/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance★

Once we get a few replies to signify some interested parties ready to play we will resume the story. So post if you are watching this thread.

Setting the current scene and some reposted dialogue from the previous thread:

In the creaking upper towers of Revolta's castle, Cadet Anon and his friends located a secret passage that lead them into some sort of laboratory. Elsa recognized several items as having been stolen from her own lab and repurposed for the witch's sinister plans. Cadet Iggy was found hiding (as usual) when Elsa's body came crashing through the lab in search of her brain. Finding yourself and Sibella instead, it attacked.

While Sibella kept it at bay, Anon hit upon the idea of enhancing Elsa's brainpower with an amulet given to them by Miss Grimwood sometime earlier, reputed to strengthen the mind.

"Ach du heilige Scheiße!" Elsa gasps, "Zhat could work!"

"Iggy, I shall require you to prepare apparatus for induction of a current in 40~millionen volt capacity, flood mein preservative solution mit granulat salten leitung~~~~"

Around this point Elsa begins speaking mostly German, which Iggy apparently understands (and you could've sworn he flunked that course at school). Iggy nods rapidly and begins hustling about the room scavenging the scientific equipment needed to perform this little experiment.

"Cadet," Elsa addresses you a moment later, "I shall require you to remove zhe crystal from your pendant, und very carefully perform brain surgery. Not too difficult, ja? I wilt walk you through eet."

It is a good thing that brains can't feel pain… That's your case too, right?

"Actually no, mein brainstructure ist superdense wit additional synapses und nerve junctions, including pain receptors. But I haff also been known to enjoy a bit of pain now und zhen."

Iggy hurries over and brings you a pan full of surgical tools, and helps you pry the lid off of Elsa's brain-jar.

"Now, ze first step will be to insert a probe into ze central mass of mein white matter tissues, between ze parietal lobe und Wernicke's area, down to a depth of seventeen milimeters…"

>rolled 16

"Very good Anon! You haff gentle hands. You can go a little deeper if you like… yesss, zhat's it, right there."

"Next you must make a small incision und remove a portion of ze spongey tissue about zhe size off a marbel. Zhe small kind, not ze big kind."

>Roll 11

"You are doing good! I never really needed zhat class on violin anyvey. Now, ze final step ist to place ze crystal within ze vacant pocket adjacent between ze speech und motor skill segments, being careful not to touch it agai-"

>Rolled 1

"-Ein Prosit, ein Prosit

Der Gemütlichkeit

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit

Der Gemütlichkeit.

OANS! ZWOA! DREI! G'SUFFA!"

The neighboring wall comes crashing apart, Sibella's upper half protruding through it, covered in blood and stone dust.

"Please hurry," Sibella gulps, coughing up blood onto her forearm. "We really don't have time for Octoberfest right now!"

(Sibella Blood capacity: 50%)

Try it again, Anon. Three rolls (made individually);

first one needs to be 8 or higher

second roll must be 10 or higher

third roll needs to be 12 or higher.

OR a 20 at any point will fix the previous problem you caused.

>Rolled 13 (1d20)

>Rolled 16 (1d20)

>Rolled 17 (1d20)

>SUCCESS! Today, Anon was a brain surgeon.

"I… I can feel it!" Elsa informs you, once you've removed the pressure that was forcing her to belt out drinking songs.

"The currents are ready," Iggy hurries over to inform you. You hastily wipe your hands clean and remove all the surgical apparatus from Elsa's jar so that Iggy can connect the eletrodes to the appropriate spots.

"IS ANYONE GOING TO HELP ME?!?" Sibella screams from the darkness of the next room over, where she is continuing to be subjected to a thorough thrashing.

"Go, Anon, do vhat you can to get Sibella clear. Und try not to hit ze face, okay? I vas not all zhat pretty to begin with."

You gather your strength and your weapons, preparing to go to Sibella's aid.

"IGGY!" Elsa commands in a cheesy dramatic flair, "THROW ZE SWITCH!"

>Well Anon, Elsa will attempt to regain control of her errant body. Your only job left is to try to get Sibella free from the monster's grasp. What do you do?

>Iggy is cowering by the instruments, standing by to follow Elsa's orders if she should need any adjustments in the electrical current or other instruments.

>On the other side of the lab Elsa and Sibella are wrecking the place, smashing through brittle brick walls and heaps of metal and glass laboratory equipment. If they aren't stopped, the whole ceiling may cave in on top of you.

>What does Anon do?

First of all, let me take this time to tell you what a huge fan of your work I am. You practically jumpstarted the advent of Halloween themed waifu on /co/ with your reboot of Ghoul School characters.

Now could you bring me up to speed on how exactly does rolling dice work here?

>>320235

Thanks man. Glad to see someone has a long enough memory. As for dice rolling, all post options are explained here: https://media.8ch.net/tg/src/1443066885471.png

>>320236

Good question! Earlier in the fight Anon managed to stab the stitches in Elsa's calvarium and got himself an electrical shock in the process. This helped reveal the powers of the Kn'Yan crystal he was wearing at the time, but as of yet he hasn't actually managed to pry open Elsa's skull and take a peek inside.

You know that Elsa's brain has been removed, so is her head simply hollow inside? It's doing the witch Revolta's bidding since then, though it's been operating at a brute animal level, incapable of speech or thought more complex than grunting and attacking. You aren't sure exactly what Revolta did to put the body into this state, though Elsa has said that it isn't normal (typically the body would just lie comatose when the brain isn't attached). You'll need to dig deeper or ask Revolta herself to find out for sure.

>>320237

Gotta do something right? Just get Sibella away and hopefully get the body out of range of the lab?

What's the range on the crystal in Elsa's brain, do we know?

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>320241

You don't know specifically what Elsa's range is, though it's probably not infinite. She's not known as a mentalist so this is a bit of a long shot to begin with.

**

Sibella struggles against Elsa (rolls: 15 or higher and she gets some advantage, 10 or lower results in Sibella taking more damage)

>>320243

While Anon is collecting himself and trying to figure out what to do, Sibella is not going to just let herself be beaten into a pulp. Shaking the monster's grip loose, Sibella strikes at its elbows and twists, producing a dry CRAKKK and distorting the shape of both limbs.

The monster howls, the first sign of pain you've seen it make since you arrived. It stumbles backwards against the wall. With an opportunity for a breather Sibella cautiously backs away as well, regrouping with you and Iggy around Elsa's brain.

The monster glares with dull hatred at the three of you. Or perhaps it is glaring at Elsa's brain bubbling in her jar. The glassy eyes make it hard to tell. From across the rooms it slouches against the wall, its' arms wobbling like noodles. With a grunt it rights itself and begins a slow charge, knocking over lab benches and equipment as it picks up steam.

>Roll to dodge?

>Roll to take a shot with your rifle?

>Carry Sibella or Elsa's brain out of the way?

>Suggest a different action?

Rolled 9 + 3 (1d20)

>>320250

>>320249

I can't really accept those rolls, so I'll have to go with the second Anon's suggestion.

You and Sibella run off while attempting to keep the monster's attention. You're not sure if You're carrying Sibella or she's carrying you, but together you book it and hope to outpace the lumbering monster.

You retreat into the castle, taking shelter in one of the ruined side rooms. This one looks like it was once a bedroom; there is a dust-caked four poster bed with moth-eaten sheets and drapes hung. A floor-to-ceiling window on the opposite side of the room opens onto a balcony, and beyond that a dark sky polluted with red-stained storm clouds and black swarms of flies. The monster lurches through the halls behind you, attempting to determine which room your disappeared into.

(Rolling for Elsa's attempt to "hack" her body)

Sibella pauses, exchanging a glance with you. Hide? Turn and fight? You notice that she is battered around her neck and shoulders, black bruises that her vampiric physiology hasn't been able to heal yet. You doubt she can last much longer in another brawl with Elsa's body.

>>320257

Elsa's body turns the corner, moving slower than before. It spots you and Sibella cowering in the side bedroom, blocking the door. The two of your are trapped!

You can't tell if Elsa's attempts to take back control of her body by remote are having any effect. It appears distracted and wild. But not so distracted that it isn't locked on and moving in towards you.

"What should we do Anon?" Sibella asks you, her eyes wide with panic.

First, I want to thank everyone who has been participating thus far. I'm getting a sense now for how frequently people post and how quickly the game is likely to progress here on 8chan. The good news is that the threads are unlikely to get bumped off from inactivity like they would on a faster board, so we don't need to close it down at the end of the weekend. I'm expecting that monday-friday you'll probably see one or two new posts from me to progress the story. On the weekends things will move faster, but still not at the real-time speed of the old /tg/ threads.

>>320275

>>320284

>>320299

>>320300

In a moment of desperate passion you pull Sibella close and plant a kiss firmly on her lips. Sibella is too nervous about Elsa's approach to resist or react at all, and accepts the kiss. For a second it's like the two of your never broke up as you did months ago, and Sibella's tense posture eases slightly in your arms.

You don't have time to enjoy the familiar touch of her cool lips, turning back to face Elsa's mindless body once again. Readying your rifle you snap off one shot at her legs that goes wide, then in desperation fire one more point blank into her face.

The room strobes brightly with flashes of gunpowder and electricity. You instinctively clench your eyes shut against it, and when you look again you see Elsa's face is missing a third of the flesh that makes up her typically understated but handsome visage. From the corner of her mouth up across her cheek and one entire eye socket have been stripped down to the bone, and at her forehead the metal clamps that keep her braincase sealed have been blasted apart. A hole about the size of your fist gapes open in her cranium, but your eyes are too pained from the flashing sparks issuing from her injuries to get a look at what might be inside.

The monster snarls and grabs you by the throat, knocking the rifle out of your hands and onto the floor. Her oversized fingers easily encircle your neck and begin to squeeze. At the corner of your eye you see Sibella rush in, only to be caught by her own neck by the creature's remaining hand. She makes a cute squeak as the air is crushed from her windpipe.

The sound of rushing blood fills your ears until you can't hear anything else. Your face feels hot and swollen, like your whole head might pop to relieve the mounting pressure. Sibella's kicking legs jostle you as she flails about helplessly.

>>320332

Your vision grows dark and diminishes until all you can focus on is Elsa's single remaining eyeball glaring down at you. The pain fades from your limbs, numbed by the pulses of stray electricity hitting you.

You are dropped to the floor.

You roll over onto your back, limp. The monster looms over you, wrestling with Sibella. Or is it Sibella? You lose sense of time passing, so you count out your heart beats instead. Someone you don't recognize is on the monster's back, their arms around its neck in a chokehold headlock. A teenage girl, 17 or 18, slender with wild black hair and dressed in a lab coat and black rubber gloves.

"…You zink I am afraid uf you? I MADE YOU!"

Your head lolls to the side, losing sight of them. Instead you see Sibella drop to the ground beside you. She coughs and picks herself up on one arm, pushing herself towards you with concern on her face.

"…Und I can UNMAKE you!"

The scientist girl stands in front of the beast now, holding its' arms back impossibly in her own delicate hands. Sibella's pretty face then obscures your view, leaning in above you.

*

You wake up with a start, Sibella's lips once again pressed against yours. This time she is pushing air into your lungs. Her hands rest over your heart and a bruise on your chest.

>>320563

>>320454

>>320703

You give out a groan and Sibella backs off, giving you enough space to catch your wind while yet keeping a protective hand on your shoulder.

When she helps you sit up, your eyes fall on Elsa's immobile body. She lays slumped against the wall in a corner on the opposite side of the room, limp as a ragdoll and with half of her face missing. A large empty hole remains in the side of her head, the end result of your efforts to stab and then later shoot open her skull. Nearby, Iggy is attending to Elsa's brain jar where she bubbles fussily.

"Ach de liber, I am glad to zee I did not throttle jhou, cadet. I am not accustomed to feelings of 'guilt', but I would haff preferred not to be the instrument of your death."

"Glad to see you breathin, cap'n," Iggy adds with a relieved nod and sloppy salute.

Sibella presses herself into your side with a hug, careful to be gentle with you still. She looks unsure what exactly to say to you for a long moment, hesitating to open her mouth, but when she does you see her fangs are extended to twice the length that they usually show. "Your heart stopped beating for a little over half a minute," she begins "I wasn't sure I'd be able to bring you back. Everyone at Grimwood has taken basic CPR, but not many of us are that experienced with 'breathing'."

"If you technically died, does that make you undead too?" Iggy asks. "Colonel's not gonna like having a revenant on the squad."

Elsa's body doesn't look like it will be a threat any longer, but you won't know if she'll be able to give you any assistance until she and Iggy have a look at re-implanting her brain and repairing some of the damage you and Sibella did. Then again, you are on a pretty tight time frame now with Tanis' final plagues about to be released. You're also within sprinting distance of the witch's lair.

Sibella helps you to your feet and after shaking off some numbness you feel weak, but fit enough to continue. You don't really have much choice. Time to take charge of the situation.

Investigate Elsa's body?

Leave Iggy and Elsa behind?

Prepare some weapons and plan of attack? Or a clever ruse to fool the witch?

>>321010

>>321031

>>321227

>2 votes to investigate Elsa's body vs 1 against.

"We don't have much time left," Sibella warns again, Tanis' screams of pain occasionally audible as a distant echo haunting the castle walls. For the moment you ignore her; you need to know how the witch was pulling Elsa's strings. Back at Grimwood Winnie was driven rabid by the stolen Jekyll serum, and Phantasma driven insane by having her grave defiled. What did the witch do to Elsa after removing her brain to turn it into the angry juggernaut that nearly choked the life out of you?

"I recall asking you politely not to damage mein face, cadet," Elsa's brain gurgles, surveying the damage from where she is held in Iggy's arms. "Pretty faces soch as mein do not come cheap."

Elsa's body has sustained quite a bit of damage, especially to her arms where Sibella managed to fracture some of the bones within. The obvious point of interest is her head, and the yawning hole in her cranium. Leaning in to examine the damage, you feel a jolt down your spine when your eyes detect a flutter of movement within.

You reach for your flashlight at your hip, but before you can get it in hand whatever it is that was nesting inside Elsa's skull creeps out into the light. Your first impression is a hideous arthropodic collection of long segmented legs connected by flabby vein-streaked membranes. You're not sure if they are legs or fins or something like the wings of a bat. In the middle of the mass you see beady red eyes looking back at you!

"'SKREEE'"

Sibella shrieks and Iggy cowers back quickly, nearly dropping Elsa's brain canister and causing her to shout at him angrily for interrupting her observations.

Act fast cadet! I will be making a roll to see if your reflexes are quicker than the Thing In Elsa's Skull.