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[randomgenericusername]

Relax. Think of nice things and try to forget that I just murdered the first friend I've had for years. Think of happy thoughts, like how life was back at Russia. You know, before Papa left.

[Chevaleresse]

((Back from finals. Still need a strategy though. Unless my action is just "do my best to not immediately die."))

[Devastator]

(The goop might be attacking you in some way, since it doesn't quite die?  Maybe you can remove it, or try to hold steady while the others remove it?  Maybe those crystal tie things will actually kill it when broken?)

(I'll help you after checking out the unconscious Sasha and finding out what happened to my other body, if none of the others get around to it.  Hang tight!)

(If you do cry out immediately for help, via soul-gem, I might change course to check out you first.)

[Nakéen]

(I'm back! I completely understand what you mean by being unsatisfied syvarris, I think the more a GM take care of a game, the more they want to perfect it. I greatly enjoy this game, to me, its strengths are the quality of your writing and the deep attention given to the personality of the characters. It did feel like you were trying to make the world and its inhabitants "living", and it did seem like you succeeded to me.

As a player the mechanics seemed a bit vague, though that's not a bad point at all in my book. Not really knowing how they worked in detail gave me a feeling of freedom, and made the game seems freeform, which I really enjoyed. I could think more about how to act in-character rather than from a meta perspective.

Though as other said, dungeons are taking a really long time in real life, mainly because of the nature of play-by-post. It would be much more different if the game were played in a more traditional fashion. The last dungeon felt much more vibrant than the first one, and despite the lengthy time we spent in it, discovering it was a pleasant experience. I was looking forward to what shape would the labyrinth take as we progressed further.


In short, to me the strengths are:
-the characters
-the world and its atmosphere
-the feeling of freedom


The only way I could see you improve the game would be to cut down on/simplify some things, as ultimately the biggest obstacle is time, the time you need to write an update.))

[Chevaleresse]

Try to struggle my way out of harm's way, while trying to get the clay off of me.

[syvarris]

Thank you for your answer, Nakéen!  I'm happy to hear that you think the vauge nature of magic has worked out--that was a deliberate choice on my part, for much the same reasons as you listed, and because I felt it fit one of the themes of PM3: the protagonists being young and not fully understanding their powers, or their situations.  Plus, I've always just felt that magic feels more magical the less you know about how it works.

I think I can preserve the vibrancy of the labyrinths, while making them take less time.  As you said, it has partially just taken awhile due to updates being very slow, but this labyrinth has a lot of empty/redundant space as well.  I'll also try to simplify updates a bit, of course... though I'm really unsure how to do that.  If nothing else, that fact shows that I need to practice it. 


I intend to update tomorrow, Sunday 23rd.  I'm still missing actions from Twinwolf and Nakéen.  As a refresher, Tooru is heavily wounded and laying prone, partially covered with clay from the monster which she just exploded.  Asha is next to her, unsure how to help, and has some clay on her as well.  Mina is next to them, and has just spotted the remains of the last two clay familiars: one, bisected at the waist, is crawling towards them with its arms, while the other has changed into a small sphere with legs, with its glass tie on the front of its 'body'.  Aleksandra is unconscious on the other side of the big door everyone came through, near the three girls.  On the other side of the monsters, there's a big lake which Alida fell into.

Deafening music is still blasting through the air, coming from within the ruined mansion that the big door is set into the front of, but not from within that door--Mina's sixth sense can tell that the door is a kind of spatial portal which leads somewhere else entirely, like all the other intact doors and windows that she has inspected.  The area you're all in is filled with ash, and many winged skeletal unicorns, mummified with colorful cellophane ribbons, wander around, taking interest in nobody.  There's lots of ruined houses spread around as well, set everywhere around the lake at the center of the area.  Three rivers flow out of the fake flower forest that surrounds all this, snaking through the buildings and ash, and feed into the lake.

The orange sky above is full of large, angular, alien stars, only a few of them obscured by syrupy clouds--very different from the sky you all saw when you first entered, which was darker and more obscured.  Alida saw the witch up there, though her senses are too warped right now for her to understand much more.

[Egan_BW]

Hmm. Just realized what Asha should be doing here. She should start cutting up Tooru. Level 3 Flagellation probably won't kill her, and the regained soul would let Tooru heal herself or Asha use Soothe safely.

The other option is for Asha to just tank the massive cost of using Soothe on someone with Shadowed light. Asha is at Vibrant, to it probably won't kill her. >.>


Appropriately enough, both options will be very painful for someone. You could try mundane healing, but it probably won't do anything with this level of injury. Not unless you happen to have an emergency room on hand.


(Damn, now that gives me enticing ideas for Innocence / Mercy synergies. You could actually keep a hospital in your pocket.)

[Devastator]

Alternatively, Asha could kill the almost-dead familiar close at hand to discount the upcoming soothe one full level.  That should help it.

We do kind of need orders from the two capable characters, though.  It's their show.

[Twinwolf]

((I'mma just post quick - if anyone has alternate suggestions feel free to say it.))

Mina goes to quickly recover her halberd. Then, protect the injured Tooru by going for the non-crippled clay monster. Priority: Nothing reaches Tooru. She can't heal her but she can make sure she doesn't get hurt worse.

[Devastator]

(You may wish to attack the full-health one instead, and let Asha take out the crippled one, for the boost cheapening the next healing spell.)

[Egan_BW]

((I'mma just post quick - if anyone has alternate suggestions feel free to say it.))

Protect the injured Tooru by finishing the crippled clay monster. Once it's done, interpose self between the remaining one and Tooru. It will not get through if she can help it. She can't heal her but she can make sure she doesn't get hurt worse.

You should keep in mind that your weapon is not currently in hand. Should be easy enough to recover it though.

[Twinwolf]

((Thank you, I'll edit.))

[syvarris]

((I'mma just post quick - if anyone has alternate suggestions feel free to say it.))

Mina goes to quickly recover her halberd. Then, protect the injured Tooru by going for the non-crippled clay monster. Priority: Nothing reaches Tooru. She can't heal her but she can make sure she doesn't get hurt worse.

[Bravery]

You telepathically give Asha and Tooru a quick warning about the remaining monsters, then grab your halberd and wrench it out of the wall with one hand.  You twirl it around in front of you, then rush towards the crippled clay man as fast as you can.  You leap high into the air after crossing half the distance, and fly through the air for a few short moments before reaching the monster, smashing your halberd down into its shoulders with the weight of your entire body behind the strike.  The results are impressive; the sheer force of your blow causes the monster's entire remaining body to explode into two halves and splatter to the sides, in addition to crushing its glass tie into powder.  You don't spend any time admiring your handiwork though, instead hopping back immediately after and spinning around to look at the second monster, who's outside your sixth sense's range.

[Joy]

As soon as you see it, you realize you made a mistake in targeting the legless familiar.  The vaguely bird-shaped clay creature is already sprinting towards Asha and Tooru, and is much closer to her than to you.  You rush towards it all the same, hoping that you're faster, but it's futile; you've scarcely taken two steps by the time it's upon them.  You contemplate throwing your halberd again for a brief instant, before Asha intercepts the monster, driving a metal shiv--and most of her arm--through its body.  She then tears it in half as she pulls her arm out, and kicks the remains away as they writhe blindly.

You reach the destroyed pile of clay moments later, and jam your halberd into the squirming mass a few times, just to be sure.  Then you step away and give Asha a thumbs-up.  All the monsters are dead, or at least as close as they come to it.

Defend Tooru.

[Bravery]

You look up when Mina warns you about the last two familiars, just in time to watch her rip her halberd out of the wall and go charging away to meet them.  Unfortunately, she chooses the farther, slower monster, and the long-legged sphere starts sprinting towards you and Tooru the moment as Mina passes it.  You stand up and step between it and your wounded friend, clutching the broken metal shiv tightly, trying to decide how to attack the thing without getting covered--but it reaches you before you can come up with anything.  You desperately thrust your shiv into it, center of mass.  You feel the thing's glass tie shatter instantly, before your hand penetrates through its clay body, its own momentum impaling it on your arm.  You can already feeling it start to tighten around your arm, and shout in disgust as you pull your limb free, inadvertently tearing it in half.  That done, you kick it away from you, and Mina--apparently already back--stabs it repeatedly where it falls.

[Mercy]

You trust her to handle the thing, and focus on your arm, trying to clean off some of the subtly moving chunks of clay stuck on your arm... and notice blood practically covering your hand.  There's several distressingly large slivers of glass jammed into you, and belatedly you realize that they hurt like hell.  You pick at one of the longer ones, pulling it out slightly, and wince in pain as you do.  It hurts more the more you look at it, and after a couple more painful pokes, you decide to look away, back at Tooru.  She's still laying on the ground, visibly in agony, trying to pick at the clay covering her, even though she winces with every movement.  A twinge of guilt runs through you, being distracted by your own wound when she's practically been crippled.
   

Try to struggle my way out of harm's way, while trying to get the clay off of me.

[Mercy]

You start pushing yourself backwards when Asha stands up, every bit of space gained sending fire racing up your side.  Asha soon steps in front of you, facing the monsters, and you immediately give up, the pain isn't worth it for the negligible distance that you're creating.  You do manage to sit up a bit, letting out little gasps of pain which are drowned out by the music, to get a view of the others as they fight.  Apparently, Mina's already killed one of the monsters, and Asha is squaring up to intercept the second, which is little more than a sphere on two sticklike bird legs.  She doesn't hesitate as it gets close, confidently thrusting her shiv forward as it charges into her, impaling itself on her arm in an instant!  The clay creature shudders subtly, and Asha violently tears her arm free, before kicking the thing away, where Tooru is waiting with her halberd.  She starts stabbing the monster's remains as Asha picks at the clay on her arm, which reminds you of the stuff you still have on your clothes.

You lay back down, and start trying to remove some of that clay.  You meet with some success, but most of the clay is on your injured side, and every chunk you remove comes with a spike of pain.  You can manage it, but you're quickly starting to wonder if it's worth it.  _{And why isn't Asha healing you, yet?  You know she can, she has before, but she's just waffling and being useless...}

Make my way back to my other body as best I can.  If I do, see if I can wake up Sasha to make sure she's alive, and reassure her that I didn't die.

<..I'm still here.  Is everyone okay?  Did you take care of the familiars?  I saw the witch... sort of.>

[Joy]

You hold your breath and wait to float upwards, and quickly get a sensation of movement backward.  This water is so weirdly heavy, and even though you can't see anything, you can almost make out some great monster below, pushing you away.  The thought makes you shiver with revulsion, and you start to swim upward to get away from it faster.  You breach the surface in moments, opening your eyes to see an infinite orange starscape stretching far above you, rimmed by water and land, and for a moment you feel lost--until you see the mansion, towering high above everything else, a long distance away.  You start backstroking towards it, your eyes studying the sky, watching for the witch, but you can't find her, or even the flying vehicle monster that you just jumped off of... and it occurs to you that you lost the wing that you tore off it, too.  You stop to reorient yourself and look around for it, but the wing isn't floating anywhere, even though it felt very light... your feet touch the bottom of the lake as they drift lower in the water.  You can stand up here, apparently, even though the shore looks so far away...

You start walking through the water, each step taking you higher, and feeling like you're barely moving even though your eyes are telling you that you're traveling at a breakneck speed.  Soon, you're stumbling onto the ashen land, feeling disoriented without the water supporting you.  A colorful winged unicorn slowly waltzs past you, smiling and nodding as it passes by, pixies giggling in its wake.  You blink a couple times, confused at what you're seeing, and the pixies go into a deafening, painful silence.  You shake your head and continue towards the mansion, where the other girls are gathered, all the monsters dead, reduced to little piles of clay that shiver like scared dogs.  You stumble across your own corpse, near the other girls, and kneel next to her, looking down at the wound that killed her.  There's a gaping hole in the back of your corpse's head, ringed with a few shining white teeth.  You reach around to scratch at the wound in your own head, finding it wet and warm... but when you look at your fingers it's just water.  Of course.  You shake your head and try to concentrate.

You reach under your corpse and take your soul gem, gripping it tightly, and you slowly walk forward into the mansion.  The walls are swimming in here, like thousands of rainbow fish trapped in a tornado that's circling around you, but your gaze is dominated by Aleksandra, who's laying on flooded floor, face up, next to her rifle...  You take a couple of steps over to her, then sit down next to her head.  She looks cold, she's shivering a little bit, subtle vibrations in the water almost visible.  Some bounce of her rifle, discarded next to her, sitting in the water and waiting to rust... you pick it up and try to wipe off some of the water, utterly failing due to your own drenched state.  You set it down in your lap instead, and then poke Aleksandra's cheek with a finger.  She doesn't respond, but you poke her a few more times, and she stirs, looking up at you with a confused, worried look.  You hold her gun up in her field of view, and her eyes go wide.  You smile a little, she looks funny to you, like a weird cartoon character with ridiculously oversized eyes.

Relax. Think of nice things and try to forget that I just murdered the first friend I've had for years. Think of happy thoughts, like how life was back at Russia. You know, before Papa left.

[Luck]

You dream about Papa, back in Russia, coming home late in the day.  You can hear him stomping through the house, calling for you, but you're too afraid to answer.  Your grandfather is laying on the floor in front of you, his face a rictus of revulsion, his eyes crossed almost like they're staring at the hole between his eyes.

You shiver as you look down his body, all the holes in his torso, staining his clean green shirt red.  You knew not to play with his rifle.  He's told you a thousand times.  You're not old enough to handle it.  You're just a little girl.  It's not safe.  And you couldn't listen, now he's dead, and you're counting the holes desperately.  Twenty eight.  Twenty eight bullet holes.  He was dead with the first, but you could have let go of the trigger.  You didn't have to do this to him. 

You look up at the hole in his face.  Twenty nine.  He was in pain, you had to end it for him.  It was the right thing to do.  You know it.  But you can't believe it.  You shiver as the wet blood soaks into your clothes, it's so cold.

Papa's footsteps stop in front of the door, and he calls out for you again, curious, but optimistic.  He's saying something about bringing you a gift, you can't hear the words, but you know he has something for you.  The rifle feels heavier than it should with only one round left, but you easily bring it up to aim at the door, far too easily.  You don't have to do this, you don't understand why you're doing this, but the sights are steady even though you're shaking so hard.  No.  You can't do this.  No.  Papa starts to open the door, not understanding what you're about to do.  No no no nonono--

You wake up, and Alida is leaning over you, poking you with one hand.  She looks dazed, and wet, but healthy.  You just stare at her, confused and afraid, and she picks up your rifle, showing it to you carefully, and smiling a little.  You stare at it, shivering.  It's water that's soaking into your clothes.  Not blood.

Not blood.





((Next update... Sunday the 30th?  I don't want to commit, I have a way more cluttered schedule than usual, but I'll shoot for Sunday.  Current labyrinth track is The Beatles - A Day in the Life (Instrumental).

...And yes, Alida was seen by the others.  It was just hard to make her appearance flow, so I didn't bother.))

Spoiler: Alida Larsen (Devastator) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: shiny!
   ^{Form and location: curved, in her hand}

Age: enough
Hair Color: baby blondie
Health: reaaallyy awesooommmeee
Inventory: gun, club, gem, here.

Totem: clubbing club for clubbing fishies

Stats:
   Bravery:  wow~
   Joy:  yeah!
   Innocence:  kay...
   Purity:  kay...
   Mercy:  yeah!
   Creativity:  awww ;-;
   Love:  awww ;-;

Abilities:
   hopping Lvl2
   hitting Lvl3+1
   clubbing Lvl2

   AHAHAHAHAHA! Lvl3 ON; OW! (easy now)
   (❂‿❂) Lvl2
   mememememe Lvl1 (MEME!)

Spoiler: Asha Tia (Nakéen) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Vibrant light.
   ^{Form and location: Ring, worn on her left ring finger.}

Age: 13
Hair color: Ashen
Health: Wet, ashy, and with a bunch of glass and gashes in her right hand.  Has a fair bit of living clay on her, mostly her clothes and right arm.
Inventory: One ribbon.  And a short rusty metal shiv, broken off from a longer piece.

Totem: A Ribbon. The one her late sister wore.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Skilled!
   Joy:  Cursed ;-;
   Innocence:  Cursed ;-;
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Talented~
   Creativity:  Amateur...
   Love:  Skilled!

Abilities:
   Mobility: Level 3
   Close Combat: Level 2 
   Totem Manipulation: Level 1 (+1)

   Heal and Steel: Level 2 (Active; Next heal discounted one stage)
   Soothe: Level 3
   Flagellation: Level 3

   Memento: Level 1 (Given to Aleksandra) 

Spoiler: Mina Ross (TwinWolf) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a warm light.
   ^{Form and location: Ring, worn on her right index finger.}

Age: 14.
Hair Color:  Bright green.
Health: Dazed, a bit bruised, and covered in ash.
Inventory: A halberd, which I simply cannot see as anything aside from a Black Knight Glaive.  I blame Dark Souls.

Totem: A halberd.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Amateur...
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Amateur...
   Purity:  Skilled!
   Mercy: Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Talented~
   Love:  Cursed ;-;     

Abilities:
   Mobility: Level 2
   Close-Combat: Level 2 (+1)
   Regeneration: Level 2

   Sixth Sense: Level 3
   Semblance: Level 2
   Projection: Level 2

Spoiler: Tamazaki Tooru (KingMurdoc) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a shadowed light.
   ^{Form and location: Necklace, worn around her... neck...}

Age: 13
Hair Color:  Bright scarlet.
Health: Everything on her right side is in utter agony, and even the tiniest movements only make it far, far worse.  Some living clay is on her, mostly around her right side.
Inventory: Four paper talismans

Totem: Ofuda talismans, primarily thrown as manabolts.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Cursed ;-;
   Joy:  Talented~
   Innocence:  Skilled!
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Amateur...
   Love:  Skilled!
   
Abilities:
   Mobility II
   Mana Bolt III (+I)
   Regeneration I
   Totem Manipulation II

   Invigorating Passion I
   Outburst II
   Duet with Reality II

Spoiler: Aleksandra "Sasha" Chernov (RandomGenericUsername) (click to show/hide)

Ward: Glowing with a foolish light!

Age: 12
Hair Color: Black.
Health: Awake, but very cold and wet, and probably a little traumatized.
Inventory: A cute blue ribbon tied into her hair.  She's wearing Alida's coat, now soaked with water.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Skilled!
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Talented~
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Cursed ;-;
   Love:  Amateur...

[Twinwolf]

((Uh, I'm sorry for being a bit unclear, but by "non-crippled" I meant the one that had legs - I figured "legless" = "crippled". My original post had been going for the legless one, but I had edited it after it was pointed out that it was less of a threat well before you posted.

That said, things have apparently worked out fine anyway, so no big deal. I will try to be more clear in the future))

[Devastator]

(Yeah, looks like it worked out fine.)

(I'm probably going to check out Sasha, and then return to the others to assist with any rolls.)

Alida looks slightly out of it, and is talking just a bit quickly at the moment, like the super-speed thing sorta worked into her voice.

"Hey, Sasha.  I see you shot me in the head.  Guns are strong.  It's okay, I'm fine.  I went into two bodies.  It's okay that one of them got killed.  It feels weird though.  Are you okay?  I'm just so happy from the happy cake.  You have awfully big eyes."

<I'm okay.  Sasha shot me in the head.  Well, the other me.  I'm okay.  Need any help?>