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>>712231
Chapter Five: Wax


The train comes to a stop just before the track comes to ruin. One of the broken shards of concrete left lying at various angles in the wasteland has fallen upon the railway and crushed it. Is the rail truly broken? You can’t tell but neither does it matter for even if the track somehow persists beneath the tonnes of concrete there is little chance of you ever uncovering it.
The wasteland continues ahead for as far as you can see, a long flat plain shrouded in perpetual darkness. The broken concrete mark it like ancient tombs, memories of a civilization long dead before you were ever born.

And as the broken sun spills its feeble twilight across the horizon you spy distant figures upon the very edge of your vision. Statues sitting upon the horizon and though they look as dots you know them to be immense. The Sentinels wait for you and beyond even them, Dis itself and the far edge of the world. To think that you have come so far, from one side of the world to nearly its opposite and yet you would be stopped by this!

The rail continues on after the concrete landslide but that’s of no help to you whatsoever. You cannot move the train from one to the other, you doubt you’d even be able to do the same for the handcar hooked onto the very back.

Abe is standing beside you shaking his head.
“What are we going to do about this?”


>”We walk.”

>Spend time trying to figure out if you can move the concrete. This is probably a bad idea.

>Try to manhandle the pump trolley off the rails and back onto them after the blockage.

>You need some time to think.

>Other

>>712237
>”We walk.”

>>712237
>>You need some time to think.

>>712237
>>”We walk.”

>>712231
For those wondering about this somewhat ugly looking archive list, this will remain a feature until I manage to get Thread 4 back in the archive properly. And in that vein I'll archive this thread right fucking now to stop it from getting misarchived again. >>712231

>>712237
>”We walk.”
Maybe send the train back to the town if possible

>>712237
>You need some time to think.

>>712289
Might work better as a pastebin but it's no big deal in the OP.

>>712237
>You need some time to think.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

Looks like a tie! Evens for walking, odds for taking some time to think this through.

>>712231
Ouro I love you

Well O was going to vote for try to move the hand trolley but I guess we'll see what we can come up with

I just hope that golem isn't still stalking us

>>712237
Shit guys why not pull the dinky trolley round? The wheels will still turn in the concrete so it won't be too bad and even if it takes a couple of days we will still save time compared to walking.

>You need some time to think.

“For now, I think we make this our stop.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. We can stop here and eat, it’s as good a place as any. And we can take our time figuring out where to go from here.”

“What about the golem? Isn’t it still following us?”

“We don’t know that for sure.”
You think back to what you saw as the train left, the lopsided top-heavy creature atop the hill.
“Its purpose likely has nothing to do with us and we simply got in the way. But even if it was after us for some reason it would have to trek for at least a day to catch up to us now.”
You don’t think the golem is following you regardless. Not after what you read of Zeno’s journal. This golem was likely here for him.

“I’ll cook something up,” Abraham says. “You two have been living on raw rations for too long.”

“Utility over style,” you remark, prompting Abe to evidently give up on you as a lost cause.

“Well Beatrice should appreciate it at least.”

“I believe she’s still asleep.”
The witch has also told you of her degenerate sense of taste but you don’t quite have the heart to inform Abe of that just yet.

You help him light a fire, the former barkeep keeping it small and wholly within the circle of lantern light even though he must stray from the train to cook. Hopefully it doesn’t attract anything.

Wick: 6/10

You step back into the train and check on Beatrice. You were right, she’s still asleep.


>Go back out and talk to Abe as he cooks.

>Wake the witch.

>Investigate the rubble.

>Recharge your Wick.

>Take the time to study the rest of the journal.

>Other

>>712474
>>Investigate the rubble.

>>712474
>Investigate the rubble.
>Recharge your Wick.

>>712474
>Recharge your Wick.
Followed by:
>Investigate the rubble.

>>712474
>>Take the time to study the rest of the journal.

>>712474
>Recharge your Wick.

>Recharge your Wick.
don't know if we'll get a chance to do it later on.

>Recharge your Wick.

You find your way back to the engine room and sit down, locking the doors as you do so. You can’t afford to let anyone interrupt you as you do this. You might investigate the rubble later, try to think your actions over but for now you think this is your best choice.
The way ahead is dark after all and you might not get another chance for a long time.

Wick: 6/10

You focus upon the wick before you and drown out all other thoughts. Relighting your Flame Internal should not be difficult, you still have so many embers left within you.

>Roll a d6. The highest of the first 3 will be chosen.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>712590
Praise the sun !

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>712590

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>712590

>>712590
>you still have so many embers left within you

The hell? Are we hollow or something?

>>712620
I think he just means we can still feel the wheel gods fire for now.

>5

Wick: 10/10

Your meditation runs uncommonly short this time, the fire within you coaxed high without much effort. Stoking it when it was already so charged is rarely worth the time but you’d prefer to be prepared this time around. You get to your feet and swing the door open to join Abe outside.
He’s sitting over the small fire with a pot and you must admit, for all your praise for utility, it smells bloody good. It’s been a long while since you’ve eaten properly cooked anything.
“You see anything?”

“Of course not. I would have called out otherwise. The sun’s going down but that’s about it.”

“Right.”
You stare at the wasteland ahead, at the large broken shard of concrete lying across the railway. This must have been covered once probably back in the Second Age itself. That had been a golden time for the dominion of man, where all the earth of all the world was covered in concrete and sealed below. They had placed the stars in the sky and built marvels of steel and glass. But what’s left now? Just rubble and ruin and a dead sun.
The Fourth Age, the promised time of man and of the final victory over the earth, was supposed to have come to pass years ago. Decades ago. But evil stole that paradise before it could ever be and now there is no Age. Just a long slow slide towards the end.

“Is something wrong, Orion?”

You shake your head and clear your thoughts. That was uncommonly morose, even for you. You have to believe that you can change the world or at the very least, put it back on its tracks.
“Nothing.”

“Hmph. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about actually.”

“Can it wait?”

“Probably? Why?”

“Good. I’ll be back shortly.”

You walk out in front of the train and follow the tracks down to their inevitable stopping point. Yes, there’s no way you could possibly shift all this. Standing in front of it makes it appear as a wall of concrete, a shard that had broken off centuries ago and had sat embedded in the earth for just as long before it fell. And it must have fallen recently too, Zeno’s journal has no record of this or of any other blockage upon the express rail.
Parts of it have broken further, disintegrated into concrete chunks the size of your head but there’s probably little use in clearing them. You can’t move this. But what about the other side?


>Walk around the long way to inspect the other side of the rails past the block.

>Try to climb the concrete.

>Investigation over, go see what Abe wants to talk about.

>Inspect for any recent wrongdoing.

>Other

>>712620
It was actually just a reference to the fact that your Wick was already 6/10 before recharging so getting it back to full wouldn't be hard.

>>712729
>Inspect for any recent wrongdoing.

>>712729
>Try to climb the concrete.

>>712729
>Try to climb the concrete.
Maybe we'll see those sentinels

>>712729
>>Inspect for any recent wrongdoing.

>>712729
>>Other
i half remember you saying something about tracks tending to stick around for a long time this far away from sanctuary when we were poking around the fallen star and so knowing that could we maybe see if there are golemsized footprints around? basically i just want to try and determine whether or not the golemancer made this roadblock or not since our current theory is that she was after the other witch and not us.

>>712729
>>Walk around the long way to inspect the other side of the rails past the block.
>>Inspect for any recent wrongdoing.

>Inspect for any recent wrongdoing.

You get down on your knees and lean off the side of the track, brushing your hand against the dirt before bringing it back up to your face as you flip your visor open.
No witch-chill. If a witch has been anywhere near here it was a long time ago.

You look further and you find nothing else of worth. There are no tracks left in the ground to suggest anything and there are no signs that the shard was broken by an outside force. To be quite honest you’re not even sure where you’d start looking for that. Could it be that it just fell over time? It could have happened years ago and judging by how deeply some of the smaller concrete boulders have sunk into the earth, probably did.

So why doesn’t this feel right?

Taking up what you judge to the be the richest soil nearby you begin to construct a Black Compass. If the perpetrator is lingering or there is some ancient curse left behind this should point it out quite easily. But as you throw the grains of dirt into the air all they do is point back to the train itself. To Beatrice. Once again she is throwing off your divination.

You repeat the rite as best you can and this time try to search for the second-most direction that the dirt scatters in. It’s useless. This dirt has no trace of witch-chill within it, it’s all you can do to barely see the direction primary direction.

You start to walk around the immense spur, treading around where it covers the rail and past it to see the other side. Perhaps there’s something over here? Tracks or witch-chill or...or a house.
That could work.

The other side of the fallen spur is flat, no doubt once the surface back when it just part of the concrete plains. Unlike the other side it is unbroken, a steep slope that rises up into the sky at a near-45 degree angle.
And high in the air, anchored to the tilted slope of the shard, is a tiny little cottage with white walls, red tiles atop the roof and shuttered windows. You can spot a faint curl of smoke spiralling up from its chimney in the darkness. The entire building is on a tilt, having apparently been built atop the concrete shard before it fell over but is otherwise in a single piece. Sitting on the far side of the shard like this, it had been completely hidden from view from the train. And vice versa, whoever living within it must not have seen the train or its light.

It looks extremely homely. Too homely.


>Call out, see if you can rouse the occupant.

>Start climbing up the broken concrete slope to get a closer look without being seen.

>Go back to the train and tell the others of this immediately.

>Make a light from below and see if you can signal the occupant.

>Other

>>713017
>>Start climbing up the broken concrete slope to get a closer look without being seen.

>>713017
>Go back to the train and tell the others of this immediately.

>>713017
>Start climbing up the broken concrete slope to get a closer look without being seen.

>>713017
>Start climbing up the broken concrete slope to get a closer look without being seen.
Time to explore

>>713017
>Call out, see if you can rouse the occupant.

>>713017
>Start climbing up the broken concrete slope to get a closer look without being seen.

>Start climbing up the broken concrete slope to get a closer look without being seen.

You probably should inform the others but that doesn’t mean you have to do so immediately. They would likely raise noise and alert the occupant of your arrival. And do you want to take the person within by surprise?
Of course. Look at that wretched house. It’s cozy and homely and it being here makes almost no sense at all. What do they eat? Are they never preyed upon in the middle of the wasteland? And so far from the rest of civilization at that?

This thing is almost certainly a trap. What foulness lurks within to take travellers unaware? Or perhaps the house is simply empty...but if so from where does the smoke come? No, better to investigate further now and leave whatever that lives within unaware then to rouse your companions and risk warning it.

You start up the slope and almost immediately begin to regret it. You’re not in danger of falling back down but it is steep and it stays steep all the way up to the cottage, perched high up on the side of the shard as it pokes from up the earth and into the air.
But you don’t allow yourself to slow or falter and by the time you approach the cottage your legs are burning. Looking closer lets you confirm that the windows are fully shuttered but just in case you’ve walked around the side just in case they can still see through them.

Now that you are close the cottage doesn’t somehow take on a more suspicious or malicious air. It’s just a little house with a single door and a slanted chimney. There’s no garden, no flowers. Nothing to eat. And yet you smell something sumptuous lingering wafting through the air all the same. It smells like roasting meat, of juices sizzling and marinating and the sweet tang of fruit beneath even that. Your stomach almost flips as you smell it and you only now become truly aware of just how hungry you are.

It must surely be a trap. But where there’s smoke there’s fire and creatures of darkness loathe such things. None of them would sit by a fire and there is no witchcraft that would let a witch light one. So what is it?


>Time to retreat and tell the others.

>Try to peek through the windows.

>Knock on the door.

>Climb onto the roof and inspect the chimney smoke.

>Other

>>713343
>>Try to peek through the windows.
>Climb onto the roof and inspect the chimney smoke.

>>713343
>Knock on the door.

>>713343
>Time to retreat and tell the others.

>>713343
>Time to retreat and tell the others

>>713343
>>Time to retreat and tell the others.

Its witchcraft Ignore and move on

>>713355
I honestly think we'd just fall through the roof
>>713364
>>713377
Our legs will be totally exhausted if we climb down and then back up, let's just check it out first

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>>713343
>Other
Jump down the chimney

>>713343
>Time to retreat and tell the others.
do everything on a full stomach

>>713406
This thing stinks of a witchcraft though I doubt any good will come of investigating it.

>>713444
Fire is literally antithetical to witchcraft. And where there's smoke, there's fire

>>713406
I'd be more comfortable having some back up. And last time we knocked on a door, we met a crazy old woman.

>>713343
> knock on the door

>Time to retreat and tell the others.

No, you decide, you want nothing to do with this nonsense. Not alone at any rate. You’d expect it to be some kind of witchcraft but the presence of possible fire puts paid to that. But if there’s anything you’ve learned over the course of this journey it’s that you can usually trust such situations to be bad before you can trust them to be good. Foolishness could get you killed out here.

You back away from the cottage as quietly as you can and attempt to make your way back down the slope. But just as you do so, the concrete under your left foot breaks and skitters off, threatening to send you sliding down the side!

>Roll 1d6. The first three will be used.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>713534

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>713534

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>713534
overly cautious options are annoying

>>713460
we've seen smoke not fire, and I cant be sure if the addage of Fire being where smoke is can apply to witchcraft

>>713551
>cottage in the middle of nowhere
>looks super comfy
>no source of food seen
>no source of Water seen
>no wholesome plant life nearby
>no obvious way of protecting oneself from errant Ghouls or witches

>>713551
Hey, if I had been here I would have voted for starting a fire.

>5, 2, 5

You lean down and run your hands against the concrete as you slip, scrabbling wildly for a moment before finding purchase and halting your fall before it can even truly begin. It wouldn’t have been a fall exactly but rolling that far down along the concrete slope was unlikely to be pleasant. You even manage to do it quietly and without rousing the occupant of the cottage itself.

You make your way down back to the cursed earth without incident, staring up at the cottage above as you do so. That’s another thing that doesn’t make sense. If it really is a trap than why all the way up there? Wouldn’t they prefer to be closer to the earth?

You walk back around the side of the fallen spur and walk down the rail. Beatrice has finally awoken and is sitting next to Abe as the two of them eat. You can hear them talking.

“So what do you think? Is it good?”

“Mmm.”
Beatrice is starting to look intensely uncomfortable.
“It tastes good. So good. I can’t believe all this taste I’m having right now.”

“It’s a shame Orion is still looking at all the concrete. Do you think something happened to him?”

“Nah or there’d be a light or shit.”

“But what if he was attacked and taken out before he could fight back? By bandits or something?”

“Bandits? Out here? Who the fuck are they planning to steal from?”

“Wrong choice of words. There was something I wanted to talk to him about.”

“About what? Where he gets his lamp from? His deal?”

“Actually yes.”

“Don’t bother,” Beatrice says dismissively. “He won’t say.”

“Have you ever even tried to ask?”

“I don’t need to. I can already tell that he’ll just say some platitude that sounds wise but is actually stupid and then maybe threaten me a little or some shit. He’s a sod.”

“Then what about you? I still don’t know your story yet either.”

“Hey hey, keep it in your fucking pants God.”

“What? Fuck off Beatrice, now you’re just doing what Orion does but with more profanity.”

“Well what’s your big mysterious backstory then, huh? Maybe if you show me yours I’ll-”

“I don’t have one! Most people don’t! Only you and Orion feel the need to be pointlessly obtuse whenever people try to ask you about it.”

“Ask about what?”
You step into the firelight, your staff dragging along the rail behind you.
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter right now. There’s something you need to see.”

“Oh hey Orion, we were just talking about you! Here try this, it tastes...good?”

You ignore her offer and instead sit down beside them.
“There’s a house on the other side of the blockage. A cottage in fact.”

Abe is the first to speak.
“You mean an abandoned one?”

“No. It appears to be occupied. Come have a look.”

1/2

>>713900
You lead the two of them back down the rail and around the side of the fallen shard so that you can show them the little cottage perched atop the tilted slope. Abraham at least makes an effort to move quietly but Beatrice accidentally kicks her boot against the rail as she walks several times.
“Well? What do you think of that?”

Beatrice snorts.
“That is a fucking trap. Let’s just ignore it or set it on fire.”

“Odd place for a trap,” Abe says. “Nobody goes out here. Maybe we can look through the windows or try to call them out so they have to come to us?”

“But even an odder place for a house then. Trust me Orion, nothing good will come of this.”


>Ignore it for now. You need to figure out how you’ll be travelling the next leg of your route.

>Follow Beatrice’s other suggestion and set it on fire.

>Do as Abraham suggests and call out.

>Go back up to the house and knock on the door.

>Other

>>713911
>Do as Abraham suggests and call out.

>>713911
>walk into the trap
It's not a trap if we know it's a trap

>>713911
>Go back up to the house and knock on the door.

>>713911
>>Go back up to the house and knock on the door.

>>713911
>Eat something first so we are not hungry. Compliment the cook.
THEN

>Go back up to the house and knock on the door.

>>713911

This >>713949

>>713911
>>Ignore it for now. You need to figure out how you’ll be travelling the next leg of your route.

It's a goddamn trap

>>713911
>Follow Beatrice’s other suggestion and set it on fire.

I said I'd vote for it.

>>713911
This >>713949
There is something seriously wrong with our protagonist. He keeps delaying really short tasks until they become issues. And he was just talking about how good the food would be.

>>713911
>Go back up to the house and knock on the door.

>>713949
seconded

>>713911
>Fuckin' eat.

>>714110
This. Did we even eat yet? How can we fight on an empty stomach?

>>713911
>Go back up to the house and knock on the door.

>Go back up to the house and knock on the door.

You sit and ponder the situation for a situation until you are interrupted by an ever increasing and gnawing ache in your stomach. Right. In all your haste you forgot to even eat! Even after you’d spoken to Abe about it just before and after smelling the cooking coming from within the cottage.
“I think we should go back to the train and finish eating first. I haven’t eaten since Enoch.”

Beatrice grumbles a little but doesn’t complain as you walk back around and let Abe pour you a bowl of stew. It’s brown and you can see various chunks of chopped and diced rations floating within it.

“Oh, be careful Orion. It’s still hot…”

His voice trails off as you take your helmet off and start eating with gusto. If it’s hot you don’t even notice. You cannot be burned and all but the hottest of flames are nothing compared to the fire that you cultivate within.

“That was a bit of a stupid question to ask, yes,” Beatrice tells him as she refills her bowl.

“So how is it?”

You give him an approving nod.
“That’ll do. It’s good, thank you.”
And it is, it really is. And yet all you can think of is that this is but a shade compared to what you smelled from the cottage before.

“Uh, it’s great. I’m totally tasting it!”
Beatrice continues her completely insincere praise and yet you have to wonder why she’s even making this small effort to cover up for her ruined sense of taste. You’d think her the kind to bluntly lay her cards on the table rather than try to cover for anyone’s sense of pride.

Really, between you and Beatrice, Abe deserved a much better audience. You think you even spot Beatrice sprinkling gunpowder into her bowl when Abraham isn’t looking.

It isn’t long before the three are standing before the splintered concrete slope once again. Both of your staff and wick are ready, Abe is holding his cudgel in one hand and you can see Beatrice’s hands inching ever closer to her coat pocket.

“Let’s just walk up there and knock on the door. Take whatever comes head on.”

”What?”
If you hadn’t given yourselves away before Beatrice’s loud exclamation surely does it for you.
“Didn’t you listen to me before? Come on Orion, this is obviously a trap. I don’t know what of or why but there’s clearly something wrong here.”

“I agree. That’s why I’m going to see what it is.”

You and Abe start up the slope and Beatrice eventually follows though she does so with a groan that never quite stops. The gap between the two of you and her only widens as you all struggle back up the shard once again.

“I can’t believe it. Forget the fucking trap, I’m going to die before I even reach the fucking t-oh shit that really does smell good.”
The witch begins to twitch.
“Why does that smell good? How?”

1/2

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>>714361
You ignore her and knock on the door, Abe standing off to the side with his cudgel raised to wallop anything that rushes through.

Of course, of all the response you were expecting, a muffled voice shouting ‘Bugger off!’ wasn’t any of them.

You go to knock again but before your gauntlets can touch the door it’s yanked open to reveal an old woman, tall and unbent and with bone-white hair pulled into a long braid.
“What do you want?”

Abraham backs away, looking more than a little confused. That leaves you to do the talking.
“We are travellers and w-”

“Don’t really want ‘em.”
She stares you down and you have to stop yourself from simply pushing this inexplicable old lady aside and investigating the cottage personally.
“But maybe you can help me with something. Come inside. Have something to eat if you want.”


>Accept her invitation.

>”Who are you?”

>Go inside but leave someone outside to keep watch and investigate.

>”What problem?”

>”What are you doing living out here?”

>Push her aside.

>Set a small flame upon her hand.

>Other

>>714370
>Accept her invitation.

>>714370
>Accept her invitation.

>>714370
>Go inside but leave someone outside to keep watch and investigate.
>”What problem?”
>”What are you doing living out here?”

>>714370
>Accept her invitation.
>Avoid eating anything here.

>>714370
> Accept invitation
> give her a benediction
Don't fucking eat anything.

>>714370
>”Who are you?”

>Go inside but leave someone outside to keep watch and investigate.

>”What problem?”

>”What are you doing living out here?”

>>714370
>Go inside but leave someone outside to keep watch and investigate.
>”What problem?”
>”What are you doing living out here?”

Don't eat anything

>>714370

>Accept her invitation.
>”What problem?”
>Other
Purging Benediction

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>Accept her invitation.
>”What problem?”
>”What are you doing living out here?”

“Thank you kindly.”
You step past the threshold and into the cottage which is much bigger within than it seemed. White plaster walls and wooden floors and in the corner, a roaring fireplace. Does that settle it then? Surely no creature of darkness could stoke such a mighty flame. A large table is set out within with multiple chairs and atop it you see a magnificent roast chicken sitting on a bed of roast potatoes with their skins cracked and sizzling.

Abe walks in behind you but Beatrice dawdles at the threshold.
“Are we really fucking doing this? Yeah sure why not? Let’s just knock on the house and talk to the mysterious old lady and that worked out so well for us last time.”

“Hush,” the woman says. “My name is Belle. And you lot are?”

“...Beatrice.”

“Abraham.”

“Orion.”
You flick your coat up so that the wheel symbol emblazoned upon it is obvious.
“Lamplighter.”

“Oh,” she sniff. “Can’t say I ever had much use for you vagrants. Go on, sit yourself down. Better in than out.”

You’re not so sure about that but Abe sits down at the table anyway. Beatrice eventually crosses the threshold. She’s still muttering.
“Holy shit this is cozy, at least it’ll be a good place to fucking die.”

You tap the old woman on the shoulder, your hand lighting with a Benediction of Succour as you do so. She doesn’t flinch away or act as if she in pain.
“Blessings upon you for letting us into your home.”

Wick: 9/10

“Yeah sure, what’s mine is yours,” she says as she mangles the traditional statement of hospitality. “Sit down and eat if you want.”

Abe stares at the chicken, no doubt trying to understand where such a bird even came from in these parts.
“This is an awful lot of food for just one old lady.”

“I could say the same about your gut, young man. Shut up and sit down or leave.”

Would a trap not be more enticing? This old lady is annoying at best and the way she shrugged off your status as a Lamplighter is making you more irritated than you’d care to show.
“What are you doing living out here by yourself?”

“Minding my own business, that’s what I was doing. Maybe you should do the same. You don’t hear me casting suspicion over your big and surly self or that pasty-faced slattern of yours.”

Beatrice rises from where she had been about to sit, her gloved hands slamming on the tabletop.
“Excuse me? Watch your tongue you old cu-”

“Or what? You look like you’ve been boxed about the face a dozen times. Whose women are you? Or do they share ya?”

Beatrice goes for her pistol immediately but you grab her arm before she can pull it out of her pocket.
“Calm yourself. We are in her home.”

1/2

>>714657
She starts to sweat just a little as you let go of her and immediately quiets down. As for you, you’re not sure what to make of all this. Is this some elaborate trap? And if so, for what purpose? To just be rude to you? It doesn’t make any sense.
But while you do not suffer insults from witches gladly you have many miles of patience to spare for the children of light. You’ll remain courteous for now until you figure out what’s going on here.

“You said you had a problem. May I ask what?”

“A bunch of filthy travelling types much like yourselves. They’ve been trying to make visits upon me, steal what’s mine. I’d give them food if they’d just asked! I’d like it if you could go and give them a talk, it’s why I’ve let you tread your filthy boots all over my nice clean floor.”

You’re starting to sympathize a little with Beatrice’s attitude now. Just a little.

“But before you do, don’t let this food go to waste.”
She sits down.
“Might as well eat. You look hungry.”


>Apologize and tell her you just ate.

>Make sure nobody eats ANYTHING.

>Eat just a little, enough to taste.

>Threaten her until she tells you what’s going on.

>Ask more about these ‘travellers’.

>Other

>>714664
>>Apologize and tell her you just ate.

>Make sure nobody eats ANYTHING.
>Ask more about these ‘travellers’.

>>714664
>Apologize and tell her you just ate.
>Make sure nobody eats ANYTHING.
>Ask more about these ‘travellers’.

>>714664
>Apologize and tell her you just ate.
should have just burnt down her house like the other anon wanted desu

>>714664
>Apologize and tell her you just ate.
>Make sure nobody eats ANYTHING.
>Ask more about these ‘travellers’.

>>714664
> Apologize and say we just ate
Maybe Abe can be our taster hehehe
> Ask more about the filthy vagrants
> Ask about what happened to the concrete here.

>>714664
>Apologize and tell her you just ate.

>Make sure nobody eats ANYTHING.

> Mention that not all hungers are of the body, and bless her food for her.

>>714664
Eat just a little

>Apologize and tell her you just ate.
>Make sure nobody eats ANYTHING.
>Ask more about these ‘travellers’.

You sit down and take off your helmet out of courtesy but you don’t touch your food. And as you watch, Abraham and Beatrice keep their hands away from it as well.
“My apologies ma’am but we just ate before arriving.”

“Hrm. I doubt it was as good as mine. I’m offering you my hospitality.”

“Such that it is,” you cannot stop yourself from muttering. You immediately feel somewhat disgraced for doing so however. That was something you’d expect out of Beatrice, not you.

“I’m sorry but I too am completely full. It looks wonderful though.”
Abraham attempts a pacifying gesture but you can see that his face is beginning to set into a frown. He hasn’t shown much of it on your travels so far but he has quite the temper once it’s actually roused, you know that much from your first meeting with him. Hopefully he can stay level-headed.

“Yeah same,” Beatrice says. “Although...fuck it, if everyone’s just going to ignore my warnings than why shouldn’t I do the same! Screw all of you!”
She reaches for a potato only for you to catch her hand in yours inches before she can touch it. She snaps her hand back and cowers just a little, pushing her chair back so that it screeches against the floor.

“She’s full. Now, tell me more about these travellers that have been causing you issue.”

“Just a bunch of layabouts, think I owe them money or food. Always bothering me. Don’t even know what they’re doing out here! They live up along the rail a little further. If you could handle those boys for me I’d be much obliged since you’re heading in that direction anyway.”

“And what have they been doing to you exactly?”

“Nothing, not yet. But they’ve been making a lot of threats and I don’t appreciate it.”

“I see.”

Belle starts to eat alone, shoving potato and chicken into her mouth with an astonishing lack of manners. She eats like some kind of wild beast, breaking them up in her hands and letting juice run down her chin.
“Well if you won’t eat,” she says dismissively, “then you’d best liven the place up in some way. You’re all very maudlin, aren’t you? I won’t have you darkening my doorstep. Give me a song or something. Go on.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me! Sing me something nice. You owe me that much, I let you into my house, I give you food, the least I could ask for is you three to not be so awfully dreary.”

The three of you look at each other awkwardly and Abe is the first to volunteer himself.
“All I have are drinking songs but-”

“No! Those sound filthy. How about...how about a hymn? A nice proper church one. Haven’t heard any of those in a long while. Long while indeed.”

1/2

>>714989
Beatrice sniggers just a little.
“Well go on Orion, you heard the lady. Aren’t you going to be courteous?”

You do not sing. You practically hate having to do it and you were never good. This, this of all things, might just be a step too far.


>”No. Absolutely not.”

>Volunteer Beatrice instead since she’s been so eager to be a problem.

>”I cannot sing.”

>”Enough of these stupid games!”

>Other

>>714995
>Volunteer Beatrice instead since she’s been so eager to be a problem.

>>714995
>>”I cannot sing.”
>"In fact I was told my singing voice is so bad it could make the Earth get up and walk away."

>>714995
>Other

Try to sing, or at least chant? Make Belle regret asking for BGM for her dinner.

>>714995
> no absolutely not
The fuck are the chickens from? What happened to the ground under the house? REEEEEE

>>714995
>>Other
Nut up and sing. Show Beatrice that you do what is required, even when it's unpleasant. And that humility comes to us all.

Besides, if we really are so bad, then it can also be a lesson about demanding things at all costs.

>>714995
>>715116
Actually, changed my mind. No singing. Tell the old woman that us resolving the issue with these "Ruffians" should be more than enough payment for her hospitality.

Fucking Fae.

>>714995
>>”I cannot sing.”
>"In fact I was told my singing voice is so bad it could make the Earth get up and walk away."
>"But if you insist...."

>>715027
Probably some sort of not!Fae equivalent that got driven into hiding or survived in the corpses of the Dead God once the Tyranny of the Wheel God "purified" the world.

Pretty sure he was Space Hitler.

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>”No.”

You’re still just staring at the roast chicken. Where did it even come from? Why does she live on a broken shard of concrete? If her house was here before than what happened to every other house here? If this really is some kind of trap why isn’t anything happening? This entire scenario feels almost like a dream. You’ve got half a mind to just try and threaten the truth out of her but you’ve chosen not to do that just yet.
Instead you settle for just shaking your head.
“No thank you. I cannot sing.”

Beatrice smiles, leaning a little over the table now that she is sure you cannot reach her.
“What’s wrong Orion? I thought we were going to be so polite to this old windbag and her fucked up house that makes no sense and her shitty food and her dumb trap. Shouldn’t you do as she says and sing?”

Belle slams her hand down on the table, grabbing Beatrice’s outstretched arm and pinning it down before releasing it just a moment later.
“That’s enough. If he won’t do it then you’ll have to. Though you really don’t look the kind to know hymns.”

Beatrice’s brow furrows as she stares at the woman, her mouth opening and closing several times but with no sound coming out. And then she just sighs.
“It’s not going to sound the same without a piano or a choir you shitty old bint.”

And then she launches into song, a slow and quiet tone betrayed by her grating and gravelly voice.

”When peace like a river, attends upon my way,
When sorrows like mud billows roll;
Whatever my lot, you have taught me to know
It is well, it is well, within my soul.”

You recognize the hymn, it’s a basic one that they teach to young choirs and religious students. Beatrice looks just as surprised as you are, her eyes growing wider as she muddles through the first refrain. Her ugly voice catches several times, each wore more of a rasp than a song.

”Though the dark should linger, though trials should come,
Let this blessed assurance control,
That the sun has seen my helpless estate,
And will shed his light for my soul.”

There are several more verses after this one and she continues for a time, stumbling over verse after verse and her face gets redder with each one. And then she finishes and mostly just looks confused.

“Didn’t think you had it in ya,” Belle said, not thanking her at all.

“I...I know lots of hymns,” Beatrice says weakly.

You’re not fucking sure what to make of this at all. But before you or Abe can say anything, you hear a crash and a thunderclap from somewhere down below at the base of the shard. Belle nearly falls from her seat with a shriek.
“Oh! They’re back! Quickly go and set them straight for me and I’ll give you anything you need.”


1/2

>>715209
>Do as she says, you guess. They might know something about what’s going on here.

>”Did you mean to do that, Beatrice?”

>Threaten Belle. You’re not going anywhere until you receive an explanation.

>Set the house on fire.

>Other

>>715212
>Do as she says, you guess. They might know something about what’s going on here.
Maybe she can even make the huge piece of concrete disappear or some shit. Who knows?

>>715212
>>Do as she says, you guess. They might know something about what’s going on here.
>It was a good song Beatrice. You sang it far better than I could.

>>715212
>>Do as she says, you guess. They might know something about what’s going on here.
>>”Did you mean to do that, Beatrice?”
She can...compel people? Not just with scents, but directly? Is the whole hospitability schtick a feint or a requirement for some ritual?

>>715212
>Do as she says, you guess. They might know something about what’s going on here.
>”Did you mean to do that, Beatrice?”
What did she get compelled into it or something.

>>715209

>Set the house on fire.

>>715257
>>715212
We can kindle a blaze but hold it so it doesn't go off right away, right?

>>715252
Beatrice agreed and was bound. We should be VERY precise with what we say.

Fucking Fae.

>>715209
>Do as she says, you guess. They might know something about what’s going on here.
>Thank Beatrice for the song.

i hope that "thunderclap" was the golem somehow and we get to see baba yaga vs terminator

Sorry for the delay on this one, I've been eating

>>715340
sure, "eating". Totally not funposting or anything.

>>715358
A man can do both

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>Do as she says, you guess. They might know something about what’s going on here.
>Talk to Beatrice

You stand up, not really sure of anything that’s going on. You rack your brain for any kind of creature that matches all this but you find nothing. This doesn’t feel like any kind of beast of darkness to you. But something is clearly wrong here and the longer you stay the worse it starts to feel. So yes, you’ll deal with those ‘travellers’ that she wants gone. Maybe that’ll give you the time you need to clear your head.
“Thank you for the meal ma’am. We’ll be on our way to deal with those brigands now.”

You grab both Beatrice and Abe before they can say anything and gently push them out the door and back onto the slope.
“Now the two of you, we’re going to help her with her problem for now.”

Abe just nods, looking a little lost by everything and mostly just glad to be out of the cottage. But Beatrice is anything but quiet.
“Are you kidding me? So let’s recap here. We found this weird little cottage that can’t possibly exist and instead of doing what I suggested, the sensible thing and just left well enough alone we had to go and fucking knock! And sit down and have dinner even though all of that is a whole other different kind of impossible? And let’s sing as well, why the fuck not? Now let’s help her with her dumb shitty job. Am I asleep right now? Is this a dream?”

“Be quiet. Thank you for singing Beatrice, it was a good song and you did it better than I could. But...did you mean to do that?”

The witch looks deeply uncertain, hugging her arms around her chest.
“I...I guess I did? Because I did it. I don’t understand any of this. I don’t know who or what she is or what she’s doing.”

What about you Abe?”

“Beats me, I’m not sure how you’d expect me to know. But it was a good song.”

“Oh hush,” Beatrice says but she smiles all the same. “My voice these days is a fucking hacksaw and I know it.”

“Then we’re all in the same boat,” you say. “But these enemies of her might know more.”

Abe starts down the steep slope, peering out into the darkness below.
“Where are they? I don’t see them anywhere.”

The three of you reach the bottom and off in the middle distance, a hundred or more feet away, you see dark humanoid figures running along the rails.

>Give chase!

>Maybe if you wait long enough they’ll come back?

>Go back up to the old lady and give her a piece of your mind.

>Set fire to the house.

>Other

>>715372
fuck it we grannybane now

>Set fire to the house.

>>715372
>Check on the train, maybe they stole your food

>>715372
> Give chase

Glad someone else is finally seeing sense. But now I'm thinking it might be best to get someone else to set fire to the house.

>>715407
>Other

Follow at a distance not so much to lose them but enough to trail them

What the litreal fuck is going on here?

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I'm actually feeling weirdly sleepy right now since I don't have work tonight so I might end the session here which is sort of a shame because I wanted to resolve this whole weird plot in just a day so people weren't kept waiting.
I'll be back tomorrow, same time and same place.

>>715372
>Give chase!
Don't worry B, we are not being controlled by her. We are just doing this shit for fun.

>>715441
It's lethargy go do some exercise come back and finish this

>>715471
I'll keep this vote open for now and make another update later tonight after everything's done. And that'll stay open until the regular start of tomorrow's session.

How would she have known which way we were going?

>>715372

This >>715407
And this >>715426

>>715372
>>715407
>>715426
This

>>715372
Give chase. Have Abe guard train.

Alright, the night update is coming in shortly. The next session will be in a few hours after I wake up, probably in about a bit more than 7 or so. Usual time and whatnot.
Oh and as a note to any readers coming to us from the sup/tg/ archives! You might have skipped Thread 4 which is currently absent from the archives at the time of writing due to a misarchival. Just use the complete link list in the OP.

>Check on the train, maybe they stole your food
>Follow

“Alright!”
Abraham starts to run after the retreating figures but you stop him, catching his shoulder and spinning him back around.
“What’s wrong, Orion? Are we not going to track them down?”

“I’m curious about the direction they’ve been running. Or what they’re running from. Whatever these things or people are they’ve been out here without any civilization or tamed earth whatsoever for some time. We need to check on our supplies back in the train.”

Beatrice throws her hands up into the air as the three of you march back around the fallen spur and towards the train.
“Are we just doing her bidding now? Where did she even get a chicken?”

“I don’t know. Nothing here adds up. But I acknowledge that it was my fault that we wound up in this mess and I’m going to guide us out of it.”

“Well that’s something at least.”

The train doors are still locked and the windows boarded up. But the far window of the third carriage has been blown open, the detritus piled up to board and block it up scattered and burned.
“God damn it,” Abraham swears. “They’ve got our rations!”

Beatrice and Abe race through the train, desperately searching for further food but finding little. But you stay where you are beside the broken window, inspecting the charring on the edges of the sill, the burn-marks decorating the wooden boards that had been blown aside.
“Worse yet, they used fire.”

“So they’re human?,” Abe asks.

“Probably,” Beatrice says as she returns. “And they’ve got at least one person with a Flame Rite. What do you think this was, an Immolate?”

You shake your head.
“Immolate lacks physical force behind it. This was something else.”

“Fuck,” Beatrice mutters. “So are we looking at an Augustine situation here? These ‘travellers’ are good people and the one trying to sic us on them is the real monster?”

“Perhaps. But that doesn’t seem to fit Belle. If this is indeed a trap of hers it is slow and unwieldy.”

Beatrice pats her face with her hand, just hard and sharp enough to make her wince.
“I don’t think we’ve slept with our heads in the earth, have we? I don’t think this is a witch-sent dream or anything.”

And as the two of you are talking, Abe has taken his cudgel back up and is acting as if he’s about to leave.
“Are you two done yet? I know it’s not my place to offer up advice but we can talk about this later.”
His face is trapped in a deep-set scowl.
“Right now all that matters is that we’re trapped in the wasteland without food. It’s us or them.”

You all file back out of the train and walk back the way you came yet again. You’ve looped around this accursed concrete shard enough times in quick succession to have grown thoroughly sick of the process.
1/2

>>716141
“Just follow the rail,” you whisper. “If they are human and those with strong Wicks at that, they’ll be keeping to the rail and avoiding the earth.”

“What was the explosion sound from?,” Beatrice wonders as you all creep along the rails. She is doing a much better job at keeping quiet this time.
“Them breaking into the train?”

“No,” Abe said. “Sounded too close.”

“Well fuck me,” Beatrice mutters. “I’m glad nothing makes sense.”

The three of you creep along the rail for several hundred yards in the darkness, lanterns hooded and wicks unlit. And that’s how you see the faint light up ahead, just past a rocky outcrop over to the side. Someone’s got a fire burning and they’ve been trying to use the outcrop to hide it. But you can still spot the reflected light creeping along the steel rails and you can hear them talking amongst themselves.
Three, four, no, five people. Mostly men.


>Have one person sneak up close to try and eavesdrop while the other two stay behind.

>Have all three of you try to eavesdrop. This is harder to keep stealthy but safer should it fail.

>Fan out to try and surround the outcrop from three directions.

>Have Beatrice give them a warning shot.

>Just walk up to them and ask to talk.

>Attack!

>Can you take the supplies back without them knowing?

>Other

>>716142
>>Just walk up to them and ask to talk.
There are more than one kind of tracks, like the ones Orions decision making is going on.

>>716142
>Just walk up to them and ask to talk.

>>716142
>Other

We light our lantern and approach the fire while Abe and Beatrice stay off to the sides.

>>716142
>Have one person sneak up close to try and eavesdrop while the other two stay behind.

The person in question being us. Have the rest stay in the dark to provide support if necessary.

>>716142
Supporting >>716204

>>716142
Just walk up and talk.

>>716142
>Just walk up to them and ask to talk

> While Beatrix stays back to provide covering fire if needed and Abe circles around behind them.

>>716142
I gotta go again, but we can also manipulate their fire yes?

We should probably let them take the train back to town as well, we ain't using it anymore.

>>716142
>Just walk up to them and ask to talk.
They probably thought they were raiding Zeno.

....Unless it looks like they definitely saw Zeno's Journal?

Session begins again in an hour

>>716204
This, also get Beatrice and abe to ready themselves for a fight

>Just walk up to them and ask to talk.

“Five?”
Beatrice screws up her face.
“We can take that many but it might be dangerous.”

“Maybe we can just talk to them?,” Abe says. “I’m up for a fight if we have to but if we just confront them I’m sure we can figure out a way for both of us to have food.”

You nod.
“Agreed and we might be able to talk to them about the old lady. Just stay behind me and don’t put your weapons away.”
You step off the tracks and start to walk towards the outcrop and Abe follows you almost immediately, leaving Beatrice standing on the rails by herself.

“Why is nobody listening to me today?”

You pad softly across the wasteland with wick in one hand and staff in the other, the wrapped and bound lamp-post across your back like always. Beatrice is quick to catch up regardless of her complaints. And because of the firelight you get a good look at the ‘bandits’ before they even so much as see you.

There are five of them, four men and one woman. The men are dressed in hard-worked farming attire done, patched and stitched back together after time and years of strain. A few of them have armour but not much, the four of them together could almost make up a full breastplate between themselves. The girl is wearing an ankle-length dress spun together from peasant cloth and over the top of it all the remains of a soft leather jacket that looks considerably more expensive than anything else here.
But as underdressed as they might be every man has at least one gun, long and slender rifles laid down beside them side by side. The young lady is the only one going without but the way she hugs a large lantern to her chest without fear of heat or flame tells you that she just might be more dangerous without.

The leader of the group appears to be one of the men, a fellow slightly smaller and more slender than his comrades. His only piece of armour is a battered old helmet but he has an entire brace of ancient pistols strung up and down his chest. He’s completely unshaven, as are all of them, but his red beard has grown in strange thanks to a long scar twisting along his chin.

“That was a good hit and run,” he’s saying to the rest of the group as you approach. “But we can’t take the train ‘til-”
He stops.
“Oh god damn it, they followed us back! Guns!”

You spring forward even as they scramble up to their feet, Beatrice and Abe lurking behind you in the dark.
“Hold!,” you bellow. “I am not here to fight. I only want to talk.”

The leader licks his lips nervously.
“We’re not giving your food back. We need that.”


>”That’s fine.”

>”So do we.”

>”What are you doing out here?”

>”What do you know about the old lady back there?”

>”We need your help.”

>”Who are you?”

>”An apology would suffice.”

>Threaten them.

>Other

>>717735
>>”Who are you?”
>”What are you doing out here?”

>”What do you know about the old lady back there?”

>>717735
>”So do we.”

>”What are you doing out here?”

>”What do you know about the old lady back there?”

>>717735
>”So do we.”
>”What are you doing out here?”
>”What do you know about the old lady back there?”

Maybe we should offer them a small portion of our rations in exchange for information

>>717735
> so do we
Everyone has fallen on hard times, that doesn't give you an excuse to prey on your fellow man.
> What are you doing out here
If you did not mean to survive by stealing why are you so far from tamed earth?
> What do you know about spooky grandma?

>>717788
They not our rations anymore

>>717735
>”An old lady near here said she would have given you good if you had but asked for it. What exactly is going on?"

> "Also, know that I am not alone, and that my companions aren't night blind from having huddled around a fire."

>>717788
Probably better to offer them the train without a fight. They can use it to get to a town where they can get food, while we press onward.

>>717735
>”Who are you?”

>”What are you doing out here?”

>”What do you know about the old lady back there?”

>”An apology would suffice.”

>>717817
Yeah that definitely makes sense. Idk about sending these shady people to that town though

Sorry about the huge delay on this one, had a phone call. Not that that's a particularly great excuse but eh.

>”So do we.”
>”What are you doing out here?”
>”What do you know about the old lady back there?”

“So do we.”
The group tenses further and you can see a few hands go reaching for rifles.
“But perhaps we can come to an agreement that benefits all of us.”

“What have you got to say? Spit it out.”

“I have some questions first.”

“Oi, we said agreement not questions, we don’t owe you anyt-”

Beatrice pulls back the hammer of her pistol and he silences himself remarkably quickly.

“You do owe us, as a matter of fact,” you say. “I understand that everyone has fallen on hard times but that is no excuse to pray on your fellow man. What are you doing out here? If you did not mean to survive by stealing why are you so far from tamed earth?”

The men are silent for a long ten seconds before the woman with the lantern slowly raises her hand. But a single glare from the leader is all it takes for her to retract it. He speaks instead.
“We’re mercenaries, travelling from town to town to do work for money.”

“And why here? There are no towns!”

“There’s Dis, ain’t there?”
The woman speaks up, the sound of her accent at odds with the splendour of her tattered (and likely stolen) jacket. One of the other men swears and the leader just sighs.

“Yeah, that. There’s no money left in the world these days even if you have an honest living. But everyone knows Dis is doing just fine, better even. So we thought we’d go there to ply our trade but....”
He shakes his head, clearly unwilling to admit his motivations in seeking out the City That Killed The Sun for monetary profit.
“This damn rail has been more trouble than it’s worth so far. We had a pump trolley and we’ve been doing our best to drag it around to the side but that crazy old bitch has been making it hard.”

“What do you know about her anyway?”

He scowls.
“Don’t even bother try to talk to her again, she’s gone soft in the head. Probably a witch too. When we first got stopped by the blockage we tried to talk to her but like hell we were going into her house. It just didn’t make sense. So...so we sent a bloke around the back to try and steal some of her food since we only had barely enough for the entire trip, not enough for the entire trip and also this damn waiting around! But it didn’t play out, she’s got eyes in the back of her head. So we just went back to try and drag our trolley around so we could keep on the Dis rail but then she pulled out a god-damned rifle! She’s been taking potshots at us every time we try and shift our trolley, making it real hard work to get anything done. We’ve still only dragged the damn thing halfway around and we’re running low on food quick."

1/2

>>717936
“Is that all?”
You’re not particularly sure how civil you want to be with these people since they were apparently planning to betray mankind.
“Why not simply storm the cottage and take what you can get? You don’t sound like strangers to that tactic.”

“Because she never sleeps! And cottage or no cottage, it’s done up like a fort.”

Abe is the next to speak up, looming out of the dark with cudgel raised.
“Hold just a moment Orion. How do these folk know how to get to Dis in the first place? For all they know this could just be a stray rail.”

You nod.
“That’s a good question. Mind answering it?”

Once again it appears that they contemplating a fight. But in the end your advantage of already having drawn your weapons wins out. Nobody wants to be the first man to make a move and thus get shot after all.
“We got it from a previous employer,” the leader slowly speaks. “Man by the name of Zeno wanted us to get in a fight with some townsfolk, said he had other business he had to attend to and that his usual help was unavailable. Whatever that means. We finished the job early but a little bird told us that he’d kicked the bucket. And since he was the last damn person with any money and the inclination to spend it in that little corner of buttfuck nowhere we decided to cut our losses and make for Dis, Last city left. There, is that all you wanted? Because gun or no gun my patience is starting to wear thin and I know you don’t want to fight us. You might take one of us, maybe two but the rest of you will die. Nobody wants this.”

So not cultists. Just children of the flame willing to get their hands dirty with witches and worse. They don’t deserve any kindness at all.


>”We’ll be taking our food back now.”

>Pull up your cloak and show them the symbol on the back.

>”Why don’t you show us where you’ve hid your trolley?”

>”You are aware that he was a witch, correct? And that Dis is even worse?”

>Attack!

>Just leave for now.

>Other

>>717940
>Attack!

>>717940
>Attack!

>>717940
>”We’ll be taking our food back now.”

>Pull up your cloak and show them the symbol on the back.

Also tell them you killed Zeno before he could drop a star on you to intimidate them, might make them consider walking away.

>>717940
>”We’ll be taking our food back now.”
>Pull up your cloak and show them the symbol on the back.

>>717940
> Show then your symbol
> You know that he was a witch right...
Maybe mention that you killed him

>>717940
>>”We’ll be taking our food back now.”
>Pull up your cloak and show them the symbol on the back.

>>717940
>>”We’ll be taking our food back now.”
>>Pull up your cloak and show them the symbol on the back.

Can we snuff out the fire as an act of intimidation?

>>717976
You can't manipulate fire you aren't touching, no.

>”We’ll be taking our food back now.”
>Pull up your cloak and show them the symbol on the back.

People such as this aren’t quite as bad as witches but they stray very close. Look at them, using guns and fire and Wick as if they were friends of mankind! They’d been given a gift and they had chosen to squander it. Worse than squander it. They don’t deserve your kindness. They deserve your judgement.

“Did you think this armour was just for show?”
You pull up your dark red hood and display your tattered cloak, most particularly the symbol of the golden wheel emblazoned upon it. The symbol of the Lamplighter.

Silence falls and is broken only by the leader cursing under his breath.

“It’s too late to regret your choices,” you say. “You’ve served witches, you plan to serve worse. You have turned gun and flame, righteous weapons all, against humans for the purposes of the dark. You deserve no mercy. But...give us back our food and I just might show clemency.”

“I guess we don’t have a choice do we? But this is a harsh mercy you propose. Just what are we supposed to do once you take it back and leave? Just keep on with what little food we have left?”

The woman swings her lantern open, the faint creak as loud as a gunshot in the silence. Everyone tenses just a little more.


>”It’s not my business what you do afterwards.”

>”We’ll be leaving this train behind. Do with it what you will and be thankful.”

>”What little food YOU have left? No, we’re taking that too.”

>”Maybe you should treat yourself to Belle’s hospitality.”

>”I might be willing to split it but only if you help us with the old woman.”

>Lunge with your staff and knock the lantern out of her hands. She’s their Flame Artist, you’re sure of it.

>”Beatrice, shoot her.”

>Other

>>718016
>>”It’s not my business what you do afterwards.”

>>718016
>Other
Put ourselves between the flame artist and Abe and Beatrice,If a fight breaks out knock her unconscious and go for the leader

They can take our/their trolley back the way we came if they want to resolve this peacefully

>>718016
>”It’s not my business what you do afterwards.”
>”We’ll be leaving this train behind. Do with it what you will and be thankful.”

>>718016
>”It’s not my business what you do afterwards.”

Also remember if the girl is a flame artist we will be in affected by her attacks unlike Abe and Beatrice, so we better be the targets/obstacle of her attacks
Especially Beatrice

>>718096
Unaffected by her attacks that is

>”It’s not my business what you do afterwards.”

You start to pace, putting yourself between the woman and your companions as best you can. If worst comes to worst you want to be the one taking the full brunt of her attack. You’re immune to fire but nobody else here is save for the lantern-girl herself.
“So what? It’s not my business what you do afterwards.”

The brigand purses his lips.
“I was afraid you’d say that. You see, I don thi-”

He scrambles backwards all of a sudden, his hand going for a pistol! The rest of the mercenaries are reaching for their rifles as well. You hear Beatrice’s pistol sound off, an explosive boom that hurts your ears but you don’t see who she shoots. The only thing you have eyes for is the flame.

The woman shakes her lantern and the flame within multiples, a flood of sparks and flame spilling out from the lantern as the bursts into life. That’s not a Flame Rite you’re capable of it but you know exactly what it is. That’s a Stoke Rite, an advanced magic that temporarily boosts the Wick of any possible flame tool.
She brings her lantern up, the metal glowing red hot as liquid flame congeals around it. But you are already there and you are ready.


>Knock the lantern from her hand with your staff.

>Just hit her on the head with your staff.

>Block whatever magic is coming next with your own fireproof body.

>Grab hold of the lantern and attempt a battle of wills

>Other

>>718146
>multiples
That really should be multiplies goddamn it.

>>718146
>Knock the lantern from her hand with your staff.

>>718146
>>Block whatever magic is coming next with your own fireproof body.
then
>Just hit her on the head with your staff.

>>718146
>>Just hit her on the head with your staff.
>>Block whatever magic is coming next with your own fireproof body.

More accurately smack her in the face and then head butted her, make sure she goes down and stays down, then go for the leader

>>718146
> Other

Snuff her flame or seize control of it.

Really wish you all had done some actual negotiating like giving the Train we have no use for away, or guiding them to Dis, or just outright attacking.

Instead of acting like a Saturday Morning cartoon villain.

>>718146

>Block whatever magic is coming next with your own fireproof body.

>Knock the lantern from her hand with your staff
or
>Just hit her on the head with your staff.
just so long as we're using our staff for dat sweet bonus.

>Block whatever magic is coming next with your own fireproof body.
>Just hit her on the head with your staff.

There is much to be said for how the Flame Rites, while still an excellent tool for destroying darkness and laying waste to evil, are completely powerless against anyone else who is similarly blessed. And just as there is no pyromancy that can breach your natural immunity, there is no defensive magic beyond various levels of simply lighting oneself on fire.
So a battle between any two Flame Artists, no matter how strong their Wick, inevitably degenerates into a mere brawl where magic plays no part.

And while this woman might somehow possess Flame Rites beyond your own, it matters not. She could be a fully fledged Collegiate Abbess and you a mere neophyte and it wouldn’t matter. All that matters is that you are a large man with decades of fighting experience and she is, regardless of her own combat experience, a mere slip of a girl who probably hasn’t had to do more than lift her lantern to ever win a fight.

The fire that erupts forth from her lantern is thickly-flowing and practically liquid in the way it acts. She flicks her wrist as you charge but gets no further as you bring the broken end of your staff down upon her head. Her head whiplashes from the force of the blow and she collapses to the ground but not before her flame is loosed!
The fire arcs over your head, intent on spraying down upon Abe and Beatrice somewhere behind you. You leap, ready to do your best to intercept it.

But your best may not be enough.

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

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>718248
Oh god not Beatrice for all her annoyances she is fun

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>718248

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>718248

>5, 3, 3

You manage to catch most of it, the drops of liquid flame splattering against your armour and setting your cloak aflame. Your staff is on fire as well but you extinguish both with a thought as you take the fire head-on.
You don’t even feel any warmer.

But your defence isn’t perfect. Her fire is remarkably solid and carries actual weight behind it, enough for a few shreds to spiral past your guard and to your allies behind you as they fight. You don’t really know how much or how dangerous it is but in the end the choice of which one to try and intercept falls to you.

You’ve had to make this kind of choice before. It never gets any easier.

>Protect Beatrice.

>Protect Abraham.

>Try to intercept all of it. This will prompt another roll, a failure of which will result in both being burned.

>Now that the majority of the flame is clinging to you, try to fling it back at the bandits still fighting. Those two can take care of themselves.

>Other

>>718337
>>Protect Beatrice.

No going boom

>>718337
>Protect Beatrice.
Frankly she's the more useful ally for our mission

>>718337
is
>Try to intercept all of it. This will prompt another roll, a failure of which will result in both being burned.
a hard dc?
if so
>Protect Beatrice. (so she doesnt fucking explode like she warned us about)

>>718337
>>Protect Beatrice.

A human sized explosion is bad but warn abraham

>>718337
>Now that the majority of the flame is clinging to you, try to fling it back at the bandits still fighting. Those two can take care of themselves.

>>718355
I feel that asking how hard the DC is would be extremely fucking gamey

>Protect Beatrice

You have to be practical. That’s really all there is on the matter, isn’t it? Beatrice is just more useful to you than Abraham is. She is more likely to remain useful. There is also a small but significant chance that some of the flame might come into contact with her blood and start off a chain reaction. These are all very practical, very sensible reasons to choose to protect her.

To choose to protect a witch over a human.

You catch the flame and let the other burst go, searing Abe along the back of his legs and then clinging to him, becoming sticky. He screams and tries to scrape it off him but that only spreads it to his hands and arms as he falls to the ground. The earth, as cursed as it is, might be his best hope to diminish the flame.

And before that, it looked as if the fight had been going quite well. Beatrice’s first shot blew a hole through the leader’s head and she’d already fired two more times before the other mercenaries could reach their rifles, a seemingly mundane action made difficult by Abe rushing into the thick of things and kicking their guns away while laying into them with his cudgel.

But with Abe on the ground the last of the brigands pulls his rifle up and manages to get a shot off just as Beatrice is shooting. Her shot goes wide and cracks splinters of stone off the rocky outcrop behind him as she spins and falls to the ground, a bullet in her shoulder.
“Fuck!”

The brigand doesn’t even try to shoot again, he just runs. Not in the direction of either rail, just further and further into the wasteland.
You are left with two injured companions, three dead men and an unconscious pyromancer lying at your feet. And the rations too for all the good they might do.

>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires. Let him run.

>Tell Beatrice to hobble over and do something about Abe, you need to pursue the last one.

>Other

>>718479
>>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires. Let him run.

>>718479
>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires. Let him run.

>>718479
>Other
Stop to extinguish Abe's fires. Tell Beatrice to pursue the man

>>718413
i dont think its gamey at all, pretty much every tg system i've played have open numbers to roll against and it seems like a good deal of quests here have em as well. ultimately its up to the qm though and i'm not willing to annoy a decent writer over his chosen dice system so lets just drop this.

>>718479
>>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires. Let him run.

Beatrice end the runner

>>718479
>>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires. Let him run.

>>718504
>>718522
The runner dies, Beatrice should do her best to shoot him.

Tend to our man Abe.

>>718479
>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires. Let him run.
Tell B to shooty him.
Well that went an unexpected direction. I thought we were going the (little bit of) charity route. At least we can be friends with scary grandma now!

>>718578
>I thought we were going the charity route.
You were, considering that you only knocked the Flame Artist out. Beatrice decided otherwise on her own accord.

>>718585
Note to self chew B out for starting shit after we help abe and kill the runner

>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires.

“Beatrice, get the last one. I have to help Abe.”

“Go suck a dick invert,” Beatrice groans as she clutches her shoulder and does nothing.

You just shake your head, not sure what you were expecting. You kneel beside Abe and run your hands along his legs and his arms, first calming the flame and then pushing it back further until it is but sparks and then nothing but smoke. But the damage has already been done. Burns linger down all four of his limbs and he reeks of cooking meat. In many places his skin is practically gone entirely, melted and burned with the layers of muscle beneath. He’ll be lucky if he ever walks again.
“At least shoot him.”

Beatrice shifts her gun to her left hand and while still not getting up, leans herself halfway upright to take the shot. It goes wide once more and the recoil nearly knocks the pistol from her limp hand.
“I don’t know what you can really expect from me here.”
She’s even paler than usual.

You pass your hand over Abe’s face, light trailing past your fingertips as you summon up a Benediction of Succour. It won’t help him heal but the blessing will banish the pain for a time. He quickly sinks into a sleep.
Wick: 9/10
You rise and search the horizon for any sign of the running man but he’s already vanished into the darkness. You’re not going to be able to catch up to him even if you could find him.

But he’s probably dead regardless. Travelling the wasteland is dangerous enough. Actually leaving the rail alone is suicide. He has no light and no food.

You grit your teeth and kneel beside Beatrice. Better to tend her first than worry about wild chases into the night. You her coat to the side and start working on her blouse, stretching out the collar so that you can reach her shoulder. Her brand stares at you as if to remind you who you had chosen to save.

“Oh Orion,” Beatrice somehow finds the strength to facetiously moan. “Please be gentle.”

You don’t dignify that with a response and Beatrice quickly grits her teeth as you dig the bullet out. Lucky for her it didn’t go too far. Blood is leaking all over your gauntlets, thick and stringy and not at all like a person should bleed.
Luckily you have a remedy for that.

“This will hurt a lot.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaiiii oh shit!”

You warned her.
Your call upon another Benediction to make your gauntlets glow red hot as you push them over her wound. The witch bucks and screams beneath you as you cauterize the wound until it’s completely sealed. This would barely sting for a human to endure but for a creature of darkness there is nothing spared. By the time you’re finished Beatrice now bears a second brand, the shape of your blackened palm-print emblazoned upon her bare shoulder.

Wick: 7/10

“Feeling better?”

“I hate you.”

“A simple thanks would suffice.”

1/2

>>718479
>Stop to extinguish Abe’s fires. Let him run.

>>718707
>Try to chase down the runner anyway.

>Wake the Flame Artist and interrogate them.

>Take Beatrice and Abe back to somewhere safe.

>”Why did you kill them?”

>Tell her that you may have just saved her life before.

>Other

>>718707
>>”Why did you kill them?”
>Tell her that you may have just saved her life before. Unless she wants to blow up in a flash of fire seldom seen since the Wheel God's death.
then
>Wake the Flame Artist and interrogate them.

>>718727
this

>>718718
>Take Beatrice and Abe back to somewhere safe.
Can we tie up the Flame Artist so they don't run away?

>>718718
>Wake the Flame Artist and interrogate them.
I don't feel bad about killing those people at all

>>718727
This and bind the flame artists hands O doubt she can do much without a flame but still

Poor Abe I hope we can do something to help

>>718707
When the flame artist wakes, show her Abe.

"You did this to my companion. Tell my why I should not do the same." Or something to that extent.

>>718718
>Take Beatrice and Abe back to somewhere safe.
Leave silly flame girl with an ration.
IIRC we hired Abe for his strong back. He is now a cripple, hence we don't need him. Leave him here too.

>”Why did you kill them?”
>Tell her that you may have just saved her life before. Unless she wants to blow up in a flash of fire seldom seen since the Wheel God's death.
>Wake the Flame Artist and interrogate them.

“Why did you shoot to kill?”
You look over the brigand’s corpses dispassionately. It’s not that you feel bad or guilty about their deaths, it was ultimately what they deserved. But it hadn’t been what you chose to do. Beatrice took the matter of life and death once again into her own hands and she did so behind your back. And what’s worse, while you know these men to have been foul and that you know Beatrice’s goals to be good, the fact remains that they were human and she was not. The lowest human is leagues above the greatest witch.
And for many of your Lamplighter brethren that would have been enough. They probably would have killed Beatrice a long time ago. But you are a Witch-finder and you know the value of a useful tool when you see it. But even so you hardly enjoy seeing Beatrice have such a cavalier attitude when it comes to killing her moral betters.

“Why wouldn’t I? Did you think I was going to do something dinky like shoot them in the leg or something?”

“You could have.”

Beatrice sighs, still curled up around her injured shoulder.
“You know how to use a gun, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then you know what it’s for. It ain’t some silly club or staff or whatever. It’s a fucking gun. It kills people. I never point it at anyone and pull the trigger without first wishing their death. To do otherwise is ...irresponsible. And besides, those kind of dumb trick shots are stupid as shit and will just get you shot.”

“It would have been better to leave some to interrogate.”

“Ya got one. Two if that runner ever comes back. You’re just…”
She shudders as she nurses the burn.
“Now you’re just making up shit to take me to task for. You could at least wait until I do something wrong!”

You shake your head, giving up on getting through to her.
“I saved your life you know. Just now.”

“Huh? When?”

“This girl down here,” you prod the unconscious Flame Rite with your boot, “was going to set you aflame. I stopped her.”

“But Abe is still-”
She stops and her eyes widen.

“Yes. I chose you over him.”

Beatrice is silent for a long time and when she next speaks her voice is even weaker.
“Don’t give that to me Orion. I don’t want to think about that.”

“Too late.”

You truss the Flame Artist up as best you can, binding her arms and legs while kicking her lantern far away. She has nothing in her pockets, nothing hidden that she could use to make a flame. By the time she wakes she is lying not that far from Abraham’s burned form.
You lean over her.
“You did this to my companion. Tell me why I shouldn’t do the same.”

“Probably because she won’t burn, Orion.”

1/2

>>718959
“Be silent. Take a look, girl.”
You roll the young woman over and let her see the bodies of her comrades. She starts to cry quietly but says nothing.
“I have a few questions for you.”

“I don’t know anything! He already told you!”


>”What did you do for Zeno?”

>”Where did you learn your magic?”

>”Do you have any other friends?”

>Wait. What are you hoping to learn from this anyway?

>Other

>>718965
>”Where did you learn your magic?”

>>718965
>”What did you do for Zeno?”
>”Where did you learn your magic?”
>I would have been much more sorry they died if you didn't try to kill all of us first. You use and abuse mankind's gift so freely. Why?

>>718965
>”What did you do for Zeno?”
>”Where did you learn your magic?”
>"What's your name?"

>>718965
>>”What did you do for Zeno?”
>>”Where did you learn your magic?”

>”What did you do for Zeno?”
>”Where did you learn your magic?”

“Where did you learn your magic? Who taught you to light your Wick?”

She blinks and says nothing for a few seconds, evidently not having expected that to be your first question.
“My mother was Collegiate back before the fall. I was born with her gift and she taught me what she knew.”
Another member of the Flame College? Tch. You suppose you should have guessed as much. Chosen students of the Order of the Wick and the only people besides Lamplighters to receive a proper and formal education in the Flame Rites. Such practices are meant to be sacred.

“Oh huh,” Beatrice groans in the distance. “Small world. Tell your mum that Beatrice Montgomery said hi.”
You’re not sure if she’s messing with her or whether Beatrice has begun to wind down from her gunpowder kick and has just stopped making sense in general.

“And where is she today?”

“Dead.”

“And what would she, a woman of the cloth, think about how you have perverted her gift to your own ends?”

“Oh my god Orion, are you seriously asking what would her mother think? She’s not a kid.”

You ignore Beatrice as you continue.
“Tell me, what did you do for Zeno? Your dead friend said something about a job in a village. What was it?”

“Just scaring some folks in a village called Maria,” the Flame Artist says softly. “They didn’t want to be under his rule so we were there to remind them.”

“And what did that entail exactly?”
You can already tell that she doesn’t want to give you the details.

“I...I burned their mayor alive in the town square. Zeno wanted that, said it would spook them worse than any amount of witchcraft. And then Magnus and the rest went and roughed them up a little and...and….oh, Magnus!”
She starts sobbing uncontrollably, tears staining the cold soil.
“Please don’t kill me!”

Disgusting. That she is still capable of shedding tears for those she loved doesn't make her look any better in her eyes. Couldn't she have spared that same remorse for Zeno's victims?


>Kill her.

>Take her with you.

>Just leave her tied up in the wasteland. Maybe if her friend finds his way back she’ll be safe. Maybe.

>Other

>>719157
>Just leave her tied up in the wasteland. Maybe if her friend finds his way back she’ll be safe. Maybe.
As reduced as she is now killing her in this world would be likely be a mercy. But if we succeed in bringing the old world back she may well have the oppurtinity to serve the wheel god once more.

>>719157
>Kill her.
takin out the trash

>>719183
Leaving her tied up is just a crueler death sentence anon

>>719202
Err, I didn't really read the option. I just meant leave her out here. And tell her sternly not to follow us, maybe supported by our famed backhand.

>>719157
>Kill her.
She's as much of an enemy to the light as any witch

>>719157
At the very least she may be able to help tend to Abe until we can figure out what to do with the two of them

>Take her with you.

>>719157
kek. i hope this wasnt the lamp waifu you alluded to earlier.
>Just leave her tied up in the wasteland.
if shes willing to work in the service of witchcraft then she can be judged by it. i hope the ghouls make it quick.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

Looks like a tie between executing her outright or leaving her to the wasteland. Evens the former, odds the latter.

>>719263
Damn man that's cold

Grab a rifle for Bea and Abe and any powder+shot they have & pray to god that she dies quickly, I wouldn't want her coming after us with that flame magic she has

I hope that wasn't the pure waifu

>>719263
I feel like she's just gonna eat some dirt and become a witch so that she won't die out here. Pretty questionable choice to just leave here out here instead of dealing with her. She's not a good person.

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2 KB PNG

>>719281
>waifu
>pure
>ouro
>

>>719287
the only thing thats giving me second thoughts is the higher potential of interesting developments if we bring her along but thats meta as fuck and i dont want to go against the character

>>719263
Can we leave her not tied up?

>>719333
Hell no. Why would we?

>>719263
ouro how many people usually post in this quest? i could be imagining it but this seems like a big decision to leave up to like 5 votes.

>>719296
>Implying I've read quests by Ouro before

Alternatively we could give her the trolley and tell her to take abe back Augustine

>>719349
Player count always drops off at around this time due to americans going to bed I assume

>>719349
Players always drop off at around this time thanks to time zones.

>>719365
>>719375
man, i didnt know it was that sharp though. guess thats what i get for only ever reading archives.

>Just leave her tied up in the wasteland.

“You are no cultist and neither are you a witch. But if you’re willing to work in their service than you can also be judged in their place.”
She’s closed her eyes, her face screwed up.

Beatrice finally manages to stand, her pistol still in one bloodstained hand.
“Do you want me to shoot her or are you going to execute you herself.”

“Neither!”
Your declaration is both loud and sudden, the woman at your feet opening her eyes in surprised hope. You step over her bound form and start rifling through the rations to make sure everything’s still there. Looks like they ate a little before you could catch them but that’s a loss you can handle. Food for the dead.
“Bea, grab the rifles and any powder and shot you can find.”

“Already on it. Are we really sparing her?”
You just shake your head and Beatrice laughs, an ugly little giggle.
“Oh I get it now. I hope you’re comfortable little miss, you’re going to be down there for a long time.”

“Maybe her friend will find his way back and she’ll be spared. Maybe.”

Beatrice sniggers again, bracing herself against the pain.
“I doubt it but let’s not make it easy for him.”
She rips the shirt off the dead leader. What was his name again? Magnus? It’s got his blood all over it from where she blew his head apart.

“Wait! Don’t leave me here please I’ll do a-”
Beatrice rolls the shirt into a ball and jams it into her open mouth, tying it around the back of her head in the process. You wonder if she’s done this before.

“There, now that coward will have to work a little harder. And she won’t be able to eat any dirt either.”

“Do you really think that’s likely?”
Simply eating dirt isn’t enough to become a witch. One must be contacted by the whispers of the earth and allow them in, to learn witch-sign with which to use the earth to fuel it. Witchcraft was a slow seduction, it rarely just happens.

“Probably not but you can’t be too safe. Oh don’t worry girl, your last friend may never find you but if there’s any wild ghouls stopping by within a few miles they’ll smell you up lickety split. They’ll carve you up and you’ll still be alive and conscious the entire time you know. Or maybe you’ll get lucky and they won’t be wild, they’ll have a witch mistress to carry your still-living pieces back to and she can sew you back up into a new form. A new form with a lot of mouths.”

“Is that really necessary, Beatrice?”

“Fuck her,” the witch says. “Fuck all of them. None of this needed to happen but they were cunts. Look at Abe! Let it never be said that I won’t kick someone while they’re down.”

“Hrmph.”
You stop by the tied up woman as you pass her.
“Repent. Perhaps God will lend you grace.”

“Cold.”

“I meant every word of it.”

1/2

>>719440
“I know,” Beatrice says as you pick up Abe and the two of you start to walk away.
“That’s what really makes you scary.”

The two of you walk along the rail for some time in silence, the vast concrete shard looming ever closer and closer.

“God, I almost forgot we still had to deal with this old lady. Is Abe alright?”

“He lives. Whether he will walk is a different story.”

“Shit. Damn. Orion, why’d you have to tell me that? I didn’t want to know who you chose.”

“I didn’t expect you to care.”

“He’s not a bad guy! He was actually pretty nice to me. I don’t want this at my feet.”

“It was my choice not yours.”
‘
She sighs.
“If I hadn’t seen your face I’d swear there was nothing under that armour of yours. Just one of those Second Age mechanical men, all fucking gears and clanks.”

“That’s enough. Look up.”

“Oh fuck, Granny Arsehole is back.”

Sure enough you can see the door to the cottage opening atop the concrete spur as you walk towards it. Belle stands in the doorway. She’s waiting for you.

“Do you think something awful would happen to us if we just ignored her?”
Beatrice doesn’t sound that optimistic.

“We’re stuck here until we can move the pump trolley around the blockage. That’d be a lot of ignoring.”

“Shit.”


>Ignore her anyway.

>She can come down here if she wants anything to do with you.

>March right up there and get into her face. It’s time for some answers.

>”What are the odds you can shoot her from here now that she’s out of the house?”

>Other