>>278875
Wait, how far is it to where Amin is? He's our best chance at survival if we can get to him.

Slate 2011/02/04(Fri)14:03 No. 279059 ID: 370692
File 12968569895.gif - (6.07KB , 500x381 , Overview2.gif )

>>279038
Well, when Amin opened the door, he was underwater and essentially at the complete opposite side of the entire caverns. He likely started coming back to the rest of the group after the door opened, so he may be close enough to help in time.
>>278878
The closest source of water to hide in may not be close enough to help.
Quickly, make a choice! Where should Marisa run to?

well if Amin just came from the water, that's the best way to go, either you'll get to the water and have a place to hide, or you'll find Amin on the way

it's win/win

Slate 2011/02/04(Fri)19:10 No. 279130 ID: 370692
File 9.swf - (25.27KB , 520x352 )

Marisa decides to go for possible assistance. Just as she starts sliding down the slope, she sees Amin entering the room, and it becomes apparent that his dress-thing can also be worn as a cloak. Nevertheless, Marisa shouts out a warning and stops on level ground when the beast jumps over the incline. When the creature comes close enough, Amin promptly uses its own momentum against it, running it through with his sword and then allowing it to slide off it and land on the ground.

Slate 2011/02/04(Fri)19:16 No. 279134 ID: 370692
File 129687576480.gif - (11.17KB , 500x492 , 10.gif )

Marisa breathes a sigh of release and says,
"Thanks, Amin. I found the treasure key, so we should finally be able to get the fuck out of this pit--"
Amin lifts Marisa up by the throat and begins throttling her.

well shit,
Bad End?

if you think you can slip out of his grip do that.
maybe ask for mercy or something, before he snaps your neck/impales you

>>279134
What the fuck? Kick his ass.

>>279139
don't be an idiot, he's got her by the neck, and has his sword ready, he's already won

he probably just wants all the treasure for himself

honestly we should have seen this coming when he agreed to the 70/30 split

>>279141
We'll probably fail anyway, but this way there's still a non-zero chance of surviving (or at least wounding our killer).

How about a bit of LIGHTNING PUNCH?

he is already well aware of what Marisa is capable of! there is NO WAY he is stupid enough to let her hit him
struggling now is the WORST thing we could do, it would only provoke him into killing her immediatly

negotiation/begging is the best bet for survival in this

1) Super sad kitty eyes, try to look as adorable as possible. "Wuh-why Amin,why?" Sniffle to try and cover the fact that you're invoking a blinding rune to the face right after saying that.

2) I'm not sure how good you are at acting under pressure, but make the invocation look like you're muttering in fear, whispering it in a terrified voice from the shock while trying desperately to process what just happened and how you're scared and about to cry.

If steps 1 and 2 are successful, proceed to let the spell loose as soon as you can and then get the hell away from him!

>>279138
Wow you're giving up after literally one bad turn.

I guess try >>279596 ?

>>279599
technically it was not "one" bad turn it was a couple

and I'm not giving up, but if this dude plans to kill her, it's pretty much game over. (excluding external forces like xavier doing some shit or rocks falling

sure there are things we can try (fighting is probably the worst idea, unless he let's go of her neck) but pretty much everything at this point is pretty desperate, fighting especially because he already know all our tricks. he's ready for us to get violent. doing exactly what he expects is really stupid

>>279148
AC lightening punch: effective plan
DC lightening punch: VERY VERY BAD PLAN.

Slate 2011/02/06(Sun)21:51 No. 279756 ID: 370692
File 129705789560.gif - (6.47KB , 500x348 , 11.gif )

[CUTSCENE]
[also animated slightly]
Marisa tries to choke out some words.
"A-amin... W-what the h-hell--"
Amin interupts her, speaking in a deep, subdued, and powerful voice,
"I had hoped that the beast would be enough to end you, but I suppose that was but a foolish pipe dream."
"A-amin... we had a deal..."
Amin's voice takes on a nasty tone.
"Do you take me to be some kind of idiot? Do you take me to be some kind of fool?! Do you realize how mind-numbingly stupid it was of you to trust some random man that you met deep in a cave? You things make me sick. I will now be taking what is mine."
Amin proceeds to quickly shift his grip on Marisa so that he is able to snatch the golden key from her hand. She drops the bag with the stone and pennies, which scatter on the floor.
He also also strikes Marisa's jaw, interrupting her muttering of a runic invocation and prompting a response from him.
"Do you take me to be some sort of fool? Did you think that I was foolish enough to just allow you to use your arcane gibberish on me unimpeded?"
Amin then uses his strength to heave Marisa over his shoulder and proceeds to climb up the incline and to the jailroom.

sweet looks like he's not in a murdering mood

LET'S NOT GIVE HIM A REASON!

unless a brilliant opportunity comes up,
the dude was right, it was rather foolish to trust him, this was our bad, next time no mercy.

but this time let him lock us in a cell or what ever, and then plan our escape and vengance later

We can make HANDS OF FIRE ON COMMAND.

We could probably melt the bars of the prison easily.

Slate 2011/02/07(Mon)14:58 No. 279883 ID: 370692
File 129711950062.gif - (11.72KB , 750x618 , 12.gif )

[Cutscene]

Amin unlocks the door to the treasure chest and then opens the chest to reveal a diamond-shaped artifact. Amin picks it up wearing a greedy grin and says,
"And to think that you thought I would accept 70/30."
"What are you going to do?" Marisa asks, to which Amin responds,
"Kill you."

Slate 2011/02/07(Mon)15:13 No. 279898 ID: 370692
File 129712038588.gif - (28.99KB , 750x474 , 13.gif )

[Slightly Animated]

Amin then proceeds to drag Marisa down to the large pool of water. Xavier is here, apparently unconscious, his other wing now broken as well. Amin reveals his plans while chuckling.
"Oh, how delightful your deaths shall be. You, I shall drown in a pool of water. You will die a wet cat. I will lock the other one in the cell, and he will die a caged bird."
Amin proceeds to force Marisa's head underwater as she struggles. There must be some way out of this. There must be.

[End Cutscene]

Thunderpunch the water!

>>279911
and fry her own head? wow what a brilliant idea.
yah let's not do that

Marissa, you mentioned you had water spells, maybe you could caste one of those? you weren't very specific.

a water breathing spell would be nice for a bluff, but maybe a water blast to the face could destract him enough to let go of you

another plan could be, to go full force into the water, since he's expecting you to struggle out, maybe going strait in will surprise him,

Yeah, waterbreathing + going limp and pretending to be dead after a fit of struggling might be best, considering you're at about as much of a disadvantage as you could possibly be.

Just kick him in the balls.

>>279951
He's going to expect that right now. He's not going to expect it when we do it to him 2 hours later.

Slate 2011/02/11(Fri)14:43 No. 280962 ID: 370692
File 12974642183.gif - (11.63KB , 500x352 , 14.gif )

A variety of thoughts run through Marisa's head, paralyzing her with indecision. She can't invoke any runes underwater, and she is physically outmatched. Marisa couldn't possible make it out of this by herself alive.

bamump 2011/02/11(Fri)14:52 No. 280964 ID: 1f2692
File 129746475154.gif - (12.90KB , 663x313 , Spam pushing.gif )

"In a heated combat? some awesome girl scout cookies would hit the---

--HOLY SH*T, SORRY, LEAVING NOW!"

>>280964
YOU. GET OUT OF HERE WITH THAT TOXIC MATERIAL.

birdy broken arms: be a distraction!

Marisa: escape into the water the second he let's go

>>280970
You forgot that Marisa hates water and can't swim

Slate 2011/02/14(Mon)20:27 No. 281644 ID: 370692
File 15.swf - (26.23KB , 500x400 )

[Animation]

Get a blinding rune prepared, then grab the sword. If the big guy comes out of the pool, blind him then skewer him.

>>281644
Hide that sword.

Godspeed birdy. I hope you survive. you can't swim with two broken arms, but if you are descended from birds, you should at least float...

as much as it might be nice to believe Xavier some how killed Amin, with 2 broken arms

the odds of that are slim to none

blinding him won't work, we already know he's too smart for that now, he'll expect it

we can't take any more dumb chances like that

lightning punch that water, and fry amin before he get's out

do this now, you may not have another chance

>>281650
I support this. And even if Xavier is still alive and he gets fried as well, who really cares? I certainly don't.

Slate 2011/02/17(Thu)21:13 No. 282219 ID: 370692
File 129800601971.gif - (551.08KB , 750x545 , 16.gif )

[Animated]

Marisa thinks she knows that there is no way Xavier is still alive down there.

...

Marisa isn't really sure that she really cares about his death, really.

Nevertheless, the artifact is found. Marisa can not think of much else to do but go and figure out how to open the exit. Of course, she could always do something else to prolong her departure.

I feel a bit sorry for Xavier, but no use dwelling on it now.

I see no reason not to just truck on out of here.

Xavier gave his life so that you could live, it is wise to honor the dead

and you should pray for him once you get out of this blasted hole

>>282219
Beeeeter make sure Amin is dead.

Ten Rothan coins says your dear acquaintance Mr. Strongman isn't out of your hair-er...fur... yet.

I don't suppose our dear adventuress can hold a charge of rune-lightning rather than just unleashing it immediately, could she?

Slate 2011/02/20(Sun)12:24 No. 282847 ID: 370692
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Marisa waits for a time to confirm the deaths. Nobody and/or no bodies come up. It is doubtful that either person could survive this long underneath. Marisa sticks the sword into the ground as a crude way to honor Xavier, and leaves with the artifact.

Slate 2011/02/20(Sun)12:24 No. 282849 ID: 370692
File 129823348556.gif - (15.14KB , 750x554 , 18.gif )

Marisa stands at the stone door. The shape of the indentation seems somewhat familiar.

>>282849
Open your inventory, look for any strange objects of obscure uses found earlier that might fit into the hole

oh wait wrong game

>>282849
... the artifact opens the door, doesn't it.

Slate 2011/02/22(Tue)07:34 No. 283339 ID: 370692
File 129838887247.gif - (220.39KB , 750x545 , 19.gif )

Marisa stares at the indentation in the door for a short while before setting the artifact into place. The door rises and, after Marisa has stepped clear of it to the other side. it slides shut once more. Marisa stands in silence before fuming, lamenting how this entire escapade was nothing but an intense waste of time. She grasps at nothing as she makes her discontent known.
Quite suddenly, the artifact reappears in Marisa's open hand. Now, this is quite peculiar. Maybe this adventure wasn't a complete waste of time. Maybe it was just a big waste.

Slate 2011/02/22(Tue)07:36 No. 283340 ID: 370692
File 129838898346.gif - (1.70MB , 750x545 , End.gif )

so we come to the end of Artifact Quest
as you may have been/be able to tell it is/was not the greatest thing ever but hopefully this can be a learning experience for all of us
I would really love it if at least some of you post your feelings on this
like, what you liked about it and what you didn't like
i'd like to know so that i can possibly improve in the future

>>283340
It was fun, if kinda short. Art was nice, writing was fine, concept seemed workable enough.

well I really enjoyed, it
even the plot twist at the end

and I Hope for future adventures with Marisa!

Many fine lessons were learned. Thank you.

Feedback:

First off, excellent art and animation. The art style was well suited to the quest, the characters were distinctive and expressive. I think you’ve got the balance of complexity and sketchiness about right here, and you will only improve in time

My primary criticism is this: the protagonist didn’t save herself. Another character had to come along and do it for her. It was kind of frustrating because it made me feel she had no control over her own fate, and contributing to the quest was pointless.

Other than that the quest was, well, short. There was neither time nor space to develop a theme, a narrative or a world.

Overall an excellent start. I look forwards to more from you in the future.