Your CURRENT OBJECTIVE is meeting Muhammad Avdol, the nearest ally of the Joestars and a formidable Stand user in his own right. The plan is to explain the pertinent information to him (DIO wanting to avoid conflict with the Joestars and bypass the curse of his stolen body setting its descendants' spirits on constant alert) and hope he is convinced. If things go well enough he could be an ally from the get-go.

However, being a total GREENHORN yourself, you're to go to his fortune telling shop in Cairo partnered up with another AGENT OF DIO. You were able to request said agent to be MICHAL, a young mute woman whose Stand 『Dark Mirage』can materialize mirages in light. Her existence proved TIE-IN material ("Genesis of Universe") to be relevant to this reality. Unlike some others in DIO's employ, Michal isn't a die-hard devotee or cutthroat killer. So there should be no issues going with her to talk to Avdol, right?
---
You are currently sitting in your ASSIGNED BEDROOM on the second floor of DIO's mansion. Today is your very first morning as a STAND USER! It's still very early, and the sun is barely risen, but you've already eaten breakfast and got dressed (in a blank t-shirt, fairly soft loose jeans, and sturdy sneakers). As you rub sunscreen on your arms (the mansion is stocked with plenty), you contemplate if you should go find Michal or take a bit of free time to interact with your Stand first.

>The sooner you go meet Michal and go over today's task with her, the better. The day will only get hotter the more you wait.
>Now that you've got a night's rest and freshened up, summon your Stand and try testing its abilities a little more. Get to know each other!

(2/2)

>>6124494
>Now that you've got a night's rest and freshened up, summon your Stand and try testing its abilities a little more. Get to know each other!
I want to try it on our own body now. Just a little. Use it on a finger and see if we can feel sensations from all the fractal fingers.

>>6124494
>Now that you've got a night's rest and freshened up, summon your Stand and try testing its abilities a little more. Get to know each other!

>>6124494
>Now that you've got a night's rest and freshened up, summon your Stand and try testing its abilities a little more. Get to know each other!

>>6124494
>Now that you've got a night's rest and freshened up, summon your Stand and try testing its abilities a little more. Get to know each other!
Hopefully my post doesn't get eaten this time.

File: The-Koch-curve-is-close-t(...).png (11 KB, 375x666)

11 KB PNG

>>6124506
>>6124631
>>6124764
>>6124783
You try summoning your Stand. It feels a bit like tensing an invisible muscle in your mind, but not quite in your mind. 'Jenova' materializes. In the morning light, it looks a bit less ominous as it floats beside you. Does it have thoughts of its own?

You reach out a hand to it, as if petting an unfamiliar animal. You try to silently instruct your Stand to use its ability on one of your fingers...Immediately a little wispy pseudopod curls out of its body, and wraps around your left pointer finger. You feel a little zap on the fingertip, and lo and behold: you now have gradually smaller versions of that finger going out in a single line, creating a longer one with extra joints! The line isn't straight, rather a sort of knobbly zig-zaggy pattern* with the line segments being increasingly miniature fingers, but it's functional.

A great idea comes to your mind. You get Jenova to repeat the process for all of your other fingers, testing its ability to clone different objects at once (albeit similar ones located on the same entity and body area). Good for grabbing or manipulating things? Instinctively, the extra fractal joints move in tandem with the originals they stem from, but it you focus harder you can move thinner parts on their own. Your brain should be able to retain the new motor skills with practice.

"I like rusty spooons..." you mutter in a shitty impression. Jenova doesn't seem amused, or responsive at all, but you crack yourself up.

"Staaar Finger!" You flex your pointer and middle finger so that they stick out straight and jab through the air with it. You don't have a microscope to check, but the fractal copies should continue at least to the microscopic scale (maybe down until atoms get involved?), so if you were to poke someone in combat it might be pretty sharp.

"Sutahhh Fingah!" It may be in bad taste to do an impression of the guy once fated to kill your new boss, but neither are around to see it.

(1/2)

[*Refer to the attached image of a Koch curve.]

File: idee9685dc7ef36829690c0b6(...).jpg (134 KB, 425x244)

134 KB JPG

>>6125071
Back to business. With a directed thought your fingers return to normal. You note that the "branching copies" of your fractals just disappear into thin air (starting from the furthest ones, up to the edge of the original thing being copied).

It's a bit different from 'Kiss'. Actually, the only other Stand you can think of in the series (maybe not this world per se) dealing with fractals and duplicates in this way is...Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, with the whole "copies of the same thing, excluding the user, exploding into Menger sponges upon contact with each other" stipulation.

You wonder if a Stand like that had something to do with your appearance in this universe to begin with. Thoughts to file away for later.

Your hands feel a little tingly for a second, fingers feeling short and stubby without their extension.

All of this only took about a minute or so. You repeat the process, but with variations: Jenova duplicates your nails layered on top of each other in a fractal, essentially turning them into a curved stack that ends at a sharp, microscopic tip--makeshift claws. The scale of the initial clones can be specified, too (as long as they're smaller than the original, and attached to it at some point). A nail can have little tiny versions of itself on its edge, so that it becomes serrated and sharp. And you can repeat that process for multiple nails.

Back to the fingers, you have Jenova clone them again but as microscopic "bristles" patterning your actual fingers' undersides and palms. The feeling is weird, a sort of inverse of being itchy and just as uncomfortable. If your hunch is right, this should work along the same principle as Velcro, burrs and the setae on gecko feet...you go to an empty corner of the room, hop up, and press your hands into the walls, trying to cling to them like a nondescript spider-person of some sort.

Sweet! You manage to sort of hold onto the wall for a few seconds. Granted, there's not that much space, and your fractal fingers feel a little weird and tingly, and you left a scratchy imprint on the walls, but you have the proof it works.

(2/2)

>Keep experimenting on yourself with little tests, mainly on the fingers, nails and hands.
>Try testing the limit of how large an object Jenova can use as a basis to clone off of. Kiss could clone entire arms, after all.
>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?

>>6125075
>>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?

>>6125075
>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?
Main things I'm wondering about are whether we can delay when our power triggers on a remote object if we are able to do that, and how exactly damaging the original/copy affects the other and vice versa.
If the former works, I'm thinking we could pull a Joseph Joestar and use clackers to hack off limbs by having the string grow inwards.

>>6125075
>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?
Experiment, if you would, on a bottle. One filled with water, and the other filled with air. Open a fractal of the one filled with air underwater, to see if bubbles come up - if they do, then it duplicates gasses.
Pour out the fractal of the one filled with water. Does the poured water disappear if you undo the fractal? Is there water in there to begin with?
Surely there is, with the blood and gasses inside a human finger.
Ah, what happens if you sever a fractal? Cut one of the bottles from the rest with a knife.

>>6125075
>Try testing the limit of how large an object Jenova can use as a basis to clone off of. Kiss could clone entire arms, after all.

>>6125075
>>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?

>>6125075
>>Keep experimenting on yourself with little tests, mainly on the fingers, nails and hands.

>>6125075
>>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?

>>6125075
>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?
What if we fractal(?) the air in front of us? In the case of, say, an enemy stand throws fire at us, that heat should dissipate in the infinite air before us. Maybe.

File: s-l1200.jpg (98 KB, 900x1200)

98 KB JPG

>>6125078
>>6125084
>>6125085
>>6125427
>>6125712
>>6125741
>Switch to an inanimate object, to simulate using your Stand on some random shit lying around in a battle scenario. What makes a good found weapon, besides yourself?

Time to give your fingers a break. You examine the items already squirreled away in the room during your stay. The mansion might be your home for the time being, but it's still creepy and a pain to navigate repeatedly, so you filled a random shopping bag with empty soda bottles refilled with water and hauled it up to your safe room. Their shape is different than your future ones (and the plastic craze hasn't quite dominated yet), but you don't mind, especially with the heat and dodgy tap.

You fish out an empty one to start out with and set it on the dressing table. As you watch Jenova clone it as ordered, you notice how its singular limb "scans" the bottle before tapping a point where fractals branch out. The process seems instant to the untrained eye, but it requires your Stand's direct contact with the object. Like Soft & Wet's bubbles.

Speaking of those bubbles, you wonder if you can control the timing of the effect. The bottle's extra growths vanish. Now you repeat the process, but ask Jenova with your mind-voice (talking to yourself out loud is stupid unless you're practicing things to say to other people) to delay it.

It "scans" the bottle in an impossibly fast swipe, and then pauses; its pseudopod seems to have little reflections of the bottle shimmering inside it. Jenova floats for a few seconds--its surface seems to oscillate a bit more antsily--and then makes the mama water bottle grow little baby bottles off of its side.

You can time a delay between selecting something and activating the fractal (fractivating?), but both actions need your Stand to be able to touch it directly. You don't know the exact upper limit of said delay, but it doesn't feel like more than five seconds.

You recall your physics lessons...

(1/2)

>>6126129
If your thoughts are right, Jenova is able to clone all states of matter of an object: solid, liquid and gas. This could be the flesh, blood and gasses inside your hands, or the glass, water and air I'm a bottle. The latter is easier to see and thus confirm this hypothesis.

You place the empty bottle and a full bottle side by side, and get the cap off from the latter. If you clone the empty bottle into having a "nozzle" made of its smaller copies, you could place it upside down above the full bottle, and try doing a variation on a classic experiment. (Thank God you at least paid attention in your science classes.)

Jenova's tendril moves at your directive a bit more naturally, almost as automatic as moving your own limbs, with each repetition. You hold the empty bottle mouth-down, and furrow your brow. Up till now you opened a fractal on a solid point, but what happens if you do one starting from air? It should obey gravity, but if you think about the firstmost copy lining up just right with the inside surface...

You extend a nested line of copies from inside the empty bottle. They poke outwards like a nozzle, the base of the first clone fitting neatly into the mouth of the original. Now the extension is small enough to fit into the full bottle's opening.

For lack of a better term, you "dock" the empty bottle inside of the full one, tip to cloned tip. The moment of truth: bubbles indeed fizz up the previously still water. It works!

You stare at your little setup for a moment, and are about to vanish the fractal when a jolt of worry stops your hand. Creating even microscopic vacuums inside of glass might be...destructive. And you're not wearing any goggles, now, are you?

You try to wiggle the empty bottle, fractal nozzle and all, out first to avoid this issue. Shit--they're stuck!

(2/2)

>Recall a video you once saw of a pistol shrimp shooting "cavitation bubbles" from its claw. This could at least be proof of concept for another way to weaponize your Stand...but you'd better get as far away in the room as you can before poofing the duplicated air bubbles.
>Just break off the end of the empty bottle, and see what happens if part of a fractalized object is severed as a bonus. Either way you're probably getting broken glass around.

>>6126152
>Recall a video you once saw of a pistol shrimp shooting "cavitation bubbles" from its claw. This could at least be proof of concept for another way to weaponize your Stand...but you'd better get as far away in the room as you can before poofing the duplicated air bubbles.
We can do the other one with a glass shard pretty easily afterward!

>>6126152
>>Recall a video you once saw of a pistol shrimp shooting "cavitation bubbles" from its claw. This could at least be proof of concept for another way to weaponize your Stand...but you'd better get as far away in the room as you can before poofing the duplicated air bubbles.

>>6126152
>Recall a video you once saw of a pistol shrimp shooting "cavitation bubbles" from its claw. This could at least be proof of concept for another way to weaponize your Stand...but you'd better get as far away in the room as you can before poofing the duplicated air bubbles.

>>6126152
>Recall a video you once saw of a pistol shrimp shooting "cavitation bubbles" from its claw. This could at least be proof of concept for another way to weaponize your Stand...but you'd better get as far away in the room as you can before poofing the duplicated air bubbles.

>>6126152
>>Recall a video you once saw of a pistol shrimp shooting "cavitation bubbles" from its claw. This could at least be proof of concept for another way to weaponize your Stand...but you'd better get as far away in the room as you can before poofing the duplicated air bubbles.

>>6126152
>Recall a video you once saw of a pistol shrimp shooting "cavitation bubbles" from its claw. This could at least be proof of concept for another way to weaponize your Stand...but you'd better get as far away in the room as you can before poofing the duplicated air bubbles.

File: Glass-fragments-of-a-frac(...).jpg (239 KB, 850x1299)

239 KB JPG

>>6126165
>>6126175
>>6126238
>>6126280
>>6126289
>>6127041
Steeling yourself, you back off until you nearly bump into the wall at the far side of the room.

Jenova! Deactivate! you mind-shout.

The extension of the top bottle disappears in a flash, and so do the spare bubbles in the one with water. You hear a series of loud pops, and almost jump as you shut your eyes out of instinct and clasp your hands against your ears. Good thing you did, because as you take a peek at the scene there are shards of bottle glass that flew a good way from the table, stopping just a couple feet away.

The vacuums produced by the empty space where the air bubbles were managed to destroy the water bottle and break the air bottle pretty badly. Water with glass fragments in it is dripping on the antique wood of the table, while the remaining bottle is rolling on its side with cracks snaking down its neck and a battered but mostly intact body.

Stepping over the transparent carnage, and noting how a few bits of glass ended up stabbing the ceiling and wall, you get a closer look at the better-preserved bottle. Even the patterns of the cracked edges seem rougher and more fractalline than your average broken glass.

Pinching one of the larger shards on its smooth surface, avoiding its sharp edges, you set it down again and fractal it out from one corner. Your makeshift blade lengthens. With another shard, you crack off part of the cloned tip. The end that falls off disintegrates immediately, leaving nothing behind, but the rest of the larger clones remain. Good to know!

Before you can experiment further, or at least clear away the glass, you hear a stomping in the hallway and knocking at the door. Someone else in the mansion must've heard the noise. Jenova bobs over in the air to float at your side.

You shove open the door; it's Terrence. His hair is half-done up and his face adorned only with a tired scowl.

"Is everything alright?" He leans into his toes and looks at the crime scene behind you, then flinches a little at your shiny new Stand. Then he sighs. You note Terrence is already clutching a mop and bucket in his hands; this mansion has definitely seen its regular share of messier occurrences. Before you can answer he shoves past you wordlessly, then leaves the room. In a minute he returns with a dustpan, broom and gloves. You realize his sigh was relief that the only liquid he was cleaning up was water.

>Ask D'Arby what his first impression of your Stand is.
>Offer to help clean up.
>Just take anything you need for today from the room and go downstairs. He's the butler.

(Whoops, forgot my name.)

>>6127684
>>Ask D'Arby what his first impression of your Stand is.
Kinda freaky ain't it

>>6127684
>Offer to help clean up.
Now I feel kind of bad.

>>6127684
>Ask D'Arby what his first impression of your Stand is.
>Offer to help clean up.

>>6127684
>Offer to help clean up.

[Updates keep happening at a slower pace, too much IRL bullshit this week. Will try for at least a few rounds tomorrow and Friday and then hopefully some faster update times on the weekend.]

>>6127684
>>Offer to help clean up.

File: AbsalomMichal.png (680 KB, 868x1301)

680 KB PNG

>>6127704
>>6127706
>>6127982
>>6128115
>>6128569
You figure it's only fair to help clean up the mess you made. Terrence turns around when he realizes you didn't just leave; he may be annoyed you're getting in his way, but it's outweighed by the appeal of getting the work done faster.

"So what's your first impression of my Stand?" you ask the butler while sweeping up the broken bottle bits. The floating mandelbulb in the room fades away.

"It's...interesting. Unnerving, if you're going for a fear factor." His eyes dart over to the handprints you left indented in the wall. "Lord DIO will help you develop its potential, whatever it is."

Terrence bags the broken glass, checking for any missed pieces. "Have you named it?"

"Yes. It's called Jenova..."

"Like Jehovah?"

"Somewhat, partially, yeah." You bite your tongue to stop from explaining the lore of a game that's not even out yet. Now with a Stand of your own, you can see the metal, pinkish outline of Terrence's Atum looming behind him. It might be poking into your head right now, asking yes/no questions, though for what you're not sure.

"Whatever that name is from, it sounds unique." Terrence gathers the trash and admires how fast he mopped the water up. "Enjoy your morning." He does the trick where he floats up into the air, holding his cleaning supplies, as he leaves; you can see his Stand hoisting him up, but it still looks cool.

You get your own things into a small backpack and head downstairs to meet Michal. You find her in the kitchen court, listening to something her brother is saying. Both look as they do in what you remember of the book's illustrations, if slightly younger and in looser-fitting, more conservative garb. You notice Michal's initial-adorned necklace, which almost covers up the scarring underneath that left her mute.

Absalom, the older brother, stands up in front of Michal and stares you down.

"Hello. You're the one who Lord DIO assigned with Michal on a mission. In the city." His accented English is far less notable than the distaste in his voice. Right, these two work as a team...You're realizing, impromptu, he may not like the idea of his little sister exposed to potential danger with only an unseasoned Stand user to accompany...into the city where they got injured and traumatized in a train accident.

Even without the context, you'd understand his hesitation, given that:
>You were the older/eldest sibling in your family.
>You were the middle sister and had to deal with a hierarchy of overprotectiveness.
>You were the youngest sibling and got fawned over.
>You were the only child, but the present members of your family doted on you as you imagine an older sibling would.

>>6130723
>>You were the middle sister and had to deal with a hierarchy of overprotectiveness.

>>6130723
>You were the middle sister and had to deal with a hierarchy of overprotectiveness.

>>6130735
>>6130740
You wonder how your older sister and younger brother are doing. One's in grad school and the other is in middle school. Hopefully the interdimensional logic has it so time is frozen in your origin world; you haven't always gotten along with either, but you don't want the trauma of a presumed dead, missing or comatose sister to haunt them.

Absalom has crossed his arms. You can tell he's struggling with DIO's team assignment splitting the duo, given he's the more fervent follower.

You introduce yourself formally, and...

>Verbally reassure Absalom and Michal; you're just going to meet someone who should be friendly and it's not a long distance to walk. Both would be less nervous/skeptical if convinced. [Roll 1d20, DC 13]
>Just stay neutral, ignore Absalom's judgemental attitude and ask Michal if she's ready to go. [Roll 1d20, DC 8]
>Before replying, just show off your Stand power. You're already getting a grasp on it, maybe this will prove you're no weakling. [Roll 1d20, DC 13]

>>6130750
>>Verbally reassure Absalom and Michal; you're just going to meet someone who should be friendly and it's not a long distance to walk. Both would be less nervous/skeptical if convinced. [Roll 1d20, DC 13]
Its just a milk run!

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>6130750
>Verbally reassure Absalom and Michal; you're just going to meet someone who should be friendly and it's not a long distance to walk. Both would be less nervous/skeptical if convinced. [Roll 1d20, DC 13]
>If he's still concerned after that, then suggest he can wait just down the street when you two go into Avdol's shop. If anything happens, he can come running to help in no time. But really, nothing should happen - Avdol isn't the type to attack women unless they attack first.

>>6130750
>Verbally reassure Absalom and Michal; you're just going to meet someone who should be friendly and it's not a long distance to walk. Both would be less nervous/skeptical if convinced. [Roll 1d20, DC 13]

>>6130788
+1

>>6130788
Supporting

>>6130750
Just saw this, big fan of this take on SDC, even if it is my least favorite Part of JJBA. No hate, I just find the plot of the others more compelling, if confusing at times.

File: jjbaqcairomap.jpg (326 KB, 1034x995)

326 KB JPG

>>6130751
>>6130788
>>6130912
>>6131019
>>6131293
Things go better than expected; you have volumes in your memory to vouch for Avdol's character. The young man's expression softens, if not entirely.

Absalom grunts with a weariness beyond his years. He mutters something to his sister, who responds with a few signs. You can make out the Arabic word for "where" (something like "ente" or "antei).

You unfold your copy of a map of the area, which is frayed around the edges but serviceable. You trace your finger from the location of the mansion (left unmarked on the map) to where Avdol's shop is, and Michal nods affirmatively.

"I think we have everything we need." You say after triple-checking your own backpack of basic supplies and seeing the two siblings do the same. Michal signs what her brother explains is "danger" in case she needs to alert you. You never know...

"It's a short trip only," Absalom mumbles, more to reassure himself than anything, before seeing you two off, "just a short trip." It appears if he's going to be following as backup it'll be at a distance or not at all.

At last you and Michal are off into the city. You feel heat creeping in as the sun makes its way up. She walks slightly faster than you but is more cautious of the traffic already filling up the streets, from passersby to cars and even horse-drawn carriages for pyramid tourists. It shouldn't take long to get to Avdol's shop...

[Roll 1d20, DC 11. One roll per unique-ID player. 2 or more rolls of 11 or higher, unless overwritten by a roll of 20 (crit success) or 1 (critfail).]

>>6132591
[Thanks, glad you like it so far! SDC has its limitations, but it's a fun setting to play with. Even with Araki's map drawings not being 1:1 at least with modern Cairo.]

[Also, the first thread is now archived on suptg, to be included in future OPs: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Smack-Dab%20in%20Cairo]

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>6135285
walk like an egyptian

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>6135285

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>6135285

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>6135285

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>6135285

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>6135285
Come on dice!

>>6135285
>>6135551
WITNESS ME!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLa3ICmfYvc

File: 400px-Avdol_Infobox_Manga.png (454 KB, 400x594)

454 KB PNG

>>6135292
>>6135314
>>6135338
>>6135398
>>6135549
>>6135551
20 of 20. DC 11 passed.
Travel: Crit Success!

A morning walk in a city still new to you was something you expected to be scarier. Yet you and Michal wove through any clumps of passersby, sticking to the relatively quiet parts of the road. Figuratively speaking, you feel like you're on the sunny side of the street.

You make it to Khan el-Khalili itself in what must be less than twenty minutes, based on the watch (borrowed from the mansion's extensive wardrobe) gathering sweat on your wrist. The path grows narrower and more cluttered; buildings are lined with storefronts and alcoves piled with trinkets from toy camels to lamps and far more. Among the currents of nice smells, you recognize cinnamon and cumin. This is the bazaar that you only saw shadows of on your first night here.

Michal practically clings to the walls; the faster you get to the fortune teller's shop, the better.

It turns out that the both of you have gotten to Avdol's shop before the man himself. After a few minutes of silently fiddling with the zipper on your backpack, you hear a third pair of footsteps...

Muhammad Avdol is here. With his necklace and long, swishing coat and everything. You feel a brief moment of derealization, in a different way than you've had with DIO and those who work for him.

The Egyptian man stops on his way to unlock the shop's front door, looking between you and Michal. As a fortune teller, he's probably doing a cold read right now.

"Good morning! Are you lost? Just exploring the souk? If you're looking for a fortune teller, then fate has led you right where you need to be." Avdol launches into a well-practiced salesman's speech, and unlocks the door with a creak. "The shop is just about to open for the day. Please, come in!"

You find yourself in a cozy interior filled with lively esoterica and decorations. Some stock seems more touristy than others, but a lot of care went into the mystique of this shop and it shows.

"If you're interested in having your fortunes read, be patient for a minute while I inspect the store. But feel free to browse our wares!" Avdol strides over to rearrange a few crystals on the shelves, before checking the till.

How will you go about breaking the ice with the fire-wielding Stand user?

>Take the direct approach. Tell Avdol what you told DIO about the future and explain how you want to mediate between the Joestars, their allies, and DIO to dodge a bloody fate.
>Don't immediately announce you and Michal came right from DIO's mansion. Just start with the parts about you having foreknowledge from the future and what that means for Avdol, Mr. Joestar, and friends. Test the waters.
>Wait to get your fortunes read and browse the shop for something interesting. Maybe showing rather than telling will be effective, if Avdol has legitimate fortune telling skills (mundane and psychological included) alongside his Stand.

>>6135917
>>Wait to get your fortunes read and browse the shop for something interesting. Maybe showing rather than telling will be effective, if Avdol has legitimate fortune telling skills (mundane and psychological included) alongside his Stand.

>>6135917
>>Wait to get your fortunes read and browse the shop for something interesting. Maybe showing rather than telling will be effective, if Avdol has legitimate fortune telling skills (mundane and psychological included) alongside his Stand.

>>6135917
>Wait to get your fortunes read and browse the shop for something interesting. Maybe showing rather than telling will be effective, if Avdol has legitimate fortune telling skills (mundane and psychological included) alongside his Stand.
I never realized how weird his hair was until now.

Rolled 42, 33, 41, 24, 47 = 187 (5d100)

[Update soon, rolling for items to be revealed.]

File: jjbaqbazaar.jpg (117 KB, 1024x768)

117 KB JPG

[Really went down a rabbit-hole of various items in Egypt. We might as well indulge in a little shopping that totally has no occult significance.]

>>6135919
>>6135998
>>6136002
While Avdol sets up shop for the day, you look through the dizzying arrays of trinkets and items. On the way here, you passed by shops and entrances with towering stacks of lanterns and alabaster bowls; there are some eye-catching larger figures and statuettes, but those are out of your current price range (let's say around 100 Egyptian pounds, at their 1987 value, in paper money. A mere crumb from DIO's coffers.)
Most of the shop is an assortment of trinkets, likely part of trade and resale consolidated from other local merchants and crafters; Avdol's own specialty is more metaphysical, after all.

As you and Michal wander around, what catches your eye most are the...

>Blades. Knife-lovers rejoice; here is a part of a wall with some fancy-looking swords on display. Not too far away are ceremonial daggers, athames, and even khopeshes, their curves fitting in handcrafted leather sheaths. Some look to be replicas rather than the sharp Damascus steel of the more out-of-reach ones, but the intricate decorations on their hilts look no less cool for it.
>Charms. A swarm of scarab beads on bracelets and necklaces; some jewelry in a glint of metals or matte. There are ankhs, Eyes of Horus, oblong cartouche pendants with hieroglyphics on them, still others with Greek or Arabic writing. Nazars--evil eye amulets--stare at you with bright blue irises embedded in beads or hand-shaped trinkets. Further are Coptic crosses, copper magic squares (with numerals you recognize as Eastern Arabic, or Hindu-Arabic, from yesterday's library session) and lockets with blessings from holy books sealed inside.
>Staves. More ankhs. Sticks and scepters, wood or metal--some look practical enough to walk (or whack) with, while others are adorned with gems and inscriptions. A few papers in Arabic/English/French taped to the shelves serve as disclaimers: any items here are replicas rather than the original antiquity, sourced locally from craftsmen and not ransacked from graves. You doubt the riches in DIO's mansion adhere to the same standards.
>Vessels. There are plain but nice-looking cups and bowls, mostly of alabaster or ceramic. Others are fancier vases, apparently for holding purified water or other ritual purposes. Michal peers at some incense burners and wooden boxes inlaid with mother-of-pearl, not unlike the ones you saw in the souk streets along the way here. There are even smaller boxes and pouches for storing the decks of tarot/oracle/Pharaonic-themed playing cards sold here.
>Figurines. They range from cute hippos to snakes to the animal-headed Egyptian Gods, like the cat-headed Bastet and jackal-headed Anubis. The colors and materials also vary. Most are soapstone, glazed in blues, greens, ochers, or black. Would look great on your anime figurine shelf a universe away.

>>6138093
>>Charms. A swarm of scarab beads on bracelets and necklaces; some jewelry in a glint of metals or matte. There are ankhs, Eyes of Horus, oblong cartouche pendants with hieroglyphics on them, still others with Greek or Arabic writing. Nazars--evil eye amulets--stare at you with bright blue irises embedded in beads or hand-shaped trinkets. Further are Coptic crosses, copper magic squares (with numerals you recognize as Eastern Arabic, or Hindu-Arabic, from yesterday's library session) and lockets with blessings from holy books sealed inside.

>>6138093
>Charms. A swarm of scarab beads on bracelets and necklaces; some jewelry in a glint of metals or matte. There are ankhs, Eyes of Horus, oblong cartouche pendants with hieroglyphics on them, still others with Greek or Arabic writing. Nazars--evil eye amulets--stare at you with bright blue irises embedded in beads or hand-shaped trinkets. Further are Coptic crosses, copper magic squares (with numerals you recognize as Eastern Arabic, or Hindu-Arabic, from yesterday's library session) and lockets with blessings from holy books sealed inside.
Hell, I wouldn't mind buying a tarot deck too. One of the weirder ones, like those that have The Aeon in it.

>>6138093
>Figurines. They range from cute hippos to snakes to the animal-headed Egyptian Gods, like the cat-headed Bastet and jackal-headed Anubis. The colors and materials also vary. Most are soapstone, glazed in blues, greens, ochers, or black. Would look great on your anime figurine shelf a universe away.

>>6138093
>Charms. A swarm of scarab beads on bracelets and necklaces; some jewelry in a glint of metals or matte. There are ankhs, Eyes of Horus, oblong cartouche pendants with hieroglyphics on them, still others with Greek or Arabic writing. Nazars--evil eye amulets--stare at you with bright blue irises embedded in beads or hand-shaped trinkets. Further are Coptic crosses, copper magic squares (with numerals you recognize as Eastern Arabic, or Hindu-Arabic, from yesterday's library session) and lockets with blessings from holy books sealed inside.
>>6138120
seconding this

Got bored and did a quick reading with a Crowley deck, Ankh array. The instructions given on it are thus:

The Ankh Spread is for questions about the causes behind trends. It is similar to the Celtic Cross and Secret of the High Priestess spreads, but it covers the reasons behind the circumstances in question differently, perhaps giving a better explanation of why things are the way they are.
The loop of the upper section of the ankh reveals the spiritual background and causes of the situation, while the stem of the base focuses on prospects for the outcome.
The first two tarot cards represent the two parent causes of the situation. They will either complement each other or show two opposing sides of a conflict, depending on how they relate. These are the significator cards of the Ankh spread.
3. This tarot card shines light upon the early causes of the trend in question.
4. Pinpoints the causes that triggered the current situation.
5. Reveals the spiritual perspective of the subject at hand.
6. This card examines the reasons why this course of action had to unfold, as a means to this end.
At this point, it is good to pause to soak in the meaning of the first six cards before moving forward to the last three cards. The last three reveal prospects for the future.
7. The Next Step gives clues about the immediate future.
8. Surprising Experiences encountered en route to the result.
9. This represents the result.

My results were:
1 - Sun
2 - Moon
3 - Lust
4 - Hermit
5 - Fortune
6 - Hanged Man
7 - Adjustment (Justice)
8 - Tower
9 - The Universe (The World)

>>6138093
>>Blades. Knife-lovers rejoice; here is a part of a wall with some fancy-looking swords on display. Not too far away are ceremonial daggers, athames, and even khopeshes, their curves fitting in handcrafted leather sheaths. Some look to be replicas rather than the sharp Damascus steel of the more out-of-reach ones, but the intricate decorations on their hilts look no less cool for it.

>>6138120
+1

[Writing the next post and uploading after sleep. >>6138251 , your reading will be incorporated, and your choice of deck has been noted...]

>>6139251
It's such a strangely fitting reading, isn't it?

>>6139251
Pretty long nap, hope you're okay Sider

>>6142598
[Sorry all, dealing with scheduling and migraines. Trying to queue up several post outlines in a row so it's more than 1-2 posts at a time. Also for the third thread I am setting up a summary document for background and MC stats/info/inventory, etc...but first things first.]

File: jjbaqeyependant.png (657 KB, 1042x1057)

657 KB PNG

>>6138100
>>6138120
>>6138248

Among the wearable jewelry, what gets your attention is surprisingly one of the plainer-looking items. Granted, its price tag is also fairly low, but the pewter pendant with an eye symbol feels like a reasonable buy. This one is marked as an "Eye of Ra," while others are marked as "Eye of Horus." You take it off the display rack and go over to Avdol. Michal doesn't look like she found any one specific thing she wanted, but she's still appreciating the art. Currently, she's admiring one of the little hippo figurines.

You place the necklace with a clink on the shop counter, fishing out a couple bills to cover its 15-dollar (ugh, pound) cost.

"A fine eye for jewelry, I see?" Avdol picks the piece up, letting it dangle from his fingers. "The right wedjat—the eye—of the sun god, Ra, has also been known as the 'all-seeing eye.'" He slides it into a little sachet, then sweeps the bills into the cash register as skillfully as a magician would with cards, and hands it right back to you along with a quaint handwritten receipt. You fiddle with the necklace and put it on immediately. If you ever spontaneously appear back home, you should hopefully have a little proof of your travels now.

"Uh, is it too—I can get my fortune read too, right?" you ask. "Do you need to get another receipt for that—"

"Of course, of course!" He motions you to have a seat over at a table in the corner. "Tarot readings are one of the most popular fortunetelling services here. You're a new customer, so I'll give you a discount..."

Out of a choice of decks, you point to the "Book of Thoth" deck. There are also "Marseilles" and "Deva" decks, but the first looks cool and thematically consistent (or, as Avdol says, you feel "drawn to it.") If it has any overlap with the Stand Thoth, it might actually hold merit for predictions.

Being as general as possible, you say your name and that you're from America but visiting Cairo. You recently had a major change in your life (who hasn't?) and want insight into your current situation and future. Avdol pauses, then frowns slightly.

...That isn't enough. Your heart gets ready to sink; has Avdol sussed you out?

"Please don't be afraid to put your questions in words, Ms. Munteanu. The querent, or client, of a reading, can get clearer answers the better they know what to ask for, whether they're grand changes in life or more specific issues. What brought you to Cairo, to this little shop? Is it tourism? Study? Work? Travel can be the cause or effect of a big change in life."

Your mouth feels a little dry.

>Lie. You're a college student (that part's true) just here on vacation and of course you're into spiritual stuff so you and your guide found this place.
>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.
>Full truth. Same as above, but don't exclude that you're newly employed by DIO and just got your Stand last night.

>>6142863
>>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.

>>6142863
>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.
Good to be back!

>>6142739
Take care QM. Hope you don't have anymore migraines, I know how much of a pain they can be.

>>6142863
>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.

>>6142739
Thank you for all your effort, Sider. I find this quest very very enjoyable.

>>6142863
>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.

>>6142863
>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.

>>6142863
>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.

>>6142863
>>Half-truth. You have a Stand, know some future events, are from the future, and want to change it.

>>6142864
>>6142923
>>6143029
>>6143087
>>6143778
>>6144228
>>6144460
"Well..." Your eyebrows knit together in uncertainty. "I haven't said enough about what's going on in my life. But I don't know if you'll believe it. Actually..."

You unzip your backpack. Thankfully, inside rests the hoodie from your original universe. You had felt oddly possessive over it as a crutch of familiarity. You place it on the table and point to the tag.

"Please read the date on this tag..."

Avdol does so. He squints, examines the fabric, then stands up wordlessly. He returns with a magnifying glass (for appraising jewelry.)

"Made...in...two-thousand and twenty-four." He seems shaken, but less shocked than you'd expect. "It could be a misprint of some sort, if you think you stumbled on some evidence of time travel, but--"

"It's my jacket." You try to maintain direct eye contact and show you're serious. "It's my jacket. I was wearing it when I woke up in this city and, um...thirty-five...no, thirty-seven years in the past."

Avdol glances at Michal, then goes silent for two moments before responding. More than anything he looks concerned, and speaks with a more measured tone.

"I've encountered many things that the wider world would deem unbelievable. Not anyone or anything claiming to be from the future, besides the odd charlatan." He folds his arms. "If I assume you're telling the truth, and in your right mind...why go here?"

The first thing you did was something else, but it's too early to bring the whole DIO business up.

"It's not just that. The fortune-telling part." Your mouth feels dry again and you wish you'd taken more water with you. The smoothness of conversation you had with DIO is gone and you're realizing it was probably the dust, vampire fumes, and foreknowledge that made you feel like a better interlocutor than you actually were.

"I have a special power and it's calledaStandbutyouknowthat and, I know that, I I knew that even before it awakened, there were Stands in uh, this world, and things going to happen here soon involving you and the man called Joseph Joestar, his bloodline, the vampire called DIO, and things with Stands, and I don't know how I got here but if things go the way they go in the...in a...book, that records the events that already happened by my time but haven't happened yet right now, then a lot of people will die or watch people die and I don't think they should have to. And you'll die. Twice. Technically once, the first is a ruse, but--"

The red-robed man raises a hand. He's gone deathly serious, and obviously soured at a new client suddenly foretelling his own doom. Then he chuckles a bit harshly. "Calm down. You could have led with this earlier...then again, you wouldn't want the wrong person to know about all this."

You gesture to Michal. "She's my guide. She knows about the situation. More or less."

"I understand." Avdol slides the hoodie back over to you. "Let's start over and explain things calmly..."

(1/2)

>>6147016
After some minutes and back-and-forth, Avdol basically knows most of what you told DIO (expect for some specifics, like DIO's death). As far as he's aware, you recently awakened your Stand on your own and became aware of the world of Stand users through a book detailing certain histories from the past that you have no direct relation to. After that, you were teleported to 80s Cairo through unknown means--possibly by a Stand, that must bend realities in more ways than he'd even realize.

"...How do you plan on going forward?" Avdol rubs his temples. Magician's Red has appeared at his side, though it's in a calm stance. You've brought out J-E-N-O-V-A (yes, the dashes feel very necessary to your soul) and had to quickly signal to Michal that everything was OK before she started materializing illusions from Dark Mirage for combat.

"I believe you are from some future where these events transpired. And I believe you mean well, handling an unexpected...change of scenery. But the forces you wish to stop are of an evil beyond human; ones that, in the account you read, required great sacrifices from Mr. Joestar, myself, and others. If you want to help, then you shouldn't rush into danger yet. Your Stand is so new too. I will need to contact Joseph Joestar and someone at the Speedwagon Foundation to convene on this..." Avdol gets up from his seat and starts pacing around, muttering in English interspersed with Arabic. "...tarot cards...a son..." His eyes snap back to you. "Did you mention Mr. Joestar has...a son born out of wedlock?" You nod. "Okay...one thing by one...And I wanted to tidy up the shop today..."

Michal creeps up to the counter with a teal hippo figurine.

"Oh, would you like to buy that?" Avdol snaps back into shopkeeper-mode. "These hippo figurines were placed in tombs to help the deceased recover and aid them in rebirth." He gets yet another cute little cloth bag for it and slams the cash register shut. "Of course, it's better to not die in the first place, right?" For all his composure you get the sense he was not expecting to deal with this shit today. Neither were you, so that's something you already have in common!

>Let Avdol process things and contact the SPWF. If they can arrange a meeting with you, him, Joseph Joestar, and whoever else is relevant, you can wait to explain more there. Then they might be more likely to agree to negotiate with the multi-generational menace. Be patient.
>The earlier you inform Avdol that you are (at least playing the role of) someone working for DIO, and have already convinced the vampire himself to go about things in some diplomatic manner (in exchange for a new body), the easier it will be. He's not going to get hostile. You think. Rip the bandage off now.
>(Write-in.)

(2/2)

>>6147036
>>The earlier you inform Avdol that you are (at least playing the role of) someone working for DIO, and have already convinced the vampire himself to go about things in some diplomatic manner (in exchange for a new body), the easier it will be. He's not going to get hostile. You think. Rip the bandage off now.
Gotta get him on our side now cuz Joseph might be a harder sell

>>6147036
>The earlier you inform Avdol that you are (at least playing the role of) someone working for DIO, and have already convinced the vampire himself to go about things in some diplomatic manner (in exchange for a new body), the easier it will be. He's not going to get hostile. You think. Rip the bandage off now.

>>6147036
>The earlier you inform Avdol that you are (at least playing the role of) someone working for DIO, and have already convinced the vampire himself to go about things in some diplomatic manner (in exchange for a new body), the easier it will be. He's not going to get hostile. You think. Rip the bandage off now.
Easy does it, Avdol. Don't get skittish now. We're two young women that don't wish you any harm. Quite the opposite, really.

>>6147036
>>The earlier you inform Avdol that you are (at least playing the role of) someone working for DIO, and have already convinced the vampire himself to go about things in some diplomatic manner (in exchange for a new body), the easier it will be. He's not going to get hostile. You think. Rip the bandage off now.

>>6147036
>Let Avdol process things and contact the SPWF. If they can arrange a meeting with you, him, Joseph Joestar, and whoever else is relevant, you can wait to explain more there. Then they might be more likely to agree to negotiate with the multi-generational menace. Be patient.

>>6147036
>>The earlier you inform Avdol that you are (at least playing the role of) someone working for DIO, and have already convinced the vampire himself to go about things in some diplomatic manner (in exchange for a new body), the easier it will be. He's not going to get hostile. You think. Rip the bandage off now.
"If we fight, not only does everyone in this conversation die, but we damn the entire universe. We must try, for the sake of everything."

>>6147036
>The earlier you inform Avdol that you are (at least playing the role of) someone working for DIO, and have already convinced the vampire himself to go about things in some diplomatic manner (in exchange for a new body), the easier it will be. He's not going to get hostile. You think. Rip the bandage off now.

>>6147053
>>6147057
>>6147060
>>6147101
>>6147638
>>6147766
Avdol decides it's even more pertinent to do a card reading, and you concur.

"I recommend the Ankh spread, to go with the Thoth deck. It involves more cards, but it will help show why things are the way they are." He shuffles and cuts the cards, and fans them out on the table. "Simply keep your questions in mind, tap each card that calls out to you and I’ll arrange them…"

The cards you pick seem strangely fitting: >>6138251

After you reflect on your reading, you decide to bite the bullet on the part you've been leaving out.

"T-there's one other thing I need to say now." You close your eyes and raise both hands palm-up. It's a default to the same body language and tone of voice you've used to calm down your family after your brother or sister shifted blame on you for something they did. "I don't want to fight and mess up your place or anything, so please stay calm when I say this..."

Avdol smirks. "Compared to what you said, is it that dire? If you left a time machine parked outside, I can't guarantee it's still there, but--"

"I know that the forces of DIO are willing to negotiate with Mr. Joestar and Speedwagon. The Speedwagon Foundation. I know DIO himself is."

You have his full attention. You open your eyes and are met with the twin stares of Avdol and his Stand. You don't dare to look away but try and mentally check to make sure your own Stand isn't out. Out of the corner of your eye Michal is standing still. Good; if things go south you will do the hand signal, but you really hope they do not.

"How?"

"When I woke up here, in the past...I saw him in the distance. I recognized him from what I've seen in the book. It was hard not to. I couldn't run..." Even with the heat radiating from Magician's Red, you feel chilly recalling it. "I decided to tell him about his own life. Things no one but himself--or 'that book'--would be aware of. How he'd die too."

"For good, that is?"

"Yeah..." You exhale. "Enough for him to...hire me? Recruit me? I guess..."

"Bastard! I know he has connections around the world, but to think he's in this very city, preying on any Stand user he can find... It's lucky you got here when you did, because if I could contact the Foundation immediately, with enough personnel, they could--"

"Nononono!" You shake your head. The Stand-flames recede again. "No. It would just be a bloodbath for everyone involved! Including you!"

He glowers into the distance, thinking back to earlier before collecting himself.

"So you said he wants to negotiate? I can't believe it...did you really put the fear of death into 'that vampire'?"

(1/2)

>>6149153
You grasp your backpack tighter in your lap. "He's not interested in dying, especially at a Joestar's hand. Which already happened in my time. There is a potential way to break the 'Joestar curse' and Stand-sickness I mentioned that will strike in the coming year and threaten the lives of Mr. Joestar's children."

Avdol tilts his head. "Children? Joseph's only ever bragged about his daughte--"

"--Anyways it would be a win-win for everyone! The curse would be lifted and no one would need to die. And DIO could...um...help with the Foundation. If it's made like a challenge for his own self-improvement. The book mentions other threats. Other dangerous Stand Users."

"More dangerous than DIO?"

A pause. "Possibly."

You sit in an awkward quiet. Magician's Red fades away to a faint red aura on Avdol. Michal untenses her shoulders.

"For better or worse, I don't think you've lied about anything. I commend you for being honest about your predicament. Although I don't pity DIO or his cutthroats..." He holds his fingers together. "...innocent lives may be kept from an early end with this information."

"I hope it's why I'm here."

"As do I."

A return to quiet.

"Well, um, thank you Mr. Avdol for hearing me out and the reading and for the stuff we bought and everything..." Avdol looks like he's about to say something about where you likely got the money you paid with. Whatever second thought he has stills his tongue. "Uh...what was it...physically, how should I contact...uh meet with the Foundation and everyone once they're caught up?" Avdol almost shrugs.

"I don't know how exactly they will want to handle this. Much less believe it...Wherever you came from, which can't be too far if you were on foot...I'd venture a radius of..." Michal glares a little with the silent implication to back off being crystal clear. "...Wherever that is. I'd suggest you return and talk with...them. I don't plan on leaving this shop for the time being, and Mr. Joestar will probably consider this a priority, but..." Avdol turns to the clock behind him and rolls his fingers against the table. "What...eight PM sharp? The evening, around sunset."

"Around sunset? The--right. Yes."

You repeat your thank-yous and farewells to Muhammad Avdol; Michal waves goodbye as well while clutching her little gift bag in the other hand. You step out into a much brighter morning light as you exit his shop. As you and Michal try and weave through the crowds and navigate back, you glimpse what might be Absalom ducking behind a corner. So he did follow you...You can't blame him for looking out for his family. When you arrive at the mansion, Michal's brother is already there. He wipes sweat off his brow.

You get out the books from the other day and page through them in your room. It's better to wait for the evening anyways, because Enya might not be too happy about hearing this negotiation plan. Or that you visited a fortune teller who wasn't her.

(2/3)

>>6149165
You spent the day between your room and the dining area on the first floor. They weren't extremely talkative, but Absalom did ask a few questions about what going to the shop was like, and Michal showed off the little hippo figurine along with your necklace. You figured they didn't mind hanging out with someone closer to their age rather than the random selection of mercenaries and devotees who visit the mansion.

DIO is up a bit earlier than sunset, around the time you would have ventured to ask someone in the mansion of higher rank to wake him. Terrence says he's summoned you up to the third floor, and is either jealous and/or relieved he can return to the basement rather than participate in whatever goings-on his boss planned.

"It went well?" You wince out of instinctual surprise as DIO's voice appears from above and behind. The next second he's already in front of you; if he isn't trying to scare people for the fun of it he may just pace around in stopped time while thinking.

"It did...actually. Uh..good evening."

"Mm." A curtain in the room is left lolling open at the edge, a bit precariously even for someone weak to sunlight. But it's visibly growing weaker almost in real time. "Did you buy that amulet in the bazaar? It looks of good make."

You look down at your necklace and nod. Hopefully its solar energy or whatever won't harm DIO. On the other hand, it might keep you safe. At least as a psychological reminder.

"Yes...um, so I, we met with Avdol in his shop, and I spoke with him about...the negotiation..."

You give him a quick run-down. "...and since it's pretty important, he actually said to meet outside the shop around eight, so--"

"Then we'll be off. I don't see much point in waiting." The vampire seems restless. In the rising dark you see him dab the maroon off his fingers with some kerchief or napkin. Right, is there anything you're forgetting, or...

>Ask DIO if he managed to call Pucci yet--

You do. He says he had to leave a message at the tone. A disappointment, but Enrico knows where to call back.

>Ask DIO if anyone else should come along as backup--

"No. Any trap or ambush will be to their detriment."

>Ask--

"Meet me at the main entrance in a minute. I'll tell the staff we're going out." You blink and DIO's lipstick seems lighter. Maybe that was makeup he was wiping off? Another blink and he's gone. You get your hoodie zipped up in case the night is cooler, and follow his instructions. As you step out of the mansion, catching up to DIO's shadow, you crane your head up to see the night stars. They're bright enough to outshine the light pollution of the city...

(3/3)

[Roll 1d20, DC 13. One roll per unique-ID player. 2 or more rolls of 13 or higher, unless overwritten by a roll of 20 (crit success) or 1 (critfail). Taking rolls until about 24 hours from now, at the start of the new hour.]

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>6149235
boy oh boy

File: Spoiler Image (42 KB, 734x408)

42 KB JPG

>>6149238
[...The dice roll has spoken. Update will be around 24 hours from now.]

>>6149248
is it time... For our first fight?

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>6149235
EVERYONE ROLL! WE NEED TO OVERRIDE IT WITH A 20!

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>6149235

>>6149251
>>6149254
>>6149259
[Since I didn't specify, and the 1 was the first roll, I'll let a 20 override the 1 if it's rolled before the time limit. Only the first roll per ID will count, though. Also, if another 1 gets rolled...it's locked in.]

[Also, for the next thread I will be incorporating things from the JoJo D&D module site and rules: https://www.jojodnd.com/rules/?lang=en . This campaign might not follow everything in that exactly, but given certain stat rolls so far have at least been modeled off basic 5e things...there should be useful parts to help track stuff down the line. If there's any questions and concerns, I'm alright with changing some shit per consensus to keep it fun.]

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>6149235
>critfail on first roll
well uh

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>6149235

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>6149235

>>6149238
1 of 20. DC 13 failed.
Travel: Crit Fail! Better luck next time!

The familiarity of DIO leading you by the hand through shadowy alleys is something you hate to admit feels comforting. Though the crowds have swelled with nightlife, your trip feels even faster than the morning did. Also, you really doubt you'd get in to trouble you couldn't get out of...

You've been walking for about ten minutes. You're still in the side-alleys that branch off from the larger road on the way to Khan el-Khalili, and it's harder to make out your exact route beyond vague lights and shapes in the distance.

At the end of one alley, corrugated makeshift roofs above you make way for a stray palm tree to your left and some scaffolding to your right. Before you can move further, DIO halts dead in place and swivels to face you.

"Someone's following us. Stay still."

You oblige, trying to steady the instantly-spiking thud of your heartrate.

"Someone's following us. Stay still." He reverses his glance into the distance and does it again.

"Wh--"

"...following us. Stay still." DIO does it again. You can't catch if there's any recognition in his eyes of what's going on. You try to step back, but his hand is firmly holding yours (which is good for not getting lost, but not in whatever's going on right now.)

"Stay still." Fuck, now you really don't want to! You squirm and summon JENOVA to your side. Then you feel it recede back away...then again until it barely flickers out of your soul. DIO let go of your hand, but now the unknown assailant is targeting him again. With his night vision and enhanced senses, he should be able to get more from your surroundings. But he shudders oddly in place. At least his face changes to one of visible annoyance.

"Shit! What's going--" You fight against your instinct to freeze, feeling as if it would be some sort of trap. Unfortunately, it means you lurch to hit your left side against the rough wall, before doing so again and again until you just barely tap your now bruised shoulder and hip against it. By now you're hyperventilating. You can't even tell if it's the 'effect' making you do it over and over or your own adrenaline, but you feel lightheaded..slamming into a wall over and over didn't help. Out of the corner of your eye, the smudge of yellow-blue neon light get upstaged by a red dot flickering on and off in the dark...

>Get a hold of yourself and try to calm down. Running around like a headless chicken will result in more pain.
>Try to use your Stand to counteract the effects. (Write-in: how? Refer to >>6125071 as a flashback.)
>Try to check on DIO. You can tell he's still near you, but the 'effect' seems to be anchoring him in place to repeat whatever motions he's trying to do. Time stop time stop time stop. Is it keeping him from using stopped time right? Hard to think.

[Roll 1d100. Best of 3.]

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>6149697
>>Try to use your Stand to counteract the effects. (grow legs that keep you in place)

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>6149697
>Try to use your Stand to counteract the effects. (Write-in: how? Refer to >>6125071 as a flashback.)
Grow another head. And another one. I think the effect might struggle against multiple targets.

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>6149697
>>Get a hold of yourself and try to calm down. Running around like a headless chicken will result in more pain.

>>6149712
>>Try to use your Stand to counteract the effects. (grow legs that keep you in place)

Your immediate concern is balance. The enemy 'effect' is forcing bodily motions to repeat, but it's not affecting your thoughts. Righting yourself against the wall, you steady yourself onto your two feet.

While DIO is still being targeted, you activate JENOVA and branch out extra copies of your right leg from your tailbone, like a tripod. The angle isn't quite optimal and past a certain size the smaller copies just flop in the air like little leg tendrils, but the first one is enough to maintain footing.

The effect switches back to you and hits a snag. Your third leg (heh) starts retracting back and forth, but the slight lag from the tiny fractal copies reforming and undoing themselves buys you time to wobble in place and stay upright while looking around.

"Sniper," you get out, clutching the sore spot on your head and wincing at the equally sore pain from your shoulder.

"I see that," is all DIO responds with. He doesn't seem very worried about it so much as disgruntled. The Stand User must be somewhere on the rooftops, with a red dot sight and likely gun to match. But where is the Stand?

"It's like an echo." You think of Echoes, but that's something different beyond the name. Dammit think of relevant things! "Like an echo..." Nothing happens. You reflexively branch out some hands from your left arm. "...an echo..." The motion gets caught in a loop, and your voice along with it.

That's all the time DIO needs to leap onto the rough surface of the wall and start climbing it. He's going for the user. You feel a bit sick, and try to switch the "branches" to your less bruised right arm...

The red dot moves up your body and onto your forehead. The spotlight is on you, for better or worse (which means DIO is free to move. Is the sniper stupid?) Any move you make will be repeated until it peters out. You can't tell where DIO is, which you hope is a good sign of his stealthy upward maneuvers.

>Be brave, motherfuckers! Tell the user and/or Stand to fuck off and die.
>Stay in place. They haven't fired yet.
>Duck and weave! Even if you get dragged back to where you were, that's precious time not in their aim and opportunity to dodge.
>Raise both hands up in surrender. Could be a distraction?
[Roll 1d100 with your choice. Best of five.]

File: ba05d81b5f56a5308f1c0141e(...).jpg (92 KB, 736x552)

92 KB JPG

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>6149760
>Fractal the ground into a protective wall between yourself and the sniper. It should break line of sight and physically impede any bullets heading your way.

>>6149760
>>6149765
[Forgot the option but write-in with details is also acceptable, and like in last thread assume you can write-in unless explicitly noted you can't.]

Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>6149760
>Duck and weave! Even if you get dragged back to where you were, that's precious time not in their aim and opportunity to dodge.

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>6149760
>>Duck and weave! Even if you get dragged back to where you were, that's precious time not in their aim and opportunity to dodge.

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>6149760
>Duck and weave! Even if you get dragged back to where you were, that's precious time not in their aim and opportunity to dodge.

[One more roll is available.]

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>6149760
>>Duck and weave! Even if you get dragged back to where you were, that's precious time not in their aim and opportunity to dodge.

>>6149858
>>6149865
[I guess these are tied for best of 5. Back to good luck for now. Writing...]

>>6149858
>>6149865
86 (x2) of 100.
Dexterity: Great Success

Forget everything else. You're about to get a bullet through the brain! You deactivate the extra fractal legs and let the lack of balance topple you over. A wave of dust puffs out from where your body impacts the old pavement.

Right in time--the pop of what you in hindsight could recognize as a suppressed rifle shot, sounds like a tap dancer kicking a ping-pong ball, sounds like a sound effect in a game, sou--the invisible force is dragging you back up. Steeling yourself to drop down again, you activate muscle-memory with JENOVA and copy little fingers onto your palms to act as a stabilizer. Just like you practiced on that wall! Hopefully, they should keep you anchored to the ground.

You slam down again with a wheeze, almost biting the tip of your tongue off. The fractal fingers on your palms' clutch on the sandy, dry stone feels really unpleasant, but they're sturdy enough to stop you from getting pulled up again. Not for lack of trying...they're slowly peeling off, and you can feel little tingles of pain from copies of your own body parts being forcibly counteracted.

Blanketed by the noise of your own pulse, you hear two distant, echoing cracks and a muffled yell. Then the 'effect' dissipates, just like that. You slump back prone, face against the rough ground.

One more jolt before you can get a breather: you hear the clang of bejeweled pointed-toe boots against metal, before DIO lands on his two feet near you. As you get back up, arms shaking, you realize the impact was even heavier from the added weight of another body draped over the vampire's shoulder.

"The interloper," DIO smirks, letting the body crumple to the ground. You can't tell if they're alive or dead, but their hands look broken at the wrists...

As your awareness pieces back into cohesion, you hone in on what must be the incapacitated(?) enemy Stand User in front of you...

[Roll 1d100 for health of enemy. Best of 3, or a nat1/nat20 override.]

[Trying to keep a faster pace for the fight. May have to take a break before 3rd thread but it'll be prettied up with external links and (hopefully) more graphics/even original art.]

Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>6150417
sick

>>6150417
[Typo: *nat100 for crit success, not nat20.]

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>6150417

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>6150417
plz no 1

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>6150417

>>6150503
[Best of 3 locked in, writing. >>6150533 you were a late roll but no worries.]

File: maxresdefault (20).jpg (146 KB, 1280x720)

146 KB JPG

[Updates sporadic due to college finals this week and next. We'll be getting to more about the enemy and all that next time, and hopefully to our target location soon. Will be a break before thread three to set up some stuff and have future updates be more consistent.

File: jjbaqTBCarrow.png (107 KB, 835x189)

107 KB PNG

[By the time my finals week ends, we might go off page 10. So I'm calling Thread #2 here; we're ending on the enemy Stand User falling in front of us. Until next time, here's our first outro/ED to cue in before credits roll/the chapter ends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAtVsSGSs5w ]

>>6155678
See you next time, cowboy!

>>6155678
thanks for running QM