>"Hggh... My ass..." With a pounding head and an aching behind you jump out of the burning pile of junk metal that only a few seconds ago used to be your prized companion, the STR-K. You wonder why the dozens of safety mechanisms you check and re-check are fully functional every time before you go on a mission didn't activate during the one time in your life you managed to get into an actual accident... Probably the fault of that shitty AI you installed into it last week, you swear command purposefully gave you a busted one just to make your life harder... >"Aahh... My beautiful boy... how did it come to this..." As you sob quietly on top of your ex-beloved companion, you rewind back a couple minutes ago in your mind. You and your... uh... partner, flew your ships, the STR-K and the CC-DA, into orbit to investigate a strange... thing that appeared and... did stuff. Okay you aren't sure EXACTLY what it was, but it was black hole-looking and pulsated weirdly, so it was probably bad. Anyways, you tried shooting it with your ship's plasma beam, as you normally would, and it suddenly started pulsating even stronger aaand... now you're here. Wherever this is. You could run your son's- I mean your ship's IPS to find out where you are (as long as it's within humanity's intergalactic map, at least), but entering it seems way too dangerous for now. Since you're not suffocating instantly at least you know oxygen won't be a concern. What will you do? >Look around >Run your plugsuit's diagnostics >Try to call partner using your wrist communicator >Lay down and cry a bit, maybe it'll help
After gaining all seven Dark Dragon Balls, thanks in no small part to Karn and his family's efforts, Mechikabura prepares for his revival: the Dark King's return is nigh! And with their powers gained in the effort to combat the God of Destruction, Lord Beerus, Karn and Meloka seek to master the strength of gods in preparation for the coming final battle between the Time Breakers and the Time Patrol. However, despite the PTO now comfortably ruling the majority of the known universe, threats still lurk there in the shadows. Beings who, for their own reasons, seek revenge against the Saiyan race. Will the Saiyans prevail? Or will their efforts all be in vain, overcome by their enemies past, present, and future?
You the players control Karn, the Berserker God with the power to fight against gods and other divine beings. From his lowly beginnings as a Saiyan Brawler with a sub-3000 powerlevel in Age 733, he has now become the strongest Saiyan of his time. Wielding the Berserker Soul, a power born of rage and hatred now combined with That Which Should Not Be, Karn has gained powers suited to facing the divine, and even those who wield the powers of Order, Law, and even Time itself. But will this newfound strength be enough to overcome the threats headed your way? Only time will tell, and your choices could be the difference between victory and defeat, winning and losing, even existence and not.
Quest rules are as follows(unless otherwise noted): >30 minute vote windows >Pick ONLY ONE option when voting >Dice rolls are all best of first three, Bo4 when specified >One dice roll per person per post unless three players have not yet rolled, and ten minutes has passed since your first roll >Crits are 100 on a d100(a 99 or paired rolls may net you an extra bonus) >Crit fails are a 1/100 with no passing rolls, or if two 1s are rolled regardless of the third >Write-ins are both allowed and encouraged, but OOC options will be ignored >If your goal is simply to troll, at least put in enough effort to make it funny >Have fun
SCQ will usually start on Saturdays at noon Eastern Standard Time, and run throughout the weekend. Also, for updates or schedule changes you can find me on twitter @GrandDragonQM, which I keep as up to date with any scheduling changes as soon as possible.
Your mind rushing, you snap back to your senses. You focus hard to try to recap the mission thus far. <span class="mu-s"> You are an NKVD officer of the Soviet Union. Your mission is to assassinate Adolf Hitler at a parade in Magdeburg, Germany, on April 9th. Stalin ordered this himself, to prevent the invasion of the USSR, AKA Operation Barbarossa. </span>
After taking your weapon of choice, a silenced TT-33 modified to have to be racked manually after every shot, you also chose to have your escape be covered by a thick smoke.
After deciding upon the plan, you left Moscow with a helpful driver/translator on April 5th. You reached Romania on the 6th, where, halfway through the country, you were instructed to <span class="mu-s"> assassinate Heinrich Himmler as well, </span> before continuing on your journey.
On the 7th, you made it through the border with Yugoslavia, and made a small stop for some food. Unfortunately, you had an encounter with the Gestapo, but managed to slip by undetected.
On the 8th, you make it to the forest farther up North, and the driver, who has helped you tremendously, parts ways with you. You were supposed to be escorted in a van to where a fighter plane will be waiting to paradrop you into Magdeburg, under the cover of night. Unfortunately, the vehicle you were in crashed, and now you're stranded halfway in the forest, with nothing but a map and a compass to guide your way.
With your psyche now thoroughly refreshed with the events of the last few days, you look down at the map, and begin walking. No time like the present. The fresh forest smells draw you in further and further as you follow the map's directions. The brambles at your feet occasionally snag your shoes. You can smell no trace of city, hear no trace of humanity, see no parking lots, or factories; the serenity of it all relaxes you. The dense wilderness reminds you of the Motherland. Taking a deep breath, you focus on the mission once more, and continue on your trek.
<span class="mu-s"> April 8th, 5:20PM </span> You look down at your watch. You've been walking for a while, and your legs are starting to burn. As you continue trudging along the landscape, map in hand, you hear something-- someONE, crying out for help! Their voice sounds raspy and cracked, as if they've been screaming for hours.
> Go to investigate. > Leave them to their fate. It is not my business.
<span class="mu-s"> New update schedule: 4PM UTC every 2 days. Next update will be on the 1st, and so on. </span>
It has been 100 years since ancient beings, known as the Old Ones, walked the Earth with their two strong feet. Now they are gone and we animals now rule the remains that they left behind. With our new knowledge of sword and sorcery, we were able to survive in peace for a while, but then came the three factions. The Apes: Strong giants, claiming to be as just as the old ones and believe they should be the ones to rule over the new world. The Pigs: An intellectual but slothful group who wish to rule the world with an iron hoof and remain kings while the others remained as dumb animals. Then there the Lizards: A fast and large group that want to set the world a blaze. Trying to forget the harsh past that the old ones left. All three sides wishing to go war and destroy one another to bring in what they believe to be true peace. But, unbeknownst to everyone, there was another group. One that was trying their best to find a way to heal everyone. To bring back order. You found it.... and now you are taking care of it.
Everything is cold, dark, and wet. The dim white crystals scattered on the walls and ceilings of this strange place hardly give you enough light to see anything a foot in front of you. And for some godforsaken reason, what feels like melting ice is stuck on your wrists and trapping you from the torso down. With a grunt of exertion though, you break free with surprising ease and take a few groggy, soggy steps to the nearest wall, as if you're using your own body for the first time. You lean back and decide to take a minute to warm up and adjust your eyesight to your surroundings.
"What the hell happened?" You say only to yourself, as you try blowing hot breaths and finding the least wet place to stand over on the wall. With your eyes now fully adjusting to the dark and able to take enough light, you see some interesting things.
To your right, there are dozens of unrecognizable creatures trapped in a large wall of ice, some of which have been partially thawed out, but none of them seem to be alive. In the center of that wall is a large tunnel that something huge had to have melted its way through. Surrounding you are more of those weird shining crystals are embedded in the rock walls and icicles of the cave. And to your left is a dead end, blocked off by a pile of rocks and boulders. With nowhere else to go and not wanting to risk getting trapped under collapsing frost, you head towards the melty ice passage, trying not to kick up too much of the ankle high cold water and risk alerting whoever must've locked you up in here. Whatever you broke, touched or peeked at back in Carpen Laboratories during your personal "unauthorized" tour REALLY pissed off the eggheads if they tossed you in a pit like this. But you're a person with rights and a free will, damnit! They have no authority to treat you like this! So what if you didn't have proper clearance or a scheduled appointment to check it out, they left the window open for you to enter anytime you wanted!
But the first thing you need to focus on is getting the hell out of here. Revenge can come later. You make it straight to the end of the ice tunnel and find yourself at a fork in the road. To the left passage, you can see a brighter light illuminating the way. To the right, you can feel a whisper of warm air lingering in that direction.
You should probably:
>Take the Left Path. Being able to see in here would be a huge bonus and chances are something useful can be found here >Take the Right Path. Warm air means the exit is close by.
You are Mouse, the ogre. Although raised by humans you found yourself in service of the dark elven queen - and with her blessing you have embarked on a quest to purge the corruption plaguing the very world you live in.
You are not alone. Your mission is shared by an eclectic band of companions: -Phineous, the sophisticated orc of culture. -Smutkin, the formerly depraved bard who took your mission for his own -Sparky, the formerly warped imp that was, by touch of holy power, transformed into something else -Tithe, the diminutive yet vigilant gargoyle -Chloe, the shadow of the queen sent to safeguard you and your mission. Your band has since grown to include human companions: -Elle, the royal courier -Harriet and Janet, the twin scouts and the twin golems you've freed from their questionable service to the old order, they've accepted names you've given them: Diana and Minerva.
Currently, you find yourself on the road, headed for the fabled lost city of Atlassia, where cult of the Nameless Beast found its locus of power. There the mercenary army was rallying itself after you foiled several of their plots for the decisive strike against the forces of light, fragile as they were between the mercenary army and the monstrous horde whipped into frenzy by their angry, indignant master.
Queen Olga, The woman who was until recently thought to be the villainous mastermind had fled with her life and was now accompanying you on your journey, along with Maia, the mercenary princess who couldn't bear to give up on a chance to allow her love to turn the mercenary leader away from his dark path.
In this company you made your way across the countryside, hurried along by terrible danger looming over the friends you made who stayed behind to defend their charges...
And now you had another reason for haste.
Tithe had just delivered to you news about a raiding party of the mercenaries about to assault an outlying village you were set to pass by. You decided that you would not allow that to pass.
Special thanks @doom_captain for illustrating this thread's cover!
---
<span class="mu-i">The following quest is a work of fiction. Any and all similarities to characters, groups or entities in real life are purely coincidental.</span>
2025.
The world is engulfed by a series of interconnected conflicts spanning across the entire globe, motivated over petty and trivial reasons. Tensions between the Western and Eastern superpowers reach new heights previously unseen after the end of the Cold War, as they shift their focus of foreign policy from military interventionism to isolationism for self-preservation, resulting in numerous states to undergo numerous disorders like civil unrests, political infighting and corporate interventionism that constantly threaten the stability of the globe. And yet, amid the chaos, fear, and death, an individual has found it fit to use these conflicts to further her own agendas. That individual, is <span class="mu-s">Mathilde Hansa</span>.
You are <span class="mu-s">Kate Marsh</span>, a former Green Berets operator turned CIA analyst obsessed with chasing down Mathilde Hansa, an arms dealer that you have linked multiple transactions to individuals considered highly dangerous by your government. After participating in an operation in Ukraine that went horribly wrong, resulting in the death of your teammates and the loss of your right eye, you were visited in your hospital room by a man named <span class="mu-s">'Caseman'</span>, who planned your mission, for an invitation to a highly-secretive black operations unit whose purpose is to hunt down Mathilde Hansa and put an end to her network's operations for good.
You are Mouse, the ogre. Although raised by humans you found yourself in service of the dark elven queen - and with her blessing you have embarked on a quest to purge the corruption plaguing the very world you live in.
You are not alone. Your mission is shared by an eclectic band of companions: -Phineous, the sophisticated orc of culture. -Smutkin, the formerly depraved bard who took your mission for his own -Sparky, the warped imp that took on affinity to holy magic -Tithe, the diminutive yet vigilant gargoyle -Chloe, the shadow of the queen sent to safeguard you and your mission. Your band has since grown to include human companions: -Elle, the royal courier -Harriet and Janet, the twin scouts and the twin golems you've freed from their questionable service to the old order, they've accepted names you've given them: Diana and Minerva.
Currently you find yourself in the halls of Cathedral City, seat of power from which Celestine, high elven queen and reincarnation of the goddess directs her campaign against monsters such as yourself.
Except that during course of your quest you've not only befriended her but also earned her trust and support in leaning into whatever power it was that allowed you to resist call of the bestial Taint. Thus you succeeded in wrestling a spark of the goddess's divine light from maw of the Beast, which prompted your adversary into a rash action - driving your monstrous compatriots into perverse - well, more so than usual - rage that forced even your queen Olga to seek shelter among humans.
This development forced you to commit to a dangerous task. You would gather your party and set out to strike directly at heart of Beast's power, the lost city of Atlassia the cult and their mercenary army used as their primary locus of power. You were not yet sure what to expect there or how to face it, except that you were on the clock if you wished to confront it before wave of suffering would wash over what innocent souls there were to be found in this part of the world.
