come online last time.

>Male Avatar

Probably for the best, I felt like Sibyllan was kinda sorta like a guy despite the choice to go with a female character. Probably less likely to cause controversy too.

>A little small

>On the thin side

lol

>Some sort of distinctive flair, with a theme of…?

We had a slightly unique appearance last time, may as well add something here as well.

>>5895135
Surely we can do similar things this time around, only with steel instead. Replace an arm with a multitool for quickswapping gear.

My late game goal is building a large, tracked landship akin to the Ratte or the T-35 but bigger to serve as the mobile headquarters for ourselves and our allies/guild, if we make any allies. That'll give us a safe base to operate from even in dangerous territory, instead of having to trek back to whatever safe zone is closest when we want to take a break.

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>>5895097
>Male Avatar
>Average Height
>Average
>Write in: The most average look in existence, if a person was told to describe a average looking person, they would describe you
I think it would be funny if you made like a normal looking guy in a fantasy world

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>>5895097
>Female Avatar
>A bit above average height
>Somewhat stocky/built
>Some sort of distinctive flair, with a theme of…?
Enhanced robotic right arm

File: 1588077001107.jpg (423 KB, 1448x2048)

423 KB JPG

>>5895097
>Female Avatar
>Maxed out
>Maxed out physique
>Maxed out beauty, boobs and ass sliders

>>5895208
+1

>>5895326
Support

File: MC art.jpg (149 KB, 1024x1024)

149 KB JPG

>>5895097
>Male Avatar
>Average height
>Average/Athletic build
>An absolutely outrageous appearance, with a theme of gentleman outifts paired with heavy cybernetic enchantments. The parts not covered with fancy equipment and cybernetic are covered with some fine attire.
Pic related. It doesn't have to be "steampunky", a more sci-fi oriented look would fit. But the essence should stay the same. A unity of class and tech.

File: head.jpg (98 KB, 960x703)

98 KB JPG

>>5895405
For instance, have our headed covered in this kind of helmet. I'm a big sucker for tech helmets and face modifications.

>>5895097
I'll switch to support >>5895405

I'd be fine with >>5895326's image as well, if we end up with a female avatar. Though I don't really think the description of stocky fits the image at all.

>>5895423
Sure, I can change it to
>Average/Athletic build
if it pleases you then

>>5895429
Yeah, that seems about right to me.

I guess I should be more specific and say that I am voting for both >>5895405 and >>5895326, just so I don't confuse QM.

We'll call it here and I'll get to writing. Shouldn't take long.

>Gender
Male - [Locked]
>Height/Build/Physique
Average/Athletic - [Locked]
>General Appearance
Average and Genteel - [Locked]

>>5895097

The thought occurs to you that it might be amusing to leave your avatar as the default, or to sculpt yourself to resemble an average person of the real world. Ultimately the insidious thoughts lose out to the desire for customization.

You end with a male avatar, slightly taller than the average. A strong build without overt bulk, and the refined sharpness of a gentleman in the face. Your hair long enough to be styled, but short enough to not stick out from any masks or equipment you might don. While overt mechanical elements don’t appear to be an option at this stage, you do manage to find some ‘tattoos’ that let you trace out light circuit motifs in faint silver and gold on one of your arms. You use the same effect to blend the socket housing the disk into your hairline. Satisfied with your work, you confirm your modifications.

And then draw breath and feel gravity for the first time as you snap into the body. Sensation hits you all at once, and you feel a smile come to your lips. You flex your hands and take a few steps around the dais, relishing the details and rich feedback. You’d say it’s even better than real life, your senses have never had this sort of raw edge in reality. You smell crackling ozone in the air. You feel mild disappointment from two corners of the room, and a sense of betrayal from above you, but only for an instant.

You move to walk past the edge of the golden dais to examine the robot statue again now that you have all your senses, and check yes on the obligatory “are you sure?” check.

>[[ Projection Appearance Confirmed. Please select Character Name ]]

We'll give this perhaps 3 hours at most. I'll take consensus or my favorite of suggested names.

I have nothing to do tomorrow, so I may be around late into the night tonight. We'll see how tired I get and if I feel I can maintain my writing at sufficient quality.

>>5895509
Billy.

>>5895509
>Billy Elsweyr

>>5895509
>Carmen Valen
>John Prestage
>Cian Hanon

>>5895509
>Cian Hanon
I like it

>>5895509

“Cian Hanon” your voice comes out deep and mellifluous, with a tint of an accent you don’t actually have.

> [[ Welcome, Cian. ]]

There’s a brief whirring sound in your skull, and you feel the device in your temple seem to settle and become complete.


> [[ Return 1 of our gifts, should you wish to engrave another name. ]]

You’re in front of the statue now, and reach out to touch it. The closer you get to the indistinct surface the greater a repulsive force you feel, and your hand tends to divert to the side rather than being able to approach it straight on. God, you love all this full dive shit. You prick your ears as you hear a distant sound of something ripping.

>>5895747

> [[ Offer Celestial Gems at Materialization Altars to create Celestial Equipment, or receive the gods’ blessings. ]]
> [[ Some Altars can create buildings and cities. The rarest can unlock dungeons, create new continents, or couple you to a god’s divine domain - for the right price. ]]

A sense of dread descends on you without warning, and a deep basso rumbling fills your ears.

> [[ Dark forces and the remnants brought together by the gods still vie against each other through the spheres of the False World ]]

You notice the lighting in the chapel change, and raise your gaze back up towards the distant ceiling. As you do, the basso rumbling is replaced by the sound of a million torn throats babbling nonsense.

> [[ Explore the world, summon lost or new territories, and reach the upper spheres. ]]

As your eyes fall upon the tear that has appeared in the ceiling, and the noise in your ears reaches a crescendo, you Observe several things at once. First, though the ceiling has been rended there is no debris falling down. So it must have been peeled away rather than pushed in.

Second, you did not think that there could be a darker black than the crystal of the statue before you. What lies beyond the tear though, proves you otherwise. You shudder involuntarily as your eyes perceive nothing. The dread intensifies.

> [[ Reach the upper spheres, Cian, and repair the Broken Skies…before it is too late. ]]

The nothingness consumes your vision although the gap in the ceiling is small. Dully you feel yourself fall to your knees, your body seemingly growing heavier the longer you stare upwards, but you’re unable to wrench your gaze away.

Out the corner of your eye, you see the golden dais turn liquid and shoot up like a geyser. You pay it no mind, you can’t pay it any mind, you have no mind to pay with, as something begins to stare back at you. Hungry. From beyond the Tear. The clamour of screams stopped at some point, replaced by silence. It is more overwhelming than the noise.

Just before whatever lies beyond can see you, the flood of gold engulfs you. Your vision turns black, the normal sort of black. Your stomach drops below your feet just like when you logged in, and you gratefully embrace a cessation of your consciousness.

>>5895748

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQa7uLw0R-M3zUDOKGCr7pIhXn2hTwxCZf5TP5PXoa0gU_vhqMWDjH--6VHuS7zXTUhwEVakOQMc6HZ/pub

If anyone knows how to get the margins to be unfucked on this, please let me know. It spans the whole page in the Google doc, it's only when it's published like this that lines of text need to wrap.

File: 1520042743203.jpg (132 KB, 704x637)

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Your soul returns to your body and brings your ability to perceive sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste with it.

You find yourself in a soggy meadow between tree roots that are at least twice your height, with a partial roof of similarly massive tree roots growing in a separate layer above those. Only a partial roof because you can see dim light shining past gaps large enough to climb through, and because there are several waterfalls pouring down into your meadow from above.

You step out of the way as you see a new torrent beginning to form right above your head. The new vertical stream is accompanied by the sound of several panicked human voices, then punctuated with a monstrous roar and the sound of cracking wood from above. Maneuvering out of the way of the stream turned out to be quite a wise move, as a man crashes right behind the water and falls in a heap on the ground before you.

"Oh God! Shrike! Are you okay!??

Just hold on, we’ll come get you in a minute!"

You can't tell if presumably Shrike is dead or just unconscious, but he’s not moving so it must be one or the other. A weapon tumbles from the body's hands, coming to rest at your feet.

>Select [1]
-Dagger
-Sword
-Mace
-Spear
-Greatsword
-Other?

You quickly snatch the weapon up as a big, ugly, eight foot tall something crashes through the woody ceiling a distance away. It has eyes all over its body, which only spare you a glance before focusing on Shrike’s body at your feet. Most of its torso opens up, and it unleashes another beastial roar that drowns out the sound of fighting and water, and nearly deafens you in the fairly enclosed space down here. That buys you time though, and you notice several injuries on the monster, it’s not doing terribly well.

>You need to do something. Select [1]
-Discretion is the better part of valor, get out of here.
-Grab the body and book it, to buy time for his friends to come down.
-Grab the body and book it, to buy time to loot his shit, then ditch him and get out of here.
-You were going to have to fight sooner or later, might as well be now.
-You were going to have to fight sooner or later, do your best to defend what may or may not be a corpse.
-Write In?

>>5895751
are you Sylvetican or just heavily inspired by Broken Sky Online? that's probably my favorite quest of all time. Ascheritte cameo when

>>5895770
>Dagger
>Take advantage of its focus on the body to score a sneaky critical hit where two sections of exoskeleton meet

That's probably it for tonight unless I can't get to sleep. We'll pick back up in the morning.

>>5895772
I'm not Sylv, just heavily inspired. This is my second attempt at a BSO clone, and should be longer lived than that last one. Happy to see another Sylv fan is around! Expect most of the FUN elements to reoccur here.

>>5895770
>Sword

I like swords even if they are arguably the boring option here, but I think a regular one handed sword is actually ideal here. Good for cutting off those long legs. That or a spear, for distance.

>Grab the body and book it to a dense cluster of trees. Toss the body down, then go around one of the trees and hide. While the creature is busy eating, hack off its limbs from the back.

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>>5895770
>Other
>A strange Rifle, it looks both antiquated and futuristic at the same time
Or, if we're not allowed a rifle to start with:
>An intricately designed hammer, it seems to hum with a strange power

>You were going to have to fight sooner or later, do your best to defend what may or may not be a corpse.
If this isn't a combat tutorial quest then I don't know what is. We'll surely score some sweet XP if we can defend this man's body.

>>5895770
>-Greatsword
-You were going to have to fight sooner or later, do your best to defend what may or may not be a corpse.

>>5895770
Seems we're tied between
>Use the body as a distraction, then attack the creature - 2
>Defend the body as best you can - 2

And for weapons we've got
>Longcaster/Hammer (it'll be the hammer) - 1
>Greatsword - 1
>Sword - 1
>Dagger - 1

Regardless the lack of consensus, go ahead and give me 1d100 linked to this post. I need at least 3 of them. If we're still tied in 30 minutes and I'm still awake I'll do some opposed rolls to see what plan and weapon win.

>>5895770
>Spear
>You were going to have to fight sooner or later, do your best to defend what may or may not be a corpse.

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>5895873
I'll switch to greatsword.

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>5895873
>>Greatsword

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5895873
No love for the hammer I see, but at least we can make guns later. Final die here.

>>5895770
>Spear
>You were going to have to fight sooner or later, do your best to defend what may or may not be a corpse

>>5895873

I live once more!

>Greatsword
and
>Defend the body
win it

>>5895956
>>5895948
>>5895899
>75, 9, 7
What a perfect set of rolls for testing my dice mechanics. We're not doing Bo3 here by the way.

>>5896110
>no bo3

Good. Thank the gods even. wololololo

>>5895770
Proactive: 9/Negative
Reactive: 75 -10 for Great weapon, 65/Neutral
Mobility: 7/Negative
Overall: Negative

>>5895770

As you scoop up the primitive, brutal greatsword from the ground you consider your situation and look at your surroundings. You’re not sure if this game has starter quests or not, or if this is a scripted event just for you. The latter is unlikely, given that the collapsed body is wearing the same starter clothes as you.

The leathery monster clearly notices you pick up the sword, and begins to stalk forward while emitting a low growl. It has to stoop below the gargantuan roots that make up the ceiling in this space, and as it moves you notice that it appears to be missing the lower half of one of its four legs. The stump bleeds glowing green glowing neon blood that makes a hiss as it falls onto the soggy dirt. Its forward eye clusters are all focused back on you, staring intently to gauge your intent.


Quest or not, you’re not just going to leave the first human you meet in the game to be eaten by this monster. You take a defensive stance, a bit awkwardly but better than you would do in real life, holding the carved bone of the greatsword in a high guard. You keep your eyes on the beast as you step between it and the body. You step, and your right foot plunges straight through a puddle that is as deep as your knee, throwing you off balance.

With a screeching gurgle that almost sounds like laughter, the monster wastes no time in taking advantage of your misstep. Within barely a heartbeat it’s closed the distance and is swinging one of its scything talons sideways at you. You free your foot just in time and bring your sword up to block the blow.

>HP 8/15

The force of the strike lifts you from the ground and you collide roughly with the wood of the ceiling then fall awkwardly on the ground, barely managing to tumble so that you don’t impale yourself on your sword. You leap to your feet in one move and ready for a followup charge and attack, but the monster seems uninterested in you now that you’re out of the way. Instead it is busy shoving the whole of Shrike’s body inside the vertical maw that occupies most of its body, notably not biting down while it does so. In a moment it has him inside, the leathery plates covering its back and abdomen distending apart to accommodate the body within. It turns around and looks at you again, growls lowly, then looks at the gap in the ceiling it came from. You are now between it and its exit.

There’ve been a few death curdling screams punctuating the noise of fighting from up above in the past few seconds, some human and some not. The waterfalls pouring down around you have become tinged with neon green and red, throwing strange shadows everywhere.

>What do you do?
-Write In?

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>5896130
>Run, find the voices and try and meet up. If it catches up, turn and slash.

We need to run, this system is more like Deniable Asset quest by Fall Guy than your standard bo3 system. We are weak, this monster is clearly tougher than us and the party of players hanging around. Also I don't want to lose our Identifier.

If it sprints after us then it will have trouble overcoming its inertia, whereas if we know it is faster than us then we can slow down for a quicker turn around. We should have reach advantage if we are proactive.

>>5896145
This, let us try to meet up with the others, I highly doubt we can save Shrike now. We're making a gentleman's retreat.

>>5896145
Deniable Asset quest huh? Never heard of it, but that dice system is neat.

I based mine off of Citizen Sleeper, actually. Where there are broad ranges for Pos/Neut/Neg.

100: Crit Positive (counts as 2+ Positive depending on context)
68-99: Positive
Neutral: 26-67
Negative: 2-25
Critical Failure: 1

On a given combat round, a plan of action is proposed. Any given plan of action will have a core category, and then two secondary categories. The dice rolls for each category define success/failure in that category, and the overall success/failure of the plan is determined by summing everything together. Neutral results indicate success but usually with drawbacks or caveats. The core category gets the highest roll every time, the secondary categories get the middle and low rolls based on QM discretion of the emphasis and difficulty of accomplishing their objectives in the action plan.

The core of the last turn was Reactivity (defense, studying your opponent, waiting for opportunities). Offense and mobility were both secondary and not emphasized, both failures anyway, and you don't have any gear to do anything fancy yet either.

Narrative guidance aside, there are tables for each combat category that provide effects based on the roll in that category and overall result of an action plan. The table results that you guys got were
Proactive: Neg Overall/Neg Category - Out Dam x.5
Reactive: Neg Overall/Pos Category - Inc. Dam x.75, +5 to rolls next round (bonus cancelled due to mobility result)
Mobility: Neg Overall/Neg Category - Move up to ~10m, -1 table result to Pro/React

It's all still a work in progress, so don't depend too much on this explanation as I'll certainly be tuning things going forward.

>>5896161
Summing pos/neut/neg results together, not the dice numbers that is.

>>5896161
Yeah, didn't know it was based off of Citizen Sleeper, but I figured it was something like that based on our choice and why my 75 was chosen for reactive despite being the first roll.

I think I like this core resolution method better than Broken Vessels, though I haven't reread it, so my memory of it isn't the strongest. Last time I did a couple of effort posts near the end of the thread during/after the boss battle regarding your question on difficulty labels. When I have the time I might write up similar thoughts on this system when we know more about it.

So far the issue I see right now is the rigidity of what is considered positive and negative, obviously circumstantial modifiers are there, thankfully, but the rigidity doesn't really seem to account for easy/hard scenarios - though those could just be modifiers - or for the strength/nature/form of the enemy/challenge. There's also the less granular effects than the d100 degrees of success you had in the previous quest, which can be easier on you, but also a bit less nuanced with only 5 categories of effect.

I haven't really looked at the googledoc in detail yet, so I'll hold off on giving any thoughts on the skills and stuff just yet.

>>5896172
I think that hard and fast delineation between positive, negative, and neutral is a feature rather than a bug actually. Oftentimes I find it hard to truly hurt or even endanger my players, a more rigid system with clearly defined results should make it easier on me as a writer to hold you guys to the consequences of your actions.

As for nuance regarding easy/hard scenarios, the nature of the enemy, and all that, I see where you're coming from. I have a few solutions I'll try out through the course of things. The most obvious of which is that multiple rounds of combat might occur within one plan of action, dividing up the challenge into stages that are all roughly the same difficulty.

Anyway, all feedback is welcome!

>>5896182
Within a plan of action isn't quite the right word. "To execute a plan of action" might've been better. For instance, circumstantially, attempting to clip a dragons wings may or may not go all at once or be divided between getting onto the dragon and then hitting its wings. In the latter case you'd have a bonus to attack once you've clambered atop the creature, and attacking various points might also multiply damage dealt inherently. I'll feel out what I think works best over time.

>>5896159
>>5896145

We'll be going with
>Flee towards the voices, but with an elegant air. Retaliate if possible.
Unless a different plan gets massive support within 30 minutes or so.

Gimme 1d100, at least 3 linked to this post. I'll roll any missing dice after 30 minutes, so feel free to roll more than once.

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>5896190

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>5896190
this dice system will allow for far fewer hype moments from over the top write ins but I'll roll with it

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>5896182
>>5896184
I'll try and reply to this later.

>>5896190
Third roll

>>5896198
Maybe I'll add in some mechanism that let's you bet it on a Bo3 or something. I'm after a vibe not any specific mathematical consistency.

Writan'.

File: Liminal Tree.jpg (253 KB, 1280x720)

253 KB JPG

>>5896190
Rolls: 77, 29, 58
Write-In, decent, +10 to lowest roll
Proactive, Tertiary: 29+10, 39/Neutral, Pos/Neut [Out. Dam. x1.5] w/ Mobility [+5 to next rolls]
Reactive, Secondary: 58 -10 for GS, 48/Neutral, Pos/Neut [Inc. Dam. x.75] w/ Mobility [+5 to next rolls]
Mobility, Core: 77/Positive, Pos/Pos [Cross up to ~30m, +1 to table result for Proact and React, +5 to next rolls]
Overall: Positive

>>5896130

You crouch in your battle stance, bone ‘greatsword’ at the ready near your shoulder. The monster’s eyes flicker between you and the hole behind you, perhaps 5 meters away. It’s not in great shape, between its chopped off leg, its distended torso and abdomen where Shrike was stuffed, and a gouge that goes straight to bone that you must’ve inflicted unintentionally when you blocked. The last wound in particular is streaming glowing neon blood onto the ground, where it mixes with the rainwater pouring from the ceiling and casts a shifting underlight on everything around it.

But you’re not in great shape either, and you’re willing to bet it can more than outlast you. You’re not sure what the death penalty is in this game, but you don’t want to find out within literally the first 5 minutes of logging on. So you back away, maintaining your readiness and keeping your eyes on the monster as you do so. It doesn’t follow you, instead it mimics your actions, backing away from the puddle of light from its blood and fading into the gloom of the meadow, behind a few curtains of water.

As soon as you lose track of it you turn and bolt for the hole. This is the first time you’ve traversed ground in your avatar, perhaps because of that or perhaps because of the fear of virtual death you cover the ground between you and the opening in a flash. Your body feels lighter than it should, or maybe you’re stronger than you should be, and a flying leap let’s you catch hold of a notch in the roots one-handed. The hole is a like a window to the sky, and you see the underside of a vast tree canopy as far above you as the top of a skyscraper would normally be. Glowing, fleshy flowers hang heavy from the underside of limbs every now and then, providing most of the illumination you’ve been using to see so far. The rest comes from glowing insects and lichens and mosses that festoon most surfaces or drift through the air. You absorb the view in an instant as you leverage yourself up and out of the hole with a quick series of hops and kicks, landing on a relatively flat expanse of wood maybe 60m across. Spikes just up from its surface every now and then.

File: Ship Creature.jpg (988 KB, 3008x2005)

988 KB JPG

>>5896239

You only get time to catch a glimpse of the corpses of two monsters similar to the one you were just fighting, surrounded by several partially dismembered human bodies, and 3 people still fighting a third of them, perhaps 20m away. You only catch a glimpse because nearly as soon as you gain your feet, mats of glistening red veins and tendons launch themselves from the ground around you.

Your greatsword screeches through the air and bisects one of them before it can hardly leave the ground. On instinct, you carry through the arc of the swing and bisect another at the apex of its leap.

>[[ Cian has slain Seeder Brood Stem-Mat ]]
>[[ Cian has slain Seeder Brood Stem-Mat ]]

A third impacts you from behind before you can effectively intercept it.

>HP 5/15

It immediately begins to attempt to engulf and restrain you, sticky tendrils of red spreading across your body and growing membranes between them with lightning speed. You yell at you force the blade of your weapon between your body and the enemy, slicing through before it can completely entangle you.

>HP 7/15, +2 regen granted by [ Seeder Brood Stem-Mat ]

“GET IT OFF OF YOU before it- ” you hear a shout from the same voice as earlier, cut short by a scream that makes your insides vibrate uncomfortably.

You see more of the carpets of red flesh moving around the battlefield now, encapsulating the severed body parts of the deceased players and wrenching the dead monsters to pieces before scurrying away. The players fighting the monster appear dazed after its scream though, and you can tell it’s on its last stand from over here.

>What do?
>Get this thing off of you, then hunt more of these flesh carpets before they steal all the loot. The players killed two large monsters already, they can handle a third.
>Get this thing off of you, then go deal the final blow to the larger monster before it gets to one of the dazed players.
>Actually you doubt there are any negative catches to this regeneration, leave it on while you do something else.
>Why the fuck isn’t that other monster climbing up the hole after me? Be on your guard for an attack from an unexpected angle.
>Write-In?

>>5896242
>Get this thing off of you, then go deal the final blow to the larger monster before it gets to one of the dazed players.

>>5896242
>Get this thing off of you, then go deal the final blow to the larger monster before it gets to one of the dazed players.

As much as I'd like the loot so as not to be practically gearless, we probably need to make sure we don't lose more players when we are in a hostile area swarming with lethal critters capable of killing entire parties.

Also, I totally don't trust something with "seeder" in its name to have no negative side effects for offering regen. In BVO there were plenty of things with mixed positive/negative effects.

I'd also be fine just looting players/killing flesh carpets or looking out for the other monster. Not really super adamant about helping the others. Our life is the most important thing, and the players could have armour or healing items on them.

>>5896242
>>Get this thing off of you, then hunt more of these flesh carpets before they steal all the loot. The players killed two large monsters already, they can handle a third.

>>5896242
>>Get this thing off of you, then hunt more of these flesh carpets before they steal all the loot. The players killed two large monsters already, they can handle a third.

>>5896242
>Get this thing off of you, then go deal the final blow to the larger monster before it gets to one of the dazed players.
We're healed enough

>>5896242
>Get this thing off of you, then go deal the final blow to the larger monster before it gets to one of the dazed players.
Gotta save potential future Guild members here.

>>5896294
>>5896290
>>5896288
>>5896273
>>5896251
>>5896244

>Get this thing off of you, then go deal the final blow to the larger monster

Gimme at least 3 d100s to this post please, then we'll write this out.

Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>5896315

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>5896315
Oh lord.

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>5896315

>>5896242

The sensation of having what amounts to a rug made of meat hugging you from behind and trying to seal your limbs together is a horror you never thought you’d encounter in life. Frankly, you’ve had quite enough of this experience even after just a couple of seconds.

>HP 9/15, +2 regen granted by [ Seeder Brood Stem-Mat ]

You thrust your blade into the wood at your feet and reach behind you to take hold of the mass of wriggling tentacles and blood slicked leather attempting to burrow into your back. You feel a dull throb as tendrils that sunk into your skin and muscles are stressed beyond their breaking point, and you let out a grunt of exertion while using every muscle in your simulated body to slam the creature into the ground.

>HP 8/15
>[[ Cian has slain Seeder Brood Stem-Mat ]]

It twitches once, but a barrage of instinctively revulsed kicks puts a quick end to that. Looking up from the now-still mass you see that the looming beast is closing unsteadily with a tall, broad woman holding a silvery branch as tall as you are and desperately attempting to stumble away. The other two are dressed in the same starter cloth as you, one is slumped on his knees fumbling to pick up his sword. The other is still stunned and trying to stand up, his eyes meet yours for a moment as he uses his arms to get up on his hands and knees, then he looks back towards the woman and the monster. You spare a glance for the monster and player corpses being carried away by the Stem-Mats, but you don’t have time for them right now.

Without a moment to waste you pick up your greatsword and sprint across the uneven surface of the root. Just as it is about to slam its upraised blade arm into the woman you leap towards its back. The moment your feet leave the ground, the creature whirls around and makes to acquaint your skull with its scything talon. You barely manage to twist your body and bring your blade up to throw its aim off, turning a decapitation into a minor scrape against your scalp instead. Then you slam bodily into the toothy maw that is now facing towards you, and your sword slams through the same to emerge out of the leathery plates of the creature’s back.

>HP 7/15
>[[ Cian has slain Seeder Brood Lesser Huntress, Assist: Adamas, Trish, Crispen ]]

>[Cont]

>>5896380

The lesser huntress collapses to the ground under the impact, right beside the tall and broad woman. You don’t even have a moment to collect yourself, as the next thing you know you’re lifted bodily off the ground and smothered in what must be the maxed out bust size.

“Ahah! I knew you’d come to the rescue, Shrike! You had me so worried there for a second!”

The blood and wounds covering the comely woman you’re being pressed into certainly helps you in keeping your head. The cold rain pouring down probably assists as well. You push against the woman’s rock-hard abs to gain enough space to make yourself heard.

“Miss, unhand me! I’m not Shrike! He got grabbed by one of those things, it’s probably still lurking under our feet as we speak!”

The jubilance instantly drains from the woman’s demeanor and she drops you unceremoniously. She takes a look at you, as if to confirm you’re indeed not Shrike, and then grabs her improvised wooden great hammer.

“Oh. Well shit, sorry then my guy. In that case, I gotta go. Thanks for the save though.”

“Go where, Trish? If that big one got him then he’s already done for. It’s just a matter of seeing what the respawn mechanics are now.” a third voice, you turn around and see it belongs to the man who made eye contact with you earlier. He’s tall, long cascading blonde-white hair, pale skin. Yeah, okay mr. totally-not-griffith.

“We don’t know that, Adam. Hey Mr. Posh, was Shrike for sure dead? Like limbs cut off or bleeding out or anything like that?”

“So uhhh, anyone else worried about the loot that’s slithering away right now…? No? Just me? Well, okay then.” the man who had been fumbling for his sword earlier gathers himself and walks over, eyeing the stem-mats that are retreating off into the distance in one direction. You note it’s a bone weapon similar to the one in your hands, but much smaller. “Appreciate the assist by the way, Cian I’m guessing.”

>[Cont]

>>5896406

Your conversation is interrupted as a guttural bellowing resounds all around you, drowning out the sound of falling water. It’s followed shortly by a wet whumping sound, and something that is altogether too close to what you imagine godzilla would sound like walking through a giant swamp and shattering massive trees and roots as he goes. All of you snap your heads to the direction it’s coming from, then the conversation resumes with a greater sense of urgency.

“Listen, Trish” Adamas says “I’m not saying we don’t go after him, I’m just saying that shelter and safety should be our priority for now.”

“Whatever we’re going to do, let’s do it quickly.” Crispen says, while kneeling next to the dead huntress and touching his temple. “Here, your share.” He takes his hand from his temple and points two fingers at you. You feel a sense of invitation, and accept it, but don’t bother to read the popup in detail.

“I get you, guys, but that’s my actual in real life brother and I’m not just ditching him.” Trish says, but her body language isn’t nearly so determined as her words.

You feel like a bit of a bystander here. You can either embrace that or change it.

>Actually the huntress that grabbed him seemed to be deliberately delicate, and it was bleeding heavily so it might have left a trail.
>My vote’s for hunting down the loot. What are the chances whatever is big enough to make those noises would pay attention to little old us?
>Shelter and safety sounds really good right about now! Count me in please!
>Other?

>Do you opt simply to accompany someone? [Who?]
>Do you opt to go solo with whatever you choose?
>Do you persuade one of them to accompany you? [Who?]
>Do you persuade the group to stay together? Do you join them?
>Other?

>You have [1] EXP
>Spend it to increase your health.
>Spend it on a Mastery Tree (Acquiring a skill)

>>5896408
>>My vote’s for hunting down the loot. What are the chances whatever is big enough to make those noises would pay attention to little old us?

>go solo if no one comes, if someone does join them

>Spend it to increase your health.

>>5896408
We will continue either after 7-8 Eastern Time this evening, or at some point tomorrow. I may run the EXP votes in the meantime, or I might let it sit since it's part of character building.

>>5896408
>Actually the huntress that grabbed him seemed to be deliberately delicate, and it was bleeding heavily so it might have left a trail.
It didn't harm him, it seemed like it was interested in taking him somewhere without harming him. He could still be alive.
>Do you persuade the group to stay together? Do you join them?
Persuade them to stay together, wherever Shrike was taken is likely gonna have a boss fight and big time loot

>>5896408
>Actually the huntress that grabbed him seemed to be deliberately delicate, and it was bleeding heavily so it might have left a trail.
More EXP means more power, getting an easy kill should be possible if we hurry. Also we get to save the dude, that's always a plus. More people means more safety.
>Do you persuade the group to stay together? Do you join them?
Persuade them to stay together. The bigger the group, the more likely we are to live instead of die.
>Spend it on a Mastery Tree [Pseudautomation, 20CC, Passive, 25 Charge ]
Start on the path to mechanical minions. Pseudautomation will give us some collector minons to harverst resources passively(I imagine?), next level we can get attack minions so we can fight more monster for more EXP or Capsule Crafting to use what our little harvesters have gathered to make (hopefully) HP Consumable or the like.

>>5896623
Actually, Capsule Crafting requires a specific forge to craft any items, so it's better purchased later when we have access to it. Likely is it that we'll need some similar station to craft minions, since we couldn't just craft minions last time we did this quest. I'll swap my vote for Pseudautomation to:
>>5896408
>[Resource Scan, 10CC, 10+ Charge] - Makes a map of your surroundings, including nearby valuable resources.
Help us and our friend collect resources while we're still out here and also increases our HP.

>>5896623
We're handling exp votes in a specific way to keep things fair, or else voting for HP increases would never have a chance to get selected.

First we do HP or Skills, then which Mastery (skill) tree, then which skill under that tree.

>>5896719
Hmm, come to think of it voting for HP might remain as an option at every stage since some anons might not get the tree they're after and opt for HP at some point.

>>5896649
>>5896623
Either way, I'll count these as votes for skills rather than HP for now. There'll be additional rounds to determine which Mastery Tree and specific skill under that Mastery tree.

>>5896408
>Actually the huntress that grabbed him seemed to be deliberately delicate, and it was bleeding heavily so it might have left a trail.
We're the hunter now
>Persuade them to stick together
We're still in one piece and the beast can't take us all on, the way it's wounded.
>Spend it on a Mastery Tree (Acquiring a skill)

>>5896649
>>5896623
Unless specifically noted otherwise, your abilities can be used without needing supplements. I've also done a complete overhaul of the crafting system. I liked the core ideas of BVO's crafting, but the cluttered and mechanically dense behemoth I created was awful. It's much more streamlined for Organitechs and Technocrats both now, without sacrificing the cool aspects that were present before.

>>5896408
>Go after Shrike
>Persuade the group to stick together

Give me d100s until we either roll <25 3 times or roll >25 twice

>Spend EXP on a Mastery Tree [LOCKED]
>Select [1] Option from below

>[ Virtual Crystal ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases Charge Capacity and Generation
>[ Artifice ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - For every 3 levels, the items you use have more or improved effects
>[ Transcendent Machinery ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases CC
>[ Psybertech ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases HP
>[ Personal Path ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - No Passive Effects
>Increase HP 15 -> 28

I need to do some plot outlining and such, but I'll get the next update out at some point today.

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>5897314

>>5897314
>>5897314
>>5897325
>Virtual Crystal ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases Charge Capacity and Generation

Rolled 61 (1d100)

>>5897314
>[ Virtual Crystal ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases Charge Capacity and Generation
>>5897325
Holy based

File: Impressive, very nice.gif (384 KB, 400x170)

384 KB GIF

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>5897314
>[ Transcendent Machinery ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases CC
Since we don't need special tools it seems, we can get little gatherer drones easy.

>>5897325
>Critical persuasion roll

>>5897325
lmao

No more rolls required for this check bois

>>5897314
>[ Psybertech ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases HP

>>5897314
>>[ Virtual Crystal ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases Charge Capacity and Generation

>>5897314
>>5896408

“Actually the huntress was deliberately delicate with him, like it wanted to take him alive.”

“T-take him alive?” Trish’s face contorts at your words.

“That’s inte- …not good.” Adamas doesn’t quite catch himself quickly enough to avoid Trish’s glare.

“Well uhh, my vote is that we either go after him before it gets where it’s going or run far away before it gets where it’s going.”

The giant footsteps continue to echo through the swamp. You can’t tell if they’re getting louder or not.

“I’m going after him. You guys can come along or not. I didn’t really plan to put this in my build, but there’ll be healing in it for anyone who comes with me.” Trish says while thumbing through some virtual menus. Shortly afterwards, she points a hand out towards the huntress’ corpse and a flood of transparent jelly floats out. It covers the body and proceeds to dissolve it within a few seconds, before evaporating into nothingness itself.

“I’ll accompany you,” you opt in, earning an appreciative look from Trish. “And you should come as well. We’ll be safer in a group, and this might lead to a boss.”

“Fine, we’re just as likely to find shelter and safety that direction as any other I suppose.”

“I’m down too,” Crispen says “just give me a second to spend my exp and see if those blobs left any of the gear the others were carrying before the ambush.”


>Trade out your greatsword for some other simple melee weapon? [Which?]

> [ Virtual Crystal Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ]
>Charge Capacity Increased to 135
>Select [1] Skill from the Virtual Crystal Mastery tree under the "Available Masteries/Skills" heading of the document below
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQa7uLw0R-M3zUDOKGCr7pIhXn2hTwxCZf5TP5PXoa0gU_vhqMWDjH--6VHuS7zXTUhwEVakOQMc6HZ/pub

>>5897760
>Or select to spend your EXP to increase HP from 15 ->28

Your group manages to get away before you even catch sight of whatever was making the noise, you’re long gone under the ceiling of roots and following the swirls of neon blood by the time you hear an angry roar. The trail takes you into a corner of the meadow, a tunnel wide enough for two people to walk down has been chewed into the wood there, and slopes down sharply. It’s surprisingly well lit, between the puddles of luminescent blood and glowing slugs that seem to like to crawl on the walls.

You follow the tunnel for a while, making nervous smalltalk as you go. Trish is an Organitech, Crispen a Psywarden, and Adamas is a Technocratic brother. They and the other players had all spawned in about 2 hours previous, and after some persuasion from one of the now deceased they’d decided to gather people up before moving through the clearly dangerous swamp.

Strange, you didn’t think you spent that long on character creation.

They’d gathered up a total of 15 and were just about to move out when the ambush occurred.

“It was bad man, before we even knew what was happening those mats started falling from the tree up above. One slapped on me, and I made the mistake of letting it stay there to get the regen. After a few seconds they…I don’t know, burrow into your nerves or something? Don’t quite paralyze you, but it’d be hell to get it off on your own. Shrike had just torn mine off when that huntress got him.” Trish explains. “Speaking of, wish that bastard would respond to my goddamn messages instead of letting my stomach get twisted in knots like this.”


“I don’t think it was the work of animal instinct, not that many all at once.” Adamas says.

“Perhaps False World is going for a full sweep of the game awards this year, not just graphics but AI development as well.” you say while navigating your UI to familiarize yourself with it. All the standard functions are here. You’ve already added everyone to your friends list, and Adamas set up a party for your group. You think you’ll spend your EXP on the [Virtual Crystal] tree. Although the Manhack drones, two milky white crystal oblongs with a series of razor sharp golden triangles orbiting them, that Adamas has do make you somewhat jealous. “By the way, have any of you gotten back in touch with any of the dead? I’m curious what the death penalty is.”

“Nothing yet.” Crispen shakes his head. “Maybe there’s a timer on the respawn, or maybe there’s a range limit on the message function? Not sure man, I’ll be worried if we still haven’t heard anything after we grab Shrike back.”

>>5897762

There are several other tunnels that meet up with this one that seem to lead to caverns of all sorts and sizes, and you wonder how you’ll manage to find your way back to the surface once you’re done. Just as you begin to think the monster shouldn’t have been able to get this far while missing a leg and laden with Shrike’s body, the tunnel transforms from tree roots and rocks to veins that pulse with neon green. Shortly afterwards, there’s a sphincter.

> [[ Underground: Ancient Arcadia – Coastal Swamp District // Approaching Dungeon: Seeder Brood Minor Hivesplinter ]]
> [[ There are [1] Players currently in the Dungeon. Your party will be merged with the existing players. PVP is disabled in the Dungeon. Proceed? Y/N ]]

“Finally! Let’s go!” Trish smiles and pushes through the pulsating orifice, quickly followed by the rest of you.

You emerge on a platform that sits on the wall of a vertical silo of flesh. The air in here is overwhelmingly hot, humid, and putrid. You are perhaps halfway up the silo, and if the curve of the wall is consistent all the way around it is perhaps 50 meters in diameter, perhaps a few hundred meters tall. You can’t tell for sure, because most of the center of the silo is a bundle of intestines that hang from the ceiling far above you. The ropes of guts are in active use, some pumping an outrageous amount of gore through themselves, others appear to contain streams of minerals that become increasingly pure looking as they descend or exotic plant matter suspended and slowly disintegrating in transparent slime, still more have contents you don’t even know how to properly describe. They’re contained at regular intervals by rings of bone that are supported from the walls by bridges of spinal columns, and connected to each other occasionally by what appears to be huge versions of the stem-mats.

They twitch and turn over each other, and as you watch a spinal bridge much like yours detaches from a bone ring, reaches into the mass of intestines, and sticks a needle the size of you through the wall of one of them that seems to be carrying a million fist-sized diamonds suspended in pale white slime. You hear liquid flowing, and after a short time the spine stops taking succour and resumes supporting the bone ring again.

>>5897772

You’re so distracted by the sight of everything that you nearly jump when Trish shouts “It’s there!” while pointing towards the right of the bone ring you have a path to. The engorged huntress is indeed there, and appears to be trying to gouge its way through an empty intestine. You’re separated by a few dozen meters, it’d be no problem to cross it if not for the 10 or so stem-mats in your way. They seem to be the same ones that stole all the loot earlier, evidenced when one upchucks a distinctly human arm and then reconsumes it.

>What do?
>11 enemies versus 4 players shouldn’t be an issue, charge in and hope you can cut your way through in time or get to the huntress before it gets through the intestine.
>Maybe saving Shrike isn’t worth drawing the ire of a giant flesh silo and all its denizens. Time for you and whoever else has some sense to leave before you make anything angry.
>You know, that’s an awful precipitous drop, what if you were to accidentally bump one of your teammates down to the bottom?
>Other?

>Did you ask any other questions of anyone while making smalltalk?
>Write-In

Should I make my updates more concise? I worry I'm too wordy.

>>5897774
Voting for deconstruction beam as it seems like the most immediately useful for our time sensitive situation. Use it to sever or damage the intestines high enough above the huntress that she can't use it to gain entry and then engage the stem-mats

>>5897760
>[Deconstruction Beam, 20CC, 40 Charge] - Emit a disintegrating beam from your Virtual Crystal.
It seems the most useful for this situation. Then again, maybe the Disrupting Beam would be better, so that we can loot the bodies later on and not disintegrate Shrike while he's in the huntress lol.
>>5897774
>Have Adams strife the stem-mats with his drone while our Cyrstal strikes at the Huntress, preferably her legs. We should then try to clear out the mats or have the drones distract the mats enough to have us reach the huntress and finish her off.
When it comes to the questions:
>Do they know each other from before
>What builds are they planning to do

Also, the writing is good QM, keep it up.

>>5897774
>>5897760
>Trade out your greatsword for some other simple melee weapon? [Which?]
Nah
[Deconstruction Beam, 20CC, 40 Charge] - Emit a disintegrating beam from your Virtual Crystal.
>>5897855
+1

>>5897774

>>5897934
>>5897855
>>5897790

>[Deconstruction Beam, LOCKED]
>Cut the legs out from under the huntress with the beam, direct the Adamas to distract the mats with his drones while you finish the huntress off

A plan formulates in your head in a second. You spare a glance at the first sized tetrahedron of eldritch black that's been orbiting your head since you slotted your EXP into the [Virtual Crystal] tree. A distinctly ungentlemanly smile creeps across your face as excitement to finally see what the skills in this game are like overcomes your desire to stay in character.

>Gimme 1d100 to the post, at least 5 of them. 30 minute window, so roll more than one if we don't get enough.

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>5897965

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>5897965
>>5897987
welp

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>5897965
Lets see what we have cooking

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>5897965
>no real bonus for nat 100
>no bo3
>5 rolls for a single round
This seems like an excessively brutal dice system

>>5898029

Well I'll concede that at level 1, wearing starter gear, wielding an improvised weapon, and without knowledge of what your advantages are and how to leverage them you're in a precarious position whenever combat happens.

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>5897965
rollan again
>>5898045
A fair point

>>5897987
>>5897998
>>5898011
Proactive: 49 +15 for ambush +25 for teammates, 89/Pos
Reactive: 22 +15 for ambush +15 for teammates -10 for GS, 42/Neutral
Mobility: 78 +15 for ambush, 93/Pos

>>5898050
>>5898029
Also there was a bonus for the nat100, you just don't know how to see it

51, 96 for Disintegration beam

May or may not get this written up before I fall asleep. If not, I'll get it in the morning.

We should keep in mind that PvP is disabled here, meaning we can attack the huntress as hard as we want without fear of harming Shrike

>>5897855

>Do they know each other from before
"We know each other from some other MMOs mainly. Don't get much opportunity to hang out in real life though." Crispen chuckles a bit as he responds. Adamas and Trish shoot him strange looks.

>What builds are they planning to do
"It's minions and HP for me. Maybe a couple of the Virtual Crystal skills to bump up my charge Capacity so I can throw out more minions. I think the skills in Path to Power might fly under most people's radar too, specifically Weapon Proficiency.

How about you? I'm not surprised you went with the crystal right off the bat. You only got a couple of kills and wanted combat effectiveness straight away right?"

"Aw man, it all looks so cool that I'm torn! There's a minions tree for 'ganitechs too, but it looks like they're crafted at a station. There's some cool shit there for sure, and with the monster designs and variety we've already seen I bet it gets WILD with investment.

Now that I've shoehorned myself into at least some of the healing tree though, I think I'll double-class into it and the combat tree. One let's you heal yourself and others, the other only has like 2 abilities that DON'T cost you HP and Bio."

"Psywardens are kinda weird, I haven't decided what my build's going to be. Picked up a few skills from the direct damage and environment control tree for now. There's a tree with functionally a necromancy summon skill that uhh...it also seems to let you play around with actual game mechanics to an extent?

There's a pair of trees that are clearly foils of each other too. Buffs and debuffs respectively, requiring a permanent choice in each of either centering them on yourself or centering them elsewhere. I could see these getting super overpowered if you can get the VCC to overlap effects simultaneously. They affect friendlies and enemies unless you dip into the fifth 'Manifestation Control' tree though. "

"Fifth tree?" Adamas questions, "Technocrats only have four."

"Me too." Trish says.

"Git gud, scrubs."

Alright, getting to the real update now.

>>5897774
>>5897965
>>5898626

Before you can even shout your plan Trish and Crispen are already sprinting forward.

“Get its legs, Cian!” Adamas yells at you as he tosses his drones ahead of his allies. Their orbiting golden blades rev up fast enough they look like rings, and then they shoot past the frontrunners and slam into the meat carpets with an explosion of neon gore and severed red tendrils.

You waste no time complying, running forward and activating your newly acquired ability. You feel the crystal at your shoulder prime itself as you run forward. It generates a glowing red core that peeks through the darkness…when it occurs to you that you have no fucking clue how to actually aim the blast.

“The big one? It’s legs?” you mumble under your breath while looking at your new pet (cosmetic?). As soon as you finish the thought, you sense acknowledgement, and the crystal…blooms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u26WYI9oxoA

The glowing sphere of red in your crystal extends out into an infinitely thin line. It crosses the distance to connect to a point on the huntress’ lower torso with no perceivable travel time, and disappears just as quickly. Time stops for a beat where nothing happens and the huntress’ eye clusters all look at you with abject horror. Its gaze is like a religious leader walking in and finding someone defiling their temple. Then the red sphere reappears with an explosion of annihilated air, taking the huntress’ lower half and a perfect half-sphere of the bone platform it stands on into oblivion with it. Light fades from the monster’s eyes and its upper body falls limply out of view into the spherical depression.

“Did you just kill my brother?!” Trish stops her charge to look at you with wide eyes.

>>5898678

> [[ Intraparty PVP is currently disabled ]]

You’re about to respond when there’s a change in the air. Buried nervous tissue in the flesh silo’s walls lights up with green-yellow, and a pulse of flashing lightning runs up them to the top of the chamber. Trish and Crispen are on the bone ring by now, laying into the remaining stem-mats so they don’t see it. You and Adamas do though.

Starting from the distant ceiling of the splinter hive, where the twining intestines attach to something unseen, the walls themselves come alive. Peeling layers off into a gargantuan carpet of wriggling meat. Thin lines of nervous tissue burst through its surface and writhe frantically, arcs of electricity flickering between them. Blisters form on the meat ceiling’s surface then the blisters pop and reveal newly formed eyes of either milky white or inky, glistening black. The walls continue to peel until they fold onto the uppermost bone ring-platform Unfamiliar brood forms are burned black by electricity and torn apart as the ceiling-wall cleanses the platform’s surface. They don’t even have time to scream.

Just as you hit the remaining group of stem-mats, you see the wall-ceiling start to descend to the next platform with worrying speed. You hear a wet SHLUNK from the walls around the platform you’re on, then a curse and a yell from Adamas.

“Exit’s been cut off by giant teeth!”

The stem-mats are already practically finished, but you are suddenly on a time limit. You need to decide what to do.

>What do?
>Your beam earlier tore a hole in that empty intestine just large enough for a person to squeeze through. Dive in and hopefully escape.
>Grab Shrike and then try to tear through the teeth blocking the door before the flesh-ceiling reaches you.
>Climb down the meat-curtains connecting the rings of bone until you reach a level where there’s an exit that hasn’t been closed up.
>Yolo, jump to the bottom.
>Other?

>Do you take time and the chance to loot the remains of the stem-mats?
>Y (roll a 1d100, until someone who answers Y rolls <=25. Can roll again after another anon has taken this option)
>N

>>5898679

You glance at your UI between taking swings at the remaining stem-mats.

>HP 13/15
>Charge 60/135

[Disintegration Beam] appears to have a cool down to it, you can't tell how long it'll take.

>>5898679
>Climb down the meat-curtains connecting the rings of bone until you reach a level where there’s an exit that hasn’t been closed up.

>>5898679
>Your beam earlier tore a hole in that empty intestine just large enough for a person to squeeze through. Dive in and hopefully escape.
This whole chamber is being purged. I wouldn't count on being lucky enough that this living deathtrap conveniently forgot to seal an exit. It might not lead anywhere pleasant but at least it's not guaranteed death

Maybe I should start doing little tl;dr summaries of the posts so people pressed for time can still get the gist and vote.

>>5898679
>Your beam earlier tore a hole in that empty intestine just large enough for a person to squeeze through. Dive in and hopefully escape.
I assume this includes everybody escaping? If not
>Climb down the meat-curtains connecting the rings of bone until you reach a level where there’s an exit that hasn’t been closed up.

>N

Gonna go ahead and call it for
>Into the intestines.
Should have the post up this evening. I start back to my regular work schedule from tomorrow, so we'll be reducing to 1 update/day at most from here on out.

>>5899241
Might not get the update out tonight actually. Expect more tomorrow!

>>5898679

“Ceiling’s falling! Into the intestine hole!” you yell to Trish and Shrike as your bone greatsword cleaves a stem-mat in twain. Even under stress you take a moment to appreciate the vivid and violent bloom of neon-and-crimson produced, before you begin moving to execute your own advice.

Trish glances upwards for a moment, her face visibly paling at what she sees. She drags Shrike’s body from the semi-spherical depression you created earlier and shoves him through the gap in the intestinal wall before following behind. The descending curtain of tentacles has already cleansed two more platforms by the time she drops downwards.

Crispen reacts to your shout as well, but simply redoubles his efforts to murder stem-mats. Three piles of remains already lie, deflating and leaking eerily intact human limbs around his feet. He dispatches the last one quickly. It seems to disintegrate a hair before his sword even touches it, and the gash left by his strike is far wider than it should be.

“Excellent, he’ll make it in plenty of ti- hey wait, why is he digging into them for loot instead of running!” your relieved sigh turns in tone mid-sentence.

You’re about to shout again when Adamas grabs you by the arm.

“Don’t bother, you’ll never get him to give up on loot after a fight. My drones will keep the hole open, let’s go!”

You look at the descending ceiling, only two platforms away now, and defer to your teammate.

File: Shrike.jpg (440 KB, 1756x1756)

440 KB JPG

>>5899869

A vulgar spurt tosses you out of the transport tube just below the layer of fog, and you land unelegantly in a puddle of snot. It does an impossibly efficient job of dissipating your momentum. You’re about to get to your feet and look around someone pushes you down below the edge of the bone crater that contains the snot.

“Not a good idea.” Shrike’s voice is a bit deeper than would be expected. Now that he’s actually conscious and moving around you see that he cuts a rather diminutive figure, his features soft. Pretty much the opposite of everything his sister did with her avatar.

“We’re in the belly of the beast now,” he continues, then his hands come up in mock despair as his face twists, “I appreciate the rescue, but I almost wish you’d just let me die with the others.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” you quip.

There’s another wet plop, and Crispen falls down looking somewhat the worse for wear.

“Glad to see you alive, mr. lootgoblin.” you and Shrike’s voices overlap. “Jinx,” he catches it before you can.

“That was rough, wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t bump my health up. Where are the others? I found something that might be important.”


“Right here,” Trish answers, squeezing her massive form out of a crevice on the other side of the bone crater somehow.

Adamas comes after her. “We went to scout, it’s not good but it’s not urgent. You go first.”

>>5899870

Crispen lays out a series of familiar pucks. Most of them are dented, cracked, or dull. Only two lack any damage and give off a faint gleam in the dim light. A Cyberator and an Organitech, by the looks of it. You reach out and run your fingers over a cracked Psywarden UI, and the intact ones.

>[Unique Identifier (Broken): Varna]
>[Unique Identifier (Misconnected): Eldriss]
>[Unique Identifier (Misconnected): Osyki]

As your fingers run over the last one it vibrates, and you look up to see Crispen has fiddled with his UI and evidently has the messaging function open. You watch, and he makes each of the UIs do the same in turn.

“Yeah, hmm, so based on that I’m betting I know why nobody’s been answering any messages.”

“But what does this mean?” Trish asks, a tinge of worry to her voice.

“Dunno,” Crispen shrugs. “Except that if we die we’re gonna have a hell of a time meeting back up.”

The statement lingers for a moment.

“Whatever it means, we’ve got other problems right now. Let me explain.” Adamas brings the discussion back.

You’re at the bottom of the flesh-silo, the ground is entirely composed of craters much like the one you’re in now. Most are only waist deep at most and 3m or so across, but as you move away from the center of the silo they get larger and deeper, aside from a few shallower pathways. Most of them are empty, but 5 are currently covered with a thick membrane. Underneath those are clearly the forms of huntresses packed in with an unknown number of stem-mats.

File: Broodmother.gif (2.49 MB, 338x274)

2.49 MB GIF

>>5899875

These are the lesser problem, the greater problem is the towering tripodal cluster of eyes and tentacles that seems to be master of the area.

It is currently between you and the only visible exit to this chamber, engaged in biological 3-D printing with its many arms some. Crafting some monstrosity in a crater large enough to house a tank. It is adorned with several sacks of materials that you recognize as similar to what the intestines had in them.

A single meter thick cord of shimmering white attaches it to a low, broad, 10m x 4m dome of the same.

The huntress filled craters cluster around the dome.

The cord is kept suspended from the ceiling by spiderlike creatures that scurry across a latticework of bone and skin. While the ceiling is perhaps 20m from the craters where the tentacle-mass is at, and 10m where the dome is, it’s only perhaps 3m where you are at. Reached easily enough with someone to boost you.

As you peek over the edge of the crater, the shimmering white of the dome seems to clear for a moment and you think you catch a glimpse of some beautiful statue inside, though you couldn’t describe it adequately. The intestine-tubes seem attached to this dome, and you see the entire structure pulse every now and then as one of the many pieces of biological pipework initiate a peristaltic pulse.


>Do you have any speculations to add about the UIs?
-Write In

>What do?
>Suggest sneaking over to the dome and slaying the huntresses and stem-mats stealthily while they slumber. Adamas is confident his Harvestorbs will be able to break the membranes. If the group splits up you should be able to take down two creaters at a time.
>Sneak towards the tentacle-monster and attack it while it’s distracted making whatever creature it’s making. Perhaps send Shrike or Trish to climb over the ceiling and attack the cord as well.
>Clamber onto and attack the shimmering dome itself, cutting its ties to the umbilicals going upwards and the cord that leads to the tentacle-creature.
>There’s actually another empty umbilical hanging on the other side of the dome. Maybe that’s the ‘up’ to the ‘down’ you just took and you should just try to run before you all die horrible deaths. Or worse, get captured alive.
>Attempt to sneak or fight your way past the tentacle-monster, aiming for the exit behind it.
>Write-In

>>5899877
We will be changing up the dice system, whichever plan is chosen. So feel free to choose something more daring in the hopes of an awesome result, but reward and risk will usually be proportional.

>>5899877

At some point you must've leveled up again, as you notice EXP available on your UI.

>Spend EXP to increase HP maximum 15 -> 28
>Spend EXP on a Mastery Tree [Which]
>[Virtual Crystal ; Lvl 1 -> Lvl 2 ] - Increase Charge Capacity and Generation
>[ Artifice ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - For every 3 levels, the items you use have more or improved effects
>[ Transcendent Machinery ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases CC
>[ Psybertech ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases HP
>[ Personal Path ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - No Passive Effects

>>5899877
>tl;dr
You're in the bottom of a mystery flesh pit. A shimmering white dome is connected to a tentacle monstrosity that is spawning something fairly distant from you. The monster is between you and an exit. The dome is between you and possibly a way to the top of the flesh pit, much closer than the monster. There are 5 strong slumbering enemies and an unknown number of weak ones near the dome.

>>5899877
>Do you have any speculations to add about the UIs?
Varna is probably dead. Eldriss and Osyki (I see what you did there) are captured by huntresses and learning the definition of body horror firsthand. I wonder if reuniting them with their unique identifiers would help them somehow?

>Clamber onto and attack the shimmering dome itself, cutting its ties to the umbilicals going upwards and the cord that leads to the tentacle-creature.
I think disrupting the mini-boss creation should be the priority here, followed by clearing adds as much as possible before engaging the main boss.

>>5899882
The best options I see for the level up would be

>[Virtual Reinforcement, 10CC, 10 Charge] - Invest your crystal into an item to improve all aspects of its existence.
For added firepower as a melee combatant.

>[Informatic Construct, 20CC, 20 Charge] - Become able to more precisely control your Virtual Crystal and see through it, sending it to pass through solid obstacles or take on other tasks.
We could gather more intel about the area and maneuver our crystal into the best spot for a devastating deconstruction beam attack.

>[Universal Principles, 10CC, Passive, Permanent] - You may acquire engrams from biological sources in addition to synthetic ones.
I think we could get some great biological engrams from this area but I have no clue what the engrams are. Kind of a gamble.

What does everyone else think? I'm not considering any of the crafting-related ones as we don't have access to an akashic forge

>>5899877
>Clamber onto and attack the shimmering dome itself, cutting its ties to the umbilicals going upwards and the cord that leads to the tentacle-creature.
>Spend EXP to increase HP maximum 15 -> 28

>>5899997
This is my least favorite choice because the psybertech tree also increases our HP and gives us a skill. I'm sure your option gives us more HP but it still feels like kind of a waste

>>5900002
Psybertech gives 2-3HP per level. Enough to be noticeable with significant investment but only really a slight spice if you're mildly dipping in.

>>5899882
>[ Transcendent Machinery ; Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1 ] - Increases CC
I think a crawler worm could be incredibly useful here, especially for the stealthy approach. It could make a tunnel under the dome and let us steal the statue without revealing ourselves.

Shouldn't we vote for our course of action after the level up is decided? Whatever we pick could influence our options a lot.

>>5900117
It doesn't change the shape of your options too terribly much, barring a few of the skills. Getting the Crawler Worm would take 2 EXP, as you'd need [Pseudautomation] and the [Crawler Worm] construct.

Technically you don't need Pseudautomation first I suppose, but you'd have no construct slots without it.

I'm happy to advance the Level Up vote as quickly as we get...at least two people agreeing on anything.

>>5900146
It'll be an interesting challenge to get enough players on board to vote for prerequisite skills and the skills themselves. For a single person controlling it that's fine but a more streamlined approach might be necessary for the inconsistent and schizophrenic decision making we're gonna be getting here

>>5900157
Yeah, that's a problem that'll always occur in this medium. Still, I haven't made any useless skills. The weight and utility of an EXP point is the same no matter where it gets applied.

Technocrat is one of the archetypes that rewards investment with a plan though. I knew I should've put Cyberator up as the first option. It's by far the most straightforward.

>>5899877
>Do you have any speculations to add about the UIs?
As the other anon said, broken probably implies dead while misconnected implies still alive somewhere. It is also quite possible that the huntresses have something to do with the missing people. Shrike was most likely taken to be turned into a monstrosity, so it's very possible that the other people are being digested somewhere, maybe even the very pits we're facing. My choice is.
>Position our crystal in advantegous position and have it fire off a suprise hit on the Broodmother while the other sneak near her and attack her after the initial attack
To truly pull this off without a hitch I recommend going for
>[Virtual Crystal ; Lvl 1 -> Lvl 2 ] - Increase Charge Capacity and Generation
And then taking Informatic Construct. It will allow us to scout out in advance to the attack and let us know the enemy composition while allowing for better control and positioning of the crystal.
>>5900117
>>5900157
I'm for to advance our Crystal skills first. I have the feeling a lot of our other trees will be very Charge consuming and many of the artifice skills demand the Forge which we still don't have access to. But you can bet your arse I'm going for the augmentations one we gain a forge.

>>5900216
I'll back this level up

>>5900216
And this write in. I wanna hit the boss right where the white cord attaches but at an angle that also hits the main body

>>5900219
>>5900216
>>5899997
>>5899882

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQa7uLw0R-M3zUDOKGCr7pIhXn2hTwxCZf5TP5PXoa0gU_vhqMWDjH--6VHuS7zXTUhwEVakOQMc6HZ/pub

>[Virtual Crystal] Mastery Increased to Level 2
>[Informatic Construct] Acquired!
>Charge Capacity Increased by +15 to 150
>Charge generation rate increased
>CC Usage +20 (Raised to 40/100)

>Surprise attack with the Disintegration Beam + Positioning on the boss
I'm assuming you'll be joining in on the attack after you pop off the first blast.

>Gimme 1d100, at least 5

File: 1534750397636.jpg (143 KB, 720x833)

143 KB JPG

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>5900234
violence

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>5900234

>>5900244
>>5900238
Feel free to continue rolling. I'll start writing as soon as I get enough dice.

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>5900234
rollan again because there's only 3 people posting here max right now and I'm rolling hot

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>5900234
>>5900248
Sure thing bossman

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>5900234

Rolled 22, 51, 34, 35, 91 = 233 (5d100)

>>5900238
>>5900244
>>5900249
>>5900254
>>5900255
Sneakin up on the boss of the hive in its domain: 51
Initial Attack: 99
Sustained/Group Attack: 86
Dealing with the retaliation: 49
What wakens: 37
Modifiers not listed, dice system not explained! Writan'.

>>5899877
You explain your plan to the group, eliciting nods from everyone.

“Exactly what I was thinking. Honestly seeing your crystal at work makes me jealous…but minions will reign supreme in the end I’m sure of it.” Adamas slams a fist into a palm as he concurs.

“Y’know if you bring it down to the ground I’ve got some abilities that’ll let me keep it there pretty well.” Crispen says, fiddling with one of the broken UIs he’s carrying around. “How about you, Shrike, you picked up anything from the Cyberator trees that can put the hurt on?”

Shrike answers with a grin bright enough to be seen even through the gloom, hands making an ‘OK’ and a thumbs up.

You activate your new [Informatic Construct] skill as the party begins to move, and you somehow know that the duration of this skill is long enough for this fight. It’s similar to when you existed in more than one place during archetype selection. The major difference is its floating movement, and its absolute field of vision. It’s disorienting, but after a while you learn to only focus on a portion of what it can see.

The craters are difficult terrain to move through, but excellent for sneaking. You scout ahead with the crystal, it’s ephemeral blackness blending into the gloom. Most of the craters are empty but several bear traces of membranes. Most blown out from the inside, a few in active use. You send your crystal through one of the membranes, but the fluid inside obstructs much of your vision. All you can see are claws and teeth that look like a huntress.

Growing closer, the scale of the monster becomes more obvious. The broodmother is nearly tall enough to reach the 20m ceiling, standing on its thin but heavily armored legs. A creeping feeling of unease begins to mount, you’re forgetting something. Its main mass is high enough to see into the craters closest to it, and the group has to time crossing over their rims to avoid its gaze from above.

Gaze from above…

Your body looks up and you focus on the upward portion of the crystal’s vision. One of the spiderlings carrying the shimmering cord is dead above, eyes locked on your group. It releases a chittering screech, and you see the Broodmother’s tentacles twitch in reaction.

> [[Cont]]

>>5900311

Adrenaline dumps all at once. By the time your teammates have turned their heads to see where the noise is coming from, the Broodmother already has a cluster of tentacles pointing your way and releasing a deluge of caustic liquid. Your crystal sees every sizzling drop, as you dump charge into it for the disintegration beam.

The white cord is attached to the central mass from your direction. By twist of fate one of the monster’s legs connects near it. They’re both annihilated in a sphere of purest red before the flood of acid even has a chance to be properly aimed. The CRACK of implosion from the disappearing matter thunders across the chamber, buffeting your ears and reverberating between the bones craters and the ceiling. A second later there’s a crash of meat on bone as the broodmother falls hard onto the edge of a crater.

The noise is like the starting bell, and everyone moves at once.

>>5900367

Adamas sends his drones up at the spiderling on the ceiling before it has the chance to scurry away, while moving to the shallower crater paths to get a vantage over the battlefield.

Shrike takes on a ghostly red outline, and sprints towards the fallen monster with implausible speed. His feet dig divots into the bone ground, and he accelerates constantly. He crosses the final crater to where the broodmother fell in a single impossible leap, sword colliding with the spongy mass of tentacles and sending a visible shockwave through it.

Several sacks of chemicals burst and violently paint the crater with their contents, countless wriggling tendrils are simply pulped. The alien mass releases a thousand squealing screams at the assault.

The small man seems shocked by the violence he has perpetrated, or perhaps by the scream, and pauses for a moment before resuming with a barrage of attacks.

Trish and Crispen arrive shortly after and lay into the creature as well, Trish’s hammer producing sickening squelches every time it lands.

Crispen makes a motion with one of his hands. Behind the monster where its remaining limbs splay out, the air and space itself solidify and trap the creature’s limbs in place.

You’re closing the distance as well now. That’s what let’s you see it when they don’t.

>>5900369

“NO, BACK OFF!” But it’s not in time. The gestalt moves with purpose and tentacles grab the assaulting parties. Trish and Crispen get wrapped their entire legs, then brutally whipped into the edges of the crater. Bone shatters, both that of the crater and that of your allies judging by the pained moans.

Shrike almost manages to dance away, but a tentacle still manages to get him by the ankle.

“NOT AGAINNN!!!”


The monster ignores his plea, and flings him across the room and out of the fight for now. You see him colliding against the edges of several craters before his momentum dissipates.

Adamas appears beside you just as you crest the edge of the crater with the Broodmother, a shard of bone the size of a dagger gripped in his hand.

It’s not in good shape. Awful shape, in fact. You’re surprised it’s still alive. Fluids of all colors are leaking from it and countless tentacles lay severed or crushed in a violent spray around the core knot. As you’re sliding down, several of the tendrils stab into the remaining sacks of fluids and suck them greedily. They grow thicker without restraint until their skin tears, several duplicates of the normal tentacles emerging from the mess and reintegrating themselves into the mass.

“Goddammit, regenerators are the worst. I can spare one drone. You have any other tricks, Cian?”

“Worse still,” you say while shaking your head, “some of the acid spray fell on two of the occupied craters. We will have at least one huntress and several mats coming after us here shortly.” Adamas grimaces in response.

>Cian HP 14/15
>Charge: 65/150

>What’s the plan?
>Focus fire on the boss, regenerators must be killed ASAP.
>One of you go take down the adds before they can wake up, one of you stay on the boss.
>Tell Crispen and Trish to risk it and aid in taking down the boss before taking time to heal.
>Tell Crispen and Trish to heal then go stall the adds while you and Adamas lay into the boss.
>Other?

>>5900370

>[Disintegration Beam] is on cooldown
>[Informatic Construct] allows you to control the motion of your Virtual Crystal, and its degree of interaction with physical objects. You're not sure if it's a practical weapon or not.

Feel free to ask any questions you want.

>>5900370
>Tell Crispen and Trish to heal then go stall the adds while you and Adamas lay into the boss.
Use the informatic construct to maintain an overall view of the fight. Another point of view to help us dodge tentacle attacks. Adamas should send his drones to seek and destroy all remaining healing sacs.

>>5900370
>>5900369
>>5900367
>>5900311

>tl;dr
Two of your teammates are nearby but injured to an unknown degree. Another was tossed away and injured to an unknown degree. The last and you are near the boss and intact. The boss seems to be on its last legs, but it is regenerating. A handful of other mobs will be closing in shortly.

>>5900392
Actually maybe we could use our construct to spear through the sacs instead and have the drones to help with the tentacles. If we can make it tangible and pointy at least.

>>5900449
You certainly can do that, you're not sure what sort of acceleration/speed you can get with it though.

>>5900450
We could maximize the speed by making it intangible. It'd remove the air drag at least. Then making it tangible right as it makes contact.

Alternatively we could make it intangible, put it inside one of the sacs, then make it tangible and expand it as large as possible to increase the pressure inside the sacs to make them burst.

>>5900449
>>5900454
I was going to suggest this. While we and Adams do that, have the rest heal and hold off the lesser monsters.

I think it'd be cool to do a unique spin on our class and go melee with the crystal as our ranged option. Maybe invent a way to swap places with our crystal as a pseudo-teleport for mobility. What kind of build do you guys picture in the future?

>>5900370
>>Focus fire on the boss, regenerators must be killed ASAP.

Rolled 30, 39, 95 = 164 (3d100)

>>5900679
>>5900483
>>5900392

>Attack the Broodmother alongside Adamas with everything you've got, while Trish and Crispen handle the adds
Gimme 5d100

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>5901151

>>5901151
You'll be targeting the healing sacks as much as you can, by the way.

Good call on that, anons. You wouldn't have had a very good time if it managed to patch itself up after your alpha strike. Hope you can seal the deal.

Poll of my readers, has this fight felt sufficiently tense and dangerous? The fights in general? Are things adequately fast paced and punchy? I'm always seeking to improve.

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>5901151
>>5901160
They seem pretty fine to me, quite a lot of place for making plans and the similar. I do wonder how PvP fights will look like but it seems we're still a far way from that.

>>5901200
>>5901154
Feel free to reroll, the sooner I've got the dice the sooner I can start writing.

>>5901200
I'm delighted that I'm giving enough detail for you to use in plans, though I'm also going to continually try to be less verbose while delivering the same amount of info. I honestly hadn't thought of using Informatic Construct to get a tactical view of the battlefield, though scouting and attacking with it were both things I'd anticipated. As for PvP fights...well you'll see when it comes to that.

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>5901151
>>5901223
Cant wait to use our wacky artificery to do some true asspulls against other players.

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>5901151

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>5901151
Some high rolls, lets see if we can continue.

>>5901200
>>5901227
>>5901235
You should roll all 5 next time, holy shit

>>5900370

“This one is ours.” your avatar’s voice rings with confidence as you bring your sword up to your shoulder and tense every muscle in your legs like coiled springs. Adamas nods and turns to yell at Trish and Crispen, but you’re dashing forward before he gets the first word out.

Something feels different, feels right. The way the sword sits in your grip, the way you speed through the sunburst of ichor and severed tentacles. You’re perhaps five steps away as you cover the distance in leaps. The Broodmother flings its tentacles out at you in a flurry of threatened violence. They strike like an organic shotgun blast. You see, now, that each has a toothy maw or fanged beak on the end and each of these screeches in rage and fear as you charge into the cloud.

Four steps. You feel as if there’s something guiding your hands and your sword weaves through the tentacles ahead of you, a dance that slices and deflects the rubbery flesh seeking to consume or entangle you.

Three steps. You’re through the sharp ends of the tentacles. You hear a buzzing behind you, and the view from your accelerating crystal shows it to be Adamas’ drone carving into the mess that you left behind, the man himself joins the fray a moment later. You return your focus to the monster before you.

Two steps, and you begin to twist your body into a huge overhead swing that will tear open the remaining healing sacks and carve into the body of this hideous creature. You commit to the strike.

Last step. To your horror you see a coiled tendril emerge from the central mass and hiss with primary and secondary mouth bits. The tendril launches itself towards your throat. It’s too late to dodge, and it’s too fast. Time seems to slow to a crawl, and in this state you watch from first and second person views as your crystal slams itself into the snakehead like an arrow fired from the heavens. It’s a brutal impact, slamming the tendril out of its trajectory and into your ribcage. Your hear your ribs crack.

>HP 6/15

> [[Cont]]

>>5901399

You feel spreading cold where the maw chews into you, and dullness from the crystal as some immaterial resource is depleted during the strike. You can only see from your own eyes once more.


It’s not enough to throw your swing. Thick membranes of the chem-sacks tear open under your bonesword, and the fluids in them explode outwards. The massive blade continues through, biting into the core of the creature. You twist your torso so that the head of the latched tentacle is severed by the blade. Through the deep gash there’s something beautiful and multicolored, nostalgia for a fond memory of somewhere you’ve never been comes with it. You gasp.

A warm summer breeze blows up the slopes of a canyon, carrying the scent of incense pines and sound of birdsong as the sun dapples the ground with tree leaf patterns. Incomprehensible longing overtakes you. You switch to a one-handed grip as your first shoots forward to seize whatever the shard of memory truly is.

Adamas tackles you to the side, snapping you back to your senses. You see one of the broodmother’s armored limbs shatter the place you were just standing. Three armored pedipalps on the leg’s tip emerge from baseball-bat sized holes in the bone floor. You worry for a moment that it will turn and finish you off.

Instead, they turn on the core itself and begin to rip tendrils off at the base. It quickly gathers a fistful, then launches them behind it with a whipcrack of the sound barrier breaking. The loose mass hurtles towards the exit you identified earlier, a few individual worms falling into the crater that held whatever it was bio-printing before the fight. The other remaining limb joins in the self-destructive act, evidently both freed when Crispen moved to intercept the incoming huntress and stem-mats.

It manages two more throws before it collapses. One hurls a mass of worms towards the shimmering dome, now turned grey and rapidly darkening. Another goes towards the ceiling, awkwardly piercing through the thick leather spread between the bone latticework and leaving your vision.

> Fledgling Seeder Broodmother was defeated. [[ Party: Adamas, Cian, Crispen, Shrike, Trish ]]

Behind you triumphant cries sound from Trish, Crispen, and Shrike accompanied by moaning trills and squeals that must be the remaining broodspawn. Shortly after you hear tearing flesh and the impacts of weapons.

> Trish defeated Seeder Brood Huntress. [[ Party: Adamas, Cian, Crispen, Shrike ]]
> Shrike defeated Seeder Brood Stem-Mat …

A litany of kill messages flash past as Adamas awkwardly untangles himself from you. Contrary to the celebratory mood, he's looking between the exit and the graying dome with worry.

> [[Cont]]

>>5901401

You understand why. You have no doubt that there was more to that last effort than an elaborate means of committing suicide. The question is what you’ll do in response.

>[Deconstruction Beam, 40 Charge] has finished its cooldown
>[Informatic Construct, 20 Charge] does not appear to have a cooldown
>HP 6/15
>Charge 80/150
>You have 2 EXP to spend

> tl;dr / summary
You and Adamas are near the corpse of the broodmother, which is close to the crater where something the size of a main battle tank was being printed, and somewhat near the exit where the first clutch of broodmother worms were thrown.

Trish, Crispen, and Shrike are in unknown condition. About halfway between the large birthing crater and the (formerly) shimmering dome where the second clutch of broodmother worms was thrown. There are several occupied birthing craters surrounding them, with dormant broodspawn of varying species in them.

The ragged hole that the third clutch tore through the ceiling is roughly above your current location. You won’t be able to get up there from here, but you could get above the ceiling from closer to the (formerly) shimmering dome.

The lesser brood creatures seem to be experiencing heavy debuffs for the time being.

>What do?
>Gather together and head for a target/location
>Spread out and hunt down the worms before they do…whatever they’re trying to do
>Whatever, time for loot. You NEED what you glimpsed before.
>Scout with your crystal before you make any other moves (where do you look first, second, third?).
>Other?

>>5901413
Let's loot the brood mother and quickly investigate that statue we saw earlier. We're in no condition to seek out unnecessary fights. After that we bounce.

>>5901421
We could send the crystal to investigate the statue. Looting the broodmother and then escaping should be our primary goal though, it feels like we overstayed our welcome.

We're doing level up now too right?

>>5901528
Not just yet, no.

We'll let this sit overnight. Expect the next update tomorrow evening. We'll be going with

>Loot the broodmother and investigate the dome/statue

Unless something else overrides the consensus.

>>5901413
>>Whatever, time for loot. You NEED what you glimpsed before.

If we're looting should we spend our EXP on [Pseudautomation] to get the loot minions and [Looting] to get much better materials? Both of these will be really good as passives for the future because we can either use the higher quality materials we'll get in crafting recipies or (hopefully) sell them on a marketplace to other players.

>>5901989
We should probably pick up [Pseudoautomation] and maybe one of the other drones. Or, double down on the Crsytal and pick up Growth and Concetration. Or do Pseudoautomation and then go for one of the crystal picks.
>>5900529
I was thinking on getting into heavy augmentaiton and just go ham on range. Maybe invest heavily into speed too, be a speedy glass canon. But we'll have to wait for that until we get access to a forge. Until then, I was thinking about improving our Charge and CC

>>5901413

“Regardless anything else let’s claim our prize.” you say, stepping back towards the mangled knot of tendrils that served as the broodmother’s core. “Then we can examine that dome, I saw something strange inside ear-” the breath catches in your throat as you see them again. For a moment it’s a shining diamond buried amongst the slaughtered meat. The next it’s a perfect opal with lightning chains of color trailing in three dimensions from core to surface. No matter it’s form, it’s achingly beautiful. Just looking on it reminds you of tender moments from your childhood, of your greatest triumphs, of the most soothing night of sleep.

Adamas gasps beside you as he sees it as well. You reach forward and the list of lootables appears.

> [[ Inventory - Fledgling Seeder Broodmother ]]
Condensed jewels, worth 1000 credits
Seeder brood glandmarker x2
Living adaptoleather x18
Seeder chitin shard x9
Broodworm womb core
Celestial Gem x4
Acidic catalyzor crystal shard, small x8
Acidic catalyzor crystal shard, large x2
Broodmother sinew-sheet x6
Pulsating crown
Symbiotic brood-eel pair

The others have wandered over while you and Adamas stand transfixed, their worried expressions and tones are supplanted by similar gasps when the body comes into view. Similar desire appears in their eyes, they want your Celestial Gems. They’re weakened after the fight, perhaps if you invested in [Split Beam] and hit them all now you could keep all four yourself.

You shake away faint, pernicious thoughts and take action.

“L-let us survey the dome before we decide on final loot splits. Adamas, me, Trish or Shrike, and Crispen will carry a gem each for now. I’ll carry the rest of the loot until we split it for good, Crispen you keep a list of what’s here. I’m splitting the credits now.”

“Already done, buddy.” Crispen seems slightly less affected than everyone else by whatever the Gems are doing.

Everyone mumbles their agreement, Trish and Shrike look at each other with hostility for a moment before the ice breaks and the tension is their shoulders leaves. “Okie dokie, sounds good.” Trish says.

As the gem melts into your UI you finally feel safe. No one will every part you from this gift, and you pity any that might try.

> [[ Cont ]]

>>5902194

Perhaps because you finally don’t have a pressing threat to your life, but you notice the sounds of the splinter-hive all around while the group makes their way back to the Dome. Faint gnawing and chewing sounds, a rhythmic flow of air like the entire flesh silo is breathing, and a constant low thumping like a thousand hearts beating in chains.

Growing closer to the dome, you see that the intestines full of substances have significantly shrunk at their connection points. The substances in them appear to be getting sucked upwards rather than being fed to the dome like you’d originally thought. As you get close, you see several of slimy eels that the broodmother tore off and tossed this way scrambling over the surface of the dappled gray dome. Some are attempting to gnaw their way through the dome, without much success, and spreading disgusting brown and green ichor over it as they do. Others have eaten away the membranes housing the broodspawn around the dome, or are detaching the intestines at their bases..

The collection of Lesser Huntresses and Stem-Mats released from the opened birthing craters is sizable. It might have posed an existential threat to your wounded party if not for their extreme sluggishness. As is, they’re quickly dispatched from a safe distance through kiting with Adamas’ drones and devastating blasts from your crystal.


Between when you start the fight and when you finish it one of the broodmother fragments must’ve succeeded in gnawing through the membrane of the dome. The structure gently collapses in on itself like a deflating balloon, and it begins to liquefy into a clear jelly from the areas that were smeared with ichor from the eels. You split the gains between everyone.

The jelly evaporates before the bubble has even hit the ground, and soon there’s no trace of the shimmering white structure. Instead, what was underneath stands in gleaming defiance of the flesh pit around you.


“Well goddamn, that’s pretty.” Shrike says, whistling as he comes to stand by your side.

“I wonder what this is a clue to.” You say to no one in particular.

> [[ Cont ]]

>>5902196

A circular platform, raised above the level of the bone craters and devoid of any tendril of organic matter. The circles are stepped into terraces, alternating between gleaming white porcelain. Indigo ceramic, gold, and brass. Each level composed of one material is inlaid and accented by the others in beautiful interlocking floral and tree patterns. Stairs cut through the tiers from the direction your party approaches, flanked by metallic trees that wave their branches in the air, and dig their roots through transparent crystal garden beds.You look through one of the beds, and see a flow of luminescent blue-white energy buried deep under the platform.

All of this is merely set dressing for what stands at the center. A statue of a tall woman made from the same materials as the dais is on one knee at the top ring. She is dressed in something reminiscent of regal attire but with modifications to allow for adequate movement, and to allow what appear to be cybernetics of exquisite refinement to be seen through tasteful gaps in the clothing. She cups her hands to support a hemispherical bowl of eldritch black crystal, that holds five Celestial Gems. You approach.

> [[ Celestial Materialization Altar ]]
> Celestial Manifestation “Seeder Satellite”
> MANIFESTATION GRANTED TO
A Precursor, “to twine thy grace and my works, bestowing prosperity.”
> [[ Offer Celestial Gems ]]
* Create Celestial Artifact
* Enhance Celestial Artifact
* Empower Mundane Item
* Enhance/Modify Celestial Manifestation
* Destroy Celestial Manifestation (To The Victors Go The Spoils)
> [[ Offer Item ]]
* Offer an Item to the Celestials

> Inventory [[ celestial offering ]]
Celestial Gem x5


“Destroy Celestial Manifestation? We can burn this place down?” Trish asks, raising her voice over the sounds coming from above you where the worms still chew into the intestines. Yet nothing seems to land on the altar or dais.

“Nifty,” Crispen says “We wanna throw those gems in with the loot or try to use them with this altar? Also let’s start splitting the Broodmother stuff. Despite my lootsense, no guess what any of it does, except these eels seem to be equipment of some sort.”

“My vote’s for using them.” Adamas states, hand on his chin “We could even modify this place and make somewhere or something to serve as a sanctuary and base. Reduce the attrition on us players, maybe even help guide new ones away from danger.”

“How do we even interface do that?” Shrike asks.

You feel something move within you, and have an urge to pray before the statue. You know that you won’t be forced to do anything, but feel compelled to ask all the same.

>What is your prayer?

>The Broodmother’s Loot is being distributed, state your first and second picks and roll 1d100 to check where you land in order (Celestial Gems have already been distributed)

>>5902200
* Enhance/Modify Celestial Manifestation
To modify this place into a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers.

This place is set up like a flesh factory, we can modify it into a crafting oasis for new players. With us at the top we can increase our own crafting skills with access to tons of resources. Especially if the mobs can be made to continue gathering for us.

>>5902200
For the loot I want
>Symbiotic brood-eel pair
>Pulsating crown

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>5902219
I'm half asleep still, keep fucking up my posts lol. Here's the roll.

>>5902216

"We wish to create a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers." You intone, gaining strange looks from your teammates.

Their looks shift to look around them as a chorus of voices sounds out in response from no direction in particular.

> [[ You wish a waypoint to start a journey ]]
> [[ A hub for the wheel of progress to start its spin ]]
> [[ Replenihsment for weary travelers in dangerous lands ]]
> [[ We see your desire, provide us 8 of our gifts and it will be granted ]]

The chorus fades, and the biological sounds quickly infiltrate your ears again. Slurping of fluids, wet slapping sounds, and the ubiquitous pitter-patter of hearts coming from above the latticework ceiling.

"So that's how we interface to it then. Man, I'm torn whether it's goofy or awesome." Shrike's question is answered.

>>5902264
Can the 5 gems already in the altar be used for this or would we need to get 4 more as a group?

>>5902499
You could contribute your own Gem to the pile of 5 already present, and try to persuade your teammates to put theirs into the pot as well. There'd be one extra gem remaining, if everyone agrees to throw theirs in.

Alternatively you could split the offering and leave the altar for now to go find more gems.

We'll put this and more to a vote with any other prayers that've been made in a few hours, since I said the next update wouldn't be til this evening.

>>5902200
I think the celestial altar vote must be intimidating to people who aren't familiar. I'll throw out a few more options. First one is a long shot.

>To bestow intelligence to my virtual crystal, uplifting this tool to a companion

>I pray for a weapon to purge the infestation of this land so I can secure and claim it for travelers like myself

>A compass that points toward civilization

>>5902552

Your prayer opens up the others to the possibilities.

"I want a weapon! A cool one!" Trish speaks before you can get your next idea out.

The altar remains silent.

Shrike gently moves his disappointed sister out of the way.

"I pray for a weapon to purge the infestation of this land so I can secure and claim it for travelers like myself."

> [[ Infestations become inseparable from the infested in time ]]
> [[ Excision, fire, frost, poison, or the inevitable march of time ]]
> [[ Any of these may serve to strike down your foe ]]
> [[ Deposit your weapon, and four of our gifts to receive this boon ]]

"So, any chance you guys wanna let me have the who-" the small man looks over his shoulder to four stern gazes and doesn't bother to finish his sentence.

Adamas takes his turn next.

"My wish is a compass that points toward civilization."

> [[ Pursuit of the civilized carries great danger ]]
> [[ But those who ignore history will inevitably repeat it ]]
> [[ A guide through time and distance is no mean feat ]]
> [[ No less than five of our gifts will grant you this power ]]

"Even more than the sword? Nearly as much as safehaven? Interesting..." Adamas steps back as he notices you waiting.

"To bestow intelligence to my virtual crystal, uplifting this tool to a companion."

> [[ The craftsman and the soldier both show fondness for fine tools of their trade ]]
> [[ But what you seek can not be granted here ]]
> [[ Seek an altar to Asherah, and present one of her gifts ]]
> [[ Then your talents might receive lives of their own ]]

"Oh?" your eyebrows raise in surprise as you step back. "I figured that selecting a 'primary' archetype in character creation meant we'd be able to multi class somehow, but I didn't expect it to be like that."

You feel a hand on your shoulder, and turn around to see Crispen giving you a dramatic thumbs up.

"You're good at this man. Keep going as long as you like. I'm taking notes."

The others nod their heads in agreement and step back to give you room with the statue.

>>5902593
The cost of the compass suggests that it's incredibly tough to get to another safe haven where players congregate. Unless the altar misinterpreted the prayer. That definitely makes me more interested in spending the 8 gems to make a hub here

>>5902602
Not only does this give us a starting area to really get set up in this world but it also makes us a founder and leader of the starting area. Lots of perks to be had there.

>>5902200

"First pick is mine! Look upon my magnificence and cower, ye weaklings. Ohohohoho!" Adamas says, putting his open palm near his mouth and releasing a ghastly noise. "What could possibly go wrong from putting a pulsating crown of thorny flesh from a broodmonster on my head."

"Damn. I had hoped to learn that myself." you say with a slight smile.

"I'm not opposed to having a guinea pig."

"No, I couldn't possibly deprive you your prize. I'll just settle for these." You say, holding two fiercely wriggling cylinders of flesh the size of most people's thighs briefly before they disappear into the UI.

"This looks like some sort of special Organitech crafting bit or something?" Trish questions while grabbing the womb core. It's an ovoid of stony flesh covered in thousands of dark holes that you can see faint wriggling in. "At least I can use it to identify tryptophobes."

"God, why did you go for the bio-horror class again?" Shrike laments, grabbing the glandmarkers. Two furry yellow orbs that drip liquid you'd rather not look too closely at. "Sorry to grab the last special loot, Crispen. I know this must be painful for you."

Crispen's face does indeed contort as if he's in physical pain. Acted or not, it's enough that Shrike actually relents and gives him one of the glands. They split the large crystals as well, and the rest of the crafting materials get divided roughly equally among all of you through a series of haggled deals.

>Received: [Symbiotic Brood-Eel Pair, Unidentified], broodmother sinew sheet x2, small acidic catlyzor crystal shard x2, living adaptoleather x2, seeder chitin shard x2

>>5902752

After divying up the loot, you and your party members try out a handful of different prayers.


>>5902264
>>5902593


Then you fall into a contemplative silence. Broken only by the sound of some fluid pitter pattering on the ceiling above you. Occasionally punctuated by something much larger and more solid landing on taut leather up there. The others all seem fairly open to any of the choices, though you’re not sure who’d be the one to actually wield it if an artifact is created.

>You’re partial to…[Pick 1]
>"We wish to create a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers." to create an outpost and foothold for yourself and other players.
>"I pray for a weapon to purge the infestation of this land so I can secure and claim it for travelers like myself." to create a special weapon to combat the infestation and other foes using a special power. (Subsequent vote for nature of power)
>"My wish is a compass that points toward civilization." to create an item to guide you through the area and reveal its secrets.
>Another prayer that just occurred to you (Write In)
>Suggest not doing this at all, and splitting the gems between you instead.

>If you create an artifact it will need a wielder. You suggest…[Pick 1]
>Yourself
>Adamas, he seems a good leader type
>Trish, she’s the healer and that’s a critical role
>Shrike, as a frontline combatant he could use better equipment
>Crispen, who knows how an artifact might interact with his spooky powers

I realize that I’ve been kinda of bland on the main character, he doesn’t have much personality. For a while I will list dialogue choices with tags that will help determine the MC’s personality/demeanor going forward.
>You think you could persuade your party members using…[Pick 1 or more, some may be more effective in this situation than others]
>Mild Sarcasm [Needling Wit]
>Light teasing [Lighthearted]
>An honest appeal and presentation of the pros and cons [Gentlemanly]
>Cruelty and berating [Imperious]
>Other?

>>5902754
>"We wish to create a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers." to create an outpost and foothold for yourself and other players.
>An honest appeal and presentation of the pros and cons [Gentlemanly]
Combined with
>Asking them to imagine being one of the first to set up and rule a starting zone city for all new players in the area, setting a precedent and leaving a lasting impact on the game with all the renown and opportunities that come with it [Visionary/Delusions of Grandeur]

Prolly it for tonight. I might write up the next update if I get up early enough tomorrow morning. Otherwise it will probably be tomorrow evening.

Thanks to everyone who's stuck around so far! After this decision, we'll probably be taking a few days off. My parents are coming into town to visit and I have some more plot outlining that needs to be done based on what's occurred in the dungeon and what decisions you make, and what might yet still occur.

>>5902754
>"We wish to create a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers." to create an outpost and foothold for yourself and other players.
>>Mild Sarcasm [Needling Wit]

>>5902754
>>"We wish to create a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers." to create an outpost and foothold for yourself and other players.
>Mild Sarcasm [Needling Wit]

No love for a slightly megalomaniacal MC? I think it could be pretty funny if done right. Sarcasm isn't bad but it's pretty much bog standard

>>5903556
>>5903520
>>5902788
>>5902758
We'll combine all these as they're not mutually exclusive. Calling the vote here for:

>"We wish to create a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers." to create an outpost and foothold for yourself and other players. [LOCKED]

This will be the final update of this thread, I'll either have it out later tonight or early tomorrow morning. After that we'll be taking a break until Sunday or Monday.

I'll post here and in the /QTG/ whenever the new thread goes up. I intend to keep the updates in the new thread shorter, which will hopefully help attract more players.

>>5902758
I will go for this, if it still counts.

>>5903655
I don't have so many players that I can afford to ignore one of them, of course it'll count. Update will definitely be in the morning though.

>>5902754

“Well then, what does everyone think of our options?” you cast your gaze over your party members.

“The best mov-”

“Because I’ll tell you what I think!” your voice booms out, cutting off Adamas mid-sentence, ringing with conviction. “I think the opportunity to become legends is ours! Here! And Now!”

You can’t even remember how many presentations you’ve given to high-level Quadopt Execs, defending further investment into singularity research on account of the boundless potential once someone succeeds. You channel the oratory talents you’ve cultivated through years of argumentative meetings.

“This game,” your open hands rise in front of you, “is the first full dive MMO ever created. This title will never be taken from the False World.”

“And we stand on the precipice of forming one of the first- no, likely THE first - player settlement in this historic game.” you audibly clench open palms into fists to emphasize the dramatic effect. “A settlement WE will have ownership in, should you all be willing to contribute your gems.” You survey the audience.

Adamas - started a bit miffed that you cut him off, but quickly becoming contemplative as you go on.
Trish - giggling slightly at your sudden turn to grandiosity, but still attentive
Shrike - actually transfixed?
Crispen - smiling, hard to read

Good enough. Let’s hit them with the challenge and clincher.

“MY vote is for safehaven. MY vote is for a place to call our own. MY VOTE, “ a pause as you raise one fist into the air, then open your hand and extend it forward while smiling “is to leave my mark on history, alongside my first friends in the game.”

“Or we can like make a sword or something if you want I guess.” you quickly say, a needling glance making Shrike startle and rub the back of his neck.

>>5904091

Clapping sounds out, Adamas taking the lead before Crispen joins in. It’s almost enough to cover up the fit of uproarious laughter Trish and Crispen let out. Shrike gives you a punch in the ribs for your verbal dart. Ow, you think that actually dealt damage. You bring up your UI. Your inventory flashes past, the singular Celestial Gem is still there. Safe. .

>HP 5/15

Damn. You need more Celestial Gems. You can hardly believe you’re advocating to part with the only one you have.

“Oh my god, I didn’t know you were such a goof.” Trish says, mostly recovered from giggling now “But I like the cut of your jib. We’re in, right Shrike?” That’s right, she’s not the one holding the Gem.

“Y-yeah, I can get behind that.” Shrike recovers from his daze and your teasing. “Leaving a mark, huh? That’s worth a Gem, I think.”

“You had me at ‘ownership stake’ my guy!” Crispen says “Do you think we’ll be able to levy taxes? I’m drooling already.”

“Visions of grandeur aside, I definitely agree that we need a base if we’re to proceed.” Adamas says, stepping up to the altar and putting his Gem into the bowl the porcelain woman holds aloft. The others quickly follow and do the same.

With nine Gems in the offering plate, standing beside your comrades and amidst a horrible cylinder of flesh, you make your prayer to the gods.

“We wish to create a hub of refuge, production, and progress for us travelers. Our offering is here.”


The gems disappear, and the dais is instantly encapsulated in a dome of shimmering white once more. The illumination from the dome continues to increase, until it overwhelms your sense in a flood of comforting, holy light.

…

You finally open your eyes after the flood, or maybe your vision just recovers, or perhaps the Light grants permission for your eyes to see. You let out a low gasp at what’s become of the dim flesh silo you were in scant seconds (minutes?) ago.

>But that’s something to describe next time! Thanks for playing, all! Look for a new thread Sunday evening or Monday morning!

>>5904093
New thread or new session? Threads last like a month here

>>5904150
New thread, to hopefully catch new players. It was almost unavoidable given the necessity of character creation, but I think opening a thread and seeing WALLS OF TEXT turns people off. I can remedy that in a new thread, and having a #2 should also provide a certain amount of assurance that I’m not going to flake without warning.

I also think ~200-300 posts is the sweet spot for a thread. And story-wise where we’re at is perfect for a chapter/episode break.

>>5904278
Fair enough. Don't forget to archive this thread on suptg. A brighter and more eye-catching image might help to start the thread too.

File: my final form.jpg (64 KB, 500x983)

64 KB JPG

>>5904298
I'm willing to take submissions to that end.

File: Diplo-Station.jpg (292 KB, 1600x2134)

292 KB JPG

>>5904367
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=false+world

File: Polar Jungle.jpg (597 KB, 1280x726)

597 KB JPG

>>5904371

File: 1671510135507282.jpg (113 KB, 804x1373)

113 KB JPG

>>5904374
Mmm, perhaps this will do. It vaguely fits the main character. We'll see how it looks in thumbnail form.

File: 1519600920413.jpg (116 KB, 736x780)

116 KB JPG

>>5904377
There's more I'd be willing to use as eye-catching OP pictures if they weren't spoilers.

File: 1522203037632.jpg (2.88 MB, 5000x2813)

2.88 MB JPG

>>5904388
Then again, spoilers only have to be worried about if people are around to see them so maybe I shouldn't concern myself with them.

Anyway, if you've got anything you feel fits the vibe of the swamp, of a sci-fi-fantasy cyber-space-opera, characters thus far revealed, or etc. feel free to post it.

File: subterranean jungle scifi(...).png (1.51 MB, 1024x1024)

1.51 MB PNG

>>5904392
Here's some ai slop I threw some text on for fun. The prompt was subterranean jungle sci-fi cyber space opera.

>>5904427
Hey, that's fire and pretty sure it's the first custom made art I've ever received in any quest I've ran. Thanks, anon!

>>5904377
I like the vibe of this one, it gives me the vibe of some sinister secret the MC is keeping. Would be interesting to play him that way.

>>5904461
Sinister secrets and the MC? I don't know what would make you imagine these things are linked together, anon.

New thread's up

>>5907607