BrokenPromise

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

Things weren’t looking great for Hizuki. This was the second time she had been attacked by the detention club, and it happened to be at a critical moment when her defences were particularly low. Perhaps it was a mercy that Hotaru had decided to ignore the girl instead of finishing the job herself. Or perhaps she figured it would be more cruel to ignore Hizuki and meet her fate. The building side was approaching, she had only a moment to consider how to spend the rest of her fading consciousness.

But then her course changed. She could feel the G-forces working on her as she suddenly pulled away from the wall. To either side of her were bright green fairies. Their bodies were made of a bubbling, caustic gel that was transparent enough to reveal their skeletons. It appeared that they had been able to redirect Hizuki before she joined some pedestrians for dinner.

Her thrusters died down, and she fell a few feet into the arms of another magical girl.

Though the neck of her violin pressed into her back, causing some discomfort.

"I’ll never hurt you, physically."

— Willow

"Howdy, partner!" Willow’s eyes shifted from Hizuki’s battered form to the ongoing chase. "I know you don’t like it when I talk about other people’s mothers, but I think she forgot to teach her kid any manners." Willow was flying along with her caustic farries. Behind her, Black Gate was being hauled after them. She had a rope gag in her mouth, with her wrists and ankles bound together. The goat girl didn’t look like she was in much better condition than Hizuki, only there were fewer bruises and more acid burns. "On the upside, Oros is really into the battle damage look, so maybe that won’t happen if we meet up with her again."

A screeching sound caused Willow to look over her shoulder, and she saw tweedle dee and tweedle dum surfing after her. Or what was their name? Ah! The Mediocre Morganite and Pathetic Pearl!

"Wha-" Morganite stood up on her shield. "What did you do to her!? Give her back!"

Willow looked at Hizuki, then back at Morganite, then at the fleeing Diamond carrying Tsubomi. "Are you thinking what I’m thinking?" A triumphant smile crossed her lips, only for it to vanish as a pillar of light grazed her shoulder. "Oop! Hold on tight!"

The caustic farries screamed before rushing for Morganite. They all slammed into her other shield, but managed to coat her shield in burning goop. It was immediately blown off with how fast they were moving. Willow quit floating and fell onto her dark unicorn. She reached out her hand and caught Black Gate before she smashed into the pavement.

"Eyyyyy, Shatterscape!" She twitched her ear just before it was hit by another lazer. The charging girl had a head start on her, but she knew she could hear her. "You’ve dealt with these guys before right?" She lifted her arm, and a beam passed under her arm and scorched her garment. "Let me take the batter, this fight will be over before it starts!" The next beam took a piece of her ear off, prompting her to set Black Gate on the back of her steed and feeling her ear. "Eh, it’ll grow back."

"You will not impede my sacred quest!"

— Dazzling Diamond

Diamond had been running for a while, but it wasn’t going to last much longer. Once she got to third base, that intersection just ahead, she could change roads and run straight out of the city with everyone. The dark girls could chase if they liked, but it would get more dangerous for them as they moved away from their little nest of sin.

But Diamond had been dealing with a complication a minute, and Evil Eye was about to add an extra one.

A high school student falling from the sky. Diamond’s brow became crossed. Of course it was obvious what the goal was here. The girl was going to die if Diamond didn’t catch her, but doing so would necessitate putting down Tsubomi. Carrying two people at once would be cumbersome, especially if she wanted to do it safely. But that wasn’t an option either. Whatever was chasing her wasn’t in a good state of mind. Maybe it would calm down as soon as she handed over Tsubomi, but what if it didn’t? What if, in its blind rage, it ripped her to pieces instead? That wasn’t something any light girl was willing to risk.

With a growl, Diamond held out her bat in front of herself. While still holding onto it, her fingers gripped onto the handle of a concession stand that wasn’t there. But in a shower of sparkles, suddenly it was. Immediately it began spooling up crazy amounts of cotton candy and overflowing with popcorn. The two mixed to make some unholy sticky, soft mass that grew on top of the table. By the time the school girl landed, her fall was broken by hundreds of unusually large popped kernels and swaths of cotton candy. Aside from some caramel clusters sticking to her hair, butter in her socks, and some cotton webbing between her fingers, she would survive.

"Topaz!" Diamond wasn’t trying to speak into the mic anymore. They were close enough that they could hear each other. That thing’s tendrils were closing in on Diamond. It still looked like a long dead prehistoric lizard, but it was still evolving. It started to grow a dress decorated with flowers, and the number of bladed tendrils flying around increased. The red muscle that was wrapping around its bone structure started to look like red skin. Its evolution was nearly complete and its prey was almost in reach.

"I’m all ready, hun!"

Topaz pulled the string back as far as it would go, and fired a golden arrow. It whizzed past the popcorn tower and smashed into the beast’s heart. The abomination crumpled instantly. What was flesh and muscle and bone turned into coagulated blood. A magical girl, stained head to toe in blood, rolled through the mess on the road. She had no arms or legs, just stumps that had been shaved down as far as they could be. They didn’t give up their pursuit, however She crawled, with her blood stained locks obscuring her entire body. Topaz prepared a second arrow and fired it into Oros’s forehead, causing the girl to fall onto her stomach. Oros chuckled, softly, barely audible over the sound of the chaos unfolding.

"Poor thing." Topaz shook her head. "These dark girls are willing to ruin themselves in their pursuit of power."

Meanwhile, despite everything happening to Hizuki, the schoolgirl falling overhead, and the rapid approach of the dark girls and Diamond, Kaeru chose to observe a bit longer. Indecisiveness was said to be a tool of the enemy, but it was also said that cooler heads prevail. And in this particular case, it would seem that Kaeru’s choice to remain calm and survey her surroundings might have revealed something to her. Topaz only sighed in response to the frog maiden’s words.

"I had an idea they’d be coming around."

And they did. Earthshaker and Nyxia came flying overhead and landed on the other side of the street. By this point, Diamond had arrived and shoved the concession stand with the buttered and candied student. She laid Tsubomi at Topaz’s feet and prandished her bat with both hands, looking out at the approaching dark girls.

"Good golly Miss Molly!" Topaz raised a hand to her mouth. "What happened to her face?"

"Don’t know." Diamond didn’t take her eyes off of her worthy opponents. "See if you can do something. Then we’re getting out of here."

"Alright, alright."

Earthshaker was too angry and filled with rage to pay the presence much mind, but Nyxia could feel that it had followed them all the way over here. And for better or worse, it had gotten stronger. The observant Kaeru could also feel it arrive with the shield and laser duo. Whatever it was, it was going to make its move soon.

Additionally, the sound of crackling electricity was drawing closer. But this was not the power the two were feeling. Boleite drew near.

Topaz kneeled beside Tsubomi’s body and drew one of her arrows. "For love, justice, and a smile!" Then while gripping the arrow like a knife, she drove it straight towards Tsubomi’s heart.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

*Lick-smack-lick-smack-lick-smack*

Octopus flavored chips aren’t bad either. I really like the smell.

…

Oh? Back again huh? Let me just set these aside…

How did you want to proceed? Should we continue our talk or did you want the Patron Observation Station Transcript?

I want to talk about the seasons

Hah! I had an idea we’d be talking again. Where were we?

Season Two?

Right.

Bee Pee enjoyed the second season. But their co-Grand Magistrate responsibilities? Ehhhhhhhhhh…

It was a serviceable season. The main story stagnated without a core villain, and it turned into a series of events with no clear throughline largely due to tiffs and time constraints among the magistrates, of which Bee Pee had joined the ranks of. This season marked a downturn in the Grand Magistrate’s mainline story but saw great opportunities for patrons to tell their own. Unfortunately, the lack of supervision would cause problems during the third season.

Tell me what you’re curious about.

What was becoming a Co-Grand Magistrate like for Bee Pee?

If Bee Pee wants to run a Reality Plenum, he will make his own. That said, it’s always a privilege when a Grand Magistrate trusts a patron to control parts of the story. It did feel like a natural fit. Bee Pee had been speaking with the Grand Magistrate here and there and even went out of his way to adapt the new magical girl module to work with the old system, as that wasn’t really something you could do out of the box. For his contributions and for accepting a role that he never asked for, the rest of the Patrons were…

…Divided once again!

CONTROVERSY TIME!

Oh yes, there were a few painstricken butts that day. Half of them thought that having access to the extra content was really exciting, and the other half were upset that Bee Pee had become a Co-Grand Magistrate because it was clearly a power play. There were all kinds of suggestions exchanged in the public discord from ganging up on the new faction Bee Pee had made to just boycotting the choice by threatening to leave.

The outrage didn’t last a day, but "heartfelt" wasn’t the words Bee Pee would have used to describe his christening ceremony.

In fairness to the patrons, there probably should have been some separation between the new module dropping and Bee Pee getting promoted. They weren’t really interconnected.

Furthermore, the red coins did far more as a plot device than an actual mechanic. They went largely unused, and there aren't too many notable uses of them. Most of the cast was pretty happy with how their characters turned out and didn't want to re-roll anything. The Crimson Cradle Faction is also objectively weaker than most normal factions you can make. The cooler aspects of it like the corrupted weapon gimmick was never utilized by anyone. Like the red coins, most patrons were happy with what their character had been assigned.

No Throughline?

Just ask me about the infighting. I know you want to.

The infighting! Tell me about the infighting!

Well Skink and Bee Pee put their boxing gloves on, the Grand Magistrate was acting as referee, and when the whistle blew…

Hahahahaha!

I’m afraid there wasn’t anything quite that exciting. No Trump/Zelensky style blowups here. But that group was something of a perfect storm. The worst part was that it could have been avoided.

Before I point out the problem, I’d just like to give you a breakdown of each Magistrate’s magistrate experience prior to season two.

Bee Pee at the time did not have a lot of time logged in this corner of the omniverse. However, he had guided several reality plenums to their completion over the years. His batting average is very high, and it’s rare for one to fail if he hosts it. He also never used a Co-Grand Magistrate at this time.

Skink was also experienced. I cannot speak of how experienced he was compared to Bee Pee, but I would be willing to wager somewhere in the "less, but still adequate" range. As of now, he has a Reality Plenum that has been going on for almost ten years. There was a long hiatus in there somewhere, but it does show his ability to stick with a project and keep it fun enough that people want to return to it. Like Bee Pee, he appears to run his worlds alone without any help.

Then there’s the Grand Magistrate himself. This is not his first rodeo, yet he tends to be a bit more hit or miss with his projects. That’s not to say he hasn’t had any success, as this Reality Plenum is proof of. But his successes are rare enough that this could be considered a fluke. He engages with Reality Plenums primarily as a patron and just occasionally runs things himself. That said he has had Co-Grand magistrates in the past, but it’s always been people he’s familiar with.

Now, what do you think the problem was?

No one was accustomed to working with other people they weren’t really close with?

GOLD STAR! GIVE YOURSELF A PAT ON THE BACK, GENTLE READER! THAT IS PRECISELY RIGHT!

Even though the co-Grand Magistrates had enough experience to do fantastic work, neither of them had any experience working as a team. Answering to a higher power was not something they had experience with. The Grand Magistrate himself was accustomed to just letting their friends do whatever made them happy and gave very little oversight and shared little of what he was doing.

As a result you had quite a bit of wasted effort.

For Skink, he made over fifty Non-Patron Champions to be used as filler for fights. Very few of them were used. This was primarily because Skink was busy with their own Reality Plenum and didn’t write often for this one during season two. Skink also expected the other magistrates to keep these champions alive at all costs, but it was never clearly communicated. The Grand Magistrate had one of them die and ended up retconning it. The Grand Magistrate and Bee Pee stopped using Skink’s Non-Patron Champions afterwards. Aside from a few girls that fall directly under Mariette's control, the bulk of those magical girls never saw the light of day.

Bee Pee was a bit more active in running things, and did manage to have all of the Non-Patron Champions that he created appear during season two. Where Bee Pee was less successful was when it came to suggesting changes for the CYOA. Like many of the Patrons, Bee Pee realized that the CYOA was flawed, had objectively over powered options, and left some girls feeling week and others too strong. But Bee Pee was looking to slowly create an entirely new system, which was not something that either the other magistrates or patrons likely wanted. Bee Pee ended up debating with Skink on everything. What few changes survived the debates were put through further scrutiny by the Grand Magistrate, and fewer still ended up becoming part of the rules for the Reality Plenum. In the end, lots of things were discussed, but few changes were made.

Sometimes things worked out. During the CORE rule conversion, Skink raised some concerns about the anti-magic barrier power. He was troubled by the idea of a magical girl having the power to shut down magic in a large area, creating a magical void room of sorts. So it was workshopped until it was instead an anti-magic wall that dissolved magic that passed through it. Thanks to Skink’s scrutiny, that horrific power that could have existed in the world would never come to light. At least, not during this season…

I don’t have the desire to go over every individual item that was discussed, but I may at a later date. Most of the agreed upon fixes were for things like people using buff magic to do absurd things, or how magical girls with regeneration seem to recover to perfect health in a single turn regardless of how damaging an attack is. These were easy fixes that just required a change of GM style and didn’t require editing the CYOA, so they were easy to implement.

Was there a particular reason Skink was made into a Magistrate?

Originally Season Two was going to be the season that featured Mariette as the big bad. Though Skink's other responsibilities and other Reality Plenum called to him and he wasn’t around for very much of Season Two.

...The Grand Magistrate didn’t have a plot of their own?

Nope.

...Nothing?

He had a few themed ideas, but as for an overarching plot? Nope! That was all left in Skink’s hands.

...Bee Pee had to have an idea, right?

When Skink mentioned that they couldn’t possibly help manage the Reality Plenum, Bee Pee offered to take steps to make Veronica the main antagonist for the season. I do not have their logs here for me to peruse, but according to Bee Pee, they said something along the lines of "Veronica cannot be the antagonist for this season because she’s too green." I think Skink had plans to try to make more time for this Reality Plenum, it just never worked out.

Did Bee Pee do anything interesting?

Yes, Bee Pee helped run a few encounters. The coin accident and the escapee’s, well, escape was all something he did with the Grand Magistrate. He also did some NPC encounters, including a small fight between Vocab’s Katelyn and six other magical girls. This was supposed to be Skink’s season to have Mariette do things, so Bee Pee was limited in what he could do.

But not the patrons!

Patron to the rescue?

Yea!

Who!?

A new but nonetheless important Patron in our story is the Lord of Crusaders, who shall be known henceforth as LoC, or Lock. They were a new Patron to this Reality Plenum and had a lot of… Um… Let’s call them "interesting" ideas. They had a gender swapped jojo, but for our purposes we want to focus on Annabelle, their horror worshiping magical girl who was lonely.

Very, very lonely.

So lonely.

Bee Pee did not have the Bates doing much this season. They appeared just frequently enough to remind everyone they existed. But Regina and Annabelle met and ooh lala! Love was in the air! Bee Pee typically isn’t for this shipping nonsense, but given Annabelle was literally the only Patron Champion other than Elroy to show Regina any kindness, they did hit it off hard and fast. Regina had no issues helping Anna’s dark lord collect corpses and other dark things to usher their dark avatar into this world. Those tasks were mostly done off screen.

Now while Bee Pee had to contend with Skink to get anything approved, Lock did not. They were a Patron in the most Patron friendly time of this Plenum’s existence. They gave an impassioned pitch for an event to the Grand Magistrate, and he was so moved by Locks words that he not only shed tears of gold, but knew this had to be the the final battle of the season. Naturally, Bee Pee would be the one handling most of the combat. The Bates were their champions, and the "Beacon Buddies" that they had stolen away would all act as minibosses.

What did Skink have to say about this?

He was completely left out of all discussions about the event. The Grand Magistrate, Bee Pee, and Lock were effectively running everything. Though he did participate in the capacity of a patron with his champions.

Fair enough, so what happened next?

What happened next was one of the best battle sequences this RP has seen since, and possibly ever! No cap!

The battlegrounds were over a giant graveyard. There were four outer battle areas that had a different Beacon Buddy defending it, then the mouth to Soth’s tomb was guarded by the Bates, which housed the main battle area where Soth was being infused into Amber’s body, or something. Lock was controlling Soth and Annabelle, the Grand Magistrate was controlling one of the Beacon Buddies, and Bee Pee was running everything else, which was the three other Beacon Buddies, the Bates, and a prowling miniboss that jumped people who tried to do sneaky stuff. Ohhhh that was a good one!

And you know what the most amazing part of this entire thing is?

No controversies?

I mean…

Seriously? What was the matter?

Hah! I’m kidding!

Some weren’t totally happy with how the battles went. Regina had escaped, because everyone was ignoring her and she was by herself VS the entire Reality Plenum at that point. But then everyone was okay with it when she got purified and Beacon became stronger. Because the only people who were upset were the Beacon peeps that wanted blood. But getting a +1 that’s also a -1 for their foes is better than killing someone, no matter how reprehensible their actions!

Do you see what Bee Pee did there?

You mean how this was a reverse Minnie situation where, despite everyone wanting Regina dead, she lived and everything worked out for the best?

Poetry in motion, is it not?

God Bee Pee is a good magistrate.

You wouldn’t happen to be Bee Pee, would you?

Haha, careful, gentle reader. There’s plenty more room for that wall to break, and you don’t want to be the one who tears it down.

But Lock was the real hero here. They were the one who thought it would be a big fun event and did all the promoting to the Grand Magistrate. By that point Bee Pee had given up pitching anything and was surprised that Lock was able to convince the Grand Magistrate to go through with it. That’s probably why Bee Pee felt so motivated to make sure it was the best fight of the season.

And after that?

There was a low stakes beach event that everyone had some fun with. Not much to comment on there. The magistrates all kind of took a step back and let everyone have fun.

Skink also unveiled a shop which was good but a bit rough on its initial release. Few people purchased anything. The likely reason for its lack of utilization was because of how prohibitively expensive everything was. Skink had decided to use Penny as a template spender (Read: the richest magical girl in the Reality Plenum, by a large margin) and priced it out so that she could get a few upgrades. This made a lot of the cool stuff inaccessible to the average magical girl. Pricing was also wildly inconsistent. Some perks were 2 silver, and others were as high as 20 silver if Bee Pee’s memory serves. It would get reworked in season three and see a bit more use from everyone, but to quote a future magistrate: "Haha stat boost goes brrrrrrrrr!"

Shortly after the event, Bee Pee gracefully stepped down as Co-Grand Magistrate. While he didn’t cite his exact reasons, he ultimately came to the conclusion that he had more power as a player and half of the responsibilities. That, and working alongside Skink and the Grand Magistrate hadn’t been what he expected.

Skink was also removed, and season three would see two new magistrates join the team.

What’s this about a lack of supervision?

Later seasons, gentle reader. later. We will discuss this when it’s relevant.

Though I suppose there was one lapse in supervision that proved problematic this season…

Oh?

Yes, the coins.

Love them or hate them, collecting them became a favorite pastime for everyone. Bee Pee was never a huge fan of them because it seemed like a lot of extra paperwork that changed very little of how events in the Reality Plenum unfolded. The importance of stats were on a decline and there was no reason to try and inflate them beyond a certain point. Moreover, they were a source of annoyance to those who were joining the Reality Plenum late or had more passive champions. As an example, Bee Pee had been a part of the Reality Plenum for everything but the pre season. However, because Amber took a less violent approach to problems than Penny did, she had less than a quarter of the wealth of the cybernetic overlord. There were also fewer opportunities to make money. The pre season was densely packed with weak enemies and fast battles, the first season was more or less a battle shonen, but the second season was more of a sandbox and there was less fighting going on due to nobody wanting to get creamed. Getting stronger was only fun if you could lord over others. I think?

Bee Pee still doesn’t like magic coins. But power is a vile temptress, and by golly he's going to collect as many as he can...

What sort of freedom did the players get to enjoy?

For season two, the Grand Magistrate wanted to allow the patrons to take control of the story. To this end, he allowed them to have borderline magistrate level powers. He let them make combat non-patron champions, allowed them to host events, with the only caveat that everyone had to put away their toys when the grand magistrate busted something out.

Seems innocent enough, and with the mainline plot more or less not existing it did feel like the Reality Plenum needed to become more of a sandbox.

But it was all very insular. Everyone stuck to their little cliques and roleplayed with one or two other players while pretending to control an important organization. But the CYOA was quite addictive to just make champions with, and I think the temptation for a few patrons was to make a little base with little champions that could talk to other champions and feel important. It’s hard to dig deep into anything here because none of it ever built up to anything. Some of it was okay. There was this news agency that was kind of interesting, and there was this one homestuck fan who- Oh? I said enough? Okay, glad you understand.

Give me the P.O.S.T. please.

Only because you asked nicely.

…

…

…

"Alicia said something smart!"

First time for everything I guess.

— Mac

Tonya ‘Mac’ Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Cradle
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Cradle Supply, Connected, Gifted Item (Aigorost) | Monstrous Form, Exposed, Mercy, Distrust
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 20 | AGI: 20 | VIT: 20 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Remaining: 8 Gold, 30 Silver, 39 Bronze
Total: 12 Gold, 162 Silver, 183 Bronze

For starters, Rachel starts gnashing her teeth. Apparently Mac said something that made her cringe really hard. I think I know what it was, but I’d just as soon forget it happened. Then she ignored Mac so that she could talk about some Beacon stuff with Alicia. Oh those catty, cliquey Beacon girls. You haven’t changed since season one, haha!

Then it turns out the little green dudes were actually cactuar. I feel a little bad about this because I almost described them as such, and that would have been more amusing come this update. You guys would have been like "Damn, he’s still got it."

But guess what? You don’t have to imagine that reality because I did predict something! Remember how I said that MDP would think Alicia was playing fetch with them? Well that’s exactly what happened! Word for frickin’ word! Shootin’ straight from the hip! Damn I'm good! Nothin’ surprises me. I think I can stop talking like a cowboy now. Point (no pun intended) is that there was a big happy get together and it put a really dumb smile on Mac’s face. And this was after-

Hold on, Alicia responded to Mac’s comment about her shooting at everything.

…

Huh.

That actually sort of makes sense.

You know? There’s so much going on with magical enchantments and what not that the possibility actually slipped under my notice. I mean, Mac is supposed to be a detective. She should be smarter than Alicia. Certainly smart enough that her logic can’t be undone with a single sentence.

…

I need to take a break and reflect for a while after this.

*sigh*

NOW PLAYING: MOONLIGHT SONATA: FIRST MOVEMENT

I’ll get back to you in a few hours… Maybe…

...

…

…

*Stares out a window and watches as the rain gently splashes against it. The room is dark, with only the light from the overcast sky illuminating the area.*

…

…

…

*Caresses a picture of Amber: Shining Scale. Sharpened claws grip the frame, as if reaching for a future that could never be.*

…

…

…

*Meows sorrowfully into the heavens, as if asking for guidance. But no one meows back.*

…

…

…

*Is playing a game of cards with Gorefield. Notices he’s cheating and proceeds to wrestle with him.*

…

…

…

*Is sitting in a rocking chair, stroking the John R Buckle laying in his lap.*

…

…

…

*Sighs and lays down on his tree branch again.*

Okay, I think I’m fine. Please kill the music.

Mac actually didn’t think that held any weight. At the very least, the hen she was riding did not appear to be affected by the magic. Perhaps it only worked on creatures of a certain level of intelligence? Maybe animals were immune? It was hard to say. Ultimately, they were in strange lands and couldn’t pretend they understood how anything worked here.

But Mac was too busy listening to the Cinnamon sisters (Ronin and Miko) having their goofy little conversation. She was sure she didn’t have to say anything and they would have forgotten she was even there, but this was good. It had been a long time since Mac had existed as a person outside of her super secret missions. Maybe it was time to cast off the cloak of mystery. She had been that person for long enough.

"I don’t mind being a mysterious stranger, but that just means you two have to keep what I say next a secret, okay?" She adjusted her cap. "Besides, I’m bearing a little too much right now to keep anyone guessing forever." Siiiiiiiiiiigh. "I’m helping you fight Wonderland because they are bad people who are threatening my home, which is Penrose. I’ve been there for a while but I tend to keep to myself, which is why you’ve never seen me. But this was a little too important to ignore." Deciding to play with the kids a bit, a grin crossed her lips. "Now wouldn’t that be scandalous? Alicia’s had a monster mom as her aunt this entire time and still works for Beacon! What sort of monster must I be to invoke these feelings in my niece?" She adjusted her cap. "What if I’m your niece? Wouldn’t that make more sense?"

She was having a lot of fun.

When hearing about a spearhead force that she was left out of, because of course Beacon would do that, she waved her hand. "Yo! What do you want me to do? Don’t leave me in the coop!"

That joke was painful, and I’m glad Mac’s section is over.

I guess…

Female Finn? That you? Nah, you’re not that big of a screwup…

— Chloe Irving

Chloe Irving

03 03 03 03 03
10 10 06 17 04
23/12 | Babe/Baby | Spirit
Mystic orb, Gauntlets | Third Eye, Tentacles | Horror
Wings, Enhanced Outfit, Big Damn Hero, Blood Magic, Interdimensional Home, Sorcery, Enhanced Transformation
Dominator | Dark Weapon
Nagash

6 Gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze

Lily… Did not appear to be picking up what she was putting down. I’m not sure I’d describe anything Chloe did as "lashing out" myself, but Lily strikes me as one of those snowflake types that probably would. But I’m not here to regurgitate the Grand Magistrate’s transcript in my own words, I’m here to tell you what Chloe was doing off on her lonesome.

When Viper chimed in, the news was… Really good actually. It sounded like all of Wonderland’s forces were moving to attack Penrose. Normally that would be a reason for some concern, but with that mambo jumbo barrier Dr Nykannis put on it, she was sure Penrose would be safe. What fools! Without those eggs, she was sure the doctor’s trick would work without a hitch. The time to strike back was soon, and like with her old patron, she would make sure it was a blow her enemy could never recover from.

"Thank you, Viper." She caressed the crystal ball in her hands. "Have I told you how cute you are today?" I can’t tell if this is normal Chloe or coping Chloe, but I don’t like it. "We’ll all have to go eat somewhere when this is over. Maybe that noodle place the Mint took over. The takeout isn’t that bad."

But before Chloe could continue crushing on her co-worker, she was interrupted by Mariette. "Bah! Portal witch!" She hissed before deactivating the crystal ball. "What… Why is your portal a mirror?" She didn’t need an answer. She only needed a moment to look at it with her third eye. "The queen took over your magic? Mary, I’m not going to jeopardize our mission by conversing with you through this accursed mirror!" At least she could confirm that it was, indeed, Mariette on the other side. She did not appear to be an illusion. "Tell you what? Tell me what you think we should do and I will take it under consideration, but I can’t share anything with you." By the sound of it, she didn’t have a lot of time anyway.

Then she could rejoin with the others and share the good news. Her mood was improving already.

Symphony on High

"Go ahead, say something smart, dummy!"

"Something smart, dummy!"

— Finnegan Vanhorn & Mika Fang

Ashley had called out for Cerise to dispel the protections Klava had (albeit literally) smacked onto the mech. Despite still being a bit shaken up by her mind-controlled twin nearly shooting her leg clean off, causing her to stumble back a few steps, she nodded to the Knight of Tomorrow and fired a dispelling melody in the direction of the mech.

"Shit-!" Finn cursed to himself. Luckily for Ashley, he had been too busy holding Mika off to react quickly enough. He rushed to move it out of the way before-

"It’s down, hurry!"

With Cerise’s confirmation, Ashley aimed at the mech’s cockpit and fired a charged-up beam dead through the middle of the glass panel. The Timekeeper practically launched himself out of his seat and reached for Morning Dragon Fruit to shield her from the resulting detonation, willingly taking the brunt of it. He had a contract to abide by, after all.

Even if it felt agonizing as hell.

The cockpit filled with technology and plasma, but it all dissipated an instant later. The mech had taken a bit more damage to its internals, but the pilots had both been damaged by the attack, albeit one far more than the other.

"Oh!" Morning Dragon Fruit’s screen displayed a nervous face. A squared off jaw of chattering teeth and trembling eyes cast a glow on Finn’s face. "Welp, you did good my boy. I don’t think we should let that happen again. Oh El-Ninio! Give mommy some reinforcement."

The demon no longer hid within the ceiling. It stepped down into the room with everyone else. The room quaked a bit as it lowered itself in. Not only that, but it peeled part of the magic damping metal the ceiling was made of and coiled it around the cockpit. "Where we’re going, we don’t need to look through our canopy glass." MDF said ominously as the cockpit was sealed up. "Besides champ, you’ve got the best monitor in the house!" And with that, MDF’s face switched to the view of the hidden cameras inside the room with them. "I’ll be your eyes, you continue to be my hammer of vengeance!"

Mika wasn’t about to let them close off the only avenue of attack that seemed to work. She turned around the corner and fired a soaring cat head at Klava, who backed off of Raven. With her partner having a few more seconds, Mika raced for the Behemoth and ran up its leg. She swung onto its arm and raced towards the cockpit. If she could break the canopy before it was all covered up, maybe she could have that fight with Finn that she wanted, and even put down MDF while she was at it.

Just cause he was injured, didn’t mean he couldn’t see Mika coming. His face twisted into a scowl.

"Drop dead already!!"

Once she reached his line of sight, she was immediately met with a heavy blow from the Timekeeper’s weapon itself, the glass canopy completely shattering around her. She didn’t even have a chance to raise her claws.

Her body became a spirit. She could have swam into the cockpit, but she didn’t. Instead, she floated off to the pillar she had initially come out from behind. Elroy finished padding up the cockpit as soon as she returned to normal.

Mika felt different than she had before. Her heart was pounding faster, and worry was creeping into her veins. With a growl, she pounded the side of the pillar she was hiding behind.

"Ash- Orion?" She struggled to make legible sentences. "I-don’t-know-if-we-can-beat-it-now-what-do-you-want-to-do?"

Raven was taking shots at Klava, but she was skating around too fast to ever really get hit. She probably should have come in for a second attack at some point, but she didn’t. Instead she moves away, skating off towards the other end of the room.

"‘Scuse me." She soared past Ashley. Moments later, Raven came running over and grabbed Cerise’s twin’s arms and forced them behind her back.

"I’ve got this Orion." With Cerise’s help, she pulled out handcuffs and got them on her sister. "I have no idea how to help Cerberus. I can’t do anything to that mech or that monster."

Meanwhile, Marrie wisely chose to stand back as the fiery explosion engulfed Sofron. Though the embers had not faded before he turned around and lunged for her. Of course there was a trick, even if he didn’t know what it was. The flames parted for his howling visage, causing his mouth and eyes to appear to be on fire. Again, Marrie was pressed for time, and needed to move sooner than expected.

She ran. Sofron punched a hole in the wall right where Marrie’s head used to be, but Marrie hadn’t turned around to look. Binky was keeping the other end of the hallway cleared out, so there wasn’t much resistance on her way back. Marrie even managed to take out another mook and recover some of her mana

"Are you going to come back here or what?" Binky said, half amazed and half concerned but likely too quiet for Marrie to hear anyway.

Marrie had arrived near the door, and both her and Sofron prepared their gambit. Marrie drew her pistol, and Sofron raised his hand. Marrie hand-loaded a bullet, and a Thompson machine gun appeared in the Baleful Butler’s grasp. She had just enough time to shoot before Binky pulled Marrie back into the room. Sofron got off a few rounds, but all of them hit the metal inner wall of the room the espers were fighting in. She didn’t get to see her handiwork, but she could hear it.

"Gahhhh!"

…Followed by the sound of ice freezing a man to the wall he was closest too. Sofron had used many expensive melodies, and that last shot of Marrie’s may have wiped out the rest of his mana.

"Don’t just stand there, free me you imbeciles!"

"He’s going to get free again." Binky swapped her magazines. "We’re running out of ammo too. I don’t suppose you grabbed any last time you were out there, did you?"

But there would be no time to answer, as Klava came flying in with her katana at the ready.

---

"I’m not actually here. But it’s kinda cool to have my sick-ass banner up anyway, no?"

— Bookman

MDP looked a little uneasy when Himiko approached the table to speak with Fritzi, but the pounder placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and held his shield up.

"Hmmm, why am I here relaxing?" Fritzi sloshed her tea around. "I’ve been anticipating a distraction, and am confident that our current forces will eliminate the Hand without my help. I’m here specifically for surprises like you, Himiko." After her brief but no less accurate description of what she was doing, she watched Himiko roll out her new identity with all the pomp and flair of a vtuber debut. Fritzi even clapped after Himiko finished her transformation and sat down. "All the original names were taken, huh? Well, I’ll take that under consideration. But you know we’re not on an ivy league college campus right? I can call you whatever I want." She pushed her cup aside so that she had room to lean forward. "Because I can make choices. I assume you can too. Escaping confinement had to be a choice, coming here had to be a choice, telling me that neither of us are willing to compromise or find common ground was also a choice. But there’s only one choice that matters, and it’s one you have to make."

Fritzi reclined in her seat.

"You’re either going to try and enter the Golden Trove, at which point I’ll have to stop you, or you can go away and enjoy your freedom until we decide we need to collect you."

---

"Let’s close things out, Jojo!"

— Oros The Mad

Meanwhile, Oros observed all the different going-ons from the safety of her divining blade. She was positioned towards the back of the Golden Trove where there were fewer ways in. But you really didn’t need a divining sword to tell that things were getting chaotic. There was all the commotion at the front of the building, the dragon blasting their way through the side, the other dragon. It was a regular clown fiesta.

"Finally!" Oros sheathed her sword. "I was worried goldieglocks would never show up! About fuckin’ time!"

"It gave us time to get ready, at least." Sharr looked at a computerized watch that was showing her a readout of some kind. "Looks like the mech is still holding up."

"Glex isn’t going to get in our way this time, is she?"

Sharr only laughed. "I think she has her hands full with Penny."

"I guess not totally owning her was the right move then."

"Alright, let’s-"

"Hold up!" Oros threw her arms up in the air. "Just wait a second, everyone will know what we’re planning if you say something now. Let’s just- Okay, it seems like it’s ending. We should have some privacy now."

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

"Names are objectively better when they include an umlaut."

-Salbjörg of the Deep

Sal awoke.

Before assessing her surroundings, the first thing she did was stand up. It wasn’t until Sal was on her feet that she realized that she had no recollection of where she was. That wasn't to say she was ignorant about her surroundings. They were underground, that red spinning thing was a crystal, and that long piece of parchment was a scroll. But other than that she was lost. She couldn’t remember going to sleep, or really anything before waking up here. It was possible that this was her first time standing up, as unlikely as it seemed.

She lifted her hands up in front of her face. Even with her situation being unclear to her, what she saw looked familiar. The dress was tattered towards the back, and she understood that came with age. When she looked further down her body, she didn’t find anything that surprised her. Everything felt strangely natural, even though she wasn’t intimately acquainted with it all yet. Her otherwise revealing dress came with a single pauldron. By reaching under it, she could feel some hidden compartments, but wasn’t aware of why she had them, or even why she would have bothered checking. For all she didn’t know, she at least had an understanding of what she was. Moreover, she seemed to understand the line of monsters she was standing with, and that she was superior to all of them somehow.

There was an Illithid at one end of the line. It had a lanky appearance that its fine clothes couldn’t hide. It was also bald. Deep eyes though. Five out of ten.

There was a ghost. It was difficult to make out the shape of their body, but their profile left a bit to be desired. What was with that nose? Even better eyes though. Judgement pending, but four out of ten for now.

Rats. Just a pile of rats. Nothing but vermin. Kind of cute though. Three out of ten.

A goblin. Short and easy to punt. Hmm, but that nose. There’s not a single wart to be seen. Nine out of ten among goblins, but a four out of ten on her scale.

Another goblin. What’s with this one? She’s so disfigured, but that face? Ten out of ten face, two out of ten with everything.

And… She didn’t know what to call this one. It looked like a headless human suspended in an abyss of stars. Very unnatural. Not sure how to feel. Rating pending.

There looked to be room at the far end of the line for someone else, but it was empty. Even though she could remember nothing of this room, she could almost make out what should have been there. A Barghest? No. An Ogre Berzerker? No. A succubus? No. Maybe a heavy centaur? Maybe, but then why weren't they there? Sal couldn’t rate something that didn’t exist, and this random thought was soon put out of her mind.

A skeleton wearing robes. Possibly a lich? Didn’t seem to be moving. No point in rating.

As soon as Sal finished her assessment, a noise caught everyone’s attention. She turned her head, then her eyes towards the distraction as it made its appearance. It half mumbled, half explained things with the assistance of a chalk drawing on the wall. It was a rather pitiful presentation, and one that she felt she could have done better. But it was helpful to know why they were here, even if she didn’t understand the how yet.

There were a lot of questions that Sal wanted to ask, but it seemed like everyone was supposed to introduce themselves. The Illithid wasted no time going first, even going as far as mentioning his occupation. Dungeon development team? It sounded familiar to Sal somehow, in the same sense that she knew she belonged in her body. What seemed less natural was the request to be paid in human brains. Was that something that was freely traded? Were they preferred to elf brains or beast man brains? And those names for the dungeon spirit were just…

Once the Illithid was done. Sal cleared her throat.

"My name issssssss…"

Alright, let’s try that again.

"My name issssssss…"

Okay, this could be a problem.

Again, Sal’s speech impediment felt like a natural part of her, even if she only learned of it now. Something else she was becoming aware of was how humiliating this felt. She couldn’t say her own name? Really? How was she supposed to maintain respect this way?

Fortunately, she had a plan. But it felt less like a plan and more like some practiced motion she suddenly remembered to execute. Sal put out her hand and a long placard appeared in it. It was pale and ivory, and had her name carved into it. She pointed at the letters and sounded them out.

"Ssssal, bbbbbyorg." She pronounced it slowly. "That will be what you call me." Crisis averted. Majesty maintained, probably. "Now for your name…"

The dungeon spirit had asked what it should be called. It didn’t sound like it wanted a unanimous decision, but just wanted to hear suggestions. As such, there was no need to limit herself to what Muste wanted to call it, nor would he even need to be debated before presenting her own choice. A name needed to fit the subject but complement the owner. And given that this creature seemed to be subservient to them, given that they were dungeon masters, it made sense that its name should complement them. She flipped the placard around, and a new name was on the back that read "Bóthildur."

"We will call you Bbboh-thhhil-dddoor." She sounded it out like she had with her own name.

Perhaps calling the dungeon spirit "battle-helper" was a little on the nose, and not too far from what Muste was going for. But this was so much better. Perhaps too good for a seven out of ten creature.

Dungeon Core: The Warrens

@N3v3rM0r3@Duthguy What's happening is that discord terminates hot linking after 24 hours. If you can see the images like I can, it's because they are stored in your cache. Upload them on the guild image board or someplace else and everyone can see them.

South Town Scuffle: Two Wolves (Terry Bogard VS Broken Promise)

If I recall correctly, we were going to hold off on doing signature and super moves at the start.That was good to provoke a fight, but I'm going to keep Mika's mana driven abilities locked until Terry throws another special move.

South Town Scuffle: Two Wolves (Terry Bogard VS Broken Promise)

"Why do you keep saying ‘FIN’ like that? Nothing's fin…Finn? WHERE ARE YOU HIDING HIM!?!?!?"

-Mika Fang

MP: 10/10
Swan Gauge: 0%

"This would be a fake net guru." Not the words Mika would have normally used, but when dealing with others, using their own words often avoided confusion. In Mika’s opinion, all influencers were fake. If they were real, then it would be possible to better one’s life through their choices. But change was hard and no one can truly alter the trajectory of their life. Mika was no further above this than anyone else. She was here to find Bookman, and no lifestyle changes would affect her self appointed mission.

Predictably, the goofy blond guy didn’t claim to know anything. Then he changed the subject to her knives and asked if they were real. Mika didn’t answer right away, but it was clear he wasn’t going to give up unless she said something. After ten seconds of him just standing there, pointing awkwardly, ignoring the shame a man like him should feel, Mika shrugged. "Yes." She confirmed with the enthusiasm a child might when asked if they finished their vegetables. She immediately noted his change in disposition. While she hadn’t watched nearly enough superhero movies to notice the reference, she could tell he was mocking her. The crowd, being on his side, laughed at her on his behalf. She steeled her eyes, and her hands moved to her knives. It was too early to draw them, but something was amiss.

Though she expected to be attacked, she wasn’t sure exactly where it was going to come from. Maybe the crowd would turn into monsters and charge her, or perhaps she’d be sniped by someone. In an arena like this there was far too much to keep track of, and it was easy to hide in so many distractions. And with so many places to hide, that made it a bit surprising that the attack came out in the open, right from the silly blond man himself.

"Gah!"

Fortunately, there was enough distance between them that Mika was able to hop out of the way. She watched in horror as the tremor raced past her and fizzled out or slammed into some far off obstacle. But she didn’t watch long. Her eyes returned to the silly blond man, who appeared to be a silly blond esper.

It made sense in retrospect. Have an esper pose as a street fighter and do battle with a bunch of locals. Bookman must have been aware that there was a leak and planted spies like this to trip her up. There had to be more of them around the city, but that didn’t matter. This man was here to put an end to her investigation, and that wasn’t something she was about to stand for.

He continued to mock her after the attack, suggesting that she probably didn’t see it coming. He kept up the jovial attitude as the crowd cheered him on, but Mika would not be fooled by this man a second time. He knew things, and was very likely tied directly to Bookman. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

▶︎• ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌၊|• 2:58
_{Deus Machina Demonbane – Crazy Dance of the Devil}

"Seems you’re going to attack me regardless if I want to fight or not. Very well, if you demand satisfaction, you shall have it." Mika drew her daggers from their sheathes. A burst of ethereal flame ignited the air before settling as a red glow. Contrary to the man’s description, the knives were not tiny. They were far more comparable to a bowie knife than some punk’s pocket knife. "I take fighting seriously, and I hope you do too. We will fight as if this is real combat, since your fans seem to enjoy the spectacle." She bent her knees and settled into a fighting stance. "One round, no time limit, we fight until one of us stops moving."

As aggressive as Mika’s pitch was, she wanted the silly blond man alive. If he was put here to protect Bookman, then she would just need to apprehend him and get what she needed out of him. All monsters deserved to die, but you could rehabilitate humans. Some of them, at least.

Her mother had died because was unable to notice a threat, and so rushing in fast for a swift attack was out of the question. Espers had all kinds of powers, and she had to make sure this one didn’t have any other tricks up his short sleeves. The distance between them shrunk as she power walked her way up to him. If he made the mistake of letting her get too close, she’d stab him right in the shoulder. Since she wanted him alive, she couldn’t attack his more vital areas until she had confirmed how strong he was.

Dungeon Core: The Warrens

Good luck with recruitment, @Expendable!

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

MR Department

Salbjorg of the Deep

3★ | Shahmaran | Level 2

Appearance: Sal is a humanoid creature with snake-like features. At a distance she might pass for a human, but upon getting closer it's easy to notice something is amiss. Her pupils are long like daggers, her ears are too short for an elf, and her mouth houses fangs and a forked tongue. The rest of her is similar. Her feet are heavily scaled and her hair has fluorescent qualities. It's nearly black at her scalp, but gets greener as it ages until the tips of her locks are a vibrant green. She’s also quite tall and is a head above the tallest human adventurers. She prefers to wear ceremonial robes interwoven with gold and bone jewelry. When taken in all at once it’s hard not to assume she's a powerful monster.

Personality: Sal has a regal air about her. She’s overly reserved, to the point where she can take jokes at face value and smiles less frequently than a stone golem. Perhaps in a past life she was a princess, if not a queen. It’s not like she would know. What she does know is monster resources, and she runs a tight ship. When upper management makes a request it becomes her duty to make sure they can deliver. She will deliver the bad news when rations are cut, or to get on middle management’s case when productivity slips behind projections. Though she’s also there to provide training, dealing with employee conflict resolution, and let upper management know when morale is slipping. Perhaps it is the need to both be an employee's friend and nemesis that has her seem withdrawn emotionally. One moment she's providing assistance, the next she's injecting employees with “enthusiasm” to improve their lackluster performance. It's not clear if she enjoys bringing others to their full potential or only cares about making sure the dungeon is efficient enough for upper management. Maybe Sal is as joyless as she looks. Who can tell with a snake?

Though Sal cares about things other than efficiency. She likes beautiful things, be they pretty baubles, clothes, or even adventurers that storm the dungeon. Despite having potent claws to rend things with, she prefers to as little damage to the outside of their bodies as possible. Sal has a preference for using poison, suffocation, or similar methods to preserve the adventurers. She claims it makes them more likely return to the dungeon again, as priests don't charge as much to resurrect them if they're in one piece. Though this is not rigidly enforced as it is not part of upper management's guidelines.

Additionally she really likes eggs and hasn’t found one she couldn’t swallow yet.

Abilities:

Snake Physiology: Sal has some features you might find on a snake, such as poisonous fangs, heat sensing capabilities, a jaw that can dislodge itself to swallow large items, etc. Additionally, Sal is cold blooded and prefers warm, damp areas of the dungeon as opposed to cool and dry ones.

Bone Melding: A basic branch of necromancy that deals with shaping and conjuring bone. Since she doesn't believe in stabbing adventurers with bone spears, she uses it to fabricate tools. One of her more common uses for bone melding is to make whiteboards for discussions with upper and middle management. Though she also makes smaller placards to communicate sometimes. Sal doesn’t like speaking due to her lisssssssssp so she prefers to display written messages when she can. Sal is also there to provide pens, cups, really any hard bodied object that isn't made of complicated parts. The most complicated thing she can manufacture is a syringe, which uses cartilage as a plunger to push fluids through a hollowed bone.

Toxin Brewing: Sal can take her venom and brew specific poisons. Anything from a poison that tires people out to causing organ failure are on the table. But a far more important utility is to brew up various corrosive toxins of different colors. They can be used to chemically burn colored illustrations onto her white boards for the purpose of making great presentations. She's also experimenting with dying textiles, but that's still in development. She’s also capable of brewing a “helpful toxin” called enthusiasm. Its effects are a bit like drinking coffee, only it’s much more painful when administered.

Grappling Mastery: Like the dommy mommy she is, Sal is strong enough to wrestle monsters. She can go toe to toe with foes larger than she is, and she's already quite tall. Her own principles prevent her from using her claws to rend her targets, but she has no issue tumbling with anyone and putting them in a choke hold. This obviously has benefits when fighting adventurers, but it's also useful on unruly employees who need to know their place or resist being administered with enthusiasm.

Shifting: Sal can pass as a human if she wishes. In this guise, she is of average height, has no monstrous features, and can speak normally. However this form is uncomfortable to maintain, like wearing a corset that fits too tight. She has to actively maintain this form through focus or risk reverting back into her original shape.

Karaoke Queen: Sal's pretty good at singing, and her speech impediment disappears when she does.

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

Burger is going to assign our characters to his gun waifus and base the RP's final cast on his pull results.