File: mold50.jpg (346.7 KB)

346.7 KB JPG

(You) Are Moldy McMoldface, and you're currently ego-searching. Seated in your empty concrete room in your evil lair – a long-abandoned Bastion floating fortress – you tap the mold tentacles on the phone. Thanks to Snail Guy – one of your minions, NEETing enthusiast, and filthy gacha game enjoyer, the base actually has enough electricity to charge phones. Where Snail Guy is stealing it from, you have no idea.

You look through the internet, taking quiet satisfaction in what you see. Several days ago you and your other minion – Rayle, a centaur-ish girl with anger issues, took out the main magic orb that hosted ALL of the League of Myths servers, beating up a stray weaboo hero in the process. The reactions by humans on the internet are quite varied. The filthy casuals and shitters who play that terrible game (you would know, you were one of them) cry in anguish, as you wanted them to. The investors also cry in anguish at losing their money printer. The general masses, on the other hand, are mostly relieved at the staggering 0 casualties, an extreme rarity when a MONSTER is involved. Many more humans make memes and jokingly suggest the next targets for "that weird monster's" apparent gamer rage. Pfft. Like you care about their opinion. You totally don't.

So far, working for IO has been less scary or exciting than you expected. For the last several days all you did was steal magic-conductive marble to make your base a floating fortress once again. IO hasn't been telling you where exactly you would be flying, but you assumed it has something to do with the location of MONSTER KING'S prison.

Even with the City under martial law by now, stealing the marble in bulk wasn't that hard. What would be hard is the next part.

The alarm on your phone sounds, you stow the device inside your SHELL – a high-tech stealth suit, currently holding the mold cloud that is your actual body, and walk to the war room to speak with the team, including the newest addition. Or oldest, depending on how you look at it. Before recruiting you, Rayle and Snail Guy, IO had already had a helper, a scaredy, nervous, and kind of annoying monster girl that went by Psy. Psy has unreliable but potent psychic powers, including mind control/reading, and can therefore extract useful information out of prisoners. Something that you would need to do soon. To operate, besides the marble lining, your Bastion needs a magic orb of great power and somebody to operate the system. You and IO have planned to steal both the orb and the necessary skillset tonight.

You walk into the war room and see Psy on her phone, cheeks red, muttering "ehehe.." in a creepy way. After she moved in, you quickly learned that Psy is a massive pervert who spends most of her free time consuming yaoi "art" and "literature" in truly monstrous quantities. You jolt her out of her bliss.

File: mold51.jpg (461.3 KB)

461.3 KB JPG

– "Psy! Has IO given us the plan yet?"

The girl monster squeals and nearly drops the phone out of her sweaty palms. Her fat, flabby ears twitch in annoyance.

– "Uh.. yeah. Yeah, he actually did. I think boss left already. Uh, what time is it? Oh shit!"

She fumbles around with a paper map laid out on the table.

– "DO NOT WORRY. YOU'RE RIGHT ON TIME."

A deep and oddly casual voice of IO comes from the side, making both of you jump. Psy drops her phone this time. The giant monster's ability to be unseen and unheard seems to not come from any power but from a skill honed for who knows how long. You're still having trouble getting used to it.

Snail guy and Rayle come into the war room next, both taking nervous glances at IO. Rayle, your self-proclaimed rival, gives you a nod. IO stretches his spiked limbs and gestures on the map.

– "SO. THIS IS A MAP OF THE RITUAL SITE IN WHICH HUMANS TAKE MAGIC ORBS FULL OF RAW POWER AND ATTUNE THEM TO COMPLEX SYSTEMS: THE BIGGEST OF MECHS, WIDE NETWORKS, OTHER HUMAN-MADE TOYS. WE NEED ONE TO POWER THIS.." He taps his spike on the concrete wall. "..OLD WARHORSE AND GET IT TO FLY, CLOAK, TELEPORT, EVERYTHING."

– "THE HUMAN WITH THE RIGHT SKILLS TO DO IT WILL BE INSIDE TOO, INSTALLING THE ORB INTO SOME GIANT ROBOT. THIS IS WHY PSY WILL BE COMING WITH YOU. SHE WILL TAKE THE KNOWLEDGE WE NEED."

IO places one of his spikes on Psy's shoulder, making her shake with terror.

– "NOW, MOLDY, THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE YOUR CALL. DO YOU WANT ME TO HELP IN A FRONTAL ASSAULT? OR WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE ME CAUSE A DISTRACTION TO HELP YOU WITH INFILTRATION? HUMANS ARE READY FOR WAR NOW, WHOLE CITY SCARED AND TWITCHY. EVEN FOR ME, PURE STEALTH WOULD BE TOO TOUGH OF A SELL TO RISK IT."

IO flashes you a grin. Despite having much more experience, it seems to amuse him, leaving the strategy to you.

HOW DO YOU HEIST?

>LOUD. Bust down the front door with IO. Massive human respose will be despatched, but with IO's help you should be able to quickly bulldose your way through.
>QUIET. IO will go on a very enthusiastic walk several blocks away. Probably eat a bunch of people. All avaluable local forces will be pulled to fight him, leaving you to do the infiltration. If caught you will be on your own.
>SUPER QUIET. Actually, you don't need IO's help. He can haul some magic marble, you still need much more of that. This will leave you with a tough infiltration to pull off. You could probably do it without much casualties, if you give a damn about such things. (IO will probably still eat someone, you know him)
>(Write-in?)

>>6391128
>LOUD. Bust down the front door with IO. Massive human respose will be despatched, but with IO's help you should be able to quickly bulldose your way through.

Welcome back QM! Glad you're still around!!

>>6391128
>QUIET. IO will go on a very enthusiastic walk several blocks away. Probably eat a bunch of people. All avaluable local forces will be pulled to fight him, leaving you to do the infiltration. If caught you will be on your own.
I really want to fight alongside IO, but our strengths are in our stealth. Good to see you back, WispQM! This quest has been kino.

>>6391128
>SUPER QUIET. Actually, you don't need IO's help. He can haul some magic marble, you still need much more of that. This will leave you with a tough infiltration to pull off. You could probably do it without much casualties, if you give a damn about such things. (IO will probably still eat someone, you know him)
Mama didn't raise no coward, easy mode is for CHUMPS

To anyone who wonders about the last conversation with Rayle from the previous thread, it still concluded, just off screen. I wanted to jump straight into action, since I was out of it for so long. The winning vote was a "there are pros and cons to staying a monster, idk" write-in.
Reminder on your posessions and abilities, in case anyone needs it.
>SHELL - stealth suit(no sleeves). Offers no protection but you can turn invisible. You can swap shells if given some time to settle into the new one.
>MOLD ELEMENTAL CORE ABILITY SET - you can form tentacles, puff spores and extend strands of mycelium along surfaces to feel out an area or maybe even tangle someone's feet.
>THE STICK - your loyal bonded weapon, an enchanted piece of rebar. Reappears inside your shell on command.
>COMBAT ART: Swordbreaker - can shatter most inanimate objects
>ONE(1) perfectly mundane HE grenade - loot form defeated Street Samurai

>>6391128
>QUIET. IO will go on a very enthusiastic walk several blocks away. Probably eat a bunch of people. All avaluable local forces will be pulled to fight him, leaving you to do the infiltration. If caught you will be on your own.
I'm not jazzed about him eating people, but that's sort of unavoidable when working with Io, and we have no better option.

Welcome back, QM!

>>6391143
>To anyone who wonders about the last conversation with Rayle from the previous thread, it still concluded, just off screen.
Well, if you ever want to revisit it when you feel like it, I'm sure nobody would complain.

>>6391154
+1 to this. It did seem like a meaningful moment.

>>6391128
>QUIET. IO will go on a very enthusiastic walk several blocks away. Probably eat a bunch of people. All avaluable local forces will be pulled to fight him, leaving you to do the infiltration. If caught you will be on your own.

>>6391168
Yeah, it was basically the culmination of the whole "Humanity" issue in the first thread. I think it was a nice write-in for Moldy.

But still, I do get why QM would want to jump into action, so I don't blame him.

>>6391128
>>QUIET. IO will go on a very enthusiastic walk several blocks away. Probably eat a bunch of people. All avaluable local forces will be pulled to fight him, leaving you to do the infiltration. If caught you will be on your own.

Welcome back, QM!!!

File: mold49(reused image, shameful display).jpg (397.3 KB)

397.3 KB JPG

>>6391154
>>6391168
Sure, you have a point. Then FLASHBACK today, actual update probably thursday. The QUIET approach seems to have won.
Doing things kind of backwards over here, but it should be fine.

ANYWAY, FLASHBACK TIME
(Few days ago)

Snail guy slithers away. You and Rayle sit near a wall. She's chewing on her finger.
– "Hey, can I say something uncool? Don't tell Snail."
Damn, you have no idea where she's going with this, but you're pretty sure you're not equipped for it. You nod anyway.

– "I kind of hoped humans off MK and then we would all turn back." Rayle lets out a chuckle. "There. Lame."
– "Thought you liked being a monster?" You try to make your voice neutral. You don't really know what to say anyway.
– "I.. guess I thought so too. But the extent of my ambition was trashing the fast food joint I worked at, and I guess, fighting you. Did both of those days back. So when I'm not in a fight, I just feel myself going insane, I guess. Until I'm like that giant eyeless fuck. Or worse, Pantera."
Remembering the hat-wearing feline monster actually got Rayle back to the healthy seething level. "Hope that bitch bought it in the research center."
You sit silently for a moment while your rival/minion/kind of friend(?) works through her thoughts.

– "What about you, Moldy? Would you want to go back to human? Or do you like the monster life better?" Her tone is distant. Talking to Rayle without constant banter feels weird, but you consider answering truthfully anyway.

Then you consider some more. The pause stretches on, way into the awkward territory. Rayle shuffles while casting glances at you.

– "What? It wasn't that lame of a question, come on."
You wave your tentacles a bit.
– "No, no, I'm just thinking.. Well, turning into a monster got me to stop playing League so that's something."

Rayle snorts. You pat yourself on the back for good deadpan delivery and continue.
– "Okay, but seriously I don't.. hate it. Having power, the ability to actually do things that I want."
– "Like running around destroying vidya?" Rayle raises an eyebrow at you. She's smirking a little, but without mockery in it.
– "Yeah, why the hell not? Gotta have a hobby. And kicking HEROES over feels good too."

Rayle chews her leathery lip.

File: ragebaiting.jpg (401.2 KB)

401.2 KB JPG

– "I mean yeah, it does. It'll feel good to finally get one over you too. Maybe fuck up Pantera if she survived. But like.." She waves her hand a bit. "..you know?"
You think you do.
– "Sure, there are cons, but if IO's plan comes through, then the biggest one will be gone. Also meeting you and Snail was pretty cool." You try for sincerity and receive a groan in response.
– "That's so cheesy."
– "Don't care."

A couple of beats pass, the evil pony still chewing on her lip.
– "The idea of going crazy makes me nervous, okay?" Rayle crosses her arms and squares off against expected mockery. You just shrug.
– "I'm pretty sure we'll be fine. We can tank the madness. Also, not like I wasn't full of resentment as a human. What would I even go back for? My life sucked."
The words come out with an unexpected level of bitterness. Oh great, now you're the one oversharing. Rayle sits in silence for a moment until you break it.
– "So you wanna go back.. what would you even do if you went back to human?"
– "I uhhh.. would go to college, I guess? That was the plan. Until I got stuck in fast food for years."

You chuckle without a mouth. You've been getting pretty good at doing this.

– "Surprised you even kept the job for that long with your temper."
Rayle narrows her eyes and puffs out some steam, familiar anger somewhat subdued by amusement.
– "Yeah? Surprised you talk so much shit about other people's gaming skills and tastes, since you were in silver."

You gasp, deeply offended, and lean into the bickering. Both of you feel awkward after sharing too much and are in silent agreement to just go back to bants for now. But your minion seems reassured. And maybe you got something out of this conversation too. A chance to sort out your thoughts on your new condition. Soon you separate and get ready to meet IO's mysterious extra helper. Hopefully they aren't too weird.

FLASHBACK OVER

I really can't imagine it'll be as easy as tanking the madness

BUT

It's good to see them bond.

>>6391605
Agreed on both counts.

>>6391582
Good flashback, OP. I'm glad we got to see it.

>>6391128
>QUIET. IO will go on a very enthusiastic walk several blocks away. Probably eat a bunch of people. All avaluable local forces will be pulled to fight him, leaving you to do the infiltration. If caught you will be on your own.

>>6391126
Glad seeing you back, man
>>6391582
Thanks, OP

File: mold52.jpg (287.8 KB)

287.8 KB JPG

You stare at the map for some more seconds and decide on the basic distraction plus infiltration combo. If it ain't broke.. IO grins at you knowingly.
– "HOARDING YOUR KILLS FOR YOURSELF? HAH! I UNDERSTAND. LET US BOTH EAT WHAT WE KILL. NO STEPPING ON TOES." Neither of you have toes. You bet IO thinks he's hilarious.

Snail Guy bravely volunteers to guard the base, and despite knowing damn well he just doesn't want to go outside, you don't object. The base itself has become an important part of your plans, and someone probably should stay and keep watch over it anyway. Besides, while Snail could be of help in a frontal assault, he isn't really the best stealth soldier.
IO takes off into the tunnels. Reluctantly, you and the girls follow him, then split after a while and take the rooftops instead. You have been avoiding the underground since your brief time in the monster army, wary of running into your "fellows." You'd take a ride on the roof of a train again, but with the curfew in effect, train tracks might be too well observed to slip by. So legwork it is.

Legwork for you and Rayle. Psy has quickly proven to be too flabby to hop from rooftop to rooftop, and so, to evil pony's great dismay, had to be carried on horseback. Being ridden made Rayle really mad for some reason, and you don't envy the first guy she's going to do a silent takedown on. For now, with no good punching targets in range, the pony has been bitching non-stop instead.
– "..and the Snail too! What a bitch! He keeps skipping our adventures!"
You make the usual noncommittal hum and are surprised when Psy actually pipes in.
– "W-well after scolding him with telepathy for a bit, he agreed to come help us if the operation turns loud.."

Both you and Rayle give her *the look*. You go first.
– "You can do that?"
– "Uh, yeah, it's way easier to do psy-things to people who aren't resisting it turns out.. Well, at first I tried to get into his head and fix his horrible taste, but he's so stubborn and it didn't work, but I did figure out how to talk to others that way.."

Her barrage of words ends with abrupt awkwardness. The girl monster is still constantly sweaty and nervous, but getting away from IO seems to have loosened her up a bit.

Rayle snickers and elbows you.
– "Hey look, another "good taste" distributor, now we have two on the team."

Without waiting for you to respond, Psy starts defending herself.
– "It's v-valid! Snail is an incel problematic hetslop consumer, and he doesn't understand that gacha waifu #2 and gacha waifu #3 are totally yuri-coded! Less merciful and b-benevolent monsters would have him pay in b-blood!" She deflates a little. "But you know, I am merciful and that other thing, so I'll just fix everyone's taste with mind control." Psy crosses her arms, closes her giant eye, and nods with self-satisfaction.

File: mold53.jpg (566.4 KB)

566.4 KB JPG

You.. try not to judge much, despite the growing headache.
– "Okay.. just don't go on a murder spree on the middle of a stealth mission."
The militant fujo rapidly shakes her head, ears flapping.
– "No, no, don't worry. If I kill all humans, no one will be left to write more BL. I don't really.. you know.." Psy pauses and hangs on tight to Rayle while you all jump the gap between rooftops. "..if you want all the uh.. meat to yourself, then, uh, go ahead, I'll pass."
You inform Psy that you or your minions haven't been into people-eating much, and then return the conversation to the practical track.

– "Okay, okay, so you can do long-range comms? With your mind? Could you put us all on the same channel?"
– "Uh, no, I can speak into your head and listen to your answer, and that's kind of it.. I've been using it to annoy Snail Guy and not much else.."
Rayle shrugged.
– "Could be useful. But if you try to mind control me, I'm punching you. A lot."
You chime in right after the casual threat.
– "Can you call IO that way?"
Psy shuffles awkwardly.
– "I didn't establish contact with him that way. I uh.. r-really don't wanna get into his head.."
Understandable. You let the matter drop and focus on jogging.

***

The gang is planted on the rooftop outside the ritual site. You can actually see most of the inside from this vantage point, which reminds you that this place usually isn't used for anything military-related, just infrastructure. Well, not today. It's a big open-air area with several buildings that slopes down in large steps. Workers and vehicles move around, floodlights illuminate the area. Roughly in the middle, at the deepest point, there is a ritual square covered in thick cables and glowing lines. A towering, crab-looking war mech is standing there. Humans really are preparing for war. Good thing you're about to steal that mech's would-be power source.

The muffled explosion sound perks all of you up. IO must have begun his "walk." By his own admission he's not immortal or all-powerful, and he usually wins fights by only taking the fights he can win. Translation: he'll pull a lot of people but retreat if the risk becomes too much. You're on a timer. Five feds in their usual formalwear (and shades at night) exit the main gates with their cases ready. They have a brief hurried conversation, leave one woman at the gates, hop on an army APC, and rush towards the action. Several more cars soon follow out of the gates. No hero presence it seems, feds and heroes never got along.
It was time to go. Your target is the ritual square.

HOW DO YOU INFILTRATE

> Find a blindspot and hop the fence. Move from cover to cover. Risky and basic, but without complicated things to execute. Psy can help you locate the people and anything with a mind, to better avoid them.
> There's an underground acess nearby, take that, look for a way in. The site is probably reinforced against underground incursion, but with your "shatter" combat art, no physical barrier will be enough. Alarms or subterranian explosives might be bad though. Will get you very close to your goal immediately if sucessful.
>All in on Psy. The g-woman is still near the gate, nervoisly smoking. If psy could mind control her, the fed could sneak you all in in her car. That would require Psy to not fumble.
>(Write-in)

>>6392472
> There's an underground acess nearby, take that, look for a way in. The site is probably reinforced against underground incursion, but with your "shatter" combat art, no physical barrier will be enough. Alarms or subterranian explosives might be bad though. Will get you very close to your goal immediately if sucessful.
If we're doing stealth, then SPEED is our next greatest asset. Being very close to our goal immediately is good because it also means we can escape sooner.

>>6391582
Very soulful flashback, WispQM, it really hit me in the feels.

>>6392472
> There's an underground acess nearby, take that, look for a way in. The site is probably reinforced against underground incursion, but with your "shatter" combat art, no physical barrier will be enough. Alarms or subterranian explosives might be bad though. Will get you very close to your goal immediately if sucessful.
This is the plan with the least moving parts.

>>6392472
>> There's an underground acess nearby, take that, look for a way in. The site is probably reinforced against underground incursion, but with your "shatter" combat art, no physical barrier will be enough. Alarms or subterranian explosives might be bad though. Will get you very close to your goal immediately if sucessful.
Stealth approach hasn't failed us till now.

>>6392472
> Find a blindspot and hop the fence. Move from cover to cover. Risky and basic, but without complicated things to execute. Psy can help you locate the people and anything with a mind, to better avoid them.
We don't know how reliable Psy is yet, and the underground is going to be where they expect monster attacks to come from.

>>6392472
>> Find a blindspot and hop the fence. Move from cover to cover. Risky and basic, but without complicated things to execute. Psy can help you locate the people and anything with a mind, to better avoid them.

>>6392472
>All in on Psy. The g-woman is still near the gate, nervoisly smoking. If psy could mind control her, the fed could sneak you all in in her car. That would require Psy to not fumble.
Time for the dike washing

>>6392472
>Find a blindspot and hop the fence. Move from cover to cover. Risky and basic, but without complicated things to execute. Psy can help you locate the people and anything with a mind, to better avoid them.

>>6392472
> Find a blindspot and hop the fence. Move from cover to cover. Risky and basic, but without complicated things to execute. Psy can help you locate the people and anything with a mind, to better avoid them.
Least risky and let’s us assess Psy

>>6392472
> Find a blindspot and hop the fence. Move from cover to cover. Risky and basic, but without complicated things to execute. Psy can help you locate the people and anything with a mind, to better avoid them.
also its so good to have you back QM
this was one of my favorite quests so im happy to see the continuing adventures of Moldy Snake building our exterior nirvana

File: moldy snake.jpg (1.1 MB)

1.1 MB JPG

Basic infiltration wins! This and the glue factory, Moldy crealy prefers old school "just hop the fence and avoid the cameras" stealth.
Roll 3d100, Bo3!
DCs are 30/60/90

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>6393640

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>6393640

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>6393640
THESE ROLLS SUCK

>>6393660
Well, at least we cleared the first DC. Not a total loss...

>>6393677
Though, technically speaking, these are 1d100s, not 3d100s

>>6393660
Hey, you didn't get instantly discovered! Instead you get *complications*
>>6393679
The rolls are correct, three d100, taking the best. I've caused confusion with calling it wrong before, maybe I did again.

Rolled 65 (1d100)

I like rolling dice, so I will roll one even if it was all rolled already.

File: Screenshot - 2015-09-06 , 10_13_32 AM.png (656.8 KB)

656.8 KB PNG

>>6393686

>>6393682
>Psy trys to make Rayle and the G-Woman kiss because her yuri fetish makes her powers activate sub consciously

>>6393855
But Psy is a fujo

File: cosplay.jpg (268.4 KB)

268.4 KB JPG

Update postponed to monday, spent all weekend relaxing.
Have this picture of Psy who is considering adding a wig to her Tatsumaki cosplay.

>>6394178
She is living her best life. This rocks, OP!!!

>>6394178
Psy is swiftly becoming second best girl and we've known her for barely the start of a thread

>>6394224
>smelly fujo
ew

Pantera and Scientist Kobeni are obviously the best ones after Rayle.

File: mold54.jpg (380.4 KB)

380.4 KB JPG

You tap the tentacle on the chin of your helmet.
– "Okay girls.."
– "Stop calling us that."
– ..This is going to be a by-the-book infiltration. Keep to the shadows, stay low, follow my lead." You direct your powers into the SHELL, and the stealth suit instantly turns you invisible. Psy stares at you impressed, Rayle just rolls her eyes.
– "Show off. Carry the mind reader then, if you're such an expert."
– "That would just make my invisibility useless, come on Rayle."
Surprisingly enough, "come on Rayle" actually works instead of setting her off. The pony crouches down to let Psy straddle her again.

– "Psy, warn us if you read any minds ahead. Let's go." You pick a far out section of the fence and start moving. Rayle constantly scolds her passenger for being too heavy and sweating all over her back but thankfully shuts up as you all clear the fence with a jump.
The first leg of the infiltration goes fine. You scout ahead while invisible, with Psy informing you with telepathy about the positions of guards and workers. Her voice doesn't carry the same strength as Luhud's, back when the ancient worm spoke into your head, but the mechanism of her power seems to be the same, which unsettles you a little. You force yourself to stay focused.

The ritual site is a vast area, but the work on the crab mech is clearly ongoing even at night, so there are a lot of workers moving around, mostly in trucks. They aren't as attentive or paranoid as the military guards, so with luck you avoid them easily, quickly making your way downhill. Unfortunately, that's where your luck runs out.

The team is jogging down a dirt road that hugs the sheer cliff, looking for a good place to scale down the rocky wall. You hear the cars coming down the road before you see them, the sharp turn along the cliff obscuring the party for precious seconds. Those seconds buy you enough time to hide in a convenient little shed at the side of the road. This hiding place sucks, having only one door and the window facing the same way, but there was nothing better around. Through the window, you and the party watch as the road gets lit up by the headlights of massive trucks, that slowly trudge down towards the center of the ritual site.

After an annoyingly long time, the sound of the last truck fades into the night, and you finally exit the shed to continue your adventure. You make it several paces, only for ANOTHER car sound to start approaching rapidly. The sharp uptick in Rayle's steam output signifies that she shares your opinion on this bullshit. The party quickly hides again, *behind* the shed this time.

File: mold55.jpg (317.8 KB)

317.8 KB JPG

The next second a black SUV quickly drives down the road and stops right in front of your previous hiding place. A G-woman, a soldier, and a round human in a "security" cap walk out.

– "From here? You have an alarm on this little building?" The g-woman sounds tired and stressed.
– "Yep, got important pipes running through there," the security man answers through his mustache in a remarkably relaxed voice. "But it's probably just one of the workers taking a toolbox or something. Still, you said to radio about everything."
– "I did." The g-woman nods at the window, and the soldier shines a light through it. The security man shrugs.
– "Nuthin'?"

The fed purses her lips and then breathes out. She adresses the soldier again.
– "Okay, whatever. Go check the shed. I need a smoke." She prepares to set her currently-briefcase-shaped weapon on the ground, as it suddenly shudders in her hand! The cracks in the assembly of the case are pulsing with light, as if the weapon is asking to be transformed. The g-woman sucks in a surprised breath.

– "..It's expecting a fight."
The fat security human and a soldier stare at her in sudden alarm.
– "You mean there's someone in there?"
– "I don't know. This thing is.. alive, kind of. Sometimes it perks up. Usually with a good reason."
The man raises his eyebrows and cautiously eyes the briefcase.
– "Alright. Could it be detecting something underground?"
– "I *don't* know."

Fed's head whips around, her gaze sliding right past your invisible form. Rayle gives you a nervous glance from behind the shed. She raises her fist and her eyebrow. "Do we fight?" is what she probably means. Psy also has questions, but instead of gesturing, she's just beaming them into your head.

– "They're gonna find us? They're gonna find us! What do we do? I could levitate a rock! I could try mind control, but there's three and they're already alarmed, it's not going to work like that, I guess I could give them all a second of headache? Moldy what do we do?"
Your head hurts a little from how fast she's talking, but the ideas are getting across.

HOW DO YOU SALVAGE THE SITUATION?

>Pounce at the humans. Screw it. Headache flashbang for all three, then you hit with a stick, Rayle shoots steam and goes in for a punch, Psy throws a rock. You could probably get them all before anyone screams too loud or radios for help.
>Try to stealth away. They're still unsure. Clouds cover the moon right now, you have a chance. Use your invisibilty to make a sound somewhere on the opposite side of the road. Rayle and Psy could use it to scale the cliff behind them. Rayle is a mountain goat and Psy could probably levitate herself if she locks in.
>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building.
>(Write-in)

>>6394581
>>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building.

Can we get her to steal G-Woman's fighting prowess too?

>>6394581
>>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building.

>>6394581
>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building.

Start with this.
If it doesn't work or we need a little more time, THEN use the stealth suit to make a sound on the opposite side of the road.

>>6394581
>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building.

>>6394581
>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building.
okay so we have made in abyss living briefcases
if we DO jump them we need to take that briefcase to learn if the monsters that got milked at the farm got turned into weapons (because then Snail Bro and Rayle double owe us for saving their asses)

>>6394574
This is legit very cool and well done art, QM. It always is, but this one stands out to me.

>>6394581
Can we send a the
>psychic nudge
which is my vote, btw, but could we send it... To the suitcase, to calm it down? It is somewhat alive...

>>6394581
>Pounce at the humans. Screw it. Headache flashbang for all three, then you hit with a stick, Rayle shoots steam and goes in for a punch, Psy throws a rock. You could probably get them all before anyone screams too loud or radios for help.
That suitcase is asking for it.

>>6394581
>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building.

If that fails have her use her powers to move the suitcase away, maybe even steal it

SHIIIAAAAAT THIS CAME BACK?
>>6394581
>A psychic nudge. Psy doesn't need to mind control anyone, she just needs to make the g-woman want to check the shed together with a soldier and the security human. Then you'll have some seconds to get away, while all the humans are examining the tiny empty building
Outright getting rid of Fedette's party would raise concern if she's supposed to be constantly communicating. We'll have to misdirect her.

Psychic nudge wins!
Roll 3 sets of 1d100, Bo3
DC 60/80 (No smaller DC, this either works or it doesn't. 80 is for style points.)

>>6394697
Thanks, I do love including all party members into the shot.
>but could we send it... To the suitcase, to calm it down?
Yes, you probably could. I din't think of that, but it'd work with a good roll.
>>6394593
>Can we get her to steal G-Woman's fighting prowess too?
If you'd give her time and knocked out the fed, then kind of. Steal as in learn, g-woman wouldn't lose her skills. Psy is better at stealing information and skills that don't use any muscles. Stolen knowlege fades with time, but there isn't really enough in-quest time left for it to become a problem.
Oh hey, she could learn how to drive I guess. And then probably fumble the actual controls despite having good theoretic base.

Rolled 2 (1d100)

>>6395087

Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>6395087
>spoiler
figures that you can't cheat everything
>>6395090
what a shitty ass roll. THIS is how real monsters roll their dice.

Rolled 50 (1d100)

>>6395087
How horrible

>>6395094
Close, but no dice. You guys should stop rolling and commit harakiri

>>6395095
i swear to god they're cursed in this quest specifically

File: Screenshot 2026-03-17 222316.png (568.5 KB)

568.5 KB PNG

>>6395090
>>6395092
>>6395094

Rolled 36 (1d100)

Late roll but YOU ALL SUCK

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>6395096
We had really good rolls in the first thread. Like, really, really good.

I wonder what happened to them.

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>6395087
>>6395150
We used them up and ran out

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>6395087
Saving the day with a seventh roll

>>6395149
>>6395150
>>6395205
>>6395361
This is obviously our fate. We must accept it.

File: mold56.jpg (396.6 KB)

396.6 KB JPG

This is salvageable. You just need humans to take their eyes from the road for some seconds, and then you can all bail. It's Psy's time to shine. You loudly think in her general direction.

– "Can you make her want to check out the shed together with the other humans?"
– "Uh, yes, probably! I haven't really tried subtlety yet, but I think I can!"
Well, that's reassuring. You form a tentacle inside of your SHELL and the Stick settles into your grasp, faintly vibrating with power.
Rayle just raises eyebrows at you again, maybe Psy didn't keep her in the loop. You just hope that her steam trails don't alert the humans too early.

For a second nothing happens, you just watch Psy close her eye and scrunch her face in concentration. Then the g-woman tilts her head and stops in place. The same instant, the suitcase fully transforms, splitting into a bunch of metal prisms and then further into triangular metal slices that form into a drill shape. The orb right below the handle swirls with a colorful hurricane, much more eye-catching than the matte one of the previous fed you fought.

The round security human just stares in alarm as fedette speaks, quickly and deliberately.

– "We've got hostiles! Raise HQ, now! Weapons hot, search the area, potential ambush inside the shed!"

Well, fuck. Security human fumbles with his flashlight and his gun, the faceless soldier keeps the rifle trained on the shed and goes for the radio. Fine, maybe this isn't salvageable. Pitch-black hatred wells up inside of you. Teammates dragging you down, every fucking time. At least you can vent some of your frustrations on the humans in front of you.

You really don't want the general alarm to sound though, so you go for the Stick throw. It flies spinning, in a perfectly straight line, poised to catch the soldier right into his radio-holding arm. The g-woman dashes in, pieces of her weapon splayed into a flat umbrella shape, and your stick bounces off the improvised shield, sailing way over the target. The shapeshifting weapon gives a long fading ring as the plates composing it transfer the impact to each other.

Things start happening extremely quickly then. You charge without slowing down, summoning your stick again and slam it into the essence weapon, no plan, just power. The strike takes g-woman off the ground, pushes her back, but she lands on her feet. Her nervousness is mostly replaced by cold focus, as if presenting her with an actual tangible MONSTER instead of the threat of one made the human less scared.

File: mold57.jpg (450.8 KB)

450.8 KB JPG

Psy actually does something useful: a floating chunk of rock the size of a human's head slams the rotund security man into the gut, dropping him on the ground and leaving him to wheeze silently.

The soldier doesn't finish barking into the radio, the pressurized stream of steam knocks it out of his hand, probably heavily burning the human's fingers in the process. The faceless mook chokes out a grunt of pain but doesn't waver. Shit, what is it with you getting all the determined ones? He spins to face the RAPIDLY approaching punch-pony and grazes her with a burst of rifle fire, one-handed. Gunfire echoes from the steep walls of the ritual site, destroying any pretense of stealth you could still have. Also hey, Rayle got shot again, *now* this is a real adventure. She forcefully collides with a soldier, who probably doesn't stand a chance in an actual brawl with her.

You force yourself to snap out of the haze of rage. Your fucking teammates are throwing. The fed bitch is annoying as hell and needs to DIE. But you need to focus, you're still supposed to be in charge. You lost stealth, but you still have speed, this is a smash and grab now. In a dead sprint you could probably reach the mech in what, two minutes? Same goes for Rayle. Psy is slow, unless she figures out flight RIGHT NOW. The g-woman is starting to move to get your minion off her minion. Psy is nowhere to be seen, but the link should be up.

WHAT'S THE NEW PLAN?

>Fight it out. Direct Psy to help Rayle with the mook, then you all can triple-team fedette. (if you have other simple fight plans, write them)
>Whole party retreat. Call and grab Psy, sprint to the mech. Throw the Stick at the car on your way out.
>Stay, have Rayle and Psy sprint to the mech. G-woman is too dangerous to be left unchecked, stay behind and finish her, you'll catch up later.
>(Write-in)

Due to the rolls, Psy's attempt at subtle mind control has amounted to beaming "OoOoO, there's something really interesting in the shed, you want to check it out and bring other humans too, OoOoO" into g-woman's head.

>>6396130
you know Psy did better than i thought she would with those roles
id thought she'd have tried to make the guards kiss or something
>>(Write-in)
send Rayle to grab the orb or whatever we need from the mech while Psy and Moldy deal with the mooks and fed, Psy focusing on throwing rocks from a distance while we get up close and invisible with our stick against the targets
Rayle is fastest and if we have to leave we can at least do so with the core needed to power the "exterior Valhalla" floating base even if we dont have the knowledge to do so safely without Psy reading the nerd's mind
hopefully we can win this without reinforcements but the suitcases are a new vector, since we dont know how they work it might already called for back up so we should operate under the idea were now on a time crunch

>>6396138
I think this is sensible. +1, put our trust in pony. Friendship, as they say, is magic.

>>6396130

>>6396130
>Fight it out. Direct Psy to help Rayle with the mook, then you all can triple-team fedette. (if you have other simple fight plans, write them)
Stick together.
These shitters are going to throw if left alone, so we need to tardwrangle them and carry

>>6396130
>>Fight it out. Direct Psy to help Rayle with the mook, then you all can triple-team fedette. (if you have other simple fight plans, write them)

>>6396130
>Whole party retreat. Call and grab Psy, sprint to the mech. Throw the Stick at the car on your way out.
If they rally defenses around the mech all is lost.

>>6396130
>Fight it out. Direct Psy to help Rayle with the mook, then you all can triple-team fedette. (if you have other simple fight plans, write them)

>>6396130
>>6396138 +1

>>6396138
>>6396140
>>6396159
>>6396166
>>6396258
>>6396263
>>6396332
We have:
- 3 for split the party (but differently)
- 3 for all stay and fight
- 1 for all leave
Going to wait on the tie breaker, then roll tomorrow.

>>6396138
>id thought she'd have tried to make the guards kiss or something
Fortunately for you, her general cowardice forces her to take the fights seriously. Most of the time.

>>6396138
+1

Rolled 4 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

Okay, "Send Rayle to do a smash and grab(and maybe a little kidnapping) while you and Psy fight" wins!
Roll 3 sets of 1d100, Bo3!
DCs are 40/70
I'll roll for Rayle's bizzare adventures

File: G2qc9B7bIAU2hGN.jpg (89.9 KB)

89.9 KB JPG

>>6396925

Rolled 3 (1d100)

>>6396925

>>6396933
Horrible

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>6396925
well i guess its good to know its not just us who is rolling shit
Rayle too knows the pain of low rolls
also i now apologize in advance to the rest of the thread if we need to go rescue our rivalfu (again)

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>6396925

>>6397075
JESUS

File: +_156fa84d8faae00537222a6a637d872b.jpg (41.3 KB)

41.3 KB JPG

>>6397076
OH THANK GOD

Moldy is once again hardcarrying his team. I love Rayle, but damn, does she get into the worst situations

>>6397168
Cute Jobber.

>>6397168
clearly what we need to do is do a one on one training montage with our minion
her lack of focus on hating video games is why she gets ragebaited into making mistakes so easily

>>6397076
WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO

File: I thought you were stronger.jpg (102.9 KB)

102.9 KB JPG

>>6397076

>>6397076
SAVIOR

File: mold58.jpg (422.1 KB)

422.1 KB JPG

You can't be bogged down in a fight right now, you NEED to get to the mech faster. But leaving this fed, probably the highest-ranking human around, to her own devices is not an option either.

– "Rayle, get to the mech, grab what we need, hurry!"

You lunge at the g-woman, tying her down in melee, giving your minion an opening to go carry the mission all by herself. Rayle scoffs but jumps off the soldier she was pummeling and takes off in a gallop. There's a manic look in her eye, the heat of battle washing away her worry and doubt.

Humans can hear you shouting directions, but you really don't feel like playing a game of telephone through Psy right now.

You can't pay attention to anything but the battle at hand anymore, the human you're fighting actually knows what she's doing. Your attempts at tiring out her arms with repeated Stick slams are ineffective, the weapon parts are kept afloat on some sort of suspension, and not all of the impact transfers to the human. G-woman presses you, lashing out with the drill and blocking any strikes or grapple attempts with the weapon flattened into a bladed spinning umbrella. You have to focus on defence, your SHELL incapable of tanking a hit.

Suddenly your enemy jerks sideways, her weapon flying to the side and dragging her half a meter along the ground. Psy, eye glowing purple, peeks out of the boulder she's been hiding behind and gives the essence weapon another tug. Fending you off with a shield, g-woman pulls out a dainty pistol out of her suit jacket and dumps the full mag into Psy's general direction. The monster girl squeaks and falls backwards, two bullets frozen in midair in front of her.

Seeing an opening, you put nearly a third of your volume into a long tentacle and grab the human's ankle. Feeling lucky, you try for an overhead toss and get the tip of your tentacle severed by spinning blades. Fed flies out of your grasp, rolls along the ground collecting scrapes, springs upright again, just in time to face another assault.

You try for a Shatter, but the plates of the essence weapon disconnect from each other, and you only affect a few of them, turning metal triangles into a flurry of shrapnel. The heavy swing of the combat art leaves you open, and G-woman nearly skewers you with a drill, the whirlwind passing barely 10 centimeters from the fabric of your SHELL, an uncomfortable reminder of how fragile the stealth suit is.

File: mold59.jpg (559 KB)

559 KB JPG

Throwing a cloud of spores at the g-woman's face, you turn invisible and go low. You aren't a human anymore, the legs of your suit are just mold-filled balloons. You can move in a way humans can't. Your enemy flinches her face away, not knowing that your spores aren't really that dangerous. She stabs her weapon forward, but with Psy pulling on her elbow, the drill goes too high, enough for you to close the distance. Feddete's spacing is good, you're just barely too far to reach her with a solid strike, but you weren't aiming for her. You slam the magic orb that powers her weapon with your Stick in a brutal upswing. It shatters, and whatever energy was trapped in the orb releases, but thankfully the blast is only strong enough to scatter dust and billow your cloak.

Metal triangles fall to the ground with dull thuds, some sticking into the dust, no longer held together by captive monster magic.

You stand with your tentacle outstretched, holding the g-woman by the neck. The strands of mycelium are already going from your core through the limb and starting to crawl along the human's skin, eager to devour. She chokes and grasps at your tentacle, eyes wide with terror. She wouldn't hesitate to kill you or to power a weapon with your soul. Who is it you're trying to impress by letting your enemies live so they can kill you another day? Cold creeps into your thoughts.
– "Moldy!"
– "What?!" You snap your head to Psy, then lower your tone to a non-hostile one. Psy did okay this fight. This anger is not a productive one.
– "What?"
– "Look, a smaller mech flying in!"

–"Ah for fuck sake.." You toss the terrified human on the ground, away. She tries to crawl on shaky limbs but quickly collapses face-first into the dust. Psy pulls handcuffs out of the security human's pockets and goes on to cuff fedette. The woman's stoic image cracks, probably believing she's about to get eaten alive. You aren't looking, you have fresh new problems.

A more normal-sized mech descends with a plume of fire onto the roof of the building-sized war machine. Cursing under your breath you sling Psy over your shoulder and (with some added heft) take off in a sprint.

To fujo's credit, she's actually helping. She can't quite levitate both of you, but you do feel much lighter as you run. Workers scream and point, but you don't hear shots going off. Maybe most extra muscle went to fight IO, leaving the place with a skeleton crew. The voice rings in your thoughts.
– "Rayle says she got the power orb! She also says that she's a bit stuck and doesn't *need* to be saved and a bunch more, but basically, she's asking for help."

You grunt in acknowledgment and clear the first segment of a giant mech leg with a hefty jump from a rocky ledge. There are no sounds of fighting above, you just hear people shouting. Psy informs you she senses three minds up there, one of them Rayle. You make one more jump and peek over the edge of the relatively flat roof of the crab robot.

File: mold60.jpg (425.1 KB)

425.1 KB JPG

A spindly mech points a ray gun looking weapon at one of the vents, which currently seems to be working as intended, billowing steam. Wait, no, that just means your minion is hiding in there.

– "Don't! That gun isn't precise enough!"
A man in a hard hat with stars on it gestures wildly at the mech's cockpit with tattoed arms. A voice booms in response, amplified by the microphone.
– "Do not worry, fellow mech enthusiast! I would never deal unnecessary damage to such a magnificent machine!"

Great, another weirdo. At least the feds are silent when they fight.

The tattooed man (who probably is the chief enchantment engineer you're looking for) shrugs and grins.
– "You're allright in my book then. You do know suits won't like you being here, right?"
– "Pfft. I am an A-rank hero, Scorcher, and I ignore administration's vain attempts at total control! Especially if I'm needed to save a giant robot! Now please, clear the line of fi.."
– "No wait! It's not about the vent, you can blow it smooth off, it's that the MONSTER snatched the core! You can't fire at it!"
– "Oh. Damn, a single core for the whole crab? Does this thing run on a v4 circuit?"
– "Yep, you know your stuff, lots of power in that one. Would make a nasty explosion."

Psy shuffles to your right and whispers, "They're flirting.."
You do your best to ignore her. The HERO continues.
– "And a MONSTER that steals instead of killing, you say. Did it perhaps have a cape or a glowing mace?"
Wait, is that you? Well, whatever. You can't just sit here and listen to those two talk.

YOU HAVE A MINION TO SAVE AND AN ORB TO STEAL AND A MAN TO KIDNAP.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ACHIEVE ANY OF THAT?

> Attempt diplomacy. Stalling for time would be an odd choice here, but you've got an idea. Rayle should try worming her way through the mech's insides and Psy should try getting the info she needs from the engeneer remotely. Then you all run away. Maybe try for the underground route.
>Charge the engeneer. The humans are talking, you could probably jump the one you need faster than the HERO would react. Take a hostage and try to make the hero back off. Then you all retreat.
>Charge the HERO mech. So what if he's A-rank? It's an object, your shatter should do wonders. Have Rayle distract the humans and Psy give you a boost. Jump on top of the cockpit and start swinging. Maybe shove yoir grenade down some nook near the head of the mech too.
>(Write-in?)

Apologies for not giving you all a prompt to actually eat the fedette. I don't do well with mid-update retroactively applied votes. Also there wasn't time anyway.

>>6397168
>>6397187
If she'd roll well she'd drag both the orb and the engineer back to Moldy and then demand repeated aknowlegement of her awesomeness. And then you'd all run from Scorcher.
>>6397076
Moldy simply remembered he has 100% winrate against women.

Okay so, we have the ability to occupy shells with our moldyness and claim them as ours like we did with the suit and the safe. So could we attempt to sieze control of this mech by attempting to make it our shell and then yeeting the hero out of it if we manage to take it?

>>6398150
>sieze control of this mech
Well, you wouldn't get the fully functioning mech as the new shell, it's too big. If you could tear away the cockpit upper torso part alone you could probably use that. That'd a bitch of a weight to lug around though.
Takeover of the new shell takes some time and you need to be undisturbed for it, so that's not really a mid-fight thing to do.
>yeeting the hero out
You can abandon current shell and put your entire volume into the cockpit, which would absolutely force the pilot out. Breathing inside the main volume of Moldy's body is not recommended. You do need to breach the cockpit to try that.

>>6398140
>>6398154
+1! Here goes somethiiiingggg

>>6398154
+1, hell yeah, go big or go home!

But I like our stealth suit...

>>6398298
If we win, we can probably carry it home or have one of the girls grab it.

>>6398140
>Charge the engeneer. The humans are talking, you could probably jump the one you need faster than the HERO would react. Take a hostage and try to make the hero back off. Then you all retreat.

>>6398140
>>Charge the engeneer. The humans are talking, you could probably jump the one you need faster than the HERO would react. Take a hostage and try to make the hero back off. Then you all retreat.

>>6398140
>(Write-in?)

If Psy isn't doing anything else, tell her to go back and grab the handcuffed fedette. If shit goes sideways, we'll have a hostage to use.

Current tally:
Attack Scorcher, try to breach the cockpit and force youself(Not the shell, the angry mold cloud) inside - 2
Charge in and take the engineer hostage, then attempt retreat - 2
If Psy is doing nothing(She's doing something in both of the tied options), send her back on foot to try and collect g-woman as an additional hostage - 1

>>6398564
Just like before, going to wait until tomorrow on a tie breaker, then do a roll if none appears. Outcome rolls for whatever vote wins also tomorrow.

>>6398154
Attack Scorcher, try to breach the cockpit and force youself(Not the shell, the angry mold cloud) inside
Fortune favors the bold, but do ask our psychic friend to get the G-Woman hostage.

>>6398154
Attack Scorcher, try to breach the cockpit and force youself inside
this option seems the most interesting

>>6398140
>Stealth towards the engineer and take him hostage. Trade for Rayle, but first ask how Scorcher knows you.

>>6398549
+1 tell her to take our left over suit too
"alright fujobitch hold my suit, im about to go force myself inside that mech and spread my essence all over his cockpit"
psy passes out from blood loss

>>6398621
kek

>>6398598
>>6398583
>>6398296
>>6398159
Attacking Scorcher and trying to breach/mold the cockpit wins!
Roll 1d100, Bo3!
DCs are 50/80/90! He's *very* tough, but you have element of surprise and a pocket psychic to coordinate the attack with Rayle.

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>6399149

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>6399149

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>6399149
Rolling for a 15

>>6399162
Well, a 15 would have been funnier, but at least I beat the first DC.

>>6399163
Kek! True to both.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

I missed the roll again but I will roll anyway :D

>>6399162
whew, at least we didnt completely fail like i was expecting

We are so cooked.