[LP CYOA] Epic

[Tigranes]

B3. The palace is too tempting.

 

[Baltika9]

B3. The palace is too tempting.

Famous last words.

Because entering the Webway and charging headlong into a facsimile of the same Palace in which Ean was tortured for millennia, that may or may not have been created by Spheres/Masters/Dio, after depleting our energy reserves by bending reality to our will, with the adopted niece of the same guy that almost caused a nuclear winter and who is of an unknown loyalty, and not taking care of the potential scouts behind our backs for an unclear reason is a brilliant idea.

I'm glad we're in agreement, gentlemen.

P.S.: whatever happened to that Islington fella? Don't tell me he's a superhuman as well.

 

[treave]

No, but he would have made an appearance in the Superhero route as an important sidekick ally. I suppose I'll reserve that setting for another LP; it's got some potential once you really delve into it, but it is probably better as a stand-alone rather than being shoved into the current world.

 

[Baltika9]

than being shoved into the current world.

Or what's going to be left ofit anyway.

 

[Esquilax]

You fucking idiots are voting for splitting up right after we ended up burning up our powers and wandering into a strange new world because of dumbfuck, lulzy decision-making? This is beyond retarded.

Voting A1, though I'm not holding out much hope for it winning. I want Erika to stop this guy in his tracks then regroup, splitting up and going alone on the basis of "fuck it, let's see what happens!" is what got us into this mess. Fuck, this is the rift debacle all over again.
Voting B3

 

[Baltika9]

B3 is the one where we stay together and head into the palace with backup.

And, no, not quite the Rift: there are no Spheres or Terrasphagos around, the place is obviously used by other humans (unless the Spheres got into the habit of eating junk food and drinking soda, I'd actually like to see that), Senya deduced that there is a way out and, most importantly, we have backup.
The biggest concern are the ones who built this place, since we aren't in exactly the same place Ean was.

 

[Rex Feral]

I believe the outcomes will be different, depending on the combination of choices.

Choosing A does not necessarily mean we lose Erika and get fucked by someone although it might if we also choose 2 (I can't see behind the curtains so the losing choice might as well be 1 or 3).

And choosing B doen not mean that we are going to get ambushed 100%. We might get ambushed if we just stay here (Option 1) or if we go toward the obelisk (Option 2) or maybe the bad guys are in the Imperial Palace (who knows).

I don't think we should worry ourselves in chooosing a certain option but on choosing a certain winning combination.

 

[Storyfag]

You fucking idiots are voting for splitting up right after we ended up burning up our powers and wandering into a strange new world because of dumbfuck, lulzy decision-making? This is beyond retarded.

Esquibro, B is for staying together, A is for splitting up.

 

[Azira]

Flopping to A1

 

[TOME]

Rex Feral, Stygian Lurker, consider flopping since the choice seems to be between A1 and B3.

 

[Baltika9]

Just a thought, bros: maybe letting Erika run off against an unknown opponent isn't such a bright idea, we're not around for backup and who knows how many there are, plus, they maybe augmented themselves.

Fighting alone here doesn't seem too smart, since we have no idea what we're dealing with. Let's stay on the move and recover and let them eat shatterpoint later.

 

[Esquilax]

You fucking idiots are voting for splitting up right after we ended up burning up our powers and wandering into a strange new world because of dumbfuck, lulzy decision-making? This is beyond retarded.

Esquibro, B is for staying together, A is for splitting up.

Ah, I fucked up. Thanks for the reminder, flopping to B3. Well, of course we ought to stay together in this unknown and possibly hostile environment. Yeah, they might have time to set up an ambush, but we will hopefully have recovered by then.

 

[treave]

And I think that locks it in.

A1 - 5
B2 - 2
B3 - 8

 

[Azira]

 

[treave]

The Case of the Disappearing Lawmaker, Act III


I grab Erika's shoulder, holding her back. “Wait-”

She shrugs off my grip, her lips pursed in dissatisfaction. Her eyes fix upon mine with a 'you better have a good reason for this' stare. Reluctantly, I explain myself. “We're not sure where we are, and whether there's anything dangerous out there.”

“I can handle myself.” replies Erika bluntly.

“Well, I can't, not right now. I need you by my side.” I sigh. A strange squeak escapes her throat and she looks away from me while nodding, a slight flush creeping into her cheeks.

“Don't say things you don't mean,” warns Yua.

“What are you talking about?” I have no time to be perplexed right now. I don't want to spend another second longer here than is necessary. The place is giving me the creeps, and I've started to feel slightly dizzy ever since we arrived. “Let's plan our next course of action.”

***

We decide to check out the building that looks similar to the Shinari Imperial Palace. Making our way downwards to the exit of the mall – the elevators aren't working, though that is no surprise – we find nothing else of note, and no signs of life. The strangeness does not change outside of the mall. The streets, lampposts, and even the trees and cars lining the sidewalks are all constructed – or coated – with the same weird material that the entire mall was made of. More disturbingly, here and there I see pale grey human statues that seem eerily detailed. Whether they are mere replicas, or actual humans frozen for eternity, I have no idea. I found them in a variety of poses; some sitting on benches, others walking down the street, and even a busker holding a guitar with a hat in front of him. There are subway entrances, just like in the real Kyoto. I assume the paths beneath follow the same route as the actual metro, but I'm too uneasy to explore the underground right now. Erika remains silent all the while, keeping a lookout for any signs of the person that had fled upon our arrival.

As we approach the fake palace, the colour of the ground gradually becomes more and more translucent. Dark, shadowy shapes underneath my feet begin to resolve into more buildings, buried within a grey sea. These looked older, more ancient – none of them are more than five storeys tall, though here and there the top parts of the taller buildings grew out of the land, some of them merging seamlessly with the modern structures of Kyoto where the two overlapped. Taking a closer look, it's clear that the older buildings are Shinari in origin – or to be more exact, Ankidan. It's almost as if Kyoto had been laid atop Ankida like a layered cake.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a flicker of movement. Erika doesn't seem to have noticed it, but I turn about instantly, on the alert. In the distance, there is a white human statue that doesn't seem to have been there before. It's too far for me to make out any details, but it's distinctly different in colouring from the grey ones that I have seen along the way. Before I can say anything to Erika, it vanishes, right before my eyes.

“What's the matter, Senya?” asks Erika.

“I thought I saw something.” I mutter.

“I didn't sense anything.” says Erika, puzzled.

“It could just be my nerves.” The dizziness in my head had gradually become replaced with a light, but irritating pulsing ache that seemed to synchronize itself with my heartbeat. It wouldn't be strange to start hallucinating in this twisted world. We continue moving on, but I can't shake the sensation that I'm being watched.

It takes another two hours of walking before we reach the palace. My stomach begins grumbling, and my throat is parched. Even if we're in another world, that doesn't mean we don't need to eat or drink. The light and heat coming from the sky hasn't changed in intensity or direction – this world is in a perpetual state of day. The entire sky itself seems to be the source of the light. It is not blinding or glaring, but just bright enough to cast an uncomfortable, unnatural illumination over the entire city. The palace itself is no different from its surroundings, though only the top two floors are above ground, conjoined with a building I recognize as the Kyoto Metropolitan Police headquarters.

There are no convenient entrances into the palace, and I opt to go in from the police HQ. I have only been inside the police headquarters once, two years ago but from what I can remember of the layout, this place is identical. Nothing strange there, then. The lobby of the HQ leads seamlessly into a massive bedchamber on the top floor of the palace, the floor transitioning smoothly from marble to wood. Judging from the grandeur, this must be where the Emperor and his consort spend the night. The décor looks positively ancient, though. There are no signs of modern amenities anywhere; no ventilation ducts for air-conditioning, lamps, or electrical outlets. The Ankida replicated here must date back to an older time.

“Can you identify the time period, Yua?”

“Give me some time to analyse the visual data. Please proceed as usual while I do so.”

There seems to be nothing else of note on the top floor, and we begin heading downwards. It is not until we reach the grand hall of the palace that we find something interesting.

It seems that a great battle had taken place in the hall some time ago. Most of the furniture is shattered. Huge gouges scarred the walls and floor, as if some great beast had clawed at it. An entire wall had been scorched black by intense flame. There are even corpses. Unlike the statues I had seen outside, these are undeniably the remains of real humans. They have been mummified remarkably – no, inexplicably – well; the air here does not seem to promote decay, but I do not know of any environment that could keep a body looking as if it had died less than a week ago. I'm not sure if I should even call it mummification. There had to be about a dozen of them, though I cannot tell for sure; most of them had not died with their bodies intact. Preserved innards and limbs litter the damaged floor, laying where they had fell. Their steel armour has remained mostly rust-free, if severely twisted from the trauma of their violent deaths. The light grey floor is stained a deep black with their dried blood.

Even so, the savagery of the slaughter on display seems removed from ourselves, as if we had only been granted a peek through a window in time. Erika examines the bodies more closely, checking their wounds. “They were torn apart by brute force, not weapons.” she concludes. “I can't tell any more than that.” Neither can I, though the sight of the bodies had caused my heartrate to speed up, and with it my headache.

A long, bloody smear trails off from the grand hall towards one of the wings, as if a large slug of some sort had dragged itself away from the fight. The main doors of the hall are open, but it is dark outside – it must lead somewhere underground. We follow the trail of blood, ending up in a study lined with shelves full of books. The books on the shelves are useless moulds of the real thing, unopenable and unreadable, though the writing on the covers appear to be a form of old Shinari script. There is, however, a stack of books that stand out from the grey background. The pages are yellowed and the ink faded, but at least this are real books, not fascimiles. I flip through a few of it; they're written in a smooth cursive in the same script that is on the fake books.

“Can you translate this?” I ask Yua.

“No, I do not have the resources for that at the moment. Instead, I can tell you that based on the architecture and the bodies we found in the hall, this building appears to have been replicated more than two thousand years ago. It matches descriptions of Imperial Ankida during its heyday.”

“Thanks, Yua. Now, let's see what I can do with these...” I flip through all the books, while Erika moves about the room, looking bored. I should take some with me so that Yua can work on a translation once we are out of here. One of the books, a dull black affair, has dates written down at regular intervals. Though I cannot read the script, it seems that the format is similar to that of a scientific report, which I am familiar with. This is intriguing. I take it, and another of the books...

***

A. I take the one marked with the crest of an eye, surrounded by a ring of black fire.

B. I take the one marked with the crest of a sceptre with five prongs on each end.

C. I take the one marked with the crest of the old Shinar Empire.

***

“Senya, there are people approaching us.” warns Erika suddenly. I shove the books into my clothes. “How many?”

“I can hear... more than ten.”

There's only one exit out of the study, and if we get cornered in here it would be a dead end. I rush out into the corridors, but it is too late. A gunshot rings out as I enter the grand hall. A bullet buries itself into the floor near my feet, barely missing my toes.

There are about eight of them, all cloaked and hooded, standing at the staircase. Three of them are armed with rifles, while the others have various sharp implements in hand. There are also five misshapen monsters I recognize as familiars, similar to what Gallardo had built, though these looked quite a bit more menacing and well-made.

“Who are you, and how did you get here?” hisses one of the rifle-wielding men.

“My name is Kagami Kurou,” I reply without missing a beat, letting just the right amount of a tremor enter my voice to display my fear and uncertainty. “I have no idea how I got here. I was with my girl here at a shop, then suddenly we were in this weird place. We just wanted to buy something for tonight, so please don't shoot me.”

The hooded figures begin muttering amongst each other. After a while, the first man speaks again. “I think you have something of ours. Return it and we'll let you go.” He is probably referring to the rod that we damaged. I wonder if I should give it to him. I can sense Erika getting restless by my side, but I don't want her to take any rash actions.

“Hold on, what are you talking about?” I ask. Best to buy for time. If I can somehow find another hour for us, I will be able to use my powers again. That would balance out the odds somewhat. Judging from how the rod had reacted, as well as the familiars accompanying them, I can guess that these men were definitely related to the Apostles of Hiranyagarbha. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them had tendrils, just like I did, so it would be better to take a cautious stance for now until I can confirm their level of threat.

“There's something of ours that you must have taken when you came here. It would have looked like a rod. Give it to us and you are free to go.” repeats the man.

“Rod? Where did you put it?”

“Stop playing games! It was behind the mirror that you broke-”

He doesn't finish his sentence, as it is interrupted by a scream. One of the hooded figures is looking at the wing opposite where I was standing. I feel a sharp pain shoot through my head as I follow its gaze.

A white humanoid stands there, unmoving. How had it come into the palace? Is it the same one I thought I saw out in the streets? This close, I can make out a few more details. It had a face – a very human, life-like face – of a woman, its mouth frozen into a wide open scream, but the rest of its body is featureless and shapeless, as if it had been wrapped in a white, body-shaped sack. The creature would look comical if not for the terrifying expression on the face, the eyes bulging from their sockets. It's unlike anything I've seen before – though the cultists' familiars are abominations, the mere existence of this thing feels unnatural in a very different way.

A thought wanders into my head – a single thought that comes from within me, though I do not recognize it as my own.

It should not exist, should never exist, and in fact does not exist at all.

“What the fuck is that thing?” shouts one of them, a female judging from the timbre of her voice. It looks like they've never seen it before, either. Then, the thing moves. It takes a slow, jerking step forward, moving like a stop-motion monster from the days of old, hand-made special effects.

One of the hooded cultists opens fire with an automatic rifle. The hail of bullets passes through the white humanoid without stopping it one bit. The holes that they form are sealed up in moments, looking like they were never there in the first place. As they retreat from the newcomer, Erika and I forgotten in their panic, they send a familiar against it. It is a monstrous one, with leonine fangs and great, burly arms. The familiar grabs the sluggish humanoid and begins trying to tear it apart, the muscles in its arms bulging.

Not a moment later, the familiar shrieks. Its hands are now decaying, turning as white as the humanoid's body where contact has been made. The albescent rot spreads rapidly, reducing the familiar into a pile of pale goo in moments. Naturally, the cultists do not stay to fight the white thing. They flee up the stairs, stumbling over one another in their haste to get away, as their familiars bound after them.

***

A. We run up the stairs, past the sluggish creature, following the cultists. They are probably the culprits behind the recent disappearances. We don't need to confront them immediately, but if Erika can track them to their lair, we will assault it later. They should have a way out of here, so I can't lose sight of them now.

B. It would probably be safer to give the white humanoid a wide berth and flee from the main doors of the hall. I can provide some light from my cell phone as long as the batteries hold out, and the underground streets probably cross paths with the subways. We can get back to the surface from there and then try to find a way out.

C. We try to take down the strange thing. I can feel that it is dangerous, probably more so than the cultists, but it isn't very fast or responsive, and doesn't seem to be aggressive. If we can avoid touching it directly, we will probably be fine. We should at least test its limits; if it turns out to be unbeatable, then we will retreat.

 

[Baltika9]

treave, we're still on cooldown, correct?
This isn't the last time we'll see these things, I'm sure, so better start practising now.

As for the book, debating between Ean and Vajra. On one hand, Ean's melee powers, mindreading and fire. On the other, THUNDERSTRUCK! and OPEN GATE, and who knows what else.

Don't know what the last one's about, though.

 

[treave]

Yeah, you're still on cooldown.

edit: Votes for this update will not be counted as a block.

 

[m4davis]

AB
I think this thing has something to do with the spheres just a hunch

 

[TOME]

AB

Hopefully the eye provides some clues what the hell is going on.

 

[Kipeci]

CC

 

[Baltika9]

C- it's most likely connected to either Ean or Dio. Both are fine with me.
A- we came here to solve this case and now's our best chance. By the time we get away and track them to their HQ, we should be ready to fight. B is just stupid, Senya is already feeling the negative effects of the miasma, so we'd better GTFO as soon as we can, not slog our feet through Todd Howard's Subway Kingdom.

Tremendously tempted with 2C, though, and am open to 1B.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

1 - A
2 - A

 

[Azira]

Poor Erika blushes at the mention that Senya needs her at his side.

Ah well. Should not surprise me, treave did paint her well as a very naïve in some ways, dangerous young girl. And Senya's oh so dashing, he even wore an eye-patch at one time!

Anyways. Back to voting.
Picking what book to take with us is not easy. It seems quite probable that our choice will be important, in what we learn more about. Might even be something that can unlock some powers for Senya, even though I'm not convinced about that.
The B choice seems to be about the Masters, as the symbol represents Vajra. The C choice seems to tie in with the Immortals here on Earth that fought against the masters, most notably Ean. The A choice though.. I'm not too sure. Either Gieloth, or possibly Shulgi.
Whatever it is, it's tantalizing and unknown.
Tentatively voting
A
for the first vote.
As to the second vote, I find this choice a lot easier. We want to get out of here. We need to know how and where. It's possible that with the knowledge gained, we can go back to this place. But we're out of the ordinary into a place where we don't know the rules, and we're not feeling too well. We should seize the opportunity the panicked cultists gave us and give chase. Hopefully, the chase will last long enough for Senya's cooldown to expire.
A
C just seems wasteful. Why fight this thing right now? Why try and fight something that doesn't exist?
And I don't feel like spelunking right now, so that rules out B.

 

[Kipeci]

Because it's probable that we'll be running into more of these guys and so it's useful to test out what might work (or what definitely fails) against them in this relatively safe position before we're forced onto a more urgent later conflict?

 

[Azira]

Not very clever when we're tired and still don't know that we can exit this place anytime soon.
And we don't know for certain if these things are beings that exist outside this dimension or not.

Also, attacking it now might actually provoke it. Which I'd rather not do until Senya's out of cooldown again. I've also got a hunch that this thing might not actually be hostile to Senya..