____________________________________________
RULES:
- Unless stated otherwise, decisions are made with d40 rolls.
- Evolutions/mutations only take occur when:
>MYSTERIOUS TIME STREAM EVOLVES YOU
____________________________________________
UNNATURAL POWERS:
Calming Aura, Lvl. 5
> Can fire in pulses; stuns.
Biomancy, Lvl. 7
> Can alter any living bio-organic material. Also, plasma beams.
> Three permanent changes to any living organism before explosion.
Necromancy, Lvl. 4
> Dominion over 3 undead at a time.
> 1) Aazz, 2) Bearex, 3) Cerebus
Shapeshifting/Body Sculpting, Lvl. 2
> Transformation into last creature eaten/parasited.
Shadow Travel Lvl. 2
> Instantaneous teleportation through shadows. Small range.
____________________________________________
IMPROVED BODY PARTS
HEAD:
- 8 Eyes
- Parasitic Mouth Hooks +2 (+PROJECTILE PARASITES)
- Jaw Strength +1
- Sticky Rope Tongue
- Brain +3
BODY
- Draconic Wings Lvl. 2
- Muscle Mass +1 (3 ft)
- Whiplash Tail
- Titanium Web Spinners OF LIFE
LEGS
- Rending Claws
- Retractable Limbs
- 6 Limbs
- Mantis Shrimp Punches
____________________________________________
DORMANT POWERS:
Starfall; Mouth Laser; Geomancy
____________________________________________
CRYSTALS:
1 Yellow; 1 Red; 1 Blue
____________________________________________
NOTABLE MINIONS:
Aazz: Former Chieftain, current wraith. Knows of the old ways.
>Upgrade: KING OF CLUBS
Bearex: T-Rex skull with bear skull. Your champion.
>Upgrade: Armor+1
Cerebus: Wolf skeleton.
>Shoots bees from shoulder-mounted web cannons.
>Piloted by tiny lizard skeletons.
Razz: Leafdancer. Your Godspoken.
Seventeen: Forgeslug.
>Upgrade: Living Artillery/Metalsmith Repair
>MIA
Steelbark: Token Woodfolk. Ex-military badass. Knows of the old ways.
>Upgrade: Biomancy'd.

ALRIGHT, well... it's been two months since the last update- back in November, 4chan was in the process of imploding during the only possibly times I could update, and then I had no time to DM a quest thread because ALL OF MY DEADLINES WERE ROLLING IN.

To whit: sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long! Here, HAVE A BONUS:

>MYSTERIOUS TIME STREAM EVOLVES YOU
___________________________
ROLL 1d40 FOR THE FOLLOWING:
+3 new/upgraded Unnatural Powers
+8 Body Part Improvements

rolled 28, 1, 4, 6, 7, 6, 26, 17, 30, 35 = 160

GLEEP
HURP
GLEEP
HURP
GLEEP
HURP
BLORP.

BLORP
HURP
BLORP
HURP
BLORP
HURP
GLEEP.

GLEEP GLEEP
BLORP BLORP
GLEEP BLORP GLEEP.

BLORP BLORP
GLEEP GLEEP
GLEEP BLORP BLORP.

Hurp.

rolled 23 = 23

Holy Shit. You are alive?!?!

Have some OC that I made while we were waiting. More en-route.

Also, pic related. How much san loss did the poor guy get.

rolled 16 = 16

>>17436882
>+3 new/upgraded Unnatural Powers
3 ranks of Divination to let us find things to eat, be they strong enemies, crystals, or just things that taste good.
>+8 Body Part Improvements
Muscle Mass +2, GOTTA GO FAST.
Legs +2, GOTTA GO FAST.
Wings +2, GOTTA GO FAST.
Mouth hooks +1, more parasites at once.
Brain +1, talk to multiple creatures at once.

rolled 28 = 28

Sadly, I have to go run some errands. I will be back later. Hopefully something awesome has happened when I return. Damn. This means I will ACTUALLY have to finish the comics I started. You devious bastard.

>>17436929
Hahaha... yeah, I got rocked like a hurricane during finals season, and was sick through the holidays. I survived, though. Probably.

-- LET'S JUST SAY THAT 17'S GOT SOME SHIT TO WORK OUT NOW.

rolled 30 = 30

>>17436953

Oh lordy. Those machines we were cracking like clams? Bodies of his dead relatives weren't they? How awkward.

rolled 23 = 23

>>17436944

We probably should consider upgrading out shadow teleportation. Seems like it could be useful. Also, I vote for some sort of emp/electrical attack. It looks like we will have to be fighting tech as well.

>EVO FUCKING QUEST

rolled 38 = 38

blorp

gleep

>>17436944
>>17436999
>Taking these two and averaging them out:
>Divination: 2 Ranks
>Shadow Teleportation: Level 3
>Muscle Mass +2
>Legs +2
>Wings +2
>Mouth Hooks +1
>Electric Pulse

Well, you're standing in front of Sunfang Meteor, standing over the half-eaten remains of the evil metallic boxes. Boxes that are, apparently, made from crystal in some form or other, not to mention the whole uncanny resemblance to Seventeen's fellow forgeslugs.

... you have a feeling that this isn't going to get any less complicated. In any case, two Sunfang scouts have also just given you bad news and badder news:

First, Seventeen seems to have holed up at the bottom of the big mining pit, after having further destroyed the corpses (?) of the metal boxes. He may or may not have gone completely off the deep end, if the reported laughing/crying is any indication. (You dearly hope that he's laughing in a GOOD way.)

Secondly, the teleporter in the woodfolks' former overseer's hut- where you defeated an elder crystal-favored- is now glowing blood red. And there's writing on it now. That's also apparently where these strange metal boxes were pouring out from.

... you're going to have to figure out which of these to tackle first, if any.

>COMMAND?

>>17437109
Let's try out our Divination and see if we can sense the portal from here, just for practice.
I'd say: Head on over to the portal first, GLEEP through it.

rolled 26 = 26

>>17437109
can someone read thse to me?
also, checking out divination is cool like the prevoius post

>>17437139
>>17437250

You close your eyes and start charging up your newfangled, newfound power: divination. With your mind's eye, you see... you see...

... absolutely nothing. It looks like you need some sort of focus for your power, something to bounce it off of. On reflex, you glance over at a nearby puddle of water, and it... actually seems to work pretty well, probably because the portal is so freaking CLOSE.

Reflected in the puddle, you see the portal, surrounded by a good number of your wary sunfang warriors (armed, possibly for good reason). As before, the portal is a metal circle on the floor, within which some sort of hard metal is affixed. Now, though, the metal ring is spinning, and the entire damn thing is glowing red. There's also writing floating in midair:

>COME, IF YOU DARE

... huh. The scout wasn't lying at all.


>COMMAND?

>>17437320
>COME, IF YOU DARE
I Dare.

>>17437320
Well it's clearly challenging US so let's go take care of Seventeen. I don't think we have to worry about being attacked if it's challenging us.

But first, finish eating the crystal boxes.

I agree, lets go talk to 17 first. Odds are if it's taunting us, it won't attack us first.

>>17437332
>>17437375
>>17437466

You snort in derision at the challenge before dismissing the vision with a swipe at the puddle. Then, you proceed to polish off the remaining boxes. Strangely enough, despite their being made from crystal, you don't feel any huge bursts of energy flowing through you; it's like THESE crystals had been distilled, with every drop of potency drained from them.

Still, it gives something for your stomach to digest as you fly down into the pit. As before, there's not a whole lot to see- one or two exposed veins of ore, and not much else. What's different, though, is that one of the side tunnels is much larger than before, and... you THINK you can hear strange sounds emanating from somewhere within.

It's probably Seventeen, unless that bloody crystal-favored woodfolk was hiding a crybaby Yeti down here or something. There is also no trace of the metal boxes that Bearex had kicked down here. There ARE drag marks leading into the tunnel.

>COMMAND?

>>17437609
Follow the hole looking for our crybaby friend.

rolled 16 = 16

>>17437609
I love you so much thanks for coming back

give rousing speak to 17 making him get his ass in gear for more action talk about his name pride or something idk word magic?

>>17437609
INTO THE BREACH. By that I mean, into the tunnel.

rolled 32 = 32

>>17437609

Lets hope our +1 to awesome will outweigh poor 17's MASSIVE SAN loss.

>>17437609
Divination on a puddle, or a dowsing stick, to find the way to 17.
Go to 17.
Gleep reassuringly at him.

>>17437630
>>17437699
>>17437705
>>17437716

Well, there really ISN'T any other way to go, is there? You lizard-dash into the tunnel, wriggling to and fro as you skeddadle on all of your rather numerous legs.

The tunnel... well, it's too narrow to fly through, sadly, so you're confined to even more walking. Or maybe it has to do with the fact that you're definitely larger than you were before. Stars know how the hell you manage to fly, with all the armor plating and spikes and ELDRITCH HORRORS all over your body.

The walls are made of dirt, though there are a few strange wooden structures placed throughout the tunnel, as if they're there to hold the ceiling up. Embedded within the walls are bone fragments of creatures long-dead, though they're more rock than bone at this point. Probably not what the crystal-favored woodfolk were after, given that them bones are still actually here.

The sound of hysterical... sobbing? Giggling? Gurgling? seems to get louder, the deeper in you go. Once you go around a bend, though, there's a good deal of light, and... there he is.

Seventeen, the one forgeslug in your employ(?), is sitting with his back to you; strewn about the cavern floor are the strange metal innards of the metal boxes that attacked you. The otherwise featureless cavern itself is actually fairly well-lit, thanks to a few rusty braziers that are filled with burning forgeslug metallic barf.

... he seems to be tinkering with something, but he hasn't noticed you yet.

>COMMAND?

rolled 29 = 29

>>17437773
Gleep.
Parasite x 1.
Calming aura x 1.

>>17437773
Parasite, Calming Aura

Blorp (Hey, 17, what are you doing?)

rolled 25 = 25

>>17437773
calm the fuck out of him

rolled 37 = 37

>>17437798
>>17437896
>>17437921

Also, as much as I love the little guy, be prepared for him to flip the fuck out when we talk to him. Aura or not. Be ready to restrain him (preferably in a way that won't hurt him/us).

>>17437798
>>17437896
>>17437921

First?

>GLEEP.

You get his attention. Then, as he turns around, you THWOK him with an airborne parasite, which somehow manages to stick in... whatever protoplasmic goo makes up his inner body. And then, finally, the calming aura that you've seen so much use of. Thankfully, it... SEEMS to work. All the nervous energy seems to drain out of him, and he's no longer tittering and looking half-wild.

What's left- and you can feel it through the link created by your parasite- is *soul-crushing despair*, and Seventeen breaks down weeping instead.

"Horrible... horrible... all forgeslugs. Monsters. Violence! All is lost!"

You glance past Seventeen; behind him, there's the disassembled body of a metal box, and a viscous black ooze that's still quivering.

"Worst fears... forgeslugs never evolved naturally," Seventeen sobbed. "Monsters... monsters like Bolbox. Like Bolbox. All crystal, no soul. Like bad story, nightmare story...!!"

The forgeslug struggles against your calm aura, his pseudopods starting to whip around again. "Let go! Must kill all forgeslug! Stop story from repeating!!"

>COMMAND?

>>17437954
.. but you WERE prepared for this. A little bit of biomancy sees a few roots wrapping around his tough rocky/metal shell, stopping him from thrashing TOO badly.

>COMMAND?

Gleep (Even if your species wasn't made naturally, the fact that you're so worried about having a soul means you have one)
Blorp (Seventeen. I didn't evolve naturally either. You're just like me.)

>>17437995
Tell him that no matter how forgeslugs might have come about the fact that they broke away from their creators and forged their own society is enough to warrant letting them live.

Or, in our language, GLEEP.

rolled 23 = 23

>>17437995
Blorp! (Not ALL Forgeslug! You're a pretty cool dude.)
Gleep! (If you wanna stop the bad guys, we'll stop them together! For you are a pretty cool bro.)

>>17438030
>>17438043
>>17438053

Your words... seem to reassure him somewhat. Or at least, he isn't thrashing as much anymore.

"Broke away... from our creators. Still have souls..."

Seventeen's still shivering in his shell, looking smaller than he ever has before. "Leader of the Sunfang... forgeslugs are peaceful people. But ancestors-" He gestures towards the metal boxes. "Ancestors, all are made of weapons."

He looks at you with mournful eyes. "If we become like that again. You stop us. All of us. Kill us. Please...?"

>COMMAND?

rolled 28 = 28

>>17438030
>>17438043
>>17438053

Bro mind

Tell the little slug that he and his people are not soulless monsters. He cares way too much about creating to be an empty husk. Also, what ever happened to the forge slugs that attacked us is not his fault. It is very likely the grand dick Bolbox is entirely behind it.

>>17438130
Agree to his request, after all who are we to deny? Besides, it'd just be killing a new enemy.

>>17438130
Blorp (I won't let that happen, but if I does. . . I promise)

rolled 15 = 15

>>17438130

Glorp. (You won't. You guys don't have it in you to be evil. Well, not on purpose anyway.")

rolled 25 = 25

>>17438130
Gleep.

Anyway, off to see that portal.

>>17438155
>>17438162
>>17438172
>>17438183

>BLORP. GLEEP.

Seventeen sags with relief. "Thank you. Thank..." He's crying again, big slimy tears dropping from his yellow eye-stalks. With a gurgle, he collects up the parts of the metal box, leaving the black ooze to melt into the ground. "Will bring with me... if we see them, forgeslugs need to know truth. Truth, and your promise."

Well, he's not going to flip out and start filling you with molten metal bullets, so you release him from his bonds, and Seventeen starts rolling back up the tunnel. For a moment, you're alone in this cavern, even as the braziers start flickering and the light grows smaller.

... in this room, with... the strange old braziers. You glance around; right in front of where Seventeen had stood, there's a raised dais, half-buried in sediment, and the cavern wall on that side is mostly large rocks.

Your hackles rise. You're not scared of solitude or the darkness, because of what you were, but you can't deny it- this place gives you the motherfucking willies. You're on the precipice of turning tail and running back to deal with the portal, or staying here and trying to figure this place out...

>COMMAND?

rolled 2 = 2

>>17438285
Divination on the Fire.
See if we can see, in the fire, what's going on around here.
Blast of Biomancy to see if we can sense Life nearby.
And of course, a few parasitic mouth hooks to fly around looking for anything.

Blorp.

rolled 38 = 38

>>17438285

We grew up in a cave, why would this terrify us now? Something is wrong. Stay and try to figure out what, but be on our guard and ready to GTFO or fight quickly.

>>17438312

rolled 17 = 17

>>17438403

Forgot to roll.

>>17438312
>>17438383
>>17438403

You do a quick sweep with your powers. Divination turns up nothing, no matter how hard you glare at the flickering flames. Biomancy turns up nothing but the usual background noise- worms, moles up above, et cetera- which means that throwing around mouth hooks would probably be a waste.

Instead, you stand your ground, your wings mantling and the hooks to the sides of your mouth twitching into a ready position. You're good to flee or fight-

Instantly, you're set upon by mad gibbering echoing throughout the chamber. Most of it is completely incomprehensible, but you can make out two words every now and then:

"YOU DARE?"

Nothing still appears, but you can feel a vast, ancient power filling the chamber, welling up from somewhere beneath your feet. The blood rises to your head, making you light-headed, and you can feel your vision flickering as if some other image is trying to lay itself over your eyes. You honestly can't tell if the cavern is shuddering, or if you're that weak on your feet all of a sudden-

Something is trying to return to your head.

>COMMAND?

rolled 26 = 26

>>17438461
Gtfo out of cavern.
Look in head.
Gleep at own head.
Possibly also Hurp.

rolled 17 = 17

>>17438461
Close our eyes and let it in!

We can either defeat it with the power of our consciousness or make a deal with the devil.

rolled 38 = 38

>>17438461

FUCK. I dun goof'd by suggesting we stayed to go Scooby Doo in there. If a 38 got us possessed, I really don't want to know what we were rolling against. Resist the voice. Ask the true gods for a bit of fortitude while we are at it. We have broke the unbreakable, fought the unfightable before. We will not be stopped here. ROW. MOTHERFUCKING. ROW. FIGHT. THE. POWER.

rolled 19 = 19

>>17438461
BLORP! (I dare, what the fuck do you want?)

>>17438548
>>17438473

Are you going to give into some disembodied voice? FUCK no!

You dig your heels in and fight with every last drop of courage and badassery you can dredge up from inside your not-so-little salamander body, struggling against the tide. Your vision nearly goes black-

>blood anger betrayal rage insanity

- but you manage to throw it off after a few moments. To be honest, it's a little easier than you imagined it would be, but you stand victorious, only slightly winded from your efforts.

You feel a moment of bafflement from the unseen presence. And then, if the voice(s) were mad before, it (they) are now FURIOUS. You hear the phrase "YOU DARE?!" repeated over and over and over again, getting louder with each passing second, before something peels itself from the ground-

A shade. A vaguely simian shadow with piercing, icy eyes that leave you cold down to your very core, and this manifestation of anger is reaching out towards you, howling more gibberish.

You feel a very mortal fear start to descend upon you, as if just being in the presence of this... this THING is a battle in itself.

>COMMAND?

YOU EXIST OH MY GOD

FUUUCK YEEAAAH

>>17438772
BLORP! (WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!)
blast calming aura

rolled 20 = 20

>>17438772

GLEEP. (Of course I dare. Are you dense? Are you retarded? I am the goddam Blorp. Now shut up. I have ACTUAL problems to deal with."

Flip that demonic ass the prehistoric equivalent of the bird and teleport out of there. It is a shame he isn't made of anything we could eat.

If we can't bail, then move onto Plan B. We were fine when there was light, right? Time to biomass us up some bio luminescent flood lights. And phosphorus. On fire. Aimed at his howling face.

FUCK. We should have upgraded to be able to spit organic napalm! We already are a dragon-like abomination of nature. IT FITS.

>>17438810
>>17438911
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the calming aura does not work, and the... the THING does not slow down, not one bit.

>GLEEP.

Through the icy fear, you manage to flip the shade the bird. As in, all of the middle claws on all of your legs, including the mantis-shrimp punchers tucked at the sides of your neck. And then you flip into the shadows, skimming through the void...

... and emerge from the shadow of Sunfang Meteor's supporting vines, scaring at least five fucking years off of the poor unfortunate Sunfang who was standing guard.

You have no goddamn clue what that was all about, but you shake off the residual fear and turn your attention to the woodfolk's overseer's hut. You've got a MUCH bigger problem to contend with right now:

That goddamn portal.


>TO BE CONTINUED

Sorry, folks, but I'm going to have to call it an early night; I'm having trouble focusing on the screen.

SO! If this thread still exists TOMORROW EVENING, Friday at 8 pm EST, then I will continue this quest right here; if not, I'll make a new thread at around the same time.

In any case, EVO Quest will continue. Good night, all, and thanks for your patience.

rolled 17 = 17

>>17439044

Get some rest. And thanks for coming back. I had written this quest off as being dead, cut down in it's prime like so many others. It makes me very, very happy that I am wrong.


>>17436948


(Also, did you see this? I didn't see you comment on it. As a draw fag, I feel the need for constant feedback, good or bad.)

>>17439101

Seeing it now...

I have no idea where these comics are going, but that tongue-punch is glorious. Glorious, if horrifying.

... which is a fairly apt description of Blorp's adventures so far, to be honest. SO YES.

FUCKING YES THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING BACK BLORP! I THOUGHT ALL HOPE HAD BEEN LOST! THANK FUCKING GOD AND EVE AND ALL ABOVE! This is tied with Heretical Love as my favorite quest of all time. THANK YOU SO MUCH OP FOR COMING BACK! I LOVE YOU.

LIIIIVE

LIFE
LIFE

GIVE MY CREATION...LIIIIFE

The moment I saw this I literally RAAAAGH'D out an EVO QUEEEAARRRGH.

DANG, I didn't expect to see this one again.