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https://twitter.com/ThunderheadQM

Archive:
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Night had fallen over the south Chinese jungle, and your squad had already stopped to set up camp. Your small camp being comprised of a small fire-pit and two hammocks strung up in the branches of a large tree. The 3 of you were all huddled around the fire pit, the roaring flame keeping all of you warm as you ate your cold rations.

"So, what the hell was up with that unit? I've never seen any self-respecting soldiers burn down villages." Logan asked between mouthfuls of the "M" unit portion of his rations. Of all of you, he had probably won the meal raffle with what he had been issued.

"You, have obviously never encountered SS units in the field. Chances are that they were the Japanese equivalent." You pointed out, gesturing with your wooden spoon. You had already finished your meal, if only so that you could continue on to the "B" unit and it's contained desert.

"The SS wear their marking proudly, and don't hide inside ambulances with flamethrowers. Though I understand your point, especially after everything we saw in Germany." Logan nodded in agreement. Before devouring a large spoonful of his meal, obviously enjoying his Pork and Beans.

"I pray that the Japanese don't have an SS equivalent, it is hard to believe that such evil exists." Kyouko said simply, her voice low and dour. She had also finished her food, and was in the middle of re-packing the assorted spices and flavourings that she had won when on board the Thornback.

>Ask your squad mates something (write in)
>Finish your food and go to sleep, you're spent.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2016812
>Finish your food and go to sleep, you're spent.

>the B unit's desert
Sounds dry.
>>
As tonight seems to be going a bit slower, I'm going to reduce the vote requirement to 1 vote. Just so that we can keep the thread going.
>>
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You decided to let Kyouko's statement slide. You didn't enjoy thinking back to what you had seen in Europe, so you decided just to let sleeping memories lie as you pulled the "B" unit can from your pack. You removed the top of the can with your combat knife, and pulled the butterscotch biscuits out of the pack. The tasty biscuits weren't standard issue to standard US forces, but were issued to commando units like Marine raiders and of course the OSS. Their increased cost to produce was off-set by that limited distribution. But it was so worth it as they were one of the few things in the ration pack that was at least up to civilian standards for taste.

You chowed down on a few of the biscuits, making sure to leave a few of them for the road. Thankfully, the pack contained 4 biscuits and some jam. So you could have most of them now and break your road supply between the leftover biscuits from supper and breakfast. These tinned biscuits had been one of the items that had been traded around during your stay on the Thornback, so you had a decent supply for yourself. Logan had gambled some of his away, while Kyouko had traded half of hers away for the assorted spices that she had taken from the Thornback's cook. As such, she usually charged you and Logan a slight premium in order to access her stores of flavourings.

You finished your biscuits quickly, and bundled your used and empty cans together, putting them into the pile next to the fire-pit with the rest of your squad mates used cans.

"I'm heading up to rack. What's the plan for watch tonight?" You asked your squad mates, your rifle being slung over your shoulder as you asked.

"I'll be taking first watch. Kyouko will relieve me and will watch until morning." Logan explained, confirming the order that you had used for all of the time in the field. Usually, the person who had the late night to morning watch would have the entire next night to sleep. Hence why you had tonight off.

"Alright, keep safe you two." You bid your comrades, before standing up and walking up the the tree that your squad had decided to take roost in. A rope had been tied down from the highest branches in the tree, so that you could simply climb up the rope and get up to where the hammocks had been hung.

You quickly climbed up the tree and into your hammock. You hung your backpack and rifle from a nail that had been buried into the trunk of the tree, allowing you to offload your equipment before climbing into your suspended sleeping bag. The tarpaulin sheet suspended above it providing a decent cover against any rain that came your way. You quickly took off your boots and hung them up by their laces, before then taking off most of your clothes before climbing into your sleeping bag. Your used clothes acting as an impromptu pillow as you fell asleep.

Unfortunately, sleep was never something that came easily to you.

>CONT
>>
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>>2017749

Your eyes opened of their own accord, showing you the dreamscape around you. Which was an inky blackness that contained no details, and made you uneasy as you stared deeper into it. You were currently standing on a large, paved rock. the semi-circular platform was bare, aside from a single bonfire, that burned in the middle of it. Inside the flames, you saw a weapon. You saw...

>A sword, not unlike your own in terms of length.
>A rifle, or what you assume is a rifle.
>A blade of screaming skulls.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2017753
>A rifle, or what you assume is a rifle.
>>
>>2017753
>>A rifle, or what you assume is a rifle.
>>
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Buried muzzle first into the bonfire, was a rifle. Or at least what you assumed was a rifle of some kind. The weapon was some sort of bastard mix of an M1 Garand, a revolver and a ray gun. It's frame beign made up of shining brass and steel, with glowing rings of bright blue energy. The weapon seemed hard to aim, as the line between fore and rear sight was blocked by a large cylinder and steel rings.

Regardless, you found yourself compelled to pick the weapon up. The hairs on the back of your neck were standing up on edge, warning of an encroaching danger. The fire that the weapon seemed to dim as you approached, and allowed you to reach in and grab the weapon with little difficulty. The fire gave off no heat, and the weapon was cold to the touch as you took it into your hands. You took the weapon into a loose hold as you inspected it's workings. To your surprise, the cylinder in the middle of the weapon swung out to the side to allow for you to "reload" it. Though you came up blank on ideas to reload a hexogramic rune. The weapon was however, comfortable. Even if it seemed to have been designed for somebody with bigger hands than yours.

You were so engrossed in this weapon, that you didn't notice the black tentacle slowly wrapping itself around your leg until it swept you off your feet.

You fell to the ground. Your arm only narrowly missing the still roaring bonfire as you slammed into the pavement below. Your weight smashing the tiles beneath you. You flipped over as the tentacle began to drag you to the edge, and you tried to point your newly acquired rifle at the tentacle as it dragged you towards the edge. You quickly sighted the tentacle in and squeezed the trigger.

...click...

You had only a second to feel horrified at your mistake of not checking for where the safety catch was, before you were dragged off the edge. Your stomach flipping inside you as you fell over the side, and into the inky blackness below.

As you fell, memories, thoughts and feeling began to rush past you. Happiness and sadness. Horrors and loves. The good and the bad mixed into one. And finally, you fell into something. Your eyes slamming shut instinctively as what you perceived as the ground rushed up to meet you.

>What do you see, when you open you eyes?
>>
>>2018050
>A place you once called 'home'
>>
You opened your eyes to... a grey ceiling. You were laying down, not that your internal sense of up and down knew. It was still doing somersaults from when you were falling. You laid in this very familiar bed for a good few seconds, until your balance returned enough for you to sit up on your old bed.

You were in your old bedroom, in the family home in Herrsching. The old house was not in good shape when you had left it however. In spite of it's near constant occupation by your family it was starting to show it's age. And not just in the abhorrent wallpaper that your mother had picked out. The bed you sat in, and had slept in for most of your life, was not a very comfortable one. But when you were tired after a long day of studying and playing, nothing beat dropping into bed and practically passing out. The assorted religious pictures and idols were something that your father had insisted upon, being a devout christian. You had once followed that religion, but with everything you had seen thus far, and what you had become, you felt sure that heaven would never let you in. So why bother trying?

You looked down to yourself, and found that you were in your old suit. A patchy and ill-fitting suit that really stretched the definition for properly smart attire. However, it was good enough to get past the clothing regulations at the Munich university, so you continued to wear it. Your new weapon was sat on the floor by your feet, it's coils still glowing with energy.

>Fiddle around with it, maybe you can figure out how it works?
>Stow your new weapon into a bag and head out. There has to be a reason as to why you remember this place now.
>Change into some more... appropriate clothing. If you're correct it should be summer out, and a suit isn't in any way appropriate.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2018227
>Fiddle around with it, maybe you can figure out how it works?
>>
>>2018227
>Fiddle around with it, maybe you can figure out how it works?
>>
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Carefully picking up the weapon, you brought the weapon up into your lap with a tentative grip. The steel and brass weapon was heavy, yet warm to the touch. Much of the weapon's heat came from the glowing assembly at the top of the weapon, just forwards of the revolving cylinder. The weapon was unbalanced, with the large cylinders weighing the weapon's barrel down.

Unlike other rifles that you had held the weapon also lacked clear sights, though not for lack of installation. The forwards and rear sights were still installed, but the glowing chamber mounted between them prevented their effective use. You found that the weapon's glowing cylinder dimmed as the cylinder that contained the hexogramic rune, and brightened when the cylinder was loaded back into the weapon's assembly. Additionally, the blue bulb assembly could be removed by twisting it clockwise and then pulling it out with a strong yank. The weapon hissed a small cloud of blue gas from the port where you had removed the bulb from, which quickly dissipated as the glowing cylinder began to rapidly dim. You put the bulb back in, allowing the glowing section to brighten up.

But even your most in-depth investigation found little to suggest the weapon featured a traditional safety catch. Which confused you, who would make a weapon that could not fire?

You were about to continue your investigation, when you heard the telltale sound of yelling downstairs. Some people were obviously not happy.

>Continue investigating the weapon, you need to find out how to fire this weapon.
>Hide the weapon and go downstairs, you wonder who is so irate.
>Put the weapon into a bag and head downstairs, you don't fancy investigating some yelling with little knowledge of what may be down there.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2020893
>Put the weapon into a bag and head downstairs, you don't fancy investigating some yelling with little knowledge of what may be down there.
>>
Realising that one of the voices was your fathers, you swiftly reached under the foot of your bed and dragged out one of your gym bags, the battered and patched bad had been yours since you were young, and was sizeable enough to store most things. You quickly unbuttoned it and shoved your mystery rifle inside, covering it with the assorted gum clothes and towels. You quickly slung your bag over your shoulder and made for the door, only to stop dead in your tracks as you saw something out of the corner of your eye. You looked over towards it, and found yourself staring into a mirror.

And the face that stared back was not your current one, it's skin was too soft and unmarred. looking back from the mirror was your younger self. From before you had joined the Fallschirmjäger. You stared into the mirror for a good few seconds, taking some time to examine what you had once been, before making your way out of your room, and into the corridor.

The upper floor of your house was fairly cramped, courtesy of needing to cram 5 rooms into a small space. The 4 bedrooms were divided up between yourself, your siblings and your parents. With your parents occupying a single bedroom to themselves while the rest of you had a personal room, a luxury to be sure in such dire economic times. But there was a price to be paid whenever winter came. The final room was the solitary bathroom in the house, though as one bathroom between 5 people was never truly enough, there was an outhouse in the back garden in the old shed. You quickly cast off these memories and went downstairs, taking the steps slowly as you listened in on the argument.

"And he should not be parading around with those Nazi filth! They are little more than jumped-up street thugs!" You father ranted from the living room, drowning out the sound of the radio as it played it's mellow tunes.

"Once again, you're over-reacting. Herr Hitler will return Germany back to it's rightful position in the world, don't you want our children to live in a strong and stable country?" You mother insisted, her tone lower and calmer, using the same tone of voice as when she calmed you and the rest of your siblings down when you were younger.

"Over reacting?" Hour father asked rhetorically, his voice straining as he repeated what your mother had just said. "I would rather that our children live the lives of the common black, than to live in a country run by brawlers and murderers!"

"Conrad! I cannot believe that you would want such a horrible life for our children! Can you not see that our children's lives would be better, living in a country where we can run the heating during winter?" Your Mother replied, shocked at your fathers words.

You didn't need to wait to hear the rest of this conversation, you knew how it ended.

>Head out into the village, there has to be a reason why you are remembering this.
>Try and find one of your siblings (brother / sister)
>Stay and listen, you need to hear this again.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2021388
>Head out into the village, there has to be a reason why you are remembering this.
>>
>>2021388
>Head out into the village, there has to be a reason why you are remembering this.
>>
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You remembered this argument the best, to the point that you could almost recite everything that had been said between your parents. You had gone through it over and over in your head multiple times over, wondering if your intervention would have changed anything. But eventually, you came to the decision that your intervention wouldn't have changed anything. As such, you decided not to waste time sitting around, listening in on a conversation that you knew was only the tip of the iceberg.

You continued down the stairs, and into the corridor. The door to the living room was open, and your parents were squaring off inside. The two of them were so engrossed in their yelling match that you were able to slip out of the door as your father began to yell.

"I would prefer that to living in a country that so brutally persecutes it's own people! Can you not see what the Nazis are doing to innocent Jews? Are you truly blind-" Your father continued, only to be cut off by you closing the door behind you. You sighed to yourself, this was only the start of the fights between your parents. And it ended with the destruction of your family.

The street outside was fairly active, children played in the streets which no cars occupied. People walked to and from their destinations, paying no heed to each other. You continued out onto the street, before stopping to plan your next moves.

You had a few ideas on places for you to go. You knew that your brother would likely be walking the streets alongside his fellow brown shirts. Your sister was probably at the park, talking and drawing with her friends. Alternately, you could check out some of your local thoroughfares. The local bar where you drank with your friends after particularly hard exams, or in celebration of a birthday. The local library where you and your friends would study in your time off. Or you could walk the streets, and hope that you would run into something.

>Find your brother.
>Find your sister.
>Investigate the bar.
>Investigate the library.
>Walk the streets.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2021739
>Walk the streets.
Maybe we'll see something we haven't seen before?
>>
>>2021739
>>Walk the streets.
>>
Choosing instead to walk the streets, you slung your gym bag to be more comfortable, before then continuing on down the street. As you made for the town centre, you occasionally stopped to greet the few strangers that tried to strike up conversation with you. An old lady with her shopping remarked to her husband about how you seemed to remind them of their grandson. A child down the end of the street was selling lemonade from a small stall, she thanked you when you bought some for 50 Reichspfennig. A reasonable price for some decent quality lemonade.

Your path took you along the lakeside, the summer sun casting it's warm light over the lake. This warmth and the long promenade made the small village swell in size during summer, and the summer crowds were starting to arrive. The happy holidaymakers walked among the locals as you continued into town, with many of them paying you little attention, other than a couple who asked you for directions to nearby cafes and bakeries. When you entered the town centre, you didn't have to look too far in order to find something out of place.

One of the ships, a boutique if you remembered correctly, had been brutally vandalised. It's windows smashed out, it's signs torn down and it's wares stolen. It's once well-made sign was hanging from it's mounts by loose cabling and ropes, and painted over the name of the show was a single word.

JUDE

The word was flanked on either side by the Star of David, and all were painted on in bright yellow, contrasting sharply with the deep green of the sign. The shop's owners were obviously Jewish, and had been targeted because of their faith. A pair of policemen and a brown shirt stood next to the shop, chatting idly amongst each other.

>Investigate the shop, maybe there is something inside?
>Continue looking, this can't be it.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2022021
>>Investigate the shop, maybe there is something inside?
>>
>>2022021
>>Investigate the shop, maybe there is something inside?
>>
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This was probably what you were looking for, you certainly remember that this building was boarded up following the attack. So if you were to investigate the shop, you had to do it now.

While the front door had been chained shut, a fake panel installed in the shop's display sat wide open, allowing entry into the shop. The shattered glass had been swept up, and your path was otherwise clear. All you needed to do was to simply walk in. The policemen and brown shirt simply ignoring you, more occupied in the latest gossip instead of doing their actual job.

You entered the shop to find that it had been ransacked. Everything inside had been taken, with the shelves knocked over, the till had also been ripped open. As you examined the carnage inside, you walked through the shop. The graffiti had also spread inside too.

"JEWS MUST DIE" and "ALL JEWS ARE SCUM" had been painted on the walls, along with other such anti-semitic slogans. Some of the paint still shone with dampness, as if they had just been painted on.

However, you couldn't see anything more inside. For all intents and purposes, it was just a typical ransacked store. And as you were just about to turn to leave, something tickled your ears.

"Good-for-nothing..." A quiet voice tickled your ears. "Finally getting something done now?"

>Investigate the voice, you think you know where it is...
>Ignore the voice and investigate the store, the owners probably live upstairs. Maybe you'll find clues there?
>Leave, you're not going to investigate a voice that just called you good-for-nothing.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2022233
>>Investigate the voice, you think you know where it is...
>>
>>2022233
>Investigate the voice, you think you know where it is...
THIS AIN'T GOING NICE PLACES
>>
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Turning back towards where you heard the voice coming from, you delved deeper into the shop, your steps slow and cautious as you made to retrieve your mystery gun.

"Really good-for-nothing? How predictable." The voice huffed, it's childish voice taking on a perturbed edge as you pulled the glowing weapon out of the gym bag.

"What are you going to do with that I wonder? Drop it and run away?" Another voice asked, this one taking up a more mocking tone as you advanced. You simply made to ignore the voice as you advanced. The assorted broken china and splintered wood crunching beneath your shoes.

"For sale: One pathetic gun. Never fired, dropped once." A third voice proposed, earning a chorus of chortles from the other voices. You had to bite down on your tongue to preemptively stop yourself from yelling. You arrived at the door at the end of the store, and took up position next to it. The voices had been coming from behind an unassuming white door, and you were about ready to beat the shit out of whoever was making those remarks.

Placing your left hand on the doorknob, you twisted it open and pushed the door open. You entered with your weapon raised to your shoulder, for all the good that would do for you with no real way to aim it. The corridor beyond extended for a few meters before ending in a T-junction.

"It comes!" One of the voices hissed, though you were not sure if it was a warning in jest, or a very real threat. You continued up the corridor for a few seconds, before the door behind you slammed shut The sound caught you off guard, and forced you to turn around to face the door.

The door behind you had darkened considerably to a grey, dark grey around the edges with a smoke-darkened grey closer to the centre. As if somebody had burned the edges of the door with a flamethrower. Carved into the door was a single phrase, repeated over, and over, and over.

IT COMES

The words had been carved into the door by something both hot and sharp, as if somebody had both hacked the words in, and burned them in at the same time. The words were brutally carved in, as if they had been done hastily.

You stared at the carved madness for a few more seconds, wishing that you had your sword, or some other weapon that you could actually use. But when you turned around, you saw a small shadow - barely taller than a child - flit across the junction. The light pitter-patter of multiple rushed footsteps marking out that they were running away.

>Chase after it! At the very least you won't be around here to see what they were running from.
>Take things slowly, this might be your mind playing tricks on you.
>Hold your ground. You don't know what is happening, but you aren't about to start running just because of some voices.
>Other (write in)
>>
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>>2022725
>Hold your ground. You don't know what is happening, but you aren't about to start running just because of some voices.
Oh fug
>>
>>2022725
>Other (write in)
Run outside, maybe your memories can help fight the thing with you.
>>
>>2022725
>Hold your ground. You don't know what is happening, but you aren't about to start running just because of some voices.
>>
Opting to hold your ground, you slowed your breathing and widened your stance. Slowly easing yourself into a more stable firing position to keep your new rifle more stable. The huge weapon sitting uncomfortably in your shoulder as you prepared for whatever came next. You stood stock still, waiting for whatever came next.

Internally however, you didn't like this situation. You were stuck in a poorly defend-able corridor, with a weapon that you couldn't fire. You certainly would have preferred your damn sword, the sharp blade was certainly more useful than this supersized paper-weight.

You stood and waited, hoping to try and find where the enemy would be coming from. And after a few seconds, you heard it. The sound of shuffling feet and tortured groans. The sound seemed to come from all around you, with the noise causing the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on edge. You closed your eyes and listened, blocking out everything else as you tried to figure out where the enemy was.

So suffice to say, you were rather shocked when something punched through the wooden door behind you. You dived forwards, rolling into a crouch and aiming your mystery weapon back at the door behind you. Poking a good foot or two out from the door was a bone-like spike. The brutally utilitarian weapon was made of bone decayed to a discoloured yellow, and was caked in dried blood. The giant spike had been driven into the door with great force.

"Are you really good-for-nothing? RUN!" The voice from before spoke up again, this time more worried than before as the brutal scythe sunk back through the hole it had punched as whatever was on the other side roared.

>Run! Fuck all of this!
>Stand your ground! This isn't your first rodeo.
>Well, now's a good enough time to try and shoot the damn gun.
>>
>>2024100
>>Well, now's a good enough time to try and shoot the damn gun.
>>
>>2024100
>Well, now's a good enough time to try and shoot the damn gun.
shoot, failing that we run.
>>
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Raising your weapon to the door and standing up, you backed up a few paces. Your weapon trained on the centre of the door as another claw pas punched through the door, followed by another one. You held for a couple of seconds, before pulling the trigger.

...click...

As the claws were pulled out of the holes they had punched through the door, you frantically began to fiddle with the trigger and the bulb. But no matter what you did, you couldn't get the damn thing to fire. Even as splinters began to fly from the damaged door, and the beast outside began to roar louder and louder. As a large section of the upper door fell away and crashed to the floor, you ran out of ideas.

Unless...

Consolidating your power, you brought your powers to bare. The telltale purple flame appearing before of your eye as the occult power flowed through your veins. But even as the power began to manifest, the telltale weight of your sword didn't manifest on your back. Regardless, this was all that you hopefully would need as you ejected the rear cylinder. The whole assembly swung out to the side, revealing the magical ward. Summoning your powers, you shunted some magic into the installed ward.

Almost instantly, the rings around the glowing cylinder began to spin in opposing directions. And the ward began to glow and change shape, a new pattern emerging as it began to shine. You quickly shoved the cylinder back into position and raised the weapon, just in time to watch the door explode inwards as the beast broke through.

You stood in shock as you stared at the beast. What had once been a human had been bastardised into something horrific, something that tared back at you with dead eyes. It's lower jaw had been ripped in two, with the remains having been reshaped into a pair of spider-like mandibles. It's right arm now sported one of the long, scythe-like blades that had been used to perforate the door. The other arm had fused into it's body, forcing the beast to mount it's second blade on a spindly 3rd arm, which had burst out from where it's left shoulder had once been. It's legs were deformed mockeries of yours, with it's lower left leg having been broken so badly that a replacement left leg had grown out from where the knee had once been. The beast stared at you, and roared with pained fury, as if the former host of the body was still in agony at his transformation.

You quickly began to back up, and fired the rifle.

The weapon let of a high-pitched shriek for a second, before a blinding blue light lanced out from the barrel. The beam punching into the beast's right shoulder, blowing it's arm off and sending it flying back into the shop. The force of the shot knocked the beast backwards too, staggering it back as it glared down at it's stump. You watched with baited breath, expecting the beast to fall.

>CONT
>>
>>2024529

Yet it did not. The beast turned it's head towards you and roared in defiance, before starting to walk towards you. The shoulder that you had shot already beginning to heal at a rate that not even Kyouko could do with her magic.

>Keep shooting! You can kill this thing!
>Drop the gun and draw your sword! Take it apart!
>Run away, you don't fancy fighting something that can tank such a massive shot.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2024532
>>Drop the gun and draw your sword! Take it apart!
>>
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>>2024532
>Shoot its legs off and run
HA HA
FUCK THIS
>>
Need a tiebreaker
>>
>>2024632
Lets give the gun one more try then
>>
As the beast advanced unfazed, in spite of loosing an arm. You came to a few realisations.

Firstly: Your new weapon was VERY powerful. And it ran at magic.

Secondly: Your sword had not manifested along with your magic. You may be able to summon it, but the fact that it did not appear readily was a bad sign.

Thirdly: Whatever this thing was, it could rapidly heal it's wounds and lost limbs at a rate that you had never seen before.

The third realisation was made worse by the second and the first. If you had to rely on this weapon to kill your foe then you would have to keep pumping magic into it. And you had a feeling that this weapon was very costly to keep firing. Your sword on the other hand didn't need to be reloaded, courtesy of being a sword. And if this beast cold regenerate it's lost limbs, then it could easily undo all of your hard work.

As such, the only reasonable thing to do was to run. But considering how easily it had broken through the door for a walking cadaver, you needed a way to slow it down. You quickly dropped your aim low, and fired again. The bright blue beam cut through the air and slashed off one of the beast's legs.

The beast roared in anger as it collapsed to the ground, it's right leg having been blown off at the hip. But the beast continued to try and crawl after you, dragging itself forwards with it's remaining bone-claw. It roared again as you sent the limb flying away with another burst of energy, only for that limb to be followed by the stumpy remains of it's semi-regenerated right arm.

With the beast now well enough immobilised, and glaring up at you with a mix of hate and hunger, you turned on your heel and ran. You reached the T-junction and ran to the left, following the path of the shadow that you had seen before. The corridor continued on for another few meters, before ending with a staircase that sunk down into the ground. You sprinted down the corridor and took the stairs two at a time, jumping into a run as soon as you reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Just follow the corridor good-for-nothing, hurry!" The earlier voice instructed you, as if you needed any more encouragement. As it turned out, the sound of murderous screeching behind you was a surprisingly good motivator.

As you reached a corner, you slipped and fell. The laminated floors provided you little traction and you ran for your life. However, all this fall did was motivate you even more to run faster. As now the demonic screams were accompanied by rapid foot-falls.

"It comes! Get up good-for-nothing!" Another voice stated the obvious as you rose into a dead sprint. The beast was on the move.

The corridor continued on, and on and on. It continued so long that your lungs ached and your legs burned. But as you grew more tired, you slowed down. And as you slowed down, the distance between you and the beast decreased.

>CONT
>>
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>>2025156

"Just a little further good-for-nothing, you're almost there!" The first voice explained, prompting you to muster your strength once more.

"Maybe we should just let the beast get him, this good-for-nothing is weak." Another voice spoke up, this incredulous one spoke with an unseen sneer. You didn't know where these voices were coming from, but you knew that if you found them then you would start handing out beatings.

"But where's the fun in that?" Another, more enthusiastic voice spoke up. You tried to push these voices out of your mind as your rounded the last corner, only to spot a final obstacle.

"And this is what you call interesting?" The first voice asked, as you realised that your way out was the last obstacle. The iron plated door had been locked and bolted shut, with deadbolts and steel chains.

You did not slow down however, instead slowing down slightly as you raised your weapon, and aimed your shot. The first one blowing the chain apart, the second blowing off the first deadbolt, and the third taking out the second deadbolt.

With only a scant few meters until you reached the door, and the sound of the unkillable foe behind you. You aimed your gun at where you assumed the door-jamb was located, and fired just a scant second before you slammed into the door.

And with a loud crash, you slammed through the door, knocking it open with all of your might. And for the second time in this dream, you found yourself falling into an inky blackness. Though at least this time it was a fate that you had chose for yourself, as the sound of your pursuer died away.

You blinked, and the blackness disappeared. You slammed into the ground as if you had just jumped out of a building. The impact winded you, and forced you to lay still for a few seconds as you caught your breath. But when you looked around at your surroundings, you wondered if you had simply jumped from the frying pan and into the fire.

>You were standing in a bombed out city, the sky above choked with black smoke. The remains of war littering the streets.
>You were standing in a camp, it's towering walls lined with razor-wire and watch towers. Wooden buildings inside seeming to stretch on into infinity.
>You were standing in a long tunnel, which seemed to snake on into the darkness. The sound of pained wailing bouncing across the walls, it's source unknown.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2025160
>>You were standing in a bombed out city, the sky above choked with black smoke. The remains of war littering the streets.
>>
>>2025160
>You were standing in a long tunnel, which seemed to snake on into the darkness. The sound of pained wailing bouncing across the walls, it's source unknown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJlSLpT34SM&t=265s
Any excuse to post this, I'll take.
>>
>>2025365
neat
>>
Need another tiebreaker...
>>
>>2025160

>You were standing in a long tunnel, which seemed to snake on into the darkness. The sound of pained wailing bouncing across the walls, it's source unknown.
>>
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>>2025160
>You were standing in a bombed out city, the sky above choked with black smoke. The remains of war littering the streets.

Also,
>good-for-nothing
pic related?
>>
>Ask fr a tiebreaker
>Get another tie

Let's do this again! Need and actual tiebreaker this time.

>>2026892
Yes! Well done on spotting it based off their "pet-name" for Eugen. Or anyone for that matter.
>>
>>2025160
>>You were standing in a bombed out city, the sky above choked with black smoke. The remains of war littering the streets.
>>
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You were standing in a bombed out city, the broken and skeletal remains of once-occupied buildings that had been blown apart. Rubble had been scattered about, making the destroyed remains of the city seem almost impossible to navigate. The sky above was choked with oily-black smoke, as if some nearby oil-field had been set alight.

"Ah, this should be an apt enough challenge for our dear good-for-nothing's fleeting intelligence. Hide and Seek!" Another voice spoke up, it's shrill and mocking tone really starting to grate on your nerves.

"And for his benefit, what is our dear good-for-nothing looking for?" The first, and most helpful voice spoke up. You decided to name this voice as "Alice", just so that you could easily identify the voice.

"He should know it when he sees it. And from there it's only an issue of getting there, and facing the guardian." The more cynical voice replied cryptically, making you even more partial to labeling that voice as "Bitch-face".

Regardless, you at least had a rough idea on what you had to do. You had to find something in this giant city, and kill whatever was guarding it. Easier said than done, but when was anything?

>Try and find a high-point to survey the area from.
>Pick a direction and start walking.
>Hold position and wait, that... thing... could have followed you.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2027319
>>Try and find a high-point to survey the area from.
>>
>>2027319
>Try and find a high-point to survey the area from.
>>
>>2027319
>Try and find a high-point to survey the area from.
>>
Looking around the ruined skyline, you searched for a high-point to begin searching for your objective from. You were currently on ground level, the buildings around you had been reduced to little more than shadows of their former selves, and were so badly brutalised, that you dared not scale any of them, lest the buildings collapse on you. Nevertheless, you were just able to spy the peak of a damaged church nearby. The damaged houses parting just enough for you to see the ruined bell tower.

You would head there first, if only so that you could better survey the immediate area.

From your rough guesstimate of the church's location, you reasoned that you had to go to the end of this street and then down a couple of blocks before you reached the church. Not wanting to spend any more time out in the open, you decided to put your best foot forwards. After all, who knew what sorts of dangers awaited you in this brutal hellscape. You advanced carefully, keeping your new weapon in a ready grip. The huge piece of metal sitting uncomfortably in your hands, but at least for now you didn’t have to run with it.

You continued right, down to the end of the street, and made to turn left towards where the church was located. However, a large mass of rubble blocked your route. This obstacle was made up of the assorted wrecks of crashed aircraft, with a healthy amount of debris mixed in. You let off an exasperated groan before continuing on. Unable to shake the feeling that there was something very familiar about this place. This feeling only got worse when you crossed into the street across from the one you had just appeared in. The burned out and broken remains of a Hanomag half-track seeming oddly familiar, as if you had seen this very same vehicle before. However, the lack of corpses inside the vehicle threw off your sense of deja-vu. There were the marks of where corpses had fell, and had been fused with the metal as the vehicle had burned. But the corpses were indeed gone. You tried to ignore this as you passed through this street, and took the first available left-turn.

You passed through the next street, and the one after that, with no issues. A semi-neat path having been cut through the debris by something. However, you didn’t have long to ponder on who or what had cut these paths as you practically ran right into them.

You turned towards the church as you left the path, only to dive back behind the cover of a mound of debris as you noticed what was waiting for you by the church. You carefully peeked around the mound of debris and stared at the shambling denizens of this cursed city.

>CONT
>>
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>>2027582

Milling loosely around the church were what could best be described as the walking dead. A gaggle of 10, bastardised SS soldiers. The SS soldiers were grotesque and rotten wrecks, a perfect caricature of the very souls of their mortal counterparts. Their bodies were bloated and rotting, with some trailing ther assorted guts, others lacked arms or walked on broken limbs. Their eyes were pale-white cataracts, unseeing and useless. Yet many of them were armed. Some with guns, others with sharpened entrenching tools and axes. However, they all performed the same act as each other.

These living corpses were gathering up the corpses of the non-living dead. They dragged the remains to an overly-ladened cart and threw them onto the steadily growing pile. You were horrified as you saw the corpses of the young and the old being thrown onto the cart, it would have made you throw up if you were not in a dream right now. You stared at the shambling squad for a few more seconds as you wondered about what your next plan would be.

>Open fire before they see you, if they can even see in the first place.
>Try and sneak around them. How can they see you if they don’t have eyes?
>Observe them for now. Why are they gathering corpses, and where are they taking them?
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2027584
>Observe them for now. Why are they gathering corpses, and where are they taking them?
>>
>>2027584
>>Observe them for now. Why are they gathering corpses, and where are they taking them?
>>
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Staying in position, you decided to continue watching the spectacle unfold. The mass of shambling corpses continued slowly gathered up the dismembered bodies that littered the area, often taking more than one trip to collect the remaining bits of the corpses. Before then starting to comb through the rubble.

”What’s this? Has out good-for-nothing found something?” Alice commented, reminding you that you had a gaggle of spectral spectators.

”He’s sitting around, staring at corpses. He’s deranged.” One of the other voices remarked, her flat voice still carrying the bard well enough.

”Most corpses don’t walk around and pick up other corpses.” Alice reminded her fellow commentator as one of the living-dead SS soldiers was bowled over by a miniature debris-slide. Said man-made avalanche having been made by one of the other cadavers as it mindlessly dug up another corpse.

When the living-dead SS soldier that had been knocked up failed to get up, it’s former squadmates shambled over to it, and began dragging it to the heavily ladened cart. The re-killed corpse was flung unceremoniously onto the cart, and was quickly followed by the corpse that his fellow had dug up. The now slightly depleted squad shambled into a very loose formation, following in the wake of the corpse-cart as it slowly made it’s way off to parts unknown.

>Follow the shamblers, you need to see where they’re taking the bodies.
>Head up into the clock-tower. You need to get the lay of the land.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2027648
>Follow the shamblers, you need to see where they’re taking the bodies.

>man-made avalanche
>man
>implying SS nazi zombies are human
>>
>>2027653
Well, they used to be human.
>>
>>2027693
But are you sure? Super duper ultra mega sure?
>>
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>>2027648
>Follow the shamblers, you need to see where they’re taking the bodies.

>>2027245
Neato. I actually recently finished binging MGNQ, so seeing that phrase here was pretty interesting, to say the least.

Another thing--
>Kyoko
>Jap
>Long hair
>Redhead
>Uses a spear
>Likes eating

Pic?
>>
You waited until the small group of shamblers had passed out of view of your hiding spot, before getting up and making your way over towards he church. You moved carefully, hoping not to reveal your presence to them. A single rock kicked up or mound of debris disturbed could spell the end of your plan to stalk them.

Coming to the end of the road, you peeked around the junction and down the road that the patrol of the living dead had walked. They had managed to gain some distance on you, but they were still far closer than you had expected. The patrol was moving along the street at a slow pace, stopping ever so often to pick up a new corpse before continuing on.

You followed the patrol for what felt like an eternity. The small assembly of walking corpses taking their sweet time, taking a long tome to gather up even the barest scraps of whatever bodies that they came across. Thankfully however, as the journey continued on, there were less and less bodies to be found. Until no more were found.

After a while however, the winding road entered into a large courtyard, just across the courtyard was a broken and damaged cathedral, the roof having collapsed and it's bell tower having been destroyed. You waited behind a destroyed tank as the patrol walked across the courtyard, and entered into the cathedral. The patrol stopping for a bit to widen the doors open just a bit more, before entering fully, leaving the door ajar.

>Quickly run across the courtyard and enter the cathedral, you need to know what they are doing as soon as possible.
>Wait until the patrol leaves, and then enter the cathedral, while you need to know what's happening, you don't want an engagement.
>Try and find another way in, entering in through the front door is a little too obvious, and you don't know if there are snipers.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2029988
>Wait until the patrol leaves, and then enter the cathedral, while you need to know what's happening, you don't want an engagement.
>>
>>2029988
>Try and find another way in, entering in through the front door is a little too obvious, and you don't know if there are snipers.
>>
Need a tiebreaker...
>>
>>2030214
>>Try and find another way in, entering in through the front door is a little too obvious, and you don't know if there are snipers.
>>
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Surveying the building, you slowly began to dislike your odds of getting in without being seen. The courtyard was a good 25 meters long, with no cover whatsoever aside from a few bomb-craters. The towering cathedral on the other hand had a large number of open windows and holes blown into it, all of them were perfect places for snipers or other observers. And if you started taking fire on the way it, you had no idea if you could block it with a sheild. Your sword hadn't manefested as usual, so it wasn't out of the question for your sheilds to be non-functional.

Leaving the damaged face of the cathederal behind, you slunk back into the city. Finding a route around the cathederal was harder than you had expected, with roads being blocked up by debris or still-burning fires. And even then, you kept feeling as if you had been here before. You had of course taken part in the invasion of cities. Chief among them being the city of Gorky during Operation Headsman, the operation to cut-off Moscow salient from the rest of the red army. It had been the operation that showed you the front-line brutality of the SS and their mechanical monstrosities.

And the more you walked through this city, the more it reminded you of that place. You wanted this nightmare to end quickly.

Eventually however, you managed to find your way out of the twisting mass of houses, and back towards the cathedral, this time approaching it from the west. This side was closer to the outlying houses, and had some slight cover in the form of a number of burned and sundered trees. The wall was long however, and you weren't sure if there were foes watching from the windows. At the very least however, the run to the wall of the cathedral was a short one.

>Run to the cathedral. The less time you spend in the open, the better.
>Sneak into the cathedral, you have a large amount of cover, so it's best not to rush it.
>Try and find a different way in, you don't know if there this is the best way in.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2030424
>>Sneak into the cathedral, you have a large amount of cover, so it's best not to rush it.
>>
>>2030424
>>Sneak into the cathedral, you have a large amount of cover, so it's best not to rush it.
>>
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Deciding to that there was no point in waiting any longer. You quickly climbed out of cover and ran towards one of the burned down trees, it's large trunk just about managing to conceal you. You peeked around the trunk and looked up at the myriad of open windows, and when you saw nothing inside them, you sprinted to the cover of the next tree. You repeated this pattern over-and-over, until you eventually made your way to the edge of the treeline. You had managed to cover the destroyed treeline in just under a few minutes of careful moving. And throughout that entire time, you had not spotted even a single observer. Further proof that these walking corpses were not that smart. Taking one final look around, you dived out of cover and sprinted for the wall of the cathedral. Your body tense for the sound of incoming fire as you sprinted through the open ground.

So suffice to say, you were rather happy to make it to the wall of the cathedral without being peppered with fire. You quickly looked around, and found yourself a small access door. The door itself was rotten, and looked just about ready to collapse. Never the less, you tried the handle, hoping to open the door quietly.

However, when the doorknob came off in your hand, you decided to be a little bit more forceful.

So, taking a step back from the door. You raised your boot, and kicked at the door's lock with all your might. The door flung open, and you entered with your weapon raised. Inside however, you found something that you hadn't been expecting.

>You found a group of civilians, all of them looking up at you with abject fear.
>You found a mound of corpses, the young and old all decaying together.
>>
>>2030652
>You found a mound of corpses, the young and old all decaying together.
nope
>>
>>2030652
>>You found a mound of corpses, the young and old all decaying together.
>>
Sat in the middle of the cathedral, in the nave, was a giant mound of corpses. The mound towered a good 5 meters high, and was easily 15 meters in diameter. The corpses of men and women, young and old, whole and incomplete, had all been thrown haphazardly onto the mound, and were all rotting together into a single mass. Unseeing eyes stared out at all angles, leaving no side of the cathedral clear of their gaze. Dozens of these eyes stared at you, and forced you to look away. A mixture of disgust and guilt welling up from the deepest depths of your guts. You took a few seconds to steel yourself, before looking up again.

The cathedral itself was broken and barren. It's roof had collapsed onto the floor, and a number of gravestones jutted up from the rubble and detritus covered floor. As if somebody had decided to move the graves inside the cathedral instead of burying the dead in an actual graveyard. At the back of the large atrium was a set of stares, a small statue of a man with a sword stood in the middle of the stairs. It's sword was broken across the middle, the top of it's head having been broken off by falling debris.

Looking around, you didn't see the squad from before, though their cart remained next to the pile. Or maybe it was just a spare cart?

Ejecting the cylinder from your weapon, you pushed just a bit more magic into the ward, returning the glow to it's ingrained details.

"What's this? Has good-for-nothing found what he's looking for?" The voice of Alice returned, having been quiet for a while.

"Not yet, though if he manages to find it before sunrise then he might actually be smart enough to be useful." The cynical voice of bitch-face stated dismissively.

"He's been more useful than the past dozen others thus-far. Maybe you ought to believe in him a bit more?" Alice asked as you reloaded your weapon, the cylinder locking in place with a satisfying click.

"If it wasn't for mortals like him, we wouldn't have to be here." Bitch-face responded, her current attitude reminding you of some individuals from your past in the Fallschirmjäger.

In retrospect. You should have killed those people when you had the chance.

>Start investigating the atrium.
>Investigate the statue.
>Head past the statue and delve deeper into the cathedral.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2030870
>Investigate the statue.
Good thing this place doesn't smell like a couple dozen rotting eggs.
>>
Need another vote...
>>
>>2030870
>Investigate the statue.
>>
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Shaking the voices out of your head, you decided that the statue was a good place to start your investigation. You quickly began to make your way towards it, only to stop in your track, holding your nose and mouth as the wafting scent of the decaying mound hit you with full force. The sickening-sweet scent forcing you to cover your mouth so that you didn't throw up. You didn't know if throwing up in a dream would cause you to throw up in real life, and frankly you didn't want to find out.

You carefully made your way past the mound of corpses, keeping most of your attention on not letting the nauseating scent from knocking you over. The scent played merry hell with your guts, and your sense of balance. You couldn't avoid the scent, just like how you couldn't avoid the feeling that you were being watched. But you chalked them both up to the mound of corpses that you walked past.

Making your way past the decaying bodies, you took the stairs slowly. If you fell down then not only would you be looking at a tumble down the stairs. Thankfully however, as you climbed the stairs away from the corpses, the scent began to abate until you could no longer smell it. You didn't know if the range of the scent was related to how this particular dream worked, or if it was related to something about the mound of bodies. You didn't have long to think about the issue, as you arrived in front of the statue.

Looking up at the statue, you found yourself staring at a bastardised statue of what you assumed was a knight. The damage had robbed the statue of it's upper right arm and shoulder, the top of it's head and a number of little nicks. While the rest of the statue was made of dull-grey stone, the sword seemed to be plated in silver. However, the massive crack across it's middle robbed it of it's usefulness until it was repaired.

Installed in the top of it's remaining head however, in it's left eye socket, was a gleaming red gemstone. Probably the thing that you were looking for, unless you were here for the sword.

>Climb up and pry out the gem.
>Climb up and pry out the silver word.
>Shoot the statue down, you don't want to risk falling off it.
>Continue looking, this is too obvious.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2031153
>Continue looking, this is too obvious.
>>
>>2031153
>Continue looking, this is too obvious.
>>
Shaking your head, you continued looking around the statue. You doubted that whatever you were looking for was so easy to find. As such, you ignored the statue and continued to search around it. You checked every nook and cranny, even going as far as to knock on the side of the statue to hear if it was hollow.

Alas, your search turned out to be for nought, and you diverted your attention from the statue to the rest of the cathedral.

Gazing at the rest of the monstrous building, you picked out a few different places for you to start investigating. On the ground floor there was the open area of the nave, of which a significant section in the middle had been taken up by the mound of corpses. Along the far wall was a number of confession booths, each one with curtains drawn. And just a bit above ground level, yet not high enough to encroach onto the second floor. The second floor itself was made up of a set of pews arrayed into stands, thus allowing whoever was up there to gaze down upon the alter. Just beyond these pews was the access door to the bell tower. Finally, you spied two doors that lead to a pair of outlying sections. A door on the ground floor, past the confession booths, was a door marked out as leading to the chancel, where the clergy lived. Another door, just past the alter probably lead to the rectory.

However, the more you took in around you, the more you felt that you were missing something obvious, though you couldn't quite put your finger on it.

>Investigate the ground floor (nave / confessional cabinets / altar)
>Investigate the second floor (pews / bell tower
>Investigate the outlying sections (rectory / chancel)
>Keep searching, you're missing something here.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2032944
>Investigate the ground floor (nave / confessional cabinets / altar)
Please, for the love of all that is good, let it not be inside the pile of corpses.
>>
>>2032944
>Investigate the ground floor (nave / confessional cabinets / altar)
>>
You need to specify which one of the 3 you want to investigate.
>>
>>2033290
Aw shit, it's menu-option-checklist quest again.
>nave
>>
>>2033304
Yeah, this happens so often that I need to really specify it. That's a mistake on my part.
>>
>>2033290
>Nave
>>
Turning on your foot and descending back down the stairs, you started to look around the nave for anything that could hint at where this this was that you were looking for was. Of course, searching for something in this mass of detritus was easier said than done. The broken pews and fallen masonry cluttered the floor, and made it almost impossible to find the smallest of items. As such, you swept the area, looking for anything shiny or otherwise valuable in the assorted rubble.

You barely kept yourself from hurling whatever was in your guts as you swept through the rubble. Your slow pattern through the nave providing you with a lot of spent cartridges, broken knives and other such useless things. However, as you returned to where you had entered the building, you found yourself almost empty-handed. All you had found were 3 rusted coins, each one possessing the effigy of a faceless angel on them.

As you looked up and around, for anything that may line the walls, you still felt the unsettling gaze from the mound of corpses. Their piercing eyes gazing through you, as if they could read you like a book. You shuddered at the thought, and hastened your search. The sooner you found what you were looking for, the sooner you could leave behind the unsettling gaze of the damned and the stench of rotting flesh.

You spied a rudimentary winch, the chain wrapped around it snaking off into the highest point of the arching ceiling, connecting to a rather large and undamaged chandelier. All of it's candles still blazing, with the light reflecting off something caught in the middle of the chandelier itself.

>Take the chandelier down, that might be it.
>Continue investigating the ground floor (confessional cabinets / altar)
>Investigate the second floor (pews / bell tower
>Investigate the outlying sections (rectory / chancel)
>Keep searching, you're missing something here.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2033487
>Take the chandelier down, that might be it.
>>
>>2033487
>Take the chandelier down, that might be it.
>>
Making your way towards the winch, you took your time to survey the basic pulley system that was in use. In theory, all you had to do was unwind the coiled chain winch, in practice however, you weren't sure if there were other safety systems stopping the winch from simply being turned by anyone. Not to mention that the chain itself was burnished brown by rust. There was a very real chance that the whole thing could either seize up, or break while you were using it. You quickly arrived at the winch, motivated by the prospect of quickly leaving this cursed ground. You propped your rifle up against a wall, and quickly began to unwind the ancient system. The wood and metal alike creaking and groaning in protest at their use as loose rust fell from the chains. Moving the winch in any way was a daunting task as it was so heavy, and for the great effort you were putting in, you were only gaining a small amount of movement.

In spite of this, you pressed on for as long as you could. Your muscles aching as you fought against the built up friction from decades of the winch never having been moved. And you only stopped when you heard the sound of chains clinking against each other. You smiled slightly as you shook the aches and pains from your arms, and turned to look at your work. And suffice to say that you were not pleased when you saw that you had in fact made no progress, as the pulley that snaked the chain around the overhanging stands of pews above as stuck solid. Not allowing even the slightest bit of new chain to pass through it to allow the chandelier to descend.

Now, there were some more mature ways that you could have solved this issue. You could have ascended the stairs up to the stands above where you could have probably loosened the pulley enough that it would have let the chain pass through. You could have grabbed a fist-full of the slack chain down on the ground floor and tried yanking on it, hopefully loosening the pulley's strangle-hold on the chain enough to allow it through. However, you were not in the mood at that point to waste yet more time on this flawed system.

Your new magic-gun was certainly a swift method of solving the issue. One shot straight to the pulley blew the entire assembly apart, and allowed the chandelier to descend at a much faster rate than before. Unfortunately however, you had no way of actually controlling how fast it fell. So just a second or two after you took your shot, the large bird-cage style chandelier dropped from the ceiling, and fell straight down.

If you were to count your blessings, you would have been happy that the chandelier landed relatively intact. Even it's candles remained alight after it's great fall. On the downside however, it landed on top of the giant mount of corpses. Which at face value was bad as it meant that you had to climb up a mound of corpses in order to claim your bounty.

>CONT
>>
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>>2033772

But as a wise man once said, nothing ever happens by accident. And when the mound of flesh began to lurch, dud you realise your grave mistake.

You had forgotten about the guardian, the one that bitch-face had referenced when you arrived in this bombed-out hellhole.

"Oh, oh! Look everyone! Good for nothing managed to finally figure out what to do!" Another, unnamed voice called the other voices to watch you situation unfold, as the mass of corpses began to fold in on itself. The once haphazard mound of the dead beginning to take on a new, more hideously grotesque form.

"Congratulations, to him then." Another voice spoke up, this one sounding more venomous than even bitch-face. "Should we also congratulate him for not defecating himself?"

"We can get to congratulations once he deals with this simple foe, surely he cannot disappoint us with such a simple task?" Bitch-face spoke up as an arm -or what you assumed was an equivalent of an arm- shot out of the mass.

i]"It took him this long to get this far. The only thing he has managed to do successfully is earn his title!" The more irritating voice spoke up, you decided to name this one shit-brains.

Slowly however, the beast before you took shape, turning from a mass of rotting corpses into a moving mass of rotting corpses. It's large body looking like a single, bloated, rotting corpse. In one arm, it carried a comically over-sized meat cleaver. Which would be funny if it wasn't covered in blood and didn't look as if it would have been better served for disembowelling heavy tanks.

>Stop gawking and shoot it! SHOOT IT!
>Summon your sword and charge it, a big target needs a big weapon to take it down.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2033777
>Stop gawking and shoot it! SHOOT IT!
ISAAC, YOU HAVE TO CUT OFF ITS LIMBS
>>
>>2033777
>>Stop gawking and shoot it! SHOOT IT!
>>
Deciding that acting was better than simply standing around with your head up your ass, you quickly snapped your weapon up to your shoulder. However, your rushed your shot only managed to punch into the belly of the beast in stead of the rough approximation of a head that had been formed when the corpses of the mound wormed their way into the chandelier, knocking the candles from their wax-encrusted mounts. The mound roared in tortured rage at it's wound, and charged you.

For a mound of rotting corpses, the guardian that you faced moved rather quickly. It moved not on legs, but on the arms of the corpses that made up it's bloated mass. However, it wasn't so fast that you couldn't try and dodge it. However it was agile enough that it could track you as you tried to dodge it. It's sheer size was enough that you found it hard to dodge. You only managed to dodge it by diving behind a line of stone pillars, which slowed the beast down enough that you were able to run past it.

You shot the beast's free "arm" as you ran away, your shots blowing massive chunks out of the beast as you ran. You barely had time to notice your damage dealt as you were forced to jump away from the myriad of rotting arms that shot out from the beast's body as you ran away. The beast's pained howl was a good enough indicator that you had dealt some damage, and a glance over your shoulder confirmed it as a burned and broken corpse was dropped from the arm, it's charred torso and a trio of massive holes blown into it confirmed that you had caused enough damaged for it to be discarded outright.

You came to a stop in the middle of the nave and raised your rifle back at the beast as it just finished turning around to face you. You aimed and fired again, only for your first shot to be followed by a dull click. You quickly ejected the ammunition cylinder and re-powered the ward within, annoyed that the weapon only held 6 shots. You looked up and aimed at your foe, just as it reached where you had once been standing. However, it stopped for a few seconds and wrapped it's free and empty arm around the winch that you had much trouble with. You fired another 6 shots, this time into it's head. But all you succeeded in doing was popping a pair of skulls and shattering the wrought-iron chandelier.

You quickly realised your folly, as the beast ripped the winch up from where it had once been mounted. The giant assembly of wood and steel hurtled towards you and forced you to dive to the side. You quickly got up and made to gain more distance as the beast brought back it's improvised ball-and-chain. You took this time to think.

>CONT
>>
>>2035093

You knew that your weapon was obviously doing damage, but it wasn't devastating by any means. Meanwhile, the beast's two very crude weapons were so large that any hit could easily snap you like a twig. As such, you couldn't allow yourself to get hit. And because it's legs were made up of a number of bodies dragging it along on it's arms, you couldn't easily slow it down.

>Keep shooting it in the body and head, maybe you'll unveil a weak spot!
>Start shooting it's arms, if you can take out it's weapons then you can make it far less dangerous.
>Start shooting it's "legs", once you've stopped it from moving it will be an easy kill.
>Try and summon your sword, or any of your powers from the mortal realm.
>Run away, you can't win a direct battle.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2035107
>Run away, you can't win a direct battle.
I don't know how we're going to drop a building on it, but I'd love to try.
>>
Need another vote.
>>
>>2035107
>>Run away, you can't win a direct battle.
>>
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Deciding that it would be almost impossibly to kill this beast, you didn't stop to shoot at your foe as your weapon was empty. Instead, you made for the stairs. You hoped that the stairs would be too weak to allow the murder mound behind you.

You quickly ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time with as much speed as you could muster. You didn't fancy being added to the wailing mass of moaning corpses behind you. The beast behind you wailed as you ran, and began to swing it's improvised flail. You listened to the chains as they clinked against each other and waited for the tell tail sound of the weapon being flung at you. You weren't sure if you could dive away in time if it was thrown at you, but you sure as shit would try.

The one thing that you didn't expect however, was for you to be knocked over by something soft and wet. You slammed into the hard stairs, and quickly dived to the side, anticipating the flail being brought down on your limp form. And as expected, the dismounted winch slammed into where you had been slammed into the ground. The wood splintering as is was slammed into the solid stone stairs. You ignored the lingering pain and quickly climbed up to your feet. You sprinted off with a renewed vigor, and only just dodged the thrown flail as you reached the landing where the statue sat, the marble effegy being blown asunder by the force of the impact, showering you with stone fragmented sword.

>Take the high ground and fire down on your foe. You can best fight this thing at range.
>Leave and try to find some weapons in the ruined city.
>Hide and try to summon your powers from the mortal realm.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2036257
>Hide and try to summon your powers from the mortal realm.
>>
>>2036257
>Hide and try to summon your powers from the mortal realm.
>>
>>2036257
>Take the high ground and fire down on your foe. You can best fight this thing at range.
>>
Continuing past the shattered statue, you sprinted up the shorter section of stairs and quickly dived through an open door. You hit the floor as soon as something wet slammed into the door frame you had just passed through. You didn't bother looking at what had just been thrown at you, you quickly jumped up and sprinted deeper into the sprawling building, running into the small and winding tunnels for as long as you could.

"So, this good for nothing is a coward. Not very useful for us." Another voice spoke up again, unbidden in your mind as you came to a stop and began to catch your breath.

"Or, maybe because he's smart enough to know when to run. His current equipment isn't very useful for such a task. Alice reminder her friend as you slowed your breathing, quickly regulating your breathing.

A few seconds after comming to a stop, you set your mystery weapon down on the ground. With your hands now free, you began to focus your mind in an attempt to summon your powers. For a few seconds, nothing happened. You began to focus even more, blocking out the sounds of the raging beast far behind you, and of the groaning building. You slowly felt the magic within you began to muster as you channelled your powers into a more consolidated. The dark, insides of your closed eyes suddenly burst with purple light as your powers maefested in their unrefined form. Usually however they would glow blue, but in this dreamscape they ahd reverted to the first colour that they had ever burned as. The colour of the flames that had burned your old body to ashes, so that you could rise again like a phoenix. And with but a though, you summoned a weapon. A weapon to assist you in this dark dream.

Opening your eyes, you saw what you had been dealt...

>Your trusty sword, but different. It's blade distorted.
>A dancing, purple flame. Silently promising power untold.
>A pair of circular shields, each of them engraved and glowing with power.
>A pair of silver embraces, large assemblies mounted beneath them hiding something.
>... Is that a bag of grenades?
>>
>>2041247
>... Is that a bag of grenades?
Can never have enough.
>>
>>2041247
>>... Is that a bag of grenades?
>>
>>2041247
>... Is that a bag of grenades?
We gonna mash that monster into potatoes
>>
"Is that... a bag of grenades?" One of the voices asked in disbelief, and you had to admit that you were also a bit shocked at what you had been dealt.

Floating before you, was a rather un-threatening looking burlap satchel. Aside from the fact that it was currently floating and glowing with an ethereal blue, it looked more like something that you would carry maps, bandages and possibly your lunch in. However, this illusion was broken by the fact that the satchel was open, and you could clearly see what you assumed were grenades. Like typical allied grenades, they featured a pin and spoon with the former holding the latter in place. Unlike normal grenades however, their main bodies were cylindrical, with two large, nut-like parts at the top and bottom of said cylinder. The grenades were also made of what looked like a mixture of brass and lead. The light and heavy materials and their odd shape would make them annoying to throw. On the other hand however, you had at least a dozen of the welcome little blighters.

And considering that you were facing off against a large and easy to hit target, you didn't doubt that your ability to hit it. You only wondered if you would have enough to kill the damn thing. Though if you really needed to, you guessed that you could just pull a pin and hurl the entire damn bag at the bloody beast.

"Ah, explosives. The cause of, and solution to all of life's problems." You stated with a blissful sigh. While this was probably the most crude weapon you could have been given. There was no denying how proficient you were with them. You happily slung the pack over your shoulder and turned on you heel, and if anyone could see your face, they would have seen an almost hubristic smile spreading across your lips.

If you were frankly honest with yourself, you were just happy to finally be able to blow shit up.

You swear that you're not a pyromaniac.

Regardless, you quickly arrived back at the atrium, having been forced to enter in from another door as the beast had thrown enough rocks and body parts at the door that it had became blocked under the constant pileup of assorted crap. You slowly snuck up to the doorway on the opposite side of the staircase to the door you had left through. Said door now looking as if it had never been accessible in the first place from the amount of debris thrown at it. Inside you could hear the angered moans of the flesh-guardian, obviously annoyed that you had managed to escape. As such, it probably didn't know that you were here, but was still on the lookout for you. And with so many heads, it had more than enough eyes to look for you in the room. You had to plan your attack.

>Get a bit closer on the second level and toss grenades down onto it.
>Stay where you are and try to hurl grenades from a distance.
>Try to get close and throw the entire pack at the beast all at once.
>Try shooting it a bit more, maybe you can poke some of it's more "ablative" protection off.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2041590
>Try to get close and throw the entire pack at the beast all at once.
>>
>>2041590
>>Try to get close and throw the entire pack at the beast all at once.
>>
>>2041590
>Get a bit closer on the second level and toss grenades down onto it.
>>
Slowly lowering yourself onto your belly, you began to crawl on your bell. Your pack being shoved just over the small of your back. And once you were ready, you slowly began to crawl across the floor, headed towards where the mound of meat was currently sat. Your foe being too buys groaning and hurling rubble around to hear you as you made your way slowly into position. Your slow advance was made even slower by the need to occasionally stop to push debris out of your way, however, you still made progress along your way.

One particularly difficult piece of debris was a good foot wide and a few inches in diameter, and you slowly began to move it out of the way with care. Hoping not to alert the monster to your position. And once you moved it, you continued on slowly, not even daring to thing that you had managed to escape danger.

As such, you weren't surprised when the floor beneath you was buckled beneath you by an improvised flail, and promptly buckled. Causing you to fall onto the floor bellow.

You hit the ground hard, the impact knocked the wind out of you. However, you quickly managed to recover, and dodge the follow-up strike from your foe's improvised weapon. The former winch almost breaking apart as it slammed into the ground where you had fallen just scant seconds before. You had rolled out of the way of the strike, just in time, splinters showering off your body.

Tossing your rifle into cover behind a nearby pillar, you quickly ripped your satchel pack from your back as you got up to your knees. Your foe dragging it's improvised flail back for another swing as you reached into the grenade bag and yanked a pin out of one of the grenades. You had no idea how long the fuses were set for, but assuming that they were set to the military standard of 3-5 seconds, you quickly tossed the entire damn sack in front of the advancing monstrosity. And as soon as you pack left your hand, you quickly dived to the right. Not just to get into cover, but also to dodge the next swing of the flail.

Now, you had hoped that the rather sturdy looking pillar was strong enough to protect you from the blast, or at least to not crumble from the force of the explosion. Unfortunately for you, neither of those were to be the case. Though while the pillar had crumbled, forcing you to dive back out of cover in order to not be smashed by the falling marble. The blast kicked up vast amounts of dust and debris, and you were forced to cover your head as the building was further mauled by the explosion. Ruined wood and stone fell upon you, but thankfully it was nothing strong enough to injure you.

>CONT
>>
>>2042026

As soon as you felt confident that nothing more would fall on top of you, you slowly began to raise yourself up from under the debris that had fallen on top of you. The few wooden boards, small pieces of stone and other assorted debris was easy to shift. And you even spied the brass finery of your rifle peaking out of the cover of the debris. However, a sharp pain in your left let told you that you had not escaped unscathed. And upon inspection, other wise known as looking down at said leg, you found that it was trapped under the remains of the pillar. You could certainly move it, but it would take time.

At the very least, you didn't have to worry about your foe.

The massive mound of murder meat that had decided to try and add you to it's growing collection of corpses had fared pretty badly From what you guessed, the dumb decaying devil had pretty much walked over your improvised satchel charge. Blowing it's "legs" -or more applicably, it's lower mass of corpses- to smithereens. The few corpses that had survived the blast had been from the behemoth's upper section. And blown open and exposed withing the rough approximation of the beast's "chest" was some kind of crystal. The crystal itself was grey, but the fiery-yellow thing within it glowed brightly, the light withing gradually defusing to orange and then red before it could completely escape from the gem. It was certainly similar to your own gem, but it was far to large and far to crude.

The chandler had been blown off the beast, and had landed only a few feet from you. And now you were able to see what you assumed was the artefact that you had been sent to find. It looked like the forward part of a Japanese blade. Except that it was as black as the darkest night. It was certainly sharp, having been impaled into the ground edge first. The entire thing seemed to glow with an un-earthly lustre, not unlike your own sword. You could have swore that you had seen something similar at one point. But the specifics of the memory eluded you, as it it was on the tip of your tongue. However, it was certainly nearby, you could probably reach it with your right hand if your stretched enough.

However, as your hearing began to slowly return following the blast, you heard the sound of something, or somethings moving. You quickly looked back behind you and found that your work was still not yet done.

The still intact bodies were slowly but surely getting up. Which was a considerable feat owing to the fact that they were missing a fair few bits. many were standing at odd angles, and had limbs bent the wrong way by the blast and fall. However, as each one got up, they turned to face you. And began a tortuously slow advance towards you. You hurriedly tried to move the debris over your leg, but it was no use. While you could certainly move it, you didn't have time to move it before the shamblers reached you. You had to act now, and you had to do something.

>CONT
>>
>>2042029

>Shoot out the beast's heart. End the twisted game.
>Kill the shamblers, the heart isn't going anywhere.
>Grab the blade shard.
>Other (write in)
>>
>>2042033
>Shoot out the beast's heart. End the twisted game.
>>
>>2042033
>Shoot out the beast's heart. End the twisted game.
>>
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Quickly snatching at your rifle, you wrapped your free hand around it's grip and tried to tug it from the masonry that had trapped it. Your first few tugs however were met with nothing as the masonry held the brass-clad weapon in an iron grip. Even as the masses of shambling bodies crept closer and closer, you struggled with the trapped salvation. As your hearing finally returned in full, and the walking cadavers arrived in smelling distance, you just barely managed to yank the weapon free. And without thinking, you swung the weapon around and fired your reloaded weapon into the heart of the beast, all 6 shots slamming home with surprising accuracy.

The large crystal shattering with a loud and noticeable sound, not unlike the sound of glass shattering when shot by a rifle. And it behaved as such too, as it practically exploded. As the glass shattered, there was an ear-splitting scream as whatever was held within was killed. And as the scream faded away, the shambling bodies fell limp to the ground. The closest one flopping to the ground just a few inches from you.

"See! This good-for-nothing is actually good!" Alice spoke up cheerfully, her elated voice pretty much telling you that you had succeeded in whatever goal you were meant to accomplish.

"Useful, not good. Useful." Bitch-face corrected her associate , further damaging her in your eyes with her pessimistic stance.

"He's the best that we've had thus-far, you ought to lighten up!" Alice asked of her fellow voice as you reached over and grabbed the black shard. However, as soon as your finger brushed against the artefact, your vision began to swim. You felt everything slowly fade to black, as you felt yourself start to fall. The darkness encroaching around you-

You immediately sat bolt-upright in your hammock, your blood pumping through your veins as a cold sweat ran down your back. You quickly snapped your head around and found that you were exactly where you had fell asleep, in the canopy of South China.

"Hey, you alright? You looked like you were having a shit night." Logan spoke up from beside you, startling you for a second. However, you quickly regained your composure as you ran your hand over your face.

"I'm fine, just a bad dream. What's for breakfast?" You asked as you wiped the sleep out of your eyes. The last vestiges of sleep shaking themselves from you as you basked in the shadowed sunlight.

"Chopped Ham and Eggs. K-ration breakfast. Pack your stuff and head down, Kyouko's cooking." Logan briefed you, before turning away and climbing over towards where the other hammock had been hung. You took a few seconds to come fully to your senses, before starting to get dressed. Your clothes being slightly warm as you had stowed them at the very bottom of your sleeping bag in order to keep them warm. And withing 10 minutes you had all of your equipment on the ground.

>CONT
>>
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>>2042472

You packed your equipment away as you ate. The Chopped Ham and Eggs had a bad reputation among most other units, and you didn't blame for their dislike of the meal. Thankfully however, you had Kyouko and her practically artful skill at cooking on your side to help make any meal, especially breakfast, go down well enough. It took you slightly longer than Logan to get your stuff packed away, but once it was done. You all buried all of your rubbish inside the fire pit that you had dug for your stay, neatly covering up all evidence of your little stay here in one fell swoop. And as soon as that was all done, you once again took up lead in your patrol and lead your squad back on track to your objective.

After all, the mission was only just beginning.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I'm gonna call the thread here guys. This thread has gone on for a while, considering that we started before Halloween, and ended after. However, it's all fine and good as this was a nice and interesting enough run. A nice way to break up the monotony of the past few threads.

Anyways, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them. And speaking of questions:

>>2027928
Yes, the Kyouko in WWFTT is based off the PMM Kyouko, though mostly because of her decent back story (which will can be visited if you ask Kyouko in character. And get her drunk enough to tell) and because she was a great character on short notice (considering that she was added in at the later stages of what was meant to be a short series, whoops). There are a few differences though:
>1) She isn't a pure Jap, she's also half Austrian.
>2) The only reason she ended up with a spear was the dice, I just decided to roll with it.
>3) She doesn't so much like eating as she does like cooking.
>4) Her special power is different to her PMM counterpart, instead of having Rosa Phantasm (which makes multiple phantoms of her), she instead has healing magic, which stems from her religious upbringing.
>>
>>2042474
Oh, interesting. Thanks for the run, boss. Seeya next time!
>>
>>2042474
>filename
Seems about right.
>>
>>2042474
>>2042474
>She isn't a pure Jap, she's also half Austrian.
>red hair

This triggers me for some reason.




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