Quest Beyond the Gate: Chapter 19

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There is a man in a big, funny hat standing in the doorway. Behind him you can see several other men in armor.

Hold on... you've seen that guy. It's the Inquisitor, the one that threw the rock at your head.

Derrick is the first to approach the inquisitor. "On what charges?" He asks.
"The Inquisition will decide your crimes" The inquisitor says.

"I am a citizen of Lubars, and if this is a lawful arrest then I have a right to know why I am being arrested" Derrick says.

The Inquisitor narrows his eyes, and waves his men forward.

Derrick snorts. "Then it falls to us..." He says.
"What does?" The Inquisitor asks

"If you all won't uphold the law, then you're little better than criminals who snatch people from their homes to be killed" Derrick says. He then draws his sword and points it down at the inquisitor. "And it falls to those of us with conscience to put an end to it"

...

You understood maybe... half of that. But you can see that Derrick wants to fight. You have to admit, you would be more than happy to throw a few rocks at the inquisitor's head to see how he likes it... maybe punch him a few times and hit him with the mageblade for good measure.

But you aren't the only one here, and this house isn't safe anymore... There are a few windows that you could all get out of, and be long gone by the time the guards climb up here, but then what?

...

There's no other choice, you-

>Fight

>Run

>Fight

Quick throw a rock at his head!

>>Fight

>Fight

>Fight
We have an emitter, we're competent now

>Fight
Kill them. I want some blood on our mageblade by the end of this.
Let's cut out the Inquisitor's heart; we've never seen one before, so it will be a learning experience.

>>Fight
To the pain!

Here's the thread's name, considering this situation: no harems edition 5: stayin' alive.

>writing

Rolled 69 (1d100)

You activate your mageblade and step up next to Derrick. If he wants to fight, then you're down for a fight.

"Hang on... aren't you..." The Inquisitor says.

Derrick spots you next to him, and you give him a nod.

"We only need a clear path for everyone to get to the cart" He says quietly.
Emi slithers up next to Derrick as well. "I'll try to cover you from up here" She says.

"Good, as soon as there's a path I'll give you a signal" Derrick says.

"Well, there's your crime" The Inquisitor says. "Harbouring a demon, and a known escaped prisoner"
Derrick looks at you. "Do you know him?" He asks.

"Kind of" You say.
"I must ask, though. How in blazes did you get out of Mortifas?" He asks.

This guy is stalling, even you can see that.

>Roll 1d20 with focus

Rolled 9 (1d20)

The focus roll seems a little off.

Rolled 1 (1d20)

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>Roll 1d20 with focus
>against 69
I assume you mean d100?

Rolled 17 (1d20)

I did mean 1d100, yes. My bad guys.
Here I was wondering why all the rolls were so bad...

Rolled 86 (1d100)

Rolled 85 (1d100)

...

>writing

In the future, just disregard any fuckups I make like that. Rolls will always be d100

>"I must ask, though. How in blazes did you get out of Mortifas?" He asks.

>... Your hat is stupid.

Attention deficit.

The Front Door.

You put your foot up on the railing, and leap down towards the Inquisitor. He backs off as you slash him, but he only has so much space. The guards filing in behind him have left him with no retreat.

You step forward and thrust towards his chest. He deflects it with his own sword to your right, so you reach in with your left hand and punch him in the face.

He reels back clutching his nose, and his big, annoying hat falls to the floor.

Derrick jumps down and onto a guard to your left, while a guard to your right gets hosed down.

"Press forward, Yuu!" Derrick says, as he turns to face another attacker.

You grab your hat and throw it up to Emi. Then you rip your cloak off over your head, covering the head of a nearby guard as you knee him in the stomach as hard as you can.

He goes down, but there are still quite a few of these guys... can you and Derrick really break through?

As you think that, one of the guards gets hit by something from above... it's web. With a yank, he gets pulled up over the fighting. Then the web hits another

Tian jumps down with you, holding her mageblade out in front of her. It splits and widens until she has what looks like a big wedge in front of her.

"You need a path cleared?" She asks. "Stand aside"

Tian rushes through the crowd. The quick guards move aside, the slow ones get moved.

>cont.

You and Derrick lock eyes, and shrug. The two of you move behind Tian, keeping the path she cleared clear while Ilica, Hella, Ariadne, and Emi move through.

Before You go to the cart, you pick up the Inquisitor's hat. You figure it'll make a nice souvenir.

"What are you doing? Stop them! Seize them!" The Inquisitor shouts.

The crowd starts to close just as you and Derrick are getting to the end of it. You end up having to fight your way through the last few feet.

As you do, you notice something: Derrick is a much better swordsman than you are, and not by a little. Attacks that you would be forced to dodge, he's already positioned to block. Openings you would be too slow to take advantage of, he's already in.

...

You may have to ask him to show you how he does that.

"Derrick! Yuu! Get in!" Ilica shouts.

Oh... is Ilica in the driver's seat?

She is... oh dear.

As you break through, the ground behind you is covered in a thin sheet of ice. Before you can make it though, the cart starts to move.

But Emi's tail whips out from on top of the cart, picking up both you and Derrick and bringing you to safety.

"Thanks" You say.
"Don't thank me yet. We still have to get out" Emi says.

You look back, and see that there are already guards on horses following you...

>Roll 1d100 with focus

Rolled 14 (1d100)

Rolled 54 (1d100)

Rolled 73 (1d100)

Forgot your focus roll, Smiley.

Rolled 83 (1d100)

Rolled 72 (1d100)

Today is an off day

...

nice

>writing

The cart rumbles along more slowly than usual, since Ilica is at the wheel. Thanks to that, the horses start to catch up rather quickly.

Emi lets you and Derrick go, and the two of you look back.

"Shit..." Derrick says. "Can you hit them, Yuu?"
"I can try" You reply.
"Good. Give us some cover, Emi" Derrick says.

Emi nods, and holds her hands out. They start to glow blue, and a screen of water covers the rear of the cart.

Meanwhile, you focus on your blade. You're still bad at changing the shape of the blade, but with the emitter you find that it's much easier. Before long, you have a blade long enough to hit the horsemen...

So you stand up, and swing it. It catches the lead horseman right in the head. While it doesn't manage to get through his helmet, it does knock him off his horse.

Before you can swing again, a bump knocks you off your feet. You fall off the cart, but Emi manages to catch your feet. You hang upside down off te back of the cart, and without pause you swing again.

You swing again as Emi starts to drag you up, and again once you're on top of the cart.

"Thanks again" You say.
Emi sighs in relief, before turning to the front of the cart. "Ilica! Be careful, you almost killed Yuu!" She shouts.
"I'm trying! It's not like these streets are clean" Ilica says.

>cont

Derrick goes to the front of the cart to instruct Ilica, while you and Emi stay on top to keep the horsemen away.

Ariadne pitches in on that as well, occasionally shooting webbing into a guard's face, or tying up a horse's legs. Tian helps as well, with her mageblade shooting out from below, striking the heads of the guards with a level of precision that you lack.

"We're coming up on the gate!" Derrick says. "Shit, it's closed!"
"What do we do?" Ilica asks.
"Keep going!" Tian shouts. "Go at it, as fast as you can!"

"Seriously?" Ilica asks.
"Just do it!" Tian says.

You swipe down another guard, and then turn to see what's happening at the front.

Tian's mageblade is creating another wedge at the front of the cart, much larger than the one from earlier.

...

Is she planning on-

"Brace yourselves!" Derrick shouts.

>Roll 1d100, no focus

Rolled 54 (1d100)

This is fine.

Rolled 86 (1d100)

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>writing

You get down, and grab onto the edge of the cart. Emi does the same, but she also wraps her tail around you. Smart, this way if one of you falls, the other can pick you back up.

Then the cart hits the gate, and you hear the sound of wood cracking. Looking forward, you see the wooden bar on the gate splitting and breaking. Then the wedge digs into the center, forcing it open far enough to get the cart through.

"Is everyone alright?" Derrick calls back once you're past the gate.

"We're good" Emi says. "Right?"
"Yeah, we're good" You say.

"I think we might have broken Hella" Ariadne says.

You lean over the back of the cart to look in through the back door. Hella is on the bench, leaning on the wall, looking kinda out of it. Ariadne seems fine. In fact, it almost looks like she's having fun.

>Go make sure Hella and Ariadne are alright

>Ask Derrick how he's so good at swords

>Apologize to Tian for leading the Inquisition to her house

>Compliment Ilica's driving

>Other

>>Go make sure Hella and Ariadne are alright

>Apologize to Tian for leading the Inquisition to her house
>Go make sure Hella and Ariadne are alright
>Compliment Ilica's driving

>>Apologize to Tian for leading the Inquisition to her house

>Go make sure Hella and Ariadne are alright
>Apologize to Tian for leading the Inquisition to her house

>>Go make sure Hella and Ariadne are alright

>>Go make sure Hella and Ariadne are alright

>writing

You swing down into the passenger compartment, and sit down next to Hella.

"Are you okay?" You ask.
"Just give her a minute and she'll be fine" Tian says, as she sits on her other side. Tian makes a little fan out of her mageblade, and uses it to fan Hella. "Right Hella?"

Hella lets out a nervous chuckle, but says nothing.

"How about you?" You ask Ariadne.
"That was sooo coooool!" Ariadne says. "Did you see me nail those guys in the face? Did ya? Did ya?"
"Yes we did" Tian says. "That was good work. I didn't know you were such a good shot"

"I practice lots!" Ariadne says.
Tian sighs. "That explains why there are so many cobwebs around my house..." She says.

"I'm sorry" You say. "I think we may have lead them to you"
Tian waves you off. "Don't worry about it. It was only a matter of time" She says. "I would've liked to bring more with me, but all I managed to grab was this-"

Tian pats a suitcase that's on the bench next to her.

"What's in it?" You ask.
"Something for you" She says. "Practice blades"

>Can I see?

>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

>Where do we go now?

>Other

>>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

>>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

>>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

>Taking a short food break, will get to writing when I return

>>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

Pull out hat, put it on Tians head. Then:
>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

>Where do we go now?

>>I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better

"I stole the Inquisitor's hat, if that makes you feel any better" You say.
"You did?" She asks. "Where is it?"

You look around. It's not in here. Did it get lost?

Emi's tail comes into the passenger compartment from above, the hat is on the tip. "It's here" She says.
You take the hat. "Thank you Emi" You say. "How did that get there?"

"You put it there when I grabbed you, remember?" She asks.
"Maybe" You say. "Which time? You've grabbed me a lot on the last 5 minutes"

"When I pulled you onto the cart" She says, as the rest of her enters the passenger compartment. "I thought you knew"
"I did not" You say. "Thank you again, for saving me, and the hat"

"Now that you mention it, I was impressed by your focus there" Tian says.
"Where?" You ask.
"When you fell off the cart" She says. "A fall like that would've broken mine, but you just kept swinging"

You shrug. "It was nothing" You say.
"I wouldn't say that" She says. "What let you keep your concentration there?"

>I knew Emi would catch me

>I barely noticed the fall

>Other

>>I knew Emi would catch me

>I knew Emi would catch me
To ignorant to doubt

>>I knew Emi would catch me
plus
>>I barely noticed the fall

>I barely noticed the fall

>>I knew Emi would catch me

>writing

>I forgot to remember that I was falling.

"I knew Emi would catch me" You say.
"Aww, that's sweet" Emi says, giving one of your cheeks a pinch. "But in the future, could you maybe rely a little less on me when you do something crazy?"

"You haven't let me down before" You say.
"For my sake, not yours" She says. "At this rate I'm going to die young from the heart attacks that you give me..."
"Oh... okay" You say. "Wil it... will it really kill you?"

"She's kidding" Tian says. "Still, it's good to have people you can rely on"
"Well, Yuu's never let us down either" Emi says.

"No kidding" Tian says. "So... Mortifas, huh?"
"Yes" You say.
"You guys were in there?" She asks
"We were" You reply

"How did you guys get out?" Tian asks.

>I'm special

>The front door

>Other

I beat the chaos engine up.

I broke everything

>Why is everyone so interested? We just used the front door.

>The front door

>The front door

>>The front door

>writing

"Why is everyone so interested in that?" You ask. "We left through the front door"
"She didn't ask where we got out, she asked how" Emi says.

"So you walked out the front door?" Tian asks. "Now I'm even more curious"
"Yuu is a chaotic" Emi says. "We're not sure how or why, but he has no mana in his body"

"Seriously?" Tain asks. "Is that why your blade is red?"
"Yes" You say.
"The Inquisitor also called you a demon..." Tian says.
"Also true" You say.

Tian suddenly looks nervous.

"Not a normal demon" Emi says. "Yuu is... special. His heart didn't melt away, but rather... uhh..."

Emi reaches over to you with the tip of her tail, hooking it under your shirt and pulling it up.

"Is that... possible?" Tian asks.

Emi's tail pulls away, and you pull your shirt back down. She could've asked you to show her...

Tian asks Emi a few things, and you peer out the back of the cart. The gates of Sherton are still in sight, for you at least.

...

You recognize those. The inquisitor wasn't the only familiar thing here. You remember that gate, those walls.

You swing up to the top of the cart and stand on it to get a better look. There's no mistaking it. Bell's Run is where you were arrested. This road is the one you walked...

And you're being chased.

"We have company" You say.
"They're chasing us?" Derrick asks. "Dang... can we get away?"

>I know a place where we can hide

>If we speed up, we could probably lose them

>Other

>The gates of Sherton

Bell's Run

I meant Bell's Run. Fuck I'm bad at this today.

>I know a place where we can hide
it's where I woke up from.

>If we speed up, we could probably lose them

>I know a place where we can hide

>I know a place where we can hide
Lets go to the homecave. We probably missed clues when we awoke.

>I know a place where we can hide

>>I know a place where we can hide

>writing

"Keep going, I think I know a place where we can hide" You say.
"Y-you do?" Ilica asks.

"Yeah, there should be a cave on our left. It'll be big enough for the cart to fit in" You say.
"Is it safe?" Derrick asks.

"Probably" You say.
"Good enough" He says. "Keep an eye out, let us know when you see it"

You look out in front of the cart. There are a few rocky outcroppings along the side, but no sign of the cave...

"There!" You say. It's sort of hidden from view, but it's definitely there. "Turn now!"

"Now? We'll hit the wall" Ilica says.
"Just do it!" You say.

The cart makes an abrupt turn, nearly sending you flying off. But you manage to hold on. The cart goes right into the hidden cave, and rolls to a stop a few meters in.

"Holy shit" Ilica says. "There actually is a cave"
"I said there was" You say.

"Remember what I said about heart attacks?" Emi says.
"Sorry Emi" You say.

You look deeper into the cave. You can sort of make out some things deeper in, but there is too little light for even you to see by.

>Go deeper in

>Tell them how you knew it was here

>Stay quiet and wait out the horsemen

>Other

>Stay quiet and wait out the horsemen

>>Stay quiet and wait out the horsemen

>>Stay quiet and wait out the horsemen

>>Go deeper in
>>Tell them how you knew it was

>Stay quiet and wait out the horsemen

>writing

You're curious about what's in here, but right now there are more pressing issues. Like your pursuers...

It's agreed that you should all stay quiet until the horsemen pass. That doesn't mean no talking, just no loud noises.

"How did you know this place would be here?" Ilica whispers.
"This is where I first woke up" You whisper back. "I came out of this cave and went to Bell's Run. I recognized the gate as we were leaving"

"Is that why you got on top of the cart?" Emi asks.
"I wanted to get a better look" You say. "It was Bell's Run where I was captured, and that Inquisitor is the one who did it"

"Is that why you stole his hat?" Tian asks.
"Yes, and because I thought it looked silly" You say.
"They do look silly..." Emi says.

The group grows silent as the sound of hoofbeats grows louder... and louder...

Looking out of the cave, you see them ride past. Like Ilica, it doesn't look like they saw the cave...

"Sounds like they passed us" Derrick whispers
"Yeah" Ilica says. "What now?"
"I dunno... I don't think we can go back to Bell's Run" Derrick says. "And they'll be coming back once they think they've lost us..."

>We could explore

>Camouflage the cave entrance and wait them out

>Break through them from behind and go to Locke

>Other

>>We could explore

>Camouflage the cave entrance
>Explore the cave while waiting them out

>Break through them from behind and go to Locke

>We could explore
>>Camouflage the cave entrance and wait them out

>>We could explore
"I think I was born over there"

>writing

"I want to explore" You say. "But we should cover the entrance first, just in case"
"Good plan" Derrick says.

Tian suddenly starts looking around. "Where's Ari?" She asks.

You look over to the cave's entrance, where Ariadne is setting up a web. "Way ahead of us" You say.

You, Derrick, and Tian leave the cave to find and cut off branches to use as cover. When you come back, Ariadne has finished creating a web right at the cave's opening.

"Nice work" You say.
"I practice lots!" Ariadne says.

You look over to Tian. Her tired expression says everything.

The 4 of you place the branches over the opening to cover it, and make it look like a tree growing against the rocks.

"Looks good" Derrick says.
"They should ride right by, hopefully" Tian says.
"And if they don't, then they get caught in the web" Ariadne says. "Then I get to bully them"
"Sounds like a plan" You say. "Let's head inside and see what's in this place"

You go back into the cave through a hold in the bottom of the web, and walk back to the cart.

"Finished?" Emi asks.
"Yeah" Derrick replies. "Let's head further in. I'm interested in seeing why Yuu was in here..."

>[1/2]

Emi and Tian stay behind with Hella, who is still not feeling well. The rest of you go further in.

Derrick lights his sword on fire as you get past where the light reaches. With the light source, you can see just about everything.

The cave is deeper than you thought, and it certainly goes deeper than you remember. After going a ways in, the messy cave rock gives way to cut stone.

"Strange..." Derrick says. He holds his sword out to the walls to get a better look.

There seems to be some sort of writing on them, but no one recognizes it.

"It must be old..." Derrick says.
"We should write some of this down" You say. "There might be someone who knows the language"

"We'll grab paper when we go back" Derrick says.
"I smell blood" Ilica says, as she clutches her nose closed.

Derrick holds his sword closer to the floor, revealing a trail of blood drops.

"Creepy" Ariadne says.
"It's probably mine" You say.

The blood trail leads further in, to where the cave opens up into a massive pit. There is a stairway leading down, and a large pillar running up the center...

>Go down

>Go back

>Other

>Go down
does our mega blade make light?

>Go down

>Go down