Alex 2021/05/23(Sun)13:41 No. 1001541 ID: ca2950
File 162180249044.png - (187.36KB , 1204x856 , 1.png )

I'm a little reluctant to follow her inside, but I'll go along for now.
It's just a normal, boring cave from what I can tell.

"Look!" Keimi shouts, pointing in farther. "We've already found signs of life!"

"It looks like a rock to me."

"It shows clear sighs of being fabricated. Don't be a dummy," she snaps at me. "Let's keep going. We'll probably find something interesting for sure."

"Fine," I sigh.

I'm not big on archeology, so I'm not sure what I can be doing here. I guess exploring secret caves is pretty neat though.

Y'know, it's just the two of you here, you can always... you know...

Actually, it is too cold for that.

Inventory check! What equipment and items did you both bring? Got a flashlight? it looks pretty dark there...

Remember to look up.

They always forget to look up.

>>1001541
Make jokes about exploring her secret cave.
Gauge her willingness to let you go spelunking.

yeah, lets check what items we brought.

Alex 2021/05/23(Sun)20:00 No. 1001573 ID: ca2950
File 162182523156.png - (160.24KB , 878x737 , 2.png )

>Inventory check
We've got some lights and some medical supplies in case someone gets bumped up and some snacks. Whatever you take to poke around where we ought not to.

>Remember to look up
The ceiling is made of rocks. Not even really interesting rocks. Just kind of lumpy. They don't look like they'll fall on us, as far as I can tell.
"There's a larger structure over here! I wonder if this area used to be above ground before some kind of seismic even buried it?"
Keimi rummages through the rubble.
"Hey, Alex! I found some bones."

"Are they cool bones? Spooky bones?"

"They're vuhio bones," Keimi calls back.

They're just normal animal bones. Not really a big, exciting discovery.

"Better watch out. This might be a khuar den. Your best hope is that it thinks you're too small to be worth eating."

"Or a wendigo," Keimi replies.

"Don't even joke about that. You're bad luck when it comes to monsters."

Are you planing to be dismissive until something happen?
You should just ask what she think is going on and go with it. Appreciate the adventure instead of lament the waste of time.

Remind me, what are we doing here, again? Why do we keep mesing with this things tht are up to no good?

Seriously, we are just civilians messing with things we really shouldn't.


Also, remind me, again, what happened to your mom. I kinda forgot about it over "definitely almost not dying from a monster" experience.

Ugh... just go in deeper, the sooner you get to the bottom, the sooner this will be over and you can get back to civilisation.

Alex 2021/05/24(Mon)04:05 No. 1001599 ID: ca2950
File 162185432379.png - (213.68KB , 837x904 , 3.png )

I look down and there's a figure looming in the dark.

"That was one time! Also, there's actually a wendigo! Help!"


>What are we doing here, again? Why do we keep messing with this things that are up to no good?

I think it's something that's just going to keep happening, alright?

>Appreciate the adventure instead of lament the waste of time.

I like adventure. Looking at rocks isn't my idea of a fun time, but now things are getting significantly more adventurous. Really adventurous, really fast.

Alex 2021/05/24(Mon)04:06 No. 1001601 ID: ca2950
File 162185436552.png - (335.37KB , 1418x859 , 4.png )

I need to help Keimi! I do not want to have to explain that I let her get eaten by a wendigo!
Good thing I've been working on my monster fighting effectiveness in my spare time.

Alex can move within the green highlighted area freely or exert himself to reach a red highlighted area.
Alex can use the technique "Fal" to cast a firebolt at a target within a range of 6 spaces.
Alex can tell Keimi to take actions which, depending on a variety of factors, she might do.

I need to get closer for sure, but do I want to wail on this thing or stay at range and shoot it? I'm better with the sword, but staying away from those claws sounds like it has advantages, too.

No time to think. Gotta do.

Head to cover and open fire!

Do you really have a sword and how can it be better than "fireball"?

Since the highlighted movement grid is a square I'm gonna assume that diagonals count as two actions, therefor the fireball won't reach the wendigo from the edgy of the green grid.
The effects of "exert" are not clear. If you can attack move to the edge to the rock (8 left 1 down) and use fireball on the wendigo. If you can't, move to the closer corner of the rock (5 left 1 down) and take cover.
Either way tell Keimi to move closer to you, behind you if she can move that far.

Run to keimi, pick her up, then slamdunk her into the wendigo's gullet. Countinue advanture with superior wendigo partner.

go 6 squares to the left

Call Keimi over to you.

throw a flare or something stick-like, maybe cute monster just wants to play? also tell keimi to run, remind her that genisys doesn't have attacks of oppertunity

Rush up right next to Keimi.

Animals and beasts tend to get slightly more wary when confronted with multiple foes (or get confused by a new selection of prey choice).

Even if it DOES go right for Keimi, you'll be right there to do something about it. And if it goes for you, you can try to block or parry with your sword. Might even be able to GUARD COVER for Keimi this way.

>>1001612
This.

Get engaged to the wendigo. Talk about your feelings.

>>1001612
This

Alex 2021/05/24(Mon)18:57 No. 1001651 ID: ca2950
File 162190786969.png - (353.85KB , 1077x750 , 5.png )

I move over towards the rubble and tell Keimi to get over here with me. She makes a dash for it, then turns toward the wendigo when she gets close.

Keimi casts Fal.

The wendigo shrieks as a bolt of fire slams it in the chest and starts to sear its flesh.

"I'm not so easy to eat anymore, sucker!" Keimi cheers.

Alex 2021/05/24(Mon)19:05 No. 1001653 ID: ca2950
File 162190830904.png - (180.89KB , 629x526 , 6.png )

The wendigo lunges toward Keimi and lashes her with its claws.

"Kyaaaaa! Help!"

Now that it's in range, I can hit the thing. It recoils from the impact.

"Kei, get behind me or something!"

>SPARE

come on Keimi you can make friends, you just gotta have determination!

failing that run away until you figure out how to make friends with cute fluffy monster

Alright Alex time to be the tank and use sword on monster.
Keimi can try to avoid being clawed, and instead apply fire to the problem.

I was under the impression fireball was a shotgun...
Fireball is a good option, but if you can move and attack it's better to slash the wendigo with your sword.

Wendigos are, like, immortal or something, aren't they? What are old people vulnerable to? Try asking about it's grandchildren! Or The Good Old Days, or what sort of music the young people should be listening to...

stab it in the legs, lower its mobility.

>>1001803
Stabbie leg is good.

Alex 2021/10/19(Tue)17:06 No. 1013200 ID: ca2950
File 163468839212.png - (277.06KB , 1284x865 , 7.png )

I start hacking at its legs, but it's tough and sinewy. I can't do a lot of damage while this thing is wailing on me.
Keimi is keeping the damage to a minimum, but I don't know if I'm going to outlast it at this rate.

"Hurry up and kill it!" she yelps. "I can't do this forever!"

"I'd like do see you try. This thing is pretty tough!"

"My newly awakened lust for adventure is going to get us eaten by a monster before we even got to do anything!"

She's starting to panic.

"You're the brains here. Think of something!"

"Well, we could..."

A: stop healing Alex and enhance his physical ability, hoping it will be enough to defeat the Wendigo before he dies

B: make a dash for the snowrunner before the Wendigo catches and eats us both

C: run down the cavern passage to bottleneck the Wendigo in cramped quarters where its size will hinder it

D: frantically try to burn it to death before it manages to dismember one or both of us

C+D; Wendigos have the evolutionary advantage here, so using fire to burn their coarse fur will eventually wear them off. But run to a stable position while you still can.

We're the brains, let's do the math!

Alex has been at a slight to moderate disadvantage so far, and has needed healing to stay up. That's a losing status quo.

If we change the matchup and buff Alex, that means he probably won't need healing, or at least it will be even at that point. At which point we can tip the scales in our favor with whatever we have to distract it while it's fighting Alex.

Go with A.

>>1013203
Yes, this man has the correct idea. Also yell at Alex for not being manly enough and heroically one shotting the monster.

I think C is the safest plan.

>Switch to physical
High risk, high reward. Both of them would die more easily.
>Flee
Its legs seem to show that it would pursue quite fast. You'd be easy targets with your backs toward it. Bad idea.
>Passage
Also risky. There may be more hostiles past there, which would leave you hit by two sides if that's the case. If. However, if it's clear of hostiles, if gives you a serious leg up.
>Use Fal
You'd have to aim very carefully. Because of the melee, you might hit your ally. It did seem to really hate fire, though.

If your aim is good, use Fal. Otherwise, head for the passage.

Non of the options seem to have high chances of success. I am going t logo with A, because at least it will free Keimi to do something else, unless you have to keep the buff up all the time. If not, it might at least let Alex be on the same level with the windigo. Let's cross fingers.

By setting the Wendigo on fire, you can replace your current problems with new ones.

A.

Use your enhanced physical ability to kick her in the balls.

Fleeing down a dark passage chased by bloodthirsty monster, unable to go back the same way you came until you find the strength or means to overcome it, or find a way to go around, going deeper through the mountain...

... certainly SOUNDS like the start of an adventure.

C! (and pray there aren't drums in the deep)

>>1013200
A: stop healing Alex and enhance his physical ability, hoping it will be enough to defeat the Wendigo before he dies

Alex 2021/11/15(Mon)04:35 No. 1015226 ID: ca2950
File 163697973761.png - (190.27KB , 780x768 , 8.png )

We make a break for the narrow passage and continue to fend off the Wendigo. The cramped quarters make it difficult for the monster to swing its long arms and we start to gain the advantage, until it breaks off and disappears out of sight.

"Did we win?"

Wendigos are pretty vicious and don't give up on eating whatever they've got their eyes on, so it's probably just trying to find a better way to rip us apart.

"I doubt it. Keep your guard up, Kei."

Things are looking up, but are still not going all that great.

"The whole point of coming here was to see if the cave systems connected to whatever the VSA is poking around at. So we might find another way out somewhere in here... or we might get super lost," says Keimi.

Well, forwards then.

Alright, that was a long and tough battle. Time to set up a camp and spend the night.

Combat tactics 101. Always keep the path to exfil clear of hostiles.

You were poorly readied for that before, but after all that you've got some idea of what you have to deal with.
Top off with heals, stay alert, ears wide. Detect it before it detects you. Stay far away, it just has melee, but you both have fire. Light it up, fry it to a crisp before it gets close. Be ready to retreat to this alcove if you screw up.

Alex 2021/12/29(Wed)18:40 No. 1018741 ID: ca2950
File 164083200077.png - (59.28KB , 540x471 , 9.png )

"Alright, Kei. Now that we have the strategic advantage, we can finish it off."

Keimi seems hesitant and stays huddled up against the cave wall.
"I don't think I'm going to be able to keep it up without taking a break. I don't want you getting hurt for real if I can't heal you."

If she's to tired to keep fighting, we're probably not going to do well, since we only broke even last time. Better find another way and somewhere safe to rest.
"Okay. Let's find find somewhere safe to take a breather and look for another route out of here."

Keimi looks a little down. She was so lively a few minutes ago when everything was only moderately dangerous.

"Sorry, Alex. You might get hurt because I'm being irresponsible. Let's just get out of here as soon as possible."

>>1018741
Relax, so far this is less dangerous than last time and we survived that one just fine. That said we really should have packed a gun or two.

Yeah, seems like you should have brought a bit more gear. Little late to fix that, though.
Either way, you should rest a bit.
After that, there's two ways to play this.

First, if that beast sleeps, wait for it to fall asleep, stealth past it (or kill it while it's asleep). Go home, get kitted out a bit better. Doubt either of you is the cautious type, though, so...
Two, scout the area close by. Might be hostiles. Might be zero hostiles. Might be stuff leftover by people who are supposed to deal with this stuff. Tough to say. Best you at least figure out what you have to deal with, so if you have to fight, you set the terms.

Cheer her up and say you appreciate her feeling like being more careful, but if she wants to keep exploring, you'd be up for it.

You two would just have to try to find some other non-wendigo way out of here while exploring, right? If you can't do so in a reasonable amount of time you'll double back. Maybe the wendigo will have moved on, be sleeping or whatnot then.

>>1018746
I disagree that it is less dangerous, we had guns last time. That ofc leads to your other point.

We should really retreat tf out of here and get some guns and more armor (like helmets). Hell, is Keimi even wearing any trauma plates in or under that jacket? Honestly, we are sorely ill-equipped for adventuring even if there weren't monsters. I doubt the snacks we brought would be enough to last if we do get lost, or end up on the wrong side of a cave-in. We should probably reevaluate what to bring before we head back.

Alex 2022/01/26(Wed)04:37 No. 1021345 ID: ca2950
File 164320065913.png - (188.87KB , 804x716 , 10.png )

"It's fine, Kei. We just need to get away from that thing for now and find another way out, which is sort of what we wanted to do anyway."

Keimi sighs and starts to look around, heading away from the passage with the wendigo.
"Alright, I guess. It's not like we have much of a choice now."

We move along until we're probably sort of safe and take a break.
"Do we know where we're going?" I ask.
Keimi reaches into her coat and takes out a folded piece of paper.
"Yeah, I made a copy of the ground scan," she says around a mouthful of energy bar. "There's a void here and a bunch of irregularities here that look like cave systems, so we can probably find a way around here."

"That looks like a bunch of wavy lines."
"It's a ground scan. You just need to know how to read it," she says, gesturing with the paper.
"Do you know how to read it? Do you know anything about cave science at all?"
"It's called geology, dummy."
"Yeah, well, how much to you know about geology then?"
"Tsk... L-Let's get moving."

That's a little concerning, but nothing is going too wrong just yet.

Let's keep moving through the caves then. Go find more of that trouble that we've been searching for.

Well, wavy lines or not, there's clearly a cave system here. Explore it!

... but do you have a way to mark your way so you can backtrack as needed?

>>1021345
Nope, fuck that. You need helmets in order to go spelunking.

Mark my words, one of you is going to get a concussion or worse if you dont leave asap and get some.

>>1021350
>do you have a way to mark your way so you can backtrack as needed?
They have crumbs from their food. Trail of breadcrumbs is a classic! Though that may attract beasts. Or rats.

>>1021351
Yeah, yeah, it's clear these kids are dumb. All they brought is food. They've faced zero hostiles with firearms. All melee. Simple sports gear as well as bike/motorcycle helmets would have helped with that. However, they're dumb kids. I doubt they'll go home after all this.
Still, hopefully some of those troops that are *supposed* to deal with this set up shop here at some time. If they left stuff to salvage, that'd be good.

Alex 2022/02/13(Sun)21:23 No. 1023443 ID: ca2950
File 164481623174.png - (180.97KB , 1024x1024 , 11.png )

We continue down into the caves and arrange loose stones into little stacks at any junctions to mark the way back, in case we don't find a way out this way.

"Should we have helmets?"
"What?"
"You know, in case rocks fall or something."
"It's funny that you would be worrying about safety," Keimi says with a huff. "Mister Compound-fracture-while-committing-crimes"."

Oh, she's gonna bring this up.

"Okay, first of all; it wasn't a crime. We just borrowed that snowrunner."
"So you returned it?"
"No. I was totally wrecked."
"Crime," she states matter-of-factly.
"And second, that jump was awesome."

Keimi doesn't appreciate wicked, vehicle-based acrobatics.
"Was it worth the floppy leg?"
"Yes. Yes, it was."

Keimi pulls up her hood.
"Your anecdotes about suffering traumatic injuries have convinced me to protect my head. I keep my gigantic, powerful brain safe. Let's keep going."

The tunnel seems to turn into more of those old ruins at this point and there's some junk lying around. So at least we might find something neat and not just get lost.

kick that ball over there in the ball.

What I'm trying to say is

Kick that green round thing that is on that orb over there.

Poke the ancient abandoned technology.

Lift Keimi and have her sit on your shoulders. Tell her that she's your helmet now.

>>1023446
I agree, but where can we find a stick this far below ground?


But seriously, is that like a laser tripwire or something? Maybe don't poke it direct. Looks like some kind of advanced tech, though. Keimi, study this object keenly. Use your student powers!

Alex scout ahead just a bit.

>>1023443
touch hands all over derelict space bullshit and proceed deeper into ruins

Alex 2022/05/15(Sun)17:05 No. 1032379 ID: ca2950
File 165265951664.png - (153.52KB , 1024x768 , 12.png )

I warn Keimi to be careful of the thing on the ground, unless it has a trap trigger in it or something. She examines it, then picks up one of the parts laying next to it.

"It's not a trap. It's some kind of drone. It's not Valdran, Zieh or Aaloxi design. Do you think it's Urosian?"
"I have no idea, Kei."
"It's either them or some mystery race of aliens nobody has ever met before. If it's not Urosian, maybe it was made by whoever made the Urosians. They're machines, so somebody had to build them, right?" she says, turning the plate shaped thing around in her hands.
"Stands to reason, I guess."

Keimi seems pretty engrossed in the robot parts.

"So we're at very least going to get to sneak around in the ruins of a reclusive race of ancient robots or maybe something even weirder."
"Now we have to dodge antique androids as well as wendigos and maybe the military?" I ask, feeling a little less certain about being able to deal with this.

"Do you think we'll see something still operational down here? That would be so cool!"

See if we can turn that robot on...
not in that way, pervert

"Okay Alexa, buy dog treats"

Wendigos and weird alien technology? What a wierd cave. Can she turn it on?

>>1032380
Maybe in that way. Try sitting on its face.

Nah, let's leave the mountain. Not that your choice matters since Keimi is just gonna drag you deeper along with her.

>>1032379
Definitely.
Maybe we can find an obedient one that can kill the wendigo.

Alex 2022/06/05(Sun)16:42 No. 1034415 ID: ca2950
File 165447257198.png - (110.81KB , 1024x768 , 13.png )

Keimi is looking over the drone, so I ask her if it might still work and if it might be able to blast that wendigo.
"I don't know. Nothing is showing any signs of wear or oxidation, but I don't think anything has power. Batteries are dead, probably," she says, shrugging.
I consider everything for a moment and look back toward the cave we came in through.
"Maybe we should make a run for it and go home, before something else can go wrong."
Keimi walks a short distance in the opposite direction.
"Yeah, I guess. If we need to be rescued, we'll never hear the end of it," she replies, her voice trailing off down the hall.
"Kei, I thought we were leaving," I call after her.
"Yeah, yeah. I just want to see a little bit..."

I follow her down the dark hall to find her crouched down, looking at something.
"Look. There's more of these drone things, but these ones are smaller. Maybe maintenance?"
"They didn't do a very good job."
"You don't know how long they've been down here. Besides, they look smashed up. Maybe they didn't get to do their job because someone or something went around and busted them all."

I look around a bit. Everything is smooth and clean. It doesn't feel like some ancient ruin. It's more like someone just stepped out a few minutes ago and turned out the lights before they left.
No signs of wendigos wandering in here either, which might be good for us, if they're too spooked to come in here, but it might also just be that there's nothing to eat in here most of the time and now they have a reason.

"Ready to go?"
"Yeah, just let me find a good one to take back."

Alex 2022/06/05(Sun)16:43 No. 1034416 ID: ca2950
File 165447260832.png - (65.21KB , 587x438 , 14.png )

I can hear the rustling of Keimi standing up suddenly
and a squeak of fear, which gets my attention immediately.

"This one still works. What do I do?"

Catch it.

Keimi, aren't you a genius hacker? Try some basic commands in a couple different programming languages to see if it responds.

Grab it! use your coat like a net to cover and hold it in if you have to Keimi!

Well, if you turn it on, you can turn it off. You can analyze it later when we are out of here.

Tell her that it looks more like a pleasure done, so she can safely stick it down her panties.

>>1034416
Uhhh... hello?

>>1034416
Bap it away, give it a real solid backhand!

>>1034416
Talk to it. Say hi in every language you know.

Maybe see if it will let you pick it up again

>>1034468
Hi in every language sounds wise. Maybe follow up with, "lead us to a safe exit, please, a wendigo is about" or some other variation of "danger close, halp exit".

Don't let it taze you. Bet they can!

Alex 2022/06/17(Fri)18:23 No. 1035267 ID: ca2950
File 165551538090.png - (193.24KB , 1024x768 , 15.png )

"Uh... Try to say something to it, in any languages you know. Maybe it'll recognize something."
Keimi kind of edges away from the drone thing.
"H-Hello? Do you understand me?" she asks, no response.
"Taka'funuu. Kihini i unitsu sa eshiku tsuno kuri shi?"
Still nothing.
"Hei? Yimarat ko meenua? I don't know if these is working," she says, turning back to me.
"I don't know. Try another language."
Keimi slowly steps back, trying to distance herself from the drone.
"Why don't you come over here and talk to it then, Mister Multi-lingual?"

Suddenly, it starts emitting a light, then turns around and fires off down the hall and makes a sharp right turn at an intersection.

Keimi seems spooked, but otherwise fine.


What the hell was that?

Follow it!

>>1035271
Maybe it understood and is trying to lead you out?

... went off a bit fast, though. Still, should probably follow. Only thing around here that knows its way around.

Chase!

Tease the "genius", then chase!

Follow that flying vibrator!

>Keimi seems spooked
More like, she creamed herself from this high tech stuff.

Alex 2022/06/26(Sun)14:30 No. 1036015 ID: ca2950
File 165627903815.png - (182.45KB , 1024x768 , 16.png )

"So, do we follow it?" I ask Keimi.
She straightens herself up and brushes at her hair, trying to act calm.
"Oh, yeah. Sure."

We head in the direction of the hover drone thing and end up in a big, empty room, except for the drone and a strangely familiar mass of twisted flesh, which the drone is shining a light on, making it the center of attention.
When I look at it closer, it's just sitting there, stuck on the wall like a big piece of gum.

"That's not good."
"It's not moving at least. Maybe it wants us to clear the door," Keimi says, keeping behind me slightly.
"Yeah, but how? Do we just start hacking at it?"
Keimi shrugs.
"I have no idea. I just know it's terrifying and I don't want it to start moving because we tried to kill it wrong."

I can't tell if it can see us, but it does look like it's staring at us. It seems safe to assume that it's not going to do anything if we don't try to get through the door it's blocking up, but it's probably also safe to assume it's dangerous and we should expect it to attack us, given the chance.

>>1036015
Hold up, is that a tendril connected to it, running along the ceiling? Perhaps this is part of a larger mass, and you can simply cut the ceiling-connection to disable it, then hack it off.

Why are we still here? Just to suff- uh, invite danger?

Question your life choices and consider leaving.

Oh, a tentacle monster... I like where this is going.

First, talk to the flying vibrator. Ask if it can show you the monster's weak points. Probably not gonna work, but worth a try.

Alex can cast Fal? Or was it Keimi? The monster doesn't look terribly mobile, so attacking from the range should work, assuming that the high up tendril doesn't turn up any other clues.

>>1036015
Step one should be checking out that ceiling tendril. It could lead to other, more vulnerable parts you can kill it with.. or a part that will try to retaliate if you attack

Follow where that gross ceiling tendril leads you to.

Search for Monsterfucker Permits(tm), doublecheck if level is high enough :V

Alex 2022/06/26(Sun)20:40 No. 1036092 ID: ca2950
File 165630123145.png - (40.07KB , 751x601 , 17.png )

On closer inspection, there is a long meat tube running along the ceiling, which does go way back toward the hall we started in, then pries open the panels to worm off somewhere we can't see anymore.

"Hey, Kei. Does that remind you of anything?"
"Oh my God, shut up! I wonder where it goes, though. It's almost got to be connected to something else. None of the other tendrils go far from the main body," she says, standing up on her toes to look closer at the tentacle.

"I could try hacking it off and see if that does anything or we can look for whatever's on the other end. What do you think?"

Keimi wrinkles her nose and sways from side to side, doing some deep thinking about the options. "I don't know. It seems like something bad could happen either way."

>>1036092
Oh drat, I guess that means this part of the monster is the main body.

...I suspect that the reason it's done this is that it's boobytrapped itself. Let's go check where the tendril goes.

It's probably where it's getting its food from. You know how some places on its body look lighter than the rest? It's as if those places used to be cut there, and the monster regenerated them.

I say, cut this thing on the lighter spot, and at the same time burn it to prevent regeneration. It might also be that, whatever is being supplied through this cord is flammable, and the flame would cause internal combustion.

Fire sounds like the safest option, yes.

Try to look for what's on the other end. As has been pointed out, this thing appears to have regenerated some damage already. If we can figure out what feeds it (it can't be drawing energy from rock and metal materials... can it?), we might stand a better chance of disabling it permanently.

This is definitely reminiscent of those beasties from earlier, though.

Alex 2022/06/28(Tue)04:06 No. 1036341 ID: ca2950
File 165641440508.png - (47.51KB , 1024x768 , 18.png )

Since we maybe want to be a little cautious, we check around for signs of the tendril leading somewhere.
After checking a few empty rooms, we find a big glob of meat stuff at the end of the hall that trails off around the corner.

"Do you think that's it?"
"I'd say the odds are pretty good," Keimi says. "At least it doesn't look like it has any differentiated parts over here. The eyes are creepy."
This is just a big gumwad of flesh. I wonder why it gets so big here, though.

Attack its weak point.

Cast magic missile at it. After that, rip it away and see if there's, like, a power source here.

>>1036341
Might be something feeding it on the other side of the wall?

This blob also has 'scars' on it, though. Maybe they're not scars after all, but some sort of veins or outgrowths? Or someone did a lot of attacking of this thing - and at various points at that!

Well... at least this part of it doesn't appear to have any obvious means of defending itself. Maybe you can kill the big thing by the door by chopping it off at the source here.

Start blastin', cuttin' and remember to stay the heck away from its juices. That one woman who got covered in it got KO'd pretty bad. Plus that stuff melted clothes - that'd be a pretty bad thing in this weather.

Could also peek up the corridor before you get started to see if there's any surprises coming from that direction.

>>1036341
There's probably something under it. Blast it and peel it off the wall.

>>1036341
It was probably a feeding tendril.
Severing it may weaken the main body.
There's probably some kind of corpse underneath or inside of it.

Alex 2022/07/10(Sun)17:58 No. 1037667 ID: ca2950
File 165750113232.png - (145.63KB , 1024x768 , 19.png )

When we get closer, the lumpy part splits open and starts spitting more lumps of gross meat on the floor, which quickly jump up onto their horribly little feet.

"Those are the same creatures from the lab!" Keimi exclaims.

"Ya think?"

"I mean, the door monster shares a lot of traits with them, so it's not that surprising," she states, matter-of-factly.

"I think we've upset the locals, Kei. What should we do?"

She looks at me and shrugs.
"Should we smack them?"

Wait, so the whole lab thing still happened?
Smacking worked last time!

You should smack them.

Smack them, but don't get smacked by them, they have some toxin that paralyzes you. If i remember correctly.

>>1037667
You appear to have found a cloaca.

Fire spell's preferred. Why use melee when you have the power of range?
Of course if you have limited mana, then melee makes a degree of sense.

Let them stab Keimi, I wanna see what kind of a game-over screen we get.

Alternatively, cut up these two up while Keimi burns the hole.

Oh ew, a birthenin' sack.

Have Keimi shoot 'em. Only smack 'em if they try leaping for Keimi.

Shoot, smack.
Fire might cause the building to be set on fire

Alex 2022/08/08(Mon)21:24 No. 1040409 ID: ca2950
File 166001906926.png - (228.10KB , 867x683 , 20.png )

The creatures are soft and squishy, so I can easily take out one of them in a single strike, but before I can hit the other one, it erupts into flames and evaporates in the blast. I think Keimi is holding a grudge against these thing.

I manage to avoid having my tail singed off and the creatures are wiped out.

Remind me not to piss her off.

Piss her off

Okay, don't piss her off

Flame spell the monster on the wall now.

>>1040409
Quickly while your sort of GF is distracted by her bloodlust start hacking away at that wall meat tube thingy

Quit looking like a happy ballet dancer seriously, that's meme image material right there and genocide those bugs! Oh, no more bugs? Slaughter that thing on the wall so you can continue to metroidvania your way through here GENOCIDE BUGS!

Gnoll 2022/08/21(Sun)12:31 No. 1041467 ID: ca2950
File 166111026991.png - (88.83KB , 532x457 , 21.png )

The meat vine just kind of crawls back together and reattaches when cut. Even if we burn it, it reabsorbs the damaged area and reconnects itself. It's an interesting and gross thing to see.
After a few attempts, I stop for now. It might provoke another attack if I keep it up.

I guess I could if there's nothing better to do.



"Hey, Alex."

"Yeah?"

I turn around and the little hover drone is floating near Keimi, making light patterns in the air.

"I think it's trying to tell us something," she says, staring at its blinking.

"Like what?"

"I dunno," Keimi says with a shrug. "Should we follow it or something?"

Poke it

otherwise, just follow it

Keimi's the genius, see if the lights correspond to an intelligible pattern.

>>1041468
Do both.

Also, give Keimi a scratch behind her ears. no reason other than an urge.

>>1041467
Well I guess you can't get rid of this part, so try going back to the door and killing enough of that to get through.

Try to make sense of the light patterns, maybe? Any logic to 'em?

Tell the drone, "Change language: Engrish", or whatever your language is called.

If that doesn't work, then... follow the drone.

Alex 2022/09/11(Sun)20:23 No. 1043550 ID: ca2950
File 166295301876.png - (208.85KB , 903x768 , 22.png )

We follow the drone along the hallway, go through an intersection that leads into a room with some old consoles standing in the floor. Maybe a control room of some kind.

Keimi examines the computer.

"Do you know how amazing this is?" she exclaims.
"Not really. Kind of looks normal to me," I say.
"Yeah, but it's super old. Whatever made this might have had our modern level of technology when our ancestors were still hunting peera out on the tundra."
"The Uros were more advanced than us before that."
"Okay, but they're robots, they don't need the manual input stations, so this is probably someone else!"
"I guess it would be more exciting if we didn't have four intelligent races living in the system already."

Keimi pouts a bit.

"These ones are different and presumably dead, so that makes them more interesting than someone you can just go talk to."

Alex 2022/09/11(Sun)20:23 No. 1043551 ID: ca2950
File 166295303896.png - (36.19KB , 670x483 , 23.png )

"There's also these stupid meat monsters that probably have some kind of relevance to science, I guess..." she grumbles, shining her flashlight along the flesh tendril snaking along the wall. "They're mostly just a big problem and they suck."

Alex 2022/09/11(Sun)20:25 No. 1043552 ID: ca2950
File 166295310343.png - (181.31KB , 1024x768 , 24.png )

The light sweeps across the room and catches a gleam off of the glassy eyes of another creature like the one blocking the door, but this one is bigger, taking up the whole back wall of the room from ceiling to floor. Keimi makes a surprised sound and shuffles backwards.
"Don't worry. It's not moving, yet," I say, getting ready, just in case something does happen.
After a few long moments, nothing happens.
"Everything seems to be hibernating or something."
Keimi straightens up and keeps her flashlight on the creature.
"The other ones only activated when we got too close, so maybe we'll be okay if we stay over here," she says, keeping her eye out for any movement.

That eye in the center of its 'torso' looks like a good target, but considering how this thing is hooked into the whole facility, it might raise a big alarm to attack it. On the other hand, this thing is connected to the spawner pods and the door monster, so wiping it out might get rid of all the problems.

I'm kinda guessing it's going to end up being both.

Don't do anything with the monsters yet. The drone brought you to the consoles, so examine these more closely.

Check the consoles first and foremost. Think up a plan to output as much damage as possible in your first attack. Can you spend extra time charging up a fire spell? Can you set up delayed explosions?

Those face-tubes seem sort of like the squirtem that sprayed cloth-melting paralyzing acid goop all over Alma. Has the same number of eyes too, seems like? Guess these fellas are important in the meatsack hierarchy.

Have one of you keep an eye on it while the other tinkers with the console to see what might get it working (or see what else the drone attempts to direct you to do). Avoid waking the beastie by poking it and definitely avoid getting hit by that spray with extreme prejudice (if you can pry off the side of the console and use that as a shield. You don't wanna be nekkid when you return to the snow-bound outdoors.

If you HAVE to alpha strike it, do so by ensuring it can't direct it's schnozz-spray anywhere - cut those off and/or sear 'em shut before you go for the eyes... and on the off-hand chance this thing is just full of that melty goop, try not to get it all over you if you go in hack and slash style.

Alex 2022/09/21(Wed)15:14 No. 1044377 ID: ca2950
File 166379848781.png - (149.27KB , 689x529 , 25.png )

Keimi slides around behind me to keep my body between her and the thing and peeks out from under my arm.
"Hey, can you do something with this computer?"
She shuffles her feet.
"There's no power, so I can't even tell if it works, let alone how it works," she replies.
"We could go look for a power switch. We haven't really explored much."

Keimi nods.
"Maybe. Then we wouldn't have to walk around in the dark."
"That would be nice."
"And I don't want to mess with this thing, because it might shoot acid that melts clothes off and poisons you."
"Better be careful or I might die how I lived; very sexy."
Keimi scoffs. "Har, har. Let's not do that."

Alex 2022/09/21(Wed)15:15 No. 1044378 ID: ca2950
File 166379850520.png - (36.04KB , 1024x696 , 26.png )

We've mostly just walked down a long hall, so there was a few side halls we didn't go down. Maybe we can find something that controls the power systems or who knows what.
That creature sustains the thing that's blocking the door, but we can't open the door without power. This is starting to seem like work.

>>1044378
Alright let's check in the room right across the hall. (up)

>>1044381
That.

Maybe we can find a Flesh-Monster-B-Gone spray.
Even if we don't find anything, there's always the "seduce" option.

Alex 2022/09/23(Fri)09:05 No. 1044551 ID: ca2950
File 166394913998.png - (192.48KB , 1024x768 , 27.png )

A bit of exploring and we find a room full of machinery. Judging from the conduits everywhere, this is whatever this place uses to produce power.
That was easy.

Keimi walks over and taps at the console.
"Doesn't work."

Shit.
Okay. There's a big cannister thing and a spot that looks like a big cannister goes, so I heave it into place,
and nothing happens.

"I think the battery is dead," Keimi says.
"I kind of figured. Alright, we just need to find a new one."
Keimi shuffles her feet.
"Okay. If you were an ancient alien power cell, where would you be?"
I shrug.
"Gotta be around here somewhere, right? Let's keep looking around and try not to disturb the flesh horrors."

Keimi looks annoyed and narrows her eyes at me.
"When you say it like that, you make this sound like a terrible idea."
"Hey. This is your irresponsible secret cave adventure, I'm just tagging along."

Alex 2022/09/23(Fri)09:05 No. 1044552 ID: ca2950
File 166394914989.png - (43.47KB , 1024x599 , 28.png )

We know where the power generator is and there's a few places we haven't checked.
Time to meander.

Alright, time for the South corridor.

Let's go south. It's the closest unexplored place.

Show the big canister to the floating vibrator.

Let's backtrack all the way to the entrance and check the unchecked room there.

Supply closets are usually close to the entrance.

Alex 2022/09/25(Sun)20:27 No. 1044760 ID: ca2950
File 166416287023.png - (142.46KB , 981x768 , 29.png )

The corridor to the south or left or whatever turns out to be filled with horrible alien meat and a handful of creatures, too.

"I'm starting to think this is a terrible place to hang around in."
Keimi scoffs.
"I figured that out a while ago. But look! There's a new one I haven't seen before. Do you think they have one of those at the lab or did we discover a new subspecies?"
"It looks like a roasted bird..."

These things probably wouldn't just be wandering around down here for no reason. I'm thinking they're waking up from us stabbing their little guys and shining lights on their giant eyeballs.
"I think we're stirring up the hive, Kei."
"Hm... Maybe."
"What do we do about it?"
"I dunno. Do you want to smack them?"

Bait them into attacking a spot illuminated by the flashlight, and then when they're grouped up, fry them all at once, but do it when they're away from the tentril. Don't fry the tendril.

>>1044763
Do this

Kill them just a little bit so that they let you through.

Kill them or they will attack you in the back later.

Argh, new enemy. Be super careful, you don't know its capabilities. Seems like it'll be a tougher thing, maybe, so try to get the drop on it. If it's like almost every other type of critter encountered it could have some sort of disabling attack.

Ugh. This is an escalation thing, but you can't leave enemies creeping around and ambushing you as you wander back and forth.

Try to pop the small ones with ranged attacks, then retreat around the corner and ambush-slash the larger critter once it comes after you (if they come after you) - try to keep distance from its front and don't give it time to react. Then jog for the remaining unexplored corridor to see if you can hunt down a power thingy before too many new critters get spawned.

Be on the lookout for more waking enemies as you go, you could end up surrounded here if you're not careful. At some point soon you may just have to admit defeat and run back to take your chances with the wendigo.

>carry on forward through tentacle tunnel
Let's not wander down a meat hallway from which more enemies can spawn behind us if we can help it - at least one of those vein lumps seems... full. At least if we leave and come back, we might see if it's about to burst with more critters.

Alex 2022/10/09(Sun)05:00 No. 1045936 ID: ca2950
File 166531683807.png - (133.81KB , 814x635 , 30.png )

Picking off the small ones is easy enough and now we just have to deal with the new thing, which is super eager to just rush us.

I refuse to die to something this stupid looking.

It's a tough decision but, you'll have to smack this one as well.

Use evasive pattern delta.

Pick up Keimi and use her as a shield

Kidding

Just simply take one step to the left to dosge, then bonk it.

Man, the way this guy rushes in, hope his 'type' isn't a form of suicide bombers or anything. Guess they're biters, with those chompers.

Maneuver - duck, dodge or sidestep its charges and jumps, then slash or kick as it passes or as you move about. Try to keep a bit of a distance, you should at least have melee range over it. If it opens its mouth it might spit or something, so definitely don't leave yourself open for that.

It's really weird that it's just rushing, it must have a trick up its sleeve...
Rush toward it but feint and dodge to keep your distance.

>>1045936
Focus on evasion, see how it behaves. Exploit vulnerabilities-- like, does it run into walls if one's behind you? Does it have trouble turning? Will it run blindly into your sword?

Alex 2022/10/16(Sun)18:50 No. 1046729 ID: ca2950
File 166597143474.png - (110.82KB , 543x443 , 31.png )

It tracks me fairly quickly when I dodge out of its way, so I guess I can't just trick it into not trying to bite me.

"What should I do?" Keimi calls from behind me.

With me scuffling with this thing, it's not a clear target for her.

Should I tell her to:

>help hit it
>shoot it anyway and try not to catch me in the crossfire
>buff my strength
>buff my defense

Buff your defense. Darn melee users, always getting in the way of the mage's firebolts.

Buff defenses!

>>1046729
Strength. Then keep its teeth away from you using your sword until you can grab one of its arms. Keep a strong grip and swing it around like a ragdoll until it stops moving.

De-fense!

Clap clap

De-fense!

How do you know it's trying to bite you?

Buff strength.

Buff defense. It will help you survive whatever nasty surprise it's got in store.

I'd say Buff Strength. The sooner you can end this fight, the better, right?

First two are no-go.
First may get the squishy spellslinger damaged.
Second will probably go bad if you have to dodge.

So, last two.
Would appear the bugger's got speed. Question is what else does it have?
Probably best to play safe 'til you're sure, so go defense.
Still, have her ready to blast it if it disengages. Will probably go after her if it does.

Would say go speed if we had that but alas, we do not have speed spells.

Alex 2022/10/30(Sun)15:39 No. 1047896 ID: ca2950
File 166716954703.png - (211.64KB , 747x760 , 32.png )

I shout to Keimi to protect me while I rush the thing even harder.

Any hits from the creature feel muted and I can focus on slicing right through the thing as hard as I can, splitting its head wide open and it goes down without issue.

Alex 2022/10/30(Sun)15:40 No. 1047897 ID: ca2950
File 166716960127.png - (116.21KB , 680x717 , 33.png )

Keimi cheers and pumps her fist.
"Yay! Winners!" she hoots. "We're having fun now!"

She seems happy to be fighting weird monsters in an ancient ruin.
A little weird, since she's never wanted to take many risks before now, but it's definitely not boring, so I guess I can't blame her.

The hallway is clear of monsters, unless you count the weird meat-roots growing on the walls.

Continue down the hall. When you reach the corner, peek over there

The monsters are waking up now, but they're slow. Focus on making your way forward quickly, before they wake up entirely.

>>1047897
Alright get moving further down. We already know the roots regenerate so trying to cut them down is pointless. However, they were protecting something, so whatever it is is something we're quite interested in.

Join Keimi in the RPG victory dance. 'tis obligatory.

Poke at the dead body you sliced open. Any interesting observations to be made of its innards?

And since you cleared the enemy, proceed down the hall - but with caution. Check if the veins have telltale bulges that might disgorge enemies behind you.

Collect the phat lootz

You know what, yeah, join in on the awkward dancing

Alex 2022/11/13(Sun)07:37 No. 1049146 ID: ca2950
File 166835383124.png - (230.52KB , 658x680 , 34.png )

Attempting to victory dance immediately causes her to become self-conscious and stop.
"What's the matter, Kei? Having fun in this life-threatening situation?"

She straightens up and tries to brush it off.
"N-No. It's just exciting to see all this scientifically relevant... stuff." she says.­ "That's all."

She seems to mull things over for a moment and continues.
"After the first time, I kind of started worrying that nothing exciting would ever happen again. I'd just go back to my life and it would just be a funny thing that happened once. Then I started thinking, what if I could do something where I could explore and always have something new to discover, but I didn't know how to do that properly, so I snuck out here with you and here we are. I think I'm just being selfish, probably," she says, looking kind of sheepish.

"Sounds like you're having your run-of-the-mill existential crisis. ­It's normal."
"Yeah, well... Whatever. We just need to figure out what we want to do now."
"Like, in life or right now in this situation?"
"Yeah..."

>After the first time
Reassure her that just because she lost her virginity it doesn't mean the 2nd and 3rd time are gonna be bland.
Also, that you're sure that you're about to uncover some intergalactic conspiracy which will lead to more exciting adventures and meeting many new friends with benef-, I mean, interesting friends.

Would Keimi have gone out and started exploring by herself if you hadn't come along?

If so, she's not being selfish by letting you come along. She's telling you that she's going to do something stupid, and offering you the chance to stop terrible things from happening when she does.

Alex 2022/11/22(Tue)04:55 No. 1049861 ID: ca2950
File 166912175753.png - (256.81KB , 818x655 , 35.png )

"So the first time was so good, you're worried nothing will ever be as good again?" I ask, heaving her up to eye level. She's not very heavy. Almost entirely fluff in a big coat.
"You know what I mean, dummy."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you're not selfish if you were going to come out here on your own and I choose to follow you."
She smiles faintly.
"No way. I'd get eaten by a wendigo instantly that way. I need a meat shield."
"Okay. You are kind of selfish."
Keimi props herself up on my shoulders.
"I just admitted that already, but you're going to let me get away with it, right?"
"For now, I guess. Should we keep going into the unknown?"

She kicks her feet in the air, starting to get fidgety from being held up.
"Yeah. It's been like a minute since we got attacked by meat monsters. We need to keep up the pace."
"If you wanted to get attacked by a meat monster, we could have stayed home and you could just ask."

Keimi starts drumming furiously on my chest with her fists. The amount of force is not very impressive.
"Ah! Stop being a perv!"
"I refuse. Besides, you're not completely innocent yourself."
"Yes, I am. Always." she says defiantly, puffing out her cheeks.
"What about the time th-"
"I said always!"

Alex 2022/11/22(Tue)04:56 No. 1049862 ID: ca2950
File 166912177822.png - (200.89KB , 1024x768 , 36.png )

I set her down and we continue down the hall for a bit, a few closed doors block the way, but the meat-roots lead down to a room that's just swarming with the different kinds of monsters, including a big one I've never seen before.
The floaty eyebot makes some movements in the air that seem to indicate it wants to go in there, but it's a big mess in there.

"You wanted meat monsters, you got them. There's a ton in there."
"Is it a problem?"
"I don't know. There's a kind of beefy looking one I've never seen before."
Keimi seems lost in thought.
"We'll probably live, right?"
"I would hope so, so I'm going to be an optimist and say yes."
"I'll leave it up to you, so whatever happens, it's your fault," she says, nodding to herself.

>>1049862
Okay Adds First, big guy last. Have keimi smoke the hoppers while you deal with the medium size back ranks. Hoppers are slow, no clue how fast the other monsters are but perhaps it'd be wise to put your pet gremlin/girlfriend at the far end of the hallway and kite the enemies down it, so she has has much firing time on them as possible.

Oh wow. Yeah, this is a lot. And a biggun. Backup plan is to leggit, right? Right.

Can the floaty drone be told to distract the meatbeasts in a pinch? You don't want this thing damaged, though. Probably need it to have any understanding of what to do to get this place functional again.

>>1049862
This sounds like a somewhat workable plan, but we might be able to use the element of surprise better. Assuming we even have it against these hivemind-seeming things.

Could do a hit-and-run + ambush? Keimi leans through the doorway, zaps all the jumpers and pretends to flee down the hallway, only to turn to focus on strengthening Alex.

Stronk-Alex waits around the corner and doublehand overhead slices the first unfortunate thing to come scampering around - probably a chomper - then the next. Then it's oh god time. As long as Alex is fighting more than one foe, defensive buff should go up, though Keimi should prioritize targeting any additional jumpers, since they can KO with a sting. Or if something slips past Alex and aims for her she should prioritize that (and/or running in circles with it on her tail).

Might also be additional meatbeast reinforcements in there - the room is larger than we can see - so the faster we can dispatch the ones that come the better.

They might also not take the bait or try to corner-ambush you as well, so Keimi should zap 'em good when she reveals herself and hang on to doing so until it looks like they've well and truly taken the bait.

Alternatively... we've got some paths we haven't explored yet, haven't we? Could backtrack there, see if there's anything that could potentially give us an advantage here.

There is too many of them and there is probably more where you can't see them. You'll need a way to lure them somewhere else without acting as bait, or a more efficient way to take them down. Maybe lure the wendigo to them? Anyway, attacking them doesn't look like a good idea.

>>1049867
Yeah, if Keimi stands near the end of the hallway, then Alex aggros them and draws them into the shooting gallery while keeping his distance and staying out of the line of fire, we should be able to thin their numbers before either of our heroes get injured.

Might need to split them up somehow, or use a diversion to try and sneak through.

Whatever the case, it seems a tiny bit dangerous so I'd go and explore the other unexplored path first tho.

This... seems like a bit much for us, at least for now. Especially if we're putting flesh roots behind us, though that shouldn't be necessary even if we do engage.

There's still a room to explore back near the entrance, right?

Alex 2022/11/27(Sun)19:29 No. 1050384 ID: ca2950
File 166960614960.png - (105.41KB , 706x483 , 37.png )

Trying to be sneaky, we're able to get some shots in from around the corner, then lure a couple in to finish them off.

The others are almost certainly going to rush in after all the commotion. We should probably get ready to deal with that.

Light the chokepoint up! Get a wall of fire going that they have to deal with to get to you guys!

>>1050384
Brace! Get a defensive buff up, block their path, be the tank.
I don't suppose she can make spikes on the ground or something?

>>1050389
ooh clever, lets go with that.

Plant some mines.

Attack buff as long as Alex is only facing one enemy, Def buff if more.

Try to use the corridor length to string out the enemies - let the fastest ones get to you first and give Keimi space to nail them with more ranged attacks before they can reach you.