BrokenPromise

Symphony on High

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

What could you do with chaos but wait it out?

Ashley’s shield would hold up against any drunken rioter, But add enough of them and things became dicy. The surface area of her shield was only so big, and attacks were coming from all sides. She could dodge here and there, but the Knight of Tomorrow would run out of stamina before her attackers would. Something needed to be done about their assault.

”Well that’s not good.” Fritzi said with a nervous chuckle. ”Did Finn just walk up to Dante? Never mind, Violet’s contracted to help us, so I’m sure she can provide assistance. I’ll page her through shortly, but I want to make one thing clear.” Fritzi’s force became stern. ”If your cover got blown, any one of those creatures could go running to the Hand and expose who you are. If this is the case, I suggest eliminating all hostiles with extreme prejudice, preferably after you’ve extracted the children. That said, the three of you coming out of this alive is what’s most important.” Then Fritzi went silent. With a crack of static, a new voice joined the call.

"Owo?” Came a cautious, yet youthful voice. “Um, Pwink Pwowndah isn’t so good about fwendwy fwire, or pwutting pweople to sweep. So he wiw stay back. But if yowo can open a windowo, I can hewp."

If Ashley could afford to look outside, she might spot the pink and violet colored duo. As a friend of Samuel, she likely heard stories about how protective the big pink fellow was. The windows by the front door didn’t look like they could be opened the conventional way, but was Ashley willing to invite them into the fight?

Estelle’s baton flew over the jukebox only to get snatched out of the air by the cowboy on the other side. He then proceeded to “drink” from it, only to discover it wasn’t actually a bottle. ”Wut n’ tarnation?” In a display of poetic irony, the second object to fly towards the cowboy was a bottle, but he would not catch it. It smacked into his shoulder before falling to the ground and shattering. The cowboy sunk to his knees and started to paw through what remained of the bottle.

”Oh yea! Maybe Amanda is out back?” The stubborn girl pushed herself off the wall. ”Come on guys! Let’s go find Amanda!” But the other four didn’t need any encouragement. They were power walking towards the counter, maneuvering around the cowboys that had been distracted, or decommissioned.

Finn was only half listening to what Dr. Moller was telling everyone through coms. Kind of hard to pay full attention when he was focused more on not getting his ass knocked down by a giant hammer. He did, however, grit his teeth in response to Fritzi’s unintentional(?) jab at his recklessness. Right! Okay! He got it the last several times already! Thank you very much! If he’s so dangerous why shouldn’t he just-

As if the boss already knew what he was thinking, Fritzi had given the go ahead to kill. The Timekeeper discarded the pointless notion of minimizing casualties at that moment. None of these bastards are making it out alive. The next moment Dante prepared to swing again, he fired a beam of lightning square at his chest.

_{[Silver Beam][Damage X] = - 108
642 MP remaining}

The beam collided with Dante’s well defined chest. Rather than blowing a watermelon-sized hole in him, it caused a fistfull of sand to scatter in all directions. Afterwards, the hole collapsed shut. Most monsters would have been reeling from such a blow, but Dante seemed to be more resilient than your average monster. Finn had used an opening in Dante’s defenses to land a clean blow, but now it was Finn who was open to attack. Dante did not cease his swing. Finn had just enough time to bring up his blade for defense. But it was a mighty blow, and the boy was stumbling backwards. That was when Dante hopped forward and drove his foot into Finn’s chest. He flew straight into the arms of a waiting Dryad, who wrapped her vines around his arms and legs.

”Gah-!? Let go of me!!”

The rabbit hiding behind the dryad’s mask hissed as the cowboys closed in around Finn.

But that was of little concern for Dante. He looked to the bar counter and noticed the school girls were approaching it. He moved like the wind, his body becoming a sea of floating sand particles. He moved through the counter and assembled himself in front of the far end of the counter.

”You can’t use the back exit.” He pointed at the door. ”You leave the way you came in!”

”Through that mess?” One of the girls shot back, but Dante didn’t budge. However, that didn’t stop one of the teenagers from trying her luck anyway. Maybe it was bravery or fear, but she lunged over the counter. But her advance was stopped by a swift swing of Dante’s hammer. Anyone looking on might have braced for what was sure to be a gruesome sight, but the blow didn’t dislodge her head. It didn’t even break the skin on her face. Instead, she fell backwards into her friends arms as sand poured out of mouth and ears.

”Meg!”

Dante spun his hammer. ”Next one’s not going to get it so easy.”

One of the cowboys behind the girls stood up and looked them up and down. He pulled back his fist for a wild haymaker, but was intercepted by a ball of flying sand. He sank to the floor screaming, scratching his arms as he rolled in the broken glass.

Estelle wanted to be the rear guard, and she certainly gained the attention she wanted. The cowboys were content to march into her and get dealt with as they came, but the dryads were more shrewd. They bound across the table and circled around Estelle, trapping her between themselves and the cowboys. Their long, flail-like arms let them beat on her without standing directly in front of her sword. Estelle had nigh impenetrable defenses, but she’d need a plan if she wanted to survive an attack on all sides.

---

@Vertigo

It was always risky to let your mark leave your sight, especially one as slippery as the golden dragon. That said, Ciri had faith in it, and would likely be able to hear the dragon man’s screams when he realized what was pursuing him.

The more difficult part of her plan was figuring out where to jump him. This wasn’t exactly a five star hotel. The roof didn’t have any interesting vistas as was likely off limits to the public. By that logic, the staircase wasn’t going to go straight to the roof. Moreover, there were no windows to let those outside know who was using the staircase. Unless someone wanted room service, they wanted as little interaction with the maid staff as possible. Guests were weird like that. The fire escape was not on this side of the building, which meant Ciri was going to have to enter through someone’s room.

The most ideal window was already open. Ciri and her shadowy gorilla ally hurried in as quickly as they could. Who they happened upon was not a “rich fuck,” or at least not what not came to mind when thinking of one. It was a skinny teenager wearing a black shirt with a kanji on it. The wallpaper on his laptop depicted a scantily clad oni brandishing a katana in front of a raging waterfall. He looked over his shoulder at Ciri, but said nothing as she left the room.

The hallway was clear. It seemed like the dragon hadn’t gotten to the top of the stairs yet. That would give Ciri just enough time to find a hiding place and wait.

Then the door to the room beside Ciri’s opened up, the one further away from the staircase. What stepped out might have been a member of some bomb disposal unit. The gear was all present and correct, from the thick padding that covered their entire body to the diving suit looking helmet they wore. But there was something off about it. All of their armor had been stitched back together, sometimes with bits of kevlar sticking out of the seams. They had also spray painted the words “Viper” across their chest, and were holding a shotgun. Specifically, a SPAS, the one that found its way into all those video games because of its iconic folding shoulder brace.

”I’ve got the dragon under control. You can go back underground if you’d like.”

This wasn’t a member of Maverick Alternative, but their suggestion sounded more like an order than anything else.

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Cast a melody and pray. That was really all Justin could do.

The frame of the church door didn’t leave much room for hiding. The smoke in the entryway was noxious, which meant that he’d have to “hide” just outside the doorway. But with the gunmen on the second story, it was awkward to aim down the side of the building. Not only that, but everyone was either inside or running inside. There was no reason to assume Justin was still hanging outside. Or at least, that was how it seemed when the gunfire stopped and the gunmen shifted to new positions. The ground ahead of the church was covered in bullet holes and napalm, without a single hit landing on Justin or Marrie.

Before Justin could get too comfortable (if that was even possible in his position) a ball of ash smacked into the side of his head. It felt a bit like getting hit with a very large snowball, only it burned his skin. Once he stumbled away from the doorframe, a voice called out.

”Bobo! Here’s one!”

The cigar chomping nun poked her head out the window and spotted Justin.Much to his dismay, this villain didn’t have as much as a single one liner to throw at him. She simply pointed her gun out the window and fired. But rather than shooting burning napalm, it fired a spray of black oil at Justin’s feet. The ground became slick where he stood, but more concerning was that Bobo resumed shooting napalm, this time directly at Justin.

Meanwhile inside, Asher made a totally badass slide between the rows of seats. While he had hoped that he hadn’t been spotted, the ensuing gunfire over his head let him know that they might have had an approximation of his position. That didn’t stop him from finding his choice of music, even as splinters rained down on his head. When they stopped shooting at his position, stood up and let everyone know they hadn’t killed him yet. Then his shotgun clicked, and dragonfire erupted from hatred like the bass in his playlist.

Though Asher hadn’t generated as much lift as he needed. The second story of the church was effectively a short balcony at the very front of the building, and it was almost ten feet in the air. Short of using a melody, it was unrealistic to expect his gun’s kickback to make the distance. But asher had managed to set some Pews on fire, and his rapid acceleration towards the gunmen made them run like mad. So if his goal was to sew chaos in their ranks, his mission was successful.

Now about the landing…

It wasn’t a problem. There were some old pews that weren’t quite able to take someone jumping on them as aggressively as Asher was, but his hardened outer body sustained no damage from the landing. He was also under the balcony now, which meant they couldn’t retaliate if they wanted to.

But the construction workers were moving now. Two dropped down in front of Asher while another two hopped off of closer to the congregation of espers. They were totally unbothered by the drop, and already had their weapons drawn. There wouldn’t be much time to react.

"My little heart can’t take all this excitement!"

— Mika Fang

This was going to be a mess regardless of what Himiko said. Of course she was going to be open to pawning off Mika if it meant more money, but it seemed like that was only something she was willing to do after they met with Oros. Mika had never met the mad esper, but she did know that Lenore was trouble, and she couldn’t picture the two of them working together. She couldn’t really picture GEMINI working with Sovereign either, but here we were. Was the money grubbing esper just bad at reading the room, trying to protect Mika in her own way, or looking for greater riches? It wasn’t a question that Mika could answer, and it bothered her.

Her gaze returned to Angelie’s severed head. It was unfortunate that so much was going on. It wasn’t normal to look at something like this and just shrug it off, was it? Yet at the same time, it seemed so natural for something like this to happen. They had all come here on Himiko’s say so, why should she expect anyone to get out of this alive? But as much as Mika could rationalize it, it still felt unfortunate. It wasn’t something she could work through here though. Whatever this nagging feeling was, she had to keep it down until she was out of here. And if she didn’t get out of here, then it wouldn’t matter anyway. Pax was filled with corpses.

"That’s a bit of a shame, because I’d prefer to leave with her now." Lenore shrugged her shoulders before shoving her money back down her blouse. "But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had planned on-" Lenore was interrupted when Marrie asked if she was friend or foe. That was when Sovereign, ever the talkative one, told Marrie to proceed with caution. That caused Lenore’s lips to curl into a smile. "We prefer to sell children. Isn’t that right, Nova?"

A jet of smoke launched out of the hallway and struck Marrie in the back, covering her with smoke. The smoke cleared out seconds later, revealing a third nun. Like the others, she looked rather outlandish. She wasn’t holding a sword or wielding a flamethrower, but her face was covered in piercings and bandages. Not to mention the spiked leather harness she wore along with her gown. There was also a cigarette nestled between her fingers, but it didn’t stop her from holding Marrie’s shoulders. When she exhaled, thick gray smoke rolled out of her mouth.

"Yeaaaaa" The nun exhaled the words. Her voice was deep, and she smelled like tobacco. "Kids go for a fair price if you can find the right buyerrrrr." But Nova hadn’t just teleported into Marrie. Mika could tell that there was something else in that melody too. Her movements had become sluggish, and it couldn’t have been easy to breathe with that smoke stack hanging around her.

"See what I mean? But you look a little old, so-" And with that, Lenore took a swing. There was little Himiko could do in her situation, but the melody Justin had cast earlier prevented her from losing an arm. Lenore followed up by kicking the money loving esper into Mika, which sent them tumbling across the floor.

There were a lot of things Mika wanted to do in her situation, but couldn’t. Either because it was out of her ability or Himiko was laying on top of her. But she felt like she could buy Asher a few extra seconds. A ball of spirit energy gathered in her hand, and she flung it between the two gunmen aiming at Asher. As soon as it contacted the floor, a big fat cat sprung up in its place. Maybe asher could use it as cover, or to scale to the second floor. Either way, she hoped Himiko would do something before Lenore struck again.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

@SleepingSilence Funny, I just came across this the other day. I guess you can look at it once you're done with those. Can confirm Outcore is a fun experience, even if I didn't like the coding minigame and some of the controls were slippery. It's very playable.

That said, I think a lot of free games get a wee bit overpraised because free = virtually no expectations. You can expect most experiences to lack the polish and/or duration of their commercial counterparts. But you know, it's free, so it's just a time investment.

Mahou Shoujo No 30 Dai- a spoof rp!

@Villamvihar Yup! looks like a million bucks now.

Now I'll have to find time to read it Been hustlin' to get stuff out.

Mahou Shoujo No 30 Dai- a spoof rp!

”Something hard, play hard!"

— Isra Mahmud

Something that any well to do traveler will try once in their life is staying at a hotel. Nothing really beats sleeping in a clean bed, especially when the hosts keep the place tidy. Though such establishments are far from economic, and they let you know it any way they can. Red carpets, raised ceilings, and seats with uniquely shaped cushions that beg you to comment on how fancy they are. Those are just some of the cosmetic designs for the main lobby. Others will go a step above and provide art pieces, ornate chandeliers, nothing was too pretentious. There was a certain allure to being the most luxurious hotel in a city, and the competition was fierce in a place like New York. The Big Apple had everything provided you had the cash.

Isra Mahmud decided to check in at the recently constructed “New York Ambrosia.” The Ambrosia wasn’t any more luxurious than any of the other super luxury hotels. It offered a great view of the city, top tier room service, and was expensive enough to keep all but the elite from entering its glass doors. Those were all nice features, but what sold Isra on it was its proximity to other places of interest. There was a bus station nearby that regularly made routes to Cherry Grove Beach, and also made bar hopping while enjoying New York’s nightlife a lot easier. The Ambrosia also had an indoor swimming pool, and the hotel’s exclusivity meant that it was never crowded. With any luck, she’d be able to party like she did when she visited Cancun.

Well, maybe not quite that hard.

But that was for later. For now, Isra was still recovering from her trip. She was reclining in a Jacuzzi with the water jets turned up to full. In addition to this, she had dropped no less than four bath bombs into the water with her. They tumbled through the water, rolling from jet to jet as they hissed and filled the tub with bubbles. Different colored soaps mixed underwater while their fragrances mixed in the air. Strawberry, Banana, Lime, Evergreen. Maybe that last one should have stayed out, but she still thought it smelled fine.

But Isra wasn’t here to just enjoy herself. This was very much a business trip, and her boss was never too far away.

Ira’s eyes wandered over to her make up mirror, which was vibrating just a few inches away from her head. She knew better than to keep her boss waiting. She reached for the make up mirror and flipped it open. Sure enough, there on the mirror’s reflective surface was a tiny scientist, and not just because they were appearing on a three inch round mirror.

”Doctor."

“Bath time’s over, Isra,” Doctor Nykannis, Queen of the Mad Scientists, told the bathing beauty with a maniacal smirk. “Another monster has just appeared in Central Park, and as usual, I want you to retrieve its Heart Crystal before any other magical girls show up and make a nuisance of themselves. Remember, the acquisition of those crystals is your top priority,” the Monarch of Mad Science noted with a raised finger. “But as long as it doesn’t compromise that objective, feel free to flaunt your reality plenum-shattering, Challenger-grade, super-scientific abilities to your heart’s content, preferably by making a certain pink princess of dreams bawl her pathetic little eyes out. Anyways, that’s all for now. As always, I’ll be watching your performance, so make sure not to disappoint me.”

With that, the image of the diminutive doctor winked out.

”Huh."

This was how most “conversations” with the wise scientist seemed to go. She would appear, make a specific, if verbose request, and then hang up without waiting for a reply. She chose to ignore all the red flags in her message, like how she knew she was taking a bath or the involvement of multiple other magical girls. Isra had to wonder if she had become the star of a reality TV show and just didn’t know it yet. Maybe things would make more sense after she encountered the “pink princess of dreams.” But that was unlikely. If anything, things had been making less sense as she went along. But she got to live like a princess every day so it was hard to care.

It did seem like her bath would have to wait. That was fine. The room would be waiting for her when she got back, and the fun of bath bombs watching them dissolve anyway. But now it was time to transform. She stood up, and the bubbles clinged to her body in such a way as to not get this RP locked by the mod staff. She then started to dance. Her hips shifted left, then right, Her arms were locked and she waved her fists up and down in front of herself, like she was shining someone’s boot. And then…

Her body burst into a hundred metal scarabs and raced into the ventilation system. The bath bombs finished dissolving, but the Jacuzzi’s jets continued to run.

Mahou Shoujo No 30 Dai- a spoof rp!

@Villamvihar Your header is broken.

By the way, discord did a thing now where anything hyperlinked from it will eventually expire. If it still shows up for you it might just be that it's in your cache. So you'll need to host your images elsewhere if you want them to last more than a few days.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"I’m glad I’m here all by myself and- OH HEY TSUBOMI! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

— Suki Oyama

While it wasn’t possible to see Oros’s face from behind, Acid Drop didn’t need to. She could tell her partner was seething. It wasn’t an emotion that she displayed often. Suki? Maybe, but not Oros. The last time she was this pissed was after she “defeated” Earthshaker for the right to make everyone dinner. But Earthshaker was absent from this scene, and Misoka didn’t look like she wanted to go to eat anywhere. She was perfectly content flying her kites in the middle of the empty field.

The wind shifted directions. She turned her body to orientate herself behind the kites. The expression on her face said she was focusing, but Acid Drop could sense otherwise. She was in anticipation, like a child waiting for dessert to arrive. The wind picked up, and Misoka let the kite fly even higher into the air. She still looked stern, but Tsubomi could feel the joy welling up in her chest. If it was difficult to feel, it was only because of Oros’s growing contempt for what was happening in front of her.

Oros brought up her hand and chopped through the air in front of her. A tendril of blood reached forth and thinned its tip down until it looked like a blade. Then, with a swift swing, sliced through all the kite strings. Misoka gasped when she saw her kites fly away from her. The dragons tumbled through the air, getting further away from Misoka despite her attempts to catch up. But the kites were not stable. They could only stay in the air for so long before diving straight into the ground. Even with the wind, it was possible to hear the carbon fiber frames break as they smashed into the earth.

At last, Oros turned to look at Tsubomi. She wore her brightest smile, not that it could mask her feelings from Acid Drop. "You were saying?” When Acid Drop repeated herself, Oros grinned. "So she is real!” She folded her arms over her chest. "I guess they confused her with Misoka when I was rumor hunting. Heh! Weird how that works. I guess Bedshaker and Violet are talking to her right now.” She looked into Acid Drop’s eyes and hesitated. "So uh, Rainbow, do you miss not having emotions?”

---

"You need to be careful how you phrase your demands.”

— ?????????

While it was true that magical girls were invisible to normal humans, that was only true if they didn’t use their magic. The frequent “spirit sightings” in Hibusa Town were instances where magical girls got a bit carried away in a public space. Anyone who didn’t believe in spirits was quick to dismiss such a phenomenon through various means. Nyxia’s laser was a trick of the setting sun on raindrops. The fire hydrant’s redirected water was the result of an odd viewing angle. The old lady staggered backwards. It wasn’t clear what the flower shop owner thought, only that she couldn’t understand it.

The dragon girl raised an eyebrow at her two adversaries. One had decided to shoot a fire hydrant, and the other was redirecting the water at the building. "I’m over here though.” It wasn’t long after that Nyxia commanded her to get off the roof, and Earthshaker wanted her to apologize. The corner of her mouth curled into a vicious smirk as the laser drew closer. "If you insist…”

She hopped into the air. The dragons on her shoulders raised their heads skyward. They roared with brimstone, belching giant flames into the sky. The flames left the dragon’s mouths with such speed it created thrust, and plunged the magical girl inside the flower shop.

Every open hole in the building erupted with fire. The bright white flames would cause anyone to wince if they tried to stare at it, but it was followed by rolling black smoke. The tiny building couldn’t take it anymore, and slowly caved in on itself. Even the walls showed signs of being shifted off of their foundation. Even where the walls still stood, the mortar had been broken off between some of the bricks. The fire had been so hot that it boiled the moisture out of the stone, causing many of the bricks to explode.

The metal door fell aside as the red haired girl stepped out of the smoke. She had soot on her cheeks, but seemed otherwise unharmed by the ordeal. "I got off the roof! And I apologize for burning the flower shop, I razed it to compensate. Speaking of etiquette…” She placed a hand on her chest. "I’m Ash Bringer. No need to tell me your names. I’m not interested in light girls.” She winked at the duo.

Symphony on High

@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

Perhaps it was inevitable that the two biker gangs would get into a tussle. But what happened next would be on the Gemini agents.

The Knight of Tomorrow sent a crackling blast of green energy towards a group of cowboys. The burst knocked a few cowboys on their ass. One fell backwards onto a table, only for it to tip over and drop him on his head. Their outfits had been lightly scorched, and the hair on their arms had been burned off where it was exposed to the emerald energy beam.

”Wut n’ tarnation?” One of the cowboys said as she stood back up. Though far less impressed were the dryads that witnessed the attack.

”Esperssssss…” The humanity left their voice as they hissed the word. The once lively drinking fae creatures started to grow out vines and extra fingers.

Dante just seethed as things grew more chaotic. Estelle jumped right past him and knocked over a few drinks on her way to the teenagers. It seemed Ashley’s attempt to clear out a path hadn’t been entirely necessary. Once Estelle arrived, she tried to convince the girls to leave. It didn’t seem like she was going to get any complaints. However…

”B-but there’s no way out!” Estelle might have been able to nimbly jump the length of the room, but these were just highschool girls. Something Estelle could confirm with her ability to sense things of a chaotic nature. ”They’re everywhere!” Despite their protests, most of the girls were getting ready to leave their seats.

Most, because one was standing next to the jukebox with her arms folded. ”I’m not leaving without seeing Amanda.” She pouted. ”That’s like, the only reason we came here.”

Estelle’s presence may have given the teenagers some relief, but a nearby dryad was not as pleased. She hissed when they noticed the insignia on Estelle’s uniform. ”Gemini!”

The word caused the dryads to convulse. The bark on their bodies snapped and crackled as new forms tried to emerge. Their faces split open to reveal they were only masks. What lay behind was woodland-like creatures. Fae with the faces of bunnies, weasels, a skunk, all piloting trees that tried to imitate humans.

The duel between the Cowboy Gang and Dryad Gang would go on, but now they had bigger fish to fry.

The dryad that spotted Estelle stomped on the ground. The weak tile floor gave way under her foot roots enveloped her foot. Sensing a potential easy target, many of the cowboys rushed Estelle with chairs and beer steins in hand. One of them decided to take a swing and hit the girl by the jukebox. To both their surprise, the attack had no effect on her. She swiftly countered by driving her foot into the man’s crotch, which dropped him immediately.

”Debbi!” He wined before rolling over.

Back at the front of the diner, things weren’t looking any less frantic. The dryads and cowboys near Ashley and Finn had pretty much witnessed everything they did. Even in their drunken state, they knew who the biggest threat was. The nearby druids called roots up to ensnare Ashley while the nearby cowboys rushed her. Most of them were armed with beer bottles or a stein, but one towards the back had pulled a swag light off the ceiling to use as a flail. He spun it like a lasso while yelling ”Yeeeeeeeehawwwwwwww!”

And as all this happened around Dante, he kept his eyes fixed on the source of it all. The boy that was first to enter, the first to transform, and the one giving out orders. The one that caused all of this to start in the first place.

Enough

”Tell me, Finn.“ Dante reached inside his chest and took hold of something inside his body. With a tug, his shirt started to tear as a long steel handle was pulled out of his stomach. Not only did his shirt fall off, but the massive gut he had started to grow smaller. Where there was once heaps of lard was now rippling muscle. With one final tug, a warhammer sprung free. ”Do you try to fuck things up this bad, or does it come naturally to you?“

Finn’s eyes widened in fear once he realized Dante was pulling out a weapon of his own, and instinctively began to step backwards, away from the sandman. Though the question struck a different nerve than the inevitability of a fight. How many times did something like this happen, to the point where the boy was growing further jaded by his streak of bad luck? How many times was he the one painted at fault for what he couldn’t help, and demonized as a result of his actions?

A monster in his own right?

”Even if I said it’s just shitty luck, my answer won’t make a difference, right!?” The Witch Hunter was busy protecting the highschoolers on one end, and Orion was swarmed on the other. He was stuck facing Dante himself. His grip on Atropos tightened with a dry laugh. ”Everything I try to do to be a good person backfires on me and it’s never going to stop, is it!?”

”It’s those attempts to better yourself that endeared me to you, boy.“ Dante bared his teeth. ”But now you’ve made it personal, and you’re so much more dangerous than you are interesting.“

In a flash, Dante’s form turned to sand, and he sifted straight through the counter to appear before Finn. His hammer was already raised high above his head, and it came down without a moment’s notice.

So be it.

The hammer collided with the roaring teeth of the Timekeeper’s chainsaw, the smaller boy pushing back against it to keep himself from getting struck.

Then Fritzi’s voice poured into everyone’s earpiece. ”Good news everyone! I got some last minute backup if you need it.” Just by her tone of voice, everyone could tell she was tickled by this. ”We had a dream shaping esper named Violet help with a test program a while back. She won’t be of much use if a fight breaks out, but if Finn starts to doze off, she should be able to jump into his dreams if a succubus tries to mess with him. Or any of you, really. He just seems the most likely to fall asleep on the job. So! Did you find anything yet?”

---

@Vertigo

There were a lot of things that made dealing with monsters difficult. They didn’t think like humans, they didn’t want what humans wanted, and their abilities were often more varied than an esper’s. It made it difficult to predict how a new monster would behave in a given situation, or even what that behavior ment.

Other times, it was pretty cut and dry.

Not a lot was known about the golden dragon, other than he was very flighty and could transform into a full dragon. Ciri would need to be careful if she wanted to avoid spooking it. And she was. She made sure to call her summon in a shadow where it would be the least visible. She even did the hard thing and indirectly cast her melody to reduce the chance of the dragon noticing anything.

Yet he did.

The dragon man was looking straight at where the gorilla minion had been summoned. Perhaps his ability to work with alchemy allowed him to detect the presence of magic? No one could say. He didn’t move a muscle. One might mistaken him for a dress mannequin rather than a living breathing creature. But he was only still until Ciri revealed her location. He spun around and ducked as if Ciri’s voice sent shrapnel flying over his head. And then he froze. Again. He gave the purple oni girl a long hard stare.

”Imp Scare!” The words came out of his mouth in a hushed whisper.

The dragon man turned around to run. That was when the freaky featureless gorilla stepped out of the shadow to block his way. They were in a narrow back ally and had him surrounded. The space above the dragon was open, but there was no way he could transform in such a narrow space. If one were to think about it logically, the dragon only had three options.

#1: Confront Ciri, who just gave a line that could oddly serve as an intimidating greeting or a really bad pick up line.

#2: Try to force his way past a shadow creature.

#3: scale the walls to reach the roof or climb above the ones that had surrounded him.

Those were the logical choices. The problem was that they were dealing with a monster. A scared monster at that. They weren’t logical creatures on their best day.

The dragon man charged into one of the walls,crashing through the brick and mortar wall like the kool aid man. That was the issue with trying to trap monsters. Physical structures were more like a suggestion to a monster, and short of the sturdiest materials on earth or something of suitable thickness, they could just brute force their way through it.

The dragon tumbled through the debris and landed in a hallway. It was nothing fancy, just a shortcut to let the hotel staff move between rooms without disturbing guests. One end led to the lobby, and the other went to a staircase, which was where the dragon was heading to.

Ciri could feel her partner’s presence stir at her side, waiting for orders.

Does anyone have any tips for an aspiring (small group) GM?

For some time now, I've been interested in creating and managing a roleplay of my own on a forum, but I wanted to know if there were any helpful tips for someone like me who wants to make this into a small group size of 3-4 players, including myself?

@Alix

Yes.

Is there anything I should know beforehand about holding a roleplay this size?

@Alix

yes.

Is it more challenging?

@Alix

Compared to a group? I'd say the challenge is different. We'll get into that a bit later.

Does it put more pressure on the players to post more frequently?

@Alix

Hah! I wish. Roleplayers will always put their own schedules and desires ahead of your passion project, as they should. You pressure players into posting by crafting an RP that people want to be a part of and being a gracious host. Offer to help struggling players, stick to your posting schedule, stick to the vision you outlined in your interest check, etc. They will post if they want to play.

Anything important that I should know?

@Alix

Yes. (okay, I'll stop now.)

Additionally, what can I do to gain the trust of potential players who aren't familiar with my writing style and personality? Will a simple introduction and writing sample do?

@Alix

You strike me as a 1x1 RPer. Anyway, a discerning player will be able to pick up on your quality of writing by reading your interest check. Group roleplayers will be interacting with you as well as the other players and won't solely be reading your posts. Who you are as a person isn't nearly as important as what your RP is about, who else is joining, etc. When I join an RP, it's usually because the concept seems interesting and/or part of my squad is participating. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. If you need help making a good IC, just look at others and make mental notes about what you liked, didn't like, etc.

The reason I want to make a group roleplay of this size some day is because of my lack of experience and I feel like it might be easier to maintain due to IRL business and work.

@Alix

It's actually harder in that regard. Yes, you technically need to write less, however, it doesn't always work out like that. On the other hand, if three people leave a large group you can still run things and slowly recruit new players. If you have a small group of three players and three of them leave. Uhhh...

It is easier to cater to an individual player's needs when you have fewer of them, but the real cheat code for an enjoyable small group RP is to have a gigachad buddy or two that have stuck with you through thick and thin, posts regularly, etc. They'll have your back and can give you great feedback on stuff when you need it.

I also have been reading some articles from here, and I do have ideas for stories, I'm just curious to see if anyone on here has some good advice to share.

@Alix

"There's a difference between knowing the path and walking it."

Thanks for your help in advance. ♥️

@Alix

Not a problem Alix, just helping out!

Sup, its ya boi POOHEAD189

Guess I can't refer to him a shit head anymore.

It's certainly good to have an admin on hand again. I'd be more excited if you could code, but if you think you can bring in more users, that would be a neat trick.

Symphony on High

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Maybe it was her tone of voice, maybe they were too occupied with each other, but no one engaged Mika when she asked what everyone wanted to do. Save for Himiko, who walked up to her and started teasing her like an old friend.

"Soh-vern is your name!" Mika growled before shaking out of Himiko’s embrace. "I can’t help that you chose something that’s hard to say!" Mika didn’t bother saying anything else. Even when Himiko went on to play dress up with her, she simply contained her thinly veiled frustration as Himiko continued to blab.

"Oh wow! That hat looks cute on you, Nails!" Angel giggled.

But they wouldn’t be able to screw around for long.While no one came to greet the freelancers at the front door, someone had heard them knock and they were already on the move.

One of the side doors in the entryway swung open with violent force. It was as if someone had kicked it, but there was no one to be seen. Not with everyone out of the room at least. Then a tail of gray smoke flew out of the doorway and crashed into the ground.

*Woof*

The entryway was filled with rolling smoke. It was thick and dense, and smelled like a well used ashtray.

The boarded up windows burst open. Pieces of finely sliced timber rained down on the freelancer’s below. What stood in front of the open windows was eight men armed with military grade machine guns.They were dressed like blue collar workers. Overalls, fluorescent jackets, jeans, hardhats. They were construction workers. But there was something off about the glasses they were wearing. They were long and tubular, but didn’t seem like they’d offer an edge in combat. Yet at the same time, this felt familiar to Marrie. Has she seen something like this before? It didn’t matter. They were leveling their guns at the freelancers.

But there was someone else among their numbers. There was a girl dressed up as a nun with bunny ears. And while that would have been enough to clearly mark her as an esper, she was also smoking a cigar and dual wielding a flamethrower and mace.

"How’s this for a fiery entrance, bitch?!"

The nun started to spray napalm as the gunman took turns shooting. Fire and brass rained above the freelancers, and cover was limited.

"Mom! Estelle! … Ashley… Angelie…"

— Mika Fang

Himiko, Angelie, and Mika were on the other side of the smoke wall. While they couldn’t see what was happening, they could hear it.

"Okay Mika!" Angelie pointed her gun into the smoke. ”Just stay here, I’ve got a-."

I a flash of black light, Angelie had been replaced by a familiar figure. At least, one that the Gemini agents had been told about.

"Lenore…"

"The Sister of Sacrilege." The one-eyed nun finished with a grin. She twirled her blade before pointing it at Himiko. "So I understand Oros wanted you to bring this little bird all the way here." She shrugged her shoulders. "Seems to me like you did your job. She’s here in one piece." She tipped her head. "Since you’re done with that, how would you like to help me out? I assure you, my employer can pay far better than they can." As if to demonstrate this, Lenore pulled a stack of hundred dollar bills out of her cleavage for Himiko to see. "All you need to do is help me capture Cerberus."

Mika’s eyes turned towards the wall of smoke, as something had tumbled out of it. It was roughly the size of a basketball, but it was covered in smoke. The cat girl jumped backwards out of instinct. It could very easily be a melody. But as the smoke rose off the object, it turned out to be something far worse than a melody.

"...Angel?"

It was her decapitated head, with fresh smoke rising out of her neck. Her eyes darted between Lenore and Himiko.