I fear my new banner has made the quest unnoticed. Still, here and waiting for opening votes.

>>33721621
>Is everything alright?

>>33721621
Oh, this is on. Neat.
>Is everything alright?
>Oh Hanako, you didn’t tell her, did you?

>>33721621
>>Is everything alright?
>>Your gramps is still an ass.

Writing

>Is everything alright?

Imouto time!

File: Big Changes Quest Banner.png (629 KB, 982x1651)

629 KB PNG

You cough to draw attention to yourself in the doorway. Hanako’s face snaps and focuses on you with a nervous smile. Hitomi is only a second behind her, moving with slow deliberate speed. The smaller girl hadn’t been crying, but looks mildly upset about something.

“Is,” you venture with a slight amount of worry, “everything alright?”

Hanako looks to aside sheepishly and nervously laughs beneath a forced smile. Her sister straightens her hair and takes a deep breath, the tension melts from her face and her usual cool demeanor reasserts itself.

“My sister was just apologizing for running off one me last night,” she says quite simply and plainly, “and that I don’t blame her for...anything,”

“Then she kind of got the drop on me,” Hanako scratches her cheek, “and I started to panic,”

Chuckling, you close the door behind yourself and walk up before the two of them and lay your hands on your hips and your eyes zero into Hitomi.

“So, what did you get the drop on her with?” you inquire.

“If she made a move on you last night,”

Okay, maybe you feel a bit guilty about that. Before you can respond you twitch in a sharp and quickly passing pain, something made your ear pop. The paper door reverberates against an unheard sound, and you hear the muted music calling from far off.

This song, it is a symphony of fury, and it is not sung for you. Thunder sounds again in the distance, breaking the gentle hiss of the rain. Hanako jumps at the unexpected crash, Hitomi continues to look up at you with her usual impassive eyes.

>”I don’t kiss and tell.”
>”Nothing happened.”
>”Maaaaaybe.”
>”I’ve gotta go.”
>”We broke furniture,”
>Say nothing, leave

>>33722707
"I'll only tell my imouto"

>>33722707
>”Maaaaaybe.”
>”I’ve gotta go.
We have to be infuriatingly playful.

>>33722707
>"Hmmm, who knows."
>”I don’t kiss and tell.”

>>33722707
>”I’ve gotta go.”
Also say:
"Hanako, it's the same as before."
So that she knows that she needs to stay put.

>>33722707
>”Maaaaaybe.”
>”I’ve gotta go.”

Writing

You can’t lose step, not going to let Hitomi get under your skin.

“Maaaaaaybe,” you lean forward and smile coyly prompting a blush to spread across Hanako’s face, “anyway, I’ve gotta go,”

Turning back the way you came you make quick strides to the sliding door. Hanako hops up and trails after you, laying a hand on your shoulder.

“Wait, do you need an umbrella. I heard the rain start,” she says worried.

“And why must you be going so soon?” Hitomi inquires, “Not scared of a little more makeup. Are you?”

With a gentle hand you free yourself from Hanako’s grasp. Giving her a soft smile you slide open the door and look back over your shoulder. The static hiss of rain grows louder and the grass of the garden before you twitches and casts dancing shadows with another shuddering flash of lightning.

The thunder sounds near simultaneously in perfect time and pitch with the song in the distance. Your hair stands on end.

“Its like before, Hanako,” you say warmly behind serious eyes, “I’ll see you tonight. Okay?”

She looks up at you worriedly. Hitomi doesn’t seem confused, just observing in her quiet and contemplative manner.

“Oh…” Hanako whispers before picking up and forcing a broad smile, “Stay safe, Tsubasa-chan,”

Closing the door between you, you break into a run for the gate as the sky flashes with an electrical fury. Bolts of lightening rain in the distance on the city’s central areas, bypassing the tower and prompting red sparks and small explosions along the sides of shorter structures and on the streets below. Is the enemy you face another electrical monster like the armadillo? You’ll know soon enough.

Somewhere in the empty street a few blocks from the Yukimura Manor, the music grows more clear. Now to take action. Time to locate this threat and take it on.

>What actions do you wish to take?

>>33723408
Enter an unoccupied alley, have the Red and Black armor us, then fly towards the source of the song.

>>33723408
>>33723463
I'm gonna have to back this, it's simple and straightforward but sometimes that's what you need.

>>33723408
>Locate the source of the song, then try to figure out the general area and plan your approach from there.

>>33723463
>>33723489
In addition, we should combine our Penetrating MidGrade Cosmic Awareness and our Hidden Presence to stealth and find the point where the music is strongest.

We can use our Electro-Gravitational control to see if the lightning is positively or negatively charged, and then surround ourselves in an ionic cloud to prevent being hit by lightning.

I'm going to need two dice pool roll against difficulty Eight and then difficulty 5.

State which pool you are rolling in the comment field.

First Pool (24 dice): 20d6 with 4 points to elevate any 3s rolling into 4s to be counted as successes.

Second Pool: (21) 20D6 and 1 point to distribute to turn a roll of 3 into a 4 that it may count as a success.

Rolled 4, 1, 3, 3, 5, 4, 2, 4, 6, 6, 1, 1, 6, 2, 3, 6, 3, 4, 3, 5 = 72

>>33723767
Second pool (21) rolling. Uh, what was the max number of dice you could roll again? I can't remember.|

>>33723803
Twenty I believe. Hence the listed overflow points.

Rolled 4, 3, 6, 2, 2, 1, 6, 4, 1, 4, 5, 3, 5, 3, 5, 4, 6, 5, 5, 6 = 80

>>33723767
First Pool roll.

Rolled 6, 5, 4, 4, 1, 2, 4, 4, 1, 2, 4, 5, 4, 3, 6, 2, 2, 3, 2, 4 = 68

>>33723767
Second Pool roll.

Rolled 1, 3, 6, 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 2, 2, 2, 6, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 5, 4, 6, 1, 1, 1, 5 = 75

>>33723859
Testing this with 30d6. Assume the first 24 or part thereof are for the first pool.

>>33723920
So, looks like the max is 25d6. Does this change anything?

>>33723948
Hmmm, useful knowledge at least.

>>33723948
Only for the future.

Okay calling it.

First Pool: 16 vs 8. 4 Degrees of Success
Would you like to bank them or spend them to define an aspect of the scene relevant to your use of Cosmic Awareness.

Second Pool: 12 vs 5, 3 Degrees of Success.
Would you like to bank them or use them to define an aspect of the scene relevant to your stealth mode?

>>33724099
>first pool
Bank 3, definition: Accurate

>Second Pool
All in, define as Complete Undetectability

>>33724099
First pool:
Can we tell EXACTLY where the song is coming from? If not, use however many degrees we need to get best location.
Also, use one to find Tomoe and go talk with her about things before we start. Best to keep her in the loop.
Second pool: Use a degree to make sure the singer, as it were, doesn't notice our approach (at least until we're really close).
Any others bank.

>>33724413
Those are the same last 5 as I see, but only 25 dice show up. What are the first 5?

>>33724480
Ha, nevermind that post, I didn't bother actually counting out the dice and was scrolled too far down the screen to compare it to the length of the other dice rolls.
4chan X displays 'Rolled 30d6' before it lists the dice result, so I assumed there were actually 30d6.

Okay, Five minutes on the clock.

1 All points spent to define us being super secret sneaky completely undetectable
2 All banked.

Reply to this post with no comment, no dice, no punctuation, or anything.

Just the number of your choice. Posts that do not follow the rules or are made after 5 minutes are void.

>>33724576
1

>>33724576
1

>>33724576
1

3 points to the bank from pool 1, 1 point spent on accuracy

4 points spent being the superest fucking sneakiest most invisible stealthy thing ever.

>>33724749
Great!

Ducking into a side street you relax your hold on the red and black. Your clothing born from it unraveling and sinks beneath your skin, leaving you exposed to the pattering of the elements above for a second before the slick carapace rises up and washes over your in a midnight tidal shift.

Black tendrils explode from your back in, they whip in wild abandon before twisting around one another and forming your two biomechanical wings. They smooth out and extend over you, offering some respite from the downpour as your predatory red eyes search the sky above. Each of your senses comes to fire and power, including the general state of awareness of the world around you, watching the ebb and flow of electromagnetic currents and the contrast of temperatures.

Your eyes break open as the curling black stretches across your cheeks. You know. Six people are arranged equidistant by a quarter mile in a circle around Tokyo Tower. Directly above the tower a storm tower is building and twisting into the sky. Something is inside of it, it’s shape amorphous and indistinct, but it is there, a super colony of nanomachines controlling the storm at the command of the singers, emulating and relaying Maestro’s composition.

With a beat of your wings, wholly unnecessary but it makes you feel good anyhow, you rise into the sky as your face is completely subsumed by the swirling crimson and dark. It hardens and grows sleek around you, your wings pressing close into yourself and giving you a low profile as you rocket along invisible currents toward the heart of the storm.

The assault on the city seems minimal so far, but the power above is rising with the discharges as a side effect. As you pass overhead you see one of the singers, a woman in yellow and green robes. Arms shackled to the rooftop on which she stands.

>>33725405
You need to stop this, and you want that colony. Even after eating this morning you want more. You need more. You deserve more. The hardened faceplate of your carapace splits along your lips and you gasp at the air wanting and hungry.

It isn’t hungry.

It isn’t anything but the song.

>Into the storm to stop this build up.
>Into the storm to fight and feast.
>Investigate the Emulators
>Go to Tokyo Tower and try to break the coming attack
>Other

>>33725434
>Into the storm to stop this build up.
No feasting just yet.

>>33725434
>Investigate the Emulators
Destroy the things protecting the boss.

>>33725434
>Into the storm to fight and feast.
Feed the beast!

>>33725434
>Into the storm to stop this build up

>>33725559
The Emulators are the Singers, and their purpose seems to be more of a control mechanism rather than a shield.

>>33725434
>Investigate the Emulators
Seems like the reasonable move.

Five minutes on the clock. Link this post. No punctuation or comments or nothing or your vote is void.

1 Into the storm to stop this build up
2 Investigate the emulators

Reply with the number of your choice only. After five minutes the votes don't count.

GO

>>33725737
1

>>33725737
1

>>33725737
2

Making a phone call, then writing

>>33725737
And I'm late to the quest, but my vote just would have tied for Emulator investigation.

..Diving into the center of the control area and focus seems.. somewhat foolhardy.
Impressive if we pull it off. Painful either way.

>>33726122
Either one of two things would've happened if we had wasted time investigating the emulator controls:
It would allow the boss enough time to charge his super attack and kill everyone inside Tokyo tower.
We'd break the maestro's control...and then the boss would kill everyone inside Tokyo tower, because it's a now-rogue nanite monstrosity.

At least, that's my view on the situation.

>>33726122
We're going to be fighting against something that has full control, rather than something that is reeling from losing its controllers.

>>33726210
We also have a power to hijack control away from the Maestro, something which we could have used if we investigated the Emulators.

>>33726210
A less focused and controlled lightning monster seems like it would build up power as well either, and possibly be faster to stop.

>>33726235
How do you know it'd be reeling?
How do you know it wouldn't just immediately start instinctively attacking the nearest living thing, i.e. the humans in the tower?

We *could* have done that, but it might've failed or we could've failed to gain control, in which case we wind up with dozens of dead humans.
It would also have given away our presence to the Maestro, he doesn't know we're here yet and that gives us an advantage during this first strike.

Not to mention, Gyoji was unsatisfied with how easily we wiped the kaiju, he wouldn't let us just auto-win the fight by assuming direct control.

>>33726359
Okay, so it builds up slower, I still don't think it would make up for the amount it manages to build up while we're disrupting control.


Yes, this decision likely makes the boss harder to fight, but I'd rather fight a harder boss than risk having humans die when we could prevent it.

Back and tacking away.

>>33726451
Tokyo Tower is designed to attract and channel lightning strikes, and any people inside the Tower would be protected from lightning strikes.

I think you just made this fight harder for no return.

Remaining unseen you soar up and into the now swirling storm tower. With careful maneuvering you avoid direct contact with the normally invisible force of the giant nano colony dispersed through the storm, puppeteer strings of the song washing past you.

In the center of the tower is an empty column, an unnatural eye to the storm where bolts of lightning and electromagnetic forces have created a singular building point of contained plasma. Arcing electricity drawing out pre fusion solar fuel from the moisture in the air. Before too much longer it will become a column of burning hydrogen death upon the city below.

It is tended with care and in time with the rising song by the invisible reach of the colony. It is fussed over and preened like a prized and precious pet.

>How do you want to neutralize this build up?

>>33726655
Somebody should've mentioned that, I don't really know a huge amount about japanese landmarks.

Although, do you really think something that channels normal lightning is prepared for a nanite monstrosity built around controlling lightning's super attack?
They wouldn't be about to attack the tower if it wasn't going to do anything.

>>33726796
It's not attacking the Tower, it's attacking the entire city.
It's was intentionally avoiding the tower with its lightning strikes.

>>33726828
>>33726796

Refresh Gents, and tell me how you'd like to deal with >>33726688

>>33726828
Then what was the other guy's point?
If it's going to attack everywhere that *isn't* the tower, then the tower being lightning-proofed is irrelevant.
It also adds even more urgency to preventing his attack, since it would likely be dozens or even hundreds rather than whoever is in Tokyo Tower at that moment who would lose their lives.

>>33726688
It's currently bottled the hydrogen plasma with electromagnetic force, right?

We can use our electro-gravitic control and Symphony of the Ancients to disrupt control at the top of the bottle, and breach containment prematurely. The plasma will go up and fizzle out in the storm clouds, as long as we prevent the Emulators from reasserting control over the containment.
We only need to break containment for a millisecond for the entire plasma bottle to collapse.

>>33726899
Pointing out that Tokyo Tower is lightning-proof is to show that the concern of a lightning attack on the Tower is irrelevant.

And as shown in this post >>33726688
the attack is actually a plasma bottle, which needs to be precisely controlled, and the slightest disruption of control will result in the containment bottle collapsing prematurely and the entire attack failing.
And disrupting the Emulators would have resulted in disrupting the containment and feeding efforts, requiring that the remaining Emulators devote their attention just to maintain containment and slowing down their ability to feed more hydrogen into the plasma.

>>33727001
Tokyo tower itself being attacked isn't what I was concerned about, it's the fact that humans might die.
We can disrupt the attack just as easily from here.

The other post you linked is something we didn't know about until *after* the choice, you can't win an argument about a decision based solely upon hindsight.

The fact is, nobody presented any kind of argument about the emulators, if you wanted people to choose that, you should've stated things to persuade them or reasons for them to not just go with their gut feeling.
My gut feeling was to go with the choice I felt was least likely to result in civilian casualties.

Uncapping the bottle.

21d6 vs Difficulty 9

Best of three

Rolled 1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 4, 6, 3, 3, 1, 6, 3, 3, 6, 5, 2, 6, 6, 1, 6, 4 = 82

>>33727312
Gut feelings are for chumps.

Rolled 5, 3, 6, 2, 4, 5, 5, 3, 6, 5, 6, 5, 1, 6, 4, 6, 4, 3, 6, 6, 6 = 97

>>33727312

Rolled 4, 1, 3, 2, 6, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 5, 3, 3, 6, 3, 1, 6, 1, 4, 3, 3 = 71

>>33727312
Well...

16 vs 9

3 degrees of success

Would you like to Bank them or use them to describe an aspect of the scene?

>>33727407
Use them.
Disordered Control, as in our interference is enough disruption to cause multiple small breaches which is enough to bleed off the plasma and introduce relatively colder temperatures resulting in the plasma collapsing back down to a high temperature gas, which mixes with the oxygen and cause small explosions, further disrupting the containment bottle until it loses full containment.
From the ground it just sounds like multiple and very power thunderbooms.

>>33727579
Yeah, this is a good idea.

>>33727330
>Gut feelings are for chumps
Why do you say that, exactly?
It's really just a turn-of-phrase, and there's little else to rely on when there are multiple decisions that aren't obviously bad and nobody bothered making an argument for any of the other decisions.

>>33727579
Seconding this, why not.

Writing

>>33727579
This. Sounds like sciencefag here knows what he's talking about.

>>33727719
Going with a gut feeling means that you didn't really think the decision through, or that you only took a cursory look at the options and the information presented before arriving at the decision. Just because the choices aren't obviously bad doesn't mean that certain ones can't be better than others, and that sufficient thought won't be able to discern the difference.
And you expect other people to do that thinking for you, if you only go on gut feelings.

>>33727817
I didn't say I just go on gut feeling or that I didn't bother thinking my decision through.
What I meant by 'going with my gut feeling' in that context is that once I've thought my options through, and can't narrow them down to a single choice, I just listen to my instinct, or to the thoughts of others.
I couldn't decide between going after the emulators or preventing the build-up directly, and nobody had stated any good reason to go one way or the other, so I listened to my gut.

Amid the cloud cover you widen the profile of your wings and join the choir. The close to the core you overshadow it, and their careful ministrations become for naught. Breaches form along the containment as you break their fields and circuits. Carefully matching their frequencies and the amperage of their tools of control until you are able to exercise pinpoint interference. The core of plasma vents and mixes with the atmosphere, and the storm tower above the basic cloud cover is ripped apart by rushing and the displacement of a great series of explosions.

The song changes, it retracts. Their primary widespread offensive broken, they are readily changing tactics.

Collapsing upon itself, the dispersed mass of nanomachines throughout the stormcloud take a shape. Abandoned of their amorphous and nigh invisible state, they coalesce where the center of the column once waited. Microscopic piece by piece they form into the naked shape of a muscular man, ruggedly unshaved at the face and with long and hanging curly hair. His eyes are vacant, but glow and spark with blue light.

He raises his hands and the clouds all around you disperse, revealing blue skies over Tokyo. Creeping white consumes his form, and he becomes less than a man and more akin to a greek statue of flawed marble.

Your ministrations and interference have exposed you to their awareness. No matter, you’ve always been one to prefer a direct fight.

The smell of Ozone fills your senses as he roars.

He is no being fused with a colony. He IS a colony, as ancient as the parts within yourself.

You smile and salivate, your every part bristling, warm, and screaming in excitement and the imminent call to violence.

Big Changes Quest Thread 20 End

>>33728170
So what would have happened if we had gone after the Emulators first?

>>33728170
Thanks for running! Looking forward to some action next time.

>>33728226
You are welcome, and there indeed should be action next time.

>>33728222
You could have interfaced with them, consumed their nanites, and broken their control over the impromptu plasma bomb and then probably had to face a raging mindless and tactic-less Ancient Nanocolony Regional Overseer Class.

>>33728336
>face a raging mindless and tactic-less Ancient Nanocolony Regional Overseer Class.
So instead we face a controlled and intelligent Ancient Nanocolony Regional Overseer Class with human-level or better tactics and thinking.

>>33728336
I'm glad we did what we did, then.
The predictability of a tactic-less opponent wouldn't be worth the possible deaths that this guy going berserk in a fight with us in the middle of a city would cause.

>>33728461
Controlled by the Maestro, so probably about as smart as the average dog.
Seriously though, don't underestimate how dangerous an opponent that has stopped giving a shit about taking damage or surviving can be.

>>33728532
>the possible deaths that this guy going berserk in a fight with us in the middle of a city would cause.
And you think that Maestro and his Emulators give a shit about collateral damage?
In fact, it'll be worse because they'll order the nanocolony to aim at civilian targets, forcing us to tank the hits or let civilians get burned.

>>33728609
I think that him focusing on the only thing that's actually a threat would limit collateral, yes.
A berserk opponent would likely just attack whatever's near, and probably just release lightning all over the place.

>Directing lightning bolts at civilians
Electro-gravitational control, we have other ways of defending people than our meat-body.

>>33728702
Their aim isn't to kill Tsubasa, it's to 'make her fulfill her potential'. And what better means than be continuing to attack the city, except now doing it with purpose and using feints and other maneuvers in order to maximize casualties.

They're not going to focus on Tsubasa because they WANT to cause collateral damage.

You may continue your discussions and what not, but you also have 7 points in the bank.

Are there any purchases/changes you wish to make at the end of this thread?

>>33728799
They want Tsubasa to evolve, yes, and they plan on doing that by drawing her out and forcing her to fight strong opponents.
If we hadn't come, then Zeus would've just started murdering everybody to force us to confront him, now that we're here they have no reason to kill civilians unless we try to flee.

If they don't focus on us, then we'll just have to remind them why that's a really bad idea.
Either way, highest priority is protecting humans.

>>33729049
If they don't focus on us, then we have to spend most of our effort protecting people, not attacking the nanocolony.

>>33728939
I'd like to get some kind of teleportation or flash step-type ability, but that might be too sci-fi.

Spatial Rift Manipulation?
Wormholes are a thing.

>>33729168
Defense roll to block his attack on the civies, offense roll to atomic phoenix his face off.
We do have non-melee abilities.

>>33729231

I look forward to your tactics and makin use of doubling down on offense or defense as the situation calls for.

There seemed to be a decent amount of arguing. Hopefully the combat goes smoothly...

Also, Your opponent has been properly statted and is ready for you, good luck.