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>>45169879
Between having the bullets dug out of your wounds, boneshaping your knee back into one piece, general exhaustion, the shock of seeing Nathan's spellcatcher gauntlets with deep scores down the /adamant fucking plating/ from where he /blocked Lora's sword with them, like a suicidal asshole, how fucking dare he/, and the heal shock from the potion, you pass out. It's probably a mercy.

As usual, you feel remarkably well in Lora's waiting room. The angel, on the other hand, looks a little cut up; she dabs a cut on her cheek with a black cloth, and has already stitched several knife wounds shut. Someone, probably Nathan after that /moronic sword block/, punched her in the face and her left eye sports a nasty shiner from it.

She gives you a savage, eager grin.

"I haven't had a /fight/ in /ages/," she tells you. "Ahhh! I was /so rusty/! Your compatriots are worthy warriors, heritor. Tell them that I am grateful, will you?"

"I will," you tell her, a little amused in spite of yourself. "I'm certain Nathan will be through the moon."

"As he should be! That boy needs to learn under a true master of the sword. He has incredible potential. And now...well, and now I have some other news for you."

"Oh?" you ask. "Should I light up?"

"Probably. I will wait."

You dig out a cigarette and light the tip with your clockwork lighter. You suck a brief drag and let it out with a relieved sigh. "Okay. Hit me."

"My mistress, the Traitor, reigning regent of New Hell, desires to speak with you. She can neither harm nor hinder you in this place and space, while you are here under your privileges. Will you accept her visit?"

You /blink/.

> Accept
> Refuse

>>45169879
>Last interlude was thread 21
Vox, you just had to hold out a few more threads to make part IV half the total quest!

>>45170032
> Accept

>>45170032
>Accept
UTTER CHAOS

>>45170032
Accept

>>45170099
>Accept
Forgot greentext

>>45170032
> Accept
>"She making you address her as 'Mistress' too?"

>>45170032
>> Accept

>>45170032
>Accept

>>45170032
>> Accept

... Huh. This is weird. Not the tip-top weird, but still.

>>45170032
>accept, conditionally
"Are we operating under my definitions of "harm and hinder" or hers? Because if the latter we need to clarify first. I'm not going to fall for that "Oh, I'm actually helping you be at peace" shit if she tries to stab me."

>>45170210
Neither, it's Lora's definitions. You're protected by your position.

But the votes seem fairly unanimous, so - called, writing.

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>>45170032
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK16w_Esrno

You stand and smooth over your coat - it, unlike your body, still has bullet holes in it here - before clearing your throat.

"I accept," you tell Lora.

"So be it," the angel says, formally. She stands and wafts her wings, sending up a thick, freezing fog.

When it drifts away in wisps, the Traitor is there.

Your first thought is that Nathan has his mother's eyes.

The years have not been kind to her, but it's more than the worry lines and the weathering of age. The Traitor's eyes are sunken and gripped by dark circles from where she hasn't been sleeping, and they gleam with the faint, paranoid frenzy of madness. Her hair hangs in long, greasy clumps from her head, and though it's clear she's made an effort to look presentable - her armor gleams, her tabard is fresh - you can see where her nails have been bitten down to the quick, and the scratches on her face and neck where she's clawed at herself.

"Heritor," she says in an icy voice utterly at odds with her fidgeting, nervous stance.

"Natalia," you say back, evenly.

"Yes. Yes, he got my letter. Excellent. Everything. Everything is going well, then. How is Nathan? Is he well? Please, is he well?"

> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.
> Tell me what you came for, Natalia.
> What /happened/ to you?

>>45170418
>...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.
And that one wasn't even from a gun!

>>45170418
>> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.
Uh, hey there. Um, your son's really cool, I guess. Wow, we're going to have that typical mother in law / daughter in law relationship, aren't we?

>>45170418
> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.

> What /happened/ to you?

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>>45170418
> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.

... I sort of had my suspicions, but damn. I thought Nate's mom was the Diviner. But she's actually the Traitor. I kind of saw this coming, what with the name and the whole 'Nate's mom betrayed something so inherent, it literally cursed her son', but it's still a surprise.

... I kind of hope we start getting some details soon though, because this sounds like it's gonna be another looooong floor.

>>45170418

>> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.
>> I can assure you you're well on your way to having grandchildren if that's what you're worried about.

> What /happened/ to you?

>>45170418

> What /happened/ to you?

Jesus, from the looks of things she's very lucky there ain't squirrels in New Hell.

>>45170418
>> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Despite his best effort I've managed to keep him alive thus far.

>>45170418
>> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.

>>45170418
>> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.
>> Tell me what you came for, Natalia.

I'm off to bed but I'd like to pose an option. When Natalia leaves/ we get another chance to talk to Lora alone, can we ask her if that's how the Traitor normally is or was it an act? I ask because I myself am generally very paranoid/skeptical about stuff like this.

>> ...Nathan's fine, Natalia. Short a leg, but fine.
I called this so fucking hard I am never letting vox forget it.

>>45170418
> Tell me what you came for, Natalia.
Why should we give her free information? She wants it, she trades for it.

Called, writing.

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>>45170418
You look at Natalia's eyes, at her desperate, fearful need, and all your angry words drain away. It's hard to bring yourself to fury at the pitiful creature before you.

You suck a quiet drag and let it trickle from your nostrils. Natalia twitches, impatiently; you can see her fingers clenching around the hilt of a weapon that's not there, curling into a frustrated fist when they don't find it.

"Nathan's fine," you murmur. "He was raised by good people, who care about and love him. He wanted to be a soldier, like you, but when he got sick, I had to kill his dream to save his life. He's been helping others ever since. He lights up like nothing else when he's doing it too. I've seen him, negotiating trade deals and teaching swordplay and making...peace."

Natalia looks wistful.

"He did feed his leg to a giant snake, mind," you add.

"...Somehow," the Traitor sighs, "somehow I am not surprised."

"We're lovers," you tell her, not sure of how she'll react.

"I knew he'd be a handsome boy," she mutters, distantly. She's not looking at you any more. "I Saw him. He's grown up and become a Hero and...and I'm me. That's. That's good. It's good that I didn't drag him down with me."

"Natalia -"

"I HAVE HOSTAGES!" the Traitor snaps, in sudden fury. She points at you, eyes wide with something between anger and fear. "The Caretaker's staff! They're my prisoners, and I'll GUT THEM ALL LIKE SWINE if you don't do as I say!"

"I'm listening," you say softly.

"I've Seen. I've Seen it. The battle. There must be a battle. Nathan will come to close the circle. Bide your time. Recover. And when I call for him, send my son to make war upon me. Not you. You aren't the one to kill me."

"That's insane," you say flatly.

>>45170751

We give her free info because she's not asking about anything even slightly War of the Dungeon related, she's asking after Nate's general well-being. Like everyone, she's many things. Including the Traitor, 5th Chain-bearer, yes, but also including Nate's mom. For this one question, the /relevant/ thing she is, is Nate's mom, and that's what we treat her as.

There'll be plenty of chances to play hardball when she starts talking business.

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>>45171220
"You cannot change my /fate/," the Traitor spits, snarling the last word like a curse. "You have my ultimatum. When the time is ripe, send my son to oppose me. If I sense you in my level, heritor, I'll gut the prisoners one by one. They'll suffer. I'll make the others /watch/ and it will be /your fault/."

"Why?" you ask.

"It's fate. It's all fate. I can't change my /fate/." Natalia takes a step back, her fury breaking like glass. She gives you a wide, fearful look. "I'll send for you. I'll let the angel tell you when it's time. Stay away, heritor. Stay /back/! Send me back! I want to leave!"

Lora sighs and calls the freezing mists back into the room; they sweep Natalia away, leaving only the silence and the burning stub of your cigarette.

You throw the butt away and light a new smoke, placing it between your lips with a heavy feeling in your chest.

"She bluffing?" you ask.

"She is in deadly earnest," Lora says, frankly.

> What do you say?

>>45171265
Bitch has fucking problems.

>Do you know what her fate is?
If her fate is to lose, then. Well. We can consider it. If she's gonna win obviously we don't.

> Ask what Lora knows of Natalia's divinations, what she meant by having capital-S Seen that her death had to be at Nate's hands, etc.

>>45171265
What are her sins/crimes?

>>45171265

>She's not bluffing. But that doesn't mean she's right. What's up with her visions?

We already got told that visions of the future only count for when they came through. Once we see them, it's a new future where we can take steps to avoid what happened.

Sure, maybe the Traitor's visions are more accurate then most, given that she apparently called this all out years in advance. But she seems like someone literally chained by fate in her own mind.

... Something I can't help but imagine Richard had something to do with.

>>45171364
> ... Something I can't help but imagine Richard had something to do with.

Sensing a theme, my friend?

I've gotta hit bed, folks. Vote will remain open while I'm asleep, though I'ma archive the thread now.

As always questions, comments, discussion, feedback, & criticisms remain welcome and appreciated.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

Alright folks, thread successfully archived.

Thoughts and feelings on Part Four? It's...well, it's definitely been the longest thus far, and the runs were at times plagued by real life issues, for which I'm still sorry. High points? Low points? Things to work on in the future? Folks still havin' fun?

I'll see everyone in the morning and address discussion at that time. I'ma pass the fuck out now.

>>45171265

Bleeding fuck she's barmier than Juana la Loca.

Would she sense 'us' if Fetch went down there?

>>45171642

I'll say it again, it was the best part since the first. Even if it ran a bit long.

>>45171642
Really liked the fight at the end, and the subplot with the Poet.

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>Good News, evryone!
>Nathans mom is the Traitor and wants him to kill her

>>45171265
> Can you get Nate to talk to her? Because she sounds like she's gone fucking crazy.
> What kind of person makes a son kill his mom?
>What is this "fate" bullshit"?

>>45171759
>Hey Nate, good news bad news?
>...surprise me.
>Lora admires your swordsmanship and your mom says hi.

>>45171956
I like it!

>>45171265
>what qualifies under "me"?
>can she detect me past deathstealth?
>......heard anything about aunt carol?

>Do you know what her fate is?

I am curious as well. Right now we seem to be a bit flimsy on the idea of who is supposed to kill whom here. And if any killing is involved at all. The traitor is certain, but... that ain't an absolute.

Hm. Fascinating stuff.

(I also second the notion that this was a pretty excellent chapter, with a quite solid ending. Did not expect that and it worked.)

>>45171642
...there is but one mistake you have made vox, in your 3 months of QMing...

...

not enough Lewds.

...

that is all

...

seriously i can't think of a single other mistake except /maybe/ too much slice of life? that was being compounded by RL shenanigans so it probably doesn't count, and even if it did, i wouldn't hold it against you.

Three things; we /need/ to check on Silence and Diving Shadow. I seriously hope the big fey didn't bite the big bazooka, she's just too good a character. Then it'll be time to get Best Bird and Nate fixed up with their wraithsteel & iron prosthetic wings/leg. And while /that's/ going on, Brianna can finally have that chat with the Duchess.

>>45171642
You do some consistently great writing. I love it, Vox! Of course, I can complain that the part lasted way longer, but there was a lot of stuff to do on this floor of the dungeon, and arguably switching to a slightly less frequent updating pace was more noticeable.
I especially liked the switch to the Baron at the end. He held to his loyalties to a fault and went out on his own terms. Not a good man, but respectable, in a sense? Much more so than the Vintner and the Seeker, at any rate.

>>45172422
I don't know how serious you are about this, but there was enough.

>>45172597
Bullshit.

There are /Never/ enough Lewds.

So guys, notice she explicitly said we aren't allowed down there, not fetch, not river, not amy, and not any of the other folks we know and trust for shit like this. Plus this gives us a chance to figure out Bridgette deal, and we get to tell the caretaker the great news!

Hey! Your staff are all alive and actively being threatened by a madwomen to be gutted if I do something stupid! Isn't that wonderful?

>>45173917
I am kinda tempted to go deal with the Roost if we're sending Nate to do his Hero thing.
But that would require taking Amy with us rather than having her support him down there.

Bri isn't the type to sit still though...

>>45171265

> ...Don't suppose you've got any advice on how to spirit the hostages out from under her nose?

How many hostages are we talking about, anyway?

And can/will the Caretaker leave the Atheneum to help save them?

Oh, another question for Lora:

> If I sent Fetch to New Hell with Nate, would Natalia sense him as part of me?

Not sure if that's one of the things we should do, but we should have all the information possible...

>Can fate be changed?

This is an important question.

I'm alive.

I'll call the vote after I shower, make coffee, and otherwise attend to the business of the morning.

>>45174619
Shes insane, and fate isn't accurate on this kind of shit anyway. Its normally used for vague percentage chances and vague predictions so that people can't actively avoid them and nullify the entire damn thing. For example, predicting height works because you really can't avoid it being fated that you'll be X feet tall, and you wouldn't be arsed to avoid it anyway. For shit like someone dying horribly somewhere a normal human being normally would think "oh shit" and avoid doing whatever it is that resulted in that entire line of insanity to begin with, nullifying the entire damn thing. It appears The Traitor is actively pushing for this fate for herself, because she is batshit with a side of coleslaw crazy.

...Is it possible the Master wants all of the other chain holders to die? What if he wants/'needs sole control for what ever it is he's doing?

>>45175324
"You shall serve each of us in turn, though your spirit rebels...Finally, your souls quenched, you shall be pawns of the Flamèd One."

Totally obscure references ftw!

Alright, morning shit taken care of but I have the powerful need to Eat Food and thus Prevent My Own Death. Votes are called, I'll be writing shortly.

As you can imagine, considering the variety of replies and suggestions, I'll be combining a few.

>>45175324

It's probable, but there's not much we can do to subvert that. Brigette still lost her chain (which I think is more important than the chainholders' death, even if they are almost always synonymous).

Hm. y'know, I don't think the Traitor is crazy per se. I'm more thinking that she's the kind of Super Sane, where you can see it all but can't hold it in your head. She likely has Seen it all. Rational to a sense and sharp as a knife, but gibbering at the attempt to keep it all together.

In fact... she has likely been doing this since before Nate was born. Meaning this whole plan has been in the making for 20+ years.

> Lora, how long ago did this whole "being shackled" thing happen anyway?

Not a "useful" question per se, in that tactical info could be gleamed from it, but interesting to me nontheless.

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>>45171265
You sigh heavily. "Nathan's not gonna take this well."

"I imagine most people would not," Lora agrees. "Even at the height of my anger I never wished to harm my creators. Well, actually..."

"It was on the order of wanting to give them a good solid slap across the face?" you hazard.

"Yes, precisely," Lora agrees.

"That's just family shit," you assure her. "You're fine."

"Oh. Good. I'd wondered about that..."

"What, this /whole time/?" you ask, flabbergasted.

"I was embarassed to ask," the angel admits.

"For the sake of my sanity, I'm gonna pretend this conversation never happened," you tell her. You take a seat again and take your cigarette out of your mouth. "What's she talking about, with these visions? I /know/ prophecy's not reliable." You pause. "...Right?"

"You are correct," Lora reassures you. "The Traitor is a particularly strong prophet, which has not necessarily improved her life. Notably, she can both see and process multiple potential futures at the same time."

"...What did she do," you ask, slowly.

"Imagine for a moment that you get uncontrolled, detailed images of the future, and then you go to war as a career. She went quite, quite mad, heritor, trying to save the people whose deaths she foresaw. Some she actually saved, but the ones she didn't haunt her still. Instead of seeking help controlling her visions she sought a way to amplify them so that she could act on better information. Death was a good accelerant."

"Oh no," you say, softly.

"At the end of her rope and operating on paranoia and self-loathing, she performed a sacrifice at a place of power and invoked the future. The weapons you encountered in the Mine, the ones her foundaries churn out in New Hell? They're what she saw. She's become convinced that her destiny is to be a destroyer, to ravage the face of war and sow death and destruction."

"And what she actually saw?" you ask, quietly.

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>>45177822
Lora shrugs. "She saw further, not more accurately. She saw a future that might have been and confused it for her own. But now she's got something to believe in, even if it's something awful, and she's driving towards it with all of her cunning and might. She already has a client for her weapons, and plans to offer the designs to others."

"So she's a fatalist that's actively creating her own confirmation bias. Fucking /great/."

"She's also talented at prophetic combat," Lora adds. "She's never been beaten hand-to-hand. Her vision is sharper closer up."

"OF COURSE!" you yell, throwing your hands up. "WHY WOULD NICE THINGS HAPPEN?"

"Would this be a good moment to say that she, like your Hero, is a woundseeker? Same reason, really."

"...I'm less surprised about that," you admit, hanging your head and sighing. "Ugh. Gods, why? Why is this my life?"

"...Do you want to leave?" Lora asks, softly.

> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.
> I've got a job to do.
> Kinda, yeah.

>>45177909
> *Sigh* *Deep breath* *Compose self*
>> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

>>45177909
>> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

>>45177909
>> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

>>45177909
> I've got a job to do.

>>45177909
>It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.
>It's better to know these things now rather than finding them out in combat anyhow.

>>45177909
>> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

>>45177909
> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

Besides, leaving means we get to go back to our wonderful current life of pain, suffering, and healing from crippling bullet wounds because SOMEONE couldn't be arsed to finish the job he started!

>>45177909
>>45177987
> *Sigh* *Deep breath* *Compose self*
>> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

>>45177909
> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

>>45177909
>> Kinda, yeah. But I've got a job to do.

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>>45177909
> It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

... Oh dear. Well.

The good news is that she's still fallible. The bad news is that she's still holding an awful lot of the cards, has likely been ushered and manipulated towards madness, and this whole mess is going to get pretty tricky pretty quick.

So.

Fighting up close is literally the worst thing we could do.

We need a plan, and unless deathstealth works, something I'm not entirely sure will, Bri can't go down there.

So, we need to see what we can do to get somebody to destroy that chain. We could do this during Natalia's climactic battle with Nate, when she's hyper-focused and literally will not look at anything else. But this is probably a very small window, and I doubt that she'd just leave the chain unattended.

Also, this assumes that we can't stop her from killing herself during the battle/after if the chain breaks.

Because as much as I'd like to save her, she's kind of insane right now. 'Breaking' her future essentially makes everything she did down here because she 'had' to do it, completely invalid. It probably doesn't end well.

... Assuming of course she's not completely around the bend anyway.

>>45171580
>Sensing a theme, my friend?

What the fuck are you Richard? What's your game? Why is your charisma score apparently through the fucking roof? Where are you digging up people who are literally /perfect/ for what you want, and then how are you manipulating them and their circumstances to fit your desires?

Because, ignoring the Vintner and Moneylender who could have had their roles filled by lots of other people, I doubt that there were that many people who had a shot at deciphering the Divine Language, people who you could make absolutely and completely loyal to you even to the end, and super-seers who are more or less invincible in close combat. And Vox only knows just who else he's roped into this further down. A boat for fucking one.

>>45177909
>It's not that, Lora. I'm just frustrated.

Question now is, how do we deal with this future bullshit?

>>45178282
Oh, right.

Continuing the train of 'Oh fuck', let's not forget to add to the pile that Natalia's kind of been manipulating this situation from the beginning. After all, who was it that forbid Lora from using her real name?

And there's the hunch I have.

Generally, in order to bind something powerful, you need to make a deal, right? It works that way with Demons anyway, and the chains are reliant on a binding that goes two ways. Which means that Richard might have, somehow, conned Lora into letting him bind her. Given the fact that he has a leash and the strongest hold, his being a 'willing' bond, at least at first, would make sense.

Christ. Who the fuck is this guy? Some unholy fantasy version Light Yagami?

Votes called, writing.

How the fuck do you do this Vox? Quest running is tiring as hell.

>>45178642
Human sacrifice.

In all seriousness I have no idea. It hasn't stopped feeling easy and natural yet so I've just kinda kept going. I...to be quite honest with you, and I'm not saying this to brag but so you have an idea of my perspective here, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing okay because I feel /bad/ about delays when they happen.

So. I dunno, when I figure it out I'll tell you. Right now I'm just trying to keep in mind that I'm evidently doing alright and that as long as folks are havin' fun I'm ready to rock.

>>45178305

Alright, precog combat.

Against precogs, there's a few different tactics.

1) Power Overwhelming
Forget economy of force. Throw literally everything at her. And not just straight at her, around her. Can't dodge, can't block, they just have to tank it. And then they die. This strategy won't work for use because we can't actually leverage enough force her to make it worth a damn.

2) Xanatos Gambit
If she says something going to happen, then we rearrange our situation until we benefit from all possibilities. Essentially, force the situation into a 'Heads you lose, tails I win' kind of deal. The downside to this is it requires a lot of foresight, knowledge, and manipulative ability we just don't have.

3) Be a better Precog
This won't work because we literally have no precognitive ability.

4) Blind the Third Eye
Find something to block visions, and force feed it to her. She's probably used to blind-fighting to some extent, but if we can lock down her ability to see, she's reduced to her memory of it. And her mind's not exactly in a great place for precision recall right now. Probably non-viable because how the hell are we going to slip her exotic drugs from another floor?

5) Raw Speed
The hand's faster than the eye and all that. Nonviable at this point because Natalia's just that good.

6) Invalidate the Prophecy
If you know the terms and conditions of a prophecy, you can take steps to avoid or invalidate them. This is nonviable because we have no idea what is happening down there or what kind of future Natalia sees. It's more or less our endgoal anyway, though.

7) Side step.
Alright, so Nate's apparently 'Fated' to fight against his mom. This is horseshit, but all things considered, a lot of this situation is. We could just say 'No' and that'd probably throw her for a loop. But then she'd probably start killing hostages. Nonviable.

>>45178410
Another thing to think about: I think that having the other chain-holders killed off is somehow serving Richard's purposes. If he just wanted to keep us from getting anywhere, he could probably have marshaled overwhelming force and blitzed us while we were on the first level, but he's done nothing of the sort. He's just letting us pick off all his subordinates one by one, without taking any apparent action to prevent it. Which suggests to me his purposes are served, somehow, by letting that happen.

>>45178791
>continued

8) Fuck the Future
OK, she laid out her terms. Fuck those. We can't go down there. Find someone else and have them go after the chain. Complicated for various reasons. Not the least of which, is I'm not really sure what all goes into breaking a chain or what happens when someone other then Bri or Chain Holder touches one.

9) Maximum Jamming
Create junk plans. Have tons and tons of stuff going on at once, being led by multiple people with different ideas. Jam new possibilities and events in there faster than she can react to them. Possible, but reliant on us having a lot of people and resources at our disposal, and Natalia to have only limited resources for dealing with shit.

10) Multiball.
She can only be in one place at a time. She can probably only see one place at a time. Unlike jamming, which relies on lots and lots of shit happening, this is shit happening at a few different places. The difference is that those places are far apart. Same basic issues as max jamming though.

11) An Eye For You
Take advantage of her mania, and like I suggested before, wait for her to get knife-focused on Nate. Where she literally won't look anywhere else. And then break the chain.

Of course, these plans require more details than we actually have right now, and they require us to make a complex decision. Save the Mad Seer who probably doesn't want to be saved and did a lot of terrible things, or kill Nate's mom who was driven and manipulated by Richard into this state.

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>>45178944

Possible, but I think Vox mentioned in an early thread that he doesn't give a shit what they do, only that they buy him time.

... Which, now that I think about it, isn't exactly a mutually exclusive deal.

God. I really am starting to hate this guy. I'm going to start calling him Dick. 'Master' is a pretentious title anyway, and Richard's too classy. Rick brings up Rick and Morty.

So, now he's Dick.

Because fuck him.

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>>45177909
You look up at the honest concern on the angel's face and sigh.

"It's not that," you tell her. "I'm just. Frustrated. This whole situation has been elephants all the way down and I feel responsible for fixing it. So when new horrible shit shows up to replace the old horrible shit it can get easy to forget that I'm making progress."

"I am sorry," Lora murmurs.

"You're fine," you tell her. "You needed help. I was available. I don't blame you for reaching out."

"Had you wanted to talk about something else, or...?"

You grin faintly at her earnest offer.

> Sure (pick a topic)
> No, I should learn more about Natalia before I see Nate again.

>>45179086
> No, I should learn more about Natalia before I see Nate again.

>>45179086
>> Hey, about Brigette and Victoria...

We'll have some time to fish out more info on Natalia as we go. Comparatively, we're probably going to visit Brigette soon because in her own words she 'Done Fucked Up'. Having something resembling good news for them would be good.

Sure, with Revert there's a convenient little tool, but we don't know about that yet. Or if she can replicate this effectively. That said, I wonder if Lora already knows about it and might've arranged to teach her bits of the Divine Language to create this sort of situation.

... Also, the assassins. Kind of interesting. We know that Brigette can't die, since Divine Language can't be allowed to end up in the land of the dead, but it seems the Master doesn't know that.

Either that or he was trying to kidnap her. Which likely also would've failed because Brig /can't/ leave the Atheneum, and he can't countermand commands on floors he doesn't control.

Either that or he just wanted to rip out her voicebox and run. Without a voice, the divine language isn't too useful.

But, what's the good of knowing all this?

It means that he isn't all knowing. He has limitations, and things he doesn't know. Which is, on the overall, nice to know given the apparent bullshit he got up to on the way down to the bottom of the Dungeon.

>>45179414
Not to potentially be a downer anon but there's an option you left out of the list here: that Brigette can be killed, and doing so would force Lora to have her soul re-forged in order to keep the Divine Tongue contained, resulting in what is functionally oblivion.

I need to go to work soon; I'll return to call the vote and update a bit after 8 PM.

As always questions, comments, discussion, feedback, & criticisms are welcome and appreciated. It's nice seeing the theorizing!

Thank you all for reading and participating.

>>45179490
Oh, lovely.

I'd sort of forgotten that was a thing.

And of course it would also /conveniently/ get rid of any troublesome memories or knowledge Brig might have that would inconvenience him, while also making her a fresh slate without the experience to know that when he walks in, she should walk out.

Way to live up to your name, Dick.

Kudos Vox. I haven't disliked/admired a villain this much since my friend's Dawnfall quest.

>>45179490
Brigette could come back as a ghost

>>45179928

Nope. Vox has said that as soon as she dies, she's not bound to the Atheneum, and thus Lora HAS to reforge her soul.

>>45180187
What about if she becomes a lich?

>>45178791
>>45178962
Good shit conspiracy anon. There are a few other relative points though, one of which is testing her for blindspots and exploitng any we can find. If we can figure out a way to blind her precognition we can gradually slip the veil over her eyes and get her like that.

Alternatively we can just free the hostages and take her on, breaking everything.

Or we could always kill Nathen. That'd fuck every prophecy up, it would've been best to fuck it before he had a chance to go further down though.

>>45180304

>Killing Nathan

Nigga you what?

>>45180318
She can't fight nathen and die to him if we kill him, every one of the futures shes predicted and expects to occur hinges on him living. If we kill him we fuck everything up for her.

That said this idea is insane and leads to zombie armies after we begin grossly lowering the value of human woundseeker life.

>>45180304
>conspiracy anon

... Huh. I kind of like the name. But I have a trip, when I can be arsed to use it.

>There are a few other relative points though, one of which is testing her for blindspots and exploitng any we can find. If we can figure out a way to blind her precognition we can gradually slip the veil over her eyes and get her like that.

Eh, non-viable. Probing's pretty hard when we can't even see her. Too many other factors we don't know about to really gauge that shit. This is on top of the fact that, you know, we can't exactly get realtime feedback on her reactions since we can't even set foot on the floor.

>Alternatively we can just free the hostages and take her on, breaking everything.

... I like this plan though, anon. It's tricky and has the same basic issues. But it also gives us more options then just 'Send Nathan and try to break the chain before he and Natalia kill each other'.

Destroy leverage, alter fate, commence deep psychological wounding of Nate's mom even in most ideal scenario where she lives and doesn't immediately kill herself. Probably look into ripping that whole Sight Beyond Sight deal straight out of her head, too. Because that won't be traumatic either.

... Christ, New Hell's going to be a heck of a ride.

>>45180641
I've got it! What if we acted out the events in twilight, nobody could see such a thing and not immediately kill themselves!

We could also summon chaos demons into the world or elemental insanity and get her to die that way, simply scrying such a thing would drive her profoundly insane. We might also end the world but thats a completely acceptable side effect right?

>>45180641
I wonder if Isoldt or Miles could get us a backstage pass into New Hell? It's worth investigating, at any rate.

But whatever path we choose, Amy and Bri need their new limbs. No heroic family reunions until then!

Okay..so Nathan's mom is driving the Crazy Train into Fucksville, and there are no brakes. But there's one nagging thought in the back of my head.

What happened to Nate's dad?

>>45181316
Death by snu snu

>>45181316
Probably Nate's mom

>>45181316
He probably got killed when he failed to save him, starting this whole fuckfest off.

Idea for dickery: Ask Nate to wear a sandwich board that reads "My mother is a monster and ought to kill herself."
All the time.

Every vision of the future she sees, she gets the sign. Every one of them.

>>45181535
That seems kind of cruel to Nate

>>45181535 >>45181986
The idea is generally extremely cruel.
We may want to beat her, but psychological warfare like that is something I highly doubt Bri to partake in.

>>45181535
Reserve such dickery for when we reach the final level and face-off against Richard.

Every time he tries to do an evil monologue, the entire party screams "DDDDIIIIIICCCKKK!!!

And Brianna can say that her cock is bigger than his.

>>45182031
>>45181986
Fine. Alternative plan: we need to fill as much of Nate's time with lewds as possible, in order to subject her to maximum uncomfortable arousal. Wherever in his the future she looks, there we are, slowly licking our way down his abs. If she looks elsewhere she sees Amy using her harpy magic to support some highly unconventional positions.

Fill every waking moment with some sort of lewdness until she either can't stand to keep looking or breaks down and begs to get laid.

>>45182886
"My cock is bigger than yours!"
"But I AM a dick"

>>45183003
That has the issue of we don't have that kind of stamina, also her visions aren't something she controls.
>and begs to get laid
This is not that kind of quest. Please no.

>>45183003
No.

>>45183003
Smut end confirmed!

>>45183003
While hilarious, this isn't that kind of quest my friend.

>>45183100
>That has the issue of we don't have that kind of stamina
That's quitter talk.

I didn't mean constantly fucking, mind, just constant lewdness. Extended ass-grabing every few minutes, sensual strokes whenever we pass, walking everywhere hand in hand, that sort of thing.

Or replace all that with any other sort of awkward, uncomfortable, disgusting, or confusing things. Point is we make the future into something she doesn't want to look at. Maybe we have everybody wear dresses and make her wonder what the hell we're planning by it, may e we spend all day having Nate help us with messy, innard-sloshing necromancy that makes her gag too hard to look at the future for a bit. Maybe we get everybody to ask like we've already won and hope she misunderstands it to be a vision of after her defeat.

>>45183556
You could always write a troll smut end

>>45183633
That would only be the kind of content Vox creates if the troll turned out to be one true love three paragraphs ago.

>>45183620
how about this?

Whatever we do, Nate has to promise that when/if he goes down there, he'll be wearing a horse head mask. With party streamer stuck in mouth. Hell, make the prosthetic leg look absolutely strange as well.

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>>45184156
>elemental iron horsecock pegleg

>>45184463
>gigantic cotton wings on back that are deliberately designed to catch on fire

Heading home. Now's the time to vote if you haven't.

>>45184850

Oh, yeah, there are only really two, huh?

>>45170032

>About Victoria and Brigette...

Thus sayeth the votes.

Called, writing.

HAHAHAHAHAHA I FUCKING DID IT VOX I FUCKING DID.

A friend told me about this quest and then said he wanted to -play a drinking game.

Everytime you mentioned caffeine or pain killers I had to take a shot of Cuban coffee. And then I read the whole catalog and caught up in three days!

If I die know that your quest killed me! And that your quest is amazing!

>>45186797

Jesus Christ.

Heed the tale of SCIENCEanon from KCQ, man. Look up the symptoms of caffiene poisoning and call the paramedics if you start feeling them.

>>45186797
JESUS FUCK HOW ARE YOU ALIVE!? CUBAN COFFEE IS BASICALLY CAFFINE AND SLUDGE!

>>45186797
Anon... was that ALL mentions, or just in-story? If the former, you're probably a medical curiosity for surviving the Broken Tooth time.

>>45186921
>>45186930
No no no I'm fine, I'm better than fine I understand Vox now, I get it. I understand coffee now.

I'M DRINKING SOME MORE RIGHT NOW

>>45186945
Every mention in or out of story

>>45186965
Question though.
Did you keep track of how many times you drank?

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>>45179086
You mull it over and decide maybe you'd like to talk about something less awful.

"Understand that I'm not attempting to tell you how to do your job," you say slowly. "But I wanted to ask about what your thoughtline had been between Brigette and Victoria."

"Who?" Lora asks.

"...You did not just ask me that question."

"I know who /Brigette/ is, smartass," the angel chides. "Who in the fuck is Victoria?"

"You - you seriously don't know?" you ask, amazed. "Brigette's lover of ten years?"

Lora pauses, then lets out an extended breath. Her eyes flick to the floor.

"...She never mentioned a lover."

> ABORT. ABORT IMMEDIATELY.
> Continue with your intended line of questioning
> ...Lora?

>>45186996
>> ABORT. ABORT IMMEDIATELY

>>45186996

AHAHAHA WELP

> ...Lora?

>>45186996
>> ...Lora?
If this is going where I think it's going, I am incredibly entertained and also really want to give Lora a hug.

>>45186996
>... Lora?
We are very likely about to need to offer a shoulder to the weeping angel.

reference totally intended

>>45186996
Holy shit rip in peace

> ...Lora?

>>45186996
> ...Lora?

I... I have to ask whether she's pissed/horrified at herself right now. Or at Brigette. Or at Vicky.

It'll probably be answered in the next post, but holy shit.

>>45186996
>...Lora?

>>45186996
>hokaaaaay, it's time to get you up to speed

>>45186996

>...Lora?

Oh hell Brige was trying to keep Vicky hidden from her.

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>>45186996
>> ...Lora?

Oh, wow.

This is going to be good. Welcome to complex moral decision town, Lora. Population, us.

This day just keeps on getting better and better, doesn't it?

Wait, was Vicky the one that mentioned praying to Lora?

If so, guess we know she can't hear them.

>>45187290

Nah, Brig prayed. Victoria didn't. Although I'm not exactly sure if Vicky didn't try to pray /anyway/.

>>45186996

>...Lora?

I have to imagine you're laughing at us for not even considering this possibility, Vox.

Well given she's dragged us into making a lot of hard decisions I suppose it's fair she gets to make one.

>>45187290
This is why the depiction in Bruce Almighty is good, even if hilarious.
In the absolute best case, even with the assumption that deities exist, there are hundreds, possibly thousands or even more, of people praying at any given moment.
So no matter how many hard you pray, being heard is effectively impossible.

It's like trying to listen to all the voices in a -very- busy diner. The busiest diner ever, really.

> I have to imagine you're laughing at us for not even considering this possibility, Vox.

What possibility, dear reader?

>>45186797
Welcome to the quest, inadvisably caffinated anon! It's great to have you here. Do lemme know if you have any particular feedback, aye?

>>45187415

That Lora didn't know that Victoria existed / who she was.

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>>45186797
>then I read the whole catalog and caught up in three days!

Is, is that supposed to be fast? Is that supposed to be "My blood is coffee" tier? Because I picked this quest up on Sunday and caught up last thread. I'm starting to think I might be weird.

Vote extended slightly while I get some dinner.

Also I am drunk now.

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>>45187618
>Also I am drunk now.
It begins.

>>45187618
It better be alcoholized coffee.
Is such a thing even possible?

>>45186996
> ...Lora?

>>45187707
I've heard that alcohol mixed with coffee lead to bad times. Or was that alcohol and smokes?

Basically, taking chemicals that speed you up with chemicals that slow you down ends very, very poorly to your long term health and short term coherence.

>>45187688

Remember, Vox is immune to alcohol and other drugs.

He gained this in exchange for requiring caffiene in much the same way humans require water.

>>45187707

Ever hear of Irish Cream?

>>45187579

I've eaten a 750,000 word story in less than 48 hours. If you're weird I'm downright strange.

>>45187707 >>45187753 >>45187783
The effect is dependent on the ratios.
If you drink a -lot- of alcohol and a -lot- of caffeine, the high of each will combine and... it does bad things.
If one is more present than the other, though, that high will dominate and leave you in a perfectly fine, yet altered, state.
The mentioned combating equal highs is a main reason of why 4loko was/is considered dangerous.

>>45187916
I've read the entirety of Homestuck at the time. Sometime prior to the Reset thing. in a single sitting. Now that was a read I would not suggest.

>>45187971
Jesus fucking Christ. And they call /me/ a madman?

I say as though I didn't binge Worm in about 10 hours of reading over 2 days.

>>45187971
I have shared this pain. I read up through about ¾ of act 5 in three days.
God help me, I liked it. I still have half a dozen prints framed on my wall. One of them's signed.

>>45186996
>> ...Lora?

>>45186996
> ...Lora?

>>45186996
> ...Lora?

Hey guys. Just jumping in to say flashbacks to Joker-Quest and pre-cog/telepathic combat where the enemy could read non-spoilered posts.

I'm only going to mention that this one time.

>>45189028

I doooooon't think Vox is that much of an ass.

>>45189118
Nah, but the Traitor might be.

And honestly, it was one of the best boss-fights in JQ. Especially once Anons picked up on it and started posting non-spoilered stuff as decoys.

>>45189143
>>45189028
Then should we shitpost off-the-wall plans during the actual fight against the Traitor?
Like, layer so much Things What Might Happen, even though it's very crazy.

Like getting Nate to kiss her IN THE CHEEKS. And then HOLDING HER HANDS and SKIP ALONG WITH HER.

>>45189317
>Like getting Nate to kiss her IN THE CHEEKS. And then HOLDING HER HANDS and SKIP ALONG WITH HER.

You sick fuck

This vote seems clear-cut. Called, writing.

I need more coffee. Dinner was nice though.

>>45189317

Nate calling her "mom".

That'd fuck her up.

>>45189317
>>45189630

Brianna: "Hey, you know the difference between you and me?"
Natalia: "What?"
Brianna: "Nathan loves me."

>>45189723
Oh snap

>>45187410
>This is why the depiction in Bruce Almighty is good, even if hilarious.
>It's like trying to listen to all the voices in a -very- busy diner. The busiest diner ever, really.
Well the thing is, when you're almighty you CAN sort through them all at once. Even if you don't pack expanded consciousness by default as was the guy's case, you can stop time and sort through.
But comedy protag gotta be comedy protag.

>>45189723
Nah, man. Instead "Hey, don't you want to meet your grandchildren?"

>>45189871

Well, he did go through them at super-speed at one point, but they'd filled up again within the next second.

>>45189960
Of course. You have to keep doing non stop.
Which was the point of the movie really.

But for Lora here, she has much much smaller population to work with.

>>45189910

I think she knows that ship's already sailed.

Although that reminds me, we really need to badger Vox's artfriend into drawing pregnant Amy and/or Brianna.

And by badger, I mean beg piteously.

>>45190110
Pregnant Amy/Brianna lewds?

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>>45190110
>>45190131

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>>45186996
You lean forward slightly, frowning in concern.

"Lora? Penny for your thoughts?"

The angel's wings come forward, obscuring her from sight. "It's nothing. Tell me about this Victoria. What's your concern?"

"Not my concern," you admit. "Her concern. Brigette's immortality means that at some point she's going to outlive Victoria, and she's worried that, at that point, Brigette will be left alone. The people of the Atheneum have no reason to love her. The Caretaker is...well...a lich. And you hate her."

"I am not cruel," Lora murmurs. "...And I do not hate her."

"Lora, this thing you're doing where you're not making eye contact with me is sort of odd," you tell her, gently. "Can we - ohhellyou'recrying."

"Shut up," the angel mutters. "I won't own the Dungeon forever. Brigette's fate will be in your hands and those of your descendants. And authority is not given to me to revoke the mortality of her lover."

"Lora, why are you crying?" you ask, softly.

"It's /nothing/."

"...You have feelings for her, don't you?"

"I said /shut up/!" Lora's wings snap back in front of her, shielding her behind dark feathers. "It's none of your concern."

> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.
> But. WHY?
> ...But...how'd you make Brigette immortal if you don't have the authority to make people immortal?
> If you say so.

>>45190320
> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.
Look, what happened man? Let's talk this through. Maybe then we can see how you're feeling are like okay?

>>45190320
>> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.

"Hearts are complicated things. We don't get to choose the way we feel."

>>45190320
>> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.

>>45190320
>> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.

Brianna
1. Necromancer
2. Battlefield Nurse
3. Coffee addict
4. Chain smoker
5. Love counselor

>>45190320
>> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.

>>45190320
>> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.

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>>45190391
[La Croix intensifies]

>>45190320
>> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.

>>45190320
>Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.
my god Lora, you picked a hell of a time to think about love.

....is this what Bridgette was talking about? FUCK

>>45190489
> ....is this what Bridgette was talking about? FUCK

Ha ha, you wish.

Votes called, writing.

>>45190320
> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.

>>45190489
Looks like anon has missed a pastebin!

>>45190537
no, I just wondered whether having an aged down assassin was really THAT much of a problem, assuming she can get a caretaker(hah!) or some such to watch the kid.

>>45190514
I mean, when you mentioned "elbow deep in the High Priest's wife when he visits"....

>>45190430
Vox, not that I'm not enjoying the shit out of seeing Lora have an emotional breakdown, but I'm gonna be honest.

This is kind of out of left field.

I mean, I can get part of the why. Of all the Chain Holders, Brig's the one who put the most effort into trying to make Lora comfortable. She gave her the cigs, made the Dream Meeting Circle, and didn't do much to ruin the lives of other people.

So I can understand this reaction, but it feels a tad too exaggerated. Unless you're also playing into the whole 'I knew her for this long, and I didn't even know she had a /lover/ and oh /god/ I am /terrible/' thing.

>>45190320
>> Lora, I'm your /friend/. Of course it's my concern.
>> Nobody said that someone can only have one lover either, by the way. Ahem, Ahem.

>>45190569
How do you think they got close to Lora enough so that they could chain her in the first place, tripfaggot.

Love makes people do stupid things, like letting someone put a leash on you.

>>45190569
> That point in the quest when namefags and tripfags start to think their headcanon is more important than the writers.

> InB4 "retcon fever" kills the quest.

Don't make the same mistakes as AzureEarth did, Vox.

And tripfags, look at allllllllll the fucking backstory there is in this quest. Do you really think Vox is going to do left-field "lol randumb" stuff?

>>45190569
you're forgetting many other things.

Like how her research into Divine Language greatly mirrors Lora's own past.

And how as a person, Poet was not strictly LACKING. Just....not enough for this scenario. Not tempered by experience.

I don't claim to fully agree with it, but a relationship starting from a mentor figure seeing the student do all the things they did is not uncommon. There's a connection when you really understand where they're coming from.

Plus it was foreshadowed way back when Bri mentioned that angels are not mortal, but can also strangely do things like fall in love.

>>45190597

That, I'm betting, was a lot more Dick then Brig. Dude's either got some sort of super charisma or is cheating somehow. Possibly both.

Brig's domain was the Divine Tongue part of the bindings.

>>45190569
Stockholm syndrome is a wonderful/horrible/confusing thing?
Sometimes a tiny bit of kindness in a horrible place can be all it takes?
Many, Many, common points between the characters
Seems pretty easy to work out a multitude of reasons.

>>45190644
>>45190642
>>45190633
>>45190611
>>45190597
>>45190569


I think you're all overthinking it.

Brigette is BARD as fuck.

She's been alluded to be hot enough to seduce a high priestess's wife most likely and now we have confirmation she seduced a fucking angel of death. That's it baby.

Really, this just says more about Bri's sense of self control being able to resist said charms.

>>45190642
> Knows Divine Tongue

I'm just saying, maybe Lora is impressed that Brigitte is such a Cunning Linguist. And I bet that she isn't too much into dudes what with the whole "bite the pillow, filth" and being an angel who probably isn't terribly sexually experienced.

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>>45190320
The ironic thing about this situation is despite the sympathy wringing your chest, you're almost relieved. You expected this conversation to be so much worse.

"Lora, I'm your friend," you murmur softly. "I'm here to help. Of course it's my concern. Admittedly I'm a bit confused here but I'm pretty sure you're not crazy, so...I dunno, maybe try talking it out?"

Lora is quiet for a long minute - you hear her lighter go off, at least - but her wings eventually come down. The shock has worn off, though her cheeks are still wet from tears.

"...It's complicated," the angel mutters. "I. I don't know if I'm angry or jealous. Or both. You were right, when I confronted you. She wasn't my enemy. But it's hard to hear that she hid this from me for ten years and not feel like I've been outmanuevered, again, by the witch that enslaved me."

You /wince/. "That's...yeah. I can see that."

"Even setting that aside, do /mortals/ react well to their friends keeping secrets like this?" Lora asks.

You snort smoke out of your nose. "No. Not really."

"...Brigette tried to be kind to me. She argued in my defense. She comforted me, when I let her. She treated me as a person, not a slave or a tool. When my fury burned out, I...I wanted to be friends. And I think you know that she's not precisely uninteresting or unattractive. She told me about the festival."

You nod instead of answering.

Lora takes her cigarette out of her mouth and looks down at the floor. "Her lover aided my binding. Didn't she?"

"Aye," you murmur.

"...I will honor Brigette's efforts. Victoria is safe from me."

"Are you sure?" you ask, for /some reason/.

"I'm sure. I. I would like to be alone now, heritor. Thank you for listening."

"Any time, Lora," you tell her. You stand up and cross the room, and put a hand on her shoulder. "If you need to talk about this later, you know where to find me."

"You'll regret that," Lora says wryly. "But thank you."

>>45190661
>high priestess's wife
wait what?

>>45190611
> Do you really think Vox is going to do left-field "lol randumb" stuff?

Geeze, turn on your trip to not be called 'conspiracy anon' and forget about it hours down the line and all of a sudden it's tripfag wars.

Anyway, I'm not saying it's /dumb/ or not well thought out. I'm saying it felt weird coming out like this. It just feels like it's a bit too much.

Vox makes it a point to ask for critique, and I don't have a problem saying it. It's still a great story.

And the next update's probably gonna blow my concerns out of the water anyway.

>>45190633

You though, bring up some good points. Thanks, I hadn't considered things quite like that.

>>45190691
eh, it was an offhand comment. But she said something like 'being caught elbow deep in the high priestess's wife'.

Could easily be just hyperbole and not a thing she's actually done, but add on to the whole, 'I'm a hot master of words' angle she's working and it seems like your typical BARD shenanigans.

>>45190611
>Don't make the same mistakes as AzureEarth did, Vox.
What did they do?

>>45190683
but seriously, how the FUCK did she hide Victoria for TEN YEARS!?

>>45190712
Anon, you are applying partial phrase to an entirely different context.

'being caught elbow deep in the high priestess's wife' is a METAPHOR for how hard Brig says she fucked something up. Not related to any actual seductions.

>>45190683
Ahahahaha. By not punishing her lover, Lora wins long term.

"Don't worry, Victoria. You and Brigitte will have your time together, but after you die she won't be alone."

I mean, don't actually say that, that would be a dick move.

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>>45190683
"I regret lots of things," you say, with a shrug. "I doubt I'll regret helping you through this. Get frustrated? Maybe. Punch Brigette a few times just on the principle of the thing? Almost certainly. Regret? Nah."

"Don't punch her unless she deserves it," Lora warns.

"Well...she did say she fucked up pretty bad," you muse. "You're smiling. You're smiling really broadly at me. Lora, why are you smiling?"

"Enjoy your day, heritor," the angel says sweetly.

"Godsdamnit, Lora -"

You try to sit up when you wake up and regret it like your cousins regretted skipping their swimming lessons. Your head goes back down with a groan of agony.

Your everything hurts, and though you know that you've been healed at least some, it hurts /more/ because you were feeling /fucking fine/ in the angel's waiting room.

Gods. Fucking. Bullets. It's like getting stabbed and crushed at the same time with those fucking things.

It's going to be a day or three to recover.

> Tell Nathan about his mother immediately
> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit

AND

> Tell Nathan alone
> Tell Amy too

>>45190741
pretty sure there was a guy who had three wives, and children, who didn't know about each other.

>>45190751
> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit

> Tell Nathan alone

>>45190744
Yeah, but its quite a specific metaphor. One I wouldn't see a person who doesn't fuck priestess on the reg would use.

Y'know?

>>45190729
Allowed ret-cons for when people bitched.

Often times because they made really bad "heat of the moment" choices or several really bad choices.

Shitposting got so bad because people felt they could complain their way to a happy ending (playing an insane, sadistic, pretty much evil, serial waifu-er harem protag undead abomination).

But my god, the way he ended the quest was beautiful and cathartic. So much butthurt.

I recommend reading it, and then stopping once the main character stops rhyming.

>>45190741
Carefully. Without a direct connection from herself to Lora, Victoria's just another mortal in the Dungeon. Lora's powers of perception are great but in a lot of cases individuals are just...noise. She has a better grasp of communities than people unless for some reason those people either intersect directly with the Dungeon's function, with her duties, or with herself.

Essentially, as long as Victoria didn't do anything to Lora directly, and Brigette never brought her up, she was indistinguishable from anyone else, and Lora never had a reason to look harder than her background perception.

>>45190765
No, I totally see people using it that haven't actual experience of it happening.

>>45190751
>Give him a warning that he's going to get some heavy stuff dumped on him.
>But we're going to deal with some other stuff first while we recover physically and emotionally.

>> Tell Amy too

>>45190751
> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit
> Tell Amy too
We are all in it together.

>>45190770
>Often times because they made really bad "heat of the moment" choices or several really bad choices.
so, so many quests fallen prey to that

>>45190751
>You try to sit up when you wake up and regret it like your cousins regretted skipping their swimming lessons.

Woah. That got pretty damn dark.

>>45190776
You've heard a person, you know, use the metaphor 'caught elbow deep in the high priestess's wife'?

I'll admit, I want to know the people you know.

Again, with just the phrase, I'd agree with you. But considering all the other info we have on Brigette, and the fact that she is pretty much your typical bard, I find it more likely to be akin to a real experience she's had.

>>45190751
>> Tell Nathan about his mother immediately
>Give him a warning that he's going to get some heavy stuff dumped on him.
> Tell Amy too

>>45190751
>regret it like your cousins regretted skipping their swimming lesson
>Black people
>Being unable to swim

10/10 for realism, Vox.

>>45190709
>>45190569
I do appreciate you offering your critique. I do hope that the things anon pointed out (esp. here >>45190633) and the update made it seem a bit less the fuck outta nowhere.

I honestly do have some concerns about this reveal, though. It was only very lightly foreshadowed and if anon's got thoughts or feelings on the matter I've got a notebook open and a willingness to field them.

>>45190837
It's just that it's hard to convey that in text. Because if you don't catch the foreshadowing, Vox, then it's like, the fuck?

Honestly, all the relationship developments with Lora have felt very JARRING.

Like, I forget when we changed from merely seeing her in our dreams to being really fast friends. It wasn't smooth, from my perspective. Granted, I might have just been not paying much attention to the slow build up of Bri and Lora's friendship, but it just was like, oh, we're friends now and crying on each other's shoulders. I guess this is aight.

It's also weird to go from 'even though i've been raped I'm going to act like a hardass' to 'my crush has a gf, boohoohoo'.

That sounds kinda cuntish from my end and, yeah, they're entirely different scenarios and people can react to wildly different circumstances in different ways, but I know have to re-think the character different than before. Which isn't necessarily bad.

Lora has obviously been keeping her attraction to Brigette close to the chest for so long, so the fact that she just sort of revealed it quickly like that feels like it was 'forced'? Maybe if you had Lora's reaction be more subtle and have us puzzled for a few threads longer, maybe actually have the reveal from Brigette's POV or something, y'know?

Honestly, characterizing individuals via quest 4chan posting is hard.

>>45190837
Nah, nah.

Should've held my tongue till the end it seems as well.

You've nailed it straight on the head as usual. The interaction feels very human, and very reasonable. In a way, Lora's right. It's another little betrayal. An attempt to hide one the people who aided in her binding. But she can also understand why Brig would do it, and it kind of hurts to think that Brig would think her mean or cruel.

Anyway.

> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit
> Tell Amy too

>>45190923
>It's also weird to go from 'even though i've been raped I'm going to act like a hardass' to 'my crush has a gf, boohoohoo'.
It's hard to explain but I think it's a matter of Lora was putting on a very brave face as she had no allies at all and at some point Bri/us broke down the emotional wall she was hiding behind because we became a genuine friend and the floodgates kinda opened up.

>>45190751
> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit

>Tell Amy too

>>45190923

Nah, in character I think we've steadily gotten to know Lora over what's probably around four months or so by now. And we've made an effort to reach out to her, and demonstrate that we're very much not an asshole.

We put our money where our mouth is, we're risking our lives (technically untrue but shut up) to free her, and made it clear that we're not going to stop. We trade cigs, talk, share jokes, and share frustrations.

We've been an understanding friend like she's never had before.

>>45190971
To add to my post,>>45190990
>We've been an understanding friend like she's never had before.
This is important because we are, as far as I can tell, Lora's first and only friend. Bridgette was nice and compasionate but was still under the masters control so Lora never had a chance to 'be herself' and always had to be 'that strong fearsome death angel'. We are the first chance she's had to be anything different.

>>45190661
You're jumping to conclusions here.
Nowhere was it ever said that Brigette herself was elbow-deep in the high priest's wife, she only said she "fucked up as if" somebody was.
And how do you get from "Lora loves Brig but we don't know how it happened" to "we have confirmation she seduced an angel" ?

>>45190667
>And I bet that she isn't too much into dudes what with the whole "bite the pillow, filth"
You can't change a person's sexual orientation. Neither can lesbians be "cured" by a hot guy (lots of people believe that!) nor will a rape victim suddenly be into women when she wasn't before.

>>45190712
>>45190661
High PRIEST's wife. Not a lesbian high priestess.

>>45190765
>>45190796
If I want to say that I fucked up very very very much, I would use a very specific metaphor. Because "how bad is it?" - "very bad" will sound like "mild inconvenience", whereas "As if the high priest's wife was cheating on him. And he catches her in the act. With his best friend. Using his favourite holy symbol as a sex toy. On his birthday." will elicit one pained shock after the other.

>>45191193
>nor will a rape victim suddenly be into women when she wasn't before.
> You can't change a person's sexual orientation. Neither can lesbians be "cured" by a hot guy (lots of people believe that!) nor will a rape victim suddenly be into women when she wasn't before.

Actually, this sort of traumatic event is exactly the kind of thing that can change a persons sexual orientation. Especially if you accept that most people have varying degrees of sexual flexibility - which is easily seen especially in cases of situational homosexuality such as being in jail, or at sea, or posting on 4chan.

Are you very stupid? Yes. Yes you are.

>>45190751
>> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit
>AND
>> Tell Amy too
I just now noticed I didn't vote.

>>45191217
Woah, even if that's true.

Brigette binding Lora is part of the reason Lora was raped multiple times.

So it'd be weird that such an event is so traumatic she is no longer attracted to men but for some reason is attracted to a woman who is partially responsible for her whole getting raped predicament.

>>45190751
>Tell Nathan about his mother immediately.
It doesn't pay to just hold on to this shit. Let him know, but he is sure as hell not going in alone. Fuck that noise.

>Tell Amy too.
After Best Bird's engagement debacle, I think Necrofowl Inc. have all learned that it's better to air this crap out together than keep it under wraps.

Also, Lora crushing on the Poet was a surprise. If anything, I'd have thought that she'd have been crushing on Brianna, after all she's said and done.

>>45191261
>If anything, I'd have thought that she'd have been crushing on Brianna, after all she's said and done.
We already have 2 lovers. She didn't know Bridgette had Victoria.
Small but important details.

Alright folks, I've been trying to focus enough to write for like the last fifteen minutes and I ain't got shit. I'm gonna sleep on it and call the vote in the morning.

As always discussion, questions, comments, feedback, & criticisms are welcome and appreciated. I don't like leaving the thread when we're this close to potentially hitting the bump limit but I don't wanna force out a bad update.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

>>45191261
It wouldn't be an unreasonable reaction, no, but it also didn't happen. It possibly doesn't help that Lora feels a /lot/ of guilt for forcing Brianna into this.

>>45191279
Good night boss, see you when you wake up.

I've made the unfortunate decision to try and run a quest three days in a row, I think your madness is spreading.

>>45191217
What about the expression "situational homosexuality" did you not understand? People in jail and at sea fuck other men because there are no other holes around and the own hand gets boring after a while. Those people are still heterosexual and they will go back to fuck women as soon as they can.

And I reinforce my statement, you can NOT change a person's sexual orientation. There have been lots of tries to turn gay people straight (mostly in the early/mid-20th century, mostly in the US, and usually brutal) and it newer worked. A (straight female) rape victim might never have voluntary sex with another man again, but that's not because she is suddenly a lesbian, it's because she is repulsed by the though of sex and because it reminds her of the rape.

And before you call me stupid again, you better cite some sources for the shit you're spewing, asshole.

>>45191295
Hah, which quest, anon?

>>45191299
Kinsey Scale. Look it up cuck there's a shit ton of sources for you there.

So a woman who primarily identifies as straight but has homosexual tendencies might switch her main orientation to homosexuality and suppress her heterosexual tendencies due to the trauma of said rape.

As fucking retarded as some people get about it, sexuality is fairly complicated and not as simple as "Straight or Gay" and there's a shit-ton of room for variance.

Attraction is not a fucking light-switch.

> People in jail and at sea fuck other men because there are no other holes around and the own hand gets boring after a while.

Just going to completely ignore how prevalent situational homosexuality and sexual flexibility is with women then, are we? I find it funny that you focus on men, and just ignore/accept that it happens with women. Or are you one of those "there's no sex without a penis involved" sub-saharan shit-heads?

>>45191217

The person's sexuality usually doesn't actually change from traumatic events, though; they just associate the trauma with the sex(ual event) that they get a massive dump of negative feelings whenever they get turned on, even more so if their physical attraction is towards someone who resembles their abuser ('resembling' usually being as loose as 'is the same sex' or 'has the same haircut').

If their sexuality does actually change, it's usually that they become ASEXUAL, not turned to the other side.

>>45191252

Brige was the only person who Lora had contact with while in captivity who treated her with any degree of civility, alongside trying to protect her from her abusers and such other things that Lora herself described. It makes sense for Lora to become attracted to her, whether sexually or platonically, simply due to the basic instinct that all living creatures have to group up for protection from threats - Lora's instincts were telling her she needed to keep the one non-threat she knew as close to her as she could, and they didn't /stop/ telling her that just because we happened to arrive.

...it's also a painfully clear instance of Stockholm Syndrome.

>>45191299
>>45191345
damn anons, chill down.
You can have an argument without spewing insults like leaking sewer pipes.

>>45191374
Seconding

>>45191403
>>45191374
I could. But that's a whole lot less fun.

I mean, are we here for reasoned, impassioned debate? Or to call each other niggers while in the throes of reasoned, impassioned debate?

I miss the days when everyone was a faggot and just laughed off name-calling.

>>45191417
Still, things have been chill in here thus far. I've liked having things chill.

Obviously I can't actually tell anyone what to do, but, y'know. Being laid-back has been pleasant.

I am bad at going to bed. I'ma do that for real now.

>>45191299
>>45191345

You're both being morons.

Sexual orientation cannot /be/ changed, but it more than certainly /can/ change.

A woman couldn't 'make herself a lesbian' due to being raped by a man, but her sexual attraction to men would be suppressed/offset by the trauma from the rape, possibly enough so that she was more able to notice that she was (to some degree) attracted to women.

Spending a long time in an enclosed area with someone will make you more likely to become attracted to them simply through the constant contact and (believe it or not) exposure to pheromones and such things from them. Your body gets more used to them, more comfortable around them, starts associating them with your 'group'. At the same time, all the others in your 'group' are absent and fading away; because of that, your instincts start panicking and trying to ensure that you maintain and strengthen ties to the remaining members of you group. Sexual relationships happen to be a pretty damn strong way of doing that, so guess what happens.

>>45191345
I know what the Kinsey Scale is and it is only marginally related to what we are discussing here. Of course it's different with bisexual people; their preference for one gender still leaves enough room for the other, and if one gender is not available or somehow associated negatively they can still stay with the other one. I was taking about gay people (that means one extreme of the Kinsey Scale) changing into straight people (the other extreme) or vice versa.

I focused on men because a) those "cures" were usually tried on gay men because women, both straight and lesbian, had nothing to say in life; they got married to a guy and if she didn't enjoy the marital sex that's her problem (it's even a bonus in the eyes of sex/fun-hating religion) and b) the number of women raping men is in the very low percentages of all rapes.

>>45191369
Nicely worded.

>>45191369
I'd like to believe this isn't Stockholm Syndrome. There's too many other factors to flatly conclude it is so.

But then angels be weird...

>>45191870

Lora's situation can be summed up thusly: person kept in captivity sympathizes with and forms bond with captor after the captor demonstrates their humanity.

That is very literally what happened with the Stockholm captives - the captors began talking to them, telling them about their lives, why they were doing this, how they didn't /want/ to be doing it and didn't want to hurt the captives, and all of a sudden the captives stopped seeing the captors as an inhuman threatening 'other' and began seeing them as /people/. And that whole particular situation blossomed forth from there.

There almost certainly are other factors, but given what we've been shown it's matching Stockholm to a T. Brigette certainly didn't INTEND for it to happen, but by being the one nonthreatening captor she made Lora even more attached to her than Lora would have been - hence the apparent romantic/sexual attraction rather than the typical platonic sympathetic.

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>>45191870
What I've always found interesting is that, over the centuries, Christian/Hebrew angels have changed from what are essentially unknowable, eldritch powers to attractive, deified humans.

So basically, Brianna sees Lora as this tall, beautiful (if more than a little intimidating at times) woman. But can you imagine what the /true/ face of an Angel of Death looks like?

Pic definitely related.

>>45191502
I'll accept your clarification as being more accurate than mine.

But the other anon is still a massive faggot.

>>45191956

>thinking a TRUE angel of anything is even vaguely humanoid and not a mobious disk covered in eyes and surrounded by a number of wings equal to the total number of humans who've ever lived

There was never, not once, a single mention of a humanoid angel in any of the Abrahamic holy texts. Some took on human FORM when dealing with us, which is like what you said, but their 'true' forms were much less human than a dude with eight arms, eyes on his palms, and an illithid mouth.

Not at all intending to be rude, but I tend to sperg out on this kind of shit.

>>45192031
Oh, no worries. I'm just really looking forward to the day we finally witness Lora's undisguised form and power. It'll probably be when we finally stab Dick in the dick, but still.
>inb4 Lora turns into fem-Cthulhu/Hindu Kali and asks us if we still think she's pretty

> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit
> Tell Amy too

In it together. After we've taken care of ourselves a little bit.

As for Lora and Bridgette... I'm not really sure where you're getting the whole "sexually attracted" thing from. Seems more like she sees a friend in her in a dark place. Who, once more, betrayed her in a way, by keeping Vickers secret.
In the grand scheme of things this seems like a minor thing, but it's another drop into the bucket that was already stacking up water with a force field.

>>45192094
>Hindu Kali
"If I weren't in a relationship already, I'd ask for a handie."

>>45190751
> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit
> Tell Nathan alone
>But with Amy outside and ready to roll right into war council.

I'm all for bringing Big Bird in on this, but Nate's a private person by nature, and he'd appreciate a little time to absorb the information on his own terms, without Bri or Amy interjecting too much of their own impressions on him at first.

I do stress a *little* time, though. Bring them in for a war council, and send Amy out for 10 minutes while we break it to Nate. When he's ready, we can bring Amy back in and discuss our options.

Because, at the end of the day, I don't want him to stew on everything. Give everyone a goal to work towards so they can distract themselves from who they're fighting, and what it means to our Hero.

the thread itself is not relevant at all, but watching that pipe being smoked was quite enchanting.

>>45192702

Bumpin' for the love of skeletal slatterns everywhere.

As an aside, when we go back up to the Atheneum to talk with Bridgette, we should take some time to research the rest of the levels and learn more about the Dungeon in general. Vox could probably just give us some options, we vote on it, and he could whip up another Google Doc.

That is, if he /wants/ to do that. There's lots of other things to do (including figuring out the situation in the Roost).

I'm alive.

I have morning shit to do; I'll call the vote when it's done. Also I'm working from 6:30 to midnight tonight, after which I'll be heading to a friend's house. Run won't end, but it will be somewhat slowed while I chill.

> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit
> Tell Amy too

>>45190751
>> Give the poor man a few days to recover from this bullshit
>> Tell Amy too

>>45190751
>> Tell Nathan about his mother immediately
>> Tell Amy too

>> Tell Nathan about his mother immediately
>> Tell Amy too

At fucking /last/.

Anyway, votes called, will write after I put my breakfast in the oven.

>>45190751
>Tell Nathan immediately with Amy

Normally I would suggest giving it a few days, but I think Nate would dislike us withholding information about his mother from him. He took chances informing us about being a wound seeker and the letter about his mother, let's take a chance and trust him in return.

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>>45190751
<My queen, you are awake. Do you want company?>

<Yes, please> you tell Fetch. You hear his voice speak up from the other side of the curtained bed in which you lay, and shortly thereafter the curtain parts and admits Amy, Nathan, and your familiar.

"Okay, before I forget to say it," you tell them. "I got some bad news, but it's gonna wait until I'm feeling better, and you two are feeling better."

"What kind of bad news?" Nathan asks.

"Had a talk with the Traitor," you mutter.

Nathan and Amy both wince at the same time, and then nod.

"What's the damage?" you ask, with a sigh.

"Mom's okay, but if you can look at her wing soon that'd be a big help. She can't...she can't move it right now," Amy says nervously. "She's trying to stay calm but it's scaring her."

"Silence is still out cold," Nathan says quietly. "Iron overdose, the medics are saying. Hard to treat, but she's fighting to live. Amy and I are mostly fine, though River's nursing some hits from Lora. Lark took a couple of rounds from those guns. He's on death's door."

"They're saying it's pretty bad," Amy murmurs.

> Take me to him /now/.
> That's...yeah.

>>45197090
> Take me to him /now/.

>>45197090
>> Take me to him /now/.

>>45197090
>> Take me to him /now/.
WE ARE NOT LOSING HIM!

>>45197090
> Take me to him /now/.

>>45197090
> Take me to him /now/.
Not even in death does duty end.

>>45197090
>> Take me to him /now/.

>>45197090
> Take me to him /now/.
Lark, no!

>>45197090
Our abominations are in danger! Also he's a cool guy I guess.
> Take me to him /now/.

>>45197090
>> Take me to him /now/.
You're giving us an option to not do our job. Like that'll ever happen Vox.

Don't forget we bottled some death for necro juice

>>45197090
> Take me to him /now/.
Yeah, gotta save our buddy.

>>45197460
OR DID YOU?

You totally did.

Called, writing.

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>>45197090
You sit up, regret it again, but keep pushing through the pain. Amy moves to protest, sees your withering glare, and takes two steps right the fuck back.

"Take me to him," you demand.

"Bri -" Nathan starts, and he gets the Glare too.

"...Okay, but I'm carrying you," Amy insists.

"Done."

It's not far to Lark, thankfully. The wounded are being cared for in the saloon, which has been temporarily converted into a hospital to handle the excess of wounded. The place wasn't exactly dirty before, but it's nice to see the gleaming, cleaned surfaces. Somoene - probably River, if you're any guess - was /very insistent/.

"Whiskey jug," you say after you get a look at the elf.

"...Is now really the time?" Nathan asks.

"...The big stone one I was collecting the death in, Nate."

"Oh. Oh!" The Hero dashes off to retrieve your death bottle, and you sigh heavily.

"...You'll use that instead of your own life?" Amy asks.

"I do like living, yes," you reassure her.

Your lover gives an audible chirp of relief.

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>>45198656
Lark's seen better days. They've dug the shots out of him, but if you're any guess he took one to the lung and from the stitches and bandages around his stomach, probably one to the spine. The clip-eared elf is out cold, and clearly on the verge of death.

"Already up to his limit on potions?" you ask one of the attendant medics.

"Honestly, we sort of pushed it a bit," she admits. "...Lark's a /tradition/ around here. Even if it's hard to tell sometimes, the Miners like him and like having him around."

"Well," you mutter, "I might be able to save him. He'll regret it, but I just might."

"What're you thinking?" she asks, concerned.

"Depends, really. I've got...a few options."

Nathan comes back with your jug, and you pop the cork on it before digging out your stone with a hole in it. Your investigation confirms your suspicions; he has internal damage, probably from the force of the bullets, and the wounds in his lungs have only partially healed.

"What can you do?" the medic asks.

"They're all godawful ideas, but...there's a theory my grandmother pioneered, that necromantic resilience could be used to help someone sustain the heal shock from an overdose of potion. No one was lining up to test that one, mostly because of the consequences."

"What consequences?"

"Theoretically? Overhealing leading into malignant growths. Or dying in agony of the heal shock anyway. Could wait out his death and revive him - that's more tested, but it'll leave permanent damage. Death always takes its toll."

"There an option three?" Amy asks, in a small voice.

"Wraithsteel, if we've got a powerful enough healer on hand," you say, softly. "It can replace what's been lost."

"We...might not have /a/ powerful healer, but we've got a lot of medics," the young woman says carefully. "Death is your business, Ms. la Croix. What's your suggestion?"

> Attempt the overdose
> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)
> Try the wraithsteel

>>45198978
>> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)
The bottle will replenish on its own. Wraithsteel won't.

>>45198978
>> Attempt the overdose

>>45198978

> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)

The probably safest option. We did it with Nate, we can do it here.

>>45198978
>> Attempt the overdose
For Science!

>>45198978
>> Attempt the overdose
>> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)

Now hear me out, can we at least have the revive idea on standby, or will trying the overdose fuck up any chances of bringing Lark back?

>>45198978
> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)

This seems most likely to succeed, if equally unpleasant.

>>45199058
It'll A) work B) Riddle him with cancer. C)kill him.
D)Riddle him with cancer, AND kill him.
I don't know how well bringing back the dead works on cancer. Probably isn't a good thing to have brought back with you.

>>45199097
Nathen had leukemia

>>45198978
I don't know what to pick but I would like to add:

>"Come on Lark, you still need to talk to River and I heard some guy say that your cigars aren't all that bad."

>>45199104
I thought it was something else? oh well.

>>45199058
If it fucks him up further he'll revive with even more permanent damage than if you revive him /now/. It might not be something you wanna wish on another living thing.

>>45199110
No matter what we actually do, we've /got/ to say this to him while doing it.

>>45199058
>> Attempt the overdose
>> If that doesn't work, let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle), unless he's like 50% cancer by that point.
We know we can cure cancer. Might end up doing more permanent damage than just his current wounds would, if we revived him, but it could also do a lot less. I think it's probably worth the gamble, although I really wish he was conscious to ask him.

Also, if the overdose works, it could help a lot of other people down the line, although if that were the /only/ reason for trying it'd be a bit too much treating-people-like-things for my liking.

>>45198978
>> Attempt the overdose

>>45199165
Do we have any gauge on how fucked up the revive will be if we do it now?

Like, are we talking something akin to Nate's breathing problems or something much worse?

>>45198978
>> Attempt the overdose
The re-death was a last ditch effort for Nate iirc, and we do hate 2 other people to help. If we use up all our deathbooze we are less likely to be able to help them.

Though I'm gonna say I'm not against the wraithsteel option as it's probably the least 'deadly' of the options. I'd like amywings but this is an emergency. So I'll put it in green incase.
> Try the wraithsteel

>>45199259
Little of column A, little of column B. Hydrostatic shock is a bitch, but Lark is also already partially healed. He'll need to be careful about being physically active for the rest of his life and he's not fighting in any more wars like that, but he should be able to live a fairly normal life beyond that.

And before you ask, since I know it's going to come up, he'll still be able to get laid. He just can't be going balls-to-the-walls up and down the fucking barn.

>>45198978
> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)

>>45199299
>we do hate 2 other people
*HAVE*
No idea how I typo'd that one

>>45198978
> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)

>>45198978
>> Let him die, then revive him (use up your bottle)

Let's not try the experimental procedure on this.

>>45199304
>since I know it's going to come up

I know you meant that as somebody was going to ask, but I'm going to take it as you confirming Lark and River are going to get it on.

Called, writing. Hopefully we can kill this thread and write a new one before I have to go to work.