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Last time:

>"Seriously?" You ask.

>"Yes, my king. I recommend picking up a weapon of some kind." She nods, and you scrounge around in your closet, finally finding your aluminum bat. It's dented in places, but it's served you well where you need it.

"Why the weapon?" You ask.

>"It is one of the rules, my king." She responds. "Rule #3: Any object carried by a Participant when the Hour starts will come with the carrier when the Hour starts." She says matter-of-factly.

>"Rules? There are rules to this shit?" You ask.

>"Yes, several. I only know a few, though." She says.

>"Then tell me! That's a little important!" You demand.

>"Yes, my king. Rule #2: Humans can only be permanently killed by--"

>The clock strikes twelve. The world shifts.

>Static envelopes all.

>FIN #3

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Slowly, the static clears from your eyes and you begin to see where you are. To your shock, you find yourself on a snowy sidewalk below a dim streetlight. You're next to a street that isn't far from your apartment, and it's only a few blocks away from your campus.

But what's really surprising you is that you aren't in your room anymore. You were standing there just a few seconds ago, but after the static you ended up here.

"So, this is where our starting location is, hmm?" The girl next to you, Puca, has dropped her glamour entirely. Where before she looked like a normal girl, her skin has grown much paler and she's covered in stitches. Her clothing is covered with patches, and there are spider-legs sticking out of her hair.

"Where-- why are we here?" You ask her.

"Oh, that's right. I was explaining the rules to you." She says. "Perfect, actually. That's one of the rules: 'Rule 6: Each Participant enters the hour in the same place each night: the location where they first entered the hour.'" She puts her hand on her chin for a minute, and thinks.

You blink for a few moments. It seems farfetched, but it's hard to argue after what just happened to you.

"So, my king. What would you have us do now?"

>Primary: What do you do say?
「」 Let's get some thing straight. What are the rest of the rules?
「」 We need to get ready. If we're attacked like last time, let's make sure we can defend ourselves.
「」 Let's go home. If we don't get involved, there's no reason for anyone to attack us.

>Secondary: What came with you? (Pick up to two.)
「」 A spray can, from when you were tagging a while ago.
「」 Your cell phone. Even if you can't call anyone, it's still useful.
「」 Your cap. You almost took it off when you were getting ready for bed.

>>32092016
>「」 Let's get some thing straight. What are the rest of the rules?
>「」 A spray can, from when you were tagging a while ago.

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"Before we do anything, you have to tell me the rest of these rules or whatever. If you want me to even try to work together with you, you have to tell me what you know." You stare into her eyes, feeling around in your pockets. It seems you've still got a spray can of yellow paint from when you were tagging a little while ago.

"Oh, of course my king. Then, does this mean you're not mad anymore?" She asks, and your stare grows cold.

"No. But I want to live to see tomorrow, so I don't have a choice." You say, and she winces. "But keep going. What are the rules?"

"Oh, well..." She pauses. "I don't know all of them. I know a few, but I don't know how we're going to find the rest..." She says.

"And?" You spur her on.

"Okay. Rule #3: Any object carried by a Participant when the Hour starts will come with the carrier when the Hour starts." You play with the aluminum bat in your hands. That explains that.

"Rule 6: Each Participant enters the hour in the same place each night: the location where they first entered the hour." You move your hand in a circle, gesturing to skip the stuff you already know.

"And the last rule I know is this one: Rule 7: The winner may recieve one wish from God." You nod, remembering when she told you about that.

"How do you know about these, anyway?" You ask.

"I'm not sure. It's just something that I knew. I imagine the same is true of other shadows as well." You frown a little. That doesn't explain much.

"So...?" She looks at you, asking what to do next.

>Primary: What now?
「」 Look for signs of trouble somewhere. If there's something wrong, you want to be able to avoid it.
「」 Go get supplies. The supermarket or something like it should work well.
「」 Go home. Don't get involved.

>No secondaries for now.

>>32092312
>「」 Look for signs of trouble somewhere. If there's something wrong, you want to be able to avoid it.

>>32092312
「」 Look for signs of trouble somewhere. If there's something wrong, you want to be able to avoid it.

>>32092016
「」 Look for signs of trouble somewhere. If there's something wrong, you want to be able to avoid it.

>writing

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"First things first," You say, "we need to make sure nothing bad's happening nearby. If there's something wrong, we hoof it. If there's nothing, we'll figure out what to do then." You say to her, and she nods.

"Yes, my king. What would you have me do?" She asks you.

"Uh, hm... Well, what do you want to do?" You don't actually know what she CAN do.

After thinking for a moment, she responds. "When we are in the Hour, I have access to my little ones. If we send them out to scout, we can cover a much larger area." She says.

"Alright, alright..." You ponder for a moment. "Sure. Do that." She concentrates for a moment, and before your eyes small dirty children start crawling out of the woodwork. From behind lampposts, beneath benches, out of bushes... everywhere they could have possibly been really.

"Yea, m'lady?" One of them asks.

"I need you to scout around and look for signs of trouble. If anything goes wrong, report back immediately." She says, and all the children nod. Then they scatter, leaving just as fast as they came.

"Then I believe we should start as well?" She asks you, and you start to walk down the sidewalk.

Only a few minutes pass before a dirty child runs up to Puca. She bends down to listen to him, nodding, then turns to you.

"It appears that the zombies are back again in front of your house. There is also a man with a flaming head sitting in front of your campus for some reason."

Both sound suspicious. Which lead do you pursue?

>Primary: Which plan should we go with?
「」 Zombies. Fight the enemy you know.
「」 The man with the flaming head. If he's near your campus, then maybe...?
「」 Try to avoid both. You don't want to get into a fight right now.

>Secondary: How are you feeling about Puca right now?
「」 Still mad at Puca. She's still the reason your friends are mad at you.
「」 You've forgiven Puca, partially. You at least need to cooperate with her.
「」 Completely fine with Puca. She didn't do it on purpose.

「」 The man with the flaming head. If he's near your campus, then maybe...?

「」 Still mad at Puca. She's still the reason your friends are mad at you.

>>32092640
「」 Zombies. Fight the enemy you know.
「」 You've forgiven Puca, partially. You at least need to cooperate with her.

>>32092640
>「」 Zombies. Fight the enemy you know.
>「」 You've forgiven Puca, partially. You at least need to cooperate with her.

>>32092640
「」 Zombies. Fight the enemy you know.
「」 Still mad at Puca. She's still the reason your friends are mad at you.

>>32092640
>「」 Try to avoid both. You don't want to get into a fight right now.
Why are we fighting, guys? We're kind of outmatched I think.

>「」 You've forgiven Puca, partially. You at least need to cooperate with her.

>>32092640
>「」 Try to avoid both. You don't want to get into a fight right now.
>「」 You've forgiven Puca, partially. You at least need to cooperate with her.
What happened to trying to avoid getting drawn to this? Also, we should stop acting like a kid.

>>32092640
>「」 Zombies. Fight the enemy you know.
> 「」 You've forgiven Puca, partially. You at least need to cooperate with her.

>>32092781
The fact that zombie girl killed those people in the apartment building. I'm trying to keep that bit of characterization up.

>>32092640
「」 The man with the flaming head. If he's near your campus, then maybe...?

「」 Completely fine with Puca. She didn't do it on purpose.

Cutting voting there. Going with:

>「」 Zombies. Fight the enemy you know.
> 「」 You've forgiven Puca, partially. You at least need to cooperate with her.

Writing now.

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"We're going after the zombies first, Puca. If they're going after my apartment building again, I can't just sit back and let them hurt people." You say to her. It's true. You really CAN'T let them hurt anyone.

Besides, if you can find that other Shadow in charge of them, maybe you can stop them really easily.

"Yes, my king." She gestures towards a bush, and a filthy child comes out. "Show us the way." She says to the child, and you both follow after him as he runs down the street.

When you stop running, you see a crowd of zombies. Just as advertised, they're crowding the street again, each shambling along with their small wooden mask. Their bodies are decrepit and emaciated, but they're strong in a group. You've seen enough zombie movies to know that.

This time though, they're less discriminate in their rampage. Instead of going into your apartment building like last time, they're breaking into every building they can find, shattering windows and breaking down doors.

"Are... are they looking for me?" You ask. Since they've only seen you here, maybe they think you live on this street. They're right, but that doesn't excuse the wanton rampage.

"It appears so, my king." Puca responds. "My little ones are standing by. What do you advise we do?" She asks.

"Well..."

>Primary: What's your plan?
「」 Send the kids to act as a distraction immediately while you try and find the unique one.
「」 See if you can find some way to fight all the zombies at once, like a fire truck or something.
「」 Use yourself as a distraction to draw out the main body, or that giant snake thing. If you do, the Shadow might be nearby.

>Secondary: Instead of choosing a Primary option, you can write-in your own plan.

>>32093043
「」 See if you can find some way to fight all the zombies at once, like a fire truck or something.

>>32093043
「」 See if you can find some way to fight all the zombies at once, like a fire truck or something.

>>32093043
「」 Send the kids to act as a distraction immediately while you try and find the unique one.

>>32093043
>「」 See if you can find some way to fight all the zombies at once, like a fire truck or something.

>>32093043
>「」 See if you can find some way to fight all the zombies at once, like a fire truck or something.

Writing now, going with

>「」 See if you can find some way to fight all the zombies at once, like a fire truck or something.

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"If we can find some way to fight all the zombies at once, then we can stop them from breaking into all the buildings. We've got to be fast though, or people are going to get killed." You say to Puca, who nods in agreement.

"Yes, that sounds like a good option. What could we use, though...?" She asks you. You think for a moment, trying to find some way to sweep through them. Something that can fight a lot of people at once, an entire crowd...

Wait, what about a fire truck? The sheer weight of the thing can probably run some of them over, and they don't seem agile enough to get up if you knock them over with the fire hose. Yeah, perfect! Now where was there a fire station...?

"Puca, if we can get a fire truck, we could blast them all down with the fire hose." You say to her. "I think there was a fire station a few blocks from here, too." She smiles, and nods a bit.

"You're taking charge of the situation quite quickly, aren't you my king?" She looks at you with a strange look in her eyes.

"I'm just working together with you to stop people from dying. I haven't fully forgiven you yet." She looks down sadly and starts poking her fingers together.

A child comes up to her, and she starts instructing one of them to find the fire station and break into it.

Do you really have time for that, though?

>Primary: What do you do?
「」 Let the child go. Don't put yourself in danger, they'll do it.
「」 Go yourself. The kid might take too long trying to find it, and you can't let people die here.

>No secondaries for now.

>>32093372
>「」 Let the child go. Don't put yourself in danger, they'll do it.

>>32093372
「」 Go yourself. The kid might take too long trying to find it, and you can't let people die here.

>>32093372
>「」 Go yourself. The kid might take too long trying to find it, and you can't let people die here.

>writing now, with

>「」 Go yourself. The kid might take too long trying to find it, and you can't let people die here.

"No, I need to go myself. I know where the station is, and that kid might take too long to find it. Try and distract them while I'm gone, draw them out of the buildings, okay?" You ask her, and she nods in confirmation.

"Yes, my king. Would you like an escort?" She asks you, gesturing to the child next to her.

"Yeah, just him though. I don't want to draw any attention to myself." You wave the kid over, and he grunts at you.

"Lead th' way, m'lord." He tells you. Sneaking out of the small alleyway you were hiding in, you manage to get down the street without any of the zombies seeing you. Unsurprisingly, they aren't very perceptive.

It takes a bit, but you remember where the fire station was. A little bit past the supermarket you usually go to, and after that you take a left. As you're running, it doesn't take much time at all to get there.

Once you do, you see a large building with bright red doors. The front of the building is covered in glass, but the rest of the structure is covered in cold metal. The lights are pretty bright out here, and you hope nobody is watching you right now.

You've only explored a little around here, but after a tagging session you're fairly certain there's a back door to the station somewhere around... there! A small door on the side of the building. If you can get in...

(1/2)

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You jiggle the doorknob, and curse at your bad luck. It's locked, and if it is the rest of the doors are probably locked too.

"M'lord, we can try to pick the lock." The little boy says.

You haven't done this, but maybe with his help...?

>Primary: What do you do?
「」 Pick the lock. Roll 1d100, best of three, +10 because of the boy's help. (If you vote for this, roll in your post to speed things up.)
「」 Try the main entrance. That might be unlocked, but if there's an alarm...
「」 Break in. Fuck subtlety, you need to get in NOW.

>Secondary: How are you feeling?
「」 Confident. If you can get the fire truck, you're pretty sure this'll work.
「」 Scared. You'll have to face a crowd of zombies soon, and you haven't seen that giant snake thing yet.
「」 Worried. Hopefully Puca's army of kids is holding out...

Rolled 72

>>32093875
「」 Pick the lock. Roll 1d100, best of three, +10 because of the boy's help. (If you vote for this, roll in your post to speed things up.)

「」 Worried. Hopefully Puca's army of kids is holding out...

>>32093875
「」 Pick the lock. Roll 1d100, best of three, +10 because of the boy's help. (If you vote for this, roll in your post to speed things up.)
「」 Confident. If you can get the fire truck, you're pretty sure this'll work.

Rolled 5

>>32094125
Shit, forgot to roll...

Rolled 26 + 10

>>32093875
>「」 Pick the lock. Roll 1d100, best of three, +10 because of the boy's help. (If you vote for this, roll in your post to speed things up.)
>「」 Worried. Hopefully Puca's army of kids is holding out...

>>32094016
Well hey, you succeeded!

>>32094148
But then you critfailed.

I think I can combine both.

>>32094275
I thought it was under 5 that causes us to fail, IE 4 and below?

>>32094352
5 and below, sorry. That's not reflected correctly on the character sheet, so I'll change it after the thread. As compensation for fucking that up, I'll let you keep the XP you would have lost otherwise.

>>32094393
No problem. Thanks for the clarification, ehks-wai-ehn.

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"Alright, what do I have to do?" You ask the little kid. He puts a small device in your hand and guides it to the lock.

"Y'eh pinch for a little bit, then stop pinching. If you hear a click, stop and turn. If y'eh don't, push a little then repeat." The boy guides your hand into the lock, and you pinch the hairpin-like device. Listening carefully, you stop pinching, but nothing happens. "Push it a bit." The boy says, and you do, pinching again. It takes a while of doing this, but not long after you hear a click and you finally turn the knob. The door opens up before you.

"Yes!" You say, taking the device out of the lock. You hand it to the child, and he nods.

"Not bad f'eh y'eh first time." He says.

>Larceny test succeeded. (10/50 XP towards next level.)

>Critical failure effect.

And you hear a crunching sound near you. Your head snaps to the right, and the kid beside you looks as well.

"Oh. Hello there." The man says, in a voice that you can vaguely recall. But that doesn't matter right now.

The man's head is a pumpkin, a carved one. And it's on fire. He wears a nice-looking Victorian jacket with feathers at the end of it. He's got a button-up shirt underneath, and a rotten turnip on his belt. He would look remarkably like a vampire, if not for the giant flaming pumpkin on his head.

"Nice to see you, boy. I was looking for you earlier, but you didn't show up. No matter, though. This is just the spot of luck that Ol' Jack needed." He starts towards you, and reaches towards his pockets. You see a flash of silver.

"M'lord, I'm not carrying a weapon right now. Only this lockpick." The boy next to you whispers to you as the pumpkin man advances on you.

>Primary: What do you do?
「」 Run into the fire station and try to hide from him.
「」 Run away entirely. Try to have the boy act as a distraction.
「」 Charge at him with the aluminum bat. He's clearly an enemy.

>No secondary.

>>32094538
「」 Run into the fire station and try to hide from him.

Guess who's getting the hose first?

>>32092835
could have, we still have to ask if normal people are even in danger.

>>32094568
seconded

>>32094538
>「」 Run into the fire station and try to hide from him.

>>32094538
>「」 Run into the fire station and try to hide from him.
Get the hose.

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Thinking quickly, you pull the boy along as you rush into the building, trying to evade the pumpkin-man. Running into the darkness, you find a place behind some spare tires and quietly crouch behind them, hopefully putting yourself in a blind spot from the door. Luckily the glass of the front of the station lets some light through, so you can still see decently well even in the night.

"Hide and seek? Alright, let's play." You hear a voice from the door you came through, and you see a small red light begin to dance on the walls. "Though you should know that I'm better at it than you." It must be the pumpkin-man from before.

"First, let's get some light in here." You hear fingers snap, and a cold glow begins to come from the ceiling. Looking up, you see something strange-- a wall of silver crosses just below the ceiling. Their light starts to grow more and more, and the room is growing brighter and brighter.

If you can get to the fire truck, you'll have a chance. If you can spray him with the fire hose, you can knock him down and drive away.

But first you need to get there.

>Stealth check. 1d100+5, best of three.

Rolled 85 + 5

>>32094889

Rolled 67

>>32094889
I ARE STEALTHY, YOU NOT SEE ME

Rolled 39

>>32094889

>>32094937
OOH, OOH, yell out "YOU'RE IT" when we get the hose on him!

>>32094937
>>32094938
>>32095003
Well alright, you succeeded. Writing now.

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Okay, you think to yourself. Not too hard. You've had to evade the police before, after you went on your vigilante runs. They surprised you, just like this thing, and you managed to get away from them. So you should be able to get to the truck without him seeing you.

It's like that velociraptor scene from Jurassic Park, you tell yourself. Except instead of a dinosaur, this thing has a flaming pumpkin for a head. And it's also intelligent, unlike the raptors.

Slowly and quietly, you inch towards the fire truck while he looks in the wrong parts of the room. There's a surprising amount of mechanical stuff here for a fire station. Things you use to repair cars, you recognize. Large tool cabinets make for excellent hiding places.

Finally, somehow, you make it to the truck before you realize that you have no idea how any of these things work. Levers and dials are everywhere, but the increasing brightness in the room lets you read some of the instructions. Okay, so if you pull here and turn this... Good! It seems like you're ready now.

Except there's no water for you to pump out of the hose. You forgot that fire hoses need a fire hydrant or something similar to pump the water FROM.

"Oh. Hello there." The light shines down on you, and the pumpkin-man, Jack as he called himself, turns towards you. If you had water, this is when you would be spraying it at him. Except you don't.

That's when the door on the other side of the garage bursts open.

(1/2)

ignore the staff and the zombies in the picture, it's the best I could find right now

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"Who's there?!" A man in a fireman's outfit points a pistol into the room, first at you, then at the pumpkin-man. His eyes widen as he looks up and sees the wall of silver crosses on the ceiling, still growing brighter.

"And now there are two? Oh, but haven't we been looking for you?" Jack reveals a small knife in his hand, and starts forward towards you. Was he talking about you there?

"Graaahhh!" The dirty kid leaps out from the shadows and tackles Jack, knocking him over briefly. You turn towards the man in the fireman's outfit.

>Primary: Now what?
「」 "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Scream at the man.
「」 Try and open the door by yourself so you can get out of here.
「」 Seize your chance and try attacking Jack.

>Secondary: Another human? How do you feel?
「」 Surprised. Puca said there was other people, but you hadn't seen any until now.
「」 Relief. Hopefully he's a normal person.
「」 Afraid. Dude's got a gun!

>>32095353
「」 "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Scream at the man.
Where's the water?! We need to put out his flame!
「」 Surprised. Puca said there was other people, but you hadn't seen any until now.

Rolled 86 + 5

>>32095353
>「」 "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Scream at the man.
DRIVE THAT TRUCK

>>32095353
Dread. Shit, normal people are getting involved too. How the hell are they gonna handle giant cow-snake zombies?

>>32095353
>「」 "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Scream at the man.
>「」 Surprised. Puca said there was other people, but you hadn't seen any until now.

>>32095353
>「」 "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Scream at the man.

>「」 Surprised. Puca said there was other people, but you hadn't seen any until now.

>>32095353
>「」 "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Scream at the man.
>「」 Surprised. Puca said there was other people, but you hadn't seen any until now.

This is going to be another participant, isn't it.

Writing now, going with:

>「」 "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Scream at the man.
>「」 Surprised. Puca said there was other people, but you hadn't seen any until now.

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Thinking quickly, you shout to the fireman. "He's after us! We need to get out of here!" Then, a shocking realization runs through your head. Puca said that Shadows have a human paired with them, like you are with her. If this is Jack's human partner, then you're--!

"Yeah, I know!" The man shouts back, leaping over the railing towards the truck. "Shoot him with the hose!" You look at the control panel for the truck in confusion. Didn't a fire truck need a fire hydrant to work?

"Goddamned kid!" He runs around the truck while Jack throws the small boy off of him, slashing him with the knife. The kid's chest splits wide open before he catches on fire.

"What the fuck!?" You scream while the fireman pushes you out of the way. Yanking the hose off of the truck and pulling a lever, water blasts out of the end of the hose as the man braces himself against the truck.

Jack isn't so lucky. He holds up a hand and another wall of silver crosses appears before him, blocking the water. The pressure is too much for him though, and he slides backwards.

You look at the man in wonder. Puca said there were other people in the war... but you hadn't expected him.

"Get in the car!" He turns off the hose and throws the keys to the fire truck at you, which you manage to catch. You run up to the door, before looking back for just a moment.

You see the child, bleeding against the wall. He looks like he's in pain.

>Invoke: 「Inner Distortion」: Righteousness. You can't let someone die through your inaction ever again.

You have to help him.

>Roll 1d100+10 to get the boy before Jack gets you. Best of three.

>>32095767
This is an Athletics check, BTW.

Rolled 18

>>32095767
Fuck.

Rolled 42 + 10

>>32095767
Here goes nothing.

Rolled 87 + 10

>>32095767
Fun times ahead

Rolled 91

>>32095767

>>32095807
>>32095820
>>32095823
Success. Writing now.

>>32095835
Damn son.

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Rolled 15 + 20

You cannot allow someone to die from your inaction ever again. You know this. The boy is dying, clearly, and he's even on fire, but... you still won't give up on him.

Grabbing the fire hose, you hand the keys back to the fireman. "Start it up and open the doors!" He looks at you in bewilderment for a second, then nods. He rushes towards the car door while you pull the lever on the fire hose again. Blasting it at Jack, you force him back against the wall again before decreasing the pressure to almost a trickle (or the firehose's equivalent, anyway) and point it at the boy, putting out the fire. He's gravely wounded, but now--!

Dropping the hose as fast as you can, you rush to the boy while Jack wipes himself dry. He starts towards you as you grab the boy, almost slipping from the blood pouring out of him. Adrenaline surging, you force yourself to look away from the wound as you run to the passenger side door, Jack hot on your heels.

Ripping open the door, you jump inside and scream, "DRIVE!" as the doors finally open. He slams the petal down and your head jerks backwards.

"No you don't!" Jack extends his hands forward and a wall of silver crosses appears in front of the truck.

(1/2)

>Rolling a 1d100+20 Drive check for the fireman to evade the wall

>>32095974
Balls.

Rolled 22 + 20

>>32095974

>>32096050
Just to clarify, the roll in my post was for him. He failed.

Still writing tho.

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"Shit!" The fireman spins the wheel to swerve out of the way, and barely manages to avoid slamming into the wall. But another wall appears in front of him, and this time he can't avoid it. You feel your head snap forward as the truck hits the wall, and the both of you scream. You're a little dazed, which is better than you can say for the kid in your hands. You've got to protect him-- you can't let him die.

"Now, get out of there." You hear a metallic crunching, and looking into the cracked windshield, you see the wall of silver crosses advancing towards you. He must have made another one in the back, and he's moving them to crush the truck!

"Damn it!" You open the door and fall out of the truck as the side window cracks. Getting out of the way as fast as you can, you manage to evade the shards of glass with the kid in your hands. You can only pray that the fireman got out in time.

You watch as the truck compresses, metal creaking and crumpling. Water sprays out of several cracks as smoke comes from the engine. Wait, it was still running, wasn't it!?

Thinking quickly, you begin to run. Before you can get too far though, another wall of silver crosses comes down in front of you, blocking your path. More come down beside it, making an impenetrable wall of crosses.

"Oh no, we can't have that." You hear a final creak before the truck crunches into a ball, a grotesque distortion of itself. Luckily, the fire in the engine was stopped by the huge leaks of water, spraying from the truck in all directions.

(1/2)

Looking to your right, you see the fireman breathing heavily as he points the gun at Jack. With a few ear-shattering pops, he fires it several times at Jack.

Jack does nothing to stop it. You see nothing happen to him. Did the fireman miss?

"Sigh... how troublesome. Though I suppose my luck held out, didn't it?" Jack taunts the both of you, smiling crudely.

>Primary: Now what!?
「」 Attack Jack with your bat. If it's come to this--!
「」 Try to distract him with talk. Psych him out or something, this can't be the end!
「」 The spray can-- maybe you can do something with the spray-can!

>Secondary: Do what with the kid?
「」 Put him down. You've got to be mobile.
「」 Keep holding onto him. You can't let him die, damn it!

>>32096194
>「」 The spray can-- maybe you can do something with the spray-can!
Finally!

>「」 Keep holding onto him. You can't let him die, damn it!
Duh.

>>32096194
「」 The spray can-- maybe you can do something with the spray-can!
Throw it in his mouth! It'll explode!
「」 Keep holding onto him. You can't let him die, damn it!

>>32096194
>「」 The spray can-- maybe you can do something with the spray-can!
>「」 Keep holding onto him. You can't let him die, damn it!

Not yet.

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>「」 The spray can-- maybe you can do something with the spray-can!
>「」 Keep holding onto him. You can't let him die, damn it!

It's your last ditch effort. Your escape route's gone, Jack's brandishing his knife at you and you can't let this kid die. You've only got one idea, and it's loose at best.

You grab the spray can out of your pocket, carrying the kid with the other hand. You're not normally this strong, so it must be the adrenaline letting you do this.

You point the can towards him.

"Is that the best you've got?" Jack asks mockingly.

"Yeah." You throw it at him. He smiles. You hide behind the squashed truck to avoid the shards.

The can explodes. The heat from Jack's head set it off, causing a giant fireball to engulf his head. The shrapnel from the can should shred him to bits. At the very least, it should do some damage to him, Shadow or not.

Which is why you feel your stomach dropping out of you in fear as the dust clears. Jacks smiles at you. Unharmed.

He flips a coin, catching it in his hand. A coin with a cross etched into it.

"Well, if that's the best you've got, then we should get this over with. Please, hold out for a while longer. If you live long enough with all your limbs removed, we can get you to my master. Try your best to live, okay?" He flips the coin once again, catching it gracefully.

"Kid, I'm going to fire at him again. While I do, try and throw this at him--" The fireman comes over to you behind the crushed truck, clutching a deep wound on his arm. He hands a fire ax to you. "and try to knock the coin out of his hands. While he's got that, he's invincible. You can't hurt him."

"You couldn't have told me that earlier!?" You hiss at him.

"No time! Just trust me!" The man says, going to the other side of the truck.

>Primary:
「」 Follow his plan. Throw the ax at him while the fireman shoots at him.
「」 Use your own plan -- write-in.
「」 Try to talk to Jack and distract him.

>No secondary.

>>32096480
>「」 Follow his plan. Throw the ax at him while the fireman shoots at him.

At this point it's all we have.

>>32096480
「」 Follow his plan. Throw the ax at him while the fireman shoots at him.

Hey Jack?
Jump over this.

>>32096480
>「」 Follow his plan. Throw the ax at him while the fireman shoots at him.

Have we told Puca everything's FUBAR? We can communicate by thinking at her, right? She could send more grimy distractions or something.

Writing now, with:
>「」 Follow his plan. Throw the ax at him while the fireman shoots at him.

>>32096554
>Have we told Puca everything's FUBAR? We can communicate by thinking at her, right? She could send more grimy distractions or something.
Funny you mention that.

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>「」 Follow his plan. Throw the ax at him while the fireman shoots at him.

Well, you don't have much else, you think to yourself. You hope you can throw it hard enough with one arm.

The fireman pops out from behind the truck, and raises his pistol. Jack chuckles.

"Do we have a new plan now?" The fireman fires his pistol. One, two, three, click. Smoke rises from the barrel, and you see bullets hitting the ground. Not the casings. The bullets themselves smash against Jack's pumpkin skull and fly off, completely deflected.

"Guns won't do much, I'm afraid. It was a decent try. Now please stop--" Jack flips the coin in amusement.

"Jump over this, Jack." You whip the ax at Jack while the coin is in the air. The coin drops-- but not fast enough. The ax head lands in Jack's chest, and he screams in pain, clutching the coin in his hand. The impact knocks him backwards and he stumbles, falling to one knee.

"Nice job!" The fireman shouts.

Then you hear another click, and the shutting of a door. Your attention snaps to somewhere you didn't expect-- the crushed truck.

"My king, I apologize for my lateness." Puca is bleeding in several places, and looks like she's been in a really bad fight. Purple and blue bruises color her pale skin, and several of the spider legs in her hair are snapped off.

"You... you're the bitch from earlier today, aren't you!?" Jack grimaces, wounded badly.

"My king, shut your eyes. Quickly." She walks in front of Jack, and you can sense an... aura around her.

>Secondary: Do you shut your eyes? (Pick up to two.)
「」 Shut your eyes.
「」 Do not shut your eyes.
「」 Tell the fireman to shut his eyes.

>>32096808
>「」 Do not shut your eyes.
>「」 Tell the fireman to shut his eyes.

>>32096808
>「」 Do not shut your eyes.
Whatever it is can't be that bad.

Right?

> Shut your eyes

>>32096808
「」 Do not shut your eyes.
「」 Tell the fireman to shut his eyes.

Rolled 30 + 20

>>32096808
>「」 Do not shut your eyes.
>「」 Tell the fireman to shut his eyes.
DO NOT RUN FROM THE TRUTH

>>32096808
「」 Shut your eyes.
「」 Tell the fireman to shut his eyes.

Writing:
>「」 Do not shut your eyes.
>「」 Tell the fireman to shut his eyes.

you probably should have closed them

>>32096966
I imagine the MC is sick of the secrets and mystery to do with the Hour. Who cares if we need to make a SAN check?

>>32097017
same here

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>「」 Do not shut your eyes.
>「」 Tell the fireman to shut his eyes.

"Hey, close your eyes." You say to the fireman. Nodding, he quickly closes them, as hard as he can. You however, do not close your eyes. You want to see whatever happens. It's the truth, after all. You can't run from the truth.

And that may be true. However. One other thing is true:

The truth hurts.

Puca's stitches fall apart, the thread unwinding. Her clothes fall to tatters, and her skin falls with it. An endless, writhing mass of bugs splits apart like jello underneath, and a black fog spews forth. The fog envelops everything around you, clouding your senses.

"What the--!?" You hear Jack say. You can't see anything. It's complete darkness.

Then, a light shines down. You're in an alleyway. That alleyway.

You look up, and see that girl. That girl, pinned to the wall with hundreds of nails, bleeding profusely.

Another body appears. Marc, his body pierced through with hundreds of nails. His eye sockets bleed, each eye pierced with two nails each. His skull is crushed, and his limp body hangs still, blood gushing from everywhere.

Another body appears. Jess, your best friend. Crucified with nails. Your mother appears. Your father. Your idol. Everyone you know, dead and pierced. Hundreds of victims, lined up like an art display. At the top... the girl with the blue flower in her eye, as dead as the rest.

"Shit!" You try to reach forward, but find yourself paralyzed.

They're all dead. And you can't do anything to stop it.

Something inside your mind ticks.

>-20 to all rolls for the next three rolls made within the Hour. Shell shock and fear have entered your very soul. This will scar you for a while.

(1/2)

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"AAAAAAHHHHH!" You hear a deadly scream, and blink a few times. "YOU WON'T CATCH ME, DAMN IT! I'M NOT DYING YET!" That voice... that's Jack's voice, isn't it?

You blink a few more times, and the fog disappears. Jack is crawling away on the ground, his wound bleeding horribly. With all his effort, he gets up and starts running.

"W-What happened!?" The fireman's opened his eyes.

Puca stands there where she stood before, adjusting her clothes. She still looks like she's had the snot beaten out of her... but at least she's back to normal. What did she just do? And why did you see...

You feel vomit inching into your throat. You can't remember it-- if you do, you'll go insane. You have to lock it out of your mind.

"My king... I told you to close your eyes. Why didn't you?" She asks.

"I--" You have to stop vomit from coming up your throat when you talk. "I was tired of the secrecy. I wanted to see the truth."

"I'm sorry you had to see that. That was not the truth." She says.

"Then what was it?" You ask.

"That was your worst fear, reflected one-hundredfold. I dislike using it, but that ability can come in handy..." She says, regretfully looking down on you as you hold your knees on the ground in fear.

"Oh, the child..." She reaches down and grabs the kid from your back. That's right, the kid!

"I will see what I can do for him." She says. "For now, we need to head back."

"No." The fireman speaks up. "We need to go after Jack. This is the first time I've wounded him." He says, and your eyes widen.

"You've fought him before?" You ask.

"Yeah." He replies. You hear a roar-- a lion's roar, as a huge black lion leaps to his side. Its eyes are red, and its fur is grey. It's almost two times the size of a normal lion. You could ride it like a horse.

"And this is our best chance to get after him."

>FIN #4

>>32097201
worth it.

Phew, okay, that should wrap things up. I had a good time seeing how you guys got out of Jack's grasp (your little suggestions mean more than you know!) I'll be honest: I didn't initially intend for us to fight Jack, but after the critfail I couldn't resist.

As always, my twitter is @GMMindQuest, and I plan to run on Wednesday from 9-10PM EST (hopefully more towards the 9 side this time).

One last thing we need to do: Adding a new personality trait to Lou Haring here. At this point, I think we've earned it. At some point I'm going to make those matter mechanically, but right now I'm loving how some of you guys are using it as a roleplaying guide.

You can either take my suggestions or give a new one if you'd like.

>Add one:
「」Skeptical
「」Quick-thinker
「」Dependable

>>32097303
>「」Dependable

Thanks for running.

It's awesome how fast you type out updates! I'm really digging your quest, I'll be warmly waiting for the next thread.

>>32097303
>「」Dependable
We say we do something, we fucking do it. Also seems to mesh well with the other character traits.

>>32097336
Thanks. I was really worried about how fast I was typing, and how long I was making you guys wait between updates. Half of the speed was on you guys today: you were mostly unanimous. There weren't really any arguments about what to do either. When one person posted something, I started writing and to my surprise, the first voter often ended up leading the pack.

I just hope the -20 modifier doesn't end up screwing you guys over. And I also hope you've noticed the theme with the Shadows so far.

Questions and feedback are always appreciated, btw!

Man I wish I was here for the first thread. I would've wanted our character to be like some cross between Paranoia Agent and Jet Grind Radio and a little unhinged.

>>32097405
>I just hope the -20 modifier doesn't end up screwing you guys over.
It'll be fun.

>>32097405
>「」Dependable
Thanks for running.

>>32097405
Do you follow other quests?

>>32097463
I follow Overhuman intermittently. If you go back and look at the first thread, I'm in there. I only follow it when I see it though-- I'm not a dedicated fan. That's how I am with most quests actually. I just post in them when I see them.

I should post in more quests with my trip on.