>>39015160

The fireplace spits and crackles, filling the room with a stifling heat and making you sweat buckets. It’s not even close to night-time either, you can see the sun still high in the sky through the fancy glazed windows. It was always warm but now it’s started to become absolutely uncomfortable.

Hiss, either ignorant or uncaring of your discomfort, feeds the fire more kindling. The two of you are sitting together on the floor of one of the finest bedrooms that the Mayor In-Standing of Melire had to offer. And it was no great loss for him because you know that if he got his way with his fraudulent treaties and contracts, he’d be making enough for like, several of these rooms? Maybe. Probably more. You’re awful at judging the monetary value of expensive things, the inevitable side-effect of being broke. You’d ask your companion just how much the Mayor might stand to gain but she’s even worse at it than you.

Neither of you have said anything for a while but just previously you’d been having what you might call a moment. Or at least you hope it was. You finally know her secret now and to be honest you’re feeling a little underwhelmed.
“Do you even have any idea where the constrictors went?”

“North. It said they went north.”
She looks suddenly unsure, clearly having assumed that she would figure out the details as she journied.

“There’s a lot of north in the world you know. You’d probably need a boat at some point.”

“A boat? Why?”

You stop for a few seconds to think about how best to explain this.
“This is probably just another of those arcane details you mostly ignore from your meals but Teleran is an island.”

“Teleran?”

“Uh yeah Teleran. The kingdom we are in. The kingdom we have always been in. I’ve been told it’s a pretty big island but still, girt by water on all sides. If you want to go north, you’ll have to cross the sea at some point.”

1/2

>>39015180
2/2

Your conversation is interrupted by a knock on the door. Hiss throws a piece of firewood at it before bringing out her most imperious tone.
“Yes?”

The voice is muffled and had clearly been expecting someone to at least open the door before forcing them to reply.
“Message from his lordship, the Mayor. He requests your presence at dinner with him in the dining hall in three hours.”

“Tell him that I shall be happy to attend.”
Hiss makes a very ugly face.
“He wants me to sign his contracts during that, no doubt. But like I told you, they won’t hold any authority.”

“It’s still something to worry about! We can’t let him know anything more than he already does.”

She’s ignoring you, looking suddenly pensive.
“But then again, the Mayor’s dinner table has a lot of food…”

Well if you’re not going to flee immediately, you’ll have to be back in time for dinner.


> It’s time to escape. Through the window!

> Use your newfound capacity of a servant to see if you can scout out the mansion a little.

> Explore Melire itself, you still have Master Yolan and a mysterious note about Shortwood Street that you’d like to attend to.

> Try to escape but do so as diplomatically as possible, framing it as the princess wishing to go into town on business.

> Nobble the Mayor.

> Stay and wait for dinner.

> Other

>>39015180
Fuyk yeah world building is always awesome

>>39015208
>Nobble the Mayor.

Not killing him, taking his memories about the snakes away

>>39015208
>> Explore Melire itself, you still have Master Yolan and a mysterious note about Shortwood Street that you’d like to attend to.

Alchemy boost!

>>39015208
> Other
Run an ""errand"" to master Yoric, our mistress has had nightmares and pain from her interrogation, its only fair we get the finest in medical care neurotoxin for her

>>39015319
Literally why? We have to escape, if we kill everyone we will be hunted until the end of time

Also daily reminder we didn't blow it last thread, lets make that 2 consecutive threads!

Also I feel marginally safer with us kidnapping her seeing she is in really poor standing back home, and they likely think it was her idea. In addition, snakes seem to really mostly be an animal that could form a civilization but don't because it serves them no point.

>>39015208
Tell hiss to nobble the Mayor's memories regarding snakes

>>39015422
>Also daily reminder we didn't blow it

yet...

>>39015411
Yoric is the master alchemist, the one that can make every poison imaginable and owes us anything and everything. We should burn a wish to get us both out of here as we aren't ever going to burn them on anything else.

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>39015454
Rolling for not failing horribly.

>>39015455
Yolan not Yoric. And poisoning them all isn't going to be feasible. Taste testers are a thing.

>>39015455
I was confused about the neurotoxin bit.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>39015481

>>39015481
Were completely fucked...

>>39015500
>>39015501
I was thinking we tried getting a time delayed hallucinogen or something to completely fuck everybody up. We can then shank everyone who knows anything

>>39015544
Good idea, I really hope the second dice roll is counted, otherwise this will be a Bad End

>>39015208
>> Explore Melire itself, you still have Master Yolan and a mysterious note about Shortwood Street that you’d like to attend to
See if Hiss can find the soul of courtesan or lady to eat, someone with social savvy needed to get the Mayor drunk and alone.

>>39015500
Hiss can hypnotize them with eye contact.

>Nobble the Mayor

"I think it's time we paid the Mayor a little unofficial visit. And by us, I mean mostly you."

Hiss smiles, apparently following your train of thought.
"Yes. Let's kill him."

You throw your hands up before she can throw the doors open. You nearly grab onto her sleeve to stop her but you fortunately manage to stop yourself at the last moment.
"Hold on. No. We can't kill him. This is your problem, Hiss. If you kill him, we'll have the whole city on us. You can't kill the whole city."

The expression the snake gives you indicates that she'd love dearly to try.
"Then what? I don't think the baby trick would work against this human."

"Can't you pull him into trance and eat his memories? Just a little part of his soul, enough to make him forget everything about your people."

She perks up, contemplating the idea.
"You've had a good idea for once. I like it."

The two of you leave her chambers, Hiss parting the guards in front of her with a lazy wave of her hand.
"I wish to speak to the Mayor. Make it so."

There's enough casual threat within her that for a moment, none of them dare speak up. Then a servant drags himself forward.
"I'm afraid that his lordship is currently in a m-meeting. It's important."

"Well so am I!"
Hiss bares her teeth but thankfully remembers to not extend any fangs.
"Manservant! Attend me."

You follow in her wake as she strides through the mansion while you think out the consequences. The Mayor is in some sort of meeting. So not only will he not be alone, he's likely to have at least one guard with him as well. Is this the best situation for it?

> Try to convince Hiss to try later

> Find the Mayor and just eavesdrop.

> Stick to the plan.

> Other

>>39015767
>> Try to convince Hiss to try later

>>39015767
> Try to convince Hiss to try later
Hit up Yolan for training and goods.

>>39015767
>brew a poison that will knock the out (just in case)

>then eavesdrop

>>39015767
> Try to convince Hiss to try later

>>39015830
>brew a poison that will knock them out

You still have the knock-out poison and the cloud brew from last thread, don't worry.

>>39015767
>> Try to convince Hiss to try later
Better take him at the end of the day, when he can sleep off the effects of getting his soul nommed away from prying eyes.

>>39015872
Wait... in theory, could hiss use a bunch of mirrors to trance everybody at once? Or to trance around corners?

>>39015830
we've already got one brewed

> Try to convince Hiss to try later

You look around for the other servants but her initial charge seems to have outpaced for them now. This gives you a brief few seconds.
"Oi, stop. Hold on. Again. Maybe we should rethink this."

"But you just gave me the idea!"

"Yeah but that was before I knew he had company! Unless you can draw a whole roomful of people into your gaze and uh can you do that? That'd be really convenient."

She shakes her head. She then raises her voice for the approaching guards.
"One is simply stretching their legs. Tell the Mayor that I will see him at dinner."

Well where do you go now?

> Into the city

> More of the mansion

> The overgrown gardens

> Back to your room

> Other

>>39016042
>> Into the city

>>39016042
>into the city (visit yolan)

>>39016042
> Into the city

>>39016042
> Into the city
I was thinking we could get a few nonlethal nasty things like potent hallucinogenics, smoke bombs, flash bombs, or something along those lines.

Note: Yolan would feel better about giving us that than lethal shit. We can also sweeten the pot by promising more hiss reagents (skins, saliva, maybe venom)

>>39016042
> Into the city
If Hiss is coming too then she ought to disguise herself

>>39016158
She can simply take on snake form

>>39016205
Or the forms of anyone she killed

>>39016137
I don't think we should let him know that we have any plans like that. Hallucinogens wouldn't even be useful and we can already make smoke bombs ourself

> Into the city!

You step in.
"Her Highness was simply requesting business from Melire itself. If the Mayor is busy, than I will handle it while the princess retires to her quarters."

Hiss looks at you but plays along, no doubt realizing that she probably can't go missing from the mansion without being noticed.
"Precisely. Oh dear manservant, please make sure to get the color and the fabric I like."
She pushes a small bag of signets into your hands. You're not entirely sure where she got that from. Off a corpse? Did the Mayor give it to her?

She smirks at you triumphantly as you depart, the message clear. She might have to stay in the mansion but now you're going to spend what is probably several hours shopping for fancy clothes just to keep the cover she thrust upon you.
Fantastic.

> Do your cover job first.

> Visit Master Yolan first.

> Find Shortwood Street first.

> Other

>>39016355
> Do your cover job first.

>>39016355
> Do your cover job first (and do it fast)

>>39016355
> Do your cover job first.

> Do your cover job first.

Well at least the Mayor's mansion isn't very far away from the uptown shopping districts. Yeah, they don't have marketplaces in the fancy part of town. Anyone worth selling anything has their own building in streets filled with nothing but merchant buildings.
It's all very strange.

You don't fit in around here at all and the guards patrolling the streets look like they're constantly on the verge of tossing you back into a poorer part of town.
But nevertheless, you've wound up in a small tailor's shop. He turns his nose up at your appearance but you show him the bag of money and his attitude changes immediately. Merchants are merchants everywhere, it seems.

"Of course, of course. Shopping for a lady. What colors does her ladyship desire?"

"Red and black."

"Very stylish. And the fabric?"
He pulls out what seems to be a never-ending selection of different rolls of black and red fabrics. Some of them seem outrageously expensive. You point at a few at random.
"Those ones."

"Very fine selection, I'm sure. Now, all I need is her ladyship's measurements."

"Pardon?"

The tailor frowns.
"This establishment is bespoke only, as it should be. And if your mistress finds it beneath her to come here herself, I assume she gave you the measurements I should use. A note, perhaps?"

...

> Make some bullshit numbers up.

> This is enough time for your cover. Throw money at him and run.

> "I apologize for the misunderstanding. My lady only desires the rolls of fabric themselves."

> Other

>>39016740
Give our very best estimates, recalling the time we saw her naked while bathing

>>39016740
Apologize for your Mistress forgot as the usual servant to run such things has fallen ill. Ask if we can get an estimate via eyeballing or wait.

>>39016740
>"I apologize for the misunderstanding. My lady only desires the rolls of fabric themselves."

>>39016785
Cennen doesn't know anything about how to measure clothes, no matter how good he is at eyeballing.

>>39016824
"uhhm, four?"

>>39016740
> "I apologize for the misunderstanding. My lady only desires the rolls of fabric themselves."

>>39016797
This. Never break character when there's a chance someones watching.

>"I apologize for the misunderstanding. My lady only desires the rolls of fabric themselves."

You do your best to explain this to the tailor, who rolls his eyes and mutters something about nobles you can't make out.
"Very well. Here."

He gives you several thick rolls of cloth and silk. He takes the vast majority of your pouch in exchange. It's the most money you've ever seen in your life and yet most of it is gone, just like that. Just on fabric.
No sir, the noble life is not for you, you decide.

You stumble out of the shop, stowing the fabric into your backpack as you do so. You then retrace the steps of the journey until you figure out the way back out of the fancy districts and back to the hospital. It's not an easy route to take.
The nurse there tells you that Master Yolan has retired for the day to his private apartments. Which are all the way back in the classy part of town. Great.

> Pay a house visit to the old man.

> Tell the nurses to tell him next time they see him that you'd like to speak with him.

> Check out Shortwood Street while you're down here first.

> Get hopelessly lost.

> Other

>>39017135
> Pay a house visit to the old man.

>>39017135
> Pay a house visit to the old man.

>>39017135
> Check out Shortwood Street while you're down here first.

What was in Shortwood street again?

Regardless, afterwards:

>visit him

>>39017181
Vampires. Vampires were on Shortland street. You really want to pay them a visit with no backup and none knowing where we're going?

>>39017270
They were? Forget about it then, I change my vote to

> Pay a house visit to the old man.

>>39017135
>> Pay a house visit to the old man.

>>39017270
Fuck. Maybe the Mayor is a vampire and our plan won't work. And that's the reason he is as awe-inspiring as described when we first met him.

>>39017385
I'd say that's a definite possibility, but there's not much risk if Hiss just tries to maintain eye contact with him to put him in a trance

> Pay a house visit to the old man.

After getting directions, you turn around and walk all the way back again. Master Yolan lives in the more shabby part of uptown in a large townhouse that apparently rents rooms out.

It takes a little bit of negotiation to get past the man at the door, ending in flipping him a whole signet just to let you in. One flight of stairs later and you're knocking on Master Yolan's door.

You have to knock a fair few times before he answers, a whiff of smoke escaping the door as he opens it. He's wearing a set of goggles with lenses of dark glass which he promptly pushes up over his forehead.
"Cennen? You've come just in time."

He ushers you into a fairly cramped set of rooms. They remind you a little bit of Master Ingrid's hut, a workshop that only occasionally remembered that it was a living space as well.

Something murky is bubbling away by the fireplace, surrounded by a hastily discarded set of distillation equipment.
"Do you see this? I've been experimenting with that skin you gave me. Absolutely marvelous!"

His previous misgivings seem to have evaporated or at least have been put off by his work.

> "What does it do?"

> "What if I told you that I could give you more reagents like that?"

> Ask for some good study books.

> "I need the dispel elixir." And also how to make one.

> Drink the brew.

> Other

>>39017181
It was an address you found to do with this guy:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/38937189/#p38941060

>>39017477
> "What does it do?"
> Ask for some good study books.
>Volunteer to drink the brew.

>>39017477
> "What does it do?"
> Ask for some good study books.
> "I need the dispel elixir." And also how to make one.

>>39017520
Interesting, we should check it out sometime else, but only together with Hiss

>>39017477
> "What does it do?"
> "What if I told you that I could give you more reagents like that?"
> Ask for some good study books.
> "I need the dispel elixir." And also how to make one.

guys, shadowrun plot time go! Lets think of potion related assassination and/or bedlam plots. Something to create chaos. I think we can try making a gay bomb. Like the kind where everyone wakes up the next day with no memory of the past 24 hours and is naked. We could use the chaos to our advantage.

>>39017607
no

>>39017607
no. The best thing would be some variety of knockout gas, and gas masks for us and hiss. failing that, some variety of dart gun we can use to deliver our potions

> "What does it do?"
> Ask for some good study books
> "I need the dispel elixir." And also how to make one.

"What does it do exactly?"

He shuts the door, checking up and down the hallway first.
"I have to be honest, I didn't believe your entire story at first. But if what you say about snakes is true, then this makes a lot more sense."

"Yes?"

"It's a shapeshifting brew," he whispers, his eyes alight. "Nobody has made this since Tolemy himself and I always thought that even that had just been a legend! It's not just a disguise, it actually transforms your physical principles into another being! Don't you see the implications!"

You step back.
"Maybe?"

Yolan starts to pace around the room, his excitement beginning to dim.
"And yet I have to wonder if I was right to brew this. Just think, Cennen, think of all the evils that Man could do with this brew. Perhaps it would be for the best if I just pour it all out now and pretend I had never learned of it. But no...I cannot be asked to stand in the way of learning! Once again, you have given me an unwanted dilemma. You seem to have a knack for that, lad."

You eye the snake-brew as it hisses away within the fire.
"Could I have some? Just a small bottle or so."

"Very well. Do as you will. Just remember to use it wisely."

You scoop up a small amount in a bottle and put it in your pack. Just enough for three uses, you reckon. If you sip carefully. Would it make you shed your old skin? You shiver a little at the thought.
"And while we're on the topic, I'm here for the second part of our agreement."

Master Yolan pulls a tiny bottle of blue liquid out of his pocket. You can see sparks dancing within it, a feat of alchemy beyond your own.
"Here it is. A dispel elixir, just enough for two sips."
He picks up a beaten old tome from his desk with the title 'Alchemy and Anti-Magick'.
"And here is the definitive work on the subject. I think it'll be a long while before you grasp it but consider it yours as payment."

1/2

>>39017477
>> "What does it do?"

> Ask for some good study books.

> "I need the dispel elixir." And also how to make one.

>>39017962
Why not ask him how to make the shapeshifting brew? We have an unlimited skin supply!

I just realized, we could use the dispel potion to guilt the sister into helping us.

>>39018050
Iana is the Mayor's niece.

>>39018050
or we could keep the valuable, rare potion, and the bitch can go screw a rake after the shit she pulled on us, what with the near death experiences, the truth torture, several deaths, etc. i think we're even and then some, compared to a violin and a potion

>>39018102
This. Plus she can always get more anyways since she's the mayor's niece

>>39017962
2/2

He wrings his hands for a moment and then gives you three more books. These are in much better condition since it looks like Master Yolan himself has never even touched them. Glancing over the spines, they appear to be 'Journeyman Brews, Volumes I to III'.
"Take these too! I don't know all about what's going on with you and this snake of yours but I know you're walking the fine line and you'll need everything you can get. I didn't save your life just to see it be thrown away."

You don't know what quite to say.
"Thanks for everything, Master. I'll remember this."

"Just make sure you have a head to remember things with first."

"Oh, can I get the recipe for the shapeshifting brew? Snake skins are not a problem for me to acquire."

Master Yolan looks doubtful.
"It took me a good effort just to formulate this. Cennen, I don't mean to disrespect your skills but if I can't do it then..."

Then someone like you might not only fail at making it, you could fail in a very dangerous way.

> Ask for it anyway.

> Promise that you'll be back one day to claim it.

>>39018141
> Ask for it anyway.
we won't use it until our skills have improved dramatically

>>39018141
> Ask for it anyway.
Having it, Not brewing it, I know I won't be at your level for a Loooooooong time. However I do not know when or if I will be back.

>>39018141
> Ask for it anyway and promise him we will raise our skill

>>39018141
> Promise that you'll be back one day to claim it.

>>39018141
>> Ask for it anyway.
maybe not the actual recipe, but a couple of hints that should let us brew it when we arent a complete novice

> Ask for it anyway.

"I know. I won't brew it. But I don't know when or if I'll be back here. And you know we can't resist a good recipe."

He gives a short chuckle.
"Alchemist to the end! As it should be, I guess."
He pulls a blank scroll down from an extremely messy shelf and starts scribbling a detailed process upon it before passing it to you.
"Just remember, this could be foul in the wrong hands. Keep it safe and go with my blessing."

You shake his hand.
"Don't worry about it. I'll be back some day. Maybe."

You've wasted so much time wandering back and forth that the sun is beginning to dip. You're sure that the Mayor's dinner is soon but you think you have time for one more course of action first.

> Check out the Potions College

> Check out Shortwood Street.

> Just wander and explore the city.

> Go back to the mansion nice and early.

> Sell those rolls of fabric somewhere for a lot of money.

> Other

>>39018419
Sell just one of the pieces of fabric, keeping our cover story intact

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>39018419
> Check out Shortwood Street.

I'm feeling suicidal today.

>>39018419
>> Check out Shortwood Street.
Just pass by look at it from a distance like a tourist with some time on his hands.

>>39018455
This

>>39018490
Mein neger.

>>39018419
>> Sell those rolls of fabric somewhere for a lot of money.
sell maybe half of them. then return, muttering about incapable shopkeepers and shitty city

Rolled 5 (1d6)

Seems to be a tie between Shortwood Street and selling the fabric. Evens for the street and odds for the fabric.

>>39018419
> Sell those rolls of fabric somewhere for a lot of money

>>39018555
i think this is the first time a roll has ever actually gone my way

> Sell those rolls of fabric somewhere for a lot of money.

You palm off some of the fabric to a merchant in the shabbier side of uptown. Not all of it of course, just about half. But that's still enough to make thirty signets!
Hot diggity. What are you even going to do with all this money? You know you should be returning to the mansion now but the lure of the coins is strong. And they're not something you've borrowed, they're all yours!

Surely Hiss can hold her own at dinner for a while without right? You're not sure if you can resist.

> Yours is the virtuous path. Return to the mansion immediately.

> Think of all the ingredients and study books you could buy from the Potions College!

> What about drinking in one of the finest establishments in Melire. That'd be an experience for sure.

> Throw money at the poor.

> Bribe someone to help you investigate Shortwood Street.

> Other

>>39018716
> Yours is the virtuous path. Return to the mansion immediately.

On that note something's come up and I'm going to be absent for probably thirty minutes or so.

>>39018716
>Hiss
>Hold her own
Harharhar
>> Yours is the virtuous path. Return to the mansion immediately.

>>39018716
> Bribe someone to help you investigate Shortwood Street.

We want sucidal adventure! And when do we want it? NOW!

>>39018716
>> Yours is the virtuous path. Return to the mansion immediately.

>>39018716
> Yours is the virtuous path. Return to the mansion immediately.

>>39018757
Please stop. Acknowledging that it's suicidal but still voting for it is idiotic

>>39018716
> Yours is the virtuous path. Return to the mansion immediately.

>>39018786
I just really want to know what this is about. We may never get to know if we flee the town now.

> Yours is the virtuous path. Return to the mansion immediately.

You steel your heart against the cruel temptations of money and make your way back to the mansion as the day begins to dim. The gatekeepers recognize you this time and escort you through the gardens to the main door this time.
"You are wanted at the dining hall," one of them informs you curtly.

The hall is as you remember from just a few hours ago, the table full of food yet with only two occupants, Hiss and the Mayor himself. You bow to both of them as you enter, keeping up the servant role. Hiss doesn't smirk this time.

The Mayor's scribe is at his elbow once more, editing and finalizing documents.
"Don't worry your Highness, these are nearly ready for you to sign."

Hiss nods, picking apart her meal without much hunger.
"Have my arrangements been made, manservant?"

You nod without speaking as you survey the room. Aside from you, Hiss and the Mayor, there is only two servants handling the food and the single scribe. This could be the moment you need.
You can almost feel Hiss quivering with anticipation. She's used up most of her reserve just waiting for you.

> Whisper to her to begin.

> Pray for her to begin.

> No, not yet. Just a little bit longer.

> Make the first move yourself.

> Other

>>39019711
>Other

Talk with the servants for a moment about a specific meal request for hiss, make up a bunch of bullshit issues with yesterdays meal and ask for an overly specific, overly lavish overly complicated meat foodstuff for her, to buy her as much time as possible.

>>39019800
This, accompanied by praying for hiss to begin after the servants leave. Might work better if we pray for hiss to tell the servants herself

>>39019800
>>39019711
>>39019827
this

>>39019827
Yes
>pray to Hiss and tell her link related

Fuck yeah one of my plots is popular! Finally my 5 seconds of fame have arrived! Also detonate the gay bomb!

>>39019800
>>39019827

You leave Hiss' side for a moment, pulling one of your 'fellow' servants aside.
"I hope you weren't planning on serving the same trash you gave my princess for lunch."

The portly man draws to a halt, affronted.
"I beg your pardon? Do y-"

"Do you want her Highness to do something as plebeian as complain? And how do you think your lord would like that?"

He pales at the mention of the Mayor and draws you into a small servant's corridor leading just off from the dining hall.
"O-of course, sir. What does the princess desire?"

You stop for a moment. What do you request? Needs to be something complex enough to clear them all out. But you don't really know anything about noble food!
"Chicken eggs you fool. Fertilized chicken eggs with nearly grown hatchlings still inside. What's left of the white goes into a broth."

He gapes at you.
"But we don't have any-"

"Then go get some!," you hiss and then watch in satisfaction as the servants bugger off, leaving the Mayor so much more alone. He doesn't even have any guards. Is he really that confident?
You send a quick prayer as you head back to the dining hall. Everything is ready, it is time to strike.

And then you drop to your knees in shock at a sudden pressure inside your head.
-Time to strike? Is it really?-
The words come of their own volition, a brush of something uncaring and ancient. You slowly rise to your feet in confusion. What was that? Can Hiss actually answer prayers as well as hearing them? But that didn't sound anything like her either of her voices.

You hear a sudden crash from the hall and you charge back in, slamming the door open and then immediately stop.
Hiss is crouched on the middle of the table, the dishes behind her kicked away as if she had suddenly burst forward and ran down the long table itself towards the Mayor. But something has stopped her cold, Hiss falling back with her fangs out.

1/2

>>39020145
ITS A TARP!

>>39020145
He's a vampire. We should have explored the street like I said. We're fucked.

>>39020216
What happens if you hit a vampire with a dispel potion?

Also we can use that skinchanging potion to fuck with the guards if they arrive. As can hiss

>>39020266
>What happens if you hit a vampire with a dispel potion?

Only one way to find out.

>>39020266
Hitting him with the dispel potion seems to be our best course of action.

>>39020145
>>39020145

You feel it before you see it.

There is something by the table in front of her, an invisible presence which fills with a cold numbness.
And then the firelight seems to twist, wrapping around something that is suddenly there. It didn't appear out of nowhere either, it was as if your perception suddenly recognized that the thing hunched over the table was not simply empty air and darkness.

It's big, tall as almost three men and large enough that it wasn't on the table at all but standing over it with its legs positioned on each side. And what legs they are! There are five of them, lithe columns of skinned muscle tapering down into stilts of bone. The thing attached to them is like sculpture of frozen flesh in various states of flensing, a great manta ray of sinew with a single too-human arm extending from its hood. Clutched within the arm is a single eye, constantly twitching backwards and forth to regard you and Hiss.
And above it, nearly hidden by its bulk is a glowing semicircle of pure radiance.

The Mayor is still sitting behind it, his chair pushed back as far away from the apparition as possible.
"Did you think I was unprepared to bargain with a demon?"

> Figure out what that thing is.

> No time! Attack the mayor with one of your brews!

> Get Hiss away from that thing!

> Quickly inspect the room for anything you might be missing

> Genuflect.

> Other

>>39020359
I think its time to burn a wish?

>>39020359
>> Quickly inspect the room for anything you might be missing
> Genuflect.
> Figure out what that thing is.

>>39020359
Shit. Try to hit the glowing semicircle with a dispel potion then

>>39020443
Genius. Let's do this and pray it to Hiss

>>39020359
> Get Hiss Away
>throw dispel potion

>>39020443
...huh... you might just have a solution. That semi circle is certainly magic.

>>39020508
In case >>39020515 didn't make it clear, I'm seconding that.

> Throw Dispel Potion

The thing doesn't react when you pull out the tiny bottle and wind up your arm. You are struck with a freezing certainty that it doesn't need to pay you any heed. That it is wrapped up in a mantle of invincibility proof against all the ills of the physical world. You don't know how you know, you just do. It's as if this thing is a facet of the world itself, it's as obvious as knowing which way is down and that the sky is blue.
It is wrapped in power and cannot be harmed by the likes of you.

Too bad for it you have a dispel potion then.

Roll d100 for Throw.

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>39020574

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>39020574

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>39020574

Rolled 95 (1d100)

>>39020574
LET JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL

>>39020574
Wryyyyyyyyyyyy

hopefully the dc was roughly 85ish (and actually possible)

>>39020653
Do you see those rolls? Everything's coming up Milhouse now.

>>39020574

By all that is good, your arm and aim have never worked so harmoniously together! You feel a brief moment of physical enlightenment, the kind that a man only experiences once in his life as you toss the potion with unerring accuracy.

As the potion soars through the air, you spare a moment to think about the promise to Iana that you'll probably never be able to keep now.
Oh well, you're pretty sure at this point that she was the one who told the Mayor about Hiss in the first place so you're feeling less than obliged.

The bottle strikes the glowing insignia above the creature as if it was solid, shattering in a spray of anti-magic. The brew itself is minute, just a few spoonfuls but the effect it has is cataclysmic.
Not only do you feel the creature's mantle fall to pieces, the entire thing shivers on the spot and shatters into nothingness, as if it had been but a reflection upon the mirror of the world.
A pressure rips into your mind, into your soul and you are driven to your hands and knees but it vanishes as soon as it came.

The room is entirely quiet. The Mayor is silently hyperventilating while Hiss has frozen on the table, looking at you in a way that you're absolutely certain she never has before.
Is that awe or fear?

> "...What?"

> Attack the Mayor yourself.

> Pray to Hiss now that thing is no longer obstructing you.

> Sit down and start eating.

> Other

>>39020778
> Sit down and start eating.

>>39020778
> Attack the Mayor yourself.
Knock him in the head with your staff which is now conveniently in your hands

>>39020795
one little addition

>start laughing

>>39020778
>> "...What?"

Holy shit that worked!?

Holy shit you didn't have a plan B?

Holy shit I need to get yet another dispel potion for your sister!

>>39020823
Dude. She's his niece. And I no longer feel any obligation to get her another potion

>>39020653
All of those rolls in the 80s and the 70s ensured that you hit the thing but it was the 95 that let you strike the halo directly. Otherwise you would only have dispelled its Mantle against harm rather than just one-shotting it entirely.

But fear not, you get an entirely new addition to your character sheet now! Note: It will not actually be added to the pastebin until the next thread.

Spiritbane: You are a mortal human who has slain a spirit, an unfallen servitor of the Creator from the Dreaming. The mark of this deed has been bored into your soul. Your soul is now immune to being eaten or meddled with and in addition, all pure spirits are hostile to you.

>>39020778
> "...What?"
> Sit down and start eating.
Chuckle, that was easier than I thought it'd be.

> Pray to Hiss now that thing is no longer obstructing you.

>>39020858
Badass.

>>39020858
>Your soul is now immune to being eaten or meddled with

WOOT!

In addition, all pure spirits are hostile to you.

Fuck...

Does this mean jesus is hostile to us now?

>>39020881
Yes. And that's the way we like it. tipsfedora.jpg

>>39020858
Nice. I suppose we'd better learn how to make dispel potions quickly

>>39020858
well nice I guess. SO on a scale of 1-100 How shocked are hiss and the mayor?

Rolled 38 (1d100)

>>39021086

>>39020881
Jesus hates you so much now, you don't even know.

> "...What?"
> Sit down and start eating.

You look at both of them and to the scribe who is cowering in the corner of the hall.
"What?"
You don't even know what that thing was. Some sort of illusion?

You drag up a chair to the table and start eating. Hiss is the first to move, turning towards you slowly. She's still crouching on the table, right next to where you are eating.
"Cennen. What did you just do?"

"Threw a dispel potion. It was a pretty good throw."

"You idiot! Don't you know who that was? That was a spirit! A genuine one!"

You stop eating.
"What, like the ones you people used to be? I thought they weren't in the world directly anymore!"

She slides off the table and advances on you, causing you to freeze.
"Well this one was obviously lesser than my ancestors but yes! You've struck a great blasphemy against the Creator himself!"

"I'm sorry?"

You try and say more but before you can Hiss has pulled you out of the chair and into her embrace, hugging you hard enough to draw your feet off the ground before swinging you around.
"It was amazing! Fuck spirits! The Creator can go choke on it!"

You go limp, letting her manhandle you. You are significantly more terrified of this unexpected development than you ever were of the spirit. She's very warm. And soft.

She still hasn't let go of you when the Mayor stands up, wheezing.
"I don't understand. Boy! Do you understand how much I had to cozen up to church just for this moment? I had to spend hours talking to their dried up stick of a priestess JUST FOR THIS!?"
He grabs a candlestick up from the table, holding it like a club.
"Guuuuaaaardds!"

You can hear footsteps coming.

> Let Hiss do what she will with the Mayor first. Worth the risk.

> Time for both of you to flee!

> Quickly! Through the window!

> Get way too hopped up on your victory and charge the guards.

> Use a wish/brew (Specify)

> Other

>>39021162
>> Let Hiss do what she will with the Mayor first.

>>THROUGH THE WINDOW TO FREEDOM!

>>39021204
She would kill him, not worth the risk.

>>39021162
> Let Hiss do what she will with the Mayor first. Worth the risk.
Be ready to chuck a smoke cloud potion at the guards as they enter

>>39021162
This is why the Mayor was in that meeting earlier btw, trying to get a genuine spirit in case the fallen spirit he was trying to con attacked him.
If you'd eavesdropped earlier when you had the chance you would have known about it but then you probably wouldn't have been ignorant enough to just try chucking a dispel potion at it like a lunatic.

>>39021162
> Let Hiss do what she will with the Mayor first. Worth the risk.
>bar the door
then
> Quickly! Through the window!
both of us.

>>39021216
See >>39021210

> Use a wishQuickly wipe the mayors memory. And I mean very quickly.

>>39021255
Oi m8 don't try to override my vote

>>39021216
This is assuming that we won't be within the area of effect

>>39021273
I'm just concerned we will be hunted by everyone for the rest of the quest

>>39021162
>> Let Hiss do what she will with the Mayor first. Worth the risk.

>>39021293
I'm saying that you linked my vote and then posted your own

Can we at least jam the door?

>>39021329
Ah sorry, didn't realize that it makes it seem like I'm overriding your vote

> Let Hiss do what she will with the Mayor first. Worth the risk.
> Finally succumb to the call of the window

You throw the bar across the door as Hiss kicks chairs aside in her sudden haste to get to the Mayor. She'll probably kill him but you're pretty sure that everything has gone to hell anyway.

You ready your smoke brew as the guards start battering at the door, the frame rattling with each strike. Behind you Hiss dodges the Mayor's clumsy swing, knocks the candle-stick from his hand and then forces him to the ground, straddling on top of him.

Your attention however, is soon consumed by the shaking door as you get ready to retreat to the window behind you. Seconds drag by slowly and agonizingly before the door cracks in half and you throw the smoke brew immediately. In an enclosed space.

The majority of the smog clouds up around the guards and drops many of them to their knees in sudden coughing fits but there is more enough backwash to cloud your vision and make your eyes water. You stumble back and trip over a fallen chair, cracking your head against the floor.

You're suddenly feeling really dizzy and light-headed. Someone reaches down and grabs you and you protest but you can't resist as they throw the chair you tripped over through a window before dragging you up and out of it.

Out here the air is clean and your head begins to clear. Hiss is currently carrying you in her arms, one hand behind your back and the other under your legs. It actually hurts your back quite a bit.

The two of you are also very high up, standing on the roof of the mansion itself. There's only a few foot between you and a sudden multi-story drop.
You can hear shouting from below.

> "Okay, you can put me down now."

> "What did you do to the Mayor?"

> Try and jump off the roof.

> Go see if there is a way to get down.

> Find another window to get back through.

> Use a wish/brew (Specify)

> Other

I have a few observations
1. We are on an adventure with Basically Satan's daughter.
2. Alchemy is awesome if we can level it.
3. Our inability to have our soul or mind mucked with might help us figure out our staff

>>39021580
> "Okay, you can put me down now."

> "What did you do to the Mayor?"
> Go see if there is a way to get down.

>>39021616
> "Okay, you can put me down now."
> "What did you do to the Mayor?"
> Go see if there is a way to get down.

>>39021580
> Go see if there is a way to get down.
"By any chance are you able to skin change into a dragon?"

>>39021580
> Go see if there is a way to get down.
If there isn't one
> Find another window to get back through.

> "Okay, you can put me down now."
> "What did you do to the Mayor?"
> Go see if there is a way to get down

You've had more direct contact with Hiss in the last few minutes than you ever wanted and it's starting to make your skin crawl. A traitorous voice speaks up in the back of your head, clamoring for more but you ignore it.

"O-okay. You can put me down now."

She drops you, letting you smack against the shingles at her feet with a sudden burst of pain.
"Argh!"

"Whoops."

You roll over and nearly slide off the roof entirely, Hiss jamming a foot in front of you to stop you. You get up.
"Awwrr...What did you do to the Mayor? I don't see any blood on you."

"What did you think I did? We had a plan. Fear is a key and trust me, at the end there he was verrrrrry afraid."
She draws it out, grinning like a glutton.
"I didn't have time to do anything as specific as planned of course. So I had to be a bit rough with what I took from him."

An uneasy feeling creeps up into your chest.
"Like, how much?"

"His name. His family. His profession. How to use certain organs. Whole years of life shredded."
She looks absolutely blissful.
"The finest work I've ever done. I suppose he can relearn it all but first he'll have to stop drooling and shitting himself"

You suddenly feel incredibly uncomfortable. You've let yourself be dragged into her trance multiple times. How close had you been to a fate like that?
She notices your reaction and laughs, still high off the thrill of utterly destroying a man's life.

You search the roof for any pipes or ladders and suchlike, anything you can use to get down. You don't find either of those but you do find a balcony that you can jump down to that should then let you make an easy jump to the ground.

You slide down the roof and land on the balcony, Hiss falling beside you. But there are guards all over the place now! One of them spots the two of you as you touch down on that perfectly manicured circle of lawn around the mansion.
1/2

>>39021982
2/2

> Make a mad dash for the main gate!

> Run back inside the mansion now that they're all out here.

> Run into the wild old gardens

> Try to take a hostage.

> Use a wish/potion (Specify)

> Other

>>39021982
>> Use a wish/potion (I wish we were out of this city!)

Unless we want to risk a roll on a mad dash...

>>39022015
> Run into the wild old gardens

>>39022015
Where are the gardens in relation to the mansion/exits?

>>39022015
>> Run into the wild old gardens

>>39022015
>Run into the wild old gardens

>>39022054

They are between the mansion and the main gate

>>39022031
>I wish we were out of this city!

Do wishes work like that?

>>39022015
> Run into the wild old gardens

>>39022073
Probably.

>>39022073
Not really. They're more like geassess that draw out hiss's power for as much as she need to do them. If it's within her theoretical power to do it or to try she will. But she isn't a genie.

>>39022108
Yeah using up a wish would be retarded then.

>>39022015
>>39022015
Think about how useful old barts powers would be right now. The staff should materialize in our hands. Threaten them with some magical fuckery if they don't get to steppin and let us leave t he city.

>>39022015
> Run into the wild old gardens

I think I like hiss.

>>39022155
I'd definitely like to give it another try at least. We could control the water within the plants of the garden to wrap up some guards in vines or something

>>39022180
seconded

>Run into the wild old gardens

The two of you don't even slow down as you land, running for the gardens just ahead of you. That twisted gnarled mess of vegetation that was once ordered rows of trees, hedges and flower bushes that have not been tended ever since the Duke left Melire.

You break through the undergrowth and cry out as thorns pierce and shred your exposed skin. And then your past the first hedge and there are no more thorns. Hiss emerges next to you, untouched by their cruel grasp.

The sunlight barely touches the ground here, a maze of old hedges and towering trees threatening to swallow you up. You balk at the sight for a moment. How could you ever dream to make your way through this...this wilderness?

Hiss grabs your sleeve and pulls you forward, snapping you out of it.
"This place feels like the old forest," she says, no doubt referring to the one that housed both your village and Snakehome itself.

And now that you mention it, she's right. There's the same sort of ephemeral feel to it. You don't know how to describe it.

The sounds of everything outside sink away to nothingness as you trek further and further into the depths. You can feel something calling for you, some intangible light in your head drawing you inwards towards the center.
You walk as best you can despite your recent injuries, using the water wizard's staff as a walking stick.

"Idiot!"
Hiss is looking at you strangely.
"Where are you going? We need to keep moving in a straight line if we want to reach the fence!"

You shake your head.
"There's something...inward. We have to go inward."

She shakes her head and grabs your sleeve again, as if afraid you would abruptly recede into the darkness.
"That's not a place where I can follow, Cennen."

> Keep going straight.

> Inwards.

> Other

>>39022317
> Inwards.

>>39022317
>Sketchy meter intensifying.

>Were already on shit terms with god, I feel a holy artifact would fuck us over, granted were going straight to hell when this is all over.

>>39022317
>> Other
Why not? Also can you keep moving while I check it out? If it's magic I can use it might help save our ass.

>>39022317
>ephemeral

The word doesn't really fit.

>>39022317
>> Keep going straight.
We just gassed a holy spirit, I'm pretty sure a holy artifact wont help us now.

>>39022317
> Inwards.
Follow me as far as you can, turn into a snake and hide nearby. I'll be right back

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>39022371
Yeah you're right. I meant more of an unearthly feel but I accidentally a word.

Also it looks the vote is spot between going inwards and going straight through. Evens for the former, odds for the latter

>>39022159
Of course.. hiss is best girl

>>39022490
Was it a tie? I'm a bit confused about the votes

>>39022530
It wasn't.

>>39022359
is pro inwards

>>39022555
Oh so it is. My bad. Let me just rewrite.

>I guess I'm just discarding all of these spirit-battle notes I had ready
haha sorry Ouro

>>39022633
im not complaining in the slightest, and i doubt cennen is either. Maybe hiss might, if she has some weird CONSUME SPIRIT function, but thats about it

> Inwards

You turn away from Hiss, the snake vanishing into the forest as your perspective changes. Your legs are tired, as if you've been walking for hours and hours. Of course. Going inwards was never anything so simple as a physical direction.

You are alone in a clearing, the only clearing in this entire mess. The staff drags you forward, no longer acting gently. You know without knowing that you are in the center.

And to mark that is something you can only describe as a totem, a great sharpened log taller than you that has been stabbed deep into to the earth. Too deep. At the top of the totem is a pair of stag antlers that have been crudely tied to it. This is it. This is the locus of this entire place, where the power swirls inwards and sinks deep into the land itself.

The staff wants it. The staff needs it. This isn't holy, it isn't the natural magic of spirits. This is something much older, the mysteries of the land itself. You know for certain that this was the work of the Duke in earlier years, a great monument erected and abandoned when he sought more fertile ground. But the power is still there for the taking.

It shouldn't be any form of magic that you can grasp but the staff is wizard magic, that devouring art that can align itself with any form of magic it desires. And it is guided by a wizard will that is not your own.

Your hands raise the staff as you approach. You know what you must do. Strike the totem down and place the staff in its place. Let it sup the power so that the soul hidden within it can thrive once more.

Wait. Soul? What soul?

> Do what the staff wants.

> Resist (Will need rolls)

> There is no Other

>>39022633
Don't sweat it, the way it turned out was hilarious.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>39022699
>> Resist (Will need rolls)

>>39022699
I don't understand the "Other" vote

>>39022740
There are only two options. Also we have this if noone else rolls something bad.

>>39022740
There is no Other vote. That's what it's saying. No write-in's possible.

>>39022733
Dubs of the holy three and 98/100, the gods are on our side.

>>39022699
> Resist (Will need rolls)
FUCKING WIZARDS! NO SENSE OF RIGHT OR WRONG!

Rolled 80 (1d100)

>>39022699
> Resist (Will need rolls)

Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>39022790
forgot to roll, damn it dice gods.

>>39022699
>> Resist (Will need rolls)

>>39022699
Damn. I was not expecting this. At least now we know what's up with the staff

>>39022733

With a sudden scream you hurl the staff away from you. It vanishes into the darkness, the rage of Old Bart still thundering inside your head.

And there's no mistaking it, Old Bart was who it had been this entire time. It all starts to come back to you now, how Hiss had told you that she had never eaten the wizard's soul, that something strange had been there instead.
It had been a replacement, some form of substitute that had kept the wizard going while his true staff had been in his staff the entire time. Just waiting for a source of power that was both possible to tame and yet sufficient enough for him to suckle on, to feed his resurrection.

And now it's gone. Hopefully it'll just lie within the gardens and rot to nothing. It probably won't.

The totem no longer has the same call and you can no longer feel the great spiral of power upon which it rests. It's become completely opaque to you, just as it always would have before you had laid hands on the staff.
You give it a rude gesture. It does not deign to respond.

You step out of the clearing and cease being Inwards, re-assimilating with the rest of the gardens. Hiss grabs you.
"You idiot! You moron! You goddamn waste of skin! What was that?"

She drags you across the straight path and towards the light as the gardens begin to recede behind you. Her teeth are gritted and she's covered with sweat from today's exertion but she doesn't let go.
"Do you have any idea," she spits at you. "Any idea how it feels to have a wish-bond compelling you to go save someone in a place you can't even reach? You're going to tear my soul in half at this rate."

You've reached a spot where the gardens border the outer fence of the mansion. You seem to have lost the guards. Given what the Duke's garden is like, you don't really blame them.
Would they ever just burn the damned thing? Probably not. The Duke isn't actually dead after all, just absent for a very long time. His orders are still binding.

1/2

>>39022733
Damn, I suppose the dice gods are throwing us a bone after our best roll out of 3 was an 8 a few threads back

>>39022954
2/2

Hiss tries to throw you over the fence but only succeeds at throwing you into the bars. It hurts a little but mostly just injures your pride. You get to your feet.
"I'm fine. I can climb it myself."

One fence later, you and Hiss are standing in one of the better-kept streets of uptown Melire. What few people who are still out tonight are staring at you.
And why wouldn't they be? You've covered in dirt and smoke stains, with a dozen little cuts and pin-pricks in your clothes and flesh alike. Even Hiss can't muster up a shred of elegance.

They're probably going to call the guards soon and then it'll all start again.

> Leave the city as quickly as possible.

> Hold on. Leave the city by way of Shortwood Street first. This is going to bug you forever, even if it's entirely inconsequential.

> Other

>>39023050
> Hold on. Leave the city by way of Shortwood Street first. This is going to bug you forever, even if it's entirely inconsequential.

>apologize to hiss for going inwards

>>39023050
> Hold on. Leave the city by way of Shortwood Street first. This is going to bug you forever, even if it's entirely inconsequential.
I can't resist.

>>39023050
>> Leave the city as quickly as possible.
apologize for the mad undead wizard kidnapping me, coz, y'know, we can totes do something about that

>>39023103
It was a conscious decision on Cennens part though

>>39023050
> Hold on. Leave the city by way of Shortwood Street first. This is going to bug you forever, even if it's entirely inconsequential.
Tell her about old barts staff as we walk

>>39023050
>> Hold on. Leave the city by way of Shortwood Street first. This is going to bug you forever, even if it's entirely inconsequential.

>>39023050
>> Leave the city as quickly as possible.
Running faster seems like a good plan.

>>39023118
does she know that? nup. its a guilt trip, on the offchance she's growing a soul

>>39023197
I don't want to lie to her.

> Hold on. Leave the city by way of Shortwood Street first. This is going to bug you forever, even if it's entirely inconsequential.

The two of you hurry into a less affluent district where nobody will really care about two random jerks who've been through a fight.
"I'm sorry for that, Hiss. It's just that, I've figured it out! The thing with the wizard's soul."

She tilts her head but doesn't reply.

"It was the staff. It was in the staff all along. It had just been waiting for something for it could eat. Sorry."

She looks faintly stricken.
"But I was the one who gave you that staff!"

"Oh, don't worry. He- He pulled one over on all of us. If you'd just let that staff be then some other poor sod would have picked it up.

"I should have just snapped it in half," she grumbles.
"Look, if it makes you feel better, Cennen. I didn't know it would try to corrupt you."

"Would it have made a difference if you did?"

She purses her lips in thought.
"Back then? Probably not."
She shrugs.

The moon is out by the time you arrive at 24 Shortwood Street. The building looks astoundingly normal. It actually offends you a little, that it's so absolutely not peculiar in any way.
Just another house in a whole row of them.

> Knock on the door.

> See if you can check out the back.

> Through the window!

> Retreat.

> Other

>>39023267
> Knock on the door.

>>39023267
I can't remember, does Hiss have any memories of this place from eating that muggers soul?

>>39023304
His soul was too full of holes to get anything too coherent out of it. And just a grimy failure of a thing in general, she outright said that she didn't want to digest any of his mannerisms.

>>39023267
> Knock on the door.

>>39023267
>> See if you can check out the back.
no use showing up and not making anything out of it, grumble grumble

> Knock on the door

You only need to knock once before it opens. Standing in the doorway is a man of medium build and gray hair. His face is lined and you can't help but notice that he's missing a leg. He limps forward, leaning on a cane.
He doesn't seem too afraid of two complete strangers turning up outside his house.
"Yes? Can I help you?"

> Kick his cane out from underneath him and nobble him.

> "We're here about a man". Show him the paper.

> Demand to know what this place is about.

> Invite yourself in.

> Let Hiss eat his soul.

> Other

>>39023429
> "We're here about a man". Show him the paper.

>>39023429
>> "We're here about a man". Show him the paper.

>>39023429
> "We're here about a man". Show him the paper.
> Demand to know what this place is about.

>>39023429
>> "We're here about a man". Show him the paper.


Off-topic, but was the mayor a vampire, or did he just have a spirit or what just happened? im too drunk and tired for this shit

>>39023538
He was just a normal dude who summoned a spirit which we managed to one-shot with a dispel potion

> "We're here about a man". Show him the paper.

"We're here about a man," you say as you reach into your backpack for the slip of paper with the directions to this place on it.

"His name was Rell," Hiss chimes in, surprising you.

The man nods to himself and sighs.
"What's he got himself into now?"

"...Nothing. We just met him and he dropped this. We couldn't find him to bring it back."

"He dropped it?"
Anger flashes over his face for a moment. But only a moment.
"Bah. You won't find him here. He never comes here, that's the whole problem here in the first place."

"And just what is going on here, exactly?"

He sighs and moves aside.
"You might as well come inside. I'm Kal, by the way. Formerly Sergeant Kal."

Ah.
"Ex-military?"

"Of course. And so was Rell. So is everyone else boarding here. Veterans of the Jheri War."

The Jheri War? Feels like it was before your time and your village had never been great from an educational standpoint. The term does sound familiar though.
Ah right. Master Yolan had said that the guard captain Frahm served in it.
"That was a while ago," you hazard a guess. "Rell didn't look that old."

"No, he always kept his youth blast him, even if he drunk everything else away. I'm sure if you've seen him you know. We try our best to help him, all of us here. It's all I can do to give my fellows a place to stay in need."
You get the feeling that too many veterans in Melire are people like Rell, out on the streets.

"It was a nasty business," Former Sergeant Kal mutters. "But that's war for you. The worst thing is that Teleran was never even officially involved. Just sending us in to help their allies 'keep the peace'. What a shitshow that turned out to be. But Rell, that was a kid with real bad luck."

You don't say anything, trying to drag the story out with silence if nothing else. That can't be all of it. None of this yet explains the holes in his soul.

1/2

>>39023676

"But we weren't the only buggers from far away who wanted a piece of the pie along the Jheri coast, you know. Places I'd only known from stories like New Khepri. Or Quedesh."

Now that's a name you recognize, if only from old wives tales.
"Quedesh? Isn't that where they say witches come from? They aren't real."

"Aye, the Witchlands of Quedesh. And witches might not be real but the country certainly is. Far up north in some desert hellhole where they say the sun shines forever and winter never comes. I don't even know what they were in the war for. But as far as I can gather, one of their ships boarded the ship Rell was on and they had him as their prisoner for years until the war finally ended and all of the countries involved could spread out a happy little treaty as if all that blood spilled had meant nothing."

He spits, obviously unhappy with who's favor the war had ended in.
"And when he came back, well, the Quedeshi had done something to him. He'd drink and drink and cry in his sleep. Maybe it was just torture, spirits know that just war alone can do that. But whenever he was lucid he'd rant and rave about enemies he knew were watching him, ones who would one day reclaim him. He said the Quedeshi were ruled by people who weren't people, with cat eyes that could eat your soul. A lot of fool talk. But he said it so well that sometimes it could make you wonder..."

You can't help but notice Hiss bolt to attention, as she had been mostly ignoring the old man's ramblings.
"Thank you for your aide, cripple. We will be leaving now."
She grabs you by the collar.

"Oi," Kal tries to follow you. "What happened to Rell?"

"I killed him! Bye!"
She drags you into the street and starts running, suddenly reinvigorated.

You follow her, feeling none too pleased about any of this.
"What was that about?"

"Don't you understand? Of course his soul had been bitten! I've finally found them! I know where they went!"

2/3

>>39023848
Nice. So that's why he recognized Hiss just as he was about to be bitten

>>39023848
3/3

***

The city drifts far behind you into the night. You don't have any cart or horse but you wander along all the same, driven by Hiss' newfound enthusiasm.

"Hold on," you start. "This isn't a place you can just go to. It's really far away. And possibly mythological."

"Yeah but you remember Alder?"

"Who?"

"The Mayor. That used to be his name. With all that blather he was speaking at me all the time. One of it was that he wanted his treaty with Snakehome ready soon to co-incide with the anniversary of the 'war treaty'. Do you know a town called Taldenral?"

"Yes, of course I do. That's not a town, Hiss. That's the capitol, it's where the King lives! The human king that is. The Teleran king. My king."

"Well he said that everyone was sending representatives to renew the territory. Surely that'd include Quedesh right? This is it! This is my chance!"

"B-but Taldenral is in a whole other duchy! I think. It's all the way out on the coast! How are we even going to get there?"

"Oh, let me worry about that I suppose. Don't offer any of your own ideas. Just as usual."

"Well you know who slew a spirit in a single blow? It sure wasn't you."

"Oh don't think I'll forget that. I was really afraid for a moment there, that it would kill you on the spot."

"You? Afraid for me?"
You do your best to fake disbelief. But really, you already knew she did. And you're pretty sure that she knows that you know.

"Naturally."
She takes you by the hand.
"You might be a fool but you're MY fool and I'm not sure if I'd have it any other way."

>>39023967
>"Well he said that everyone was sending representatives to renew the territory
Did you mean to say treaty?

And that's it for today. I hope you had fun in what was a rather long session. The spirit getting wrecked sort of accelerated things a little.

>>39023538
He just had a spirit. Also there are no vampires in Melire. In fact they don't really exist at all.

Iana mentioned vampires as creatures that lived in the Duke's forest but as Hiss even stated, the only magical things in the forest are her people and the Duke.
Teleran tales of vampires have never been anything but an interpretation of tales from people who survived a contact with someone from Snakehome, you see.

>>39024010
Yes, Yes I did. I am way too tired.

>>39024018
Great thread Ouro. So I'm guessing that killing the spirit improved hiss's view of cennen exponentially?
tsundere love is best love

>>39024018
Can you give us details about how the spirit battle would have gone had we not destroyed the spirit immediately?

>>39024018
Thanks for running Ouro, that bit with the spirit was something else. Do you think we made a complete cock-up of the situation?

>>39024131
I don't really see how things could have turned out any better than they did

>>39024052
You and her had already reached a bit of an understanding by the end of Thread 6 but it certainly didn't hurt.

>>39024097
No I won't so when the spooky spirit mojo happens again you won't know what to expect.

>>39024131
It depends on your definition of cock-up. You certainly didn't lose the fight. It's up to you whether Spiritbane is good or bad

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>>39024143
Yeah, this was sweet.

Kinda worried about earning the undying wrath of the gods, but on the other hand we're well on our way to banging Satan's daughter. In for a penny, in for a pound I suppose.

I haven't read the archives yet, but I heard this quest has a magical female snake who can shapeshift into any human form owing the MC three wishes.
Has MC fucked her yet, or are you still holding off on it for some reason?
It just makes so much sense to use one of the wishes to make her MC's slave/loveslave if that isn't against the rules. I said loveslave because even if "slave" is against the rules, loveslave might be different enough to not be banned, is my thought process at least.

>>39026755
Yes, wishes are more along requests than wishes though
No.
She basically the daughter of this world's Satan. We do that to her after the wishes wear off she would kill us.

>>39026828
That's the point, you use one of the wishes to make it permanent so she won't be able to fuck with you for it.

>>39026857
They aren't wishes they are requests. Her hating us would render that request void as soon as we burned our last one, or soon after. She has nearly killed us on accident and is far stronger and faster than us. Very bad idea.

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>>39026755
Fuck right off. If you think this is one of shitty Chuckles smut quests, you are sorely mistaken. Unless you've got a hard on for girls laughing at you baby dick, poisoning you, or otherwise treating you as sub human filth undeserving of you presence, you aren't going to get anything out of this quest.

>>39026886
She's also starting to warm up to Cennen anyways.

>>39026755
That is a terrible idea.