>>2362813
HOLY FUCKING FUCK OURO JUST POSTED!!!!

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>>2362813
Chapter Twelve: Second Sin

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

“Yes. Whatever it is, it must be worth a look.”
You have your doubts whether a boatshed this dilapidated would hide the supposed ‘solar dreadnaught’ but it’s bigger than any other building in the whole dock. It’s built out over the Sea of Mud itself, the mud flowing back and forth beneath it. Why would such a huge section of this dock be worth walling off like that? If it’s not the dreadnaught, it’s something.

Abe nods.
“That’s going up against what you told everyone else, of course.”

“Yes.”
You had told the others to stay safe, to value their own lives above any other possibility. This was just a scouting mission after all. It wasn’t worth a death.
“It’s different when I do it.”

The two of you descend down towards the line where Dis meets the Sea, a ruined coastline of sunken towers and sluggish mud. The docks themselves look barely manned, less of the Black Iron Dock’s crewmen here than in any other of their docks dotted along the eastern edge of Dis. But it was still a part of Dis and the city had overflown into it. Shanties had been built over the central quay itself and most of the boats still floating alongside them had been converted into homes. Only those parts of the quays directly owned by the Docks were kept separate and as you approach, you see that it must be a constant conflict. The shantytown of the docks and the ‘proper’ quays were separated by a line of rubble, of slums that had been torn down and their inhabitants evicted the instant they began to encroach.
This is the easternmost of the Docks, the smallest and by the looks of everything, the one in the worst condition.

Behind it all, a lamp-post still burns green, casting everything into half-shade. This is despite the now widely known shortage that must have people envying even the slightest ember of the Consortium’s blasphemy. The soft light illuminates black-cloaked guards patrolling the docks. Most of them should be easy to avoid and you and Abe do so, walking through the floating slums instead. Dangerous perhaps, but none of the wretches there gave you trouble. Not even they were so desperate.

As you climb a small stair onto a rusted quay that leads further into the nest of ships, you let a gauntleted hand trail in the polluted mud flowing just a foot below. It’s a mixture of brown and gray and it is sacred. It is from this Sea of Mud that all mankind is birthed and it is beneath this ocean that the Fourth Age still surely waits.
It is lukewarm.

“I must admit,” Abe whispers. “I expected it to be bubbling.”

“It’s supposed to be,” you hiss. “The Flame boiled it when he fell and it stayed that way! The Sea of Mud has always been boiling!”
1/2

>>2362822
It was the scalding mud that forced the Old Powers onto the newborn land to escape it. The mud had boiled when it had given rise to the First Men and the Second and the Third. The power of the Wayward Flame had rendered it as to a furnace! But now, thirty years after the death of God, the Sea of Mud has grown tepid.

You do your best not to dwell on what this could mean for the future nor do you entertain the idea that it could all be for nothing, that the sun could return but no new rejuvenation of Man could ever rise again from these stillbirth shores. Those ideas are nigh on blasphemy and do little for you when you still have a mission to complete. You can’t let yourself grow distracted.

Most of the Black Iron Dock’s skeleton crew should not be an issue, they are concentrated around the offices. The massive shed has, as far as you can tell, only a single guard posted. He is standing by the vast doors that lead into it from the quay and though you can’t see many details, he doesn’t appear as if he’ll be moving any time soon.

>Take him out. All you need is a small look inside, you’ll be done before anyone notices their disappearance.

>Try to sneak past them. Abe can make a distraction of some sort.

>If this really is some sort of boatshed, the other end should open up to let the ships out into the ocean. You can go around.

>By all appearances, this thing doesn’t have a floor save the Sea itself. A short swim through the toxic mud should bring you back up within it.

>Other (Specify)

Drop a satellite on the funeral

>>2362824
>If this really is some sort of boatshed, the other end should open up to let the ships out into the ocean. You can go around.
plan B would be to swim under I think, we got our healing upgraded so it should be manageable.

>>2362854
I'll be putting that up for a vote in this thread soon enough, fear not.

Drop a satellite on anon.

>>2362824
>If this really is some sort of boatshed, the other end should open up to let the ships out into the ocean. You can go around.

>>2362824
>Take him out. All you need is a small look inside, you’ll be done before anyone notices their disappearance.

>>2362824
>>If this really is some sort of boatshed, the other end should open up to let the ships out into the ocean. You can go around.

>>2362824

>If this really is some sort of boatshed, the other end should open up to let the ships out into the ocean. You can go around.

>>2362854
This

Vote called. Writing.

reminder to be chill regardless of the outcome of the star breaker vote, last thread was getting pretty heated

>>2362824
>Other (Specify)
Drop the last star over Dis, and pray for salvation for resorting to such heresy.

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>If this really is some sort of boatshed, the other end should open up to let the ships out into the ocean. You can go around.

There’s no need to get into a fight just yet. Just because you’re disregarding what you told the others doesn’t mean you have to be pointlessly dangerous about it. And while the most obvious entrance is under guard, it can’t be the only one.
“If they really are keeping boats in here,” you whisper to Abe, “there must be a big gate on the far side to let them be moved in and out.”

“Right. Won’t that just be locked though?”

“Easier than a guard. Follow me.”

The vast shed is a ramshackle thing, nailed together from many sheets of corrugated iron and set to wall off a large section of the docks. Quays vanish into it like arteries into a bloated heart and rusty iron walls cordon them off. The only apparent entrance is the door at its front, the door which the two of you have chosen to ignore.
Instead you go around, tracing further along the slum-docks and when you reach their end, crawling along the metal gratings that lie close to the holy muck. The warehouse is lined with such gratings, possibly to help keep it afloat and while they don’t offer much room, it’s enough for you and Abe to slowly ease yourself along.

It takes nearly ten minutes. Ten minutes of praying that none of the guards happen to look across and see two shadows slowly scraping around the side of the shed. By the time you round the last corner, your boots are caked in poison.

You were right. The far side of the shed, the side that faces the open horizon, is a set of massive doors pieced together from sheets of iron much like the rest of the edifice it is set in. They are lashed together with chains but don’t close all the way, mud flowing beneath and between the doors. There might be enough room to squeeze through them.


You’re inching closer when you hear someone cry out. You can’t make out the words but they sound alarmed. Has one of the guards seen you? Did someone in the slums tip them off? You can’t know for sure. All you can know is that here, perched up against the shed’s rear just a few inches off the Sea and with nowhere else to go, you can’t run.

>Do your best to squeeze through the doors. Hurry!

>Ignite your sword and try to hack your way through the chains. It’ll be bright but it’ll also be quick.

>Press up against the walls and hide. If it’s not you causing the disturbance, they won’t see you.

>Other (Specify)

>>2362977
>Other (Specify)
Peek through the gap, if we see good cover or the dreadnaught,
>Do your best to squeeze through the doors. Hurry!
otherwise
>Press up against the walls and hide. If it’s not you causing the disturbance, they won’t see you.

>>2362977

>>2362999
Seconding

>>2362999
>>2362977
Third'n.

>>2362999
This.

>>2362977
>Do your best to squeeze through the doors. Hurry!

Vote called. Writing.

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>Do your best to squeeze through the doors. Hurry!

“Quick!”
You scramble over to the massive doors, nearly slipping into the mud as you do so. You catch yourself with one edge of the corrugated iron and use it to steady yourself as you look inside. Nothing but darkness awaits you. There are no lights within.
You can hear footsteps clattering on steel behind you. Have you been spotted?

Lacking any better option, you push the chained shed doors as far wide as they can and do your best to force your way through! There is a horrendous groan of tortured steel as you stumble through the gates and...fall.
There is no metal beyond for your feet to find, no safe ground. Instead you slip through the doors and, in near total darkness, fall into the Sea. It’s deep and only faintly warm and though you keep your head above, your feet do not touch ground. You stop yourself from yelling out but as much as you thrash, it is all you can do to keep yourself level amidst the sucking mud.

Of course. Why would there be a walkway within the gate for ships to come and go?

“Orion!”
Abe has followed you but only partway, his leg caught between the thin sheets of corrugated iron as they slapped shut behind him. He dangles from the gate upside down in the dark, his head near submerged!
“Help!”


>Try to help pull him free right away, even though you have no leverage of your own to speak of. (Roll, medium difficulty)

>Grab hold of one of the shapes in the darkness and take the time to anchor yourself on something solid before grabbing him. (Easy difficulty roll but Abe is left for longer.)

>Make your way back to the doors and pull them open, even through all the mud. (Hard difficulty roll but won't hurt Abe if it succeeds.)

>>2363118
Abe, you're so...

>Grab hold of one of the shapes in the darkness and take the time to anchor yourself on something solid before grabbing him. (Easy difficulty roll but Abe is left for longer.)

>>2363118
>Grab hold of one of the shapes in the darkness and take the time to anchor yourself on something solid before grabbing him. (Easy difficulty roll but Abe is left for longer.)

>>2363118
>Make your way back to the doors and pull them open, even through all the mud. (Hard difficulty roll but won't hurt Abe if it succeeds.)

>>2363118
>>Try to help pull him free right away, even though you have no leverage of your own to speak of. (Roll, medium difficulty)

>>2363118
Actually, I suppose we're not in a situation to light our wick to take a look what with our hand occupied, and that if we wanted to we'd both be leaving Abe for longer and not necessarily anchoring ourselves, right?

>>2363167
Correct.

>>2363118
>>Try to help pull him free right away, even though you have no leverage of your own to speak of. (Roll, medium difficulty)

>>2363171
I see. Darn it.

>>2363127
Drop a satellite on Abe.

>>2362822
>You had told the others to stay safe, to value their own lives above any other possibility.
oh. I thought looking in a window or something was still considered safe.

But hell, it really only applies to the others because they're not a trained force and Bea inherently puts herself in danger constantly.

>>2363118
>Grab hold of one of the shapes in the darkness and take the time to anchor yourself on something solid before grabbing him. (Easy difficulty roll but Abe is left for longer.)

Vote called, writing.

>Grab hold of one of the shapes in the darkness and take the time to anchor yourself on something solid before grabbing him. (Easy difficulty roll but Abe is left for longer.)

Now that your eyes have adjusted, the dark has lessened very slightly. Enough to see shapes looming out from the darkness. Jagged metal things adrift in the mud.
“Stay calm!”

You swim away as quickly as you are able, covering the distance of a mere pace with considerable effort. The mud is clingy and it’s beginning to feel as if you’ll never tear yourself free from its lukewarm embrace. You grab hold of what seems to be a metal pole of some kind and with it as an anchor, lunge out with your other arm to grab hold of Abe as he lies facedown in the mud! You may have left him too long.

You grab hold of his arm and pull, hopefully without doing something nasty to his caught leg.

>Roll 1d6. The first 3 results shall be used for the roll. All rolls have a +1 modifier.

Rolled 2 + 1 (1d6 + 1)

>>2363227
>3 1s

Rolled 3 + 1 (1d6 + 1)

>>2363227

Rolled 5 + 1 (1d6 + 1)

>>2363227

Rolled 5 + 1 (1d6 + 1)

>>2363227

>>2363207
>oh. I thought looking in a window or something was still considered safe.
Well, not when said window is inside a guarded compound.

>3, 4, 6
Noted. Writing. The three stages of that action, by the way, was pulling him free, pulling him free and doing it without the doors gouging him in the leg.

>>2363250
So no gouge? noice

>3, 4, 6

You grit your teeth and pull Abe free with one hand, using the other to hold onto your makeshift anchor. He plops down into the mud and even as your muscles protest, you lift him free of the mud and slam him upon the dark platform above that the metal pole was supporting. You follow not soon after, dragging yourself up the pole and out of the mud even as it tries to pull you back down.

The two of you are lying in the dark upon a cold metal platform of some sort. It feels not unlike the quays outside and that’s probably what it is, a raised walkway across this little patch of enclosed Sea. It’s dark but you can just make out the other shapes floating in the mud along to both sides of the walkway. Boats and lots of them. No dreadnaught then.

Abe coughs beside you and it sounds unpleasantly liquid. But he still moves feebly and without protest, slowly rising to his feet before you can.
“Orion…”

“Be silent!”
You can hear the people outside roaming the quays around the massive shed, voices growing louder and then receding. Did they see you enter through the doors? Or are they searching the Sea itself? The voices die down but you and Abe stay silent for five minutes more, staying still withint the darkness as a thick coat of mud dries upon you.
And after those few minutes, you hear the unmistakable sound of a paddle-boat.

“Where are they?”
An unfamiliar voice.

“Just a pair of scum, I think, up from the slums. Probably drowned or buggered off.”

“They didn’t get into the shipyard, did they?”

“And squeeze through that? They’d have to be stupid. It’s just scrap in there, innit?”

“But it’s our scrap. You see any of them floating?”

“Mud’s probably pulled them down already. You know how it it is.”

As you hear the boat move away, you dig out your wick and risk a light. You have to do it. Finding your way through this in the dark would be impossible, one or both of you would probably miss a step and fall back into the mud. It would likely be a death sentence at this point.

Wick: 9/10

A small flame blossoms atop your long-handled lamplighter’s wick. If the mud encrusting it would slow it down, it give no sign. You and Abe cluster around it and while much of your body and clothes is coated in drying mud, Abe has it much worse. Mud cakes his face and hair as much as it does his body.
“Shit,” he says, scraping it off his hands.

“How do you feel?”
As far as you know, the Sea of Mud is supposed to be toxic to Man. What would be the cradle of Mankind was also the graveyard.

But if Abe feels it, he barely falters.
“I’m fine. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Now let’s get going before anything else goes wrong.”

1/3

>>2363377
You lead the way, holding the wick aloft as the two of you start walking down along the quay. There are at least a dozen such walkways snaking their way through this sectioned-off Sea, the metal walls and roof rising high and cavernous behind them. And between them all were the ships, over a hundred rusty and ruined hulks. The searchers had been right when they had called it scrap. Every ship in here is wreck, dredged up from the mud and set to float upon the artificial shores. No doubt they were all here to be taken apart later for their metal.
All this effort and for what? This is nothing but a ship graveyard.

“We’re a right couple of fools, aren’t we?”
Abe’s tone grows weak. You don’t answer him.

The two of you keep walking, doing your best to trace your way through the maze of broken ships and rusted metal. So what was the point of it all then? To break into a scrapyard? An enormous scrapyard but still a scrapyard. None of these ships were worth more than the metal they were made from.

“Don’t some of these ships look a little old to you?,” Abe mumbles.

“They’re all old, that’s the point.”

“Yeah but...but if they’ve rusted up this much you’d think they’d be all taken apart by now. Scrap metal still goes for a lot in this town. It’s just wasting money to leave them all sitting here.”

“Not everything in this damned city needs a reason. It is all a monument to waste.”

“Oh, careful of that! That...whatever that is.”
Abe points at a piece of detritus lying atop the walkway. It’s not the first the two of you have had to walk past, broken metal litters both land and sea within this vast space. But this one is a little odd. It was a massive bar of crude black iron twisted into a broken ring that must nearly be as large as your chest. It takes you a few seconds for you to realise what you’re looking at.

A broken link of what must have once been a truly enormous chain.

Something about that stirs other thoughts within you, recent memory rising up through the mud. You lift the light higher.

“That’s a bloody big ship,” Abe says. “Is it just me or have the wrecks been getting bigger?”

He’s right. Around the edges of this massive closed-in scrapyard, the floating hulks had all been fairly small boats. And so that had been for most of it but now that you have strayed into the middle, they have become something else entirely. The ship to the side of you is massive, at least several hundred feet long. And though it looks quite ramshackle now, with great chunks having been stripped and scavenged from its hull, it retains a blocky and menacing profile and though they have been empty for years, the shape of weapon mounts are unmistakable.
A battleship. What is it doing in here?

2/3

>>2363381
You keep walking along the side of the giant hulk, shedding more and more light upon its ruined frame. But while it is ruined, most of it is obviously the result of scavenging and scrapping, the kind of slow dismantling whose scars every ship here bears. But what made it end up in here in the first place?

You get your answer just a few seconds later as the light of your wick falls upon a hole in the ship’s side. The hole is perfectly circular and is three times your height and as you extend your makeshift torch to look into it, you can see a matching hole in the ship’s interior wall. And past that, another and another and another, every inside compartment burst through with a single unwavering lance. The light doesn’t go far enough to see it all but something tells you that if you were to somehow flip the ship, you’d see a perfectly matching hole on its other side. It had been skewered.
You get as close to the hole in the hull as you can without falling off the walkway, waving the torch around the edges. The metal wasn’t torn, not properly. Instead it looks as if it has rippled, waves of blackened tortured iron radiating out from the edges of the wound.


Something burned this ship. Something hot enough to liquify metal. Something hot enough to melt a hole straight through the whole damn thing.

“The other wrecks are here to keep a secret, Abe. It makes sense. Have you ever heard of the best place to hide a book?”

“No?”

“You want to hide a book, you stick it in a library.”
You take a step away from the battleship and then another, running down the walkway with your light stretched out ahead of you. And now that you are here in the center, it illuminates at least half a dozen more ruined battleships. And now that you know what to look for you can see the scars upon each one. A gouged strip of boiled metal all down one ship’s side, a hole drilled through another, what looked to be two ships in the distance revealed to simply be one single leviathan that had been blasted in half. Enormous broken chains litter some of their decks, massive links deformed into odd shapes by what must have been an incredible heat.
“You want to hide a fleet from a battle that’s supposed to have never have happened, you build a scrapyard around them.”

“But why keep them? If they are what you say they are, they must have been here for decades. Why haven’t they been taken apart?”

“I don’t know.”


>An interesting sight but you have no time to dally. It isn’t relevant to your current mission.

>These ships bore witness to the ultimate blasphemy. Surely you can spare some time to explore them?

>Other (Specify)

>>2363384

>An interesting sight but you have no time to dally. It isn’t relevant to your current mission.

>>2363384
>>These ships bore witness to the ultimate blasphemy. Surely you can spare some time to explore them?

>>2363384
>An interesting sight but you have no time to dally. It isn’t relevant to your current mission.

I don't think delaying would be the right move now that we've found this.

>>2363384
>These ships bore witness to the ultimate blasphemy. Surely you can spare some time to explore them?

>>2363384
Gonna change my vote, actually.
>These ships bore witness to the ultimate blasphemy. Surely you can spare some time to explore them?

>>2363118
>Try to help pull him free right away, even though you have no leverage of your own to speak of. (Roll, medium difficulty)

>>2363384

>These ships bore witness to the ultimate blasphemy. Surely you can spare some time to explore them?

Intermission

“Anything on your side?”

“Fucking nothing. If they’ve got some bigass ship in these docks they’re doing a great job hiding it.”

“Same for me,” Alex says as she shifts position, perched atop an abandoned sky-rail from which the docks below can be seen. She and Beatrice had chosen the docks with the central offices under the logic that it just made more sense for the dreadnaught to be there. They had apparently been wrong.

“Get down from there, will you? Makes me feel queasy just to look at you, scampering up and down that thing.”
Beatrice is curled up on the concrete roof of the broken railway station that used to service aforesaid rail. A cityquake had pulled the whole thing loose from it’s tower and in a slow collapse, had left the ruins suspended on top of the smaller dwarf-tower near the shore that it had fallen on top of it. That was the way of things in Dis. Something that falls rarely actually reaches the ground. The tame witch had scavenged a cloak from somewhere and had wrapped herself up in it to the point that only her peaked cap was visible from within the huddle.

“I don’t know how you see anything like that.”
Alex drops from the rail to join Beatrice.
“There. Do you feel better now?”

“No. I’m going to feel sick regardless of whatever dumb thing you do.”

“Then why tell me to get off the rail, huh?”

“Whatever. There’s no dreadnaught here anyway so this was all a fucking waste.”

Alex squats beside the witch, keeping a small distance between them. She hadn’t told the other redcloaks of just what Beatrice was yet. She might never. Even after knowing Orion had given her her blessing, she still found the idea of what Beatrice was to be uncomfortable.
“Speaking of, this dreadnaught thing never made much sense to me anyway. Something that big would take a whole lot of metal, right?”

“Probably.”

“You’d think everyone would know about it then. Even if you hide the big ship, you’ve still got all that scrap going towards one place. People would notice and it wouldn’t be much of a secret.”

“Assuming that they’re building it like a normal person, yeah.”

“Wouldn’t they be?”

Beatrice pulls off her cap, exposing her ruined face.
“Look girl, there is at least a dozen ways to use weird shit to make a boat. Me telling you half of them would be illegal back home and no doubt there’s some special Dis weird shit I don’t even know about.”

“Don’t call me girl. I’m an adult.”

“Yeah and I’m in my fifties. I’ll say what I want.”

Alex peers at her.
“Now you’re just trying to con me. Not even Orion is that old, I think.”

“He’s only eight years younger than me or round about there. That’s part of the bargain, I got to ruin my life and be a midget forever.”

1/2

>>2363520
“Even if you are, I’m not going to let you shit-talk me. I know how you all think of me and my friends but I’m not some little girl playing games with the adults here, none of us are! We all signed up knowing what we were doing and what might happen.”

Beatrice stands up and backing off a little, Alexandra follows. The witch stares up at her. With the top of her head only barely coming up to Alex’s shoulders, she shouldn’t be at all intimidating but somehow she manages.
“I don’t know,” Beatrice finally says. “I was a real idiot when I was your age. Doesn’t really fill me with trust. Nothing you think about when you’re that age is right.”

“Maybe I’m just better now than you were then.”

“...That wouldn’t be hard. But you still don’t know the consequences. You think you do but you don’t really.”

“Try me.”

“Why bother? You’ll learn soon enough. Everyone learns.”

A long silence fell as they kept up their watch over the docks. Beatrice broke it first.

“Okay, that was probably wrong of me to say. I know what you kids have been through and what you’re fighting for and I don’t really want to demean that.”

“You just did it again.”

“Well fuck me, I don’t care. But when I was your age I made some really bad choices. I thought they were right at the time but in the end I just threw my whole life away.”

“This is a much better cause than literal witchcraft!”

“It is. Fuck, I sound like a bitch. Look I know it doesn’t sound right but I am genuinely trying to empathise with you here. But you’re so damn young...and human...it’s kind of hard! Even Abe is easier. I just don’t get you or your redcloak friends. I really don’t.”

“We’re just doing what needs to be done.”

Beatrice groans.
“Shit. I think I’m a monster then. Because all of you are so bright and I’m so ...not. I’m not trying to mock you. I guess...I kind of envy you? I wish I was so young that I could throw my life away again. But you only get to do it once.”

“If it helps you look a lot younger than I am, even if you’re not.”

“It doesn’t help. It is almost the exact opposite of helping. Now if you don’t mind I’m going to change the subject so I can pretend this fucking embarrassing outburst never happened. So when is this bloke getting back from the funeral?”

“A few hours yet. I think they’ll be there all day.”

Beatrice blinks, her bruised cheeks freezing up as a sudden thought strikes her.
“All of them?”

“I think so.”

“All day?”

“Yes?”

“Okay let’s just put this weird awkward pity party on hold for a moment, I have a fantastic idea.”

Vote called, writing.

OH BOY

>>2363522
I love you

>>2363522
*nukes your funeral*

>These ships bore witness to the ultimate blasphemy. Surely you can spare some time to explore them?

“Do you think they’ll come in here after us?”

“Maybe,” Abe says. The mud doesn’t seem to be effecting him at all. Perhaps its toxicity is in large amounts or simply overrated? “But I think I heard them say something about checking elsewhere. We’ve got time.”

“No harm in exploring at least one of these things then.”

“I agree but why? It’s odd that they haven’t broken them down yet but there shouldn’t be anything too interesting aboard it, should there? Just burned iron and all these chains. Anything important would have been taken.”

“These ships bore witness to the ultimate blasphemy. It’s worth it.”

It’s not too difficult to get aboard one of the ruined battleships. They’re floating low in the mud already, lower than they probably should be if they were functional. All you have to do is jump from the quay to the deck and hope it doesn’t give way beneath you. You jump over to the ship that had been holed through its side, grabbing hold of the railing and pulling yourself up onto the rusty deck. You turn to see Abe still standing on the platform.
“You following? I have the only light!”

“Sorry, I don’t really want to risk the mud again. Just holler if you need me. I’ll be here.”
He sits down.
“Besides, I feel tired anyway.”

It’s not like Abe not to volunteer himself.

“Are you sure everything’s fine?”

“Fine enough. Just don’t take too long, alright?”

You turn away from him and with your burning wick in hand, begin to walk down the tilting deck. Abe is right in that it’s been stripped of almost everything. But even after all that must have been taken, the deck is still lined with detritus. Most of it is broken chain, large black links lying strewn across the side and vanishing down into the mud. The unbroken segments are chill to the touch and to your honed sense, feel too much like soil frozen in the tread of a witch.

At the far end of the deck, collapsed up against the hatch leading down into the ship’s innards and wrapped in a chain itself, is the broken shape of something vaguely humanoid. A clumpy and malformed thing twice the size of a man and, as far as you can tell, made of some sort of pottery. It is cracked all through and its limbs broken off, what’s left of them lying in a heap of shards at its feet. It is only when you see its burned stone head that you recognise it for what it once had been.
A golem once but one that has long since been baked into ceramic like clay in a kiln.

You are staring at the golem when, out of the corner of your eye, you see something gleam down in the stairwell. A flash, like that of metal in sunlight but not quite. And by the time you have turned to look it is gone. And if you hear the sound of something metallic skittering away, could that not simply be the groan of the ever-settling ship?
1/2

>>2363566
In truth, you’re not really sure if there had been anything in that stairwell at all.
>Go down and investigate the light and the sound.

>This is far enough. You have more important business elsewhere and Abe might not be well.

>Other (Specify)

AS SOON AS ABE SAYS HES TIRED, USE OUR BENEDICTIONS ON HIM. THAT SHIT IS GETTING TO HIM.

>>2363571
>Go and benediction Abe, then investigate

>>2363566
>Other (Specify)
Purging Benediction

Abe is likely starting to feel the toxic effects of the mud, he needs at least some relief until we withdraw to a safer location. After which, we can

>Go down and investigate the light and the sound.

>>2363571
>>2363578
>>2363587
>>2363588
This

>>2363588
>>2363571
Absolutely this.

>>2363571
>>2363588
This yo.

>>2363547
This decision really takes me back to Snake Catcher.

And all the other exciting decisions that led to the most successful Neutral Evil character quest on /tg/.

Oh no I'm late!

>>2363626
Hell yeah. Moral quandaries like the ones in Snakecatcher are the epitome of questing. If your playerbase can't argue bitterly between different totally valid decisions then you're doing something wrong.

>>2363643
I'd say you're just in time.

>>2363644
It's wrong to destroy a relic without certainty that it'll work.

>>2363649
The fuck. Shitty coverage is making me switch ids.

>>2363649
We literally threatened to murder a fucking train with it it once. Nuking the funeral is way more cool.

>>2363662
>murder a fucking train with it
I would drop a satellite full of the remains of Saint Peter to destroy Thomas the Tank Engine's fandom.

>>2363649
Nothing is absolutely certain. But the odds are good that we can injure some important people. If nothing else it will send a message.

Vote called, writing.

Is snekdice going to funeral or not? If not, then that's a fairly heavy implication isn't it? In fact, it's a fairly heavy implication for anyone who's missing.

>>2363680
No, she's the only one (besides the one who died before, I forget her name, she was a senator), who didn't go.

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>mfw we're going to miss out on a boss fight with the golemist.

>>2363683
I wonder if we can work this in our favor...

>>2363680
To be fair, the snekdice IS the one trying to kill everyone else. It's not like the suspicion would be wrong.

>Go and lay a benediction upon Abe, then investigate.

As much as you want to immediately chase after the speck of light and sound, you may have business elsewhere first. Abe has been insisting that he is fine but that is just how he is, it has no bearing on what he’s actually feeling. Before you go off chasing anything, you should make sure first that he is protected from whatever residue the mud left on him.

So with that in mind you climb back atop the railing and with the wick in one hand, make the leap back to the quay. It’s slippery but nothing you haven’t dealt with before. Abe is still sitting in the dark where you left him, scratching dried up mud off himself.
“Finished already?”

“Not quite. Here, take this.”
You press a hand to his brow and wipe it free of mud. Once it is clear, you call forth the Purging Benediction and let the air blossom into faint white light.

Wick: 8/10

A foul smoke slowly rises into the air as you maintain the contact for almost ten seconds before pulling your hand away.
“There. Just in case.”

“Thanks.”

“No need to thank me. I almost forgot about you.”

“I wasn’t sure if I was sick or not. I barely felt it, honestly.”
You can’t tell if he’s lying or not.

A few minutes later and you are back on the ship’s deck, pushing aside the baked golem to get at the stairs that lead deeper into the ship. This is where you last saw that glimmer, if indeed you saw it at all. Keeping your burning wick up ahead of you as if it were a sword, you begin your descent into the bowels of the broken ship.

It is dark, a different kind of dark from what you had seen before in the shed. The faint circle of light around you is the only kind, a candle lost in a sea of void. The walls are all metal but they are too black or rusted to reflect your light as you walk past, with nary a gleam to be seen. That just makes you more suspicious. You saw something reflect your light for just a second back then. And now you know it couldn’t have been the wall or a pipe.

Most of the doors along the corridor are sealed shut with valves and those that aren’t are rusted or jammed. If there is something down here, it probably isn’t using any of them. Eventually you come to a corner and as you turn it, you once more spot something at the far end past the corner reflect the light! You thrust your torch up towards it but you are too late, you see something indistinct vanish around the next corner and this time it is hard to mistake the accompanying sound for anything but scurrying footsteps.
You start running and as you do, you pull your sword free from its scabbard. You’d much prefer your staff but these corridors are far too cramped to swing it well. You don’t even know what it is but in this city? In this world? You’ll take no chances.

1/2

>>2363756
You give chase, following the thing down several twists and turns until you finally back it into a dead end! ...And it isn’t there. There’s nothing in this dead end save a sealed door and you. Where did it go?

Something is right behind you.

You try to turn but not before the point of something cold and sharp is nudged up against your throat. A knife. You freeze. It’s digging into the flesh of your neck already, cutting a shallow bloodless groove. A small twitch would all it would take to go the rest of the way and draw blood.
How did it even get behind you in the first place? You would have noticed-

“Cease.”
The voice barely qualifies as such. It is a wretched and ragged sounding thing, somehow managing to top even Beatrice’s gravelly tone. To it you can assign nothing. It could be anything.
“Why are you here?”


>”I was curious. That is all.”

>”I’m searching for a dreadnaught.”

>”I work for the dockmaster.”

>”I lost something here. I’m trying to find it again.”

>”Who are you? What are you?”

>”Why are you doing here?”

>Spin around and attack! You’ll take your damn chances.

>Self-Ignition!

>Other (Specify)

>>2363759
>”Who are you? What are you?”

>”Why are you doing here?”

>>2363759
>Self-Ignition!

>>2363759
>>”I’m searching for a dreadnaught.”

>>2363759
>>”I lost something here. I’m trying to find it again.”
>>”Who are you? What are you?”
>>”Why are you doing here?”

>>Why are you doing here?

Ah nuts.

>>2363759
>Self-Ignite

Then:
>”Why are you doing here?”
>Who are you? What are you?
I think any answer as to what we're doing here is kinda meaningless, isn't it?

>>2363770
Depending on who/what we're asking, this could be an even more appropriate question than what you intended to write.

>>2363770
Heh.

>>2363759
>”I’m searching for a dreadnaught.”

Any tips on running an OC fantasy quest Ouro? I have two pretty well-developed concepts, one one a smaller scale and one a lot larger.

>>2363759
>>”Who are you? What are you?”

>”Why are you doing here?”

>>2363781
Besides being healthy and having a lot of free time on your hands? Don't do big intrusive worldbuilding dumps unless the thread is mostly over. Have a vague idea for the ending and general scope of the thing from the very start. Keep the actual mechanics simple. If you have a new idea but adding it would compromise what your quest is about, don't.
Anything more than that and I'd need to know more details and this thread isn't really the right place to talk about it. You can typically find me on the qtg discord a lot of the time. Just PM me on there if you really want to.

>>2363662
It should tell you something that it was Beatrice who keeps coming up with the plan to drop the satellite.

>>2363803
Yeah, she's finally doing good on what she told us and is deciding that suicidal ideas aren't really the best way to achieve things and that she's actually changing her perspective to include a wider array of options.

Because that's what you mean, right? Yeah.

>>2363801
>being healthy
Fuck.

>having a lot of free time on your hands
Well, that's covered.

>qtg discord
It's not as bad as the IRC, I hope.

>>2363806
Your words fill me with dread.

Vote called. Writing.

>>2363818
Blindingly large and bright arrays of options, anon. Very, very bright.

>”Who are you? What are you?”
>”Why are you here?”

You don’t dare move your head just yet so you can’t even catch so much as a glimpse of whoever it is behind you. Neither do you self-ignite or try to catch them. You are in far too much of a delicate situation for that and considering what duty is borne upon your shoulders, you can’t risk losing your life for something irrelevant. That said, you aren’t going to easily answer their questions either. You owe them nothing.
“Who or what are you?”

“I’m asking the questions here!”

“You asked me why I am here. Why are you here?”

As hard as it is to prescribe anything to the ragged voice, the short pause it has before it answers makes it sound a little surprised. Possibly petulant.
“Why would I owe you that answer? I was here first! You chased after me!”

“You don’t. But I would like to know. I don’t owe you an answer either.”

“Ah but see, that’s wrong. I have a knife to your throat. You owe me every question I choose to ask.”

You say nothing.

“...Please? This is my turf!”

“I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”

“But I’ve got a knife to you?”

“Nevertheless.”

“Fine. I wasn’t going to stab you anyway, not someone who can make a fire like that. Consider yourself lucky.”

They withdraw the knife and you turn, bringing your torch around to illuminate the person standing in the corridor, if they are indeed a person at all. It is less illuminating than you hoped. The figure before you is covered entirely, swathed in a faded yellow robe that may have once been finery but has been dirtied and torn over the years. It peaks in a pointed hood with a face hidden by a yellow veil stuffed with rags and fragrant herbs. Some kind of air-cleaning apparatus? A black scarf covers the gap beneath. They, for in Dis you cannot know whether they be man or woman, are also uncommonly short. That and their rasping inhuman voice both remind you a little of Beatrice, a strange familiarity to find.

“You can call me the Collector,” it says. “No doubt you’ve heard of me.”

“I have not.”

“Well you’ve been talking to the wrong people then. I scavenge. I take lost things. All that is lost finds its way to me. That’s why I’m here.”

“Why did you run then?”

“Because the law’s not fond of me and even less fond of the way I slip through their fingers. Running is what I do.”

“What are you exactly?”

“The Collector.”

A non-answer.
“And what else exactly do you collect besides...scrap metal?”

“All lost things. If it has been lost, I have probably found it.”

“And you don’t do anything besides that?”

“No.”

1/2

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>>2363878
“And why spare me because of the fire?”

“You ask too many questions. But all the same, it is rare to meet someone favoured by God. Yes, I serve God. I am always in the service of the Wheel God, even now.”

It’s got one thing right, it is rare to meet the faithful. Which is why it makes you suspicious. But yellow is a holy colour of sorts and they certainly wear enough of it.
“How can I know to trust you on anything?”

“I have nothing I can show you save words. Now what are you doing here?”


>”I’m searching for a dreadnaught.”

>”I’m looking for something I lost.”

>”Nothing that concerns you.” Leave, you cannot trust this thing.

>”This.” Unveil the lamp post.

>”I’m looking for someone who bears a shard of God.”

>Other (Specify)

>>2363882
>>”I’m searching for a dreadnaught.”
>”I’m looking for something someone ELSE lost.”
you know, pieces of himself, if you know what I mean

>>2363882
>”I’m looking for something I lost.”

>"The rest of this" unveil lamppost.

If he truly still worships the wheel god he deserves to see it. If he doesn't maybe it will change his mind. Or he'll burn. Either way good end.

Just make it clear that these pieces are found.

>>2363882
>>”I’m searching for a dreadnaught.”
>”This.” Unveil the lamp post.

>>2363887
Second because that's a good impression for any faithful and if they're lying, well, they tried to fool the guy carrying the sun.

>>2363882

>Other (Specify)
Benediction of Warmth to verify they really are faithful

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I'm going to rest for a few hours and then do some more updates tonight. Vote will remain open until then.

>>2363882
>>2363886
This

Woooo, Lamplighter! Are we nuking?

>>2362824
>It was the scalding mud that forced the Old Powers onto the newborn land to escape it. The mud had boiled when it had given rise to the First Men and the Second and the Third. The power of the Wayward Flame had rendered it as to a furnace! But now, thirty years after the death of God, the Sea of Mud has grown tepid.
The Sun refueled from the Sea, and the Sea refueled from the sun?

>>2362922
Yeah, I think this vote has the potential for a lot of salt. I'm hoping to vote for nuking, but I definitely understand why others might not want it.
>>2363520
>The tame witch had scavenged a cloak from somewhere and had wrapped herself up in it to the point that only her peaked cap was visible from within the huddle.
>Peaked cap
Huh, I thought it looked like a police cap.

>>2363878
>“I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”
>“But I’ve got a knife to you?”
>“Nevertheless.”
Poor interrogator :<

>>2363878
>”I’m looking for someone who bears a shard of God.”
>"I'm looking for something I lost."
>"I'm looking for someone who bears a shard of God."

>>2364022
No.

>>2363720
>To be fair, the snekdice IS the one trying to kill everyone else. It's not like the suspicion would be wrong.
Is true. Will also bind snek to us until the tough ones have been taken out, whereas before, she could have betrayed us at any time.

>>2362922
I will alternate shitposting and arguing vigorously right up until the vote.

But I mean after that, depending on how it goes I figure either it doesn't happen and I'm happy. It happens and it's terrible and I get to tell everyone "I told you so". It happens and it works out really well for the Quest and I'm happy.

So you see, by voting "no" I'm still guaranteed a happy outcome.

Although I still think it would be character breaking for Orion, hence Bea coming up with the plan. Again. Because her plans work out SO fucking great and that's why she's a Bound Witch pissing fire and shitting explosions in the most literal of ways and feeling about as great as she deserves while do so and after. Who is in the ass end of the world of Dis with everything she hates the most about herself writ large. All of her plans involve explosions or heresy and goddamnit I do love explosions I can see that humor in the character. Definitely love having her like that.

But still that means her plans are usually terrible.

Also the dice hate Bea.

Vote no. Vote for happiness. Don't vote for Witchy Fuckboi Plans.

Just gonna point out to all lampy peeps, if this helpful person turns out to be a Darkie, then taking out the lamp can kill the helpful person. Second, I think taking out the lamp burns us a bit.

(Does taking out the Lamp burn Orion, Ouro, or is it only using it for a dice roll that does it?)

>>2364037
>Vote no. Vote for happiness. Don't vote for Witchy Fuckboi Plans.
Now THAT is a campaign slogan.

>>2364036
Nah, because SnickSnackPaddywhack is just going to be all like "Nah, I don't have a Stardropper." and then be like "It's totally the Lamplighter dudes. I can't believe you guys went out while they were around" because we ARE the even more obvious suspects who arrived in Second Man technology with that train all flash and shit before blowing that up in what was construed as a Terrorist Attempt.

Remember, we already randomly blew up Dis when we first got here and people voted to NOT shoot the Imp on his last life that HATES US right way and then fucking off. At least nobody would know who we were.

They would probably suspect Snake was working with us, but at the same time that could just turn into pressure to kill us off to prove her "Innocence".

>>2364039
Well if they're a Darkie then they're abominations and should be burned. So. You missed that part. What, next you want Bea to have Imp babies, you love the Darkies so much? Maybe dress those goblins up like children and send them to a school?

The Lamp is our fucking God. When I say that The Collector "Deserves" to see the face of God, I mean that no in the sense that he's "entitled" but that he'll get what he deserves. So it'll singe a bit, it's just a brief flash. Or they'll fucking burn and that's not even the Wheel God deciding that, but Men choosing to kill their own wick. They did it to themselves. They made that choice.

Or they're a soulless puppet of the dead Gods and not a "Person" at all. Fuck that. We're coming for the Snake too.

And Orion doesn't much mind the burning. Still I think that's mostly from holding it. We can just peel back a corner or something.

Vote called for I believe is unveiling the lamp post. Writing.

>>2364039
Just using it.

>>2364042
>Remember, we already randomly blew up Dis when we first got here and people voted to NOT shoot the Imp on his last life that HATES US right way and then fucking off. At least nobody would know who we were.
Yes, we shoulda killed him. On the other hand, he had a buncha other imps with him. Honestly, the question of who knows who we are and what we look like is a pretty pressing question.

>>2364042
>Nah, because SnickSnackPaddywhack is just going to be all like "Nah, I don't have a Stardropper." and then be like "It's totally the Lamplighter dudes. I can't believe you guys went out while they were around"
>They would probably suspect Snake was working with us, but at the same time that could just turn into pressure to kill us off to prove her "Innocence".
Snake doesn't believe in trust, she's going to expect them to turn on her the moment we're gone, and she'd probably be correct. Second, we can tell them that yes we are with the Snake. She's more untrustworthy than we are, lol.

>>2364045
There is literally nothing wrong with being a darkie.

>>2364052
>There is literally nothing wrong with being a darkie.

Can't stand the light of the Sun, that's what's wrong with being a Darkie. #ITSACHOICE

> Second, we can tell them that yes we are with the Snake. She's more untrustworthy than we are, lol.

Yeah but it's easier to get her to kill us all to keep the game going.

Because we deffo want to kill the Snake but the other Sinners have politics with it.

> Yes, we shoulda killed him. On the other hand, he had a buncha other imps with him. Honestly, the question of who knows who we are and what we look like is a pretty pressing question.

I figured that our rep was already thoroughly assassinated by him already. Pop Pop Pop making Darkies Drop has been a fabulous plan working out great so far.

>”This.” Unveil the lamp post.

“You could say that I’m searching for something I’ve lost as well. Here.”
You pull your burden from your back and begin to pull back the covers. The two of you are inside a ruined battleship concealed in a secret shipyard in one of the furthest places in all of Dis. If anywhere is safe to reveal it, it is here. As for this ‘Collector’s reaction? Either they are what they say they are and this sight should bring them over to your side. And if they’re a child of dark then, well, the lamp has a way of taking care of such beasts. There’s no downside. You’d probably use it as a test more often if it was more subtle.

“What is tha-”

Their awful voice is cut off as you pull back the cover and reveal the broken lamp post. All dark in the corridor is banished in an instant, painting everything in a light so stark that you must almost look away. The Collector doesn’t cover their eyes however, they don’t even flinch. And despite how tawdry and small the light makes their wrappings look, whatever stunted thing that is underneath them seems to stand taller and straighter than they had before. But only for an instant.

The hiss of the three captive shards drowns out almost all noise but just barely through the inferno you can hear the Collector’s shriek.
“No! Not again!”

The light flares even further and you are forced to avert your eyes for the briefest of moments. And when you lift your head once more, the Collector has vanished without a trace.

You cover the lamp post once more and blink furiously, unable to understand what just happened. You didn’t hear them run! Why did the light of the lamp flare up so suddenly? You lash out furiously for a moment, swinging the covered post about as if the creature had simply become invisible to your sense somehow. But they are well and truly gone.

You have gained nothing from this save incomprehension.


>Keep searching the ship. You’ll track that thing down and make it explain itself.

>You’ve already wasted enough time. It’s time for Abe and you to get out of here and make it back to the rendezvous.

>Other (Specify)

>unveiling the lightpost at night while trying to be stealthy
wow great idea fellas

>>2364061
>You’ve already wasted enough time. It’s time for Abe and you to get out of here and make it back to the rendezvous.

>>2364062
We're inside a ship inside a warehouse. I think we're good.
>The two of you are inside a ruined battleship concealed in a secret shipyard in one of the furthest places in all of Dis. If anywhere is safe to reveal it, it is here.

Okay, can anyone think of why we're here? Are we looking for office papers, clues as to the Sinners' abilities...

Maybe these ships are the answer to 'Why was the Snake invited to the God-Killing Party', but I don't know what to look for.
Any ideas?

>>2364061
>Keep searching the ship. You’ll put the clues together yourself.

Let's hit up the quarters.

>>2364033
Yes. >>2364061
>You’ve already wasted enough time. It’s time for Abe and you to get out of here and make it back to the rendezvous.

It’s time to nuke the funeral.

>>2364061
>>You’ve already wasted enough time. It’s time for Abe and you to get out of here and make it back to the rendezvous.
I think the Collector is MADE from one of the shards. But he wants to stay.....him.

>>2364061
>Keep searching the ship. You’ll track that thing down and make it explain itself.

I don't like what just happened. They're clearly not just a eccentric human scrapper, but they're also not a creature of darkness else they would have violently combusted. Could they be the other lamplighter, using some kind of holy equivalent to a witch's shade?

>>2364072
Bea's on that already and there's probably a better chance of it happening if we're not there to stop her.

>>2364079
Fair enough. Changing my vote to this.

Interlude

Beyond the walls of Dis is a mighty chasm that separates it from the rest of the world. Some say it was etched into the ground in the war with the Old Powers. Some say it was deliberate to help fortify the walls. Founded as the first beachhead of the First Men in a hostile world, Dis has always been a fortress-city. That it kept to that attitude even after the Old Powers were vanquished shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Those who could afford it in Dis lived in the good towers. Those who couldn’t lived in the bad towers instead and looked down upon the Mazes, despite some of the worse off towers no longer being distinguishable from the urban jungle below. Those in the Mazes looked down upon the various districts of Undertown, where the decaying stonework of Dis meets the ever-present earth and upon the Wallmites, where the outer walls of Dis had been hollowed out like a honeycomb for those just barely scratching out a life. But even all those districts still had some pride. They were still in Dis after all.
The chasm beyond the walls housed the true dregs, the slumtown of those who were not Dis. Some could trace their family lines back to within those walls and had been forced out due to overpopulation or economic atrocities. Many others are refugees from the world beyond, the city having rebuffed them and thrown them back to die slowly.

The chasm was full of ancient First Age monuments and tombs, relics of the oldest war and the people of the chasm lived among them until they were more corpse than Man. Every now and then the thought of such scum living among the hallowed necropoli aroused enough ire that restoration parties would be sent out from the city to protect an important piece of Dis’ heritage by destroying as many slums as they could find.
But still, the people in the chasm persisted. What else could they do?

A small group of such scavengers were camped out on the far side of the chasm by the side of the strange railbridge that had sprung up over night, waiting in the vain hope of intercepting another train like the last and looting it. It was night time and you could tell that because it was slightly darker than the perpetual twilight of the ‘day’.
They were the first to encounter the golem. It had come from the outside world and it was following the railroad on the scent of some esoteric prey.

It was a lopsided creature, a childlike body of twisted mud balanced around an enormous boulder-head. The whole thing looked as if it would fall apart at any moment and indeed, considering that it was missing an arm, it might have. But as they found out to their misfortune, the hydrocephalic beast was still more than a match for any man.

1/2

>>2364088
It had already torn one of them apart, its arms extending to grasp at their leader’s head and twisting it off like the cork of a wine bottle. The rest had run screaming only a sound louder than them all to cut them all off. A gunshot.

The damaged golem writhed as its tenuous connection to its buried head was severed in a single shot and while that didn’t kill it, the sudden imbalance in weight was enough to send it off teetering off the rail and into the chasm below.

The surviving scavengers never had the opportunity to thank their saviour. The ragged man was already gone, having assumed the golem’s path and walking unerringly along the lone rail across the chasm and to Dis.

>>2364089
huh. Is the bridge still up?

Why CAN the snake raise bridges? Is it something to do with time and restoring the bridge to an "unbroken" state?

>>2364094
She employs witches. Vote'll close in 20 minutes or so, I have some stuff to do.

>>2364094
Nah. Pulleys, levers, and slaves.

Like the pyramids.

>>2364061
>Keep searching the ship. You’ll track that thing down and make it explain itself.
>Look for snake signs and other clues. The Paper Bridesmaid didn't state her part in the Sun's murder, perhaps these ships hold answers.

>>2364089
That's got to be the third lamplighter

>>2364107
>That's got to be the third lamplighter
I guess it's good we've opened up a can of chaos in the city for him. Everyone's looking for us, so if he keeps it quiet, he might be able to get somewhere.

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Whoops, I'm going to sleep. I thought I had more in me than I did,sorry. I'll be back in the morning to continue the thread.

>>2364061
>Keep searching the ship. You’ll track that thing down and make it explain itself.

I can't wait for the inevitable showdown between lamplighters.

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>>2364224
Me neither.

>>2364224
>we have to choose between jolly cooperation and beatrice

Guys I found a witch fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKvkBQukTgU

>>2364235
If it comes to that I say we just chase her off, make her leave and "never" come back.

>>2364235
You never know, they might get along. I doubt he's made it this far being a total zealot. Maybe they can bond over their use of firearms.

>>2364288
At first sight they both immediately do that Revolver Ocelot thing where they spin their guns a lot in a show of dominance

>>2364257
Can't see, is it from Naruto?

>>2364364
Even better, m8, it's about ties.

Thread resumes in an hour or so.

>>2364257
And I thought Jimmy Kimmel wouldn't make me laugh any more.

Its a bit of an assumption that the gunman is the Lamplighter, but god damn I hope he is.

>Keep searching the ship. You’ll track that thing down and make it explain itself.

You’re not going to let it end here. You still have some time before the rendezvous after all so you can afford to give chase. After making sure that the lamp post is properly secured once more, you set off to explore what you can of the broken battleship. Maybe you won’t be able to track this ‘Collector’ down but you should hopefully find something that helps explain what just happened.

As you noticed before, most of the metal doors in the halls are no longer functional. Rust and disuse have had their way. Those that aren’t are locked. There is one that is a little ajar but is only opened by half a foot or so and has rusted into place. The Collector might be able to fit through that but you certainly can’t. You manage to force it open all the same, spinning the valve and pushing it open with your shoulder. What lies beyond is a small room with a set of bunks and little else. Not exactly the control room or captain’s office that you had been hoping for. There’s no sign of the Collector anywhere here either.

You check under the bunks and find nothing. There is nothing in them either and just as you’re ready to give up on this room, you feel something odd in one of the pillows. The pillows here are thin slabs of cotton, none of them should be bulging like that. You rip it open and find a small pouch hidden inside.

The pouch doesn’t prove too useful however. Pulling it open reveals that it contains nothing but several chunks of cold candle wax. No, not candles. Just the wax. It isn’t properly shaped either, each clump is irregular and is the size of your fist. They don’t have anything hidden in them either, you tore through one to check.

You check through the rest of the ship or at least, the corridor you can actually access. There’s no trace of the Collector to be found. Whatever they are, your lamp post must have spooked them good because they actually seem to have fled the whole damn place.
Lacking any other option, you return to the deck and after navigating your way around the ceramic golem, call out to Abe.
“Did you see anyone or anything run past?”

He’s still sitting on the quay and making a futile effort to pick mud off himself.
“No? Nothing came this way.”

You’re not sure what that means. Either they had some way of fooling his senses, something that seems entirely possible by now or the Collector jumped overboard from the other side and straight into the Sea of Mud.
You jump back over and tell Abe about your encounter. You show him the pouch full of candle wax and he just stares at it.

“Couldn’t possibly tell you what that’s all about, Orion. Looks like they’ve been torn out of something bigger.”

“What would be the point of scavenging it? It’s just wax.”

“Maybe they’re building a really big candle, I don’t know. Sorry.”

1/2

>>2365029
“This can’t all have been for nothing!”

Abe shrugs but stays silent.


>Set the warehouse aflame. If that creature is still hiding here, you might be able to smoke them out.

>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.

>You’re not leaving without results! You can still storm the offices of this particular dock.

>Other (Specify)

>>2365030
>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.

>>2365030
>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.

>>2365030
Call out to it. Not super loudly. Just into the hull of the ship we met it. We want to discuss things with it. It made is curious and we have questions. If it wants we can bargain, question for question.

The wax may have come from the remains of a wax saint?

>>2365030
>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.
While disappointing, I'm sure we'll see this collector again.

>>2365030
>You’re not leaving without results! You can still storm the offices of this particular dock.

> Leave it a note burned in that if it's willing to see us again, we won't bun it with the Sun a second time.

>>2365030
>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.
Why keep wax after the Greatest Heresy?

>>2365030
>>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.

>>2365030

>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.


>Other (Specify)

Leave it a note burned in that if it's willing to see us again, we won't burn it with the Sun a second time.

>>2365042
Maybe the Collector is trying to create a wax saint for his own purposes

>>2365062
Maybe the collector is a wax saint.

>>2365030
>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.

>>2365056
Support.

>>2365076
That might make sense, the "not again!" could have been prompted by seeing the lamplighter before us fall.

Vote called, writing.

Ouro has no shortage of tricks and unnamed characters and beast. Let’s go back to the rendezvous point and nuke the funeral.

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>Just leave so you can reach the rendezvous point in time. Hopefully one of the others has had better luck than you in finding this dreadnaught.

“There’s no point staying here any longer,” you finally say, letting disappointment settle in. “Let’s get back and hope the others had better luck.”

“We must look a fine pair of fools,” Abe says, echoing his previous statement. “All covered in mud and with nothing to show for it.”

“We are alive and the fire still burns.”

“I should hope so.”

There seems little that you can say to make this sting less. You took a gamble and it didn’t work out. What else can you do?

Neither you or Abe are able to change your clothes so while getting free of the shipyard is easy enough, much easier than getting in in the first place, you draw stares as the two of you, covered in dried mud, travel the crowded paths of Dis. It has well and truly dried by now, caking you in heavy layers.
But you are already close to late and two people covered in mud is far from the strangest thing walking the streets of Dis. Especially not this close to shore. If anyone wonders, both of you just had an unfortunate accident by the docks. It’s not that far from the truth.

Alex and Beatrice are already there when you arrive but none of the other redcloaks have yet to show.
“Where is everyone?”

“They’ve already made their reports,” Alex says. She looks ill at ease compared to Beatrice, who is looking unusually happy. “I didn’t want them to hear talk of this so I asked them to leave before you arrived.”

“Wow,” Beatrice adds. “You two look like shit.”

“What is going on here? Did anyone found the dreadnaught?”

“Not exactly-” Alex starts, only to get interrupted by Beatrice.

“None of them found shit. That’s fine, that’s fine, because it doesn’t matter anymore.”
The witch reaches below the table and pulls out the silver case of the Starbreaker. She sets it down gently in front of the two of you.
“I’ve had a great idea. Let’s drop a star on the funeral. There’s still one up there, you know!”

Alex looks very uncomfortable with the little case but she still speaks up on Beatrice’s behalf.
“It’s true that everyone will be there…”

“I’m sick of scrounging around and planning for nothing,” Beatrice says. “I know the star is a relic but please consider, this is the most holy thing it can do right now.”


>Agree

>Disagree

>>2365241
>Before we do this.
>Alex where is the funeral?
>How deep is it in the city?
>Would it still even be going on?
>Who's attending?

>>2365241
>Agree

>>2365241
>Agree

>>2365241
>Agree

>>2365241
>Disagree
I don't know, but part of me wants to talk to the Ship guy, I feel like there's more going on with him than what it seems.

Besides him, the doctor shouldn't be too hard and the satellite might be better used on the Golemist or Snake alone.

I know I'm forgetting one, but I can't think of which. Was the charity guy separate from the doctor?

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As you may or may not have been able to tell through my mediocre update posts today, I've been feeling sick. I'm going to doze off now and come back later. Vote will remain open until then,

>>2365241
>>Disagree

I'll put a caveat that if we DO do this, we're gonna need all the redcloaks lighting fires in all the escape routes and lobbing explosives/greenfire. Beatrice will likely jack herself to +4 unloading 2nd age gunfire on the golemist from the very start, and we might even summon the Wax Saint to aoe CC everyone.

>>2365248
The funeral is at a tower, so very likely quite a few people will flat out fall off. I doubt the actual sinners will, though.

>>2365266
They killed the sun. Fuck 'em all.

>>2365241
>Agree

>>2365280
Why build a dreadnought then? Why help the destitute of the city seemingly without exclusion. Some of this doesn't add up.

And not finding the dreadnought makes me think it might be an airship, if he dies then the project will likely end.

This will also put the entire city on high(er) alert and make everything from here on out a hell of a lot harder.

>>2365286
They. Killed. Our. God.

>>2365241
>Disagree

We're running into this with no idea about the situation, like >>2365286 says. Plus, there are definitely going to be more funerals.

>>2365326
Maybe they know something about bringing Him (It) back then?

>>2365241
>>Agree

>>2365241
>Disagree

>>2365241
>>Disagree

>>2365241
>>Agree

>>2365241
>Disagree

>>2365241
Agree.

>>2365241
AGREE

Where is the lamplighter porn.

>>2365588
Are you also looking for Bea's face looking like scrambled eggs made in a banged-up cast iron pan?

>>2365241
>>Disagree

>>2365241
> Disagree

Fucking trying to do this while I'm at work Hey?

>>2365241
>

>>2365241
> Disagree

We should okay it with the other Lamplighter first.

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>all these "1 post by this ID" votes
hmmmm

>>2365627
You didn't vote.

And I'm torn. I'd be disappointed if we didn't nuke, and I'll be disappointed if we give up on boss fights.

>>2365645
I hit auto-post and then went back to edit it.

>>2365637
Yeah don't start that shit.

That path leads to madness.

>>2365637
I voted earlier here >>2364045

So go eat shit. I can post with that ID when I get back home. Until then I'm bouncing around losing my signal because I can't use this site on the office wi-fi.

Agree x8
>>2365250
>>2365254
>>2365263
>>2365281
>>2365347
>>2365377
>>2365451
>>2365536


Disagree x9
>>2365266
>>2365278
>>2365333
>>2365349
>>2365355
>>2365406
>>2365615
>>2365616
>>2365629

>>2365766
Whuff. Well if people are pissy about Disagree winning I guess they always have the chance to drop it later.

Dropping the satellite gives us a chance to fuck up a large portion of the sinners. And god damn does it make a hell of a statement. Even if it isn't as effective as it could be, holy fuck would it be cool.

>>2365241
>Agree

>>2365790
It could also make the other Lamplighter into our enemy.

Might be a sensitive time for Heresy and whatnot.

>>2365802
It's by far the most interesting option that's been presented in this quest since the first thread.

>>2365815
Nah, the decision on how to handle the bandits we found was far more compelling as a defining moment for Orion's character.

How to treat monstrous people, as opposed to humanized monsters.

This vote is just polarizing because it's a stupidly awesome, awesomely stupid idea.

>>2365802
I really think you're pushing the heresy angle too hard. We're a witchfinder, we're meant to be shady.

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drop a satellite on anon

>>2365241
>Agree
Yes yes, one post by this ID, but I am just late to the party.

>>2365846
There`s no longer a Sun to be shady under. It`s either light or dark now.

This was established long ago and consistently for Orion I feel.

>>2365855
Seriously. I end up swapping IDs from my home's wifi, my phone, and my work. Never end up having the same ID for long.

>>2365858
You've had this one since last night.

> Anon admits to samefagging

I kid.

But a 1 id tie-breaker is always suspicious.

>>2365859
Yeah this is my house IP

>>2365864
But where are the other two?

>>2365873
your house, duh

Please don't talk about samefagging, it always poisons quest threads. We don't need that kind of salt overload. There's always a lot of IP switching, and it makes sense that on a simple and dramatic choice like this we'd get a lot of single-issue voters anyway.

if we nuke the funeral, we really will be supervillains. The entire city will be at war with us. We really will need to steal the dreadnought.

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>>2365347
>>2365885

>>2365890
Long votes are bad for single ID too.

But good for people who work nights!

>>2365241
> We Must Dissent (disagree).

>>2365241
>Disagree
I really doubt it'll have the profound impact some people are claiming it will.

I also want to save it for the Snake thing.

It's trapped at the top of a tower, perfect target for the star.

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>>2365971
I'm just sad I got here too late for shitposting.

Haha. It's never too late for shitposting.

>>2365971
Hellll no, I'm willing to bomb the funeral in order to keep you madmen from denying me a giant snake boss fight.

>Agree.

>>2365989
That doesn't make sense.

>>2365989
I will continue to vote against dropping stars so no worries there.

Easy Buttons ALWAYS make quests worse.

>>2365241
>Agree

>>2365241
>Disagree
We need to go for a sure kill, and this means surrounding the funeral with armed commandos ready to finish off anything that survived. This requires planning, training and weapons that we don't have at the moment.
We'll bomb the next funeral.

>>2365766

8+4 Agree
>>2365800
>>2365855
>>2365989
>>2366022

9+3 Disagree
>>2365908
>>2365971
>>2366023

>>2366025
Oh god the salt awaiting this vote ending.

Ouro. What are you doing lying sick and dying while this goes on.

>>2366034
Ouro's going to roll a die to see if we nuke or not.

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>>2365241
>>2366037
Disagree
>1 post by this IP

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>>2366038
Is, is that a vote?!

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>>2365890
>blatant samefagging is taking place
>"don't talk about samefagging because muh feelings"
hmmmm

>>2365241
>Disagree
I want to do ALL the boss fights.

>>2366067
And the salt begins.

>AGREE
I bet y'all saying no cuz the witch says so..raycis.

>>2365637
>>2366078

Salt began way back, friendo.

>>2366040
>1 post by ID
>not voting
Why?

>>2366089
Probably because they already voted on another IP. Cell phones, man.

>>2366040
It is. For not doing it.

Slaughtering all the folks there is incredibly tempting, but, like others have noted, trying this will kick things into high gear, perhaps earlier than we're prepared for. The Sinners still aren't taking us as seriously as they should be, and that's something that can be exploited.

Mind you, if they have another get together, I'd go for dropping the star there, but as is, I think it's too early to use such a resource, considering how strong it is.

I suppose it would depend on if you think these people will share in festivities again after this. I get the feeling that a similarly valuable target will make itself apparent, even if we let this opportunity go by.

It's a slim decision, but I'm against.

>>2366089
If he's a phone poster like me, he probably already voted and can't be fucked to be a cunt and samefag just to win a vote in a make believe story where a good or bad end is only a plot twist away no matter what choices you make.

Faggot.

>>2366093
Ok was just asking.

Super-faggot.

>>2366092
I still also feel that we'll lose a lot of what support we have among the Firecloaks.

Like.

Let people get a little colder. A little more desperate first as the stocks of Green Flame run out. Have them see us as their ONLY hope to survive first before taking away any other.

>>2366094
Uh it's not called super-faggot it's called being a Top. I'm mostly one because Tops still go to heaven but bottoms go to hell.

>>2365241
>Agree

Ouro wake up and save us from this madness

>28 votes
Seems legit

Fucking hell is it still tied? Some samefagging of some sort definitely took place and you couldn't even use it to win? I can only assume that at least one person is deliberately trying to keep the vote tied for shits and giggles.
It's 1 am and I've got a headache so don't expect anything right now but jesus. Vote is closed, I'll figure an update out in the morning.

>>2366165
>>2365616
Hey this was me.

> Samefagging couldn't even pick a winner

HAHAHAHAHA

>>2366165

Just end the thread and have the vote next thread. Fuck everyone.

Or roll 1d2. This is the future players chose.

>>2366089
I already voted, that's why. I wasn't kidding when I said IDs change all the time.

>>2366174
Samesies.

I'm a phonefag so if I lose my signal then my ID resets.

>>2366165
To be fair, there's 50 unique IPs in the thread so 28 votes isn't outside the realm of possibility.

Er.

I mean

> Agree to disagree

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>>2366165
>samefagging of some sort definitely took place
>couldn't even use it to win
The absolute state of samefags.

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>tfw you suggested nuking the funeral and it’s factionalized Ouro’s quest.

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>tfw you just want to play a comfy quest but everyone's bickering

>>2366449
meh, the bickering is pretty tame. the level of samefagging is shameful though.

>>2366446
I was thinking it, and was glad someone else had suggested it.

>>2366446
Could be worse.

Could be trying to pick what dress to wear. Or the name of a pet. Or what hi d of dog to get.

Fuck it. I'll switch my vote to

> Agree

Just for spite.

Since I easily am the person who argued most bitterly against it because it's not really a bad idea for killing the Sinners, just incredibly immoral by Orions values and likely to impede if not outright ruin his quest to restore the Sun.

But I just don't give a fuck anymore. Let's just fail fucking forward.

>>2366165
Ya read that Ouro? I'd rather the quest just proceed then win so there's your tie breaker.

I hate every single one of your players today though.

>>2366669
How about you vote for in character reasons instead of being a fag?

>>2366165
>spite Disagree

At this point you should just hold a short revote and don't count any 1 post by this ID votes, Ouro. It makes me sad that it's come to this.

>>2366675
Because it's less of being a fag than >>2366683

Seriously guys. The quest will survive either way. I am willing to argue till blue in the face until the vote, but my main goal is to move the quest forward.

You can flavour my spite as Orion hating himself for compromising his morals in an world undone by compromise to wreck a city that embodies the corruption where a few bad apples spoilt the bunch.

>>2366690
Phone posters are sum anyways. Get to a computer!

>>2366705
Get fukt

>>2366702
okay fiiiiiine

>>2366165
>molestly agree

>>2366702
Your main goal should be to inhabit the point of view of the main character and vote accordingly. That's the entire point of questing.