>>39115173

>Hiss grabs you by the shoulder. “Sssh. No. Don’t move.”

There’s a wooden doll creature crawling forward the fields with you, almost obscured by the wheat. Fashioned into a crude humanoid shape out of wood, cloth and rotting flesh, it has a gangly child-like stature. It is undoubtedly the same type of creature that attacked during the night. And it’s not alone. There are more of them picking through the fields in perfect silence. You count three, five, nine, fourteen, seventeen...more. Much more.
You remember Ophi telling you how he had seen them dancing in and out of the fields before. Could these fields be their home? Have you and Hiss unwittingly stumbled onto their hive?

Your cause had seemed so righteous previously, chasing after these two thugs and their captive girl, this “Aina”. You had forsaken Ophi in order to do so, allowing the farmers to drag him off in the opposite direction to meet their ‘Master’. Alright, you were never Ophi’s biggest fan so it doesn’t bother you as much as it should have. But as you stand in the midst of an ever-growing swarm of Children as they come for Aina...you’re starting to have regrets.

The two men holding Aina don’t seem to have noticed yet that the creatures have arrived. In fact, the creatures themselves seem to be fixated and haven’t even seen you or Hiss hiding amongst the grain. Or at least you don’t think they’ve seen you. You’ve been wrong about that before.

> Charge the two men with one of your potions to free the girl before the Children can properly arrive.

> Throw a potion at the Children themselves.

> Stand as still as possible.

> Slowly lie yourself down for a better hiding spot and wait for them to pass you over.

> Follow Hiss’ lead.

> Flee as stealthily as you can.

> Other

>>39115178
>> Follow Hiss’ lead.

>>39115178
>> Flee as stealthily as you can.

It's an art that's been passed down in my family for generations

>>39115178
> Charge the two men with one of your potions to free the girl before the Children can properly arrive.
Hit them both with the explosive and cut the ropes to free her. Hiss might be able to cut it more quickly with her increased strength

>>39115178
Hiss can kill the children by mere proximity due to the soul thing. We should take out the farmers. Get our knife out, use explosives to disorient, and shank them.

>>39115178
> Follow Hiss’ lead.

>>39115321
I predict the explosive will do more than disorient them but I suppose having the knife ready as backup is a good idea

>>39115337
We aren't a fighter, unless we actively remember we have a weapon we are liable to forget about it. Last time we panicked and made a glass shiv.

>>39115321
>>39115337
Explosives near a person we don't want to kill(the girl) think about it guys.

>>39115364
Right. I didn't notice that they were still right next to her. Changing>>39115289 to
> Follow Hiss’ lead.

>>39115362
That was just player error more than Cennen himself

> Follow Hiss' lead

You decide to see how Hiss reacts first before you do anything rash. This is a combat situation and even if it wasn't, whatever strange soul magic that is animating the Children is more her balliwick. You silently pray for her to not to do anything stupid before quickly remembering her that she can hear prayers and switch to something a bit less insulting.

Hiss doesn't react to your accidental prayer, instead slowly reaching out to a Child that is passing by dangerously close. Her arm is slow yet certain and none of the creatures seem to notice her at all.
She brushes her hand against its warped sickle-arm and it jumps in a sudden start before abruptly falling over. Hiss is visibly displeased by what she's just had to absorb.
"I think they're only alarmed by movement," she whispers. "We can just edge our way out of here and back to town."

Flee? When you can kill them instantly with but a touch?

> Tell her that's not an option.

> Agree to leave.

> Other

>>39115571
Thing is Hiss they have a "master" These things are like puppets, he'll likely send them after us once he notices his people missed us. That girl knows who the master is, where he is and possibly how to combat them without you eating them. Cut them off at the source no?

>>39115571
> Tell her that's not an option.
We have to start being the good guy eventually

>>39115571
> Tell her that's not an option.

Not letting them do what the fuck ever to that kid.

>>39115571
>> Agree to leave.

>>39115571
> Tell her that's not an option.
Remind her that we still value (some) human life

>>39115571
>Tell her that's not an option.

Let's appeal to her greed, hiss likes servants doting on her and we have someone who, if rescued, will be indebted and have nobody else to turn to.

> Tell her that's not an option.

You do your best to whisper while remaining as still and silent as possible.
"That's not an option."

"Why not?"

"We can't let them do whatever the hell to her. It's not right."
Hiss doesn't even dignify with that an answer. Right. Why should she care? You try again.
"These things have a "Master", one that's going to send them after us as soon as they finish with Ophi. We need to know what's going on here and that girl is probably the only one willing to help. Please."

Hiss wavers, swayed more by your certainty than any of your actual arguments. You push on.
"And if we rescue her, I'm sure she'll be indebted. Don't you want more people to help you on your quest?"

"Why would I want more idiots along for the ride? You're enough for me."
But there's a tone of resignation in her voice.
"I guess I have to protect you from yourself."

She lashes out, accelerating from stillness to full speed in less than a second. She grabs two Children and draws them close to her before dropping their now lifeless forms.
The other Children all stop and turn to face her. Rusted blades are raised. But at least they are no longer advancing towards Aina.

> Charge the thugs while they are occupied.

> There are more of them now than there was last night. Hiss will need your help.

> Other

>>39115828
>> Charge the thugs while they are occupied.
>knife and nobbling sneak. or hit one in the head with the acid.

>>39115828
Are the thugs still standing right next to the girl?

>>39115828
Just so you know, you forgot to include the shapeshifting brew in the pastebin

>>39115895
I distinctly remember telling myself to put down all three doses that you still had. I'm not certain how it got lost.

>>39115880
Yes. All three of them are in the path between the fields. They haven't seen you or the monsters yet.

>>39115868
>>39115828
sneaky knoif and acid +1

>>39115828
Sneak up on the thugs, kill one by stabbing him in the neck and then knife the other one if he stays close or use acid if there's enough distance

> Attack the thugs while they are occupied

You back away as the Children dash in, weaving around Hiss while trying to avoid her killing touch. There's certainly a lot of them and part of you wants to help her.
But you won't. The girl needs your help. You just have to put your faith in Hiss to handle herself here. It might just be your imagination but she seems to perk up a little as you make your decision.

You run through the wheat towards the two men, who are still standing out on the road between the two fields with Aina held between them.
They don't even see you coming.

Pulling a knife from your pack and holding your flask of acid in your other hand, you make your presence known by driving the knife into the neck of the closest man. He screams and oh shit there's blood everywhere and he pulls away from you, still carrying your knife within his throat. You must have done it wrong because he isn't quite dead yet.

The other man bellows in surprise and you keep moving, pushing the girl out of the way and leaving a bloody hand-print on her blouse as you do so. You break the flask over the man's head, spilling acid over his face. He joins his fellow in falling to the ground with a horrendous scream.
That was a lot easier than you thought it might be. The element of surprise can really make a difference you suppose.

The girl shies away from you and why shouldn't she? You've got blood all over you and the two men won't stop screaming. The first one grabs your foot, your knife still embedded in his lower throat. He's a dead man, even if it's taking a bit longer than you thought it would be.
The other man is alive but probably not for long. You can smell the acid at work. If he survives he won't even be recognizable as anything but a deformed wreck of his former self.

Aina continues to back away from you, staring at you in horror.

1/2

>>39116319
2/2

You're breathing heavily. You can't seem to calm down. There's a rush going through you. You've never personally taken a human life before.

> "I'm here to help."

> Mercy-kill the two men.

> "Run! Run now!"

> Don't say anything, just let yourself fade back into the fields to check on Hiss.

> Other

>>39116343
> "I'm here to help."
> Mercy-kill the two men.

>>39116343
> "I'm here to help."
Sorry about the whole mess but I really didn't think you wanted to meet the "children first hand, or get raped."
> Mercy-kill the two men.
"Lets go help my friend and then we can get somewhere safe. I hope you don't mind if I vomit after the fact."

>>39116343
>> "I'm here to help."
>> Mercy-kill the two men.

> "I'm here to help."
> Mercy-kill the two men.

"I know how this looks but I'm here to help."
You kneel down and pull the knife out of the first man's throat. There's a lot more blood now. You can taste it. Some of it's in your mouth.
"Messy but better than what was waiting for you, I'd wager."

You stalk across to stab the other man in the chest as best you can. You have to do it several times.
Aina watches you, trembling but not fleeing either.
"Wh-Who are you?"

"My name's Cennen. I've come to rescue you."
You hold at your hand and she recoils as if you'd thrust a sword at her. Oh. Right. All the blood.
"Hold on. Let me try and wash this off."

"No, I mean. Who are you? What are you doing here? Were you with Ophi?"

You wipe your hands on the wheat to no avail. All of a sudden, the rush departs you, leaving you feeling so very tired all of a sudden. You notice the stench as if for the first time and the sight and taste of the blood and the acrid stench of acid that lies everywhere. You double over and retch, spilling what little you had in your stomach all over the ground, your boots and your shirt.
You struggle to your feet, filthier than ever.
"H-heeere to help."

> Tell her about how you came to Tedwell.

> "What's Ophi mean to you anyway?"

> "What are the Children?"

> "What the fuck is going on here? What's this "Master"?"

> "I heard the men talk about a man named Boon. Who's he?"

> Get back into the fields first to check on Hiss.

> Vomit more.

> Other

>>39116640
> Get back into the fields first to check on Hiss.
Bring the girl with us and ask her on the way
> "What the fuck is going on here? What's this "Master"?"
> "What's Ophi mean to you anyway?"

>>39116640
> Get back into the fields first to check on Hiss.
Bring girl

> "What's Ophi mean to you anyway?"

> "What are the Children?"

> "What the fuck is going on here? What's this "Master"?"

> "I heard the men talk about a man named Boon. Who's he?"

>>39116640
> "What the fuck is going on here? What's this "Master"?"

caught up, good show Ouro, cant really participate due to work and timezones but ill be doing the archive thing

>>39116640
So, Ouro, what happens to the soul in this setting after people die? Is there an afterlife? Man I really hope so, tbh I'm not a fan of stories where a lot of people get killed. I'm just too empathetic for that kind of stuff, even when it's the bad guys that are killed, the only thing I can think about is how they surely had family and friends too.

You turn back to the fields with as much dignity as you can still muster, wiping away a fleck of vomit from your chin with a blood-smeared hand. No, it really just makes you look worse.
“Come on. Unless you want to wait for the Children.”

She hesitantly follows, her fear of the Children evidently greater than her fear of the bloodstained spectre before her. As you help part a path for her through the field, you let fly with the questions that have been bothering you all day.
“What the fuck is going on here? What’s this “Master” that they were on about?”

Aina quivers away from you, her dark red hair framing a face full of fear and doubt. You stop and soften your tone.
“Beg your pardon, young lady. But please. I need to know.”

The desperation in your voice must ring true because she swallows her fear.
“The Master? I don’t know. They say he speaks through Mister Boon. He makes the crops grow strong so that they can live through the tithes.”

“Boon?”
The name is familiar.

“The headman. H-He’s always been grouchy and strange but over the past year he started ranting about people with tainted blood, that the Master needed those with the taint to be expunged. They took Mum three months ago and she didn’t do nothing but grow plants!”

“Taint? Ah.”
You recall what the two men were talking about, something about three travelers with the taint.
“You mean magic?”

She nods.
So that’s how it is, huh? That might explain a little. But three of you. Was there someone else around that you never noticed or is Ophi hiding even more of himself than you had initially thought? He didn’t strike you as a magician of any sort. That thought reminds you of what Aina had been seized for, the demands she had screamed at Ophi.
“Just who is Ophi to you anyway? You seem to know him. Or of him.”

1/2

>>39117219
2/2

“From when he came around last year. Back when Mum was still...still…”
She can’t hold it in anymore and breaks down into tears. You’re moving before you even think about it, holding her around the shoulders and pulling her close to lend a comforting touch. She doesn’t even recoil from the smell.
“A-and he told Mum that if things kept getting worse than he’d take all of us away from here!” she bawls. “But then after he left the Children came and they took Mum and now and now and now…”
You remember Ophi’s reaction to her accosting him, his constant denials that he’d ever seen her before or had any idea of who she was. Was he really that heartless?

She keeps crying softly and you keep holding her, smearing filth over her clothes. It just feels right, somehow.
“Ahem!”

Both of you turn to see Hiss brushing through the fields in front of you, a lifeless Child held in one hand. She looks a lot paler than normal and there’s blood running down her left arm but mostly she just looks angry.
“What do you think you’re doing to him?”

Aina quails from her and hides behind you.
“It’s called hugging, Hiss. I know you’re well aware of the specifics.”

“Hrm. Well, I need one of your healing brews or bandages. Tend to my wound.”
She sits down, still in a state of extreme pallor.

“Are you okay? Is any-”

“Just get me the bandages! One of them nicked me a little, that’s all. And having all of these decaying spirits inside me...I...feel a little ill. I’m fine.”

> Ask her about the souls.

> Go get some bandages from where the townsfolk left Ophi’s cart strewn about pronto!

> Introduce Aina.

> Begin to brew from whatever you can find.

> Other

>>39117243
Cut some strips of the expensive fabric in our pack to bandage the wound
> Begin to brew from whatever you can find.
> Ask her about the souls.

>>39117243
> Begin to brew from whatever you can find.
While doing so
> Introduce Aina.
> Ask her about the souls.
Anyway to vomit them up?

>>39117243
>> Go get some bandages from where the townsfolk left Ophi’s cart strewn about pronto!
>> Begin to brew from whatever you can find.
>> Ask her about the souls.

>>39117306
This

>>39117131

The afterlife is a matter of opinion. Religions in this world aren't as different from each other as they are in the real world because certain issues (ie spirits, the existence of an immortal soul, the Dreaming, the Creator) are all widely known facts. Where human souls go after death is not known however and is a key source of dispute among churches.
The prevalent church of Teleran, the Sisterhood, believes that if you are appropriately virtuous in life, your soul will travel into the Dreaming itself to become one with the mind of the Creator, along with a multitude of much less pleasant places to go if you have lived in sin. Outside of Teleran, most view this belief as somewhat presumptuous and prideful.

The only afterlife that Cennen knows exists for certain however is where a good deal of people in this Quest have already ended up. Being slowly digested and mined for memories within Hiss' metaphysical gullet.

>>39117131
>I'm not a fan of stories where a lot of people get killed
This may not be the right quest for you

>>39117449
Yeah no kidding, Hiss and Cennen seem to be leaving a trail of ruined lives in their wake.

Sorry about the delay in posts today by the way, there have been some IRL matters requiring attention.

>Cut some bandages from your expensive fabric.
>Begin to brew from whatever you can find.
> Ask her about the souls.

You pull out the rolls of fabric that you bought in Melire out of your pack. Sure, they're worth a lot of money but you still have a lot of signets and you don't want to go back into town just yet.
And no amount of signets in the future will save you from misfortune in the present so you banish those worries from your mind as you cut the fabric into crude bandages and wrap them around her arm.

After that is done you pull out your cauldron and your waterskin and start a cold mix of a small healing brew. Maybe some re-invigoration too. This wheat should do. Hell, even some of this blood. You would never put human blood in a potion intended for human use but you have the feeling that Hiss might find it just what the doctor ordered.
"What's wrong with the souls?"

"Like I told you earlier," she moans. "They've been out of their real bodies for way too long. They've gone rotten and sickly. I don't like having them in me."

You think about your own recent experiences for an answer.
"Can you vomit them up?"

She shakes her head.
"It's our nature to gorge ourselves and swallow whatever we can down, not to disgorge it later. Don't you think I've been trying?"

"Uh.."
You hear a timid little squeak and realize that Aina has been following this entire conversation with significant confusion. You and Hiss both look at her at once, two figures of equally grim natures to her and she tries to shrink into the ground.

"Oh right. Aina, this is Hiss. Hiss, Aina."

> Ask Aina about her sister.

> It's time to head into town and try to settle this messed up business.

> It's time to go find Ophi.

> Try to track backwards through the fields to find out where the Children came from.

> Time to leave this accursed town and never come back.

> Other

>>39117815
>> Ask Aina about her sister.

> It's time to go find Ophi.

>>39117815
> It's time to go find Ophi.
> Ask Aina about her sister.

>>39117815
> Ask Aina about her sister.
> It's time to go find Ophi.

>>39117815
> Ask Aina about her sister.
> Try to track backwards through the fields to find out where the Children came from.

>>39117449
Yeah I know I've been here since post 1. It's just that I can never stop thinking about the mooks that are killed.

> Ask Aina about her sister.
> It's time to go find Ophi.

"By the way Aina, you said you had a sister?"

"L-Liss. We're twins. She's been taking care of me."

You remember a voice almost identical to Aina's telling you to just take whatever you wanted from the garden and to leave. She'd been trying to warn you away ever since she found out that you'd been an alchemist and thus 'tainted' in these people's eyes.
"Yeah, I think I've met her."
Aw hell, that was their Mum's garden wasn't it? She must have been at least somewhat alchemically inclined. Well you're not giving your Devil Eyes back.
"Will she be fine? They've probably come for her now."

She nods, tears still in her eyes.
"Liss has always been the smart one. She handles things because I'm too useless."

"Yes," Hiss says brusquely. "You are."
You can't even hear malice there, just her honest assessment of the youth.
Aina's head sinks.

"No, don't listen to her. She's a very mean woman with only rot in her heart and only venom to speak."

"Excuse me??"

You ignore Hiss for now, focusing on Aina.
"Right now Aina I need you to tell me something. When they dragged Ophi away, they said they were taking him to the Master. Can you tell me where that is? I won't ask any more of you."

"Yes. Yes, I can do that. It's out on the other side of Tedwell. They'd have taken him...taken him to the T-tree."

"Tree? What's special about it?"

She falls silent and refuses to speak for a few seconds before she manages to croak a few words out.
"It's where they took Mum."

Ah.

> Get her to guide you there.

> Try to just get directions instead so she doesn't have to come with you.

> Tell Hiss to stay behind since she's ill.

> Other

>>39118092
>> Try to just get directions instead so she doesn't have to come with you.
Though if she really wants to help let her

>>39118092
> Try to just get directions instead so she doesn't have to come with you.
Ask Hiss how she's feeling now and tell her to to avoid exerting herself or eating any more Children souls if she can help it

>>39118161
Also
>apologize and stop being mean to hiss

>>39118092
>> Try to just get directions instead so she doesn't have to come with you.
>> Brew some alchemical grenades.

>>39118092
> Try to just get directions instead so she doesn't have to come with you.
>Hiss sometimes sugar gets you a lot more than vinegar. No offense intended and I'm sorry if I hurt your ego.

>>39118092
>Tell hiss to turn into a snake and hide in our pack so she'll only be in danger as a last resort with the element of surprise

>>39118299
Might not be a good idea if she has to transform into a human in front of the villagers

> Try to just get directions instead so she doesn't have to come with you.

It'd be dangerous for her to come with you right now. There's no need. You're sure you and Hiss can keep to just directions. You solicit a bare list of them from Aina and nod to Hiss, who is drinking down your healing brews while doing her best to look disgusted.
"You can stay here, if you want. Or go find your sister. Just don't follow us. You good to go, Hiss?"

Hiss is still quite visibly pale but she stands up only a little slower than usual.
"I'll be fine. Do you really think that any number of wasted former humans will slow me?"

Yes to be honest, you do. But you don't say anything as the two of you leave Aina to her own devices and make your way back through the fields towards the town.
"Only rot in my heart, huh?"

"Oh hush, you know I didn't mean it."
Mostly.
"You call me names all the time."

"Yes but Cennen you really ARE an idiot. My words are always truth. While yours are hateful slander."

The two of you try to sneak back through town, following the directions Aina gave you.

Roll a d100.

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>39118409

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>39118409

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>39118409

>>39118465
Damn anon. Nice save

>>39118409
So I embellished a little, Rot in the heart sounds better than rot in the stomach, and your fangs and poison come the from you mouth just like your words.

>>39118435
>>39118450
>>39118465

The two of make it through mostly undetected and remembering the directions perfectly all the way! Though you'll admit that it helps that the town is mostly empty. The few people around see you and Hiss, the tainted outsiders covered in blood and assorted filth and flee back into their homes.
You've had this experience before, you're pretty sure. Only then it was Hiss who was covered in blood, not you. Hiss is currently immaculate, albeit a little sickly.

Your directions lead you to a path that leads to what is indeed a very large tree standing far away from any buildings. It is a great sprawling beast of a tree, wider than it is tall with long branches snaking out from around it.

And you notice as you spirits sink, the branches are hung with cages. Crudely forged iron with spikes and thorns and each cage fashioned into the rough shape of a man. They hang from the branches like the worst orchard imaginable.
Fortunately, they are all currently empty.

At the base of the tree is a large crowd of people, all gathered around something on the ground you can't see. They seem very angry.

You can also Ophi's cart off to the side, where it seems to have been tipped over.

> You don't like the look of whatever they're doing at the base of the tree. Throw your explosive potion.

> See if you can sneak in closer to the crowd.

> See if you can sneak in behind Ophi's upturned cart.

> See if you can sneak around and approach the tree from a different direction.

> Shout at them and tell them to fuck off in your best approximation of an outsider tainted by magical evil.

> Other

>>39118699
> See if you can sneak in behind Ophi's upturned cart.
try not to throw bomb til ophi is clear.

>>39118699
> See if you can sneak in behind Ophi's upturned cart.

>>39118699
>> See if you can sneak in behind Ophi's upturned cart.
Have Hiss have a look at what they're doing while you rummage through his cart looking for whatever contraband he was carrying. Maybe it could be useful here.

>>39118699
> Shout at them and tell them to fuck off in your best approximation of an outsider tainted by magical evil.
Hold up the explosive potion threateningly and describe what it would do to then

>>39118802
them*

> See if you can sneak in behind Ophi's upturned cart.

You dart over as soon as you're sure that the crowd is entirely focused on whatever is at the base of the tree. You cover the distance in just a few moments, running as fast as you can before skidding behind the cart to use it as cover.
You sit among the scattered packages and crates while you watch the crowd murmur in obvious rage. Hiss remains behind further back to keep watch.

The cart itself has taken quite a beating and the donkey is nowhere to be found. Most of the packages have been broken open, spilling coffee beans all over the ground. There's a lot of the usual other things you'd expect to find as well to find a merchant's cart. Dried rations, beads and other small trinkets of varying usefulness. No money however.

While you search for the telltale glint of signets, your fingers scrape across something wooden. It's a theater mask of some sort, the mask itself carved from stiff word with a thick cord looped behind it to keep it on your face. It's that of a crying man, his ugly face curled into a constant frown. The face the mask is whittled into isn't very skillfully done but something about it makes the expression leap out at you anyway. As if it captured the essence of that man's grief and sorrow regardless of the quality of craft.
It's not the only one either. There's at least ten others, all of different people and with different expressions. From the way they were positioned, you reckon they were packed down all the way in the bottom of the cart. Something about unsettles you. Who was he expecting to sell these to?

The crowd quietens down and you peek over the top of the cart to see the reason why. There's a man approaching, the same leather-faced man you saw earlier ordering the others around. The crowd parts for him without him even ordering it.

You'd bet anything that this is the Mister Boon you've been hearing about.

1/2

>>39119091
2/2

> Attack!

> Retreat back to Hiss.

> Retreat back to Hiss but take one of the masks with you.

> Wear one of the masks.

> Sneak around the edges until you are on the opposite side of the tree as the crowd.

> Other

>>39119119
Wear the scariest mask possible threaten to blow them all up if they don't release Ophi

>>39119091
>Sneak around the edges until you are on the opposite side of the tree as the crowd.
Try and see if Ophi's still there and alive.

>>39119173
While holding the explosive potion threateningly

>>39119119
> Sneak around the edges until you are on the opposite side of the tree as the crowd.
>Take a mask, a scary one an wear it.

>>39119173
This

>>39119119
Whatever we do pray to hiss the details of our plan first

> Wear the scariest mask possible threaten to blow them all up if they don't release Ophi.

You have no idea what Ophi was doing with these masks but you think you can use this. These people may hunted the 'tainted' down but you know how wary they are of outsiders. Just being an outsider must carry a tinge of fear with it, doubly so if you are magical in any way, shape or form. You can use that fear.

You offer up a quick prayer to Hiss to tell her of your intentions and then pick out what you deem to be scariest of the masks, a man screaming in outrage and put it on.
It's actually really uncomfortable. How does anyone wear something like this?

Nevertheless you pull out your explosive brew and then leap over the cart, landing a fair distance behind the crowd and Mister Boon. You screech out a wordless cry to get their attention, the crowd visibly faltering at what they see.
You hold the obviously alchemical bottle into the air as you do your best evil voice.
"Everyone get down! This is explosive and I'm not afraid to use it! Release Ophi and you all get to live!"
Your voice is somewhat muffled by the mask but they all the gist.

And yet as the crowd backs away from the bottle you hold, you can finally see what they've been clustered around. Five dead men, townsfolk all. A cage is sitting on the ground open and empty. Ophi is nowhere to be seen.

"Uh..."

And then Boon speaks and your spell over the crowd is broken.
"Seize him."

They rush forward.

> Throw the potion.

> Run

> Attempt to scare them back still.

> Other

>>39119511
> Throw the potion.
> Run

>>39119511
> Throw the potion.
> Run

>>39119511

> Throw the potion.
> Run

check before you threaten anons, rule number 1 damn it.

>>39119511
>> Throw the potion.
>> Run

>>39119575
Haha yeah I feel like a bit of an idiot right now. At least Ophi got away

> Throw the potion.
> Run

You shake the bottle and toss it towards them but some last-moment hesitation brings your aim too low, causing the concoction to explode non-lethally in front of the crowd, scattering and scaring them instead.
What had you just been about to do? Toss it right into their midst? The results of that would have been horrific.

Nevertheless, the bang is still enough to get everyone to get the hell away from you right now so you immediately turn tail and run. Hiss has abandoned her cover and is running towards you. You shake your head and pray to her to turn around and run with you but she just points to something behind you.

You really should just keep running. But in the end you can't help yourself. You turn around.
Mister Boon is kneeling by the roots of the great tree, his face covered in a sheen of sweat. There's something down there, a great hollow space underneath the roots. He raises his hand out imploringly and the darkness beneath the tree moves.
It's one of the Children, crawling out through the roots and walking over Boon as if he wasn't there. The roots of the tree seethe with sudden activity as a great swarm of Children rise from the space beneath the tree, servants of a subterranean Master.

And all of them are running towards you with a speed that far out-strips your own. You are out of explosive potions.

> Try to bluff them with a bottle of Treebrew.

> Try to outrun them anyway.

> See if you can work out a way past them to get to Boon himself.

> Follow Hiss' lead.

> Surrender.

> Other

>>39119788
> Follow Hiss' lead.
Have Treebrew ready.

>>39119788
I get the impression that this outcome is very much a direct consequence of decidedly poor decision making skills.

>>39119788
> Follow Hiss' lead.
Fuck.

>>39119898
gee ya think? We should have scouted before threatening.

>>39119929
Or we should've just run instead of throwing the explosive. If only we knew that was where the children came from

>>39119788
> Follow Hiss' lead.
What does treebrew do again?

>>39119898
I'm surprised people thought that would work.

>>39119966
Makes plants grow faster.

>>39119966
I am too. it was pretty dumb. Treebrew is plant growth. We throw enough we might overload tree?

>>39119961
Probably, but one led to the other.

>>39119788
Damn it. Now Hiss is gonna get super sick

>>39120040
Hope we can brew up something to make her retch.

>>39120070
We're gonna have to burn a wish to give her the ability to get rid of those souls if she gets too sick to do anything

> Follow Hiss' lead.

Hiss grabs you by the arm and shoves you behind her. She might be able to outrun them but you cannot and she is forbidden from leaving you behind.
She looks back at you, forcing a grin.
"Just sit back you colossal moron. I'll clean up your mess for you."

And for a moment you believe her. Simply touching her is death to them after all. But her face still bears a pallor that never quite left and the amount of Children swarming towards you makes both of your previous encounters look like nothing. Doesn't each one of them hold the remnant of a human soul? You try to think of just how many people must have died to create this army and your head swims.

And yet, they don't rush you all at once. Once they get close to you, they all slow to a stop. One Child moves forward on its own, much slower than usual with a dented pitchfork-arm aimed at you.
Hiss slaps it dead and breathes in.

And then the next solitary Child moves forward. And after that one dies, the third one trots in towards you, only to meet the same fate. And then the fourth. And then the fifth. And then the sixth. And then the seventh. And then the eighth.,.

They aren't trying to just kill you. This is torture. They know Hiss can't ignore them if they move in to attack you but they also somehow know of her weakness, of the way their souls befoul her.
So they just move in one at a time, insultingly slow. Feeding themselves willingly to her one by one.

Hiss is swaying heavily now as she strikes down the ninth. One of her legs buckle as she slays the tenth. She must know what they're doing, must know that she can't keep absorbing them.
But every single one of them poses a very clear threat to you so she must meet each one with lethal force. The wish-bond would require nothing less.

> Just run and leave her.

> Throw your potions. Any potions.

> See if they'll let you brew something else up.

> Make a wish (Specify)

> Charge them.

> Other

>>39120182
I wish you had the ability to destroy souls and make them leave your body
> See if they'll let you brew something else up.
explosive

>>39120182
>> See if they'll let you brew something else up.

>>39120265
Keep in mind that if a wish is made, it'll be your LAST ONE.

>>39120182
> Throw your potions. Any potions.
All the treebrews on that tree, It'll either explode, collapse in on itself from growing to fast or die.

>>39120298
I'm aware

>>39120182
See if they'll let you brew something else up.
If not
> Throw your potions. Any potions.

>>39120358

You might need a bit of a run-in but you don't think the Children will stop you from getting too close. It's where they want you after all.

>>39120182
Brew enough for two explosive potions if possible
hit the tree and the gathered children

>>39120444
Use the devil's eye for the brew

>>39120329
I'm pretty sure it would be good for the tree. We need to use an explosive potion

>See if you can brew
> Throw your potions. Any potions.

You pull out your cauldron and start slapdashing something together. Something that's even just a little explosive should help. The Children ignore you, still occupied with slowly killing Hiss.

You pull your Devil's Eye from your pack and put it in as you hastily cold mix enough for several potions. With this in it, these babies should be supercharged.

But while the Children are ignoring you, Mister Boon understands at least a little of what you are attempting.
"Master! Strike him down! Slay the witch now!"

Nothing happens. The Children continue their sadistic game with Hiss. Boon boggles at them and then at you as you run forward, two empowered explosive brews held aloft.

You have two potions to throw. Select two targets. You can select the same target twice.

> The massed Children.

> Mister Boon

> The tree

> Other (Specify)

In addition, make a d100 roll.

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>39120574
>> The tree
> The massed Children.

>>39120574
>The massed Childrenx2

Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>39120574
> The tree
> The massed Children.

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>39120574

> The tree

> The massed Children.

>>39120650
>>39120647
>>39120594

Rolls noted.

>>39120669
Do you use all three or just the best of three?

>>39120677
As always, I take an average.

>>39120688
Goddamnnit.

>>39120688
Ouch

>>39120688
well we're fucked then.
GG everyone.

>>39120688
Averages in /tg/ dice are usually awful.

>>39120574
Are there currently any more coming out of the tree?

>>39120688
You better use super low DCs if you're gonna use an average system

>Lob one bomb at the tree and the other at the massed Children.

You've got this. This is it. This is your hour. You think back to that brief moment of physical perfection you experienced when your aim was true enough to destroy the spirit's halo in Melire.

This is not one of those times. The first bottle lands more or less correctly, blowing open the tree near the base. There's a sound like thunder as wooden shrapnel flies everywhere and you see a great darkness beneath the trunk exposed. There had been some Children still coming out of there and they had all been blown to twitching still-living smithereens.

And then you trip over your own feet and your next throw goes wide. It still lands among the Children but off to the side, blowing apart only a third of their number.
You fall flat on your face, cracking your nose against the hard mask and breaking either the mask or you're nose. You're suddenly not sure.

The Children abandon Hiss immediately and dash after you. She flings herself in front of them but they do the worst thing they could do. They ignore her.
She strikes a few more down, growing sicker all the while but in the end she can only give a frustrated shriek as they run past her. She is no longer fast enough to keep up.

You are still getting to your knees when one of the Children swings a sickle at your face.

>>39120829
WElp we died. End of quest. Nice ride guys.

>>39120880
>implying Ophi isn't about to save our ass
Really though Ouro, using averages is never done in quests for good reason

>>39120829
Aaaand we're dead.

>>39120829

You open your eyes with a sickly moan. You didn't mean to vocalize that but it feels like you're doing things you didn't want to do more and more these days.
You try to get up and fail. You are lying in the dust with the sun beating down on you. Normally something you'd quite enjoy but you can feel the wish-bond screaming at you, twisting your mind to its compulsion. Right now it hurts more than any amount of rotting souls in your belly.

Your true name cannot be spoken by human tongue and cannot be transcribed by any written language. For now you are known as Hiss. You have made your peace with that.

Right now you are feeling very very sick. A queasy pain shoots through your metaphorical stomach with every movement and your head is spinning. But you can't stay here.
Like it or not, you are under a bond and it will rip your very self in twain if you allow it.

You sit up, opening your eyes. You are still where you collapsed, overcame from both sickness and the pain from your bond when you saw Cennen getting attacked.

But he must have come out of it alright, you decide. If he hadn't then your bond wouldn't be screaming at you so much to save his foolish arse. You don't think it would still tear at you if he was gone for good. You hope not anyway. That's a recipe for madness right there.

The large tree is tilted, a great hole in it's side exposing some sort of dark tunnel beneath the roots. The cages that had been burdening it have all fallen.

Nearby the tree is that old human. What did the useless girl that Cennen touches way too much call him? Boon? He seems to have survived the blast but his legs are twisted in directions that you find to be extremely pleasant. He is staring up at the sky, mouthing words to nothing.

There is only one Child remaining, rolling around in the dust with something clutched in its hand. A broken wooden mask. What is it trying to do with that? What a grotesque little thing.
1/2

>>39121046
2/2

Even the mere thought of touching the Child makes you feel violently ill. You have enough of their putrid souls boring holes through you right now, thanks.

You only have very limited energy and you can feel even that sap away with each breath. You can only take one of these actions.

> Stagger over to the tree and the space beneath it.

> Stagger over to Boon and 'question' him.

> Stagger over to the one remaining Child.

>>39121086
> Stagger over to Boon and 'question' him.
Maybe eating a real soul will make us feel a bit better

>>39121086
>> Stagger over to Boon and 'question' him.

Where the hell is everyone?

>>39121250
Left after Cennen died.

> Stagger over to Boon and 'question' him.

You get to your feet and walk the minimum distance required before you can fall atop his prone form, causing him to cry out in pain. There are some townsfolk around but they're still too afraid of everything that just happened.

Boon is gibbering something at you but you don't have time to play games. You let your fangs extend and bite his throat out. You push your face into the wound, expecting the beautiful taste of blood and still-warm flesh and of course the soul beyond it all to console you. To fill you and empower you while picking it apart for memories of Cennen.

But it all turns to ashes in your mouth. You can't grasp the soul. Something inside you rebels, the massed filth backing up your soul-gullet making you retch uselessly. You try over and over but in the end can only watch as Boon's soul ascends into the sky.

Or...doesn't. You feel the thread run taut as some other force plucks his soul away from him as it leaves his body. Snares it and draws it somewhere deep underground.
Oh. Is that it?

By the time you get up from Boon's still warm corpse, one of the braver villagers has decided to confront you. You don't think you're fast enough to kill them.

"Wh-what are you doing?" The big man stammers, his attitude at odds with his size.

> "Judgement."

> "I'm about to go kill your Master."

> "Get the fuck out of my way."

>>39121298
I don't think he died. Although I can understand getting frustrated with the "Cennen Must Die" difficulty level

>>39121325
> "Get the fuck out of my way."

>>39121325
> "Get the fuck out of my way."

>>39121325
> "Get the fuck out of my way."
>>39121331
Doesn't seem so much a high difficulty level, people just keep choosing very risky things.

> "Get the fuck out of my way."

You stagger in his general direction as his nerve breaks and he lets you pass. You slur the words at him but you don't think he understands you. You barely understand you.

So is this the end then? Unable to ever grasp another proper soul. Dying of starvation with a stomach full to bursting. You'll become some pathetic neutered thing, barely fit to be called princess much less to one day be called queen.

You try to hold onto your anger but even that is guttering out. You just feel tired. There has to be some way to fix this. This can't have all been for nothing.

> Follow Boon's soul.

> Attack the last Child.

>>39121467
> Follow Boon's soul.

>>39121467
> Attack the last Child.

>>39121455
One mistake gave us a massive swarm of enemies that can hardly be killed and only then with massive consequences

>>39121455
average of rolls means we're pretty much fucked over by 1 bad one no mater what the dc unless it's absurdly low.


>>39121507
2 actually. Should have scouted should have run and held last potion.

>>39121492
Are you trying to kill Hiss or what?

>>39121521
might as well make a clean sweep of it, not like going after boon's soul will save her now anyways.

>>39121467
> Follow Boon's soul.

>>39121536
Eating those souls is clearly bad for her. It makes no sense to eat another when she's already about to die because she ate so many

>>39121568
And going after boon's soul means she's going to be fighting more of them anyways and just as dead with whatever in there able to have a nice new highly magical snake corpse.

So Hiss misses that Cennen is in fact dead and goes to her doom in the deep dark tree cave. Welp thank for running Ouro.

>>39121670
hold your horses mate, I'm still writing.

> Follow Boon's soul.

No. No. No.

You won’t be going down quite so easily. Despair is a mind-trap that you’ve defeated once before. You will not feel its fangs again. There is only one thing that can be calling a soul from so far away and it’s the same thing that no doubt made all of these awful little Children.
The Master, whatever the fuck that is.

Does this Master think it can make a fool out of you? Does it think that it’s going to get away with this? You’ll...you’ll...bah. You can’t muster up the anger. You just make your slow way over to the base of the tree and gaze down into the tunnel below.
It’s on a tilt, a gentle slope leading down into pure darkness. You can see quite a lot better with your human form than you ever could in your natural body but even these eyes cannot pierce it. Well, it shouldn’t be too hard. Just step down and-

Your foot is unable to find purchase, suddenly too weak to support your weight. You slip into the tunnel and fall over, rolling down the tunnel into its unknowable depths. Ow. It hurts quite a bit but you can’t find the strength within you to stop your uncontrolled descent. You can’t see anything as you slide down the tunnel, nothing but a dark void filled with the occasional painful rock that you roll over.
You must look so pathetic.

You land face-down on a pile of grit. It gets into your eyes, your nostrils, your mouth. Eugh. Wait. This isn’t grit. This is some sort of sand. And it’s no longer quite so dark. You haul yourself upright. You are standing on what appears to be a shore of black sand, a vast dark underground lake lapping only mere feet away.
The light comes from further down the shore, a collection of ghostly fires illuminating some broken wooden shape.

You stagger towards it, feeling the souls within you suddenly twist in an unexplainable excitement.
1/2

>>39121816

It’s a shipwreck of some sort? You’ve seen the basic ideas of human ships from several different memories by now. A broken boat by the edge of an underground sea? Sure, why the fuck not. You don’t know how the world works anymore.
But it isn’t really just a ship is it? The way it’s broken in half and piled on top of each other, if you look at it sideways, evokes the image of a swan or some other kind of graceful waterbird. The tattered sails can be wings, the caved in prow a curved bill. A waterbird now crippled and composed of rotting wooden flesh. Above it dances is a tiny collection of ghostly flames arranged in a circle. Each fire is now nothing more than a candle flame but you somehow know that they used to be much bigger.

It feels ancient. Unbelievably so. Old and broken, a shattered remnant whose time has long passed.

> Attack it. Somehow?

> Reach out and touch the hull.

> Call out Cennen’s name.

> Other

>>39121843
> Reach out and touch the hull.
> Call out Cennen’s name.
I have no idea what I'm doing

>>39121843
> Reach out and touch the hull.

>>39121843
What? What the fuck is this? An underground lake? Is Hiss just tripping balls right now?

Not a single part of this scene makes a lick of sense.

>>39121843
> Call out Cennen’s name.

> Reach out and touch the hull.

Something about this feels achingly familiar to you but you’re far too dazed to understand what. You reach out and slap a hand on the splintered hull, as much for support as anything else. The ring of floating fires above you suddenly burst into life, each one becoming a white-hot flare for just a moment before flickering back into ancient weakness.

A feeling of cold pressure sweeps across you and though the shipwreck itself doesn’t change in any notable way, you know that it is alive. Alive and swimming with human souls. You can feel them running through its body, each one chained down to wreck and beyond your grasp. Hundreds of them. No, thousands of them. Thousands upon thousands! And nearly all of them have gone rotten with age, shrivelling into a sickly soul that you know very well. After all, you have way too many inside of you as well.

This is where it all comes from. Those flames...Are they not a flickering, dying halo? You feel a surge of reflexive hatred through you. This is a spirit, a very large and very old spirit. One which has not tasted the Dreaming for uncounted ages.

This is the Master.

-A second visitor? Who are you? You have my Children.-
The voice eats into your head with unquestionable authority. But after a moment you realize that authority is all it has. There is no strength behind it. This is a feeble creature on the very edge of death. It sounds more sorrowful than it does angry.

> “Give me Cennen!”

> “You want them? Take your children back?”

> Attack.

> “What the fuck is all this? Why is there a sea underground?”

> Other

>>39122094
> “Give me Cennen!”
> “You want them? Take your children back?”

>>39122094
> “Give me Cennen!”
> “You want them? Take your children back?”
> “What the fuck is all this? Why is there a sea underground?”

>>39122094
>> “Give me Cennen!”

> “What the fuck is all this? Why is there a sea underground?”

> “Give me Cennen!”
> “You want them? Take your children back!”
> “What the fuck is all this? Why is there a sea underground?”

You don't have the energy to scream it out as much as you want so you settle for slightly raising your voice.
"Give me Cennen. Now."

-Give the Bane to a snake? Why would I do that?-

Oh, it's figured you out. You try to think a threat that sounds even remotely possible. If it knows your nature, surely it also knows that you're basically helpless now.
You sit down on the shore.
"Please. Give me Cennen, please."

-Why?-

"Because he's mine."

-Why?-

"Because I have bond with him."

-Why?-

"Because he captured me, why the fuck else would he have one? Stop asking why!"

-I'm still questioning your first statement-

"Wha?"

-Why do you want this human?-

Oh no, save us all from over-inquisitive spirits. Does it hate you that much that it needs to twist the knife one last time.

"Because he's mine and because we share wish-bond and b...because I don't know what I'd do without him."

You expect to feel some sort of mirth but the Master remains solemn.
-You may take him. He is on my deck. Unharmed-

Mustering the last of your strength, you drag yourself up the side of the ship and on board its broken deck. Cennen is lying there unconscious, covered in blood. Your heart actually skips a beat.

"Unharmed?"

-Not his own. My children recognized his magical strength and brought him down here for me but his nature as Spiritbane prevents me from claiming him-

"Damn straight it does. Back off."
You sit down next to him, feeling for a heart-beat and for breathing. He's alive.
"Then just what are you doing down here? What's the point of all this?" You drop a drawn out painful cackle.
"Why is there an ocean here?"

The ship creaks as the Master answers.
-I was placed here by the Creator to ensure that the water here would stay bound and would not flood the land above.-

1/2

>>39122392
2/2

Placed by the Creator? You'd heard about that vaguely. He, curse his name, only did that when he was withdrawing his Dreaming from the world and taking most spirits with him, leaving behind only a few to uphold important tasks across the land.
But that was thousands of years ago. Back during the oldest ages of the world. You find yourself gazing into an abyss of history for a few moments before you recall something Cennen said about how the Hinterlands flooded every year.
"Sounds like you've done a real shit job of it then."

-I have been...negligent in my duties. I have betrayed the Creator-
There's such old sadness in the voice that you almost feel bad for it. Almost.
"Oh? Well then. You're not very different from my kind then."
You'd laugh but even that is now spent.

-Maybe so. But I don't expect something like you to understand my reasons. Or would even you balk when you see the suffering of the mortals, their slides into oblivion?-

"Eh? What."

The entire body of the Master rocks slightly, nearly causing Cennen to roll over.
-I failed. I failed to harden my heart. The humans here think that the soul is destined for something grand, to enter the Dreaming. It broke my heart to see them-

"Then where do they go?"
You're a little interested in spite of yourself.

-Nowhere! To nothing! I see their souls vanish into the skies. The Creator...he told us that there was a special fate for human souls but I cannot see it. They just vanish into oblivion. I could not bear it. Just to see it broke my heart forever. And so I fell.-

You contemplate the structure of the rotting old shipwreck, seeking just how many souls upon souls are here.
"You've been eating souls for a very long time, haven't you?"

-Yes. It is preferable. I spun a great net around this area so that their souls may drift to me upon release. Here there is no death, no oblivion. I even make bodies for them, when I can spare the energy-

2/3

>>39122392
>b...because I don't know what I'd do without him
pure tsundere snake love saves the day

>>39122592
3/3

Something about this and the Master's obvious pain makes you feel very smug, even though you are also terribly sick.
"Look at you, eating souls and disobeying the Creator to rule humans. You're no different from us."

When the spirit rumbles again, it sounds defeated. Defeated and even older than before.
-Perhaps. What can I defend myself with? Speak your truths and nettle me as you wish-

Really? Okay.
"I can't help but notice that time hasn't been very kind on the souls under your care."

-A small degradation-

"They're rotting, you old fool. How many of them are even still aware?"

-Even this is still better than nothingness. I cannot expect you to understand me-

"Sorry. I find it hard to trust your benevolence when your pawns round up anyone with a whiff on magic on them and ...what? Brings them to you?"

-No! That's not how it is! You don't understand. I was supposed to remain down here as something intangible, something that could last the years-

"But you drew all these souls within you," you interrupt. "And all these old souls weigh you down so much. Trust me, I'm acquainted."

-I have barely any substance left. Tending the waters was a duty I stopped centuries ago. It is all I can do to hold these souls to me. I need power. Just a little drip. Please, you have to understand. I didn't mean wrong-

"Don't make that speech to me. Do you think I care about how many humans are sacrificed to you just so the people here can keep up their fake afterlife? Or that it's an afterlife of drooling retards who can barely think after all this time?"

There's silence for a time and when it comes back, the Master sounds absolutely wretched.
-Then what do you want from me?-

"Take your fucking children back, you old maniac. Can you do that?"

For a long moment there is nothing but then you hear a call, a long droning sound that echoes in the cavern. A sound of low mourning and sorrow.
3/4

>>39122813
4/4

Something bursts inside of you as every wretched pathetic soul you had ever stolen from a Child drains out of you, called by a spirit art far older than anything you could ever muster.

But even that pain passes and you begin to feel your energy slowly return.
"You know," you gasp. "It seems to me that even having you pet humans feed you magic users can't make you last forever. Look at that sorry excuse for a halo. You're fading and one day you and your entire collection will fall into nothing."
Saying that makes you feel good, as does the low moan the Master gives you.

-I know. But even this life, for all these humans, every day of withstanding oblivion is worth it. You have what you want now snake. Please leave.-

It doesn't have the power to make you go. You see a few Children springing up around you but you're hardly scared of them anymore now that you know what they are. They're just humans that should be long-dead, ones that don't even remember anything about being human in the first place.

"I will. I'll leave. But it seems to me that you're causing an awful lot of grief for a lot of people around here. Doesn't that hurt you, considering how considerate and caring you must be?"

-Cease tormenting me. I know that the fate of humans is of no concern to you.-

> "That's true."

> "Yeah but this is still messed up."

> "You're right but they're very important to this idiot."

> Other

>>39122939
> "Yeah but this is still messed up."
> "You're right but they're very important to this idiot."

>>39122939
> "You're right but they're very important to this idiot."
We are so damn lucky Cennen is a spiritbane

>"You're right but they're very important to this idiot."

"You're right. They don't matter me. But this idiot here is very concerned about these sort of things. Gets in a real fit about it sometimes."

-And what? You cannot destroy me anymore than I can harm you. Please...just leave me and my family to spend our last few years alone. Have I not given you that you asked for?-

Several Children are now clustered on the deck around you, in case you decided to attack. You don't want to touch one of them ever again.

> That's fair. Now that you have no Cennen, you have no stake in this at all. Take him and leave.

> This asshole has caused way too much trouble for you, even if he didn't mean to. See if you can tear down what's left of his halo.

> Other

>>39123142
> This asshole has caused way too much trouble for you, even if he didn't mean to. See if you can tear down what's left of his halo.
I'm taking a leap of faith assuming that this is even possible

>>39123142
> This asshole has caused way too much trouble for you, even if he didn't mean to. See if you can tear down what's left of his halo.

>>39123142
>> That's fair. Now that you have no Cennen, you have no stake in this at all. Take him and leave.
A fair trade.

>>39123142
>That's fair, take Cennen and leave.
No reason to stick around here any longer than we need to

> This asshole has caused way too much trouble for you, even if he didn't mean to. See if you can tear down what's left of his halo.

"That's fair. I don't have a stake in this. Have fun rotting what little of your life away."

You rise to your feet, feeling newfound energy flood back through you now that you're finally free of those ugly souls.
You make like you're about to pick Cennen up only to suddenly leap for the broken mast! You scramble up it as fast as you can, leaving the surprised Children far behind.

-What do you think you are doing?-

"Something really dumb probably!"

You leap from the mast and grab hold of his halo, both hands wrapped around the ring of flickering will'o'wisps. For a moment you are simply suspended there, hanging from it as if it was a real physical object.

The entire ship shakes beneath you though you do not feel it due to being in the air.
-Stop this! Stop this at once! PLEASE!-

Pathetic. Someone begging for their life only makes you think they are weak.
"I don't know what Cennen would do if he was awake right now. Maybe he'd even find it within himself to forgive you. He's an idiot like that. But as for me...you've caused way too much inconvenience!"

You coil your entire body and thrust downward, shattering the light completely under your weight. That shouldn't even be possible, halos being a conduit to the Dreaming itself and thus immune to physical force. But the Master is far too old, far too weak and far too corporeal. And for what? Just to house his precious souls?

You land back on top of the deck as the entire ship shudders, suddenly becoming just an ordinary wreck. The Children fall to pieces as a huge invisible force blasts past you, thousands and thousands of human souls streaming into infinity.

So dies the Master of Tedwell, father to a million humans, scourge of the 'tainted', an ancient evil that had corrupted an entire community when its thirst had become too strong.
But mostly it died as it lived, a sad old man.

>>39123378
Sorry about that, your vote popped up just as the writing was finished.

>>39123442
2/2

"Good riddance you old fart."
You pick Cennen up and begin to drag him as best you can. Oh hell, this is tough work, even for the recently re-energized such as yourself.

You've dragged him halfway up the tunnel before you have to stop for a rest. That's when you hear someone cry out from up above, at the top of the entrance.

"Cooeeee!"
It's a cart with a donkey tethered to it.
"You look like you need some help, princess."

Ophi doesn't have a scratch on him. Which makes sense, considering.

> "Don't think I don't know what you are by now."

> "Can the theatrics and just get down here and help me!"

> "Ophi? What have you even been doing?"

> Other

>>39123508
> "Don't think I don't know what you are by now."
> "Can the theatrics and just get down here and help me!"
> "Ophi? What have you even been doing?"
>tfw we're still stuck with this guy

>>39123508
> "Don't think I don't know what you are by now."

> "Can the theatrics and just get down here and help me!"

> "Ophi? What have you even been doing?"

>>39123508
This idiot almost got us both killed trying to save you.
> "Can the theatrics and just get down here and help me!"

> "Don't think I don't know what you are by now."
> "Can the theatrics and just get down here and help me!"
> "Ophi? What have you even been doing?"

"What the hell have you been doing all day, huh?"

He shrugs.
"They took my sword so I had to borrow one of theirs. Hid up in the back side of this accursed tree but I couldn't go anywhere because of the crowd. I'll have to thank Cennen when he wakes up, he really helped me out. Even if he didn't know it."

"He was trying to save you. Now get down here and help me!"

"As you wish, fair lady."
He strolls down the tunnel to help you pick up Cennen's comatose form. Or at least, that's what he was planning to do. When he gets close to you you lash out, slapping him across the face.

The force of it knocks him to his feet and when he gets up, there is a very subtle shift to his face. Almost as if it was sliding back into position.

"You can take the mask off now, Oster."

Ophi, or his true name Many-Faced Oster takes a sudden bow and his facade suddenly crumbles to nothing. He is now wearing a wooden mask strapped across his face, one roughly envisaged into the features of Ophi the traveling merchant.
He slips the mask off to reveal his true self, a large man of grim aspect and dark hair that falls in natural ringlets. Across his cheek is a brand marking him as devoted servant to the Serpent King, a twisted black snake devouring its own tail.

You don't know him very well as he was usually out of the forest on long missions when you were growing up. But he'd always had a kind word for you and a fancy trick.

He was like Fel & Merro, humans who had received some of your father's Art along with his mark. He had become more than just a man. He had a limited aspect of his ability to shed skins, the power to change his face. But even that wasn't perfect, hence the masks.

1/2

>>39123793
2/2

Seeing Cennen unearth the masks in the cart made you suspicious but you didn't say anything. It was hard to find time. But that slip of the tongue just then, when he called you 'princess'.
And now it begins to fall into place. He had been so friendly and so interested in talking to you, even letting you sample his merchandise without paying. Strange for a merchant but natural for a servant in front of his princess.

Of course he said that he didn't remember those two useless girls from earlier. They and their mother had met the real Ophi, who was no doubt rotting in a ditch somewhere.

"Forgive me for the deception, your Highness. I saw the posters in Melire and after divining the best way to go to avoid being followed, managed to find a convenient way to intercept you. I just wanted to observe you and to make sure you were safe."

It's easy to believe that he is your faithful servant, someone who just wants the best for you. But he is also your father's most far-ranging servant, dipping his hands into the human world as a spy and assassin for many years.
You know there's only one reason he's here.

"Cut the bullshit please, Ophi. Oster. Whatever."

But there's only one possible answer. You thought you had evaded them all in the forest but evidently not. Your father's Snakecatchers are upon you once more.

>>39123793
Fucking.
Called.
It.

Suck it waifufags.

And there I am ending for the night because it is way too late and I am way too tired. It's already been archived a while ago.

I hope you guys enjoyed it. If there's anything you don't really like, feel free to let me know.

>>39123903
Love the quest. I didn't really like the whole children arc but I'm looking forward to what comes next. Also I strongly dislike the fact that you use averages for rolls

>>39123898
>tfw I said you were wrong a while ago and now I realize I'm an idiot

>>39123927
I'll change the dice rolls. And I'm planning for the next thread to be in a lot more relaxed setting.

>>39123947
Just be thankful you didn't let Hiss eat the Snake Oil while he was still awake, anon.

>>39123903
I'm sorry to say I didn't quite enjoy this run Ouro, and I can give you a couple of reasons why that is the case.

Your method of counting all three rolls and averaging them is a weak system which stacks the odds far and away against the players. If we had known this when we started, we all could have stopped rolling when a high number was rolled to weight the odds in our favor. As the other anon noted there is a very good reason this system is never used in collective game, and this quest suffers for it.

Furthermore, there's no denying that the players' bad decisions are to blame for most of undesirable events here (DAMN YOU BQ PLAYERBASE, DAMN YOU TO HELL), but I can't shake the feeling that your method of writing and presenting options to us make it significantly harder to choose a wiser course of action. The way you present obstacles and scenarios has us often scratching our heads and guessing which vote is going to lead to a conclusion we want. For instance, the way you displayed the boat and the influence it exerted on Hiss struck me as very much the same as when old Bart's staff tried to get Cennan to place it on that totem pole. A scenario where we collectively had no fucking clue what was going on, by the way. For most of this quest we were quite in the dark about what was going on, and what was the best course of action to take. We are trying to RP as a somewhat stupid novice alchemist, but we have no access to commonly held knowledge in the setting, information we desperately need. The overall effect is that we're grasping at straws to ascertain the best way to do anything, and we almost always fail to find it.

>>39124167

These are all very valid points. I'm definitely going to change the rolls. As for the lack of knowledge, a lot of that is entirely on me. A lot of this I construct in my own head where I know everything so when I put down hints to what the scenario is, I think those hints should let everyone figure it out because I already know the answer. So I get caught into thinking that even the most obtuse hints and references are great clues for people to figure shit out with but they're really not and the only reason I think they are is because they already make sense to me before I wrote them.

Like the boat situation. I put something that could be called a halo above and just assumed that players would remember a small detail that happened multiple threads ago and realize that it was a spirit.

The same with Old Bart's staff. Hiss says his soul wasn't in his body and his staff occasionally disappears, reappears and does other weird shit? Obviously a huge clue that his soul was in the staff the whole time.

Only it isn't. These things are only huge clues to me and only because I know about it before they happen. I really need to lay things down more clearly.

On the other hand, what about stuff like Ophi? That wasn't too out there?

>>39124336
It only seems evident in retrospect. Obviously something was fishy about him but there wasn't anything specifically pointing to him being a snakecatcher. When he didn't recognize the girl I thought that his memories might have been eaten by another snake since that's such a big part of the quest

>>39124336
I think making that effort will go a long way to making this quest easier for us, thanks for that Ouro.

Also, I was the anon who first thought Ophi was working for Hiss' Dad, I can safely say that wasn't terribly obscure to me. I'm not sure why nobody else thought so, I hope they're not just letting their protective streak for the female love interest get out of hand. Cause that could be a problem in the long run.

>>39124442
What was it specifically that made you so sure back then? Seems like a lucky guess to me

>>39124467
Just the finer points of how his protective behavior around her. He wasn't acting like a lonely merchant looking for a hot lay, he was acting like a bodyguard for someone he had great reverence for. Like giving her free coffee, that could have been explained as trying to win her heart, but his line 'nothing else matters but her safety' made it really obvious to me.

Nobody thinks like that unless they're head over heels in love, and he clearly wasn't. When he wasn't going to extreme lengths to guarantee her well being, he seemed largely ambivalent to her presence, and didn't seem jealous of what we had with her at all.

And then there was his professional tier swordsmanship, which he was obviously lying about when Cennan asked him about it.

He was a pro sword fighter who prioritized the safety of a girl he just met above all else, and clearly lied about being a simple merchant. It all added up to me.

>>39124648
I thought he was just a gallant amd chivalrous former swordsman turned merchant. Like I said, it all makes sense in retrospect though

>>39124678
Again, it was how he singled her out. How he treated us as just a traveling companion and customer did not stack up to how he prioritized Hiss of every other consideration.

>>39125007
*over every other consideration.

I should get some sleep.

>>39125007
The gallant swordsman is always particularly protective of fair maidens though.

>>39125047
Not that protective. He didn't even care about his wares.