What.

Your train of thought promptly screeched to a halt. "She was supposed to find out what was going on and then come back." Your voice rose a little, crimson eyes narrowing at Dullem as your Knight Captain fidgeted a little. "We don't know what happened down there, but it looked like she talked to the guard for a few minutes, then something went wrong. They took her inside by force."

...

"I judged that we couldn't get down there in enough numbers to do anything about it in time, and we'd have risked losses from the guards if we had tried, so we stayed hidden."

This town.

"...Er, Ser Valen?"

This fucking town.

>Interrogations are about to happen. Now.
>We're going to break that door down.
>Getting in undetected just became our priority.
>Other? (write-in)

Previous Threads:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=valen+quest

Where things are said:
https://twitter.com/Riz_QM

Pastebin Stuff:
Kara's Day Out - http://pastebin.com/8ZbiSKLs
Adventures with Asche - http://pastebin.com/RNviCBJu

Misc notes:At least we still have Ari, right?

>>43531722
>Getting in undetected just became our priority.

>>43531837
Writing.

>>43531722
>Interrogations are about to happen. Now.
>Getting in undetected just became our priority.
Now, how can we send someone in undetected? It sure as hell can't be us, the scene we caused when we were last here is sure to be burned into a good number of the town's residents. On top of that, Sobbing Machete Man needs to be questioned on just who put him up to roaming around the burned out ruins to kill anyone remaining there.

You don't know why you expected a better result, really. Since day one, Carona had been nothing but an persistent pain. While you have a lot of questions right now about just what had gone on down there, the reality of the matter was that two of your three Testament were now missing, with one of them confirmed to have been taken into Carona.

...But why Rinnier? If someone else approached, would they get taken inside as well? Was it because she was your Testament?

You shake your head irritably. In the first place, no one but your family even knew who your Testament were. Beyond that, no one in this town even knew who YOU were. For now, you just needed to work out how you were going to get inside. Breaking down the front door was an option you had briefly considered, but you lacked too much information to just charge right in - Especially when your forces were as underarmed and ill trained as the average peasant.

Though, to be honest, they were the average peasant until recently.

With a straight forward assault ruled out, that left... Subterfuge? If you couldn't force your way in, you'd need to find a way to sneak inside. Carona was fully walled off from all sides, and while it was situated near the woods, the town itself was well away from the treeline. It had been built at the foot of the slope leading up to the forest you currently resided in, with little but flatlands in the opposite direction.

With both the gate facing towards and away from the forest shut tight, all traditional entrances to the town had been sealed off.

"Water?" Dullem suggested thoughtfully. "Any town needs water, no matter how secure it is. Can we use that?"

"...Do you see a river?" You responded flatly, gesturing out towards the verdant grasslands down the hill.

"Even if there isn't a river, there still has to be some source of water. It doesn't change the basic needs of a village." Dullem argued, "If the place was smaller, maybe they brought water in from more distant sources, but with this size... Wouldn't it be some kind of underground spring?"

You cross your arms, waiting for a conclusion that wasn't forthcoming. "Are you suggesting we dig a hole into Carona?"

"If it's an underground spring, there is probably a prospecting shaft somewhere nearby." Dullem finally explained, "It might help get us in."

The alternative to that, was... Sneaking in at night, wasn't it? Or maybe trying to force entry with status - Though that last part wasn't exactly 'sneaking' in the slightest. There was also still the matter of the burned down Tier estate. You thankfully still had the journal you had managed to liberate from that desk, though you hadn't had time to read it yet.

>Start looking for an entrance to the spring
>Start planning a sneaky entrance during the night
>Spend the day reading, try to get 'taken' into the city tomorrow
>Take Dullem and his men back to the Tier estate
>Other? (write-in)

>>43533334
>>Spend the day reading, try to get 'taken' into the city tomorrow
>>Start looking for an entrance to the spring
Have Dullem's men look for said entrance while we read.

>>43533334
>>Start looking for an entrance to the spring
>Spend the day reading, try to get 'taken' into the city tomorrow

>>43533334
>Start looking for an entrance to the spring
>Start planning a sneaky entrance during the night
>Spend the day reading, try to get 'taken' into the city tomorrow
Dullem's men can look for an entrance while you're waiting, and maybe have a scout or two wander around the edge of town once it starts getting dark to see if they can find a spot in the defenses they can sneak someone over. While waiting for all that to happen, may as well peruse the book we recovered...Hope Irue's a fast reader!

>>43533383
>>43533397
>>43533531
Loiok for entrance, get taken tomorrow, read today.

>>43533531
Plan sneaky scouting.

Writing.

>>43533334
>Other? (write-in)
Hey guys, remember that freaky tree golem we have? I think Ari is holding it. So what if we used it to storm the gates, it's nowhere near as easy to hurt as a bunch of untrained peasants turned knights.

In the end, Dullem's idea had its merits. If you could find the entrance to an underground spring, then at the very least, you could probably find your way to a well or something... Though that still left you with the problem of how you, much less your knights, planned to hold their breath while navigating pitch black submerged tunnels. Normally that kind of thing would be the job of those with an affinity to Undine, but... It isn't as if you had anyone like that to help you here.

While your Knight Captain directed his men to search out the suspected shafts, you had other plans. You hadn't spent over a week of nonstop reading in your cousin Caylen's library for nothing, and putting all of your hopes on a single plan was something that had historically been proven to result badly. You'd have perhaps liked to send someone scouting the walls as well, but the choice of dedicating so much manpower to the spring search left that idea a little...

Well, while one or two people could certainly be spared, the information they'd have retrieved in the given time frame would likely be sparse at best. You didn't expect much back from them, in the end. In the meantime, you had a book to read through, and then tomorrow, you'd make your move. You were far more likely to get taken inside without suspicion if you allowed some time to pass between Rinnier's arrival and your own, after all.

Still, that said, you shot one final withering glare at the walls of Carona before settling back to gingerly open the scorched journal you had retrieved from the Tier estate. Ari had quickly claimed her spot in your shadow not long after you sat down, and had proceeded to contentedly lay there without a care since.

These records dated back further than you had expected, but most of the early pages seemed to contain little of interest. Notes about creatures that had been found, and requests which were made by a variety of people identified only by obnoxious nicknames. You'd hesitate to call it a method of codenaming, simply because the owner of the journal had referred to their own family with a similar set of embarrassing names. With a sense like this, you imagine someone would have rather died than have to suffer through being related to this man in public.

Other entries were more interesting, however. The Tiers had been housing a creature known as Behemoth for almost ten years now. While the time it had been held was curious on its own, Behemoths were definitely not native to La'Fiel. More than simple beasts, you could describe them as a monster born of Gnome; A foul tempered, mountain like creature of brute force with little to say for intelligence. Normally they were found in wasted plains, or expansive deserts, not the relatively verdant plains and forests of La'Fiel.

...Why had the Tier family had one?

You flipped through the pages in search of more information, but found little more in reference to it than occasional notes on its domestication status.

Not only had they had a Behemoth, they had been trying to train one? The Tier family worked exclusively for as retainers for the Valen family; If they were working to domesticate a Behemoth, then who were they planning to give it to?

Like this, the hours remaining in the day slowly dwindled away to the quiet sound of rustling papers.

The sheer statue and reputation of the beast had caused them to create a stable for it a fair distance from the town itself, and though it was initially the only part of the Tier family estate separated from Carona, it seemed that rising tensions in town gradually led to a full removal from the township itself.

Yearly requests for the beast to be put down, or sent away, quickly devolved into more demanding notices and complaints. Eventually the presence of the Behemoth had completed a schism between Carona and the Tier family. Some of the last entries suggested that a formal notice of complaint had been issued to the royal family... Or at least, the last of the entries relating to the beast.

You shut the book tiredly. There was still a great deal of things inside you hadn't read, since you had ignored most of the content unrelated to the behemoth this time around, but already you were left with more questions than answers... And unfortunately, it did little to help explain the current situation.

The next day, the few people you had sent to scout the city out finally returned. Their report was mostly as you had expected; High walls, two closed and guarded gates. It seemed that all guards were on very high alert... Though that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The wall watchers had been on duty for so long that stress had begun to dull their senses, which allowed your the handful of hunters you had sent as scouts to sneak rather close under the cover of nightfall.

The wall might be scalable. Not nearly as easy as a tree, but given a few minutes and a proper line, they were confident that at least a couple of them could get up the wall in a patrol gap. What they would do after that, however... Well, your first step was getting in.

Dullem, too, had reported with success. It seems the prospecting shaft for the underground spring wasn't terribly far off into the woods. It had been mostly abandoned, but was still sturdy enough to enter - There were various tracks near the entrance though, so it was likely the shaft had become the nest of some creatures after its initial purpose was served.

"We do have a problem, though." He admitted gravely, "We found corpses."

"...Corpses?" You frown. Not 'someone dead', but 'corpses'. "How many?"

"Ten that we found so far, there looked like there would be maybe another ten more..? Give or take a few."

"Were they guards of some sort?" If they were, it might explain the high alert of Carona, but Dullem shook his head. "Some. Most of them looked like normal people, to me. One of them was even dressed like a maid... I don't know what to make of it, but the others are getting worried about Oakenbear at this rate." Dullem groaned, scratching at his neck, "The trees had already started to take these, so there's no telling how long they've been out here. At this point it's only a matter of time... I just hope there aren't anymore corpses laying around out here somewhere, or we're really going to be in trouble - Carona and all."

>Try to get taken in today.
>Plan a night assault on the walls.
>Delve into the shaft.
>Am I Forgetting Something....? (write-in)
>Other? (write-in)
There are actually two Forgetting answers here.

>>43534627
Oaken rue keeping them safe from threats?

>>43534627
>Am I Forgetting Something....? (write-in)
Maid's outfit? Let me see the bodies. I need to see if it's her...and i miss my Maidcretary and Paft Paft.

>ask to see corpses
One dressed like a maid is something to worry about.
When will Asche come back.

>>43534627
>>Am I Forgetting Something....? (write-in)
or
>>Other? (write-in)
since I don't know if it's the right answer.

The maid wasn't Asche, right?
Were the bodies all in one place? Corpses of random townsfolk and guards all in one place far outside of town is suspicious.

>>43534627
Maybe we should cut the trees nearby and then burn them and corpses.

>>43534627
> Ask to see the corpses
He said that most of the corpses were normal folks, which implies some abnormal people in the pile. Have to confirm that Asche and Kara aren't among their numbers.

>>43534627
Let's interrogate the guy.

>>43534750
>>43534783
>>43534794
>>43534826
See the bodies yourself.

>>43534802
Become a Captain Planet villain.

>>43534862
Interrogate Sobbing Machete Man.

Writing!

>>43534627
>One of them was even dressed like a maid...
>>Am I Forgetting Something....? (write-in)
One of the missing people was the mayor's maid, so these might be the missing folks related to the Shrine attendant.

A little late, but I just got here.

>>43534929
Glad to have you.
Also this is correct.

"A maid...?" The unusual identification caught your interest as you got to your feet. Your first thought was immediately about your own Maid, but the idea was banished almost immediately as it occurred. It wasn't as if Asche was the only maid in La'Fiel, and if you took a moment to think about it, then you already had a rough idea of who it might be.

Being shown to the bodies themselves was another matter entirely, taking a solid hour of your morning, but seeing them in person was... Whoever these people had been - Be they guard, merchant, maid, or civillian - their clothes were covered in mud and weeds, bodies left abandoned in the wood carelessly. It only took a brief glance for you to notice the tendrils of roots already burrowing through the rotting flesh, wrapping around the body with the kind of unhurried patience that only nature could put forth. While you were glad to confirm that there was no one here that you recognized, this was definitely going to become a problem if you left it alone.

At the very least, you get the hunch that you just found the mayor's missing maid... Along with the a good deal of the other missing people from Caylen's list.

...Could this be used to your advantage? Dullem was already in the process of getting people together to try and handle corpse disposal, but-

"Dullem, what would a town's reaction to a potential Oakenbear spawning ground be?"

The man pauses, less to think and more in confusion at your question. "They'd want to clean it up before one actually did spawn." He answered after a moment, glancing at you warily, "Hell, I want it cleaned up before one spawns. At least they have walls, we'd be sitting ducks out here."

>Try to trick guards into coming out here, then ambush them.
>Clean it up, check out the shaft
>Prepare for a night assault.
>Other? (write-in)

>>43535201
>Interrogate Sobbing Machete Man.

>>43535201
>Clean it up, check out the shaft
>Interrogate Sobbing Machete Man
Oakenbears are no fun, and we probably wont be able to drop one without casualties unless Kara was on the scene.

>>43535201
> Aquire walking stick, plant and prepare the Oaken Irue golem thing

>>43535307
>>43535227
Interrogate sobbing machete man.

>>43535307
clean up the corpses, check out the shaft.

>>43535343
Plant oakenrue.

Writing.

Can shadow irue control oakenrue?

>>43535500
No one's tried to find out.

In the end, wasting time to try and lure people out and ambush them as they clean up the corpses could backfire pretty spectacularly. I left Dullem to prepare a proper clean up as I turned my attention back to someone I was unfortunately familiar with from the previous day, who for lack of any better identification had since become known as the sobbing machete man. It was a little pitiful that that epithet continued to describe him so accurately that even my peasant knights had taken to calling him that...

Well, no. He had been disarmed when they found him, so really he was just-

"This crybaby has been at it all night."

-A sobbing man. A fully grown man who spent the night crying nonstop. Dullem's men had assumed I had plans for him, and so until this moment there had been little interaction with him besides being more securely tied to a tree and occasionally being told to stop crying. Needless to say, he never actually stopped crying.

You run your hand exasperatedly through the stubbornly long blonde hair that he had so thoughtlessly cut strands from. You had questions for him still, but calling this guy spineless was almost a compliment. His face was smeared in tear tracks and snot running out of his nose. Had he really been prepared to use that machete of his back then? ...No, the fact you beat him so easily was answer enough.

"Listen closely." You raise your voice, adding a tinge of imperiousness to your tone to get his attention. "If you answer my questions properly, then I can at least promise you won't be killed. Understand?"

"I'm gonna be killed!"

As his panicked sobs started to increase, you felt a familiar panic of your own start to react. You weren't good with panicky people, and he was already sweeping you up unto his jittery pace. This was bad.

In the end, since Dullem was busy, you had to ask Ari to help you. Ideally you would have had Asche or Rinnier do it, but with the current circumstances...

And so the interrogation began. At first, there was much crying; Later, there was less crying, but a great deal more sniffling. You relayed your questions through Ari, doing your best to ignore the man himself and trusting Ari to give his answers back to you. It wasn't a bad system, even if it took a little longer than you thought it would.

You learned a couple things by the end of it. The man actually had a name, for one! That name wasn't important, as Ari had promptly bopped him on the head with the oakenrue's finger when he tried to introduce himself. He had a family, two children with no wife. The story of his wife's divorce was interrupted in a timely manner by the sound of wood bonking off someone's skull. Money had become tight in the last month and a half as more and more merchants were being locked out of town, and the city guard had become unusually harsh in upholding even minor things. Even the Shrine had started to speak out against them, but could ultimately do little so long as they stayed within legal means.

This man had been an spinner of exotic tales and unique games who worked without a base- You could call him a bard, favorably. Alternatively, you could call him a street performer, or swindler. The exact details didn't really mean much to you, and his objections to being told this were interrupted in an expected manner.

He had been able to eek a small living off entertaining people and playing games, but with the guard's change in demeanor, he had been arrested one day and thrown into chains. Without money or relatives to pay for his way out, he had been forced to swallow his mor-

Ari wielded the oakenrue mercilessly, disrupting what might have actually been an important part of his character's backstory.

Regardless, the condensed version he muttered out afterwards was that he took a shady job offer from the Mayor in order to get out of jail.

You turned your attention away from the renewed tears as he started to go on about how Ari reminded him of his youngest daughter, wincing habitually at the sound of the wooden finger bouncing off his head once more. He didn't know why the place had burned down, or what had the town up in arms, but this at least had confirmed that the Mayor of Carona was responsible for stationing half-assed hitmen around that place.

You probably have time to ask him another question before you need to make a decision on what to do.

>What do you ask him?

>>43535869
> How did you get out of the city, and how did you plan on getting back in?
also,
> where might your children be now?
I'm thinking we can use Sobbing Man...just not in anything violence oriented.

>>43535869
Were there any more details about said shady job, or was it nondescrip?

What "change in demeanor" of the guards had him arrested all of a sudden?

Ari is doing a good job.

>>43535955
>>43536040
Writing!

>>43536040
>what change in demeanor?
>"Money had become tight in the last month and a half as more and more merchants were being locked out of town, and the city guard had become unusually harsh in upholding even minor things"

As for the details of the job, his instructions were simple: Kill anyone he found still alive in the wreckage. As he was quick to explain, the fire had happened almost two months ago, he didn't think there would actually be anyone there. You suppose 'In the wreckage' included people coming to investigate, but it only made the job more suspicious. No, at this point, wasn't calling it suspicious too tame? This was all but confirming the Mayor to be up to something. He had issued a blanket kill order like a complete asshole.

Hell, all the guards had turned into assholes.

How many of them were in this town, anyhow...? Maybe burning it to the ground wasn't as bad a gut reaction as Rinnier had thought.

"How did you get out of the city, then?" If he got out, then of course he could get back in-
"Through the front gate."

...Ah. Yeah, if his job was from the Mayor, you suppose he could just walk out the front door.

"If you can help us get inside, then we can help you reunite with your children." Still, if he had a ticket out, then he probably had a ticket back in. You could use this.

"Ah..." He sniffed, a long, snot-curdling sniff, and looked as if he was about to cry again. "W-What do you need me to do?"

That was the question now, wasn't it? He could get back in, sure, but how were you going to make use of that? You cross your arms in thought, ignoring the resounding timber of wood thunking over his head once more. You don't actually think he deserved it that time. Did Ari actually understand what an interrogator was supposed to do...? Well, for the moment you needed a plan.

>Have him take several of your people under the guise of prisoners he caught.
>Have him give you a signal from the wall when the coast was clear for you to scale it at night.
>Have him deliver the Mayor a message. (What?)
>Have him serve as a canary on your shaft adventures.
>Other? (write-in)

>>43536311
>>Have him serve as a canary on your shaft adventures.

>>43536311
The prisoners thing isn't a good idea if he was ordered to kill everyone.

>Have him give you a signal from the wall when the coast was clear for you to scale it at night.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>43536349
1. Canary

>>43536386
2. Wall signals

Dice gods, guide us.

While you sympathised with the man's plight, the bottom line was that he was less important to you than your knights. Combine that with him having made an attempt on your life once already, and even though you were willing to help him if you could... You didn't feel the least bit guilty about giving him a dangerous job.

This had absolutely nothing to do with the strands of hair he cut. Even suggesting that was absurd, you weren't that petty.

"And so that's why you're going first." You clapped your hands together, having just finished explaining your idea to the still-sobbing man in front of you. You had met up with Dullem after his corpse cleaning, escorting your newly-christened Canary to the abandoned shaft alongside Dullem, Ari, and several of his men.

"I... I don't think I-"

You patted him on the back, which served more like a shove as you promptly directed him towards the damp, spider web covered entrance of the abandoned shaft. "You've got a torch, right?" You asked rhetorically, knowing he had been handed one a few moments ago, "Keep an eye out for things, alright? We'll be right behind you."

The plan had been decided once the shaft was chosen. It was too much to expect everyone to come along in this way, not only because of the narrowness of the corridors, but also because even if we did find a way into the underground spring down here, having so many people try to use it would destroy any sense of subtleness we had. While the reasons were sound, you couldn't help but think that most of the people staying behind just didn't want to go.

You swipe a cobweb from your hair with a frown, exhaling to try and press away the all encompassing smell of stale air, mold, and wet dirt. It wasn't as if you wanted to be down here either, but if anyone was going into that town, it was going to be you. You had a lot of appointments in there, mostly scheduled between your foot and everyone's asses.

The descent was nondescript. There had been a series of animal tracks near the entrance to the shaft, but despite everyone's wariness, there hadn't been much in way of resistance as you walked further into the dank tunnel. Even the angle of descent wasn't treacherously steep, and you felt a little cheated at that. Wasn't something like sneaking into a city supposed to be harder?

"This is a prospecting shaft, Ser." Dullem replied with a laugh, "It's not a dungeon, you know? People were supposed to walk in and out of here easily."

So it couldn't be helped. You thought there would at least be some kind of nest of creatures in here, maybe a Mana of some sort, but Dullem just shook his head. "If anything too dangerous were around, the town would know about it."

You get the feeling that you're being looked down on for having fanciful notions, but it's still disappointing. Even if this was more convenient for getting into the city unmolested by unexpected dangers, it was a little bit of a let down. You watched the sobbing man ahead of you burn away a spider web stretched across the upper quarter of a shaft-archway with his torch, sobbing lightly as he continued lazily. Catching sight of the dark little specks scurrying away from the blaze, you figure the most dangerous things down here would be the spiders if they ever dropped down to bite someone.

You don't actually know if they're venomous or not, but there were enough of them in here that the further you went, the more webs you and the others had to tear down or burn away. It was starting to get muddier the further down you went, as well.

"This smell is making me sick..."

Someone muttered that from behind, and you silently had to agree with them. Every breath your took down here was like inhaling through a soaked towel used for sifting out dirt.

After a while. the blockaded 'dead end' passage ways finally began to give way to more open ended branches.

"It's normal to dig out in various directions every so often when prospecting." Dullem explained at your wary glances down the dark halls, "If you just dig a straight line, you miss things. So once you've gone a bit deeper, you spread out to widen your net, and try to catch a vein of something... If there's nothing, you just keep going deeper and repeat the process. Generally you want to seal off the earlier entrances that led to nothing, so people won't become confused later."

"So something was found down these ways?" You hedge curiously, half-watching the sobbing man pause as he tried to decide which direction to go. He wasn't your guide so much as a danger-canary, so he didn't know what to do anymore than you did.

"Maybe." Dullem shrugged, "I'm not from around here, so I couldn't tell you what they found down here."

"...But you knew it would be here?" You frown at the larger man while the two of you continued down the paths, now having to avoid the occasional wet drop of water coalescing along the ceiling beams from time to time. "Well, underground springs are pretty common finds for prospecting shafts in the area." He explained with a shrug, "So if there's a city without a river, then there's probably a spring, which meant a shaft."

Your conversation stopped as the sound of extinguished fire hissed through the shafts, immediately drawing your attention back to the sobbing man who had been leading the way. He seemed just as shocked as you, holding his smoking torch in confusion as he stared at the web glimmering softly in the torchlight of the rest of your entourage.

"It... It's wet?" He explained half-heartedly, using his extinguished torch to tear down the webbing. It sagged out of the way after one side of its anchors were torn away, slapping wetly against the support beam and sticking there.

Something prickled down your spine as Ari tugged on your sleeve beside you. While you wouldn't consider yourself particularly claustrophobic, the heavy air of the shaft was starting to press in on you the further you went. More and more, these side-passages weren't closed off- Rather, some of them seemed to have been abandoned, with old tools still laying about. Long rusted picks with rotten wooden handles, the metal figure of lamps which had long since had their fuel emptied or diluted.

Ahead of you, ahead of the canary, you a handful of jewel like glimmers against the wall, barely reflecting in the light of your torch. Counting them, there had to be.. one, two... eight of them, in total, maybe? You squint, trying to get a better glimpse, but its Ari who slams down the finger of Oakenrue resolutely and starts to pull you back quickly that evidently gets that glimpse.

"Stop!"

The words came too late, the sobbing man in front of you already brushing away another web - Only for the extinguished torch to pass harmlessly through the water-logged strands and dislodge the web onto him personally.

No, it wasn't water-logged at all, those strands were just water!

The realization sinks into your stomach, just as your danger canary performs his job admirably by being ripped bodily from his feet and hurdled deeper into the darkness by the aquatic web that he had tried to break away.

>Retreat. Everyone get out!
>Torches up, advance cautiously!
>Charge after him, you might still be able to save him!
>Defensive positions, get out of the main shaft and take cover in the side-passages!
>Other? (write-in)

>>43536952
>Advance cautiously!

>>43536952
>>Defensive positions, get out of the main shaft and take cover in the side-passages!

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>43537016
1. Advancing cautiously.

>>43537052
2. Defensive positions!

Is now really a good time for dicegods to decide our fate...?

Writing.

Canary or no, you raised the torch in your hand cautiously. Unlike the rest of your troupe, you couldn't exactly feel afraid at the moment. If it came down to it, you were a Doppleganger, an apparition of Shade. Fear was one of the basic primal emotions that fueled you, so outside of the little corruptions you had been experiencing, you didn't feel it in the same way that, say, Ari did as she tightly clenched onto your shirt. from behind. Or the knights who had been quickly silenced when one, or two, or more of them had screamed in surprise.

What you could feel, however, was Reasonable Apprehension. Those eight gem-like eyes which glimmered in the torch light, there was no pupil within them to see swivel, nor did they twitch, but you could feel their attention focus in on you as you approached. Light shed away the darkness, adding perspective to the glimmering reveal.

Each one larger than Dullem's fist, crystallized orbs suspended within the slender legged watery body of an arachnid which stretched and bent without regard to bone or chitin in the shaft, squeezing itself into an offensively small space for its illogical size. Even if it was made of water, the crisp sound of its legs stabbing into the wood and ground elicited no shortage of gasps from the assortment of peasant knights behind you.

...Nothing. If memory serves, something should be happening right now, but no matter how you look at it, it's a water spider. A spider made of water. It's definitely an apparition, but there's no reaction.

"Irue...?" Dullem's tense voice hissed from beside you, one of his feet already sliding back and away. "If you don't give us an order soon, they'll start to run."

You swallowed tightly, noticing the lack of Canary in front of you. Despite having been pulled into the darkness, the same darkness this spider once inhabited, despite this spider being so large that its flexible body filled the entirety of the passage forward, that sobbing canary of man was nowhere to be seen. Had he been pulled further inside?

How did this thing hunt...? Was it webs? The sobbing canary had been caught by a web, but if this thing's trap had been sprung, surely it couldn't be defenseless just like that?

"We're advancing." You finally announce, catching the creaking of Dullem's gear as his grip tightened and he relayed the order to the nervous group. No one had what you could really describe as shields, but the grip on their knives and other assorted hatchets and weaponry were held aloft in preparation. You were advancing... You were advancing on this. What WAS this?

It retreated slowly as you advanced, clicking its legs in an unsettling way as it very gradually eased itself further back into the shaft with every step you took. Was it afraid of you? Was it retreating? Was it something in your posession?

"Master..." Ari tugged at your shirt again, trying to pull you back feebly.

>Charge the spider!
>Establish your position. These shafts aren't squad friendly.
>Slowly start to back off, see if it follows you.
>Other? (Write-in)

>>43537323
>>Establish your position. These shafts aren't squad friendly.

>>43537323
>>Establish your position. These shafts aren't squad friendly.
>>Other? (Write-in)
Try harder to identify it. If there's one thing we can do it's identify mana, right?

>>43537388
>>43537429
Establishing position!

>>43537429
>If there's one thing we can do, it's identify mana, right?
Yes. That is something Irue Valen is uniquely capable of.
You are not Irue Valen.

"Spread out." You gave the order tersely, keeping your eyes riveted on the thing in front of you. Inhuman, it was definitely an apparition- Common sense dictated that sense it was water, it had to be Undine. From the memories of Irue Valen, you had a general understanding of Undine; The Aquatic Mana, associated with everything from rivers to rain, but most prominently, the abyssal depths of the ocean.

Undine held an ambivalent relation with both Shade and Jinn, but was said to be especially close to Luna. In the ocean's depths, hidden deep beyond the reach of most people, Undine held an untold trove of lost knowledge and mysteries. If Luna was a Mana which knew everything, Undine was a Mana which valued privacy and secrets.

...This wasn't helping. There had to be something else!

Undine was calm and adaptable. Any agitation would be at the surface level at most. It was renowned as a patient existence, and favoured those with both persistence and flexibility. People who knew discretion over whimsy or hot blood. Because of this, a common motto passed through shrine acolytes was 'Befriend Jinn, Bed Salamander, Wed Undine'.

...That still wasn't helping!

While you frantically mulled over the memories in your head for some hint, Dullem's relayed orders were being followed as the knights began to spread further out in the tunnel, ducking off into side-passages as they eased out the cluster and created more room to maneuver. If this spider had charged you straight ahead before, it's liable that you all would have gotten bowled over in a single motion... But with this, you had some measure of leeway to react in.

Thankfully it seemed content to sit and wait as your people got into position. You still weren't certain how to go on the offensive, but if it would be fine with this, then you had time to keep thinking.

Unlike Shade, Undine rarely had any interest in testing people. Rather than lure people in to see if they could improve themselves, Undine were fiercely home-conscious, and often considered their territories to be sacred. It often took negotiation or subjugation by the Shrine to acquire safe usage of large sources of unclaimed water.

Unfortunately, you had no one like that with you.

"Irue, everyone is as secured as we can get." Dullem alerted you finally, having stood the center ground with you and Ari while the others moved to a more advantageous position. It's good you had left so many of your knights topside, because even the handful or so of knights that had come were still struggling in this moldy smelling pit. "What do we do now?"

You were thinking, you were thinking!

Undine... You had no idea what kind of apparition this was, or what it embodied. With that little information, how could you possibly make a decision?

Water. Depths. Secrets. Home. If you retreated, it might let you escape... Unless you had already seen enough to learn something? Had you seen something coming down? If there had been a hint there, and you retreated now, there's no doubt it was going to attack to prevent you from leaving. What if it had nothing to do with secrets, and was just guarding the underground spring?

>Retreat. There was nothing here, so it had to be a spring guardian, right?
>Guess the secret. You hope taking a guess doesn't make things worse.
>Try to negotiate (How?)
>Other? (write-in)

>>43537688
>>Other? (write-in)
>>43536933
>"This smell is making me sick..."
>Someone muttered that from behind, and you silently had to agree with them.
Is the smell really just mold and stale air?

>>Try to negotiate (How?)
If it can understand, tell it we are only seeking passage. Our canary did approach by burning it, it may have the wrong idea.

How well can shadowrue see in the dark?

>>43537840
About negotiation, I was thinking, maybe letting it on some secret, what do you think guy?

>>43537840
Dopplerue can see perfectly fine in the dark. It's the light which makes it more difficult.

The smell is mostly mold and stale air, but also mud. It's very thick, and can be quite sickening if you breath it in for a prolonged period of time.

>>43537858
Though I doubt there are more than 2-3 people here currently, if anyone wants to discuss this option, I'll grant you about 10m time to do it.

After that, I'll go with >>43537840 negotiating.

>>43537858
Trading a secret for safe passage...? Like what?

It was mentioned that it's not on BAD terms with shade, so maybe we could reveal our current state as a doppleganger. But I'm not sure how wise that is in front of our handful of troops.

>>43537887
I was wondering because we could also offer to extinguish our torches and go the rest of the way blind, albeit with shadowrue as our only set of eyes.

>>43537903
Exactly what I was thinking, We probably could it in a way that would not endanger our position, I hope.

>>43537932
Maybe let Dullem and the rest retreat some ways back with the torches - cautiously, in case this provokes the spider - and let Irue do her thing in the dark.

Manifesting True 'Rue might let us get a better grip on what this thing is, too.

So, the final verdict will be?

>>43537954
Okay, let's do it.

Maybe it won't eat us.

>>43538004
>>43537954
Sure let's go with that.

So to clarify before I begin writing:
Dullem and the others with torches retreat, then Dopplerue meditates?

Is this your final decision?

>>43538039
Yes

If... If it was Undine, then it valued secrets, right? You weren't something favoured by Undine, but Shade didn't have a particularly bad relationship with Undine, and if it was secrets, then... Then you had one. Negotiation might still be possible.

"Dullem, take Ari and the others and back up." You finally gave the order, feeling Ari's grip on your shirt tighten as Dullem sharply inhaled. "What?" He hissed back urgently, "Ser, with all due respect, have you lost your mind?"

You shook your head, already beginning to dredge up your insecurities as you faced down the patiently watching water spider. "I know what I'm doing. If it's an Undine, then something like this should work."

"Should?!" Dullem hissed, wrapping one arm around Ari even as he objected. "You're going to bet your life on a 'maybe'?" Though you felt her fingers pulling desperately at your shirt, Dullem's superior physical strength was slowly winning this fight. "Ari." You incline your head slightly, dark thoughts already drifting through your head, and a tremor from your shadow in the retreating torch light was enough to make her release you once and for all.

The light bled away, but you could still see clearly. You were Shade in the beginning anyway, so the darkness you were born in was as clear to you as any other moment. The only person you had lost to this apparition had been that canary, and thinking back, hadn't it been because he disturbed the web? Undine and Salamander had a notoriously bad relationship, so bringing fire into the spider's domain... It was undoubtedly an offense. However, now it was dark; Dark without the torches, yet the aquatic apparition remained stationary, remained watching.

You couldn't begin to guess what kind of secret might be sequestered away in this stale aired pit, if any. If it was merely a guardian of the spring, could you risk losing your knights in a fight against it?

No, if it was like this, then your only hope was negotiation. If you revealed your secret to it, then maybe that would be enough of a trade for it to allow you passage?

Depressing. Shrouded in darkness, you were relying on Irue again. Unable to do it yourself, everytime it was like this, wasn't it?

Apparition.

The familiar memories of that trance like admission, a trait unique to Irue Valen that you as a doppleganger couldn't emulate.

Newborn Undine Elemental

The very thing which had turned the individual residing in your rightful body into a monster you couldn't resist.

Guardian Offspring

....Offspring?

Atlach Nacha

Your eyes snapped open, watching darkness visible even to your eyes - That which composed the ethereal body of 'Irue Valen' - begin to writhe within the shaft. Two important facts sprang terrifyingly to mind at that moment, only one of which could you have known before this moment. That was, namely, this trait of Irue Valen's... It was nothing short of a berserker state in your memories. Only vague control could be asserted, even in the best of times. This fact kept your eyes riveted onto the apparition as tendrils of your own expansive shadow abandoned any pretense of human form and began to systematically murder the watery arachnid in front of it.

Regardless of how it struggled, nor what form it took, the apparition which had brought your entire entourage to a halt could do nothing but briefly delay the inevitable in the face of the silent accosting. It was something that thankfully only you were forced to watch, a genocidal rampage which tore aquatic legs in half and plunged jagged edges through crystalline eyes without end; Dragging back the fleeing apparition by its own aquatic web.

The other fact, which paralysed your throat as you realized it the moment that trance-like reaper of a voice had spoken-

"There are more!"

-Was that spiders had a LOT of offspring. It had been calm until now, but with Irue going berserk on this one child, its siblings would be stirred in short order!

You need to give them an order, quickly!

>Gather together, don't stay separated!
>Get out, immediately!
>Come to me, quickly!
>Other? (write-in)

>>43538519
>>Gather together, don't stay separated

>>43538519
>>Gather together, don't stay separated!

>>43538519
>>Get out, immediately!
Retreat with as much caution as is possible - no stragglers, but we need to leave now.

>>43538633
>>43538665
Wouldn't gathering together be a bad idea? We just had them spread out.

>>43538709
Because the babies will pick them one by one and large groups break a web easier as a whole rather than piecemeal

>>43538633
>>43538665
Gather together!
You know this doesn't include Irue, right? There was an option for that.

>>43538709
Get out!

Writing.

>>43538725
Would they be able to break the web at all, if they get caught? It's not just a normal spider web.

>>43538740
That spoiler
No we didn't


>>43538743
Weight still applies

>>43538740
>>43538767
I did, hoping that she'll rip them all apart while our people stay back.

"Regroup!" Your cry was desperate, because from the moment you had allowed Irue Valen to manifest, your time had run short. You twisted your head back to look at the group, to see their hesitation at the seemingly illogical command after you had just told them to split up. "Get together now! Move!" You turned to run back to them, but another of the apparitions were beginning to emerge from the shaft the last one had been scuttled within, and already your shadow had taken to it with ruthless abandon.

Frozen in place while the assault took place, you were forced to watch from afar as the others quickly scrambled back together with torches held high. Dullem had thankfully grabbed Ari up around her waist to prevent the waifish girl from trying to hobble back to you, and they clustered together in a panic. Some were already backing out towards the entrance - The name Peasant Knights wasn't simply for show; None of them were trained, this was the result of pure and simple fear. Still, the common logic of 'strength in numbers' kept them from scattering too readily, even as heard the dangerous hissing begin to fill the shafts.

Stale air that had remained dead and still for decades began to shake with the movement of innumerable water spiders rising up to the death rattles of their siblings.

It wasn't just this corridor, you realized. The unclosed passage ways, ever since these spider webs had started to become wet, you had long since stepped past the 'entrance' to their nest.

"From behind!" Someone's voice you vaguely recognized from the trip down here confirmed your fears, "This corridor as well!" Fears that continued to grow. If it was just you, then something as simple as these children was something you were confident you could handle given time.

But it wasn't just you.

Another water spiderling torn to shreds, but the berserking shadow couldn't be directed in this state. Gathering everyone together had prevented major casualties, no doubt they would have died if they had remained split up into the very same side-passages which those other siblings were now emerging from, but the truth remained that you, Dullem, Ari, and the rest of the handful of knights who had followed you into this nest were surrounded on all sides in what might very well become a grave.

Your strongest weapon against these things couldn't even be controlled. You might be able to point Irue in a general direction, but precision direction was far beyond the two of you in this state.

Someone was going to die.

Someone was going to die, and it was your fault.

You brought them here.

You did this.

"What now?!"

You don't know. You don't know!

>How is Irue fighting the apparitions?
>Isn't there something else you have to help in this situation?
>Sublimate Fear
>Other? (write-in)

>>43539027
>Use the magic stick.

>>43539027
>>Isn't there something else you have to help in this situation?

>>43539027
>>Isn't there something else you have to help in this situation?
>>43539053
If there was any time for a last resort...

>>43539053
>>43539090
>>43539108
You guys keep pressing really dangerous buttons...

Writing.

No, you weren't the only one here who could do this. Irue wasn't the only thing here that could stand up to these things safely! "You pitiful fragment! Wake up and do something!" As much as you loathed to rely on waking that lonesome thing resting in Ari's hands, it was the only chance to come out of this with as little casualties as possible.

Your cry echoed frantically through the shaft, a command and summons mixed into one, and you waited for the pulse of presence signaling its rousing.

...And you waited. Each breath, each second, an eternity as you could only watch in vain a spiderling snatched one of your knights and pulled him forcibly from the collective despite their efforts to hold him with them.

Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit! Why was it picking now to be awnry?! "Ari, give me that stick!" You'd beat it awake if you had to... But even now, with everything at stake, your eyes locked with Ari-

-And she shook her head.

Before Irue had entered that room. Before you were brought into existence.

She had been told to hold onto that cursed thing.

Another of your knights was taken. There was nothing you could do here, was there? "Ari, now! You're all going to die if you don't LISTEN TO ME!" Your pleas mixed with the aimless frustration at being so helpless, the swift realization of your fears as you were forced to watch peasant after peasant, sworn to you, to follow you, through that forest, into this rank pit, towards a better life, be plucked out of sight by frenzied apparitions.

Even now, Irue Valen's orders outranked your own. The only person that could convince that stubborn girl to do what you said was in no state to help themselves, and so you turned your eyes to Dullem instead. "Take that staff from her! It's our only chance!"

Looking between Ari and you, even though he obviously didn't understand everything, Dullem immediately separated the waifish girl from the staff she had clutched onto so dearly.

Ari's defiant cry when the wooden rod was finally ripped free of her hands was the signal that changed everything. Already you had watched your peasant knights start to become food, but as Ari cried out while stumbling back, there was one final thing you had to remember.

Before any of this, even before being told to hold that lonesome fragment, Irue Valen had imparted a single set of orders to it.

'Protect Rinnier and Ari.'

The reaction was beyond belief, allowing you only a moment to see Dullem's shocked face before the entire passage was obscured by the expanding wood, ripping tendrils of trees through hard packed earth and rock, shaking the very foundations that kept the shaft upheld with its revitalization from object to animate. Screams of your allies, of Ari and Dullem, lost in the roar of a destablized quake - Silenced as the roof and walls began to tremble.

Separated by the rebellious fragment you had sought to wake, you could do nothing but be dragged further into the shaft as Irue's berserking nature took full shift into self-preservation; You watched as the way to the surface caved in behind you, dousing the soaked passage in ineffectual darkness.

...When the dust finally settled, and your ears stopped ringing, there was only the occasional drip of water to greet you. In the commotion, even Irue's manifestation had been broken eventually, leaving you alone within the shafts, with only one direction to go, and a wall of rubble behind you. Ignoring it for the moment, you scramble back towards the rocks - Calling out for someone on the other side. Dullem, Ari, anyone.

But even still, the persistent dripping of water is your only answer.

Your eyes clench shut, a snarl rising on your lips as you futilely slam your fist against the collapsed rocks.

"Dammit!"

File: ValEnd.gif (1023 KB, 500x281)

1023 KB GIF

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Valen+Quest

And we are archived.

I'll lurk the thread for a bit to try and answer some questions if I can.

Apologies to all anons who participated in Valen Quest but died at their keyboards wondering when QM would finally stop.

To those who did not make it to the end, we will never forget your sacrifice.

>>43539659
Well Quest over I guess.

>>43539659
SO Ari's dead, Dullem's dead, Rinnier is liable to be executed, Irue's body is broken beyond repair and we're trapped alone in the darkness with Angry Undine apparitions? All because some retards thought it was a good idea to try and talk to a spirit that was already hostile. So new quest when Riz?

>>43539735
Valen Quest is not over.

Next thread will be held next weekend, as usual.
Also Irue's body isn't actually damaged. The cascade was avoided thanks to self-preservation from the shadow.

>>43539768
>Valen Quest is not over.

Given your quests are even more complex and complicated than Ouro's or Auri's, in addition to the situation we're in? I 'm fairly certain next thread will be short and quest ending.


Thanks for confirming we got everyone else killed by the way.

File: SJd2GPB.gif (749 KB, 500x269)

749 KB GIF

>>43539768
See you next week then.

>>43539788
>More complex and complicated than Ouro and Auri
I don't know who Auri is, but any comparison to Ouro is quite a compliment to me, so thanks, I think?

Anyway, I believe in you guys. Next thread will be interesting as well!

>>43539824
Look up Miasma quest, Otherworldly Arboretum quest or Journal of the Occult Quest. All quests requiring players to use their brains for logical actions, remembering things, and drawing inferences. Two of the quests ended very badly and the third which was the QM on "easy" still regularly has players shit themselves over common sense or logical issues. /tg/ is retarded and any complicated quest where the MC isn't overpowered as hell is sure to bad end in their hands unless the QM is forgiving above and beyond the call like in Snakecatcher.


See Xenocide, Otherworldly Arboretum, Miasma.