>>37333429
>Autumn Stop Vi
>Ed Stop Cecilia
>Erin Attack Talrith
and by that I mean just hold him off while we get the other two under control.

>>37333429
Good to see you back auri.
>Ed to stop Cecilia
>Autumn to attack Talrith
>Erin to stop Vi with a spell.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

It's great to be back!
>>37333519
>>37333595
Ed's stopping Cecilia for sure it seems.
Rolling to see what happens with the others.

>>37333658
Okay, roll 2d20 for Ed and Autumn to stop the others.

Rolled 17, 12 = 29 (2d20)

>>37333684

Rolled 16, 16 = 32 (2d20)

>>37333684
Rolling. What about Erin?

>>37333709
>>37333733
>17, 16
We'll see later about Erin...
>Writing

>>37333750

“Autumn, get Vi!” You begin shouting orders without realizing.

“Right.” Autumn charges ahead without hesitation. Her speed does her well in keeping up with the panicked fairy.

You turn your attention to the young mage. “Erin, hold off the warden while we get the others under control.”

Her eyes widen at your command and her legs begin to tremble with renewed vigor, and she clutches her robes tightly.

You have little time to worry about her fear, but before you take off to stop Cecilia, she manages to give you a tentative nod.

While running, you immediately you spot Cecilia fleeing around the vestibule. You’re quick to realize that catching her from behind might take precious extra time, and approaching her from the front, might cause her to run from you in fear.

“The side.” You say to yourself as you dash to intercept her path straight for a spike trap.

Her panic fuels her speed, but in this case you’re faster.

You tackle into Cecilia with great force, wrapping your arms around her thighs to take her down to the ground.

She impacts with the ground, landing on her side roughly, her arm scrapes against the floor. Your large body crashes on top of hers, flattening and stopping her.
The impact hurts your body, but you know it was much worse for Cecilia.

You’re slow to get off, in case she decides to take off again, but your tackle has caused her to react with little more than a few pain-filled whimpers. She’s not going anywhere, for now.

A blur of light passes by your face as you get up, and then shoots into high into the air directly above your head.

“Ed!” Autumn calls out as she charges toward you. You instantly understand what she needs, and interweave your fingers and crouch low to the ground.

“Huph” The instant her foot touches your hands you rise with all your strength, sending Autumn shooting high air.
[1/2]

>>37334344

“Gotcha!” She secures Vi with both hands and falls back down, luckily for her, into your arms.

“Nice catch.” You grin at her.

“Same to you.” She shows you Vi, desperately trying to free herself from Autumn’s hands.

“No!” Erin’s voice screams.

She stands at the top of the stairs, shouting at unseen figures in front of her. Talrith is nowhere in sight but there are two large door at the top of the stairs that have been thrown open.

“You were dead!” Erin screams as sharp icicles form around her. “I had to!” She shoots the icicles at the unseen person. She quickly turns in various directions shooting her icicles. “NO!” She shouts over and over.

Approaching her at this point would be dangerous, if she were not to recognize you. Then there’s the matter of Vi who’s still under the effect of the illusion and needs to be restrained, and Cecilia who’s laid out on the ground, helpless.

Only Ed and Autumn are available for actions. Choose who does what.

>Restrain Vi.

>Tackle Erin to stop her.

>Call out to Erin to stop.

>Carry Cecilia

>Write in

Bumping once.

>>37334367
I'm totally new to this and lurking. I'm afraid to take actions because I literally know fuck all about the quest OP.

Still watching and giving extra bumps for people who know wtfs happening. All I can think is going after the weirdass illusionist yourself or recover the party. they've gone full bonkers.

How do you stop them going full bonkers anyway can we just slap the shit out of them and hope pain works?

>>37334892
Welcome to the quest!

Please feel free to answer how you think. Your train of thought may be correct, but you'll never know unless you try.

>>37334367
>Call out to Erin to stop.

This I guess. I don't know what else to do.

>>37334367
My bad, I was away from comp because a bird got into my house
>Autumn to restrain Vi
>Ed to call out to Erin to stop.
>Leave Cecilia where she is.
I'm testing a suspicion I have about her.

>>37334367
>>37335046

Okay fuck it. Lets get this ball rolling. The regulars will come rushing back even faster if they realize its going without them I bet.

With so many people in the throes of whatever batshit illusion magic is happening we need to run damage control and at least tie them up before heading after the mage doing this.

>Ed tries to talk to Erin and goes for a tackle if she starts to sling magic in a panic.

>Autumn To getting the others at least restrained so nobody flies into spikes?

Its all I got. this shits a clusterfuck no if and or buts about it.

>>37335048
>>37335082
>Writing

>>37335097
This was in before I posted so I would count it, luckily it's along the lines of what I was going to write heh.

>>37335097
Yeah I wouldn't worry about causing a clusterfuck then since in auri quests we always have a decent chance of someone dying if we're not careful.

>>37335101

You let Autumn down from your arms. “Keep an eye on these two. I’m going to try to save Erin.”

She claps your shoulder and nods in affirmation. “Be careful, Ed.”

Erin still desperately shoots her icicles at the unseen illusions. You cautiously ascend the stairs, keeping an eye on where
her blue eyes are focusing.

You reach the top of the stairs, and wait for an opening. Suddenly she turns to stare at you with hostile eyes. The icicles float around her, ready to strike at any moment.

Instinctively, you reach for the hilt of your sword. You pull your hand away, desperately hoping that it won’t come to that.

“Erin, you have to stop.” You begin to plead. “What you’re seeing is just his magic.”

“I will defeat you.” She declares. “You will stay dead.”

“I’m not here to fight you. It’s me, Ed!” You shout.

Erin ignores you, closes her eyes, and begins to make strange gestures with her hands. It takes you a moment to remember, but you recognize those were the gestures she uses when channeling her new spell.

“A cold like none ever I felt before.” The words surface in your mind, causing your body to react with panic.

Again you stop yourself from unsheathing your sword. You can’t let it come to that; you won’t let it come to that.

>Run.

>Keep trying to reach through to her.

>Tackle her to the ground.

>Write in

>>37335603
>Write in.
Approach slowly and cautiously, then hug the shit out of her

>>37335603
>Tackle her to the ground.
Erin Knock it off!
Hi Auri!

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>37335635
>>37335746
Hello!
>Writing the winner

>>37335826
Roll 1d20, best result of three.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>37335854
No fails please.

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>37335854

>>37335886
>Writing
Even if a person rolled a one at this point, the result would still be very good.
http://pastebin.com/aW5tG7CH
For anyone that hasn't seen the dice rules yet.

>>37335603
oh boy we should have run

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>37335854
rolling for double 20

>>37335976
I remember suggesting them to you. Didn't we just crit succeed?

>>37335987
Nah dude, we would have to deal with her evetually, but thankfully we did good

>>37335976
those dice rules look a bit too easy
how about instead of 2 nat 1's for a critfail, a single nat 1 and no other rolls pass the DC

>>37336019
We did crit succeed. I was just posting the rules because someone in here said it was their first time playing this quest.

>>37336048
Nope we have quest ended from that against a basic enemy. hell last thread we had a critfail.

>>37336048
>>37336048
Oh god no, a crit fail is terrible in a Auri quest. TERRIBLE

>>37336077
>>37336101
He said he made them not so bad in the rules, and we quest ended from a 1 being an critfail by itself, not a 1 and no other rolls passing.

>>37336195
Thing is even basic fails can hurt a lot, injuries are persistent unless healed in Auri's world. 1 critfail broke a leg and another broke our ribs in multiple places. Even one broken rib can kill if it isn't set right.

>>37336242
>one broken rib can kill
Ha! What's it gonna do, puncture a lung or other vital organ?

>>37336288
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/36166334/
We live in eternal fear of this, behind the ultra kind demeanor lies a demon who will kill your favorite characters

>>37336360
20/10 thread would read again.

>>37336288
Marrow getting some where it shouldn't, or that, or bone cancer or any number of complications. Auri makes no easy quests, even with dice on our side we can still die.

>>37336523
I feel like bone cancer is a lot more long term than we'd need to worry about.

>>37336600
Still depending on what type it is, it sapping our strength could easily lead to our demise. Cancer causes other wounds to heal more slowly after all.

>>37336637
I mean, it has to get to a certain point first. You don't just get serious bone cancer overnight. There's a lot of time before any symptoms appear.

>>37336668
True But considering we don't know what kind of magic is floating out there, several spells(haste,enlarge, etc.) or equivalents could accelerate it. Better paranoid than dead. It's moot anyways. I'm dropping it.

>>37335976
Sorry for the extra delay, went to get some food.


You forego trying to reach her with words, so you decide on a more physical approach. There’s just enough space in between the two of you for you to get to a decent speed.

You charge.

The icicles keep your focus, and you judge by the angle their pointing that they will shoot out high. You hunch low as icicles shoot over your head and crash into the vestibule’s walls.

A strange sensation of slowing washes over your body, the instant before impact. The last inch before reaching Erin seems to take an inordinately long amount of time.

The young mage collapses upon you impacting with her. You twist your large frame at the last second so that you don’t repeat the mistake of crashing on top of her.

The two of you, slide for several feet and then come to a stop. You sit up, pulling Erin up with you.

You quickly check Erin’s condition after the tackle. She’s quiet; she conjures no more spells, nor shouts anymore hostilities. Instead she clutches at your body tightly, with her face buried into your chest.

“Umm, are you alright?” You ask, tentatively.

For a few moments she gives no response, but then shakes her head vigorously.

You sigh in relief. “That means you’re back to normal at least?”
[1/2]

>>37336856

She nods her head without looking up at you.

You stand and Erin still continues to clutch at you. For the moment you allow her to, but you return back to Autumn and the others.

“Is Vi any better?” You approach and see that Autumn has her pinky finger firmly lodged into Vi’s mouth.

Autumn shakes her head. “She started gnawing at the side of her mouth, so I had to stop her.”

Cecilia is still knocked out on the ground.

You shake your head at the state your group is in. “Perhaps, we should fall back for now.” You think aloud.

Autumn flicks her hair of her face. “Normally, I would disagree, but in this case I think you may be right.” She stares down at Vi still struggling to free herself.

You turn to think of your next course of action. The icicles that Erin shot out caused a large portion of the wall to crumble, exposing the outside world.

The once perfectly carved sand dunes now lie in rough piles, as if the forces that cared for the dunes were no longer there. All sorts of previously unseen debris now litter the sands

You turn back to Autumn.

>Fall back.

>Continue to pursue Talrith

>Write in

>>37336889
>Write in.
Tell the rest of the group to fall back, pursue Talrith alone.

>>37336889
>Fall back.
Bring him out of his traps and hidey holes if he follows us, if not We can rest and gather our strength back up. Are the pups still around Auri?

>>37336970
The pups won't be far from where you left them.

I think his magic is weakening greatly he can't keep up the illusion of an organized piece anymore. Now is the best time to attack.

>>37336988
take them with, Depending on how keen their sense of smell is and how quickly they can be trained I may have a plan. same anon as>>37336970

>>37336889

>Fall back.

>>37336970
>>37337039
>Writing

>>37337124

She nods and turns to head out, still carefully holding Vi so that she can’t hurt herself.

You walk over to Cecilia with Erin still clutching at your body. The young mage lets go only long enough to allow you to pick up Cecilia, whose arm is bleeding from scraping against the ground. You turn to take another look at the stairs leading further into the fortress, sigh, and then turn to walk out into the light of the descending sun.

Your group stops at where you rested earlier in the day. Vi has largely calmed down, even falling into a state of sleep, but still scratches at her arms every now and then. Now that she has finally stopped moving so much, you have time to examine the extent of her self-inflicted injuries.

Her arms are a bloodied mess, with small pieces of skin hanging in some places. She completely ruined her fingernails by digging into her body and Autumn so vigorously and most fingers are left with nothing but bloody nail beds. Blood mixed with saliva also oozes from her mouth in a small stream.

Vi sleeps for now, but you worry for the pain she’ll feel when she eventually awakes.

You use some cloth and water to clean her and Cecilia’s wound and dress them the best you can. Once done, you ask Autumn to watch the two of them and Erin while you get some air.
[1/2]

>>37337569

Once out of view of your group your exhale loudly, trying to vent your frustrations. You stifle a yell, because you aren’t too far away from your group and settle for breaking a large stick over some rocks.

“Damn it.” You agonize over the state of your group and continue to walk.

The puzzle gate comes into view, and it doesn’t bring back any pleasant memories, but only serves to remind you of how helpless you feel.

The gate closed itself, only to be opened from the pedestal on either side. You stare at the gory mess on the other side of the gate and see that one of the remaining pups wandered off the pedestal leaving his two siblings to a horrible fate.

The remaining pup lies on his side, panting slowly. He’s dehydrated and on the verge of starvation.

You can reach the pup through the bars of the gate, if you wish, but perhaps it’s too late from him.

>Reach for the pup.

>Leave him and return to the group.

>Write in.

>>37337592
>Reach for the pup.

>>37337592
>Reach for the pup.

>>37337592
Damn Vi is in a bad state, fucking crit fails.
>Reach for the pup.

>>37337628
>>37337704
>>37337710
>Writing

>>37337592
>>Reach for the pup.

>>37337804

You settle next to the gate and turn your body so that you can reach the pup. You reach your left hand between the space of the thick bars.

Pain.

A multitude of needles shoot out from the gates bars near your hand, impaling some of your fingers, and ultimately halting your progress.

You cry out in pain as your body is covered in sweat. You regain control of your breath as you watch blood slowly drip from your hand onto your side of the gate.

The pup slowly rouses at the dripping fluid and shakily approaches to investigate it.

“Oh no.” You mutter in panic as you slowly free individual fingers from the needles. “Stop!” You yell at the pup, but he pays you no attention, his gaze focused on where your blood is pooling.

Panicked thoughts race through your head about what to do, and none of them are pleasant. If you want the pup to live he’s going to have to be stopped.

>Shove your foot through the gate to stop him from reaching the blood.

>Do nothing to stop him.

>Write in

>>37338112
>Write in.
Use sword to stop the pup, call out to group for help.

>>37338112
>>37338191
Worth a shot.

>>37338112
>>37338191
Addendum our not super cutty sword the other one.

>>37338191
>>37338251
>Writing

>>37338311

You unsheathe your old sword and poke it through the gate to stop the pup. The gates do nothing to prevent the sword from poking through and you successfully block the pup, who stares vacantly at the sword in front of him before settling low to the ground

As you call out desperately for Autumn and Erin you can almost hear Talrith’s wheezing laughter at the situation you got yourself into.

Autumn, Erin, and a roused Cecilia come up running to investigate.

“What in the world…” Autumn says quietly at how ridiculously awkward you must look right now. She holds Vi in her hands.

Cecilia looks up at the sigil above the gate and then back to Erin and Autumn. She pulls an extremely resistant Erin toward the pedestal.

You call out to stop them. “Stop! Be sur-“

Click, click click.

The gate mechanism has been activated and tense seconds pass before the grinding sound of the gate lets you know that Cecilia correctly solved the puzzle.

The needles return back to the bars, freeing your hand. You wonder briefly which way the gate will open before having to scramble back to keep from getting hit.

Before the gates have slammed into the rock walls Cecilia approaches the pup, and even Erin is quick to get off the pedestal. The young mage heads over to you to check on you.

Cecilia gives the pup water from one of your groups skin pouches, which it gratefully laps into its mouth. She turns back to the group. “He’s cute! What should we name him?”

You sigh wearily at how energetic Cecilia is. “He’s not too bright. He almost killed himself right now actually.”

“Hmmm.” Cecilia ponders something while staring at the pup.

“Name him Ed.” Vi calls out quietly. Your whole group turns in surprise to the fairy with a pained look on her face. “Ouch.” She follows up.
~

>>37338555
Okay, that's where I'm ending it for today. Thank you all so much for playing! It's been far too long. As per usual, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them in the thread and I will do my best to respond to them.

If not, then I wish you a good day/night, and hope to see you next time!

>(Twitter)
https://twitter.com/QM_Auri
>(Previous threads)
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=otherworldly+arboretum

>>37338583
We didn't do any major screw-ups did we? Also how bad is Ed's Bleeding?

>>37338626
I wouldn't say major, no. Ed's bleeding is minor, wrapped and not aggravated it should seal up in less than a day.

>>37338675
Cool. We'll have to as what they saw next thread if we want to know right? Any sign of water nearby?

>>37338583
Thanks for running auri, it has been too long without your quests
Also, did Erin manage to cast her spell on us?

>>37338721
Yes, next thread you can ask them what they saw. The nearest water would be the steaming tar pit illusion Ed fell in.
>>37338731
You're very welcome! I missed you guys and writing.
Whether or not she successfully cast anything on Ed, is unknown. Maybe it's something to look out for in future threads?

I'll be stepping out now. Thank you all once again. See you!

>>37339053
Night Auri thanks for running have a good one.