[LP CYOA] Epic

[Azira]

treave's sanity.

Ohwait, thread's already flagged as Anime. Nevermind.

 

[treave]

Don't force me to set The Brazilian Slaughter's scenario to J-pop.

 

[Storyfag]

Don't force me to set The Brazilian Slaughter's scenario to J-pop.

Please, his scenario is only half-anime. Dio should obviously assume a "One-Winged Angel" form for *pure* anime experience.

 

[treave]

Don't force me to set The Brazilian Slaughter's scenario to J-pop.

Please, his scenario is only half-anime. Dio should obviously assume a "One-Winged Angel" form for *pure* anime experience.

Challenge accepted.

...let the Devourer possess you to save the world...

No, Ean, you are the Devourer.

And then Ean was a dragon...tree.

 

[Azira]

 

[Storyfag]

Bah, fools, the master of the Masters is obviously the dog. Nobody would suspect the dog.

The dog is Shulgi The bastard has a well documented preference for canine forms.

 

[TOME]

Yeah I was wondering if Shulgi had the connection to the dog and gained power that way. And I'm too late again. Would have voted retreating for Ean.

Senya B. Kill the bastard.

 

[Esquilax]

We are being way too rash, I think in trying to kill Dio here. Just because we don't like him and he's an asshole doesn't mean that it's a good idea. Even though Dio is a liar, I believe that he was telling the truth when he said that fighting the Observer would be impossible.

“I can remake whatever you destroy,” I say dismissively.

“If you are confident of taking on Iae by yourself. Whereas that might have been possible when it was a passive existence, your contact with Iae has changed it, as much as it has changed you. Even if you manage to subdue it, there is no guarantee you will be able to successfully recover every piece of information that we delete. Do you want to chance that your loved ones might be among some of the lost? There is information that is more… fragile than most… shall we say?” The old man cackles, and instantly I know that he is talking about Kyrie. Even if she is here, right now, she is still information belonging to my universe. I never succeeded in transferring the victims of the Gray Death into another reality; if the universe is destroyed right now, she will go along with it… and with things as they are there is a high chance a lot of the information from the destroyed universe would be corrupted irrevocably.

As for root's question, what we absolutely need to save is the Master's original world, and hopefully Ean/Sekhenun as well due to their powers. Even a dead, barren universe could be rehabilitated with Ean's powers, I think.

As for this line:

“Did you dial down the setting?”

“No, I had it set on instant incineration. My Vajra is working fine. Perhaps it’s yours?”

I think this indicates that Master tech can be manipulated. Perhaps we can buy ourselves time even after the switch is pulled in some way? Wishful thinking, I know, but we have one or two days before the universe is fully reset, and I don't think that's enough time. If however, we can manipulate things in such a way to get more time, I'd feel more confident about it. In any case, whatever Dio's plans are, they involve Vajra. And these guys have just inadvertently revealed a bit of how Vajra works - I believe that we can use this to our advantage if he allow Dio to live. If it has settings that can be tinkered with, maybe we can tinker with them.

Senya A

 

[TOME]

“Did you dial down the setting?”

“No, I had it set on instant incineration. My Vajra is working fine. Perhaps it’s yours?”

I think this indicates that Master tech can be manipulated. Perhaps we can buy ourselves time even after the switch is pulled in some way?

I thought that line showed our regenerative powers. We regenerated faster than two Vajras incinerated.

 

[Esquilax]

I thought that line showed our regenerative powers. We regenerated faster than two Vajras incinerated.

That's true, but my point was that in doing so, the two Masters who fired upon us ended up unwittingly revealing a bit about how Vajra works. They are very secretive about their tech, yet now we know that it has settings that can amplify or diminish the extent of its powers. Sure, we don't know how to utilize them, but a hacker of Senya's caliber must be up to the task. Wouldn't it be a shame if we ended up broken and weary after our battle with I.A.E., with Dio thinking he has us weakened, that he finds out that the shiny toys he's equipped his crew with no longer work as intended?

I don't like risking Dio to live, but I think we still have other ways to beat him. He might have pulled out one hell of an ultimatum on us, but I think it's still winnable without having to wipe out the majority of existence.

 

[TOME]

Why didn't killing Cooper flip the universum's power switch? We can't let Dio and the masters live. Once IAE is out of the picture and our powers gone, who is going to stop 10 Vajra wielding soldiers scientists? And maybe we don't have to take out IAE.

Whereas that might have been possible when it was a passive existence, your contact with Iae has changed it, as much as it has changed you.

 

[treave]

Mm, well, if you don't believe Dio's spiel about universal reset, why believe him about Iae?

If we have to pick which of his words are truth and which are lies, we should do it with care and not only take what we want to believe.

 

[treave]

Embodiment of the Devourer

The landing was… shaky, to say the least. You clamber out of the wreckage of the missile, its warhead having been removed for a passenger module. All around you, missiles continue to crash into the enormous gaping hole that had been torn into the side of the Vajra Shula, each carrying a payload of those strong enough to survive the ride. This was the fastest way here. In order to slip past the fortress point defences and the drones, you had Adrahasis launch a massive volley of missiles, with the transports snuck in amongst them. The Sword of Ean, now commanded by Captain Garland, had managed to blow a hole in the fortresses’s side with a concentrated black hole volley.

You do a quick mental headcount as they arrive; Sekhenun slips out of the same missile you had been in. Erika, with one of her Dunamis clansmen. They had set out with twenty. Jheverg and Adrasteia made it, but they quickly tell you that Vermilis did not, nor did any of the Spirits that had volunteered. No security forces rush to intercept your landing; you’re not sure whether that’s a good thing or bad.

“Grand Marshal, we’ll secure the exit point.” The lead unit of Camna’s Cyclones deftly maneuvers his CF into the landing area, followed by the rest of his five-man team. Although their frames were scarred from the battle, they had managed to penetrate the Vajra Shula’s cordon without losing a man. You nod at him. The giant frame raises its mechanical hand in salute.

As you progress deeper into the base, you notice traces of battle that have taken place; some of the rooms and corridors are under repair. “Senya and Rei must have passed through here,” murmured Erika. After a while, you reach a service elevator, still having encountered no enemies. The automated defences were not working, and there were no staff to be seen. Except for the dim lights in the corridor, it is as if the whole fortress has shut down. You can sense the location of the piece – a few levels beneath you. The elevator is large enough to accommodate all six members of the party, and you descend into the depths of Vajra Shula together.

***

The Vajra piece awaits you in the reactor room. The center of the room is dominated by a large tank. The piece floats within, vibrating so intensely that the entire room is thrumming with the power that it is channeling. Endless arcs of electricity shoot forth from it. The only other thing of note are the two immortals that stand in your way. Well, you didn’t think it was going to be that easy.

They don’t bother with any pompous introductions, or declarations of their intent. The moment they see us, they spring to the attack. They’re strong – strong enough to bat away Jheverg with a single blow, and subdue Erika before she can react. Adrasteia leaps to Jheverg’s aid with a swift display of her pyrokinesis. A roaring inferno engulfs the enemy immortal, sending him reeling backwards. She immediately presses the attack as Jheverg recovers and uses his telekinesis to temporarily stop the other immortal advancing at Adrasteia’s back.

“Feeling left out?” mocks Sekhenun. You shrug and laugh. After all, you are still a blank, until the moment you choose to make yourself known. It’s no surprise the immortals instinctively went after those they thought had the most threatening presence. You place your hand on the floor, and concentrate, letting your power flow freely.

The metal gratings on the ground buckle and bend as thick roots shoot upwards, catching the combatants by surprise. You spring into action. As you break off a branch of the roots, it morphs seamlessly into Anbar-Shi in your hand. One of the immortals finally notices you as the source of the roots, and unleashes a cutting wind sharp enough to scythe through the roots with ease. You barely manage to evade it, the invisible edge leaving a long red line across your forearm. You don’t give the immortal the chance to launch another attack, as with your next step you reach him and bury your sword into his chest. Countless branches grow from the sword and envelop the immortal, sapping him of his vitality. Meanwhile, the other immortal has created a wall of ice to protect himself from Adrasteia’s flames. Hunkered behind his wall, he seems to be thinking rather calmly about how to defeat her.

Stop wasting time, Sekhenun tells you mentally. You see her pointing at the Vajra piece. Ignoring the immortal, you go over to the piece of Vajra. His eyes widen when he sees you reach out to touch it, and he’s about to try and stop you when he loses his concentration. Red hot flames incinerate him before he can regenerate.

You close your fingers around the Vajra piece, and re-establish the connection. Just like riding a horse, once you’ve figured it out the first time, you’ll never forget it.

“Uh oh,” you say. “That’s new.”

“What?” snaps Sekhenun, suddenly worried.

“I’m getting something about unauthorized access fed into my mind-“

Then, there is a flash of light as the fabric of reality tears around the Vajra.

***

You find yourself in total darkness.

In the darkness, something reaches out and touches you. It is mindless, ancient, and utterly hungry. It is also weirdly familiar.

The darkness recedes, and you see the Earth. You see a man that resembles your appearance, leading an army of chariots. The walls are familiar. Akkadian. The man conquers. The man consumes. The land, slowly but surely, becomes his, painted in blood. His rival immortals are defeated, cast down, and entombed. In two hundred years, his empire has stretched across the continent. In five hundred years, he has crossed the great oceans. In six hundred years, the entire planet is under the control of one being. One Emperor. And then, in total unity, technology begins to progress. Swiftly. Quickly. In a thousand years they have begun building habitats in the sky. The Emperor’s greed would not be limited to the earth. He would own even the heavens.

Great starships are constructed and venture out into the stars. His conquest would not stop, not for anything or anyone. In two thousand years he has subjugated the entire galaxy. He has won, and all that is left was to visit the throne of the oracles, in the galactic core. There, he learns the truth of it all, and knew despair. There would be no more worlds to conquer, nothing more he can obtain, no more deeds he can attain. The gods would bind him and destroy his people. They begin the process.

He rejects it. He frees himself, his desire for more greater than the desire to serve his gods. Perhaps their voices did not convey their divine intent with sufficient fervour. Perhaps the voices were damaged, although whether they were damaged before or after the Emperor rejected divine revelation, he does not know.

Then, he flees, back to his people, having stolen the knowledge of the gods in the process. They give chase, sending warships that can devastate stars faster than light can travel. He rises to the challenge, as does his people, seeking new and better ways of destruction. The Emperor’s tribe and the gods meet in battle, bringing death to countless systems. Even as he stands defiant, his universe begins to shrink, collapsing on itself. Whatever war he can wage is a hopeless one.

In his despair, he finds a way to survive. He transmutes his entire civilization, all ten trillion lives, into a bubbling, primordial mass of hopes and fears and dreams, and takes them unto himself. In this way he hopes to transcend the end of the universe. However, though the Emperor sought to embody his people, he finds himself developing a terrible hunger, multiplied by the irrepressible desires of the civilization that he has nurtured. He devours his people, soul by soul, piece by piece as the universe collapses, until all that is left is him and the divine voices still residing within him. They, too, are devoured. Then, the universe ends, and a new one begins.

The process shatters the Emperor into fragments. Though he survives, the divided pieces do not retain any more sense of self. Time itself wipes out any rationality he has left. After ten billion years, one of his fragments fall on fertile land; a rare few of his people have a stronger will than most, and manage to regain their form after their Emperor’s overwhelming existence has subsided into slumber.

You recognize the voices of the Emperor – they are the ones you once called your own, before you devoured them.

You recognize the form that his people eventually degraded into.

You recognize the utter ease at which you can make this power your own. You understand its nature very well. All too well. It’s something you have lived with for thousands of years, after all.

You devour the Great Devourer.

***

And you make the Vajra piece utterly yours, beyond the control of the Masters. Your fingers grip it firmly as you weave order from chaos, guiding your passage through the void.

You land on a massive, grey plain that stretches off as far as the eye can see. In the distance, you can see the bright blue marble of Earth, suspended in pure white space.

Your compatriots appear along with you, looking puzzled and confused except for Sekhenun. Her eyes are gleaming with keen interest as she stares at you. You know she’s reading what just happened from your mind. There is a loud crash behind you as Camna’s Cyclones bring their frames down in a controlled landing, having been caught up in the rift. There is no time for more words right now, however, as in front of you stand five figures hooded and cloaked in grey. The Masters.

“Had we known that you were actually a glitch caused by your predecessor, we would have terminated you earlier,” says one of the figures. “Would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

“We are to blame for being too curious, I suppose,” says another one, nondescript underneath its cloak.

Suddenly, the Dunamis man that Erika has brought along steps forward. Its visage shimmers and the man’s form begins to flow into more familiar features… Mere Tarliss – it is a rather powerful act of shapeshifting, something that should be beyond her powers. She walks towards the Masters with unsteady steps.

“I made it! I made it here!” she laughs, as she kneels before the Masters. “Gods. My gods. You’ve guided me here. What do you want me to do next?” The Masters look at each other, conferring for a while. The rest of your party gather around you slightly nervously. No one seems to want to make the first move. Then, one of the Masters waves its hand. A large cylindrical machine wavers into sight, appearing seemingly from thin air.

“Commence batch retrieval.”

At that instant, as the machine starts up, Mere and the other immortals in your party begin screaming in pain. You prepare to go on the attack, but ten complete Vajra staves flash into existence, two for each Master, and collectively generate a powerful shield that catches you off guard and knocks you off your feet. Mere disintegrates first, reduced to a visible mass of nanomachines that is swiftly sucked into the machine. Jheverg and Adrasteia begin to break down, and you wonder if you should try to help them with the tree’s powers, or launch an assault on the diamond veil protecting the Masters and the machine with the Devourer’s strength…

You don’t get to make that choice.

There is a weird crunching noise coming from the machine, and it explodes, scattering bits and gears everywhere. The distracted Masters fall back quickly, retreating to a safe distance.

“It took that fool girl long enough to get to this point,” complains a languid voice as a naked figure rises from the wreckage. “Well, I can’t complain. I messed up enough that I had to resort to this ploy.”

“You-“ one of the Masters begins in anger. Five more of the cylindrical machines appear and begin to start up, but they no longer have any effect. “You think your mastery over the voices surpasses mine?” Shulgi laughs. “I figured out how to turn myself into one, but I needed access to your technology to restore myself.” He waves his hand at Jheverg and Adrasteia, who are slowly getting back to their feet, dazed.

“I command their voices now, my Masters,” he says mockingly. “Not you.”

“Oh, shut up,” hisses one of the Masters.

A thousand lightning bolts rain down upon him. Shulgi narrows his eyes and leaps backwards, reaching your side with a single bound.

“All of our problems in one place. Great for us, but the cleanup is going to be messy,” sighs another of the Masters, seemingly unrattled by Shulgi’s appearance. “Hopefully Diogenes will do his job properly down there.” He snaps his fingers. Far above and behind him, there is a ripple in space as countless Vajra Shula fortresses begin to emerge.

“Well, that was certainly a dramatic appearance,” you say.

“It's not like I burst out of a tree,” Shulgi grins ferally, as he begins gathering his power, still naked.

Sekhenun rolls her eyes and stretches her hand out towards you. “I’ll do more good in this form.” You hold her hand as she discorporates, leaving behind a sleek, black sword in your grasp. In your other hand, you call upon Anbar-Shi, the sword growing around the piece of Vajra and incorporating it into itself.

Raising Anbar-Shi high, you concentrate all of your power, utilize all of your mastery, and rip open another rift.

The first thing to come through is the Sword of Ean, captained by Garland.

“Hell yeah! They said ramming the rift was suicidal, look who’s stupid now! The Unbreakable Sword of Ean is first into the fray, my friends!” shouts the good captain, as he carries millions of tons of rock and steel that he has renamed impromptu screaming into the Masters’ home dimension. After a while, the battleships of the Galactic Core Invasion Force begin to emerge from the gate in a more subdued manner.

One of the Masters steps forward, seemingly amused. The hood of the cloak is brought down, revealing a well-groomed young man wearing spectacles.

“A face-off, then?” It is the same Master that had called the fortresses. The Vajra in each of his hands sparks to life, putting out power exponentially greater than that of the measly single piece you have. “Let’s see what you bring to the table, Gilgamesh.” He smiles, anticipating your move.

You step forward, brandishing your swords, with a grin matching his.

 

[Storyfag]

Ahh, the loredump! It is so beautiful!

 

[Azira]

Only one piece? I would've thought Ean, when devouring the devourer, would have swooped up the two pieces in the void.

It seems the Masters had already picked those two up though?

 

[treave]

The pieces are still in the black hole.

 

[Azira]

Ah. My bad. So Ean could devour the devourer because it's an idea spread over more planes? The vajra isn't.

 

[treave]

Pretty much. I think I mentioned something along those lines back when the Devourer was trapped in the black hole. That all it did was contain the space dragon, and that the Devourer itself had other 'outlets'.

 

[Baltika9]

That was awesome. EPIC!, even. So, Marduk was a fragment of a previous Immortal, then. Interesting.

 

[Storyfag]

That was awesome. EPIC!, even. So, Marduk was a fragment of a previous Immortal, then. Interesting.

Every single Gieloth was.

And Shulgi WAS Mere. Or at least a voice in her head

 

[Esquilax]

So Marduk/Devourer was Ean-ish because it WAS Ean, or better saying, Ean 1.0?
That probably explains how Ean became a Immortal/Gieloth hybrid thing. He was ALWAYS a immortal/gieloth hybrid thing!

Sorta:

"You are... hm, this is interesting. We had thought number 1337 Gil to be lost to us, but here stands the host before me, and with a piece of Vajra in hand. This is very interesting."
...
“Let’s see what you bring to the table, Gilgamesh.” He smiles, anticipating your move.

The Masters are looking for an answer to their predicament and they do it through alternate timelines. It's more correct to say that the Devourer and Ean were both variations of Gilgamesh - so it's more accurate to say that they're Gilgamesh 2.0 and 3.0, respectively. @treave, is Ean the Devourer now? Speaking of Gilgamesh, what were the codes that Shulgi and Naram were given?

As for whether we can take this guy - two fully powered Vajras is no joke, but Ean has gotten far more powerful since he faced Zeus, and now he's even greater than he was before. Now that we've reformed the ultimate broteam* and Sekhenun is at our side, I say we've got a chance at beating these fucks.

* Oh man, one of my biggest regrets is not abandoning the Yellowstreaks earlier. If we managed to defeat Dio and survive by BROing up with Shulgi, the Masters would have been beaten a long time ago.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

This is all kinds of Epic.

Oh man, one of my biggest regrets is not abandoning the Yellowstreaks earlier. If we managed to defeat Dio and survive by BROing up with Shulgi, the Masters would have been beaten a long time ago.

In theory. Another theory is that had we not eaten the tree, every lemming here would have voted to trust Dio in the end and Dio would have become the Observer a long time ago...

edit: AND SHULGI KISSED US WTF?!

edit2:
After we rescued Mere...
Mere: Well, that was an adventure. That Senya is a serious threat though.
Shulgi: Kiss him.
Mere: What?! My Lords, no! Please don't make me kiss that strange boy!
Shulgi: Kiss him. With tongue. And slobber.
Mere: Well, ok...
Shulgi:

 

[Storyfag]

edit2:
After we rescued Mere...
Mere: Well, that was an adventure. That Senya is a serious threat though.
Shulgi: Kiss him.
Mere: What?! My Lords, no! Please don't make me kiss that strange boy!
Shulgi: Kiss him. With tongue. And slobber.
Mere: Well, ok...
Shulgi:

 

[Esquilax]

In theory. Another theory is that had we not eaten the tree, every lemming here would have voted to trust Dio in the end and Dio would have become the Observer a long time ago...

What lemmings? It's not as though opting to kill Dio then would have been much better - we just would have had Naram-Master attaining godhood instead of Dio. It would just be one asshole in charge instead of another.

No, supporting the Yellowstreaks got us away from the optimal ending before the Tree became an issue. Dio was using the Yellowstreaks to stifle Shulgi's information networks in the first place. The choice of trusting Dio that I'm referring to is if we had decided to go to Olympus instead of Crete when the shit was starting to hit the fan. In any case, it's certainly better that we went to Crete - devouring the Tree at least allowed Ean to save the world at the cost of denying us the epic broteam that we finally have now.

As for whether to allow Dio to live in this case, I think that there are more variables here for Dio to account for and he has less control of things than he would have back in Chapter 8. Senya got a little hint on Vajra, and we could potentially fuck up the Master's plans here within the void as well. I'm certain that Dio isn't lying about the reset.

 

[Baltika9]

edit2:
After we rescued Mere...
Mere: Well, that was an adventure. That Senya is a serious threat though.
Shulgi: Kiss him.
Mere: What?! My Lords, no! Please don't make me kiss that strange boy!
Shulgi: Kiss him. With tongue. And slobber.
Mere: Well, ok...
Shulgi:

Dude, Shulgi is the best wingman one can ask for. I bet he was trying to get Senya laid all this time, we just didn't know it.