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Last time of Hunter x Hunter quest....

The fight with the Blackwood gang finally came to a brutal and surprising close. After the bloody battle with Esau Blackwood, Derrick walked outside in order to aid Rea Springfield in her fight but instead he finds out that the fight had long ended and that Rea had slaughtered the 60+ members of the armed gang using some kind of “Invisible monster”.

This left Derrick bloody and alone as he ventures forward toward the Moonlight Forest in order to reach the Hunter Exam.

What does the mysterious forest hold in store for our protagonist? Where is Rea? Will he be able to survive and make it home a hunter?

And so the story continues…!

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The long walk was made even longer considering you had to carry this suicidal idiot on your back. But nonetheless you still made it to the main road leading to your destination.

It’s only 20 minutes on foot from here, half that once you get this idiot off your back. “Alright man, I think this is where you get off.” You say to Johnnie,

“Thanks for getting me out of there man but there’s no way I get home from here and I don’t have my phone.”

“You wait till now to mention that?”

“Sorry man, don’t you have a phone in that bag?” He says as he points to your Dufflebag, you made sure to pick up before leaving town.

“Nope, I only packed food, a laptop and a few other ‘items’ ”

“Well damn man, how the hell I am supposed to get home?”

You look up to the sky and look to the position of the sun, it looks like it’s about 3:00 pm, you have time, but not enough time to head back to the city and still make it through in time. Not to mention your wounds are still fresh from your last fight and the rough-patch job you did to stop the bleeding won’t hold for long and you have no idea where the hell Rea is, so your all alone too.

So in essence, you’re bloody, beaten and alone, “Oh man this sucks…” you sigh out. You look to the road and turn your head to city, you wonder for a second if you have the stamina to run the entire way, or if you should just leave him behind and hope someone comes to pick him up. You try to debate the pros and cons of each option, but you hear a sound coming from up the road and turn your head to face it.

As you turn your head, you see something approaching fast!

You look closely at the approaching figure in the distance. It's moves very fast and it has a very strange shape to it. You can't make it out from this distance.

Is it car? No it’s too small. Does it have legs? Is it some kind of magical beast? Wait no. Someone’s riding it!

As you look at the strange creature, trying to figure out what it is, someone shouts at you, “Oh! Well what do we have here!?” a cute-sounding voice resounds from the distance, “Stay right there! Don’t worry, I’m not a threat!” the woman on top of the strange beast waves at you. “What the hell is that?” Darby says from your shoulder.

>Examine: What the hell is that thing? The woman on top of it says she’s not a threat. So maybe it wouldn’t hurt to at-least hear her out before you dash into the nearest set of bushes.

>Run away: You definitely don’t want to stick around to check if she’s dangerous or not, You’ve been through enough shit today. You got the distance advantage, you can probably out-run her.

>Attack: It’s just one after the other isn’t it? You won’t even give this woman a chance to trick you. You'll attack her the second she enters your effective range.

>>1914782
>>Examine: What the hell is that thing? The woman on top of it says she’s not a threat. So maybe it wouldn’t hurt to at-least hear her out before you dash into the nearest set of bushes.

>>1914877
I will wait 20 more minutes before making my next post.

>>1914877
>writing

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You decide that the running isn’t worth the effort and decide to stay by the side of the road and talk with the strange woman.

Her machine stops on a dime and she turns to face you. With hair as pink as candy and a face just as sweet, she greets you with a smile that could melt icebergs as she speaks to you in a pleasant soft voice, “Thank you for Not running! For some reason, everyone who sees me runs away. It’s made feel a little unwanted.” She says with genuine sadness in her voice.

You have so many questions, but you ask the first one that comes to mind, “What’s that weird thing you’re riding on? It looks like a science project gone horribly right.” You say bluntly.

She gasps as she puffs her cheeks at you, “How dare you! Muma is neither a science project nor weird! She’s very special and one of my best friends.” She says as she wags her finger, scolding you.

“Muma? That thing has a name? What’s it even supposed to be?”

“Ohhhhhh, are you curious about Muma?" She says with an excited voice.

"Um, yes?" you answer, a little confused why she seems so enthralled,


"Muma is a the next step in military defense! her real name is M.U.M.A.S.U. Which stands for Mobile Unmanned Modular Attack and Scouting Unit. She's a highly advanced, customization combat A.I, designed to function as both a scouting and attack unit. What makes more powerful then most Unmanned vehicles is that she is also a learning A.I. She learns and adapts to every new area she goes and improves with every enemy she fights!”

“…What?” you say, utterly blown away by what you just heard.

“What? Did i stutter? Was I not specific enough for you? Do I need to give a run-down of each of its functions and attachments for you to get it?” She says, with growing excitement in her voice.

You almost thinks she’s making fun of you for a second. But that shine in her eyes tells you she’s just waiting for you to say ‘What?’ again, so she can tell you all about her war machine.

Realizing you almost fell into her trap, you quickly shake your head and change the line of questioning before she has a chance to drown you in an engineering lesson.

“No I understand. Why do you call it Muma though?” the shine in her eye fades but the smile on her face remains as she explains the reasoning behind the nickname of her deathbot.

“Because it’s cute! M.U.M.A.S.U is such a scary-sounding name. I thought I’d give her a cute nickname to make her more appealing!”

“You gave an attack robot a cute nickname to make it more, ‘appealing’?”

“Defense bot! And just cause Muma was designed to hurt people doesn’t mean she has to be named like it! I like to think one’s path in life is described by their actions and not their Births.”

“So is she going to kill us or not? I don’t get it anymore.” Darby questions from your shoulder, you share his sentiment.

You’re so confused right now it hurts, like physically hurts. You don’t know if it’s because you can’t wrap your head around the ethical issues of giving death machines cute names or if it’s because you don’t know why you’re even debating it in the first place.

You remove all the unnecessary thoughts from your head and begin asking important questions, “Okay that’s cool and all. But what I want to know is why you’re talking to me and who you are.” You shift to a more serious tone of voice.

You don’t know why she’s even talking to you in the first place, this whole cutsey act could just be a hoax to screw with you.

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“Oh! Sorry, I forgot my manners. My name is Etheline Brooks! Proud daughter of the current CEO of Ethical Engineering. Nice to meet you!”

You turn your head in confusion, "Ethical Engineering? The hell is that? Is that some-kind of engineering company?”

Both Etheline and Darby gasp from your confused reaction.

Darby speaks in a surprised voice as he explains, “Don’t you know? Ethical Engineering is known as the biggest engineering company on the planet! They build Computers, security systems, Cars, construction equipment, military equipment, the list goes on. If you own any modern machine, the Ethical Engineering’s logo should be plastered on it.” You did notice an overly colorful logo with the initials EE, engraved into it,

“They’re known as the lead inventors in every field of mechanics, it amazes me you’ve never heard of them, do you live under a rock man?”

No, you live under a shitty run-down bar on the bad-side of town. You were too busy dodging gunfire to care about big brand names.

Meanwhile, Etheline nods proudly as Darby continues to sing the companies praises, “they’ve been around for over 50 years. They've grown to make marks on the global economy and Ever since they became a conglomerate two years ago, the company’s influence has basically to spread to every facet of modern life. I think they even own the office I work at.”

“It’s so nice to hear that our name is so well-respected! It just means I’ve got huge shoes to fill when my Dad steps down.”

Well that was one hell of an introduction. But you couldn’t care about some big name tech company, back where you came from, the more money you made, the more people you stepped on to obtain it. Powerful businesses are always built on a mountain of sin and shame. You’re sure Ethical Engineering is no different.

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But that’s enough of the cynicism and cute introductions. you look Etheline straight in the eye and ask the question that she seems to keep dodging.

“Why did you come talk to us? And for that matter what are you doing in this area? A rich girl like you, going on a stroll along the countryside? Just seems a little weird.” You say with a serious tone, you aren’t going to let the little engineering princess control the conversation anymore.

You intended for that question to put pressure on her but instead she just displays a concerned look and answers with no hesitation, “Are you suspicious of me? That makes sense, I would be worried too if someone came up to me for no apparent reason but don’t worry.” She reaches behind her and presses a button on the back of her robot, after a few shakes, a hatch opens on the side of the machine. a variety of medical supplies fall onto the opened hatch.

Etheline picks up a pack of gauze bandages and points to a bloody spot on your legs, “Have you looked at yourselves in the mirror? You looked so battered and broken you reminded me of an overworked factory machine. I couldn't just ignore you!”

She gradually moves closer with the medical supplies, what will you do?

>Let her heal you: You can feel your wounds re-opening as you speak, you need proper medical attention if you want to make through this exam without bleeding to death, you think you can trust this woman enough to heal you.

>Question her: This isn't right. She seems far too nice and way to prepared for your situation, this feels like a trap. You don’t what kind of poisons and drugs she could hit you with while she ‘heals’ you. You best back away and find the real reason why she tried to approach you.

>Steal her medical supplies: You don’t need to let her heal you, you just need those supplies and you could nab them while she’s trying to hand them to you. Whether it’s filled with poisons or medicine, it will come in handy for later, she sure as hell won’t miss it.

>Only the First 5 votes will count.

Just got here.
Reading.
Looks like we have more people this time too :)

>>1915131
>>Question her: This isn't right. She seems far too nice and way to prepared for your situation, this feels like a trap. You don’t what kind of poisons and drugs she could hit you with while she ‘heals’ you. You best back away and find the real reason why she tried to approach you.

>>1915131
>>Let her heal you: You can feel your wounds re-opening as you speak, you need proper medical attention if you want to make through this exam without bleeding to death, you think you can trust this woman enough to heal you.
We already know who she is and we have a witness. If she does anything funny she won't get away with it.

More importantly we need to find Rea above all else because not only did she hire us to be her body guard, but she's our friend and ally in the Hunter Exam.

>>1915131
>Let her heal you: You can feel your wounds re-opening as you speak, you need proper medical attention if you want to make through this exam without bleeding to death, you think you can trust this woman enough to heal you.

>>1915155
>>1915194
>>1915279
Seems like heal is going to win, still need two more votes, but i'l wait two minutes before deciding.

>>1915131
>>Question her: This isn't right. She seems far too nice and way to prepared for your situation, this feels like a trap. You don’t what kind of poisons and drugs she could hit you with while she ‘heals’ you. You best back away and find the real reason why she tried to approach you.

>>1915348
Whoa, looks like we just need one more vote. 10 more minutes i'll wait, then i'll roll to break the tie.

1=Question
2=Heal

Rolled 2 (1d2)

forgot the dice

>Let her heal you

You have nothing to fear, you probably won’t last long trying to run away or fight her in your state. Its best you just let her heal if she can. With that in mind, you let Darby off your back and sit on the ground as she hops off her machine and takes out her bandages.

She begins putting pressure on the wound as she wraps the gauze around your legs wounds. It hurts a little, but not nearly as much as when Blackwood nearly strangled you to death.

It only takes her a few minutes to finish both of working on both of your legs, you stand up and move your legs a bit, it doesn’t hurt as much now and the bleeding has stopped now. “Do you have any other injuries? Pains or bruises anywhere?” she asks with a concerned voice,

“There are a few shards of glass in my back, but there not in too deep, not enough to cause bleeding anyway. I can tend to these on my own, how about you help the idiot with the roughed-up feet over there." you point over to Darby's bloody feet.

"He needs more help than I do.” Etheline nods and moves over to Darby.

She examines his feet with a deductive eye, examining every nook and cranny thoroughly,
“This is terrible. What did you two get into in order to get like this?” She says as she applies some kind of ointment to Darby’s feet, causing him to cringe in pain but he bares the pain and tries to talk to Etheline, “Thanks for the help. I made some dumb decisions and messed with the wrong people. They ended up showing what acting like an idiot gets you.” He says with a self-deprecating tone in his voice.

“Even if you did something stupid, you don’t deserve to suffer like this! Don’t call yourself an idiot that doesn't help you to get better! Just make sure you don’t do it again.” She says in a scolding voice, causing Darby to reel back.

“O-Okay, I got it. This may suck, but at-least I’m getting help now. Seriously Etheline, thank you.” He says in a grateful tone, you didn’t think her smile could get any brighter, but Darby’s earnest thanks just proved you wrong.

You slowly pull out the shards of glass in your back piece by piece and grit your teeth through the pain. As you do so, you try and talk with Etheline while she works on Darby's feet,

“So Etheline, What are you doing here anyway? I still don’t think you just so happened to ride in on your shining metal horse over there with medical supplies on hand.” You ask her with a more casual tone to your voice.

“Well, yes and no. I did just happen to find you here on the roadside but I didn’t come here randomly, you see, I’m an aspiring hunter! And this isn’t the first time we’ve met either.”

“Huh? Wait we’ve met before?”

“Well not personally. But do you remember that speech you gave back when that whimsical duo dragged you on stage?”

You wish you could forget, “Yeah, were you there for that?”

“Yep! I was terribly nervous when I had just gotten to Zaban city and was told to go to that I would be competing against over 300 other people to become a hunter, I didn’t want to hurt anyone but I also didn’t want to let someone ruin my chances of obtaining the license. Then you came on stage and told us to stop worrying about all that and just fight. You were so inspiring while also being truthful. You didn’t ignore reality and told us exactly the situation we were in.”

Huh, you didn’t think anyone was actually moved by that selfish speech, “But so what? I didn’t offer a solution, I just told everyone to care for themselves if they want to pass the exam.”

“ ’But never forget that you're taking down real people while you do so’." She says while doing an imitation of your voice.

"Huh?"

" You said that. You didn’t offer a solution, but you made everyone realize that we aren’t enemies fighting for our lives; we’re competitors, trying to make something of our lives no matter what. I think everyone, including me forgot that that while we were planning how to succeed.”

You guess giving that speech really did help you in the long run. But then again, isn’t she taking what you said for granted? She should have kept on running to the Moonlight forest and ignored you. Maybe she’s just too kind to ignore injured people? Or maybe she’s still hiding something from you.

Either way, you’re gonna need more time to pull all these shards out of your back, so might as well ask her a few questions.

>Why do you want to become a hunter: Choosing to become a hunter is a major life decision, it might be good to know her reason for pursing such a brutal and life-threatening career. she seems to have all the money she’d ever need and her future's set, so why go to this trouble?

>What’s with Muma: You’re curious about this robot, it seems to have a multitude of useful functions and you may be able to get her to give a new weapon or more medical supplies if you ask nicely enough.

>What do you really want: You just can’t let it go. You don’t feel like she’s got any malice towards you but she’s doesn’t feel like she’s being a 100% honest with you either, you just need to make sure.

>>1915620
>>Why do you want to become a hunter: Choosing to become a hunter is a major life decision, it might be good to know her reason for pursing such a brutal and life-threatening career. she seems to have all the money she’d ever need and her future's set, so why go to this trouble?

>>1915620
>>Why do you want to become a hunter: Choosing to become a hunter is a major life decision, it might be good to know her reason for pursing such a brutal and life-threatening career. she seems to have all the money she’d ever need and her future's set, so why go to this trouble?

>>1915633
>>1915641
10 minutes.

>>1915633
This.

Also, how familiar with the exam are we? Gon had no idea there would be prexams or undercover people.
Is it metagaming if we keep in mind that some people here (Darby) may not be who they say?

>>1915864
Derrick has already learned of the existence of pre-exams and while contestants are not allowed to discuss the events of the exam to normal civilians, the exam it-self is not a secret so nobody cares.

As for Darby, maybe or maybe not. Who knows?

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>Why did you want to become a hunter?

https://youtu.be/mguKt8efSV4

“So why do you want to become a hunter?” you ask, trying to play off her earlier praise.

She’s a little caught off guard by your question and thinks a little before answering.

“Well, it’s a little personal, so I can’t give you all the details. But I plan to become a technology hunter.”

“A technology hunter?” you question.

“A Hunter that specializes in the locating, researching and preservation of lost or ancient technologies. It’s like being an archaeology hunter but I’ll focus mainly on technology and how to make use of in furthering current age technology.”

“But if it’s ancient or lost, isn’t it useless to our current age? Everything you’ll find will be outdated.”

“That might be true, but learning the process behind the invention of certain technologies can aid in the creation of newer, better tech. And just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s out-dated, many technology hunters have found some ancient technology that's so ahead of our own that modern science can’t even come close to understanding it.”

“That sounds amazing. What kind of stuff have they found?”

“ Oh are you curious?" She says with that glow in her eyes returning.

"You see. Last year, a hunter found a set of ancient ruins with a device that seemed to teleport any object that he put into it to another location. He didn’t know where or how the device was teleporting these objects, but he brought it back with him and it is currently being researched as we speak.”

“That sounds like a huge discovery, why is it the First time I've heard of it, how do you know?”

“Because that hunter was my Father and he brought the machine back to the company to be researched. even our best men couldn’t figure out the thing out and we are studying it even now.” She says with a proud smile.

“ So your father is a hunter as well as the CEO of a massive company? Well color me surprised. That’s pretty amazing.”

“Yes! he may be busy all the time, but my Father is the best. I want to become a hunter in order to make sure technologies like those are discovered and properly managed and follow in my Father's footsteps. We could save a lot of lives with teleporting machines and there are many other such machines out in the world just waited to be discovered.” She looks off in the distance, eyes filled with a resolute longing for knowledge.

You look at her face in amazement that she would put her life on the line just to be able to learn about new things in this world. you never really thought about this world too much as you spent most of your time trying not to die back in Yorknew.

Maybe after you become a hunter, you should go somewhere you've never been before. You would be able to go virtually anywhere with a hunter license after all.

You leave that thought for later, She said she had some personal stake in this right? Your not one to pry, but maybe if you ask, she'll tell you about it? or it might just be best to move on to a new subject and let sleeping dogs lie.

What will you ask?

>What's up with the shining metal horse: Might as well ask about Muma and see what you can learn.

>What do you really want: You still want to learn her true intentions behind talking to you, might be a good time to ask.

>Ask for more details: You can't let it go. She's got you curious now, what other reason could she possibly have for wanting to become a hunter?

>>1915980
>>What's up with the shining metal horse: Might as well ask about Muma and see what you can learn.

>>1915980
>>What's up with the shining metal horse: Might as well ask about Muma and see what you can learn.
Then ask if we can get a ride. We need to find Really asap.

>What's the deal with Muma

"So, what's with robo-horse over there?" you ask Etheline as she begins to finish up on patching up Darby's feet, "Her name is Muma! You're doing that on purpose aren't you. Well i already told you, Muma is a combat vehicle with an A.I that I brought with me to help me pass the exam." She says while puffing her cheeks at you

"I get that it's for fighting or 'defense' or something. But what does it do specifically? It doesn't look like it can do much besides run real fast on those legs."

"Muma was designed mainly for combat, but she's also a support unit that can be used for scouting and medical features. You've already experienced the latter, but the 'robo-horse' shape you see of Muma is not her real form."

"That thing has multiple forms?"

"Yes, this is [Scout] form, it has very little attack power in this state. But It has some of the best scouting features that current technology can offer: Muma can scan the area for any living beings, she has sensors to pick vibrations near her vicinity, She can zoom in and see objects from over 800 meters away, She even has night visions for stealth based missions!"

"That's pretty incredible, is that how you made to this road in only two hours?"

"Yep! First time in Zaban city and it took us no time at all to find what we were looking for, after all we had was find a way to go there without anyone following us. But Muma senses nothing but you guys around, so we must be safe!"

You almost wanna ask how she went through the city unnoticed on that thing, but that's a question for another day, instead you ask, "So how fast is that thing? You seemed to be really hauling ass when i first coming up the road."

"Muma can reach speeds of up to 150 mph, She also has far more mobility over strange or rocky terrain, she's very fun and practical to ride on."

That's extremely useful info there, if you can catch a ride on this metal horse, you can get to the Moonlight forest in no time! But if you do that, you would probably be travelling with this woman for a good chunk of the exams. Do you really want to travel with Etheline?

>Yes: She's nice and trustworthy, she's healed you and she has that, admittedly badass, metal horse on her side. You can't see any reason why you shouldn't ally with her. maybe she can help you find Rea if ask her?

>No:You're still searching for Rea right now and making more allies might hinder you in the long-run, after all, you are still competitors in obtaining a hunter license. You're better off just going on your own.

>Keep asking questions: You still have a little time before you really need to move, maybe you can sneak in one more question before she leaves?

>>1916271
>>Yes: She's nice and trustworthy, she's healed you and she has that, admittedly badass, metal horse on her side. You can't see any reason why you shouldn't ally with her. maybe she can help you find Rea if ask her?
Yes this. And explain we're looking for someone and that we could use her help finding her.

>>1916294
It's 12:00 pm for me, so after this next post, i'm going to bed for the night and we'll continue in the morning.
>Writing

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>You've got a friend in me

https://youtu.be/vh566UB5fYs

You might really be starting to make a bad habit out of this, "Hey Etheline, Do you wanna travel with me?" you say as you look her straight in the eye, She looks back you and answers, "I would love to. I was going to ask myself if you didn't bring it up."

"Huh?" you say, a little taken aback by her instant answer.

"If i'm being honest, after that speech you, I was hoping I would run into you again. You seemed like someone whose seen the worst the world has to offer and yet he still stands up to fight and make a place for himself. And when I saw you here, limping battered and broken while carrying an injured man on your back, still pressing forward despite your injuries, I knew then and there I was right."

You stay silently as she continues to look at you with a hopeful and happy look in her eye, "When I signed up for the Hunter Exam, i thought it would be long lonely fight with people who hated me. But seeing you tells me, even if i fail, at-least someone decent will take that spot for me and do something good with it." She finishes cleaning up Darby's wounds and reaches out her hand and says, "Fighting along side you would be a great honor."

You really should stop getting into deals and partnerships with complete strangers but you guess you can make one more before you stop. You firmly grasp her hand and shake it with resolve in your gaze and happiness in her smile.

(New bond unlocked! Etheline Brooks: Rank 1: Allies)

"Oh! one more thing" Etheline says before she let's go of your hand.

"What is it?" you say confused.

"I know this is going to ruin the moment buuuuutttttt..." she drags on.

"What is it?" you ask, genuinely curious now.

"What's your name?" She asks you with a big grin on her face.

You can feel as the happiness you built drops back into the abyss,"Huh? you don't even know my name?"

"Well those examiners never told us your name and you never actually said your name, sooooooooo..."

"You went this entire conversation without even knowing how to address me? After all that nice stuff you said?" you say, feeling a little disappointed

"Well, i do kinda have a name for you, you earned yourself a nickname among your fellow aspiring hunters. But i felt like you would get angry at me if i called you it." she says, looking a little guilty

Oh this better not be what you think it is, "What's the nickname?" you ask with a serious voice.

There's a good minute of silence before she finally answers, ".....Loud Blondie."

In an instant all the blood rushes right to your head and you shout uncontrollable, "WHO THE HELL YOU CALLING BLONDIE YOU BASTARDS!!!!" You see a few birds fly off to commemorate your new name.

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Time for bed, see you in the morning anons~.

>>1916504
Goodnight GoR.
This writing style is vastly superior to the other threads :)
Keep it up!

O

Can't believe we are really leaving Rea behind. We should ask E if we can use robo-horse.

>>1917531
>We should ask E if we can use robo-horse.
I agree. She said she comes with a state of the art person tracking scanner. I say we ask her if she wants to do a little demonstration.

>>1917886
Yeah it would be a cake walk to find her, unless she's gone feral or some shit.

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Oh man, Sorry guys! I had a ton of stuff to do yesterday, but I'm free today. So give me 2 hours and our adventure continues!

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>>1921853
I was just about to post anon. Jeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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You remove the final piece of glass from your back. Afterwards, Etheline hands you some bandages to put on. You change you also take a change of clothes and a pair of sunglasses from your duffle bag and get ready behind the bushes. After 10 minutes of cleaning up, you can say that you’re finally looking good again.

All the Blood and Bruises were ruining your sexy face, and while you may not be completely restored to full health, you look as good as you did when you started this exam.

You look over to Etheline, who has also finished up treating Darby’s wounds. You both get up and look down the road before speaking. Etheline speaks first, “If we take Muma, it will only take us 10 minutes to reach to find the moonlight forest, that is if you don’t have anywhere to go along the way.” She says as jumps back onto her machine and waits for you to jump on.

You look back at Darby and say, “We need to get Darby home somehow, that idiot has a family that must be worried sick by this point.” You say with an annoyed look on your face.

Etheline gives a surprised expression and looks at Darby, “You have a family? That’s terrible!”

“Yeah. I said the same thing when I heard that someone was desperate enough to actually marry him.” You say with a patronizing tone to your voice.

Darby gives you an offended expression and speaks, “Oh come on man! I know I screwed up bad but I’m not that stupid! I’ll have you know I have a master’s degree in chemistry and computer science!”

“And yet you’re an office worker who’s so desperate for cash, you would rush into a gang hideout for a quick payday?”

Darby gives a guilty expression this time, “Just having high grades doesn’t mean I get a good job you know. I put plenty of applications to computer labs and Chemistry research centers. But they all rejected me.”

“Why?”

“Well, the computer labs thought I was ‘too clumsy’ for their work environment. Just because I spilled some coffee on a few machines back in university they wouldn’t accept me.” He says with a pout, you feel like you want to question just how many machines a ‘few’ encompasses to him but that would cause the discussion to drag. So you move on.

“What about the chem labs?” You ask him, trying to get him to finish explaining quickly.

“Oh! Well, they actually accepted me at first.” He says with a proud look on his face.

“At first?” you ask, feeling like you kinda already know the answer.

“Well, at first, we were just working on government-given assignments and everyone loved my work. But when we had down time between each project, I would try and get the other scientists develop some of my awesome
invention ideas!”

You have a feeling that his ideas aren’t as amazing as he says it is, “Tell me about one of your ideas.”

“I had an idea of developing shaving cream that could also taste like whip cream, that way you can have a happy tongue along with a happy shave!”

Knew it. You sigh and put a hand on your hand, “Tell me, Darby, do you have an extra thick science textbook on you?”

“No. Why?”

“Because I need something thick and heavy to smack you with while I teach you every single way you’re an idiot. Scientifically.”

Being Darby is suffering.

“Oh stop being so mean Derrick!” Etheline moves over to you and baps you on the head. While extremely adorable, it is also surprisingly painful!

As you hold your head from the pain, Etheline continues to talk to Darby “it’s terrible that you’ve been stuck out here when you have people waiting for you. Why did you even come around here? You must have known it was dangerous.”

Darby looks down as he speaks, “My wife and I will have a kid on our hands in a few months. My office job can’t possibly keep us afloat. I may be an idiot, but even I know that if I can’t bring in the cash. Then I have no hope in hell to keep my family happy or healthy. With that in mind, I was willing to do anything, no matter how risky or stupid to help them.”

Etheline listens intently to Darby’s reasoning as she reaches to some hidden compartment of her machine. Darby begins to get teary-eyed as he continues, “I’m so grateful to the both of you. But I’m sure I’ll just do something stupid again once you’re gone. If it means helping them be happy, I’ll do any dumbass thing I can think up to accomplish it. I love those two too much not too.” By the end of his rant, the tears are flowing down his cheeks.

He realizes he’s crying and quickly wipes off his tears, “A-Ah, sorry. Now I just look pathetic right? Can you just leave me here? My feet are good enough to walk on now, thanks to your treatment Etheline. I’ll get home from here on my own” as he stands up to walk the down road in shame, Etheline says, “Think fast!”
“What?” he says as he brings his head and catches an object that was thrown to him, he opens his palm to reveal a flare.

“What’s this?” he says.

“It’s an EE-brand location flare, unlike other flares, it doesn’t produce a pyrotechnic flame, instead it sends out a signal directly to Ethical Engineering HQ which will send a helicopter or boat in order to pick you up and bring you back to HQ. It’s only to be used by official workers of EE when they need to return.”

“What? Then why are you handing me it?” Darby asks.

“Because you work for me now. Welcome to the business and have a nice day on your first day of the job.”

“Wait. What!?” Darby shouts.

“What? Was I not clear enough? Do you need me to repeat myself? I said you work for me now. You’ll be put into the research labs and assigned to a project. Be sure to work extra hard to catch with the other guys, I hear they’re competitive over there. Oh and also, I’m not saying you can't-do it on your own time. But don’t try and start any of your pet projects in the lab.”

“H-Hold on a second! Are you hiring me to work as a scientist for research labs? Why?” he asks, confused at the sudden notice of employment.

“You said you have a master's degree in Computer science and Chemistry right? Then you’ll have no problem working in our labs.” Etheline says with a reassuring grin.

“But every other place that took me in rejected me! I don’t even have a good enough resume to give in!”

“You don’t need that! I’ll just tell them you impressed me enough that I just had to bring you in. Father we’ll let you right in once he knows I sent you.”

Darby looks utterly confounded by this turn of events, he tries to collect himself and ask something more concise, “Okay, I get that you’re hiring me. But why me? I’m a complete idiot as you can tell. Will I even be of any help?”

“Jeez! How many times do I have to tell you not to call yourself an idiot! That doesn’t fix the problem! it makes it worse!”

“But it’s true! Why else would I even be in this situation if it wasn’t!”

“Because you don’t want to give up.” Etheline says with a determined expression.

“What?” Darby says, taken aback by her statement.

“You made a stupid mistake. But did so because you didn’t want to give up and let your life fall apart around you. You wanted your family to happy, so you took a risk to make it possible. My father once said to me that if you want to become successful, you’d have to be willing to do anything, no matter how impossible or stupid it seems. Those who can’t take risks because they fear loss or being an idiot are those who never get anywhere in life. I see that you're the kind of person whose brave enough do anything, no matter how stupid it makes you look. That tells me you'll be a valuable asset to the company. ”

File: Johnnie Darby01.jpg (41 KB, 900x456)

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Darby is speechless at Etheline’s words, she turns away from Darby and gestures for you to get on Muma. as you climb onto the machine, Etheline turns her head around to say one final thing to Darby.

“It’s up to you if you want to take the chance before you or head back home and find another way. The second you activate that flare, your path in life will be set and you probably won’t be able to see your family too much anymore. But I’m sure the salary will be exactly what you need to support yourself and your family. If I’m being honest, I don’t think it’s that you’re an idiot Darby, you just have a stupid amount of Determination.”

As she says that, she presses some kind of button the machine and it begins to dash off at full speed, you struggle to hold on from the burst of speed but as soon as you manage to, you look back at Darby who is slowly disappearing over the horizon.

You see Darby staring down at the flare in his hands with a determined expression. You don’t actually see him do it. But you’re pretty sure he turned that stick as soon as he left your vision.

You have a feeling this won't be the last you see of that idiot and that might just be a good thing.

>That tells me you'll be a valuable asset to the company. ”

Or the way he's so clumbsy he will just trip and so fall and die because of some kind of death machine

But you have your own future to sort out now, you hold on tightly to Etheline's waist to make sure you don't fall off. You begin to think of all the things you need to do before you do as you head towards the moonlight forest.

While you aren't particularly late, you wasted a lot of time getting here. There are bound to be some contestants who made to the forest before you did. While that isn't really that bad, you'd hate to run into someone who doesn't like good competition. The unnecessary.fight that block would block up your progress.

There's also Rea, After her disappearance on Barry's street, you haven't seen hind nor business suit of hers. Not to mention she seems to possess some kind of strange power that destroyed the Blackwood gang in its entirety. Was that the secret weapon she kept hinting at? Or were you traveling with some kind of monster for the last two days? Either way, you need to find Rea and get some answers.

It is around 3:30 pm, that means you have about 3 hours before your time is up, you need to choose what your priorities are beforehand, you can't diddly-daddle for much longer.

What do you prioritize?

>Finding Rea: Muma has a tracking function right? You can probably find Rea with it if devote a little of your time to searching for her. But that means you'll take a lot more time to reach your destination and you'll probably encounter a people before you probably don't want to.

>Just head to the goal: No time to waste, knowing Rea, she went straight towards the goal as well and you'll find her without having to look, this way you won't have to waste any time searching and you're much less likely to run into any trouble. But if by some chance Rea isn't at the goal waiting for you....

>>1922172
>>Just head to the goal: No time to waste, knowing Rea, she went straight towards the goal as well and you'll find her without having to look, this way you won't have to waste any time searching and you're much less likely to run into any trouble. But if by some chance Rea isn't at the goal waiting for you....
Zigzag on the way, try to get a glimpse.

>>1922172
>Just head to the goal: No time to waste, knowing Rea, she went straight towards the goal as well and you'll find her without having to look, this way you won't have to waste any time searching and you're much less likely to run into any trouble. But if by some chance Rea isn't at the goal waiting for you....

If she isn't there we are getting back. Even if we say to her we wouldn't sacrifice our dream for the sake of others dreams.

10 more minutes till vote closes.

>>1922172
Finding Rea: Muma has a tracking function right? You can probably find Rea with it if devote a little of your time to searching for her. But that means you'll take a lot more time to reach your destination and you'll probably encounter a people before you probably don't want to.

>No time to waste
>writing

File: Etheline Brooks14.png (349 KB, 800x666)

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If Rea were here right now, she probably say something sassy and scold you for pritozing her over your own misson. She said she needed a bodyguard but if Barry's street is anything to go off of, she can take care of herself plenty without you.

What really matters now is reaching the end of the Moonlight forest before the time limit, Rea has probably already entered the forest and found her way out, she was crazy smart and efficent, so you're sure she's waiting on the you to catch up along with the faster contestants.

With that in mind, you speak to Etheline, "You said this thing can go off-road right? then make sure you blaze your way through the moonglight forest when you get there, we don't have much time to waste."

Etheline slips on her steampunk googles and answers with a smile, "That means we'll be going full-speed with no brakes. Better hold on tight, when Muma goes full speed, things tend to get a little bumpy."

You respond by gripping tighter and nodding your head, she leans foward opens up a compartment with a little lever on the inside, the lever has the numbers 1-11 on side of it. Must be the levels of speed this thing can up too. the lever is currently on 5, but Etheline pushes it up to a 10!

You feel the wind slam at your face as Muma's legs begin to move so fast you can only see it's afterimages. You hold on for dear life as Ehteline has one of the most intense smiles you've ever seen on her face, not even flinching at the sudden burst of speed.

File: Moonlight Shower Forest01.jpg (295 KB, 2000x1250)

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>5 minutes later

You reach the a dirt road leading to a set of the largest trees you've ever seen in your life and head inside. Sheldon and Ami said the trees are as tall as skyscapers with branches wide enough to block the sun rays from entering into actual forest, making it as dark as night. But seeing the trees up close, you feel as if they may have been selling them a little short.

When you try and look to get an etismate of the height of the monsterous trees, you can't even begin to see the top. You look as far up as you can, but you just don't see anything but leaves and more wood.

You seen some tall buildings in your life, but you don't anything can compare to this,you head deeper and deeper inside the Forest. the sunlight becomes thinner and thinner until everything starts to turn dark as night.

Muma turns on a flashlight at it's front as it dashes and manuevers through the forest. It keeps moving for a good 3 minutes before it reaches a bright area and stops.

https://youtu.be/EQlALgZ4o5M

You and Etheline look around in the forest amazed by the sheer beauty and mysteriousness of the place. The sun is still high in the sky right now and yet this place is as dark as midnight. You almost feek blown away by the stark contrast.

The only thing keeping this place from being pitch black are the tiny rays of sunlight and the fireflys in the area.

"Whoa...." You say unintentionally.

"This is truly amazing, to think that places like these exist all over the world is truly mind-boggling isn't it? Becoming a Hunter means going to places like these will be a reagular occurance. Makes you feel motativating to keep going." Etheline says with eyes feeled with wonder.

As you add yet another reason to become a hunter to the list

You want to bask in this place's amazing beauty, but you can't waste any time around here. You look around the area and feel absolutely lost as to where you are going. You try and remember the hint Sheldon gave you back during the Hunter exam briefing.

You believe he said something like, "Where Moonlight meets dawn and Stars meet Land, there you will meet your greatest friends and they will guide to the light of a Shining star."

Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean, but see you see bush in every single direction, you're looking for a train, so you need to find some tracks, usually that would mean looking for either the flattest nearby area or the place with the most land cleared. But all you see is overgrowth and trees for miles.

You could have Muma track the area for the nearest signs of life, but there's no telling who or what you might run into if you do that. This place is filled with some dangerous magical beasts after all.

What will you do?

>Have Muma look for signs of life

>Investigate the area yourself

>>1922880
>>Have Muma look for signs of life

File: wha.png (64 KB, 343x266)

64 KB PNG

What the... What the heck is this?

>>1923099
4 chans birthday

Sorry guys, had to drop out for a little bit,
>Muma search

You figure even if you try and look around you might just end-up walking right into a beast nest or some psychopath anyway, so might as well try and scan for how many of them there are. You tap Etheline's shoulder to make her stop. She stops Muma at the center of the forest as you speak, "We're not going to get anywhere wandering at random, can you scan the area Etheline?" Etheline nods and reaches into her pocket and takes out her phone.

At-least, that's what you thought it was, then she unlocked the screen to show a digitized map of the area you're in, "What's all that?" you ask.

"This is a phone linked with Muma's central processor, it acts kinda like a second brain which i can use to control her and see what she sees. What it's currently displaying is a map of the areas that Muma's been too and currently memorizing." Etheline explains.

"You said that earlier right? That Muma can 'learn' the areas she been too?"

"Yes! Good to know you're listening. We've only just entered the Moonlight Forest, so Muma can only show what we've traveled through so far."

You look at the map on-screen and get thoroughly impressive by what's being displayed, while just being a rough outline, the map shows every single detail of the areas it's been to. You can see a chunk of Zaban city and the road leading up to the forest.

"That's pretty amazing."

"Muma's extremely amazing! You want to scan for lifeforms right? then we press this icon and set Muma to search mode." As she explains that, she taps a person-shaped icon on the top of her screen. The screen begins to send out sonar-like waves and blips start appearing everywhere,

"What are those blips?"

"Those are all the living things in the area within a six mile radius. We don't need to know all that, so we just have to narrow down the search to 'human' and find where all the other contestants are." After she says that, she brings down a list with a variety of search items and picks the term 'Human'. After that, the number of blips drops down dramatically. Now there's only 4 blips on the map, two to the north, one in the east and one in the west.

She wasn't kidding when she said that this thing was one hell of a tracker. And supposedly, this is isn't even it's primary function.

Etheline speaks while eyeing the screen, "Looks like the east and west blips are moving around, while the north blips are staying in place. I would guess that means that north is the goal?"

"You'd guess?"

"Muma isn't perfect, she can tell what's alive or not. But not there status, those two blips could be two people who have been trapped in a monster's nest and are just waiting to die."

"Why not switch the search to 'Magical Beast' or something?"

"Muma does not know the local fauna, anything else we detect could also just be trapped in the nest. So that's pointless."

Well damn , guess that means you'll have to make a choice.

Where do you go?

>North

>West

>East

>>1923839
>How fast are the east and west moving?

>>1923847
>How fast?

"How fast are those two other blips moving" you ask Etheline,

"I can't give you exact speed, but they seem to be traveling about 100 meters every few minutes, they are moving quite fast. But they don't seem to stay in the same direction for very long. They are probably also looking around for the goal." She answers

"Hmmmmmm..." you hum and begin to think again.

Where will you go?

>North

>East

>West

>Ask a question(Write-in)

>>1924045
>any other signatures with the blips?

>>1924045
>Ask a question
I was given a hint for completing an extra test earlier, and I think it helps us figure out where to go for the train. The phrase is "Where Moonlight meets Dawn and Stars meet the land.". I assume that means the Eastern edge of the forest.

>>1924165
>>1924166
>Writing

>Any other signatures?

"Exactly how much did Muma pick up on it's search? other then the few human lifeforms what are we looking at?" you ask

Etheline swipes at the screen a few times and brings up a bunch numbers on the screen, "As I said before, Muma is not made to be a scouting unit. Without the proper research beforehand, she can only give a value to the amount of lifeforms that 'Aren't Human' in the area. Muma tracking ability is based on sound and vibrations to locate any living thing in the area. If you're wondering if it can guess the weight or the size of the beast wandering nearby or something like that, she cannot tell you that. Muma will automatically group anything that doesn't fit in the 'Human' category, under the 'Non-Human' category and won't change it until she sees the lifeform up close to be able to analyze it. She cannot tell the size, weight, strength or even general appearance of anything she detects by just some sounds and vibrations. Only that it's 'Non-Human' "

"Which means?" you say trying to get to the point. She moves the phone screen to your face and you see the number 4 listed under 'Human' and the number 562 listed under "Non-human". Basically, this is Muma's way of saying i have no idea what the hell's lurking out there either, just that there's a shit ton of it here. You sigh and ask your next question

>The Hint

"Earlier at the Hunter Briefing, the examiners gave us a hint about where to find the train. They said, 'Where Moonlight meets dawn and Stars meet Land, there you will meet your greatest friends and they will guide to the light of a Shining star'. Do you have any guesses as to what those words mean? " you ask Etheline

"I've been trying to figure out what those words mean myself. If they mean't it literally, then they probably mean for us to head east, where the sun 'Dawns' from."

You thought exactly the same thing, you're about to agree with her but she continues to speak, "But that's only if you focus on the "Dawn" part, there is the part "Stars meet the land" if we also takes this literally, then it must be talking about Twilight, the point between daytime and nighttime and the only time when the stars look low enough to be touching the ground over the horizon, that would mean that we would have to go west. That's basically saying we have to go both West and East in order to reach the goal and that makes no sense!" She says as she puts a finger to her temple and racks her head over the riddle.

You have to go east and west? that makes no damn sense, maybe you need to approach this from a different angle.

>Roll 1d100 (+10) to solve the riddle.
>DC: 60

Rolled 5 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>1924541
>>Roll 1d100 (+10) to solve the riddle.

Rolled 38 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>1924541

Rolled 34 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>1924541

File: .......png (119 KB, 675x470)

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>>1924569
>>1924570
>>1924571
Derrick is not on his game today....
>Writing

>Rolled 48

>FAIL

You try and try to figure out the riddles true meaning but you get no closer to the answer from the moment you started to the moment you began to bang your head against this tree, hoping it would spill some knowledge into your mind. Needless to say, You have learned nothing new and the only thing this tree has given you is a massive headache.

Etheline begins reaching for her medical supplies with a worried expression her face, you gesture for her to stop and say, "Don't worry, i'm not injured."

"But it's clear you've suffered some kind of Brain damage for you to bang your head like that! are you sure you're okay?" She says with a genuinely worried tone.

Her kindness only aids to make you feel more like an idiot as you give up on solving the riddle for now.

What will you do now?

>Head in a direction

>Ask another question (Write-in)

>>1924621
>>Head in a direction
Try and climb a tree to see if that helps.

>>1924621
>>Ask another question (Write-in)
We're missing something in the poem.

'"Where Moonlight meets dawn and Stars meet Land, there you will meet your greatest friends and they will guide to the light of a Shining star.""

Notice the capital letters. Moonlight is caps but dawn is not. Stars and Land are. Shining is but star isn't. I checked the original posting of it and the caps is exactly the same. I don't believe this is a coincidence. I think there's more here.

Also I think we should give E our map of the island we got. It Includes the Forrest and maybe she can run a language algorithm on it.

>>1924982
Whoa, you are dangerously close to the answer there anon, you can't attempt to solve the riddle after you already failed but you're on the right track.
>>1924799
Sorry, I feel asleep at the keyboard last night, i have work to do, but i'll post in a few hours, if no one votes in that time, I'll roll to decide between these two.

>>1924621
>Head North. Cautiously.
Hey QM, how much noise does Muma make moving?

>>1925236
>>1924982
>>1924799
And i'm back! Another day, Another insane life-risking adventure!

>Head in a direction Wins

>Pick a direction

>North

>East

>West

>>1925959
I think we should give E our map of the island we got. It Includes the Forrest and maybe she can run a language algorithm on it.

>>1925962
This can be done. everyone okay with it?

>>1925986
I am. But it was my idea so I don't think that counts lol.

>>1925986
I am fine with it.

>>1925962
>>1925997
>>1926027
Fine then, But this is the final question you get.
>Writing

>Check the map

You suddenly remember that you have something that would be perfect for this, You move back to Muma and pull off your duffle bag and look through the contents until you pull out the map you were handed back during the Pre-exams. Etheline eyes the piece of paper curiously, "What's this?" she asks.

"This was a reward I got from an earlier exam, I can't you give the details but it's the closet thing we'll get to an accurate map of the area."

You say that, but the map doesn't actually show any of the inside of the Moonlight Forest. Instead it is represented by a bunch of comically tall trees with the name 'Moonlight' to drawn on top of it and a variety of strange monsters and weird-looking plants all over it.

Etheline comments on the map, "Are you sure that's a map? It looks like a kindergartner drew on it."

"Yeah I know, but it was provided by the examiners themselves so there has to be something more then a couple of stupid drawings on it. That why I was hoping you could use Muma to analyze and find something we can use on it."

Etheline thinks for a second and answers, "Well, aside from the drawings, it is a map of Dolle region of Zaban City, Muma already recorded most maps of the area. But maybe this map will reveal something new."

You hand her the map and she moves Muma's control phone over the map and takes a picture of it. Muma starts to make a light buzzing noise that you assume is it scanning the paper from the phone. It makes a *Ding* sound when it's done and the analyzed results flood into the phone screen.

After that, Etheline looks to her phone and puts a finger to her temple and rocks her head from side to side. She stays quiet for a good minute before you get tired waiting and speak, "Well? What'd Muma find?"you say, breaking her from her train of thought.

"Oh sorry! I was lost in thought. The results are... interesting."

"Interesting?"

"Well, as I expected, most of the drawings were discarded as useless data by Muma's system and discarded. But one particular drawing remained." She points to the newly created digital map on Muma's interface and it looks mostly the same, expect that when she zooms out to show the whole area again, there's a line that connects the forest to Mount Kill-a-manjaro.

>Mount Kill-a-manjaro.

Dam thta makes a lot of sense only at that place would allow the forest to meet the stars and allow us to see the dawn.

Still writing GoR?

Etheline speaks with her finger to her temple, "This line here is how Muma represents railways. That means that this map had a railway mapped on it that none of the other maps did, I can only guess that this must be the railway that the examiners want us to find."

You get a little exciting, "Oh that's good! Does that mean you know where the goal is?"

"Sorry. No. The railway begins and leads out of the forest and heads into the mountain, But it doesn't show where the railway is in the forest. But even then, this must have some deeper meaning to it..." She loses herself in thought again as she looks at the screen and begins to tap away at it.

As she investigates the railway, you also lose yourself in thought, "Mount Kill-a-manjaro....". You had a feeling that Kill-a-manjaro had something to do with the Hunter exam, you did your research back on the ship after all. But Mount kill-a-manjaro is not only in a whole other region of Kukan'yu. It is known for being so deadly and treacherous that any building projects that have been conducted on it always get shut down because the high mortality rate. There should be no railways on it, especially connecting over such a long distance.

"Ah!" Etheline shouts, "I've found something, With a this railway was an abandoned project to connect the Dolle region to Major Kukan'yu area. It was taken off the maps as it was declared off-limits. If this map is from the examiners, Then it seems that the Hunter Association decided to take it on themselves to finish the project, just for this exam." She says with an impressed look in her eye

Did the Hunter Association build a railway over such a dangerous area. Just for the exam? The Association amazes you more and more everyday.

But Etheline puts a proud grin on her face, "But that's not all. You see, this railway has a name, it is known Landusfus Railway. Landusfus is a well known star that resides between the two regions that shines brightest at the top of the Mount Kill-a-manjaro."

"Landusfus? Wait a minute..." You say as the realization begins to dawn on you.

"Do you see it now? This star also has a nickname among the residents." She says as an intense grin takes over her face. She finishes as the smile reaches it's peak, "The Land Star, as it was often used as a guide for lost travelers to find their way to the mainland from the mountain."

"The Land Star..", the hint runs through your mind again.

Where Moonlight meets dawn and Stars meets Land, there you will meet your greatest friends and they will guide you to the light of a Shining star.

You begin to connect the dots, "So 'the Moonlight' represents the forest, 'Land' represents the railway and the 'Shining star' Is the Top of Kill-a-manjaro."

Etheline nods her head, "I would assume so. This doesn't really guide us anywhere closer to the goal, but it gives us a good idea of where the first area of the Exam is. Not to mention we don't know what 'Greatest Friends' or what "dawn and stars" means in relation to them. I think this is all the information we're going to get for now, we've spent too much time reasoning this out."

Etheline looks to the clock on her phone and shows you it's 3:50 pm now, 20 minutes have passed. You nod your head and decide it's time for you to move, Etheline speaks up, "I think we should head west. That's the direction that the railway leads from. But i could be wrong, what do you think Derrick?"

What do you think?

>Head North

>Head East

>Head West

>>1926373
>>Head North

>>1926373
>>Head West

>>1926373
>Head West

File: lambda.png (8 KB, 230x240)

8 KB PNG

>>1926379
I think you are on the right track anon but the dots north of us are not moving.

My current theory is that the tracks are sort of like a lambda sign. They branch East and West but connect North of us. I also suspect the reason why the people North of us are stopped is because either:

1. The Railroad is underground and they cannot proceed past an obstacle above ground.
2. They and the railroad are underground but they are simply waiting. Perhaps it's the start of another exam?

So while I agree that we should go North, I believe me must
>Head West
In order to get there.

>>1926379
>>1926503
>>1926573
>>1926703

>To the West
>Writing

File: Moonlight Shower Forest03.jpg (2.19 MB, 3094x1785)

2.19 MB JPG

You agree with Etheline and hop back onto Muma. Etheline presses a steering wheel-shaped button on her phone and and a arrow-shaped blip appears on the map, Etheline speaks, "That arrow represents us. From here on out I'll be driving Muma step by step through this place. Muma hasn't learned this area well enough to go on Auto-pilot after all."

She sets directions on the map and Muma begins to follow them exactly as they are plotted.


https://youtu.be/Oi1s1xlk7DQ

Muma hops around the overgrown environment easily and swiftly, cutting through the overgrowth like the wind. Following the moving blip heading to the west, you begin to examine the beautiful and wild surroundings of the area.

You see a small squirrel-like creature but with purple fur and eyes with spirals in them. You also see a tree covered with at-least 10 large red lizards that spit a little fire to scare you away as you dash past them and head towards the blip.

As someone who has lived his entire life in the concrete jungle of Yorknew. You've barely ever seen any magical beasts outside of the zoo and the one time you nearly got mauled by a strange half-dog, half-lizard creature that wandered into the bar. Needless to say, you are absolutely astounded by the sheer amount of creatures there are around here and how different they all are.

As you are distracted by the creatures of the forest, Etheline speaks up, "Hey Derrick. I think there might be a problem."

"A Problem? What kind of problem?" you ask, a little worried about her answer.

"Well, it seems the person we're following has suddenly stopped moving altogether. They were dashing around before they stopped too, so I'd assume they are being stopped or delayed by something." she says as she stares worriedly at the screen.

Ah crap, you feel yourself already regretting your decision. You starting question her, "Well how long before we reach where they are? Are there any magical beast around them?"

"Well yes, there are quite a few of them in that area, however none of them are moving after the person. It could be that the person has reached the goal is just waiting, but considering how suddenly they stopped, it's doubtful. We're about a minute before arriving to their location. Do you want to turn around? Or should we just go ahead?"

Just great. You've already wasted 5 minutes getting here, You're about to hit the two hour mark. If this is the goal, then you can't just head back. But if it's a trap then you could be driving to your grave. Looks like you have to make a choice again.

What do you do?

>Head on: You can't turn back just because things seem risky! You chose this path and you won't waste anytime thinking about the what-if scenario. You'll never get anywhere doing that.

>Turn back: Unnecessary risks should be avoided. If this isn't the goal, you'll be walking into a trap AND wasting your time trying to escape. You've got time, best to head back and avoid this area.

>Write-in

>>1926957
>>Head on: You can't turn back just because things seem risky! You chose this path and you won't waste anytime thinking about the what-if scenario. You'll never get anywhere doing that.
Onward fearless protagonist!

>>1926957
>>Write-in
Send Muma to scout and try to use that ????? again.

>>1927046

>?????

Glad you remember "That" still exists. I was going to bring it up at some point. But now is not the time to use it. It will come, soon

>Scout ahead

Sure, that's doable. Everyone okay with this?

>>1927089
Just wasn't really applicable. I can't wait to see what kind of ????? we have!

>>1926957

>Head on: You can't turn back just because things seem risky! You chose this path and you won't waste anytime thinking about the what-if scenario. You'll never get anywhere doing that.

>>1927046
>Send Muma to scout and try to use that ????? again.
Is that referring to Zetsu?
I'm good with scouting ahead.

>>1927136

Oh, well I was referring to something else, the object you got from Rea, you still have 'that' and can use it anytime you want to in the coming events.

But you can use Zetsu as well, if you want.

>>1927207
Oh, I thought ????? was Zetsu.

>>1927260

It is, I just got the two mixed for a second since they are both identified under question marks.
But I believe:

>Scouting ahead and using ????? wins

I'm too tired to write the update now. So tomorrow after work again Anons. Goodnight

I have returned! Give me about 30 minutes and the posts shall continue.

File: To the West.jpg (248 KB, 1024x725)

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>Scout ahead

You have a great idea. You speak to Etheline, "Hey, can you stop about 100 meters from the blip and send Muma to scout ahead?"

Etheline responds, "Of course, She's easily able to cover that much distance on her own. Shouldn't take more then 5 minutes for her to report back."

"Good. Can you send her off while we wait in the bushes from a distance and observe the area?" You say as Etheline sets Muma to auto-scout mode and makes the blip the target, Etheline speaks, "Now she'll head towards the person and scout out the situation without alerting them."

It takes you about 2 minutes before you reach 100 meters from the blip, You hop off of Muma as she continues to dash forward into the area ahead. After you hop off of Muma, you walk ahead a little to ensure that Muma doesn't get attacked but stop after you run into a strange area.

The Area seems to be a thicker section of the forest, making it a harder to see and navigate through. But there's also a bunch of strange plants around the area. They look like regular flowers, but they have glass cases on them.

"What's with those plants?" You ask, hoping Etheline would have an answer.

"I don't know. But they aren't normal. When I turn on the scanner, it seems all those 'Non-human' Blips that surrounded the person we're following were these things." She explains.

"These things? Doesn't your sensor only pick things that make a lot of noise or vibrations? Those plants are as still and quiet as drunken mimes.” You criticize her statement.

“Usually you'd be right. But there are vibrations coming from these plants. It's just that the vibrations aren’t coming from above ground. They're coming from underground.” Etheline states.

"Underground?" you question.

(Continued)

Etheline answers your question by picking up a large stone and throwing it at one of the plants. As soon as the stone gets close, you hear the sound of a blade going through the air and the stone is suddenly cut in two, uneven pieces and falls to the ground.

If you blinked you would have missed it, but you're sure that the instant before the stone got close to the plant, you saw the glass around the plant shift, and a a crude, jagged and elongated blade burst from the ground and stabbed and sliced the stone in two before it landed. Then it immediately retreated back into the earth .

You feel a drop of sweat flow down head, "What the hell was that?" you ask Etheline.

With a face filled with horror, she answers, "I have no idea. I figured there was something lurking around underground from the readings, and so I threw a stone to see if i could trigger it. But i wasn't expecting that."

You both stand horrified of the flowers and unable to progress any further. That's when you see Muma walking slowly around one of the trees and returning to you and Etheline. You and Etheline breathe a sigh of relief when you see Muma approaching, however as Muma arrives you hear a deep yet feminine voice shout out to you, "Hey! Look over here you two!" a voice calls out.

You turn your head to the side as you see a figure standing in the shouting out to you. The figure continues to shout "Can you help me out please!? I'm kinda stuck over here" You look over to the figure in the distance.

You examine the figure in the distance. You can't see her face but you can tell their wearing a red outfit and from the sound of their voice it seems they're female. somehow She's standing right in the middle of this deathtrap and not being ripped to pieces, you look over to Etheline to see if she knows who that is, She looks over the figure is and looks to her phone, "I believe that's the person we were following."

"That's them? Doesn't look they've hit any goal, She just seems to be standing around in the middle of nowhere." You say back.

"I guess that means that this was the wrong way then?" Etheline says with an unsure tone.

You speak with an annoyed tone, "Please don't tell me we ran all this for it to be the wrong way. And now we have to deal with this chick? What a drag..."

"Don't say that! We don't know for sure yet. We should ask the lady, she did call out to us for help after all." She says with a hopeful expression.

This could be a trap considering how treacherous this area is, not to mention you don't have enough time to be dealing with other people's problems.

"Hey! Why'd you run away! Come on! I need help here!" The lady in the distance shouts.

...But it seems you can't just ignore her.

What do you ask?

>Why do you need help?: You're gonna need a reason before anything else, She seems fine from where your standing. She doesn't even sound panicked enough to 'need' help.

>Why did you go this way?: You need to know if this is the way to the objective or not. You can probably get the answer out her since she's the way who went this way in the first place.

>Check with Muma: Muma scouted ahead. Maybe it can give you an idea whether this is a trap or not. Or at-least a good idea what's up of ahead of this area.

>>1929432
>>Why do you need help?: You're gonna need a reason before anything else, She seems fine from where your standing. She doesn't even sound panicked enough to 'need' help.
We can remember that our previous 'friend' had something weird.

>>1929440
>>Why do you need help?: You're gonna need a reason before anything else, She seems fine from where your standing. She doesn't even sound panicked enough to 'need' help.

>Ask her how she got in there and didn't die.

>>1929445
>>1929452
>Why do you need help wins
>Writing

You decide to start with the most pressing question on your mind. You shout out to the lady in the distance, "Do you really need help!? You seem okay from where you're standing!"

The lady shouts back in a confused tone, "Are you blind!? I'm stuck between all of these deadly plants here! If i move from here then I'll get cut to pieces!"

You look closely at her position and you see that she is surrounded on all sides by those deadly plants, but that just rises another question. You ask her, "But then how did you reach there in the first place! These plants rip apart anything that seems to get close to them!"

The lady in the distance takes a second to think and then answers, "Well, I don't really know how these things work! But if you step really softly and stay at-least 2 meters away from them then you don't seem to trigger their attacks! I ended stuck here cause I tripped while I was walking and had to dodge my way to a safe spot from the blades! I'm standing outside their effective range, but if I move from here they'll kill me!"

That sounds kinda convenient for her to be standing in the only safe spot in this natural mine-field.

However, Muma didn't trigger the plants as it was returning to you despite walking straight through the field. Muma was stepping really softly and maneuvering around objects due to being in scouting mode, so that means the part about these plants only triggering because of strong vibrations or getting too close is probably true.

"Now that you know how screwed I am, could you please help me! It really sucks having to stand here! And all the shouting is hurting my throat!" She says with an impatient tone.

What do you do?

>Check with Muma

>Ask why she went this way

>Ask why she's so calm

>Recuse her

>Leave her

>>1929629
>>Ask why she's so calm

>>1929629
>>Check with Muma
>>Ask why she went this way
>>Ask why she's so calm

>>1929629
>Leave her

She is ine of those plants we readed before going here. They asume human forms to attract people to a trap.

Thanks plant lady but.no thank you.

>>1929698
Most likely. Didn't somebody say the cuter it is the more it will try to kill you?

We need to think of a way for her to prove she's human. Unfortunately, we don't know what Gyo is yet so we're kind of limited on options here.

>>1929702
I say strike a deal with her. She must know the place a little, even thought she can't move from her spot. So she tries to trap people to feed my guess if we give her something else she can be a helpfull guide.

We can't forget we still need to find our bested friends. I bet she would be a great friend if we gave her some food.

20 minutes till the vote closes.

>>1929737
I kinda wanted to be-friend the plant lady.

>>1929702
>>1929722
>>1929725
>>1929789
Just so you guys know, unless the you put in Option E or state it's a write-in before posting, it doesn't count as a vote. So
>>1929635
>>1929652
>Why's she so calm
Wins
>Writing

You ignore her complaints and ask about something that's been bothering you, "Why are you so calm!"

"What!?" she shouts back.

"If you even move a muscle, you'll slashed into tiny pieces and yet you don't seem to panic at all! We could turn around and leave any time now, and you would be left for dead! And yet you have no desperation in your voice! Why do seem so calm!" You tell her your observation.

That statement gives her pause for a second but she quickly responds in wry tone, "When I joined the hunter exam, i knew full well that my life would be in danger! Just because I end getting stuck in a bad situation, I'm not going to bitch and moan about it! Especially when it's my own fault! If wasn't prepared to die, I wouldn't have come here!"

You want to say that's a stupid answer. But you probably would say the same thing if you were in her place.

Being a hunter isn't something you just decide to be. Being a Hunter is fighting with your life on the line everyday to survive and accomplish the impossible. You can't complain even if die an unreasonable or stupid death.

She continues, her voice still calm but with a pleading edge to it, "I'm prepared to die! But that doesn't mean I want to! I know it would be better for you if you just left me to die! I wouldn't even be mad at you if you did! But I have people waiting for me! So i'm asking you as one human being to another!"

She puts a little desperation behind her voice and shouts, "Help me!"

What will you do?

>Leave her

>Recuse her

>Check with Muma

>(Write-in)

>>1930101
>>Check with Muma

>>1930101
>So i'm asking you as one human being to another!
Red Flag.

We need to figure out if she is a human.
Maybe we can ask her to cut herself to show us her blood?

This is assuming plant monsters don't bleed red blood...

We need to use our smarts (and bonuses here).
>Moonlight forest knowledge(+5 to all rolls in the Moonlight forest)

Let me think...

>>1930101
>Write in: You said you are here for the hunter exam. What did i say when the examiners called me up stage?

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Ahhhhhhh, I'm going to drop asleep at this rate and the vote is completely undecided! well i guess i'll leave it till tomorrow and decide when i come back. Have a good discussion while i'm gone.

>>1930184
Excellent!
This!

>>1930224
Good night QM

>>1930120
I'm Back!
>>1930131
>>1930184
>>1930235
I'm going to guess that all of these are the write-in vote. In which case...

>Are you a plant?
>Wins
>Writing

>>1931475
>Are you a plant?

dunno i laugthed at that.

An idea pops into your head. You're in the middle of a forest with deadly and mysterious wildlife. You have no idea what kind of creatures lurk here. At this distance, you can't tell her clothes, face or general appearance. You have no idea whether or not this woman is actually human or not. With all the magical beast in this area, one that can mimic human speech and shape isn't far-fetched.

But then how do you test your theory? She seems to know about the hunter exam. So maybe you should ask something only a fellow aspiring hunter would know....

The perfect question comes to you, you shout out, "Hey, quick question! Do you remember briefing back at the airport!?"

"The Briefing!? Oh, you mean the speeches by those ridiculous twins! what about them!?" She asks in a curious tone.

"Do you remember what I said before they called me up on stage!" You ask to try and test her memory.

"What you said!? Wait a minute. that voice.....Ah! I remember you! You're that Loud Blonde guy they called up! I those twins called you something and you got real angry and shouted at them loudly enough to nearly blow off everyone's eardrums!"

It seems she does know who you are. That's a relief, you wouldn't have wanted to die being tricked by some loud plant lady. She doesn't seem too bad so far...


As you think that, she continues, "What did they call you again!? Oh yeah! Blondie!" She finishes.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING BLONDIE!? I DARE YOU TO SAY THAT TO MY FACE YOU PSEUDO-VEGGIE BITCH!!" You shout two times louder then before, your rage acting as your megaphone.

"It is you! I thought your speech was the best man!" She says with a mix of laughter and respect in her voice.

After your teeth grinding rage dissipates, You start to feel your voice going hoarse from all this shouting. You've spent a good ten minutes going back and forth with this woman. You can't waste time like this, you need to make a decision.

What will you do?

>Recuse her

>Leave her

>>1931576
>Rescure

>>1931576
>Recuse her

>>1931613
>>1931803
Seems like the thread has gone into auto-sage. Guess that means i'll have to bring this thread to a close a little early.

>Recuse time
>Writing

You deduce you have nothing to fear from this woman and while you could just leave her here, you have no real reason to leave her to die here, so might as well just give her a hand.

You look towards Etheline and speak, "Can you send Muma to get that loud lady over there? I doubt she's a threat to us and I don't want to just leave her here."

Etheline gives you a big smile as she sends Muma towards the woman in the distance. Muma moves slowly towards the woman, being careful not to trigger the dangerous plants.

As you wait, Etheline nudges you with her elbow and speaks with a happy voice, "I knew you wouldn't leave her behind. You go on and on about not helping people you don't need to. But the second you see someone in trouble you jump right in for the recuse."

You get a little annoyed at her smug happiness and retort, "Don't misunderstand. We've wasted enough time dealing with this chick. if we bring her back here, we can get some answers and maybe even a new ally to fight for us. I wouldn't help someone who wasn't going to help me back."

"You can be more honest with yourself, You're such a sweetheart Derrick." She says while Muma picks up the woman and brings her back.

You turn your head away and speak in a dismissive tone. "I'm no sweetheart, all the people I've helped just so happened to be in the same places I was going. Besides, those people owe me favors I can cash in on later."

Etheline gives you a smug look and speaks, "Didn't take you for a debt collector Derrick. I guess that means you helped Darby because he's just drowning in money and connections you can use. You're such a pragmatist Derrick."

You try and come up with a retort, but as you try and remember anything useful about Darby you could exploit, you fail horribly and simply utter, "...Shut up." As the woman is brought back with Muma and hops down to greet you.

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She's quite the interesting looking woman. She wears a red blouse with black pants and has an eye-patch that covers her left eye. Her face is littered with a variety of scars that make her look like a bad burn victim and yet she still looks quite confidant and beautiful in her appearance.

She looks at the both of you as she climbs off fully from the robot and then speaks, "So you two are my saviors? Considering you're here in the first place. You must be aspiring hunters like myself. It would have been more beneficial if you just left me to die, would've mean't less competition. Thank you, you're kind people." Her deep and feminine voice match her dry and straight-forward tone.

You speak back, "You're welcome. But don't think we rescued you for nothing."

She looks over to you and whistles, " Oh Blondie. So that's what you look like, couldn't get a good look at you from the fifth row of the briefing. You're real tough and strong looking. Nice face too." She says with a satisfied smile on her face.

You're taken aback by her statement as you filled with anger and embarrassment. You're about to lay into her for calling you Blondie. But she speaks first, "But you're not as cute as my man. The name's Vanilla Clayton. If you're wondering if the tracks are over this way, sorry to tell you, but you need to look again. I got here an hour ago and I've been searching. Found nothing of use. unless you count the death plants over there as a valuable discovery."

Well that's just great isn't it. You spent all this time going the wrong way. You've made considerable progress but if you mess up again you won't get a second chance.

While you and Etheline feel a sense of disappointment and dread overtaking you, Vanilla snickers to herself and speaks, "Don't worry guys. I may not have found the way to the objective but don't worry. You've just earned yourself a whole new ally and I've got something you might find useful."

You perk your head up to meet the Vanilla's eye, She reaches into her blouse pockets and pulls out a set of pictures and flashes them in her hand.

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"What are those?" Etheline asks. She walks over to you and hands you two pictures, she speaks, "I have happen to be a good photographer. I was one of the first people to arrive in this place, so I decided to try and get a bit of an advantage. I took photos of everyone who entered the forest after me. go ahead, have a look."

You look at the photographs. The first photograph you look at is of a tall, white-suit wearing man with a shotgun slung over his shoulder. He has a creepily happy smile painted on his face and you can swear you see some blood on his pant's leg as he skips across the forest. From the picture it looks like he's heading to the east side of the forest.

You look at the second photo and get a big surprise, you look to see Rea, at-least that's who you think she is.

You see the business suit along with the dinky little pistol in her hand as she hurries to the north of the forest. Her height and face look like perfect matches of her body. But you look on her head and blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind.

https://youtu.be/1q6kLrxGZ9o

"When did Rea dye her hair?"

[End of episode 5]

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>End of Thread 5

Whole lot of new characters have been introduced. This thread was puzzle play and trust games that ended up going quite nicely. And even more mysteries about Rea seem to be springing up. Just what's with that woman and secrets....

>Player question

What do you think was the funniest moment of this thread? There wasn't too much action so I tried to make it as funny as possible to keep those of you who wanted to smash some face in entertained.

Soon anons, soon[spoiler/]

>>1932380
>This thread was puzzle play and trust games that ended up going quite nicely
The riddles and the need for discussion and thought really add to the HxH atmosphere. Never stop!

>What do you think was the funniest moment of this thread?
Hmmm... probably the thought of us casually considering if saving Nice errrr Vanilla from her ultimate death was a good idea.

>"When did Rea dye her hair?"

Well it's really hard to not make blood soak into your hair when you are killing 30+ people. So their blood ended up coating her hair.

Thread archived.