>>1096512
Ooo Timewinder is good incase something messes up later.

I vote A, if its our friends, cool (hopefully wont attack us), and if it's an enemy, we are prepared, and we are kind strong and cool and stuff.

B. Our forces should have retreated if they were wounded. Someone was likely captured. This might be a rescue mission now.

A. If it's an ally we can team up and get info, if it's an enemy we need to KO them before they give away our location or track us (NO WITNESSES) (nonlethal)

A. Make sure you keep the upper hand - even allies won't recognize you in this condition!

A. What if its a cute little animal mascot character that can follow us around, and sell plushies to the viewers at home?

>>1096537
Cute little mascots are either perfect little buddies or amoral monsters with eldritch powers.
No overlap.
But!
They are always marketable.

Seconded on that A

Looking cool there Kench

A) sneak up on the rustler

tippler 2024/08/28(Wed)16:47 No. 1096614 ID: 9ea24b
File 172488885960.png - (13.38KB , 500x500 , p72.png )

>A, but stay on guard
Even your allies wouldn’t recognize you with your new, roguish charms. You carefully take out the pincer and sneak towards the guilty bush.

It rustles again, and you hear a few terrified, female whispers. Not your allies then, but also probably not the Girltown aggressors. Weighing the odds, you decide to speak up.

You: Psst, hey! Is someone in there? I might be a scary stranger but I’m here to help.

More whispers, and then two girls poke their heads out of the bush. One has pink hair, as Kage foretold, and the other is the bunny. Both look haunted, pupils wobbly as they take in your foreign form.

???: I’m Baitu and this is Yana. Are you related to the purple demon? Where did you come from?

You: I’m Kench and yeah, I know Kage. I’m looking for my friends that should have come through here, we’re trying to retrieve Kage’s sword.

Baitu: We met them while we were running from Mura, Mushi told us to hide here while they went ahead.

Yana: Mura’s the one who took the sword! She got real worked up about what we should do about the invader an’ there was a big argument and she sliced three out of the seven of us.

Baitu: She also broke the button to call the Creator so there’s nothing we can do, Doka was the only one besides us she didn’t cut and we only got out because we’re weak.

tippler 2024/08/28(Wed)16:48 No. 1096615 ID: 9ea24b
File 172488891060.png - (14.73KB , 500x500 , p73.png )

You: Whoa okay, so there’s four of you girls alive, my friends are here somewhere, and basically only one evil person to watch out for. Does Mura have any weaknesses?

Yana: She’s soft for Doka but I dunno what else. She’s really strong and stubborn.

Baitu: We saw Doka take all the bodies to the dorms to try and heal them, if you want and try to get her help.

What do you do?
A. Show them how to get to Boysville (immediate safety for the girls and you can go find Mura or Doka afterwards) PINCH UNFAVORED

B. Tell them to keep hiding while you search for Mura or Doka (delays the issue until you resolve the conflict, Mura might find them first)

C. Tell them to come with you while you search for Mura or Doka (they’ve implied they’re in the bottom two power rankings of the girls, but might still help in a fight)

C. You know how to fix people, kinda! Look for Doka and then they'll be two extra hands to help with the stitching.

>>1096615
C. And go straight to searching for Mura. Mushi is going to go straight for her to protect the innocent, Gun is going to go straight for her for a fight, and Wallace is just going to go along with them. The two girls can just throw things to distract her in the fight and it'll probably be worth a few % of advantage.

We can help Doka patch up the wounded once the threat is stopped. It'll be a opportunity to test out our welding idea too.

>>1096616
I like C and showing them how to fix people up

>>1096615
C
Once we stop mura hurting people, then we can show you the magic of a fully passed textiles course and

C, we're getting that sword back.

tippler 2024/08/30(Fri)12:48 No. 1096708 ID: 9ea24b
File 172504731056.png - (11.53KB , 500x500 , p74.png )

>C, go after Mura, you can help Doka sew people up later
You: Let’s stop Mura and get the sword back before she hurts anyone else. You two come with me, try to keep as quiet as possible.

Baitu: We can do that.

The girls emerge from the bush and you take their hands since you have arms to spare. The trail of dye leads to the school, where you pick up a new smear going down into the park.

>Random injured lad: Gun
You don’t want to leave the cover of the buildings and from the bushes next to the shop you see that fluorescent red leads to a neatly bisected Gun. Hm. In your expert textiles opinion you’d consider this an extreme injury and even if you sewed him back together Gun would have to be very careful to avoid opening the wound.

It doesn’t take long to spot Wallace and Mushi hiding in a tree since the leaves aren’t dense enough to hide the monster’s slinky form. They aren’t moving from their defensive position.

>Stealth check (75%): Failure
>Random injured girl: Baitu
Your sharp senses alert you to movement from the top of the school and you dodge to the side, just in time to avoid the blade that cuts through the white rabbit, separating her arm at the shoulder and slicing the front of her dress.

You get your first good look at Mura, who has long black hair, dark tights, and a skirt. You’re noticing a trend with all of these schoolgirl outfits.

Since you were caught off guard, you don’t have time for a counterattack. Yana tugs on your hand and wails in fear.

tippler 2024/08/30(Fri)12:48 No. 1096709 ID: 9ea24b
File 172504732323.png - (14.26KB , 500x500 , p75.png )

>Fight 2: Kench, Yana, Wallace, and Mushi vs. Mura
You are armed with Pinch’s pincer and have the Timewinder spell. Wallace is armed with his deadly scythe and Mushi has the Dramatic pause spell. Yana has no weapons or spells.

As a reminder, the baseline chance of success is calculated by Chance of Success = 1 - (Strength Rank You - Strength Rank Enemy + 5) x 10%. Baseline chance of success can’t be lower than zero. Since you’re a fusion, your baseline chance will be Pinch’s plus Kentaro’s.

The scream has alerted Mushi and Wallace, but they don’t know you’re here. Suggest your battle strategies.

>>1096709
lets shut her down immediately, and Timewinder Kage's sword so that Mura no longer has it.

>>1096711
If Timewinder only undoes one effect, we should save that for Gun's bisection.

Yana is panicked, toss her to safety.
Baitu's arm is technically indestructible aside from being cut, right? That gives you another weapon to wield in your extra hands. You could use it as a garrote, or to trip up a limb. Call for Wallace. Use your dagger to parry and line up a clean strike for him.

>>1096709
Let pinch take the wheel for fighting.
She has good reactions.
Kentaro can focus his attention on analysing her movements and predicting her tactics.

Plus kentaro can try psychological warefare during the engagement.
"Wow. Whose side are you on? That poor bunny girl."
Etc.

>>1096717
Good idea. Pinch can be Body in Charge, Kentaro will be Information in Charge. If she needs help with the second set of arms, we can jump in to improve the multi-tasking there.

We should definitely open up with a battle yell announcing loudly that you are Pinch or Kentaro, so that your allies know you are here, but do not call FOR them. That way they know you're here but Mura doesn't know they're here. Lets them get the drop on her.

The pincer isn't very deadly on its own, since it's designed more as a stealth weapon, but it can probably parry Kage's sword. Keep it focused on defense.

>>1096715
We could probably use the stretchy homunculus limb to tangle up her sword arm with our second set if we can get in close. We should try to set her up for a dis-arming by Wallace.

tippler 2024/09/01(Sun)18:07 No. 1096797 ID: 9ea24b
File 172523922154.png - (17.47KB , 500x500 , p76.png )

>Timewinder mechanics
To your understanding the spell targets one entity and restores it to its physical condition prior to some causal event in the past day. You’re not sure how much a day is in units of long times, but you don’t think the spell would teleport the sword back to Kage anyway. The best use of the spell would be for someone severely wounded.

>Best combined suggestion strategy: Let Pinch lead the fusion and use Baitu’s arm as a weapon while Kentaro analyzes Mura and yells to Wallace
>Baseline chance of success: 40%+0% = 40%
>Bonus chance with good strategy: 15% (Pinch’s part) +15% (Kentaro’s part)
>Fight win (70%): Success
You toss Yana behind you into the bushes and parry Mura’s first strike with your dagger, dark blade coming dangerously close to your fingers due to the lack of a hilt.

You: Give back Kage’s sword, Mura! Why would you hurt Baitu, whose side are you on? Also anyone in the vicinity should come help pleaaaaaaase–

With your bonus set of arms you pick up and fling the bunny’s dismembered limb toward Mura’s legs, tripping her. She doesn’t seem at all bothered by the moral quandary of mutilating her fellow girls but she does lower her guard enough that you quickly stab her face, creating a small, leaky wound.

tippler 2024/09/01(Sun)18:07 No. 1096798 ID: 9ea24b
File 172523923811.png - (8.33KB , 500x500 , p77.png )

>Make space for Wallace
You keep up the pressure, slicing Mura a few times with the tip of the dagger as she kicks away Baitu’s arm and tries to regain the advantage. It would be bad if she ran away, so you position yourself so that her back is to the park.

This sets up the perfect moment for Wallace, who you spot slinking up from behind Mura. He bunches up on his back two bodies as you parry another strike, then pounces forward and perfectly slices off Mura’s sword bearing limb at the elbow.

>Wallace safety check: Success
Mura tries to grab her blade with her remaining hand but passes out before she can retaliate. The goth flops onto her face in the grass and you snatch up the sword before anyone gets any ideas.

Mushi arrives to comfort Yana, his own eyes wide at all the carnage. You’re surrounded by dye and seriously injured homunculi. What do you do?

A. Take the sword and Gun’s body and leave immediately (Doka and Yana will be the only surviving girls)

B. Tend to the girls before leaving (risks them finding the exit hole) PINCH UNFAVORED

>>1096798
We're a protagonist, so unfortunately we gotta be nice and make sure that they don't dieeeeee...
Ok Mura we could probably let die.

Then we flee into the darkness!

A
Lets bounce, but at least part the knowledge that getting everyone back to their beds and sewing them up could help save them. We should send a party back here to help with that. We should timewinder Gun before we jump, I think.

>>1096798
Good job, Wallace.

B. We can afford a bit of deviance. We still need to learn what printer these girls came from, and it's not like it matters they know where the hole is so long as we make sure Mura isn't getting back up.

B. Our escape is why they got hurt, we’re cleaning up this mess. Also, Baitu technically helped us out, with her arm.

tippler 2024/09/03(Tue)18:56 No. 1096894 ID: 9ea24b
File 172541496208.png - (17.99KB , 500x500 , p78.png )

>B
Well okay, it’s not like the girls will actually die from the dye loss. They just won’t, uh, ever regain consciousness unless Yana and Doka figure out how to sew them together and that just doesn’t sit right with the Kentaro half of you. Dammit! Stupid guilty nerd feelings.

You: Wallace, pick up Gun, Mura, and Baitu so we can go to the dorms. It’ll be easier to sew everyone up in one place since there’s more bodies there.

Wallace: Who’re you again?

You: Oh right, I’m Kench, a fusion of Kentaro and Pinch! I have all the powers of mental stability and punching and kicking and biting.

Wallace: Wow! We didn’t know what was wrong when you didn’t land here with the rest of us, and then we got chased by this scary lady. I’m glad you made it.

You: Me too, we got what we came for and now we can repair everyone. Mushi, I’ll need your sewing skills.

Mushi: R-right. Now’s not the time to be upset, as long as we sew these girls together it’ll be like nothing bad happened.

You sling Mura over your shoulder and tuck her arm into your pocket before leading your merry troupe along the dye smear to the dorms.

Inside you find a mess of dye and butchered bodies, with a girl who must be Doka sitting amongst them, eyes hollow, wearing a cute pink dress splattered with red.

tippler 2024/09/03(Tue)18:56 No. 1096895 ID: 9ea24b
File 172541498288.png - (16.22KB , 500x500 , p79.png )

You don’t want to linger, so you explain things as simply as possible, promising not to return unless absolutely necessary. Mushi doesn’t take the hint from your angry squint and sews up Mura alongside the others. Eh, without the sword she shouldn’t be a threat.

Doka still seems dazed even after you have everyone safely in bed, which matches Yana’s blank expression. Uh, hopefully that’ll sort itself out. Homunculi don’t get traumatized, do they?

>Hole stealth check: Failure
After polite goodbyes you leave the dorm of Girltown, eager to return home. You bring up the rear of the lads and wince when Wallace has an awkward take-off, flopping around the hole and dangling half-disappeared before heaving himself into Boysville. Doka’s pink hair pops up in the nearest dorm window and you have a sinking suspicion that she saw.

Ah, the lovely untarnished grass and gray paths of Boysville. Between the time you spent in the hub room and how long it took to sew everyone back together, the next monster should be due to arrive.

A. Go to the school (you’ll give Kage the sword and the sheath)

B. Head toward the monster with Wallace (why do we always have to bother the monsters, huh?) PINCH UNFAVORED

C. Take Gun to the dorms with Mushi (you could use the show of goodwill)

>>1096895
Probably C, and also probably use Timewinder to help our friend who is nearly cut inhalf?

>>1096895
A, let's heat up part of the sword with the cooking equipment and see if hot black blades can melt homunculi polymer. That way we can test welding Gun back together, and if that works better than stitching we can weld Mushi's hand back on.
If not, then we're going to need to go back to the drawing board.

We can let Wallace to go meet the new monster, I suppose. Seems like that's where he plans to go himself, which is good. Wallace is a good boy and reasonably capable in a fight if things go poorly.

IF we do C, don't blow Timewinder on Gun, just give him the stitch job. He's kind of unhinged, and he's an ally of Raito. Save Timewinder for if someone we actually care about is mortally injured. Or us!

A, we're going to fulfill our promise! (And surely, our promise to prevent the monsters harming anyone, soonish.)
Definitely use the Timewinder to heal our bifurcated buddy.

Pinch is uneager to stealthy scout and possibly ambush? Perhaps this'll be less fun than expected. Go with option 3 since 1 is not time sensitive.

A, just be mindful that you look like a new rouge armed with two dangerous weapons. Stow 'em.

>>1096911
Heated black metal...
Yes.
Its worth a shot.
The only thing better would be a roll of flex tape.

Maybe try on something less important than the sword first though.

>>1096964
My initial thought was to use one of the pincers, but we kind of promised to return that to Pinch. And the only other blades are currently attached to Wallace and the Rattuses.

At least with The Sword, we can use the back of the blade. It seems like a single edged sword, so as long as we don't mess up that edge it should be okay.

tippler 2024/09/06(Fri)11:05 No. 1097046 ID: 9ea24b
File 172564595330.png - (11.21KB , 500x500 , p80.png )

>A, but bring Gun to be repaired and test the hot metal trick
You: Hey Mushi, let’s take Gun to the school and sew him up there first. We can give Kage your sheath, I’m sure she’ll be very grateful. Wallace, you go meet with the new monster and catch them up on what we’re doing to escape. I trust you to handle it.

Both lads nod and Wallace scurries away while you and Mushi enter the school. Inside you see Rattus, Kage, and Raito all sitting at the same table. Raito is in the middle of laughing at something Rattus said, but stops to dramatically gasp in horror at the sight of Gun’s two halves.

Raito: What happened to my dear friend Gun? And who is this strange pink demon?

You: Kentaro and Pinch fusion, call me Kench. Those ladies in Girltown were serious business and one of them sliced Gun, but we had a successful mission overall.

Kage: Yay, you got my sword back! Yako and Craw just left to check for a new monster cause they were worried that you guys weren’t back yet and it’d been a long time.

Raito gets up and makes a big show of fussing around Mushi, who’s holding the butchered boy. You give Kage her sword and the sheath and she straps it to her waist.

Kage: I’ve been watching Raito like you told me to, he hasn’t done anything except hang out with us, and we’ve been listening to Rattus talk about the dirt world. There’s a lot of people there and it’s big. Bigger than we could even imagine, with all kinds of people and jobs outside of home economics, and weird meat magic!

You: That sounds cool. I need to test something on Gun before I sew him up.

tippler 2024/09/06(Fri)11:06 No. 1097047 ID: 9ea24b
File 172564597340.png - (13.57KB , 500x500 , p81.png )

There’s plenty of metal pans and utensils in the cooking course that you can heat up without needing to use the special black weapon material. If you really wanted to you could make direct contact between the burner and homunculi flesh. After a quick test with the back of a ladle, you find that heat softens the surface layer of skin enough that a normal metal needle can poke through it. Before you can try your soon to be patented hand on stove technique, Raito speaks up.

Raito: Kench, do you know what you’re doing?

You: Well, kinda. I’m testing a hypothesis to use heat to seal wounds so we don’t have to only rely on sewing them.

Raito: But why are you testing it on poor, helpless Gun? Don’t you have plenty of minions? Even experimenting on yourself would make more sense.

Raito: And why is it that the only people who have been injured so far have been normal homunculi?

Mushi: He’s right, Kench. Even if you haven’t meant for it to happen, it’s only us who’ve been getting hurt.

A. Use the Timewinder spell to heal Gun (as a show of goodwill)

B. Put your hand on the stove (to see what happens before you do it to Gun) PINCH UNFAVORED

C. Rebuke Raito and Mushi (you’re trying your best here!)

C. It’s not all normal homunculi, it’s Gun specifically because he lives a high risk lifestyle! Kentaro’s been hurt too.

C
We would like to point out that both halves of ourself have been hurt. Kage got jumped too. Just because Ratio hasn't seen you bleed doesn't mean you haven't for them.

I've got to go with C, with A as the backup plan. In our defense, NO ONE expected the monsters to show up, and we were woefully unprepared for it. It's best to test this method on someone who is already injured. If it doesn't work, we have Timewinder to fix the initial damage(remind them its a one use on the same day spell). If they really dont want us to test on our bisected friend, we can test the method on someone who is slightly less bisected.

C) hold out Pinch's fang and remind them that one of you had her teeth cut off and the other got stabbed.
Assure them that you'll be very careful.

>>1097047
C, but gently.
Tell them how since youve got here every action youve taken has been focused on putting right the damage caused.
You did the textiles course with the sole goal of being able to heal the most heavily injured.
Not for fun.
Not for the prize.
To fix people.
Trying this on anyone is the last thing you want to do, but if it can result in cleaner healed wounds everyone benefits. Even long after you and the others have left this place.
They know gun better than you, but even you could tell if he was given the choice between a more solid healing or the best stitching you could do, hed take the risk.
Not just for himself, but for the others who will benefit.
Besides...
Let it be known that the time turner is held in reserve so if anything goes wrong it can be reversed.

>>1097047
Well, if Pinch doesn't want to take the risk, we can't just do B without her consent. I'd jump straight into the hand on stove technique if it was just us, but it's her body too.

But Timewinder is too existentially valuable to use in anything but an emergency. Luckily no one actually knows about it either, since Pinch is a sneaky devil about it. Let's not mention it at all.

C. I wouldn't completely dismiss their claims that normal homunculi have been the ones getting hurt, but Kentaro has also been the one testing and pioneering ways to repair the damage.

And they're not wrong to be worried about their friend. If something goes wrong, we could ruin Gun's torso and compromise his body permanently. We should at least stitch him conscious and get his informed consent before attempt any procedure.

If Mushi wanted, we could also test with an attempt to reattach his hand. There's still a risk of losing it, so don't pressure him.

>>1097058
Even better, one of 'us' had their teeth cut off after biting the other on the face. Now we worked together and stopped a deranged serial killer from another town. It's a hell of a best we're doing here.

tippler 2024/09/07(Sat)11:10 No. 1097118 ID: 9ea24b
File 172573260931.png - (13.31KB , 500x500 , p82.png )

>Strong C
You don’t want to wait until after Gun wakes up to ask for his permission because that’ll take a long time and you likewise won’t be able to remove any side effects with Timewinder because you’re pretty sure a long time is more than a day. Since you’ve decided not to use the spell, you’ll keep the fact that you have it a secret.

You: Both Pinch and Kentaro have gotten hurt, remember? Pinch stuck Kentaro with her pincers and then got them cut off in retaliation. No one expected all of this to happen, especially not for there to be weapons that caused catastrophic injuries. I’ve been trying to minimize damage and help fix people this whole time! Everyone benefits if I do this experiment, and I’ll be super careful.

Mushi: Okay, that’s all true, but those injuries aren’t on the same scale as ours and even if you have been trying to help it doesn’t give you permission to experiment on us. If you’re not willing to test the stove on yourself first, I’m going to ask for Gun back so I can sew him together and put him to bed.

You: What? C’mon Mushi, you know Gun would take the risk if it meant he could fight again.

Mushi: Maybe, but he can’t tell us right now, can he? Doing something like this would just be wrong. Give me Gun or I’ll push the button and call the Creator here to fix everything.

Even Raito looks surprised at this ultimatum and Kage gets up from the chair to block Mushi’s path to the button. The green-haired boy puts up his fists.

Raito: Everyone calm down, let’s not fight. Kench, it’d be best if you gave us Gun.

Mushi: Um, but please prep him for sewing with your pincer before you hand him over.

tippler 2024/09/07(Sat)11:10 No. 1097119 ID: 9ea24b
File 172573262815.png - (21.83KB , 500x500 , p83.png )

You scowl at Raito and prepare to tell him and Mushi to fuck off, but you’re interrupted.

Rattus: Kench, they think–

Rattus: We think–

Rattus: I think that you should listen to my friend Raito.

You: Your friend?!

Rattus: Yes, he has been a good audience to my stories and helped me understand the Creator better. He’s an intelligent young fellow.

Rattus: I like him!

Raito: Oh thank you Rattus, I’m honored you consider me a friend. I know you’re a very responsible and moral individual, just like our Creator.

You: What are you planning, Raito? I know you have a grudge against me and Kage.

Raito: A grudge against you? No no, I’m just here to witness the moment when Craw realizes I was right all along and we should have reported abnormalities like we were told to. I’ve already achieved inner peace by focusing on the important things in life, such as making friends and keeping them safe from nefarious influence. I trust that the Creator, who really sounds like a very nice person, will come to set things right even if you decide to continue down the path of evil.

You’ve discovered Raito’s scheme to…live a fulfilling, happy life? He said it in an awfully annoying way though, and it’s at least somewhat out of spite. Curses, you might not have many normal homunculi allies left if he’s been talking to them.

A. Apologize and try to salvage the situation (hand over Gun’s body) PINCH UNFAVORED
B. Tell Raito and Mushi to scram (you’ll heat test Gun’s body)
C. Go full villain and tell Kage to slash the button (you have proof this works from Girlstown)

A, and by apologize, I mean punch him in the face and walk away. So you're giving them the body back, but also letting them figure it out.

>>1097119
D. "Fuck you."
Burns hand on the stove.

>>1097118
>>1097124
D. But not our hand. We could suggest reattaching one of Pinch's pincers to test the hypothesis, if our Pinch half is willing. We promised to do it if she proved herself, and I think she has by willingly fusing. Will it remain attached after we de-fuse? Maybe we'd both get a black fang. I dunno. Seems like the best middle-ground.

If that's not an option, then A. And we can prep Gun for Mushi's stitches, no reason not to. If we tried to withhold it Craw could just do it with the other pincer, and we'd lose trust with both Mushi and Craw.

D: Hey wait a minute, it wouldn't make sense to test on Kench as they aren't injured. But Mushi, you've got a cut on your hand. Would you let us test on you? We'd owe you big time.