>>563034
Chapter Two: The Witch of Augustine

The sun rises behind you and bathes the world in twilight, a broken light that only serves to further accentuate the darkness that lays atop the landscape. The concrete plains expand in every direction, plain and gritty and barren, broken only by the single railway track that runs through it in a perfectly straight line. And atop those rails, wheezing and clanking with the exertions of metal and muscle both, your handcar rattles on. The large lantern hooked onto its side is the only true source of light in apparently all the world right now and is but a spark within the shadows that pass for daylight now.
The dead sun has risen and set two times since you left Sacrament behind and you have seen no sign of life since. You can only hope what rations you brought will last you the rest of the way

And as for you? You are hard at work. This trolley won’t pump itself and any dreams of procuring a proper combustion-driven locomotive are long dead. It is your effort, your strength that drives this handcar forward as you travel closer and closer towards the end of the world.
But you refuse to tire. Your will and determination will keep you going even if flesh and muscle fail you.

Now if only you could say the same of the trolley’s other occupant.

Beatrice is half curled up against the far wall of the cart’s cramped confines, her hat slipping off to reveal her discoloured face. Even though her eyes are shut and she is surely asleep the sharp contrast between light and shadow across her perpetual black-eyes makes it look as if she is constantly staring at you with vast and empty eye-sockets.
The effect is somewhat disconcerting but even more disconcerting is that she somehow managed to weasel her way into sleeping while you did all the work.

She claimed frailty as her excuse and said that she needed the rest and yes, you suppose that she appears frail enough. But how much of that apparent weakness is simply her sickly appearance and little else? She was once a Third Man too and should still possess that hardiness. Is she simply trying to fool you?

Once again you contemplate throwing her from the trolley. It would be easy.


>Wake her up and tell her to join you.

>Let her sleep and carry on.

>Let her sleep but take a small amount of rest yourself. The trolley can coast for a little while.

>Wake her up and put her to work while you rest a little.

>Other

>>563036
>>Let her sleep but take a small amount of rest yourself. The trolley can coast for a little while.

>>563036
>Wake her up and tell her to join you.

>>563036
>Let her sleep and carry on.

>>563036
>>Other
>Carry on but keep this in the back of your head for later. You'll get what's owed in due time, one way or another.

>>563058
Changing vote to this

>>563046
Supporting.

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I picture Brother Justin and Iris when I imagine Orion and Beatrice.

>>563036
>Let her sleep and carry on.

>>563046
Supporting

>>563058
I'd personally like to think Orion this immature or vengeful

>>563096
isn't*

For the record I'm counting these >>563058 kind of votes as one with the sleep votes since they amount to the same action.

Voting called.

>>563036
>>Wake her up and tell her to join you.

>>563104
Nice character sheet btw

>Benediction of Succour
Can this be used on the lamp-post?

>>563128
...

How many signs does the average witch know?

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>Let her sleep and carry on.

You just sigh and remain at work pushing the trolley. These last two days have been strenuous ones and for reasons that have had nothing to do with working the damn pump. Both you and Beatrice are practiced travellers but neither of you are used to traveling with another, let alone someone with which your contact is already strained.
You’ve made no secret of your disdain for her actions in the past and while she tries to hide you can feel her resent you in return. As if you have treated her in any way that wasn’t suitable for someone of her station!

So when you think of it that way, the longer she stays asleep the better. Even if that means you have to keep pushing on.
Bit you’ll remember this. Not so much this act specifically but her air of intractability in general. There’s been no need for this journey to be as arduous as she’s made it. Perhaps you’ll act upon it later. Perhaps not. You are free to judge as you see fit.

So it comes to transpire that you are the only one awake when the trolly begins to bump and rattle at an even greater rate than normal. What is the meaning of this?

Peering over the side you make an unwelcome discovery. The very concrete itself beneath the rails is cracked. Nothing like the great chasm that was called up within Sacrament, these are all simple hairline fissures. But they run deep and they extend for as far as you can see in this limited light, radiating out across the plains from something up ahead.
The rails themselves appear to be unharmed but they no longer sit easily and shift ever so slightly more than they should as the handcar passes over them.

This is an ill sign for what lies up ahead.

But you musings upon the state of the concrete are interrupted by the harsh caw of a bird far above. You stop pumping for a moment and look up and as you barely discern the shadow of something small flying ahead your heart lightens just a little. How long has it been since you’ve seen a bird? Far too long and it is a most welcome omen for such a creature would not likely be far from a safe source of food.

But such a fleeting moment of happiness soon turns to confusion and then consternation as the bird descends, circling lower and lower until it drops from the sky and swoops towards you! And what you see beneath it are no ordinary talons but are instead of great knifelike spurs of bone!

>Wake Beatrice.

>No time! Grab your staff!

>Pick up the lantern and hold it between you and the bird.

>Grab the sword!

>Grab your wick!

>Duck down beneath the lip of the trolley.

>Other

>>563194
>No time! Grab your staff!

>Pick up the lantern and hold it between you and the bird.

>Wake Beatrice
Shout at her to wake up

Grab it out of midair, using Beatrice's hat.

>>563194
>Pick up the lantern and hold it between you and the bird.
>Beatrice wake your ass up!

>>563128
I don't think I understand this question.

>>563150
It depends! They usually have some means of tutoring themselves and so it range from a few dozen like Orion to hundreds. It is believed by Witch-finders that there are 333 symbols in total.

>>563194
>Wake Beatrice.
She can shoot it which would be excellent

>>563194
>Duck down beneath the lip of the trolley.
Grab Beatrice's gun if it's readily available. Otherwise just wake her up.

>>563241
> the target's Wick pool increases by one point
Trying to understand how this benediction works, specifically this aspect of it

>>563277
You add more mana to someone else.

>>563294
Right, but can it be used on objects to store the Wicks of implements other than the lamplighter's wick?

>Pick up the lantern and hold it between you and the bird.
>Wake Beatrice

“Witch! Beatrice! Get up!”
You don’t have the time to reach out to her but you stomp the bottom of the trolley as you reach for the lantern. The entire contraption shakes and she wakes with a startled yelp just in time to clutch her eyes as you unhook the lantern and swing it up.

You do it just in time, the misshapen crow veering away from the light at the last moment and giving you time to see it for what it truly is. Its eyes are bulging, its beak permanently open thanks to the grossly oversized tongue and thick black cords loop between its wings and its body.
It’s a ghoul! You’ve never seen the like of this before.

It swoops around to the side but does not immediately flee the light. Even worse then, there’s somebody else controlling it. And the worst part of it is that it’s so small and fast that it’s almost impossible to track the wretched thing!

It loops around and you swing the lantern to repel only for it to dive right past it and straight for your face!

>Roll 1d6. The first 3 will be totalled and used.

>>563302
>>563302
Hmm, for instance storing a larger wick pool into an individual candle or the like?

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>563332

>>563302
Ah, I understand. No you cannot. These Benedictions only work on creatures.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>563332

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>563332

>2, 3, 4

You try to swing the lantern back around to catch it before it strikes you but you simply aren’t fast enough. The bird collides with the side of your helmet and immediately brings its claws to bear. Your armour is fine but it can’t handle this, jagged ghoul-spurs punching holes through the metal. You can feel the oozing warmth of blood run down the side of your face as you drop, doing your best to hold onto the lantern in the process.

You hit the other side of the trolley and use that to right yourself, ducking your head down from the ghoul’s assault and swinging the lantern back up! Your wild strike actually hits the crow and smacks it into the floor of the trolley where it writhes, feathers smouldering with a most unpleasant stench.

Beatrice is still waking up and she recoils from the bird at her feet. And at the same time, the monsters beak cracks open even wider with a sound of breaking gristle and its tongue, a fat distended pseudolimb, lashes out for the witch!


>Pull Beatrice towards you.

>Try to catch the tongue.

>Swing the lantern down and crush it.

>Immolate the bird immediately.

>Kick the ghoul away.

>Other

>>563411
>Try to catch the tongue.
Can we set just our hand aflame?

>>563411
>>563420
Seconding

>>563420
Yes. 1 Wick.

>>563420
This

>>563036
>She was once a Third Man too and should still possess that hardiness. Is she simply trying to fool you?

Hey Ouro, how tough are Third Men supposed to be?

I imagine why she is so frail is because of her refusal to earth and her eating gunpowder.

>>563527
Yeah I wonder if any of our benedictions would help her. Technically she's not a witch.

>>563532
On second thought she's still a creature of the dark since our black compass led us to her but who knows

>>563411
>>Pull Beatrice towards you.
Then we can shove her when she makes a comment about us wanting to get close to her.

>Try to catch the tongue

You react before you even truly think, one hand snapping out and grabbing hold on the tongue just inches away from reaching the witch. Beatrice barely has the time to focus before you heft the entire creature up into the air by its tongue and whip it into the metal side of the trolley with a loud thud. Aside from flame, crushing and bludgeoning a ghoul are also worthy ways to deal with such a beast.

The tongue curls in your hand as the monster still does their best to defy you but you are ready for it. Your other hand still on the lantern, you feel the heat rise up from it and flood into you as the lantern itself begins to dim. You channel it harmlessly through your body and into your fist. Your gauntlet bursts into flame and the ghoul screams as your grip alone burns their tongue in half.

Wick: 2 /3

You bring your burning hand down and ignite the accursed beast properly, watching as its flesh becomes like that of wax beneath the flame.

“God,” Beatrice swears, her gaze captured by the burning corpse sitting between the two of you. “Is that a ghoul?”

“Yes. Have you seen the like of this before?’

“No, never! You’re not supposed to be able to stitch up something that sma-”

The crow finally burns to nothing as it does, something buried deep within it pops with a soft and fleshy sound. A faint spray of vapour accompanies, something light and wet drizzling over the two of you. You, with your helmet, are protected. Beatrice is not.

“Ugh!,” she chokes, her words cut off as she starts spitting and coughing uncontrollably. “It got in my mouth!”

“What is it? Acid?”

“No, no.”
Beatrice waves you off, already looking even paler than usual.
“I think it’s ghoul venom. Don’t worry, it won’t kill me.”

“I know what ghoul venom does,” you say, thinking back to the still-moving remains of the Chesters.
“It keeps you alive.”

“Exactly. It’s to help the uh, breeding process.”
Disgusting. You can’t help but wonder how much of this blasphemy Beatrice herself has personally presided over.
“It’s not really dangerous in any other way. Leaves the system after a few days.”

“Then why modify a ghoul to do that upon death?”

The witch shrugs.
“I don’t know. But it’s just the venom, I can taste it.”

“We should remove it from you anyway, just to be safe.”
You raise your hand and she cowers back.


>Give her a Purging Benediction.

>Question her on witchcraft and ghouls.

>Question her on her past regarding these things.

>”Are you sure it has no other effects?”

>Other

>>563579
Is all of the above an option?

>>563579
>Give her a Purging Benediction.
>Question her on witchcraft and ghouls.
Ask her more about how she can use the flame. Can she use wicks like us?
Also ask if she knows of any witches in this area. Maybe the one that made this ghoul specifically wanted her to invest some venom for some reason.

>>563488
Third Men are grey-skinned and built for hardship, intended to outlast the tribulations of the Third Age until the time of peace was meant to arrive. They are bulky and pack a surprising density of muscle as well as a natural healing factor.
Beatrice is slight but even she should be able to work the trolley for hours at a time without rest.

For the record, Third Men are no larger than 'normal' people (who do not exist) but are noticeably more heavyset.

>>563579
>>Give her a Purging Benediction.
>”Are you sure it has no other effects?”
>Question her on her past regarding these things.
>Could it be trying to loosen your seal? The witch with the sign of UR seemed like she was being partially controlled and aided, whoever helped her along could be trying to do the same to you.

>>563596
Yes.

>>563579
>Give her a Purging Benediction.
>Question her on witchcraft and ghouls.
Do we need to do anything about our face wound?

>>563579
>>Give her a Purging Benediction.
>>Question her on witchcraft and ghouls.

>>563579
>Question her on witchcraft and ghouls.

>>563633
Nah I'm sure our third man healing factor will cover it.

>>563619
This was definitely a big point of our first interaction with her. Go check it out.

>Give her a Purging Benediction.
>Question her on witchcraft and ghouls.

You pull back your hood and take your helmet off as you tend to your own wounds first and foremost. It doesn’t feel too bad for while your armour cannot stop a ghoul’s claw it can be relied upon to at least soften the strike. None of these claws struck deep and while there’s a lot of blood you can probably put that up to just being a head wound. You don’t think the bone of your skull was even more than lightly scratched.
But still, this really is just a bit too much blood. Better to seal it up for a few hours and give it time to close up.
You dig the bandages out from your collective packs and get to work. It’s only then however that you catch Beatrice staring at your face. Is this really the first time you’ve taken off your helmet in front of her? It might be, the runes make wearing it as easy as the cloth hood that goes on top.
“Is something the matter?”

“No. I didn’t realize you were so...old.”

“I’m not,” you grunt. “This coloration was earned, not grown into.”
You refer, of course, to your hair. It’s been a dirty shade of white ever since a particularly memorable battle with a witch many years ago. You yourself remain unwrinkled and unbent by the passage of time.

“Maybe true,” the witch muses. “But the sun broke nearly thirty years ago and I don’t know about you but my Lamplighters ran around like headless chickens right after so I doubt they got much training done. So what are you? Forty? Forty five?”

“I have no idea,” you admit. “But it does not feel as old as that. Time has run off its tracks and out in the wasteland years can pass in the blink of an eye.”

“I’m not sure if it works like that.”

“But surely I could ask the same of you? You were a branded witch already when the Wheel God died and yet here you sit acting like you’re nought more than twenty? You’re older than you look.”

“Not the best compliment for a lady, Orion. And we have our ways.”

“Witches, you mean. I know you always look younger than what you are, I’m just surprised that it still works with you.”

“What are you implying? Do you doubt my conviction to the flame?”

“Yes, actually. What has faltered once will ever be built upon shaky foundations. But that wasn’t my intention then. I’d like to know more about your ….state. What other quirks of witchery still linger? How do you use the flame?”

“You know how I use the flame.”

“Not well enough. How is your Wick?”

Now this question draws her up short and she looks away as if she was guilty of something.
“I don’t have one,” she admits.

“Then how do you use it?”

“I use it like a witch!,” she snaps. “Because I guess that’s what I still am. Is that what you want me to say?”

“No. I was already certain of that.”

1/3

>>563621
Thanks for the clarification Ouro.

>>563921
She sighs, a long process that slowly turns into a groan halfway through.
“God save me from over-zealous sods.”

“He will not.”

“Oh, shut up and let me finish. I don’t have a Wick, I haven’t had one since I was back in the College. When I turned my Wick was snuffed out. Maybe forever. Probably forever. So I use transubstantiation instead.”
You don’t answer her, forcing her to eventually continue through the awkward silence.
“It’s a witch thing. Look, the world was made when the Wayward Flame and the First Men fought the old gods and threw their corpses down into the Sea of Mud right? And their bodies became dirt and soil and that dirt and soil made up the world.”

“This is basic theology.”

“Just let me finish, holy shit! The process through which we-, I mean witches gain their power is from transubstantiation. We eat the soil and as it passes through our gullets it is reverted to the flesh and blood of gods. The stronger the connection to deep soil the better, etcetera. That’s where this brand strikes us, that’s why its right beneath our throats like that. It nullifies the entire conversion process and so no power reaches us. That’s how it works since none of us have Wicks. Well I still don’t have a Wick and this thing meant I didn’t have any dirt either but I figured, why can’t transubstantiation work for other gods? The Wayward Flame and his son the Wheel God, their bodies are flame and light. All of that is the grand substance of their being a-”

“This theory has been considered heresy for decades. The Wheel God and Flame are ethereal and not of any flesh.”

“Well I guess I just proved it right. And I guess you did too because you’re carting around a primordial piece of the Wheel God’s corpse like a right and proper blasphemer!”
She retreats after saying this and only continues when she’s sure you’re not going to strike her.
“But I can’t just eat fire, that hurts like shit! But if I eat things that contain heat and flame, not actually yet but the possibility of them...like gunpowder. Those can pass through me and transubstantiation returns it to the flesh of the Wheel God inside my body.”
She coughs.
“That hurts a lot by the way. But it puts fire in my heart and in my blood and it can be like a Wick for a little while.”

You can’t help but feel disgusted by the implications of all of this.
“You’re a...you’re a carrion feeder.”

“All witches are.”

“And you said the flame had accepted you back. But it hasn’t or else you’d have a Wick! That’s why it hurts you! Not because your witch body rejects your blood or whatever foolish lies you might believe. That’s the flame resisting being burnt by a Witch and being used for ill!”

“Didn’t I prove I was a human back on the barricade? If the final effect is the same then the means shouldn’t matter.”

2/3

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>>563953
“That was back when I was under the illusion that you’d been accepted back. But you’re a creature of dark the same as any other witch, just one idiotic enough to slowly kill herself because of a delusion!”

Beatrice sits down in the face of your tirade, jamming her hat down back over her head.
“I know what I am and you can’t sway me from that.”

“Oh? Then let me help get the venom out of you.”
She looks up in surprise but it’s already too late as you summon up the Purging Benediction, your fingers leaving faint trails of light through the air as you take her hand in yours.

Wick: 8/10

“This will draw the poison out, you need not worry. Unless the light judges you unworthy in which case receiving its bounty will sicken you. Which is it?”

“Stop that! Get off me!”

You pull your gauntlet back and sit back down. Beatrice, on the other hand, rises to her feet and advances.
“What the fuck was that? Do you want me to be a proper witch or something? Because it starting to feel like you do. Because that would be so much easier, wouldn’t it? Then you could just kill me and your conscience would be clear.”

You ignore her anger completely and when you speak, it is with complete calm.
“How do you feel?”

“I feel fine! Better than fine! I am completely he-oh shit.”
She collapses against the side of the trolley for a moment and with shaking hands she pulls herself up until she’s leaning over it. And from there you can hear her vomit out the contents of her stomach onto the track below. When she’s done she steps back and slides back down.
“I’m fine. Just a little railsick. The venom is gone.”

It doesn’t look gone to you.


>Purge her again.

>Try a different Benediction to test her.

>”You can lie to yourself if you want. Just don’t lie to me.”

>Strike her.

>Apologize. Your reaction may have been a little too hasty.

>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”

>”Consider this penance. You likely lead the witch to Sacrament after all.”

>Ignore her.

>Other

>>563964
>Apologize. Your reaction may have been a little too hasty.
Ask her about the circumstances that led her to become a witch. And the circumstances that got her branded and made her repent

>>563964
>”You can lie to yourself if you want. Just don’t lie to me.”
>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”

"The Light will not take you back simply because you consume gunpowder. Repentance cannot be earned simply because you desire it. You made a choice long ago that damned you. I have hunted Witches long enough to understand just how Grievous the blasphemy of that choice is. You will only be redeemed in my eyes if you can make an Amendment of equal weight."

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Jesus this took way too long to write this. Faster updates soon, I promise.

>>563964
>>Apologize. Your reaction may have been a little too hasty.

She's right, what you're doing is pretty heretical itself.

>>563964
>>Apologize. Your reaction may have been a little too hasty.

>>563964
>>”You can lie to yourself if you want. Just don’t lie to me.”

>>563964
>>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”
>>You still look ill, do you wish for me to try and purge the venom out again Beatrice?
>Repentance is not earned, but given. If you are truly sorry and repentant for what you have done, the Wheel god and fire may yet take you back. But gaming the system does nothing."

>>563964
>Apologize. Your reaction may have been a little too hasty.
>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”

>>563994
Don't worry about it man that was a respectable amount of time for a long update

>>563994
Ouro, since when were you under the impression people dislike large updates?

>>563964
>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”

>>563964
>”You can lie to yourself if you want. Just don’t lie to me.”
>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”

Calling it for these two
>Apologize. Your reaction may have been a little too hasty.
>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”

since they had the most votes

>>564093
Will you include the Write-Ins?

>>563964
>”You can lie to yourself if you want. Just don’t lie to me.”
>purge her again

Something ain't right and I doubt it's her witchy nature

>Apologize. Your reaction may have been a little too hasty.
>”You must accept yourself for what you truly are. Only then can you work towards being something better.”

In hindsight, you may have been a little too hasty in both your words and your actions. Not wrong, mind you, nor unjustified. But hasty. It is your every right to judge a witch but as a Witch-finder you’d like to think that you hold yourself to a somewhat higher standard when it comes to the quality thereof. And if this witch wants to believe herself still capable of climbing towards the light, who are you to deny her that? At the very least she’ll do some good in her delusions.

“I’m sorry.”

Beatrice looks more stricken than she had been right before she was about to vomit.
“Sorry? You? You want to apologize?”

“Is that so unbelievable.”

“I don’t mean to be rude but...well yes actually, I do want to be rude. You’re a stiff jerk who acts like you’ve got one of those fancy wicks of yours jammed right up your ar-”

“Enough. You might it very hard to apologize.”

“Oh, do I? I can’t imagine what’s prompted me to act this way.”

“I was, perhaps, a little hasty with my reaction there. But what I said was not untrue. You must accept yourself for what you really are. Lying to yourself does nothing to change it. But only through confronting it can you climb towards the light.”

Beatrice slumps over and when she next speaks, her voice is even more ragged and tired than usual.
“God, are you just an endless pile of platitudes? They just fall out of you every time you open your mouth.”

“Perhaps if you had paid heed to these ‘platitudes’ in your earlier life you would not be in this position today.”

“...I can’t deny that.”

“Listen, Beatrice. The flame will not take you back just because you eat gunpowder and grasp whatever sparks you can get from that. Repentance is not something to be earned or stolen back but is given. You made a choice long ago that damned you and we both know how terrible of a thing you really did when you accepted it. And that’s not going to go away just because of time or even good deeds. If you are truly sorry and repentant than the Wheel God may someday take you back.”

“Bit hard what with him being dead and all.”

“That didn’t stop you the first time, did it? My point remains that you’ll never find what you’re really looking for by gaming the system.”

“I know.”
The witch grumbles and grouses but otherwise doesn’t object.
“It’s really hard to argue with a Lamplighter, you know? I remember being brought up thinking you lot were the best any of us could ever hope to be.”

“Evidently it didn’t stick.”

“Apparently not. And I had plenty of time to be disabused of that notion after I was branded anyway.”

“And what lead to that anyway?”

“Pardon?”

1/2

>>564223
“I’m not going to understand what you are now if I didn’t know what you were back then. What made you make that choice?”

“The choice? You mean to forsake my humanity, snuff out my Wick forever, become one with the ever-malignant corpse gods intent upon humanity’s destruction? That little old thing?”

“Yes.”

She pulls her hat even further down as if intent on suffocating herself.
“I’d really rather not. You see there was this bo-”

Her words are broken off as the carriage suddenly rattles and bangs beneath your feet! You remain steady but Beatrice is tilted to the side and it only grows worse! The cart is shaking from side to the side with a hideous din, your packs sliding everywhere and spilling open.
“Hold on!”

You barely manage to stand up long enough to see over the edge. And what you see isn’t pretty. Those cracks spiderwebbing the concrete plains? Looks like you’ve been getting closer to their origin this entire time and they’ve only gotten worse.
The concrete ahead of you is splintered and broken, a jagged plain of loose rock and boulders. The track itself is unbroken but is twisted in much the same way and in your conversation with Beatrice you’ve let the railcar coast too far towards it!

Up above is what you can only describe as a crater of some kind, the centre-point of the cracks and the ruined and ravaged ground. A vast dimple in the earth that plunges straight through the foot or so of concrete and has kicked up soil and rock and broken the concrete plains all around it like a stone through a window. And the tracks are heading straight for it, the downward incline giving your trolley momentum unearned through muscle.


>Leap from the cart with as much as you can carry, tell Beatrice to do the same.

>Leap from the cart with as much as you can carry, including Beatrice.

>Just because the ground is a little torn up doesn’t mean the track itself won’t hold! You can ride this through!

>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.

>Other

>>564229
>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.

Let's not lose our only method of transportation.

>>564229
>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.

Fate to the gods of dice.
>inb4 throne of ones

>>564229
>Leap from the cart with as much as you can carry, including Beatrice.
Got a bad feeling about this crater

>>564229
>>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.
>Other
Tell Beatrice to start throwing stuff off the cart, then get off while you try to stop it.

Wait does the cart have brakes?

>>564229
>>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.
I would rather not get stuck without the carriage this early. We need to stop it and find a way to keep it going forward in the journey.

>>564253
Why would we throw stuff off the cart? It would hardly slow us down at all. Terrible idea.

>>564229
>>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.
>Tell Beatrice to be ready to jump

>>564263
No, we're getting as much stuff off the cart in case it can't be stopped. I'm assuming we can just walk back along the track to retrieve everything later.

>>564229
>halt it
Maybe the staff can help?

>>564229
>Just because the ground is a little torn up doesn’t mean the track itself won’t hold! You can ride this through!

>>564229
>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.
>Tell Beatrice to be ready to jump

>Do your best to halt the carriage before it gets too far.

“Witch! Start dumping the cargo!”
You don’t wait to see if she understood you, hauling yourself back over the side of the cart with staff in hand. You do your best to keep yourself steady and your feet firmly upon the metal as you slam the staff down into the concrete racing past beneath you.

It nearly shakes out of your hands immediately but you keep it steady as best you can, the staff bouncing as you drag it against the ground and you are rewarded with the feeling of the pump trolley slowing down. But then you take a look ahead up at the crater and immediately decide that it isn’t slowing fast enough.
“Take this!”
You push the staff into Beatrice’s hands and she understands right away, dragging the staff back down albeit at a much greater lack of success.

As for you?
You throw yourself from the cart and land on your feet, staggering forward before running back alongside the trolley and grabhing hold of the back. You dig your heels in and grit your teeth as the cart slowly drags you forward across the concrete…
And then stops, the trolley coming to a halt scant meters from the edge of the crater.

Beatrice lets out all of her breath at once.
“Right in time. Look at that sucker.”

Needless to say, the track doesn’t make it across the crater in one piece. It almost does, a testament to its construction and the runes that guard it but the railway over the crater is twisted and mangled and the cart would almost certainly try to throw you.
“Hold up,” you pant. “I’ll go grab everything.”

You slowly walk back along the rail, sweeping up everything that Beatrice had hurled off. Luckily none of it split. By the time you get back the witch is standing outside of the handcar and looking down at the crater below.

“So. How are we getting around this?”

“We walk around.”

“With the cart?”

That brings you to a stop. Just how are you going to get this cart across to where the rail continues properly once more? You’re strong but you’re not that strong.


>”We’ll walk around the crater and continue on foot.”

>”We’ll walk around the crater and drag the pump trolley with us.”

>”Push the trolley down the rail into the crater, it might slide all the way to the other side while we walk around.”

>”We’ll walk through the crater and guide the pump trolley along the rail by hand. Won't break our backs trying to drag this thing."

>”Let’s try to ride this across.”

>”Maybe we can climb down and try to prop the rail back up?”

>Other

>>564368
I can see a "choose your encounter level" prompt a mile away, you can't fool me!

>”Let’s try to ride this across.”

>>564368
>”We’ll walk through the crater and guide the pump trolley along the rail by hand. Won't break our backs trying to drag this thing."

>>564368
How big is the crater? Can we tie a rope to the cart and throw it to the other side? Or tie it to cart, walk around crater and then pull it?

>>564368
>>”We’ll walk through the crater and guide the pump trolley along the rail by hand. Won't break our backs trying to drag this thing."

>>564378
>the railway over the crater is twisted and mangled and the cart would almost certainly try to throw you.
Did you read this part?

>>564392
Technically, it's not 100% that it would even attempt to throw you off. And you could technically hold on while it tries.
A silly idea nonetheless.

>>564368
>”We’ll walk through the crater and guide the pump trolley along the rail by hand. Won't break our backs trying to drag this thing."

>>564368
Well since no answer in regards to crater size is coming.
>Push the trolley down the rail and then follow it.

No need to tire ourselves with guiding it by hand.

>>564415
I don't think we have rope anyway

>>564388
Over a hundred foot in diameter. You don't have any rope.

>>564427
A big foot.

Why didn't you guys take Marcus along? He is unnaturally gifted with fire. He would have made a fine apprentice and someone to take our burden should we fall

>>564449
He's a little kid anon.

>>564427
I'm assuming witchery powers would be stronger in the crater, considering its closer to deep soil?

>>564449
Because he's a kid and using a kid is against the sensibilities of people in here. Which by extension is against sensibilities of Orion.
Not against mine, though.

>>564449
Don't worry anon. He's coming later when the all his town duty is refused by the people distrusting the son of the late Mayor.

>>564469
Come on anon he's not a witch. I'm sure the people will not hold the sins of the father against the son.

>>564472
Maybe if we had spoken to the town about it. As it was when we left we gave the townspeople no words of grace to the traitors' son.

Face it.

He's toast.

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>”We’ll walk through the crater and guide the pump trolley along the rail by hand. Won't break our backs trying to drag this thing."

“Well then,” you say. “I don’t see us picking this up or even really dragging it.”

“Are you sure you can’t drag it?”
You just look at her and she grimaces.
“What? You’re a real big guy, aren’t you?”

“Not that big. And I feel like you are just suggesting this to get out of helping me. No, the tracks are warped and bent but not intractable. We can climb down and walk across the crater while guiding the trolley along the tracks by hand. That won’t break our backs at least.”

“Speak for yourself,” she grumbles but she ultimately relents to your proposal. “You know that’s soil down there, right?”

“I am aware.”
You grab hold of the left side of the trolley with your right hand and hold the lantern up in your left. Beside you Beatrice grabs the right side of the trolley with both hands.
“But soil itself is not too dangerous, we aren’t in the wastelands after all. This is just a crater of soil surrounded by concrete. For anything Dark to come here it would have to pass through miles of inimical terrain.”

Together the two of you start to slowly push the trolley down the steep incline, pulling it up at the same time so that it doesn’t slide down too fast. The rail bucks a little but holds firm.
“What if something burrowed up?”

“Then the two of us will destroy it and then return to our work.”

“That’s a lot of faith for someone who nearly got rocked by a bird.”

“Faith is my profession. Perhaps the repentant should not make so light of it.”

The two of you set foot upon the broken upturned soil of the crater at the same time and both of you have the same reaction, jolting back for just a moment. You nearly let go of the handcar.

Witch-chill.
Old, fading witch-chill but chill nonetheless.

“It’s...It’s probably long gone,” Beatrice mutters, more to reassure herself than to help you.

The crater is large, over a hundred feet in diameter and the light of your lantern only goes so far. It stretches out ahead of you, dark and unknowable.


>”Push on.”

>Light your wick and then push on. You’ll have to give the lantern to Beatrice.

>”Beatrice, get your gun ready. I’ll handle the cart by myself.”

>Try to push it back up the slope.

>Call out a challenge to any witches.

>Other

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721 KB GIF

>>564533
BEEF.
CAKE.

>>564533
Would the black compass point towards Beatrice or would it seek out a more legit witch nearby?

>>564533
>>”Push on.”


>>564539
Surprised Beatrice isn't checking Orion out. Course she could be and he misses it or misunderstands it.

>>564533
>”Push on.”
>Light your wick and then push on. You’ll have to give the lantern to Beatrice.

I feel sorry for the women of this world, we're a celibate beef cake.

>>564533
>Light your wick and then push on. You’ll have to give the lantern to Beatrice.

>>564551
Romance is the worst part of quests.

>>564533
>”Beatrice, get your gun ready. I’ll handle the cart by myself.”
>Light your wick and then push on. You’ll have to give the lantern to Beatrice.

>>564546
The witch would have to be astonishingly legit to drive the black compass away from the witch standing right next to you.

>>564533
>”Beatrice, get your gun ready. I’ll handle the cart by myself.”

>>564533
>”Push on.”
>Light your wick and then push on. You’ll have to give the lantern to Beatrice.

>>564569
So we should probably take periodic looks at it when we come by a suspicious area and use that to gauge our actions appropriately.

>>564533
>Light your wick and then push on. You’ll have to give the lantern to Beatrice.

>Light your wick and then push on. You’ll have to give the lantern to Beatrice.

“Here, take the lantern.”

You pass it across to Beatrice and she stops, surprised enough that it takes her several seconds to grab it. Even then she holds it gingerly as if she can scarcely believe what she is hearing.
“Are you sure you trust me with this?”

“I trust you not to stab me in the back right this moment, yes.”
As she takes up the lantern you reach into the trolley beside you and retrieve your helmet. Still in mostly serviceable condition but you’re going to have to find an armoursmith sooner or later. These holes drilled in the side just won’t do.
You put the helmet back on and pull the hood of your cloak back over the top of it. You can’t help but feel safer now that you are properly armoured once more, even if the finest armour in the world wouldn’t stop the wrath of a witch. Your free hand takes up your wick once more and you slam the butt of it against the concrete, sparking a slender finger of true flame into life atop the tool.

Wick: 10/10

“Now that’s more like it,” you rumble. “The witch is probably long gone but I can’t imagine they’d like to try their luck against this.”

“One already has.”

The two of you carry on into the crater, bringing light into the darkness before you as if daring whatever beasts lurk within to attack you. But aside from a few stops where you have to pull the trolley up from the rails with Beatrice’s help and set it back down after a nasty kink blocks the way, little else assaults you. The rail is twisted but mostly maneageable though you wouldn’t have liked to try your luck actually riding this thing.
Some of your belongings are thrown from the cart more than once after all, particularly during that one time it got away from both of you and nearly topped off the side of the wobbly track entirely.

And even if this was the easiest route, it is hard strenuous work and neither of you have time to talk. And yet you learn something about Beatrice anyway. Namely that you can rely on her not to let go of a runaway trolley even as it drags her along with it.
A useful skill to have in today’s world.

You have nearly made it across when Beatrice breaks the silence.
“What’s that?”

You follow her pointed finger and there, out in the far darkness you spot a faint glimmer. The lantern’s light glimmering off something metallic or reflective. You can barely make something out in the shadows behind it. Is that a boulder? Whatever it is it’s big and it doesn’t look alive.
And it’s sitting in the dead center of the crater itself.


1/2

>>564619
Sorry about that, internet cut off for a moment.

>”What is it? None of our business, that’s what.” Push on and leave.

>Leave the cart and go investigate together.

>Tell Beatrice to go over and report back while you guard the cart.

>”Stay with the trolley.” Go investigate by yourself.

>Fire off a plume of fire with your wick to try and cast light upon it. You won’t be aiming direc

>Other

>>564634
>push the trolley out
>come back and investigate

>>564634
>”Stay with the trolley.” Go investigate by yourself.

>>564634
>>564638
This guy

>>564634
>>”What is it? None of our business, that’s what.” Push on and leave.
Who cares about mystery rocks. Nothing good has ever came from the ground

>>564634

>Fire off a plume of fire with your wick to try and cast light upon it. You won’t be aiming direc

What the shit. That should be 'aiming directly at it'

>>564634
>”Stay with the trolley.” Go investigate by yourself.
>>564638
I don't feel like that's any better than leaving it unattended down here. Worse even since it'll be unattended for longer.

>>564638
>>564634
This.

>>564638
>>564640
>>564658
I dont understand this reasoning at all. Why?

>>564653
It's more about being able to run easily.

>>564664
If we want to keep whatever that big shiny thing is it'll be way harder to get it out of the crater without the cart

>>564672
We're not pressed for time. It is better to err on side of caution.

>>564664
>running from creatures of the dark instead of killing them
is this nigga serious

>>564678
It'll be arduous taking the cart back and forth.

>"Stay with the trolley." Go investigate by yourself.
Whatever infernal contraption this may be, we're better equipped to deal with it

>>564688
Shame about those ghouls we left back in the beginning.
>>564690
That is working under the assumption that we're going to bring it back after we're done exploring.
Also assuming that we're going to lift up a boulder and place it onto our cramped tram.

>>564696
Quite. I don't suppose we will.

>>564696
That was before we knew how good we are at fighting ghouls and whatnot

>inb4 earthen golem

I'm >>564696
>>564703
Purging abominations is good, but if our tram got damaged then it'd be a problem. I prefer to be cautious, is all.

>>564634
> go investigate yourself
Maybe it's a piece of God

>>564719
Doubt the witch chill would linger if that were the case.

>push the trolley out
>come back and investigate

“There! Don’t you think there’s something there!”
The witch is still pointing towards the centre, towards the glint of reflected light.

“I see it.”

“So why aren’t we stopping?”

“Get to the cart to safety first. Then we can return and be ready to escape if need be.”
One does not survive the wasteland without becoming practical.

“It’s just a big thing! It’s not alive!”

“It’s probably just some rock.”

“So what’s the harm?”

“I’ve yet to see anything good spring from untamed earth and I doubt this’ll be the first.”

The two of you wrestle the trolley up the slope to the other side of the crater, finally setting the handcar back down upon the unbent rails beyond with a heavy clunk.
“But it ain’t from the ground,” Beatrice protests after she’s had nearly a full minute to catch her breath.

“Is this another mystical witch sense I’ve yet to learn about.”

“I wish. I uh, I mean I don’t wish! But look at this crater! I know you see this kind of shit a lot back in the wasteland but this is civilized land! These things don’t happen without a reason. And maybe the reason is this thing.”

“Are you suggesting it fell from the sky?”
You slide back down the slope of the crater, Beatrice doing her best to follow you. She loses her footing halfway down and rolls the rest of the way. You think about helping her up but ultimately decide not to spoil her too much.

“It could have. Or it was thrown or exploded. This is hardly forbidden earth-lore Orion, craters don’t just pop out of the ground fully formed.”

“Is that supposed to make it less suspicious?”

“Ugh, never mind. But there’ll be no need to run because whatever the hell this thing is, it ain’t living anymore.”

“It could be a dormant golem in which case we would both be dead in very short order.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that.”
Beatrice begins to slow down behind you.
“You know maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe we should just leave.”

“Too late now.”
You raise your wick at the same time Beatrice raises her lantern, light advancing forward to illuminate the thing in the centre of the crater. This way is best for if there is something dark about here the combined light at once should help to stun it and buy you valuable time.

But there is nothing of the sort.

“What the fuck is that? That’s not a rock.”
Beatrice pulls her revolver from her cloak but stays her hand, keeping it down by her side with her finger off the trigger.

1/2

>>564738
The thing that lies before you is half submerged in the earth, battered and dented but still in mostly one piece. A fat cylinder at least three times your size, it is forged from silvery metal and coated in concrete dust. Glass orbs and slender paneled wings extend out from its body, all mostly cracked and broken from the fall. You step closer and stop when you see there’s not a single seam. It was as if this entire contraption was carved from a single piece of gleaming steel
But you know that isn’t true. They’re just too small and perfect to see. While you’ve never seen this thing before you’ve seen other things that had been brought into the world by the same makers.

And as you look at as a whole, noting the broken glass eyes and the shredded wings and stubby cylindrical body, you come to a conclusion. You’ve seen this before. Not in the flesh but in ancient holy texts. A picture of a long cylindrical relic with flat square wings…

“It’s a star,” you announce.

“Holy shit.”

Back in the glories of the Second Age many lights were thrown up into the sky. Some claim that it was purely to light up the night but you know that to be false. You’ve spoken to people who claim to have read through ancient technical manuals and texts left by the Second Men. The stars were placed for a far more inscrutable purpose, one that has long since been lost forever.

Beatrice stars up at the sky, the few dozen moving stars overhead still visible through the sun’s pale twilight.
“When do you think it fell?”

“I don’t know. I know it must have attracted a witch when it did. A witch who was very far inland. But there is nothing they could have done to this. Look.”
You bring the light around to the side and show her the footprints still barely visible in the soil right before the fallen star.
“We’re lucky that there’s so little rain or wind these days. The witch must have tried to gain entry but failed.”

Beatrice reaches out to touch the side of the ancient relic and then recoils as if she was expecting it to somehow be hot.
“He’s lost his shine.”
She sounds strangely lost. You guess you can understand why. A starker reminder of the world’s incoming end would be hard to find.
“Do...do you think we should try to get inside?”

“That’s not our place.”

“Nothing’s this thing’s place anymore.”


>”No.” You have to leave, you don’t know when the witch will return. Especially since you killed what was probably their ghoul.

>Grab a piece and pull it off. Maybe it’s still holy.

>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?

>Unwrap your lamp-post.

>Other

>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?
inb4 our cart and belongings get stolen due to overly cautious anons

>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?
I hope we can find something, anything to help our quest

>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?

>Unwrap your lamp-post.

>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?

Star huh? Fascinating

Is this actually the future of our world rather than an alternate?

>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?

>>564753
First age suggests alternate
>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?

>Unwrap your lamp-post.

>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?

>>564753
We appear to be second age men

>>564741
>>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?

>>564753
>>564757
oh wait, forgot, first age could have been misinterpreted as well

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>>564741
... fellas, you don't suppose...

>>564703
Even with Orion's skills fighting with multiple ghouls at once is still a situation where you could very easily end up dead or injured.

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55 KB JPG

>>564741
>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?
>Unwrap your lamp-post.

So The first city is going to be like pic related right? Except not only twisted and warped but also a burning inferno from having a piece of the sun fall on it

>You might as well try! What’s the worst that could happen?
>Unwrap your lamp-post

You refrain from punishing Beatrice for her blasphemy, stopped by the thought that she might be correct. Was it really improper to set foot upon a star that has been cast from the heavens? This star is no longer ashine, having lost its light like so much else in the world today. And better you than a witch, surely?

“Very well. We lose nothing from trying.”

“Except our lives possibly. Not that I’m voting against!”

“There is no vote,” you grunt as you place your hands upon the side of the star. What are you supposed to do here? Use a Benediction? A Flame Rite? No, none of those seem right. So instead you and Beatrice spend nearly twenty minutes combing over all of it that you can find, searching for a panel or a door or a window. Anything!
But you don’t find a single way in, put to a halt like the witch before you.

I’m going to try talking to it,” Beatrice says from the other side. “Maybe it’ll understand us if we just ask to be let in.”

“I don’t recall ever reading that stars could talk.”

“They do in all the stories!”

“Folktales are not holy canon, Beatrice.”

“About as effective in my experience. I’m going to try.”
You hear a loud rapping as she knocks on the side of the star.
“Oi! Hello? Can you let us in?”

Nothing happens.

“I don’t think anything’s going to work really,” Beatrice concludes twenty minutes later. “Look at it, he’s all dimmed out. If he was ever alive he’s long dead.”

“Maybe so,” you mutter to yourself, distracted by a whole new train of thought. The light is out, is it? The Second Men might have been conceited but they had still been holy, still possessed the touch of flame and all the magics left to Man by the Wheel God. And surely some of that had been involved in constructing this marvel!
So would it heed God’s touch? Because that would probably be the only Flame Art left in this miserable world capable of emulating such feats.

Only one way to find out.

You take the lamp-post out from off your back, picking at the canvas and feeling it slowly spring to life beneath your fingertips.
“Stay on the other side of it, Beatrice! And close your eyes!”

You unleash the lamp and simply stand back for a moment, feeling the holy flame rush over you in exquisite agony. But you cannot linger. The burn spreads.

“Star! You, who were once kindled to life with God’s blessing, return with his touch!”
You bring the head of the lamp-post gently down upon the side of the star, resting it against one of the broken glass eyes.

And then you stumble, feeling as if some invisible force was trying to pull the burning lamp from out of your grasp! But the reality is more intangible, something deep within the star grasping hold of your lamp’s light and draining it.

Wick 100/100

Wick: 90/100

Wick: 80/100

Wick: 70/100

1/2

>>564798
>Roll 1d6. Since you are using the lamp-post, the best of the first 3 will be chosen and tripled instead of simply using the total of the first 3.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>564800
shit

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>564798
>>564800
Hungry bugger, ain't it?

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>564800

>>564802
>>564803
help

Fuck. I'm not a huge fan of this system so far. d6 is just less fun to roll somehow.

>>564634
>”Stay with the trolley.” Go investigate by yourself.

Hm. I remember hearing once about rolls being based on post number... they're both sequential just now.

>>564811
Maybe we need to roll less quickly

>>564813
a minute between rolls is not quick

>3, 3, 3

Right. Anyway guys, I've got work in half an hour so I can't spend any more time on updates tonight. Sorry.
I'd been planning on updating a little quicker but eh.

I'll probably not be back tomorrow except for maybe one update because game day starts earlier than usual.
But I will be back the day after that and hopefully much faster! (probably not that much faster)

>>564807
I think it's a well made system despite the fact that the results are consistently at least somewhat disappointing

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>564815
Yes, but if rolls are based on post number, then we're prone to the above on a slow-moving board. I may just be mistaken and unlucky though.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>564823

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>564824
Are there no other quests running right now? Seems like it

>>564823
The theory is that they are generated using the server's internal timing/clock as a variable in the RNG.

>>564828
Ah, thanks.

>>564826
There seem to be a few active right now. I'm currently waiting for the Junker skirmish to update.

>>564802
>>564803
>>564804
The next one will roll 0 and 4chan will end.

Rolled (1d0)

I for one, welcome the coming darkness.

not to be an old stick in the mud but could we tone back the niceties a bit with Beatrice? I'm all for treating her decent like but she hasn't done anything to especially earn it just yet

>>564907
Don't dis mah waifu.

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>>564909
she is a witch not your waifu!

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>>564916

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44 KB JPG

>>564916
>witch
>best waifu
Pick 2.

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>>564919
>>564925
>Wanting to fall to Darkness
>Wanting to Hold Hands with a Witch
>Not smiting ALL the evil

Absolutely disgusting despoiled unrepentant waifu's a best

I see, so this is going to be yet another shitty waifuquest after all.

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2.52 MB GIF

>>564939

>>564942
Well I don't know what I expected after seeing the shitshow that was snakecatcher

>>564949
Don't worry anon.

We'll build the relationship naturally.

Slowly.

And then just when the time is right.

And we draw close to kiss..

BAMP

Brand reignited ten-thousand fold and Bea collapses into a charred heap. For you.

>>564984
Thank you based god

>>564984
does this mean we can fall to darkness?

>>564939
I mean, there's a female character that people voted to bring along and then voted to not treat her like complete garbage. Clearly Orion and Beatrice have already boarded the waifu train and there's no end in sight.

Anyway, to make up for the fact that I'm going to be absent for the next day thanks to poor timing (losing Monday and all) I'll chuck up an update now, leave it open for ten or eleven hours and then do another in the morning right before I have to leave to game-day tomorrow.

Writan'

>>565015
CHOO CHOO WAIFU TRAIN

>>564939
To be fair, Snekcatcher was great when we weren't busy being retarded about Hiss.

I feel like I should clarify that that comment was sarcastic since I know that doesn't always carry itself over text all the time.
Anyway considering that Orion still holds Beatrice's fundamental nature in disgust and has a fit about her 'wiles' every time anything remotely oriented to the direction happens, I think you'll be safe for now.

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>>565015
They could be friends. But I guess such a thing is impossible in the end
>>565018
It was

>>565015
>4 hours later
>no update

he's dead Jim

>>564907
>Stops berating her and treating her with disdain
>being nice

Look Anon, it's pretty clear Orion doesn't like Beatrice because of what she is. The only difference is that we're not being a complete douche to her because it's rude and tiring.

>3, 3, 3

Wick: 70/100

You pull the lamp back as the pain builds higher but the star doesn’t want to let go! There is a haze of heat and light building around you and the lamp now, one that you are only blearily aware exists outside of your own mind. The star is glowing now too, light shining through its broken glass eyes as it feeds upon the shard of the sun.

And then the burn gets too much and you finally free yourself, falling heavily to the ground with your head spinning and your eyes blurred. Your arms are burning as if they were aflame but you know from experience that that would actually hurt a lot less.
The lamp-post lies where you dropped it, away from both you and the star, still burning with a terrible radiance.

And as for the star itself?
It shines bright once more, the silver steel glowing a painful white as heat rushes through the systems of the great machine and ancient magics revive themselves. The two square wings unbend and you avert your gaze as the broken panels upon the wings begin to right themselves in flashes of blinding light.
And then it lifts into the air with a thrum so deep that you feel it before you hear it.

The star floats higher and higher until it is almost twenty feet above you. And then, wreathed in primordial flame, it throws itself up towards the heavens with enough force to send both you and Beatrice to your knees, the air twisting and screaming as the star takes back its rightful place in the sky.

“-wanted to get in you! Come back!”
It occurs to you that Beatrice had been yelling the entire time. You hadn’t heard her.
“Nice going. I thought you were going to give it enough power to open the door, not re-ignite.”

“This might be for the best.”
You’re still having some trouble believing what had happened. But if this is an omen of any kind its message to you is clear. This star had fallen and gone out. It had just been another sign of a world close to the edge. But you stopped that. Even if it was for something that might just be meaningless to your quest, for a single moment you stood there and you reversed the collapse towards the end.
A falling star is a strange and powerful omen. But what is a rising one?

Lacking anything else to do, the two of you slowly trek back towards the trolley. It’s still waiting for you and your belongings have been unmolested.
“I really wanted to see inside of it,” Beatrice complains as she climbs in.

“A childish impulse.”

“Shows what you know. Childish impulse is what being a witch is all about.”

“Then perhaps you should be trying to grow up. Why are you so excited over stars anyway? That seems unlike you.”

“You don’t know me. I loved hearing all the stories about the stars and their adventures when I was a kid.”

“And yet you chose to sell yourself to those who would extinguish them forever.”

“Is it impossible to have one conversation without you rubbing that in my face?”

1/3

>>565088
“Nobody ever said repentance would be easy. Speaking of which, you’ll be joining me at the pump for the rest of the day. We need to make up for lost time.”

Hours pass as the two of you push the handcar through the cracked concrete plains. This isn’t just the result of one impact, you belatedly realise. There have been multiple, all spread out across this area. Is this why there are so few stars in the sky up here?
You almost don’t want to think about that.

By the time a town comes into sight, Beatrice is a wreck. You let her collapse upon the floor and take up her half of the work with only minimal effort. Still, it would be nice to get some sleep in the settlement up ahead.

As the rail takes you closer and closer you see that the town appears to be in increasingly bad shape. One of the impact sites must be very close by for the concrete is cracked and raised in huge blocks, tilting large sections of the entire landscape. The houses are ill-built and badly taken care of, some already in the process of slowly sliding down the broken slopes. And naturally the entire place is shrouded in shadow and twilight. Whatever lamp-post this place had it lost all spark a long time ago.
It’s small, much smaller than Sacrament.

A man is standing outside the town hall when you and Beatrice slowly drag yourself into whatever passes for ‘town’ here. He’s very tall, as tall as you even but much more slender and dressed in sombre shades of black from his trousers to his vest. His hair is white and he has a beard that is long directly beneath the chin and clean-shaven elsewhere.
It makes him look like a billy goat.

“State your business, strangers! The town is in meeting.”

You draw yourself up, displaying the spoked wheel upon your cloak.
“I-”

“Hey look he’s a Lamplighter,” Beatrice says over the top of you. “He’s real and alive and wonderful and he’s here to give you your sunlight back. Fantastic. Great. We can skip all the awe and praise now and get to the point where he uses that respect to requisition us some proper beds to sleep in.”

If the old man is taken aback by her most improper introduction, he shows no sign.
“My name is Jeremiah Stocks, acting town elder. It is good that you have come, Lamplighter.”

“Yes, I’m Orion. Can you take me to your mayor?”

“We do not have a mayor any longer.”
Behind him, the doors to the town hall open and the people slowly file out. Even as they see you and your sigil you spot little joy on their faces. There’s so few of them, even less than the buildings had lead you to believe.
And there’s much less children than there should be.

“What happened here?”

“Welcome to Augustine, Lamplighter. I’m afraid we must beg your assistance. We have a severe witch problem.”

2/3

>>565090
>”Just let me tend to the lamp post first.”

> “Can you set aside a bed for my companion?”

>”Tell me more, I can start immediately.”

>”What’s wrong with your mayor?”

>Clip Beatrice around the ear for showing disrespect.

>”Nice town you have here. Very scenic.”

>Ask about the falling stars.

>Other

Alright, I'll leave this vote open for eight hours or so while I sleep and then update once again before having to leave to game-day.

Sorry about the delay on this one by the way. First I got distracted talking, then by watching videos and then 4chan went down when I actually wanted to post. Mostly my bad.

>>565091
>>”Just let me tend to the lamp post first.”

>>565091
>Clip Beatrice around the ear for showing disrespect.
> “Can you set aside a bed for my companion?”
>”What’s wrong with your mayor?”
>Ask about the falling stars.
>"Let me tend to the lamp post.”

>>565091
>Clip Beatrice around the ear for showing disrespect.
>”Tell me more, I can start immediately.”
>Ask about the falling stars.

How long have they had the witching problem and are they related to the falling stars? obviously they are but still

>>565091
>>565090 #
>”Just let me tend to the lamp post first.”
>Clip Beatrice around the ear for showing disrespect
>Ask about the falling stars.

If we light the lamp we miss an opportunity to set a trap for the witch and her minions

as far as we know she doesn't know we're here

>>565138
I think the bird ghoul was his/hers and it must have seen the rising star

>>565091
>”Just let me tend to the lamp post first.”
>Ask about the falling stars.
>Clip Beatrice around the ear for showing disrespect.

>>565193
Oh and I suppose also

>>565091
>“Can you set aside a bed for my companion?”

>>565091
>Clip Beatrice around the ear for showing disrespect.
>”Tell me more, I can start immediately.”
>Ask about the falling stars.

>>565091
>”Tell me more, I can start immediately.”

>not abusing Beatrice means she's our waifu
wew. we're a celibate paladin type guys chill out. it's not gonna happen.

>>565138
She knows we were here due to the ghoul

>>565091
>”Just let me tend to the lamp post first.”
>“Can you set aside a bed for my companion?”

File: 1370415311533.jpg (140 KB, 500x500)

140 KB JPG

>>565203
>it's not gonna happen.

>>565091
>”Just let me tend to the lamp post first.”
> “Can you set aside a bed for my companion?”
>”What’s wrong with your mayor?
>Ask about the falling stars.
Oh shit, best girl isn't feeling well. Carry her up into bed and get her a glass of water. Stay there holding her hand until she feels better.

>>565091
>>565218
Supportan'

>>565203
>not gonna happen

maybe not with her but sooner or later this quest will have a Waifu

>>565205
>>565173
likely but hopefully not that we are either a lamplighter or the ones who resurrected a star or have a repentant witch in tow

>>565206
>>565219

Hey, did you forget that there are voter IDs here you samefaggot?

>>565091

>>565232
Supportan' also works for write-in's for other people when they say things you didn't think off but like anyways. Ouro didn't count this stuff twice last thread so no worries mate.

>>565091
>“Can you set aside a bed for my companion?”
>”What’s wrong with your mayor?”
>Ask about the falling stars.
>”Tell me more, I can start immediately.”

All the relevant shit.

>>565218
You're disgusting

>>565356
>falling for bait that obvious

>>565218
>>565091
This is a good write-in.
I second it.

>>565363
How do you know he's not genuinely retarded?

>>565447
It seemed pretty obvious to me that it's a totally transparent attempt to trigger butthurt anons calling this a shitty waifuquest but you could be right I guess. I'd like to believe nobody here is actually that retarded.

>>565485
The people supporting it might be.

>>565518
It is a veeery good write-in.
How dare you call me restarted. Doyou kiss your mother with that key_board?

>>565518
>>565447
>>565356
Also
>1 ID by this user
thank god for ID's we would be lost without them

Beatrice would only attain waifudom if she does a selfless sacrifice or get her wick back. Even then that'd be a long hard road for her because we ain't gonna break our oaths lightly.

>Clip Beatrice around the ear for showing disrespect.
>”Let me tend to the lamp-post.”
>Ask about the falling stars.
>“Can you set aside a bed for my companion?”

You sigh as Jeremiah’s words sink in and you realize you’ve just spent days of exertion and travel just to get from witch-cursed town to another. But such is the nature of your duty. There might be no rest for the wicked but the righteous are worked twice as hard.
And speaking of which…

You let your hand curl up slightly before driving the back of your gauntlet into the side of Beatrice’s head. Not hard enough to cause any real pain but with enough force to remind her of her place in these procedures. The witch yelps, more from shock than anything else and you step forward in front of her.
“Please forgive my companion, she does not understand the seriousness of this situation.

If Jeremiah Stocks is fazed he gives no outward sign. You’re getting the feeling that he may simply be a very dreary man.
“Very good, Lamplighter.”

“My name is Orion.”

“So be it. You are needed.”

“Yes, yes, the witch. Fear not. But I think I will tend to my primary duty first. Where is your lamp?”

“You hit me!”
Beatrice sounds like she almost doesn’t believe it which is strange considering that she’s spent the entire journey thus far cringing away whenever you so much as raised your hand.

“The lamp-post is this way Lamplighter but I’m afraid I have bad news.”

The assembled townsfolk watch in silence as Jeremiah leads you into what passes for the central town square. It’s split up the middle with a small fissure, one block of concrete rising nearly a foot over the other. And right by the division is the central lamp-post.
Or what’s left of it.

The post is bent out of shape in at least three places and what isn’t bent is covered in dents and the glass is cracked. There isn’t even twilight left in it anymore, it’s completely dark.

“You hit m-holy shit!”
Beatrice had been lagging behind a little but no longe. She pulls her hat down further as you all stare at the broken lamp.
“Remember when I said that letting me off at the next town was fine? How about we wait for the one after this instead?”

You don’t even acknowledge her, barely able to take your eyes off of it. You step closer and bring your wick to bear, Jeremiah and Beatrice both stepping back as you call forth true flame. What happened here? How could a simple earthquake, a little shattering of concrete, harm a lamp-post so?
And…what are people still doing here? Their mayor, the spiritual protector that every town needs, is apparently dead. The central lamp-post isn’t just out, it’s broken. And there’s a witch afoot? Why have they simply not just abandoned this town and left?

1/2

>>566591
Unlike Sacrament there is no tamed earth to sweep aside as you inspect the lamp-post and eventually the cause of its destruction becomes apparent. The crack, the tiny hairline fissure, has split right through the circle of runes carved into the concrete around the lamp-posts base. You know from awful experience that that can be enough to make it vulnerable.

“The witch left it standing to torment us,” Jeremiah drones. “Bent and broke it with terrible magic while we slept.”

You raise the wick all the same and do your best to light it but...the magic just isn’t there anymore. The lamp-post sparks and takes on a faint glow but that is all. What can you even do here?
“Falling stars and a broken lamp. If I had any doubts that I was moving in the right direction...they have been answered.”
The end of the world looms close. The satisfaction and hope that the rising star once gave you is fading in the face of this blasphemy.

“Aye, the stars are falling,” Jeremiah says. “The first one, the one that cracked Augustine itself, it came just before the first witchin’.”

“I suppose there is little I can do here save to end this threat for you. But before that, could you spare a bed for my companion here? She is not well.”
You neglect to mention that she’s always unwell.

The old man sucks in his breath, his mouth tightening.
“That depends. How much are you willing to pay?”

Beatrice looks up, her hat wobbling dangerously.
“Pay? He’s a Lampligher! He’s going to kill the witch for you!”

“I am loathe to agree but this is an unusual request,” you admit. Normally you can subsist quite well off of the charity and gratitude of the towns you pass through. And these people want to charge you for it?

“There’s no beds enough for even us alone, Lamplighter. To allow her in would be to deprive another. Cross my palm with coin and we can come to an agreement.”

You don’t even have any bloody coin on you! You didn’t think you’d need it.


>”You’ll have to pay for yourself, Beatrice.”

>”This is an ill way to show gratitude towards your would-be witch-slayer.”

>”You’ll have to sleep in the handcar again.”

>”Do you dare defy my authority?”

>”Surely there is one that is not in use!”

>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”

>”First witching? Just how many have you had?”

>”Point me at the witch. I long to leave this town already.”

>”Why are you people still living here!”

>Other

>>566599
>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”
>”Why are you people still living here!”

>>566599
>>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”
>”Why are you people still living here!”

Anyway, as I said earlier this is the only update I can do today on account of game-day starting early. I'll be back around this time tomorrow and I'll do a full session then. Until then the vote remains open.

I'd post the flake.jpg but eh, it's not really my fault this time.

>>566599
>”Point me at the witch. I long to leave this town already.”

>>566599
>”First witching? Just how many have you had?”
>Other
>"There must be /something/ she can sleep on"

>>566599
>>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”
>>”Why are you people still living here?”
>”Wait... first witching?! Just how many have you had?”

>>566599
>”You’ll have to pay for yourself, Beatrice.”
>”Why are you people still living here!”
We don't want to make a bad first impression on these people, any more converts to witchery must be avoided while we stab the current ones.

>>567055
We're travelling with Beatrice for the foreseeable future, these people are just temporary

>>566599
>>”This is an ill way to show gratitude towards your would-be witch-slayer.”
>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”
>”First witching? Just how many have you had?”

>>566599
>”This is an ill way to show gratitude towards your would-be witch-slayer.”
>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”
>”First witching? Just how many have you had?”
>"why are you people still living here?!"

>>567244
They may be greedy and desperate but they are still human that puts them above Beatrice until their Sins outweigh Beatrice's usefulness

>>566599
>”Point me at the witch. I long to leave this town already.”
>”Why are you people still living here!”

>>566599
>>”First witching? Just how many have you had?”
>”Why are you people still living here!”
not like a lampless town sounds like a great place to sleep in anyway

>>566599
>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”
>”Why are you people still living here!”
> Give him a Purging Benediction.

>>569493
this

File: CRUSADER YEAAAAH.jpg (91 KB, 1126x710)

91 KB JPG

>"What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?"
"Why are you people still living out here?!"
This place honestly seems pretty shady, pun intended. I dunno if I trust it, although I doubt we'd get two towns infiltrated by darkness in a row.

Also Ouro I just wanna say, holy shit, this looks like one of the best quests I've ever seen. I cannot wait for more

>>570067
Just saying, we want to remove any witch taint that might have been put into the people - willing or not.

>>570936
I'm all for a heavy handed approach. If anyone objects to this they're cultists and by fire be purged.

Going to update the thread in an hour or so, voting called.

>”First witching? Just how many have you had?”
>”What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”
>”Why are you people still living here!”

You shake your head, dismissing his proposal. You don’t much like the look of this town. No proper mayor, no proper greeting for one of your status and now actually attempting to charge you for a basic service? You understand that witch predation can make one dour but this is surely stretching the bounds of good taste.
“What use is coin out here? Can you eat it? Does it keep you warm at night?”

“Neither. But the people of Augustine have suffered enough. I’ll not let you deprive them for your companion’s sake without cost.”
If the elder senses your disapproval, it doesn’t worry him.
“You are one of us, Lamplighter and we will honor requests on your behalf. But the girl is an outsider.”

You’re about to speak further on the matter when Beatrice gingerly taps the side of your arm.
“It’s fine, Orion. I’ll find a place to be sick elsewhere. If they want to be clods then that’s their God-given right.”

“Then so be it. Jeremiah, if Augustine’s situation is so desperate then why are all of you still living here? Surely there are greener pastures elsewhere.”

“Leave? Where to? We have no locomotive and no means to fuel it even if we did. Are we to walk to the closest town? With our oldest and our slowest not falling behind? That’s a week on foot and across broken concrete to boot. I cannot ask such a thing of the people.”
Jeremiah turns and gazes across the horizon.
“And we would surely be bedeviled upon your way. The safety of Augustine is weak protection indeed but it is still better than being upon the open road when she comes for us yet again.”

“You speak as if she has come many times before. Just how many times has this witch attacked?”

“Too many to count and at first she was not alone. Walk with me, Lamplighter. There is an easier way to show you.”
He walks through the town square, clearly expecting you to follow him.

“You two can do that,” Beatrice pipes up from behind you. “I’m going to find a place to sit, maybe eat something.”
She approaches one of the townspeople still lingering in the street, a young man with a perpetually downturned expression.
“Do you have a place where I can sit or rest? There’ll be no sleeping involved.”

Jeremiah calls out from across the square before the man can even respond to the offer.
“Five sols!”

“What, really? Fine. I probably wasn’t going to use these for anything anyway.”
The witch digs about in her pouch for a small handful of sols.
“I think I have enough.”


1/2