>>38916844

The sun is rising, allowing its warmth to spread all over the land. Which you’re sure would be fantastic if you could feel it. But ever since your near-death experience with Old Bart wizard, you’ve been left weak in a state of constant chill. It feels like there’s a hunk of ice inside of you that never quite thaws.

It’s been several days since then but you barely remember them at all as anything more than a stilted parade of memories as you slowly struggled along the road from Lesser Arlinton, using the dead wizard’s staff as a walking stick. Many people have passed you on the road but you’ve only received aid from one person.

Well, “person”.

Hiss is already standing. Even she rises earlier than you now. She prods you with her boot experimentally.
“Are you dead or what?”

“No.”
Every time you speak you have to fight to keep your teeth from chattering.

“Are you going to die from this anytime soon?”

“I don’t think so.”
Probably.

She sighs.
“Well you’re being a real dead-weight to travel with right now.”

“S-sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it. Do you remember that merchant caravan we saw yesterday? I asked them a few questions and they say there’s a city nearby. Maybe there’ll be doctors there that can make you useful again.”

Strange. You don’t remember Hiss talking to anyone yesterday. You try to get up but your feet feel like solid blocks of ice and can’t be moved. Hiss watches you struggle for several minutes without helping.
“Do you expect me to carry you? You might have to just stay here for now. I’ll go into the city myself and get help.”

>Oh god no.

>Oh god yes.

>>38916848
>>Oh god no.
Would small healing or alcohol help if we had the ingredients for it?

>>38916848
>Oh god yes.

>>38916848
>>Oh god no.

Please don't you'll probably end up killing someone or threatening another baby.

>>38916926
Nope. The small healing mix covers minor ailments, injuries and various petty harms. This is a wizard's curse.
Alcohol makes you feel better but it doesn't provide actual warmth.

>>38916848
>Oh god no.
We don't need to be chased out of another city. Also can we brew something to help us?

>>38917023
Would the alcohol help get us moving?

>Oh god no

You have a brief yet powerful mental image of Hiss alienating another town and this time before you even get to arrive.
"No," you say as firmly as possibly.

"Well what are you going to do, then? Lie here and moan?"

"I...I might be able to brew somethiiiiiii..."
You fall unconscious.

...

>>38917191
Well, shit.

>>38917191

You nudge him with your boot again but there's no response. You kick him in the side but even that doesn't stir him.
Is he dead? You put a hand in front of his mouth.

He's still breathing. More's the pity. And yet his life hangs by a thread. It would be so easy to simply place your hand over his mouth and nose altogether. Put these ungraceful limbs to good use.
But you can't. Something in your own mind bites you. And you can't just leave him either. There's a compulsion within you, just one more indignity that you rage against every day.
You must do your best to keep him alive or...There is no or. You literally don't have a choice.
You can feel the compulsion rising even now, threatening to tear your own soul apart from the strain.

Your name is unspeakable by human tongues and cannot be transcribed by any alphabet but you are, much to your disgust, commonly known as 'Hiss'.
And you have to do something.

> Perhaps you should respect his last wishes and look for aid in the countryside instead of going to the city.

> Haha why would you ever do that.

> Other

>>38917369
>Other
Now that he's unconscious we should dig through his memories and finally figure out this alchemy nonsense.

>>38917369
> Haha why would you ever do that.

>>38917369
> Other
Mess with all his stuff. Then go to the city for help, he can't tell you what to do.

>>38917369
> Perhaps you should respect his last wishes and look for aid in the countryside instead of going to the city.
Or look through his memories for an alchemical cure

>Look through his memories for alchemy.

Alchemy? It is as far as you can figure out, a useless art. You've seen it in his memories before and you can't figure it out at all. It's not even proper magic!
Not that you know a whole lot about magic either beyond your own Snake Arts. But as far as you're concerned, that's the only magic worth knowing.

Well, it might be worth a try. You reach deep within yourself to the metaphysical stomach where you digest souls and memories.
You still have a shred of his soul inside of you. It harks back to your first meeting, when you tore it out so you could gain a basic understanding of him and humanity in general.

Also contained within your soul-fragment collection is a large section of Fel Snakebite, retrieved right after you killed him against your will and several lashings of memory that you stripped from an unfortunate merchant yesterday which is the whole reason you know about the city in the first place.
You also have a nearly complete whole soul within you as well. Her name was Melys and she was the unlucky mother of the baby that everyone got so mad at you about.
You returned the baby to his father mostly unharmed but you'd already swallowed the wife's soul like a particularly large egg. It was particularly useful in faking the 'distraught mother' back in Lesser Arlinton.

You also have a shriveled...something from killing Old Bart but it is not a soul. He'd replaced his soul with something strange and it sits heavy and useless inside you.

You sift through them all for anything to do with alchemy. Unsurprisingly only your "master's" fragment contains anything of use. You puzzle through it multiple times but it just doesn't seem to make sense!

Maybe if you tore another piece off off his soul but you need to either catch him in a trance or eat him for that and you're prohibited from the latter and the former is denied to you by his sleep.

1/2

>>38917802
2/2

Why is he so useless? How dare he get cursed?
He only got cursed by throwing himself at the wizard so you could finally strike true, a traitorous voice reminds you. You hush it down. That must have been accidental, a curious quirk of his incompetence becoming useful for a change.

But if he's so incompetent, why can he figure out alchemy and you can't? You kick his comatose body again in retaliation.

> Try to mix together a brew anyway.

> Try to get help from someone you find on the road.

> Look around the countryside for someone. You know people live out here.

> Venture into the city.

> Other

>>38917899
> Look around the countryside for someone. You know people live out here.

>>38917899
> Look around the countryside for someone. You know people live out here.

>>38917899
>> Look around the countryside for someone. You know people live out here.

>>38917899
>Look around the countryside for someone. You know people live out here.

> Look around the countryside for someone. You know people live out here.

You might as well go have a look around. It's not like he's going anywhere. You painstakingly drag him off the road and past a hill until he's out of sight from any random travelers first.
Wouldn't want something bad happening like that, would you? Siiiiiigh.

Having achieved the most basic safety precautions possible, you then climb up to the top of the tallest hill you can see. You should be able to get a good view from here.
Say one thing about human bodies, they really are much better at looking around than snakes are. Greatly improved altitude.

You spot a house off the road by a fair distance, among a copse of trees. Melys would have called it a cottage so you guess that's what it is? You don't understand why humans have to make so many little distinctions and rules about what things are. How do they remember it all?

You make your way over to it without incident. The cottage is a small house of two or three rooms at most. The orchard crowds around it, the trees rich with red fruit. Do humans eat those?
A little red door seems to be only entrance from the front and curtains have been drawn across all the windows. You knock on the door several times but nothing happens.
Isn't knocking what you're supposed to do in this situation? And yet nobody is answering. Why would people do it if it doesn't work?

You hear a strange noise coming from behind the cottage? Some sort of low screech perhaps? You can't quite describe it.

> Go check it out.

> That could be dangerous. Force the front door open.

> Try to eat the fruit.

> Leave now.

> Other

>>38918258
> Go check it out.

>>38918258
> Go check it out.

>>38918258
>Go check it out.

>>38918258
>> Go check it out.

> Go check it out.

You walk around the side of the cottage and through the trees that swarm around it. The sound becomes clearer and clearer. It is a sort of screeching sound but there's no way that any sort of beast is producing it naturally.
You're not sure how to describe it but...the sound rises and falls and changes in ways you can't quite understand. One of your hands is unconsciously moving in time with it.

You freeze and regard your traitorous limb with a mute horror. But the sound continues and this time it's your foot that feels the urge to tap along in time.
Is this magic? You can't be sure because sound itself is different in this form. In your true shape, you hear sound as muffled and transmitted through the ground, as it SHOULD BE. Anything that is not immediately relevant or dangerous is discarded or rendered meaningless by your snake ears.
But a human body also comes with a human brain and as are you quickly discovering, human brains are meddlesome monsters that read too much into useless stimuli.
It can't be magic, you decide. Nobody can enchant you without you at least knowing. You are much too important for that.

So you allow yourself to walk the rest of the distance, not even noticing your feet walking in rhythm.
There's a clearing in the orchard behind the cottage. There's a small narrow shack here on a tilt and a human woman. She's got brown hair and that's about as far as you look into it. They all sort of look the same on the first glance.
She holds some wooden contraption in one hand and drags a stringed bow across it with the other, producing the sound.

Your first instinct is to bite her. Strike her down. Not even because of her being good prey or being dangerous. It's just what snakes do best. You've become quite good at keeping that instinct down in the last few days.

> Attack her anyway.

> Demand she stop this hideous racket

> Demand she stop attempting to enchant you.

> Demand food. You haven't eaten yet after all.

> Other

>>38918665
>> Demand she stop attempting to enchant you.

Vile woman your magics are useless against me, save for my traitorous left foot which shall rue the day it stopped taking orders from me!

>>38918665
> Demand she stop this hideous racket

>>38918665
Demand help for the cursed apprentice

>>38918665
>Demand she stop attempting to enchant you.

>>38918665
>> Demand she stop attempting to enchant you.
>>Demand aid for your cursed companion

Also OP what is the nature of Hissy's innate magical abilities compared to traditional human magic? She goes on quite a bit about he powers but I don't recall her casting any recognizable spells.

>>38918912
Check the pastebin

>>38918665
>> Demand she stop attempting to enchant you.

>Demand she stop attempting to enchant you.

"Peasant! Cease your futile magic immediately!"

She jumps, apparently having not noticed you standing there. The bow skitters down the wooden contraption, causing a sudden burst of sound that is almost physically painful. Is she attacking you?
How dare she?

You stride forward and knock the object out of her hands. As it lands softly in the grass you stomp on it's fragile neck, breaking it in half.

She quivers back from you, looking distraught.
"My violin!"
She swings the violin's bow at you but you weave out of the way and grab her by the neck. You can feel your fangs beginning to stretch, aspects of your true self rising to the fore. You hold her there for a long moment, struggling with the urge to slay her.
You throw her to the ground.

"It is well that you are a sorceress, human. I require your assistance."

> Try to explain to her what you need.

> Just march her to your companion.

> Investigate the cottage first.

> Kill her.

> Other

>>38919091
> Just march her to your companion.

>>38919091
>Just march her to your companion.
I feel like Hiss is autistic or something.

>>38919091
> Just march her to your companion.

>>38919139
She totally is.

>>38919091
>> Just march her to your companion.

>>38919139
She has a similar sort of problem in that there is a big misunderstanding between her and human social activity.

>Just march her to your companion

You force her around and start marching her back out through the orchard. She doesn't resist at first but just like your "master", she can't go one minute without starting to complain about something.
"That was my father's! What do you want?"

You can be quite sure that the alchemist is not watching so you simply nod gently before curling up a fist and punching her in the stomach. It is only natural to fear pain. If she's anything like that man whose house you borrowed back in Lesser Arlinton, she will do a lot to avoid further pain.

"Just keep wal-arrgh!"
She tackles you to the ground, your useless limbs folding beneath you. She isn't pacified at all!
She doesn't have any weapons so she settles for just trying to clobber you with her hands and feet. You'd laugh at her clear lack of natural weapons but you don't really have any either.

And you're not really much stronger than any regular human, a fact that has never been more apparent.
The two of you brawl and roll around in a highly undignified fashion, clumsily trying to grab hold and to rip and tear at anything that presents itself before you smack her head against a tree.

> Kill her. Kill her. Kill her.

> Hope that she's learned her lesson.

> Try to draw her into your gaze.

> Other

>>38919592
> Hope that she's learned her lesson.
>Drag her.

>>38919592
> Hope that she's learned her lesson.

>>38919592
What a fucking autist.
> Hope that she's learned her lesson.

>>38919592
Tell her our cursed companion need help

>>38919592
>> Hope that she's learned her lesson.
>>Attempt to use verbal communication as a means of ensuring her cooperation (tell her you need her help with an ill companion).

> Hope that she's learned her lesson.

You contemplate just trying to drag her the rest of the way but if you could do something like that you could have just dragged the alchemist to the city for treatment.
You don't really do exerting things as a rule. Not enough stamina. Snakes had the right way of it, either moving slowly or not at all and saving their energy for the kill. Just the fight itself has made you sweat all over, another human function that you don't understand.

"Look. I'm going to level with you."
She doesn't look nearly as appreciative of this as she should be.
"I know someone who needs your help. I probably should have said that."

She's looking at you in a strange way. There's fear but also an expression you can't quite identify.
"How are you out right now? The sun is out."

You may have struck her head too hard.
"Excuse me?"

"I mean...you feel so cold. And I saw those fangs before. You're a vampire aren't you?"

What the hell is a vampire?

> "Yes. Yes I am."

> "What's a vampire?"

> "It is not your place to ask questions here. Just get up and walk."

> Kill her

> Other

>>38920130
>"What's a vampire?"

>>38920130
>> "What's a vampire?"
>>I am cold because I was cursed by an ice wizard. My companion got hit far harder than I was and fell unconscious.

Human social skill #128; selective honesty.

>>38920130
>> "What's a vampire?"

Fangs and cold blooded, might make a good friend

>>38920130
> "What's a vampire?"

> "It is not your place to ask questions here. Just get up and walk."

>>38920229
>>I am cold because I was cursed by an ice wizard. My companion got hit far harder than I was and fell unconscious.
>Human social skill #128; selective honesty.
Good idea.

>>38920229
This. Nice save. +As you can see I have no fangs right now

>>38920276
Saying "right now" is a bit suspicious but the rest is fine

I wonder if we could put the shriveled thing we got from eating old barts soul in the cursed alchemist

>>38920557
It wasn't his soul... it was likely some magical bullshit that he had in place of his soul as he likely sold it to some eldrich horror or another. We know snakes can eat souls so its very likely other powerful creatures may be able to as well, some might not even do so in such a destructive manner.

>>38920705
Might help give resistance to the wizards curse. Total gamble though

>> "What's a vampire?"
>>I am cold because I was cursed by an ice wizard. My companion got hit far harder than I was and fell unconscious.

"What's a vampire?"

She peers at you, her eyes flickering around your face. She's trying to read your expression, trying to look past a facade. Well good luck lady, you've got no such thing. You've had some practice with faking expressions but for the most part your face is open book.

"You really don't know? They're a sort of people that Dad always used to threaten me with. Said that they lived in the Duke's forest and would come out at night."

Huh. Could there be a group of magical humanoids in that forest? You doubt it. You've lived there all your life and the only magical creatures there are your kind and the Duke himself.
You mark it up to 'Humans believe strange things #3347' and leave it at that.

"Well the reason I'm cold is because I was struck by a wizard's ice curse. My companion got hit far harder and it's him that needs help."
All strictly true. You freeze your tattletale face as best you can.
"And really, do I look like I have fangs?"

You open your mouth wide, making sure first that it is entirely human. You do your best to resist the urge to bite.

She looks at you suspiciously.
"You mean the wizard in Arlinton? They say he's got a nasty attitude."

"Yes, exactly him."
Everything is falling into place so easily! You cast a brief look back through stolen memories for what to say next.
"I'm sorry for attacking you. I was just so desperate for help. He's dying."
You wish.

Her face softens just a little.
"I don't know what I can do about it. I have some elixirs back home that I bought from the city but-"

You stop listening.

> Loot her cottage for elixirs

> Wait, what's the human word? 'I'll pay you for those!"

> Keep marching her onward anyway.

> Kill her.

> Other

>>38920730
He can replace whatever you use on him. He's a skilled alchemist

>>38920730
>> Wait, what's the human word? 'I'll pay you for those!"

I'm sure he'll handle it after this works or whatever, its not our problem to find him money unless he wishes it so... and that would also put us one wish closer to freedom, murder, and profit.

>>38920730
> Wait, what's the human word? 'I'll pay you for those!"

>>38920730
>> Wait, what's the human word? 'I'll pay you for those!"
>> Keep marching her onward anyway.

Congratulations OP, your quest is officially listed on 1d4chans list of quest threads... you are now famous in an extremely insignificant and pitiful way.

>>38920766
>>38920772
>>38920797

"I'll pay you for those!"

"Oh, uh, I guess we can do that. Do you have money?"

You are fairly certain you have exactly none of those little metal coins. But you were in the same situation back when you first entered Lesser Arlinton. What had your "master" done then?
"My companion is an alchemist. He can make you whatever you want after he wakes up!"

"So he can basically replace the elixirs?"

You have no idea if he can do that or not.
"Absolutely. He is a master alchemist. He can make all of the potions."

She looks thoughtful.
"How do I know that's true?"

You look deep within yourself and latch onto Melys. You took most of her memories so they still have some good use left in them. You drag up her most recent emotions, namely when you had stolen her child from her.
"I'm sorry for what I did! But he- don't you see the reason for why I'm only cold and not like him? His last action was to make a cure but he could only make enough for one and he...he told me to take it! And when I found you, I was so desperate...forgive me!"
You put your sleeve over your eyes as if you are crying. You can't quite mimic that yet but the anguish in your voice is as sincere as a mother begging for son's life and the woman can't help but notice it.

"I'll see what I can do."

You've done it, you've defeated human interaction. The best thing is that even with that use, you still have quite a lot of Melys left to tap. You can keep this up all day if you want to.
You don't approve of how undignified it is and had you been given complete freedom of choice, you probably would have left him to die rather than debase yourself as such but you don't. You don't have a choice. Your lack of choice is what seems to define you these days.

A bitter prey to swallow.

She gently leads you by the hand back to her cottage, leaving you by the doorstep.

1/2

>>38921111
I think you're getting this quest mixed up with RE:Lamia Quest anon.

>>38921186

> Enter the cottage and check it out.

> Enter the cottage and check it out but also find something to eat.

> Enter the cottage and kill her.

> Just wait outside in the orchard.

> Other

>>38921205
Not really... the RE: Lamia quest OP is so terrible at archiving I actually can't put that one up in the 1d4chan list.

> Just wait outside in the orchard.
We have better things to do than look around annoying peasants homes, like looking for proper prey and the like... or people to worship us or such.

>>38921226
> Just wait outside in the orchard.
Try an apple

>>38921226
> Just wait outside in the orchard

>>38921226
but yeah, now in the distant future all of one or two people might click on that link while bored off there ass on a sick day... and you can feel proud about it now...

File: morethanmyfirstQuestgotto(...).jpg (50 KB, 1024x683)

50 KB JPG

>>38921111
whoooo

>>38921226
>> Just wait outside in the orchard.
Hissy is far too autistic to not catastrophically fuck something up inside the cottage.

>>38921254
So where is this list? I'm looking at the 1d4chan page for quests but I can't find it.

>>38921355
For you
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/List_of_Quest_Threads

>>38921376
>http://1d4chan.org/wiki/List_of_Quest_Threads
Cheers.

> Just wait outside in the orchard

You inspect the trees while you wait. You're feeling pretty hungry so you almost feel compelled to try one of the fruit. Humans eat this stuff, right?

But it's not even meat! How can you be expected to eat this? It smells disgusting. And yet you are hungry enough to try anyway.
You pluck one of them from the closest branch and take an awkward bite.

It tastes alright. Not awful, you suppose. You wouldn't want to have more than one.

By the time the woman leaves her cottage again, you have eaten three apples.

Wait, do you have to pay her for them too? You opt not to say anything and hope she didn't notice. You're already being staggeringly accommodating of her, a fact that you can only hope she appreciates.

She doesn't seem to notice the missing fruit. She is holding a bottle of blue liquid. It's a deep rich blue and you can see small sparks fizzling in and out in its depths. This isn't like your companion's charlatan brews, this is absolutely the real deal.
"They say it's called a dispel elixir. I bought it from the master alchemist over in the city to deal with a witch's curse. There's still plenty left over."

"That sounds like it costs a lot of money."
What exactly does this woman do to earn money anyway? She has a lot of special things.

"Oh, it did. But if your friend really is a master alchemist, he should be able to pay it back and more."

"Oh, absolutely."
It's a good thing you're turned away from her right now since you're pretty sure that he can brew no such thing.
Well, that'll be his problem once he wakes. Nothing to do with you.

You lead her down past the hills to where you left him, the alchemist concealed by the barest modicum of safety that you were compelled to provide.

She gasps when she sees him.
"That poor thing!"
She then lays hands on him, which you don't like. With one, two, three sips of the elixir, he begins to cough and splutter.
1/2

>>38921723
2/2

"That should be enough to get him up. And there's still some left for you!"
She holds the bottle up for you but you step away.

"Oh, no thanks. I'll live through my condition. You should save it."

"Oh come on now, I know you're still afflicted. Just one sip should be more than enough."

"I didn't do all of this for me. I did it for him."

She smiles.
"I understand. He must be really important to you."

Lady, you don't know the half of it.

And that's all for today! I said today's would be shorter and for good reason, I have stuff to do. That stuff also made me a little slow with the updates this time around, for which I apologize.

Hiss's stint as MC is also well and truly over now.

>>38921844
Thanks for running. Also Hiss is starting to get possessive, not sure if it's a good or bad sign.

>>38921844
Thanks mate! Have a good night!

>>38921864 This relationship will only end in pain and suffering... most likely ours...

>>38921844
Good thread. You still updated faster than most QMs. Any idea when you'll run a thread again?

>>38921864
She's like a tiny dragon without legs, wings, or the ability to breath fire.

>>38921892
Tomorrow at the usual time most likely. Twitter will update as per usual an hour before it starts.

>>38921924
So Is her ignoring us and Soul eating going to be a constant thing? Cause I daresay soul eating would be detectable, and her not listening to us will lead to trouble.

>>38921985
Her ignoring you, like the rest of the way she treats you, depends entirely on her feelings and perception of you, which is something only you can change.

>>38921844
Thanks for running Ouro, I must say I'm starting to warm up to our autistic snake.

>>38922167
just read the archives now, good stuff man