Viridian Dreams Quests

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Anyone else noticed most of the quests are built around Death and Crazy?"

Viridian Dreams is the website of Viridian/ S'Tarkan, author of Team 8 and Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past, and long story short, his forum is full of writers, or at the very least people with too much time on their hands. One of these good/bored writers started Ninja Quest, a play by post game, and the forum hasn't looked back. There are a number of quite good, currently running quests (Play-By-Post Games with collectively controlled protagonists), several dropped quests and Let's Plays and a complete Let's Play.

There be spoilers.

Currently[when?] Running

  • Assassin Quest: Increasingly alcoholic Felix is an assassin, he does assassinly things. Like killing and power levelling and putting on a play of The Princess Bride.
  • Digimon Quest: A young, black Australian Genki Girl named Cassie and her floating Metal Gear-, Hagurumon take on the Digital World with their fellow Digi Destined, using their wits, mad boxing skills, and knowledge of Pokemon to survive.
  • Familiar Quest: Conceptually based on The Familiar of Zero with main character from Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Ryoko Asakura is summoned as a familiar. She takes it badly. It's OK though, she's only stabbed one person so far and he really deserved it. We think.
  • Ghostbusters: Japan Quest Join our newest team member of the Ghostbusters (Japan branch, obviously) as she takes on ghosts, ghouls, assorted beasties, and...Hell Girl?! Oh dear...
  • High School AU Crossover Quest: "I'd like to think Leto was a slacker musician in another life." Crack discussion between the author of NQ and uq somehow turns into a four-author (NQ, FQ, VQ, uq) Megacrossover. Stars Kaspar, who is not cowardly so much as sane, being a Muggle until recently and now attending school with the lovely characters from the other quests.
  • Hollow Quest: "Hunger and fear are the only realities in dog life: an empty stomach makes a fierce dog." - Robert Falcon Scott
  • Let's Play: Fire Emblem: the Sacred Stones: Eirika is going into enemy territory to look for her brother Ephraim. Yes, this is pretty stupid, but it's a Fire Emblem game. Newly started.
  • Necromancy Quest: Leto is a the new Abhorsen (Lawful Good Necromancer) and makes very lazy, uncharacteristically cheerful necromancer. Together with his Head Pet zombie octopus and immortal step-grandmother they attempt to rewrite reality, not die (in his case), die (in hers) and not be turned into a gibbering, tortured wreck by the necromancers and nasties out to get him. Set in The Old Kingdom 240 years after the events of Abhorsen (no canon knowledge required).
  • Pilgrim Quest: Pilgrim Tobias goes to check on the seal binding back an ancient evil, only to find that a wizard already broke it. And now he must set off on a journey to prevent the destruction of all he knows. Pray he's successful.
  • Pokemon Quest: The forumites of Viridian Dreams finally embark on a Quest to be the best, by guiding the actions of a cheerful, caffeine addled farmboy and his pyrokinetic echidna through the start of their very own Pokemon journey. What could possibly go wrong?
  • ~*~Pony Quest~*~: "This is based off of the amazing show, My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic", in which a young, Cloudcuckoolander earth pony goes on an adventure to find her cutie mark.
  • Power Ranger Quest Just started, Sean has been chosen to be the newest black ranger.
  • Puella Magi Quest: Florence is a magical heal tank and the world is shaped by the wishes of tweenage girls. This can only end well.
  • Quest Primer: A beginner's guide to Questing on Viridian Dreams.
  • Quest Thread: Basically a place to compile non-canon/fun/fan work based on the Quests.
  • "Super" Quest: Mia's just your average, teenage girl from Manly, Iowa... sans being a Meta-Human, that is.
  • TARDIS Quest: A Quest that takes place in Another Dimension parallel to the original Doctor Who television series' universe, with 'The Janitor' as our lead Time Lord.
  • Vampire Quest *No Sparkles allowed.* Lucy Abbott is dragged into a Crapsack World, beaten to death, drained of blood and a few hours later awakes to find she's a vampire. It gets worse. Hey, at least she's better off than most people around her. Also stars the thousand times cloned Irish emperor of more than a continent and his one eyed, 8 foot tall, armoured, snarky, doctor of a little brother - Lucy's first minion.

Completed

Hiatus/Dropped

Titles in bold contain more than 10 pages of posts.

The Currently Running Quests contains examples of
  • Achey Scars: Michael's were almost crippling.
  • Action Girl: Lucy, Mia, Felicia, Lizbeth, Alecia and Peri.
  • Ambition Is Evil: This seems to be the Imperial Cabinet's take on Philippe IV when they ask the Guild in AQ to kill him dead.
  • And I Must Scream: Poor Michael.
  • The Alcatraz: The first assignment posters work through with Felix is in 'Direstone Prison', an island prison continually surrounded by fog and only reached by specifically tasked transport barges. Until Felix caused a mass prison riot that basically overthrew the prison guards, it had been a very secure facility.
  • Apologises a Lot: Lucy.
  • Asexual: Cain
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: in GB:J, Michiko and Akira kick the ass of an animated, 30-ft. Kali Statue in a manner most awesome
  • The Atoner: Peri and Michael have their reasons.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: In AQ, this is played out by the Guildmaster, the head of the Crimson Winds Guild, being able hide in the middle of a room, and not have the main character notice him. In VQ this is played out by the disembodied voice that lords over Lucy being, apparently, more powerful than she is.
  • Back from the Dead: Part of the Vampire Turning process. Peri many, many times. Leto technically.
  • Badass Bookworm: Hume and Catherine of AQ spend quite a bit of their time in the library, but if Catherine's mentioned poisoning is anything to go by they aren't to be messed with. Also, considering Ryoko basically shived a mage in the kidney, and she was just a student back in Japan, she earns her spot here as well.
  • Badass Family: The o'hAodhas
  • Badass Normal: In a gallery of main characters who are parasites, vampires, a necromancer and people who have some sort of magical ability; Ryoko and Felix (and a few others this troper is sure he's forgetting) stand out as having no other special ability other than ones they naturally developed or trained.
    • Also, despite being in a world filled with paranormal beings, people, and 'other,' the Ghostbuster: Japan crew are just normal humans.
  • Barbarian Tribe: AQ posters are faced with the Tuvan nomadic tribe/band in their second assignment.
  • Battle Couple: Lucy and Michael, Kade and Felicia in the past.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Cathy most prominantly but Lucy to some extent too.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: Felix's Hidden Blade
  • Bleed'Em and Weep: Ryoko
  • Blessed with Suck: (Arguably)Catherine and Saoirse of VQ. Cassandra of uq.
  • Born Lucky: Hell, Felix's name means 'Luck/Lucky/Fortunate', and it seems to play out in AQ... at least, more so than for the other Quest characters.
    • Leto has notoriously poor luck, Lucy's seems to be extreme in both directions and Ryoko's tends to be reasonably stable, even if she is not.
  • Body Double: Shahghali and his random mook, obviously.
  • Body Horror: Carter after his transformation, with a twist of "Was Once a Man" thrown into the mix.
  • Break the Cutie: Slowly happening to Lucy in VQ, and attempts were made to Michiko in GB:J Quest; its a good thing she had self-pity beer. And Sato.
    • Cassandra came pre-broken in uq.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "It's morphing time" in Power ranger quest
  • Career Killers: Take a wild guess.
  • Catch Phrase: Sato from GB:J Quest has the most noticable: 'as the ancients say'.
  • Character Development
  • Chaste Hero: Subverted in AQ, NQ, VQ and possibly uq. With Felix already having lost his, and with posters trying to get Leto and Lucy into their respective love interest's pants, Ryoko is the only one who (thankfully) hasn't lost, or tried to lose, hers. Kade was apparently in a relationship with Felicia, so confirmation awaiting to see if Kade made his move.
    • At this point Lucy is officially and canonically an unchaste hero.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: On Michael and Parvel
  • Crapsack World: Vampire Quest Earth.
  • Crossover Ship: Invoked by the Quest Runners themselves in Crossover Quest
  • Cursed with Awesome: Cain, Michael, Lucy, Cathy, Saoirse and Peri.
    • Although, in the case of the VQ examples this could very well be reversing itself.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Leto, Laurel.
  • Daddy Issues: In NQ most notably. Also in VQ but it takes a back seat to a lot of other issues. Lionel of FQ seems to have some.
    • Also in Let's Play Pokemon Rijon, by the author of NQ who would like to say she loves her Dad and has no idea why this keeps happening.
  • Damaged Soul: Parvel
  • Dark and Troubled Past: More than you know boys and girls. - Love the authors
  • Despair Event Horizon: Michael, finally losing his mind completely for eight odd years.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Saoirse in Cathy's.
  • Digging Yourself Deeper: Cain did not give his daughters telepathy. Lucy, STOP TALKING NOW.
  • Dr. Jerk: Michael didn't exactly have the best bed side manner.
  • Driven to Suicide: Michael, with a touch of Suicide Is Painless.
  • Dysfunctional Family: The very, very large o'hAodha family. Leto's family.
  • Dysfunction Junction: VQ in particular. Could also be used to describe the VD quests in general.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: The author of VQ is a believer in this.
  • Earth All Along: Possibly the FQ World, if the continent the Academy is on is indeed Antarctica.
  • The Empire: Irish no less.
    • A entity quite literally called "The Empire" exists in AQ, as an expy for the real world's Holy Roman Empire.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: While Felix might not technically be a bad guy in AQ, his job as an assassin at least puts him a similar category. The recent sort of reconciliation with his mother (after her death, mind you) gets him right here.
  • Everyone Is Related: Not entirely, but NQ and VQ.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: VQ loves princesses
  • Everything's Worse with Bears: Subverted hard in Super Quest, but played straight in NQ.
  • Extraordinarily Empowered Girl: Peri who has immortality and experience but no magic in a country where it's standard.
  • Familiar: ...guess.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture and Medieval European Fantasy: Basically the answer to what the author envisions when he thinks of the Assassins Quest universe (although with the exception that there's more to the world than just the 'Europe' of it).
  • Fatal Flaw: Peri has long since fallen into the habit of just leaving when things get too hard and is trying desperately to overcome it.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Witch-hood in PMMM, according to Masha
  • First Girl Wins/First Guy Wins: Posters seemed to really rally around Peri and Michael as the two to be paired with Leto and Lucy (respectively) in NQ and VQ. If Lionel manages to get Ryoko out of Kidney's adrenal glands then he could also count. Subverted in AQ if only because, technically, the first 'girl' you see is your sister...
  • Flight: Lucy and Mia
  • Forensic Drama: You never know what's going to happen in a Quest. One moment, your protagonist could be just sitting around minding their own business. The next they could be nearly raped, stab the would-be-rapist in the kidney, and then need to dissolve their body in a chemical tub in order to get rid of it, to avoid getting both herself and her mage convicted.
  • Functional Magic: In NQ and FQ.
  • Generation Xerox: Leto's looks and powers were deliberately built in to his line. Take the Abhorsen from two thousand years ago and you'd still be able to tell they're related.
  • Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: Probably the most prevalent trope in the Quests, as of late almost all of the Quest protagonists have developed one (or more) distinguishable character flaw (usually Played for Laughs). So far these flaws include:
  • Genki Girl: Viridian Shimmer (Pony Quest), and Cassie (Digimon Quest)
  • Gray Eyes: Lucy and Kade, from VQ and uq respectively.
  • Guilt Complex: Michael has a 'ridiculous' one, according to Cain.
  • Harmful to Minors: VQ world certainly seems to be. Michael, Cathy and Saoirse all having horrific childhoods.
  • Head Pet: Squishy the undead octopus.
  • Hope Spot: Frequently in all quests
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Lucy who is a normal 5'7" and Michael at 8'0" (29 inch difference). To a lesser extent Peri and Leto (14 inch difference which will become greater as he grows).
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters
  • Husky Russkie and Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Ivan Vasiliev, if it wasn't blatantly obvious before the author had him say 'the motherland made me strong'.
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Lucy to Voice.
  • Intertwined Fingers: Lucy and Michael
  • Immortal Life Is Cheap: Peri feels this about herself and is quite blasé about losing her life. Her mind is another matter entirely and the fact her life is so cheap while others' aren't is the root of a lot of her issues.
  • Immortal Procreation Clause: Played straight with the Vampires, top of the food chain, nigh on immortal and very infertile. Averted in NQ where the immortals are as fertile as regular humans.
  • Immortality: Peri, Cain through his 1001 body hive mind and quick healing, Lucy and probably Michael have this via Healing Factor as far as we know.
  • Improbable Age: The Lawful Good Necromancer with the ability to walk through death, bring back souls and banish the walking dead is 16, the summoned Familiar who shivved a guy in his kidney and then promptly committed conspiracy to dispose of the body is around the same, and the Vampire Queen who is preparing to lead an assault on the mutated continent of Australia against a mega-corporation in order to save the teleported island of Ireland is 18, recent 19 at the latest.
  • Inelegant Blubbering: Lucy a few times. Peri once. Cassandra.
  • Inherent in the System: VQ
    • The magic system in NQ is fundamentally flawed as its strength is tied to bloodlines. Bad things happen if those families die.
  • Instant Messenger Pigeon: The Crimson Winds Guild in AQ use falcons (Hobbies) in order to get messages around.
    • Played completely straight in the very same Quest with the Sangrian Army, pigeons and all.
  • In the Blood: The Abhorsen, bit of a problem when more than once the only living candidates have been unsuitable.
  • It Got Worse: NQ
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Michael, especially in early days.
  • Keet: Kade and Leto, from ug and NQ respectively, have shades of this.
  • Karaoke Box: The Ghostbusters of GB:J Quest have a karaoke duel over a teenager's immortal soul in one.
  • Kid Hero: Played straight in most of the currently running quest, with the exception of VQ, GB:J Quest, Tardis Quest, [untitled] quest and Assassin Quest
  • Kill the Ones You Love: Cain killing Cathy and Lucy killing Saoirse in hopes Lucy could Turn them.
  • Knife Nut: At the beginning Ryoko only had an affinity for knives, yet presently she seems to embrace this trope fully. There are three significant knives in Familiar Quest at the moment.
  • Life Imitates Art: The author of Familiar Quest evaluated his own fitness after Ryoko took her endurance test in preparation for rigid psychical training. He did much worse than her and took up daily running to remedy the situation.
  • Lightning Can Do Anything and Shock and Awe: Volt of SQ
  • Love Interest
  • Magic Music: NQ.
  • Magic Versus Science: In a way in NQ, magic doesn't work properly below the Wall and the southern technology falls apart in the North. However if you made that same technology in the north it would work just fine, what matters is where the item was manufactured not what it is.
    • Pretty much a given in Ghostbusters: Japan.
  • Mayfly-December Romance: Peri's had a few.
  • Meaningful Name: There's a couple if you look hard enough:
    • Miss Gant refers to Damon Gant. Quite suitably she takes part in tampering with the crime scene.
    • Peri refers to creatures from Persian mythology; fae, who can't get into paradise due to being on the wrong side during The Fall, originally chaotic neutral, later benevolent. Likewise Sassanid refers to Persian dynasty.
    • Let's see, a country whose name is not only a form of dark red, but is also a wine. I wonder what Sangria could possibly be an exportation of?
    • Posters renamed the hermit girl who can 'see' Cassandra.
    • In nearly every main quest there's been a Catherine (or some version of that name) only subverted in uq at the au
  • Me's a Crowd: Nice Ass Cain, female Cain, burnt Cain, relaxing Cain and 997 others. All running the same mind.
  • Mega Crossover: Kaspar's world is a mix, as previously mentioned, of quite a few of both active and inactive/on hiatus quests.
  • Mind Rape: On Cathy, Saoirse and Cassandra - people are bastards and uncontrolled telepathy is bad. It's implied Saoirse can (and has) done this. Also when a thought touch is messed up in FQ.
  • Mommy Issues: Felix in AQ.
  • Mood Whiplash: Try comparing the overall tone, actions and dialogue of AQ while Felix is at the Guild Grounds compared to when he's out an about on his assignments. Also, arguably Cain's mood could suddenly shift from threatening and dangerous to lighthearted and banter-filled (and back again) in earlier posts of VQ.
  • Murder, Inc.: The Crimson Winds Guild in AQ.
  • Musical Assassin: Okay, so he's a Theater nut, not a musician, but Browne certainly fits the spirit of this trope.
  • My Greatest Failure
  • My Greatest Second Chance: "A creature [Lucy] who has in so short a time brought hope to the hopeless [Cain], and a chance of redemption to a man destroyed by his past [Michael]."
  • Necromancer: Duh.
  • Nice Hat: Leto has one by popular request.
  • Not Growing Up Sucks: Peri, stuck at a rather small 17 who wishes she was stuck at an older age to make family relations easier.
  • Noodle Incident: Poor Kaspar.
  • The Nth Janitor
    • The 1st Janitor's appearance is that of a red-headed North-Irishman, with an accent to match.
  • Oh Crap: Akira's reaction in Ghostbusters: Japan when he realizes that the minions of Hell Girl have brought to life a giant statue of Kali the Destroyer.
  • Old Master: Coulter, the Guildmaster and possibly Gant.
  • Older Than They Look: Peri. Cain sometimes.
  • Only Sane Man: Kaspar.
  • Our Vampires Are Different
  • Parental Abandonment: Leto's dad
  • Pettanko: Peri, Mia
  • Playing with Syringes
  • Power Gives You Wings: Lucy's vampire quickenings have an effect on her body that depends on how the posters play her. One of the results of these quickenings was a pair of wings (after she plummeted a vertical mile, whoops).
  • Preemptive Declaration:

Coulter: “Anders”
Anders: “Yes Boss?”
Coulter: “Go put out that fire.”
Anders: “What fir-” *Coulter creates a fire.* “Ah… that one…”

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