>>33150307
MADOOOOOOOOOOOOSUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIII

>>33150307
>>Find Madotsuki

>>33150307
>Find Madotsuki

Hugging the right wall won't save us here.

>>33150307

>Find Madotsuki

Must find Mado.

>>33150307
>Find Madotsuki
HOW DO YOU KEEP LOSING HER?! YOU GOING TO HAVE TO PUT A CHILD HARDNESS ON HER TO STOP HER FROM GETTING LOST JESUS CHRIST.

>>33150560
>>33150510
>>33150495
>>33150474
>>33150448
Wait shit.
We need to open a window so we can breath

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>>33150560
>>33150510
>>33150495
>>33150474
>>33150448

You creep through the hallway with catlike tread, the fire axe gripped ready in both hands, birdman blood still dripping from the blade and spike. Little breezes push to and fro past you, drawing eddies out of the fogbank overhead. A deep, bass thrum pulses through the air like the heartbeat of something gigantic and terrible, the suffusive thrumming hum seeming to invade your skull. You grit your teeth and force it out, pressing on.

Rounding the first corner you find a long stretch of windows to your left, obscured with a greasy black substance that seems to drool and slide down the outside panes. You shy away from them, wary, and press against the opposite wall as you pass, half-expecting something to pop out at you. Your eyes keep flicking all about and your head's on a swivel - with this noise, this damned terrible thrumming throbbing presence hammering into your mind, you won't hear them coming won't hear them coming till their tiny little wicked bony fingers are wrapped around your neck and digging IN -

- around the next corner is a hallway so long the end vanishes into the ruddy glow that soaks the thick atmosphere... and at the very end you can make out what looks like Madotsuki.

>Call out
>Approach

Sorry for the late start guys, to compensate I'll be able to run into the wee AM hours again like a proper basement-dwelling shitheel with no life WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>33150776
>BEAR CRUSHING HUGS!

>>33150776
>Call out
>Approach

>>33150776
>Call out
Let's hope we don't fuck this up.

>>33150787
>run into the wee AM hours again
I'll miss that since I have a flight early tomorrow, damn.

>>33150776
>>Approach

>>33150795
>>33150806
>>33150821
>>33150865
Consensus please!

>>33150911
It looks like approach is winning if you count the hug, 3-2

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>>33150865
>>33150821
>>33150806
>>33150795

>approach

Mindful of the incident with the puddle world doppleganger, you approach cautiously, leaving nothing to chance. You keep the axe at port-arms, ready and waiting in both hands as you advance carefully down the hall. Though you draw closer by the second, Madotsuki's outline remains hazy and indistinct, her pink sweater almost glowing with the ruddy ambiance infesting the air.

Sweat beads on your brow as a shiver of alarm jolts down your spine. You glance upwards, but the churning mists betray no acceleration, no darkening, and this reassures you. Now you see her eyes are closed, her face calm. She seems close enough to touch, but threatens to fade from sight even as you watch. You reach out to her, and the clear, distinct definition of your hand contrasted to your friend sends a shiver of terror through you.

Something's not right.

You close the last stretch with a dash, unable to contain yourself, eager to dispel your instinctive warning, but when you reach out for her, your hand passes right through a shade.

Madotsuki is dead.

>anger
>denial
>bargaining
>acceptance
>other

>>33151081
>>denial
like hell she is!

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>>33151081
>denial

>>33151081
>denial

The greif cycle must be done correctly. That and this considering where we are, this could actually be an illusion.

>>33151180
>*That and considering where we are

damn my autism

>>33151081
"BITCH YOU CAN'T DIE ON ME YET, WE HAVEN'T HAD A LOVING RELATIONSHIP A MARRIAGE AND A FULFILLING PARENTHOOD YET!"

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>>33151173
>>33151112
>>33151112
>theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCRa7S8O-tU

You stumble away from the ghost, your heart thrumming in time with the hellacious sound that owns the air. You rasp weakly through a dry mouth, gritting your teeth against the sight before you.

"This is just another dreaming. Another false seeming," you mutter hoarsely. "She can't be dead in her own dream-"

if I can get into your dream, maybe other things can, too

"They can only wake her up. She said that herself-"

never in as many words

"Its her own fucking MIND!" you snarl at the ghost, starting to breathe too quickly and not giving a damn. "It can't hurt her god dammit, it can't-"

but maybe your nightmares can

"Like I've got any-"

dead men in dark valleys and dead girls in dark water

"SHE'S ALIVE!"

A footstep creaks on the floorboards behind you. You whirl, lashing out with the axe, cleaving only air. From out of the ambient mist comes something pink and pigtailed, the dark triangle of a knife in one hand and something else in the other... something round, and dripping, and dangling from...

... two...

... pigtails...

>only you can save yourself, now
>cry out for help

>>33151368
>SCREW YOUR CHOICES
>FIND MADSUDOSUKI
>NO MATTER THE COST

>>33151368
>>only you can save yourself, now

>>33151368
>only you can save yourself, now

>>33151368
>Mortal combat

>>33151368
>Lucid Dream
>You are Superman

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>>33151368
>flip the fuck out
I don't even know anymore.

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>>33151504
>>33151467
>>33151453
>>33151409
>>33151391

>theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=actZumishxQ

You twist the hickory axeshaft in your hands, your entire body atremble light a mooring line pulled taut against the stanchion. You clamp your lips shut in a thin, grim line and bend your will to slowing down your hyperventilating respiration. You rise on the balls of your feet as the thing's definition increases, sharp edges emerging from the fog as it draws ever near.

At last, the shadows vanish from its face, and you can discern Madotsuki's features.

On her severed head.

Something alien rips from your throat as you attack, the world seeming to fade into haze and hate, only the ruby-red eyelights of the Beast clear in your vision as you scream in for the kill.

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>>33151726

And then your strength vanishes, your rage squealing like spinning tires on snow as you go tumbling and bouncing down the hallway, boneless and helpless, the axe bouncing and clattering impotently beside you.

You fetch up against the baseboard with a painful CLUNK, wheezing quick and crazy as your brain keeps tumbling down the hallway, your adreneline surging to insane heights as Madotsuki's murderer strolls over to you, pumping and pushing and screaming with every nerve and fiber of your being to move, move MOVE, but there's nothing you can do as it rolls you over with one foot and stares into your eyes with its warm, brown pupils.

Madotsuki leans over you, hands on her knees, her own head dangling from one hand, and cocks her head.

"What the hell's wrong with you?"

>EEHAHAHEABLADFHAFBLASHEADIPAFKADLSHIEG;ALD39IDGADLDA;LEIE!!!1!!!!
>"... are you fucking serious?"
>"... god, dammit, you, I, you, fucking, I, you, thought, I, why, fucking, god- EHARAF"

>>33151868
>EEHAHAHEABLADFHAFBLASHEADIPAFKADLSHIEG;ALD39IDGADLDA;LEIE!!!1!!!!
>"... are you fucking serious?"
>"... god, dammit, you, I, you, fucking, I, you, thought, I, why, fucking, god- EHARAF"
Yes please.

>>33151868
>>EEHAHAHEABLADFHAFBLASHEADIPAFKADLSHIEG;ALD39IDGADLDA;LEIE!!!1!!!!

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>>33151868

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>>33151936
>>33151911
>>33151890

You sputter something incomprehensible as your mind goes careening off the walls and away into the mist in a mad bid to escape. You hear a clunk as the head her fucking HEAD hits the floor and rolls away, before she touches your cheek gently. You twitch violently, but her palm is warm and soft and real.

"Hey," she says, looking worried and apprehensive. "Calm down. It's just me. Madotsuki, remember."

"H-h-hheaaad-" you stammer.

"Its the effect. The Severed Head." She looks a bit miffed as she kneels by you and pats your head soothingly. "I told you about it."

"Y-YOUR H-H-H-HEA-AD," you grind out through clenched teeth, your arms wrapping around your body involuntarily. You close your eyes and shut out the sight of the whole terrifying mess, trying to steady yourself through the adrenaline crash and put things in proper order. With a weak sigh, you give it up and just tremble there for a moment as Mado rubs your head.

"You're weird," she says softly.

>Stark used Look.jpg
>Stark used Bitchplz.wav
>Stark is laughing! It hurt itself in its mirth!

>>33151868
>"... are you fucking serious?"
Followed by
>"You got the last effect, now what?"

>>33152158
bitchpls.wav

>>33152158
>Stark used Look.jpg

>>33152160
Was bit late, but still.

>>33152158
>"You got the last effect, now what?"

>>33152158
>>Stark is laughing! It hurt itself in its mirth!

>>33152158
>Stark is laughing! It hurt itself in its mirth!
Let's also slowly realize it was an effect like an idiot.

>>33152158
>>Stark used Bitchplz.wav
I want my own effects to make you go crazy too! Like a fireman helmet that sets me on fire without actually being on fire!

>>33152158

>Stark used Look.jpg

Seriously, Mado. A bit more warning would have helped.

>>33152158
>Stark used Look.jpg
Why would she do this? What possible reason did she have for cutting her head off? Does she really think this is the place for that?

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That word, that one fucking word, sinks into your terrified and trembling mind like an ice cube, realization spreading through your mind like a calm, cool wind.

"Just how fucking high are you?" you inquire, your voice steady and ringing clear as a bell.

Mado's hand freezes mid-rub.

"What was it, Mado?" you say conversationally, opening your eyes to stare at her nonplussed expression. "PCP? Acid? Angel Dust? Crystal Meth and Loof-Juice? Shrooms? *Shrooms,*" you decide with an air of authority. "It was fucking shrooms, wasn't it? Ballin shrooms make for fucked-up rooms, ain't that right, sweetheart?"

Her face flushes crimson as she puffs out her cheeks, righteously annoyed. "But you-"

- you reach past her and grab the her head, (swallowing a mouthful of bile as you do,) and lift it by the pigtails. You exchange glances with the closed eyes of the dead head, then slowly rotate it to direct your shared Look at Mado.

She huffs and crosses her arms. "Well what about YOU?"

"What about me?"

"You just - you, you just-" she smacks her fists into her thighs. "You just killed your way through an army of Toriningen! An ARMY! Didn't you notice anything WEIRD about that?"

"Weirder than THIS!?" you exclaim, indicating the severed head with a quick sweep of your flattened palm. "Hitting things with an axe? Not so weird. I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, et cetera."

She narrows her eyes at you. "Nothing?"

>well, as a matter of fact...
>.... no, not really sweetheart

>>33152751
>well, as a matter of fact...

>>33152751
>well, as a matter of fact...

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>>33152626

The best part is, and I swear to god, the "severed head" is an actual effect in the game. When you use it, you transform into... just a head.

Just... a head, sitting there.

We haven't even gotten to the good part, yet. Or the great part. This is just the wrap-up for what happened last thread, re: getting the effect.

We haven't even gotten started yet.

>>33152751
>well, as a matter of fact...
It was surprisingly easy. The ones we fought in the desert didn't go down that quickly. Maybe demonstrating our willingness to protect Mado back at the puddles has empowered us as some sort of guardian figure? Combine that with the fact that these aren't our traumas we're facing and it could explain how we tore through them.

>>33152820
Will we see shithead Mado?

>>33152751

>well, as a matter of fact...

Perhaps we should be concerned at the ease with which we chopped through all of them.

>>33152820
No, I know. I've played the game. I know exactly what sort of insane things we're heading towards. I'm just wondering why she thought now was the appropriate time to test the effect out. The best I can figure is that she thought: "Hurray, we escaped from the horde of monsters! I'm gonna cut my head off to celebrate!"

>>33152866

Oh, that! In that case, you'll find out in a few posts.

>>33152820
Then why didn't she transform into the head then? Instead just giving a random detached head.

Also what's with the reddit-tier answers:
>>Stark used Look.jpg
>>Stark used Bitchplz.wav
>>Stark is laughing! It hurt itself in its mirth!

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"Well... its supposedly impossible, right?"

She nods.

"Well, that explains it. You wasted that... puddle thing without breaking a sweat. If it was from my head... and the Toriningen are from yours-"

"No," she says. "I figured that much already. But you plowed through a literal army of them, Stark. You were hitting them so hard they were bouncing off the bloody *ceiling.*"

You shrug. "They're really light. Hollow bones. Birdmen, you know?"

She shakes her head. "Even in the dream I can't do anything more physical then I can awake."

"I'm full-grown?"

She just frowns, and shakes her head. "Anyways, you... you just tore through an army of the most dangerous thing down here like they weren't there, and a few minutes later you're..." she waves at you. "This?"

You glare at her and point over her shoulder. She turns.

"... oh," she says, looking at her own ghost. "That."

>>33152751
>>well, as a matter of fact...
No seriously, my kid played vidya games just like that, I watched.

>>33153075
Oh, we're at the center of the maze. That's why there are two of her here. I wonder how we got here so quickly?

Also, I just checked the second thread to see what effects she needed to reclaim. We still have the Ghost and Faceless effects to go through. If she tries them on immediately after getting them like she did the Severed head, Stark's in for a rough time.

is this being pastebin'd? I missed the beginning

>>33153203
No, but the threads are being archived. Here you go: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Yume%20Nikki%20Quest

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>>33153075

"... that," you repeat. "Your own god damned ghost. That doesn't concern you one wee bit, huh?"

"Same dream, different day," she says dismissively. "Gimme." She takes the head away from you and it shrinks, diminishing from sight as she squeezes it till its no larger than a keychain fob. She tucks it into a small pocket in her pleated skirt. "Sorry it spooked you so bad, but I didn't have time to put it away. I needed the Stoplight ready. There's Toriningen down here, and they're all lunatic to begin with." She takes the stoplight - (the red "eyes" you saw, of course,) and shrinks it as well, adding it to the pocket.

Gripping your hand, she helps you to your feet. "Found this in the hallway, too," she says, reaching into her pocket... and producing your crowbar, its long length seeming to appear from nowhere.

"How the-"

"I suppose its an Effect, too," she says. "Same as your axe."

You take back your tools while Mado inspects her own ghost. The apparition hasn't changed a bit, eyes closed and ghostly.

"I'll be damned," Mado says. "That's where it went."

"What?"

She turns to you, looking pleased. "That's where it went..." she reaches towards the ghost's crown, trying to pluck the white triangle headpiece off her apparition's hair, but her hands pass right through, just like yours did. She sighs heavily and takes a step back, thinking.

You step up beside her, axe slung over your shoulder, and study the ghost as well. With the living, breathing Madotsuki beside you, its less unsettling.

Less.

"So what, we cross the streams?"

Madotsuki snaps her fingers. "Nope. What you need to do is, kill me with that axe."

>>33153297
Beg pardon?

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>>33153297

"Meth lab," you say, snapping your own fingers.

"What?"

"Somebody in the apartment below yours is running a meth lab and you're inhaling the fumes every night," you say brightly. "Man, it all makes sense now!"

She stomps on your foot, hard enough to make you yelp and hop away. "Stop screwing around! Just sack up and hit me already!"

"No fucking way!"

"You almost did it a second ago-"

"I thought you were that doppleganger thingy and that'd you'd just killed YOU and I got... upset. I can't cut you down in cold blood?"

"Its just a dream-"

"Like HELL it is!" you object. "I'm not from your dream, remember? What if it damages you? What if it KILLS you, for real?"

She shrugs. "I used to worry about that, but after a while down here, you realize it won't happen. Now just kill me already so we can get that headpiece and get the hell out of, uh, hell."

"How, exactly, does this work?" you ask her.

"MY. DREAM," she says. "Stop second-guessing me all the damn time, you idiot? Are you going to do it or not?"

>.... I really, really fucking hope you're right about this, however this works.
>No fucking way, you lunatic!

>>33153419
>.... I really, really fucking hope you're right about this, however this works.
Okay, fine. But how's she going to get back from being deaded?

>>33153419
>.... I really, really fucking hope you're right about this, however this works.

>>33153419
>.... I really, really fucking hope you're right about this, however this works.

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>>33153578
>>33153478
>>33153452

You gape at the girl, who's looking up at you with an expression of unmasked irritation. You've underestimated her before, and both times she's ended up pulling your gibbering wreck off the floor.

It is her dream, and she's handling it a lot better than you are.

"... I really, really hope you're right about this," you say, backing up slowly. "And if you fuck it up, don't you dare haunt me."

She rolls her eyes and twirls her finger in a "get on with it" gesture. You draw back your axe, line up on her slender neck, and - hesitate.

"Puuuuussy," she drones, her eyes bored.

You close your eyes and swing, the meaty, organic shock vibrating through the hickory handle with terrible clarity, the snapping sensation of her spine parting horrifically distinct. You hear her head hit the floor with a wet THUD, and tears spring from your eyes as you start shaking.

You slam the axeblade into the floor and slump against the wall, eyes closed, hugging yourself.

"Mado, please say something," you whimper. "Please."

"juuuuuuust joooooookiiiiiiiinng," a haunted, echoing voice says from ground level. "staaaaarrrk.... whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy-"

>OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE
>WAIT A GOD DAMNED MINUTE

>>33153786
>WAIT A GOD DAMNED MINUTE

mado pls don't bully

>>33153786

>WAIT A GOD DAMNED MINUTE

Screw you, Mado.

>>33153786
>OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE
and then
>WAIT A GOD DAMNED MINUTE

>>33153786
>>WAIT A GOD DAMNED MINUTE
"Shut up. If you're capable of guilt tripping you're not really dead. Besides, I've already seen this happen like three times now, I'm starting to get desensitized to the idea of you dying."

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>>33153827
>>33153841
>>33153847

The bottom drops out of your stomach so fast you almost keel over.

"Mado," you grunt, "if you're messing with me... please don't mess with me," you finish weakly, squinching your eyes tight.

"Muuuuuurdeereeeer~" the voice drones again, but this time there's a hairline crack right at the end -

- you open your eyes to see Mado's ghost lying on the floor, head next to her... head, which is spreading a horrific pool of blood all through the corridor. She winks at you, hops to her feet and unties the headband securing the headpiece. As the triangle of cloth falls away, her body gains definition and solidity, coalescing into the girl you know once more.

You gape at her, then at the rapidly melting body on the floor, then back at her.

She dangles the headpiece in one hand, smirking.

"Y-you-"

She giggles.

The sound disarms you completely, so alien in these labyrinthine, humming halls suffused with fog and ghosts.

"I've never seen someone turn green before," she sniggers. "Green." She's - she's *smiling.*

Twisted little monster.

>>33153956
Noogie time.

>>33153956
See, this is why we have to continue remaining nonchalant about the Toriningen and any other monsters we run into. It's the only way we have to mess with her head. Unless we get a "burning screaming corpse" effect or something.

>>33153956
Yank her braids

>>33154184
We could always learn her traumas and harp on them until she collapses into a quivering mess.

>>33154232
Nah, that's going too far. Especially since we're going to the Stairway soon. That room implies very bad things happened to Madotsuki, it would be unkind to poke at them to get a rise out of her.

>>33154266
The wiki says FACE forces her awake. That.. might be a problem.

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>>33153956

The smile fades all too soon as she tucks the headpiece away in her pocket, all business again. "Come on, we've got to keep moving. I've got a feeling we're short on time."

You fall in behind her as she leads the way down the hall. "How did you know that was going to work like that?"

"There can only be one dead me at a time," she replies. "In my own dream, I can't vanish, I just... change state, I guess. And that's what the triangle headpiece does - make you a ghost, make you not a ghost." She shrugs. "Dream logic. You get used to it."

"Uh huh," you say, glancing over your shoulder at your footprints in her blood, which didn't vanish with her body. You study the back of her head, feeling a bit ill just looking at her.

Carrying her own severed head around. Looking her own ghost in the eye with a shrug and a yawn. Asking you to - to -

- you shudder.

What the hell is wrong with this girl?

She leads you through the many turns and angles of the halls, which you soon recognize as a maze. Madotsuki never falters, always knowing which turn and angle to take. You keep close behind her, axe in one hand and crowbar in the other, settling into the routine of escort to keep your mind off the churning smoke overhead, the creak and cracking of the floorboards, the odd little gusts and tufts of wind.

"Is Hell the same as always?" you ask her.

She pauses at a corner, and looks around, really looks, for the first time. She turns to you, opens her mouth, and vanishes around the corner without a sound as a thin, bony hand wraps around her throat and drags her away.

>>33154401
>implying

Also wikishit isn't gonna help as OP has taken a whole lot of liberties concerning.

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>>33154463

You throw yourself against the wall and swing blindly with the crowbar just above Mado's height, and YANK. The crowbar finds purchase, dragging with it the thin neck of a Toriningen. It hits the opposite wall so hard it bounces, its pupils rolling around its mad, purple eyes as it lashes out at you with clawed hands. You duck under them easily and use the crowbar to smash it into the opposite wall as you toss the axe and snatch it higher up the handle, then swing them together. The crowbar and blade meet in the middle, the Toriningen's head flying off and rolling away down the hall.

"Mado!" you shout, turning to find her staggering against the wall, looking spooked. She rubs the angry red marks appearing on her throat and stares at the handily decapitated birdman.

"We've much further to go?" you ask.

She shakes her head. "Just a few more turns, and we should be there." She beckons at you absently and moves along, reaching into her pocket for something.

As you move to follow, your scalp tingles and a thrill bolts down your spine.

Something's wrong.

>>33154465

He is right about that one. FACE won't be a picnic. Had you entered the Stairwell last thread, Mado would have flipped her shit precisely because of that.

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>>33154601
>theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdb9FufAeZQ

"Wait," you state tersely to Mado, your body rigid. You don't know what, or why, or how, but you know something's wrong. The air smells the same; that arcid, sickeningly poisonous scent. The uncomfortable, stifling atmosphere hasn't changed, either.

But the smoke smoke of course it's smoke what were you thinking has begun to flow - quick and thin, drawn by an air current down the corridor.

Your heart freezes as you take it in, and for some reason you can't name, you know to be terrified.

"MADO," you scream. "RUN!"

You snatch her wrist and take off down the corridor, running against the air track. The walls are starting to pulse and vibrate now, the deep, thrumming hum of Hell beginning to sound less rhythmic and more hungry by the second.

"What is it?" Mado shouts over the thrum.

"Somethings coming!" you gasp, dragging her around corners and such at random. A Toriningen leaps at you but you smash its skull in with the flat of the axehead without breaking stride, the increasing breeze accelerating your alarm. The smoke overhead is streaming by now, and as you watch, licks and tongues of flame begin to crawl through it, rolling from the walls and across the smoke/air interface overhead. You redouble your speed, and soon Mado's feet are dragging and skipping as her pace slackens. You halt and turn just long enough to scoop her up -

- and rounding the corner down the corridor, you see the dragon.

>>33154851
I figured the fact that we're burning to death would eventually have some manifestation in here. I wonder if we can defeat this creature? I mean, the dragon is our own trauma, so our ability to kill Mado's might not apply here.

>>33154908
On the other hand, Mado has some effects that can be used to quench fires, so she might be able to fight it no problem. Umbrella or Yuki-Onna would probably hurt this thing.

>>33154933
Or Watering Can + Demon.

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>>33154851

The floor shakes as its sinuous, snakelike body slams into the wall, then the floor as it forces its bulk around the corner, a frill running down its sides waving and undulating in invisible convection currents. Smoke puffs from its nostrils and is sucked back in as it breathes with quick little pulses, and you feel the rush of air intensify to a cyclone, dragging you back towards it. It snakes through the air towards you, the corridor flashing over as it passes; an advancing tunnel of flame surrounding the beast as it closes in.

You spare a glance over your shoulder, and see distant windows at the corridor's end - unmarred... but looking out over a vast expanse of nothing. A drop, it is, and no telling how far.

The fire wyrm roars, a furnace bellow ripping from its mouth, and charges towards you, a firestorm in its wake.

>Ventilate that motherfucker.
>Grab Mado and dive through the windows.

>>33154994
>>Grab Mado and dive through the windows.
Yeah, we're not fireproof, and our gear doesn't seem to exist in this world. So let's run for now. Maybe we'll get an effect later that will help. But for now we run.

>>33154994
>Grab Mado and dive through the windows.

>>33154994
>Grab Mado and dive through the windows.

>>33154994
>Grab Mado and dive through the windows
Birdmen are one thing, this is a motherfucking dragon. We're nopeing the hell out of this one.

>>33154994
I'm sure we could get away with trying to fight it, would either result in Mado helping or we just gain "burnt corpse" effect or something.

>Ventilate that motherfucker.
My vote probably not going to make it though.

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>>33155103
>>33155070
>>33155058
>>33155053

The axe is light and eager in your hands, and you know just were to strike - high, in the side, where it can't defend and can't dodge as it darts after you -

- but Mado's your job right now. You swipe for her, but only brush her skirt as she charges right into the dragon's teeth. She swirls as she moves, a white cyclone darting through the heated air, an explosion of white mist and snow that resolves itself into a long-haired, bright-white figure at the same moment her blade buries to the hilt in the fire wyrm's head.

Its dying bellow shakes the structure, a horrid thunder of groaning timbers rising from all sides as it slams into the corridor floor and skids along, Mado(?) digging her slender, bare white heels into the flaming carpeting to halt the advance. She yanks the blade free and a plume of dark black smoke jets from the breach like pressurized ink, rising thermals from the wound rippling the smoke overhead. She tilts her chin up, satisfied, as the wyrm begins to deflate.

A breeze stirs around your ankles.

NO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNKotH5k10

Mado's monster form is in your arms before you realize you've moved, the windows ahead of you wide and bright and promising as you surge through the air currents drawing you back like molasses just

a little

further

PLEASE

GOD

LET

US

MA-

>>33155431
I'm a bit confused. Did the dragon explode after it was killed? Or was it just not really dead?

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>>33155431

Detonation.

The blastwave hits you like the fist of God, flinging you through the windows and into space, falling, falling, falling. You catch a glimpse of the firestorm blossoming out into space above you as you plummet, and through the numbness of your shocked nervous system you think to hug Mado tighter, for whatever good it'll do. You're high above all the world, an endless red maze of twisty-turny passages sprawling out in every direction below you like a twisted rat metropolis, and towards it you plummet, helpless to do or say anything and then something KICKS YOU IN THE BALLS.

You wheeze, tears flying from your eyes, and begin coughing weakly. A throaty, ruffling sound is coming from above you.

Mado's face is a porcelain white mask in her snow-demon form, but her surprise rings clear in her voice: "How the hell?"

You look up to find a wide, rectangular thing rustling and fluttering above you.

It's a goddamned parachute.

>>33155542

yep, exploded!

>>33155604
So Stark IS a boy
Which makes some of the other events in the quest seem slightly more awkward

>>33155671
I think that's been obvious for ages.

>>33155604
The patch! The Effect of the Montana Smokejumper Patch is to give us parachute!

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>>33155604

"The patch," you say, your voice dangerously close to cracking with nervous laughter. "The goddamned patch."

"What? The one the zombie gave you?"

"A smokejumper's patch."

"Who?" she says, looking down and quickly looking back at you, her features and body temperature returning to normal as the demon Effect fades.

"Forest fire fighters that parachute into the back-country," you explain. "I bet I'm not even singed, either." You finger one of the taut canvas parachute straps wonderingly, then reach for one of the dangling steering handles.

"H-hey, both hands," Mado says, cinching her arms around you even tighter. "I'm not strapped in!"

"Oops," you reply, wrapping your arms around her tightly. "Okay, you steer."

"No," she says, pressing her face into your shoulder and ratcheting her legs a few notches tighter around your waist.

"I bounce birdmen off the ceiling, remember? We're above the maze, here, and this is a steerable canopy. Just take a glance, we can land anywhere you want."

After a few minutes of coaxing, Madotsuki dares to peek downwards, and with a little feeback from you and tugging at the dangling handles, has the parachute drifting towards her objective - two odd, geometric... things that are slowly dancing and rotating below you.

>>33155767
Now we just need to figure out what the crowbar does. My guess is that its somehow boosting our strength. That's why we're smashing the Toriningen so easily. Or it could be Mado's relief at having another person around empowering us as a protector, and the crowbar is just a tool like the knife or axe.

>>33155829
Find a place to TEST YOUR MIGHT, and drop the crowbar, see how strong Stark is without it. Do the same with the axe in case that's the steroid artifact. Unless I missed its effect being mentioned?

>>33155881
And by TESTING OUR MIGHT I don't mean like another swarm of birdpeople, heavylifting might suffice. unless the irons' effect is only related to combat, which i doubt since they're not weapons

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You manage a graceful landing, absorbing the impact with your legs and knees. Mado peeks carefully and unlatches her legs first, feeling for terra firma before releasing your torso. The parachute fades like an old memory as it flutters to the ground, vanishing entirely after a few moments.

You take the worn old patch out of your jacket pocket and stare at it wonderingly, rubbing your thumb over the sturdy stitching.

"Come on!" Madotsuki nags a little ways away, standing near the strange rectangular... things that are doing a little dance and orbit nearby. Embedded in the wall next to them, a bit soot-stained, is your fire axe. Mado yanks it free and hands it to you.

"Mine pack away easily. I guess yours have a way of finding their way back, huh?"

You look upwards. The smoke overhead has thinned, and through the faint grey haze you see a towering building with dark windows - the maze you just vacated, looping and overlapping on itself to climb into a skyscraper of sorts. Two-thirds up its length a jet of flame is still roaring and raging from the shattered windows you left from.

"... how did you know it was going to explode like that?" she asks.

You shrug. "How did you know that head-chopping thing would work?"

She tsks, taking your point, then shoves you towards the rotating pink rectangles in the dead-end of the corridor.

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>>33155938

The rectangles turn on their short ends, bracketing you, and between them forms a dark void. Madotsuki shoves you from behind, and you stumble into something incredible.

You were ready for the dark void; (there seems to be no shortage of dark, hollow, empty spaces in Madotsuki's psyche, you've noticed,) but you weren't expecting the path. A winding road of bright multicolored tiles glows with neon hues in the darkness before you, hauntingly beautiful against the darkness.

"Neat, huh?" Madotsuki says from behind you, loud enough to make you jump. She hops onto the first tile, which flashes with a bright, happy glow. "Come on!"

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>>33156384

You gingerly step onto the first tile, which flashes brightly as your toe approaches. You clear the darkness between your position and the next square with a quick little hop, holding your axe before you like a balance-beam.

"Oh my GOD, you're a pussy," Mado chides you as she goes skipping from square to square. Grumping in her general direction, you pick up the pace. It's hard to watch your feet and still stare at the road ahead; the winding, brilliant ribbon of neon color that lights up beneath Madotsuki's feet, almost as colorful in her pink sweater and bouncing red braids.

It is, you think, the first really beautiful thing you've seen in her dream; a brilliant contrast of darkness and the riotous ribbon of light. When you see the next door ahead, you're almost disappointed.

Mado places her hand on the knob, then grins at you over her shoulder.

"Get ready for Neon world."

>>33156497
>MS Windows on her shirt
lol

Firefox has crashed FOUR CUNTING TIMES while trying to write updates so I'm switching to fucking chrome. bear with plz

>>33156497
I kind of like the dynamic that's been set up. We're perfectly fine with dangerous situations, but balk at the weirdness of this place. Mado's used to the surreal but doesn't know how to deal with the increased level of deadliness that have arrived with us. It's neat. I think horror benefits a lot from having multiple characters each reacting in their own way to what they're both seeing. Kind of like how in Ib having Gary around makes some scenes much more disturbing than they would be for Ib. And now I want to see a Gueterna Quest after this one's done. Probably wouldn't work as well, but could be fun.

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>>33156497
>theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=502o5mFfnq4

She flings wide the door, and you step into a world of vibrant life.

Another dark obsidian floor lies beneath your feet, but inlaid against it is a bright mural writ large in neon tubes, their hot glow vibrant and lively against the dark. Across the floor move all manner of fantastic creatures, their bodies outlined and pipelined with neon of all colors. This one looks like a flower, that one, a snake. Some are just faces flying through the black, grins fixed with the simple, stark geometries of 8-bit graphics. The air is alive with the beep-boop of electronic things, and so rife with eager energy you can feel it tingling on your skin.

"... wow," you marvel quietly.

"Yeah," Mado says softly. "It's not bad here, is it?"

>>33156822
"Not yet"

>>33156822
Shame that we never met Aztec Rave Monkey while we were in the Wilderness. He would love this place.

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>>33156822

Madotsuki leads you through room after room of glowing floor tiles, brilliantly-lit walls, and crowds of animated, dancing life.

"Its a ways to the door," Yume says apologetically.

"I don't mind one bit," you say, dancing around what appears to be a caterpillar with fluorescent green stripes. "I like it here."

"Don't talk too loud," she mutters.

On cue, something snarly and angry breaks through the pleasant acoustic muffle of Neon World's background.

"... a car?"

Somewhere deep in the distance, tires squeal on the ground, and soon you espy the brilliant multi-hued riot of a police car's lightbar approaching through the dark. It moves through Neon World like a rave party unto itself, the wild creatures scooting out of its way as it careens drunkenly through the nearest passageway, burns a tire-screeching donut around the vaguely anthropomorphic design glowing in the floor, and halts sidelong to you, scant feet away. The engine idles with a contented, steady purr, the siren silent and lights as bright and hot as anything in Neon World.

You slide your eyes towards Mado, but she just shrugs. "This one's all yours, buddy."

The passenger door pops open, and from within you see a grizzled figure beckon you closer.

>>33156974
>Yume says apologetically.
Who?

>>33157049

fuck I'm getting tired, sorry, meant mado

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>>33156974

"I think its okay," you say, and step towards the car.

"You sure?"

"Haven't we had this conversation already?" you say, and she concedes with a sigh. The interior is spacious, so she squeezes into the passenger seat besides you.

"Hello?" you say to the driver, a grizzled-looking mug in a worn-out jacket with a soiled silver star peeking out from inside, pinned to an unbuttoned shirt. "Do I know you?"

"Hello Starky, my old friend." he says conversationally, and puts the car in gear. He hits a switch, and the siren comes to life. "Thought I'd talk with you again. You're running out of time."

"He's right about that," Mado says quietly.

"How'd you get in here?" you ask.

"In restless dreams I walked alone," he replies. "Forgotten streets of weathered bones. "Neath the halo of a streetlamp, I lit a cig 'gainst the cold and damp, when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light - split the night," he says matter-of-factly as he lips a cigarette out of a half-crumpled soft pack.

"I see," you lie. "But what for?"

He takes a corner with a squeal of tires, drifting the vehicle with one hand on the wheel even as he lights his smoke, the car lighter leaving neon streaks glowing in the air. "Because a visitor with all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming left its seeds while you are sleeping," he says softly, taking an easy drag of his smoke and expelling it in a flurry of fluorescent orange sparks. "He kindles his only friend before he capers on the stage and oh, Starky, how I clench my fists in rage." The car's engine thrums with power, and you're pushed back into your seat by the acceleration. "You can hear him, can't you?"

"Hear who?"

"Satan. Laughing with delight." The car squeals around another corner, eliciting a matching one from Mado. "You will, soon enough. You can find him, Starky. You're the only one that can."

>>33157323
Maybe, you should write this down in your journal, Starky.

>>33157323
Why is a film noir detective quoting Simon and Garfunkle lyrics at us? And how is this somehow the weirdest thing we've encountered so far?

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>>33157323

The driver applies the brakes with a terrific squeal, eliciting a similar one from Madotsuki. You all rock back as the vehicle halts, the engine thrumming like a thoroughbred after a good run.

You ask him the only thing you can. "How?"

"Find the Origin," he says, punctuating it with a poke of his cigarette, "and you find the End. Follow the smoke, Starky. Follow the smoke."

Madotsuki disembarks with haste, and you clamber after her, placing your hand on the open windowsill and pushing the door shut.

"Oh, Starky," the driver says. "One more thing."

You lower yourself to look at the man through the window. "Yeah?"

He grins as he draws on his cig, the brilliant neon glow lighting his stubbled face and clever eyes. "Remember the turbocharger."

The engine screams, the tires burn, and like that, he's vanished into the darkness. You and Matotsuki stare after him, in silence.

"... do you ever get tired of this Da Vinci Code bullshit?" Mado asks you.

"If he's real," you tell her, "I'm going to punch the SOB when I wake up."

>>33157475
Man, this is going to bug me. I'm sure it's going to seem obvious in retrospect like the firefighter thing did, but right now I've got nothing. Well, a few ideas, but nothing concrete.

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>>33157475

Your mysterious friend dropped you off in front of a door lit with bright bulbs. You push it open, and find yourself back in the Nexus.

"Home again, home again," you say, walking into the middle of the circle and turning about, studying all the doors. "Where to next?"

Madotsuki sighs, her expression closing up. "Looks like you get your wish."

You turn away from her, surveying the room until you turn back to her. "Okay, which door leads to the day Goldeneye was released?"

Her sour expression doesn't change. Instead, she heads for two doors at the top of the circle... and walks between them to stand before the most boring one of all.

The plain, wood-paneled door of her bedroom.

"There's no way in hell we can go back to Number World," she says. "But we need a bed... so, come on."

Shouldering your trusty axe once again, you walk up to her, and she opens the door to her bedroom.

>>33157638
The snow world has a bed and is really close by, you kinda dropped the ball here.

>>33157323
Great, now I have The Sound of Silence stuck in my head. Thanks, mate.

>>33157694
The bed in the bedroom is even closer though

>>33157724
But she was against going into her room earlier.

Or now she's full tsuntsun.

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Okay, I'm calling it a night because I'm tired and keep making silly spelling mistakes. NEXT THREAD: I'd do it on Friday, per the norm, but that's the 4th of July. Yea or Nay?

>>33157694

tl;dr, after the puddle doppleganger in the normally empty Puddle World and the fucking FIRE WYRM in Hell, Mado doesn't feel like taking any more chances. Spaghetti containment is easier than defeating whatever else their collective ids throw out there, eh?

>>33157712

NO PROBLEMO

>>33157746

She also needed to pick up the Head effect from the Guillotine room, which is literally next door to the Bed Room, but this time she's got no excuses.

>>33157780
Might be a bit slow since it's nighttime yuropooristan in the first place and with clappers out of the picture as well.

>>33157780
Nay, no one will be on, can you do it tomorrow? Saturday is World Cup too.

>>33157857

Can't tomorrow, I've got a Thing on Thursday nights. Sunday, then?

Okay, let's go through this.

>"Hello Starky, my old friend." "Thought I'd talk with you again. You're running out of time."
>"In restless dreams I walked alone," he replies. "Forgotten streets of weathered bones. "Neath the halo of a streetlamp, I lit a cig 'gainst the cold and damp, when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light - split the night,"
Reference to "Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkle. Song with themes of seeing without understanding, speaking without communicating. Willful ignorance and pursuit of false goals. Doesn't bode well. Note that "Forgotten streets of weathered bones" should be "Narrow streets of cobblestone", this is only significant change from original text, not clear what that means. Closest thing that comes to mind is Rat Alley, from "The Wasteland".

>Because a visitor with all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming
Easy one, this. Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". This is a description given of the Raven itself. Possibly meant to identify the "villain". Likely not literal, though. In the poem alludes to the emptiness of the Raven's gaze.

>left its seeds while you are sleeping
Sound of Silence, again.

>"He kindles his only friend before he capers on the stage and oh, Starky, how I clench my fists in rage."
From "American Pie" by Don McLean: "Cause fire is the devil's only friend/Oh, and as I watched him on the stage/My hands were clenched in fists of rage ". No help with this one, Don McLean deliberately never said what the song was about. Often interpreted about being the loss of innocence in American culture, though.

>"Find the Origin," he says, punctuating it with a poke of his cigarette, "and you find the End. Follow the smoke, Starky. Follow the smoke."
No idea on this one, I don't think it's a reference.

> "Remember the turbocharger."
Same with this. Probably just an actual direction, not an oblique reference.

>>33157886
Following this quest has put more scheduling on me than the last 6 months combined. I'll be checking in on any time, really.

>>33157780
I'm good any time you want to run. I'm just enjoying the ride.

>>33157889
>No idea on this one, I don't think it's a reference.
Probably speaking of the fire in the house. Not that I know how it would help us.

>>33157935
>>33157911

AWESOME. Consider it on for SUNDAY, 5PM EST. Maybe sooner, if I can swing it.

>>33157889

Don't sweat this one too much; some of it won't become obvious until the very end. If you figure it out before it becomes obvious though, I will be very impressed

>>33157960
Oh, you say not to sweat it, but it's going to haunt me until we figure it out. Congratulations on managing to work all those together coherently, though. That's nicely done.

Archive?

>>33158009

Done! Thanks for the reminder, and thanks to whoever archived it for me last time.

I love everything about this quest: the nightmare worlds, the atmosphere, the way it's narrated, the ongoing mindfucks, the characterization of Madotsuki and Stark, the way they interact with each other, how Stark's own Id seems to twist and interact with Mado's, and once again the goddamned mindfucks.

I particularly love how both characters are screwed up in their own complementary ways. In the dream world each of them has their moments when they are strong, and their moments when they are weak. It really feels like they need each other to deal with the effects of their intertwining nightmares and the sheer alieness of seeing the dark recesses of another's mind made manifest. Also as characters they both feel very real even within the utter surreality of their environment, and I like how they keep snarking at each other in an effort to cope with the insanity around them.

All in all, it's an excellently done work. I salute you.

>>33157889
Origin probably refers to that of a fire. Likewise with following the smoke. Not sure what the End refers to. Possibly an area that has already burned out, so you're safe?

Turbocharger might refer to an accelerant, but that's uncertain. Need to look up firefighting methods that involve tracing the origin of a fire and following the smoke back to its source.

Possibly an arson investigator? Could be a teacher or mentor, but that doesn't explain why he's driving a cop car. He may not be someone we know personally, as well, like the Smokejumper.