Lumen 2012/07/08(Sun)23:38 No. 430484 ID: d696db
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Both archers are down! That poison stuff is pretty great. Speaking of archers, Murdon's got his bow out and is ready to start shootin.

I keep blocking, and the nearby goblins cluster around me and the rock wall.

The two with spears stand on either side of the hammergoblin and stab at me around the sides of myshield! Luckily their positioning is bad and they can't reach me… for now.

Dani now has one dart left, Murdon needs a target, and Jason… well he can't really do anything until I move, and he doesn't look too happy about it.

>>430484
Do we have to push forwards to get Jason in on the action, or can we pull to the right to keep Dani covered while allowing him an attack angle? Either way we can relax and stop going pure defense now that we're only dealing with melee foes.

Have Dani kill the unarmored spear wielder. Murdon can target the other one.

I don't suppose demons are vulnerable to poison? It probably won't drop as quickly as the goblins did, but now would be a good time to start working away at it.

We are standing right in the gap aren't we? How about calling Jason forward to our right side and taking a half step backward.

That should put the hammer goblin in reach of Jason if he keeps to charging in to maintain contact. And Jason would be on hammer goblin's off side, which means number 2 presents either us or Jason a mostly unprotected flank.
If a spear wielder steps forward, we should be able to get one of them even without Jason's help.

Either Dani or Murden should try to get number 3, the axe goblin, instead of the second spear goblin.

Lumen 2012/07/10(Tue)23:01 No. 431153 ID: d696db
File 134198647447.png - (54.02KB , 550x375 , q38a.png )

rolled 7, 5 = 12

---

> Have Dani kill the unarmored spear wielder
Dani goes for the closer speargoblin - he's blocking her shot at the other.

#5: Point blank, some metal armor. Roll over 1 hits.

> How about calling Jason forward to our right side and taking a half step backward. 
At the same time, Jason and I reposition ourselves. The goblins stop attacking, unable to strike without opening themselves for attack.

Things are getting really cramped... I wish I'd put the wall out farther from the tents...

Murdon flies as high as he can in the low tunnel to shoot over our heads at the axe-wielding goblin.

#3: Moderate range, some armor. Roll 3-9 hits, 10 instant kill.

Lumen 2012/07/10(Tue)23:09 No. 431158 ID: d696db
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#5 dies; #3 takes damage.

Seeing the goblins dropping quickly, the Dancer snarls something in the goblin language. The heavily armored one pushes its way to the front of the group, and the Dancer begins to approach.

> I don't suppose demons are vulnerable to poison?
No, poison wouldn't do anything against it. But both physical and magical attacks should harm it. It may have some resistances, but I have no idea what they might be.

>>431158
I think it might be time for a push. We need to kill all the goblins before we're forced to engage the demon. I'm not sure what melee tactics to use right now, so maybe you and Jason should improvise. As you're getting a bit tired and are a little wounded, have Jason take the lead for the push.

Murdon can shoot the axe-goblin again I suppose. Hey, maybe Mikael can join the battle with his magic now. Have him target whoever's open.

Hey, ask what the eighth goblin looked like. They're hiding where we can't see them- there must be a reason for that.

Before pushing we should see if Murdon can hit the demon from here.

We should make a mental note to get some piles of rocks for Murdon to stand on next time so he doesn't have to fly and aim at the same time.

Lumen 2012/07/11(Wed)23:08 No. 431443 ID: d696db
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rolled 5 = 5

---

> I think it might be time for a push. Have Jason take the lead.
I tell him to push the goblins back, but avoid leaving the tunnel for now. He raises his sword above his head and charges forward, taking a spear jab to the leg that is mostly deflected by his armor. He swings his sword down hard at the heavily armored goblin, and the blade's flame effect leaves a gash in its metal shield when it blocks. It takes slight damage.

> Hey, maybe Mikael can join the battle with his magic now.
His spells aren't ranged, although if he can get close though, his magic attacks will bypass all armor.

> Hey, ask what the eighth goblin looked like.
Dani says he's got a dark cloak and two little daggers. I think he's trying to be sneaky, but he won't be able to ambush us from this position.

> We should see if Murdon can hit the demon from here. 
He fires.
SD: Moderate range, high agility. 5-9 hits, 10 does bonus damage.

Lumen 2012/07/11(Wed)23:18 No. 431447 ID: d696db
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The arrow hits the Dancer as it tries to dodge, and its eyes snap to Murdon. Lighting-quick, it hurls one of its daggers at him.

The dagger hits Murdon in the wing! He cries out, but he's able to lower himself to the ground without falling.

Now with a free arm, the Dancer juggles its remaining three blades in a show of agility, tossing them into spinning arcs before catching the handles without ever moving its eyes from us as it glides forward on shadowy tentacles.

Oh right, Dani can cast spells. Have her tangle up the armored goblin so that Jason can eliminate him easily by stabbing him in the face while he's immobile. Or maybe she can shift the earth to throw our foes off balance or knock them down. Or can she use her bag of sand to blind all the goblins? Whatever would be cheaper, so that she has enough mana to cast a second spell.

Joanna should move in wherever she has an opening.

Murdon should shoot at whatever target he can hit at this point, though he should do so behind some manner of partial cover. As he's not going to be moving terribly much, perhaps Mikael can heal his wing.

Jason has battle magic, doesn't he? Does he have something to get past the shield or distract the goblin itself? If yes use that first, otherwise switch to frost blade and attack him again.

Also can we put the shield on our back and use the lug two handed to attack number 1 past Jason? Stab at the goblin or even just force him to defend against the Lug to give Jason a better chance to get past the shield.

Lumen 2012/07/14(Sat)23:53 No. 432735 ID: d696db
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> Dani can use her bag of sand to blind all the goblins
Dani quickly tosses some sand from her bag at the goblins and uses M! Earth combined with M! Air to make the sand whirl around the goblin's heads, blocking their view.

> Jason has battle magic, switch to frost blade and attack him again.
Jason switches his blade to frost and swings, but the tanky goblin (1) is able to notice the swing and block just in time. The combination of heat, cooling, and force has shattered the shield!
While he's distracted by the sand and the shield, I stab him in the face with my spear. He's down.

Lumen 2012/07/14(Sat)23:54 No. 432736 ID: d696db
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> Murdon can shoot, Mikael can heal his wing.
Murdon finishes off the blind hammergoblin (2) with an arrow! The speargoblin (4) loses morale and runs!

As the goblin passes the Dancer, though, it frees two of its hands of blades, grabs the goblin by the torso, and flings it over the rock wall at us! It flails its arms, almost dropping its spear, but manages to stab Dani as it flies past her and crashes into a tent.

Lumen 2012/07/14(Sat)23:55 No. 432737 ID: d696db
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The sneaky goblin, finally realizing that he won't be able to ambush us, uses the chaos to dart out of the shadows and begin scampering up the rock wall.

>>432737
Dani: Punch that idiot in the face.
Joanna: Stab the tented goblin.
Jason: Don't get your ass killed. Try to take out the last goblin while using it as cover against the SD.
Murdon: Shoot anything.

>>432742
That sounds about right.

Lumen 2012/07/15(Sun)23:33 No. 433395 ID: d696db
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> Dani: Punch that idiot in the face. 
> Joanna: Stab the tented goblin. 
> Jason: Don't get your ass killed. Try to take out the last goblin while using it as cover against the SD. 
> Murdon: Shoot anything.

Dani punches the idiot in the face with her CLAW KNUCKLES. He falls backwards off the wall, yelling and flailing.

Jason tries to strike out at the blind axegoblin (3), but the Dancer retaliates with a double blade chop at Jason that reaches over the goblin's head! Jason has to leap backwards to avoid the blades, and bumps into me, unbalancing me. The speargoblin (4) - ouch! - manages to jab me in the leg while I balance myself. I swing my spear in a clumsy sweeping motion that injures it, and Murdon finishes it off with an arrow.

Lumen 2012/07/15(Sun)23:35 No. 433396 ID: d696db
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The Dancer, finding the goblin blocking its path (3) more of a liability than of use, stabs it from behind with its dagger and tosses its corpse from its path.

It seems that now we are dealing with a single powerful enemy, we are the ones who have become bottlenecked!

I feel like our two best options are to push past it into the main cavern and surround it, or to run down the caverns to the west, which will eventually take us to our army's front line, where we should have the reinforcements to kill it quickly.

>>433396
We only have two frontliners. It is not so much a bottleneck as it is mildly inconvenient. Cover Dani's retreat while Murdon shoots it again. Then you and Jason can fight while backing off, attempting to get a hit in every now and then.

Heck, Dani should probably cast some spell- hmm, can she collapse the tunnel on top of it, perhaps?

Once you're past the tents there's more room to maneuver.

How heavy are those tents? If you can kick over the closest one enough to stand on while Jason backs up I think you will have about enough room for the three of you. It would be kind of tight quarters, but that mostly works against the demon because it is larger and more prone to dodging.

The demon is a shadow dancer. How are they with strong lights? Jason has that light spell he can overpower like in the encounter with the Ghossans. Casting it above or directly in front of the dancer so the demon is in the fullness of the light could weaken the demon.

Lumen 2012/07/16(Mon)22:40 No. 433710 ID: d696db
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> Can Dani collapse the tunnel on top of it, perhaps?
NO - I- I'm sorry, it's too dangerous - the whole cavern could come down around us, like last time. She can, however, topple a few rocks from the wall onto the final goblin, which she does.

> The demon is a shadow dancer. How are they with strong lights?
Good thought - it seems slower now!

Lumen 2012/07/16(Mon)22:41 No. 433711 ID: d696db
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Dani uses a locus of SEED and the skill M! PLANT to bind the demon in vines! The vines sizzle with black smoke where they touch the demon, but it should hold it for at least a few seconds. The demon slashes Jason with its free blade, but his armor blocks most of the attack.

> Kick over the tents for more space.
They make for uneven ground, but at least we can move in that space now.

Lumen 2012/07/16(Mon)22:43 No. 433713 ID: d696db
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> Cover Dani's retreat while Murdon shoots it again. Then you and Jason can fight while backing off, attempting to get a hit in every now and then. 

We're doing some pretty significant damage to it! But it's free of the vines now, and strikes at Jason with its glowing blue blade. Jason recoils in pain - it looks like this blade has some kind of damaging magic! Jason can conjure a magic shield, but I'd still be worried about keeping him out front.

>>433713
Have him do the magic shield, but join him and soak up some hits yourself while the both of you are attacking. Allowing it to push you back is fine for now; we could stand to get off these tents anyway.

Is Mikael's healing capable at any range or on a moving target? If possible he should attempt to assist our frontliners without exposing himself. I also wonder how confident Dani would be in fighting this thing- just how good is she at dodging?

Dani: Any skill at manipulating fire? The campfire is near the demon, so you could hit it with fire.

Murdon: shoot it some mooooore!

even if the cave can't be dropped could make it go under a stalactite and have that drop on it. big rock from high up hurts.

Try shoving a handful of MAGIC LIGHT into the Shadow Dancer's FACE. It could do with a bit of TAN.

>>433847
Oh, but be careful not to lose your HAND to one or more of those POINTY DAGGERS.

sage Suggestion 2012/07/19(Thu)22:20 No. 434819 ID: d696db
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-CUTSCENE ACTIVATED- (panels are animated) ((but unfortunately not everything's animated, cuz this shit takes too long))


> Is Mikael's healing capable at any range or on a moving target?
No, he needs to be in melee range. He can heal a moving target, but sometimes it causes things to heal… wrong.

I call Jason to fall back and heal a bit. It looks like my shield even blocks the damage from the magic blade, so I should be fine unless - oh - oh fuck -

Suggestion 2012/07/19(Thu)22:20 No. 434820 ID: d696db
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Dani darts forward to distract the Dancer. In its slowed state, she's able to completely dodge its attacks!

> make it go under a stalactite and have that drop on it.

CRAK

Suggestion 2012/07/19(Thu)22:22 No. 434821 ID: d696db
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> The campfire is near the demon, so you could hit it with fire. 
Dani baits the demon further back, but she has no skill in M! Fire. However, as the Dancer crosses the firepit, the flames roar up in a dramatic whoosh! Dani looks confused.

> Try shoving a handful of MAGIC LIGHT into the Shadow Dancer's FACE. It could do with a bit of TAN.
The Dancer dashes forward faster that I'd expected, taking me completely by surprise. It- ah- stabs me and I stumble back, but Jason notices the danger and leaps at the demon! The Dancer stabs at him one, two, three times - and is surprised when each attack is blocked by a magical shield. Jason slashes it in retaliation and shoves his hand in its face with a burst of light… His shield failing, he falls back.

Suggestion 2012/07/19(Thu)22:23 No. 434822 ID: d696db
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The Dancer falls back as well, its face dripping with its equivalent of blood. It raises its blades… but I've had enough of this!

hell yeah you go girl.

>>434822
Secret abilities unlocked?

Ask your mage buddies what the hell just happened.

Lumen 2012/07/23(Mon)22:25 No. 435611 ID: d696db
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the last panel wasn't particularly a 'special ability', she just turned white for effect. and so I didn't have to color in another pose.

Mikael and Jason rush over to me. I don't know why they look so concerned… I feel fine…

"Hey, is something wrong?" I say, "I think some high fives are in order." Actually it's starting to feel hard to talk…

>Ask your mage buddies what the hell just happened.

Mikael says don't move. He looks at my belly wound and says it's pretty bad. I start to ask what happened, but...

Lumen 2012/07/23(Mon)22:26 No. 435613 ID: d696db
File 134310757143.png - (3.32KB , 550x375 , q44c.png )

You feel a shift

Lumen 2012/07/23(Mon)22:28 No. 435615 ID: d696db
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The door creaks open and a feline form creeps in, glancing around. She doesn't see me.

"You're back early, Penelope."

The catfolk looks up, startled, but quickly calms.

Lumen 2012/07/23(Mon)22:30 No. 435617 ID: d696db
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"Oh, come on Miztress Kroma," she says, grabbing a cigarette. "Gimme a break. It's cold outside and the war's been makin' for real slow business."

I walk up and snatch the cigarette from her mouth. "It's the oldest bloody profession, Penny. Don't you tell me that business is slow. Now get out, and don't come back until you have something to show for it."

She looks up at me glumly before exiting and slamming the door behind her. Penny's attitude has started to become a real problem.

... I sense your presence, Spirit. You lot normally don't bother me while I'm working, so what's the matter?

We're not accompanying Penelope on her flower gathering job. That's what's the matter.

>>435617
The one we've been following lately is in critical condition and unconscious, so I guess we shifted to someone else. Strange that you can recognize and address us directly, lady. Just who are you? I don't remember bothering you even when you're not working.

I don't think we are the spirit you think we are.

Lumen 2012/07/28(Sat)17:08 No. 437187 ID: d696db
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> I don't think we are the spirit you think we are.
Ah. You must be new, then. Hoo boy, if there's one complication I don't have time for right now, it's this… look, I have some paperwork to finish for a very important meeting soon, but I'll give you the short story as I work.

Where to start…

You're a spirit, for lack of a better name. I'm a Valorkin, which is the shitty theatrical name Simon decided on for us freaks. When each of us 'Valorkin' realizes our potential, some magic hoodoo 'spirit' also awakens within us. I call mine Whisper, but whatever, you can chat it out with each other later. You can speak with any other Valorkin you've been 'attuned' to, although it may be a while before you can talk to all of us.

> The one we've been following lately is in critical condition and unconscious.
Kroma chuckles.
Oh don't worry, they'll be as good as new in a couple of days. See, thing is, we can't die. Or at least, none of us have yet. It seems to be part of this set of abilities we've each got - basic control of fire, regeneration, the dark, and super strength. Those are our powers. Don't use 'em.

> Just who are you?
Name's Kroma. First Valorkin to 'awaken.' I run a shitty prostitution ring in a shitty corner of Perina. But if tonight's meeting goes well, I'll be moving right on up. I can go into this more in-depth later, but for now I'll answer a couple more questions before I kick you outta my head. Hurry it up.

>>437187

So, does this 'prostitution' involve gathering flowers and selling them to passerby?

>Don't use 'em.
Any symptoms of their use to watch out for?

>>437187
Control of fire? That explains the campfire flaring up with no cause. She didn't use the dark or super strength yet.

Why shouldn't we use them? HOW do we use them? Our host didn't seem to use it consciously.

Lumen 2012/07/29(Sun)12:54 No. 437365 ID: d696db
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> Why shouldn't we use them?  Any symptoms of their use to watch out for?
Yeah. It makes you real hungry and can give you a nasty temper. If you let it go on too long, you could lose control, and trust me, it won't be pretty. Continued use'll lead to physical alterations.

> HOW do we use them? Our host didn't seem to use it consciously.
Well, now that she knows they exist, she should be able to control them, though it might take some practice. Since this is your girl's first couple weeks or whatever, I'm sure she'll be fine. It takes a bit for the negative effects to set in. Also, not a whole lot of people know we exist, so we try to keep our existence quiet.

Last thing I've got time to mention - this shit's bloodbourne. So careful who you bleed all over, or they might end up as one of us as well. They won't get their own talking spirit, but they can hear existing ones. In any case, we have noticed that the powers passed on get weaker through the 'generations' of blood receivers.

So I guess you can either get back to this 'Joanna,' or try and contact another Valorkin. I dunno if it will work, but you seem to be developing pretty quickly... Now shoo.

Let's try to contact someone else. Having an information network would be very useful.

Lumen 2012/07/29(Sun)14:42 No. 437390 ID: d696db
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You focus really hard on finding someone else. Wow this sure seems to be taking a long time!

In the meantime…
> Penelope: Gather flowers.

END VALORQUEST, CHAPTER ONE.


Thanks for reading! Since this is my first real quest, I'd love to get some feedback for what I've been doing well/poorly. I've opened up a discussion thread here: http://www.tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/57823.html