Zeroth

The Book Of Thoth (A Shin Megami Tensei Inspired Roleplay) (CLOSED)

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Aftermath

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In the days since the cult incident, Miyuki hadn't done a lot out of the ordinary. But now, every time she had to go out--which she did as little as possible--she spent much more time looking over her shoulders, or questioning her contracted demon about every supposedly suspicious person in sight.

More than once, she'd seen those little goblins again, and a few other demons. A handful of times, she'd either had to defend herself, or had mustered up the courage to hunt them down. Lham Dearg was able to take care of them, though sometimes the girl had to whack them with her own bokken--which she now carried just about everywhere she went, despite being overly conscious of people staring at the tote-bag hanging from her shoulder all the time. People were probably starting to think she was some kind of delinquent!

It was hard to keep focused on her classwork at college, and more of her peers were openly talking about all the different rumors. Demon appearances were getting more frequent, and news about Satoshi Miura's involvement with the cult--as well as the "drug-induced infighting" at their gathering--was starting to spread too. Every time she turned on the TV, the fear that someone might've recorded her, Xavier Wong, and the other girl hurting those brainwashed people caused a hard lump to form in her throat.

But, she had learned a few things as well. Using the college library as well as local bookstores, she'd started a small collection on various cultures' demonology and fairy tales. Thanks to her father's love of Western literature she was already familiar with many medieval legends as well as some of the concepts from Christianity and Judaism, but as she read up on other mythologies--like the Unseelie Courts, Jack Frost, and the Greek Cyclops--the more some of what she'd encountered started to make its own strange kind of sense.

Underneath her curiosity, however, troubling thoughts darkened her dreams. Because if all of these monsters could be real...what about things like ghosts? Or Heaven and Hell? And if those things could be real too, then what if her father...

Thankfully, Mr. Wong's number had shown up on her phone before she could dive too deep into her own anxieties.

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Family Restaurant

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@Eviledd1984@The WorldAs the waiter set the small plate of chicken karaage, rice, and shredded cabbage in front of her, Miyuki nodded her thanks while staring at her lap. This whole time she'd barely been able to look Mr. Wong in the eye, and she was super self-conscious of sitting next to Hikari--she flinched any time she thought she might've accidentally bumped the other girl or put an elbow too far over the boundary of "personal space."

But, with a gulp and a trembling jaw, she managed to look up over her glasses and speak.

"E-eto...I d-did have a dream like that, y-yes..." She glanced around the rest of the restaurant. There was no one immediately near their table, and Xavier was clearly the most suspicious person in the building thanks to his ridiculous outfit. Then again, a movie star probably had to avoid paparazzi somehow...

"B-But I don't know if I was really...picked to, um, save the world." She glanced over at Hikari. "I was just told that something was c-c-coming, and that if I wanted someone to save me, I'd have to...to call out to a demon."

Nothing appeared behind her. No one else in the restaurant noticed anything. But Xavier and Hikair, her fellow "chosen," would be able to sense the subtle spiritual presence of Lham Dearg looming over his master, like an extra shadow. She put her hand--the marked one--on the table.

"B-but...I d-don't think I can j-just, um, just sit back while these m-monsters are attacking people, or weirdos like Satoshi are trying to brainwash us!" She suddenly blushed as she realized she'd gotten more excited than she intended, having bounced a little in her seat with a shake of her fist. "If, if I can be of any help...I'd, well...I would like to try...if you'd be okay with that, I mean..." She poked the tips of her fingers together awkwardly.

Then, one strand of her hair suddenly shot straight up as her eyes brightened.

"Ah, wait! Gaburieru--I think that's, um, Gabriel, Mr. W-wong! The Christian Archangel!" She gulped again as she looked at Hikari. "If it's related to Christianity, then that makes sense that they'd have ties to Catholicism!" But now her fire dimmed as she looked back down at the table, and picked up one of her karaage with her chopsticks. "Although...if Satoshi was claiming that he was going to save the world too, and has angels on his side...does that mean we were fighting for the, um...for the wrong side?" As she quieted herself with food, she looked towards Hikari in hopes that the other girl would have something to contribute too.

The Book Of Thoth (A Shin Megami Tensei Inspired Roleplay) (CLOSED)

Mmm then to resolve this issue I can edit my post to have them do something else. Perhaps doing something so our characters can build a relationship with each other. Is there any ideas of something they can do in before going to the interview?

@Eviledd1984

Maybe after giving them his contact info, Xiaolong suggests they get out of there before things get dicey--as I'm sure all the violence would've attracted police sirens--with instructions to call him once they get back to their homes? Then just arrange a meeting within the next few days where they all sit down and compare notes, learn a little more about how each of them got dragged into this mess, and so forth?

Since we just had an action heavy segment, a little "social breather" would help, I think.

The Book Of Thoth (A Shin Megami Tensei Inspired Roleplay) (CLOSED)

Sorry, I've been busy with other IRL stuff too. Anyway, I think my "issue" really comes down to feeling like the plot is a little rushed. I don't mean to offend or anything, you're the GM not me, but I just feel like we're sort of jumping from one event to the other without enough development in between. For instance, this:

You can say the three of them have been working together to get more info on the cults. Encountering other demons and summoners that has tried to stop them.

@Eviledd1984

I feel like if we went into this segment, with the characters exploring around town or meeting at a cafe 1 or 2 days after the "cult incident," instead of the "Interview at NHK" mission, it would give us more time for all the characters to get to know one another and establish that "unlikely group of heroes" dynamic. As it is now, aside from the fact that all three of them have been "chosen" and they were willing to help each other against a common enemy, what motivations or bonds do the characters really have with one another?

And while we, as players, are familiar with the SMT-setting to know how the demon contracts, skills/magic, and so-forth work, our characters haven't really gone through enough experiences to learn all those things.

I might be the only player who feels like this, which is fine, but I think that's what's making it hard for me to write around the plot pacing.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

My post is going to be a little delayed on top of my recent injury I am now sick lol

@ReusableSword

Take it easy friend, no need to rush! Focus on recovery before worrying about RP; wishing you well!

The Book Of Thoth (A Shin Megami Tensei Inspired Roleplay) (CLOSED)

@Eviledd1984 I've been trying to finish a post, but four weeks feels to me like it's a lot of time to fill when we haven't really specified what else has been going on outside of Xiaolong's plans. I don't really want to say Miyuki just kept to her daily routine, went to classes, bought groceries, etc and then skip forward because it just doesn't feel like good storybuilding. In these four weeks, have there been any other "strange occurrences," or any fallout from what the three of them did at the cult meeting? Would there be any more "random encounters" with other demons, or did everything just suddenly go back to normal for four weeks?

Enter the Dark Realm - A Castlevania/Gothic Fantasy Inspired Dungeon Crawl [DEAD - NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

@Vlad Tepes
I know from my own experience that mental health is a struggle, and wish you the best in recovery. I also understand the pain of having to pull out of managing a game when you really wish it would continue, and want to encourage you to use it as a learning experience going forward.

However, I also want to express some disappointment. If you felt the RP was moving too slowly, why not let us know? Looking back at it, it looks like we were easily averaging about a post a day (with some days having multiple posts offsetting days where there were no posts). I've been on the Guild a while, and let me tell you, there are lots of RPers around here that would kill for that pace. Lots of people would settle for two or three posts a week, because this is a hobby and a lot of folks have jobs, school, family obligations, and all that. It's unrealistic to expect a rapid-fire pace, especially in Casual games where people typically hold their writing to a higher standard compared to the Free section. (Nothing wrong with rapid fire one-liners if that's the kind of RPing one likes, I'm just pointing out the difference in expectations.)

Communication between a GM and players is ESSENTIAL to maintaining an RP community. There are no such things as stupid questions, the players don't (or shouldn't) expect you to be a perfect human being with an infallible schedule (and vice versa) and so on. Be willing to let your players know what's expected of them. It's okay to tell us, "Guys, would you mind picking up the pace a bit?"

I also want to express that I feel it's unfair to leave off like this with the comment that the RP's too slow, when you as the GM also have had a good opportunity to post in the last round of interactions. I and Shadowsaint had both posted, and while Kaze hadn't yet posted, 2/3 of the Chapel group had directly interacted. If you wanted to spur some action along, you could've easily made your next post for the "turn order," introducing something for Alistair and Chance to deal with, as well as having something "interrupt" Valentina and Naevys just as Kharne's about to give his piece. (No offense to Kaze, but he and I have RPed a long time together and I feel pretty confident telling you he wouldn't mind at all if he got to skip the talking and go straight to the skull-cracking.)

But again, I understand if there are other factors and pressures at play, and don't want you to feel beholden to this game if it's going to hurt your self-care. Like I said, I wish you the best, and just hope that this experience can be one you'll build upon in the future.

Enter the Dark Realm - A Castlevania/Gothic Fantasy Inspired Dungeon Crawl [DEAD - NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

Vlad and I are excited to see how Alistair reacts to Naevys, since she's a necromancer. <3

@Visyn

Alistair: "I cast Holy Radiation."

Everyone else: "Don't you mean...Radiance?"

Alistair: "No."

Enter the Dark Realm - A Castlevania/Gothic Fantasy Inspired Dungeon Crawl [DEAD - NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

@shadowsaint007@Vlad Tepes Whoops, forgot the mentions in the post, but it's up.

The "grave" Alistair thinks he saw is the small cross and a bumped up area near a tree on the right hand side (at least, my right hand, staring at my monitor) of the image with the Inn. If the fine details of the image itself don't factor into what's happening though, just assume he's extremely paranoid, lol. Because he is. XD

Enter the Dark Realm - A Castlevania/Gothic Fantasy Inspired Dungeon Crawl [DEAD - NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS]

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Barille Inn

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Chance was for the inn, but Valentina wanted to investigate the chapel. This caused Alistair to raise an eyebrow--he hadn't been sure Barille would still have any holy ground. Small rural settlements sometimes didn't have an actual church building, and when he'd searched the old maps and travel routes to find a way out here he had seen that the former parishes of Gransylva had been abandoned.

Mayhaps other brothers survived out here, somehow, someway, but even so...Alistair felt he was probably the first holy man to step foot over the Vampire King's borders in a long, long time.

The large dragonborn indicated that he wanted to investigate along with Valentina--was he anticipating conflict? Moreover, relishing in the idea of it?

"Miss Valentina, you and our large friend seem quite capable." He said with a nod. "I'm sure you'll be safe--" Then he turned to Bert and Chance, "But I don't believe the two of you have any form of holy protections, or experience with...the supernatural, correct?" Valentina clearly had an artifact or two on her person and had stated she was a hunter by profession. Kharne, of course, was the size of an outhouse of the brick variety. "I believe it's best if I stick with you for the moment."

The group thus split up, and Alistair walked a pace or two behind Bert and Chance as they looked through the derelict village to find an inn. Following a faded sign and rutted tracks from one of the broken carts, they soon found themselves standing in what could've passed for a swamp had the two story building not dared to defy the dead, grasping canopy of the trees around it.

Bert retrieved something from a pouch and put it in his mouth while he taunted Chance's caution. Alistair's mouth quirked in a frown--was the man chewing tobacco? Perhaps there were worse vices, and if anything the stimulant might sharpen his senses rather than dull them, but the priest still found it uncouth.

As the flighty man bantered with the mercenary, the Inquisitor took a good look at their surroundings. This stream had likely flooded in the storms brought on by the Vampire King's shroud of everlasting clouds; and without villagers and travelers, the inn had no doubt fallen into disrepair. Yet, aside from the signs of clear abandonment...

There were no bloodstains here, as there had been in the village. Aside from some birds in the distance, barely visible over the roof in the cloudy sky, no animals frequented the woods around them. There was a well---if it still had a working bucket and hadn't filled in with silt or debris, they might be able to get a water sample to purify.

Chance poked at the stream with a stick. The murky surface bubbled as he dug into the mud, and Alistair's eyes scanned lower to the ground--

A cross, near the roots of a tree.

The dark water churned.

"There is a grave there!" shouted Alistair suddenly, sweeping his mantle out as his hands rose in a series of sudden gestures! Oro, allevero, protego!

In the blink of an eye, a cube made of ethereal blue light expanded in front of Alistair's palm. As it grew in the space of another blink, it swallowed the Inquisitor, Chance, and Bert before freezing in place with a sound like crunching ice. The shallow water around their feet had been pushed back to the structure's edge, and the dead, blackened grass had been flattened under them. If not for the translucent glow, one might have thought they'd been encased in a glass prism somehow.

"This is a Holy Barrier." Alistair said, his voice tight. "If we are attacked, do not leave its light." Had he overreacted? For all he knew, the thing in the water was a jumping polliwog or a garter snake.

But people typically weren't buried right outside the front door of an inn. And in Gransylva, people had a habit of not staying buried at all.

Why Were We Reincarnated as Orcs?!

Orc Camp

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@ERode

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Obtained New Item!

Flint Hatchet - Equip, Weapon/Tool - A sharper edge than a Stone Hatchet of equivalent size, but lighter and more brittle. Requires more strength and proper alignment to get a good chop, but most wood will be cut faster.

Borrowed Antler Pickaxe - Equip, Weapon/Tool - A pickaxe made with a sturdy piece of wood and a sharpened antler. Can harvest softer stones and some ores! It can be used as a piercing weapon, even on hard shelled creatures, but it wasn't designed for that. High Quality. On Loan from Bowbh.

You've attempted to Craft something!
Process: Handcrafts
Tools: Flint Hatchet, Jackalope Point
Materials: Elwet Antlers, Harpy Hide Strips, Tatzelwurm Hide Strips

...Success! However, a Tool was broken:
Jackalope Point > Broken Jackalope Point

Obtained Items:
Antler Bracer (Elwet-Harpy)
Antler Bracer (Elwet-Tatzelwurm)

Antler Bracers - Equip, Armor - A type of bone armor used to protect the arms. Materials such as fangs, teeth, horn, antler, etc can be quite tough, but typically aren't as hard as metals. They are somewhat resistant to physical damage, though less so against Blunt impacts. Light Defense Boost!

SYSTEM:Esfir

Before settling to her crafts, Esfir made another loop of the camp to search for any source of water. It turned out there was a mountain spring of some kind available...however, there also seemed to be a problem.

The spring came from somewhere higher up the mountain-side near the back end of the camp, and the orcs had constructed a rough channel from where it naturally spilled out of the rocks to a pool down on level ground. Piles of rock and bark made small dams to redirect the stream, another stone had been cracked apart and cleared so that a ditch could be dug into the dirt, then it led to a koi-pond-sized, circular hole lined with gravel at the bottom. Another channel had been dug that led under part of the camp's fence, so that if the pool ever got full enough to overflow the excess would be carried away from the tents.

However, currently it seemed like only a bathtub's worth of water was left in the pool, and it looked somewhat cloudy. As Esfir turned from it to seek out a place to do her crafts, she would see two orcs lowering a large clay pot into the water and then hauling it out between them, reducing the supply by a gallon's worth.

"Won't be long afore we gotta start goin' to da lake again with them stupid big tubs!" grumbled one. "Why's it keep stoppin' like dat!?"

"The place it comes out is all clear--gotta be somethin' higher up on da mountain!" snarled the other, as his companion foisted all the weight onto him. He hefted it easily enough, but didn't look thrilled about it. "Either the underground is blocked, or somethin' plugged it at the mouth!"

Esfir now had new tools, new armor, and at least one new objective. Giving away her Harpy meant that she might need to find another meal before the night was over--although, based on what her body felt now, it seemed going without three squares a day wouldn't starve her even if she was a growing Runt. Aside from that, the only thing left to do on her "checklist" following Auguz's orders was to find some shelter.

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@King Cosmos

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Despite the "System's" similarities, this certainly wasn't the same as a videogame even compared to an "immersive" RPG--in something like that, a task like "tanning leather" simply required killing some randomly generated animal (a task she now knew from experience to be painful, scary, and tiring) hitting a few buttons to "loot" it (compared to physically carving the bloody things open with a rock, or skewering their meaty bits over a fire, or lugging them over one's shoulder down a mountain), and then walking to some arbitrarily assigned merchant or crafting station to hit a few more buttons. Boom, instant leather, which with a few more clicks would become a piece of armor or something else useful.

No. Her hands kept cramping; she was covered in gunk up to her elbows; the salt stung the tiny cuts and scrapes holding the rock's sharp edges gave her; the tanning solution apparently had brains and who knew what else mixed into it, and the smell was more than positively foul...

Was Shamar making her do so many things just to make it more convenient for herself? Or was this just how it had to be? The orcs were primitive, and crude, and brutal...and yet, humans had been forced to do these same things at some point in their history. Hunting one's own food. Making tools and shelter by hand.

Forced. Akeno didn't consider herself a hard worker, but neither had she exactly figured out what it was she would've done with her life if she hadn't had someone else breathing down her neck all the time. School, extracurriculars, college--it was all just a matter of meeting her parents' expectations. Karate had been something she'd chosen for herself, and she had been able to choose how much effort she wanted to put into it. But now, here she was again, being forced to do things just to...just to survive?

Not for her parents' approval. Not for a grade. Not for money. Maybe not because she wanted to...but not because anyone else made her, either. This was for her survival.

By the time she finished, her hands felt like she'd been holding them up to a sandpaper grinder, her forearms ached, and her nose hairs might've singed. But, if she ever had to go it alone in this new world, at least now she had an idea of how to tan pelts...right?

"Hmm!" Shamar, whose hands were also bloody up to the elbows--save that hers looked much fresher, considering the bowls under her kills were slap full of crimson goop--laid a freshly harvested hide over the fleshing board Akeno had cleared. She looked over the Runt's work, occasionally sniffing a hide or clicking her tongue. The "finished" set that Akeno had just finished tying to the drying racks caused the Head Hunter to curl the corner of her lip up over one fang in a half-smile. She watched Akeno combing the last of the pelts before nodding her head.

"Good job, Runt! Yas got a lot betta hand-eye-quarter-nations den any o' dese udda mukhs! Wait right dere!" Shamar disappeared into the yurt for a moment. Akeno heard several kinds of shuffling and objects tossed around, before the scout reemerged...with a rough, yet warm looking hide vest. It even had a design on it, which looked like it'd been "burned" into the material with a hot piece of charcoal or something--a rough outline of a deer's head with antlers like lightning bolts.

"It's a little big, but ya tug dese here cords on da side to tighten it up!" The hunter pointed out. "You's lucky ya did every-ting right--if ya had messed up or tore my pelts, I was only gonna give ya some strips and cordage!" She practically shoved it into Akeno's hands, but thankfully all the gore both of them were covered with didn't seem like it would permanently stain. "Made it myself wif a Bowhorn buckskin!"

QUEST COMPLETE!
Quest: Tannery Crash Course

Reward Obtained: Bowhorn Deer Vest - Equip, Armor - A simple leather vest, but Bowhorn hide is tougher than that of a normal deer. It is somewhat resistant to physical damage, though less so against Slashing blades. Light Defense Boost!

SYSTEM:Akeno

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South Caves

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@Kazemitsu

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As Grunthor closed in on the spider, from this side he could see the earlier wound his companion had talked about. It wasn't one either of them had inflicted--but there was a gash of some kind across the back of its thorax, and one of its legs had been injured. How long ago? That didn't seem like a clean blade swipe, but whatever it was had at least given them a helping hand.

His club came down on another leg, eliciting a loud crunch as the chitinous joint gave way! Considering the damage the dark orcling had done, that should be three of eight down? The spider screeched! But, even as he dealt it a wound, Grunthor barely saw two more legs flash. One of them slammed into his shoulder, and he felt the bite of two small (relatively) hook-like claws. But they only poked him hard enough to draw blood; the spider's goal had been to push him away, and thus it had. He landed on his bum just in time for its other claw to slash at his club--with a crack, another one of the bone spikes shattered and the wooden haft lost a splintery chunk!

"[Miasma Bolt]!" The distinct sound of dark magic followed the other Runt's voice. "Make it worth--Yeah!" The spider screeched again and reeled back, rotating its body on the wall. Part of its face was now covered in the blue fluid that passed for its blood, but now its head was upright and its fat bottom hung low.

Low enough that it sprayed a wide arc of liquid web at both of them!

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Deep Forest

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@ReusableSword

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Agar crept further north, and found himself coming across the same game trail he had encountered when he first entered the area--or, at least, it was roughly the same width and seemed about the same age judging by the state of plantlife around it. In this area, too, the trees had thinned somewhat and most of the ground was covered in grass and moss. He could see, clustered around the roots of a tree less than two meters from his current position, several mushrooms!

A single Red Cream cap stood out due to its distinctive colors...as did a lone Turtleshell! There were three more, pointy-capped mushrooms that were shiny silver towards their tops, dulling to gray, then black, then rusty red towards the base.

Further on than that, to the west-side of Agar's vision, was a cluster of black bushes. Even from here, he could smell something like...dog poop? Rotting eggs? Whatever it was, it was NOT pleasant. The plants were short, scrabbly things with hanging seed pods that looked like...well, the kind of thing that would smell like dog poo.

And underneath those bushes, almost unnoticeable save for the fact that Agar's muffled steps hadn't alerted it and thus its head swiveled slowly from the opposite direction...A Tatzelwurm!

He'd seen a lot of this creature before and could probably take it, especially with the advantage of surprise--it wasn't an unknown quantity like that horned gator or the beetles. But, maybe he could also just grab the mushrooms and go...?