What's On Your Mind: A Mindworm Quest

[Merior]

What's On Your Mind
A Mindworm Quest

oOo​

Being spawned was, in your opinion, an unsurprisingly unpleasant experience for all those involved no matter how it happened. Breaking out from an egg was always an exhausting thing and the only good thing about being squeezed out of the body of what passed for a parent was that someone else was also having a bad time from it.

But getting spawned out of nothing? Just… popping into being?

That was worse because it was like the World wasn't even bothered to justify your existence and had just shoved you in somewhere to fill a role.

This time you spawned a couple of feet up and, with the resulting fall making you splat hard enough to knock a chunk off of your life bar, you really weren't impressed. That sort of sloppiness really didn't bode well for how the rest of your existence was going to go this time around…

Putting aside that depressing thought, shelving it with the vague echoes of your past lives as something to think on when you were really really bored, you took stock of yourself.

Trying hard to wriggle didn't cause any limbs to move, but you felt your body twist a little against the vaguely carpet-like surface that you were laying on. In fact you registered that you lacked limbs, a face, eyes, and many other things in a way which hinted that you had been spawned as some kind of worm.

When that fully registered you went limp in relief that that wasn't messed up too.

You lay there for a minute or so before the niggling continued lack of something finally made itself known. Twisting a little you 'spoke' mentally, invoking the corner of your mind where the orders from the World normally lingered, "[Tasks]."

Seconds ticked by and, contrary to what your every instinct claimed, nothing happened.

"[Tasks]." You repeated before, just in case there had been an unexpected update, you tried a few variations with pauses between for possible reactions. "[Duties]. [Script]. [To-Do]! [Scenario]!?"

There was still nothing beyond the feeling of the carpet beneath you.

You felt your guts squirming, and not in a good way, as you started to panic. How were you supposed to know what to do? Had you been abandoned? Had you been spawned as mere fodder for Namers so the World hadn't even bothered to tell you to how to die?

For far too long you had no idea of what to do, what you could or should do, but finally you had a flash of insight: there was a far more basic way to check if the World had indeed abandoned you fully. So, before you could freak out again, you called out the most fundamental of commands, "[Status]!"

And, praised be to RNG, the World responded:

Race: Mindworm Larva Level: Zero Health: 3/4

That was… That was good? That the World still listened when you called was anyway.

Your actual Status wasn't great, because you were merely level zero, but it was a state you hazily recalled being before. In fact, you realised with a shock which made your entire length jerk, you even recalled what a mindworm was supposed to do.

A mindworm was supposed to invade the mind of someone or something.

There was probably, and in all likelihood had to be, more than that but that was a starting point.

Finally paying attention to your surroundings properly you recognised that you were currently laying on some sort of carpet or rug. Twisting your body around, you pressed the mental button for your [Mindsight] skill and a hazy clairvoyant snapshot of the room imprinted itself on your mind: a wardrobe, a desk, some unframed pictures on the walls, bed… and the glow of a thinking being sleeping in that bed.

A spark of an idea blossomed in you and the near existential panic began to fade from your mind. You were, after all, in a bedroom and given how much the World had allowed you to remember so far?

Obviously the World had some plan which might involve a mindworm, but simply hadn't decided on the details. So it had spawned you in for later use. Setting a solid backstory for plots was, after all, vitally important and so you should be proud to be trusted to be one of the World's Chekhov's Guns.

Nine cooldowns of [Mindsight] later you had finally gotten onto the bed. Sure you were one point of life poorer after you'd messed up a [Leap Attack], having a painful encounter with the wall on the far side of the bed from what had to be a critical miss, but you were there now which was the thing that mattered.

You just need a moment to catch your metaphorical breath

…maybe a few more moments?

As you rested, letting your body flatten against the pillow that had taken much much too much effort to surmount, you considered what you'd seen of the room and your intended host.

Non-helminthic anatomy wasn't your strongest suit, and your [Mindsight] was pretty shitty about details, but you were somewhat sure that the sleeping figure was a young female human.

You'd also glimpsed a plethora of books around the place too. Those might have told you something about the girl but, again, you'd not really seen them in sufficient resolution to read the titles.

(Admittedly your lack of [Literacy] likely would help much there.)

All in all there were a lot of details, but you didn't have the skills or [Skills] to put together what were probably clues. Instead the only thing you could do was to believe that the World had put you where you were for a reason, infest the girl, then see if there were any better clues in what she saw in her day-to-day life.

As you coiled your body, gathered yourself to use [Infest], one thing was bothering you…

oOo​

(This is the difficulty/host/world choice.
All worlds are at least slightly AU.
Pick one.)

Spoiler: VOTING IS CLOSED

[ ] Why was she hugging a broken scythe of all things? (Easy; Ruby Rose; RWBY)

[ ] Was that large forehead and the half shorn pink hair natural? (Average; Sakura Haruno; Naruto)

[ ] Did you make a mistake about her gender? Nah… (Average; Izuku Midoriya; MHA)

[ ] What was with the tears and her hair being in balls? (Nightmare; Usagi Tsukino; Sailor Moon)

Spoiler: QM Note

This Quest is my attempt to kick myself into gear in terms of writing anything just now and keeping it going.

If it attracts enough interest then I will try to keep it going, or perhaps even crosspost onto SV or SB as I'll be trying to stay properly SFW, and I will attempt to give warning if my brain starts to be stuborn and uncooperative about continuing it.

In case people are wondering, the general tone of the quest shouldn't be too dark.

 

[Merior]

In all cases settings will be, if needed, adjusted to fit the difficulty.

Easy Difficulty:

Semblances can be odd and so mind control or possession exist, but such effects aren't actively looked for. Ruby will also be in a situation where changing her approach to, or dropping entirely, most of her existing social connections makes sense.

Average Difficulty:

Mind control and possession are not an out-of-context idea in either Naruto or My Hero Academia but something that, if given reason, people might consider an explanation for sufficiently odd behaviour.

However there will be no physical evidence of this possession to a casual inspection and both potential hosts will be at a stage where a sudden change can be justified. This may be a little harder in Naruto, but later on a broader range of abilities can be explained as 'developed new techniques' as opposed to trying to explain a Quirk doing many separate effects.

Nightmare Difficulty:

Sailor Moon and Mars need to, and will, need to liberally use cleansing/exorcism techniques at times. Understandably these would not play well with the mindworm's presence. One of the better case scenarios for such applications involves getting 'popped out' during a fight.

 

[Merior]

oOo​

A few of your activations of [Mindsight] had permitted glimpses of colour, but those had been enough for you to know that the human hair you were nestled in was dark green. The colour drew up vague comparisons from your past memories to the colour of dark pine needles, moss on logs, and other such things.

You'd personally preferred pinks and reds, nicely fleshy colours, or maybe white reminiscent of good ol' bloodless brain tissue but any host was a good host when the alternative is moving about as your all too squishy 'real' self.

Your feeble body was tense as you coiled in that hair, readying yourself [Infest] this host, to settle in and get comfortable over long hours until you'd be able to start tapping into her senses… yet a nagging thought was bothering you:

Was this really a female host?

The race or gender of a host wasn't really important, it wasn't as if you had one yourself, but you hated being wrong about such things. Getting things wrong led to mistakes. Making mistakes led to suspicion. Such suspicions then led to Namers with spells, potions, or injections... and those tended to cause a sudden painful need to be respawned.

After all, didn't female hosts tend to have rounder bits…?

You seemed to have retained a few more bits of knowledge than was usual after a respawn (rare, but handy, those same nuggles of info told you) so you thought back over what you'd managed to see earlier.

Oh, doh! The gender things often lead to any 'sex' thing so you were bad about them but, now that you had properly considered it, what you'd seen in the room meant that this must be a female host.

Only a female would have pictures all over the place of some muscular male in really tight clothing, right?

Your host-to-be had probably just not 'grown properly' yet and, in a way, you felt bad about your doubts. You were sure that she was gonna be a great host and already you were being so uncharitable about her.

Making a mental note that, if you decided to spec into the Mutation tree, you should help her with such things then relaxed, your doubts assuaged, and invoked [Infest]...

…and, effectively, ceased to exist.

oOo​

The World seemed to you that it had to be a busy entity, one which always had lots to do, so it wasn't surprising that it wouldn't always want to work when it didn't have to.

[Infest] was one of those places where it might have cut a few corners.

That was pretty understandable really and, as the one using the skill, you didn't object to how it was being handled. Actually having to physically burrow into a head without killing a host, to cling on ethereally inside of their skull, or use some other method all sounded like way too much trouble.

Instead the World did a way more elegant thing by switching your physical existence out for one as a Status effect. Anyone checking directly for the presence of something (like, say, you) would be using a skill which the World was telling them the results like you were actually a debuff anyway.

So why not cut out the middle man?

(You did have a really really vague memory of repeatedly trying to [Infest] and accidentally killing via holes in skulls. But [Infest] must have been patched since then to how it was now and so wasn't worth thinking on.)

It might have been more complex behind the scenes yet it was pretty simple for you. You had invoked [Infest] and, wham!, all sense of your body vanished. Sure, you could feel the vague sparks which had to be your host's mind but that was about all.

…no, that wasn't quite true. There was one other thing that you were still aware of. In fact it was something that had your entire attention and, in a way, it was something that you considered your archnemesis as it taunted you.

If you'd had eyes (or, better yet, laser eyes) you'd have been glaring at the glowing shape sitting smugly in your minds' eye. Unfortunately the progress bar for [Infest] was in no way intimidated and merely added a barely perceptible sliver to itself before stopping once more.

Waiting sucked but there wasn't anything you could, at this stage, do about it so you just gave a mental sigh and poke at your own mind. Memories? What was that way that Namers used to pass the time? Oh, that was it…

"One hundred b-" You began mentally then paused, 'looking' at the progress bar, and reconsidered before trying again.

"Five million bottles of beer on the wall…!"

oOo​

Spoiler: VOTING IS CLOSED

You can't sign to yourself all the wait time so what else did you consider?
(Pick two different options.)

[ ][Think] How the heck you messed up [Leap Attack] earlier. (Attempt unlock of 'Combat'. Influences the host.)

[ ][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)

[ ][Think] The pretty sparks of your host's mind. (Random snippets of host memories. Augments the other choice.)

[ ][Think] Ways to ensure the progress bar knows you are pointedly ignoring it. (Attempt full unlock of 'Mindworm Psi'.)

[ ][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.)

What situation will your host be in when you tap into her senses?
(Pick one option.)

[ ][Scene] BOOM! (An explosion is going off.)
[ ][Scene] Exhausted and being berated. (Older man is yelling at her.)
[ ][Scene] In bed? Still? (A day or two later, but at home.)
[ ][Scene] Looking through glass at clothing. (In a shopping area.)
[ ][Scene] Watching some sort of combat. (Hero watching.)

oOo
​

Spoiler: Author's Notes

The next update will be longer, but this was the 'second half' of setting things up. The voting period should last until at least Monday, but could be extended based on activity. A 24 hour warning will be given either way.

There will be interaction between the choices so thinking them over and maybe discussing is a good idea.

In case it isn't clear: for your vote, put down two of the options tagged [Think] and one tagged [Scene].

 

[Merior]

Voting Is Closed

oOo​

Voting is now closed and the winning vote was:

[!][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)
[!][Think] The pretty sparks of your host's mind. (Random snippets of host memories. Augments the other choice.)
[!][Scene] Looking through glass at clothing. (In a shopping area.)

Now let me see how the first die roll of the Quest goes...

(A post about die mechanics will be put up tomorrow.)

oOo​

Spoiler: Votes

Vote Tally : What's On Your Mind: A Mindworm Quest [Posts: 30-49]
##### NetTally 5.1.0

Task: Think
— Voters: 17

[X][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)
[X][Think] The pretty sparks of your host's mind. (Random snippets of host memories. Augments the other choice.)
[X][Scene] Looking through glass at clothing. (In a shopping area.)
No. of Votes: 6
[X] TricMagic
[X] Ct613hulu
[X] Hebi
[X] mc2rpg
[X] Tsureai
[X] Umbra1999

[X][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)
[X][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.)
[X][Scene] In bed? Still? (A day or two later, but at home.)
No. of Votes: 2
[X] dirge
[X] Civil Reader

[X][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)
[X][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] impia

[X][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)
[X][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.)
[X][Scene] Looking through glass at clothing. (In a shopping area.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Biigoh

[X][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)
[X][Think] Ways to ensure the progress bar knows you are pointedly ignoring it. (Attempt full unlock of 'Mindworm Psi'.)
[X][Scene] Looking through glass at clothing. (In a shopping area.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] shaderic

[X][Think] How the heck you messed up [Leap Attack] earlier. (Attempt unlock of 'Combat'. Influences the host.)
[X][Think] Future 'improvements' for your host. (Insight into and attempted unlock of 'Mutation'. Sets goals.)
[X][Scene] In bed? Still? (A day or two later, but at home.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] LordPun

[X][Think] The pretty sparks of your host's mind. (Random snippets of host memories. Augments the other choice.)
[X][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.
[X][Scene] Exhausted and being berated. (Older man is yelling at her.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Kingster

[X][Think] The pretty sparks of your host's mind. (Random snippets of host memories. Augments the other choice.)
[X][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.
[X][Scene] Looking through glass at clothing. (In a shopping area.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] IHaveReloaded

[X][Think] The pretty sparks of your host's mind. (Random snippets of host memories. Augments the other choice.)
[X][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.)
[X][Scene] In bed? Still? (A day or two later, but at home.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] TRm

[X][Think] The pretty sparks of your host's mind. (Random snippets of host memories. Augments the other choice.)
[X][Think] Ways to ensure the progress bar knows you are pointedly ignoring it. (Attempt full unlock of 'Mindworm Psi'.)
[X][Scene] Exhausted and being berated. (Older man is yelling at her.)
No. of Votes: 1
[x] DIT_grue

[X][Think] Ways to ensure the progress bar knows you are pointedly ignoring it. (Attempt full unlock of 'Mindworm Psi'.)
[X][Think] What's up with the World not giving you a role? (Attempt to unlock a System function. Some info on mindworms.)
[X][Scene] In bed? Still? (A day or two later, but at home.)
No. of Votes: 1
[X] Stilgar Of Sietch Tabr

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Total No. of Voters: 17

 

[Merior]

Basic Roll Resolution

In general I will be using a dice roll mechanical adapted from the Powered By the Apocalypse engine.

The basic roll is 2d6 (plus any appropriate modifier) with the result read as follows:

A total of 6 or less is a miss.
Things don't go well and the risk turns out badly. How bad this is will usually depend on how risky the action is.

A total of 7-9 is a mixed success.
Either you do it but there's an issue (some cost, compromise, retribution, harm, etc.) or you fail yet manage to get some minor benefit anyway. Which one depends on how things would work narratively.

A total of 10-12 is a full success.
You accomplish what you aimed to do without complications.

A total of 13 or more is a critical success.
You not only manage it, but gain some extra benefit or advantage to boot.

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Worked Examples:

Here are two example scenarios for Izuku with possible results:

[!] You're trying to find information online about someone called Eraserhead. Failure: After exhausting yourself reading late into the night you conclude that there is no information about Eraserhead to be found on the All Might vs All Might threads of your favourite forums. (Fatigue and wasted time.) Mixed: You find out basic information about the Underground Hero, but get carried away and spend a chunk of your allowance on commisioned Eraserhead merchandise. Mixed: You didn't find any information, but you did get an idea where to look for accurate information. (Get +1 to your next attempt to look up a hero or villian.) Success: Underground heroes are hard to learn about, but you find a surprisingly good thread on a forum discussing him and his feats. Critical Success: You find a fan page on the guy and manage to download from it before it was taken down. You get general info on him and also get a clip from a UA Sports day showing him fighting.

[!] There's a limited edition All Might outfit that you want for Halloween, but it's in high demand. Can you find it in a store in time? Failure: It was an accident, but you knocked over a display in a store and broke some things. (Consequences!) Mixed: You find the outfit on a rack in a store... but someone else has grabbed it at the same time! (Possible success, but problem!) Mixed: After trying several stores without success you unthinking commiserate with someone else with the same goal. (Failure, but positive encounter.) Success: Cue the Zelda SFX 'cause All Might costume get! Critical Success: After you get home with your prize and collapse exhausted, your mom quietly takes the outfit and adjusts it to fit better. People are going to comment on how good it looks. (+1 to next appropriate social roll.)

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Longer term tasks (those which can't be resolved in a single attempt/roll) will be covered in a later post.

Any questions?