>>136829
You hit the side of the deck and grit your teeth, vines snaking up your arms to keep you holding onto the leg of the giant gull. All around you you can see constrictors emerging from the rubble. It’s only a matter of time before they turn on you.
“Aqua, now is not the time!”

The bird shrieks but otherwise does not respond.

“You need me! I’ve saved your life twice now and you need me to do it again because the second this potion wears off you’re dead! You need me alive!”

You seem to have finally gotten through to her because the gull takes to the air once more, dragging you upward with it. It’s certainly not the most graceful bird but it gets the job done.

The siege-ship sinks away below you as it slowly takes on water and begins to sink. On it’s deck you can see constrictors and humans alike taking to the water. And in the distance, the two other siege-ships who are completely unharmed and remain functional. They’re still firing on the city.


>Ask Aqua to take you over them and see if you can do a little bombing.

>Later. Ask Aqua to take you straight back to shore. You can’t risk getting hurt more right now.

>Ask Aqua to take you into the city but not on the shore. You might want to avoid any of the fighting still on the docks.

>Other

>ask aqua to take me to the city

>>136837
>Ask Aqua to take you over them and see if you can do a little bombing.
Fly as high as possible and drop a lethal venom cloud and snakebreaker on each ship. We gotta at least slow them down for now before we spend time healing.

>>136837
>Ask Aqua to take you over them and see if you can do a little bombing.
How's it going Ouro? Not too tired today?

>>136837
>Later. Ask Aqua to take you straight back to shore. You can’t risk getting hurt more right now.
Better to patch ourselves up

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Ah fuck, it's thread 98 not 97. Oh well.

>>136871
The longer those things keep firing on the city the worse off we are. We can avoid danger pretty well if we fly high enough.

>>136886
Huh, just checked the inventory, I thought we were out of snakebreakers but we still have four. Anyway, the most efficient way to use them would be to hit the ships right on the waterline, and to do so we would have to fly low. As we are right now, if we get shot down we are fucked.
>>136883
So hiss has green eyes? I always thought they were yellow

>>136938
The ships on the waterline have already offloaded their anacondas at this point. The trebuchet ships are the biggest issue right now.

Can we get an overview on what's happening in the battle Ouro?

>Ask Aqua to take you over them and see if you can do a little bombing.

There are still six of those infernal trebuchets at work, hurling stones and Ishmin Traps and who knows what else. They're the whole reason you're out here in the first place. The longer they keep firing the worse off everything is going to get. You should at least try to slow them down.

"Take us over those ships," you mumble. "High up."

Unfortunately your little stunt with the first ship has earned you quite a lot of attention. By the time Aqua clumsily flies you over, they're ready for you.
And yes, you're extremely high up. Even the mammoth siege ships look like wooden toys from down here. It's as high as Aqua can carry you.

But that doesn't stop their archers. Giant spear-arrows fill the air, most of them failing miserably to reach you. But the hands behind those longbows are guided by an inhuman strength and several arrows zip past you and Aqua as you fly in.

It's a little scary but you should be safe while you're this far up. Even the shots that manage to make the distance are blown off-course. But the same could apply to your makeshift bombs! You're just dropping them straight down but the distance is such that it's hard to judge whether they'll hit the deck or just land in the water. And that's if they do fall straight down. You can't count on the wind not having an effect at this distance.

Aqua bobbing and weaving in her struggles to stay in the air certainly don't help either.


>Just start lobbing from here.

>Ask Aqua to fly down a little closer even if it means increased danger.

>Aqua can stay where she is. Use a vine to descend.

>Ask Aqua to fly a lot lower. You need to be closer to the waterline.

>Take advantage of your current height to get a good look at the battle as a whole.

>Think of some other delivery method (Specify)

>Other

>>136966
>>Just start lobbing from here.
Extend a vine lower with the potion to lob.

>>136938
>So hiss has green eyes? I always thought they were yellow
Tegaki isn't canon.

>>136966
Can we sort of fly around while holding brews in soul drift form?

>>136979
It's a lot of effort to hold anything in Souldrift form.

>>136966
>>Just start lobbing from here.

>>136969
>>136998
I approve of vine sling for throwing

>>136966
>Just start lobbing from here.
gauge the wind's influence on the trajectory by throwing a few less useful brews down first like our love potion antidote and hombrew

>>136966
>Take advantage of your current height to get a good look at the battle as a whole.
Is it night yet?

>>136969
This seems like it would make things way harder

>>137015
>If only we made a war version of the love potion. Throwing it on the ship and watch it descend into chaos

>>136966
>Aqua can stay where she is. Use a vine to descend.

Maybe get aqua to just glide at the same altitude while we throw too.

>Just start lobbing from here.

You can't afford to go any lower right now. The last thing you need is for Aqua to take an arrow to the wing or something similar. You have to stay up here out of reasonable archery range. But how are you going to hit anything from here?

You ponder for a few moments before inspiration strikes. Simple! You'll do it the same way those trebuchets did! You remember their early missed shots and the re-calibrations of the mathematicians as they used that knowledge to guide the next volleys home.

You don't really know a lot about maths. But you're not going to let that stop you.

The first potion you drop is the Love Antidote and you watch and take note of how it misses completely. Looks like you're going to have to adjust for the wind blowing in here...

The vines around your arms extend. As long as Aqua stays at roughly the same altitude you should be able to use these to throw from different angles.

Your follow-up attack, a Beastmaster's Brew, also misses. So does the Hombrew. But they're not missing as much.

You sacrifice a Spiritbalm and a Soul Substitute before you finally think you've got your aim right. They've stopped shooting at you too for some reason so that's great.

You ready the Snakebreaker Flask.

>Roll a d100. Best of the first 3.

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>137087

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>137087
c'mon dice gods!

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>137087

>>137098
ANON I LOVE YOU

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>>137098
Nice save. Writan'

>>137087
>They've stopped shooting at you too for some reason so that's great
fuk

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>>137136
best girl comin through

>98

The Snakebreaker doesn't quite hit the deck like you intended it to. It's trajectory was mostly fine! It was just that those giant trebuchets got in the way.

The flask strikes the top of a trebuchet's counter-balance as it swings high up into the air and tears straight through it. The siege engine unbalances as the heavy wooden arm falls to the deck below and smashes straight through it. A few of the scales manage to rain down upon those below but most of them are embedded into the trebuchet instead.
Still, you strike panic all the same as people run for cover. They must have seen the trebuchet on the first ship collapse and fear a similar fate.

They're not all running however. You squint and with a bit of effort make out the small group of armoured humans as they drag something out from down below onto the deck.

It's a giant box carved from the same black wood as the ship itself and it's large enough that they struggle to carry it. Something about it seems familiar but you can't quite place it...

>Keep targeting the trebuchets.

>See if you can get in some good hits on the hull.

>Target the box.

>That's enough for now.

>Other

>>137198
>>Target the box.

>>137198
>Target the box.
Hi Tanni

>>137198
Use the lethal venom cloud brew as soon as they open it. There's probably a high ranking constrictor in there

>>137208
>>137217
If it's a high ranking constrictor they're likely to have dragon scales that would let them survive the snakebreaker. Venom arts are less common so they probably wouldn't be immune to our lethal venom cloud.

>>137198
>Target the box.
Venom brew

Fuck why did we only have one snake dispel

>>137217
>>137229
I don't think a snake as important as Tanni would be taken into the fire just like that, and if she were to come up she wouldn't do it in something so vulnerable, as much as she likes her palanquin.
But if it was Tanni, maybe we should keep her alive.

>>137256
Why would we keep her alive?

>>137265
Because muh waifu
Because she's the only constrictor we can talk to. Granted every other word she says will be an attempt to manipulate us, but if the battle goes south (which is a very probable outcome, since these guys have centuries of experience fighting snakes) we're going to need a somewhat friendly negitiator on their side.

>>137265
muh waifu

>>137265
>>137291
Also we can restore the wishbond we broke with alchemy and have her call off the invasion

>>137291
>Tanni
>friendly
You might be retarded m8. She's just manipulative and pragmatic.

>>137298
That would be nice but we don't even know that brew yet. And we don't know that she's part of the punitive forces. She's not exactly religious. And she can't end it alone, the church has the power here. At best she could sabotage them.

>Target the box

You grab a venomous gas brew from your bag as you peer down at the box. Is that a palanquin? No, they're not constructed from solid wood like that. But you've definitely seen its like somewhere before now..
Ah! It's what they were transporting Aashenpreet in back when you first met her! Come to think of it, that was on the docks of Taldenral too. Strange.

You drop the venom flask straight down as the human slaves pry the ornate box open. It's a lethal brew so it shouldn't matter how durable the snake inside is.
And hah! This is your most accurate throw so far! The bottle flies true and smashes open against the side of the box and does nothing.

"What?"

It's not that it broke open but the gas cloud didn't take effect. The bottle just broke open and the brew splattered out harmlessly on the deck without changing back into smoke. That's new.

The box creaks open and you look straight down at a strange piebald constrictor, patches of brown, blue and white scales crisscrossing its body. But more noticeable, even from your distance, is the fact that it has two heads.

It rears up and stares at you and for some reason you're starting to feel queasy. A touch of dizziness, a disgusting warmth. You want to vomit.
Something is quintessentially wrong here.

The mutant constrictor begins to unwind from the box, human slaves spasming and crying constantly from its presence.
Everyone else has evacuated the deck.

It's still noon. The bright sun beats mercilessly at your back. There's been no change in either the quantity or the quality of the light. But all of a sudden it feels very dark somehow. Like you can't see even though you clearly can.


>Drop another brew.

>Nobble.

>Time to leave.

>Descend.

>Surrender.

>Give up.

>Succumb.

>Cry

>Die

>Let go.

>Other

>>137331
>Time to leave.
Art eater

>>137331
>Time to leave.
To the next ship I guess?

>>137331
>>137356
If It is attacking us trough our Art it won't matter how far we get. We should kill it now

>>137377
We can't it rendered all our brews inert. Also sicne the crew is flipping out and dying it's indicative of aoe aura.

>>137331
Shit I forgot
>Descend.

>>137331
>Drop another brew.
Snakebreaker, not directly on top of it but close enough to hit it with loads of shrapnel. Try not to look at it more than necessary.

Are any of the trebuchets still firing on this ship?

>>137358
Wait. Can we see the ishmin crates? Maybe we could break the boxes open with a brew and set them upon the entire crew?

>>137401
There's no crew currently above-decks so no.

>>137392
>>137411
The snake is nulling art, our brews are useless.

>Time to leave.

You make the mistake of looking too long and so for a moment, even across all this distance, you lock eyes with the deformed Quedeshi priestess. The very act locks you in a full-body shiver.
One head possesses the usual mesmerising snake glare but the eyes of the other head lack both iris and pupil, just inky pools of vaguely moist darkness.

Homunculus eyes.

"Let's go! Go! Go!"

Aqua comes to her senses and changes course as quickly as she can and you nearly fall in the process. But it's done. Soon enough you're free, away from the ship and the priestess.

"Alright. Alright. Okay. Aqua, take us around to the third ship. Aqua?"

It's no use. It looks like she's been thoroughly spooked by whatever the hell that is and is making a beeline straight for dry land. Can you blame her?

>This is fine.

>Try to steer her back to the siege-ships.

>Use a potion (Specify)

>Let yourself drop when she sinks lower. She can return but you can't.

>Other

>>137498
>This is fine.
What the fuck? Is someone stealing our gimmick? Or did they try to make a snake into a wizard?

>>137498

>Try to steer her back to the siege-ships.

>>137498
>This is fine.
We need a mundane way to take this dude out. And we can heal Aqua so she can use her aquatic form to sink the ships.

>This is fine.

On second thought, it might be best to return to the shore for now. You're in an extremely bad shape and Aqua isn't doing much better either. And this ship won't be firing for a while at least. It might be best to let her retreat for now and lick your wounds.

Still, what was that thing? What the fuck? You're going to have to thin-

CENNEN[/red

Oh no. Your brand burns.

I know you're not dead! You better not be! Are you captured? Where are you? Cennen?


>Ask Aqua to let you land by the docks.

>Just let her go where she wants to go.

>Get her to fly deeper into the city.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

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>>137665
>breaking the formatting
oh noooooooooooooooooooo

>>137665
Go somewhere safe where we can brew for a bit.

>>137665
>>Get her to fly deeper into the city.

>>137665
>Ask Aqua to let you land by the docks.
Hiss said she'd be defending them personally right? Also she should really tell us where she is. She's still getting the hang of brand communication I guess.

>>137665
>Ask Aqua to let you land by the docks.

>>137665
Actually what do we see happening on the docks and city overall?

>>137735
The dock is currently in ruins with a lot of smashed Quedeshi ships but it doesn't appear to have been overrun.
The city itself is mostly fun. It has a few holes poked in it, general mass unrest and panic.

>>137741
Kek mass unrest and panic is always fun

Rolled 4 (1d6)

Looks like a tie between going to the docks or not. Evens for the former, odds for the latter.

>>137758
That was supposed to say fine.

>Ask Aqua to let you land by the docks.

Hiss didn't tell you where she was but you can make a pretty good guess. You remember her telling you that she'd be overseeing the defence of the dock personally. She must be down there.
"Aqua, take us down. Along the shore."

The docks are a disaster. You can see the burning hulks of the Quedeshi anaconda ships from where they had simply rammed into the port and broken open to dump their payload of slaves. The port is broken and burning because of it, much of the wharfs destroyed.

The sea walls to both sides are ruined too, the alchemical trebuchets that once manned them torn down and broken. A few remain but you can see that the third and final siege-ship has been targeting them. They probably won't stay up for much longer.

As for the streets beyond? You feel your breath catch as Aqua drops down. It's a fucking mess. Houses and buildings are smashed and torn to pieces, the very street broken and cracked. There are corpses everywhere and mixed among the many human bodies are those of the anacondas themselves, craggy-skinned and emaciated slave-giants. Most of them are in human form but you think you spot at least one thirty-foot dead serpent lying in the ruins of what was once somebody's home.

The river itself is choked with corpses from where the anacondas must have used it as an entrance point.

You don't see any living anacondas as you descend so you make a guess that they've been repelled. But at what cost? The docks and port have been absolutely smashed open, the defences withered. The wind carries the stench of blood and fire.

Aqua drops you down atop a splintered wharf that's been snapped in half, the coils of a gigantic snake corpse still half wrapped around it.
Miraculously it looks like nobody has seen you yet. The outer docks are home only to corpses and those tending to the dead.

>Find Hiss.

>Investigate the corpse on the wharf.

>You should probably do something with Aqua. A giant bird will draw attention.

>Go and help the wounded as best you can.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>137848
>Investigate the corpse on the wharf.
Load the caster with a scalebane and a snakebreaker

>>137848
>Investigate the corpse on the wharf.

>>137848
>You should probably do something with Aqua. A giant bird will draw attention.
We need loads of heal-alls for both of us before we get into combat again.

Sorry about the delay on these last few ones. Haven't been feeling great.

>Investigate the corpse on the wharf.

You let go of Aqua and gingerly step onto the wharf as best you can, the wooden brace around your legs taking the weight for you. You're a little unsteady on your feet but it's not that bad!
Aqua squawks something but you can't understand her since she's, well, a bird.

"Now how about you, big guy?"
The giant snake is wrapped around the wharf, struck dead in the act of snapping it in half. Shit. You can't believe that there's a bunch of snake corpses just lying around like this. How is Hiss going to keep her secret now?
What's she going to do about alchemy?

You pat the dead snake down, taking your share of scales and blood as you do so. Now, what killed this one? His body looks more or less unharmed so he probably had some fairly
durable Scale Art. Was he poisoned?

You get around to the head and find your answer. Inside the anaconda's jaws is a young woman impaled and chewed up within his teeth. Underneath all the blood you can see that she was dressed quite finely and was attractive. Combined with the fact that it's a woman on the battlefield...she must have been one of Hiss' snakes. She got eaten but filled the anaconda full of venom in the process.
You don't recognize her.

"Uuu..."
A soft groan and a mangled eyelash blinks up and down.
She's still alive?

She gently slides out of the anaconda's mouth as you tilt it up, her body mangled and ruined by sawteeth bitemarks. She's covered in sticky, oozing blood and her arm and both legs are flopping about in ways that suggest her bones have been ground to nothing.
"Con...Consort. Cennen."
Her voice is faint.

"Yes?"

"Heea...Heal-All. Do you have any healing potions?"

You think back to your pack in a sudden panic. You're completely dry.


>Give her a placebo.

>Apologize and let her be.

>Give her something else (Specify)

>Nobble.

>Other

>>137992
Start brewing loads of heal-alls for the three of us. Give her the first one to keep her from dying before we finish.

>>138024
This

>>137992
Seems like you're never feeling great Ouro.

>>137992
>Nobble.

>>137992
>>Nobble.
Isn't there a shapeshifter art that puts off wounds?

>>138063
She probably can't learn it. It's really high tier.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

Looks like a tie between brewing and nobbling. Evens the former, odds the latter.

>>138077
We can wish for it though no?

>>138092
Right but wishes only boost snakes to their theoretical maximum abilities. The healing shapeshifting is the highest tier of shapeshifting so a random snake is less likely to have that potential.

>Brew!

You slam your pack down. You need to get your lab ready.
"Uh, I'm sorry. I don't have any of them on me right now."

You start unpacking the lab and the girl just lets out a pleasant sigh.
"It's...okay."

"No! No it's not! Just hang on, let me brew this up."

It takes you a few minutes to get everything ready and to rush off the first Heal-All. It probably won't help her much but it should stabilize he-

She's dead.

"Fuck," you mutter and drink the Heal-All yourself. "Fuck."
It's not your fault. But what good are you if you can't even help people?

Aqua daintily steps past you and pecks the girl's corpse a few times. What is she doing? Your question is soon answered as the giant bird starts to feast.

"Oi!"
You get to your feet.
"Hey! Stop that! St-aaaaaaaargh!"

Everything goes white as your much-battered Champion's Elixir finally gives way and the pain from your misadventures finally catches up to you.

Mercifully, you lose consciousness almost immediately.

........

You wake slowly, your eyes bleary and your head hurting. You're alive. That's nice.
You're lying in a small bed in a comfortable and well-furnished room. There's a window but the curtains are pulled shut so that only a fragment of dying light escapes.

Beside the bed is Hiss, slumped over sitting in a chair. She appears to be sleeping and even in your state you're struck by how ...frail she looks. Slumped over and tired, somehow conspiring to look small even though she's just as ridiculously tall as you.

You groan slightly as you try to move. You have feeling in your legs so that's a plus but you feel as weak and tired as a newborn kitten.

You hear a thump in the distance as a rock strikes the city not far from here.
Hiss doesn't stir from her slumber.

>Go back to sleep. You're still far too weak.

>Get up. You have too much to do!

>Where's your pack?

>Wake Hiss.

>Nobble.

>Call out.

>Other

>>138193
>>Get up. You have too much to do!
We need to get brewing and figure out what all has been going on in our absence.

>>138193
>Get up. You have too much to do!
>Where's your pack?

>>138193
>Get up. You have too much to do!
>Where's your pack?
Do the vine trick to help us move if necessary. Also move hiss to the bed without waking her

>>138193
>Get up. You have too much to do!
>Where's your pack?

Aw shit aqua is probably dead by now too.

>>138193
If we had nobbled and wished for max shapeshifter would she have lived?

>Get up. You have too much to do!

You can't afford to be wasting time now! You have too much to do. You get to your feet slowly but surely. Your limbs are working again but they're still a little shaky so you start extruding a small wooden bracer around your legs to help steady them again.
You look down at them and clench your wooden hand. You might be more plant than man now.

You aren't particularly quiet getting up but Hiss doesn't stir. Looks like she really needed this rest. You gently pick her up and put her in bed in your place.
Let her rest. You can talk to her later.

With that done, you hobble out of the room. Where's your damn pack? You're in a corridor, looks like some kind of mansion. Hiss must have forcibly taken up residence here for the time being.
The windows here are open and you can see that it's still day out but only just. Dusk is fast approaching.

You're thinking about which way your pack might be in when you hear a faint cough. You whirl around to find Orange standing by the bed in the room where you just left.

"Hello Cennen," he says quietly. No doubt keeping his voice low not to wake Hiss.

"Orange?"
You do the same.
"Where did you come from?"

He flushes just a little.
"Not important! Where have you been? The Queen was worried sick about you."


>Tell Orange about your adventures.

>Ask about any giant birds.

>Ask about your pack.

>"How has everything been holding up?"

>Nobble.

>Ask about Hiss.

>Other

>>138361
>Tell Orange about your adventures.
>Ask about any giant birds.
>Ask about your pack.
>"How has everything been holding up?"
>Ask about Hiss
I know you hate this but literally all of these are necessary info

>>138361
>Tell Orange about your adventures.
>Ask about any giant birds.
>Ask about your pack.
>"How has everything been holding up?"
>Ask about Hiss.

>>138361
>Ask about any giant birds.
>Ask about your pack.
>"How has everything been holding up?"
>Ask about Hiss.
We can tell him about our adventures when hiss wakes up so we don't have to repeat ourselves.

>Everything

"It's kind of a long story actually..."
You spend the next few minutes recounting to Orange a brief version of everything that had happened since the two of you had last met early today.

He nods.
"Hiss saw the first bombing run. She was so worried."

"I can imagine why. How has she been holding up anyway?"

Orange looks back to make absolutely certain that Hiss is still asleep. Even then he steps out into the corridor and closes the door behind him.
"Badly. She does her best to look like she's holding everything together but...I think the arrival of the fleet and all this really shook her. She was expecting an easy victory."

"She isn't hurt is she?"

"Eh? Oh no. She was marvellous down by the docks today. Nothing could scratch her and she was striking anacondas dead wherever she went. But just the idea bothers her."

"And you were with her the whole time?"

"Not exactly, no. I ended up going and helping restrain some of those insects since I have the breath Art. That was mostly just tedious."

"Well," you say and ruffle his hair. "I'm just happy that you're safe. Speaking of which actually...have you seen a giant bird anywhere?"

"You mean that aquatic constrictor that you were talking about? It's flying around. It won't leave the mansion grounds and Hiss told us to leave it alone."

"Fantastic, thank you. Now where's my pack?"

"Ah sorry, I wasn't expecting you to wake so soon. Here, come with me and we'll go get it."

Orange bustles off and you follow him as best you can.

>Ask about Zigzag.

>Ask about Oster.

>Maybe you should wake up Hiss instead.

>Just get your pack so you can tend to Aqua.

>Ask about Aashenpreet.

>Other

>>138485
>Ask about Zigzag.
>Ask about Oster.
>Ask about Aashenpreet

>>138485
>Maybe you should wake up Hiss instead.
We hardly see her lately. We really ought to actually fight alongside her sometime.

>>138485
>>Maybe you should wake up Hiss instead.
She just needs a bit of Cennen to get her back on her feet.

Wait wouldn't Aqua be KO'd by the champion brew wearing off too? She took one when we did.

>>138485
>Ask about Zigzag.
>Ask about Oster.
>Ask about Aashenpreet.
I saw we let her sleep while we take care of this. Then we'll promise to fight with her as much as possible instead of doing our own half suicidal plans. I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

>>138520
She can probably handle the pain better

A lot of ties today! It's between going with and talking with Orange OR waking Hiss up and dealing with that right away.
Evens the former, odds the latter.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>138574
I gotchu senpai

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Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>138574
Whooooops

Sorry about the delay on this one. Was eating.

>Ask about Zigzag.
>Ask about Oster.
>Ask about Aashenpreet

"So how is everyone?," you pant as you do your best to keep up with Orange's lackadaisical pace.

"Pardon?"
Orange sees your troubles and immediately slows down for your sake. A small kindness but not an unnoticed one.

"You know, Zigzag, Oster...Aash. How are they?"

"I haven't seen Aashenpreet anywhere, I don't think she's the kind to fight."

"You didn't look for her?"

Orange looks a bit perplexed.
"I hardly know her. And it's awkward besides since she's a cripple."

"She'd probably be in human form."

"Still...I'd know about it."

"Whatever. I guess I can't really ask you to have watched out for her."
She's probably still where you last saw her to be honest.

"And Zigzag? I can only assume you know where she is."

Orange heats up a bit, an amazing feat since he's entirely cold-blooded.
"Zigzag is fine. She's never not fine. She's around somewhere."

"Oh so you don't know where she is either?"

"Oh come on! You know her! She likes to drift about when you don't have your eye on her."

"True enough. And Oster?"
Surely someone would have found him by now right? Or he would have revealed himself? Why would he stay hidden?

Orange shrugs.
"Haven't seen him personally. But if anyone knows where he is it would be the Queen. I wouldn't be surprised if she knows where he is thanks to the brand."

Hmph. That's kind of worrying all the same. You'll have to ask Hiss about that later.

You finally reach your destination, a battered old storeroom. Orange passes you your pack. It's dried out a little at least. Still seems to have everything in it.

Now what are you going to be doing with these?

>Brew incessantly.

>Find Aqua first.

>Bully Orange.

>Look for Zigzag.

>Wake Hiss.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>other

>>138683
>Wake Hiss.

>>138683
>Brew incessantly.

>>138683
>Brew incessantly.
Make enough for us to feel better and then make the same amount for Aqua. And then a few extra for the future.

>>138683
>Brew incessantly.

We are going to need every alchemist we can find soon. Hiss wont like it but our snake alchemy is the only hope we have of beating back the invaders. Alternatively there should be plenty of "material" to birth a couple additional homonculi to aide with brewing, assuming they are more Eva II's level than Hom's.

>>138739
Yeah I think getting homunculi to brew snake alchemy would be preferable

>>138683
>>Wake Hiss.

Still eating.

>Brew incessantly.

You sit down right then and there in the storeroom and unpack your gear. Orange just blinks before settling down with a shrug.
"Do you need my help?"

"I'm out of venom and I might need some so yeah."

"I'm not actually doing anything else right now for once so sure."

You start brewing Heal-Alls while Orange watches. After a few minutes your concentration wanes and you settle back into autopilot.
"What does your venom even do?"

"This stuff? Not a lot."
Orange opens his mouth to reveal a black fluid weeping from his teeth. It's somewhat more viscous than venom usually is, more an ooze than a fluid.
"It's lethal but not in liquid form, it has to be gaseous because it only works by going up through the mouth and nose and into the brain."
He stops to think.
"I guess if I bit someone in the head it'd still work.But otherwise it just makes you feel a little wonky and nothing else."

"Oh. Sorry about that."

"It's fine. It's actually really good for my job!"
Orange holds up his quill to his mouth for a moment and withdraws it covered in thick black venom.
"Did you really think I've been using ink this whole time? That's too much of a hassle."

"Gross."

>Besides many Heal-Alls, what else are you brewing? Choose five.

>>138821
Champion brew
Snake dispel x3
Skinshedder

>>138821
Cloudkill via Orange
Snake dispel
Potence
Champion
Snakebreaker

>>138842
We've already got a potence brew. Snake dispels are better than raw strength against constrictors too.

>>138856
I was thinking throwing range.

>>138842
Switch out that first one for a skinshedder and this has my vote

>>138821
Note to self: Never let fire near something orange has written. Also don't touch his documents until they dry to avoid contact highs.

>>138899
>Never let fire near something orange has written.
Too bad that's basically the entire bureaucracy of Hiss' burgeoning realm at this point. Bit of a problem.

And anyway, going to be going with >>138840
I guess and add a skinshedder on top to be generous to >>138874

>>138899
Actually we're immune to it due to our totally useful and in no way lame snake art

Wait, this one already has a Skinshedder in it. Best of both worlds then.

>Champion brew
>Snake dispel x3
>Skinshedder

You keep on brewing while Orange starts scrawling something down. What's he writing? You try to get a look but he hides the parchment from you.

"You know Orange, wouldn't it be dangerous if all your papers got burnt?"

"I never thought of that! I don't think so though, venom goes inert eventually."

"Does it?"

"I think so!"

You're not really comforted by that. But now you're feeling much better and your pack is nicely weighed down with potions. It isn't even night yet!

>Get Aqua and heal her. Her skinshedder is going to run out soon.

>Wake Hiss up.

>Find Zigzag.

>Nobble Orange.

>Find Aashenpreet.

>Other

>>138980

>Get Aqua and heal her. Her skinshedder is going to run out soon.
then
>Wake Hiss up.

Maybe have Orange
>Find Zigzag.
>Find Aashenpreet.

>>138980
>>Get Aqua and heal her. Her skinshedder is going to run out soon.
We need a plan to avoid her potentially killing us though. Maybe bring a few snakes with us?

>>138980
>Wake Hiss up.
Let's bring her with us to heal Aqua so she can meet her new possible subject and trump card against those ships. If we give her a potence and a champion brew she could punch holes in the ships easily.

>>139011
We should bring Hiss.

>>138980
>Get Aqua and heal her. Her skinshedder is going to run out soon.
Ask Orange what happened to our homunculi

Oof sorry guys. Feeling a bit tired and since it isn't a work day I might go to bed early. I've been way too slow in general today.

I'll try to be back to this thread tomorrow and we can finish it off.

>>139077
Well thanks Ouro laters

>>139077
Thanks for running! Glad your sleep schedule is nearly fixed.

>>139077
Thanks ouro.

Oh whoops, I nearly forgot to archive this. Done!

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>>139077
Traits?

>>139179
You'd have to mod it in, there isn't enough points to model them. Snakes OP

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>>139218