>>44489170
You frown as your pack starts to wiggle behind you. Unless Hom has broken out and is somehow manifesting a body on his own, it means that Zigzag has had enough and wants out. Why does she always have to be such a pain in the arse?

You stand back up and ask the secretary about toilets, doing your best to keep your pack inconspicuous as you do so. She looks faintly disgusted but eventually directs you down the hall into what appears to be a communal lavatory, no doubt used by the accountants on their breaks. It doesn’t even smell that bad.

After making sure that you’re alone, you open up your pack and let Zigzag out. The long black snake with the white zigzag pattern slowly uncoils as you upend it on the tiles, hissing from the sudden cold.

“Well?,” you ask. “What seems to be the problem?”

The snake starts to twitch, shedding its skin at an accelerated rate. It’s not long before Zigzag’s human form is standing before you. Her eyes, more human than they usually are, won’t stand still, darting this way and that. She’s sweating. You’re starting to regret taking her with you to this.

“Don’t like being trapped in there,” she says.

“Well you can’t come with me as a human.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re...you. I have a very important meeting and you’re not exactly going to help my case. So please just get back in the pack.”

“I don’t want to be in the pack. Give me the gunk first.”


>”Too bad.” Put her in the pack.

>Brew up some Snake Oil for her and then put her back in the pack.

>Let her accompany you in human form, provided that she understands to be seen but not heard.

>Let her accompany you in snake form, try to pass her off as a natural creature or alchemical creation.

>Tell her to stay hidden in a bathroom stall here until you’ve finished your meeting.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Make a Wish (Specify)

>Other

>>44489180
>Brew up some Snake Oil for her and then put her back in the pack.
For fucks sake. Why did we even bring her on this trip?

>>44489180
>Brew up some Snake Oil for her and then put her back in the pack.
Definitely not letting her fuck this up. Make sure she's in snake form before we knock her out though. I don't trust her to change back otherwise.

>>44489180
>>Brew up some Snake Oil for her and then put her back in the pack.
>>44489260
this

>Brew up some Snake Oil for her and then put her back in the pack.

As bad as it might be to simply give her what she wants you're definitely not letting her fuck this up.
"Alright fine, you've got a deal. Just get back into snake form first."

She eventually transforms back, making several false attempts interrupted by longing glances at your cauldron before actually dissolving for real. You brew up some Oil as quickly as you can but still taking enough time to make sure that its strong. She's been building an immunity to the weaker stuff and you need to make sure she's out.

It doesn't take long before the little snake stops moving and you gently scoop it back up and deposit it within your pack. She shouldn't be interrupting anything anytime soon.

You slide your pack back on and walk back to the waiting room, arriving just in time. You and Aashenpreet are ushered down a different corridor and into a small wood-paneled room with thick red carpet.
A large balding man is seated behind a desk covered in reports. An unused abacus picks up dust behind him.
"Ah, you've finally arrived. My name is Abel Jefford the Younger. I understand that you have something to show me."
A second name? Fancy.

You nod, Aashenpreet stepping back as you look through your pack for a potion.
>Which potion is it?

>>44489525
Bloodkin

>>44489525
potence

>>44489525
Shapestealer?

>>44489619
I thought we were planning to save that for last if we show it at all

>>44489525
Potence first, then sahpestealer maybe with regeneration mixed in

>>44489645
Eh sure. In that case changing >>44489619
to Potence to start.

File: timetohibernate.gif (1.42 MB, 385x291)

1.42 MB GIF

Alright, calling for leading with the Potence.

>Potence first

As you pull the Potence bottle from your pack, Abel interrupts you.
"I beg your pardon, but what did you say your name was again?"

"Cennen."

"And I am given to understand that your client wishes to sell these brews...discreetly?"

You set the bottle of Potence down on his desk.
"Yes. But we're not going to give everything up-front, we need some funds to get us started."

"Yes, yes, I know. I've already spoken with your colleagues when they first approached us. Now, what is the reason for your discretion? Is it the subject of the potions themselves? Avoiding the sales tax? You don't have to worry, the words spoken here will not leave these four walls."


> "Some of these potions may be frowned upon by our more conservative brethren in the Potions College, let's just leave it at that."

>"My client has personal reasons for obscuring their identity."

>"We would prefer to sell these through middlemen such as yourselves and avoid any of the College's meddling business standards."

>Gesture to the potion and ask him to try it.

>Explain the Potence.

>Ask him how many other deals of this sort he's done.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44489836
Some of my brews are breakthroughs in the field of alchemy and I'd rather not be bothered by the college about them
>Gesture to the potion and ask him to try it.
>Explain the Potence.

>>44489836
>"We would prefer to sell these through middlemen such as yourselves and avoid any of the College's meddling business standards."
>Explain the Potence.
>Have Aashenpreet "demonstrate"

>>44489836
>"We would prefer to sell these through middlemen such as yourselves and avoid any of the College's meddling business standards."

>Explain the Potence.

>Gesture to the potion and ask him to try it.

>>44489836
> "Some of these potions may be frowned upon by our more conservative brethren in the Potions College, let's just leave it at that."

>"We'd rather not be bothered by the College."
>Explain the Potence.

"Some of these brews are breakthroughs in the field of alchemy and I'd rather avoid the College's business standards on such things."

He raises an eyebrow.
"You're not the first to promise something like that. What have you got to show me?"

"Observe, this bottle contains a brew that I call 'Potence'. Feel free to try it out, it's safe."

He frowns, just a little.
"No thank you, surely there's an easier way to demonstrate it."

He's not going to drink it? You suppose that makes sense. Should you drink it then? No wait, you have a better idea.
"I expected as much which is why I gave another Potence to my assistant just previously. Would you care to demonstrate?"

To her credit, Aashenpreet catches on immediately. She bows her head and steps forward demurely.
"I'm honored to make your acquaintance."
She then hooks a hand underneath his heavy wooden desk and hoists it into the air one-handed.

She lifts it higher until she's balancing it above her head, Abel gaping up at her. She looks like she's enjoying herself.
And then she sits the desk back down right where it was, not a single stack of paper spilled.

Abel sucks in breath, pretending to look unimpressed.
"An interesting brew for sure. But we've seen similar before even if they were...not quite like that. It's hardly a breakthrough in current alchemical study now, is it?"

>Keep talking up the Potence.

>"Good thing it's not the only one I have." Show him another Potion (Specify)

>"Well if you don't want it, we can always take our business elsewhere."

>Other

>>44490196
>"Good thing it's not the only one I have." Show him another Potion (Specify)
Bloodkin. He has to drink it though. Don't call it bloodkin though. I don't want to give away the ingredients.

>>44490196
>>"Good thing it's not the only one I have." Show him another Potion (Specify)
Bloodkin

Ask if he has two servants he can volunteer, the nature of our experimentation has left using it on ourselves or our assistant, .........inadvisable.

>>44490271
There's nothing wrong with letting our assistant do it though.

>>44490196
Regen.

>>44490196
>"Good thing it's not the only one I have." Show him another Potion (Specify)

Regen or Bloodkin I suppose.

>"Good thing it's not the only one I have." Show him the Bloodkin.

"Fortunately it is but the least of these samples."
You pull out the Bloodkin next, setting it down to the Potence bottle.

"And this is?"

Oh shit you can't call it Bloodkin, can you? You do your best to quickly think of a name.
"I-I call it Mind...link."
He looks at you skeptically so you keep on talking.
"Just the working title, I assure you. This potion can establish a link between the drinkers very soul!"

"Now THAT's a high claim indeed."

"Feel free to test it. You'll need to call in two servants."

He doesn't ask why he can't just call in one and use either you or Aashenpreet. And why would he? He's a man who understands the value of secrets.
Abel raps on the wall behind him and the door opens, three guards on the other side.
"Just the first two of you will do. Both of you need to drink this."

The two guards don't look particularly enthusiastic about trying a potion they know nothing about but they acquiesce. After they both drink, they start to twitch and look at each other strangely.
"Hold up..."
"What the fuck!"

"How is it? How does it feel?"

"I'm sorry sir, this is a little weird. It's like I can hear his mind."

"Hrmph. Hold on, will you. I need to discuss this."
Abel gets to his feet and leaves the room, the two guards following him. You and Aash are left alone in the room.

"Well," Aashenpreet says. "Seems to be going well so far."

"Maybe. Do you suppose that was a good response or a bad one?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's clearly gone to discuss the potion with somebody. I just don't know what context he's gone to do it in."

"I'm sure it's fine."

You stand there for at least five more minutes before Abel returns, flanked by two different guards.
"Come with me."
He beckons you down a different hall.

>Do as he says.

>No, you don't like this. Anything he's got to say, he can do it here.

>Ask if you've got a deal or not.

>Other

>>44490673
>>Ask if you've got a deal or not.

>>44490673
>Do as he says.
Be on guard

>>44490673
>Ask if you've got a deal or not.

I have a number of other potions mind you. Some slightly more dangerous than the last two. I might even be convince to part with them if our relationship ends up satisfactory for the both of us.

>>44490758
I like nothing about this write in. Please don't use it.

>>44490673
>Do as he says.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

Looks like a tie for asking about the deal first or just doing what he says. Odds former, evens latter.

>Do as he says.

While you might not feel good about this, it's just a hunch and this is a job Hiss entrusted you with. You can't risk spoiling it by acting too aggressive in the negotiations. So when he asks you to follow him, you just nod at Aashenpreet and do as he says.

He leads you down a hall and through several corners and you wind up in a much darker room. The windows here are covered in thick curtains and only the sparse candles on the giant table provide any illumination at all. There are at least four other men seated on the other side but you can't see them properly.
Abel bows and you decide to follow his lead. Aashenpreet doesn't.

One of the men speaks, his voice low.
"Enough fooling around and saletalk. We can make your client very, very rich. Just lay it all out and let us see the goods.”

>Show them everything.

>You don’t need to, the Bloodkin alone is probably enough to secure the deal.

>Show them one more potion (Specify)

>Show them a selection of potions (Specify)

>Tell them that you can have more later but it’d have to be for additional money.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44491099
Persistence
Persistence antidote
Regen
Collapsible brew

>>44491099
>Show them one more potion (Specify)

Shapestealer

>>44491218
I don't think Hiss would appreciate us spreading the ability to shapeshift into someone and take their place. They would immediately suspect that our organization is using them and that would be dangerously close to the truth.

>>44491099
Persistence
Persistence antidote
Regen
Weakening brew
and Caster brews for so they can make a prototype

>>44491304
Weakening brew
and Caster brews for so they can make a prototype
These last two are bad ideas.

>>44491334
To be clear I'm not voting for these

>>44491201
This. Tell them more brews will come depending on our satisfaction with our dealings

>>44491201
>>44491375
Collapsible brews are nothing special we got them out of a book we got in Melire.

>Persistence
>Persistence antidote
>Regen
>Collapsible Brew

Could you still get this deal on nothing but the Bloodkin? Maybe but you aren't willing to risk it. You need to sweeten the offer but what can you demonstrate safely?

In the end you show them the Persistence and it's antidote, the Regen brew and the Collapsible potion. They're very impressed by all of them, particularly the last one.
You sign several sheets of paper and they tell you it's a deal. The first payment should already be shipping. You nod and lie through your teeth about your production capabilities. No doubt they find you and your mysterious client suspicious but they can't argue with what you've shown them.

Abel ushers you out but stops you back in the corridor to shake your hand.
"Is there anything else you need, friend? Anything else at all?"

>Ask for a personal loan. You still don't have any actual signets.

>Ask for directions to your 'colleagues' that arranged your introduction.

>"No thank you."

>"Actually, I do need some more glassware."

>Other

>>44491424
Collapsible brews are based on Eugenes brew I think.

>>44491491
>"Actually, I do need some more glassware."
>Exchange our gold for signets at a generous exchange rate
>Ask for directions to your 'colleagues' that arranged your introduction.

>>44491491
>>"Actually, I do need some more glassware."
>Exchange our gold for signets at a generous exchange rate
>Ask for directions to your 'colleagues' that arranged your introduction.

>>44491491
Do we actually need more glassware?

>>44491424
They're made with snakeskin as a reagent.

>>44491564
I'm not really sure. Do we have set quotas? Are we actually gonna supply them with shitloads of brews?

>>44491564
A second set for Eve II might be good.

>>44491627
I think glassware is referring to bottles used to contain brews, not an alchemy lab set

>>44491564
Question not the nebulous supply from which Cennen pulls his bottles but yes, all that Serpentbane production put a strain on it.

>>44491622
Hopefully not. The plan is to entice them into sending money and helping fund them and then eating them and assuming control.

>>44491651
Well in that case, extra bottles are always welcome, especially since the caster destroys 1-2 bottles per shot.

>>44491545
This
>>44491661
Fair enough

>>44491661
That's a relief. I was worrying about the logistics of collecting massive amounts of snake reagents, especially blood

>>44491771
Cennen will go down in history as the inventor of horrible weapons of war called casters and also blood donation drives

>"Actually, I do need some more glassware."
>Exchange our gold for signets at a generous exchange rate
>Ask for directions to your 'colleagues' that arranged your introduction.

"Actually, I could use an exchange. You people handle those as well, don't you?"

"Of course, of course. Come back to my office and we can talk it out."

Back at his desk, you count out what gold coins you have left while his eyes grow wider.
"Yes, we can handle that. Is this what your employer pays you in?"

"Perhaps."

"Interesting. Interesting indeed. One wonders why he simply doesn't use signets. But then again, I guess they don't have many signets there huh?"
He gives you a conspiratorial wink and you have to stop yourself from freaking out. Oh shit he knows, is he a snake? How the fuck does he know? Do they all know?

But he isn't keeping watch on you, he's just counting the gold still. And so you calm yourself down and come to the conclusion that he probably believes you to be secretly acting as a supplier for a foreign power. One of the Jheri countries most likely, that makes more sense. That would explain the act they pulled just before, they must think you're here on behalf of an outland merchant doing something shady.
And yet they still do business with you? Money is money, you suppose.

Abel hands you a hefty purse filled with signets.
"A generous conversion rate if I do say so myself. Consider it a boon."

"Thank you, I shall. And I do have a few other things I'd like to ask you, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all, what is it?"

"I'm running a little low on glassware. Bottles and such."

"Ah, say no more. Unfortunately I cannot procure any for you but rest assured, Melire is a city of alchemy. There are plenty of alchemists who sell equipment along with their potions but don't trust them, they gouge as best they can. Your best bet is probably the College markets. Or..."
He stops to think for a moment.
1/2

>>44491915
"I like to keep our many businesses confidential but there is an alchemist client of mine you might be interested in. His name is Moldrun and he's a Master like yourself, works for the College. I'm given to understand that he has a recent surplus of equipment for some reason. Let me just write down his address."

He starts scrawling down a note, something that gives you an idea.
"While you're there, would you mind giving me the address of my colleagues? The ones that arranged our introduction."

He looks puzzled.
"You don't know them?"

"Friends of a mutual friend. I'd like to speak with them."

"Do you? That's a strange business practice and no mistake. But we do have an address for them, used to exchange messages. They're staying at an inn. Just give me a moment."

You wait patiently and you are eventually rewarded with yet another address.

You and Aashenpreet walk out the doors a few minutes later, the street mostly empty.
"Thanks for staying quiet the whole time Aash."

"It was nothing. Everything here is just so bizarre and foreign looking, I was happy just to watch."

"Well maybe later I can give you a proper tour, show you around."

"Really?"

"Well, not right now. Got stuff to do."

She looks disappointed.

>It's time to meet your colleagues.

>Head to the College markets first.

>Perhaps you should take Abel up on his offer about this Moldrun fellow. You don't speak to enough alchemists.

>Screw it, take Aashenpreet about first.

>Other

>>44492073
We'll still be able to do all those other things if we meet our colleagues first right?

>>44492073
>Perhaps you should take Abel up on his offer about this Moldrun fellow. You don't speak to enough alchemists.
I want a good deal on glass but I also want new books from the markets

>>44492073
>Screw it, take Aashenpreet about first.
You've earned it Aash.


Tempted to headpat her but she might take it wrong.

>>44492115
Yes but they all have various things and side options so which order you choose to do them is pretty important.

>>44492129
>headpat
this isn't an anime quest bruv

>>44492073
>Screw it, take Aashenpreet about first.

>>44492073
>Perhaps you should take Abel up on his offer about this Moldrun fellow. You don't speak to enough alchemists.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

Another tie, this one between Aashenpreet and the alchemist. Evens the first, odds the latter.

>>44492129
You patted her plenty of times back when she was in snake form and you only knew her as the albino constrictor.

>>44492367
Hopefully the dice gods remember all these ties when we get attacked by the snek traitors

>Perhaps you should take Abel up on his offer about this Moldrun fellow. You don't speak to enough alchemists.

You recall his directions as best you can and set off down the street, Aashenpreet following just behind.
"Where are we going now? Off to find your friends?"

"Not just yet, plenty of time left in the day for that. I'm going to see this alchemist client Abel talked about, the one who wants to move some glassware."

"Oh. Why do you think he's a client, do you reckon?"

You shrug.
"A lot of people use banks."

"That wouldn't make him a client, would it? He must have some sort of deal or transaction going."

"Maybe."

"Maybe he's like you. Ooh! What's that!'

"That's a church, Aash. And no, not right now. Maybe we can come back later."
It's a steepled stone building with a large iron ring set into the wall above the doors, the symbol of the Creator. It occurs to you that if you had walked this way while giving her a tour she probably would have dragged you into the church.

"I recognize that symbol. That's Aashimid's sign."

"What, it is? All of the Sisters have a symbol like that."

Aashenpreet nods.
"I guess that makes sense. It must have been a truth that was taught by spirits all over the world. Aashimid as a circle is their invention."

"Wait, do spirits actually think the Creator is a circle?"

"What? No, that'd be silly. But it is impossible to represent his form and blasphemous besides. The circle, ring or disc is how best we can represent him. Closed and unbroken, a perfect system that feeds into itself."

"Like this, you mean?"
You wave your right hand, glove hiding your ouroboros brand.

"Yes," Aash narrows her eyes. "Like that."

In time you find yourself in the better part of town, a street filled with large townhouses. Each one has at least three stories and they are all impeccably clean...save for one.
The house in front of you is practically dilapidated, grand and large but clearly unkempt and ill cared for.
1/2

>>44492623
Aashenpreet paces behind you as you stand in front of the door, the paint peeling.
"Are you sure this is the right place? Looks like nobody's lived in here for months!"

"I'm sure. I was expecting a shop or something..."
You'd wonder if it was a result of Melire's recent troubles but it's the only building like this on the entire street. And besides all of the unrest is supposed to be confined to the poorer areas and this is anything but.
You knock. No response.

You knock again. No response.

You wait and knock a third time, calling out Moldrun's name as you do so.
This time you hear a faint voice yell something that might have been 'I'm coming!' and so you stand back.

It takes at least three more minutes before the door swings open to reveal a very tall and very thin man. He's taller even than you and maybe even Oster, his black hair slicked back and oily. He looks to be somewhere in his middle age, the first signs beginning to show and he's wearing a blue robe covered and contained by a long leather apron covered in unknown stains. He looks at you blankly.
"I'm busy, what do you want?"

"Master Moldrun I assume?"

"Yes. What of it?"
He seems to look at you properly for the first time, looking both you and Aashenpreet down. His eyes fixate on the armband signifying your status.
"Are you from the College?"
His eyes are watery, shining with a faint fluid sheen at all times.

"No, I've never been. I'm here because of a mutual friend, told him I was looking for glassware."

"Ah, you're here for the junk spares. Come in then, don't tardy about. I don't want any of the bad air outside right now."
You and Aashenpreet step inside, Moldrun closing the door behind you. The entry hall is dark, the only lights being a few scattered candles and a broken lantern. The windows are all closed and covered in thick curtains. There's very little furniture and it's extremely dusty, hanging in the air like a shroud.
Aashenpreet gags.

"So what are you?"
2/3

>>44492804
I think this guy is the embodiment of how Cennen would be if hiss didn't distract him with non-brewing tasks every once in a while

>>44492804
The alchemist peers at you as your eyes are already starting to water from the amount of dust in the air.
"What do you mean?"

"You got a fancy band and everything. Are you a master? Journeyman? Apprentice doing work for somebody else?"

"Master. What else?"

"Of what? Hold on."
He opens one of the doors leading further inside. The wallpaper is peeling off the walls in great sheets, he brushes them out of his way without even seeming to notice.

Shit, he wants to know your Mastery.

>Healing.

>Battle or destruction.

>Soul

>Transmutation

>Beasts

>(Specify)

>"It's none of your business."

>>44492871
>Soul

>>44492871
The intricacies of humanity and lack there of.

>>44492871
>"It's none of your business."
This dude is creepy
>>44492910
What the hell is that supposed to mean?

>>44492871
>"It's none of your business."

>>44492871
>Soul

>>44492871
>Soul
What could possibly go wrong?

>>44492871
>>"It's none of your business."
maybe slightly more diplomatic
im not in a position to discuss it

>>44492871
>Soul

>>44492992
we've already pretty much let the "soul alchemist in town" cat out of the bag showing soul based potions to the merchants. so not much really

>>44492871
"You first."

>>44493079
To be fair those are discreet shady merchants but this guy doesn't seem like he has many people to talk to about it either

>Soul

You're a little iffy about sharing your unique focus, an entire field of alchemy that only exists because of snake reagents with this guy but...why not? It's the truth and if he wants to do a little shop-talk you're happy to oblige. He's more likely to just pass you off as a nutter.
"My mastery is soul. Potions that affect or change it, either's fine."

Moldrun stares at you for a moment. So's Aashenpreet, albeit for different reasons.
"Really?"

"Really. Potions that work with the soul."

"I-I see. Well the spare glassware is just over here..."
He leads you through a narrow corridor with cobwebs clogging up the ceiling into a room with a staircase leading down in the corner. The rest of the room is taken up by benches filled with bottles, flasks and other glass laboratory and brewing equipment. They and the benches are dusty enough that they mustn't have even been touched for months!
Or maybe it only takes a few days in this place to acquire that kind of patina, you've already got dust settling into the folds of your clothes.

"Souls..."
He doesn't seem to be talking to you, just muttering.
"Take what you want. I'll be down in the basement. Be back soon."

He shuffles down the stairs with surprising speed and disappears.
The moment he's gone, Aashenpreet spits violently.
"Ugh! It's in my mouth! Cennen, this place is no good. Just grab what you want and leave."

"I think he wants to talk to us after he comes back Aash. Maybe arrange a trolley for us so we don't have to carry it."
And besides it wouldn't hurt to swap some recipes. Just not any snake ones.

"Who cares about what he wants?"


>Take your time to inspect the glassware.

>Just take whatever can fit and leave.

>Check out the rest of the house.

>Go down into the basement and ask him if he has anything that can carry all of this.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44493265
>>Take your time to inspect the glassware.
Then
>Go down into the basement and ask him if he has anything that can carry all of this.

>>44493265
>Collapsible brew the glassware, we can inspect it later
>Check out the rest of the house
Something is wrong here

>>44493265
>>44493298
He also never told us what his mastery was.

>>44493265
>>44493298

Sure.

File: 1398712477809.jpg (35 KB, 620x348)

35 KB JPG

>>44493346
Rude!

>>44493265
>Go down into the basement and ask him if he has anything that can carry all of this.

>Collapsible brew the glassware, we can inspect it later
>Check out the rest of the house.

"You know what? I think you're right, this place is wrong. But that doesn't mean we should leave."
You start collapsing the glassware, shrinking them all down and putting them in your pack. Zigzag is still asleep thankfully.

"I think it means exactly that, actually."

"No, it means we have to stay here and check it out."

Aashenpreet harrumphs but she doesn't dispute you.
Glancing back at the stairs leading down, you leave the room and start to look around. It's all very dark, the windows covered and the only segments of the house lit with candles being the direct path from the basement stairs to the front door.
Fortunately you have a Sun Potion.

You and Aash search the entire first floor but find nothing, just mostly empty rooms and dust. The whole place isn't DIRTY technically, it's just been grossly neglected. Some rooms have huge spiderwebs spun across their doorways, living proof that their respective doors haven't been opened for a long time.
Still having heard nothing from the basement, the two of you climb the stairs with the Sun Potion held out ahead of you.

The second floor is smaller, mostly just a hall with rooms branching off from it. It's just as dusty and yet, somehow it feels more lived-in. These aren't like the rooms in the first floor, sparse and stripped down.

These rooms have furniture and beds, paintings on the walls of people you do not recognize. You find several bedrooms, one of the containing a small chest of wooden toys and dolls. None of them are occupied.
It's strange, this house is far too big for its sole inhabitant. He clearly hasn't been up here for ages.
Aashenpreet opens a closet set into one of the empty bedrooms and recoils from the resulting release of dust.
"Cennen, come look at this!"

This closet hasn't been emptied out. It's full of clothes, long dresses and skirts and blouses. Women's clothes.

1/2

>>44493674
You hear a door slam below you.
"Oi! Where'd you go? Did you leave? I still ha-"

The alchemist's voice from downstairs quietens down very suddenly. And then you start to hear him walking around.
"It's alright," you whisper to Aashenpreet. "As far as he knows, we took what we wanted and left just like you wanted. He can't know where we are so let's just sit and wait for him to go back to the basement."

Aashenpreet shakes her head, staring down at something on the floor behind you. You swivel around, half-expecting some sort of monster but it's just your footprints in dusty carpet.
Footprints the two of you would have left all over the house.

You hear the stairs in the hall outside creak.


>Confront him.

>Brew

>Through the window!

>Hide in the closet

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44493737
>Confront him.
Apologize for snooping. Idk why you guys chose to do that while I went on a booze run.

>>44493737
>>Confront him.

>>44493737
>Confront him.
Cennen must really like the idea of going through windows.

>>44493737
Just go casually talk to him and apologize if he seems offended

>Confront him.

"Screw it, I'm just going to go talk to him. He clearly knows where we are."

"But Cennen," Aashenpreet says as she motions back to the closet. "Where did you think all this came from? Is this even his house?"

"Maybe he just likes to wear dresses every now and then. I can't judge."

And with that, you open the door and walk to meet him at the top of the stairs. Moldrun peers at you frantically, something metallic in his hand. You nearly mistake it for a knife but it clearly isn't, a metal cylinder with glass sides.
"Sorry mate, I just wanted to have a bit of a walk about."

Your attitude seems to disarm him as he starts to splutter just a little.
"That's all? Oh that's fine, that's fine. Nothing wrong with a bit of walking, haha."
Aashenpreet joins you, Moldrun's eyes tracking her.

As the three of you walk back down, his gaze returns to you. He seems to be thinking about something.
"So uh, you didn't mind any of that?"

"Any of what?"

"What you saw. Nothing weird, right?"

"Looked fine to me. A bit dusty."

"Haha yeah, I never clean. Never. Women's work, you know?"
He stumbles over to the side as you reach the first floor.
"So if you don't mind I was thinking...maybe worth getting a second brain's perspective on all this. On my work. Get some talk in.'

>"Sure." Go downstairs with him.

>Ask him about that thing in his hand.

>Ask him what his work is.

>Ask him about his Mastery.

>Ask him why he's been cooped up for so long.

>"Have you ever considered hiring a maid?"

>"Uh no thanks". Leave.

>Other

>>44493986
>"Sure." Go downstairs with him.
>Ask him about that thing in his hand.
>Ask him what his work is.
>Ask him about his Mastery.
inb4 he's trying to resurrect some dead chick

>>44493986
>"Sure." Go downstairs with him.
>Ask him about that thing in his hand.
>Ask him what his work is.
>Ask him about his Mastery.

Do we have a knockout potion? I'd like have it handy in case this guy tries to fuck with us.

>>44493986
>"Sure." Go downstairs with him.
>Ask him about that thing in his hand.
>Ask him what his work is.
>Ask him about his Mastery.

>>44494090
Unfortunately it would knock Aash out too

>>44493986
>"Sure." Go downstairs with him.
>>44494090
Nope. You know we have an inventory pastebin right?

>>44493986
>"Uh no thanks". Leave.
I really don't want ziggy to wake up at an inopportune moment

>"Sure." Go downstairs with him.
>Ask him about that thing in his hand.
>Ask him what his work is.
>Ask him about his Mastery.

"No worries, that sounds fine. But do you mind me asking a few questions first?"

He scowls and you get the idea that Master Moldrun has little love for people who ask too many questions.

"What's that you got in your hand there? Some sort of tool?"

He blinks, clearly having expected some other question.
"This thing? Yes it's a new design, do you like it? Called a syringe."
He holds it up, revealing it to be metal tube with glass set in it to show the black liquid sloshing within. The top has some sort of piston setup to pump it up and down and the bottom ends in a long wide needle.
"Excellent for administering potions. Quite excellent. You just stick it in."
He mimes a vaguely appropriate motion with it.

"What's in it right now?"

He grimaces.
"Not good stuff, not for you. Bit of a nasty solution. It's work related."

"And what is your work, exactly?"

He shrugs as if to imply that it isn't a big deal.
"Medical. I used to be one of the Potion College's top medical alchemists, would you believe it? I'm here on an extended house-call."

"Is that your Mastery too?"

"No, not exactly."
He leads you down the stairs to the basement. There's light beaming in strongly from underneath the door, suggesting that it's lit better than the rest of the house combined.
"I've always wanted to help people and to heal people, that's what enabled the revelation that made me a Master. But not quite like that. I don't like the word 'healing', I don't like what it implies. That there's a base state where we all belong to and that everything we can do is to return to that optimum. I prefer the term 'medical', has a lot less baggage. A lot less attachment to a single form."

Aashenpreet is right behind you. She's shaking her head at you. You ignore her.
"I...I see. And you said you USED to be with the College?"

1/2

>>44494323
Neat. We should ask if he has a spare syringe we could buy.

>>44494323
"Did I say that? I suppose so. They kicked me out."

"Uhuh. I can't imagine why. Did you...do something?"

"More like what I said. You aren't from the College, you wouldn't know but there's been this awful movement sweeping over it. Have you ever heard the term 'science'?"

"Can't say I have."

"And nothing of value was lost. Some fools worshiping a method of investigation, some ordered way of making predictions and coming up with brews."

"Sounds useful."

"It's shit! It's only there to control your ideas, to tell you what is right to think and what isn't. All of this nonsense about proof and whatnot, what good is it? We are alchemists! They can dress it up all they like but we don't become what we are through...analysis! We are made through revelation! Inspiration! Ideas granted from the dark place in the cosmos! Sudden fits of wonder! They're all retarded."

He finally works the key, getting it open.
"They want to take all the beauty away from the practice, try to reduce it to methods and systems. Recipes in a book. You know who does that? Apothecaries."
You can hear his disgust oozing with every word.
"I may have been a bit too outspoken about it."

He swings the door open, revealing a cluttered yet relatively neat room with two more doors. Several lanterns are sitting around the room, each one turned on as bright as possible.
"Apologies about being so far down, the air outside is bad. All the air is bad."

"And so you resigned of your own free will?"

"Sort of. But it was fine, I didn't need them. I'd found a wonderful formula from an old friend. Have you ever heard of Master Yolan?"

"The name rings a bell."
Of course you have. But what does he have to do with this?

"Turned out he had a funny little potion, haha. He was trying to keep it secret so I may have resorted to underhanded means to get some samples. It's an amazing brew."
He beckons you over to his desk, covered in unreadable scrawl.
2/3

>>44494528
ah shit it's the shapeshifting brew isn't it

>>44494528
>We are made through revelation! Inspiration! Ideas granted from the dark place in the cosmos! Sudden fits of wonder!
oddly enough this has played a big part in Cennen's greatest brews

>>44494577
doubleshit he might just want to become a woman

>>44494528
"Just one problem, haven't been able to replicate it. Gotten close but never quite. It's like I'm missing something important."

"This brew...it wouldn't have happened to have been related to shapeshifting, would it?"
Aw shit.

"Exactly! Amazing guess and oh for the future, could you please refrain from using the word 'brew' to refer to potions. I prefer the term 'potion' or 'solution', 'brew' just sounds provincial these days."
His sudden irritation at your choice of words seems to have distracted him from the fact that you knew what it was.
He chooses strange things to be nitpicky about, you suppose, but when someone offends those sensibilities he takes it very seriously.

"So there I was," the alchemist continues. "Trying to make my own copy, hitting my head against a wall over and over again. And then a former colleague referred some patients to me, wanted me to fix some sort of birth deformity. I forget what it was, it wasn't important."

You sigh.
"So you used the stolen brew."

He twitches, you having hit another of his nerves.
"Alchemists cannot steal from one another. You cannot own ideas! And also no, that would be silly. I have a very limited supply it would have been a waste. I just used my best attempt at mimicking it."

"And it didn't go well, did it?"
You think back to the empty house, so clearly designed for multiple people.

"It went great! The child's reactions to it were fantastic! I simply had to give it to everyone else too, particularly since they had gotten quite upset."
He sweeps the next door open, revealing a dark room.
"Shapeshifting? I have begun creation!"

There's something huge in the corner of the room, damp and fleshy. A living knot of flesh and fat many times your size. Eyes and faces and body parts swim across it like water and down near its base, tiny baby-like corpses lie as if they had been pulled out of it one by one. Some of them only halfway.

"Behold! The homunculus!"
3/4

>>44494707
holy shit dude

>>44494707
well my guess couldn't have been more wrong

>>44494707
set caster to PURGE

>>44494707
He takes your non-reaction as approval. He doesn't seem to care about Aashenpreet's obvious horror.
"I call him Tatterdemalion, the homunculus from myth. Not since the days of Tolemy has he ever been called forth! Though...of course, some of the myths are ever-exaggerated. Tolemy didn't create life from nothing. That would be absurd. He must have used, ahah, base materials as resources. And so was Tatterdemalion reborn into the world. It wasn't an easy process, oh no, he needs regular injections to keep on living. And alas, he keeps producing stillbirths. I haven't been able to breed any little homunculi from him yet, even with more volunteers."

Aashenpreet is frozen, her eyes fixed on the thing in the corner. Moldrun claps you on the back.
"So here's where you come in. I was thinking we could compare notes, tell me about your soul business. Maybe that's what Tatterdemalion needs, you know? I must admit I've never given the spiritual realm much thought."

He wanders off into the room, raising his syringe and pushing it into a vaguely phallic extremity. Tatterdemalion gurgles.

>Leave.

>"What the fuck?"

>Attempt to tell him that this is wrong.

>Offer to help.

>Kill Tatterdemalion.

>Pull Aashenpreet aside and talk.

>Attack.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44494851
>Attack.
We very indirectly caused this. Time to put the caster to good use.

>>44494851
oh. uh. he seems non combative.
we should probably take care of this
but not today.
with help. im hesitant to fight another alchemist.

>>44494851
>Attack.
take out our caster say it's a prognostication tool, then blast him with it.

"What you did is monstrous, and for the record you CAN create a soul out of Alchemy on it s own."

>Kill Tatterdemalion.
Rest in peace, I am sorry.

>>44494851
>Attack.

>>44494851
Pray to Aash to snap his neck.

>>44494851
>Attack.
What the fuck man

>>44494880
>>44494938
>>44494969
>Oh no, he made a horrible abomination against nature.
>How horrible, how inhuman, how terrible.
>We should kill the freakish thing and its insane creator, this is wrong.

>...
>...
>Oh don't make that face, terrible artificial souls who are completely sentient products of mad science, you're my cute children.
>There's nothing wrong with you.

I've never been more ashamed of my fellow players.

>>44495025
He used extant souls, and see no problem warping and killing them for his own ends. Cennan is trying his best to create, the old man perverts. Savvy?

>>44495025
this.
also, as crazy as this guy obviously is, maybe the fucking medical alchemist can give us a few body growing tips before we put him out of his insane, glorious misery

>>44495025
It's not the same thing at all. You're an idiot. This thing is formed by the bodies of countless living victims.

>>44495077
you know V1.0 is sitting in a soul devoured corpse right

>>44495025
>>44495084
my little anons can't be this retarded

>>44495106
Yes and I disagree with Cennan saying it's perfectly fine in order to please Hiss. However I got overruled.

>>44495127
we did that for our own experiments. not for hiss.

>>44495025
He did it badly though, and claimed it as a success instead of killing it.

>>44495077
And we used existing bodies that just so happened to be in a giant pile a short walk off, like >>44495106 said.

>Oh but we didn't make those bodies, so it's not the same thing!

Yes it is. This guy is literally a mirror of Cennan. We made a soul abomination, but can't get it's body right because the body was pre-existing and didn't belong to it.

He made a fleshy abomination, but can't get its soul right because the souls were pre-existing and were being stuffed into a terrible abomination of a host.

If you're going to condemn him, you're condemning Cennan. This isn't to say you shouldn't, but don't be blind and try to justify "oh it's different". If you asked this weirdo alchemist, he'd spit your own justifications of "It's not like that" right back at you.

>>44495084
we already know how to grow a body. include some sort of organic material for the soulshape to change into the desired body

>>44495202
>durr creating souls is wrong
I guess the Creator is the most evil being in existence huh?

>>44495202
We've been a hypocrite for many threads now. The difference is that we are willing to admit wheen we've made a mistake.

>>44495154
No we didn't make the soulless bodies Hiss did. We approved he war in order to appease her, that was a bi-product.

>>44495202
IT IS different, creation of soul is vastly different than twisting the souls and bodies of extant beings without consent just to experiment. This is what Cennan would be with no morals, aka what he would be If he thought like Hiss. We've made a lot of mistakes, like not trying harder to stop the war, however this isn't one of them.

>Attack.

You set your pack down, your eyes still fixed on Tatterdemalion. Your first impression was wrong, he's not liquid at all. He is however quite literally a knot, flesh and gristle wrapped around in balls and constantly moving to give his human features a liquid quality. Sickening but somehow he lacks the same unearthly horror that Eva 2.0 or Hom possessed.

Aashenpreet tears her eyes away, stepping back. You pull the Caster out of your pack, slotting in an Ignition Elixir and an empty bottle.

Moldrun looks back at you, wiping the end of his syringe with his apron.
"What's that thing?"

"Just a ...just a prognostic tool. For souls."

"Really? How does it work?"

You level it at him as you spin the crank as fast as you can, feeling the chambers lock together.
"Like this."
You shoot him in the face.

The blast pushes several shrapnel holes right through his head, spraying the wall around him with broken glass. Dark blood splatters upon the wall and frames where he was standing before he fell.

You take several steps into the room, cracking the Caster open and expelling the detritus and preparing to load it again as you examine Tatterdemalion.
You stop when you see that several of its haphazard coiling eyes are moving, the pupils moving to follow your steps.

Tatterdemalion is aware.

It shakes as you approach, gaping orifices revealed for but a moment as it reknots and unties itself into slightly different configurations. A new stillborn slides out, a baby with too-long arms and legs and a hole for a face.
Is it an offering? You'll never understand.

The real problem is how are you going to kill it? You don't think shooting holes into it will help. Acid? A Snakebreaker? You want something that'll kill him quickly.

"You know," a voice gurgles as you walk back to your pack. "I was expecting the woman to be squeamish about it. They get like that, you know. But you...I really thought you were going to be helpful."

1/2

>>44495274
I don't really understand what you're arguing against anymore

>>44495295
i told you dumbasses we shouldn't have gotten into a fight with a fucking alchemist without a plan and more backup. ugh. fucking idiots. oh well.

>>44495295
You jump back without thinking, instincts born of times of constant danger warning you of the hand that sweeps out at you.
You dance back into his study room, eyes fixed on the dark doorway ahead of you.
"Fuck. I could have sworn I killed you."

"Oh come on," his voice is ragged and raw. "I thought you were an alchemist. A good alchemist always...always..." He breaks down into wheezes as he steps forward.
"Always tests a product on himself first."
His head is ruined, his torso riddled with small shrapnel holes. But now his gown is undone and apron ripped off and you can see the mottled flesh that whips beneath his clothes. His chest and abdomen are one great tumor, tiny limbs and eyes and bristling hair.
He holds the syringe in front of him like a weapon in a trembling hand.
"Put that thing down son. We can still talk this out."

>Do what he says.

>Put the Caster down but only because you're reloading it.

>Throw your pack at him.

>Threaten to destroy his notes.

>Flee.

>Break one of the lanterns open.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44495372
> It's not what you've done. It's how you've gone about it. Have you ecen tried to give tatterdemalion a proper body? Or gotten consent from the people?

> I've already made a proper Homonculus so I don't give a damn about your experiments anyways.

>>44495372
>Put the Caster down but only because you're reloading it.
Load a demorph in the second chamber. Keep a safe distance and fire.

>>44495372
>"For the record you CAN make souls out of only art, I've done it. hell I have one in my pack. You getting it so wrong kinda pissed me off, a lot."


>Use Potion (Specify)
Shapeshifter, burn it all in dragon fire.

>>44495422
This.
>>44495416
Cennen is obviously disgusted by this shit so stop trying to make some kind of point about our real homunculi by pretending to be okay with it. These two applications of alchemy are completely different.

>>44495226
>I guess the Creator is the most evil being in existence huh?

100% Snakehome-approved thought right there.

>>44495416
Yeah I'm sure he got consent from the people to meld them into a knot of abomination flesh. Retard.

>>44495372
Hahaha get Aash to morph and tell him that we've already superceded his experiment and that he's a failure.

>>44495422
This

>>44495471
Anon, do you know what a rhetorical question is?

Trying to establish that we do monstrous things, but only because we can justify it by other in people.

>>44495511
>but only because we can justify it by other in people
what? are you drunk?

>>44495422
Why don't we just throw a demorph at him? It would probably enter his body through his horrific wounds.

>>44495372
> trick him into letting Aash trap his soul

We established he's shit with soul problems.

>>44495548
Aash refuses to eat souls now.

>>44495557
what a fucking snake nerd

>>44495546
Wait... could we maybe save all those people he used to make into Tatterdemalion using a demorph? We could use his syringe to inject it.

>Load Demorph into the Caster.

You crack the Caster open and motion as if you're lowering it to the ground. Lowering it towards your pack to reload it. But of course Moldrun doesn't know how the Caster works, anymore then you knew the function of his syringe.

Aashenpreet has backed away into a corner, her eyes wild and still looking back at Tatterdemalion.
Moldrun ignores her entirely as he totters forward. He's not going directly for you, he's pacing around to the other door, the one that was never opened.
"Now, I understand you may have panicked. But there's nothing WRONG here, maybe just a little unorthodox. But you know how it is, right? When you get an idea and it just takes hold? You can't ignore that."

You locate the Demorph underneath Zigzag's comatose body and click it in, hunting for the Explosive Concoction as you do so.

"It's a give and take relationship, that's what it is. I give Tatterdemalion life, he gives it to me. I grant him my seed..."
He runs a hand across his malformed body.
"I let him impregnate me. There's nothing wrong with it. We're all happy here. And just think of the discoveries we could fin-"

You raise the Caster but this time he knows what it does and is already moving! Your shot goes wild but with the force of the Explosive Concoction behind it, the spray is wider. The Demorph splashes across his back all the same, making him scream as the nodules across his back begin to wither and shrink.

He hits the other door and wrenches it open, taking it off its hinges with desperate strength.

He throws the door at you.

>Roll a 1d100. Best of the first 3 accepted.

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>44495663

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>44495663
Bullet time?

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>44495663
super strength time?

>>44495683
>>44495695
check 'em

>>44495683
>>44495695
both!

>>44495717
Cennen becomes Saitama

>>44495663
damn ouro this is impressively disturbing

>>44495663
I hope we use soul grasp to take tatters soul out and put it in a real body.

Also that we feel guilty and immediately put hom into a body. Because sensory deprivation drives sentient beings insane. It might be better to actually feed him to Zigzag

>>44495683
>>44495695

You catch the door and bat it out of the way with a single fist. You waste barely any time as you rush after him into the new room.
And then you stop because this room is your worst nightmare. Shit.

But then again, are you a fool for not expecting it? A house with an alchemist lurking in it, yet one with few visible potions...it had to have one of these in it somewhere.
The room is small and lined with shelves. And every shelf is filled to the edge with bottles.

Moldrun isn't try to run, he's trying to arm himself.

He's just a step ahead of you, you dealt with his thrown door too quickly. He hasn't had time to pick up anything useful. Still, he sweeps an arm across a shelf and lobs a bottle at you all the same.

You duck just in time and let it hit the doorframe beside you. You know about fighting potions and so you're already jumping back to avoid the splatter. A common mistake your own foes make is failing to realize that a potion breaking next to you is just as dangerous is actually hitting you.

Whatever was in the bottle, it sets the doorframe aflame with silver fire. You don't know what that fire does and you don't know if you want to find out.

Moldrun steps back, scanning the shelves frantically. He's looking for a very specific bottle, a potion that he's certain will defeat you. All you have in hand is your pack and an unloaded Caster and you are trapped together with him in a burning room filled with unknown brews.
This is it.


>Grab a potion from your pack (Specify)

>No, that'll give him time to grab a potion of his own. Draw your sword and step in.

>Drawing your sword takes time too, just step in and use the Caster like a club.

>Call for help.

>Try to reason with him.

>Run back through the door before it becomes impassable.

>Other

>>44495879
>Drawing your sword takes time too, just step in and use the Caster like a club.
Ridiculous strength+unbreakable club

>>44495879
>Drawing your sword takes time too, just step in and use the Caster like a club.
Don't stop bashing. We should invest in a sheath instead of keeping a sword in our bag (?)

>>44495879
>Punch him, We're incredibly strong and our caster can break.

>>44495934
It's pretty much indestructible thanks to the Duke's keeper magic. Plus we might also just break our hand/arm by punching with all our strength.

File: 1399729311801.png (1.2 MB, 1280x720)

1.2 MB PNG

Happy new year from Texas Ouro! Thanks for the great quest! Her is hoping for another great year of Sneks.

>>44495879
>No, that'll give him time to grab a potion of his own. Draw your sword and step in.

>>44495966
Happy new year fellow CST master race. Kansan reporting in

>>44495966
Happy new year anon and in fact all of my players. This feels extremely self-evident to say but without you lot this wouldn't be possible.
Hrm yeah that's super self-evident. Oh well.

It's been the new year here for like 16 hours.

>>44495879
>>Wish for Ziggy to kill him.

>>44496001
Using our last wish is a bad idea. Until we reach some kind of understanding with her beyond drugging her when she asks us to.

File: 1387312356393.jpg (196 KB, 720x540)

196 KB JPG

>>44495995
>It's been the new year here for like 16 hours.

O-oh... Better late than never right? Have a snek for good luck.

>>44495991
Right on. Driven through a few times and the people were pretty nice. You hate Okies as much as we do by chance?

>>44496014
We should try to wean her off it with some kind of heat potion/ showing her the joys of stuffing her face with real human food

>>44496061
my whole family comes from oklahoma and i was born there. currently drinking to forget the orange bowl

>>44496001
Pretty sure the Z is freaking out from our danger already.

Aash should be more useful.

>>44496001
Sorry anon, she's very asleep right now and can't hear you.

>Drawing your sword takes time too, just step in and use the Caster like a club.

You can't waste any time or let him get his hands on a potion. That's another mistake your enemies keep making. They keep letting you grab bottles and shit. But an alchemist without his potions is just a man.
Or...weird...man-thing in his case.

You hit Moldrun in his already ruined head and then bash his fingers as they brace themselves on a hall. The held syringer drops to the floor and you smash it to smithereens. You hit the other hand next and then start working the chest, feeling bones break.
Except for when you hit his malformed flesh. Every time you take a swing there it feels like hitting a sponge and the butt of the Caster just sinks in without effect.
But you just keep on bashing and you don't let him grab anything.

After a bit of a minute of breaking bones you start to realize that he's still standing. The polyp that's replaced most of his chest and abdomen is bloodied but still intact and it's starting to feel like the rest of his body isn't necessary to life. Broken head and limbs dangle freely, discolored and swollen fingers that have been bashed in multiple directions still keep trying to grab.
Can he still see somehow? You've bashed his already holed head in and all of the eyes that had sprouted from his growth are now nothing but ruptured jelly stained across his side.

He wavers and then, unable to grab or lift anything, just blindly recoils backwards. He hits a shelf hard enough to upend it, breaking it from the wall and sending potions flying!

>Just leap towards him and keep hitting. You will certainly get hit by a random potion but you will pound him into the fucking ground.

>Try your best to avoid them while still staying in close range. You will have a chance of being struck.

>Jump back. This has a certain chance to avoid the random potions but will give him breathing room.

>>44496159
>Try your best to avoid them while still staying in close range. You will have a chance of being struck.

>>44496159
>Jump back. This has a certain chance to avoid the random potions but will give him breathing room.

>>44496065
we should try to brew a potion to kill addictions

>>44496159
>Jump back. This has a certain chance to avoid the random potions but will give him breathing room.
Start loading snakebreaker into caster and shoot him

>>44496159
>Jump back. This has a certain chance to avoid the random potions but will give him breathing room.
Nail him with a rumpleskin.

>>44496159
>Jump back. This has a certain chance to avoid the random potions but will give him breathing room.
Surely his own potions would fuck him up too

>Jump back. This has a certain chance to avoid the random potions but will give him breathing room.

Oh hell no, you're not messing with any of that. You fling yourself backwards and nearly hit the silver fire spreading over the empty doorframe as you stagger back.
Moldran's defiled body writhes back and forward, avoiding most of the spilled potions through pure instinct but two of them still spray him to no obvious effect save to make his broken jaw scream. His broken legs give way and he temporarily falls to the ground.

"Cennen! Are you in there!"
Aashenpreet is on the other side of the doorway, shouting through the flames.

"I'm alive," you groan.

"What does this fire do? Can I reach through it?"

"I don't fucking know! Don't touch it!"

You rifle through your pack, shaking Zigzag around quite a bit. She's going to have damn heart-attack when she wakes up and the wish-bond hits. Then again, if you had chosen a different way of dealing with her this probably would have been a lot easier. His syringe would have broken on her skin and she could walk through his potions and his flames without harm.

You grab what you were looking for from your pack just as Moldran rises, his polyp bulging in and out like a heartbeat. It suppurates wildly, pus and blood leaking through his pores.

You use the potion.

>Which Potion (Specify. Also specify if you are drinking it, throwing it or loading into the Caster.)

>>44496313
Collapsible brew

>>44496313
Snakebreaker in the caster
>>44496335
Huh? that only works nonliving items

>>44496313
Nail him with the rumpleskin to immobilize him then finish him off with a snakbreaker in the caster. Depending on how long it takes us to load and shoot I guess. If we can do it quickly just shoot him instead.

>>44496343
I forgot to specify, aim for the polyp

>>44496313
drink antimagic and jump through the flames

>>44496313
Does she really get hit by the effects of the wishbond when she wakes up? I thought she was just completely numb to it when under the effects of the gunk.

>>44496416
Cennen doesn't actually know for sure.

>>44496313
Shapeshifter, drink it burn him.

>>44496463
You keep acting like this is the ultimate plan but it's really not

Okay, I'm not rolling to resolve a 5-way tie. I'm really not.

>Throw Collapsible
>Shoot Snakebreaker
>Throw Rumpleskin
>Antimagic and leave
>Drink Shapeshifter

>>44496551
>Throw Rumpleskin

>>44496551
>Throw Rumpleskin

>>44496551
I just wish I knew how quickly we can load and shoot the caster so I could make a real decision

File: jw3sI.gif (1.99 MB, 308x244)

1.99 MB GIF

>>44496475
M-muh dragons

>>44496567
It takes longer than just throwing.

>>44496551
Collapsible

>>44496551
>Throw Rumpleskin
Just to be on the safe side I guess. I still wanna follow up with a snakebreaker blast though. I doubt stabbing the polyp would be enough

>>44496589
Non living shit only.

>>44496589
I want to understand what you actual plan is with using that

>>44496551
>Shoot Snakebreaker
yolo

>>44496610
I'm just high as fuck in the new year.

I still want to talk to him and maybe soul grasp his shit and put it in a bottle for further interrogation. Or put him into terry for an ironic fate.

Collapsible gets rid of his potions/weapons

>>44496551
What happens if someone gets collapsible on their clothes? Do they increase in density and chop them up as they shrink?

File: whosthatpokemon.jpg (46 KB, 500x337)

46 KB JPG

Calling for Rumpleskin

>>44496667
The cutest snake has appeared.

>>44496644
He has to be dead for us to use soulgrasp on him. And he's not holding any weapons/potions

>Rumpleskin

Man, you practically forgot you had this potion. You've never used it properly, never had to do anything with it. But every dog has his day.

The Rumpleskin is already in the air by the time Moldran finally finishes pulsing, spraying over him and hardening his skin. His polyp freezes and then begins to shrivel, compacting itself in a final motion to vomit a broken syringe from somewhere deep inside of itself in your direction. It doesn't even make it halfway, Rumpleskin peeling the skin back and making it impossible to move.

He's frozen now, a contorted scaly lump of dry flesh. Yours to do with what you will.

>Execute him.

>Leave

>Other

>>44496741
Soulgrasp

>>44496741
>Execute him.

>>44496741
>Execute him.

Guy is Tucker tier fucked up.

>>44496741
>>Execute him.


>>44496756
only works on dead guys anon

>>44496741
>Execute him.
I swear we used rumpleskin once before... on the shadow wizard maybe?

>>44496778
yup, while in dragonman form and in the quesdeshi port too. On jackass snakes follower.

>Execute him.

You push him to the ground face-up and slide your Snakebreaker into the Caster. You brace the back of the Caster while you press the front into his pus-sweating polyp. Better to be sure.
Firing it this way shouldn't break any of the other potions either.
"Well," you say. You're about to kill a man, shouldn't you say something? "I only really wanted your glassware man, you shouldn't have showed me what was down here."

You fire, virtually disintegrating the tumor and blasting a crater into the floor. You are rendered temporarily deaf for a few seconds and even after that there's a ringing in your ears that won't go away.

You stagger away, uncorking an antimagic brew and drinking it before stepping through the fires. Aashenpreet embraces you, lifting you up and swinging you around before remembering your relatively frailty and bashfully putting you back down.
"You're alive! Are you hurt?"

"No," you wheeze when you get your breath back. "I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry, I just didn't know what to do! And there was this fire-"

"It's okay, probably for the best that we never touch that."

The happiness and relief drain from Aashenpreet's face as quickly as it arrived as she looks over your shoulder. Behind you is the open door to Tatterdemalion's room.
"What," she says, "are we going to do with that?"

>"Execute it."

>"I have no idea."

>"What do you think?"

>"I want to talk to it first."

>"Fuck, leave it be. I can't stand this place."

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44496909
>>"I want to talk to it first."

>>44496909
>>"I want to talk to it first."
If I think I can fix it i'll try, if not give it a swift death.

>>44496909
>"What do you think?"
I could use a demorph brew on it to see if it changes them back to normal but it might just distintegrate.

>>44496778
>>44496793
Man you know I'm getting tired when people know my own Quest better than I do.

>>44496909
>"What do you think?"
I could kill it pretty quickly with some venom. Or see if a demorph brew would help it. Maybe we should check it out with a soulsight first too. If there's a shitload of separate souls in there I could restore their bodies with soulshape if I needed to.

>>44496909
>"I want to talk to it first."
>"What do you think?"

>>44496988
The soulshape would be nice but I don't really wanna stick around her for that long. Somebody probably heard the caster shots.

>>44496909
>>"What do you think?"

Guys when did Cennen become such a badass? We just killed a fuckin necromorph without getting a scratch on us.

>>44497080
while bashing and shooting it with a magic shotgun

>>44497080
I remember when our fighting technique was "hide behind Hiss"

>>44496909
Soulgrasp and give it a real body.

>"What do you think?"

"Kill it maybe. I'd like to talk to it but I don't know if his mouths work that way. What do you think we should do with it?"

"Oh I don't know. He shouldn't live but...shouldn't we forgive him for existing? It isn't his fault that he was born."
She lets go of you, stepping back into the dark room. You follow her, just in time to see her pick her way past the long-dead stillborns and hesitantly take a loose cord of flesh in her hands.
"Hello Tatterdemalion. My name is Aashenpreet."

It quivers, unable to vocalize sound. You walk in beside her and you can see that nothing's changed, Aash is still deathly afraid and disgusted by this thing's existence.
Still, she holds the loose cord tenderly as if was a hand.
"No matter which way this ends, we're here to rescue you. Do you understand?"

No response.

"Do you understand?"
Aashenpreet crouches down and then makes the mistake of looking Tatterdemalion in a looped eye as it passes her. She recoils immediately, nearly letting go of the cord.
"Oh Aashimid," she wails. "He remembers! He remembers everything! Kill him! Kill him now!"

>Agree

>Disagree

>>44497214
>Agree
yeah I think I'll take Aash's word for it. She's gonna be hella traumatized

>>44497214
>Agree

>tfw we waifu'd hiss before we had the chance to meet aash

>>44497214
>Agree

Yeah, sure.

>>44497214
>Agree
Hug the Aash after. This was some fucked up shit. Not how I expected the thread to go at all.

>>44497214
>>Disagree
There might be something here we can use for Hom first

>>44497214
>>Agree

>>44497278
We do need some organic material but this seems like it would be tainted or something

>not making the archive description something about alchemists:no sense of right or wrong
biggest blunder of the new year

>Agree
Aashenpreet gags but doesn't let go while you press your hand against a drooling mouth and activate the Snake Art that Hiss blessed you with.
Tatterdemalion begins to convulse wildly but you keep your palm there. He doesn't move far because he seems to be literally rooted into the stone wall, strands of himself grown into the rock.
You just grit your teeth and hold on, keeping your venom flowing.

Aashenpreet tightens her grip around the cord and starts to sing in Quedeshi. You don't understand it very well but you recognize a prayer when you hear one. A proper one, not the ones you make.

It takes nearly ten minutes for Tatterdemalion to die. By the end of it your hands are aching from keeping hold and Aashenpreet's voice is worn hoarse.
Tatterdemalion finally stops moving and twisting and unfolds, revealing itself to be akin to some strange fleshy flower with long whip-petals. In the center is a huge mouth with human lips and flat teeth, the limbs of the next stillborn already spilling out.
The false homunculus is dead. You let go.

"I...I think we should go."

"You can," Aashenpreet says softly. "You probably should. I'll catch up."

>Leave and wait for Aashenpreet outside.

>Dispose of the stillborn.

>Burn Moldran's notes.

>Take Moldran's notes.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44497420
>Dispose of the stillborn.
>Take Moldran's notes.
10 minutes? I thought our venom was better than that.

>>44497420
>Take Moldran's notes.
Aren't there stillborns scattered around everywhere? Why dispose of just one?

>>44497420
>Burn Moldran's notes.
Unless they have more than just his disturbing shapeshifting brew knockoff

>>44497330
aw fuck, you're right. Oh well, still have plenty of time for way bigger blunders in the future.

>>44497457
It is, Tatterdemalion just has an unusually strong lease of life provided that he gets his regular injections.
Made of the same stuff as Moldran's polyp.

>>44497494
I did mean dispose of them all. I just made the mistake of thinking that the plural of stillborn was also stillborn.

>>44497420
>Take Moldran's notes.

>>44497420
Dispose and take the notes. Information isn't evil, just what people do with it is.

Also we better think about how to deal with his partners. Maybe play the "I'm a sketchy alchemist, bit some shit is just too horrifying to let continue" card and look properly disturbed.

>>44497420
>Dispose of the stillborn.
I'm undecided on the notes. Skim them for anything not related to this shit

>>44497516
Personally I read stillborn as referring to the plural.

>>44497516
Yeah I could have been wrong. I don't really come across the plural or singular forms of stillborn very often.

>>44497420
>Burn Moldran's notes.
>Dispose of the stillborn.

>Take Moldran's notes.

You leave Aashenpreet to her...mourning? Something like that. Maybe not for Tatterdemalion himself but for who he used to be. Or who he could have been. She'd taken a good look into his soul and seen all three.

You walk back out to his study and examine his desk, covered in wide sheets of paper. They're covered in hasty diagrams, anatomical drawings and some of the worst handwriting that you'd ever seen.
You can't quite understand all of it right now but it looks like there's multiple brew ideas in there so you fold it all up and put it in your pack. Better to do that when Aashenpreet isn't looking.

Aashenpreet exits not long after, quiet and withdrawn. She clutches herself tightly before transferring that grip to your arm.
"Are you alright Aash?"

"I'll be fine," she says. "It's just that...he wasn't just those people, he was a new person himself. And he was always so afraid."
She looks like there's something else weighing on her, something she wants to bring up but doesn't. You choose not to ask.

The two of you walk back up the stairs, making your way across the dusty tomb of the household whose crime had been seeking the aide of the wrong alchemist at the wrong time.
And it makes you think of how closely you'd come to avoiding all of this. If you'd just decided to speak with him later about the glassware, or if you had taken the glassware and left or if you'd spoken to him on the stairs but then decided that you didn't want to help him with whatever he was doing downstairs...He'd still be out there and he could have become a lot worse.

And it makes you think of poor Hom, still alive and awake and trapped in his bottle. A real homunculus but perhaps no better conceived.
You'll have to do better than that.

>>44497665
Let's just do what we know works and get him into a body for now.

>>44497665
And that's it for tonight! I hope you guys had fun with this thread and I wish you a Happy New Year!

Moldrun was actually a dude I had the idea for quite some time ago and I'd planned on him hanging around for a bit longer than that. Unfortunately for him Cennen ran into the only decisions possible to actually uncover his secret this early.

I plan to run tomorrow as well and there's a small and mostly unimportant Interlude planned to happen in this thread.

>>44497665
>You'll have to do better than that.

Damn straight. We might not be a good person but we won't let ourselves fall that far. Not out of obsession nor from our duty.
Thanks for running Snakeman.

>>44497689
We know when someone is trying to move into our turf.

Sorry about the delay, I was eating.

Interlude 21

Aashenpreet let go of Tatterdemalion's pseudo-limb and let it fall limply to the floor. Cennen was already gone, waiting somewhere else. And she should be leaving with him.

So why couldn't she? Her throat was hoarse from singing the Aashi Talwud, the song used to honor her elder brothers and sisters in the priesthood when they died from age, sickness or from the deformities that Aashimid had seen fit to grant them. Singing it for this monster was a hideous blasphemy.
But it had felt right. Tatterdemalion hadn't chosen his life, he hadn't chosen to be born as he was. To be made into something imperfect and grotesque. Those had been imposed onto him by the same hand that had given life.
Aashenpreet thought back to the way the snakes at Snakehome had looked at her, the way she remembered Cennen being so obviously disgusted when he met her brothers and sisters in the First Shrine, the guilt she'd always felt to have been one of the holy-born to have only been brushed lightly by Aashimid's hand.
Maybe the Aashi Talwud was what he deserved.

She let his soul go. The afterlife of the snake gullet was what all good humans deserved but...it was not her place to offer. And it would be better for Tatterdemalion to take another spin on the wheel anyway, let all this life be forgotten.

A tiny strangled cry interrupted her thoughts, her eyes widening. What was that? Just the sound of Cennen still destroying Moldrun's notes?
No, there it was again. She peeled Tatterdemalion's fronds away from his core, his birth-mouth. She pushed the heavy lips open and within found the source.

The baby was tiny, just the size of her hand. It had purple skin and the skin around the eyes were torn and latticed. But it was alive. crying for the mother/father that was dead when it was born.
Only in death did Tatterdemalion ever get their wish.

"Forgive me," she begged the corpse.

1/2

>>44497950
And then she gently placed the newborn back into Tatterdemalions womb-throat and with a push of her hands, she shut the mouth on it. No light, no life, no air.

She walked out of the room and as she did, the infant's cries were already beginning to choke out.

>>44497985
Damn, Aash