Candle Quest

>>754048
>>”You get one. Please be very, very careful.”

>>754123
”You get one. Please be very, very careful.”

“You don’t have to tell me. Jack taught me how to use them.”

“…Please be very, very, very careful.”

The two of you approach the ruined house. Before you even try to enter, you can already hear loud incoherent mumbling from inside. Quietly, you turn the doorknob. Locked, of course. You can’t turn into spooky mist like Smoke can, but you do know the classic trick of doorbusting.

Two knocks on the door.

“Pizza delivery!”

A slurred murmur arises from the other side, “P…pizza? Annyof yah guhys oordured pizza?”

Footsteps amble near the door before a reply can be heard, and the answers the cadaver get midway are moans and grunts. Blocking the peephole with your finger, you listen as the moron inside makes some mouth sounds of curiosity and begin to unlock the door.

You turn to Brand, “Don’t miss.”

Sidestepping, you move out of the way as he lines up the shot. The light of your flame barely peeks over the corner, letting you watch as the walking corpse dumbly peek out, and then as his rotting brains be excavated onto the wall behind.

“I know.”

A rattling can be heard as you try to force open the door.

“Chain,” you say.

“I know.”

The blaze above his wax jumps out, melting through the chain lock with a single pass. He pushes the way through, and you follow him. What greets you down a hallway is a gang of cadavers. Heavily armed cadavers. Tugging Brand’s coat, you pull him and yourself out of the way, the sound of bullets whizzing too close for comfort.

“Oh fuck!” the kid exclaims, “Thanks.”

“At least now I can start to fill my trunk back up.”

“Now what?”

Roll 1d100, best of three.

>”Wait till they calm down, then charge in, guns blazing.”
>”Around back.”
>”Bait them, and try to not get hit.”
>”Through the wall. Mind making a hole?”
>Write-in.

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>754248
>”Around back.”

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>754248
>”Around back.”

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>754248
>”Around back.”

>>754254
>>754287
>>754297
Rolled 97. Great success.

“Around back.”

“What are you gonna do? Knock on the back door?”

“…Shut up.”

Moving as fast as possible, the sound of loud shuffling fills the air.

“Brand, I really know you like those shorts, but you need new pants.”

“Why? This isn’t a stealth mission, right?”

“Inferno help me.”

Hopping over the fence, you see through the cracks of the boarded up windows the rotting messes inside start to move to the front door. Finding the back entrance in a second, you spot a weak point in the wooden door marked by decay. With a second’s touch, you freeze the point and smash through.

As you burst in, your fire spits out, “I’ll cover you.”

“Got it.”


Throwing himself over to a couch inside, the fires above his wick begin to pulsate and grow. You shoot one, two, three shots.

“Hey morons! I’m right here!”

Quickly moving back out, you barely escape their volley. You also try to count their bullets, but it proves to be pointless when one of the cadavers empties an uzi clip at the doorway. It wasn’t even the way you ducked. Holding your laughter inside, you send more lead their way. Four, five, six. Brand ducks and closes in between shots, firing some shots of his own. Another one visibly drops while the chamber of your gun opens, the shells falling out.

Before you can tell him to hurry, the blaze upon his wick turns into a conflagration, wildly devouring everything around him. Oh, how you wish your fire burns like that. Not even in your prime it raged with such a fervor. In an instant, the flame sweeps and turns everything into a crisp. Three cadavers are caught: one turning around, one in the midst of reloading, and one looking absolutely starstruck with a baseball bat in his hand.

“Nice job,” you applaud him, “I was afraid you were going to choke.”

“Huuh? You gotta trust in me, old man,” he wheezes, out of breath.

“I’m not that old.”

Footsteps interrupt your discussion, and you find four more of these rotting corpses at the stairwell.

“Arughh! Miikeee!?” one of them moan.

Roll 1d100, best of three.

>”Go, shoot!”
>“Burn them!”
>”Pull back, let me handle this!”
>”Get back here, quick!”
>Write-in.

Rolled 3 (1d100)

>>754463
>>”Get back here, quick!”

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>754463
>“Burn them!”
I just want to see what this does.

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>754463
>>“Burn them!”

>>754505
>>754511
>>754521
“Burn them!”

“O-okay!” he responds in exhaustion.

Oh hells, what were you thinking?

The flame that he sends out is nowhere near what he put out just before, a sign of exhaustion and inexperience. It smashes into one of the cadavers, and the others recoil. But they’re only taken aback for a second. Realizing both your call was a mistake and he agreed in poor judgement, they start shooting as Brand runs out of the way. Uzi fire lines the hallway, tearing up the wallpaper and into his leg. Black wax spill into the wood floor as the bullets go through effortlessly.

Running to him, you attempt to provide cover fire, managing to nail one of their ugly mugs. Coming into arm’s length, you pull him up and away.

“Sorry. Brand, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” he answers, visibly shaken.

You know he doesn’t feel a thing — but a Candle’s first injury always gets to them the most, especially since the sight of their own wax pouring out is sickening. The most surreal discontent between sight and sense, as if you’re in a dream watching yourself die. But it’s fine.

Rule number one of those of the wick: protect the fire.

“Sit back and take care, alright?” you tell him.

Brand simply repeats, “Alright.”

Taking one last cursory glance, you speed toward the hallway, your revolver erupting thunder with every pull. One. two, three, their bodies fail them as they try to shoot back. A bullet nicks your arm and your lantern, but you can still move. You can still shoot.

From side to side and room to room you dash, weaving between bullets and reciprocating them in kind. As the last corpse standing stumbles as his gun clicks, he panics and runs up the stairs. Four, five, six, three holes appear in the wallpaper without the stain of blood.

You pant, out of shape. Maybe you are getting old, damn it.

>Up the stairs, end it while you can.
>Tend to Brand.
>Take care of the cadavers; their souls still remain.
>Collapse the staircase and worry about the cadaver later.
>Write-in.

>>754697
>Tend to Brand.
>Take care of the cadavers; their souls still remain.

>>754697
>>Tend to Brand.
>>Take care of the cadavers; their souls still remain.

>>Tend to Brand.
>>Take care of the cadavers; their souls still remain.

>>754721
>>754738
>>754790
First, the cadavers. Going to the front door, you drag the body of the now headless undead toward the back, to Brand. Along the way, you pick up the four other ones he killed. A heavy pile stuck together by the newly formed ice from their bodies, but manageable courtesy of your specialty. Eventually, you make it around the corner and to an overturn couch where the kid Candle sits, breathing heavily.

“It’s all in your head. Here, siphon these.”

He tilts his flame up. “But… aren’t these for the Fireplace?”

“He won’t know. Fix yourself up.”

Dropping down, Brand slowly hobbles over to the pile. While he’s busy eating away, you go over to the ones you killed.

Soul collecting is the name of your job. From the Fireplace all life began, and to the Fireplace it will return; it’s your duty to enforce what nature intended. Crouching down, you lift your coat up before it catches blood. You weren’t supposed to let the trainee collect anything, but it’s fine. You both just need to keep quiet.

With one hand on the now chained cadavers, you let your flame flicker. Slowly, the fire of life funnels into you, carefully being separated so it doesn’t merge with your soul. So you can return it to its rightful spot. So the Fireplace doesn’t take what’s yours along with it.

The light in your flames shine once more, and you can see again. With a quick check on Brand, you make your way up the stairs. He needs some time, after all.

There are no lights in the hallways upstairs. With the doors to the rooms all torn down, you can easily check in them without problem — all torn down except for the one on the end. Stopping in front the decaying wood, you listen for a moment.

Rattling, and groans.

You knock twice.

“Pizza delivery.”

With a quick sidestep, you dodge the slug that tears through the spot where you once were.

“Euurghh, noo pizza…!”

When you hear nothing, you bring your flame slightly closer to the hole and see a pale figure inside, tied to a chair, with the cadaver standing behind. Is that a ghoul being used as a meat shield? Pale skin, shark teeth, impeccably gorgeous hair, that’s a ghoul alright. The guy looks unconscious, drool and blood slowly coming out of his mouth. Why would he be anywhere near the cadavers?

Roll 1d100, best of three.

>Kill them both.
>Keep the ghoul alive for questioning.
>Keep the cadaver alive for questioning.
>Keep them both alive for questioning. Just barely.
>Write-in.

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>754944
>>Keep the ghoul alive for questioning.

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>754944
>>Keep them both alive for questioning. Just barely.

(1d100)
>Keep the ghoul alive for questioning

1d100

>>754984
put "dice+1d100" in the options field anon, minus the quote marks.

>>754986
dice+1d100 in options field, anon.

dice+1d100

Rolled 99 (1d100)

Thanks

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>754944
>Keep the ghoul alive for questioning.

>>755021
>>754984
Are both me

>>754957
>>754963
>>754984
>>755021
>>755041
Rolled 99. Critical success.

The cadaver is probably too stupid to answer anything. That only leaves the ghoul. The day that ghouls, cadavers, and liches get along would be the day the world ends, no doubt. Something’s up, and you need to find out what.

You wind back, and then you smash through the door. There’s a click, the sound of a trigger being pulled, accompanied by a string being caught in the door, the sight of a trap being triggered — it must’ve been set while you were taking care of Brand and the cadavers’ souls. Bracing yourself, you tense as you fly over with your momentum, the rifle latched to the doorframe lagging and firing a second too late; to your disgust and relief simultaneously, the flooring erupts in a shower of moldy splinters. The cadaver stares at you with the dumbest look, and you reply with a magnum round to his forehead. You lie there on the floor for a second, unsure of what just happened.

“Aerghhh die pizza maan!” a voice erupts from behind!

Through the roof he crashed down, what an absolute lunatic! With a backwards baseball cap on the cadaver’s head, he wobbles as he points a pistol toward you. Right before you can react, his face turns into funky mush and his body collapses on the floor. A small Candle, still a bit out of breath, stands there with a revolver in his hand.

“Thanks Brand.”

“Your welcome,” he slightly wheezes, “got your back.”

After a few minutes, you cleaned up the place appropriately, souls and all. You stroll back into the room, Brand in a chair with his head against the wall, dozing off. With a small tap on the shoulder, you wake him.

He kicks, “U-uerh, oh, oh SHIT!-“

“Calm down, the ghoul’s still asleep.”

“Oh… what are we going to do with him?”

“Interrogate him, hopefully.”

“You guys do that?”

“Not usually. But that doesn’t mean we can’t.”

You pick at the tear in your lantern; you need a new visage, ugh. And new patch for your coat. With a sigh, you look at Brand. His fire is flickering.

“You tired?” you ask.

“…I can still go on.”

“Don’t have to put on the tough guy act, you know.”

“What act?” he shakes his candle head.

>Call for a ride and send him home. He deserves a good rest.
>If he says he can tough it out, he can tough it out.
>Speed up the process by giving the ghoul a bit of fire — a bit of life.
>You both need a rest. Call for a ride and throw the ghoul in the trunk.

>>755194
>If he says he can tough it out, he can tough it out.

>>755194
>>If he says he can tough it out, he can tough it out.
>>Speed up the process by giving the ghoul a bit of fire — a bit of life.

>>755194
>>If he says he can tough it out, he can tough it out.

>>755246
>>755263
>>755264
You decided to believe in him. His fire was strong, and still is. In the silence you wait, and in the silence it gnaws at you. Until finally, you break.

“I’m… sorry,” you apologize, “That call I made down there, it was…”

Unable to finish your sentence, you just shake your head.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. I was supposed to watch over you and I put you in unnecessary risk. I gauged the situation incorrectly, and-“

“Aww man, you worry too much.”

Only the crackling of fire can be heard in the dreary, dim room, the only light given off from your and Brand’s wick. When you don’t respond, he continues.

“Trust, right? We all make mistakes.”

“…Hmm.” After a long pause, you attempt to make small talk. “You know we were once called reapers?”

“Huh? Shit, that’s so much cooler than collectors. Makes me think of tax collector or something.”

You chuckle. “Yup. Someone ruined it for us though. Called himself the Reaper. Now we can’t go around without being laughed at.”

“No way, I like reaper. I’m going to start using it, okay, reaper?”

“Oh Infernos no!” you laugh while groaning.

The sound of rope straining reaches your wick, and you turn over to the ghoul.

>1/2

He’s awake, slowly flexing his neck and jaw. Rows of sharp teeth line the inside of his mouth. Overkill, if you ask anyone else.

“Rise and shine, ghoul,” you kick his chair.

Snapping his head back, the beast stares at you with eyes full of ire. You see his mouth move and you cut in.

“Don’t spit on me, or you’re going to wish the festering corpses still had you. Tell me, what you doing in cadaver territory?”

For the extra bit of theatrics, you swirl your blue flame around menacingly.

The ghoul answers, “None of your fucking business, waxling.”

He attempts to spit on your flame, like every ghoul, and instead it trickles through his maw and almost onto your shoe. Oh you want to just shave his stupid, shiny pompadour off his head.

Fire roaring, you seethe, “It is my business. You are my business. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

He looks at you expectantly, his scowl clear as ever.

“The hard way it is.”

You slam both your gloved hands upon his shoulders and tear away at his soul. Pieces of it fly to a compartmentalized pocket, exchanging it with the fractured souls of the cadavers. You watch as he slowly loses his mind, kicking and foaming at the mouth, his very existence being torn away and reassembled. To a Candle, a congregate of countless souls, you can’t fathom what he’s going through.

Eventually you let go. A husk remains before you, its spirit broken perhaps permanently. Brand looks on in discomfort, and you don’t blame him.

Ever so slowly and clearly you whisper, “Why are you here?”

Slurring and slowly rocking back and forth, the ghoul answers, “The-the fire… He’s here… Fireplace… He’ll take it back… for us... for all of us… the fire... It’s… so cold… So cold…”

“Who? Who’s here?”

“The demon… the demon… So cold... but it’ll be okay… he’ll bring us the fire… and then we… we can all be happy… happy… all be happy…”

Devolving into nonsense, you grimace at what you’ve done. You never had a talent for soul manipulation, but this is a good enough lead. Putting the poor beast out of misery, you look at Brand who is averting his gaze.

To yourself, you can only wonder. A demon? Demons don’t come here. Heathens of the flame stay underground, where they’ve always been, where they’ve always belong. If the ghoul wasn’t lying, then this is one hell of an ill omen.

You better call the others.

Thank you all for playing! I'm calling it quits for today. My twitter is @ConfettoQM if you're interested. I'll be running tomorrow, I don't know the time though, but I'll try to tweet in advance when I'll be starting.

>>755454
Thanks for runnin', this seems pretty interesting.

Thanks for the quest, it was pretty cool

File: Deadbolt.jpg (69KB, 666x537px) Image search: [Google]

69KB, 666x537px

Got a real pic related feel from this.

Good job, OP.

File: cube.jpg (169KB, 600x600px) Image search: [Google]

169KB, 600x600px

The light dimly flickers, the tiny incandescent lightbulb above threatening to give up. You sit hunched over a small round table, admiring the polished wood for the hundredth time. It’s really nice; you can almost see your reflection. It’s so nice your mind almost drifts away from the bar counter and the constant reminder you can’t drink. When a whistle catches your attention, you turn slightly to meet her visage.

“Hey Sparrow. You’re thirty minutes late.”

Through her birdcage, you can see the thin, fragile candle head lead to a graceful, steady flame. Instead of quiet crackling, the air around her hums gently.

“Sorry, sorry. I was looking for Brand.”

“Let me guess, you can’t find him?”

“No, I did; I found him in the shooting range, took me like forever.”

“Then…”

“Yup, I want you to come along.”

“What? No, it’s your turn to babysit.”

“He’s actually a terrible shot. Like, I wouldn’t want him in my team.”

“He’ll be just a spotter, right?”

“Bad vibes, Indigo. Bad vibes.”

You sit back in your chair and put your hand on your lantern.

“Take Smoke, okay? You know how I feel about snipers.”

“Smoke won’t go with Brand. Ever.”

“Jack?”

“With Tallow later. Pleease? I’ll owe you one.”

“Bulb.”

“Okay, okay. You’re working on the ghoul thing, right? We’re going to the Testsuyashi Complex.”

“…What? It’s a demon thing, and I don’t think you should take Brand there.”

“That’s why I want three people. You two get in, I get my target, you get your information, we get out.”

You silently think before answering. “Fine.”

Just because the head is a bigwig ghoul doesn’t mean you’ll find something, but it’s a good place to start. If something big is going on, those at the top should know.

She nods, “Need anything before we go?”

>”I’m set. Let’s go.”
>”Hold on, I need to see Jack for new weapons.”
>”Hold on, I need to see Bulb about Brand’s visage.”
>”Yeah, I need to consult the Fireplace.”

>>756572
Nice, happy to meet someone else that knows Deadbolt. Wanted to run something inspired by it for a while.

>>756898
>>”Hold on, I need to see Bulb about Brand’s visage

>>756961
“Hold on, I need to see Bulb about Brand’s visage.”

“Okay, make it quick. I’ll meet you in the car.”

Standing up, you do a quick stretch and part ways, heading toward the staircase leading down at the back of the bar. With a jog down the stairs and down a hallway, you see someone hidden away working away in a well-lit room, his concentration deeply focused into a wooden mask in front of him. A large glass ball sits on his shoulders, giving the impression of a lightbulb, and with a rap on the wall you catch his attention.

“O-oh, yes? Indigo? H-how can I help you?”

“Hey Bulb. Remember that thing I was talking about yesterday?”

“A n-new lantern? I sent it to you already.”

“Yeah I saw, thanks for that, but I’m talking about Brand.”

“O-oh,” he replies.

Bulb sits there, unmoving.

Then he continues, “I-I don’t know.”

“Sorry?”

“S-something that can handle h-his flames… I d-don’t know. N-nothing would cover e-everything w-well enough.”

“What about something like Sparrow’s cage?”

“It’ll m-melt. Very quickly… unless y-you get can get me something l-like diamond.”

“I… I don’t think I have the money for that.”

“T-tungsten? I d-don’t have much to w-work with.”

You think for a moment, “I’m heading to some research facilities. Think I can find anything there? I’m not uh, good with these things.”

“Please don’t just bring back s-scrap metal.”

>Buy a provisional visage for Brand out of your pocket. Long enough for “stealth.”
>Buy a provisional visage for Brand. Out of Sparrow’s pocket.
>You’ll work out something later. Leave.
>Write-in.

>>757012

>Buy a provisional visage for Brand out of your pocket. Long enough for “stealth.”

>>757042
Oh you feel the hole in your wallet start to get bigger.

“How about something that’ll last him just long enough for ‘stealth’ ?”

He scans the room in twitches before settling on a broken wooden mask that’s reassembled with copious amounts of duct tape. If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve thought it was a duct tape mask, but it used to be Smoke’s. The red, tribal inking is clear as day.

“How’s t-this?” he asks.

You shrug, “Good enough. I’ll take it.”

With a quick transition, you go outside into the broad daylight. Whoever Sparrow’s mark is, they’re bound to be not there at night. Fingers crossed that the visages will last everyone through the commotion of a bullet entering a busy workplace.

You get in the car, shotgun and next to Sparrow.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Seatbelts,” she points out.

As she starts the engine and you comply, you turn around and hand the mask backseat where Brand is.

“Hey, you’re coming with us? Wait, what’s this?”

“A visage. You’re going to need it,” you reply.

“Huuh? This is… garbage! And I told you, it’ll just break.”

“It’s not for combat. We’re walking in bright daylight, got it?”

With a grumble, he tosses the mask to the side.

“Sorry to disappoint Indigo, but I’m not going for the CEO. I need his secretary.”

The car rocks as it hits a speed bump.

“That’s fine. Close enough. Are my guns in the back?”

“Yup. All of them. I think.”

After a few hours drive, everyone arrives at the destination. Well, three blocks away in a parking lot, anyway.

As you get out and head to the trunk, Sparrow says, “Hey, is that a new lantern?”

“It is”

“There was only a scratch on it, your old one!”

“Yes...?”

Shaking her head incredulously, she turns away as you examine what you have. Ghouls are quick, love melee, and are slightly tougher than the average cadaver.

Allocate to yourself and Brand. You don’t have to take them all.

>2 magnum revolvers (concealable).
>Uzi (concealable).
>Double barreled shotgun.
>Hunting rifle.
>Unarmed otherwise your flame.

I'm not sure if this is just a extraordinarily bad time to run or what, so I'll leave this vote up for about 3 hours before I simply keep going. Sorry, and thanks.

>>757153
>>Uzi (concealable).

>>757153
>>2 magnum revolvers (concealable).

>>757153
>Uzi

>>757174
>>757472
You take the Uzi and stick it inside your coat. When Brand looks at you expectantly, you just shake your head.

“Leave it to Sparrow,” you say.

Speechless, he just follows you as you walk on.

Sparrow tells you, “The secretary is around her late twenties, flowing red hair tied to a ponytail, should have an ID on her jacket. Her name’s Jessica or something.”

“Or something?”

“Relax, I’ll know her when I see her.”

With great unease, you nod and part ways but not before she takes a piece of your fire with her. You can feel your soul get slowly stretched out the further you walk on, but you shake it off. With this, Sparrow can share your vision, allowing her to pick off her target even through walls. Normally this would be a task for someone subtler, but you’ll be fine. Hopefully.

“How’s your visage?” you ask Brand.

“It’s uh… iffy,” he replies, adjusting the mask.

“Did Bulb teach you how to use them?”

“No, Jack did.”

You groan, “Go talk to Bulb when you see him. Neon green hair is the opposite of what you want.”

As he slowly amps up the power to the visage, you can see his appearance change to something more mundane. With a bit of adjusting, you two manage to produce a look that’s completely unremarkable. You, in turn, complete yours. A couple of humans pass by you, only giving passing glances.

Like so, you can now enter the premises without attracting the attention of ghouls. Humans could never see you without your paper lantern, anyway.

“So… what’s the plan? Delivery?”

>Food delivery outfits. Convenient excuse.
>Electricians and jumpsuits. Clipboards are always impressive.
>Blend in as security. Free to go almost anywhere.
>Just a suit. The act is more important.
>Write-in.

>>757715
>>Electricians and jumpsuits. Clipboards are always impressive.

>>757736
You answer, “Electricians. Put on a jumpsuit.”

Out into the sun you appear, disguise fully concealing your identity with a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. Some IDs are crafted on the fly, too. You take a moment to figure out which building you’re supposed to enter, and when you see skyways, the solution you find is to simply walk into the one that looks science-y. Walking at a pace brisk as possible, you stride onward with false confidence.

“Where are we going?” Brand asks.

“No idea.”

A voice whistles in your mind, Wrong building. 14th floor, the one next to the one you’re in.

Finding the elevators with one of them empty and open, you quickly get in along with the kid Candle. The skyway was at the 10th floor, was it?

“You do this often?”

“No. Not me,” you answer, pressing the close door button rapidly.

As the elevator doors begin to slide, however, a foot stops it.

“Wait, sorry.”

Two men in lab coats get in and punch a button, turning around without much fuss. After the elevator begins moving, one of them notices that the 10th floor was lit, and then they notice you two.

“…Is there an electrical problem?” one of them says.

“Yeah. Paneling is messed up. We got called to fix it,” Brand flatly lies.

“Is that so…?”

As he talks, your flame lightly flickers. Are you seeing something? A shimmer appears for a second inside his mouth. Retracted teeth. Rows and rows of them.

You don’t suppose…

Ghouls outnumber humans here nine to one.

To which you attempt to reply, Really wish you told me that sooner.

The two suited ghouls turn to each other, and you begin to feel uneasy.

Roll 1d100, best of three.

>Everything’s fine. Do nothing.
>Take their souls, quickly.
>Gun them down.
>Write-in.

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>757880
>>Take their souls, quickly.

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>757880
>Take their souls, quickly.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>757920
reroll

>>757920
>>757925
>>757959
Rolled 42. Failure.

You exaggeratedly turn to Brand, your visage giving way for a moment so he can see your flame. Hoping he got the message, you lunge forward and slam your hands onto the shoulders of the ghoul in front of you. The other ghoul and Brand look equally surprised, but before the other pallid beast could get a nice bite out of you, he was already being siphoned away. The two suits crumple down.

The bell of the elevator signals the 10th floor. Pulling on the emergency stop, you slip past the doors while freezing the panel. You’re not sure if that actually does anything, but you just wanted to do something. It’s only after you get out that you realize there was a camera in the elevator. Fuck.

Giving Brand a gentle shove in the back, you motion for him to move. It takes you two a few minutes to find the skyway, and at the other end are three security guards greeting you with pistols. They don’t even bother telling you to stop, immediately shooting on sight.

“You can forget the visage, Brand. I don’t think it’s helping on any further.”

Ready?, a voice resounds in your head.

A question you can’t even answer. The guards, their footsteps and growling audibly growing near, are thrown off when the sound of glass cracking fills the air, a sniper bullet presumably taking care one of the guards. Rounding the corner on cue, you attempt to empty your Uzi onto the ghouls. In a few seconds you find that the wall has caught more bullets than the bodies.

“Let’s go,” you tell Brand.

From out the corner another ghoul bursts out, its claws extended. He swipes down tearing through coat and wax and winds to attack again, but his body is pushed back as Brand sweeps in, palm connecting to the face of the beast in an eruption of flame. The Candle’s arm follows through, sending the pallid guard back and onto the floor, soon to be turned into ashes.

“Really wish you’d given me a gun,” he complains.

Ignoring him, you freeze your wound and move on. An elevator awaits you, open and empty.

Roll 1d100, best of three.

>Take the elevator.
>Up the elevator shaft.
>Stairs.
>Write-in.

>>757959
I normally don't allow rerolls but since nobody else is here I'll use it.

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>758046
>>Up the elevator shaft.

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>758046
>>Up the elevator shaft.

>>758055
>>758106
Rolled 79. Good success.

In no time at all Brand has the paneling broken down and you get yourselves into the shaft. With the doors sealed shut with ice and camera destroyed, you find yourself free to scale up. Counting the floors, you eventually find the 14th floor and manage to pry open the doors without taking the plunge.

To your luck, no one is waiting for you outside. Across from the elevators are massive glass windows, the car park can be seen. You can’t see the birdcage and her sniper rifle, but you know she’s there.

The sound of shuffling quickly appears behind you, but Brand is already on it. As he runs off, footsteps come from the front too. Quickly, you check if you had reloaded, sliding away from the slight turn of the hallway. Just as an explosion comes from behind, you spin out, taking the ghouls completely by surprise. Their body jerks around as the Uzi fires, collapsing when you’re done. Two magazines left.

Up ahead. I think… second door to your left? Can’t miss it.

Careful, you raise your weapon as you glide forward. Passing a glass conference room, the appearance of two huge steel double doors stop you. A bit out of breath, Brand catches up to you.

“Gramps, I think more are coming,” he says, “Hurry.”

As if that was your cue, you rush through the door, foot first and sending it wide open. Across a glass table and two adjacent brown couches is a long, wooden desk. Engraved with gold, the name plate upon it shines as the red headed woman behind it gently puts her phone down. With a heavy sigh, she stands up and straightens her suit and skirt, pulling out two sabers from underneath the desk.

In a single step, she leaps onto the desk, blades pointed at you two. A bullet erupts through the drywall behind and toward the ghoul, who simply tilts her head to the side, dodging it.

Oops.

“I don’t think I should get close,” Brand says.

Roll 1d100, best of three.

>”I’ll cover you, go!”
>”Get back.”
>”To a window, where Sparrow can see better.”
>”Get in the room, I’m sealing us in.”
>Write-in.

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>758254
>>”To a window, where Sparrow can see better.”

Next vote in 5 decides or I flip a coin.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>758388
1, window
2, room

>>758276
>>758336
Rolled 81. Good success.

“Get in the room, I’m sealing us in.”

“What!?”

“I don’t want to be flanked,” you say, swiftly slamming the doors shut and turning them into popsicles.

Turning around, you find Brand sending a trickle of fire the ghoul’s way, causing her to retreat a little. You send a volley of bullets toward her, a good part of the magazine but not all. As if you were one step behind the entire time, she glides from one side of the room to another in a fluid motion, your bullets trailing behind. When you try to aim ahead, she ducks and jinks out of the way. Another sniper round tears through the air, and this time the ghoul deflects it with the side of a saber.

With no time to act impressed, you jump back your right hand grappling onto pot and its plant. In a second it flies through the air, frozen into a giant block of ice and straight in the trajectory of the woman. The ghoul swings quickly, stopped when one of her swords is stuck in. In the split second she slows, Brand steps forward in a blaze, a torrent of fire engulfing her. It is when he stops that you learn she had blocked it with the plant, now on the floor along with half of a saber. The woman’s eyes point from the mess to Brand.

She swings forward, her good sword lashing forth in a heavy arc. It almost takes out a chunk of Brand along with the door, if both of you didn’t move out of the way. Without skipping a beat, the ghoul continues, her quick footwork effortlessly carrying her toward the waxling, but not without interference. Caught between sniper rifle rounds and your Uzi fire, the girl attempts to retreat. However, the second shot from Sparrow connects, nailing the beast in the shoulder.

Behind her, you can see the blaze on Brand’s wick pulsate. Oh Inferno, he’s going to set building on fire.

Roll 1d100, best of three.

>Try to stop him.
>Try to provide cover for him and distract the ghoul.
>Try to deal with the ghoul yourself before he sets off.
>Write-in.

Going to stop here tonight, sorry. Not sure if I can run tomorrow; it depends on how well I'm feeling. Thanks for playing!

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>758498
>>Try to provide cover for him and distract the ghoul.

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>758498
>Try to deal with the ghoul yourself before he sets off.

>>760433
>Try to deal with the ghoul yourself before he sets off.

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>764032
Forgot to roll

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>764035
Reroll

>>760433
>>764032
>>764035
Rolled 41. Failure.

You run forward, the chill of your fire in every step as you close in. The empty magazine comes out, and a fresh one replaces it. Aiming straight at her, pull the trigger in bursts in an attempt to conserve ammo. The ghoul dodges at first, but when she sees you’re coming into range, she reacts by swooping around you, her sword now in the midst of a wide arc.

This is going to suck.

You swing your left hand at her, your entire arm lying straight into the path of the blade — and it connects. Through the wax it goes, stopping midway completely frozen. She tries to pull back, but can’t. You fire, and so does Sparrow.

Both of you miss as the ghoul leaps back, your bullets only grazing her face. Out of the corner of your eye you see Brand, already puffed himself up into a crashing inferno.

Shit.

Behind the couch you go, the eruption of twisting flame smashing past your side into the stunned ghoul, completely evaporating her and what’s behind. As it collides with the twin doors, the flame breaks and scatters all over the carpet and walls, igniting the building. And with the force, the doors are opened again and behind them are bunch of security guards: some lie on the ground taken out, some are lit up, and some are already poised to go.

At least you don’t have to worry about the CEO, who’s away on a business trip.

Pulling out the sword and freezing your wound, you…

>Take care of the guards and run out as fast as possible.
>Have Brand and Sparrow cover you as you rummage through the desk.
>Grab whatever you can and try to get out.
>Forget it, destroy every document in the room.
>Write-in.

Well I guess this is dead. Won't be updating this anymore, but thanks for reading, if anyone's still here.

>>773712
awesome stuff, hope this resumes someday