File: theadventuresofmonalisa.jpg (3 KB, 125x119)

3 KB JPG

Character and setting info: http://pastebin.com/u/MagicalPrincess
Archives (Episodes 1-59): http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Start+Over+Quest
Archives (Episodes 60+): http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Start+Over+Quest
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MagicalMarquise
Ask.fm: http://ask.fm/MagicalMarquise
Collection of character descriptions (WIP, courtesy of anon): http://pastebin.com/pzYffs0R
Collection of quest art (NSFW): http://imgur.com/a/2nEyB/layout/grid (NSFW)

>>293970
>Warn Cassilda of your change of heart before leaving.
Better do her the courtesy.

>>293970
>Warn Cassilda of your change of heart before leaving.

"Very well", you announce, "But before we leave, I have to go tell Cassilda I'll be taking the matter in my own hands".

Carrera blinks, looks at Julio, who is oblivious to whatever is happening but smiles confidently anyways, then just shrugs, "... Alright then, we'll be waiting... Just outside, I guess? Just let us know where we'll be headed once you're done".

"Agreed", and you look at Bryld and Tahenohan, and entice them to come along. You don't want to face her all alone, after all.

Bryld is surprisingly supportive of your choice. "I didn't really want to meet her because I... Can't quite tell what she's going to do, you know, she's that kind of person", she explains, making a strange face, "Where you never know what she's thinking. But, well, better be honest than try to fool her. I suspect that would have been kind of stupid on our part, after all".

Tahenohan nods in vehement agreement, keeping her manic smile, and you pass by the lazy but surprisingly ordered morning in the military part of the encampment, with most people still not wearing the royal army's colours and just cooking breakfast or cleaning bedrolls and so on. Of course, you go in the laziest part of the encampment, and aren't surprised to find her there.

Well, she just got there, with a terracotta mug full of steaming tea and devoid of handles. She has that sleepy look of someone who'd rather still be in her bed, even her tails are barely twitching and not waggling at all.

She blinks a few times when you get there, and she rubs her eyes, frowning and then smiling, "Heeeeeeey", she goes when you approach.

"Hi", you start, "I've had second thoughts on what I told you yesterday and I'm about to go rescue that person myself, it's the only way to make sure and to fulfill my promise to her friends, so... Well, just wanted to warn you".

Moments of truly awkward silence follow. Cassilda gives you a long, blank stare as she remains stuck with the cup in her hands, frozen between either putting it back or bringing it to her lips. Unfortunately, you don't know what to add, and Bryld isn't being of help, as she's kind of ready to just hide behind you. Tahenohan... Well, you might not want her help right now, even though she's proven multiple times that she's capable of brutal honesty, but you've already provided that part this time.

"So", she slowly utters as she puts the cup down on the table. Very slowly. "... You're going out there?".

"Yes".

"Alone?".

"No, with friends-".

"And no experience?".

"Well my friends have-".

"You can't even swing a sword- you don't even have a sword".

"Well I've been told it's safer not t-".

"And that's why you came to me. And now you just changed your mind".

Another moment of awkward silence follows, Cassilda squints her eyes, making her look even more foxlike, "Does that mean you had a change of heart over the monster brigade, too?".

>"Yes".
>"No".
>"I need to think about it".
>Other?

>>294016
>"No".
Is okay!

>>294016
>"I need to think about it".

File: 1394488729486.jpg (177 KB, 850x708)

177 KB JPG

Guess I started a tad too early...

>>294048
I'm sure another anon or two will show up any moment!

File: 1364353024221.jpg (67 KB, 802x413)

67 KB JPG

>>294055
I'm certain as well, I was just... You know, stating the obvious.

I just need a third vote to break the tie because deciding what to tell Cassilda is kind of important.

>>294058
Yep, that's why I won't change my vote!

Well this is inconvenient... I guess I'll just change my vote so we can move on.

"No, I haven't", you assure her. This is enough to make Cassilda smile again, although it's that smile of hers, the one that is so difficult to trust for a reason you can't quite put your finger on.

"Well, very well. Because you know, I had prepared a force to go get that monster friend of yours and it'd be bad if I were to lead them there only to find out you had beaten us to the punch and told us nothing about it", she sips some tea of hers, "It's not like I won't risk lives for their sake, but I don't want to do that for nothing. And I especially don't want you to waste yours".

And now you're not quite sure on whether she's approving or not of your choice.

"But since you're way ahead of us, go on! With my blessing", she gives you another strange smile, "It will help you. It really will. I was practically worshipped back in my lands, kind of like a god".

"Really", the comment of disbelief escapes from Bryld's lips, and she looks like she immediately regrets it. Then again, you have to admit yourself that it is quite a bold claim, despite you knowing pretty much nothing of Amatsu.

"Really!", Cassilda assures, "That's why you have to cherish being blessed by me, verily. Such a power will greatly help your endeavour".

"Thank you...", you dubiously answer. You know for sure she has no divine power or you would have sensed it already, you presume this is some kind of exotic foreigner's superstition, or maybe she's just pulling her leg. From what little you know of her, it's mostly the latter.

"Don't thank me. Come back alive, Maner's only going to grow and there's a job opportunity for a new commander here", she gives you an enticing wink, "Wouldn't want to miss it, eh? It comes with many benefits, I'm sure you can already tell".

If it's being able to sit around doing nothing but drinking tea all day, you have to admit it's quite a benefit. Actually, you've never had a job that required this little of you. You're also quite sure there's a catch, but you have no way to investigate it right now.

Waving and smiling, you take your leave from Cassilda, somewhat surprised at how smoothly this went. You're pretty sure any other military officer would have been quite pissed off, but maybe she was just concerned about you giving up on the monster brigade thing.

"Well that went better than expected", Bryld says with a sigh of relief.

You can only hope the rest of the expedition will go as smoothly.

As soon as you rejoin the rest of the group, they all stand up and wait for further instructions. The plains North of Maner are swept by a faint wind that makes the heat bearable and is very visible due to the constant shifting and bending of the tall grass and wild wheat.

“So, where are we going?”, Carrera asks.

>Move to the abandoned lumbering camp first.
>Avoid the abandoned lumbering camp and just slip in the jungle.
>Other?

>>294106
>Move to the abandoned lumbering camp first.

>>294106
>Move to the abandoned lumbering camp first.

"Let's go check the abandoned lumbering camp first", you suggest, "Maybe we can find some clues about the kobolds".

Carrera nods, "Just don't come too close if you're squeamish, I suspect it won't be a nice sight".

Thanks to the plains being practically devoid of trees, you can see unhindered up to the point the jungle begins, which is quite far off in the distance. It's a few kilometres to the abandoned lumbering camp, of which you can begin to see a few traces only when you're about to stumble into it.

Even from afar you can tell that there was no time to even put a dent in the jungle, if any trees were felled their number and size was indeed insignificant. The tents, tools and stacks of wood have been either stolen or destroyed, and precious little remains except for the burned remains of some unidentifiable matter.

When you get to shouting distance of the place, Carrera signals you to stay put and she hastily sneaks ahead, keeping her body low and her long-haired purple tail likewise below grass level. If you didn't know she was there, you could hardly make out the traces of her movement throughout the windswept grass.

You don't see her pop out anywhere, but she comes back after just a couple minutes, not as sneakily and with her tail perkily popping out of the grass, to signal that it's her and not some kind of very short gremlin. You have to admit it's not easy to move around so quickly while keeping your body at about waist-height, you're pretty sure your back would start hurting after a short while if you were to try.

"It's clear", she announces, "You can come, there's no corpses, they were probably burned or...", she sounds like she was about to say something, but refrains from doing so. Bryld seems to be very thankful, but Tahenohan is visibly disappointed.

Even though there's no corpses, the signs of battle are there. Dried blood splatters, grime and dirt, the shafts of broken weapons and splintered wood everywhere. There's also plenty of insects, which is normal, but there are some mounds of carrion bugs here and there, meaning some meaty remains of the deceased were left for the maggots. It's not a nice sight.

There must have been a few tents and mostly just containers and carts, you see the splintered remains of a handcart or two made of wood and a work saddle, surprisingly intact.

There's not much else to see, at least not in the cleared part. You spy blood splatters in the tall grass too, but they might just lead to other maggots and other disgusting crawling carrion. Bryld is clinging to your arm at every step, only Tahenohan doesn't seem disturbed in the slightest and almost on the lookout for some more intact remains.

“... They're not coming back, are they?”, Bryld mutters under her breath.

>Search in the tall grass.
>Help Tahenohan look for whatever she's looking for.
>Enter the jungle.
>Other?

>>294144
>Search in the tall grass.

Pardon the delay, I had a headache and decided to nap. Didn't help.

>>294144
>Help Tahenohan look for whatever she's looking for.

>>294144
>Search in the tall grass.

You decide to go bump in the tall grass and look for something, anything that might help you.

There's dried blood, more maggots (ew), and the only thing you can find because you pretty much stumbled on it is a lumbering axe. Unlike everything else in the camp, it is neither broken or it has been stolen; it's somewhat bloodied but it still looks sharp and very usable.

"Ew...", Bryld goes as you pick it up. You're not sure how useful it is as a weapon, but it certainly is going to be useful to chop wood, which you might actually need. You just need to remember to clean it as soon as you get the chance. Wiping it with the omnipresent grass is enough to get most of the worst grime off it, but the stains aren't leaving. At least you're more than certain that yes, it's still sharp and in good condition.

"Looks like the kobolds weren't very careful when they pillaged the place", Carrera comments as she spots you with the axe in your hand, examining it carefully, "You're not planning on fighting with this, I hope".

"No", you sincerely hope.

She just nods, and Julio comes over as well, "Ah, yes, the axe, the mighty weapon of barbarians. Though tradition wills it to be double-headed and bear figurines of devilish might, a barbarian in the making may indeed choose to begin its career with the humble lumbering axe".

"Stop being an idiot", Carrera nudges him in the ribs and turns around, "We should get moving, the jungle offers some cover, but we're sitting ducks in here, there's no telling if or when the kobolds are going to come back".

Further examination, and the divine powers at your disposal, tell you that the traces of blood on the blade belong to a kobold. Unfortunately, it seems like not enough of it was spilled.

"Let's not put it in the backpack until we can clean it", Bryld suggests, though it's a very heartfelt suggestion, which means you have to keep it in your hands as long as you move. You reason it might as well be useful to clear a bit of vegetation should it be necessary, and considering there's a centaur with you it might as well be, who knows.

Tahenohan sighs in disappointment, but makes no word of what she was looking for in the first place.

You enter the jungle, and you feel yourself in a familiar place again. A part of you rejoices, which is very good considering the scene you just witnessed, and you feel almost at home again. You have no guides of the monstrous sort, unfortunately, but your experience, even if limited, is enough to tell you that this northern jungle is quite different from the one the two other arachne lived in.

Although the vegetation is mostly the same, patches of blood red moss and climbers with yellow leaves are quite common, and they weren't quite this widespread where you've been until now.

>Send Carrera to scout ahead for kobolds.
>Take time to examine the moss.
>Check the mushrooms.
>Try to forage food.
>Try to hunt.
>Move deeper North.
>Other?

>>294213
>Move deeper North.
>>Forage on the way there.

Might as well pick up anything edible if we happen to spot it, but we shouldn't dedicate ourselves to it until we decide to make camp?

>>294213
>Send Carrera to scout ahead for kobolds.
>Try to forage food.

>>294213
>Send Carrera to scout ahead for kobolds.
>Try to forage food.
>Try to hunt.
>Move deeper North.
Gotta git food!

You decide that if you are to survive in the jungle you have to tell what is edible from what is not. It's part of your duty as an explorer, for even though many people already found plenty of uses to the local plants and fruits they are mostly based on what little knowledge has been preserved from before the disastromorphism and the latest fomor war.

Of course, even though you had zero chances to taste them before, you quickly became aware that some fruits and vegetables were actually originally imported from the Shadow Marches and later cultivated in other parts of the world. Indeed, the Cult of Gaia's efforts in this regard are quite admirable and fruitful, if you can pardon your own pun.

You're pretty sure moss of this colour cannot be edible, and you have no way to know if it has any other use. Some of the berries you find are familiar to you, the white ones in particular, but here it seems like nuts and other hard fruit is more common. There also are some cherry-sized berries that grow on some vines of a strangely dark green hue that are very firm to the touch, but when you try and squeeze them it's as if though their core lights up a little.

"These are fire flakes", Parvaneh helpfully explains as she watches over your shoulder. She hasn't had particular problems moving around the jungle yet, but she often has to move very carefully because the terrain is quite irregular, with many thick roots that emerge from the underbush and footing that is not treacherous to you bipedal beings but requires a bit of attention from a quadruped, "I reckon some people even eat them raw, but it's probably just for challenges. It's beyond spicy, it actually burns".

"That would explain why it lights up", you admit.

"It's used to make ointments and firestarters, I'd recommend taking a few, in case it's too humid to set up a campfire properly", she makes a sly smile as licks of green flame shoot from her eyes, "Of course you won't need such devices while I'm with you, but even then I'm sure any alchemist in Maner will be delighted to know there's a steady spontaneous supply up North".

Pity it's not safe to go there, yet.

Your foraging only results in some edible fruits being collected: a handful of nuts and a few avocados, either wild animals or kobolds have taken the rest or you're just not good enough a forager to spot anything else, yet.

Carrera stays ahead of the party, but hasn't spotted any sign of kobolds yet. "We're still far from where we presume their territory is", she notes, "And I don't think they expect any trouble to come their way yet".

“Yet”, Tahenohan marks with a manic smile.

“Yet”, Julio agrees, caressing the hilt of his blade.

“Let's keep it that way, shall we?”, Carrera recommends with a stern look at both of the half-elves.

>Pick up your pace and go faster.
>Remain careful in your progress.
>Try to hunt.
>Other?

>>294253
>Remain careful in your progress.
>Try to hunt.

>>294253
>Try to hunt.

>>294253
>>Remain careful in your progress.

You decide to try your hand at hunting while you're at it. You temporarily hand Bryld the axe you were carrying and she curiously stares at you as you rummage through the underbush to find some stones that are heavy enough to do some damage and yet light enough to be thrown.

"You're not doing this again, are you?", Bryld asks deadpan.

"Just because I wasn't lucky last time doesn't mean it's impossible for me", you confidently answer.

Unfortunately, your search turns out nothing. You do see lizards and hear the call of birds in the distance, but no matter what you can't manage to lock your eyes on one, if not for just a single moment before they disappear. You think you've managed to spot what looked like monkeys once or twice but they were small and fast and very evasive.

And you don't think monkey meat is good for eating anyways.

Still, it's strange. Even though you haven't managed to find much, you weren't starved for opportunities to even see animals that are worth eating.

You're still quite careful in your progress ahead, and it's about time you stop and take a break to eat something, but you do a bit of meandering about in order to follow potential leads towards animals.

While Carrera is scouting ahead again, you spy something furry behind a small, thorny bush. Figuring it's safe to take a small detour since you'd be within sight of the rest of your group anyway, you sneak in that direction, stone at the ready.

You were expecting a small animal.

What you instead find is the mangled carcass of what you presume to be a kobold. Its malformed humanoid shape is covered by a thick layer of short brown and white fur, with some lighter spots, but it's all pale as if the corpse, which is already in bad shape, has been drained of all life and aged unnaturally. The wood and leather armour it is wearing likely identifies it as a warrior, a scout or maybe a commoner? It does carry a weapon, a short sword, that is however still in its sheath.

There is some blood on his claws, but nothing else of note you can see without examining the corpse itself in more detail.

“Where are you going?”, Carrera nearly makes you jump as she suddenly appears next to you, “There's no time to be traipsing about, I foun-”, she immediately stops as she spots the corpse behind you. “... Damn, another one”.

You both look there and, inevitably, the rest of the party comes over. Needless to say, the only one excited at such sight is Tahenohan.

“... I had just found another corpse like that, along with some tribal markings. Unfortunately I can't identify the latter but I don't think we're close to their settlementw...”, she trails off, as if something in that dead body does not sit well with her.

>Investigate the corpse.
>Investigate the blood on his claws.
>”Let's get farther from their camps”.
>”Let's pick up our pace and move faster”.
>”What killed them?”.
>Other?

>>294327
>Investigate the corpse.
>Investigate the blood on his claws.

>>294327
>”Let's pick up our pace and move faster”.
>”What killed them?”.

>>294327
>Investigate the corpse.
>>”What killed them?”.

You bend down to investigate the corpse. Bryld instinctively takes a step back, but Tahenohan is right there with you, though she seems more interested in checking whether it is still usable for her craft or not, judging from the way she inspects the mangled parts. Maybe the bones weren't damaged too much, after all, but what do you know of corpses?

"What killed them?", you ask Carrera, who claims to have found more.

"I don't know", she admits, "Minor wounds, but it seems that what did them in was blood drain, they're all excessively pale and it seems like their insides have withered".

You haven't seen a healthy kobold before, but even you can tell that this specimen is unnaturally pale beneath the fur and its features are visibly sunken, as if something is missing from the inside. This is also why it appears to have been unnaturally aged, most likely.

"B-blood drain?", Bryld stutters? "It... It can't be... Vampires?".

An uncertain silence follows. You've heard of vampires, of course, but you thought they were just stories. No one has ever seen or met one, after all, not that you know. Of course it's easy to say all who did were killed, but then again what's to say it wasn't just a fellow human who liked to murder people, or some wild animal, or a ferocious monster?

And yet, the fact that this kobold died from blood loss can't but make you quite suspicious. You do spot bite marks on its neck, most likely caused by unnaturally sharp fangs you would guess.

"Ok let's not get into a panic...", Carrera begins.

"You ever fought a vampire before?", Tahenohan asks with manic curiosity.

"... No, I haven't, I don't even know- Look I don't even know if they actually exist".

"They do", Bryld stares at the corpse, "What else could have been?".

It is, in fact, kind of difficult to argue against her.

Unfortunately, there's not many useful signs on the corpse except for the blood on his claws. You reach out and touch it, and use your divine connection.

An eerie, violent hunger writhes through your body and sends painful jolts all across it. And then it's gone, as quickly as it came. Your very brief cringing startled everyone, but you're fine. You think.

It was atrocious, it was not kobold blood, it's as if there was something in that blood that shouldn't have been there. Something wrong. Something alien. Something terrible.

Even though you're relatively new at blood examination, you've never witnessed anything like that, and you've been in a literal river of blood. Even if it was in a dream, you're quite sure it was made real by Ishtar's power, and you have this preternatural awareness that this is not how blood should be like.

“Are you okay?”, Bryld drops to her knees next to you, checking to see if you have anything on you.

“I'm fine, I'm fine”, you reassure everyone, but the feeling you just had was really bad.

>”Let's get away from here, fast”.
>”Let's be extra careful from now on”.
>”Let's proceed, but quickly”.
>Other?

>>294387
>”Let's be extra careful from now on”.

>>294387
>”Let's get away from here, fast”.
>”Let's be extra careful from now on”.

You examine the situation for a while.

You thought it was only kobolds you had to be on the lookout for, but vampires too? Well, nobody told you of that. On the bright side, this means you now have precious information to share with Maner, possibly to bolster the defences of its defendants, or prepare them to face yet another menace. At the same time, this means that nobody will know unless you come back alive with said information.

Now though, what are the chances of you dying out there? Bryld seems to think they're not that low, but she's a scaredy bunny. And you... Well, you just don't spend that much time to contemplate your own mortality, which you presume nobody does while they're young, so you can't be blamed for that, right?

Julio and Tahenohan are unconcerned. Completely. Julio seems to believe he can take on anything, and Tahenohan is... Well you think she's going to raise undead kobolds if you give her enough time. Which you don't quite have now, in all honesty.

Parvaneh does not seem to be particularly concerned either, "There is nothing my flames cannot burn, and I have spells that are very effective against the undead", she boasts in her calm yet confident tone, with a flicker of vivid red flames on her eyes.

Which leaves everything up to you, in the end. Being the party leader, this is obviously your responsibility.

"We should be extra careful from now on", you announce, "Let's take further distance from the kobolds and proceed North, but be ready at any sign of danger, we cannot risk more than necessary".

"We're already risking more than we first though", Carrera idly comments, but nods at your commands, "Very well, let's find a tranquil place where to rest for a while, then we're going to proceed".

You continue until you find a series of trees with thick trunks, large roots that rise above the earth and a few large and quite porous stones, which Bryld whacks good with a stick to make sure there's no snakes inside.

There apparently aren't, but you're sure there has to be something else, even if it's just bugs. Hopefully they won't come out while you're eating.

Even though your meals taste quite good, considering you got them fresh and from decent folk, you can't quite enjoy them as much considering what you just witnessed and the conclusion you drew on the kind of dangers you're walking through. But fortunately every adventurer in your party seems to be in high spirits still and this helps your mood as well.

And, as expected, Parvaneh has her own stash of food, and being a centaur she does eat more than any other of you. She also calmly refuses food you share with her. “Some of what I eat you cannot eat and vice-versa”, she explains with a smile, “But I thank you for your offer”.

>”Tahenohan, can you raise your skeletons here?”.
>”Carrera, can we camp safely for the night?”.
>Just proceed North and be on the lookout for signs of arachne.
>Other?

>>294498
>”Tahenohan, can you raise your skeletons here?”.

>>294498
>>”Carrera, can we camp safely for the night?”.

>>294498
>”Tahenohan, can you raise your skeletons here?”.
>”Carrera, can we camp safely for the night?”.

"Carrera, can we camp safely for the night?", you ask, and she looks doubtful.

"We can... But aren't vampires more active at night than they are at day? I heard they only go around at night actually", the news are quite discomforting, you're moving to the afternoon and you still haven't found any traces of arachne, meaning it's possible you won't be able to find her and make it out of the jungle before nightfall, "But that's just what I heard, like I said there's little but stories of dubious origin about vampires".

Bryld shivers briefly but visibly.

"Tahenohan?", you ask, "Can you raise your skeletons here?".

You've just made the half-elf's day 300% brighter.

"I was afraid you'd never ask!", she excitedly announces as she rummages through her bag and then just decides to unload its content out. The racketing bones create a disorderly pile right in front of everyone who, fortunately, was mostly done eating. You haven't had the chance to carefully examine those skeletons before, but their bones look in somewhat better shape, maybe because they're cleaner, but they also look kind of... More wholesome? It's hard to put your finger on it.

"... Necromancy, eh?", Parvaneh mutters, looking quite unconvinced and yet curious as Tahenohan proceeds to put them in place. It's like watching a small girl put puzzle pieces together, it's quite endearing if it wasn't for the fact she's piecing human skeletons together.

"Well I guess that's... Helpful, can't deny it", Carrera still makes the face one understandably makes when you use magic to bring the dead to life under your command as slaves, "At least someone will always keep watch over us while we're sleeping".

The thought alone makes Bryld feel visibly better. It's a bit surprising that the idea of having armed skeletons around when she sleeps is reassuring to her, but considering the situation it can't be that strange.

As soon as she's done putting them back together, which takes surprisingly little, she stands up and begins uttering incantations in a language you do not know. Purple and black lights flicker eerily about, distorting the lighting and your surroundings, even if briefly, and the joints unnaturally snap together, held by magic, and an unseen force slowly pulls them up to their feet.

"ARISE MY MINIONS! ARISE!", Tahenohan orders, and the skeletons cackle in answer, clacking their jaws in a disorderly cacophony.

Aside from Julio, everyone else's face speaks volumes of what they think of what they just saw, but no one actually complains. Especially not Bryld, who strangely seems the most accepting at this point.

“I never thought I'd say it but... Thank goodness for necromancy”, she even mutters.

>”Now that we have doubled our fighting force, let's push onwards, we must find her before nightfall”.
>”Let's be careful while proceeding, the kobolds still have numbers on their side”.
>Other?

>>294583
>”Now that we have doubled our fighting force, let's push onwards, we must find her before nightfall”.
Gotta find the spiderbutt!

>>294583
>”Now that we have doubled our fighting force, let's push onwards, we must find her before nightfall”.

I'm sure she has a net set up, so she should find us first?

>>294583
>”Now that we have doubled our fighting force, let's push onwards, we must find her before nightfall”.

"Now that we have doubled our fighting force, let's push onwards, we must find her before nightfall", you announce, trying your best to sound confident.

"Yes!", Tahenohan agrees.

"Gladly, my proud leader", Julio adds in, Carrera just rolls her eyes.

"Fine", she goes, "I'll be ahead of you, trying to prevent your fighting spirits from litting the whole jungle on fire".

Parvaneh chuckles and takes the rear, right behind you and Bryld, "Even though overconfidence can be your end, I believe you won't go anywhere without confidence. Good call, my stalwart leader".

And you proceed through the jungle at the highest speed you can manage without stepping where you shouldn't and accounting for Parvaneh's difficulties in some most treacherous parts. It would seem that many trees have very high roots because the area is even more humid than what you're used to, to the point there's water drops on some leaves and the air is sometimes hard to breathe thanks to the heat being what it usually is in the Shadow Marches. According to Carrera's scouting, the terrain becomes a swamp to the West, with plenty of water that you suspect is not drinkable at all.

"Let's hope we don't get trapped", she whispers to you, and only you at some point, "I don't think our centaur can follow us in the swamps, and I don't want to know what kind of critters lie there in wait. If kobolds circle us, we have to make a breakthrough either North or South".

Fortunately, this doesn't happen.

You know the sun takes a while to set in these lands, but your legs and lungs remind you of the effort you've been going through all day. You took more than one break, but between you and Bryld you're starting to get quite tired. It should be time for dinner, but you can't stop now, especially because there is no trace of arachne yet.

Bryld barely had the time to jot down some notes in her journal for a map, but being informed that there's a swamp to the west has made her efforts a little easier, or so she claims, even though she has no idea how far you are. "Plenty", she says at some point, clearly not too happy about it".

You're about to take a third break and you suspect you're going to have to eat something and set up camp before it gets dark, for as soon as the sun sets you won't be able to see anything any more. Insects buzz around aplenty at this hour of the day, but there's still few animals to be seen, which is somewhat weird.

And then you just happen to glance in some direction and see, in the distance, an immense mass of cobwebs sticking to many, many trees, forming what seems to be a veritable maze the size of a building, or possibly more.

>Rally your party and push onwards!
>Carefully approach with everyone.
>Send Carrera out to scout.
>Carefully approach, alone.
>Other?

>>294642
>Carefully approach, alone.

>>294642
>>Carefully approach, alone.

>>294642
>Rally your party and push onwards!
I don't think we should go alone with dangerous beasties around. Even if it would make diplomacy easier.

>>294642
>Send Carrera out to scout.

You stand up and begin to carefully move northwards; as Bryld looks up at you with an interrogative expression, you just tell her "Stay here, I think I found something".

Trusting you, she stays put, but your sneaking is nothing like Carrera's, and it does draw the attention of the rest of your party, which nearly freezes, wondering what's going on. Carrera just jogs next to you, putting a hand on your shoulder, "Hey, where are you going?".

You point towards the cobwebs, and once she sees them, she goes "... Oh".

"It's not far, I'll go take a look", you assure her, "Trust me, I'm a professional".

She nods, but remains vigilant, even if she refrains from following you. At least you know your back is being watched, which is kind of reassuring.

As you approach, you notice that the cobwebs have a strange shape, they're almost built like a tunnel that goes deep into the jungle and then upwards into the canopy, like an artificial, reversed cave made of silk. It's not, by far, the only shape the cobwebs take and there's plenty more that are just between trees, forming walls, barriers, ceilings and whatnot. You're no spider expert all considered and you have no idea what the reasoning to their placing is.

Still, they're all very visible, of a thick, dirty white colour and quite capable of trapping a horse.

But you're no newbie with giant spiders, you won't be fooled by that.

Carefully, you put one foot ahead of the other, and wave your hand in front of you before you move forwards. Well before you reach the strange, tunnel cobweb opening, your hand gets snagged into something invisible, sticky and quite stronger than you'd expect.

Aha.

Instead of panicking and getting trapped, you calmly pull back. Since you only got a few threads on your hand they just snap and you're free again. You left your axe behind to not give the wrong impression and you didn't grab the sword from that dead kobold, so you have nothing to cut with, which might actually be for the best as far as diplomacy goes. Actually, you have no idea whether these kind of webs can be cut or not.

You suspect not.

Slowly, carefully, you snap enough invisible threads to be able to proceed further, even if slightly. All around you the webbings are thicker and more visible, and you're starting to be able to tell where the near-invisible ones are.

Before you even find yourself in front of the strange, orblike tunnel, you suddenly notice you're standing in the shade, and look up to see a massive spider blocking the sun, an arm away from your face.

“You're a weird one”, the giant spider says with an awkward but calm voice, “Never seen a red human before”. Her hair is black and short, and looks to be self-cut in a somewhat messy manner, her eyes are blood red and she's wearing some kind of loose black and grey striped shirt whose sleeves are way too long for her. Her spider body is long-haired and striped black and gold, almost but not quite like a bee.

There she is.

File: 1398144676835.jpg (242 KB, 897x647)

242 KB JPG

And this is it for Episode 65!

Well, looks like half the work is done, now you just have to come back alive. Unfortunately we're out of time and I have to go get groceries before the shops close.

Still, thank you for participating, sorry for the sudden delay with little warning, and I'll see you next week for some arachne talk.

>>294734
Spider get!

>>294745
well... I missed the whole live again.

>>294745
Thanks for running MP.
Pity it was slow today, but it can't be helped.

File: 1382985114232.png (663 KB, 565x864)

663 KB PNG

>>294754
I'm sorry about that, anon. We should resume regular scheduling from next week.

>>294762
Unfortunately yes, it couldn't really be helped, but I'm glad we managed to run anyways.

>>294745
Wait, you ran today!? Aw, fuck, i'm so sorry. I thought you postponed it to next week and didn't find your tweet (if you tweeted it)

>>294745
Thank you for the session. I must say I've become disinterested in the quest quite awhile back, around the 40-50th mark.

Coming back to it, a lot has happened and a lot has changed. Could I ask a favour? A re-cap session, maybe a 70 or somesuch may help playerbase. Sum up the quest, establish all the threads we currently have to tie up and update a lot of the links and I think player interest will skyrocket!