BrokenPromise

Iquenos: In Nomine Domini

I'm going to pull out of this one. It's not what I expected it to be, and even a month after my initial post there's nothing for Aer to do.

Good luck to our heroes.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Alright, think I'll wait till all my characters are out of combat before trying to do something like that again.

Anyway, Amber's scene is in a hider because it's just some backstory stuff and her meeting with Veronica. It's not a true spoiler. Also, I'm done with the pitstop. So I'm fine with whatever you guys want to do.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Origin Story: Amber

It was late, unreasonably so. Amber had to finish some last minute duties, as they were understaffed for the winter business rush. But she was excited about her vacation. The twenty-eight year old woman loved her job, but an adventure was just what the manager needed. Amber couldn't wait to meet the cute guys that were going to chase her across the Bahamas. Of course, she might have to hide in a few bars along the way, maybe even put on some water skis and hitch a ride on a motor boat. Oh yes, this was going to be fun!

The crack of an explosion pulled Amber out of her thoughts. It was hard to make out exactly what was happening, but she could see a huge mass of tentacles fighting a pirate girl. The girl was easy to make out, as she had candles nestled in her long, blue hair. Was this some sort of street performance? But why this late at night?

“”Oh my, a civilian!” The pirate girl shouted. “It's sink or swim time, Shining Scale. Better get 'kraken' on this monster!” The pirate girl lifted her arms into the heavens and a massive keg of TNT appeared in her hands. Before she could throw it at the monster, a tentacle belted her in the stomach, sending her sliding across the ground.

“Gah!” Amber hopped backwards as the pirate girl slid to a stop at her feet. She was just a teenager, maybe a young adult. This had to be a prank. Amber was about to go on vacation, and it almost made sense for the other employees to do this. They must have chosen to do a pirate since it was a beach retreat. But why did Amber feel like she was in so much danger?

“This is a hard one, and it needs to be stopped now.” Shining Scale hopped to her feet. “Welp, I've got good news and bad news.” She thumbed her nose with a smile. “The good news is that I can wipe out this monster with a single blow, the bad news is it'll wipe out one of us too, as I can only shield one person from the blow.” The pirate folded her arms. “Of course, I've never let a civilian get harmed in one of my fights, and I intend to keep it that way.” She winked at Amber. “Good thing I've been thinking about retirement, huh?”

Amber blinked “E-excuse me?”

“One favor though, I've never been kissed by a blond before. So if you don't mind...” She tapped her cheek with her finger.

The situation was so surreal Amber was starting to think it could be a dream. she did oddly believe this girl was looking out for her though. So without thinking, Amber pulled Shining Scale into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. Amber typically reserved body hugging kisses for cute boys, but there was no harm in humoring the pirate, right?

“Ah, I'm glad you didn't skimp out, pretty lady!” Shining Scale looked directly into Amber's eyes. “You're the last person who's going to see me alive. This is it for me. I'm not coming back after this one.” The pirate turned around to face the approaching monster. It was massive, towering over some of the local buildings. “I'm Hanna, Magical Girl Shining Scale. So think of me from time to time, will ya? Captain's last order to her only surviving crew mate.” Shining Scale lifted her hands into the air. “Ultimate Fantastic Flying fortress: Fantasia!” The clouds parted and a brilliant light shined down on the monster. It was too late at night to be the sun, but that was exactly what it reminded Amber of. Within the light there was a beautiful golden pirate ship nosediving towards the monster. The ship acted like a prism, refracting the light into a myriad of colors. Amber closed her eyes and covered her face with her arms, but the sound of the ship crashing to earth stung her ears, and left them ringing long after the impact.

When she looked again, Amber could see the monster's body dissolving into sparks of light. Nothing else in the vicinity had been damaged, but Amber could see the teenager in a pirate costume laying on her back. The store manager was slow to approach the girl. There were no visible wounds, save for some blood oozing out of the corner of her mouth. But when Amber tried to pick her up, it was like lifting a bag of broken glass. Every bone in her torso had to be broken.

“Heh.” Shining scale gurgled. “Dying in someone else's arms. I truly couldn't have asked for anything more, pretty lady.” After forcing those words out of her broken body, Hanna's eyes fluttered shut. They would never open again.

Before Amber had time to let what unfolded in front of her sink in, a creature walked out of the darkness. It looked like a stuffed animal, a dog that stood upright on its trunk like legs. “Oh dear.” Its voice was like that of an old British chap. Not exactly what Amber expected a child's plush to sound like. “I knew this was going to happen. The girl had gone suicidal, trying to take a monster on like that without assistance.”

Amber stood up. “Excuse me?”

“Excuse you indeed.” The dog took a step towards her. “If it wasn't for you, Shining Scale might still be alive.”

“I beg your pardon!?”

“I suppose it doesn't matter.” The creature sighed. “You aren't exactly ideal for this, but neither was she. Let's see if we can make Shining Scale MK II.” Amber didn't have time to protest. Her body was already starting to be twisted and changed under the might of the creature's magic. “A water specialist, not quite the same as the original, but I wasn't expecting gunpowder magic anyway. Still fits the pirate theme. Seems you're going to be as strong as the original too, and a bit more magical to boot. Less durable however, that's a shame. Oh? And no finishing blow? I guess you're going to need to rely on friends more.” The plush continued to assess the woman's powers as the magic reconstructed her being.

“S-stop!” She was finally complete enough to start talking again. But why did she sound like a child now. “Make it stop, Save me!”

Crimson soaked Amber's face. The familiar copper taste of blood was on her tongue. What happened? She was calling for help, and it's body just exploded.

“There. It's done.”

“H-huh?” Amber was more than a little confused. The blond woman dressed like a secret service agent was a pressing matter. But now Amber was a little girl. “M-my boobs!”

“Everyone experiences the transformation differently.” The woman wiped the blood off Amber's face with her hand. It dod mire to smear the blood than wipe it away. “I'm Veronica by the way. Your familiar guided me to you, so I intervened.”

“Familiar? Transformation? What are you going on about!?”

Sue flew up to Amber. “Oh, are you alright?! I was so worried! I thought you were going to die.”

Veronica folded her arms. “It is going to take some time for you to adjust. Fortunately, your familiar should be more than willing to educate you on the ways of this new world you've entered. But you can talk to me too.” Veronica pulled a black coin out of her pocket and placed it in Amber's hand. “After all, We're allies now.”

---

For all the glamour of the restaurant, the bathroom looked like any other cheap public bathroom. Complete with ugly colored tiles and graffiti covered bathroom stalls. It wasn't like the dinner staff wasn't trying. Amber had overheard the managers talking about paint proofing the bathroom stalls, but that usually just lead to people etching the walls with a knife, which was also unsightly. As a former manager herself, she found the best way to control this kind of thing was with surveillance cameras. Few people wanted to take credit for vandalism, especially when authorities were involved.

She had to find Veronica. Or perhaps more accurately, she had to walk around until Veronica chose to reveal herself. This usually involved entering a quiet place that was relatively free of people. The woman's restroom seemed like a good place for such an encounter to take place.

Amber had just closed the door behind herself when she got the feeling she was being watched. The pirate knew the person behind her was not a threat, but she was still put off by their presence. Veronica reached around Amber's shoulder and closed her hand around Helga's soul stone. With a quick yank, the pendant flew off of Amber's neck and bubbled away into nothingness.

“H-hey! What are you doing!?”

“Relax.” Veronica stepped out in front of Amber, still wearing a waitress’s gown. “I just sent her into another dimension for a moment. The fewer people that can hear us, the better. Besides, she won't even remember what happened.” The ebon vampire did love her secrets. Who knew what other measures she took to make sure this discussion wasn't heard? “Were there any new developments with Boteg?”

Amber groaned. “Yes and no. I still don't know who or what he's scared of, but I know he came here to slay its champion magical girl.”

“Boteg's motives are not pressing at the moment, but It's good he's starting to trust you more.” Veronica folded her arms and leaned up against the wall. “How goes the monster extermination?”

“I feel like I'm contributing.” Amber nodded. “I've had to flee a few times to chase a magical girl or two away from Boteg, but I've slain at least one or two each day.”

“That's not very many, considering you don't have to pretend you have a normal life. But I suppose that has more to do with your patron than anything else.” Veronica paused for a moment, examining Amber up and down. “Did you find anything that you wanted to share with me?”

The pirate groaned. “Booty has been a little scarce, sadly. The local magical girls aren't particularly well equipped.” Amber adjusted her collar. “And there isn't too much on the information front either.”

“Unfortunate.” Veronica pulled out a clip board. “You still haven't cleared your initial debt, which makes me wonder if you'll ever be able to work off your flying ship.”

“I mean...” Amber looked around sheepishly. “You can have ol' sky bastion back if it helps.”

“It doesn't.” Veronica lowered her shades to the very edge of her nose. This gave Amber a glimps of her red eyes. “I'm sure you've purchased a new vehicle before, so you should know what depreciation is. The longer sky bastion stays in your possession, the less it's worth to us. At this point, I think you're better off holding onto it and using it to work off the rest of your debts.”

Amber growled. “Shiver my timbers!” She folded her arms with a huff. “I can't believe I haven't worked off that 'initial debt' yet. It was so small! I probably could have popped fluffy one if I wanted to.”

Veronica shrugged. “You were scared and confused, we helped you. Now you're helping us.”

“Hmph!” Amber proceeded to stare at Veronica as she pushed her glasses back up onto her nose.

“However, today might be your lucky day.”

“Oh?”

Veronica pulled a manila envelope off of her clip board and handed it to Amber. “This is everything we have on 'Shion' and 'Makoto.' Hunting Ebon Mint girls and damaging Ebon Mint property are just a small sampling of the deplorable things they have done. Since we're both pressed for time, I'll just let you read the report in your spare time. But the important part is this.” Veronica adjusted her sunglasses. “This isn't a request from Ebon Mint, this is a request from me. Which means if you do this, I'll owe you a personal favor.”

Amber raised an eyebrow. “Could you make my debt go away?”

“I could completely remove your initial debt. That would just leave your sky ship.”

“I see.” Amber started to smile, despite being in the presence of someone as terrifying as Veronica. “But they must be tough if you haven't taken them out yet.”

“Consider this a gift for your continued service.” Veronica jotted something down on her clipboard. “Though to be honest, I have a lot on my plate right now. Makoto is by no means weak, but I think you can slay them. Especially with your growing crew.”

“H-hold up now, slay?!”

“Oh yes, we have no need to keep them alive.” She didn't flinch in her delivery. “You are to eliminate them with extreme prejudice. Though Makoto is definitely the more important of the two targets. Shion is definitely not as important, but this is all in the dossier I gave you.”

“Uh, okay...”

"Remember, this is just a side deal, do not forget your real duties." Veronica placed her hand over Amber's, and dropped a blob of tar into it. “Do be more careful with your friends, you don't have very many.” As Veronica walked off, the tar ran off the object in Amber's hand, revealing Helga's soul stone.

“Hmph!” Amber looped the pendant around her neck. “Alright buccaneer, let's get your body back!”

---

Elroy's protective metal barrier had been invaded, and the invader had been struck by at least one of Elroy's improvised spears. Penny had been dealt a blow, but she still had the power to fire off one more Gauss round. The projectile would have struck Elroy square in the face, but Elroy used his power over metal to move the spear that was in Penny's arm. With her feet rooted in place, she bent at the knees as her arm was violently pinned to the ground. The shot flew over Elroy's head and blew a hole in the top of the metal scrap ball. The all encompassing darkness gave way to light, which came in through the recently created skylight. But now Penny was pinned in place, her body weakened by a curse. It would not take much on Elroy's part to end her. He was already charging towards her, and didn't show any signs of slowing down. But that was when an unexpected guest showed up to Elroy's improvised arena. Thaila appeared, shouting at him before launching an attack of her own.

This would be the first time during the battle that Elroy acknowledged the presence of someone other than Penny. Fire was a powerful force, a chaotic energy that burned all it touched. Elroy shielded himself from the flames with his chains, but fire is energy. Every little hole in his defense was a place for the flames to lick his skin. His arms in particular were very difficult to defend from the incoming fires. Elroy howled and stumbled backwards. There was no way he could advance without getting burned worse. Staying still wouldn't be an option for much longer, as the metal ball acted like an oven. Elroy performed another one of his mighty jumps and left the metal sphere through the hole in the ceiling. Once outside the metal ball rolled over Thalia and Penny, so that they were both inside of it. Afterwards, the hollow ball collapsed on itself, entombing the two monster girls in a matrix of twisted steel. While the ball had collapsed on them, it was still locked together into one solid shape. As soon as the monster landed, Elroy reverted back to his former shape: The punk star incubus.

“So as I was saying.” He walked towards Alicia. There was something off about his movements, as if walking a certain way would cause him pain. His arms had some scorch marks on them, and Elroy smelled like burnt hair. Despite this, he was still grinning ear to ear. “I think at present, we won't be having dinner here after all. It's too noisy, and there aren't any tables or picnic mats.” He continued to hobble towards Alicia before stopping a safe distance away. “If you don't have any more questions, I'll be leaving.”

---

Regina exhaled with a grin. She hit her target, and Elroy was able to capitalize on the attack. Regina had won, vengeance was hers. As an added bonus, Alicia demonstrated her ability to shatter her cursed domes with light magic. It took a few seconds, but the barriers were breaking down, one by one. Her domes breaking apart wasn't necessarily a good thing, but it was always good when she was able to learn how her magic could be affected by that of others. Better still was that Alicia seemed like she was done firing arrows into the building Regina was hiding in. The temptation was to launch one more attack, just one more...

But what was this? Regina recognized the ghost twins from the night at the hospital. What were they doing here? Why were they revealing themselves? The situation was the same as the hospital, only now Beacon was fighting Elroy and herself instead of the beacon killers. The only thing Regina could think of was that they must have been in league with whatever group Caroline was with. If that was the case, they were planning on wiping out Elroy and her here and now. Regina didn't need Elroy to be angry anymore. She needed someone who could follow orders, or at least have a higher level of awareness. It was time to call Elroy back. In order to do that, Regina would need to resurrect herself. She lifted a hand to the side of her head and sent a pulse out to Elroy. Like all twin souls, Regina had the power to call Elroy to her side once a day. Feeling this pulse would let Elroy know that she was alive, and cause him to come running to her position... normally. He might be a little sour over the fact that she pretended to be dead, but he deserved that anyway.

Regina dove out the back of the building, away from the battle that was taking place at the garage. She kept her veil of invisibility up, but was still weary of being ambushed by Caroline, rouge Gauss shots, tree roots, or anything else that might find her position. Once she landed, Regina raised her sniper staff into the air and started to summon an array of magical mortars. Hopefully Elroy would leave the vicinity soon. Regina didn't want to launch any more attacks. Well, the part of her that was still human didn't.

@Shifter_Master @Flamelord @Majoras End @Hammerman @Vocab @ShyDot

---

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration | Moirai
Wings, Soul Jar, Martial Training, Familiar, Environmental Sealing, Gifted, Awareness, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03

STR: 12 | AGI: 08 | VIT: 10 | MAG: 16 | LCK: 05

Earnings this post: Zilch

Total: 0 Gold, 14 Silver, 16 Bronze

Hah.

It was a bit too early to celebrate, but Tonya was pleased with the amount of harm inflicted on Beacon today. Hurt magical girls, hurt property, all over a simple dispute that Penny started. If she could get the Bates out of here before Elroy pissed off the wrong person, This would be a huge win for her.

It was probably worth mentioning that the idea of Beacon wasn't one that Tonya disliked. I mean, she was a monster, so it made sense that she wouldn't like them. But the idea of a bunch of pure magical girls standing together against darkness was not something she felt was wrong. It was just the extreme it had been taken to. Their xenophobia was on another level, and the fact that they allowed Penny to work among them and no other monster was just weird.

Maura's appearance hadn't escaped her notice. It was too early for them to meet, but she was of great interest, as the one who would eventually replace Veronica.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

@Shifter_Master@PlatinumSkink

I do not have any plans for the pit stop. That's why I said I was having Amber back out so that you guys could wrap it up. I guess I didn't tag you for it.

Also...

I sexually identify as an attack helicopter, but have no idea what sort of pronouns to give a planet.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Oh? It is my turn to post again isn't it? That was fast.

I'll have something up Friday/Saturday. Car troubles ate into some of my writing time this week.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

@Hammerman Didn't notice your edit. the dome lasts about 10-20 seconds, but I think Alicia is going to banish it before that. For this type of curse, it only erodes your mana away while you're standing inside of it. Any mana lost to the curse wouldn't come back immediately however.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

I'm a fan of the way magical girls, supposed to hide their existence from the general public, are doing so much collateral damage and in one case possibly committing mass murder in order to stop a single enemy.

@DarkwolfX37

To be fair, that is a very dangerous single enemy.

I'm a little confused if Amber walked away to leave or to pay that tab and then come back or so. Anyways.

Mariette sits and does basically nothing, is the tl;dr of that.

@PlatinumSkink

Amber left the table to go see Veronica under the guise of paying her tab. Your post is fine.

@BrokenPromise
Question, can you block the mortar's effect by covering yourself up with something before the darkness reaches you?

@Hammerman

The effect? Depends. The dome curses everything inside of it, so mundane forms of protection like a tarp or wall wouldn't really help you. A magical barrier could keep a magical curse out. But if the barrier was made with the magical girl's own mana, it could conceivably drain her mana out of the barrier. but that choice is up to you. It should be noted that you can block the mortar with just about anything, but it will still create a dome around the area it was blocked. But the question, as always is...

...what would your character do?

Tabletop RP Questions

My answer is that the world of dungeons and dragons is a fictional world, and situations like the one you mentioned is a perfect example of something that should be left to the GM's discretion. Do they or don't they want pretty necromancers in their world? Does the magic unnaturally rot a lich's flesh away or is it just accelerating the rate at which they decompose, at which point a Houri would indeed not rot? Some people may like the idea of an ageless lich, while others will think it's a "twilight" take on a lich, trying to make something that is suppose to be hideous and scary pretty and alluring.