Fate of The World Session 1

You awaken in a...room? That’s what it looks like anyway. It’s extremely blue, in fact, everything in the  room is blue.

“Ah, so you are awake at last.”

You snap to attention to the person sitting in front of you. A ghastly looking man with a large nose and a smile on his face.

“Welcome my friend. Please, take a seat.”

You do so, not even realizing that there was a chair behind you, this is all so strange...are you dreaming?

“Rest assured friend, you are not dreaming. Well at least, technically you aren’t.”
“The world is on a precipice my friend.”

A precipice? What? And can this guy read your mind?!

“Your mind? No friend, I cannot read minds, however, thoughts are easily made manifest here as is one’s soul. However that is neither here nor there. You know of me, that much is true...sadly, pulling you here has jumbled your mind. It is fine, for I...rather we need your help.

Your help...what for?

“It is not important now. We can handle that later. My friend, I ask you to fill out the form in your hands, in doing so a contract will be made with which you will act as an arbiter and herald to save this forsaken world.”

What the hell does this guy mean? You an ‘arbiter’? A ‘herald’? You’re nothing like that, this is one funky dream and really, it’s the most excitement you’ve had in forever, so you decide to go with it. Looking at the contract, you see that it asks only for your name and gender.

>What is your name?(Also are you a boy or girl)

>Boy
>Hiromu Kazuchika

“I see...very well friend, now then...I am allowed to gift you one boon. An ally to help kickstart you in this twisted game that I am sadly forced to play as are now you. Tell me friend...what do you seek in an ally? Let’s start first with their gender.

>A man
>A woman

>Man

“I see...very well, then what do you seek from them? Some characteristics that wish for them to possess that you feel is most fitting?"

>Someone strong and physically fit
>Someone smart and clever
>Someone agile and swift

>Someone agile and swift

“I see...it is done. Now tell me, what you wish for your relationship to be? The bonds you forge could save you one day...or lead to your ruin should you be unlucky.”

>Someone dutiful
>Someone to love
>Someone to protect

>Someone to protect

"I see...there is no going back with this decision my friend. Is this *truly* what you desire in an ally?"

>Yes
>On second thought...

>Yes

“I see...this shall be all for now. We will meet again friend. Your ally awaits you in your world. Go forth and save us all. Again...I am sorry it had to be this way. Let it be known you have my aid friend, come here when you need...our services will be open to you.”

Bzzzzzzt

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt

You groggily wake up to the blaring of your alarm clock. While this thing is useful for getting you up, you can't help but slam the thing off. That beeping is fucking awful and you can't figure out why you bought this damn thing.

...Oh yeah, because you'll sleep in otherwise.

You get up off your bed, and after rubbing your eyes some, you beeline right for the bathroom. A hot shower will help you wake up. Always has, and always will. Once you're done washing up you take quick look at yourself in the mirror.
Hiromu Kazuchika. Male, 22 years old, Japanese. Well, Japanese in name only really. You were born there, but you were only there for about 3 years before your parents moved to the states. So if anything, you're more American than Japanese, but hey, who really cares right? After all, you definitely partake in your fair share of Japanese media and you can actually speak it fluently thanks to Mom and Dad.

You brush your teeth, the taste of sleep washing away from your mouth and the nice minty taste making itself known instead. Seriously, you have to wonder why stinky ass sleep breath is a thing. What god out there made that and why?

You finish brushing, and a good gargle and spit later, your breathe is in tip-top shape. Perfect. You return to your room and throw on your work clothes after making sure to get some deodorant on. You aren't making that same mistake again if you can help it. Not after that one time in college...

While you aren't proud of it, you're currently a small time wage slave. You'll get your big break one of these days.

Today is not that day.
After brushing your hair, you walk down the steps and into your apartment's living room.

It's a pretty good space. A gift from Mom and Dad after Dad made it big as a lawyer. You've gotta remember to call them up one of these days and say hi.

"Yo, you're finally up!"

"Heh, yeah, sorry I was-" You look at the source of the voice and there on your couch is a person...

"When's breakfast? I'm starved man."

>Why is there a cosplayer in my house?
>Get out or I'll call the cops!
>Why are you half-naked?!
>Other/Write-in

>"Too early, coffee."

You just stare at the guy before sighing "Too early, coffee."

You aren't sure why there's a guy cosplaying as Ace from One Piece in your house, but right now you do not care.

"Seriously? Look, I don't wanna be rude and just help myself. I may be a pirate, but I have some manners you know."

You just shoot a glare at him as the coffee starts to fill up your mug. Seriously, if it weren't so early in the morning you'd probably be a bit more concerned that someone broke into your apartment.

"Sheesh, fine, I'll wait for you to get your pick-me-up. Gotta say though...this is a hell of a city you're living in. I don't think I've ever seen a place like this."

It's really weird, he talks like Ace and has the mannerisms down pat at that too. It's actually kind of uncanny and not cringey like many of the cosplayers you've seen before.

You take your coffee and throw in a few spoonfuls of sugar, before taking a quick sip. Already, you can feel yourself ready to tackle the day.

"Okay, so why are you here?" You ask taking another sip

"What do you mean why? You called me."

>Scuse me?
>I've been asleep until just a while ago
>So is this the part where you rob me or hold me hostage or something?
>Other/Write-in

>"Don't think I ordered a cosplaying, male stripper."
>"Well, maybe the first part."

"Don't think I ordered a cosplaying, male stripper." You snort while taking another sip of coffee. "Well, maybe the first part." you add

At this Ace laughs again. "You got jokes. I like that. But no, uh...I think you know the guy who sent me here. His name is Igor? He's in a wacky room full of blue?"

You nearly choke on your coffee as the details of that dream you had come rushing back. That was Igor you saw. Long nose and all. But what the actual hell? Persona is a game series, you're definitely not in a video game. That'd be too weird...though admittedly kinda cool at the same time...if you could save and load anyway.

"Judging by that reaction, you do know the guy."

You cough for a minute before collecting your thoughts "So hold up, are you trying to tell me that Igor...the Igor from Persona actually summoned Ace from One Piece into my apartment?"

"I guess? The last thing I remember is dying...and Luffy...shit I hope he's okay, but uh, that Igor guy pulled me into his little room and said you needed my help, that things are about to get heavy real soon?"

>I'm going to work
>I can safely say nothing is gonna happen here
>You...died?
>Other/Write-in

>You...died?
>So are you the proper Ace or from a spinoff, doujin whatever?

"You...died?" You ask with a raised eyebrow

"Yeah...I...it was right in front of my little brother." At this Ace grabs his hat and pulls it down a bit, covering his face "I...can't even think of how Luffy must have felt. Heh, of course the last thing I do is make my little bro cry. Some brother right?"

You aren't sure from where you're standing, but you think you see a tear run down Ace's cheek. You actually...feel pretty bad. Maybe it's time to chaange the subject?

"So are you the proper Ace or from a spinoff or doujin or whatever?"

Ace just turns and stares at you, completely confused "I have no idea what any of those words mean, but uh, I'm sure I'm me. There's no other Portgas d ace. That much I'm certain of."

"...Right." You reply, there's no way he'd know if he were from a doujin or not, to him his world is 100% real. In fact, given the situation you're starting to think it in fact is real.

You idly check your watch and...crap, if this keeps up you'll be late for work.

"Crap, I gotta go..." You mutter, getting ready to leave

"Oh right, you're a working man. I guess we should get going then."

"What do you mean we?"

"Well, what if something happens? You need me close by right?"

He can't honestly think you're gonna roll up to work with him in tow right?

>Stay here, help yourself to anything in the fridge
>You can come if you stay out of sight
>Other/Write-in

>I'd rather you actually know how things work here before you walk around
>Besides I'm pretty sure if anything weird happened it'd be because it's attracted by you

"I'd rather you actually know how things work here before you walk around anywhere, besides, I'm pretty sure if anything weird happened it'd be because it's attracted by you."

"That hurts, but I get it, I'll hang here till you get back. You got a lot of funky stuff here anyway."

"Please, can you not break anything?"

"Hey don't worry, I'll keep the fireworks to a minimum...just uh, can you seriously get me some food? I'm kinda starved"

You roll your eyes, giving him a quick rundown of how the microwave works so he can heat something up (which he decides he won't really need) as well as giving him basic instructions on how to prepare some cereal. With that having been taken care of you leave your apartment and head out to the parking area. Your place of work wasn't far, but hey, you worked your ass off to get your driver's license and a car to drive around, so you're gonna drive.

It's a quick 15 minute drive, that includes getting into the parking lot and leaving. Really, this is such a non-descript building it's kind of depressing. Hell, you're surprised you get paid enough to make rent each month. Granted, that's somewhat thanks to your parents as well.

You walk into the office to see the usual fair. Several people are already taking phone calls and talking about some random stuff on the phone with potential clients.

Well, time for you to join in you guess. You should be thankful for dad for helping you land this job fresh out of college but god is it boring.

Before you can even sit down at your desk, you're interrupted by a girl with hair dyed pink.

"Mooooornin' Hiro~!"

>Morning Renee
>Please not now...
>Ignore her and work
>Other/Write-in

>Morning Renee
>any upsets yet?

Renee Byrd. She's a fellow employee of yours and like you, managed to land this gig right out of school, she's a bit more of a social butterfly than you though, always talking to someone and being generally friendly. Nice as that is, it can be a pain to encounter her in the morning hours when people are still waking up.

"Morning Renee, any upsets yet?"

"Oh come on now Hiro! Don't be so negative, I'm sure nothing like that will happen today!"

"Renee, you said that yesterday."

"So?"

"And the day before that." You continue

"S-so...?"

"And the day before that."

"B-but...um...well...i-it'll change! Today will be the day!"

Today was not the day.

Several clients called in complaining about something or other, as per usual. There was nothing you could really do except offer some refunds or compensation of some sort. God dealing with this crap was so irritating. Customer service was customer service, even if you weren't behind a register. You feel your phone vibrate which serves as the signal you oh so love known only as 'Lunch Break'.

You stop what you're doing and head over to the employee lounge. Well, you call it lounge, but it's really just a room with a fridge in it and some paltry refreshments, nothing grand. You open the fridge, having placed a bag of chicken patties inside. Thankfully, no one touched it. Probably helped by you having written your name on it. If you don't, people are likely to snatch it up.  You place two of them in the microwave, which should heat them up well enough to eat.

"Hey Hiro~! What's for lunch today?"

"Just some chicken patties. Why?"

"Er...um...well..." she turns away with a blush, you hear her stomach rumble pretty loudly at that

>Just take one
>No
>I didn't know you could make sounds like that
>Other/Write-in

>Just take one

You sigh at her "Just take one."

"Really?! You're the best Hiro!"

It's a bit silly, but you have to admit that seeing her face light up in happiness brings a small smile to your face. Once the patties are done heating up, you take the plate out and set it on the table, taking out some ketchup, salt, pepper, and mustard as well as four slices of bread.

"Take your pick." You say as you begin applying some salt and pepper to your patty.

"Yes sir!"

Renee piles on absolutely everything she can before taking a bite out of her patty. It's...a sight to behold actually. She's eating like she's never had a good meal in her life, but that's impossible given her figure...

Instantly, Renee snaps to attention staring daggers at you

"That's rude Hiro."

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You were thinking I'm fat!"

"That's totally wrong! I wasn't thinking that at all!"

"Oh yeah, then what were you thinking?"

>Uh, that you're cute?
>That you lack table manners
>That you're fat
>Other/Write-in

>Uh, that you're cute?

"Uh, that you're cute?"

This causes her to stop for a moment, and turn red a bit. "Oh...er...thanks. I um...try to keep my hair looking good. Apply the right makeup, you know...the usual."

She babbles on like that for a bit before going to eating, this time a lot more slowly and in complete silence. At least you saved your ass this time, no telling what would have happened if you told her what you were actually thinking.

You both finish up your food, grabbing some water from the water cooler nearby and are prepared to go back to the daily grind. Well, you were, until you heard some yells coming from the main office area.

"What the hell is going on?" You say about to go and find out

"Maybe someone is fed up and gonna quit?" Renee says looking over your shoulder

However, that idea is quickly thrown aside when you hear gunshots coming from the other room, in fact, one whizzes right by your ear!

"H-holy fuck!" You exclaim falling to the ground

"Hiro, what's going on?!"
"I dunno Renee, just get down, find cover!"

You duck under the table before the sounds quiet down. Peeking out, you mouth to Renee to stay put while you check things out. You need a weapon and fast, something to defend yourself with. Looking around the room, there's nothing except...wait! You see a bit of pipe by the sink, you'd forgotten that they hadn't finished fixing it up yet and were set to come in tomorrow. Well...you hope they don't mind.

You get out from under the table and grab the pipe, it's not much, but it's something. Poking your head out of the doorway you see that the office is deserted. What the hell, did they abandon you and Renee?! You look around some more and cautiously step out and immediately bump into someone. You're confused at first, but looking down you see who it is. A small robot looking person? With a bayonet rifle...thing?

What the fuck is that thing?

"Uh...who are you?"

The robot...thing looks at you before poking its weapon at you

Oh hell no!

>Hit the fucker(1d100)
>Duck back into the kitchen
>Run

>Hit the fucker(41)
>Robot(71+1=2)

"Oh no you don't!" You shout taking a swing with the pipe...only to miss. How the hell did you miss?! THe robot looking thing doesn't hesitate and makes a stab at you with his weapon and his aim lands true as he manages to stab you right in the shoulder.

"Gaaaaaaaah!" You shout in pain

"H-Hiro!? Hiro are you okay?!" Renee calls out from the break room

"S-stay back there, don't leave that room!"

Your shoulder is bleeding. Goddamn did that thing hurt! You're already feeling winded, but you're sure that you can take this thing, you've just got to land one solid hit on it!

"Alright you metal oompa loompa, get ready to die!"

>HP 6/10

>Hit him(1d100)
>Run!

>Hit the fucker(90)
>Damage:6

You muster up as much strength as you can and bring the pipe down on the robots head before he can attack you again. You watch as part of his head literally caves in on itself before it slumps over, the lights in its eyes dimming.

Holy shit, you did it! You killed this...whatever the fuck it is! You raise your arm in celebration before lowering it again as you wince in pain.

Yeah, gonna have to get that looked at later.

>Gained 10 EXP!

"Renee, you can come out now, it's safe!" you call to her

Renee carefully steps out, but the second she sees your shoulder she can't help but shriek

"H-Hiro?! Your shoulder! What happened and...and what is that?!"

"I have no idea. But uh...I think work is cancelled for the rest of the day. Let's get out of here."

"Y-yeah..."

The two of you make your way out of the office and into the parking lot where you're greeted to a most unwelcome sight.

At least a dozen of those robots...and they're smashing their weapons on your car!

"HEY! CUT THAT OUT YOU LITTLE SHITS!!!" You roar, great, that's gonna take a fat stack of cash to fix! The back window is cracked, there's dents all over the side of it and the paints chipped!

As you fume internally, all of turn their eyes on you...and take aim.

Oh fuck...

>Renee run!
>Cover Renee with your body!
>Well if you're gonna die, you're taking at least one of them with you!
>Other/Write-in

>Run

"Run!" You exclaim grabbing Renee's hand and booking it as fast as you can. The little robot men give chase without a second thought and they keep going after you too. You can feel bullets whizz by you. It looks like they can't really hit moving targets all that well thank god. You and Renee keep running until you hit the nearby park. Thankfully it's deserted, and there's no one who could possibly get hurt.

UNthankfully, is that the little bastards are still on you and you're tiring out. You can't keep running forever. You just can't shake them, and not to mention Renee would get caught in the cross fire.

"Renee. Get out of here."

"What? Hiro, I can't just leave you!"

"GO!!!" You shout at her, which causes her to recoil before she nods slowly, running as fast as she can.

"Good." You mutter to yourself, you look down at your pipe. You hung on to it, why? you have no idea, but maybe you can at least kill one of them with it?

The little tin mob catches up to you and like before they all line up their shots. Looks like this is it. You have to say you didn't expect to die like this. Shot by a bunch of robot oompa loompas.

Well...how do you meet this?

>Throw the pipe at one of them
>Charge em!
>Other/Write-in

>Charge

Fuck that, you're taking at least ONE of these bastards with you! You don't care if they shoot you, you'll keep going. You're going out like a badass! You hope at least. You lean forward and break out into a sprint. You can almost hear that song in your head. How does it go again? Oh yeah!

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He's Ordinary!

Yeah, that tune! It plays in your head as you get closer to the enemy. You see as the enemy all fire at you. Well here it is the pain of death coming to envelope you. You close your eyes, if only to try and brace yourself for the pain a bit more...but it never comes.

"You're a real idiot man."

You open your eyes to see Ace, hes' got you slung over his back as he speaks

"Still, you got balls. I like that, reminds me of some friends back home. Now stand back."

He sets you up right as he he blasts flames at the robots, incinerating all but 6 of them.

"Tch, my aim must be off. Sorry about that, looks like we still got some clean up to do."

>Ace, how the hell did you get here?
>Let's take em down
>What about Renee?
>Other/Write-in

>Ace, how the hell did you get here?
>Please tell me you locked up before you left

"Ace, how the hell did you get here?"

"I had help from...well I guess he's a friend? He said you'd be in trouble."

"Okay...but please tell me you locked up before you left."

Ace looks at you in silence before turning to the enemy "We'll talk later."

"Fine, but if anything is missing, you're paying for it!"

You take a stance with your trusty pipe. Well, you say trusty, but really it's the best thing you've got on hand and you managed to kill one of those things with it earlier!

>Hiro:HP:6/10, MP:0/0

>Ace:HP:24/24 MP:30/30

>Robots HP:5/5 (All of them have the same amount so...)

>Choose what actions you wanna take. All Actions take 1d100+whatever modifier. So physical attacks usually rely on STR. Magical relies on MAG etc.

>Hiro:Defend
>Ace:Flamethrower: 88,74,39
>Robot number 3:1+1=2

You decide to hang back, taking up a defensive position (Or what you hope amounts to one) as you let Ace handle the fighting. He fires a wave of flames  at theree of the robots. Two of them catch fire and slowly begin to melt. The third however, is okay...for a few moments. His allies run into him, grabbing onto him and causing him to catch fire and slowly begin to melt as well.

"Heh, these things are easy. Come on Hiromu, you gotta take a whack at these things." Ace says as the remaining three come to face the two of you. "Especially for that sweet girl you were runnin' away with."

"Yeah yeah, if I don't die first." you reply

"Enough talking. Here they come!"

>Hiro:HP:6/10, MP:0/0

>Ace:HP:24/24 MP:20/30

>Robots HP:5/5 (All of them have the same amount so...)

>Hiro:Attack(47)
>Ace:Attack(88+3=91)
>Robots(13,8)

You move in to take a swing at  one of the robots...and you whiff it...completely. It'd be embarrassing if anyone had been watching you.

"Nice try, but ya do it like THIS!" Ace grunts as he punches one of the robots, knocking it's head clean off. "See? Ya gotta put that oomph in it!"

The other two robots try to attack you and Ace, but by some sort of divine luck (That's what you're calling it) they manage to miss you entirely. You dodged! You didn't get hit! And most importantly, you didn't die!

"Keep your head up. We still got two more to deal with."

"Right. Let's finish this up!"

>Hiro:HP:6/10, MP:0/0

>Ace:HP:24/24 MP:20/30

>Robots(2) HP:5/5

>Hiro:Attack(100)
>Ace:Attack(90+3=93)

"Alright, now put a little heart in it!" Ace shouts, rousing you to action, you don't say anything and instead bring the pipe down on the robot in front of you, and this time, instead of smashing just a part of its head, you hit him in just the right spot, obliterating his head.

Ace, meanwhile, casually punches the other robot, just like before, killing it without much effort. With the fight done, the two of you look around at the trashed machines.

"Hehe, gotta say. That was pretty fun. Not bad Hiromu."

"Yeah...you too." You say panting  "Man, I hope that doesn't ever happen again..."

>Enemies defeated!
>You gained 90 EXP!
>Ace gained 90 EXP!
>Hiromu grew to level 2!
>You gained $400!
>Normally you'd only get 1 skill point, but due to ending on that 100, I'll be generous this time and give you two. Put them where you like
As you feel yourself coming off of the high of combat. Before you can thank Ace, another voice appears from behind you.

"Good work you two. I'm surprised you didn't keel over Hiromu."

You turn to look at the guy and...he's...you know you've seen him before. You can't really pin it down right now though.

"Oh great, now what?" you sigh

"Look, I know things are happenin' fast, but I need you to come with me."

"You can trust him well enough Hiromu, he's the guy who gave me the tip off." Ace adds

>Please, can we do this tomorrow? I wanna go home
>Fine, anywhere is better than here...
>Other/Write-in

>I'm not going anywhere until I make sure my place is actually locked
>Fine, Anywhere is better than here
>But did you see a girl leave? I feel guilty for pulling her into this, and I want to know she got away

"I'm not going anywhere until I make sure my place is actually locked." You grunt

At this, the man laughs pretty loudly, as if he's heard the greatest joke in the world.

"Is that all? Don't worry man, I took care of that. You're home is 100% safe. You have my word. Ace did run out of there, so he probably wasn't paying attention."

"Come on man, you don't have to make me sound like a worrywart." Ace replies pulling his hat down

He looks around again as if he's waiting for someone or something to jump out at him. "Look, I know you got things to do, but we need to get out of here. We're too exposed and who knows what else could come our way."

"Fine, anywhere is better than here...but did you see a girl leave? I feel guilty for getting her involved in all this. I just hope she got away."
"Don't worry about her. Those things weren't her at all. No, they wanted to axe you."

You want to be surprised, but quite honestly...you aren't. Thinking back, they didn't bother going after Renee at all, and went straight for the kill with you.

"Okay...let's get out of here."

The three of you vacate the park, police sirens already blaring in the background. Looks like they finally caught wind of whats going on. You keep following the mystery man, until you're inside of a...coffee shop?

You've never seen this place before and you've been all over town.

"Okay. We'll be safe here. Take a load off."

>What the hell is going on?
>Don't suppose you have something that can heal stab wounds do you?
>This place wasn't here before...
>Other/write-in

>Why is this happening?
>What is this place?
>And most importantly, how Irish can you make my coffee?
>Don't suppose you have something that can heal stab wounds do you?

"Alright, I got some questions." you say

"As I'm sure you do." The man replies

"First...you got anything that heal stab wounds?"

The man makes a finger gun and points at  your shoulder "Bang."

"Haha, real funny."

"Uh...Hiromu...look at your shoulder." Ace said

You touch it and...it's no longer stinging like before...in fact, it's completely healed! You want to ask how he pulled that off, but you manage to stay focused.

"Right er...what is this place?"

"My home away from home. Think of this place as a safe house for you. No enemies can touch you here, and if you really need to, I can sneak you back to your place."

Okay, you're not gonna ask how he can do that right now...

"Third, how Irish can you make my coffee?"

He quickly gets behind the counter and whips up a cup with lightning speed before handing it over to you.

"How drunk can an Irishman get?"

You take a sip. God DAMN is that some good coffee, way better than the stuff you have at home. You might have to take a cup or two to go. Maybe get the beans at least...

"Okay, and lastly, why is this happening?"

At this the man takes a long  drawn out sigh "So kid...tell me. You know anything about Nyarlathotep?

>End