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It was inevitable

15 (42.9%)

Winners don't do drugs

6 (17.1%)

I'll be back

2 (5.7%)

Drink the Kool Aid

6 (17.1%)

Groovy

3 (8.6%)

Insane in the membrane

3 (8.6%)

Total Members Voted: 35

[Harry Baldman]

"We're currently employing a strictly >ne approach, I should think. Or we will once Alan stops spinning and provides final confirmation."

[Parisbre56]

Alan, Decisionmaker

If people don't come to an agreement, perform my patented choosing process of spinning around until I fall down vomiting and then go in the direction I'm closest to facing.

Why not go towards the location closest to where your vomit goes?
Unless you just spray everything with vomit as you spin and fall...
Anyway, it looks like your special brand of decision making is not needed.

While walking, you notice your Alien friend flying away.

Alien! Where are you going? Noooo!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Very tired right now. I've been busy for the past few months. It's been quite chaotic in my personal life. Sorry for not responding for so long.
I'm relatively caught-up now.

((Don't worry man. We all get some bad times. But as long as you're willing to have some fun times here, then I'm willing to do my best to give them to you... or, well, at least provide the kind of game I want and am capable of making and hope you enjoy it.))

"And now it's round two of the same thing. I didn't ask to be put together again, but here I am, with even less stability than before. Not only am I in a strange place with new people, I have to put up with the worst possible entity to pair with. Of all of the entities, I had to get the one who sees people as means to an end. That's exactly what I was trying to avoid. She gets to see it that way because she's probably existed for, well, forever. My life is just a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things to her, and so are the lives of everyone else here, and everyone that exists on every world. I despise that lack of connection. My power relies on the connections between people - or, at least, it used to with the Medium." He sighs. "Now here I am again. Yet another game for survival, yet another set of pawns, and yet more deities who have boundless understanding and comprehension that I do not have. And, of course, what's a single life when compared to the fate of worlds?" He touches his staff lightly against the ground and pushes off, continuing to walk. "I just don't like when higher powers forget the human. That is all."

North.

<If it's any consolation, she was always like that, although being an entity has certainly magnified her attitude.> D mentally whispers to Irine. <...Not that you could possibly know that. But the point still stands. Some people are just assholes no matter who or where they are. And unfortunately you're always quite likely to encounter them and/or have to work with them. But that just means you have to try to have fun despite them.>

"I care."
"If you don't have a real, responsible opinion on the matter, and are saying that you don't even want to worry about it, that it's not your problem, then I should just take you at your word. You think your opinion has no value. I'll treat it that way."
"Ike, Alan, shut up."

<Hey, don't diss the guys. They're just trying to help... in their own particular way.>

"...want sprinkles?"

Offer a donut with sprinkles!

You summon a great big pile of doughnuts that are unfortunately left unappreciated.

You miss your alien.

Maybe one of these days you'll summon a giant doughnut like those on top of those doughnut stores. That would be fun, you've always wanted one of those.

"What, really? They didn't do that for me. Or did they?"

Ike considers things a moment.

"I guess they might have made me a bit faster? Not sure why though. To make it sporting or something?"

<Nah, that's just because I thought he would do... heh, let's just say 'something fun' if I made him faster. But he's been suffering from bad luck lately, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see... But soon...>

Campaign, Ike!

"NORTH!" Ike suggests.

>n

"Heh, okay, north it is then."
North

Your journey continues along the northern road.


It's about an hour before sundown. The sun hangs low over the horizon, causing long shadows to stretch on the ground from the short hills you've recently crossed. They look almost like fingers of shadowy hands that are reaching out to grab you from behind-
More like 'grab your behinds', am I right? But with such juicy behinds, who can blame them?
Shh. I'm trying to set the mood here. Anyway, the smattering of small fluffy clouds being blown across the sky have started turning golden and merging with the smoke rising-
Whatever. Looks like a bunch of purple prose to me. Just say 'It's about an hour from evening. It's getting darker. The village is under attack.'
... I was working towards that. Painting a calm picture to juxtapose it with the violence of the attack.
...
Anyway. It appears that there is something bad going on in the village. There's smoke rising out of a building that has caught fire, although it doesn't look like it's in danger of spreading. People are moving away from the village, towards either the east or west, but mostly the west. You saw the building catching fire and the movement of people as you were approaching, but now that you're close it's become apparent that this is not just a response to the fire, but to something worse.

The village itself is quite small and elongated, as if every building was trying to stay as close to the main road as possible. It's composed of a few small buildings and a couple of storage buildings surrounded by a low stone wall. There's only two buildings that stand out, being slightly bigger than the rest, made out of painted wood and a different, brighter and more smooth stone. There are also a few buildings scattered around the village, ranches and farms by the looks of it, small patches of green in this mostly brown expanse.

It is around one of those buildings that most of the people that have escaped from the village are gathering around, possibly looking for guidance from an authority figure or merely a shelter and safety in numbers. Ike can make out some of the words. It's the usual cries for help or the name of a missing loved one, interspersed with warnings about "monsters" and "shadows".

[Xantalos]

Alan dramatically falls to his knees.

"RICKMAN! WHY DID YOU LEAVE?! DID MY DONUTS NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT FROSTING?! WHYYYYY CRUEL FATE, WHY WOULD YOU TEAR US APART LIKE THIS?!"

He grasps his hair in agony as he screams up to the sky, the camera dramatically pans out above him, orchestral music swelling.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY okay where we going next, does that village have any dust bunnies?" He hops up and begins cheerily walking towards the crowd, tunelessly droning the melody to Highway To The Danger Zone.

Go introduce myself to my soon-to-be adoring crowd of fans!

[Lenglon]

I facepalm, but look at Theri and Zech and then turn towards the village and follow Alan without bothering to say a word. If I get into range of flame I'm going to seize control of it and take it with us, keeping it available for my use whilst stopping it from burning the village anymore. I keep what I grab elevated out of the way and don't do anything to signal that it's me specifically doing that effect, so even though it'll be pretty clear it's someone in our group it won't be obvious who.

[Parisbre56]

Rune-Blastbear rolls out of cover, roars, and fires cannons. Hydro-pump!

He opens his mouth, and speaks in a half-speak half-roar.

"I just can't bear to take another hit. I feel bear without any cover. Hopefully you will soon come to bear the effects of my attack."

WMD, After the End
"What was that? I could bear-ly understand it. Now bear with me for just a moment, I'll try not to make this unbearably painful. And to think, if you had agreed to cooperate with me, we would have left this place a bear-en crater by now. Oh well. Hey, if this whole 'entertainment for entities' thing doesnt work out, maybe we could go to Japan. I could work in adult films, and I'm sure kids would love to try and catch you all.""

Finish him off with the weapons. Keep hoping for a helpful RME. Hope my defences are effective against any last-ditch attack he brings to bear. William uses Flail!

The giant tentacle monster glows for a moment, but then it just fizzles and nothing happens.

The bear that bears arms fires a stream of ridiculously corrosive acid right on target. But now that he is not close enough to bypass it, the shield protecting the tentacle monster's core gets in the way, diffusing the shot. Still, the shot is good enough that it hits its target, causing significant damage. William feels his power diminishing. His core is pretty badly hurt and he's leaking strange fluids that are causing semi-transparent flowers to bloom wherever they fall.

<Heh. Looks like he's quite literally losing life fluids. Heh. Get it? Because they create life?>

Rune is also not in a very good state either. He's quite literally melting. That can't be healthy.

<I wasn't expecting this to be such an even match. This is turning out quite better than I imagined.>
<Still, I'd be disappointed if they both died. A fight needs a victor.>
<Yeah, this is the point where I hope they impress me with a brilliant idea that tips the scale in their favour, instead of relying on pure strength and luck. Not likely, I know, but an entity can hope.>

((Don't forget to exercise your right to bear arms.))

"Just... hit the color button when I say so!  Watch, and you'll get it!"  <And oh please; when have you folks cared about such things?>

Now let's just close in.  If closing to less than 10 meters, start shooting.  If defense is required, shout out the correct instruction and hope.


((Upgrade tree idea; some sort of machine multitask mode))

<Hey! I care! Some of us do care! This isn't just a game!>
You turn the hand crank, roll down the window and aim your energy weapon at the target.
<Those are real people! And people aren't pawns you play with and sacrifice. They are not toys, they are beings with thoughts and feelings and- Are you even listening to what I'm saying?>
There is a whine, the tip glows red and then it launches a ball of red light. The ball flies straight for a moment but then it starts wobbling, moving in a spiral instead.

"The drone is stalking something now."
Keep the driver informed about any dodging decisions he should be making.

"Dooodge!" you yell.
"Wha- Where?" the driver says in confusion.
That's all it takes for the ball to hit the road in front of the car. It doesn't explode. It's actually very quiet. One moment the road is there, the next it has been replaced by a hole two lanes wide.
"Oh, shi-!"
The driver manoeuvres expertly, turning left and then right. The van leans and drives on two wheels for a couple of seconds, barely passing over the hole without crashing.
"Phew. That was close."


Toaster
Damn. You were expecting a beam, not a projectile. And certainly not one as erratic as this one.
You turn to avoid the hole you just made while you wait for your weapon to recharge.
Still, this is a powerful weapon. And now you know its quirks. So with your next shot-
A sphere of cameras and murder falls like a shooting star and ends up hovering a few metres behind your car.
"Red!" you yell, as you see the white glow coming from two lenses facing your car.
But it is too late. A moment later, the beams cut through the air and then through the car's roof like it was nothing. Luckily, your suit seems to have protected you. For now. The downside is that it has started turning into a sauna because of the heat.


Zormod
You have less than a split second to yell "Dooodge!"
The driver turns... right into the laser beams.
You manage to twist one of your vortices quickly enough to block most of the laser beam, resulting in nothing more than a wall of the van having a glowing red hot line on it.
"How hard is it to dodge?"
"What?"
"Next time someone tells you to dodge, don't dodge directly into the laser beam!"
"Well, next time, be sure to give me a direction, asshole! I'm doing the best I can here!"
"SHut up! It's getting ready for another pass!"

The drone emits a loud beep and then darts towards the right, now moving parallel to the road.

KOSAK DURAR, AFTER THE END:
"GRAAAAGH! YOU'VE REALLY DONE IT NOW! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Kosak... crawls into the thing's mouth? And starts punching it apart from the inside?

You... do that? And it... sort of works? So you... just keep punching? Until you turn... most of its front into a pulp? And when you get out you're in... some place that is very dark? Maybe it's because you... fell down the hole? So even though the worm's body shielded you from the fall you're... in a very dark place now? There's only like... a very faint light coming from the hole you fell through? And everything is... sort of slimy and stinks?

I also considered going with the classic "annoying teacher's answer" of "Are you asking me or telling me?"

<Well then.

Any of you guys care to point out the way out?  Without charging me for it.>

Uh...Flee harder?  Can I shoot him with the thing?

<You have to let go.>
<Embrace your inner flying squirrel
to escape from death and quarrel!>
<Or, you know, take the elevator that's a quarter turn counter clockwise.>

Bryan After the End

Spoiler: action (click to show/hide)

Try to blast him with the chilled air, and maybe ice particles too.

Bryan jumps on the next support beam to get a clear shot, makes a fist and shoves his hand forward. Along with it, he telekinetically shoves the boiling coolant and ice towards his target. They impale Alex from behind, icicles turning his back into a pincushion. His skin is temporarily protected by the Leidenfrost effect for a moment, but his clothes soak and a moment later his body begins freezing solid. And then it disappears.

Bryan feels the psychic echoes of his opponent as they transfer to a point right above him. He looks up and sees his opponent, looking shaken but physically fine.
"Right idea. Wrong target."

<Svajoklis, After the End>

Hide and sneak. Sneak around cover and try to keep it between me and the terminator expy. When/if elevator arives, toss a flashbang, get in and go to the bottom floor.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You walk around as quietly as you can, putting the couch between you and the thumps of metal against plastic. Your limping buddy does his best as well, hiding behind the other couch.
Where's the damn elevator. It should be here any moment now.
This tear gas has really done a number on your nose. You think you're- you think you're about to sneeze- no, no you got it under control, it's fine.
<Oh. Good. I was afraid you were going to get exposed by the biggest movie cliché ever.>
And then suddenly your radio crackles to life and a voice starts yelling things.
<Well, at least it's only the second biggest movie cliché ever?>

((See below for what the fox radio says.))

Walking Tank, After the End

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Is the elevator moving? If it's going down, break it. Make him fall to his death. If it's moving to this floor, stand guard near it. Scan the room for exits and anything I might've missed. If nothing happens for a while (like half an hour) and there are exits other than the one I came through, leave the room and search for my opponent. Otherwise just stay here and wait.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You walk around the lobby, scanning for targets. There's nothing immediately apparent. It's just one elevator coming up. And then a second one. And a third one. Yes, all three of them are coming up now, although only one of them is close to arriving. Should be here in less than a dozen seconds.

Suddenly there is the sound of the radio in the lobby crackling to life and someone starts yelling through it.

Hmm... There's something wrong about those radios. Didn't you notice something about it when you arrived here?

: -the situation. I repeat, we found and severed the mechanofluid appendage that was interfering with the building's systems. We have also- :

I facepalm, but look at Theri and Zech and then turn towards the village and follow Alan without bothering to say a word. If I get into range of flame I'm going to seize control of it and take it with us, keeping it available for my use whilst stopping it from burning the village anymore. I keep what I grab elevated out of the way and don't do anything to signal that it's me specifically doing that effect, so even though it'll be pretty clear it's someone in our group it won't be obvious who.

Your vast power allows you to control the fire from a much greater distance, but it is not as easy. And there's a lot of fire there.
You start gathering as much as you can over the house.

Alan dramatically falls to his knees.

"RICKMAN! WHY DID YOU LEAVE?! DID MY DONUTS NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT FROSTING?! WHYYYYY CRUEL FATE, WHY WOULD YOU TEAR US APART LIKE THIS?!"

He grasps his hair in agony as he screams up to the sky, the camera dramatically pans out above him, orchestral music swelling.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY okay where we going next, does that village have any dust bunnies?" He hops up and begins cheerily walking towards the crowd, tunelessly droning the melody to Highway To The Danger Zone.

Go introduce myself to my soon-to-be adoring crowd of fans!

As you approach a man from the group gathered near the cottage approaches you with his palms raised in a 'stop' gesture.
"Wait, travellers! The road is not safe, there are monsters-"
"Hi! I'm Maverick and this is my wingman, Goose!"
"I'm not Goose."
"Silly goose. She thinks she's not Goose."
"...What?"

While the person you are talking to hasn't noticed yet, some people have noticed the ball of fire forming over the village and are pointing at it, alerting others to its presence. The heat in the conversation dies down a bit as people take in this new development. However, two voices is clearly heard in all this, as someone can be heard yelling close to the centre of the group, accompanied by occasional grunts of agreement with either party.
"-watched those damn things kill priest Khan. And my nephew when he tried stopping them. They cut through his wards like they weren't even there! I know there was some kind of problem with the magic network but this thing, whatever it is, it's not just any monster. We can't rush into this unprepa-"
"We can't just sit around, waiting for this thing to destroy our homes and kill our people! And then come after us! Our people are still in there! My mother and father are still in there! Are we going-"

[Xantalos]

Alan, Authoritative Maverick

"Oh, this is the black jello skull thingy, isn't it? Damn thing. Licorice never leads to anything good!"

Make my way to the argument and ascertain the identity of the monster they're talking about. Hand out eggs (no specific species) if people seem to be agitated.

[Coolrune206]

Rune-Blastbear generates a very dense layer of skin quite a way under the exterior layer, then absorbs the melting skin within. He attempts to use this additional biomass he is re-absorbing to strengthen this new tough layer of skin to be resistant to any environmental hazard.

He moves closer and fires again, aiming more carefully.

[Zormod]

Enlarge one vortex to cool that hot strip, and use the other to watch Toaster. Shout out a direction to dodge in when shit goes down.

[Lenglon]

My abilities don't care about amount, only about distance. I said I want all of it up there so it all. is. going. up. there.
I mean, they used to not be affected by amount, but with the way the Entities broke everything...

((I think we've had this conversation several times now about how Irine's abilities are specifically designed to handle indefinite amounts of flame so long as it's in range. First iteration was distance having a graduated effect instead of hard in/out of range distance with no penalties at far distances, as well as a shortened distance max. Second iteration was the level of control available to her, with her having far less fine-tuned control than she expects. Third was about the definition of complexity, because I thought simple geometric shapes/patterns was simple, but you were saying lots of moving parts was complex, like she was controling it out of fine-grained subparts instead of handling the whole as a pattern.

I think the problem here is I specifically had manipulating large amounts in mind when I designed her, with the limiting factor being her getting those large amounts in the first place. whereas you expect getting and growing the flame to be easy, but managing it in large amounts to be hard. I mean, I gave her specific, small, limited flame generation abilities, but I honestly believe that you removed that limit and that it's all in her head about the whole 5/day thing. In this case though we're back to the sphere of influence thing. I think you envision her as having tendrils that extend outwards to grab flame, but I envision her as being the centerpoint of a sphere of control, and that sphere of control is just as much a part of her as her physical body. she simply doesn't activate it all the time. that's why it's so easy for her to manage large amounts - it's literally the same amount of effort to move a candle-flame from one candle to another as it is to shift a collossal torrent of flame across the street. if anything the candle is harder because it requires more precise control.))

[TheBiggerFish]

==After The End==

<Oh, thanks.>

To yonder elevator!

((Also, Leidenfrost is about protection from HOT fluids, isn't it?))

[Parisbre56]

@Lenglon: I believe I have explained in the past that when you get a 3, I have to do something that sounds like a 3. If you have an idea for a 3 that sounds better then I'm always open to suggestions. If I was just writing a story then I'd have no problem doing whatever you like, but I'm running a game and when I was tired last night and was trying to write a quick reply, a large volume of fire coming out of a still burning object felt like a good enough excuse for something that would take a while to finish with a 3.

@TheBiggerFish: Ah, but it's all about relativity. What's a 0 Kelvin coolant compared to your body temperature? You'd say that your body is pretty hot, no? And Leidenfrost is about a liquid forming a protective layer around a surface whenever it meets something extremely hot and evaporates. So for a moment the boiling liquid would create a layer that repels the rest of itself for a split second. At least, that sounds reasonable to me, I don't know, I've never used telekinesis to shove liquid nitrogen on people in real life. (I only use my powers for party tricks, otherwise a curse will fall on me.)

[Lenglon]

((*checks character sheet and sees what that 3 was before modifiers* Ah. Damn those dice. I retract everything I just said. I almost want to spend so many points on Irine's fire that she auto-rolls 5's, just to avoid such conundrums.))

[Parisbre56]

@Lenglon: But wouldn't you just overshoot all the time then? Also, sorry for making it seem like she's shoving fire around, but it's much easier for me to imagine than someone merely willing something and the environment obeying to comply with whatever pattern they have willed. So hey, sorry if my mind sometimes reverts to that. Generally feel free to call me out if you think I'm doing something wrong, I don't mind.

Now I really need to drive to work, so see you later.

@TheBiggerFish: Also, I usually try to not give advice or tell people what to do with their characters, but I really think you should reread the part of the turn about you.

[Toaster]

John growled at the drone, then very quickly glanced at his companion.  Would she be any more help after that attack?

Gun it!  Get past this drone!  Is the lady able to defend?  If no, take over on defense while getting past the drone.  If yes, fire a few more potshots; aiming isn't priority, just fire.

[Harry Baldman]

((Sorry for missing an update.))

Campaign, Ike!

"Ooh."

Listen in more attentively, sounds like fun business is happening.