Apotheosis Quest, (prequel 1 of 4)

>>841239
First choice goes. Write ins are always welcome, as long as they are in the spirit of the quest.

Your choices matter. You will almost certainly regret some, while others you won't fully appreciate until later.

Good luck! Oh, and feel free to name yourself.

>>841239
>You snuck out with your younger sister. Your dad did things to her. You had to protect her. You jammed the doors. The roof was thatch. He would never hurt anyone again
TIME TO OATH OF VENGEANCE THIS SHIT.

>>841275

You glance to your right, and your younger sister, barely a year younger than you, is kneeling in the hardpacked dirt, a blank, glassy look to her eyes that shimmers with the flames. Slowly, she turns to face you, but says nothing, but what would she say?

You turn back to the house. The flames are mounting. The screams go louder. You realize it must be your dad. They sound less scared and more infuriated, and you begin to worry. You're pretty sure you barricaded the doors, but you hadn't really planned any of this out. There was a shed nearby, where your family kept tools for clearing trees and general work. Your home was also nestled against a decent set of woods on one side, with a modest field for crops on the other, before it led up some foothills.

The screams turn into a rage, and you hear the sound of something slamming against the front door from inside... You think it should hold with just the logs you piled in front of it, but...

>What do you do?

>>841291
Go to the shed, get armed. Then try to help the house collapse faster.

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>841300
You grab your sister's hand, and practically drag her to the shed. She's clearly trapped in a nightmare, and will probably be no help at all to you. You open the shed, go inside, and find the best weapon you can, a...

>1-25: whittling knife
>26-50: hammer
>51-75: sledge
>76-100: axe

Rolled 38 (1d100)

>>841310
Rolling just in case you don't count yours.

Go and try to help the building collapse on your father.

>>841310
You grab the sledge. You've used it before to drive stakes and fenceposts. You could crush a ribcage with it, no problem... as long as they're not fighting back. And lying down, preferably... Maybe you should avoid direct confrontation without an advantage.

You kneel down in front of your sister.
"Emmy, I need you to focus, ok?" She looks into your eyes, and you're not entirely sure you're getting through. "Emmy, I have to go outside, I need you to hide, got it?" She stares out the window of the shed behind you, and then nods slowly. Without a word, she turns and crawls under a workbench, then back further into the mess of tools and refuse that fills your shed.

You pick up the sledge again, and test its weight in your hands. It is comfortable. You press your will into it, and a terrible oath is bound into its metal.

With a strange, detached calm, you sneak back outside, and are relieved to see the front door of your house is holding for the moment, but you don't hear the pounding anymore. The flames are large, but you don't think you're out of danger, not by a long shot.

You circle around, and come at the house from an angle where you won't be visible from the windows. You helped shore up some of the supports last winter, you know where it's weak... Well, weaker, anyway. You find a spot that's already been weakened by the fire, and you think if you can bring down this pole, it will start to collapse the building.

Maybe.

You begin laying into the support with all your strength.

>Roll for success, 1d100 if you'd be so kind.

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>841320
QM, an oath if I may?

"Hear, I shall have no qualms.
Here, I shall shall give no quarter.
There is no shelter from the storm."

>>841336
>Accepted.
>Highly Successful

Your sledge drives through the beam on the second swing, and with a peal of thunder, that quarter of the house begins to collapse. You stagger backward, embers and ash blasting outward as the roof caves in. Theres a pained scream from inside, but you don't think you killed him. Fortunately, the collapse didn't leave any easy exit from the interior, but you suspect that you got pretty lucky. As you are considering your next move, you hear the sound of glass shattering, and then more pained screams. It sounded like it came from the far side of the house. Ice courses through your veins when you remember that there is a window there. And that window is closer to the shed than you are.

>Action

>>841336
(one more action phase then I'm going to have to call it a night.)

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>841349
Rush over to the other end, ready to smite.

>>841368
>Unfortunate

You stumble a little as you desperately sprint to the far side of the house, but you're slightly too late. He's outside now, and while he's cradling his left arm, which is bleeding profusely and hangs limply at his side, and he seems to be covered in burns, you've never seen him this angry. He locks eyes on you and you can see the moment of realization wash over him.

"You FUCKING piece of SHIT!" He bellows, and before you can formulate a plan, he's barreling toward you. He's lost a bit of his physique in the last couple years, but he is still a bear of a man, easily a foot and a half taller than you.

On the bright side, his left arm seems to be all but useless, and you there are burns across his face. You doubt he can see you very well. The Sledge thrums in your hand, and you can feel the weight of the Oath press against your mind. Your sister won't run or fight back if you fall here, now.

Final decision, then game pause depending on outcome.

(you may want to specify a tactic. Something, anything to give yourself an advantage.)

>>841376
(if no reply in 5 minutes, calling it for the night.)

>>841376
Breathe in, breathe out. accept the fact that it has come to this.
If he can't see well, move so that you aren't framed by the shadows.
His left side is ruined, so he can't block, only try to dodge. AIM FOR HIS LEFT KNEE, if he can't run, he can't fight.
He will likely try to use our fear of him to gain an advantage, not to mention fighting dirty. Get ready to take some pain to end this.
>>841393
Sorry, just saw the update.

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>841395
Rolling for you. Godspeed.
>You have advantage.

>>841395
...
(you may roll for yourself...)

Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>841376
>>841413
Sorry, forgot to...also, thanks.

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>841418
And the autofill killed my advantage

File: Brilliant!.jpg (85KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

85KB, 1024x768px

>>841420
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>841418
You take a deep breath, and step back into the shadows, and strafe to your right. He's barreling toward you, telegraphing a heavy swing with his right arm. The Oath presses into your fingers, and you swing with everything you have, just as he reaches you.

You take a glancing blow, as he clearly struggles to see where you are. You still see stars from the contact.

In contrast, your Sledge swings into his chest, at an awkward oblique angle between his dead arm and his ribcage. You are rewarded with a sickening thud, a painful reverberation in your hands, and a wet rasping noise.

There's a still moment, then another wet rasp, and this time a little blood showers onto your face. You ruptured his lung. He collapses, slowly, clutching at your clothes, before crumpling to the ground...

As you stare at his dying body, all you feel is relief.

>Resolve Up
>Ruthless Up
>Strength Up
-------
>Left Eye, Blackened
>Minor burns
>Right arm mysteriously numb

>>841434
(pausing here for the night.)
(I'll answer any preliminary questions that won't spoil storyline for the next 8 minutes)

>>841434
>>841439

Since I am not sure if the options at the bottom are options or notifications, I am going to request that Mr. MC here says that he isn't doing this out of rage, but justice. He then repeats his Oath, and ends the man's suffering.

(For your reading pleasure: https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Powder_Keg_of_Justice)

>>841439
Also, thanks for running this, even if I am the only one who is currently doing it. Hopefully you can let me know when the next one starts?

>>841446
I have a twitter. I'll post when game starts.
@orca_underwatch

>>841443
They are notifications. I'll clarify next time. Think of it as an end of confrontation status report.
The man is already dead, and you're hardly a paladin. Standing up for someone doesn't make you lawful good. Plan A was let him burn to death, after all.

>>841451
...Just wondering, but have you read about the new 5e paladin rules? Just cause you're a pally, doesn't mean you are LG or CE, just means you follow an Oath.

When I said, 'he repeats his Oath' I thought that you had implied he had made one with the line:
>"You press your will into it, and a terrible oath is bound into its metal."

>>841469
In this circumstance, you have actually imbued the sledge with your will, which, unbeknownst to your character, has effectively created a minor enchantment on the weapon. You discover this with a cursory out of combat inspection, but the nature of The Oath, its potency, effects, etc, are unclear to you, as well as how you created an enchantment in the first place. You haven't exactly practiced any magecraft to speak of.

>>841474
Oh, that's actually pretty cool. Also, just want to confirm that you know that Paladins are now no longer utter foshbags. The creativity of how to play them is now more in the hands of the player than the DM.

>>841482
Not to worry, this isn't a DND clone/spinoff.

Without spoiling the story, we are going to be leaving this character alone for a while. There are three others we need to meet, and then we can move on with the story.

Goodnight!

>>841483
Alright, night then! Might as well leave my name so you know when I get back.

>>841434

With a backward glance at your home as more of the structure crumbles in on itself, you head back over to the shed.

"Emmy, it's done. You're safe now." She doesn't say anything, and you feel a little bit of annoyance creep up on you, but you force it back down. "We should go."

She crawls out from beneath the workbench and, head hanging low, follows you out the door. She takes one look at the burning wreck and starts walking off into the woods.

"Emmy, where are you going?" you call after her, but realizing that she's probably not going to answer, you follow her off into the woods. She walks with confidence, like she knows where she's going, so you just follow for a while. It's only a couple minutes before you find yourself somewhere you recognize. It's a small clearing in the woods where the two of you had built a little fort last summer. You weren't sure how she found it so easily, because you were struggling to recognize the area in the dark.

She leans against the side of the rough wooden structure, and slides down until she's sitting on the damp earth.

"Gregor... what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?" you reply, just glad to hear her voice.

"You killed him. I know you did." She looks you in the eye and you feel ice trickle down your spine. "You killed him."

"I did it to protect you!" you shout back.

"And now what?!" she begins to break down, choking back sobs, "We're alone now. We're just kids, we have barely anything to eat, it's at least a days hike to Pesta, and the people there know us. They'll have questions, and they won't understand. So what are we going to do, Gregor?" She huddles her legs up against her body as the sobbing becomes unbearable.

Your grip tightens on the heavy metal hammer in your hands. You hadn't thought that far ahead.

"We'll make it work Emmy. I know how to work the traps, you've helped cook. We won't starve. We made it through that awful winter two years ago, we'll be fine for a while. And hells to Pesta. It's a shit hole of a town..." An idea begins to form. "We'll build up some stores, and then head east, to Huntington, then take the ferry to the Bulwark."

Her head snaps up at this.

"You can't be serious."

"I am."

"You're barely 13, Gregor. I don't turn for another 4 moons."

"They don't know that. For all they know we could both be 14." She stares at you evenly, and begins wiping the tears off of her face, before she catches sight of the sledge in your hand, marked with blood. She eyes it for a long moment, then nods slowly.

"The Bulwark it is then." She pauses for a moment, clearly working out some logistics in her head. "It would take us at least three days to get to the Huntington ferry. It shouldn't be hard to scrounge up enough to make it."

"So we're doing this then." She looks up at you again, her jaw set into a tight line.

"You haven't left us much choice." she says, then shakes her head. "I'm sorry, I know you meant to protect m--" She chokes back a heaving sob.

>>842241
You set down the hammer and sit down next to her, cradling her against your shoulder.

"We'll worry about it tomorrow." You run your hands through her hair, willing everything to be alright. She slowly calms down and her breathing becomes even and steady again. "We're going to make it Emmy. We'll be fine."

(Chapter End: Gregor, the Sledge)
>Fortunate

>Chapter 2, Player 2, start!

Your name is Rahima. You are a ten year old girl, and are nothing if not your father's daughter. From the time you were old enough to crawl, you were groomed for power. You didn't understand, but understanding wasn't required. All you needed to know was that you must succeed, and so you did. Over, and over, you succeeded, burning past your peers, and quickly tapping out what you could learn from most of your instructors.

You were destined, like your father, and your grandmother, and every other preceding Firstborn of the Sansin blood, to wield immense power. Raw magical talent, of course, would carry you far, but your family had built a vast empire, and you would inherit it all, for better and for worse, and nurture it to the best of your abilities. After all, the Sansin's were responsible for...

>A sprawling tribal empire, inhabited by harsh, unforgiving people who had learned to thrive in harsh, unforgiving lands. The high desert of the Tanshyr range honed them into warriors, but it was your ancient ancestor who turned them into conquerors.

>A massive business empire, that had successfully achieved near-monopoly status on a number of incredibly valuable, and incredibly rare, commodities. You had little understanding of the business yet, but you have heard whispers that no coin moves without your father's notice, and that having his backing in war is to be assured victory.

>A sovereign nation, known for high walls, locked doors and a distrust for outsiders. No one on the outside knew what was going on behind those walls, but the Academist Mages of Omeed had delved deep into the fundamental secrets of magic, and others dreaded the day when they decided they were no longer satisfied with their modest country.

Is this a collective game with remarkably low participation or a more traditional RPG, 1 player per character?

Have a bump, either way.>>

>>846301
There are going to be four characters to start with, they are group controlled.

New party members may join, or some may be lost.

>>846314
>>845546
(Apoth Quest is back!)
(still waiting on decision from previous turn)

>>850240
Allllllrighty then. I'll check back tomorrow and if there's no responses well... guess that's a sign!

Goodnight Qst.

>>845546
Voting for Tribal empire.

>>845546
>A sprawling tribal empire, inhabited by harsh, unforgiving people who had learned to thrive in harsh, unforgiving lands. The high desert of the Tanshyr range honed them into warriors, but it was your ancient ancestor who turned them into conquerors.