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>>2302538
“And here you all are once more. It’s been a few days, hasn’t it? And you’ve brought everyone this time. Good. Very good.”
The voice of the Paper Bridesmaid conquers all other sound, not through simply drowning them out but quashing them. While she speaks mouths move in silent futility, the sound of the damned city outside dwindle to silence and all echoes cease.

You are once more standing within her chambers, a tremendous and defiled sunroom atop the tower that shares her title. It smells of musty death and the floor is covered with a thick layer of discarded snakeskin that you and your companions leave footprints in as you walk. You do not spy the footprints that you and Alex must have left the last time you were here, nor the footprints of any of the Bridesmaid’s attendants. Something spins out new dead skin at a continuous rate through means unseen.

‘What the fuck are you supposed to be?”
Beatrice seizes on a moment of silence, her vulgarity echoing through the immense room hundreds of times. She’s standing a few paces behind you before what you can only describe as the Bridesmaid’s nest.
“I was told about you but…,” she makes a sweeping gesture at the abnormality before you all. “Who are you really?”

“My name cannot be spoken with tongues.”
The monster itself is still as it was when you first saw it, a lounging blasphemy that defies common reality. Defiled bride and massive serpent both, neither form acknowledging the other as they mingle and share the same space. And their eyes! A glint beneath the veil, an unblinking serpentine orb, both of which that give way for the pips of every dice you’ve ever seen in a roiling infinity. One eye tells you one thing, the other another. There’s no point trying to make sense of it now. It simply exists.
Whatever the Bridesmaid is, it is of no import compared to the fact that she is one of the Sinners. But as deserving of death as that makes her, she is also helping you for selfish reasons of her own. The two of you, somewhat regrettably, made a deal.
“We’ve seen each other before, Beatrice. I am flattered that you chose to wear my colours but I must regretfully inform you that I already have enough admirers as it is.”

Beatrice tears her white-and-black peaked cap from her head but doesn’t let it go, clutching it to her chest. She quickly spares a glare for you.
“Orion, is this really what’s been helping us? What the f-”

“Trivial matters aside,” the monster says as Beatrice furiously tries to speak in silence, “I believe I’ve kept up my end of our bargain over the past few days?”

1/2

>>2302542
It’s been three days since you last met with the Bridesmaid, since Beatrice and Abraham both escaped from the Thorn. You’ve all been busy since then and mostly with the eedcloaks. Three days proved to be more than enough time for the news of the Iron Duke’s death to seep out and start panic. Without the Duke, there can be no green flame and without its half-light and half-warmth, Dis must eventually go cold and dark. And through all this panic and the ensuing riots, news of you has begun to spread. They don’t call you a Lamplighter, they deny you even that courtesy. Instead you are a ‘mad pyromancer’, a ‘dangerous fanatic’, a ‘deranged terrorist and leader of terrorists’. Significant effort has been made to paint you and your supporters, who are thankfully unknown to the authorities, as the ones to blame for Dis’ current crisis.
And that is, in a certain facetious way, entirely true. But not in others! You’ve had your Redcloaks working with everyone they know to spread your own questions. Namely, who is it that quashed the true fire? Who placed Dis in this situation in the first place? Who made the green flame necessary?

It hasn’t been working quite as well as some of the redcloaks had hoped, you could see it in their faces. They speak of faith and truth but the voice of Dis is so much louder and it can roar. And questioning the city they live in is much harder for some than what the voices accusing you demand, which is only that they continue to hate those they already did.

But more has happened aside from that. Using the money you’ve come into, you and Alex were able to purchase the land rights to a small property to use as a true headquarters for you and your companions. Here you, Beatrice and Abe have been able to start training the redcloaks in the weapons you looted from the Duke’s old collection.

The Bridesmaid also offered her help as you and Alex made the purchase, extending the reach of her considerable grasp for your aid.
>You refused the offer. Your new headquarters might be small and stuck down in the Mazes with inhabited rooms on every possible side but it has thick walls and you aren’t beholden to this creature any more than you have to be.

>You took advantage of her offer. Your new headquarters is more than big enough for all of you, is situated nicely away from anyone that may eavesdrop and is a better home than most of your redcloaks have ever personally known. It’s also much more secure, with barred windows and bolted doors.

>>2302547
>You refused the offer. Your new headquarters might be small and stuck down in the Mazes with inhabited rooms on every possible side but it has thick walls and you aren’t beholden to this creature any more than you have to be.

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Lamplighter!

I also just updated the character sheet, since I forgot to do that last thread.

>>2302547
>You took advantage of her offer. Your new headquarters is more than big enough for all of you, is situated nicely away from anyone that may eavesdrop and is a better home than most of your redcloaks have ever personally known. It’s also much more secure, with barred windows and bolted doors.

>>2302547
>>You refused the offer. Your new headquarters might be small and stuck down in the Mazes with inhabited rooms on every possible side but it has thick walls and you aren’t beholden to this creature any more than you have to be.

>>2302547
>You refused the offer. Your new headquarters might be small and stuck down in the Mazes with inhabited rooms on every possible side but it has thick walls and you aren’t beholden to this creature any more than you have to be.

Refused

>>2302542
Refused.

Vote called, writing.

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>You refused the offer. Your new headquarters might be small and stuck down in the Mazes with inhabited rooms on every possible side but it has thick walls and you aren’t beholden to this creature any more than you have to be.

“You have helped us,” you admit.

“But not as much as I could have.”
The creature’s tone is almost accusatory.

“Our home is something we should handle ourselves,” Abe says. He looks visibly uncomfortable and he was worse in the elevator when you passed the kaleidoscope of depravity that was the Bridesmaid’s institution. He’s holding himself together better than Beatrice all the same. “But thanks for the offer all the same.”

“Seems a foolish idea. I could have given you so much.”

“And you still can.”
You take a step forward and stop yourself from wincing as the dead skin crumbles around your boot. When you and Alex had left the Paper Bridesmaid for the first time, the two of you had agreed to keep the purchase of your new base of operations to yourselves. It may be modest but it is all you’ll need and you don’t want to be further beholden of this thing. You’re sure it can sniff out where you’re hiding regardless but there is a principle to the act. You’ll work with the Paper Bridesmaid but you won’t use her unless you have to.
“We need your information. You promised it.”

“And you promised to kill my friends and you’ve made no progress on that goal. I will answer some questions but not too much and not too soon. I have to hold some chips back to make sure you and I stay friends, you understand.”

“I won’t ask about the brothers.”
As much as you want to ask about the other bearers of the flame, that is a secret that you have promised not to seek from her until another Sinner is dead.

“You don’t have to get on our backs to make us kill them,” Beatrice adds. “We’re here to fucking do that anyway.”

The snake rears back and the woman sits up, one of her shaking arms passing straight through the snake’s tail as she does so.
“To business, then? As much as it pains me to betray my once dear companions, I am bound!”
The tainted bride makes an over-exaggerated swooning motion. The snake remains exactly as it is.
“What do you want to know?”

“You know what we want.”

“Yes but you could at least have the decency to play along for a few moments. I am a poor girl faced with a moral dilemma. Here is the rugged hero that she has watched for so long from afar and she must choose between becoming part of his story or her beloved friends!”

“No.”

1/2

>>2302741
“Fine, whatever. I guess that’s the danger of putting people on a pedestal, they never quite measure up when you actually meet them.”
The voice, spoken by both woman and snake, puts on an act of indignation so absurd as to be farcical.
“Ask away. You can have three questions but if you want more I’m afraid you’ll have to actually match my raise.”

>You may choose three.
>”Who are the Sinners?”

>”Where are the shards kept?”

>”For what purpose are the shards being used?”

>”Why did you all agree to commit that atrocity?”

>”What are you? No misdirection.”

>”How did you kill the Sun?”

>”Why did you try to recruit Beatrice?”

>”What would you do if we actually won?”

>"Why this house of sin? What do you get out of it?"

>Ask what you can give her that will let her be more forthcoming.

>You're not here to play games. Either she tells you everything or you walk out that door.

>Ask something else (Specify)

>>2302745
>>”Who are the Sinners?”
>>”Where are the shards kept?”
>>”How did you kill the Sun?”

>>2302745
>>”Who are the Sinners?”
>>”Where are the shards kept?”
>>”How did you kill the Sun?”

>>2302745
>”For what purpose are the shards being used?”
>”How did you kill the Sun?”
>”Where are the shards kept?”

>>2302745
>”Who are the Sinners?”

>”Where are the shards kept?”

>”For what purpose are the shards being used?”

>>2302745
>>2302758
Voting for this.

>>2302745
>>2302777
Seconding

>>2302745
>>2302758
This

We can probably figure out how the shards are being used ourselves guys. Some of them probably aren't being used at all.

Who
Where
How

Vote will remain open for another ten minutes or so.

Interlude

The Inspector-General patted down his newly-cleaned suit and coat as he walked down the boulevard, columns of green flame framing the aerial street on either side. The crypt loomed up ahead, an ornate tower styled in imitation to the monuments in the chasm beyond Dis’ walls. Only the greatest and richest would ever get interred within these walls of stone and steel. It should be a honour, he supposed, that he was here for this ceremony at all. But it didn’t feel that way. This was a waste of his time!

He passed through the first cordon of security along the walkway to the crypt, a small group of green-cloaked Consortium officers on patrol with black armbands wrapped awkwardly around their armour to signify their loss. A token attempt at security but it didn’t matter. Nothing would get past what is inside.
He slipped past the small crowds of people gathering at the far end of the walkway, citizens of all kinds presenting invitations to the guards and slowly filtering in. He had no need for that, he just had to wave his Mistress’ pass to past without question.

Still, despite his attempt at haste, some fragments of the crowd sought him out all the same. A man and a woman in the somber black uniforms of the Last Guild, apparently shiftily awaiting their invitations to be approved.
“Oh! I say! You there! You’re here representing one of the departed’s friends, aren’t you?”

“Yes?”
The Inspector had nothing but respect for the Last Guild’s beliefs, one of the more common cults devoted to the Old Powers in the city. They were gravediggers and tombkeepers and apparently wanted nothing more than each and every corpse to sleep forever within the blessed earth. But he didn’t pretend to understand them either.

“Then you must agree that this is a travesty! Someone as upstanding as His Grace deserves the finest burial, not this...this mistake!”

It was going to be an odd ceremony, that much he agreed with them. The corpse was not going to be subsumed in earth or burned or anything that would give it into the care of gods light or dark. Instead, the rumours had it, it was going to be put on preserved display in the tomb forever. The Inspector had not known him well but he suspected that they would not want it any other way.
“It’s not my place to say.”

“But it is an insult to the gods! It is an insult to his legac-”

1/2

>>2302993
“I will be the judge of that,” someone said icily as the doors behind them opened. Both the Inspector and the Guildsmen turned to see the doorway filled with a inchoate wall of mud and stone. And then it moved and stooped, revealing itself to be a golem thrice their size. It was, once the eye lost its confusion, quite well made, no sloppy mudman look that usually characterized such creatures. Instead it was practically carved and what parts of it were mud stayed solid and kept their shape. A gaunt creature with a long torso and long limbs and a cylindrical head of decorated stone and behind it, a thin tail could be faintly seen. It was a monster but even more so was the thing it was carrying, a bundled up and shadowed figure clutched tightly to the golem’s chest, held within the crook of one clawed arm. A chill seeped through the air like a miasma.

The Inspector was quick to bow but the Guildsmen were too shocked.
“Uh…,” one of them said.

“It is a strange thing,” the witch and the Inspector’s former mentor continued, “to say that you know more of the god’s will then I. How odd! Should I inform my pilgrims that they should take their wailing and crawling to the Guild instead? I had no idea you were all so learned. And what would I know? I merely speak to them.”
Her voice, which had started harsh, was only growing worse with every word.

“We’re sorry!”

“Get out. Your invitation is rescinded. And you! Where is your mistress? Why are you here?”

The Inspector cowered in what he hoped was an appropriately respectful manner, the memories of the golems chasing after him through Undertown still all too fresh.
“I am here in her place. She cannot attend.”

There was a long silence. When next the witch spoke, her voice was trembling with barely contained rage.
“I see. I wasn’t looking forward to that forked tongue of hers but this…”

Another long pause.

“Might as well come on in then. We’ve got a whole day of commemoration for this dead metal moron and I’m not missing any of it.”

Vote called, writing.

>>2302999
The golemist....respected the duke? I suppose that makes sense.

>>2303162
I imagine she made his body

>>2303300
I'd let the Golemist make my body

What does the Golemist look like?

>>2303341
She's a second man.

So imagine a TOL nerd elf

>>2303351
So she's shiny and more slightly built than Orion or even Bea?

I wonder if the Second Men wrote BLACKED porn about their women and First Men.

>>2303405
Nah. Second men were frail compared to thirds. Tall and thin, big headed and pointy eared.

Apologies for the very long delay on this update.

>>”Who are the Sinners?”
>>”Where are the shards kept?”
>>”How did you kill the Sun?”

This nonsense about questions was not part of the deal you struck but you suppose you’ll have to abide by it. There’s no point to trying to fight over something so relatively trivial, not when the names and faces of all your targets are so close at hand! This bargain could be the turning point, the pivot from where the world will swing back towards the light.
“Who are the Sinners? I know there were seven of you.”

“More or less true. There were others involved in the whole affair but they all belonged to one of us. It was us seven that made the pact, each provided an instrumental role and took a piece of what he had broken. No doubt you already have some suspicions involving the Sable Imp Fellowship, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Well it was, in a sense, entirely their idea to being with. They were the starting spark of it all.”

“Why?,” Beatrice asks.

“I’m afraid you don’t get to ask questions. So let’s see, seven Sinners! You had me, of course, and along with me you had Marcel, Maria, Rene, Albert, Agatha and Thomas. Do those names mean anything to you? Probably not, nor would they to most of the city I’d wager. We were on a first name basis with each other but I doubt with anyone else. So...here we go! Dear departed Marcel was the Iron Duke and you’ve already dealt with him quite handily. Maria lives down in some nasty hole within the skeleton of a god with a bunch of golems and can be a little cranky. She’s a witch and the only one of us who is. She also owes me a lot and I think she hates it. Rene runs the Sable Imp Fellowship with his partner and is, to my understanding, very rich. Has his fingers in a lot of lucrative businesses you know, raising the dead, dredging up imps, mining, contracting imps, domesticating humans…”
The woman ticks off her fingers while the snake speaks.
“A lot. Very nice and I owe him a lot but a little too professional for my tastes. Albert is...ah, what a little wretch! I say that in a fond way though. He runs the Black Iron Docks out by the shore. Pompous, sweats a lot, kind of a discount Rene really. Also does some quaint little newsletter thing that I don’t care to read. Agatha was a magistrate who worked for the Senate. Old family there, running right back to the First. I never really spoke to her much because I made her uncomfortable and she was always about protocol this, politics that. Thomas is a bit of a boor, he runs the Tangle Workshop and is always going on about ‘scholarly duty to mankind’ and other nonsense. I don’t like him because I don’t like mankind. I want Man to die and I’d really appreciate it if you trashed a bunch of his stupid charity branch hospitals before you killed him. And that’s it! All seven of us!”

1/4

>>2303439
Not the level of detail you were hoping for but it does give you a list of targets and an idea where to find each of them. You don’t need to know anything about their personal lives after all. Even their names are ultimately meaningless. Still, something about the witch’s description sounds vaguely familiar to you…

“That’ll do for now. Where are the shards being kept?”

“You see, while I obviously know everyone I collaborated with, I don’t know the exact whereabouts of all of their shards. They don’t have the same attitude to treasure as me, I’m afraid. They actually want to be secretive about it! Some are more obvious than others. Anyone with a brain knew exactly what the Consortium was using theres for and I assume that’s how you found them so easily. But after that it gets muddier. Albert talks constantly about using it as the solar engine of some incredible dreadnought or another but he owns a dozen shipyards so I don’t know where said hypothetical dreadnought is. I don’t even know what he plans to use it for! Betray us all and take over Dis? Doesn’t make a lot of sense if you can only do it from the muddy shoreline. I don’t know the exact whereabouts of what Maria is doing with hers but it can’t possibly be far from DInu’s Bones. It’d be easy to say that it’s kept somewhere in the skull since that’s her little sanctum but I don’t know if she’d actually want to live with the accursed thing. I don’t have the foggiest idea where Rene keeps his. It’s probably in the Fellowship somewhere or maybe Undertown, the real Undertown, but I can’t truly say. Agatha is another mystery, compounded by the fact that she’s been dead for years. I can tell you where her family estate is, they might know. It might even a family heirloom! And as for Thomas, that’s a queer one. There are two very obvious possibilities for him and yet while each one is so obvious, they both preclude the other. They can’t both be right!”
The bride and the snake pass through each once more, apparently unaware of the irony of what they just said.

“What about it?”

“It was warm,” Abe says. “The Thorn is alive and it’s warm. That has to be it, isn’t it?”
Behind him, Beatrice shuts her mouth and glares at him, apparently having been just about to point out the same thing.

2/4

>>2303451
“Yes and no. Being in the Thorn is a very good answer, a very obvious one. But have you heard of the Chemist? That’s not a question I need your input on incidentally. He works with the Workshop and he’s apparently the source of their wonderful tonics from which they derive all their compounds and brews. They keep his home wrapped up under extremely tight guard, tighter than the Thorn itself and nobody knows anything about him or how he can do what he does. Nobody else can replicate the tonic. So you see why I’m perplexed. They have two very obvious locations for their shard and they can’t both be right. Second question answered! One question remains.”

“I know.”
You think for a moment.
“This might not be relevant to the task at hand but how did you do it? How did any of you kill the Sun?”

“Never underestimate the power of friendship!”

Your grip around your makeshift stave tightens. On such a topic, her unchanging attitude suddenly seems abominable.
“Give me an appropriate answer.”

“Okay. We boarded it.”

“What?”

“What do you mean what? How do you think it floats around the sky all day? It’s a ship. Not what you’d traditionally call a ship, a bit too spherical and concentric for that but one all the same. It’s also the Wheel God while simultaneously carrying the Wheel God within itself. Gods can be many things at once, witches know this.”

“How did you do that?”

“Simple. Are you sure you want me to answer though? I can see you’re getting upset.”

“Just answer the question already.”

“At the end of every day, the Sun must dip down into the eastern Sea of Mud to submerge himself and recharge from the Flame that still sleeps within the boiling mud. Come dawn, he emerges from the other side and begins the day anew. But you already knew about that, didn’t you? Common knowledge. So we decided to mug him when he came home. Sun sinks to the horizon, ready to sink into the sea but surprise! A lot of big heavy-duty boats have sailed out really far to meet him! And on those ships are a lot of very special very nasty chains made from who-knows-what. Golem chains and worse. Grabbed hold of the sun with the help of some golems, since those things are meant to be more or less fireproof, it’s their entire point. They burned all the same. The golems baked. And while they did all that, our resident master Flame Artist parted the shroud of flame that the Wheel God wears and allowed us entry. All seven of us along with well, a bit of a motley crew. Golems and imps riding people and man-made Tangle monsters. But the inside was full of defenses and even though we had copies of a map from the Senate archives it was no easy going! I’ll spare you the grisly details of our struggles save the fact that it was very wise of us to have found experts on both the technology of the Second Men and the physiologists of the First."

>>2303457
"I’ll also not speak of what we found in the centre, for your sake not mine. But once we were done the holy reactors stopped spinning and God’s essential core, the mighty fragment ripped from the Wayward Flame’s corpse, was smote into a dozen different pieces! We weren’t ready for the explosion when the containment failed but that’s life, isn’t it? It was a wondrous adventure indeed, full of heroism and sacrifice. I say with no small amount of sincerity that we all owe one another our lives and it is thus a tragedy that I now have to ask you to kill as many of them as you can.”

You’re not listening. Or at least, you’re trying not to listen. But the voice of the Bridesmaid cannot be overcome through means physical or mental. You cannot help but hear it. You tried to tell it to stop but of course it didn’t work, your lips forming around empty words and silent pleas. You are gripping the plundered tail so hard that it hurts.

This is it.

...a wondrous adventure indeed…

The death of your God.

...decided to mug him when he came home…

The death of humanity with him.

...a bit of a motley crew…

The dying of the flame.

..full of heroism and sacrifice…

The root cause of every single instant of suffering that you had seen in the past thirty years.

...very special very nasty chains made from who-knows-what…

The collapse of the world.

...but that’s life, isn’t it?...

And here it is all being spoken of so goddamned flippantly! So patronisingly! As if you were a child! If she had gloated, if she had boasted of the final victory of the dark over the children of light...you probably would have been able to accept it better. That is a foulness you were ready for.

You weren’t ready for them to speak of it as it barely meant anything to them at all.

“Oh dear, I’ve gone and offended you, haven’t I? I even spared you the worst details of it all. You chose to ask this.”

A hand grabs hold of your shoulder. It takes an effort to move your neck, your body frozen into a painful rigor mortis without you even knowing it, but when you look around you see Beatrice reaching up to you. A moment later and Abe is on your other side, grabbing hold of you as if to steady you.

You can feel it welling up inside of you like flame within a furnace. Something that you have always carried in you but has not felt so strong, so biting for decades. It makes you want to scream, to strike, to move in any way save the frozen statue that you are now. You are fireproof and yet you feel like you are burning alive.

4/5

>>2303462
You have been angry before. You have been furious. You traffic in violence, the feeling is a constant companion. But it has been a long time since you’ve felt your stomach churn sickeningly with that hideous mix of grief and wrath. You can’t express it properly. You will never. Before in the past, when you saw what happened to your watchtower, when you were confronting the witch responsible out by the edge of the wasteland, you had just let it wash over you and you shut down and became something else. You had been like the flame itself then, a scourging punishing thing..

“Orion! Are you okay?”

You take a long breath and then just as quickly as it had been called forth, you swallow it back down and send it away. It twists up your guts in its passage as if you had eaten nails.

>”Thank you for the assistance.” You will be going now.

>”Don’t you feel nothing?"

>You were planning to deal with this creature after all the other shards had been taken but no. You kill her now.

>”You’re very lucky that you still have so much left to offer.”

>Stay silent.

>Other (Specify)

>>2303470
>>”Thank you for the assistance.” You will be going now.

>>2303470
>"Your time will come serpent." Leave.

>>2303470
>”Thank you for the assistance.” You will be going now.

>>2303341
>>2303351
>>2303405

The Golemist herself is wrapped up in some kind of animate shadow thing but as has been noted, Second Men are taller, frailer and, going by what Orion thought of the Second Age statues outside of the Paper Bridesmaid, have proportions that are unrealistic by Third Man standards.
As to her actual physicality, the only thing really mentioned is that the top of the Inspector's head only comes up to her chin.

>>2303426
Well, no pointy ears.

>>2303500
inspector confirmed manlet

>>2303470
>>”Thank you for the assistance.” You will be going now.

>the sun is literally a weird esoteric holy machine
I don't know what to make of this. What was at the center? And there were maps of the internals of the sun, meaning people had been to it before, or did they construct it in the first place? I'm intrigued Ouro!

>>2303457
>It’s a ship
A modern day Tolkien, Ouro.

>>2303470
>”You’re very lucky that you still have so much left to offer.”
I don't feel good about keeping her alive, but I can see the advantages.

I do have a question though, could a new sun be forged from the latent flames at the bottom of the Sea of Mud? Could the deepest depths' flames be dredged up and placed in some kind of metal or ceramic vessel and placed on the dead sun?

>>2303506
He's a little taller than Orion actually, just nowhere near as built.

>>2303510
The pilot at the heart of the sun was a first man in a second man machine. Or hell, the heart of the machine may have been a first man itself. The fragments that Orion carries could be literal pieces of a first man.

>>2303500
>the Inspector's head only comes up to her chin.
This anon is right >>2303506

For some reason I really want to make a Virgin Third Man, Chad Second Man or Virgin Second Man, Chad First Man comic now.

>>2303522
The Wheel God himself was more then a man, it's possible there was a pilot inside though, but there was still a divine being in there somewhere.

>>2303531
Err, herself? I remember that still being up in the air.

>>2303531
How does Orion know what a First Man was like beyond stories he's heard from ages past? Maybe all First Men were like god damn Demi Gods, doing shit as they pleased. The first people from Assassin's Creed for instance.

>>2303470
>You were planning to deal with this creature after all the other shards had been taken but no. You kill her now.

>>2303539
According to the Bridesmade, the Sun as Orion and everyone sees it is an enormous ship.

>>2303510

It's far from an unknown theological theory to Orion that the sun had an artificial component. After all it is something that was explicitly made and thanks to stuff like stars, metal men and Wax Saints, the Lamplighters are very familiar with the idea of holy machines.

Also while the sun was initially constructed in the First Age, the Wheel God getting an overhaul in the Second Age with the new tech isn't improbable.

>>2303531
Maybe there wasn't
>I’ll also not speak of what we found in the centre, for your sake not mine
Perhaps the wheel god is nothing more than a machine powered by the corpse of the wayward flame. A false god built to replace the dead one.

>>2303551
I really want to know how big it is now.

>>2303470
>>”Thank you. There will come a day that I will ask you to go more into detail.” You will be going now.

>>2303551
She mentioned the God piloting and powering the ship, and there have been conflicting reports on whether or not said God was a male or a female.

Or I'm thinking of the Wayward Flame.

>>2303566
Shit, they really did loose a lot of knowledge between the second and third ages then. Forgetting the nature of the thing that allows life as you know it to exist is pretty serious.

>>2303587
The pilot must've been a huge slut with exposed ankles.

Vote called for leaving, writing.

>>2303587
It was the Wayward Flame that Orion and Beatrice bickered about the gender. Lamplighter theology pegs it as a male creature while witch-lore refers to it as female. The Wheel God is seen as masculine by both parties.

>>2303614
Shit, what was the wayward flame again?

We need to get an airship boys. Also need to visit / break into the archives and see what we can learn about the sun.

Do we even need to get all the shards first? I don't see why we would.
but from a meta perspective I feel like we do

>>2303621
It's what lit up and warmed the word before the Sun.

It's either the power source of the Wheeled God/Sun or a parent, or something like that.

>>2303640
The Wayward Flame was also responsible for killing the old gods and creating the first men if I remember correctly. He / she came from the void beyond the world.

Ouro why is it called the "Wheel God"? Is it symbolism for the cyclic nature of the sun?

>>2303659
The wheel representing the Sun is something taken a bit from real life, where it is a solar symbol in bronze age europe.

>>2303648
That too, then the moon followed her/him, and when the Sun died the moon turned red.

Wait. Is the Moon also a ship? Can we hop on the Moon?

>>2303666
In-universe, the name derives from the symbol of the sun, the same symbol that the Lamplighters use in their cloaks, that of a spoked wheel whose spokes extend past the rim. This was intended to evoke the image of rays of sunlight, the Wheel God's primary weapon.

>>2303674
In Lamplighter theology, the Moon was a female First Man who ascended through the same means that the Wheel God/Sun did. Just what those means are are generally just theoretical by Third Age understanding but to them whatever exactly made the Sun, also caused the Moon.

According to Beatrice's witch-lore, the Moon is an Old Power of Earth that is actually still alive and benevolent. It fled to the sky to escape from the Wayward Flame but then made a deal with the Wheel God for its survival.

>>2303684
It sounds like the Lamplighters may be right this time.

At least, more correct than the witches. From what we've learned about the Sun, I would posit that the Moon is a similar ship, piloted by First Men, and that its reddening is thanks to more intense heat in the Sea of Mud since the Sun is no longer able to sap it each night to refuel itself.

>>2303693
Why make the moon though? Compromise because the sun needs to recharge but you don't want the night to be pitch black? But why not just have two suns then?

>that its reddening is thanks to more intense heat in the Sea of Mud since the Sun is no longer able to sap it each night to refuel itself.
That's a solid theory though!

>>2303732
>why not just have two suns then?
Because without night your sleep schedule and health get all fucked up. Play the Banner Saga if you want a setting with no night, it has some similarities to Lamplighter, and they're great games.

Sorry about the delay btw, eating.

>>2303684
Almost like Orion is the sun, and Beatrice the moon. Two "enemies" who worked together for a common goal maybe...

>>2303844
BRAVO LUCAS.

>>2303846
It's pottery

>>2303848
>I don't like dirt, it's messy and gritty and musty, and it gets everywhere.

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Blegh. Just felt dead tired all of a sudden out of nowhere.


>”Thank you for the assistance.” You will be going now.

With some difficulty, you ungrit your teeth and push your companions away. You don’t need their help. Just the idea of having so very nearly succumbed in front of them makes your head buzz. You are their leader. You have a duty and a responsibility. Neither of them need to ever see you weak.
“Thank you for the help,” you manage to say. “I may need some more details later.”

“Sure. Now get out of here before you pop a vein, you’re not fooling anyone.”

“I’m fine.”

“If you say so. Though you know, if you need a way to blow off steam I’m sure I can provide…”
Their voice trails off into a mental dimension that you don’t even wish to conceive of.

“We will be leaving now. Thank you again.”
A silence falls as you tread slowly back to the elevator, discarded skin crunching beneath your feet. The Paper Bridesmaid says nothing and you don’t look back. Abe and Beatrice both join you in the elevator, neither saying anything. When the elevator is descending, you turn away and avert your eyes from the obscene sights running through the building’s core.

It is only once you are out, past the lowermost gambling hall and out onto the bridge between the towers, that you let yourself speak once more.
“That went well.”

Beatrice looks warily at you, spacing herself just of your arms reach. She thinks you don’t see her doing it.
“Did it?,” she asks.

“Yes.”
Your face and tone must tell them that there is no room for disagreement or questioning on this matter.
“We will go back and meet with the others. It’s time to choose our next target.”

What other purpose do you need?


>The Tangle Workshop.

>The Black Iron Docks.

>Dinu’s Bones.

>The Sable Imp Fellowship.

>The Senate Magistrates.

>Other (Specify)

>>2303904
>>>The Black Iron Docks.
I'm against shitting on the workshop first. There's no way we won't look like the bad guys.

>>2303904
>Docks
Less vital than the workshop to the people and hopefully less easily defended than the golemist we heard about from the journal and the imp fellowship

>>2303904
>The Black Iron Docks.

You run so late Ouro, I'll have to catch up in the morning.

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>>2303904
I think I need a little nap. I'll be back later tonight in a few hours. Vote will remain open until then.

>>2303904
>The Black Iron Docks.

>>2303904
Black Iron Docks, or Sable Imp Fellowship

Docks would be the safer bet, but cutting out the Imps now would prevent a larger amount of people signing up to be Imped as the chaos and panic descends.

Docks, and light more lamps throughout the city

>>2303904
>The Black Iron Docks.
If we can capture that dreadnought, or any other dreadnought, it would be really great. Also this Albert sounds like a softer target than others.

>>2302999
How interesting, there's a surviving god. Other than the Moon, depending on the source.

>>2303451
>There are two very obvious possibilities for him and yet while each one is so obvious, they both preclude the other. They can’t both be right!”
Unless one of the others gave up their shard.

>>2303457
>from the Flame that still sleeps within the boiling mud.
I guess this is the source of the 'dredged up the corpse of the Wayward Flame' myth came from.

>and man-made Tangle monsters.
Monsters were possible even before the shard.

>>2303904
>>The Tangle Workshop.
Since it's unlikely that the Tangle's gotten far in replicating a gunpowder witch, Bea is still irreplaceable to them. We can use that, but only until the replication is complete. Once that runs out, we can't use her as bait or a hostage anymore.

So. Sable Imps' idea, they needed Agatha for maps and Senate stuff.
Needed Golemist for chains and Iron Duke-making.
Needed Marcel to let them in, needed a shipbuilder for ships.
Needed Spinnae for First Man knowledge.
So why did they need the snake? She deftly evaded mentioning her part in this.

I'd say to hit the docks. More likely to just be plain old humans there instead of running into the Imp place that's likely full of...well, Imps. I'd prefer to run in there with double the literal fire-power if at all possible.

No comment about prior possibilities on that front

However, if Bote Boi is making a "dreadnaught" then it's likely they're plenty militarized, so I wouldn't expect to just walk in there either.

Also, and this is a long shot, but if we were to somehow, you know, steal this giant ship...presumably with huge guns....

Just saying.

>>2304225
Considering that we're taking the power source, not likely as a whole. The real question is how much of it we'll be able to take home, and which weapons can be powered with alternative means, like Flame Arts.

We don't really have a way yet to advertise for Flame talents, though. The Senate Magistrate should have all the records. A list of people to pressgang into service should be in there.

>>2304232
We don't actually need the power source immediately. The ship might be more useful than the spark at the moment.

>>2304232
A shard in the ship might be more useful than a shard in our Lamp for a time.

>>2304197
Like Agatha, who doesn't need hers anymore.

>>2304241
>>2304249
I don't think that would ever be a possible option for Orion.

>>2304250
We have just witnessed Orion's excellent self-control for the good of the mission.

Vote called. Writing.

>>2304276
I really want to trigger her boss fight...

>>2304468
>he wants to trigger a fight with a creature that might be a literal (minor) god
madman!

>>2304509
Come on, it would be so fun!

Anyway, she's tangled up in Fate, not a god. Probably.

>>2304541
I think she's a minor god or a demigod or something, if she was something lesser we should know about her from our knowledge of witch lore. She exists as multiple entities simultaneously, and seems to have power over the abstract concept of fate / luck. She's also said her name can't be spoken, which is consistent with what we know of the witch signs (the unspeakable names of the old powers).

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>Black Iron Docks

The three of you walk back along the network of bridges that connect the cluster of towers that the Paper Bridesmaid lurks within. You all stand up in this upper class crowd but not in an alarming manner and you blend in more and more with every step you take downward.

‘So,” Beatrice says, clearly eager to turn to a different subject, any subject. “What kind of target do you have in mind?”

“Should we really talk about it now?”
Abe is at your other side, looking fretfully from person to person within the crowd around you.

“Nobody listens to anyone here. And besides, your rubbernecking isn’t helping you look innocent either.”
Beatrice has pulled her peaked cap down as far as she can get it, tilting it and using her hair to obscure as much of her ruined face as possible.

“Just wait until we get back,” you tell them. “But whatever we choose, we’ll be doing it soon.”

“But it’s been a few days since...that other job,” Abe says. “You sure that’s wise? I was thinking that we might want to lay low for a while, especially after that close shave with me and Bea.”

“Time has become our enemy. We’ve already spent longer than we should.”
None of you should ever let yourself be fooled into thinking Dis not your enemy. This entire city is, in some way or another, against you. You cannot fight the city. To do so would invite the death that the Bridesmaid prophesied. You can only elude it and take advantage of its confusion. But every day that passes without a victory, the claws of Dis come ever closer to finding you.

Your new headquarters are modest but are still a step up from that stolen little storeroom you had been using before. And it is property that you actually truly own, having used the money from the emeralds to purchase the land rights for a small apartment wedged halfway through the substrate of the Mazes. The three of you take the quickest way there, navigating the top layer of the Maze until you spot the crowded stairway with the rusted sign reading, among many other destinations, ‘New Sump’. Following those stairs for five hundred paces and then turning left leads you to a small and claustrophobic cube hollowed out from a residential block, with apartments forming the walls, ceiling and floor. In the center of the little square is a massive circular trapdoor that has been propped open for so long that the hinges have rusted into a single unmoving lump. Below is a deep hexagonal chute with a ladder on each side. Resting your weight uneasily upon the rungs, you start the climb down.

1/4

>>2304566
Apparently there had been a tower here once, a very long time ago. Some accident or malevolence had toppled it over centuries ago and the entire thing had been scavenged into nothing, Dis’ peculiar manmade erosion. The only exception being the bottom few levels which had remained standing like a withered tree stump until the ever-rising Mazes had completely grown over and around them. Very few traces of even that part of the tower is left, the Mazes having melded it into its claustrophobic chaos but as a result, there are a few strange features in this particular district that remain, remnants of tower apparatus suspended within the urban strata.

In this case, a particularly large water tank.

You drop down into a metal walkway running along the upper rim of a giant metal cylinder. There’s barely enough room to move, here in the crawlspace between the top of the water tank and the street that has paved over it but you only need to be in here long enough to locate the wheel at very top of the tank and to give it a spin. No rusted old ruin like the one above this, this one is in fine condition and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s me,” you call out before you drop down.”No fear.”

The tank, once meant to distribute water to a multitude of tower floors, had been subdivided into separate rooms long ago, the remains of the connecting pipes transformed into air ducts and vents. Rusty metal walls and partitions form makeshift floors that divide the tank into three floors, each theoretically a different living space for a different set of people. But now, of course, the entire tank belongs to you.

“Yeah I know boss, I saw you and the others coming,” Eustace is the only one currently in the top floor, the floor you had all decided should be the least inhabited lest a surprise intruder enter the tank and spy a flame. Instead the top floor is a sentry station and a dummy house set up to look as normal as possible to quell the suspicions of anyone just passing by. And nobody would be allowed further down for any reason.
Eustace is sitting on a stool by another of the omnipresent pipes, this one ripped from its old home and drilled into the ceiling. And though it looks like any other pipe, the nature of the bends and the reflective glass cunningly hid within it lets anyone who looks into it see into the crawlspace above and the open shaft. None of you had even made that, it had been a relic of previous crafty residents.

“Keep up the good work. Beatrice and Abe should be down shortly.”

Over at the far wall of the cylindrical room, you move the sleeping blanket carefully lain across the floor obscure the trapdoor that opens into the spiral staircase down into the lower two parts of the tank and descend.

2/4

>>2304567
The second (and largest) floor is the barracks, itself subdivided up into several rooms that serve as adequate albeit cramped quarters for you, your companions and any redcloaks currently present. Of course your whole contingent of redcloaks doesn’t live here permanently, that would be untenable. Some of them have their own homes and lives and others still are on patrol in the streets around your base. That said, there is one of them that should always be here and she is absent.
“Where is Alex?”

“Down in the armoury,”

“Thank you Enda.”

The third floor of the tank is where you store the weapons you liberated and in the center of it all, a wide open space for your daily training sessions with your new followers. The walls are thickest here and old water seepage means that the section of the Maze directly beneath is flooded and uninhabited. That said, you won’t let them practice with the rifles down here. The sound of a gunshot is just too distinctive, it can’t be risked.
You find Alex there clumsily running through a series of thrusts and swings with one of the halberds. You then immediately avert your eyes. She’s stripped down to a training outfit that would be appropriate for a male disciple, a pair of shorts and a thin undershirt, but is absolutely heinous for a woman. Had she been dressed like this when you had first met her, you would have been hard-pressed to have mistaken her for a man as you did.
“It’s time,” you say, as much to get her attention as anything else. “Get dressed, it’s time to discuss our next mission.”

“Huh? Alright!”
She tosses the halberd to the ground.
“But there’s really no need to wait for that. What’s our next target?”

“No,” you say, your eyes firmly fixed on the point where the wall behind her meets the ceiling. “Get dressed.”

Several minutes later, the four of you are sitting at the table off to the side from the training ground. The weapons leaning up against the walls gleam in the light as you move the lantern over from where it had been sitting on the floor to the table.
“I still dunno if we can trust that snake,” Alex says, having just been filled in on the gist of what had happened. “It thinks it’s smarter than us.”

“I know, right?,” Beatrice rasps. ‘What was your name again? Alexandra? Whatever. Us two are of the exact same mind here.”
While you and Abe have mingled with the redcloaks easily, Beatrice still refuses to really get to know them. You think you can guess why. But right now she’s gesturing at Alex as if the two of them were sisters, though the little bit over a foot of extra height on Alex’s part would make that hard to believe.
“Snake bitch is up to no good and I really don’t like what she said about her name.”

Abe frowns.
“We’ve got to use whatever we can get.”

3/4

>>2304570
“Agreed. Now as for our next target, I think it should be the Black Iron Docks that the monster told us about. It seems less important and less dangerous than the rest and what we find there might have a lot of use.”

“I’ve got bad news for you then,” Alex says. “None of the gang here know nothing about the Docks. They don’t mess with people, they keep to themselves. No connections. Do you know which shipyard is the right one?”

“No,” you admit. “But it’s still an excellent target and we need to move quickly.”

“Oh by the way you lot, while you were gone I heard a real interesting story,” Alex says. “It’s the Iron Duke’s funeral today and good riddance.”

Beatrice’s bloodshot eyes widen.
“Are they all going to be there?”

“How should I know. But they’re friends aren’t they?”

“I doubt any of them have anything resembling a true friend,” you say. “But do you know what this means?”

Abe shakes his head.
“We can’t attack the funeral. There’s no way we could do it.”

“No, it means that this ‘Albert’ should be away from home! Alex, spread the word! We’re not moving shortly, we’re moving now!”

Chapter Twelve: Second Sin


>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.

>No time for that! If you want to make use of this funeral, you'll need to start trespassing through the shipyards immediately.

>Just head to the shipyard that contains the central offices. Surely it's there!

>It's time to cause some chaos. By seeing where the security clusters in response to a threat, you should be able to see which shipyard is your target.

>Other (Specify)

>>2304574
>>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.

>>2304574
>>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.
It's a giant dreadnaught we're looking for, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out which shipyard has the most security or is the largest, etc.

>>2304574

>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.

>>2304555
Her name is unpronounceable, like the imps' or the trolls' or the gods', yes. That's not unique to gods. She has a connection to luck or fate or just to Snake Eyes, we don't actually know how far her influence stretches.
Her speech overrides others', and her forms are mutually exclusive.
I wouldn't proclaim her a god, no, especially since Maria is holier than her.

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I need to doze off earlier than I figured so this vote will remain open until I wake up tomorrow. Peace.

>>2303439
>He runs the Black Iron Docks out by the shore. Pompous, sweats a lot, kind of a discount Rene really. Also does some quaint little newsletter thing that I don’t care to read.
Can we steal Albert's printing press?

>>2304625
oooh that's actually an interesting idea. We could print up a load of flyers trying to bring people to our cause. I doubt we can steal the actual press though, unless it's a second age relic it's going to be way too big to transport, much less transport covertly.

>>2304574
>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.

>>2304625
While tempting, i think we should prioritize the dreadnaught. It would make the Central Offices an interesting target before or after the Sable Imps, to keep them all guessing and run some serious distractions, but if we're going for the firepower we should GET the firepower.

Pure speculation, but could the dreadnought be a sorta Noah's Ark? The world doesn't have that much juice left, so he could just fuck off into the mudsea with a piece of God for protection and sustainability.

>>2304574
>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.
We should try and collect rumors. If the dreadnought is being built since the Sun was shattered, it should be pretty well known already. Another thing to look for is the shipyard Albert visits most often.
Considering Albert brags about his dreadnought constantly, I think he wouldn't put too much efforts into secrecy. He strikes me as a huge ship nerd with no head for politics, based on the little we know.

>>2304644
Could be. In the end, nobody really knows what is further out at sea, and nobody gives a fuck about Albert anyway.

Put it another way, Noah's Ark could be The Bastion.

>>2304631
Well, we do have a group of people, and like two heavy hitters. Once the ship is found, we could maybe have our guys drag the press onto the ship.

That's if we want to keep the ship. Thing is, it's big and not subtle at all! Keeping a goddamn dreadnought and sneaking into the city to grab shards is not really easy to do.

And maybe the Chemist is the previous Lamplighter?

>>2304574

>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.

oh fuck fuck fuck
WE SHOULD HAVE MADE A RUN FOR DINU'S SKULL
Maria's at the funeral!

Ouro, is it too late to change our course (>>2305035)?

>>2305035
I don't think we're powerful enough yet even with her gone. We almost died to a single golem, and that was the work of an amateur.

>>2304574
>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.

Vote called. Thread resumes in an hour or so.

>Reconnaissance should be your first priority. Split into scouting teams and retreat at the first sign of danger.

“But didn’t the Bridesmaid say that he has at least a dozen different shipyards?,” Abe asks. “How are we supposed to know which is the right one to hit?”

Beatrice runs her hand through her hair.
“Yeah if we target the wrong one we’ll just be fucked, won’t we?”

“Which is why we’ll be splitting into groups to scout out as many of the shipyards as possible. Purely scouting, no fighting and without actually breaching their perimeters. The monster said that he likes to brag about this ‘dreadnought’ so it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out which one has it. It must require a lot of work.”

‘Right,” Alex says, already standing back up. “How are we splitting into teams?”

“Groups of two. I leave it to your judgement on how best to divide the redcloaks.”

“And the rest of you?”

>”I’ll be going with Beatrice.”

>”I’ll be going with Abraham.”

>”I’ll be going with you.”

>Other (Specify)

>>2305440
>”I’ll be going with you.”

>>2305440
>”I’ll be going with Abraham.”

>>2305440
>”I’ll be going with you.”

>>2305440
>>”I’ll be going with you.”

>>2305440
>>”I’ll be going with Abraham.”
>"ur going with B"

>>2305035
No uh. The only one we need to kill is Maria herself. There's nothing to gain from taking on an army of golems that she'll be able to rebuild after we inevitably retreat.

>>2305440
>>”I’ll be going with Abraham.”

>>2305440
>”I’ll be going with Abraham.”

>>2305497
support

Vote called, writing.

>”I’ll be going with Abraham.”

“I’ll go with Abraham. Alex, you and Beatrice can be together. Organise the rest of the redcloaks as you wish.”
If you’re going to be splitting up, this just makes more sense. Beatrice and you can hit the heaviest, it would be a waste for the two of you to be together.
“Remember, no heroics this time around. This is scouting only.”

“But aren’t we kind of squandering the funeral opportunity?”
Beatrice drums her fingers on the table.
“We didn’t scout the Consortium.”

“We didn’t need to. And the Consortium was a disaster. We can’t do that five more times. Just stay low and don’t get into fights. Run if you have to.”
Though this advice is intended as much for yourself and your companions, you have the people in the room above yours more upon your mind. The redcloaks are young, younger than Abe even. You don’t want them to die on your behalf.
“Any questions?”

“Yes actually,” Beatrice continues. “Say one of us finds the damn boat. How are we supposed to tell the others?”

“We won’t. Just come back at the right time and tell the rest of us when we rendezvous.”

“And what if none of us find anything?”

“Then we’ll switch to a new plan. Let’s go!”

*****

Almost an hour later, you and Abe are finally approaching the shipyard. You’d underestimated just how long it would take for you to cross the city and reach the docks but you still have almost half your time remaining.

>You two are investigating the biggest shipyard.

>You two are investigating the shipyard that keeps the company’s central offices.

>You two are investigating the shipyard furthest out towards the east.

>>2305631
>You two are investigating the shipyard furthest out towards the east.

This heat is making me feel extremely sluggish.

>>2305631
>>You two are investigating the shipyard furthest out towards the east.

>>2305631
>You two are investigating the shipyard that keeps the company’s central offices.

>>2305631
>>You two are investigating the shipyard furthest out towards the east.


>>2305657
Ouro is reverse snek

>>2305631
>You two are investigating the shipyard furthest out towards the east.
This is the one furthest from the city, right? That's where I'd keep my giant battleship.

>>2305631
>>You two are investigating the shipyard furthest out towards the east.
>and closest to the sea

Interlude

The entry hall for the crypt housing the funeral was already crowded but they parted for the chiselled golem and its passenger. The Inspector hurried along in her wake, following both to take advantage of the space people gave her and because he knew from personal experience how disastrous it can be to leave her presence before she dismisses you.

“The continued crimes of your mistress aside, there is some small comfort in seeing a familiar face here,” she told him.

The Inspector simply nodded to his former mentor. She might see his choice of employment as a betrayal but she was also a misanthrope in a very literal sense of the world. She wouldn’t know any of the people here or even the first thing in dealing with them.
The golem came to a stop by a door, pushing it open to reveal a small unoccupied room with a table and chairs inside. At the same time it also relaxed its grip and the witch slid to the floor.
“This’ll do. I plan to stay in here until the ceremony starts.”

The Inspector followed her inside, knowing that her not telling him to get out of her sight was as open an invitation as you’d ever get. The doorway was seven foot tall, forcing her to crouch to get inside. By the time he had followed her and the golem had stepped in behind him to completely block off the door, she was sitting on a chair that was much too wide and short for her. He can’t see her face, wrapped in the umbra as she perpetually is but knows that she is glaring balefully.
“Everytime I am forced to come up and see what ugly and awkward things you cockroaches have built, my heart dies a little more.”

“You wished to see me?”

“Perhaps. What do you think of the funeral?”

“It is...appropriate.”

“Is it? Would you believe that he didn’t leave a will or directions or anything? He really planned on living forever. We had to come up with this ceremony from scratch. Couldn’t use anything to do with any kind of god, he’d hate that. Still, I’d like to think he’d find some value in being preserved forever.”
A derisive chuckle.
“His corpse is immortal even if he is not.”

The Inspector felt compelled to say something.
“I didn’t know him well but he did not strike me as a religious man.”

“That’s one way to put it. I once asked him why he simply did not become a witch and he told me, to my face, that ‘he was not going to be a slave to dead gods like I was’. To my face! While I was working on his body, no less!”
Her umbral cloak, a persistent and unusual Shade, relaxes enough for the Inspector to see just a flash of gold. Not that he didn’t already know what she looked like of course, he had been her student for several months. The general outline of her had become visible, lissome, curved and frail.
“I was actually impressed. Talking to you gray lot is generally like talking to children but he was so sure of himself. I...I couldn’t help but be sure of him too. It was infectious.”

1/2

>>2305757
This was uncharted territory for the Inspector but it was plain that she wanted him to say something of some sort. She wanted someone to talk to.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Don’t be,” she snarled, her tone going from an almost unheard wistfulness to a much more familiar bile. “Did you know what I did to him? He was my creation and unknown to him and every other one of you cretins who couldn’t comprehend a blueprint to save your lives, I deliberately retained a link. He was recording for me the entire time and he never knew it. Just a slave in the end after all. So I know what his final words were. Do you want to know?”

The Inspector realised now that she didn’t want someone to talk with. She wanted someone familiar to talk at. In which case his only option was to play along.
“What?”

“He begged for his life. He grovelled. He was going to sell all of us out just to live five minutes more. Lucky for us his murderer was some sort of idiot, even for you people. I should loathe him. But still…”
Her cloak of shadow tore at the seams with a sudden violent movement as she slams a hand upon the table. The hand was thin and over-exaggeratedly feminine by any Third Man standard, long fingers shaded a deep gold shot through with veins of silver. It rested there for but a moment before balling into a fist.
“But still!”

Vote called, writing.

>>2305757
>The doorway was seven foot tall, forcing her to crouch to get inside
>forcing her to crouch to get inside

second men confirmed giants

>>2305804
Perhaps 'hunch down' would have been a better use of words.

>>2305813
Still fucking tall!

>>2305763
Close. Fucking. Call.

The info on the others is not worth the Golemist personally hunting us down right after our first power up.

Sorry guys, I actually fell asleep for a bit halfway through this.

>You two are investigating the shipyard furthest out towards the east.

Part of the reason why it had taken you so long to arrive was that you had eschewed the closer shipyards and had instead headed towards the easternmost point of the bay. This was the furthest way from the city and just as importantly, the closest towards the horizon.

The shipyards are not like the Thorn or the Senate Hall, landmarks that crop up through the towers and are visible from many miles away. Instead Dis’ thicket of towers serves to hide the sea almost completely from sight. You can barely even tell that you are approaching it until you are practically on top of it, when you reach the point where the towers finally thin and abruptly give way to the shore.

The shore. You’ve never been. The Sea of Mud in its entirety is sacred, the flat unchanging ocean that had existed before time or the world, from whose depths the Old Powers dredged themselves up from and the medium through which the Wayward Flame had made his vengeance known. An endless expanse of perpetually boiling mud and the birthplace of every kind of man.
And the shore of Dis is where it all began. Where the first steps of the First Men were taken and where fateful battle between Man and Gods had first been joined.

Dis, as it does to all things, encroaches and bleeds into the shore. The actual shoreline is lost amidst a muddle of buildings and ruins, the flowing mud squeezed between abandoned blocks that had fallen into the sea centuries ago. But out further, beyond all the ruined urban muddle, a flat expanse of gray and brown spanning out into infinity. You have never seen such a horizon before.

“I never thought I’d get to see it,” Abe whispers.

The shipyard squats amidst the muddle and stretches out further, quays reaching out through it and out into the Sea proper like long black fingers. They are dotted with sheds and shiphouses, floating buildings that mask the vessels within, though there are still uncovered ships dotted here and there. Squat and bulky ugly things built to withstand heat.

“What are they used for?,” Abe asks. “What does anyone here need boats for? Is there somewhere down the coast they trade with?”

“Maybe,” you say, peering at the shipyards below from atop the bridge wall. “I asked Alex and she said that many people uses the ships as residence.”

“I don’t see any particularly large ship.”

Neither can you. But your eyes spot something else unusual.
“Maybe so. But look at that shed down by the shore.”

“Wait, that’s part of the docks? I thought it was a sunken tower or something. That’s...that’s a big warehouse. What are they keeping in there?”

“The dreadnaught, most likely.”

“Wouldn’t it be more heavily guarded if that was the case? And the warehouse itself looks kind of dilapidated.”

1/2

>>2305971
You pause. It’s true that such an apparently boasted-of project would probably not be lurking within a shed as run down as the one below you. But why else would it be so large? It dwarfs every other building in the shipyards or along the quays by an order of magnitude.

“Do you want to go down and have a look?,” Abe asks. “Nothing too serious, I know it’s just scouting but whatever’s big enough to fit in here is bound to be important.”
Abraham is, as ever, eager to prove himself. His own personal safety means little to him.


>Agree. There’s still the possibility that this may be the dreadnaught after all.

>It’s not worth it. Just scope out what you can and then head back to the rendezvous point.

>One of you can go in alone while the other keeps watch.

>Other (Specify)

>>2305804
IIRC First Men were/are even bigger.

>>2305976
>>Agree. There’s still the possibility that this may be the dreadnaught after all.
No point splitting up, it's not like we can signal to each other or anything.

>>2305987
I think the second are taller but thinner, while the first are "blockier". Both are bigger than us third men though.

>>2305976
>>Agree. There’s still the possibility that this may be the dreadnaught after all.

>>2306000
I think she might be a first woman.

>>2306000
I thought the First were just massive and blocky overall, their architecture matching their builds.

>>2306029
Not if her skin is gold, First Men weren't that color.

>>2305976
>Agree. There’s still the possibility that this may be the dreadnaught after all.

>>2306029
First men were mud colored and basically big blocks of flesh. She's far too delicate and thin for that.

First men = Big, BLocky, tough but utter SHIT at building and innovations
Second men= Tall, thin, frail but smart as fuck and golden colored
Third men= tough, well-muscled, quick healers, and gray.

It's important to note that with each new man the likelihood and powers of the flame dimmed. Fourth men even having Wick might not be able to do flame rites at all.

>>2305976
Agree.

>>2306029
>>2306044
Here's Ouro's long post explaining the various races of men and the ages
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/757516/#p783706

>>2306058
This is correct as far as I can tell. I'd theorize that the fourth age will be the end of the old powers, both of earth and flame, and the fourth men will be pretty normal humans.

>>2306058
>utter SHIT
They had the largest structures, they weren't bad at building, they just made less complex structures than the Second Men.

>>2306072
>>2306058
>>2306044
Your right, first men werent gold. Sorry for my confusion.

>>2306083
They were good at building in the same way the Egyptians were good at building

>>2305976
>Agree. There’s still the possibility that this may be the dreadnaught after all.

>>2305976
>>Agree. There’s still the possibility that this may be the dreadnaught after all.

>>2306072
Rereading this, I have kind of a weird question.

How did First Men even breed? From the sound of their culture it doesn't seem like they had any reason to.

>>2306095
They made the Jews do it?

>>2306072
Reviewing this, it sounds probable that Maria was involved in the fall of the second age. A formidable foe indeed.

>>2306113
They did if only to make more soldiers to fight the Earth gods.

>>2306126
Is it just two giant munters bumping uglies though, or is there an element of pyromancy in it? Considering First Men were literal Vessels of the Wayward Flame.

>>2306138
Honestly do not know and probably do not want too.

>>2306138
I would assume it's just them bumping uglies since it was briefly mentioned that there was cross-generational breeding that still led to the successive generations replacing the previous age. If the first and second could reproduce then there's probably not anything inherently special about it. And it's kind of a moot point since they've all seemed to have died out/lack the ability to reproduce more first or second age men anymore.

Vote called, writing.

>>2306058
>>2306083
>>2306095

The First Men had a very monumental building style, tending towards large, impressive but ultimately simple structures. They also tended to use these fortified structures to live communally since the world outside those structures was incredibly unsafe at the time. Dis, as a city with a great deal of investment and nostalgia for its roots, imitates this style heavily, hence the cultural focus on massive communal towers.

>>2306165
I thought that too, but maybe they can do both? Or maybe they could impart the flame of life onto others?

>>2306173
What about their method of getting busy?

>>2306180
Boning, usually.

>>2306203
Interesting. Where's your artfag?

>>2306180
Put ponos in vagoo

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Actually belay that update. I'm going into a flakenap for a few hours. Today has been dreadful for updates.

>>2306255
Your fleksnek art collection has become impressive and I'm not sure that's a good thing

>>2305976

>Agree. There’s still the possibility that this may be the dreadnaught after all.

What if it's a submarine? An actual nuclear reactor submarine to chart the unknown abyss?

>>2306441
It's just more and more mud until you reach insane pressure from all the mud above you, and the heat that lies in the deepest depth.

Ouro said something about Second Age submarines during a discussion about technology.

>>2306456
.....Is he off to steal the Wayward Flame itself?

>>2306255
Yo Ouro, would you be cool with some of your characters making a cameo in a game?

If yes, would you prefer Hiss and Cennen or Orion and Bea

File: sleepsnake.png (156 KB, 458x498)

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>>2306855
I don't mind. I'd like to know what it is though but you don't exactly need my permission.


Alright guys so I have some bad news. Remember how my old laptop charger crapped out and I had to spend a week waiting for a new one to be mailed to me since no place local sold the right one? The tip of this new charger snapped in half and left part of itself inside my computer as I was rousing myself just now. It's happening again.

>>2306876
Shit. Can you get it out?

>>2306876
Holy shit. What-how even-just-

....Pliers. Tweezers. If all else fails, you really will have to open it up just to eject that half-plug.

Here's hoping that doing this doesn't zap me

It's the curse!

Do you have a warranty, Ouro? You just got it, that should help.

Don't worry about the plug, there's a good way to get it out. Just get a large magnet and apply it directly to your hard drive.

Regardless of how this turns out, this is probably the end of the thread. Could someone archive it for me? I'm about to turn my laptop off to conserve power.
I should have gotten more done.

>>2306889
rubber handle, dry hands, or just go to a comp shop and have them do it.

>>2306893
or warranty, but cheapo chargo so I suspect not.

But pls no magnet. There's questing stuff in there.

>>2306895
How does this sound?
'We get the details of the Sinners, and are told of the manner of the Sun's passing.'

>>2305500
You missed the point. I was saying that we should have dropped by her place, stolen her shard, and skedaddled before the golem-controller got back. I figure golems are a lot more dangerous with their controller present than they are without.

>>2306903
This was meant to be serious, so I unfortunately couldn't use the phrase 'brought to light'.

>>2306920
We already fought one of her golems, and ended up just running away. I don't think we can thoroughly search her place while being mobbed by multiple golems.

Killing the witch who controls them deactivates all the golems, right?

Sunuvabitch, we're all idiots. We could have used the Starbreaker satellite map to help look for the dreadnought.

>>2306963
I don't know if killing the witch kills the golems, they're meant to be autonomous.

>>2306984
Would that have helped? I suppose google maps would point out the most obviously large warehouse, narrowing down the list by a lot.

>>2306986
>Would that have helped? I suppose google maps would point out the most obviously large warehouse, narrowing down the list by a lot.
Or a honking great big ship in the harbor.

>>2306984
We're so bad at remembering we have that. Even Ouro forgot at one point.

>>2306989
Is it that detailed? I thought it was kind of rudimentary. Hell if you really think about it we could've brought down the one star that's still above Dis down onto that funeral and made a big splash.

>>2307008
I think that would be too risky. If Beatrice jacked up and quickfired, we could take out 2-3 of the more normal Sinners in the chaos, but then we'd be running right the fuck out.

>>2307008
We should save the star for the Bride. She is the most dangerous for us.

>>2306984
AHAH, thread 4.5

>Golems are earthen creatures, beings of the soil and rock itself and powered by a hateful curse within. They lack any vital function and so no injury can lay them low. Their soil and clay drowns all but the strongest of flame and so they cannot be burned. And all this is rock and dirt around you is but new flesh for the golem to add to its own. And while this one is smaller than any golem you’ve seen before, they remain one of the strongest and most terrifying creatures a witch can create.
>The only ways to destroy one for good is to take it apart atop the concrete plains or in some other place where there is no earth to reconstitute itself or to destroy the witch who animated it.

>>2307034
I'm not sure that the star would necessarily be a one hit KO for any of the seven. The Iron Duke was apparently kind of a lightweight and was still pretty difficult for us. But as a propaganda tool or just to cause chaos it would've been interesting to see how it worked out.

>>2307095
It will be glorious once we're more powerful and our cause is more well known.

>become a prophet of the sun
>demand the remaining sinners hand over their shards or face the wrath of the Flame
>sinners kek
>we orbital bombard all of them
>no one doubts us any more

>>2307104
There's only one star above Dis still. It'll be kind of a lame orbital bombardment. We should definitely Allah Akbar their Senate or something.

>>2307046
I wonder if a thermal lance could actually damage one enough to mitigate its regeneration.

>>2307125
Doesn't the place they were holding Bea have a bunch of gunpowder stored in it? Something hitting that from orbit could be very satisfying.

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>>2307008
>Nuke the funeral
You're a genius, anon.

>>2307015
but then we'd be running right the fuck out.
We don't need to be present.

>>2307008
>Is it that detailed?
Yes. It's got zoom and everything.

>>2307034
>Snake is the most dangerous
Nah, golemist stomps.

>>2307046
>All but the strongest of flame
We've got that. It's unhealthy to use, but
we've got it.

>>2307095
>The Iron Duke was apparently kind of a lightweight
Are you kidding me? He was a physical powerhouse and invulnerable to flame.

>>2307125
>It'll be kind of a lame orbital bombardment.
Most of them are squishy humans.

Ugh, on the other hand, I don't want to do a dungeon bypass. So far I've liked all the Sinners, and think they would be great boss fights. It would be a shame to kill Albert and Spinnae without meeting them.

Rene and Maria would probably survive since she's powerful and he's probably an imp.

>>2307385
>>2307372
Nuking the funeral would be more of a stunt desu and maybe would have the added bonus of killing one or two of the sinners (big maybe). But it would almost certainly cause a ton of chaos and be a very poignant statement that none of the seven are untouchable. Plus when are we really going to get to use this thing? Most of the seven we're going to have to battle in one way or anything because they possess a shard. The snek we can't even be sure that we'd harm with the star. But it's been mentioned that there's already growing unrest in Dis. Now you have this somewhat public ceremony where the city's influential leaders are all gathered and suddenly a fucking star falls out of the sky and smashes into it. At the very least it would help with unrest and be pretty goddamn funny.

>>2307430
Plus, we keep forgetting about it anyway.

>>2307442
Forgetting about what?

>>2307442
Do we even have time to do it at this point? We're already out exploring and who knows how long they'll all be gathered in the same place?

>>2307480
Pls go hypno snek.

God damn I want to stardrop the funeral so bad.

>>2307480
I don't remember...

>>2307483
>Do we even have time to do it at this point? We're already out exploring and who knows how long they'll all be gathered in the same place?
Don't know. It'll take half an hour to land, we're about halfway through the funeral.
If Ouro agrees, though, we can switch to Bea, who retroactively could be using the Starbreaker as a map, and make her decide to bomb the place half an hour ago.

>>2305976
>Orion suddenly gets idea to nuke the funeral with holy star fire and goes back to the base to deliver justice from the skies.

Voting for.

>>2307498
That seems like something Bea would absolutely do.

>>2307500
This actually makes much more sense and sounds logical.

>>2307498
>>2307499
>>2307500
I think we won't be able to properly capitalize on a bombing. The strike might not kill the Sinners outright, and there's enough security there that we won't be able to finish them off.

>>2307508
The point isn't the kill all of the sinners. It's more of a propaganda thing than anything else and we wouldn't launch a full scale attack on them once it drops. I'd assume that we get out of there as soon as the thing is falling and go attack the docks. At the very least it causes a massive distraction and maybe contributed more to the unrest in the city.

>>2307516
It's a fucking orbital strike. Are you sure you want to waste it on a PR stunt?

You guys are getting way ahead of yourselves. In character, we don't know that the sinners are attending the funeral. From what we know, we'd probably think they weren't! We don't even know where the funeral is being held.

Also Orion would be conflicted dropping the star in the first place. Not a problem if you're trying to retcon Bea to do it though.

>>2307521
We know there's a funeral and the sinners are there, it's why we're going for the shipyards i nthe first place.

>>2307521
We do know about the funeral, the snek told us about it.

She's also the only one of the Sinners not attending. Besides, you know, the dead ones.

>>2307524
>>2307526
Ok you're totally right on that. We do assume they're there, that's softened my resistance quite a bit. We still don't know where it is though.
I worry Ouro regrets the star breaker though and we're going to break the narrative by doing this

>>2307508
>I think we won't be able to properly capitalize on a bombing. The strike might not kill the Sinners outright, and there's enough security there that we won't be able to finish them off.
We don't need to. We'd probably get two of them, maybe three or if we're insanely lucky, all four. We don't need to be there, we don't need to finish them off.

>>2307520
>It's a fucking orbital strike. Are you sure you want to waste it on a PR stunt?
It's a chance to kill 2-4 of the 5/7 remaining sinners, of course it's worth it. If we got to the satellite again, it's even reusable. Fill it up with Lamplight, next shard will refill it to 100/100 again.

>>2307521
>You guys are getting way ahead of yourselves. In character, we don't know that the sinners are attending the funeral.
Yeah we do.
>“Oh by the way you lot, while you were gone I heard a real interesting story,” Alex says. “It’s the Iron Duke’s funeral today and good riddance.”

>We don't even know where the funeral is being held.
Alex might, and if we really don't know where it is, we won't drop a star on it. Oh well.

>Also Orion would be conflicted dropping the star in the first place. Not a problem if you're trying to retcon Bea to do it though.
He might be, yeah. Even Bea might be. But even so, I think they each might do it. 4/7 Sinners is too juicy a target to give up on.

>>2307533
>meta
I kind of agree, and while I'm excited by the idea, I don't want to skip boss fights. But if Ouro had a problem with it, he could just say that the Dreadnought was not easily seen from orbit, that we left it back in our bunker for safety, and that it would take too long to go home and come back.

>>2307533
Actually maybe this isn't such a good idea. If we take out or cripple the ship guy, the fellowship guy, and the hospital guy that might leave the golemist or snake with more fragments.

>>2307549
Actually maybe this isn't such a good idea. If we take out or cripple the ship guy, the fellowship guy, and the hospital guy that might leave the golemist or snake with more fragments.
What would either of do with them? Snake can't touch them and Golemist is a witch.

>>2307549
I know it seems silly, but I just can't foresee the starbreaker doing enough damage to take out more than maybe one of the sinners. But I don't know when we'd get to use it to more effect.

>>2307546
>It's a chance to kill 2-4 of the 5/7
It's a chance to maybe kill the little fish, and make the really tough ones ten times as careful.
It'll also give up our trump card no one knows about, wasting it on the small fry.

>>2307564
>small fry
I mean, they're still the Sinners who killed the Sun.

Speaking of which, aren't there two shards unaccounted for?

>>2307582
Relatively small fry.

>>2307582
Yeah, there are 10 total, the sinners had seven, we had one, and the two other lamplighters each had one.

>>2307588
Small compared to the Snake and Golemist, but there aren't many beings that could be considered not smaller than them.

>>2307564
It's not a waste, each of these people could be quite powerful in their own bases. They're all very rich, at least, and have their own personal armies. Being ten times as careful isn't so bad, especially if they're defending against an attack we don't intend to repeat.

>>2307601
That's why we need to save our trump card for one of them.

>>2307603
If the star doesn't kill them outright, we will have wasted it.

>>2307603
>>2307606
Dropping it on the dreadnought could be a better use for it, if the ship's in dry-dock it would case massive damage to it, and it might be able to recharge on its own if it hits the reactor directly. Assuming it's powered by the Shard.

>>2307606
The star won't kill the snake or the golemist outright. It would be silly to hype up their power and then just let us smash them with a drone strike.

>>2307612
We could distract them to recharge it and repeatedly drop it on them.

>>2307611
I think another benefit of striking the funeral is that it allows us to search for Albert's shard while the entire city is trying to clean up the funeral drone strike.

>>2307611
I don't think the star will survive the impact anon. The one we found hadn't been dropped from orbit, it ran out of fuel and fell, right? I think that was thread three or four if anyone wants to check.

>>2307612
Yes, but it'll weaken them greatly, and we'll be in a position to capitalize on this.

>>2307617
Ouro previously mentioned that there's only a single star above Dis, only one that's in range of the city. All of the others have been pulled down or something. We only have one opportunity to use it in Dis. I just don't see it being more effective than using it at the funeral. We keep forgetting about it anyway.

>>2307619
It's 4.5, I think.

That still means it fell from orbit, and it still left a massive crater, penetrating the concrete completely.

>>2307621
We don't know where it's being held anyway.
Also, if we kill all the other Sinners, the Bride will hunt us down immediately, before we have the time to get to the shards.

>>2307625
I think someone in the Redcloaks would know. The interludes didn't make it appear that the thing was very low-profile.

>>2307630
The Bride is still a problem. She'd knew she'll be next, so she'd fall on us like a sack of bricks.

>>2307619
>The one we found hadn't been dropped from orbit, it ran out of fuel and fell, right?
Yeah, but isn't that pretty much the same thing?

>>2307625
I don't get why you all are so worried about the Madam and the Snake. They're meant to be boss fights, and Orion doesn't power up very much, and the order in which we kill them is entirely up to us. We're meant to be able to take them on mano a mano, we're not supposed to be terrified of fighting them.

>>2307633
>we're not supposed to be terrified of fighting them.
Are you sure?
Are.
You.
Sure?
Also even if so, we're probably meant to take them on while having more shards.

This is Ouro, posting from a tablet. You may use the Starbreaker whenever you wish. I haven't been presenting it as a prompt because you only get 1 and i didn't want it to feel as if I was pressuring you to use it at any given point. Its also not in Orions nature to drop a star from the sky unless he absolutely has to.

>>2307642
How do we know it's really you? Post tits.

>>2307642
Does Alex know where the funeral is?

>Drop satellite.
Lets kill a hundred innocent people in order to kill a doctor who runs free clinics and a shipbuilder, and get the chance to kill an imp and a witch.

>>2307642
Yeah, how do we know you're really Ouro?

>>2307678
There are no innocents in Dis :^)

>>2307678
>>2307680
No one is innocent in Dis and they're all attending the funeral for one of the sinners.

>>2307687
No one is innocent in Dis and they're all attending the funeral for one of the sinners.
All humans in Dis relied on his fire to stay alive, of course they would be thankful. They don't know that he killed the Sun in the first place. They are innocents.

>>2307698
>They are innocents.
Dis has always defied the world order and strove against the interest of Man. There are no innocents in Dis.

>>2307590
I forgot that we heard that one of our fellow lamplighters already came here and failed. That might be a reason the tangle could have two shards

>>2307708
If no one was innocent it would be easier to set the city on fire and take advantage of the fact we cant be burned to search faster and easier.

>>2307735
If Dis could burn this wouldn't be a bad plan.

Actually, is the mud in the Sea of Mud flammable?

Adding my vote to nuke the funeral

It's an amazing idea and frankly I think it'll have so many exciting and interesting consequences that it's worth doing to see what happens. It may be crazy but Orion is angry enough, biting it down or no, to accept how much it could expedite his quest.

>>2307789
>it'll have so many exciting and interesting consequences that it's worth doing to see what happens
Notions like that in quests have never led to anything good as long as I remember. Never.

>>2307794
But you can't deny that it would be interesting.

>>2307809
Not if we have to try and unfuckup it.

>>2307819
That can be just as interesting

>>2307824
As if we have not enough interesting things already.

>>2307819
>>2307824
Even more interesting. Remember how fun the Iron Duke fight was? We were completely fucked, and it was great.
That's how games are, the more fucked you are, the fun you have.

>>2307878
Until you die.
Don't think Ouro won't let us die.

We need to take a headcount on who is for and against nuking the funeral at the moment to decide if this is even something we want to try to go forward with.