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Olberek is headed to Tulivinen to try and stir up some trouble with the locals there, who have been occupied by Golgoth for years, but who are nonetheless a savage and brutal culture which hopefully still has enough spirit left in it to rise up again. More importantly it'll keep Olberek out of your hair while you take care of Margell. Girdin will accompany you to Margell. No boat yet made in this primitive region can hold him, not even those of Golgothan make, but fortunately he no longer needs air or food or sleep (despite his long breaths and ten thousand year naps), and is quite capable of simply walking along the sea floor until he reaches your destination. You, on the other hand, are going to have to commandeer a fishing boat from Norfin or maybe Estercoast, since an enemy daemon nicknamed Ivan destroyed all the real ships during the battle of Westercoast. First, though, you promised you'd let Mari drop by to visit her brother Leson, who currently lives at Deepwell Village. Mari and Leson come from Greatoak Village, now razed, and the Deepwell Villagers have been...Less than welcoming. In that the Greatoak refugees are now basically second class citizens. Sort of. Dorriki culture is weird and complicated. Regardless, during the war Mari made friends with the similarly razed Clarbel Village, and has struck a deal with them to rescue the refugees of Greatoak from Deepwell, and then unite Greatoak and Clarbel Villages in order to rebuild.

Currently, you, her, and the Clarbel warriors are hanging out in the ruins of Golroute Village, a large and prosperous village that was on the receiving end of genocide at the hands of the Dorriki army at Olberek's insistence.

>wat do?

>>24703196
Liberating Greatoak should be a trivial task if we're willing to step in directly. Even if Deepwell gets the crazy idea that they're in a position to refuse any of our request, we are by now very capable of proving that notion wrong. We could probably also do this in a more subtle manner, but... honestly, why even bother at this point?

On a related note, Jens is from Deepwell and a dick. I want to do painful things to him while we're there, if possible.

As for our immediate action, we should probably actually go to Deepwell. Some guys from Clarbel should probably come too, since a bunch of children and probably unarmed women are really vulnerable on the road, and it's a long way. How long until winter? Dorrik seems like the kind of place where you'd want to be tugged in nicely with stockpiles of food before winter.

>>24703402
Oh, and we don't need Girdin for this kind of job, so he should probably be setting off. Kinda assuming he's significantly slower than a boat. We'll need to know how to find him again, though. Do we know anything of our destination?

>>24703402
More or less agreeing here, we should go to Deepwell for now to see this through. After we deal with that we can leave Mari to spend the quality time with Leson she requested (Hopefully sorting out her attachment issues in the interim), and we can head off to the Graveyard to free some more Daemon allies. We could use a few minions, considering we can't be everywhere at once even with Shade.

>>24703402
This guy makes a lot of sense. We'll deal with Greatoak/Deepwell immediately and help them get to Clarbel; then we'll leave Mari with Leson for a week or so while we go procure a boat. Also let's go hunt down some oubliettes, and find and release some hedge daemons, either to go up to them and say "okay, you work for me now" or else quicken them for an extra power or two.

>>24703455
By graveyard, do you mean Dorrik? From what we've heard, it's likely littered with trapped daemons, but we'd need to know how to find their oubliettes, and actually freeing them could be anything between trivial and an absolutely heroic undertaking, for what is most likely going to be a relatively useless Nature daemon unwilling to leave its home.

>>24703453
We should bring Girdin with us, if only because having him around will scare the remaining villagers out of concept of disagreeing with us.

>>24703402

Currently it is June 19th, so you've got a good long while before winter hits. But yeah, sometime around October it's time to go home, bundle up, and hibernate. Winter raids are not unheard of, but only because sometimes a raid is the only way you're going to get enough food to make it.

>>24703453

Unfortunately you don't know much. Which is why I've held off on uploading the new and improved map with Margellian details. What you do know is that you'll need to end up on one of those islands between you and the mainland (which are technically a part of Margell and have ports on them), so you can catch a proper ship to Margell proper. Fishing boats don't have the range to go the whole way on their own. You could just agree to meet him in a port. The local daemon population is guaranteed to catch wind of what is clearly a daemon hanging out in the town square, but it'll make him easier to find.

>>24703508
Until you threaten them with getting the shit beat out of them and dispersed for 100 years or getting Quickened. And the Graveyard is the biggest concentration of Oubliettes, Olberek told us about it when we freed him.

It's a total grab bag, but a couple Hedge Daemons alone could be very useful.

>>24703546
Also would like to point out that Nature is one of our allies, and that these Daemons are gonna be PISSED at Golgoth. It probably won't take much persuading.

>>24703509
Naaah, we're plenty scary I think. And if we need to be scarier, we can be scary in the general direction of Jens. Two birds.

>>24703515
I am now imaging Girdin just casually strolling out of the water and into some medium sized port town, people everywhere fleeing into houses from the stone monster while he completely disregards everything around, parks himself right in the center of town, waiting silently and motionlessly. Eventually life would return to normal, the locals just staying out of his way but otherwise minding their business as usual. Once in a while a traveler would pass through and get absolutely mutilated when he tries to rest against what he thought was a statue.

>>24703546
I recall that as him describing the general area (Dorrik) as a graveyard, not a specific place. But in either case, the chances of finding one that's actually worth the effort of freeing them (remember, that could be ANYTHING)... I just don't think it's gonna be worth our while.

>>24703563
We also have the advantage of pointing out to any daemons we unseal that right now, we're a hedge daemon, but we WERE a noble and will be on the fast track back up the ranks. Helping us out now means having a noble friend to ask for favours later. Also did we ever tell Girdin about that? I'm not sure we did.

>>24703643
Even if it's pot luck, the worst that happens is we waste some time. Plus, it's not like every oubliette around here will have only hedge daemons in it, since one of the oubliettes had us. Well, they'll be hedge when we let 'em out, but if we find an ex-daemon peer and point out hey, two daemons kicking dominion ass is better than one AND it'll lead to restoring their powers faster, that would be a pretty convincing argument.

>>24703643
In terms of intimidating Deepwell? Probably. In terms of helping intimidate the daemons we free, yeah I'm disagreeing there.

It doesn't necessarily matter who we free as long as we free potential mooks. We've already learned how having to put on the man pants and try to do everything ourselves has fucked us over in the past (I'm looking at you Westercoast, and your teammate sacrifices helping let Ivan escape). Those that absolutely cannot be persuaded to come with us we can just kill and either eat ourselves in hopes of the slight chance of power boost, or feed to Mari FOR SCIENCE.

>>24703721
>feed to Mari FOR SCIENCE

This is also on our list of shit to do, and now - when everything is hedge and below our station - would be easier than later.

While looting oubliettes for allies seems to be an undecided point, it's obvious we went to head to Deepwell, so let's do that.

---

The march to Deepwell takes well over a week, but the spirits of the Clarbel warriors remain high throughout. The hard part is over, and Mari makes a point of saying that the spirits of the destroyed villages have been following the army, aiding them in their battles against Golgoth, and surely the spirits of Clarbel and Greatoak will be with them for this battle as well?

The warriors pay their respects and spend a day cutting down the rotting corpses at Summerbridge. No time to give them all a proper funeral, of course, but they light them each on fire individually and hope that's enough. Mari regales Arnel and the other warriors with tales of the battle at Guille Fortress as they pass through, and they in turn tell stories of the ancient kings who first built and fought over Guille itself.

Eastern Dorrik is much as you left it, overgrown with trees and with rough, weedy roads. The Deepwell warriors have made it back to their village, the gates open, a lone guard in the watchtower, scouts report. They're reasonably certain that they weren't spotted. The Clarbel warriors number only about fifty, but the Deepwell warriors are themselves badly depleted and likely aren't much more. Nevertheless, Jens has proven an able strategist in the past, and it's him who'll be leading the defense.

>wat do?

>>24703721
>feeding daemons to a mortal
If word of that ever gets out to the rest of Daemonkind... Well we're definitely not making any friends, ever again.

>>24703807
We don't seem to have any friends to begin with.

>>24703807
>Implying we're going to feed her in front of other daemons.

>>24703802
Oh, uhm, a battle? That may not be necessary at all. Do Dorriki not make demands before attacking the people they want something from?

>>24703863
With daemons, even if you consider someone a friend, you may not see them for a few thousand years or have any idea what they're up to. We probably have friends and acquaintances, but OP obviously can't tell us about them until we run into them.

>>24703885
I'm completely speculating here, but I think since daemons consciousness kinda sticks around even if "killed", it's possible they'll also know what's going on around their corpse all the time.

>>24703863

You're allies with the Courts of Night and Nature. You have some friends with both of those, and not all of them are as useless as Olberek has been lately (even Olberek has been more useful in the past than he is now).

>>24703885

The daemon you quicken will know, so if he's Court of Nature (or Night) that could cause problems in the long run.

>>24703899

The Clarbel warriors aren't necessarily going to attack, but it's on the table and they want to be ready for one if it comes to it. No one, including Mari, really knows how much they value their new bondsmen.

>>24703982
Well then I amend my FOR SCIENCE, and append it with "We feed them to her if they AREN'T from Nature/Night. FOR SCIENCE."

To get back on topic. I suggest we watch the negotiations, and if things go south we pays Jens a visit.

>>24703982

Oh, and by "they" I mean Deepwell Village. Hopefully that was clear from context, but the grammar there was pretty vague. I apologize.

>>24703982
Alright, just making sure they don't rush in and start killing when they don't have to. The way I see it, there's basically two ways to go about this:

1) We personally request the release of the Greatoak refugees
2) Mari, sided by a representative from Clarbel requests their release, probably aided by some dementation of ours.

Option 1 I can't really see failing, since we can just prove to them that they really have no right to refuse us anything.
Option 2 has the advantage of building some more rep for Mari if successful, and not building any rep for ourselves.

>>24704085
Well actually, I'll amend my >>24704080 watching suggestion and side with Option 1. We can use our Shade if necessary to intimidate.

...which we still haven't summoned yet. Let's get that thing online.

>>24704080
Even if they aren't from Nature or Night, I'd want to avoid that kind of thing. Because, aside from the specific court being pissed if it gets out, I could imagine this being the kind of thing that could get you shunned by most daemons.

>>24704120
I favor the first option as well, mostly since at this point I don't much care about what anyone in Dorrik thinks of anything, so whatever gets the job done quickest.

>>24704120

Okay, sure, you go corporeal at some safe distance and summon your shade. Your shadow steps away from your feet and looks around, taking a few moments to orient itself to its newfound sentience. Then it glances towards you. It cannot speak, but you know nevertheless that it's asking if there's anything you need at the moment. Damn, you missed this guy. You and him had some good times together before the oubliette. Thin Jack wouldn't teach you Tenebriety until you helped him start up a bunch of paranoid witch hunts across half a continent on the last world you lived on, but it was worth it for this guy. Plus, that was kind of fun on its own.

Regardless, you have a Shade now.

>>24704085

Right, so which of these two options are we going with? >>24704120 suggests Option 1, is that what we're going with?

>>24704361
Let's go with Option 1.

>>24704361
Yes, now we'll never be lonely again!

How draining is the shade to maintain, or in other words how long can we maintain it?

Regardless of the answer to those, I think for now we should simply seek out the shaman or the elder and simply state that we want the refugees from Greatoak released.

>>24704509
TM gave me the go ahead to post up the info I've gathered on Shade since it will be relevant from this point on. It's part of a Compendium we're working on to kickstart new players into various subjects related to the quest. Infodump coming in the reply:

>>24704509
Further questions about the shade:

Is it a shadow of us, or just a nondescript shadow? Or perhaps a shadow of someone else entirely?
It seems to have sentience. Can we control it directly or just give it orders? Can it think independently or does it just think what we want it to?

>>24704627
Shade

This power creates a powerful singular minion that acts independently from their creator, though it has a mental link and will receive orders and carry them out. The creator can see and hear everything their Shade can. Shades are just as intelligent as the creator, and can think on their own. They have a separate energy pool that is equal to the maximum energy of the creator, and can use all of their creator’s Tenebriety Powers (Sans Shadow Form, as the Shade is technically always in Shadow Form). Shades are useful scouts, and abide by much of the same rules for fatigue and recon that you do. Shades cannot communicate with others. A Shade cannot be created while in Shadow Form, only while corporeal. During the lifetime of a Shade you will have no shadow; however you can assume Shadow Form once the Shade is cast (Your shadow will return whilst using Shadow Form, but it will not dispel the Shade). Activating Shade has no power cost, and can be sustained indefinitely. A shade cannot normally be killed, but they are vulnerable to Antimagic Wards if they cast a spell on them (As well as spells that affect incorporeal targets). If this happens, the Shade is dispelled (In the latter, destroyed).

A Shade that is slain or dispelled will take several weeks to regenerate, after which time it seeks out its creator and rejoins its place as their shadow. A Shade benefits greatly from certain Powers within Tenebriety.

>>24704645
A Shade uses Blinding Darkness with the same restrictions as per the normal Power; however it can also use its own form to add to the ambient shadows used to blind targets. This alone isn’t enough to blind a person, but it contributes if necessary.

A Shade with Shadow Steel can make it corporeal at will, and makes it very difficult to retaliate against as it can phase between states instantaneously. This turns a Shade from a mere scout to a deadly assassin in combat. Shades can however take damage while corporeal, especially against Daemons.

A Shade with Shadow Shaping synchronizes with Shadow Steel very well, allowing it to slightly decrease its mass to completely regenerate from physical damage in the forms of cuts and gouges to its form. Shadow Shaping also allows Shades to shapeshift at will into forms that better suit its needs.

We don't have the latter two powers yet but they are relevant to Shade. To answer your question yes it's a shadow of us.

>>24704677
Neat. We could send it to find Jens (discreetly please) while we go talk to the elder.

Alright, option 1 looks like the preferred choice, and this quest isn't moving as fast as it should be. I'll try to pick up the pace a bit.

You slip into Deepwell Village and head back to the shaman's ritual room, waiting for him to show up. When he does, you loom large across the wall as usual. It takes him a few moments to spot you, but when he does his eyes widen. "Shadow spirit," he says, "you have returned. But why?"

"I have followed your army and the armies of all Dorrik across the land," you say, "I have struck your enemies with madness and blinded them with shadow. And now I come to demand you repay the debt for my assistance."

"What is it you want from us?" the shaman asks.

"The Greatoak villagers," you say, "send them out of the village along the main road. I will claim them for my own purposes."

"All of them?" the shaman asks.

"All of them," you say, "they are in my keeping now."

"I will have to speak-"

"With the elder, right," you say, "hurry up, then."

The shaman hurries across to the elder's room and explains the situation.

"This spirit again?" the elder says, "last time it required two of our people, now it requires dozens! We cannot yield up that many or more every time it decides to make its demands on us."

"It is true that we owe the spirit a debt," the shaman says.

"And we paid that debt with the blood of Golroute and Westercoast," the elder says, "in any case, this spirit has been more than happy to make demands regardless of whether we owe it anything at all. Tell it we need more time to decide, and then request the aid of Olberek."

The shaman nods and returns to relay the elder's words. The part about needing more time, at least. He leaves out the part where it's a lie and they actually plan on having another spirit punt you out.

>>24704761
Yeah that was my idea when suggesting we summon it. Better to have it out and serving as a second pair of senses than not.

>>24704816
Well that's not cool, threatening to use Olberek on us. Nevermind he cant even harm us himself.

If it comes down to this boring drama we can just tell Olberek that Clarbel fought well in the war and they dont deserve to be wiped out for their valor. If Jens is a dick over it we can deal with him too.

>>24704816
"You ask for time? I am not opposed to a fair trade, but time is quite precious, mine far more than yours. I'd estimate you've afforded yourselves.. say, two hours? Take more from me, and I'll be forced to take something of equal value from you."

>>24704947
Go with this for now, and if they still refuse I suppose more drastic action may be necessary.

>>24704947
And yes I am essentially suggesting we take the entire village hostage. Feel free to oppose.

>>24704947

The shaman agrees, and then goes to inform the village elder. The village elder tells the shaman that once the two hours are up he's going to have to find some other way to stall for time, and then he leaves to go get Jens.

"Jens," he says as he struggles into the hut. Leson is skinning a rabbit off in a corner, but the elder pays him little mind. "I need your help, urgently!"

"What? What now?" Jens asks.

"That shadow spirit has returned, demanding all of the bondsmen of Greatoak," the elder says.

"That thing again?" Jens asks.

"Yes. We need to contact Olberek immediately," the elder says.

"No, we need leverage," Jens says, "and I know what this particular nuisance wants. Leson, come with me," he says, and Leson puts the rabbit and skinning knife down, confused, and follows Jens out the door.

>wat do?

>>24705207
We follow him and have our shade keep lookout somewhere in town, we dont want whatever this clever sod's planning to come to fruition. It's quite likely he's thinking about using the villagers themselves against us as hostages.

>>24705310
He knows that we have an interest in Mari and Leson. We unfortunately revealed that way back in one of the earliest threads, and it is just another reason why him still being alive doesn't really match our interests. I'm honestly quite tempted to simply try to kill him right away, but it may be bad to do so where everyone can see.

>>24705448
I didn't make it clear, but I support that we stalk him, personally.

>>24705448
Apparently he's carrying a dagger so all we should have to do is paralysis delusion, steal, and slit throat if we have to. I'm in favor of killing him if it looks like hes going to do what we fear.

>>24705310
>>24705517

You follow him as he and Leson make their way into the center of the village. "Everyone, Renti, Gorus, Barriff, all of you," he says, speaking to a couple of random faces he picks out around the area, a blacksmith hammering out a horseshoe, a housewife preparing a meal, anyone nearby. "Gather up everyone you can, especially those from Greatoak. I have an announcement I need to make and everyone needs to hear it."

They head off to fetch friends and family to hear, confused and curious. Meanwhile, a rider from Clarbel heads into the village, heading for Jens, who turns to greet him. "What brings you to Deepwell, stranger?" he asks, suspicious.

"No need to worry," he says, "my name is Davil and I come from Clarbel. Or I did, at least, when there was a Clarbel. I'm here to offer a trade."

"Sorry for your loss," Jens says, "what is it you're offering?"

"We offer our assistance in battle," Davil says, "this time next year. Against Elmwood, or Estercoast. And in exchange, we need your bondsmen, from Greatoak."

"I smell a rat," Jens mutters. "Why do you want the Greatoak villagers?"

"To rebuild," Davil says, "in exchange, we raid another village. The food we must split evenly, of course, but the captives, the tools, the weapons, are yours entirely. A fair enough trade, wouldn't you agree?"

"Probably would've fifteen minutes ago," Jens says, and points towards Leson, "this runt just became very valuable collateral, he's not on the table. The rest...Well, I don't have any to offer personally, but it sounds like a good trade to me. We'll have captives to replace them and then some from Estercoast. I won't fight Elmwood, though. They were levelheaded and they fought well, in the end, and I'll respect that."

>wat do?

>>24705779
Ugh, for fucks sake Jens you're begging us to murder you aren't you? I say we play spy on Jens until the deal is complete, when he lets his guard down over Leson we kill all guarding him and Jens as well. At night of course, when we can use Blinding Darkness to its maximum advantage.

If Jens locks up Leson or something, we need to know and keep an eye on the keys. Dunno if these backwoods fucks have figured out locks though.

>>24705779
Note to future self: Remember to tell people when we want them to not do stuff on their own.

Sadly, he's already surrounded himself with people, so stealthily dropping a delusion is a bad option. Though I don't think this announcement he wants to make is good for us in any way, we may just have to allow it.

>>24705870
>>24705932

The village gathers over the next ten or fifteen minutes. "Deepwell," Jens says, "our shaman and our elder have been contacted by a spirit. Two months ago this spirit demanded that Rin be lured to his death for reasons unknown, and soon after required that we sacrifice one of our bondsmaids, without bothering to tell us why. And now again she comes to demand that we give up all of our bondsmen. We all know how this ends. We saw it with Golgoth, and our answer now must be the same as it was then. The spirit has confided in me in the past that she is here only for this boy," he points towards Leson, "which is why we can never give him up. She's lied to us in the past. She fought with only trickery and shadows in the war. She is far past trusting and she will never leave us be until we threaten the only thing we have that she holds dear." He grabs Leson, pulls out his dagger and presses it against his throat. "She doesn't care about the rest of Greatoak. Go on," he speaks to the shaman directly now, "offer all of them but this one little boy and see if she's satisfied. She won't be. Because this one is the only one she's here for. So make your deal with Clarbel or not. But this boy is our collateral. If we find ourselves blinded by living shadow, we slit his throat. If we find our minds invaded by distraction, stupidity, confusion, we slit his throat. If we see a shadow move of its own volition, if we find a deer or a man with teeth grown through its throat, we slit his throat. And since I know you can hear me, I'll tell you directly, spirit. Keep your worthless, treacherous hide out of my village. I know what you want, and if I have to, I WILL take it from you."

Jens sheathes his dagger, and releases the arm of the terrified Leson, heading off to the elder to discuss things further.

>wat do?

>>24706268
We retreat for now. Our shade stays within Deepwell and remains hidden as best as it can, spying upon what is going on with Leson if possible. Stealth above all else though.

We will wait for nightfall, and consult Mari about how she would prefer us deal with this situation. I'm not comfortable endangering her brother and possibly getting her to hate us for getting him killed. Stress that Jens has betrayed us, when all we did was in their best interest.

Hopefully she'll either leave Leson to live out his life in Deepwell, or agree with our kill people plan.

>>24706387
Oh right, I should probably clarify that we simply tell the shaman we are displeased with their conduct towards the spirits that helped them win this war. Perhaps even tell him the truth about the situations Jens brought up with Rin and the sacrifice.

>>24706443
And of course, accept begrudgingly. Polite sage.

>>24706459
Do note that WE did not request these people handed over to Clarbel. They actually have two conflicting deals here.

I think we should also consider the option of simply stepping out of the shadows and confronting Jens directly. He has a slight problem in that if he does kill the boy, he is also giving us every reason to just murder the entire village, and we could point this out to them.

>>24706555
A good point, and also Olberek would know he stands shit all chance of actually retaliating against us over this if it comes to it. So this is also a "Where is your god now" situation if it comes to that.

>>24706581
The question of course is whether we want to risk it. After all, it may be possible to just break him out of here at a later time, explain to Mari that the Leson situation is caused by Jens' hatred for us and that we're going to attempt to break him out of there safely, with her help. She knew about holes in the palisade, if I remember correctly, and would also be helpful in keeping him quiet in a breakout.

>>24706781
True, we could just do all of our other errands and then come back. I'm probably more in favor of that plus explaining to Mari than direct assault.

>>24706844
Then let's do that. But let's not try to pass the blame on, openly admit to her that the problem is our fault (for antagonizing Jens in the past) and that we want to do everything we can to correct it.

>>24706905
True that. It's settled then.

>>24706443

Jens is discussing things with the elder and the shaman. His irritation with the shaman is quite plain. "The time for keeping this spirit's secrets is long past," Jens says, "you've heard her voice, you know who we're talking to. A child. A petulant child that thinks she's entitled to everything she wants, and she won't stop until someone puts her in her place. The threat to that kid will keep her at bay until Olberek arrives to honor our ancestral bargain with him. If he backs out now, I want my sacrifices back." The last sentence is muttered sarcasm.

"I fear you may be correct," the shaman says, "I apologize for keeping the spirit's secrets. I hoped it might be simply passing through, and we could being caught in the crossfire of a war between heaven and earth by offering it a few trifles as it did."

Jens sighs. "Guess it probably seemed like the smart thing at the time. You HAVE told us everything the spirit has told you?"

"Everything, yes," the shaman says, "I will not betray my village, and regardless I am far too old to hunt or defend myself, if it should destroy my village but spare me, it has only condemned me to a slower death."

Jens turns to head back to Davil, who's negotiating with some of the other villagers for their bondsmen. "I could put down some collateral," Davil is offering, and slips out his dagger, "I picked this up in the war. Do you have one? Golgothan steel, cuts like a razor ever since I got it more than two months ago."

"You, from Clarbel," Jens says, "uh...Davil. I need to talk to you."

"Look, whatever this spirit is, we've never heard of it," Davil says.

"I believe you," Jens says, "but someone else has. Mari's traveling with you still, isn't she? About thirteen years old, blonde hair, attitude problems?"

>cont

"You already said 'thirteen years old,' no need to repeat yourself," Davil says with a smile, "it was her idea, yes, but you don't mean to suggest that a thirteen year old bullied fifty armed warriors into crossing half of Dorrik?"

"No, but where she goes, this spirit follows," Jens says, "it came into our village on her heels. Fuck, I owe the shaman an apology don't I?" he glances over his shoulder towards the shaman. Davil looks confused. "Not your problem, what is your problem is that shadow. It's no spirit of the wild, it doesn't accept sacrifice or make deals, it just threatens and demands. Not unlike the Golgothans, really."

"What? You're accusing this girl of being some kind of witch? Having a familiar?" Davil asks.

"I don't think she was the one who summoned it," Jens says, "I don't know how spirits work. What I do know is, Golgoth said they were hunting for cursed children. And Mari is followed by a vicious and vindictive spirit that leaves nothing but blood and misery in its wake. Anyone with wit would want to keep her as far from them as possible and anyone without wit will end up dead by that thing's doing sooner or later."

"So...You're suggesting we abandon her because of this spirit?" Davil says.

"Seems to me, she's condemned to live alone," Jens says, "you can leave her on your feet or in your grave, but if Olberek can't get rid of that curse, you'll do one or the other."

Davil is silent for a bit. "I'll tell the others," he says, "but I must say, this all seems like something...Well, something from a story."

"Did you see that thing they called Girdin?" Jens says.

"Fair point," Davil says, and heads away.

>wat do?

>>24707208
Follow Davil, once he's out of the village we can talk to him, directly. With him we might actually have a chance of being listened to, and some damage control does seem to be in order.

Make sure to appear so he can see us clearly: "So how do you like the story? Parts of it is actually true. Care to guess which?"

>>24707807

Davil reigns his horse up, pulling it a few steps back cautiously. The horse is happy to comply. His hand goes to the haft of his axe, but he calms himself and takes up the reins again, keeping the horse steady. "Yeah, okay. You're the shadow. You here to give your side of the story or...What? What do you need from me?"

>wat do?

>>24707954
"You can have it if you want it, though that is not my concern. What I do want is the safety of the people of Greatoak, and yes, that includes the poor boy. That's why I took them from the Golgothans and brought them here, and it's why I want them released from their bonds now. More importantly, I'd like it done without having to kill the people of this village. Since they won't listen to me anymore, I need your people to insist on the release of ALL the people of Greatoak. I'll even let you ask a favor in exchange, since I'm a little desperate here."

>>24707954
"Absolutely nothing. In fact I was about to give you a gift; the bondsmen of Deepwell you were promised, without a fight. Their leader was not especially amused with my suggestion though. He never did like me. I do, however, want two of them for myself. The girl Mari, and a young boy currently in Deepwell. Trust me when I say you wouldn't care why. However, Jens will not offer the boy to you, and has threatened to kill him for me. This creates something of a problem; ideally I would would like to be done with him as much as he with me, but if he plans on holding the child as leverage it will only prolong the issue."

"Now, you being in the position you are in could be a great aid to me. When you next speak to Jens, offer him a deal; you will take the boy - and the curse on his village and people - out of his hands. He will not have to deal with spirits any longer, except his own. Then I will simply take both children, and their curse, for myself and leave you with your bondsmen and peace of mind."

>>24708465
I don't suggest telling the guy we're desperate. He may try to leverage Mari against us like Jens did with Leson.

>>24708662
Fair enough. I like your solution better anyway.

>>24708640
I'm fine with this, sorry to leave you high and dry anon. I was off for an hour to tend to things. Back for good now.

>>24708640

"I can make him an offer for the kid," Davil says, and shrugs, "can't guarantee he'll like it. Mari, though, she's not a bondsmaid. I can't give her to you, no one can. No one but her, at least."

>wat do?

>>24708942
"She is already acquainted with me, she just wishes to see her brother again before we depart. If you cannot secure him, I will see him safe one way or another. It is just more convenient this way."

"Your people are honorable and fought well, if you require my assistance in relaying this plight to the people of your village I have no qualms."

>>24708942
"You can't give her, but you will abandon her anyway, so it makes little difference. As for the deal, no, I don't really expect him to take it. It would simply be the easiest and fastest resolution if you offered it and he accepted. If he doesn't, then do as you will, I do not ask you push the issue. This is merely a simple request; if you do not wish to make him an offer at all, then feel free not to."

>>24709211
This is better than what I was writing.

>>24709237
Well, I prefer >>24709233 but I wrote it. Would prefer not to sound like we're coercing or threatening, and I don't think we should offer any assistance that we won't be around to give.

>>24709233
I like the tone of this better than my >>24709211 honestly, so let's go with that.

>>24709276
>>24709360
welp, guess I'm outvoted.

>>24709233

"Tch, hey, Jens is a great leader and all, but he's not from Clarbel or Greatoak. We aren't going to just ditch Mari on his say-so," Davil says, "I'll make him your offer. Question, though. What is your side of the story? Are Mari and Leson those cursed children the Golgothans were on about?"

>>24709590

There should have been a >wat do? on the end of that, in case it wasn't clear.

>>24709590
"Honestly, I myself am still trying to figure out just what this curse is and why they should be cursed. But, you see, if Golgoth cares enough to raze and murder their way through this land for this curse of theirs, I care enough to make sure that Golgoth receives its curse."

>>24709590
"Probably. Honestly, I don't know. When I went to deal with Golgoth's dae- spirits, they weren't especially talkative about it. Too busy trying to kill me actually. Oh, one of them was a huge, living pile of acid that would have dissolved even Girdin. I took care of it before you even made it to Westercoast, so you're welcome."

"If you want the whole story though? It would take me the better part of a week to tell if I went non-stop, and most of it isn't all that relevant to mortals. Some of it I don't care to tell either, and those omissions will only make it more confusing."

"I'll try to keep this short and simple, and you'll have to excuse the huge gaping holes I leave in the story. Basically, Golgoth is backed by a couple of really powerful spirits, and they hate you guys. They're burning down your towns looking for these cursed children, and killing off or sealing up as many spirits as they can find. When GreatOak burned down, it accidentally... Let's say it woke me up, and I found Mari in the ruins, trying to stave off some soldiers on her own. Since then, it's been a really long trek of working with Olberek and Girdin to try and put a stop to what the Golgothan spirits are doing. It's a lot more complicated than that, and to be honest you mortals are only a small consideration in the whole thing. Now I said I don't about Mari and the boy being these "cursed children". I've never heard of such a thing. If they are though, trust me, you guys are better off turning them over to me me."

>>24710116
Yeah I'm alright with this, personally.

>>24710116
I didn't really take the question as him wanting to know about all the stuff that's been going on. If he does though, I'm fine with this except leave out the detail about us waking up.

>>24710116
>>24710172

"Heh, well thanks about the acid spirit. Mari mentioned that thing was at Guille Fortress, too. Sounded disgusting. If Mari wants to go with you, that's fine with me. Means we don't have to worry about whether or not she's cursed. I'm sure she'd rather stick with her family, anyway, that's why she made this offer in the first place."

Davil spends the next few hours running occasional messages back and forth between the Clarbel and Deepwell villagers. Some of the Deepwell villagers are holding out, don't want to give up their bondsmen. Mari is insistent that they don't leave until they have everyone. Davil relays that there are those in the camp who aren't willing to leave without all the bondsmen from Greatoak and they say they'll take them by force if they have to. The unspoken threat is that if some of the Clarbel villagers start a raid, the rest may follow. The response from the Deepwell villagers is typically to demand replacements upfront, none of this "we'll get them for you next year for sure" bullshit. Davil also makes his offer to Jens. Jens says that Leson is emphatically off the market until they have confirmation from Olberek that the shadow spirit is permanently taken care of, so hopefully that'll go well. You aren't exactly sure where Olberek is but so far as you know he has no method of getting across the sea without a fishing boat, same as you. He might be hanging out back at his cave or maybe he's lurking around Norfin in order to commandeer one. Maybe he already has and he's come to one of those Margellian islands to seek passage to Tulivinen. Or maybe he rode out on dire seaturtles. Using Animalism on sea creatures is frowned upon by the Court of Water but they'd forgive just doing it a few times when there's a specific need for sea creatures. But maybe he'd also like to unseal some oubliettes? That shaman of his can see oubliettes, he was the one who drew the chalk outline of the otherwise invisible seal on Olberek.

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>>24710549
Is this a wat do?

>>24710549
Well, let's keep watching for now and send our Shade to run off to Norfin and scout around for Olberek. We can check his home once these negotiations are done.

>>24710793
Well if it is, I suppose we can wait a short while to see if he actually turns up. If he doesn't, and Jens persists, we'll just have to do try to break him out with Mari.

>>24710793

Oh, yes, it is. Dammit, I'm getting sloppy with that.

>>24710949
Scouting with the shade is a good idea. No reason for him/her/it/whatever to be bored.

>>24710949
It only moves as fast as we do and Norfin is a ways off.

Anyway, we set a time limit of two hours to deal with the shaman, Jens and their elder, so I reckon we go call in on them. See what flimsy excuse they give us then agree to grant them whatever time they ask for. Don't tell 'em we were going to give them to Clarbel or they may change their minds on the negotiating. Then we'll have to talk to Mari and explain we dun goofed, and Jens is keeping hold of Leson to spite us.

Also where's Girdin hanging out about now?

>>24711149
...we never really agreed on what Girdin was going to do, did we? I'm guessing OP keeps him in a superposed quantum spirit state until we actually decide.

>>24711197
Oh, and uhm, for now I think it may be wisest to just stay out of the village entirely. Jens sure tried hard to rile up some paranoia, and he has both shaman and elder agreeing with that paranoia. Plus, if we need them to think Olberek "took care" of us...

>>24711278
Agreeing with this. Clarbel is already accomplishing our goals, let's just let it be. Watch the proceedings and let the Shade run off.

>>24711149

Yeah, Girdin either is or is not traveling with you until the debate on that is resolved. It's sort of like Schroedinger's Girdin, except that no matter how the function collapses the box always contains an alive Girdin because Girdin never dies.

>>24710949
>>24711147
>>24711149

Okay, looks like we're agreed to send the shade to Norfin. In about a week, it'll tell you what's up with Olberek.

We good with doing the rest of >>24711149 in the meantime?

>>24711278
>>24711322

Hm, maybe not. Looks like we're probably on board with the "do nothing" plan for now, but I'll give it a minute for others to respond.

>>24711341
>>24711361
Wait and watch.

>>24711361
Still sticking by wait and watch as well.

>>24711278
We have an appointment to keep via our two-hour time limit. Not showing up for that might cause some suspicion.

We'll go ask the shaman about their decision, then he'll offer up some excuse to keep up waiting, then we'll accept it and ask how long he needs, as we have other shit do to and will come back at whatever time he thinks best (they'll think it'd be perfect for setting a trap for us, and will do little else in the mean time).

We might also get told that Clarbel already took the bondsmen, in which case we'll just say its their problem now and we'll go deal with them instead.

It should if not lower their guard at least lessen the paranoia a little.

>>24711447
The problem is Jens already said if we ever step foot in his village again he will kill Leson. So no.

>>24711447
I see your point, really. But at the same time, even showing up as promised is risking that they'll kill the boy. Plus, isn't it even better if they think that they really did manage to scare us off?

>>24711472
>>24711516
I guess we'll wait then.

>>24711598
>>24711516
>>24711472

Alright, here's a question I wish I'd thought to ask sooner: Are you going to wait until the Shade gets back to check Olberek's cave or go immediately? If you're waiting, what'll you do in the meantime?

>>24711780
We'll go immediately to be efficient. Still should meet with Mari to explain things so she doesn't try to be a hero though.

>>24711780
We're not leaving as long as there's negotiations going on. If I remember correctly it's a few days in each direction, and we need to keep an eye on this situation.

>>24711894
Well duh, I assumed he meant after we oversee the negotiations being that he specifically said "waiting till the Shade gets back"

>>24711894

The Clarbel warriors have no village and are therefore mobile. They're waiting like an hour away from Deepwell Village, and the only reason they all don't roll in and talk personally is because that'd probably be taken as an act of war.

>>24711973
Still, we should wait around for a while (like a day or two), shouldn't we? It'd be unfortunate if Olberek does show up and we're elsewhere looking for him. And there's always a chance that Jens will change his mind on his own or due to pressure from Davil or the other villagers (we don't know how they feel about killing a child on the basis of Jens' paranoia)

>>24712192
Okay, so if Olberek does show up there Leson will probably be released and he'll be with Clarbel when we get back. So?

>>24712383

Olberek doesn't know about Mari and Leson and has no particular incentive to resolve this deadlock one way or the other.

>>24712383
His mixed opinion of us could turn either way. He seems to have some kind of pact with these people, and he probably won't betray that for no good reason. Sure, he could decide to just claim to have dealt with the problem to satisfy them, but it's better if we're around if he does show up I think

>>24712431
We also have absolutely no reason to tell him about it, since he doesn't particularly like us.

Okay, we're stalling, let's just roll d100 for what to do next, highest wins, go.

Rolled 97

>>24712642
Wait around for a few days to see if Olberek actually shows up or anything else changes in the negotiations.

>>24712698
There's no point in rolling against this. Whatever, we'll do this your way.

Rolled 1

>>24712747
Heresy. There's always a point in rolling. Here, let me do it for ya.

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>>24712783
MY POINT STANDS.

>>24712783
>>24712822

Well yea that's not exactly proving my point. Still, there was like a 3% chance to beat and a roll doesn't cost you anything. Plus, rolling is damn fun. Do you even Fortune?

Rolled 53

>>24712870
Oh fine you got me there, let's give this a spin for "fuck off to Olberek's crib and check after we've got a decent grasp of the negotiations."

>>24712698

Yeah, that's a high enough roll it probably won't get beat. Negotiations between Clarbel and Deepwell go on for a while. In the end there's a total of three Greatoak bondsmen that Davil and Arnel can't seem to persuade their keepers to part with. The first is, of course, Leson. Jens has apparently had him moved into a more easily defended house and has convinced several of the warriors to set up a watch on him, and then a few more warriors to set up a watch on those warriors to see if they start acting weird. He's also said it's a temporary measure, though, while he goes off to fetch Olberek (with a message to kill the kid if he's not back within two weeks). According to Davil and Arnel, the Deepwell warriors are not super thrilled but after Jens led them through the war they're willing to tolerate a few eccentricities. They just hope he doesn't end up dead for disturbing Olberek or something. Olberek probably wouldn't kill anyone who made the sacrifices, which Jens knows to do, but it would be an ignoble end for a great warrior. Also it'd suck to kill the kid but maybe Jens is right and there's a curse on him. He's just some Greatoak brat anyway.

The other two are first, some aging warrior who just hates the fuck out of Greatoak for when they killed her brother five years ago and doesn't want to give up her new whipping boy, and second, a guy who has apparently fallen for his new servant and doesn't want to give her up. Arnel has asked whether or not Mari would consider the agreement honored if they just got MOST of Greatoak to safety. Mari is stubborn at first, but eventually Arnel convinces her that she really needs to be willing to quit while she's ahead. Mari is unwilling to leave Leson behind, and she insists that they at least TRY to get the whipping boy back, because seriously that's awful, but she'll leave him if she has to.

>cont.

>>24713027

Meanwhile, your Shade pops into Norfin and searches the area. Good news is, looks like this place has got itself mostly fixed up, fishing industry is up and running so plenty of boats for the taking. Bad news, no sign of Olberek. They haven't bothered to clear away most of the decaying siege engines outside the walls, yet, and weeds have begun sprouting up between them. It's kind of a nice testament to the fall of the Golgothan military on the island. Probably they'll snap them up as soon as they need the wood, but in the meantime it's kind of picturesque.

Sightseeing aside, though, fission mailed. Olberek's not home.

>wat do?

>>24713027
>>24713085
Seems Jens has given his own time limit. How much of those two weeks are left now?

>>24713196

Like eight days. He should be back within a day or two unless something's happened. Hopefully only something that's slowed him down rather than killed him outright.

>>24713243
Alright, we wait for Jens to get back. Have a chat with Mari in the interim making sure she's solid on not an hero'ing her brother out of there. We'll figure out one way or another to get her brother back, but being impatient isn't a good idea.

>>24713243
I'd be willing to wait that out. Should probably also assure Mari that we'll use any means necessary if Jens keeps being a dick for much longer.

>>24713351
>>24713321

Very well, you wait until Jens' return. In the meantime (throughout the whole week, really), you speak with Mari about the state of things, and reassure her that you're going to get her brother out. You just need some time to work it out. "I guess it won't really hurt if he stays for another few days anyway," Mari says. She's doing a decent job of it, but you can tell she's holding back tears. The subject has been worrying her a lot. "Dammit," she says, "I thought I was being so...Clever with all this, and now...Please don't let my brother die. I already lost my father, don't let my brother die, too."

Jens is back the next day, with Olberek in tow. Olberek has brought along a few new faces of his own: Liena, a shifting pillar of leaves in a vaguely feminine, humanoid form, and Lark, a man half-covered with animal furs with skin a shade of brown that isn't quite human and feels like the stem of a plant to the touch. A pair of Nature hedge daemons he's hunted down and popped up.

Also: He can see magic again. That's nifty.

>wat do?

>>24713777
"Hey Olberek, could you do me a quick favour and tell your guy Jens that the kid he's keeping locked up needs to be exiled - and not killed - from the village because he's cursed?"

>>24713947
He is so going to say no, but I suppose it's a conversation opener. He's probably heard some nice stories by now.

>>24713947
Let's try this, and see what his immediate reaction is.

>>24713947

"Oh?" He chuckles, stroking his beard, "so you think he really has found this cursed child that the Golgothans were making such fuss about? I never did manage to figure out what exactly they were referring to, and, finally, came to the conclusion they had probably invented the concept entirely to convince their little peons to go to war! Not that they need much encouragement. Tell me, Anomaly, what makes you think this child Jens is so worked up about is cursed?"

>response?

>>24714381
"Cursed? No idea. I don't think he is, I just need the kid to help me get a boat. It used to be that I'd just go to a guy and give him a suggestion "Hey you, gimme a boat" and I'd be sailing in five minutes flat. Don't have those powers back though, so I was thinking how I'm going to get a boat, then I found this kid. His village was burned down, family killed, all very tragic for mortals. So I can get the kid to ask anyone with a boat for a ride to Arn, explain his story, then land a delusion that it's all true. Bam, instant boat ride outta here. Theoretically I could stick a delusion with anyone but they aren't very reliable, and I need the edge. Problem is your man Jens is ranting about this curse, and keeping him under lock and key purely because I want him."

>>24714584
Totally in support of this, it plies an angle that would give us the best edge in negotiating and doesn't seem out of character.

>>24714584
Risky bluff, seeing as Leson doesn't really know about us at all. If Olberek actually talks to the kid, he'll know for sure that statement isn't completely true. Still, he isn't one to worry too much about mortals, so he may just take the story and be done with it. Maybe.

Yea okay, let's try.

I'm going to respond a bit faster than usual in order to keep the conversation flowing, don't want this to drag out for three hours during the back and forth. Sorry if your idea ends up getting missed.

>>24714584

"Ha!" Olberek says, "Suggestion isn't the only power of yours that's waned. You seem to have lost your knack for ordinary lies as well! You could use any child from any village for that, and the Delusion would do the rest. Besides, you don't think I'd come all the way up here on the request of a mortal without any sort of explanation, do you? Jens told me you've been tailing these two for months. It's obvious they're important somehow."

>response?

>>24714728
"The truth? You'll probably think it's just as stupid. These two are from the Greakoak village. It was directly over my oubliette when it burned down and that's what opened the lock. There was this one child still alive - a girl, not the one locked up - who I saved from some Golgothan soldiers. What I'm trying to do is some poetic justice; train her like a warrior and bring her up as a figurehead to take down Dominion on the mortal side while I dealt with their daemons. Lone survivor from a dead village taking on an empire; it makes for a good story and all that. I'm kinda tied up here though because she won't go anywhere without her brother, and Jens has him locked in a basement."

>>24714951
Supporting.

>>24714808
>>24714951

These are pretty different. I need a tiebreaker.

>>24715070
What? That is the truth.

>>24715070
Give her the "truth"

Second option

>>24714808
i like give her the dick one better

>>24714951
He might just buy this. We probably DO have a record of doing things just because it seems like it would be fun.

>>24715063

Well, then.

---

>>24714951

"You're right," Olberek says, "that DOES sound rather frivolous. But if you intended something so benign, why lie? Shame has never been your weakness. Whatever the truth is about this boy and her sister, it's more than that."

>response

>>24715122
"Because it's easier to convince a mortal that what he believes isn't wrong, than to try and explain all these petty details. Geez Olberek you deal with them all the time, I'd expect you to know that."

>>24715263
She and He should be the other way around. gotta learn to proofread.

>>24715263
Supporting this one. We don't want to antagonize Olberek with the former.

>>24715288
Revised slighty.

"Because Jens is threatening to kill him, and I didn't think you'd side with me over something so stupid. Besides, I... Kinda like this girl. You should've seen some of the trickery she pulled during the war; on her own soldiers no less. Cheated one right out of a huge pile of spoils. I'm really only trying to get this kid out to keep her happy, since he's the only family she has left."

>>24715215

"You didn't just lie to the mortal, though," Olberek says, "you lied to me. Tried to convince me you needed him for a Delusion, remember? It was only a minute ago, Anomaly, have you gone senile?" He smiles. "Whatever it is that makes this boy so special, you felt the need to keep it from me."

>response?

>>24715350

Well, bugger, that post wasn't there when I started writing. Conversations are hard. Oh, well.

>>24715373
"And I still do actually, because I'm pretty sure you're going to kill him if I say anything. For what it's worth though, I genuinely have no idea if the boy is this cursed child that the Golgothans are looking for. I even tried questioning the Dominion daemon about it, but he wasn't in a chatty mood. More of a, separate-your-head-from-your-body mood, really."

Also technically true; we have no idea if Leson will manifest any powers.

>>24715648
Agreeing with this, if it even needs to be said.

>>24715648

"Hrm," Olberek says, stroking his beard again, lost in thought. "With that...I have half a mind to kill him anyway. What is so terrifying, so enraging, about these two children that you would rather keep them a secret from me rather than simply tell me the truth and let me clear things up?" Olberek asks. His jovialty has fled, and a touch of anger coats his words.

>>24715871

Oh, and

>response?

Yeesh, three times in one day.

>>24715871
"One child, not two. The one your follower has locked up is a perfectly regular mortal who's only actual value to me is a sentimental bag of meat to the one I actually give a damn about. I mean I'll owe you a favour or two in exchange for his life or something, but I'm not talking. Best I can do is promise it won't effect you personally."

>>24716133
I'm pretty sure some people aren't going to like my suggestion so give 'em a few minutes extra to respond with something else.

Sigh exasperatedly. "Alright fine than Olberek. The child is not cursed. It's sister is. She possesses daemonic talents. Yes, you heard me right. Mortals, wielding our power. I do not know the specifics of her powers, but her entire family and village was murdered by Golgoth. She is against them, and I intend to use her, and study this mortal, to see what her powers are, where she gets them. I don't know what she is, but I intend to find out, and hammer her into a weapon against Dominion. She will not go without her brother and the villagers, and she will be far more willing to strike at Golgoth if he is under my protection. That is why I need the boy, to investigate this matter, so that we may use it against Dominion."

If he asks for what powers she has, we should give very vague examples, but that sound like proto-forms of Fortune talents, not her actual ones.

>>24716133
>>24716177

Okay, I'm gonna be vague here, but this is the end of the conversation. Both of these options will end it. Possibly both of them will make Olberek go "fuck this, I'ma just kill him already" and you'll have to sacrifice Leson/Mari/Both or else fight Olberek. Possibly both of them will make Olberek back down. Possibly one of them gets you the good result and one gets you the bad result. But one way or another this conversation is going to end, so I'm extending the usual deadline. Everyone roll, we'll go with either consensus or, failing that, highest roll. Go.

>>24716177
Support this, it was a toss up though.

Rolled 51

>>24716133
Mk. Rolling for this.

Rolled 24

>>24716288
Guess I have to append a roll to this, in case any more anons come out the woodwork supporting the first post.

Rolled 18

>>24716283
I'm going for this.

>>24716362

That would be my post.

Rolled 67

>>24716177
again. tell her the truth.

>>24716383
I'll support it 'till my dying breath.

>>24716283

I actually meant this one, sorry

>>24716445

sigh

>>24716177
THIS one

>>24716177

You describe some of her powers as basically being proto-Obfuscation. "Show me," he says, gravely concerned.

>wat do?

>>24716577
"Very well, give me a moment to talk to her. She's already promised me she won't use it without my say-so for fear of being killed. Being, forgive me, antagonized by a giant scary tree man won't help her compliance."

We bring Girdin to Mari, quickly whisper to her to play along and not move. He'll ask her to use her power. It is called OBFUSCATION, and its ALL SHE KNOWS.

Then we stand nearby in shadow form and use Hidden Party to make her Unnoticed but not us.

So this trainwreck is going well.

>>24716727
Did I say Girdin? I totally did. I mean Olberek. Girdin is always watching anyways.

Or well, we cant be sure. He IS Girdin.

>>24716727

You tell Mari to pretend she knows Obfuscation and nothing else. Just sit still in some place that's really obvious and let you handle the rest. She does so, and then you go and tell Olberek that she's got her powers up and he can go ahead and look for her. Then you boot up your own powers and use Hidden party to Unnotice her and sit around at the limit of your power while he looks for her. It takes him a solid twenty minutes of searching, stalking through an awed camp of Clarbel warriors, before he finally manages to catch her out of the corner of her eye. "Aha!" he exclaims whirling around to point directly at her. Following his lead, the Clarbel warriors nearby turn and suddenly notice Mari, who has calmly been sitting perfectly still right next to them the entire time. Olberek laughs. "You must have been pretty good at hide and seek when you were small."

"Actually, I've only been able to do this for like two years," Mari says.

"Fascinating," Olberek says.

"You can...I never noticed you could do anything like this before," Davil says.

"I can't imagine why not." Mari says it with a flat voice, a statement, not a question.

"Heh, smartass," Davil says.

"Come, Anomaly, we must talk in private," Olberek says, heading back out of the camp. Once outside, he says "amazing! And her brother has no powers?"

"Not yet," you say.

"I don't believe you," Olberek responds, "if only because you're a chronic liar. Don't enter the village again. I will tell them that I've banished you for now, but that you will inexorably be drawn back to the boy, and they must release him immediately. After that he's your problem, whatever scheme you've got...You had best not be lying when you say it won't be a threat to me, though. All the Court of Nature will turn on you if you should use this against us."

>wat do?

Let's do that again without the unnecessary dice roll.

>>24717122
"I'm going to point them at dominion and see what havoc happens, hopefully learning something about how they have their powers in the first place. I want the boy with me especially because he has no talents yet and seeing if, when and how he develops any would be immensely interesting. I don't want anything to do with that godawful backwards village ever again, so consider that one a deal. And even if we don't trust each other we're still allies and I do value that. It won't ever be used against you. And I can only apologise for the secrecy, but I do hope you understand why I was adamant not to talk about it. Also, I really do need a boat."

>>24717354
I think we should push the "And maybe a minion or two to help keep them safe, since you're a nice guy and all", but we'll see where this gets us.

>>24717354

"I'm sure you'll have no difficulty finding a boat from Norfin," Olberek says, "outwitting mortals has never proved difficult for you. Take Lark with you," he says, gesturing towards the daemon, who gives a short bow. "I'm sure you'll find him useful." And you're sure that he's sending him half as much to keep an eye on you as help you out, but hey, minion!

>wat do?

>>24717752
Ask him his abilities? Assess him, etc.

>>24717752
"Pleasure to meet you Lark, been a bit stuffy with only the two of us around. If you'd be so kind as to tell me what Talents and Powers you possess, it would be greatly appreciated."

Go corporeal and shake his hand if thats even a thing daemons do.

>>24717869

Lark shakes your hand, smiling as he says "I've got a bit of Witchcraft and just a pinch of Pyromancy, just enough to wait until you go corporeal to go to sleep and then incinerate you should you make a single stupid pun about my name."

"I take it you get lots of bad Lark jokes?" you ask.

"I've been around for ten thousand years," he says, "it got old a long time ago."

"What exactly can your witchcraft do?" you ask.

"I can make concoctions that, when imbibed, drain magic. With a trace of someone's hair, skin, blood, anything really, I can also make a potion which will cause that person specifically to die if they so much as inhale the fumes," he says.

"And your pyromancy?" you ask.

"I set things fire," he says.

"Got it."

>wat do?

>>24718219
Wait for Leson outside the village then pick him up and take him to Mari. Get that shit over with.

>>24718292
Basically. I kinda want to push our luck with getting more minions, maybe even helping Olberek free some and letting him pick and choose who we get to keep though. Maybe we mention it for him to consider while we deal with Mari baggage.

>>24718375
Eh. We got out of there without anybody being murdered, and a free minion to boot. I'm content.

>>24718412
Well I mean it doesn't hurt to at least ask if he's open to the idea right?

>>24718292

You pick up Leson and soon after the rest of the Greatoak villagers, save only the two whose owners refused to give them up. Mari isn't super happy about things, but she reluctantly agrees to take her winnings and leave. Better not to risk all of the villagers for just two.

Leson is quiet, but it only takes him a few days to get back to irritating Mari fulltime. "Wonder if Deepwell would consider taking you back?" Mari asks, halfway between teasing and irritated frustration. Leson instantly goes deathly silent. "Hey, Les, will you relax? I wasn't being serious. Are you okay? Don't worry, Les, I'm not letting anything happen to you. Even if you are a brat." It takes him a solid half hour before he goes back to normal.

Regardless, the Clarbel villagers return to Golroute Village July 15th. They wonder aloud where they should settle down longterm, and what they should call themselves. "Clarboak" is emphatically rejected. The suggestion to raid Westercoast for the bell from their tower so they can call themselves "Great Bell Village" is also denied. Though raiding Westercoast to see if that's still there is met with considerably more consideration.

None of that is your problem, though.

>wat do?

>>24718886
Have a bit of a conversation with Mari to make sure she's alright, and introduce her to Lark since we'll be travelling together. Then in private tell her about an idea to develop a sort of side language of sorts using our Shade for long distance and private communication, and ask if she's open to the idea. If she is, we can start working on establishing the basics.

>>24718975
Sign language*

Christ these hands never stop betraying me.

>>24718886
Drop the suggestion to the villagers they could name the place Lannis village after the ex-leader of Greakoak. Then promptly stop giving a shit and ask where we can find a boat to Arn.

Once we've done that, find Mari, and introduce Lark thusly:

"Mari, this is Lark, our new best friend. He sets things fire."

>>24718975

"I'm fine," Mari says, "I mean, I keep thinking that...It's stupid, there's nothing I could've done to get Leson out of there much faster than I did, anything I might've tried would've just gotten him killed instead. He's so quiet now, but...He's getting better. He'll be fine, I'm fine, I'll be...Sorry, I'm babbling. I'm fine. Anyway, we're just getting started, right?"

Mari is more than happy to have a Shade around so she can pester you with questions more often. She gets really antsy when something weird and spirit-y is happening and she doesn't have any way to ask what to do.

She also gets along pretty well with Lark. In response to his setting things fire, he offers her a demonstration, incinerating a bush ("the ash will help new stuff grow"). "Can you teach me to do that?" she asks.

"That depends, how many centuries can you spare to practice?" he responds.

"I...Will get back to you on that," Mari says."

The suggestion sparks a debate as to whether Lannis Village or Lent Village would be more appropriate. Someone suggests moving to Westercoast City's ruins and making a big sign declaring it the Village of We Killed You Golgothan Bastards Once And We Will Do It Again, Don't Make Us Come Over There. This is also denied, mostly because all of the signmakers are dead since Westercoast City and Golroute were burned.

>wat do?

>>24719323
We find a goddamn boat.

>>24719323
We'll have to pat that last guy on the back for his creative effort. It's that kind of ingenuity that separates the geniuses from the pack.

Let's pull Girdin out of his quantum state and journey with him and our two lackeys to Norfin so we can procure a boat and meet up with our shade.

>>24719462

Eh, the specifics of hijacking a boat are at this stage trivial enough that I won't even bother. You find a goddamn boat. You are now sailors. Quantum Girdin will meet you there.

Thursday is D&D, which means quest will resume on Wednesday. See you then.

>>24719498

And by Wednesday I mean Friday. God I'm tired.