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>>29264363
-NATALIA JEAN-LOUIS AND THE MASK OF DECOUDREAU-

-CATCH UP HERE-
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/28587615/

-WHAT YOU KNOW SO FAR-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CRE9GiDfHtuMvGjxAWnt3dAG8OKhORWcfWoqWN7L3yE/edit

-LIST OF KNOWN SPELLS-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XMDQUOp7porPN2ztQ4b51TFFSnAnqsbdyb6_DanqJt0/edit

You, Natalia Jean-Louis, a young american witch of afro-caribbean descent have started your first year at the Salem Institute for Witches and Wizards. Last night, you saw something VERY strange. Your uh… friend… Allen (you remember, the nice older boy from Eel House? really cute?) dropped you a letter wanting to meet after dinner to tell you about the student who had died a few weeks before. You felt sick all that day, so you weren’t really in your right mind, but… but you’re positive you saw Allen’s face rip off his skull and attach to someone else! It was HORRIFYING. You screamed and fainted. When you woke up, your best friend Angela informed you through bleary eyes and a hoarse voice that your friend Todd had gone after you the night before, and that he hadn’t return. She’s sure something awful has happened to him.

Keep updated here: twitter.com/Salem_Institute

This quest uses a ROLL-UNDER system. I'll usually take the best of the first 3 1d100 rolls that are linked to my post. Critical fails are 98-100, Critical successes are 1-5 and take precedence.

There is an -ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED- Fate point system in which for every THREE achievements Natalia unlocks, you get ONE Fate Token which can reroll ONE die-roll. If someone expresses a wish to use a token, I’ll call for a y/n vote on whether to use one based on consensus.

Current Fate Tokens: 1
Achievements Needed to next Token: 3

>>29264433
Large jagged boulders tower many feet above your heads, their shadows thin in the high afternoon sun. You look once more at the picture in the book from the library and back at the collection of stone. This has to be it. The only things you see different from the images are the large patches of moss that grow upon them.

Angela makes a scratch at her blond head. “Sooo how ya’ think they work?”

Eyebrows crinkle as your brown eyes glance around them. To be honest you aren’t too sure. At first glance they seem like completely ordinary boulders but you know that this is not the truth. Magic works in strange ways, you’ve heard of secret doors that seem invisible to the naked eye or strange charms that activate to form doorways when certain panels on a wall are tapped. These rocks possessing such abilities does not seem unbelievable.

Let’s take a closer look.

Roll 1d100 for study check, please.

THE RETURN!

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>>29264517

Rolled 47

>>29264506
The one quest where we don't want to roll high.

Rolled 71

>>29264506
It wouldn't be Salem Institute Quest without critical failure.

Rolled 6

>>29264506
I doubt 47 is good enough but better than 98-100.

>>29264713
>>29264666
>>29264767
Is that what my quest is known for now?

>>29264767
Writing

>>29264792
Those were some pretty spectacular failures.

>>29264792
At least you're known for something, right?

It's considered common courtesy to put "Quest" in the Subject line.

That way it's easier for people to both find, and filter.

>>29264792
You go with what you know: the area between the two boulders that looked farther apart in the pictures. Your hand runs along the inside of the small space between them, palm grasping at cool limestone and damp dirt. Then, quite unexpectedly, you feel a different texture. Something smooth and metallic. A button or a switch maybe? Fingers grasping around it soon reveal it to be a small dial. It clicks from its location in the right to the left.

You hear something metallic sliding open and you hear Angela let out a gasp.

“Natalia! I think you did it!” She points to the opposite side of the rock formation and you go to investigate.

A large panel, formally covered in thick moss and dirt, opened up revealing an intricate gear system. Large gears connect with one another to move in certain directions to activate a mechanism hidden inside this particular stone. At first glance it doesn’t seem too different from the Eel House puzzles to get into the dormitory.

A second glance shows you that one gear appears to be missing. It’s a smaller one that goes between a gear with circular bumps and one with crescent moon indentions.

>Study the gears a bit more.
>QUICK! TO THE SMITHS!
>Try to move some of the gears around to make it work anyways.
>Other

>>29265241
>Study the gears a bit more.
Do we know a spell that'll let us make a reference to what the gear should be shaped like?

Also are the gears themselves enchanted/made of a special metal?

What spells do we know again?

>>29265399
check the second post anon

>>29265472
Ah right.

Maybe we could try casting Reparo?

>>29264940

This. There's been a recent string of Quest threads disregarding this rule, including the Quest Thread General.

>>29265241
Cast Accio for "missing gear"?

Then, when that doesn't work, let's go to the smiths.

>>29265399
>>29265702

Taking these.

>>29265570
As there's a missing piece, Reparo isn't suited to this action.

Roll 1d100 for Accio, please.

Rolled 42

>>29265756
Lets try us some magic.

Rolled 7

>>29265756
Hooray for spells.

Rolled 76

>>29265756

>>29265872
Taking this!

Writing!

>>29265872
>>29264767
Things are going way too well for us.

>>29266150
Give it time.

Give it time...

>>29265954
Though you can tell Angela is already eager to run off and make this contraption work, you take a second to give it another look. Delicately, you touch the gears. They don’t seem to be made of any unusual metal (that you can tell anyways) They are thin, but seem to be made of standard iron. They do show some wear but do not seem to be completely rusted over. Actually, the lighter color of metal along the edges implies that it has been used recently. How recently, you couldn’t possibly know.

An idea comes to mind. What if the missing gear isn’t too far off? Certainly whoever is using it would have it one of two places: either on their person or somewhere nearby for them to snatch out to use. This was a long shot, but it was worth it either way. A hunch is what got you this far so you might as well give this one a try.

You turn your back to the stones and pull out your wand, concentrating just like Squall told you to. You try to imagine the gear, lost in some dark place. It wants to be found, you tell yourself. It wants to come to you. All you have to do is will it.

“Accio!” Your voice calls out to the forest around you, accompanied by a confident and crisp swish.

-CONT-

>>29266522
For a moment there is nothing, and you feel your heart sink. Just as you hear Angela saying she would give it a shot while she pulled out her wand you hear something. A quick swishing sound through the air.

A small piece of metal whirls out of the forest, aiming directly for your head. Instinctively you duck, but the lump decides to stop a few inches from you and fall in the grass limply.

You pick it up, grin breaking across your face. Seems like that extra training with Squall payed off.

Unfortunately it’s not the whole gear, guess you couldn’t be that lucky, but it is a part of it. Easily what is probably an eighth of the full gear rests in your hand. The edge of it seems to be made of several crescent shaped hooks that go around the circular gear tooth and into the indentations on the other one.

Looks like you have something to base your copy on. Is there anything else you would like to do before going to the smiths?

>Nope! To the Smiths we go!
>Well there was something (what?)

>>29266562
>Nope! To the Smiths we go!

>>29266562
To the smithy!

>>29266562
Can't really think of anything, but then again it's been a while.

>>29266732
>>29266739
>>29266776
“Yes!” Angela claps her hands together excitedly. “Lets get this thing done. We could find Todd so quick we could have dinner with him tonight!”

A little voice in your head reminds you that it is highly possible that this is not the way to Todd. Yet Angela seems so excited and you really don’t have the heart to remind her of the reality of the situation.

The two of you hurry through the thick forest, crossing familiar landmarks of the botanical gardens and the Main House. The soft tufts of smoke from the distance are your guides through the campus.

You are almost to your home when something stops you in your tracks.

“Well, hello again.” An all-too-familiar voice calls out to you from your right, causing your stomach to churn with anxious rage. “Heard you lost your friend.”

You can’t help but glare as you turn your attention to her. The brunette demoness known as Sophia Dahl looks at you with an eerie calm. Her blue eyes narrow at you as she holds a pile of books in her arms. Odd, Turtle house dorms are on the other side of the island and so is the library.

Your hand grasps protectively at one of your braids, still remembering the long process it took to regrow them from your last encounter with her.

>”What would you possibly know about that?”
>”What are you doing over here?”
>”Back off Sophia, unless you want to get smacked again.”
>Ignore her, there is smithing to be done!

>>29267117
"I take it you're not here to offer your condolences?"

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>>29267117
>”What are you doing over here?”
Pic related?

>>29267350
Sophia Dahl: Not a complicated villain.

>>29267117
>”What are you doing over here?”
"Did you come all the way here just to mock me? That's almost adorable."

>>29267350
>>29267477
>>29267183
Writin'

>>29267533
“Did you come all this way just to mock me.” You spit back. “That’s almost adorable.”

“No silly, I came to congratulate you.” She lets out a soft chuckle and tosses a lock of hair behind her shoulder. “Now thanks to all this emotional trauma you have a good excuse for your poor performances in class”

“Oh that’s it.” Angela shoves up the sleeves to her robes to have them slip back down almost immediately. “Listen here missy! You better shut your mouth or-”

“Or what?” She asks with what seems like genuine curiosity. “If you cause a physical altercation then you’ll get detention and be even farther away from finding. Oh, what’s his name? Tom? Lodd?”

>Drag Angela away and get to the smiths.
>”You seriously have nothing better to do?”
>Shoot a spell at her to get her to back off.

>>29267754
>”You seriously have nothing better to do?”

"I mean you had to carry all those books with your little twig arms."

>>29267754
>Drag Angela away and get to the smiths.

>>29267754
>Drag Angela away and get to the smiths.
"You really need a hobby."

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>>29267754

>>29267848
>>29267882
>>29268001
>>29268189

You loop your arm through Angela’s and tug her towards you. “You walked all the way over here caring those books in your twig arms?” You scoff, but start to move away. “You really need to get a hobby.”

Before you turn around you can see Sophia’s face scrunch up in discontent. You would be lying if you said it didn’t make you feel a little bit amazing. Angela is still simmering when you enter Eel House and descend to the smiths.

You find your way to a free area and begin working on a new gear.

Roll 1d100 for smithing, please.

-Note- To help Natalia from the catastrophic failure she finds herself in so frequently, I’ve decided to work in some optional interactive qualities to the game that, if completed, will add a bonus to that individual die roll.

>Optional: Recreate a drawing of the gear for +10 to your score.

>>29268286
Damn. This is me.

Rolled 54

>>29268286
Catastrophic Failure you say?

Rolled 72

>>29268286
I wish I could draw, since we need any kind of bonus we can get.

Rolled 97

>>29268286
Well... looks like it's time to whip up MS Paint and see what I can do.

>>29268386
Taking this.

>>29268453
Not quite bad enough to crit-fail, but close. What's the gear look like?

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>>29268585
Let's try that again?

>>29268710
I found a gear template thing, but I'm still working out the kinks.

>>29268710
Sure.
+10 for you.

>>29268386
>44

Writing

>>29268763
You find a spare iron disk around the smithery and start measuring it against the fragment you found. First you trace the markings and then begin filing them into their proper shape. Angela only takes over for you once your hands get too tired from working on it.

It takes you roughly two hours to complete and you are both exhausted when you’re finished. Who would have thought such a small piece of metal could take this much out of you?

Holding it up to the light you can see your handiwork fully. In your other hand you have the original gear and you can see that they are almost identical. The only thing left to do was to try it out.

-NEXT TIME IN SALEM-
-We find out if we made a proper cog
-We delve deeper into the mysteries of Salem
-Mail time!

-ALL THIS AND MORE NEXT FRIDAY ON-

NATALIA JEAN-LOUIS AND THE MASK OF DECOUDREAU!

As always, Q&A starts now!
Stay informed here: www.twitter.com/Salem_Institute

>>29269126
Will you ever have a chance of running a longer thread?

>>29269258
Yes. The problem is largely one involving my work. In that I usually have to work pretty early. Sometimes I won't have to.

Either way, you'll be notified.

>>29269334
Good to know.

Thanks for coming back after such a long gap.

>>29269392
Thanks.

My computer decided to take up a new career as a particularly uninteresting hunk of metal on my desk. I suspect a power supply unit issue. Either way, new laptops are fun.

I appreciate the support.

>>29269470
Thank you for the run, however brief.