In Another World with My Melodic Cudgel[RWBY Isekai Quest]

[The Woodsman]

Okay, this quest was originally started over at Space Battles but it turned into a degenerative mess. I'm hoping that this quest will go better here on QQ; the smaller community will hopefully keep out all the needless drama.

Also, before we begin, a disclaimer: Please know that in this quest, choices have consequences. When you pick a choice, that's it. Your choice may invalidate other paths, or just change them completely. Please don't throw a hissy fit if things don't go your way.

Now then, let's begin this quest.

***** In Another World with My Melodic Cudgel *****


Everything was darkness.

Until he opened his eyes. And found himself surrounded by fire.

The heat should have been overwhelming. He should have been screaming in pain from the agony of burning alive, yet he felt no pain. No heat from the flames. Just warmth.

"Huh," he muttered to himself as he looked around. He seemed to be in a vast underground cavern, most of which was covered in magma and flames. The air stank with the putrid smell of sulfur, and he could hear unholy screaming in the far distance.

"Well, this is definitely not where I envisioned today's events taking me," he said to himself. He looked down at himself and found that he wore his usual clothing: dapper white coat, gray scarf, dark brown pants and boots, and black strapped gloves that covered his hands. Even his signature black bowler hat was atop his head. Nothing seemed off with himself, which meant that whatever was wrong had to do with the world itself. "Where the hell am I, anyway?"

"Correct," said a voice from behind him.

He flinched and twirled around, only to find a beautiful red-haired woman standing before him. She wore a black business suit, one with thin red pinstripes. The outfit fit her lithe figure well, and he took a few moments to appreciate said figure before turning his eyes upwards to meet hers. Burning red pupils met his olive greens.

"I'm sorry, beautiful, but did you say something?" he asked while plastering a smile on his face.

The woman returned his smile with one of her own. "I said you were correct. You are in Hell."

The smile slowly left his face. "Well," he murmured. "That would probably explain all the fire. And the screaming."

Said screaming seemed to intensify in volume as he listened.

"Wait," he said, turning his attention back to the woman. "But that means, if I'm here, then I'm…"

She nodded, smile growing. "You're dead. Yes."

The man felt faint as memories flooded his mind: escaping from the Atlas naval brig, taking control of the ship, fighting a red-cloaked little girl atop said ship, beating the crap out of said little girl with his cane, then… darkness.

He looked at the woman with wide eyes, a feeling of dread trickling down his spine. "Well… crap."

"Crap indeed, Mr. Torchwick," she said, smile still present on her lovely lips.

Roman sighed in annoyance. This was just typical, dying and all that. Oh well, what could you do? He gave the woman a shrug. "So, what now? Do I just jump in the fire and burn with the other unfortunates or do you have some sort of introductory torture to put me through first? I really hope it isn't an orientation video, I hate those."

"Relax, Mr. Torchwick," the woman told him. "You aren't going to burn like the others here."

Roman raised an eyebrow. "I'm… not?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong," she said. "You most definitely deserve your place amongst the damned. It's just that, well, the powers that be have made a little mistake. You see, it wasn't your time, not yet. Cosmic little hiccups like these rarely happen, but when they do, well, two things happen. If it's a good person whose time was cut short, then the Big G takes care of them. And when bad folk get the axe when they aren't meant to, then I get the pleasure of dealing with them."

The thief gulped. "So, that makes you…"

"The Devil, yes."

"Huh." Roman looked her up and down once more. "You're a bit taller than I expected."

The Devil merely shrugged.

"So, what happens to me now?" he asked her. "If I'm not to be stir-fried like these other poor schmucks, then where do I go?"

"Well, that's quite simple," the woman smiled as she was explaining. "I'll be sending you to another world."

"Another world?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Another world. One that isn't as… far along as your Remnant is, but one that has its own little merits. I'll even give you the choice of taking something with you, something from your world. And I'll be sure to give that something you chose a little extra 'oomph' to help you along with your new life."

"Wait, so I'll be sent to another world?" Roman asked. "You mean, like reborn or something?"

The Devil laughed. "Oh no, no, no. Nothing like that. I'll be sending you there, as you are."

"Oh? Neat." Roman started to smile once more. "You also said I can choose to take something with me."

"Anything," she said.

"Alright, I choose Neo," he stated quickly and without hesitation.

The Devil frowned upon hearing the name. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"What? But you said I could take anything!"

"Any 'thing.'" The Devil sighed. "I'm sorry, but your friend is still very much alive and living her own life in Remnant. Her presence is very much required to events transpiring there."

Roman sighed. He gritted his teeth before giving himself a small, sad smile. "Sorry, kid," he said in a whisper. "Looks like you're gonna have to look after yourself from now on."

"But," the Devil cut in, "you may choose to bring anything else from your world."

"Anything, huh?" Roman grinned.

"Anything."

What should he bring to the new world?


[ ] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.

[ ] Scroll: The Devil will make the device indestructible and also allow it to access the Remnant info network.

[ ] Cigars: The Devil will make his box of cigars enchanted, allowing him an unlimited supply.


"Interesting choice," the Devil said upon hearing Roman's answer. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Absolutely," the thief replied with a grin.

"Very well then," the woman smirked and waved her hand. Roman's chosen object appeared in a burst of flames, levitating in front of the thief. Roman chuckled lightly and reached out for it, grabbing it in his hands.

"Congratulations, Mr. Torchwick," the Devil said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked to be a remote control of some sort. There were five buttons on the panel, and each button had a symbol etched into it. "Welcome to your new life." She then pressed one of the buttons, and Roman vanished in a puff of sulfurous ash.

"I'm looking forwards to seeing what chaos you sew in your wake," she said, flashing the vanished figure a feral grin.


Which button did she press?


[ ] The button with the symbol of a telephone on it.

[ ] The button with the symbol of a skull on it.

[ ] The button with a slime symbol on it.

[ ] The button with a shield symbol on it.

[ ] The button with the symbol of a clock on it.

 

[Travisplo]

[X] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.
[X] The button with a slime symbol on it.


I hope that we can unload the dust from our weapon, so we can use the dust for other uses.

 

[krahe]

[X] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.
[X] The button with the symbol of a clock on it.

Shame with Neo, like really, breaking such a duet

 

[elif]

[X] Ozpin's Cane
Come on, it's an opportunity for one last, great theft.

I think I recognize all the Isekai powersets. Telephone is Smartphone, Slime is Rimuru, Shield is Shield Hero, Skull is Overlord, Clock is... Re:Zero?

 

[The Woodsman]

I think I recognize all the Isekai powersets. Telephone is Smartphone, Slime is Rimuru, Shield is Shield Hero, Skull is Overlord, Clock is... Re:Zero?

Click to shrink...

You're pretty much right, only they're less powersets and more destinations.

 

[Ahuizotl]

[X] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.
[X] The button with a slime symbol on it.

Appear in "That time I was reincarnated as a slime."
Show up in Tokyo just before the protagonist gets stabbed by a crazy guy.
Effortlessly club the crazy guy with our cane.
Spend the rest of the quest in RL Tokyo mooching off the protagonist and hanging in his apartment so he can repay us for saving his life.

 

[Slothththth]

[X] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.


[X] The button with a shield symbol on it.




I'm going with shield hero because I remember it the best.
Also, if the shield hero wins, can he be summoned along with the legendary Heroes? That would be pretty fun.

 

[The Woodsman]

Also, if the shield hero wins, can he be summoned along with the legendary Heroes? That would be pretty fun.

Click to shrink...

That question is spoilers so I can't answer it fully. I can, however, say that Roman will be pretty much replacing the main character of whichever world he enters.

 

[Blonddude42]

Also, before we begin, a disclaimer: Please know that in this quest, choices have consequences. When you pick a choice, that's it. Your choice may invalidate other paths, or just change them completely. Please don't throw a hissy fit if things don't go your way.

Click to shrink...

You could have just said no to them and ignoring them instead of caving. It's not a good sign if you can't deal with some complaining and questioning of questionable reasoning.

***

And as you can see here, the SFW community on QQ is pretty dead. It'll limp along for a bit, but it's never gonna have the participation like you'd see on SB or SV.

Still I'll give this another shot since it was enjoyable on SB.


[X] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.
[X] The button with the symbol of a telephone on it.

Smartphone doesn't really have any major issues we'd need to deal with as far as I know, so we can feel free to cause all the trouble we want.

Melodic Cudgel gives us infinite Dust of whatever types are loaded. Which means we can be the only source of Dust in that world. Not as easy of a sell as our cigars, but still possible to keep selling

 

[The Woodsman]

You could have just said no to them and ignoring them instead of caving. It's not a good sign if you can't deal with some complaining and questioning of questionable reasoning.

Click to shrink...

But it wasn't just complaining or questioning was it? I'm not a fan of angry mobs and passive-aggressive insults. I'm not paid to put up with any of that, so I'm not going to.

And as you can see here, the SFW community on QQ is pretty dead. It'll limp along for a bit, but it's never gonna have the participation like you'd see on SB or SV.

Click to shrink...

And I'm fine with that. As long as I'm enjoying myself I'll keep on doing it until it peters off; I wasn't enjoying myself on SB, despite of (or perhaps because of) the number of people there.

Anyway, I'll give this thread a few more hours for votes. Voting closes at 6:30 pm PST.

 

[luhar1997]

[X] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.
[X] The button with a slime symbol on it.

 

[The Woodsman]

[X] Melodic Cudgel: The Devil will make the weapon indestructible as well as giving it infinite dust ammunition.
[X] The button with a slime symbol on it.


In a flash of fire and an outpouring of smoke, Roman Torchwick appeared.

The thief took in his surroundings. He seemed to be in a forest of some sort, with trees, bushes, and other foliage all around him.

"So, this is another world, huh?" Roman asked as he looked about. "I am definitely not impressed."

Finding the environment dull, he turned his attention to the item in his hand. Melodic Cudgel, his weapon of choice. Made for bludgeoning and launching of explosive dust rounds. It also had various gadgets and other tricks hidden within it, things that he had added over the years and have come in handy. But perhaps the best trick was what the Devil had said; according to her, this baby now has infinite ammunition. He decided to test it out.

On the side of the shaft was a switch that when you pushed it, it popped open a slot underneath it. This was actually the gun's loading breach, the opening where you loaded in the dust cartridges. Instead of loading, Roman was popping the rounds out and counting. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven."

On and on he pulled out a bullet, then tossed it carelessly onto the grassy ground. Pretty soon he had a small pile of ammunition at his feet. "Fifty-six. Fifty-seven. Fifty-eight. I think we can stop there." He closed the loading gate, then grasped the cane by its hooked handle. He tapped a switch which caused the tip of the cane to pop up into a targeting sight. He then looked for a rather sturdy looking tree, and upon finding one about ten feet away from him, he took aim.

With a pull of the trigger, a dust round was expelled. The forest was filled with the loud, whistling sound of the bullet as it flew through the air, ending with a loud explosion as it detonated against its target. Roman sent two more blasts into the tree, which were successful in felling the giant. There was a loud crash as the tall tree toppled onto the ground.

"Ha ha ha ha! Outstanding!" Roman twirled his cane. "Okay, fun's over. Now's the time to figure out where I am and how to get out of here." The explosions might have also caught the attention of the Grimm, so he figured it was best to vacate the premises. So with some haste, he walked into the forest hoping to find some signs of civilization.

******

Six hours later, he was still walking. He hadn't seen any sight of any sort of civilization; only rocks, trees, and the occasional berries met his searching eyes.

He was just about to rest when he heard the sound of feet pounding the ground. Roman turned around and saw a group of about fifteen little children running towards him.

"The heck?" he mumbled. Curiosity peaked, Roman just stood back and watched the kids approach, his hands resting relaxed atop his cane.

When the children stopped in front of him, Roman saw that something was odd with them. Sure, they had green skin. Sure, they even had tusks and fangs. But what actually got his attention were the weapons they were carrying. All the swords, spears, and shields they had were old and practically falling apart. He'd heard of child soldiers (hell, he'd been one) but to arm them this badly? He was appalled.

One of the green kids, who was wielding a rusty sword and wore a red bandana on his head, spoke up. "Strong one! Please forgive me, but do you have some sort of business here in the forest?"

Strong one? Well, at least they knew how to address their betters. And look, they're even shaking in their shoes, how cute.

"Just passing through," Roman told them with a smirk. "Why? Is that a problem?"

"Oh, no, sir! No problem at all!" The green kid said. "We were just patrolling the area when we sensed a powerful monster in the area and came to investigate."

Wait, monster? Sure, Roman was no saint, but to call him a monster? Yeesh, this kid's got cheek.

"Please, sir! Since you're so strong, we wanted to ask a favor."

And here come the hands out. Were these punks nothing but beggar kids after all?

"Please, come to our village. Our village chief can explain."

What should Roman do?

[ ] Go with them. This course of action would lead him to some sort of civilization. And maybe he'd hear them out. If he was in the mood.
[ ] Don't go with them. They're obviously just beggars out for your money. Ask them how to get to civilization, though.
[ ] Write-in.

 

[Ahuizotl]

[x] Go with them. This course of action would lead him to some sort of civilization. And maybe he'd hear them out. If he was in the mood.


Hmm, Rimuru was able to afford giving names to all the goblins in the village because he ate a ton of magical herbs that grow in the presence of magic crystals. Considering Roman has an effectively infinite number of dust cartridges (which sound like the sorts of things that would have magical energy in them), he might be able to pull off a similar trick if he's able to harness the magic his dust rounds provide. That, or the magical energy would be more connected to his aura or something... in which case I don't know exactly how that would work. Maybe naming a monster would temporarily weaken his aura and he'd have to wait a while to replenish it, so he could still name a whole village by naming one goblin every day or two.

That, or he hears about the cave, the magic rocks inside, how the goblins need magic to get names and therefore more powerful, and tells them to just get into the cave and start mining every crystal they can find so he can "name" them. Kind of like running his own dust mine except the goblins worship him as some kind of god instead of expecting any sort of payment.

 

[Blonddude42]

But it wasn't just complaining or questioning was it? I'm not a fan of angry mobs and passive-aggressive insults. I'm not paid to put up with any of that, so I'm not going to.



And I'm fine with that. As long as I'm enjoying myself I'll keep on doing it until it peters off; I wasn't enjoying myself on SB, despite of (or perhaps because of) the number of people there.

Anyway, I'll give this thread a few more hours for votes. Voting closes at 6:30 pm PST.

Click to shrink...

Angry mob is exaggerating things a fair bit, although I'll definitely give you passive aggressive. We definitely got very passive aggressive. And if you really don't like that many people playing then QQ is probably better. You're nearly guaranteed to get people who will complain eventually and do something like that if you don't have a very small playerbase, allough if that small level of salt is enough for you to stop having fun you probably won't have too much fun the first time there's a major setback for the players.

I'd recommend in the future if you want actions to have trade-offs to keep it more like the one where you had the rival gang takeover part of Roman's territory, rather than restricting gang outfit redesign because we waited. The former was a predictable result of our (lack of) action while the latter was not a predictable result of our choice of actions. Hell, I think players would have been fine* if you forcibly locked in some of our action into making the gang look better since Roman could only ignore it for so long. Or you could have made that a trade-off with the three default actions you gave or a write-in that would cost us an action in the next round of actions.

I hope this comes across as the constructive criticism I mean it as since I know I'm not the best at communicating tone in writing, and I apologize if it does not.

*Or at least much less salty

***

[x] Go with them. This course of action would lead him to some sort of civilization. And maybe he'd hear them out. If he was in the mood.

Might as well help the out a bit. We do unfortunately have the issue that we don't have nearly as good of a cheat as Rimmu, but we also are a human so we can get away with just marching into any human city. And the forest should still be stable since the dragon hasn't disappeared, so most of the things aren't moving in. The goblin village probably still has it's one named guy.

Curious what their issue is though since there really shouldn't be too many monsters moving in

 

[gorgokl]

Go with them. This course of action would lead him to some sort of civilization. And maybe he'd hear them out. If he was in the mood.

QQ should definitely work better for you to play if that was your reason for stoping the quest in the first place

 

[Blonddude42]

Go with them. This course of action would lead him to some sort of civilization. And maybe he'd hear them out. If he was in the mood.

QQ should definitely work better for you to play if that was your reason for stoping the quest in the first place

Click to shrink...

You missed the [ X ] for your vote, not that it should really matter since there's only three votes so far

 

[The Woodsman]

Votes close in 20 minutes! Aka 6:30 pm PST.

 

[The Woodsman]

I hope this comes across as the constructive criticism I mean it as since I know I'm not the best at communicating tone in writing, and I apologize if it does not.

Click to shrink...

Understood. I'll be sure to take your criticism into account when moving forward.

 

[The Woodsman]

[x] Go with them. This course of action would lead him to some sort of civilization. And maybe he'd hear them out. If he was in the mood.


To call the goblin settlement a village is like calling a vacant lot a city. It was located in a large clearing in the middle of the forest and was basically empty except for a few ramshackle huts and tents. The group of kids brought Roman into the largest of the village's structures, which happened to be the village chief's hut.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I am the village chief," said the green short man with white hair and aged features. A tall kid, who introduced himself as Rigur, stood by the old man.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," Roman said absently as he was looking around. Inside the hut was almost bare, except for some mats and a shrine to some weird winged lizard thing. This was all a bust; Roman thought the kids would lead him to civilization, not some creepy wilderness camp out in the middle of nowhere.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know the way to the nearest Kingdom, would you?" he asked.

"Well, there's Dwargon to the north," Rigur said. "It's about a two month journey on foot."

Two months?! Through Grimm infested forests? No thanks.

"Anything closer?"

"Well, there's the Brumund Kingdom," said the chief. "It's a few weeks' travel to the east."

"I wouldn't recommend heading that way, though," said Rigur. "The monsters that lurk to the east are very strong."

Hmm. So he had a long route that was safer and a quick route that was fraught with peril. His day just kept getting better and better.

"Ahem," coughed the chief. "Strong One. About the reason why we called you here…"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. The kid outside told me you needed something?" Roman said. "So what is it? Spit it out already."

"For the past few weeks, human poachers have been hunting in our territory," replied the chief.

"They're nothing but vicious bandits," Rigur said. "They've been hunting all the game, and we can't compete."

"Pretty soon, by the way these hunters are going, there won't be any game left in the forest," said the chief. "We need your help, Strong One, to stop them."

"That's it? You brought me all the way over here to help you stop some poachers?" Roman asked, a little bit annoyed. "Also, why the heck do you keep calling me Strong One? Not that I mind, it's just not what you would call someone you just met."

"Well, sir, it's because of your aura," said the chief.

"My… Aura?"

"Yes, indeed," the chief nodded. "It is the strongest we've seen in some time. Much stronger than a mere human could ever possess."

"We're not sure why you would take the form of a human, Strong One," Rigur said, "but it is not our business to ask."

Seriously? These idiots think he's some sort of… what? God? Some sort of god just because his Aura was unlocked? Well, this was another world. Maybe these hicks don't have Aura techniques. Hmmm…

"Well, say that I do decide to help you," Roman asked them. "What's in it for me?"

The two green-skins looked at each other and blanched.

Oh boy.

"W-we shall, uh, give you our eternal gratitude!" said the chief.

Roman snorted. "Yeah, no. Try again."

"The cave!" Rigur suddenly shouted out. "There is a cave nearby that contains many valuable items, such as rare flora and magical crystals! Help us and we will take you there!"

Magical crystals? Do they mean dust? Interesting.

What should Roman do?

[ ] Help out these weirdos. It seems like an easy enough job, plus that cave sounds interesting. There might be a fortune's worth of dust down there.
[ ] Forget them and head north. It'll be a long road, but getting back to civilization would be worth it.
[ ] Forget them and head east. It might be tough getting through so many Grimm, but Roman's gone through worse.
[ ] Write-in.

 

[Blonddude42]

[X] Help out these weirdos. It seems like an easy enough job, plus that cave sounds interesting. There might be a fortune's worth of dust down there.

These guys aren't even worth forcing to work for us, but there's no need to not help a bit. Lots of dicks around to screw over, and the cave does have good stuff in (even if it's nowhere near as good without Rimmu processing it all)

Curious if we can try to just straight up break out the dragon. Stealing a dragon sounds like the kind of legendary thing he can get behind.

 

[krahe]

Curious if we can try to just straight up break out the dragon. Stealing a dragon sounds like the kind of legendary thing he can get behind.

Click to shrink...

Stealing a dragon, killing a princess, marrying a kingdom. Not the weirdest isekai plan I've heard

 

[Ahuizotl]

[x] Help out these weirdos. It seems like an easy enough job, plus that cave sounds interesting. There might be a fortune's worth of dust down there.

 

[The Woodsman]

[x] Help out these weirdos. It seems like an easy enough job, plus that cave sounds interesting. There might be a fortune's worth of dust down there.​

Roman had Rigur and a few other goblins escort him to the area where the human hunters were. He had learned that that was what these kids called themselves, "goblins." Weird gang name, but whatever.

The poachers had come down from the northeast and took to slaying any beast they could find. From the wild boars to stags and reindeer, nothing was spared. What was truly appalling to the goblins was that the humans never took any of the meat, instead taking only the hyde and fur. This made Roman suspect that the hunters were hired by some leather making company in one of the Kingdoms, or they were fur traders themselves.

According to the goblins, most humans stayed out of the Jura Forest because of all the monsters found within it. Roman thought that the kids meant the Creatures of Grimm, but on the second day of travel he was proven wrong.

While crossing a small river, his group was attacked by a creature that was a mix of a giant lobster and a shark. It only took one of his explosive dust rounds to kill the beast, but seeing such an impossible thing walking around shook Roman for a bit. It was a reminder that he was not on Remnant anymore, but another world entirely.

Another reminder was the moon. Seeing a perfect sphere in the night sky sure was a sight to behold, especially for someone who's always lived with a shattered moon.

On the fourth day of travel, they reached their destination.

"This is it," Rigur said. "This is the area where we spotted the humans last."

"Seriously? How could you tell?" Roman asked, feeling mildly irritated. "This spot in the forest looked just like any other spot that we'd passed through since starting this trip!"

Before Rigur could answer, an arrow zipped across the air, several inches from Roman's nose, right before burying itself in a nearby tree. This caused the goblins, with the exception of Rigur, to scream and run away deeper into the forest. Rigur, on the other hand, took up his club and fell to a fighting position.

About twenty feet away from them, three men emerged from the undergrowth. They were rough looking, mountain-men type, who wore leather clothing that had seen better days. Each carried a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and all of them were aiming at Roman and Rigur.

"Well, what's a fancy type like you doin' all the way out here?" asked one of the men.

Roman, was annoyed. This dunderheads just shot an arrow at him! Sure, it wouldn't have done any damage since it hadn't been strengthened by Aura (if it had, then it would have done more damage to the tree) but just the fact that it actually happened was insulting to him. He didn't let it show, though. To do so would undermine his professional pride.

"I was actually looking for you," Roman said, doffing his hat. "I'm Roman, and this is my guide Rigur." He motioned for the goblin to put his club down, which he did. "The company sent me," he lied. "They want to know how things are progressing."

The men put down their weapons. "Oh, s'cuse us, sir, we didn't know you were comin," said the oldest of the bunch, a white-haired goon missing his front teeth. "Did you want to see the boss?"

Roman smiled. It looked like his guess about these morons working for a trading company was accurate. "Sure. Show me to him."

Roman and Rigur followed the three men as they ventured deeper into the woods.

"I must say, it's quite brave of you men to come all the way, deep into the Jura Forest," Roman said. "I heard that this place was teeming with monsters."

One of the men laughed. "That it is, sir. But we got Mr. Breen with us."

"Of course, Mr. Breen."

Another man nodded. "Yup. If it wasn't for him, none o' us woulda made it this far alive. The comp'ny's really smart to hire a strong mage for us like that."

Mage? Must be a Huntsman. This could prove troubling.

Eventually, the five of them entered a clearing where the poachers had made camp. It was a large camp, filled with numerous tents and equipment. Roman counted about twenty people milling about; there were probably more out in the woods hunting.

The three hunters lead them to a large tent in the center of camp. The oldest went inside for a few minutes, then came out with a tall, strapping middle-aged man with mutton chops and a mustache. Although he wore the same type of leather apparel as the others, his looked more expensive and in much better condition.

"Hips says you're from the company," the man said. "What's up?"

What should Roman do?

[ ] Keep up the company act and find out more information about this operation.
[ ] Forget the act. Use his charm to entice the poachers into working for him instead.
[ ] Just kill everyone here. Short and simple does the trick.

 

[Blonddude42]

[X] Keep up the company act and find out more information about this operation.

I wonder if we can bluff our way into a major position in the company. Just keep telling people we're involved and important and eventually the lie will perpetuate itself.

 

[The Woodsman]

[X] Keep up the company act and find out more information about this operation.

"I was sent by the company to get a progress report," Roman said.

"Progress report, huh?" asked the man with the mutton chops. His eyes were narrowed in obvious suspicion and Roman knew he'd have to talk quick in order to keep this charade up. "I'm guessing Mr. Dallow sent you?"

"No, Mr. Redgar from the main office sent me," Roman lied through his teeth.

Mutton Chops frowned. "Main office? Why would the main office care about us?"

"Oh, you don't give yourselves enough credit!" Roman said. "Your work here is one of the most important projects that the company is funding. I mean, setting up an operation here, in the middle of Monster Central! That takes guts, my friend. And the leadership in the main office likes guts in their subordinates!" He then leaned in, as if he were sharing something that was not for everyone's ears. "You didn't hear this from me, but there might be a big bonus coming your way sometime in the near future."

Hips and the two hunters with him smiled and laughed with glee upon hearing his (fake) news. Mutton Chops, on the other hand, didn't seem convinced.

"A bonus, eh? I wouldn't mind that, not one bit," he said. A grin appeared on his face, though his eyes remained utterly suspicious. "You're quite the talker. Almost as good as the bards back home, weavin' a tale for us to eat up."

"I assure you, my good man. I tell no tales," said Roman.

"Is that so? Tell me then, company man. What's the name of our wonderful company, eh?"

"Uh… er…" Roman gulped then looked around. The entire camp seemed to be watching him, each man picking up his bow or grabbing a skinning knife and awaiting his answer. "Aha… um, the Walla Walla Trading Company?"

Mutton Chops grin vanished, his face twisting into an ugly scowl. "I knew you were nothin' but a lying fake. Now tell us who you are or we're gonna skin you alive!"

Uh oh.

What should Roman do now?

[ ] Use his charm to entice the hunters into working for him instead.
[ ] You've wasted enough time. Just kill these jokers, already.

 

[Blonddude42]

[x] You've wasted enough time. Just kill these jokers, already.

Yeah they can die now. There's not enough of them to really both making them work for us. A larger group would be better since Roman wouldn't need to waste his time with building a gang up from nothing.

They aren't worth keeping alive

 

[Shiryu]

[X] You've wasted enough time. Just kill these jokers, already.​

 

[Vanestus]

[X] You've wasted enough time. Just kill these jokers, already.

 

[Jedarol]

[X] You've wasted enough time. Just kill these jokers, already.

looks interesting so far, is rimiru here or was he replaced?

 

[ShadowStepper1300]

[X] You've wasted enough time. Just kill these jokers, already.

looks interesting so far, is rimiru here or was he replaced?

Click to shrink...

As was said before, Roman will be replacing the MC of the world he ended up in. So no Rimiru.