BrokenPromise

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

So, with the Game Awards tomorrow and the year quickly coming to a close I figure now's a good a time as any for everyone's favorite topic.

Hey, guys, what is your Game of the Year for 2019? If it's too hard to pick one, feel free to make a list. Or make a list anyway. What games from 2019 are the ones you look back on the most fondly?

@Fabricant451

I'm sad to say that the only 2019 game I played this year was Borderlands 3, and I don't really feel like that counts. I'm just a few hours in and while I'd like to finish it, final fantasy 14 keeps stealing my attention away. Just got to post Stormblood.

The game I look back on with the most fondness is probably Celeste. Yes, it's a 2018 game, but I put off getting it because I thought it would just be another Meatboy clone. Only to get it over a steam sale and realize it was so much more. I still have to get all the strawberries and beat about half of the challenge levels, but that game rekindled my love for the ultra hard platformer.

And the music was amazing, as I'm sure all of you are likely aware. I enjoy all the music, but this is probably my favorite track in the game.

Who Do You Write Like?

Don't write like Steven King, write like Michael Crichton.

I wonder if he's even obtainable in that thing.

Who Do You Write Like?

When I feed it a writing sample from a magical girl RP, where I tend to write about supernatural powers and the occasional lewd moment:

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica

When I feed it the opening post to the Danganronpa RP I GM, which is a murder mystery/court story for those unfamiliar.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and more than 15 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.

When I feed it a part of a post in which a character reflects on their grim situation.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle (1963), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Breakfast of Champions (1973) blend satire, gallows humor, and science fiction.

The "I write like" thing states that it "analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers." But I feel like it looks at the wrong words. Using the word "murder" doesn't necessarily mean I write like Dame, just that my sample is likely about the genre she covered.

Still a fun toy to play around with. It's always interesting to try and figure out how these things work. I'm kind of curious if others had the same results as me.

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

@Mateotis@Majoras End Alright, lets see some wild accusations and questioning up in here. you should all have your alibis now.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

“’Bout to show ‘er the Cadillac.”

— Billy

@ERode@PlatinumSkink@FamishedPants@Crusader Lord

“The heck?”

It wasn’t by much, but Amaryllis managed to out pace Billy and rescue the pirate girl before he managed to get his hands on her. She even managed to sneak in a swing at his fingers. Billy was wise of her previous tricks, and wouldn’t fall to them a second time. He shed the cut skin before his flesh bubbled and shifted until it was like the wound never happened. Amaryllis asked Sophia a question, and the two began their counterattack shortly.

Then Mariette arrived.

It was a simple case of arriving in the wrong place at the wrong time. Under the ship, Billy was able to trap his sword between his thumb and take hold of a a solid cross member. It was a motion nobody would see, but everyone would see the effect of. All of Billy’s upward momentum was now carrying him towards Mariette’s new position. She was able to get up an array of portals for spying, and was able to repel the ghoul’s assault, but there was no stopping Billy. Being aware of something and having the ability to dodge it were two entirely different things. The giant had nearly been decapitated by one of Mariette’s portals, and was fully aware of what she could do. When she deployed a portal to bar his path, he smashed it with his mangled club before catching Mariette’s torso inside his armpit. His arm was clamped down on her like a vice. She could feel her ribs cracking under the pressure. Escape would be paramount if the witch wanted to live to see tommorow. “I say I’ll break you up like peanut brittle! Haha!”

He landed on the ground and turned to face his attackers. Amaryllis was limited in how she could proceed to attack Billy, now that he had a hostage. She rebounded around him, each hit causing a small incision, and each incision was shed away and turned into ash before more flesh could take its place. But surely she would need to do more than this to save Mariette in time. Billy spun like a typhoon, guiding his club towards the rose knight with each rotation, but this also served to further disorientate Mariette, who was finding it harder to look through her portals. He did not seem to notice Sophia’s approach yet.

Hilaria was standing nearby as the Cadillac repeatedly backed up and drove into her, over and over. Each time it caused some of the metal to pop off and reveal more of what hid underneath. The army truck also showed signs of being a monstrous disguise when it charged straight for Hilaria. The grill opened wide enough to swallow her whole.

Eli’s gambit seemed to work, as the “police car” fell out of the sky and slammed into the ground. All of the metal fell off of it, leaving a gelatinous mass of flesh and bone in its place. It shifted and bubbled in place, not quite dead but not ready to move either.

The sound of windows shattering brought Eli’s attention to the firetruck. The cabin was filled with flesh, not unlike what hid inside the police car. It aimed the extension ladder at Eli, and along with it, the ladder mounted fire hose. The hose was a smaller “caliber” than the main hose, but it boasted the same amount of pressure. Something Eli would notice as soon as it fired. Wherever she tried to fly, the firetruck would attempt to track her.

---

“We’re being attacked with emotional trauma? Who wrote this, Disney Marvel?”

— Lupa

@FamishedPants@Ariamis

Had Lupa not been trying to sate her patron’s appetite, she might have charged straight for the center of it all and ended the fight. But this seemed to be the best course of action at the time. Even as the negative emotions built up, she kept at it. She would carry their regrets and anger, because even if she couldn’t resist Feral’s influence, she could master her own. Only the slaughter was starting to make her feel worse. Each kill felt less and less satisfying until it did nothing. That was when she turned to face Helga.

“What?” She placed her hands on the side of her head. “No! She’s family! Give me someone who deserves it! We can wait.”

No we can’t.

…

…

…



“The time is nigh for nightly feast.”

— Feral

A thunderous roar, a tower of black smoke, and when it dissipated it was Feral rather than Lupa that remained. Its form was barely humanoid, being easier to compare to a dire wolf than a human.

The Endsinger’s song had no effect on it. At least not a negative one. Feral was above the rabble that surrounded it. Suffering and anger was all music to Feral’s ears. It lived for both of these sensations, to be inflicted and subjected to such things was why it existed. Such was the point of its endless hunt. Lupa was not its first host, and likely wouldn’t be the last. With a roar, the beast released a sonic boom that cleared out nearly a quarter of the spirits. It relished every negative emotion that entered its mind, and was left wanting more. But such weak prey would not sate it for long. It could slay Endsinger, but if this was all she was capable of, there was hardly a reason to suspect she would be worthy sport. No, the only worthy prey here was Helga. With the rabble cleared out, they could begin in earnest.

Feral charged towards Helga on all fours. It didn’t have a mind for strategy. Only a desire to sate its claws and fangs with blood.

“The owls are not what they seem.”

— Vermin Killer

@DarkwolfX37

On her way back, Shion would noticed some owls stationed on top of some buildings. The owls themselves looked normal enough, but they were perched near where Shion’s clones had been set up. And they were making eye contact with her, with unblinking eyes.

One of them dove for her position, as if she was nothing but a field mouse ready to be carried off.

---

“Do you like Pokemon references?”

“And make it double!”

— Su Fang & Mika Sarraf

@Rune_Alchemist

In a magical girl fight, ten seconds was a long time. But Mika was determined to open up the portal to the vacation dimension. She would make the opening as big as she could, and open it behind herself, facing the museum. She had never tried doing this before, but she would try to open it up to the Kaijo arena, right over the island platform. Though really, any place should work so long as it was outside.

Nothing Mr Bulk was doing seemed to be immediately threatening, but he couldn’t be allowed to keep summoning the undead. Su attempted to create a twister over the massive portal to prevent more bones from entering it. She then attempted to fire the bones out of twister at the newly created undead beasts. But it was only a matter of time before the lich adjusted his strategy. With the arrival of Lily, Su turned to her and Rita.

“Look for a phylactery.”

One of the pros of being an assistant to magical girls is that you start to learn the weaknesses of common enemies. Lich were powerful opponents, but they anchored their magic into the world with a totem item of some type more often than not. If this lich was the same way, then they needed to attack the item that his soul was housed in rather than hitting his body directly. That was not a job Su’s magic was well suited for.

”Hide yo cat girls from Mr Thicc!”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift 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: 10 | AGI: 08 | VIT: 11 | MAG: 17 | LCK: 05

Earnings this post: Zilch

Total: 6 Gold, 111 Silver, 120 Bronze

This fight wasn't too hectic. The real issue was the ascendancy chicks, not the litch. But the time to assist with them was not here yet. So instead she used her illusion magic to obscure Mika from the litch's view.

”Best boy crampin’ my style, but he gets a pass <3.”

— Tetrad

@Card Captor@EnterTheHero

Tetrad didn’t mind playing the hero. It felt good to do something that others would be proud of on occasion. But Alexander was 3 fast 5 her and managed to get to the wounded girl first.

”Huh?”

What bothered tetrad was that she had just drawn “the world,” a card that always ensures something good is going to happen. But nothing good happened. Instead, some random girl got hit by a rouge magical shot. This was strange, as it was the only remarkable thing to happen after she drew that particular card. Surely having an ally near-mortally wounded was not “good” for her. But luck worked in mysterious ways. You might feel unlucky if you woke up late and didn’t get to eat breakfast. You might feel luckier if your roommate was arrested for poisoning everyone who shared his apartment. So how could such an event benefit to her?

”Are these girls Ascendancy?”

Far be it for Tetrad to try to rationalize her own luck. But that was a possibility. If these girls were going to turn on her for any reason, it would be good that the sniper wasn’t there to take shots at the back of her head. She turned her attention to the crow boy. ”Oh! A boy!” Was this what her card had brought her? ”I mean, you look like you could use some more energy, try this!” Her strength card flew off and impacted Kaito. It was unlikely the card would reverse the curse, but it would momentarily enhance all of his abilities, possibly negating the curse’s effect. ”Anyway, Kail is in good hands, trust me. We need to focus on the fight and bring down the lich.” Tetrad sprinted forward while drawing up more cards. ”Wha- the world AGAIN?” Were more boys going to arrive? Only time would tell.

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

@Majoras End I'm fine. Last two weeks were busy because I was taking care of the family dog, as well as working a man short at my job.

I was hoping we'd see some theories before I gave everyone their Alibis, but I'll hand those out over the weekend.

It's been busy for me.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Your mother told me the same thing.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Don't we have a nightmare girl already tho?

As for getting all five stats to 2 digits, I assume you mean without using the shop or plat/ruby coins? It's probably possible. You'd need to get a really good re-roll. All of your perks would need to be stat orientated, and you'd probably either need to be a monster girl or a dark weapon girl. I can't really be bothered to run the numbers myself.

Edit: yay, same time posts!

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

”Wouldn’t ‘Mr Thicc’ have beren a better name?”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift 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: 10 | AGI: 08 | VIT: 11 | MAG: 17 | LCK: 05

Earnings this post: Zilch

Total: 6 Gold, 111 Silver, 120 Bronze

Hah, he was a dinomancer!

It had been a good while since Mac had set foot in a museum. As a child, her parents took her to nearly every single one in Penrose, Seeing the bones of some long extinct animal or what remained of an ancient indian’s clothes was enough to get her creative juices flowing. She didn’t remember reading any of the bronze placards, It was far more fun to imagine what life was like for these people/creatures than to have it all revealed to her. Though at some point her interests must have shifted, for what was a police officer but a pursuer of truth?

It was a little sad, really. Museums brought joy to a lot of young kids, and now she’d have to choose between destroying some of the oldest fossils in the world, or letting this litch continue to live. So long as human lives were in the balance, it was hardly a question.

---

“Defy me at your peril.”

— Vermilion Veronica

The particular book that Veronica held was linked to Binky’s memories. Since Binky was spirited away with the rest of the girls over the vacation, there wasn’t much catching up to do. But there were a lot of alerts shortly after arriving back in Penrose, which piqued her interest.

Much like Veronica had anticipated, the Ascendancy didn’t care for how new Beacon operated. Binky had been taken out of the lab and locked away in a cell. It would not surprise Veronica if the same happened to other Beacon girls. Getting back in touch with Sylvia would prove to be difficult, regardless of her fate. Veronica would love to improve her standing by sending her agents to help out, But it was a risky move with her forces spread so thin. At present, Tetrad was fighting a necromancer, and Sil was-

“What?”

With everything going on, her top agent was screwing around with some bottom feeder, even after a fellow agent requested assistance. It was not entirely her fault. Sil was the one that was attacked, but that hardly mattered. Silhouette was choosing to drag out a random skirmish that didn’t pertain to any of veronica’s objectives. Sil would receive a transmission shortly.

“Sam? What are you doing?” If Silhouette wasn’t so occupied, she might have been able to respond. But she didn’t have to. Veronica was well aware of the situation. “I have a lot of work for you. Wrap this up quickly so that we can begin running missions in earnest.”

@FamishedPants

---

“I say, let’s play chicken.”

— Billy

@ERode@PlatinumSkink@FamishedPants@Crusader Lord

“I say, I say, after your declaration, I was expecting a bit more-” peppered the street with a salvo of cannonballs, with complete disregard for the road. She’d hit the pavement, cave in a convertible, and flatten a post office box, but none of her shots would hit Billy. What he couldn’t steer out of the way of was batted away with his sword. In one instance, he just tipped his head to allow one of the cannonballs to fly over his shoulder. As Billy came closer to Hilaria, Sophia was forced to stop firing on him or risk hitting her.

The army truck did not fair as well. One of Sophia’s shots slammed into the grill, forcing the nose of the vehicle into the ground. The back of the vehicle acted like a catapult and flung the riding ghouls into the air. They were decked out in military garb and held a variety of martial weapons. Rocket launchers, machine guns, one even had an AA-12 automatic shotgun. The incoming cannonballs were knocking them out of the air, but that didn’t stop them from firing at everything they could see.

That was when Hilaria decided to become a traffic bollard. Billy gravely underestimated how durable the magical girl was, and he didn’t have his seat belt on. The impact caused the rear end of the car to buck, catapulting Billy over her. This allowed Amaryllis to close the distance and test her might against the herculean lich. But it became clear that as soon as their weapons came together that Billy had become much stronger after his death. Not only that, but Billy was still being carried by the momentum of the unholy car he was riding in. Amaryllis's hop up didn't give her the same level of kinetic energy. “I say, I say, after your declaration, I was expecting somethin' a bit more-” The two smashed through the hull of Sophia's ship before they both rolled to their feet. “Elegant.” Billy finished before brandishing his weapon. Before the two sword fighters could resume their duel, Billy jumped. The ship could barely contain a creature of his size, and it broke apart as he soared through the ceiling. His outstretched hand reached for Sophia through the dock. “Captain, you're going down with the ship!”

Meanwhile, When the police car slammed into the portal-wall, it blew the front fenders. What was revealed underneath was not your standard car chassis. A fleshy mass with bony spines and eyes looked out from the new holes in its paneling. This wasn’t a police car, it was monster hiding inside of one. With a demonic bellow, the grill opened up to reveal a maw before charging after the harpy. Eli’s shots easily dispatched the ghouls, but she’d need to stay on her toes to avoid the monster car.

Mariette was able to escape to the fire truck. It seemed the floor the ladder was aimed at was filled with bystandards. Normal humans who had no idea what was coming to claim them. Mariette was able to find and crush many of the ghouls, but they greatly outnumbered her and would take time to slay. A group towards the back had taken a fire hose and aimed it at her. It took five of them to hold it steady, but they managed to fire the hose in Mariette’s direction.

---

“OM NOM NOM NOM!”

— Lupa

@FamishedPants@Ariamis@DarkwolfX37

Lupa arrived at the scene as soon as Emily’s fireball struck a ghost. “So they do have corporal forms.” This was important, as her desire to kill at this point was impossible to resist. She dove head first into the specters and started swinging, cleaving them by the dozen.

Even though her bloodlust had nearly taken over her mind, she was aware that the ghosts were responding to the lich’s music. Perhaps as an experiment, or maybe just to make her prey more fun to fight, she used her sound magic to amplify her wild laughter. Anyone nearby would undoubtedly hear her voice drown out whatever the lich was playing. Lupa also chose to not stray too far inside the mob of ghosts. She moved in a wide zig-zag pattern, trying to keep the opening as wide as possible without getting surrounded. Feral didn’t want the hunt to end prematurely. If the Endsinger was providing this dark banquet, Lupa would snuff her out last.

“Let there be silence.”

— Vermin Killer

Shion would stop getting reports from some of her clones. Some were even interrupted mid sentence as they reported on the area around Endsinger. Oddly, the clones watching the other two battles and the shop were unharmed and did not report any suspicious activity.

---

“Where were you!?”

“Retconning at the shop, why do you ask?”

— Su Fang & Mika Sarraf

Su accepted the friendship stone from Helga and purchased the Dragon Pendant from the greedy warmonger. She wasn’t especially worried about being hit, but the pendant resonated with her. “Dragon Scale?” It shared the name of the creature Su wanted to emulate most as well as that of “shining scale,” Su’s former master. Dragons were often revered for their strength, but it was often their ability to destroy that was celebrated rather than their nigh immortality. Though that was perhaps the part of being a dragon Su wanted to emulate most, which was why she ended up accepting the trinket. She looped the pendant around her neck and observed it in a mirror. It was a piece of jade carved into two serpentine dragons in an eternal chase.

That was not the only item that caught Su’s eye. She spotted a staff over by the weapons. There was nothing remarkable about the stick’s appearance. It was just a bamboo staff with a black stripe that wound from end to end. Normally Su would not have given the weapon a second glance, but this item also resonated with her. When she raised her hand, a gust of wind brought it to her side. As a connoisseur of everything oriental, she could appreciate the craftsmanship of such a weapon. More over, she could feel the weapon reaching into her. The staff wanted to take in all of the emotions she was feeling right now. This did not alarm Su, and instead made her felt like the weapon belonged to her. She sighed when she realized she wasn’t going to leave without it. “I’m taking this too.” She tossed some more money at the warmonger before rushing out the door, sufficiently armed to save Mika.

Acquired Swag
Dragon Scale Pendant
Ether Staff
walkie-talkie stone

Cost
2 gold, 4 silver, 10 bronze

---

@EnterTheHero@Rune_Alchemist

Once the boney man fled the scene, Mika attempted to use her healing artifact to help the wounded pedestrians.

“Get up, get up!”

Before Mika gave entirely into her panic, Su descended from the sky. Her new staff floated behind her back. “Are you alright?” Mika only whimpered in response. Su could tell she was distraught over what happened to the bystanders. They had a blank look in their eyes, and they seemed to be unmoving. She took one of their hands into her own and felt their wrist for a pulse. “They’re alive Mika. They’re just in shock because they had a near-death experience. I’m sure our presence isn’t helping.” Su waited for the girl’s eyes to focus on her before pulling Mika to her feet. “Take a moment to gather yourself and meet me at the museum.”

“Wait, there’s a museum?” Mika’s smile returned. “I always wanted to go with you! Are there dinosaurs?”

Su blinked at Mika’s swift rebound, then smiled when she remembered who she was dealing with. “Let’s find out together. Just keep yourself safe.”

They wouldn’t have to go far before being greeted by a quarto of undead lizzards (birds?).

“Man, they’re big… But I’ve got an idea!” Mika grew a bunch of crab legs and scaled one of the buildings. “Cover me! I’m gunna open a portal to the beach dimension on the roof!”

Su didn’t understand what Mika was planning, but at least she was safe. While there were a lot of monsters about, the one that posed the most immediate threat to the magical girls on the roof was the pterodactyl. Fortunately, this was also the one that Su was best equipped to deal with. The hotel manager created a vacuum chamber around the prehistoric creature. Wings only worked because they could help move air around, so Su reasoned that an air free environment should knock the creature out of the sky. Should that not work, collapsing the vacuum on it should at least damage it.

”Triplets? Clearly I’ve stepped into a turbo lesbian love fantasy.”

— Tetrad

Tetrad didn’t relax her stance, but she grinned at the triplet that addressed her. ”Yea, all according to plan.” It wasn’t, actually. Tetrad had little faith in her weapon when it wasn’t backed by magic, but it seemed like the zombies were weaker than she anticipated. ”I’m Tetrad, by the way.” She spoke while Tossing a tarot card at each of them. They seemed to be strength reliant, so she blessed them with the suit of swords. ”I’m new to the area, but all the same you don’t look like locals.” Tetrad tossed a blue card at the damaged girl to heal away some of the damage she sustained. ”Oh, and ‘scuse me!” Tetrad tossed another blue card, but this one was aimed between two of the girls. Once it cleared them, it transformed into a tiny spinning scythe that cut through everything it touched. Even the thick blubber of an ogre was no match for a blue bipartisan attack*. ”Damn I’m good!” Tetrad raised her hand, and a few more cards flew into her hand. She looked at one of them and her grin grew even wider. ”Damn I’m really good!”

*^{I’ve been wrong before.}

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

”Too many best girls.”

— Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift 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: 10 | AGI: 08 | VIT: 11 | MAG: 17 | LCK: 05

Earnings this post: Zilch

Total: 6 Gold, 111 Silver, 120 Bronze

Mac knew she was going to help take out the litches, but she didn’t know which one she was going to start with. The Moirai never gave her clear instructions on what to do, so in situations like this, she had to rely on her own intuition and wits to lead her to the correct fight.

The litches would ultimately fall in the end, her goal was more to help the magical girls present survive the encounter. To Mac, this was less about dealing with the individual litches themselves and focusing more on the aftermath of their defeat. To that end, dealing with “Mr bulk” seemed like the most sensible option.

She waited for the litch to arrive, which was when she would commence a most glorious butt kicking.

---

“Just as planned.”

— Vermilion Veronica

Veronica stood in a dark library. There was no natural light, nor were there any fixtures to help illuminate her surroundings. The only light she needed was from the books themselves. They had a red glow and were the only thing to see by in this library of darkness. The books were just bright enough to illuminate her Gothic dress, which was red and decorated with roses. When she looked at the books, she would hear sounds. opening these books would reveal images. Sometimes the images were in stunning color, other times it was just well defined shapes.

Veronica was not in a physical place. At least her consciousness wasn’t. She had withdrawn into a nexus between her mind and her specialization magic. The setup was comparable to the internet in the way it operated. All of the Cradle agents minds were on a network that sent “data” through a “server,” which relayed all of the information towards Veronica and sometimes other Cradle agents. Their thoughts, memories, everything was compiled and shifted through an encrypted network of Veronica’s design. This space was called the black library.

Normally a careful construction of algorithms would alert Veronica when there was a particular thought she needed to see, but that only really worked when Veronica wasn’t locked away in a different dimension for several months. Veronica had returned after a very long span of time, and needed to sort through everything she hadn’t been around to catch. Her situation was comparable to coming back to an old discord server and seeing that there were 10,000+ unread messages, and everyone on her friends list had sent her some DMs as well.

It wasn’t pretty.

In Veronica’s search for answers, she received a transmission. In the black library, incoming transmissions looked like red holograms of the people talking. So it wasn’t hard for Veronica to place who was bothering her. “Yes, Trixy?”

”I know you’re busy, but I also think I can help you get caught up to speed! You’ve been in there for an hour or so, and we need you now!”

“I’m nearly done, actually.” The coin broker closed the book in her hand and put it on the shelf. “From what I’ve gathered, whatever magic was protecting the people of Penrose has since vanished, allowing monsters to come in en mass and cause a chain of cataclysmic events. With most of the defending magical girls trapped in another dimension there was not much to retaliate with. Naturally, the girl scouts called in the Ascendancy to clean up the mess. They did not like how corruption friendly Penrose was, and now we’re here.”

”B-but!”

“But that says nothing of Crimson Cradle, does it?” Veronica lowered her arms to her sides, and dozens of books floated off the shelves to circle her. They opened up and bombarded her in light. “Much like I expected, there was a panic when I disappeared. Some of you thought I was dead, but you eventually rationalized that if the magicoms still worked, I was still alive somewhere. Unfortunately you had no access to the Cradle, nor a means to secure new members. It seems like you personally took charge and adapted a defensive strategy, made potential allies via Glimmr, and stubbornly kept a foothold in Penrose. You also attempted to locate me, but that was one of the less productive things you did.”

”Well, you can’t fault me for trying, can you?” Trixy gave her boss a toothy grin.

“Your greatest achievement was building a new lab in a secure location.”

”Yea well- Wait, what was great?”

Veronica placed a hand on her chin. “I would hardly call the recent events in Penrose advantageous to anyone, but I believe that Cradle made the most out of the situation. Beacon is more divided than ever, and the Mint finally has some competition. It is probably too soon to assess our risk level, but if the big two start fighting each other, we have little to worry about.” Veronica approached Trixy and chuckled. All of the books flew back onto the shelf “I’ll need to tell you about my adventures at a later date. For now though, you might as well tell everyone I have returned. It’s not going to be a secret for very long regardless.” She folded her arms behind her back. “I will announce my return to the other Cradle agents personally, along with your promotion to Top Manager.”

”Wait, really? I’m…” Trixy shook in place. ”I’m so excited! It was really lonely for the last few months, but now everything is wonderful again!” She zipped away. ”The only way today would get better is if someone kissed me!”

Veronica pulled out another book. She knew much, but there was still more to catch up on. “Cindy, Mariette, and the Djinn Sisters.” She walked deeper into the library. “I cannot ignore you any longer, can I?”

---

Cradle.net

Update # 478

Trix N Traps Top Manager Online BillyKillsMikaBillyKillsMika

Hi Girls! (and boys, we don’t discriminate!) So something cool happened today. You know how I’ve been talking about someone coming back since FOREVER? Well guess who’s finally back? Vermilion Veronica herself! You know what that means? Crimson Cradle is back in business baby! We’re talking… I mean, we can actually do stuff now. Imagine if your Patron up and disappeared for a few months. No pay, no back up, no cute girl to take orders from! Needless to say we’re all very happy that she’s back. I’ve covered why working for Crimson Cradle is great before, but you know I’m not oppose to doing it again! For those of you who don’t want to read a text wall, the short answer is this: She’s one of us. Veronica isn’t a puchuu with mysterious motives. She’s not a lesser force who’s only interested in their own ends. She’s not an arrogant god, not a horror, not Beacon, and DEFINETLY not the Mint either! She’s a magical girl just like you or I who has become fed up with the mint’s shenanigans. If you stand with her, you’re standing against their tyranny. A history lesson for the new kids: Veronica was a former coin broker who worked for the Mint. It’s shady work, but like most people working for the Mint, it was something she was sucked into rather than willingly signed up for. But she played their game and she played it smart. She worked her way up to become a coin broker and noticed that things only got worse as she moved higher up in the organization. So was so repulsed that Veronica has since left them, now branded for death, but no less willing to take the fight back to them! She’s going to expose their every secret and turn them inside out! She’s going to free their army of enslaved magical girls from the debt trap Mint has them in! As amazing as Veronica is though, she needs your help. We’re just a small group of magical girls that needs to get bigger to take on a giant like the Mint. We’ve got cool benifits like: -Access to the Cradle: Virtually anything you could ever think of is within arms reach! Just let Veronica know what you want, and boom! No strings attached! She doesn’t like handing out stuff without some collateral though, so you’ll need to trade something of equal value in. -Be connected: Any Cradle agent can talk to any other Cradle agent, anytime, anywhere, at all! I don’t recommend bothering Veronica too much, But I’ll talk to you! I have a lot of interests! -Cute operator: Chances are you’re going to get most of your missions directly from Veronica. Otherwise, you’ll get them from me. And we’re both pretty cute! And I’m sure you’re cute too! -Make a difference. -Change your destiny Now I’m not going to lie, we’re not for the faint of heart. Not everyone is made out of tough enough stuff to become a Cradle agent. A lot of people want to stop us. Mostly the Mint, and I’m sure Beacon 2.0 isn’t too happy with us being more or less run by a dark magical girl. Also, because Veronica has had so many run-ins with moles and traitors, she’s going to have access to every thought and memory you have. Veronica’s a pretty chill person though. I have some thoughts I’d rather not get banned from Glimmr for sharing, but big V still keeps me employed. In fact, I just got promoted! Does the hard work you put in for your patron pay off? Leave a comment and let’s have a discussion about this! And as usual, if anyone’s interested in joining, just send me a message! I’ll answer any questions you have!

---

“Round 2.”

— Billy

@ERode@PlatinumSkink

Most cars cannot fly. But the rusting 1959 Eldorado convertible that Billy was driving certainly could. The unusually tall man wasn’t able to drive it like a normal person. He needed to have the top down, as well as sit in the back since there was no way he would fit in the driver’s seat. The Cadillac knew where to go, and didn’t need Billy to steer or step on the gas. The tail lights emitted a neon glow, which left a trail as the car flew about the sky. The only thing that rivaled the sound of the engine was Billy’s howl of ecstasy.

Yea, she turns me on

It wasn’t long before Mariette came into view. Billy was not one to back down from a challenge, nor was he the type to throw projectiles at people. He raised his sword over his shoulder and prepared to cut Mariette clean in two. She had just enough time to step back into her portal before Billy’s blade smashed the portal’s frame, causing it’s magic to flicker away like static sparks. Before departing, she did attempt to make Billy slash himself with his own attack, but the lich was aware of the portal opening up next to him, and stopped before he decapitated his own head. Moments later, the Eldorado glided to the ground and spun around to face Billy’s pursuers.

Their battle would take place in an intersection. One with buildings spanning in all directions. This part of Penrose was sparsely populated, but Billy would take all the skins he could find. More cars pulled up behind him. A fire truck, a police car, and an army cargo truck. They were all filled to the brim with cackling ghouls. The fire truck extended its ladder towards a building while the police car took to the skies, sirens blairing as it pursued Mariette. Those ghouls were armed with all manner of firearms from pistols to S.W.A.T. issue assault rifles. The army truck and Billy barreled towards Amaryllis and anyone standing with her. The girls would have to work fast if they wanted to keep the local populace safe.

---

“Lich? More like bitch! Lolololz!”

— Lupa

Lupa and Mika had been playing in the snow, but Mika had informed her that she saw a friend and wanted to drop in on them. She was being kind of secretive about who it was, but Lupa was fine with Mika keeping secrets. If she wanted to chase down a new girlfriend or just wanted some privacy, Lupa wasn’t one to interfere.

More than that, Feral had become quite ravenous in her time away from Penrose. Now that Lupa was back, she could feel its presence ten fold. Her Patron was begging her to kill something, anything. Even Mika was not spared as a potential victim. She tried to internalize it as much as possible, but the desire to kill was strong. It had gotten so bad that Lupa couldn’t go a few seconds without thinking about killing something. She needed to do something, and soon.

That was when she got a text from Emily.

”The timing’s a little awkward.” Lupa grinned to herself. Or perhaps it was more correct to say Feral was making her grin. She hated that she had to give into such dark urges, but the best way to keep Feral under control was to give into his desires at the best possible times. ”I hope there’s a lot of minions.” Lupa dialed Helga. She could have called Mika, but there was no point bringing her into this. ”Hey Helga! There’s a lich or something at the old earthquake sight. I guess its a big deal, so I’m calling in some backup. Don’t leave me hangin’!”

Lupa didn’t wait for a response. She needed to kill something, and that drive overrode the usual pleasantries she would normally share with Helga. Lupa would have to talk to beacon about Feral again, but for now, she hunted. The wolf girl took off towards the disturbance to join Emily’s side.

@FamishedPants

---

@EnterTheHero@Rune_Alchemist

”A bony man who summons other bony men: Boneception.”

— Tetrad

Tetrad floated to the ground and placed her hands on her hips. ”Seems there’s already people here waiting for my mark. This is gunna be easy!” It wasn’t until she looked at her cards that her expression soured. She had no cards to play. Save her “trump” card, which was far too early in the fight to use. Sometimes fights are hard because luck doesn’t agree with you. Other times you just forgets to draw because you’re too busy chasing a lich through a city. ”Whatever, I’ve got a good combination coming up, I can feel it!” While more cards flew out of her deck, she chucked her knife at one of the zombie’s heads. On contact, it would swiftly return to her hand to be thrown again. Even if Tetrad had superhuman agility, having to wait for her knife to return between shots was a sub optimal way to fight. She had much more firepower when she used her knife in tandem with her cards.

“Once more, with Deja vu.”

— Mika Sarraf

Hugging strangers was all fine and good, but Mika had a job to do now. There was a giant skeleton, its minions, and pedestrians that were in dire need of rescuing. Mika knew that now was the time to throw caution to the wind and dive into the enemy ranks. She had so many options available to her, from transforming into a beast to blowing them away with her newly awakened water magic. But she ended up doing neither of those things. She backed away from the fight like a scared animal.

Even if it happened over two months ago, the weird time warp things meant it only happened a few weeks ago for Mika. This was where she had her fight with the spider lady. She fought skeletons, spiders, and eventually a big evil mommy spider. Her attempt to help just ended up getting Lupa temporarily mind wiped. Had the ghost twins not been there to fix her, Lupa still would have been a vegetable, all because Mika tried to help. Tetrad was here, Rina was here, even this crow boy was here. There was no reason to get involved.

But Mika did know someone who could help. She opened up her cell phone and hit up someone she had on speed dial.

---

“Back in my day, all we had to play with was sticks.”

— Su Fang

Su had planned on talking about possible way to promote the hotel with Helga during their walk. But Helga had bigger plans. She had been swept up by a video of Vi, and wanted to use the party and Vi to elevate awareness of the hotel.

“I think-” Su was cut off by Vi’s voice screaming through the phone. She wasn’t well vised on internet celebrities, so she watched a few videos that Helga had recommended to her. “I don’t know. She seems very politically charged. I don’t like Beacon any more than you do, but she’s not a typical corrupted girl sympathizer. She’s calling a lot of attention to herself. Having her sponsor the Golden Trove would be dangerous.” She turned off her phone. “But we could go to her party. I do like the idea of selecting possible candidates ourselves. Dark magical girls and monster girls aren’t my favorite guests, but we can’t be too picky these days. We should go to the party.”

@Card Captor

When Su opened the door to the shop, she was greeted by Brittany, followed closely by Alexander asking what they were doing here. “Alexander?” It had been a long time since Su had seen Alexander. The last time they met was at Justine’s castle, and he didn’t look quite the way he did now. They hadn’t interacted at all over the vacation, so it had been a good month or so since she had spoken with him. Not that she had ever really gotten to know him in the first place. But something else took precedence over catching up. Su walked over to Alexander, looked him up and down, and grabbed one of his tails. “Are these tails?” She stroked it between two of her fingers. “They’re soft, but they also feel strong. Like tentacles.” Su’s eyes half closed, and her cheeks glowed red. “Mariette also had strong tentacles.” She swallowed before pulling her hand back. “Lily really is lucky to have you.” It might have been rude to do so, but Su walked away from Alexander to see if there was anything else that could grant a power like that. Her search turned up nothing. “Oh well, no tentacles for Helga.”

Su turned her head and noticed an assortment of arrows. “There’s a lot of weapons in here. It’s not really what I was expecting.” She lifted up one of the arrows and examined it. The blessed fairy bolt. It was an unusually shaped arrow. The shaft was pink and it was jagged like a lightening bolt. It didn’t look like it would even fly, but the information written on the tag was worrying. It seemed the arrow was designed to avoid obstacles and wait out barriers before hitting someone between the eyes. It sounded a little extreme, but the price tag was high enough that the claims had to be real. The idea that someone could come in here and use something like this against Mika was troubling. This wasn’t the type of item that you used to protect yourself. It was designed to kill your opponent. Something made less for self defence and more for a war. The temptation was to buy it just to keep it out of the wrong hands, but there would be another one here in time. Not only that, but there were a great deal more arrows beside the one Su was looking at. The next table over was filled with grenades, and beyond that was an assortment of weapons. With a sigh, Su put the arrow away and turned around. “Penrose really is on the verge of a war, isn’t it?”

*beep beep*

Su look at her phone. It was Mika. Strange for her to be calling, but it was too soon to panic. “Mika? Are you alright?”

“No.” Her voice cracked. “Remember where the spider monster was? There’s something else there now. A big skeleton is attacking people. I wanna help but-”

Now might have been a better time to panic. ButSu was done giving into despair. “I’ll be right there Mika. Just stay safe and tell me if anything strange happens. Stick with Lu-” Su looked to Helga, and noticed she was talking on her phone as well. She could hear Lupa’s voice. “Helga, Mika’s in trouble, you look after Lupa!” Su bolted for the door, not even bothering to acknowledge Alexander. He didn’t owe her anything, and he was probably going to go and make sure Lily was safe. In the end, everyone had to look after their own. As soon as Su got outside, she flew into the sky. It wouldn’t be long before she was with Mika.