EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/22(Mon)17:55 No. 1041563 ID: 0838d6
File 166121615123.png - (12.98KB , 500x500 , p183.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
You, Key, Mia, Nuki, Deus, and Mona all enter the crater. The moment you do, hexagonally gridded shields pop up around your escorted party members. Mia's shield looks more like a cylindrical diamond that ends at two points. You suppose it might just be differences in the way they were taught.

Immediately both you and Key can feel a pressure from the center of the crater, from the radiation. It absolutely reeks of ozone and... something else, burnt glass? Either way, it's pungent and gross and before the two of you go to vomit you feel your [MANA LIVERS] start to kick in and filter out the radiation. You can definitely feel how this might make you feel hungover when it's done. It's almost like you're drinking an incredibly expensive liquor, or injecting it directly into your haemolymph, hm, or do you have blood now, you suppose you could just have both? Being part Mimic is weird.

You continue to walk forward, getting closer to the crater as you acclimate, even spawning a few other complimentary organ systems to help compensate. Eventually, you get about halfway through the crater and the [CORRUPTED DIVINITY] stirs. It looks similar to [VIRGE] in some ways, the underlying color scheme being fundamentally similar. But where it stands out the most is that it appears to almost be molting, shedding that layer that looks familiar to reveal an inky-black purple similar to the spire shards, but dark and twisted.

Mia: Yeah, I don't think [VIRGE] would have been able to do something to that
Key: Key thinks the same
Deus: Is it going through a metamorphosis?
Mona: Potentially an expedited evolutionary period?
Nuki: I... I think it sees us

The creature turns its body to you. There's no visible eyes or mouths that you can see, just jagged crystal and divine flesh. At least, there wasn't. It points a hand towards you, and you see an eye, similar to [VIRGE]'s appearance in its palm. And then you hear a roar as the beast vibrates with fury.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/22(Mon)17:56 No. 1041564 ID: 0838d6
File 166121617436.png - (9.01KB , 500x500 , p184.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
The [CORRUPTED DIVINITY] is about five times bigger than the tallest of your party members, so that even at a distance it still towers over your group. It takes a step towards you and the ground shakes.

Mia: Alright guys, don't let him get near me for a bit!

Mia begins to toss several chunks of hardened blood on the ground, breaking them until a dense red mist surrounds her. Perhaps sensing the threat it turns slightly, making his intention to assault Mia known.

Key immediately acts, hopping onto Nuki's arm and being launched behind the creature. You see her drop seeds from the [FOREST OF EMBRACE], they grow at a rapid rate and start to slow the creature down as she takes to the skies, growing a pair of wings on her back, her wings remind you of a sparrow, only green.

You: Key could fly?!?!
Nuki: Not the time Hunter!
Mona: Let me just…

Mona tosses out two blue tinctures, they splash against the closest of the seeds and spread out towards the rest, faster then the [CORRUPTED DIVINITY]. The seeds grow faster and thicker, tugging at the skin of the beast.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/22(Mon)17:56 No. 1041565 ID: 0838d6
File 166121618792.png - (10.11KB , 500x500 , p185.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
Deus stomps on the ground twice, causing two white cubes to form from the earth. After a few moments of tapping at the air and doing some weird gestures with his hands, he kicks the ground and one of them gets sent rocking high into the sky, leaving a spear behind in it's place.

Deus: What goes up....

But before the cube can do whatever it was going to do, the hand, whose eye was focused purely on Mia, changes it's focus, pauses briefly and fires a laser of white, flecked with purple, disintegrating the object in the sky.

Deus: Must... obviously fail to deliver…

Deus then turns the other cube into some twenty odd spikes in the ground, you can feel the [MANA] near you weaken as he draws the energy into him.

Deus: One sec, try not to touch the ground near the thing if you can, it’s about to get…
Deus: Spikey?
Mona: Ughhhhhhhhhhhh, no jokes right now, puh leaze

You can tell that Nuki is ready to pounce, but is holding back, waiting for your move. She’ll respond to your orders or act independently from you.

How do you buy time for Mia?
- Abilities/Items - https://questden.org/wiki/Crystal_Spire_Stats

Sling us a web, you're a spider-man!
Summon the lightning cobra soul for Nuki to use as an energy whip as you take to the skies and use your iron limbs for hit and run attacks on the titan's neck.

Use the bell of souls, plus shapeshift into a giant spider with scythe-limbs and start fucking that giant monster up. Utilize webs to help the vines slow it down.

Toss Mia the gaseous form potion in case she needs to dodge an attack without moving.

You dont... because MEAT WAGON comes out of nowhere and provides a distraction against the body! The ironbeak crows are agitated by the body and attack it!

(They're also mutated in some way)

>>1041567
This

With giant spider battle form. Keep his arms pointed upward.

>>1041565
Deus said not to touch the ground near the monster, so have Nuki throw you at it! As you’re flying towards the monster, use what Nuki taught you to channel some Energy and use Iron Arms to hit it!

Then use your natural spider abilities to stick on it and use your Grappling Silk to slow it down! And you could probably spit some Sweet Nectar at the ground behind it. As long as it isn’t aware of the nectar, it’ll be attracted towards the smell and it’ll go away from Mia.

Hopefully when it turns to go towards where you spat the Sweet Nectar, it’ll unintentionally wrap itself up in the vines and webs.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/23(Tue)17:49 No. 1041654 ID: 0838d6
File 166130214421.png - (13.47KB , 500x500 , p186.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
You: Would being around the thing on big spikey limbs be a problem?
Deus: Uh, if it’s taller than you, then probably not?
You: Cool, I’ve always wanted to be a GIANT SPIDER!
You: Here, Mia, use the [GASEOUS POTION] if things get outta hand
Mia: Busy here but OKAY!
Bitey: BITEY CAN BECOME GAS!
Mia: SHHHH BITEY CONCENTRATING!

You don’t give Nuki any guidance, trusting her judgment as you first, pull out the [BELL OF SOULS] and send that cobra and deer out to distract. Then you start to shift, your limbs elongating and your body shifting from its once anthropomorphic mass into a more feral form. Your limbs become more scythe-like, taking inspiration from Kris. Your fangs fill not with venom, but with your [SWEET NECTAR], dripping ever so slightly like slobber from a dog. And your thorax… well, it’s big, and you think you see Key eyeing it. You now stand at about half the height of the creature, you did eat a ton of organs and can sustain this mass, but can’t go much further without complications.

Still, it feels absolutely fantastic and you rush towards the beast, you fire a few shots of your grappling silk, and the creature tries to deflect one when you see Nuki appear for a split second mid-air with a kick, knocking the limb back into your line of fire. It hits, and you use it to drag yourself closer, before pinning that arm down and grappling it once more. Unfortunately, that’s all the web you’ve got in the tank after your transformation, but it looks to be enough as the creature’s movement has slowed to a crawl.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/23(Tue)17:49 No. 1041655 ID: 0838d6
File 166130216844.png - (10.38KB , 500x500 , p187.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
You pause for a moment to watch Deus fire several bolts of [MANA] as if they were electricity to his spikes in the ground. They disappear, and a moment later the entire ground erupts in an uncountable number of spikes. With its arms preoccupied, its legs get skewered through, locking it in place. You see purplish gold energy arced with black lightning flowing through it, reminding you of a more twisted version of [VIRGE] from when you found him.

It gives off a scream as it starts to tear at the ground and you rush at it, lacerating it with several strikes of your scythe-like limbs. The cuts aren’t insignificant, but you see no bone, no blood, just [MEAT]. And what’s worse is that the cuts regenerate in less than a few seconds. You continue to dance with the [CORRUPTED DIVINITY] as your anxiety increases ever so slowly.

You: Uhhh, any time now Mia!
Mia: YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO SCAN THIS FLUFFING THING FOR-
Mia: Oh wait you don’t, and I-
Mia: Huh, okay, yeah actually I got it

You spare a glance towards Mia and notice that the mist is condensing into something somewhat reminiscent of a two-pronged fork. Mia’s looking at the [WEAPON] with something reminiscent of a scoff. The creature visibly shakes with fear when it sees the spear, it’s body forming eyes in random places, only to turn those eyes into mouths. It screams a soul-shaking scream. I'm afraid.

Mia: Oh, you know what this is huh?
Mia: Well, if you get an afterlife, have fun with the other dead [AVATARS]!

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/23(Tue)17:49 No. 1041656 ID: 0838d6
File 166130217713.png - (11.94KB , 500x500 , p188.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
She throws the spear, and for a moment everything is silent, all sound is absorbed by the spear as it flies through the air, crashing into the beast. The spear itself engorges, pulsating with a familiar heartbeat, no, it pulses with your heartbeat, it’s… not as uncomfortable as you would have suspected to see that fleshy spear. You must’ve desensitized yourself to this kind of thing with all that weird sex.

The [CORRUPTED DIVINITY] tries to paw at the spear, to extract it, but every time it touches it, it recoils and acts like it’s being burnt or corroded. Eventually, sound returns and you can see the creature panicking, wailing , its legs are fully restrained, but its arms are flailing wildly, pieces of its flesh falling off and sticking to the ground. You look at Mia, finding her drinking a large amount of potions from Mona.

Mia: Don’t just stand there!
Mia: It can’t access [DIVINITY] as long as that spear is stuck to it!
Deus: I didn’t know [BLOOD] could do that
Mia: It’s not always a spear, and is NOW REALLY THE TIME?!?!

Deus appears to be preparing more cubes and gesturing for Nuki to do something. You can’t really see the souls you summoned either, this fight may have been too intense for them.

Who lands the killing blow on the [CORRUPTED DIVINITY] and how do they kill it?

Do it, Hunter! Poke it in the eyes, disarm it, then bisect it. Use your enormous spider butt to shield your friends from the explosion.

The ironbeak crows on a meat wagon finally reach their destination and attack the body, finishing it off.

Mia detonates her spear, converting the titan's Divinity into a pool of thick, fresh blood.
The gorging makes her hornier than ever.

>>1041665
Also this but they don't get the final blow.

>>1041654
>And your thorax…well, it’s big, and you think you see Key eyeing it.
I would say shake your big butt for Key, but now’s not the time for that. Maybe you can do that later when things have calmed down.

>>1041656
It’s a team effort of everyone hitting it with everything they’ve got! And when it’s time to kill it, Hunter somehow trips and his giant spider butt ends up squishing the enemy to death!

……ok, but seriously, everyone hits it with strong attacks to continue weakening it, while anyone that can give buffs, gives them to giant spider Hunter and he mercilessly tears it apart to finish it off!

while I still want Ironbeak crows on a meatwagon to show up as my main choice for the absurdity of it all, if that doesn't happen, I'd prefer Mia over Hunter getting the final blow. fitting that a blood mage takes down a pantheon.

Mia getting the final blow would be pretty fun, if she's able to do it right now. Otherwise, let's let Hunter do it.

>>1041654
>thorax
>Key is eyeing it.
When this is over, you might stay in this form and offer to carry her so she can ride on your thorax.

>>1041656
>who lands the finishing blow
>how do they do it?
If Mia isn't too exhausted, then she should do it as revenge against the Pantheon for hunting down the Blood Mages. While Hunter keeps it pinned down, Mia will use the extra Blood she's got stored inside of Bitey to create lots of exploding Blood projectiles.

But if Mia is too tired from creating that spear, then Hunter will finish this. He is the hunter and this monster is his prey. He'll pounce on it and start tearing it apart.

rolled 6 = 6

---

1 = bad thing

Suggestion 2022/08/25(Thu)20:48 No. 1041849 ID: 2ca3ce
File 166148569891.png - (10.22KB , 500x500 , p189.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
You jump in, flailing your scythe-like limbs, with its regeneration halted, you whittle it away, slowly shearing parts off its limbs, cutting off arms, leaving large gaping holes throughout it. At one point, Key joins you, perching on your thorax and tossing grasping vines out any time it even remotely gets close to hitting you. You’re certainly dealing damage to the thing, but you have no idea what it’ll take to finish this thing. You notice that she’s also holding onto the bell of souls, you wonder what she’s got planned.

You: Uh, so how do we actually kill it?!
Deus: Workin on it!
Mona: Might wanna stand back shugah!

You take Mona’s advice and step back, noticing that Deus has what appears to be a pillar constructed in front of him. Both him and Nuki nod before they look at Mia.

Mia: What, you want me to kill it?
Nuki: I don’t wanna be the one to do it…
Deus: You did say you killed one of these before a second ago right?
Mia: Hunter’s got it handled….
Mia: Okay, yes I really want to kill it, do the thing already.

Deus lets out another stomp, and this time a massive pillar erupts from the ground, pushing the [CORRUPTED DIVINITY] into the sky. It’s floating mid air, wailing, leaking a viscous black ichor. You head back to Mia’s side and see her extract more blood out of Bitey, honestly you have no idea how much [BLOOD] she has collected, it just keeps coming out.

NOT EDMANGO ;) 2022/08/25(Thu)20:48 No. 1041850 ID: 2ca3ce
File 166148572705.png - (14.39KB , 500x500 , p190.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - CONTAINMENT ZONE - THE CRATER
Bitey: THIS GUY BETTER TASTE GOOD I WAS SAVING THIS MEAT
Mia: Yeah yeah, love you too buddy!

Eventually Mia is completely surrounded in orbs of blood, around the size of a marble. She points to the creature.

Mia: Hmm, let’s go with a classic, no fancy lances, no weird bullshit.
Mia: [BLOOD BULLET]

The [CORRUPTED DIVINITY] pauses midair as you feel your adrenaline spike and you watch those many, many marbles of blood dart through the sky with remarkable speed. Each hit causes more and more Ichor to burst from the being, only for you to see it get sucked right back into its body. Eventually, you hear the wailing stop, even as more bullets continue to hit its corpse.

You: Uh, it’s still getting hit
Mia: Okay, I may have miscalculated how many bullets it would take
Deus: Uh, the [CORRUPTED MANA] is charging
Deus: We gotta gooooo!!!!!

The rest of your crew starts to run, you see Deus, Mona, and Mia set up protective shields on their way out of the crater. You, given your copious amount of organs can tell that the mana is condensing around… something, it looks like an orb. The orb detached itself from the body, but the fork is still pierced through it. Could that have been what [VIRGE] would have wanted? Is there some secret there?

Unfortunately there’s no time to investigate as you and your party reach the station and jump into the pocket estate.

NOT EDMANGO ;) 2022/08/25(Thu)20:49 No. 1041851 ID: 2ca3ce
File 166148574246.png - (13.01KB , 500x500 , p191.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - VIRGENOBLE - THE POCKET ESTATE
Even with the protection of the pocket estate, you feel the shaking of this [MANA PULSE] it’s bigger than the others and you can vaguely see the shape of a mushroom through the foggy glass. You know the structures around this place have been utterly destroyed, and that the destruction has probably spread a ridiculous distance.

Deus: What kind of explosion…
Deus: I mean I knew it would be big but…
Mona: The fallout after that will be disastrous
Mona: So much runoff radiation…
Mia: I need more [BLOOD] asap…
[VIRGE]: Yeah, well, can’t say I didn’t warn you

You turn your eyes to look at a very bloodied verge, pinned to the ground underneath a somewhat bruised Kris. QB looks annoyed. You glare at him as you wait for him to talk.

[VIRGE]: What? So I SHOULDN'T try to escape when you’re just going to kill me anyway?
[VIRGE]: I’m just a fuckin head mate!
Mia: Hey hunter, I can make you another fork if you want
Deus: As much as I’d love to study him while he’s alive uhhhh
Deus: If he could do that to a guy with swords for arms by himself….
Mona: Dude’ll probably hunt y’alls down with an army later
[VIRGE]: Oh yeah, just put myself on a platter to old pantheon buddies
[VIRGE]: I’m SURE they’ll just accept me with open arms considering
[VIRGE]: Whoever is running the show is just PRETENDING to be me!
[VIRGE]: Now it’s IMPOSSIBLE for me to find out what the fuck is happening
[VIRGE]: Really, you’ve well and truly fucked us all
Mia: Explain
[VIRGE]: No.
[VIRGE]: I don’t owe you shit.
Key: Key thinks this is a shame
Key: After all, Key has the SOUL of that creature
[VIRGE]: A who what now?

NOT EDMANGO ;) 2022/08/25(Thu)20:49 No. 1041852 ID: 2ca3ce
File 166148575944.png - (10.31KB , 500x500 , p192.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - VIRGENOBLE - THE POCKET ESTATE
You notice Key pull out the bell and it’s… changed, significantly. The bell, once a nice silver, dotted with orbs for the spirits, is now a deep black, like space, with dotted flecks of purple throughout. And it’s very sharp, almost uncomfortable looking to hold. You can tell that there’s only one soul in this thing, but it’s very much not [VIRGE]’s divinity. For a split second, you could have sworn you saw an eye poke out and stare directly at virge.

[VIRGE] looks terrified as Key waves it around.

[VIRGE]: Don’t let that out, nononononono.
[VIRGE]: Please I know you hate me but do NOT ring that.
[VIRGE]: That shouldn’t be here
[VIRGE]: Just destroy it, or put it away somewhere forever
Mia: Wow he seems real scared of it, what if we let it out at him
Mia: Or stabbed it into him?

Honestly, the idea of either appeals to you. And its new form is… rather sharp. You think this is the last thing of significance that you’ll be doing on this journey.

So how do you deal with [VIRGE]?

A. Let him go
B. Kill him
C. Use the [BELL OF [REDACTED]] on him

Well, you can't let him go, the pantheon may hunt him down. In fact, can you kill a divinity without him just going to the afterlife?
C. If Hunter hates him so much, best to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

A, Let him go.

I feel bad for Virge. Ever since the spire exploded, he hasn't gotten a single break. First he landed on a spike and got caught in a death/resurrection cycle, then the first people to come along and find him were a party that hates him, and even after trying to help (in an admittedly self-serving way) he was rejected and had his one shot at DIVINITY taken.

We should cut him a break. Give him some resources, and let him be on his way. Or let him ride along until we reach a place where he wants to jump off, his call.

Fuck no don't ring that thing. It's clearly corrupted.

Anything but that. A, I'd say. Virge is not a threat if Kris and QB were able to take him down, and if he gets stronger at all he'll probably want to rebel against the Pantheon more than take revenge against us-- after all, we just fucked ourselves over more than him.

C I mean, we did say to use the bell of souls on Virge's body before it died, I feel we got a secret ending by doing that. Plus, I don't trust Virge at all.

So lets go ahead and ring that bell for the hell of it. ding dong!

My guess is that it'll bring Virge's head and Virge's body back together, just not be [purity] anymore but something else. We'd probably be able to give that new divinity a voice through Virge head. I feel that divinity really has something to say to us that we should hear.

A. Let him go and give him the [Perfect Gift] as apology.

>>1041864

Now THAT is an interesting idea. Full support.

I don't know what we could give him to make him feel better, and I'm honestly not convinced it won't just be that DIVINITY ORB we saw before the blast. Whatever it ends up being, it should make him feel at least a little better.

>>1041868
You know what, sure. It will even give us an idea of what his true desires are.

>>1041855
Yeah, we totally avoided him being a god. We even "tortured" him for no reason. A perfect gift is the bare mínimm to compensate him.

Even more, we didn't go with him partly because the factions of most of the party were enemies with the PHANTEON, but he is openly opposed to today's PHANTEON. We bullied him and he told us important stuff.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/26(Fri)14:19 No. 1041894 ID: 0838d6
File 166154879727.png - (11.83KB , 500x500 , p193.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - VIRGENOBLE - THE POCKET ESTATE
You haven’t been kind to [VIRGE], in fact, it’s safe to say you’ve been downright cruel to him even though he denounced what his former followers. He was found by someone of an opposing political faction, gave information willingly, albeit with a heavily sketchy and self-serving lean, and seems to generally be a harmless individual without his body.

Maybe… maybe you’ve let your internal bias out a bit too strong in this case, because you’re starting to feel bad for the guy. In fact, you can even see Mia filled with a small amount of remorse at [VIRGE]’s admonishment of your actions. You don’t regret stopping him from becoming a deity, that’s for sure, but… maybe the torture and captivity was a bit much.

You: I… I’m sorry that we’ve treated you with hostility
[VIRGE]: As if.
You: No, I mean it, I, we, let our inherent bias against a group
You: One that caused me specifically a lot of pain I’ll remind you
You: Color our perspective, and uh…
You: The pressure of this whole situation kind of clouded my judgment
Mia: Mine too I guess
[VIRGE]: So, what, I can finally leave?
You: I’m going to do you one better

You pull out [THE PERFECT GIFT]. You wondered why that guy would give this to you, but maybe he saw that its proper use would be to [RIGHT A WRONG]? Either way, this feels like the perfect use to you.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/26(Fri)14:20 No. 1041895 ID: 0838d6
File 166154881108.png - (9.96KB , 500x500 , p194.png )

> [NIGHT, DAY 13] - VIRGENOBLE - THE MANA CRATER
You head outside and move away from the radiation, getting to a safe-spot that Deus cleans up for you. [VIRGE] opens the box with his little wings. Curious, you look inside, seeing two things. One is an egg, about the size of three of your fists combined. The other is a [GOLDEN TICKET]. He looks confused.

[VIRGE]: Tear me? Uh okay.

He uses his nubby little wings to tear up the ticket. A few moments pass and he looks around.

[VIRGE]: Well that was disappointing
???: Ah! I almost missed one-no two!

Your group turns around to notice someone that was definitely not there before. He’s a tall, handsome avian of some kind. Maybe a stork. His footsteps are silent, almost like he’s floating above the ground, and his presence is almost unnoticeable were you not looking at him.

???: Looks like you hatched a bit early there bud
[VIRGE]: I’m probably older than you, wait, are you uh
[GRAY]: Oh, I’m [GRAY], just a stork here for some eggs
[GRAY]: Want a lift out of this place?
[VIRGE]: Please oh god yes
[GRAY]: No using [DIVINITY] in vain in public please!

Your group tries saying something, but he ignores most of the group. Eventually, as they’re about to go, [GRAY] looks over to you.

[GRAY]: Ah, hm. So close.
[GRAY]: Maybe I’ll see you in another life, try to be a little [PURER] next time
You: No thanks, they’re kind of bigots
[GRAY]: Can’t say you’re wrong!

He laughs and then steps to the side, vanishing with [VIRGE] and the egg.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/26(Fri)14:20 No. 1041896 ID: 0838d6
File 166154882396.png - (10.93KB , 500x500 , p195.png )

> [MORNING, DAY 14] - CRYSTAL SPIRE - END
The sun crests over the horizon as you’re left to ponder what just happened. Whatever, it doesn't really matter anyway. You can tell that [VIRGE] is gone, possibly never to return, and he’s with kin that he can relate to probably. At some point the other members of [ARCANUS MOUNTAINS] arrive, attempting to scold Deus and Mona for their rash actions, only to be met by the rest of you clearing up the situation. You decide to leave the body with him, and Mia decides to stay with them for the time being.

Mia: Me and Kris are going to help deal with these guys
Mia: And then I think I’m going to go look for [MY PEOPLE]
Nuki: So this is goodbye?
Kris: Oh I’m sure it won’t be hard to find her
Mia: Hey! I can be low key!
Key: Key doubts this sincerely.

You all laugh and hug it out as you decide to go your separate ways. You get the feeling that if you were to stay any longer then some of the other scientists might want to [STUDY] you and Key, and you’re not about that life.

You head off into the sunrise, back towards the [WILD], with no real destination in mind. You feel free now, free to do whatever you want, to travel, to live, to love. Nuki thinks she’ll stick around. All that free honey access, someone to practice [ENERGY] with, and the freedom to travel is all that she really wants.

Key of course is glued to you at the hip, and really digs your giant form. You think you might wear it more often, it’s kind of growing on you. And QB pops out of the estate, sitting on your big thorax as you travel. Life is good.

> [CRYSTAL SPIRE - END]
> Thank you for playing!

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/26(Fri)14:20 No. 1041897 ID: 0838d6
File 166154883419.png - (11.48KB , 500x500 , p196.png )

> EPILOGUE 1 - FRANCIS
Francis set off immediately after he met you to do two things. First, he resurrected the [HISTORICAL PARASITE], who was very happy to gain life again. And then he dealt with the [CORRUPTED HALF-GOLEM ARTIFICER]. The Artificer was mounting an army to deal with HUNTER and the WILD due to some magical grudge. Unfortunately, the corruption in their mind was too deep, and they were slain before they could do anything of importance.

Any record of him after this moment was lost, but rumors could be heard of a strange lizard with a turtleneck being spotted near reviving branches of the [BLOOD MAGES] whose persecution was at an end.

> EPILOGUE 2 - MANTISLEAF VILLAGE AND THE WILD
Mantisleaf village was the final bastion protecting a large chunk of the settlements from the increasing intensity of the [MANA PULSES]. [THE COUNCIL] were surprised by the bees and the virility of the forest, but took it in stride and used it to protect their kin. Years later this would still be talked about, and hives of massive bees could be found. Re-pollinating the land and spreading the [WILD] with a larger amount of vibrance.

A new breed of [MONSTER TAMER] also came about from this as Mimics became a hot new pet. The slightly more docile version you introduced to the [WILD] becoming an excellent companion. Though they were commonly known to bite anyone that tried to pet them without consent, leading to awkward conversations and the occasional fights.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/26(Fri)14:20 No. 1041898 ID: 0838d6
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> EPILOGUE 3 - CHARISSA AND MIA
Charissa eventually moved on from her heartbreak and helped to establish trading hubs for the re-emerging [BLOOD] mages. This of course put a target on her back for a while until she met up with MIA, who immediately beat down anyone attempting genocide to her kin.

They found a new home, one of intense [BLOOD] and [NATURAL] energies of the world. And in that place she founded the world’s first hospital, they only charged [2 FUNDS] to heal anyone of any simple disease, providing affordable healthcare to all. Some say that she used those funds to host underground fighting rings collecting strange beasts and showing off even stranger ones of her own. Those people would of course be right, and no one wanted to mess with her, not after the first few dissenters tried anything.

> EPILOGUE 4 - THE ARCANUS MOUNTAINS
The mushroom field eventually receded, filtering out one of the larger, more infected parts of the [WILD]. This was discovered by DEUS and MONA after a friendly tip from a certain spider and otter-croc. Eventually, the gnoll bold in charge of the restoration was found, happier, healthier, and also part mushroom. His breakthrough helped to develop consumables that could allow members of the [ARCANUS MOUNTAINS] to leave its confines temporarily.

As for the body of [VIRGE’S DIVINITY]... It was never seen again after that fight. Apparently it scattered to ash without any [DIVINITY] or [CORRUPTION] to keep it stable. The chances of studying it were lost, and any evidence that it was there was also lost.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/26(Fri)14:20 No. 1041899 ID: 0838d6
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> EPILOGUE 5 - THE PANTHEON
The pantheon suffered the most of all the factions from the [MANA PULSES] by far due to their large population. While they only lost 1/3 of their population, a similar amount to the rest of the factions, the sheer numbers left a toll on them and their people.

This wasn’t helped by a strange event that occurred where more than half of the believers in [PURITY] were found to be dead, vomiting a black Ichor a little bit after the [MORNING OF DAY 14]. Seeing their society in shambles, they reluctantly decided to bury the hatchet with the [WILD], to which the [WILD] was… quite hesitant, and was offered light reparations for the behavior they displayed previously.

A rumor subsequently went around that followers of [PURITY] were [CORRUPTED] and were the [RINGLEADERS] of their hatred towards other factions, but no one believed this rumor, as the hatred ran deep. There would be no easy scapegoat, but there would be years of apologies and attempts to rebuild.

> EPILOGUE 6 - THE POCKET ESTATE
And what of our heroes who left with the Pocket estate? After checking back on their home, and helping with reconstruction efforts, they left again. It was also at this time that Hunter was given some good news. It turned out that both Key and QB were pregnant! Well, QB was always pregnant, part of being a Queen, but Key’s was a surprise, and in a moment of confusion, Hunter asked the ladies if he should get pregnant too, so he did.

Mamita was brought into the pocket estate, surrounded by a new and growing family, which only made her final years a joy. Nuki spent her time traveling with the group, teaching them to use [ENERGY], and pondering the mysteries of the world. Eventually she stitched together her own child with Hunter and Mamita’s help, sharing her knowledge after getting a little [CURIOUS] about what it would feel like to have a kid of her own.

And eventually, their worries about the [CRYSTAL SPIRE] were put on the backburner as they enjoyed their time together on [CURIO] and the last page of their story closed.

[THANKS FOR READING!]

And now for the post-Quest Q’n’A section that I like to do, what are your thoughts, theories or questions for me?!

So what would'a happened if we rung that bell?

>>1041899
Show us the babies please.

>>1041899
Did Hunter use the Potion of Sex Change to become pregnant?

Plenty-o-questions and stuff. feel free to not answer any of them

Thoughts:
- Congratulations on this being your first quest to break the running gag of having a character walk into a pole! The curse is broken!

Questions:

- Can we see what the historical parasite looks like now with her new body?

- Out of all the characters, the feline beserker didn't really get a mention throughout the story. As a consolation, would she like to say a few words to us before we wrap up the thread?

- Is the meat wagon still on it's journey? what is its destination?

- What was the fate of Skunk bandit? is she dead or mutated by the mana pulses, or is she still out there and/or still a threat?

- You don't have to since the quest is over now, but may you update the stats page one last time? It was really fun to read how everyone was feeling throughout the quest, and was a good addition to the quest, and I kind of want to see a conclusion to that.

- We never got to read the Mineralogy Book, and we only gave it to Nuki to read on her own. What did we miss out on with that?

- what was the thing that surprised you most we as suggesters did in this quest?

- Will there be plans for you to return to this quest in the future?

- ... can I request to see Potion of Sex Change versions of some (not all) of the characters if they took the potion? I'm most curious about Mia and Queen Bee, (with Hunter, Kris, or Key being a close third, fourth and fifth,)

theories:

- I'm wondering if Virge is actually going to become Boss in Catalyst/QOH. Both of them have healing powers, and both have a giant eye on their face... tho the eye looks a bit different between the two, and their names are totally different, so maybe not. Still interesting to think about.

whoops, forgot this question:

we only explored 1/3 of the pocket estate. What else would we have found if we continued exploring?

What did Kris do?

How did Mamita react to the horny forest in the estate?

Loved the quest in all it's aspects (Artistic style, cyoa looks, storytelling, ...). I'm curious about some questions:

- I almos voted for the feline berserker, liked her a lot. How she were? What was of her?
- From where did Francis came? How he met the tool of trust?
- I would love to see the historical parasite alive.

Also we can expect more quest of this style and/or universe? This was fun as hell. I'm curious about the rules used, but thinkning it better I prefer to conserve the magic of not knowing.

Are Mia and Kris also going to have kids?

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/27(Sat)12:36 No. 1041985 ID: 0838d6
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> QnA Intro
Edmango: Hey everybody, another day, another quest done, amiright? This one was a bit different from my normal format, for one, it had nearly the same amount of images as PQ did, but it had half the words, around 50-60K words to be precise. I think it ended up being a lighter load and easier read overall because of it. I wanted it to be shorter, but I always get carried away when I get into the weeds of storytelling, there’s always something more to say and I’m always worried that I won't give you a piece of key information and it’ll feel unfair.

Edmango: But overall I’m pretty satisfied with [cs] we got a nice condensed intro and back story for our protagonist, explored the characters the audience was interested in the most, and got a satisfying conclusion after we built up character motivations. I have to try to do this but cut the length in half next time because jfc sometimes I just go on and on (even though I know a lot of you would prefer that my works were LONGER, somehow).

Edmango: But that’s really all I have to say on the matter. I liked how it came out, time to answer some of your deep cutting questions!

> Babies
My original thoughts were that QB’s babies would still be as dumb as the regular bees, only they’d be bee-spiders and bee-otters and bee-crocs and bee-mimics. Ultimately just adorable orb shaped creatures with the occasional queen larva that appears and is moderately intelligent.

Key would probably only have one baby because she’s smol, and it’d likely take after her otter ancestry and hunter’s spider ancestry with the other half being mimic blood. The kid would probably just climb around all the walls all the time and eat the QB bees randomly and get scolded for it.

As for Hunter’s baby, I imagined that it’d be a shy baby that would probably take after mamita and become very headstrong and spoiled because Mamita is definitely the kind of grandma to spoil her grand-daughter.

> What would have happened if we rung the bell?
It would have summoned a [REDACTED] to [REDACTED] [VIRGE] from this plane of existence. The bell would then go back to normal, but there would be a chance for BAD THINGS to happen in other parts of the multiverse. So, good on you for not ringing it, but now I have this smoking gun around to tell a story about when I want to get around to it.

> Did hunter sex change to get gregnant?
He had a long talk with Key about how a uterus worked, then he got lazy, drank the potion, figured out how it worked, and made his own female sex organs to get gregnant with. Being gregnant was a very humbling experience for our spider I think and Mamita was proud of him for it.

> Meat wagon?
Some say the meat wagon is still on its journey to this day, collecting crows and trash animals, traveling the multiverse. Who truly knows where its destination lies, or when it will appear next.

> Stats Page
I don’t really feel like updating the stats page, the epilogue kind of took care of that for me I think, but I’m glad you liked seeing a glimpse into Hunter’s thoughts of the other characters and their actions. I thought that was a fun little side segment to add.

> Mineralogy book
That was there so you could study the crystal spire rock and turn it into a new sword if that was something you were interested in, turns out you were not interested in that, so it kinda just sat there.

> Most surprising thing
That you decided to bring Hunter to his hometown even though I wrote in the text that he didnt wanna go home. You made him face the home trauma and got to meet series best character Mamita. The mom with the Chancla. I was also surprised how much you focused on Hunter instead of deciding to focus on adventure, but I think the story was better for it.

> Sex change versions of characters
This falls out of my art quota so you’ll have to use your imagination, sorry

> Hidden things in the pocket estate?
I had a ⅓ chance of putting in something else that was cool inside, like a hidden treasure left behind by the previous owner, luckily I didn't have to give you another item that you wouldn’t use!

> What happened to Kris
Kris stayed with Mia and helped protect the new [BLOOD MAGES], he was quite happy to be a guard of renown and also picked up on the use of [BLOOD] with Mia’s guidance.

> Mamita and the horny forest
The forest tried to touch her once, but with a lightning fast swipe of her chancla the vines were cowed. Even the forest cannot withstand her glare.

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/27(Sat)12:36 No. 1041986 ID: 0838d6
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> Who the hell was Francis?
Francis is a reference to Franklin from Perpetuity, how is he in the crystal spire? Why? Because I thought it’d be fun. He’s an ex hug-worker who got the random drop of a historical parasite, then got the sword, and essentially filled the role of protagonist to go fight the crystal spire’s big bad when I realized that you wanted to worry about the wild more.

Was his fight unfair? Yes. That tends to happen when a protagonist walks up to you and demands your shit. But you picked a squad of literal death machines who would win almost any conflict I would toss at you, so I had to give you a curveball. You could have totally won the fight, but you chose long term personal growth over winning the fight and in the end got the mimic babies ending. It’s a fair trade I think.

> What’s the historical parasite looking like now?
She looks like a normal girl with horns that turns into weird space goo when she gets excited. She got a skeleton made of that golem, a resurrection potion, and the flesh of random monsters, all of that then got modified by her [BLOOD] powers until she had a body that vaguely looks normal.

> The Feline Berserker and the Skunk Bandit
They became bandit queens and best buddies. The stinky cat and the stinky skunk terrorized kin and were never caught. I was gonna write an epilogue about them, but felt like it was kind of ignored by the suggestions when the topic came up so I didn’t bother.

> I want More Crystal Spire
Well I’m working on a videogame set in a vaguely crystal spire adjacent universe, so you’ll get that wish. But likely I won’t do another quest in this setting and would instead make another CYOA chart for a whole new setting but using the same power system since I feel like Energy/Faith/Mana/Wild/Blood/Phys is a pretty solid foundation to work from.

> Mia + Kris = Kids?
I’ll leave that one up to your imagination, they do say that when rabbits breed they multiply, so it’d bound to happen eventually right?

EDMANGO-ING-THE-DISTANCE 2022/08/27(Sat)12:37 No. 1041987 ID: 0838d6
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> Mechanics and style
Glad you guys liked it! I worked hard in the beginning to sort of establish a tone and style of everything with the chart, then Tippler used the colors I established and a simple style to sorta make things pop and the rest fell into place.

I’ll probably do more stuff using this art style because it’s my favorite that he’s done for my stories. As for the mechanics behind it, it’s not a secret or anything. I just came up with 5 “major plots” and 5 “minor plots” and wrote them down in a doc. I gauged where you were going and sprinkled them in narratively and sorta honed down on the ones you guys picked.

I then made sure to have nearly all choices be important for one reason or another, even if it was a small “who do you talk to” you were guaranteed to get a scene of some importance or that progresses something. That was probably the hardest part, giving choices that would feel good at every branch. I also tried to make the story take place over a longer amount of in-game time and I think that led to you feeling like the characters actually grew together over time, two weeks is more impactful than 3 days I think.

The last thing I did was separate the story into “arcs” . Basically there was a conflict/objective in each area you went to and when you left you had attempted to resolve it and it acted as an arc of the story. For example, we had the [INTRO] arc where you met everyone and tried to get more items. Then there was the [HOME] arc where you dealt with Charissa and Hunter’s trauma, then there was the [TRAVEL] arc where you saw the effects of info that you came across and got your ass smacked. And then there was the [CONCLUSION] arc where it took all the things you worked on and wrapped them up in a neat package.

I didn’t micromanage things like I did in PQ and mostly had stuff happen as it made sense narratively, I also scoped up and down as things needed so that we could focus on characters or travel or overarching story events. I was mostly worried that I threw too many characters at you guys but it turned out fine and the minor characters didn’t really get in the way.

Edmango: I think that answers all the questions! Thanks for enjoying my stories y’all! Next is gonna be something [weird], how weird? Well I plan to lean on absurdism and weird power scaling but the setting is currently up in the air. Something super-sentai-like? Something set in the Lust Quest universe? Something that’s more of a traditional cultivation story? S h r u g.

Edmango: Oh, and one last thing, if you could be so kind as to fill out this poll of who your favorite character was I’d appreciate it! It’s a pick 3 system, so no need to worry if you cant pick just one!


https://forms.gle/WW6RPdmWvitoyQRGA