>>42738719
>>Look around for something to grab and slow you down. Maybe you’ll get lucky, and you’ll be able to climb down safely.

>>42738719
>>Try to use your meagre Quincy abilities to slow your fall. You might blow yourself up considering the density of the Reishi here, but it’s better than nothing.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>42738757
>>42738804
coinflip time
1=grabby
2=quincy
Writing.

>>42738719
>Try to use your meagre Quincy abilities to slow your fall. You might blow yourself up considering the density of the Reishi here, but it’s better than nothing.

>>42738719
You close your eyes, allowing your spiritual senses to leak out. Your lungs immediately begin to tighten as the dense Reishi gathers around your body, but at this point, you could care less; there’s a good chance you’re about to die in a few seconds anyway, so you may as well try something crazy.

After all, what’s the point in having powers if they’re not going to help you out in life-threatening situations?

You desperately cling onto this thought as you gather more and more Reishi around your body, shaping it into a protective cocoon. The Reishi glows and solidifies, as you speed downwards. You wrap the Reishi tighter and tighter to your body, and you think you can hear the soft cracking of your bones. Gritting your teeth, all you can do is hope that this is enough to keep yourself from becoming a splatter on the ground…

CRASH
***
>Roll1d100 for injuries.

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>42739160

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>42739160

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>42739160

>>42739186
Lucky.
Writing.

>>42739160
You snap your eyes shut, not willing to watch what happens. Besides, you don’t want to kill your eyesight, too.

You tense up, the sound of the impact reverberating in your ears. You feel the impact too, the earth crashing and cratering against the gathered Reishi, moments before it cracks and then shatters, the remaining force slamming into your body. You gasp, and you taste dirt before closing your mouth again.

…You stopped moving. You think, anyway. You manage to push yourself up from the ground, flipping onto your back. You wince at the pain in your abdomen- you aren’t sure, but you think you cracked a rib or something. That would explain your difficulty breathing. Besides that, you’re bruised pretty much everywhere, and you’ve lost your glasses.

But you’re alive. You’re alive, and that’s what matters, right?

“Hah…” You feel a sense of relief run through your body. “Hahahahahah….” You laugh and laugh, even as your torso protests with every gasp of air. “Hahahaha!!!” You laugh and laugh because you’re ALIVE, and even if you feel like crap, none of that matters because you’re ALIVE despite all of the odds!

You lay there for a while, laughing and crying as the adrenaline makes its way out of your system and the pain becomes far more prominent.

Eventually, you decide that you can’t just sit there forever, and despite the burning pain in your torso, you take a look around, your eyes having adjusted to the darkness. Everything’s a little blurry, but you can make out a few details.

(1/2)

>>42739858

You’re sitting in what looks like a massive scrap heap. Piles of metal are draped around the room, so rusted and deformed that you can’t tell what they were supposed to be, and it looks like even the walls and floors are slowly giving way to a sea of red and orange. Above you, there appears to be a massive gash in the steel ceiling. That must have been where you fell from.

There look to be a couple doors around you. The first one, right in front, is large and would have looked imposing in its prime, but is now almost entirely rusted over. It’s closed, but you could probably punch your way through with something.

To your left are a pair of open doors that lead deeper inside of the metal labyrinth. From what you can tell, it’s just a hallway.

The right is almost entirely blocked by rusty debris. You can’t make anything out past the door way, and it’ll take you a while to get past all of the stuff.

Where to go?

>Take the left, down the hallway.
>Carve your way through the middle door.
>Haul the stuff out of the way and head through the right.

>>42739866
>Carve your way through the middle door.

>>42739866
>>Carve your way through the middle door.

Rolled 30 (1d100)

>>42739866
>Carve your way through the middle door.

>>42739866
>Carve your way through the middle door.

>>42739880
>>42739884
>>42739909
>>42739947
Writin.

>>42739866
You decide on going through the middle door. It’s the biggest one, so logically, it’s the most important, right?

You glance around the room, looking for something that isn’t overly rusted. Thankfully, luck shines on you and you find a long steel rod that isn’t overly red-orange and is sturdy enough not to crumble to dust when you swing it at the door.

A short while, you managed to punch open a hole, which you pry open wide enough for you to fit through. Brandishing your makeshift weapon, you step through.

The next room looks just as run-down as the one before, but in a different way. There’s not quite as much rust, but the air is just as stagnant and it smells… different. Definitely rank. You wrinkle and cover your nose in disgust.

Looking around, you think you can tell why it smells so bad- giant pools of glowing, green goo covers the floor, originating from giant glass tubes that are littered along the walls, most of them cracked or shattered open.

You’re not sure what the stuff is, but judging by the smell, you don’t want to be anywhere near it. Carefully stepping away from the pools of green, you spy some stairs. The stairs are wrapped in a spiral pattern around a central pole, leading both up and down. Which way do you go?

>Upwards.
>Downwards.

>>42740183
>Upwards.
gotta reach the heavens

>>42740183
>Downwards.
We must go down before we can go up

>>42740183
>>Downwards.

>>42740183
>Downwards.
Deeper into the abyss.

>>42740238
>>42740276
Going down. Writing.

>>42740183
You’d be lying if you said you weren’t tempted to go up. After all, the head’s where the pilot goes, right? At least, that’s how you’d always envisioned it. On the other hand, there’s probably some very interesting stuff you could find downstairs also. Besides, you could always check out the top later.

Down it is, then.
***
You grunt in pain, tenderly touching your ribs when you finally reach the last step down. Looking about, you quickly realize it’s a massive... what’s the word? That big place where they store all those planes and everything? A hangar? Yeah, that’s it. It’s a massive hangar.

Or it would have been back when this place was functional, at least. Large vehicles of every shape and size are haphazardly strewn about the area, some of them recognizable but clearly not functional, while others are little better than the large piles of scrap you had seen earlier. You can see a few old tanks, a couple planes, even a couple motorcycles, of all things. Armored cars, trucks, hovercraft- if you could think about it, it was probably somewhere around here.

The only common thread you could find amongst the wreckage was that all of the vehicles seemed to have been optimized for warfare; most of the remains had some kind of weapon somewhere, for example, and all of them were either heavily armored, or were designed to be very fast.

Sadly, there were no mechs amongst the wreckage from what you could tell. You look around for an exit. Unfortunately, the huge door, where all of the vehicles likely would have emerged from is closed, but you still have a few options.

>Head back up the stairs.
>There’s a door to the back; an old sign, so faded that it may as well have been blank, hangs above it.
>There’s a larger double-door close by. It looks even more well-used than the rest of the place.

>>42740594
>>There’s a door to the back; an old sign, so faded that it may as well have been blank, hangs above it.

>>42740594
>There’s a door to the back; an old sign, so faded that it may as well have been blank, hangs above it.

>>42740594
>There’s a larger double-door close by. It looks even more well-used than the rest of the place.

>>42740617
>>42740623
Writing.

>>42740594
You decide to take the door with the sign over it. If someone bothered to mark it with a sign, it probably has something important inside.

The first things you notice after walking inside are the computers, all of them built into large rows with metal seats built in front of the monitors. There are maybe thirty or so of the monitors; none of them appear to be working. Is this a communications deck of some sort? Hmm. This place could bear some further investigation if you ever manage to get the power running.

In the meantime though, you don’t seem to have any other choice but to keep looking for a way out. Glancing about, you see another flight of stairs at the other end of the room, heading back up. You can’t smell anything wafting down, so it probably doesn’t lead you back to where you started.

>Take the stairs.
>Try the other door back in the hangar.
>Go back upstairs the way you came.

>>42740986
>Take the stairs.

>>42741107
Writing.

>>42740986
>>Take the stairs.

>>42740986
You climb your way up the stairs. You note that the place does actually have some regard for the inhabitants’ well-being- there are handrails pretty much everywhere, for example. You’re quite thankful for the handrails, you think as you pull yourself up another step. Your cracked rib is really starting to inconvenience you now- you hope you’ll find a way out soon.

After limping past the last few steps, you come across a long hallway, dotted with several steel doors, all of them rusted closed. At the very end, you come across a pair of steel double doors. Strangely enough, they don’t have a speck of rust on either of them. The doors don’t open up automatically, but there is a strange-looking keyhole to the side of them, in the shape of a drilled-in hole.

It seems like this part of the giant mecha was meant for someone like you- a Spiral. Something lights up inside of you, and you excitedly take out your Core Drill. You gently ease it inside of the keyhole, and turn it clockwise.

You shudder as sparks of green energy leap out from your fingers, down through your Core Drill, and into the metal walls. The metal doors open with the sound of scraping metal. You walk in, a small smile on your face as you excitedly think about what may be hiding inside.

>Roll 1d100.

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>42741475

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>42741475

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>42741475

>>42741509
Writing.

>>42741475
You stop in your tracks, a cold shiver running down your spine. You flick your eyes about, trying to see what the hell managed to spook you- and then you see it. Or rather, you smell it- that same disgusting stench you had sensed earlier.

Green goo slowly seeps in through the walls, gathering in to small clumps. You watch in muted horror as they begin forming themselves into bipedal shapes- except, they’re all wrong. The green slime makes things that are not-quite-human- an extra arm here, an eye where there shouldn’t be one, massive cleavers for arms and legs and tentacles covered in sharp teeth and mouths and tongues that lash out and scream at every opportunity. Placed on random parts of each of their bodies are giant masks that seem to have been fused to their muscle and tendons.

You tear yourself away from them for long enough to dive out of the way from one of the smaller beasts. Thankful that you didn’t land on your more injured side, you scramble back up to your feet. Your senses tell you that these things aren’t Hollows at least not entirely, but if that’s the case, what are th-

You cut yourself off, sidestepping another leap for your throat. Whatever these things are Hollows or not, they’re dangerous. Your legs carry you away, your instincts kicking in and telling you to RUN.

>Roll 1d100. Rolls will take a penalty due to injuries.

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>42741782

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>42741782
Maybe u can do well again?

>>42741862
*I
Also, shit

Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>42741782

>>42741862
Writing.

>>42741782

>Rolled: 68- 10 (Moderate Injuries) = 58 vs. DC60= Bare Failure!

You try to keep your eyes on the damn monsters, and you manage to dodge the bigger ones; a particularly large one with what looked like an axe for a head attempted to cleave you in half, but you easily sidestepped its clumsy strike, and it embedded itself into the ground. Inwardly, you sigh in relief, and you stop for a second, trying to catch a breather.

Unfortunately, you forgot about the smaller ones.

You gasp in pain as the shortest one- only a few inches shorter than you- manages to score a gash across your formerly-uninjured side. You clench your teeth as you dive back down to the ground, brandishing your pole. You quickly smash it in the side, sending it back to the other side of the room. To be honest, the cut’s not as bad as it could have been; it’s fairly shallow, and you could probably patch it up with some gauze if you find any later. Still, you have to be more careful.

The sound of screeching metal echoes out- looks like Axehead got himself out. Time to get back to running. Dashing forward, you see that there’s yet another flight of stairs. Better choose quickly…

>Up.
>Down.

>>42742256
>>Down.

>>42742256
>Down.
Will require less effort.

>>42742256
>Down.

>>42742256
>Down.

>>42742281
>>42742296
>>42742325
>>42742331
Writing.

>>42742424
Down. Less effort that way.

Decision made, you hobble down the stairs as fast as you can, chasing away blobs of green goop with your steel rod when any of the damn things try to sneak up on you again. You don’t bother trying to tend to your injuries- you don’t have the time anymore.

You leap past the last few steps, landing with a pained grunt. Pulling yourself back up with your steel rod, you run past the open door, pushing it closed behind you with a burst of adrenaline. It may not stop them forever, but at the very least, you hoped you’d bought yourself some time.

The hallway you ended up in splits into two- thankfully, there are signs on the wall, and they’re actually visible. Better yet, they’re made entirely from pictures, so you’re perfectly able to understand them!

The way to the left apparently leads to some kind of exit, if the picture of a man running towards what looks like a doorway is any kind of indication. Unfortunately, you’re pretty sure you’re underground at this point, and it’s possible that whatever exit that may have existed is covered in dirt.

The way to the right has a picture of a lightning bolt- the generator, maybe? Would the thing still work? Even if it did, how would you turn it on? You growl in frustration. Neither of your options seem too great…

You freeze as you hear a loud thump from behind you. Your eyes widen when you look back, seeing a massive dent punched into the door. It doesn’t look like you have much time left.

>Left.
>Right.

>>42742706
>>Right.

>>42742706
>Right.
Everyone knows slime monsters fear electricity. More seriously, though, a generator room for a giant robot is likely to be pretty reinforced, if we can get in there and lock the door behind us they shouldn't be able to get in.

>>42742706
>Right.

>>42742706
>Right.

>>42742727
>>42742743
>>42742763
>>42742837
Writing.

>>42742706
You decide on the generator- or rather, what you THINK is the generator, anyway. You run off to the right, taking a second to check that the goo-monsters haven’t broken through yet. Your eyebrows rise in alarm as you notice several dents that hadn’t been there before. How did they manage to do that without you noticing?

THUD

Another dent appears, far larger than any of the other ones. Welp, more running, less questioning, you think, hobbling forward with as much spring in your step as you can manage. You flinch when a massive steel door comes flying into the pair of signs you had been standing before moments earlier. You can only hope that you’d taken the right way, now.

At the very end of the hallway, you find a massive steel door, circular in shape. In the very middle is another drill-shaped keyhole, and the door itself is similarly unblemished. Meanwhile, shrill, inhuman screams sound out from behind you and another of the smaller beasts come leaping through the air at your head. You bat it down, wincing as your abdominal muscles are stressed. Blood oozes out from your earlier wound and the ache from your cracked rib is worse than ever.

You ignore the pain, smashing the little gremlin on the ground into paste, the fake mass of muscle and bone meal screeching all the while. Taking a risk, you turn back to the door, and with all the emergency you can muster, push your Core Drill inside.

The scenario from earlier plays out a second time, sparks of green rushing from your fingertips into the doorway, tracing lines of energy into the metal. The door sort of spins open, small slabs of steel retreating into the doorway a hiss. You run inside, and for a dread-filled moment, you’re afraid that the door wouldn’t close behind you-

Hisss-THUD!

(1/?)

>>42743997

You breathe out in relief when the slabs of metal slide back into place, locking the monsters outside. Better yet, the door seems to be better reinforced than anywhere else you’d seen, as not even a small dent appears when one of the damn things tried bashing their way through.

Still, there’s no sense in getting complacent. You stand several feet away from the door, tightly holding onto your rusted stick of steel. You cautiously listen to the monsters’ screeching continues as they try to batter down the door. You dare not move a muscle. Still, despite the thuds and screeches, they don’t seem to be getting in here any time soon…

You allow yourself to relax a little after waiting another minute. Phew. That’s one disaster put off for a later date- now all you need to do is figure out how to get out of here, preferably with your body intact and riding a giant mecha. Though at this point, you might be okay with a mecha that’s not so giant, as long as you weren’t eaten by goo-monsters.

You shudder. What were those things? They didn’t quite feel like Hollows to your spiritual senses, and they seemed perfectly susceptible to non-spiritual weaponry. At the same time though, they acted and fought like Hollows, disregarding the shapeshifting-goo part: all instinct, little strategy. Heck, they were almost tumbling over each other just to get at you.

You shake your head. You can think about this stuff later. For now, you should be looking for a way out. You take your first careful look at your surroundings.

(2/3)

>>42744019

Like much of the place, it’s incredibly dusty and everything looks like they haven’t been touched in years. What immediately catches your attention is the small podium in the very middle of the room. Two large levers are attached to its base, and on its surface is yet another drill-shaped hole. Unlike the others, though, this one looks many times larger than your Core Drill.

Glancing about, you spot several large computer monitors around you. On the floor stands what you assume are their hard drives or equivalent; both hard drives and monitors are attached to the walls. Nothing seems to be on. You see a small book, unopened, lying next to one of the monitors. It’s a dark red, and it doesn’t have a title.

An innocuous supply closet lies in the corner. It’s very easily missed, and just as dusty as everything else.

Finally, in the very back, behind a wall of glass, are pairs of massive drills. Every pairs’ drill bits are facing each other, as if each was trying to break through the other. Cables and wires are attached to every pair.

What should you do?
>Investigate the massive drills first.
>Look at the podium.
>Leaf through the book.
>See what’s in the supply closet.

>>42744043
>Investigate the massive drills first.

>>42744043
>>See what’s in the supply closet.

>>42744043
>Book

Reading!
>Supply closet
Borrowing!

>>42744043
>Leaf through the book.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>42744103
>>42744105
>>42744126
Toss-up between book and supply closet.
coin-flip time

>>42744245
Writing for Supply Closet first.

>>42744043
>Leaf through the book.

>>42744043
You decide to check the supply closet first. Before this place was completely wrecked by whatever happened to it, someone had to have kept it in good shape, right? They must have left something in there.

A cloud of dust explodes in your face as you open up the doors. You cough, wincing as your injuries start acting up again. Waving away the dust, you look through the small bits of supplies your predecessors had decided to bequeath to you.

It’s not much. You see a roll of gauze, made from some soft, absorbent material- the only thing you’re certain of is that it’s not what gauze is usually made of, and that it apparently lasts forever. Hoping that none of the stuff is infected, you wrap the gauze around your torso, sighing in relief as soon as the bandage touches your wounds. Soothing. You stuff the rest of the roll in a pocket.

You find some large vial of a clear liquid. It’s labeled, but it’s in a language that you can’t read. You think it’s an ancient form of German, though. You take out a couple more vials of liquid, each of them labeled in that same language. You couldn’t begin to guess what any of this stuff did. You also see a small sponge, likely used to wipe this stuff on something.

Last, you find what looks like yet another drill. It’s large enough to fit into the podium in the center. It’s rusted over entirely, and there’s a small hole in the very center that looks like it could fit your Core Drill.

There’s nothing else of note in the closet; it’s mostly dusty packages of dust that might have been food once upon a time. You stand back up. What next?

>Investigate the massive drills.
>Look at the podium.
>Leaf through the book.

>>42744800
Book.

Going to duck out for dinner for a short while.

>>42744800
>Leaf through the book.

>>42744800
>Leaf through the book
Tell me your secrets, ancient tome of knowledge...

>>42744800
>Leaf through the book.

>>42744800
>>Leaf through the book.
Something seems off. I don't know what, but my hackles are up.

>>42744934
Should have learned more German.

Back.
>>42744880
>>42744883
>>42744887
>>42744934
And Writing.

>>42744800
You pick up the book, blowing the dust off of the cover. Like almost everything else in the room, it’s dusty, but intact. You open it up.

All of the words appear to be written in the same language, and even the same handwriting, as the bottle labels. You scrunch your brow in frustration. On the one hand, at least there are pretty pictures so that you can parse out at least some of the information. On the other, it’s still incredibly frustrating.

Strangely enough, you almost feel like you can recognize the handwriting from somewhere else, but that’s not possible. You’d never seen the language before in your life, after all. At any rate, you manage to figure out that the vial of clear liquid is some kind of rust remover, and the vial of red liquid is a lubricant oil of some sort, to be applied to the drill-bits of the massive drills in the back to keep them spinning correctly. The other liquids all have their uses, but you don’t manage to catch what some fo those uses are.

The key to the whole rig is the podium and the drill you’d found in the supply closet. The massive drills in the back seem to keep the mech running after starting it up, but you could probably run the whole thing on spiral power alone if you had enough.

The book also seems to talk about the actual functions of various places of the mecha, and even gives you a full map of the place! Apparently, it’s supposed to look like some sort of massive dragon. You grin in anticipation at that last revelation; you bet this is gonna look awesome when you finally manage to get this whole thing started up.

You apply the rust remover to the drill you had found in the supply closet and your steel rod, just in case the goo-monsters manage to get through the door. You don’t want to be without your weapon.

>Get to lubricating those drills in the back.
>Make sure that the podium hasn’t been damaged somehow.

>>42745593
>Make sure that the podium hasn’t been damaged somehow

>>42745593
>Make sure that the podium hasn’t been damaged somehow.
Check that first, we'd just feel silly if we did all that work with the drills only to find the mechanism is busted.

>>42745686
Then we can start....

>lubricating the drills

This is all one puberty message.

>>42745683
>>42745686
Writing.

>>42745744
But of course, anon! Don't you know that every quest is actually that QM's answer to the underlying question of puberty, life, and death?
Especially the waifubait ones.

>>42745834
That explains so many things.
But I only more questions to raise.

>>42745593
You decide to check on the podium. You’d feel like a complete idiot if you were to do all the work and find out that the entire rig doesn’t work because the keystone went and crumbled to dust thanks to age. That, and you’d probably be very, very dead, simply because you can’t wait out those goo-monsters forever. Even now, you’re starting to feel quite puckish.

You glance at the podium, walking up towards it. You can’t quite reach the top, but thankfully, you found a stepstool in the supply closet. Looking it over, you can’t find anything wrong with it. Except… oh!

The hinges on the control levers are rusted. You hadn’t noticed before because of your bad eyesight, but it probably would have been disastrous if you’d tried controlling it. Good thing you have that magical rust remover.

After wiping away the rust, you give the levers a quick test, flipping them up, down, and even around. Seems like they have a pretty large range of movement. Nice.

Jumping down from the stepstool, you finally head over to the very last piece of the puzzle: the drills. The things are safely stowed behind a wall of glass, and the only way to get in seems to be from another room entirely, unfortunately. You glance over at the doorway, and the screeching sound coming from the other sound indicates that no, you will most certainly not go back out there. You have a better idea.

Brandishing your rod of steel, you swing it at the glass with as much force and vigor as you possibly can. Your injuries protest at the action, but the pain feels more muted than before. That’s good- you might not have been able to swing as far if you hadn’t wrapped them up. You’re going to have to take a look at that special gauze sometime later.

At any rate, the wall shatters into shards of glass, which you carefully step over. You’re sure that the wall will fix itself back up when you get the mecha working again. Probably. Maybe.
***
(1/?)

>>42746501
You lubricate and polish each and every one of the drills, making sure that each of them are as good as new. You even took care of what little rust each of them had.

You sigh, standing back up, and stretch out all of the kinks. Your wounds feel better than they ever had in the past few… hours? How much time have you spent here?

That’s… actually a pretty good question. You wonder how worried your grandfather must be. You wonder if he’s already told the rest of your family about what happened. He probably has. They’re probably looking for you right about now. You swallow and scratch your head guiltily.

Well, there’s nothing that you can do about it now, except get the mech working and try to find your way back home. You hope they can forgive you.

After double-checking that everything is as it should be, which mostly just consisted of you comparing the drills and podium to the pictures in the book and deciding that they looked close enough, you finally walk up to the podium, standing on the step-stool.

You slide the large drill into the podium, and fit your own Core Drill into the hole left behind.

You don’t know why, but you hesitate. You could always try your luck at the goo-monsters, seeing as you have some magic healing gauze and your steel rod’s actually polished…

>No, you can’t walk away now. You’ll see this to the very end.
>You walk away, taking your Core Drill with you. Not everybody needs a giant dragon-mecha after all…

>>42746521
>No, you can’t walk away now. You’ll see this to the very end.
This is a pointless choice to offer us and you know it, KyuuEm.

>>42746521
>>No, you can’t walk away now. You’ll see this to the very end.

>>42746521
>>No, you can’t walk away now. You’ll see this to the very end.

>>42746543
>>42746588
>>42746617
Well then. I wasn't exactly expecting for you guys to do this so early, but hey. I can roll with it.

Writing.

>>42746698
It is a giant dragon robot. Please explain to me the logic that lead to you thinking we wouldn't want to turn this thing on.

>>42746720
Gurren Drachen!

>>42746720
There's that whole "messing with powers you don't comprehend" thing, and the always relevant "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".

But of course, there's the even more relevant "It's a Giant Robot Dragon. Your argument is irrelevant".

>>42746521
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgU6z1_W8So&list=PLCED253BDA371CF5D

…No. You want your damn dragon robot. And with all the work you put in so far, you’re going to get it, regardless of this sense of dread.
You breathe in. The air is dusty, old, stagnant. You briefly wonder how long it’s been since this thing has flown in the sky. It must have been tens, maybe hundreds of years. The entire mech is in disrepair, systems that should have been running have long since rusted into nothing, and even if you wake it up now, you know in your heart that it won’t quite be the same as it was in its prime.

But at the very least, you could set it on the path to recovery. And with enough time, you could make it even better. You know you can.

You clutch your Core Drill close to your heart. You close your eyes, allowing the familiar warmth to spread its way through your body and soul. You breathe in again, and for a moment you can almost taste the air as it must have been a long, long time ago; the homey smell of simple meals cooked on the go to satisfy a few dozen workers, made every hour of every day, mixed with the oily scent of burning gas and metal, with a light dab of sweat to represent the hard work of a hundred people working around the clock.

And then there’s you, at the helm.

(1/?)

File: qylty.gif (659 KB, 260x195)

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>>42747688

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1qleZcVXjw&list=PLCED253BDA371CF5D&index=7

Your eyes open, and you look around at the pathetic scene around you with contempt. Finally, you look back down at the helm. Determination thrums through you, and the last drop of hesitation leaves your body. The words come naturally, as if you knew them all along.

“Seiryū…”

No. That’s not it. You didn’t just know these words.

“Spin…”

They were engraved upon your very soul; you just hadn’t realized.

“ON!”
***
You feel as if you are drowning in the sand again. There is so much- it seeps into your scales, scratching at your innards wearing away at everything it touches. You cannot move to dislodge yourself from the abrasive dirt. A shell surrounds your form, constricting your wings, preventing you from soaring through the sky. This cannot stand.

You inhale, gathering power into every fiber of your being. Strength and heat well up inside of you, and you release it in every direction.

The fire burns and eats away at everything, easily consuming your prison, turning the sand into more and more fuel for your fury. The power seeps through you, and the disease, the waste, all of that which should not be is cleansed from your body. You roar in in triumph, an inferno of azure flame filling the air with your glorious radiance.

Your wings expand, stretching onwards and outwards. The disease is swept away from their innards, leaving only polished weapons of destruction, and as is in your nature, you release your payload, taking glorious, glorious flight as you do so.

You are awake once more. And you will not allow yourself to be lulled into sleep again.
***
Pick One:
>The Guard
>The Knight
>The Hollow

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>>42747717
>The knight

Next post will be a short interlude from another perspective, and will be the last post for the thread.

>>42747717
>The Guard

>>42747717
>The Hollow

>>42747717
>The Knight

>>42747717
>>The Hollow

2 minute extension, just to make sure there aren't any lurkers who'd like to vote and break the tie.

>>42747757
>>42747840
vs.
>>42747811
>>42747848

tiebreaking coinflip
1=The Knight
2=The Hollow

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>42748068
Forgot my roll.
Writing.

>>42748093
“You’re certain that you felt another one?”

“Yes, sir. With all due respect, I could not possibly mistake it for something else- I know what the Spiral feels like. This felt precisely like it, and from what I could sense, whoever had used it was using it for something specific- it felt controlled, precise even.”

“…I see. And what would you suggest we do, Gwendolyn? Just sit on our arses and hope that this Spiral does not decide to destroy us?”

“I would not use such terms. However, yes, I am afraid that a wait-and-see policy is best. We do not even know the true nature of the threat, sir. For all we know, it could have been someone neutral or even favourable to our aims.”

“Mhm. I see. And would there be any real downsides to a more, ah, direct approach to diplomacy?”

“For one, I have doubts as to whether an entire company would be enough to handle the sheer scale of the threat. I was able to sense it from an entirely different realm, sir- that should give an idea of the sheer power of what has awakened.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t argue with an answer like that, hm?” There is a slight caustic edge to the voice. “Peace be to you, then. For the Glory of the Revolution.” He raises his glass upwards, and promptly downs the rest of the drink.

You nod once. “Aye. For the Glory of the Revolution,” you answer back, sipping down the rest of your own tea. After rearranging your hair, you slip your helmet back on. You know a dismissal when you hear one.

***
(1/?)

>>42748786

You quickly stalk away from the estate, your steps perfectly silent. It is a skill you had picked up all the way back in your life. Unfortunately, you cannot just flop onto your mattress quite yet. You still have your nightly rounds to complete.

You stop by the Great Palisade first to hand in your report. Besides the Disruption, raiding had gone incredibly well today. An entire squad of Shinigami had fallen before you alone. Granted, none of them were high-ranked seated officers, but it was still a sign that you were growing stronger. You smile, tightly gripping onto the edge of your blade.

You drop by your old family’s house, as you always do. It’s nice to simply chat every once in a while. They invite you for dinner as always, and as always, you politely decline, though you do take a drink of their soothing herbal tea.

Finally, you stop by the soldier barracks. Peter stops in the middle of his paperwork as soon as he notices you standing. “Ah, Gwen. Here to dump another stack of paper onto my poor desk?” He smiles.

You snort and chuckle good-naturedly. “But of course, Peter. Is there anything else I ever do for you?”

“You mean besides kick my ass into gear whenever I slack off?” He snarks. “Nope. Can’t think of a thing.” There is a short silence.

“I…” You begin, hesitating. “…felt something today. I had to speak to one of the higher-ups about it.” Peter doesn’t look up from his work. Instead, he only nods. You slink into one of the many seats in the room, and allow yourself to talk about what had happened. Or rather, you rant and rave about your worries of the enemy, of how you feel completely inadequate, of the incompetence of you direct superiors. He listens to every word, nodding appropriately, and when you finally finish, he wordlessly offers you a cup of tea, which you gladly take.

It tastes like piss, of course, but it doesn’t have to taste good to be soothing. It’s the thought that counts.

(2/?)

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>>42748805

***
When you finally arrive back at home, you slip off your armor, take a short shower, and promptly flop onto your mattress. You lay there for a long moment before blowing your candle out, leaving you in perfect darkness.

You flick your fingers, and with a thought and a flash of green, your Core Drill is lying in your palm. You hold it tight to your chest, allowing its warmth to seep into you. At the very least, you can be certain that you are no longer alone, if you ever were.

You aren't sure if that's a good thing or not.
***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyFlycSVonU
End: IshidaQuest: Drill Eight!

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=IshidaQuest

Thread's been archived! Thanks for playing, everyone!

>>42748953
That was pretty great, thanks for running!