W2 🛸 PLAYER CYOA: BUP ROLLERS BOUGHDYQUEST (LOWEEJ) CONT'D

[dropoffs]

Comments

ALSO ALSO KNOWN AS (REDACTED)'S BOGUS ADVENTURE

[verminous]

[ When you open your eyes again, you see the streets-made-battlefield once more... but this time, it doesn't fade.

This time you're fully present upon it, shouts and screams ringing in your ears, the towers of City buildings rising up around you to block out the light. What little light might otherwise get through is blocked out by a haze of smoke rising above the entire scene, tinting it all an imposing red.

Some of the mutated, insectlike soldiers, the ones that still have faces instead of bug heads, have familiar faces to you. Faces you knew before you ever set foot on the ship, faces of friends you've met here who have been killed during your tour. Delilah. Nanba. Lucien. Viktor, also over on this side for some reason, Viktorception. They fight, they bleed-- they die right before your eyes, here and there, and if you happen to look at just the right time... some of them get back up, still injured.

Past the front lines of this battle, you can see a bright, golden glow cutting through the murky haze, brilliant and shining, as if acting as a beacon. And when you draw closer to it-

Frost begins to overtake the streets beneath your feet. You pass one soldier encased in ice, hacking their way out with two sharp, buglike limbs, then another lying there frostbitten, then another still frozen in a block of ice. Tremors rumble beneath your feet, growing stronger as you move forward toward that light, and so does the chill in the air. ]

[thematics]

[ hey so the last place she was at sucked but this place kind of also? sucks?? lovelace is here. looking around for the others, expecting the people she came here with, at the most. kind of trying to ignore any other familiar faces in the soldiers. trying really hard.

also she is wearing an extremely blood-soaked hawaiian shirt and has a gun! which she will aim at the first person she sees approaching, despite... the fact that she's looking for her friends. ]

Who's there?

[riverbeans]

[despite [redacted] charles is just strolling out as chill (kind of literally now) and laidback as ever.

though when isabel points a gun at him he holds his hands up.]

Whoa, whoa, it's me! C'mon, I've been looking for you and Shoma this entire time, and this is how you say hi...?

[also for the others' reference he is also wearing a hawaiian shirt and covered in blood and guts. he has a sword that he is still holding his hand.]

[thematics]

Oh.

[ lowers the gun :) ]

Hi.

[naeddre]

[hey guys what's up

throné is here. she looks terrible. she is covered in blood. just like an ungodly amount. she has a knife, a sword, and a huge hole in her chest. not all the way through, but it's pretty bad. also her leg is weird. she also smells faintly like apple juice, but fermented. rotten? anyway.

she is just standing here bluescreening, looking at viktor and lucien getting stabbed and restabbed in the distance.]

[thematics]

[ ... stepping in between her and that sight...? ]

You real? [ I MEAN PROBABLY A FAKE WOULD ALSO ANSWER YES, BUT, ]

[solesuccess]

[ he's just standing here and staring at her for a moment like he's trying to also understand if she's real. he's similarly covered in blood and probably gore, though she can faintly make out a hawaiian-patterned shirt he's sort of swimming in. he also has a new robot arm, and it's hard to see but there is a stab wound in his shoulder.

he doesn't really try to get her attention, but the staring is pretty obvious. ]

[solesuccess]

[ he's just kind of here, standing off into the distance as he walks and passes by semi-familiar faces. he's mostly in a daze as he goes, but when the tremors start and he hears isabel's voice he stops in his tracks.

he doesn't say anything, standing here also still extremely soaked in blood and in a hawaiian shirt that's way too big for him. there's a robot arm in place of one of his real ones, held awkwardly and close to him. if it looks like his eyes are a little red, no it doesn't fuck you. ]

...just me, Captain.

[riverbeans]

[waves a little]

... Hey, Shoma. [though the vibes are Concerned] Glad to see you're still in one piece.

[thematics]

[ mmm you're not lookin' so good kid. (well, neither of us are. no one is.) she puts away the gun and raises her hand to ruffle his hair. and then like. stops before making contact. drops her hand back to her side. ]

Good. Wasn't sure where either of you went.

[frotag]

[ hi, you're pointing a gun at ichiban, who in addition to wearing a new outfit himself is covered in what seems to be rotten applesauce. his normally blown-out hair is... well, still mostly blown-out, but some parts of it are pressed flat against his head thanks to blood and guts and whatever else was thrown at him, look, he's been through it.

he raises his hands in the universal "don't shoot" gesture before he realizes who's about to pull the trigger on him... at which point, he stares. ]

...dude, you stole my look.

[ and then collapses where he stands. ]

[thematics]

Oh for God's sake.

[ she will lower the gun and come try to make sure he is alive??? BRO DON'T SHOW UP JUST TO DIE IN FRONT OF HER. ]

[solesuccess]

[ HELLO????? ]

What the hell--[ AHHHH???? someone else check that he's alive please and thank you!!! ]

[naeddre]

[THROWS THE WATCH AT HIS HEAD]

[riverbeans]

... You alive there, friend?

[kabari]

Could be askin' you the same thing.

[ actually she would cut first and ask questions later, so maybe it is better that lovelace said it first.

anyway hi baiken is here and she also has a new outfit. she is covered in grime, and what would very well be interpreted as bloodsplatter, along with a more mysterious pale goopy splatter. it's fine don't worry about it. still got a katana tho so that's cool. ]

[thematics]

[ smiles? and lowers the gun. ]

... Isabel Lovelace.

[riverbeans]

[waves]

Hey, Baiken.

[solesuccess]

BOGUS CONTINUES

[inequals]

[ Anyway, THAT just happened.

The only fortunate thing about Throne's accidental Corrosion and subsequent unintended mega-explosion is that the blast at least obliterated or knocked back several of the frozen-over zombies that were trying to come at you, so you've bought yourselves a little bit of time to reassess your current situation.

In the center of the basement, you can see the Golden Bough still glowing bright, and you feel its resonance with you like a burning feeling in your chest. You know that that is your final goal here, the thing you suffered so much to get. Once its yours, you can rest.

It's not the cleanest path though. Jagged rime-covered warpaths aside, those horrid zombies are still doggedly trying to make their way towards you and drag you down. ]

[naeddre]

[okay, well, she's less biblical now so she's going to try and make her way through, this time with her sword. she will slice down zombies if she has to [10], but she is so very tired and post-explode, so we'll see how that goes.

she sticks close to the group, though? friends who explode together stick together.]

[kabari]

[ baiken, back and better than ever, is here to slice zombies up like in the terrible guilty gear x intro sequence with the power of rolling an 18. ]

[riverbeans]

[that just happened! charles puts it away and focuses on the task at hand, looking around at everyone else to make sure that no one's about to collapse (unfortunately about the best they can do right now). he'll fight off any zombies who come nearby without faltering.

unfortunately other people absorbed his luck because he rolled a 3]

[thematics]

[ lovelace is apprehensive of using up all her bullets since she doesn't know what's coming up next. so she'll mostly try to keep to the rear of the group, only shooting if necessary and like

corralling everyone along, watching to make sure they aren't getting grabbed. in other words, this is the most boring waste of a good roll because her action is essentially 'make up for it if someone else rolls low' rather than doing anything cool. ]

[frotag]

[

"you have a sword asshole" im tired and rolled 18 let me have this ]