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Prologue…

Three men stand in front of the house burned to ash. One with a stout body, thick white beard, and a stern look on his face. The other, a tall man eclipsing both of them, his face contorted into a permanent scowl with hard eyes. Lastly, a man with a long face and a beleaguered look plastered on it. The gruff man has his hands on his hips, looking at the scene before him.

"Well, ain't this some shit?" he said, his voice giving him an air of authority.

"Looks like our attempt was a little too good, eh?" Said the beleaguered man.

The man with the scowl said nothing.

"It don't matter," continued the gruff man, "as long as that bitch's soul is still intact. Durando!"

"Yessir." replied Durando, the beleaguered man.

"How much did you say that she was worth again?"

"About a million, Vulferd. Dead or alive."

"Good. That's the biggest reward we got in the last decade methinks."

"Enough to grab an entire district in the Common Square."

"And who the fuck would want anything to do with that rats nest of a city?"

"I got a couple of contacts."

"Tell ya what, after the reward’s split, you can do whatever the fuck you want with it."

"After the reward, I'll be long gone!"

Vulferd laughed, "Do it and you'll never take a piss again. From the tone of your voice, I guess you volunteered to carry her body all the way up to Mesiros, Durando."

Durando sighed, "If that is what our captain ordered, then I must obey."

>Cont.

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>>2669608

Durando cautiously made his way around the mountains of ash and soot. He tripped and fell a couple of times, which made Vulferd laugh. The third man leaned in to speak softly to him.

"Something is off." He said.

"Whatcha mean?"

"Why fire?"

Vulferd took a minute to think about it, "I don't fuckin' know, maybe our little golem just had a little fun before killing her."

"Golems do not do that."

"What do you think it was then?"

"Where is the other golem?"

Vulferd looked at the scowling man, "You think that the Creature did this?"

"Yes."

"But the blizzard was supposed to delay him! We had it set up and everything!"

"Snow does not stop golems."

Vulferd growled, "And you did not think to tell me this?"

"You did not ask."

Vulferd pinched his nose in frustration, "What the fuck are you trying to say here? You and I both know that golems can't kill their creators, if I that's what you're implying."

"Happened once before."

"Oh yeah? When?"

"Samsuras."

"Right… you think that's what happened?"

"Only way."

"I'm not too sure…."

"Check eyes."

"What?"

"Check. Eyes."

>Cont.

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>>2669609

Vulferd paused for a moment before calling out to Durando, whose body is covered in soot, "Durando! Found her yet?"

Durando replief, "Found her leg, captain," he looked at it, "And our little golem burrowed inside of it."

"When you find her head, take the eyes out if they're still intact."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Durando spent a minute searching. He found the head, and the eyes were still intact. He went out to call to Vulferd, until he saw a monstrous face, sticking out from the soot. He screamed and fell over.

"What the fuck happened Durando?!" Yelled Vulferd.

"There's a fuckin' dead spirit here!" He yelled back.

"The fuck are you talking about?"

"Right here! I see three of them! Holy fuck, those bastards look strong too. Why would they be here?"

Vulferd sighed. He pinched his nose again. He called out to his two companions, "Alright, something's off about this situation. Durando, I want you to get out of there, you're being reassigned. Let our friend take care of hauling duty."

"What am I going to do?"

"You're going to look for the Creature in the Cloth."

Durando almost tripped over the remnants of the front door, and looked at Vulferd in disbelief, "You're kidding me, right? That thing could rip a sword in half, as an afterthought."

"No, I'm not kidding. I know that your not man enough to face him, so you're just going to get his whereabouts, then report back to me. We can get the boys at Mesiros to take care of that thing."

"That'll actually work?"

"You know those magic types. They would give their wives and daughters just to get their hands on that thing."

Durando sighed, "I'm going to need supplies."

"Yes, you are. Go to the hideout to ready yourself, then head off at noon."

"This is punishment for that thing yesterday, isn't it?"

"You did that?!" Yelled Vulferd.

Durando quickly ran back to the hideout, "Sorry I said anything!"

End of Prologue…

Act I: Learning to Live

You are Cain, once known as the Creature in the Cloth, puppeted by Eleanor Grimm, your mistress, to enact terrible destruction upon the north. A series of events led you to curate a will of your own, at the cost of everything around you, even yourself, falling to ruin. After a fateful encounter with what seemed like God, you were given a name, and enough divine essence to grant you true freedom, at the cost of physical might. Now, after burning away that lonely cottage in which you spent all of your life in, you wandered off into the night. Snow and empty trees are all that greeted you, and you have been walking non stop until the dawns early light broke through the canopy. You are tired, and quiet miserable.

50/50 Health
100/100 Mana

What do you spend the morning doing?

(Choose 1-4)
>Hunting for food. Even if you are a charred corpse, you still need to eat.
>Checking over yourself. How is your health, and what do you have on you?
>Thinking. What happens to you now?
>Looking for shelter.
>Other?

>>2669616
>Food
>Shelter
Nice pics cloth. 2nd one reminds me of Murdoc.

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>>2669616
>Hunting for food. Even if you are a charred corpse, you still need to eat.
>Looking for shelter.
>Checking over yourself. How is your health, and what do you have on you?
Nice to see you back dude, you're surprisingly really good so far I can't wait for more

>>2669666
Glad to be back!

I'm going to be a wee busy today, so voting will be open for another hour

I'm back.

>Food
>Shelter
>Check

Stand by...

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>Food
>Shelter
>Check

The day is just like any other: cold and full of snow. Your breath generates plumes of steam from your mouth as if you were a chimney. All around you is snow, trees, some bushes, and more snow. You can hear birds chirping off in the distance, they seem like they are in an energetic mood today. The wind has eased off since last night, which suited you just fine. The cloth that you wear protects you from any brute force attack, yet more subtler ones pass right through. Your legs are pretty stiff, and your arms are numb, so that you had to cross them over your chest. You are also hunched over, as to not lose any more heat than necessary.

You are a golem. You know that quite well. Your mistress… you mean Eleanor, had created you to wreck havoc across the north, yet she never intended for you to feel, nor need sustenance. Humanity, it seems to you, never really leaves, even if you are naught but a corpse. You are reminded of your vulnerabilities every time you take a step in the snow, it's cold embrace seeping into your cloth, soaking it through and making you heavy. You were initially surprised that you had so much trouble getting around. In your prime, you could have trekked half-way across the entire continent without so much as stopping, and yet now you are gasping for breath from less than a day's walk. Weakness does not come easy to you, as it does to many others, you simply do not know what it feels like to be tired. But now you do, and you wouldn't wish it upon your worst enemy.

>Cont.

>>2669770
Your stomach starts to growl, and you suppose that you should get something to eat. In the excitement of last night, the only thing you took with you was a single runed knife that Eleanor kept with her. It supposedly harms the wicked more so than the good, and is sharp enough to cut into the bark of a tree like paper. Besides that, you only have the cloth on your back. Instead of a pure black, like it was before, you now have a mixture of black and patched in grey cloth sewed in by your amateurish hands. It shouldn't bug you, but it does. You look so weak and frail now, someone could mistake you for an old man and be tempted to rob you. You fear that you would be unable to protect yourself if such a situation does arise, because you are at only a fraction of the strength that you were in before. Your stomach growls again.

Food. Right. You look around you. It is a pretty mundane forest that you are in. Beautiful, but mundane. You look closer, and notice that there are some bright red berries hanging from a bush; they look plump and juicy, and yet you are not sure if they are edible, or full of toxins. To the left, you see footprints of some sort of animal, they look about medium sized, and to your right you see more footprints, of the larger variety. What to do, what to do...

(Choose 1)
>Follow the medium sized trail, it could be an animal, or something else.
>Follow the large sized trail, it could be an animal, or something else.
>Go for the berries, better not try your luck with a potential fight (Chance of being poisonous)
>Continue forward, you don't like any of these options.

You shiver. Right, shelter! What use would food be, if you can't cook it, or even enjoy it while sitting in peace? You don't know much about survival, but you can use some common sense to whip up something crude. Your stream continues to the right of you, and there seems to be a cave off in the distance, where the large trails lead. To your left, where the medium trails are, there is a thicket.

(Choose 1)
>To the right, a nice warm cave sounds nice.
>To the left, a thicket will also do.
>Continue forward, you can worry about shelter after you got food.

>>2669772
>Follow the medium sized trail, it could be an animal, or something else.
>To the left, a thicket will also do.
As much as I'd like the cave in sure something else already lives there.

>>2669772
>>Follow the medium sized trail, it could be an animal, or something else.
>To the left, a thicket will also do.

>Medium Trail
>Thicket

You're going to follow the tracks to the thicket.

Stand by...

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>Medium Trail
>Thicket

You decide to try your luck by following the medium trail. It doesn't seem like a particularly safe thing to do, but it is safer than going into a cave.

As you walk up to the trail, you notice that they consist of three oval indentations in the snow. Seems like an odd creature, but something about it seems familiar to you. As you follow the trail, careful to keep quiet, you start to enter the thicket. It is hard to move around, and you almost lose the trail, but you carry on regardless. The trees in the thicket actually form sort of a wind breaker, and seem solid enough to not topple over during a storm. You keep this in mind as a potential shelter for you to rest in for a while.

Now that you have this quiet moment to yourself, with only the chirping of the birds and the sound of the stream in the distance, you wonder about civilisation. You lived in the woods for all your life, you know. The only times you went out was to steal from the villages for Eleanor, or simply destroy them. You mostly attacked villages located up north, so that is the area that you know best - you are actually heading north now. Yet your destination is east, specifically south east. From what little of the east that you know, there is a major city that you will have to pass through. That will be a problem...

Some rustling disturbs you from your thoughts. You're little hunt has taken you to a downhill clearing in the forest, where there is a crystal pond that is strangely glowing, and your target. The thing has no hair, and stands on four long legs, with three "toes." It's general appearance looks unsavory, but you know that it is edible, as you remember seeing it once or twice a very long time ago. From what you remember, they are as harmless as a bird, and run away the moment they sense danger. They usually travel in packs, though, so this one must have been cut off from it's family…

Right now, you are hidden in the trees, and they form sort of a circular boundary around the clearing. The moment you step out of cover, you will not be able to hide yourself. You have your knife on you,

(Choose 1)
>Charge! You have nothing to lose…
>Sit and wait. Although, you are getting awfully hungry.
>Set up a trap (Where and Specify)
>Some other sort of strategy (Specify)

>>2669895
>>Charge! You have nothing to lose…

>>2669895
>>Charge! You have nothing to lose…

>>2669938
>>2669990

>Charge!

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 80

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>2670019
BAAANNNZZAAIIIII!

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>2670019
Rolling because no one else is...

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>2670019

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>2670019

Wow!

Stand by...

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>>2670042
Based save

>Charge!
>>2670042
>91 (Success!)

A very long time ago, Eleanor told you about something called the "Will of the Hunt". It is sort of a state of mind that animals, and some higher creatures can tap into to help them with seeking prey. She said that to you when she decided to lay waste to a caravan passing through her territory, and she had this look in her eyes that frightened you, even if you had no concrete will back then. You are reminded of that moment as you eye the beast in front of you. During your time stalking it, it has lowered itself to get a drink from the pond. Something in your head clicks, and you feel your legs starting to tense. The fatigue in them has gone, adrenaline kicking in. You are surprised every time your body releases chemicals, it reminds you that you are human. It reminds you that you are still a primal creature.

You explode from the trees. The beast looks at you and tries to run away, but it finds a hard time doing so after you threw your knife straight into its neck. It takes a stride, then falls over. In a strange sense of deja vu, you quickly take the knife and slit its throat. It gurgles a few times before it dies. Blood seeps profusely from it's neck.

You step away from the creature, knife in hand. Your heart rapidly beats in it's black cage, and then you notice that the forest went quiet. The birds have stopped chirping, and now there is only the soft sloshing of the pond next to you. You step down to the pond, it's glow coming from phosphorescent bacteria on the surface, and there are little pond lilies floating there. You feel some guilt from washing the blood from your hands in such a pure place, yet you do it regardless. You look to the beat once again. With a sigh, you know what to do, you have done this to many creatures before.

You butcher it for it's meat, of course, but there still lies the question of carrying it back to your potential shelter. What do you do? An idea pops into your head. Something that you do not like, but have to do nonetheless. You grip your knife, and start to carve into the beast. It's flesh soft and easily parts, but you are not looking for the meat now, you want the hide. You carefully skin it, and after an hour of labor, you come up with a crude receptacle for carrying the meat. After another hour, you stripped the corpse of it's flesh, and you sling the bloodied makeshift bag over your shoulders, and head to the thicket.

>Cont.

>>2670172
The sun is well in the sky, still morning by your guess, and you have spent the past handful of hours putting together what most would call a disaster, but what you would call a sturdy shelter. All you did was cut down some branches with leaves on it, and a couple of young trees, and place them between the gaps of the thicket - it did all the work, really.

You managed to get a fire going, and now you roast the tender meat on crude rotisserie. You still have a faint view of the stream, and that is what fills your vision while you feast. There is nothing much to look at anyway, all that there is, is snow and trees, then more snow. The bundle of evergreen's beneath you provides enough protection from the elements to keep you at least a little content, if such a thing is even possible in this miserable environment.

As the birds chirp away and the stream trickles to an unknown destination, you lay your head down upon the leaves, hands beneath your head. Something is nagging at you though… it was at the back of your mind ever since you finished reading that book about magic. It seemed really interesting, and it also seemed to say that it was powerful enough to affect reality. The only magic you've ever known of, even if it is barely, is the golemancy that Eleanor would have always practised on you, but that's about it really. There is more to this magic business than destruction, surely. You remember that you made it clear to yourself that you wanted to prevent people from falling under the same fate as you, and if you cannot use your physical prowess to accomplish that, you must seek another way.

You rack your brain to remember what that book said before you burned it. It said something about vibrations? And, what did Eleanor's notes say exactly?

Oh, you remember.

>Cont.

>>2670182
Body is the primal flow.
Mind is the transcendental flow.

Life is the grand wave.
Death is the sporadic movement.

Motion is the fast stream.
Stillness is the stagnant flow.

Form is the structure.
Formless has no structure.

Natural follows the flow.
Artificial rails against the flow.

Mana is the empowerment.
Mundane is the absence of power.

Sentient is imbalance.
Primal is balance.


Which one of these do you want to think about?

>(Choose one set)

>>2670186
>Mana is the empowerment.
>Mundane is the absence of power.

>>2670186
>Life is the grand wave.
>Death is the sporadic movement.

>>2670186
>Life is the grand wave.
>Death is the sporadic movement.

10 minutes left!

>Life is the grand wave.
>Death is the sporadic movement.

Stand by...

>Life is the grand wave.
>Death is the sporadic movement.

You think about life, and you think about death. One is something that you never knew too much about, and the other is something that you are intimately connected to. One is beautiful, and the other is ugly. One is like… a grand wave, and the other is akin to a sporadic movement. What is life, really? It's like a candle that sparks to life, and burns with ferver. Death is like the wind that blows it out, or death can simply be the absence of fuel for the flame, making is dwindle to a pitiful flicker, until it eventually fades out…

You think about the cycle of things, and how you fit into it all. What are you really, besides the receptacle for millions of dead things all floating in your body? That text on the soul told you that all matter are bundles of chaos and order interacting with each other, including you. Yet, didn't it say something about divine essence? What was that? It said that it was the will, the thing that creates and drives mana? It sounds like nonsense to you. But, the idea is interesting, and it would not hurt to think about it some more.

You think about will, life, and death. Then a cricket catches your eye.

Roll 1d100, best of three.

Target(s): 90

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>2670367

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>2670367

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>2670367

You reach your hand out as if to catch the cricket. In an embarrassing attempt to "do magic", you think intently at it. Of course, it does nothing. You sigh, of course not…

You lay on your side, and think about divine essence again. The book said that it surrounds all sentient things, and converts their core flow into something called mana. It said that it can be controlled by will, and that it takes the form of something… ethereal, different to every user. Maybe if you tried to will your mana to manifest...

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 50

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>2670447

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>2670447

Nice.

Stand by...

Mana…, you think to yourself. Mana… you repeat once more. Think of how it will manifest itself. Think about how it will appear… make it appear. What will it look like? It looks like…

You see a white mist escape from your hand.

What?!

No, no! Don't get excited. Stay focused. Yes… you feel it coming out, and… doing nothing. It just sits there. If you concentrate hard enough, you can move it around, but as it is, it is not really doing anything.

What do you do with the mana?

>Write-In

Yes, it's experiment time fellas. If there is anything that I learned from reading quests, it's that you guys love to mess around with dangerous things. So go ahead, think of what you can do with this substance.

>>2670516
Start by seeing if we can manipulate it beyond moving it around. Forming shapes out of it and seeing if we can effect the density of the object would be good places to start. Are we able to feel any effects of the mist, does it feel warm or cold?

>>2670516
Try and make a cricket out of Mana

You want to play with shapes, and have fun while doing it.

Roll 1d100. Best out of three.

Target(s): 60

>>2670551
Whoops, that target was meant to be 30.

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>2670551

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>2670551

Slowly, ever so slowly, you shift the mana to compress into a shape. When you want to become a formless mass, it moves with ease, and yet trying to impose borders on it makes it resist. It's like you are trying to squeeze water with your hands! Somehow, you reign it in so that it forms into a small lump. It's borders are frayed and waver, as if it could pop like a bubble at any moment!

New Ability Progress: 1/3

Now, you need to will it into a sphere.

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 50

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>2670608

People aren't rolling because they're scared of getting a 1 I bet.

Stand by...

>>2670641
but thats the whole fun in rolling shenanigans

Sweat gets wicked by your cloth as you focus harder. Sphere! you think. The lump of mana starts to compress even more, and it becomes rounded out.

Success!

And yet, you can see that it's borders are still frayed, making it's surface waver and deform slightly. You need to make it solid!

New Ability Progress: 2/3

Roll 1d100. Best if three.

Target(s): 60

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>2670654

Alright, it seems like momentum has died down a lot. I don't know if it's the slow nature of the board, or if people just aren't that interested in my quest. I'll leave the voting open for about an hour, and if no one comes, I'll just add in two rolls.

Rolled 80 (1d100)

>>2670654
Playing some games with friends. Missed the updates. Here's a roll though!

>>2670766
Maybe i'm just an impatient bastard...

Oh well! I'm going to go to sleep after this next post, as usual I am going to open up any Q and A if you guys are curious about anything. Please, give me criticism.

Stand by...

The rounded lump wavers and shifts, it's form dancing between the immaterial and the material. The white mist that gives it shape struggles to bring it into form, from imagination to reality. It is hard. You sweat and struggle, and yet you move no muscle. What is being tested is not your brawn but your mind. It is a tool you never used before, and it feels like your thoughts are being pulled in every direction, focusing on everything except the white mist.

-10 Mana. 90/100 Mana

You feel the shape starting to disperse. You funnel in more mist.

-10 Mana. 80/100 Mana

Come on come on!

-10 Mana. 70/100 Mana

It's taking form! It looks like a sphere!

-10 Mana. 60/100 Mana

More! You need to it to solidify!

-10 Mana. 50/100 Mana

You gasp for air. You are finally finished. What stands, or rather, floats in front of you is a sphere of the purest white. It stays solid, and you touch it. It feels warm and it does not compress when you squeeze it. It is very heavy, and you assume it is so because you packed so much mana into it. It's surface is completely smooth, and almost glides over your hand. It looks beautiful…

This little thing in your hand, a bundle of mana. The book said that this is the substance that is in effect the essence of a being, the material of the will. You are taken aback, not by the object itself, but by what it represents. It is the divine. It is God. It is you.

You noticed that you have sat up while doing this exercise, and you lay back down. In both hands you clutch a smooth white ball, and if you angle it to catch the light just right, you can see an inner glow to it, as it emanates an aura of it's own. Your thoughts start to drift to the meaning of life and death again.

Life is the grand wave, and death is the sporadic movement, the book said. It also said something about vibrations, what was it?

What does Cain do with the white ball of pure mana?

>Write-In

You have learned: Form!

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>>2670812
Forgot picture. This is the mana in the process of forming into the sphere, not the actual sphere itself.

And with that, Q and A is open for the rest of the night.

>>2670812
>Throw the orb at something
Thanks for the run cloth!

>>2670812
>Try using it like a battery, try charging yourself up
What could go wrong

Continuing in about 2 hours.

It's pretty heavy. You toss it gently into the air and attempt to catch it - it feels like your trying to catch a rock twice it's size. Yup, definitly heavy.

So, this is what mana looks like, you think. The books made it seem so more grandeur. Is this ball of white supposed to be what you are made of? Isn't it supposed to be more… flashy…; more… energetic…; more… dangerous? You eye that same cricket, it's on one of the load bearing logs that's keeping your shelter from toppling over. You sit up, tossing the ball and catching it again.

You ready your arm…

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>2672076

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>2672076

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>2672076

With a well aimed throw, you hit the cricket dead center. Goo splats everywhere, and the ball lands to the ground with a solid thump. But something else happens… that log that the cricket was on… the load bearing log… it splinters from the impact. Your shelter teeters and wobbles, threatening to collapse. You quickly scramble together some branches and stick it around the log. When it seems stable enough, you sigh to yourself and reclaim the ball. When you pick it up, you notice that it is clean; not a spot on it. The smooth surface of the ball must make everything slide off of it. Interesting...

You give the ball a squeeze. It's as firm as ever. You find it odd that after funneling what felt like half of your mana into the thing, it doesn't really need much to keep shape. It reminds of you wet clay. When the clay is starting to be formed, it has a hard time keeping shape, and likes to ooze everywhere. Only when effort is put into the clay does it solidify properly, and when it sets, it is like that for as long as you want it to be. Interesting, you think. Would anything happen if you were to "wet" the mana again, so to say? It shouldn't be that hard.

You focus on the ball of mana. You concentrate. You think of it dispersing. You think of the formless nature of gases and liquids.

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 50

>>2669605
Ree

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>2672102

Rolled 89 (1d100)

>>2672102

It's a difficult thing to do. Now that you are getting the hang of manipulating mana, you can sort of sense the dense concentrations of mana that you poured into this thing. It feels like some parts are more denser than others, and when you try to will it to break up, you find that the less dense parts are much easier to work with. After about a minute of concentrated effort, you see that it starts to dissipate into white mist, which float off harmlessly into the air like steam.


New Ability Progress: 1/3

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 60

If you have any insight into the process, the target will lower by 10. Look to the descriptions of the different forces that mana controls for hints.

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>2672112

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>2672112

Rolled 25 (1d100)

>>2672112
mana is the byproduct of the mixing of chaos and order when it is surrounded by the divine energy. Mana is what provides the sentience needed for advanced life. We can control it by vibrating it. So violent vibrations would cause it to be more dangerous and disrupt the flow of life, possibly acting as a weapon. Whilst vibrating it gently encourage life possibly acting as a means to heal.

You're making progress, the ball is slowly getting smaller as it dissipates into mist, but something is off. For all the effort your putting in, the process seems so slow. You've already proven that's possible to convert the mana from a solid to a gas, but is this the best way to do it? Maybe there's another way to think about it?

You remember when you threw the ball at the load bearing log. When it splintered, the entire structure became unstable. You imagine what would have happened if it collapsed…

Your thoughts make the ball of mana quickly turn into mist! That's it! You just needed to think about it a little differently! Mana, you think like clay, forms into a structure when energy and a will is put into it, and sets into something solid. When that structure is disrupted in the now hard clay, it doesn't turn back into sludge, it collapses! Form is like the structure, and Formless is like the instability of the structure. One builds while the other destroys, and… and…

Your mind is starting to fog over. Concentrate!

New Ability Progress: 2/3

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 50

Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>2672187

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>2672187

You push your mind to think of the ball of mana collapsing, and the dissipation becomes increasingly quicker until it melts like a chunk of ice, leaving you with a handful of white mist, that float off into the sky. For a moment you sit there in silence. You never had this feeling before… what is it? Satisfaction? It's a nice feeling to have.

You have learned: Formless!

Not another second passes until you try to do it again. You first concentrate on manifesting the mana…

-10 Mana. 40/100 Mana.

Then you wrangle it into a lump…

Then you compress it into a spherical lump…

Finally, you will it to become solid, and thus it is so. Some time passes…

You make another.

-10 Mana. 30/100 Mana.

Then another.

-10 Mana. 20/100 Mana.

One more.

-10 Mana. 10/100 Mana.

After an hour, you breath deeply, feeling exhausted but strangely prideful. Three spheres of pure white are in front of you. You take a look at each, and they are all perfectly smooth, but varying slightly in sizes. You have gotten progressively better at making them, and you can sense that the last one that you made is almost entirely uniform on mana distribution. You are liking this new power you have!

It's an amazing feat to be able to materialize mana, but is this the only thing you can really do with it? There must be something else you can do…

>We can control it by vibrating it. So violent vibrations would cause it to be more dangerous and disrupt the flow of life, possibly acting as a weapon. Whilst vibrating it gently encourage life possibly acting as a means to heal.

>Cont.

>>2672216
You put your hand over the smallest sphere, and feel how tough it is. You pick it up, and slowly start to sense the layers packed in it. They are all in there, interweaving to form the sphere, like how thread is woven into cloth. You concentrate and think of the strings being plucked like an instrument. Small waves ripple through the ball. It makes it waver in shape, but it does not fall apart. Interesting.

You put in another ripple. It does the same. You imagine the string moving like waves, and the ball shimmers and glows a little brighter. You imagine great, big waves, across an otherwise silent sea. The ball increases in brilliance. You have your eyes closed in concentration, and yet you feel something brush against your leg. You break concentration, and the ball turns dim. You lift your leg, and see a bright red rosebud, in the middle of winter. Very interesting…

Now, what would happen if you make the waves discordant? In your head, you think of a storm passing over the sea, causing waves to crash upon waves, allowing no peace to occur. The ball grows dimmer, and dimmer, and turns to a dark shade of grey. The waves increase in fervor, and crash upon some rocks. The ball turns darker, and you feel a sense of dread wash over you. This time, when you break concentration, you see that the rose has withered, and so has the bed of leaves under you.

You have learned: Life!
You have learned: Life!

New abilities gained!

>Remun
You learned how to turn mana from a solid to a gas, but did you know that you can do the same with actual matter as well? See what you can do with this newfound ability!

>Reaper
You can give mana a form and make it vibrate in discordant waves, causing it to poison anything it touches. What would happen if you form a sword out of mana?

>Druid’s Hand
When giving formed mana harmonious waves, it seems to promote the growth of life, and could possibly used to heal. It doesn’t affect you, though, because it’s your own mana!

>Cont.

File: Life and Death.gif (999 KB, 500x281)

999 KB GIF

>>2672236
Whoops.

It's supposed to be Life and Death.

And both Reaper and Druid's Hand use a bit of mana per turn used to keep up.

Also here is a visualization of the string waves:

>>2672236
As you dissipate the spheres, exhausted and feeling severely drained, you whisk off into a dreamless slumber.

>Continued later.


And that's the end of Act I. I'm going to take a break and continue in a couple of hours. Q and A is open until then!

>>2672249
Thanks for running

Alright, I'm back!

Stand by...

The sun was directly overhead when you opened your eyes again. Your little shelter held well, as you felt pretty warm, actually, from the fire, although now it sits in embers. It is yet another cold and harsh day, and you notice that some light snowfall has started. You breath in deep and wince as you smell something rotten. You take out your knife and sniff it. You forgot to clean it after your kill, and it does not smell very savory. You take your knife to the stream - your stream, and wash it clean. When you take it out, you see that the dried blood has washed off, but something else contaminates it.

Soot. Wet soot.

Like a dear who has caught the scent of danger, you look towards the direction of the burned remnants of Eleanor's house, and freeze. Why has the soot washed down river? The house is too far away for it to get picked up by it, and the wind wouldn't have blown this much into the stream. You see something moving in the stream, and you tense. A silent moment passes as you see what's floating in the water.

The spirits that you killed. All three of them.

Their corpses get dragged off by the stream, and they stare at you with dead eyes. You stare at them too. Somebody found the house, you think. Your instinctive thought was to find and kill them, but the feeling of cold washing over your body reminded you that you are in no shape for an honest fight, and you have no idea who these people are, if they are even people.

You wipe the soot off on your leg and move on. Shelter forgotten, fireplace intact, and errant pieces of meat still lying around.

>Cont.

>>2672471
About an hour has passed until you hear a sound deeper into the woods, to your left. It sounds like… crying?

(Choose one)
>Investigate the crying
>Keep moving.

>>2672471
>>Investigate the crying

>>2672479
>Investigate the crying
time to get started on that redemption business
unless we're walking into a trap

>>2672479
>Investigate the crying
This a real nice quest

>>2672479
>Investigate the crying

Stepped out for a while.

>Investigate the crying

Stand by...

>Investigate the crying

This sound is familiar to you. Very familiar, and usually you were the one causing it. That was a lifetime ago, and back then you were a monster. Maybe today, you can try to do some good for once instead of causing destruction.

Is it hurt?

A voice rings in your head. You stop. Is it another attack? Is there something trying to crawl it's way inside your head again? You stay still for a minute, the sobs echoing around the forest. After waiting patiently, and noticing nothing out of the ordinary, you slowly squeeze your hands. Right, you can control them, nothing is wrong with you. The cries raise in volume, it calls for it's mother. A child. Right. You need to help it.

You take another step, but pause again. What if it's a trap? you think. The child cries on, and you debate on helping it or not.

Go!

The voice comes again, it startles you. You jump, which makes a rustling sound. The sobbing stops, and you freeze. The child calls out in a weak voice.

"Mommy?"

It knows that I'm here… you think, it needs to go away…. You take a step forward, pulling out your knife, then you…

Stop!

You stop. What was that? Why do you have your knife out? What were you thinking of?! It was an automatic action, you had no control of yourself just a second ago. It just seems like second nature to kill. You shake your head, and resolve to not be violent. You are different now. You want to help people this time…

Right?

>Cont.

>>2672737
You step deeper into the forest, ignoring the child's cries for its mother. You come into another thicket, and right in the middle of it is a young human girl, apparently injured. She has her eyes closed sobbing, and you take another step closer. You can see that her leg is broken, and she is stuck in the brambles. When you take your third step, she opens her eyes and looks at you. She screams.

What do you do?
(Choose 1-2)

>Ignore the thing. You only want to help people that are in some form of forced servitude, you could care less about anything else.
>Ask it some questions. It should know some of the local area, right?
>Try to help it. But why would you do that?
>Other?

>>2672747
>>Try to help it. But why would you do that?
first
then
>Ask it some questions. It should know some of the local area, right?

>>2672747
Second >>2672758

>>2672747
this >>2672758
but keep an eye out. If she was injured, there may be something looking for her

>Try to help it. But why would you do that?
>Ask it some questions. It should know some of the local area, right?

The child screams as you get closer.

"Mommy!" it says.

You get close to the thing, and see that it is covered in scratches and bruises, and it's leg is bent at an odd angle. You know nothing about the aging of humans, so you do not know how old it might be. A part of you wants to just leave the thing and continue on your path. What does this thing matter to you? You've seen hundreds of them, and they don't do much besides cry and scream. Why should you give it the light of day, when you need to go to help people who are being forced into servitude? It does not make sense. But something calls deep within you.

Help the child it says. You still do not know where that voice is coming from. You fear that something is inside of you again. But you ignore it for now, and yet you feel something gnawing inside of you. It feels… painful? It feels like your stomach is churning. But you are not bleeding internally, you are sure, so what could it be?

Before you even realize it, you speak to the child "Be quiet." The child screams all the louder.

"Stop that." It screams more.

"Shut up!" you scream yourself. It sobs quietly.

It hurts. It says. The pain in your stomach starts to rise.

Help. The. Child. It says again. The pain increases in intensity and you hunch over. After a minute you finally relent.

You know nothing about first aid. What do you do?

(Choose 1-2)
>Druid's Hand
>Other?

>>2672932
>Get the child something to bite down on and set the leg. Then druids hand.
I feel like just using druids hand would heal the leg wrong. If that's not the case then just try to heal.

>>2672949
support

>Get the child something to bite down on and set the leg. Then druids hand.

You're right.

Stand by...

>Get the child something to bite down on and set the leg. Then druids hand.

The child started to cry again. You look around for a big enough branch, and you shove it in the child's mouth to quiet it. It looks terrified. The pain in your stomach starts to well up again.

What the hell does this voice want? It's telling you to help this thing that you wouldn't have thought about otherwise. What is its goal? To make you weaker than you already are? You growl in frustration. You do not like being taken advantage of. For now, you are forced to comply with it, because you think that the pain will go away if you do.

You know nothing about first aid, yet you do have some common sense. You know that Druid's Hand makes things grow, that means it could make bone grow as well, but it needs to grow in the right place. You look at the child's face; tears are streaming like a river. The pain spikes.

Comfort the child, the voice says.

You grunt out, "This will hurt." The child starts to cry again.

...

...

...

The child passed out.

You have the bone in place with one hand, and you concentrate on your other. You close your eyes, and white mist streams from your palm, then you will it to form a sphere. You imagine… a heartbeat this time - it feels relevant. You think of the beats, each of them plucking a loose string, making it bounce up and down.

Ba dum… Ba dum… Ba dum… Ba dum….

You open your eyes, and see the orb glow brilliantly. You press it down to the child's broken leg.

Wait…

Gah!

The brambles start to grow around the child, not too good. You lose concentration, and you rip away the thorns and brambles, and pick up the child and set it on the ground. Then, you try again.

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 70

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>2673149

Rolled 44 (1d100)

>>2673149
Oh god this kids dead

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>2673149
CLUTCHHH AAAAA

I'm convinced that this quest is blessed by the clutch gods.

Stand by...

File: 1525869950188.gif (673 KB, 400x400)

673 KB GIF

>>2673205

>>2673205
Beautiful mate

>>2673205
>84 (Success!)

It is hurting.

It needs help.

Save it.

You know damnit! The orb presses against the child's bone, and you leave it there, but nothing happens. What? Why isn't this working? You feel like there is a force resisting you, like it doesn't want your mana to affect the child. You don't care. You push ahead and funnel in more mana to the orb, and you also lose yourself to the rhythm of life. The orb grows brighter until it looks like a small sun. This time, you overcome the resistance, and slowly, the bone grows out from every direction. Quickly, you direct it's light to the severed ends, and they gradually rebuild themselves. You have to concentrate very hard to not make the orb too bright, as it might make the child's entire leg grow, so you cautiously let it eek out.

Then, you hear a scream, and a rustling of leaves.

"Lauren!" Feminine

"Oh, God!" Masculine

You look up, and see something charge towards you! You have no time to react, and you are tackled to the ground. The feminine voice screams out once again.

"Take her and go!" the masculine voice says.

You can see that you are wrapped in an arm, bulging with muscles. A man holds you in a headlock, and when you look to your left you see a woman picking the child up. The child's leg starts to bleed profusely.

It will bleed. The voice says.

Why is the voice talking about the child?! It starts to sound familiar to you.

It will die. It says.

The pain wells up inside of you. It is a churning, gut wrenching pain. What is this?! What is happening?!

Save it.

You struggle weakly against the man, and the woman starts to run away with the child. A word pops into your mind, something you've only heard of once before. Suddenly, everything makes sense to you.

Empathy.

It will die! It says. It is your voice. It your voice telling you to do something good. Is this caused by the divine essence embedded in you? It gave you consciousness, and along with what, a morality?

What do you do?
(Choose 1)
>Forget about the child. Just stab the man with your knife until he lets go, and walk away.
>Struggle against the man.
>Use Remun! (Specify)
>Use Druid's Hand! (Specify)
>Use Reaper! (Specify)
>Try talking to them.
>Other?

>>2673288
>I'm the only chance you have for the child to live. Either let me finish or let me leave. I care not which.

>>2673288
>>Try talking to them.
"Let me save your daughter you fool!!"
Maybe something like this?

The man's grip on you is like steel, and you can barely get a sentence through.

"You fool! I was saving the child. I-"

You look at the man, and you realize that no words will get through to him. He has that look on his face. The wild-eyed, empty look of an animal that knows that it is about to be slaughtered. Oh, you think. He knows what you are. He planned to sacrifice himself so that his wife and daughter had a chance of escaping. It looks like reason will not help you in this situation.

The woman gets further and further away, leaving behind a trail of blood.

What do you do?
>Write-In

>>2673391
Push the man off us and follow the trail of blood

>>2673391
Second >>2673408 Well trying to talk was a waste. Let's hope we can catch up before more damage is done.

>>2673408
This and maybe knock him out?

>>2673408
>>2673421
>>2673458

>Push him off.

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 95

After you gained consciousness, much of your strength left you. Now, I would say that you have a little less than average human level strength, and now you are going to try to escape from the grasp of much, much stronger man.

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>2673475
Watch me.

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>2673475
Here we go boys!

Also I can't really think of any other options here that could have helped, but then again I'm kinda dumb.

>>2673475
How do you roll, exactly?
Cuz i got a 100. Not kiding

>>2673527
dice+1d100 in the options field newfriend.

And it must be within 4chan's own system.

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>2673475

>>2673527
dice+1d100 in the options field.

>>2673539
Ah! Thanks for clearing that up for me

A dark shadow lurks from beyond.

Stand by...

>Push him off.
>>2673541
>84(Failure!)

You squirm and wriggle, but you get nowhere. The man's grip tightens further, and your vision starts to swim. You look above, and see dark clouds start to form. Snow falls.

What do you do?
(Choose 1)
>Stab the man with your knife until he lets go.
>Use one of your abilites (Specify).
>Other?

>>2673577
could we use remun to slip out of his hold, preferably on ourselves rather than on him

>>2673577
Could we use Remun to turn ourselves into a gas and reform out of his grip? Or would that just kill us?

>>2673577
Maybe we could use Remun to send gas over his head, have it stabilize and then have it be dropped on his head to knock him out.

>>2673594
>>2673596

You don't have nearly enough mastery over Remun to do any of those things. The most you can do is form a sphere, and maybe turn some rocks into gas.

I'll tell you guys right now. Cain's survival instincts are strong, and if you fail this roll, then he will kill the husband with his knife.

>>2673604
you mentioned that smooth motion of mana vibration can induces feelings of happiness, would that serve to calm him down?

>>2673604
So, this plan >>2673599 could work out, right?

>>2673614
It can, but you are losing consciousness, and he is determined to kill you, or at least stop you, so you would have to have a miracle roll.

>>2673616
It could, but it would be difficult.

>>2673604
Every idea I have has too much of a potential drawback or we probably can't pull it off. Our have are free right? Can't we just brain him with the handle of the knife to knock him out?

Maybe we should just stab him in the leg and try to come back later to heal but I fear we won't have enough mana juice to actually help him after we help his daughter.

We could use druids hand to cause the brambles around us to grow, hopefully, causing him to let go

>>2673637
You are in a choke hold. I believe that in that position the victim can only reach the legs to the lower torso, right?

>>2673646
Depends on the hold and he might not have been applying proper technique in his panic. What about just playing possum? Act like we got knocked out and when he lets go book it.

File: Do-a-Sleeper-Choke-Hold-S(...).jpg (2.7 MB, 3200x2400)

2.7 MB JPG

This is the position that you are in.

>>2673648
He plans to kill you.

The hold is solid, but I guess you can try to knock him out? It will be difficult though.

>>2673657
Alright fuck it. I'll go with >>2673639. Shank him in the leg or shoulder to get him to loosen his hold.

Our discussion got a bit jumbled, so I'll do a recount.

(Choose 1)
>Stab
>Ability (Specify)

>>2673676
are we still at 10/100 mana from the experimentation earlier?

>>2673676
>Stab
Lets hope we don't kill this dude

>>2673686
Sorry, I forgot!

No, you are at 50/50 Health and 100/100 Mana. You rested, remember?

>>2673676
>Stab

>>2673692
so would mana always regain to full after resting or would be more akin to 10 mana per hour?
Also
>Ability (Specify) Use druid's hand to cause the thorny plants around us to grow

>>2673714
The former.

Voting closes in an hour.

Never mind. Looks like this is all we got.

>Stab

Roll 1d100. Best of three. You are rolling to not kill the guy.

Target(s): 80

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>2673784

Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>2673784

File: 2cb.jpg (17 KB, 466x349)

17 KB JPG

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>2673784

This'll be a big one.

Stand by...

From up above, clouds start to gather around the forest. The sky darkens, and snow falls down onto the gloomy thicket that you’re in. The man, determined to give his wife and daughter a chance to escape, has a firm hold on your neck, and is slowly choking you out. He has that look in his eyes. A look that only a father can have. It is the look of one determined to protect what he loves. Eyes that shine with an inner fire that grants strength in the most dire of times. His muscles bulge and have been wrapped around your neck for almost two minutes now. Your cloth stops the blood from completely stopping the flow to your brain, but you know that you have little time left. You take your knife out, and flail your arm around, hoping to catch something. You let out a gurgle and a half-gasp, and your vision slowly goes black. You keep flailing, getting weaker by the second.

You hit flesh. Warm blood covers your hand. You stab again. And again. Again, again, again. Until the white snow is replaced by a blood red. The man's grip loosens, but he still holds on. He grunts in pain, and yet you continue to stab him. At this point, you are not thinking anymore. Instead, your consciousness has receded and for a second it is replaced by the mind of what you were once before. Another gurgle escapes you, and another hole opens up in the man's leg. He cries out in pain, yet you continue to kill him. At this point, you are long gone. Instead, your thoughts have receded, and for a second it is replaced by one thing: kill. Another gurgle escapes you, and another hole opens up in the man's leg. At this point, you are not a new man anymore. Instead, you are the Creature in the Cloth, a monster that gifts nothing but destruction and takes nothing but lives. Another gurgle escapes from you, and another hole opens up in the man's leg. His grip loosens, and he finally falls limp, his arms sliding off of you, and he dreams a dreamless slumber in the red snow.

>Cont.

>>2674063
You gasp for air. Snow starts to fall in fervor now, slowly coating the husband, whom is lying within the thicket of trees. Blood has soaked in and throughout their trunks, and they will be stained forever. You barely have the strength to lift your hands, so you lay there for a while, catching your breath. The man's eyes stare back at you. You can never escape this scene, can you? You have a flashback to Eleanor. You were in this exact same situation before. It was a kill or be killed scenario, and you just happened to be the victor. But back then was different, wasn't it? You had no choice back then, you were being controlled by the thorns. You could have explained that away as not having a will, and thus not being accountable for your actions. But this, this was different. Did you not kill a man? A husband? A father? And it was in your own free will. You shouldn't care about this, you should not have wasted your time trying to pry the man off, causing this murder to happen. It should not even be half your fault. So…

So, why do you hurt so much then?

You get up on shaky feet. The world spins around you, and the carpets of snow that are beginning to fall down doesn't help your sense of balance either. You can only see the man, now buried in white, and the puddle of red slowly growing around him. You look at your hands, covered in blood. His blood. Is this what you are? Will you never change? This was your first challenge. Your first test. And you have failed.

>Cont.

File: O willow waly.jpg (751 KB, 2560x1600)

751 KB JPG

>>2674073
There is one thing that could bring you back from this. One more test you have not failed yet. You can find the girl, and save her.

You focus on your palm again, and form an orb. You think of the swaying of the trees, in the peaceful wind. It glows bright, your only lantern in a sea of dark white.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_annB8AsLcI

Down you walk upon snow, among the trees. They loom over you, their branches forming a canopy to block out some of the snow. Their trunks solid and heavy, they represent the husband, a force of strength. Their branches, fragile and elegant, they represent the wife, the force of morality. Their leaves, small and thin, they represent the child, the force of innocence. Among the families you walk, all looming over you, snow billowing in the breeze. And the trunks rot. And the branches break. And the leaves fall.

There, in a little clearing. Beneath a grey and weeping willow tree. You see her, lamenting the death of her child. There were two, and now there is one. The child lies in the mother's lap, cold and still. Her body is wracked in sobs, next to that weeping willow. It's trunk is rotten. It's branches are broken. And it's leaves are fallen. You can do nothing here. You have caused enough destruction. You walk past her. She does not notice. She still weeps beside that tree. She started to hum a lullaby to her child. She wonders if she will die.

You walk off into the night. For an hour, you do this, until your body goes numb from the cold. You spot some ruins. You can spend the night in there, you think. And so, the Creature with the lantern of white steps into the dark ruins, leaving behind naught but death and decay behind him.

Annnd we will continue tomorrow.

What did you think? Have a question? Q and A is open!

File: 1529441856976.jpg (64 KB, 466x466)

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>>2674104
Truly, our existence is suffering. Good thread, can't wait to see more OP. See ya tommorow.

File: 1528689302322.gif (3 MB, 540x468)

3 MB GIF

>>2674104
Well fuck. Total failure. I'm curious what the optimal path was cloth. Unless that's too much of a look behind the curtain.

>>2674190
I wouldn't say that there was an optimal path. Either way, you would have had to injure the husband in order for him to let go. That, or you would have had to come up with a brilliant plan. I put in a two turn time limit to escape and save the child, but you spend both of them talking and trying to wrestle your way out of his grasp. It was a lesson, I suppose, that sometimes you have to hurt someone to save another.

And the only reason that the targets were crazily high was because by then you had little consciousness left, and you could not act or think straight.

>>2674212
I imagine when we were under the Mistresses control we didn't talk so I was hoping actually talking would have made him pause. Lesson learned I suppose.

File: Acutally Cloth.jpg (12 KB, 213x236)

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>>2674104
STANDING, ON THE EDGE OF THE CRATER
In all seriousness, good session Cloth, you're fucking great

Continuing in a couple hours.

Interlude 1: Durando's Journey

You are Durando, and you are pretty fucking upset.

You were just told by your pseudo-leader, Vulferd, to go and track the Creature in the Cloth. That thing that could casually punch a rock and make it explode. Yeah, what exactly was he thinking? As you usually do when your in a sour mood, you think about the good ol' times in your past. You think about your childhood district in the Great Common Square, the smell of the ripe streets and the sight of the sewage-green sea. You think of all the times as a kid when you would steal a fish or two from the fat fishermen, and laugh when they fell over trying to chase you. It was a wonderful, innocent time. Until they came. The loose band of glorified bounty hunters; sent out by a couple of rich nobles in Mesiros to get their hands on as much divine essence as possible, known as the "Essence Stealers". Creative name, eh? They came to your little district like a shadow, stealing you away from a family that does not exist and friends that do not care if they ever see you again, and as quickly as they came, they left. That's how you became an Essence Stealer, and eventually you rose to become the greatest one of them all. But, it's just that no one realizes it yet.

But you digress. You have this task now, and you are damned if Durando, the Essence Stealer, could not complete it at least half way. You make your way to your shitty encampment to get some supplies for the journey. You were told to set off at noon, and the sun has barely risen over the horizon. Plenty of time! As you walk to your base, you start to get bored.

What do you do while walking?
(Choose 1-3)
>Check over yourself. Whatcha wearin’? Watcha carrying?
>Daydream a little. Why not?
>Worry about confronting the Creature in the Cloth. What the fuck was Vulferd thinking, asking you to do this?
>Other?

>>2676194
>>Check over yourself. Whatcha wearin’? Watcha carrying?
first
then
>>2676194
>>Worry about confronting the Creature in the Cloth. What the fuck was Vulferd thinking, asking you to do this?

>>2676200
Supporting.

Splash!

You hear a noise behind you. It's Silent, the big guy with a scary face. He just chucked three of those disgusting monsters into the stream like it was nothing. He wipes his hands off on his pant leg, and he looks at you. He smiles. Creepy. You turn around and start to walk a little faster, that guy scares you. It's not like you haven't seen him before, in fact, you worked with him for like, a month now! You would think that he would have lightened up a bit, but no. Vulferd said that Silent was always like this, even before you started to work with him. Some people are like that, you suppose. Always looking' to fuck with someone's mind, if that's what he is in fact doing. No skin off your back, you can just keep your head down and do what you're told.

The snow crunches beneath your shoes as you keep a brisk pace. The trees around you are tall and look like statues looming over you, and… and… yeah, no. You can't do this. You're starting to get bored, and so you do what you always do when you're bored, and start to make a little list in your head. What's around you? Trees. Rocks. Snow. More snow… nothing much besides that. What's on you? Nothing much… a shirt, a backpack, a short vest, some leather shoulder pads. Shit, you just reminded yourself of how cold you are. Why didn't you take a coat with you? Okay… what else do you have? Only your spear strapped to your back, and that's it. It's a special spear, with a special spearhead. It does something special, geared towards your job. It Does the thing. You know what the Thing is. You don't need to think about it.

>Cont.

File: spear.jpg (23 KB, 976x648)

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>>2676300
You think of the spear… then you think of what you will probably have to use it for… shit, you just reminded yourself that you could potentially be in an encounter with the Creature in the Cloth. You grew up in the Great Common Square, a sprawling city far east of the forest, so of course you know about that thing, you heard the stories. It was made by a crazy witch that wanted nothing more than to see the world born, and so the Creature was fueled by her insane desire to cause misery and torment. It mainly struck villages and caravans around the forest, and sometimes the outskirts of the Square. You saw it once before, you remember, as a kid. You were hidden in a little shack while it walked around, about a mile away. Scary stuff, you could have died if you made a peep, you know. It's strength was legend from all across the north, known for tearing apart several feet of solid stone wall just to get at someone behind it. It could jump a hundred feet in the air and sprint for a hundred miles without rest. People would say that the one thing that it was weak to was water, because if it got wet it would fall apart, so the rumor goes. So many villages in the north have made it tradition to keep many buckets of water in their homes to attempt to ward the thing off. What little good that did. You remember, a couple months back, when you were supposed to "collect" this stone monster, and you and your team happened across a town, the recent handiwork of the Creature. It made you sick to your stomach, that such a thing could kill without remorse.

So, why the fuck would Vulferd make you track that monster? Shouldn't he or Silent do it? You would like to call yourself the brains of the team, while the other two are the brawn. What can you do to defend yourself if the Creature sees you? The only thing you have is your spear, which Does the Thing. But you don't know if the Thing will work against something that could kill you with one fucking finger. You start to sweat. No, don't psych yourself out, you think. Just do the job and get out. If you are really careful, nothing bad will happen.

Right?

>Cont.

>>2676303
You got the encampement after an hour of trudging through the snow. To be frank, it looks like shit. But hey, home is home, right? It's located in a clearing. Three tents are scattered in a wide circle, with a fire blazing in the middle. Your team wasn't scared of being followed, so they went balls to the wall in terms of stealth. You spot your tent, the right-most one. You step in.

Ah, as spartan as it could be. A bed made of some wool you picked up from the town over, a chest, and another chest. You need to prepare yourself for the journey, and you have no idea how long that will be, so you look through your options. You move towards the first chest, a thing made from aged oak and decorated in a simple spiral pattern along it's rim. It opens with the creak of aged wood.

In it, you see rations, some tools, and weapons. The rations get snapped up immediatly, and you put it in the bag your wearing on your back. As for the other things…

Tools
(Choose 2)
>Special goggles designed to see mana.
>A hook attached to some rope. I guess you can call it a grappling hook.
>Some extra spear tips. The ones that Do the Thing.
>Some bundles of cloth.

Weapons
(Choose 2)
>Bow and arrow.
>Short sword.
>Dagger.
>Another dagger.
>A carving knife.
>A cat carved from wood.

>>2676307
>>Special goggles designed to see mana.
>A hook attached to some rope. I guess you can call it a grappling hook.
>Bow and arrow.
>Short sword.

I caught up
are we still missing a jaw? how can we talk? magic?

>>2676307
>Special goggles designed to see mana.
>Some bundles of cloth.

>Bow and arrow
>Short sword

Set a trap with the cloth as lure, using the goggles to spot him (if they can), or any potential magic he might use. Then shoot him with the bow before closing in with the spear.

>>2676307
>Special goggles designed to see mana.
>Some bundles of cloth.
wouldn't do to freeze to death or catch frost bite.

>Bow and arrow.
>A cat carved from wood.
tell me bout dat pussy

>>2676361
The cloth does it all, man.

Okay! This is what we have so far.

>Goggles
>>2676313
>>2676364
>>2676367

>Cloth
>>2676364
>>2676367

>Hook
>>2676313


>Bow and arrow.
>>2676313
>>2676364
>>2676367

>Short sword.
>>2676313
>>2676364
>>2676367

>Pussy.
>>2676367

I hope I counted it right. I'll wait ~30 min before writing.

>>2676381
note to self: take a dead man's jaw and sew it to our skull

You take the goggles and the bundle of cloth, and put it in your pack. Where you got those two items? It involved a risky bet with crazy mage up in Mesiros. He said that those goggles can see the flow of mana surrounding all sentient life, for up to a mile. You never really had the chance to test them, but you guess this is the perfect scenario to use it. The cloth, well… you just stole that from him - he was a bit of a prick. You take the short sword, and loop it around your belt. It is pretty nondescript. A worthy blade that you kept for years. The bow, and quiver, go on your back, sharing room with the spear. It never hurts to have options.

Then, you move on to the other chest, it has the same design as the previous one. You open it. You see clothes.

What do you take?
(Choose 2)
>A greatcoat, that comes with a fancy looking top hat. Don't ask how you got it, but looks pretty damn fine on you.
>Light chainmail.
>Simple woolen sweater. Nothing fancy here.
>Some rags. If you wear this, you will never hear the end of it from Vulferd. But who gives a shit?

>>2676432
>>Some rags. If you wear this, you will never hear the end of it from Vulferd. But who gives a shit?
Because why not

>>2676432
>A greatcoat, that comes with a fancy looking top hat. Don't ask how you got it, but looks pretty damn fine on you.
>other
a magical pimp cane that turns into a magical walking stick.

>>2676432
if a magic pimp cane is not allowed to match the swagger outfit, then:
>Simple woolen sweater. Nothing fancy here.
because the chain mail ain't gonna do shit against the thing, and we might as well die comfy and good looking.

When you say light chainmail, do you mean that it encompass the whole body while being unnaturally light, or it is light tier armor of chainmail (only covers torso)?

>>2676482
the latter.

>>2676490
yeah no point with the armor.
die like a swagger motherfucker. not that I want him to die or anything. i just thought a sweater would be lighter than chainmail.

We need a consensus, so the voting will be up for another hour.

File: 1520525074812.jpg (1021 KB, 2024x2048)

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>>2676432
>A greatcoat, that comes with a fancy looking top hat. Don't ask how you got it, but looks pretty damn fine on you.
>Simple woolen sweater. Nothing fancy here.
We /nootka/ now

>>2676552
there you have it

Stand by...

>A greatcoat, that comes with a fancy looking top hat. Don't ask how you got it, but looks pretty damn fine on you.
>Simple woolen coat. Nothing fancy here.

Hah! You would love to see the look on Vulferd's face when you stroll out to stalk the creature in this get up! Yes, you could very well die, but you always thought that there needs to be some comedy in misery to make it bearable. And plus, if you're going to die, you may as well do so while looking your best.

Just as you button the last button, and adjust the hat, you hear a rustling of tent cloth. It's Vulferd, and he's looking at you with a blank stare. You look at him.

...

...

"You really want to die today, don't you?" Said Vulferd.

"That's been the goal since the beginning." You reply.

Vulferd sighs, and pinches his nose, "Just… don't go anywhere near the Creature. As long as you can get it's location I want you to get back here ASAP."

"Will do, captain."

"Jackass."

You grin, tip your hat to the man, and leave without another word. The world always shine a little brighter when things don't go Vulferd's way.

...

...

...

You're back at the burned house. Silent left a long time ago, and all that is there is a mountain of black soot and some errant pieces of lumber. You have some experience in tracking animals, so you use this knowledge to get you started on the Creature's tail.

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 40

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>2676645

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>2676645
CRIT FAIL GUYS LET'S GO

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>2676645

>>2676659
>75(Major Success!)

You're experience as a hunter does not go wasted. You spot the tracks almost immediately, along with a scrap of black cloth that definitely confirms it: the Creature passed through here. You have no idea why the Creature ran away, or how it was even possible for that thing to do it, but you don't really care. The only things on your mind are tracking, being careful, and looking pretty damn good.

You follow the trail for a while. About an hour passes, and you start to notice that snow has started to trickle down from up above. You hope that another blizzard isn't on the horizon after the other one a day ago. Those things are unpredictable and dangerous. You finally find something that makes you stop. In front of you, or, rather, to your sides, are two sets of tracks. One goes off to the left, and you notice that the Creature's tracks go there as well. To your right, there are large tracks. Footprints, to be exact. Obviously, you know that you have to follow the creature, but your curiosity is also strong. What to do, what to do…

(Choose 1)
>Medium trail, where the Creature has passed.
>Large trail. What could be there?
>Continue ahead, ignoring both. You're feeling like slacking today.

>>2676699
>>Medium trail, where the Creature has passed.

>>2676699
>Medium trail, where the Creature has passed.

>>2676699
>>Medium trail, where the Creature has passed.

Man, y'all are boring

Stand by...

You sigh. Duty comes before desire, you think to yourself, and rightly so. Even if you like to act a little irresponsible sometimes, a task of this importance should not be treated so lightly. You chide yourself for even thinking of following the other trail, or slacking off for that matter. This thing your tracking, the Creature in the Cloth, is a monster! You feel slightly embarrassed for picking such a flashy outfit now that you think about it. Regardless, you move on, and you follow the Creature’s trail.

The snow has picked up a bit, and the sky darkens. You hear a howling in the distance, which makes your blood curdle. A sharp pang of fear travels up your spine, but you determine that the noise is nowhere near you location. In fact, that howling was in the direction of the larger tracks. A good thing you chose to be boring instead of adventurous. But it still strikes you as odd that howling emanated from a woods that has been known to have no native wolf populations. You don't really want to think about the implications very much, so instead you continue on your own hunt.

You finally come across a thicket, with what looks like a horror scene around it. Rotting flesh is scattered around the snow, there is a nearly extinguished fire, and a frankly laughable shelter with withered leaves carpeting it's floor. What the hell happened here? You can't help but think of the worst case scenario.

A man… no, an old man, was happily making a camp, probably humming a tune to himself, when the Creature ambushed him! He gobbled him up, wrecked his shelter, then…

No, that's stupid. There would be more to see if that was the case. The tracks continue in front of you. Before you move on, though, you feel like there is something more to do here…

What do you do?
>Use the goggles. Now, you play the detective.
>Just move on, you can't waste more time than necessary.
>Other?

>>2676798
>>Use the goggles. Now, you play the detective.
why not

>>2676798
>Other?
investigate the rotting flesh. is it people or something else?

Voting will close in 30 minutes!

Stand by...

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>Use the goggles. Now, you play the detective.

You suddenly remember that you brought your mana sensing goggles for the purpose of using it at least once. You take them out, and put them on. They are simple things, more like glasses really - just some fibre woven into a sort of blind fold with two green lenses on the front. The world turns into a shade of green, and you see nothing when you look around. You step into the shelter itself, and inspect the withered leaves on the ground. There, you see slivers of mana vibrating chaotically in the ground. Huh. Interesting. You don't know much about mana, but you're sure that a patch of poisoned ground is not exactly natural.

The snowing picked up. You need to finish this quick, or find some shelter of your own. You take the goggles off, and continue on the trail, past the thicket, and when you do, you hear something. It sounds odd. It sounds like… cursing? You walk closer, your sword materializing in your hand.

"Damnit, damnit!"

"Shit!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

What exactly is going on here? You come to a clearing, then you see the source of the noise. It's a woman, with red hair and dressed in very natural clothes. She is pacing around the clearing, fuming, and next to her is a… skeleton? Of what? You look behind her, and you see a pack of what seems to be Landstriders. You can't tell for sure, the snow is making it hard to see.

What do you do?
(Choose 1)
>Approach her.
>Call out to her. (Specify)
>Ignore her.
>Other?

>>2677117
>Other?
Oi love what'sa cunt loik ya doin 'ot 'ere?

>>2677117
Approach

Hmm. We are stuck between insulting her and just approaching her. I'll give it 30 minutes until I roll a 1d2

>>2677347
why not do both?
>insult
I'll have you know that is the standard Australian greeting.

>>2677117
>Approach her

>>2677356
Insulting people is bad, okay?

Stand by...

>>2677117
>Approach her.

>Approach her.

You don't know why, but the thought of approaching an angry woman in the middle of a blizzard seems like the beginning of a murder story.

...

...

...

It's really cold.

...

Fuck it.

You step into the clearing, making sure to be slow and deliberate with your movements. You almost tip toe to not make her think your an ene-

She sees you.

"You!"

Me?

"Me?"

"You!" Then she begins to run at you with surprising ferocity. A rather sharp looking sword is in her hand.

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>2677388

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>2677388

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>2677388

>>2677405
Oh........
Ohhh........

>>2677409
I know having this guy be dead would benifit us, and I wan't joking about not wanting this guy to die, but damn. That roll though.

Stand by...

"You killed my Angie!" Before your body can react, she rams into you. Her sword meets flesh, and you fall to the ground. Nothing. You feel nothing. Your in shock. Fucking wonderful.

She screams again and she takes a knife out from her belt, and she goes to stab you in the chest!

Quick! You have to do something before you start to feel again.

What do you do?
(Choose 1)
>Try to push her off!
>Knock her out with something! (Specify)
>Scream and tell her what a crazy bitch she is! (Free Action)
>Other?

>>2677441
>Scream and tell her what a crazy bitch she is! (Free Action)
>Knock her out with something! (Specify)
Knock her off with the shortsword or arrow...to the neck or torso.

>>2677446
So, kill her?
Aye, I agree. Just stab her.

You guys wanna go full grimdark? Are you sure now?

>>2677480
pretty sure. crazy cunt just stabbed us and we might die if she goes again.
We might bleed out here in the middle of nowhere anyways.

>>2677480
I mean, we're some kind of bounty hunter who just got assaulted by a crazy lady in the woods who was standing next to a skeleton.

Okay!

To be honest, I'm not really in the mood to write right now, so I'll drop the thread for a couple hours, maybe the entire day, then pick it up again when I have more energy in me.

Turns out that I was just hungry. Back at 100% now!

Roll 1d100. Best of three.

Target(s): 50

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>2677624

Need two more!

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>2677624

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>2677624

Slooooow pace today.

Stand by....

>>2677904
Could be. Then i'm lucky that we are going to finish off soon. This is the last option before a "cinematic".

>Kill her.
>>2677859
>90 (Major Success!)


Fuck her. Fuck the snow. Fuck this sword in your stomach. You are so done with this. You have but one rule: you don't kill the innocent. But when someone tries to impale you with a piece of steel? Yeah, full clearance.

You are a seasoned bounty hunter. You know the ins and outs of bladework like the back of your hand. It is with a simple slash of your sword that the fight ends there. Even in your… unfortunate position, you still could easily dispatch the obviously crazy broad. You were in worse situations before, you remember.

You push her limp body off of you, and sit up-

Ohhhh fuck, you feel it now. Yup. Bleeding and extremely painful.

How do you handle this?
(Choose 1)
>Take the sword out, and bandage your wound with the spare cloth you have on you.
>Other?

>>2677920
Do we have anything to make a fire with? Will probably want to heat up her sword or something to cauterize the wound before bandaging it up.

>>2677920
>Take the sword out, and bandage your wound with the spare cloth you have on you.
>Other?
Deal with the stomach wound first (ha ha like wrapping it is gonna do shit against a stab wound), take the sword then search the body for coins.

>You look behind her, and you see a pack of what seems to be Landstriders
Oh and what's this?
We also, probably should try making our way back or see if we can stitch up the wound.

>>2677928
Ehh... No. The blizzard is coming on strong and you doubt you would have enough time to start a fire before you pass out from the pain/bloodloss.

>>2677932
Forgot to mention that. Yes, you do know how to stitch a wound. You do have the materials lying around in your bag, so you can try that.

>>2677932
Oh, and forgot to say this, but I'm going to have to railroad you a bit on this and say that you cannot go back. This character is not entirely in your control, the only one you can really do anything with is Cain. I'm going to say that Durando wants to press forward, to complete his duty.

>>2677952
kek he gonna die but ok. i hope the lady has decent loot.

>>2677920
>>2677952
>Stomach wound
Fuck. Has the sword pierced any organs?
If not then we are in luck, get the sword out, stitch the wound, put a good tight bandage around it. If it has, well, if he cant get magical healing soon he had a good life and will be remembered as a dutifull scout.

>>2677965
No organs from what you can tell. It was clean, but deep.

>>2677972
so no need to worry about intestine cuts? At the very least we'll get an infection.

>>2677972
We might live yet.
>Take the sword out, and bandage your wound with the spare cloth you have on you.
Then:
>Loot the crazy chick.

>>2677985
Durando has survived much worse than this. He'll come back from this, don't you worry. This was actually a blessing in disguise that you were injured like this. All will be explained later, for now, don't focus too much on the nitty gritty.

So, we try to stitch and bandage for now?

Stand by...

Okay, you've done this before. You can do it. Before you take the blade out, you slowly sling your pack around your shoulder, open it up, and look for… ah! There it is! You find your stitching kit, it's contents include black thread and a thin but extremely sharp needle. You set the pack down, and loop the thread through the needle. Okay, with that part done, you get your bandages ready. You grab a nearby stick, and bite down on it. Slowly, you take the sword out.

Fuuuck.

You take the needle, and start to stitch yourself back together.

Fuuuuck.

After you're done, you wrap your torso tight in the cloth. It never ceases to amaze you how much abuse your body can take before completely giving out. You had this exact scenario happen to you about a dozen times already.

Alright, alright. You look around you; get your bearings. The blizzard is at its full height now, and you can only really see to the edges of the clearing, and nothing more. Those Landstriders are milling about, seemingly unfazed by the killing of their owner. They are creatures that stand on four long legs, and have kind of a deformed body. They have an unsavory appearance, but you heard that their meat is quite delicious. That's where your interest in them starts and stops. You have bigger fish to fry. First of all, you dig through that crazy broads pockets. You refuse to believe that the only thing you get out of this is a new hole in your body. You find… nothing really, except for a necklace. You pocket it, and return your thoughts to a plan of action.

Going back is not an option. It took too long for you to get here from your encampment, and you doubt you could survive another handful of hours out here. That shelter you saw before won't do shit to protect you, you know for sure. Your impulsive, adrenaline riddled, and slightly woozy mind decides that the only course of action for you right now is to continue forward. Dammit, you have to!

You get up on shaky feet, and stumble into the dusk.

>Cont.

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>>2678142
You've been walking for hours. The wind continues to snap at you like whips. You are lucky to have brought this coat with you, yet your top hat blew off long ago, not that you care anymore. You continue walking, until you come across a scene that makes you do a double take.

There is blood. A lot of it. In a clearing full of willow trees, you see a trail of blood starting from the far right of you, and continuing in a wobbly line to under one of the trees. You see a pile of snow there, where the blood stops. What… is going on?

You struggle to make it to the pile, and you dig into the snow a little. You see the top of a head, just peeking out from the top. You fall back in surprise. You are at a loss for a solid minute, and it is probably due to the intense fatigue and onset hypothermia. You work it out slowly. The Creature's tracks lead here… and there is a trail of blood… and there is what seems to be a woman, dead, under a pile of snow…. You've seen scenes more gruesome than this, and yet the thought of senseless violence makes you sick to your core. You have it set in your head that the Creature did this. Your eyes track your left, and you see a dark structure with light bleeding out of it.

Your mind fogs over. You are too tired to tell yourself that you have to get away. Your too tired to realize that the Creature may very well be there. You just walk, and you take your spear off of your back.

End of Interlude

Ehh, I didn't like how this one came out. I'm at my limit for today, we continue tommorow, early.

>>2678159
Oh, Q and A is open, if anyone wants to ask me anything. I felt that this little interlude may have done more harm than good for the overall purpose of this quest. What did you think?

>>2678168
>What do you think.
Stabbing the woman was a mistake but there was not really any other option after that 1 that we reasonably could have done and would have fit the character. Otherwise I liked it and builds up nicely towards the next confrontation, along with it being a good change of pace.

>>2678168
Personally I'm not a fan of playable perspective switches but that's largely due to how quests work in general. I'd rather advance the plot of the mc and have other perspectives either be in a pastebin or short things after a session. Like there aren't any stakes really because he isn't going to die, and if he did then it's pointless.

The writing was good as usual though.

>>2678168
Is Cain still undead?

>>2678463
Cain isn't exactly undead, he is a golem. The charred body in the cloth acts sort of like a physical anchor for his artificial soul, allowing him to move it around with the help of the cloth, which acts like connective tissue to allow his mana to move about the body, so that he can move it.

In the art of golemancy, one can use literally anything to house the artificial soul, but Eleanor chose to use a body for some reason.

Continuing in a couple of hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ddO3jPUFpg

>>2679681
But he still needs to eat and breathe right?