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>>2889249
Finally, after over a day of travel you have reached Mesinó. This place is the closest coastal area from your home making it the first destination choice for a short trip. Eventually you'll have to return back home and help out with the walls and housing and so on but that is in the future. For now all you need to worry about is where to start your exploration. Most of your gear will have to stay in the safe room inside of the monster hunter inn and you can retrieve it only if you are leaving the inner wall of the town but not like you really need it right now.

Mesinó is a relatively large sea trading settlement. Most of its trade happens within the confines of the large bay but rarely ships brave the open sea to trade with Holy Nation and Etheans during peace times. This means that the town has a large marketplace which might contain certain rare goods that can't be easily found further inland. Sea salt seems to also be cheaper here which is nice both for food and for chemistry. It is one of the raw materials you need to manufacture chlorine and it is also valuable as a part of the process of removing sulfur from coal tar prior to further refinement. Unfortunately, you don't have sufficient money to buy any major amount so your visit right now would consist of sightseeing and minor trinkets. Keep an eye on your purse at all times.

Speaking about money, it might be a good idea to look for some monster bounties. One or two minor hunts should get you enough to consider some of the more expensive or large purchases. It would also be nice to help out these people with some of the nastier things that they can't handle on their own.

As a large town, Mesinó contains a pantheon temple right by the main street. You have kind of missed the opportunity to check it out last time. From what you know the temple doubles as a democratic voting spot for the whole town. It might be interesting to see how locals worship their patron pod people and how they view them. Maybe there are also some statues or artwork you might be interested in? It might give you insight into what you are working with when dealing with them or their agents in the future.

One of the things you came here for is the beach. You haven't visited one since you were in mid school. Your memory of beaches is filled with constant sensation of tiredness but since then you've learned that it was all due to your disease. Now you should be able to enjoy one as a normal person, right? You even got yourself a light toga on your way for an occasion. Maybe you could go for a swim or try to get some tan. Can you even get the tan with your powers? Only one way to find out.

>Market: exotic goods await!
>Hunting: we need some more funds
>Temple: let's have a look at it
>Beach: it is the main reason you are here after all
>Other? Maybe check out the docks?

>>2889255
>Temple: let's have a look at it
Knowledge is power.

>>2889255
>>Beach: it is the main reason you are here after all

>>2889301
First temple and then
>>2889308
Beach

>>2889249
Inventory and player suggested projects have been updated and last thread has been archived.

>>2889316
I can go with this sure

>>2889391
>>2889316
>>2889308
>>2889301
Got it. Writing.

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>>2889415
At first you decide to visit the temple. Knowing more about the local religion might help you in further meetings with the pantheon and their agents. In addition you are just curious about the local opinion on them as well as their religious practices.

The temple is a large rectangular building which is situated in the middle of the town right in front of the main street slash marketplace. It is bigger than the temple in Mirangi which is probably related to how rich the town is. After all it is the local trade center and it is just plain bigger. It appears to be made mainly out of white limestone and marble and it mimics the style of ancient Greco- Roman temples with large columns on the outside and inside, shallow pointed ceramic roofs and white stone walls.

As you enter you immediately note that the largest room in the temple is some kind of auditorium. An oval stage with numerous seats that rise in steps so that people in the back can see the stage just as well. The upper seats are on the same level as the temple floor and the rest are dug into the earth and decorated with limestone benches. It is surrounded with statues of men and women in chitons and at one of the focal points of the oval is the statue of Elspeth.

Yeah... the girl is REALLY milking that Athena look with the spear, shield, helmet and armor over a chiton. The spear and shield look... weirdly familiar. You are not sure where you saw that design but they appear to be more stylized than practical. They are very ornate and indentations are painted vibrant red on the inside. The shield has two semi- circular "holes" on the sides similar to one of the ancient Greek designs but it is proportionately too small for the statue even if it is correctly sized for a normal human. You wonder if Elspeth is just huge or if the sculptor botched up the proportions. The statue itself is made out of marble but the armor and weapons are made out of bronze.

Floors in the room are covered in a mosaic of tiny variously colored rocks depicting some myths these people have. You note that Elspeth in some of them appears to cast lightning. Maybe that's the energy manipulation aug, but the Mad Goddess had a rant about how Elspeth has "all the powers all the time" so it is probably not the only thing she can pull off. You haven't really asked her name to be fair... Oops.

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>>2889710
The other part of the temple is dedicated to the rest of the pantheon. As this is the trading town the largest spot second to Elspeth herself is given to Samael, local deity of trade, exchange, envy and a bunch of minor related stuff. Huh... she is depicted as a... child. What is she...14- 15 years old? Did Elspeth really place a child into a pod? Considering the psychic messages from the one you recovered it might be the case. Or maybe the pod had a malfunction and reverted the age of the occupant? Or maybe the person wanted to get much younger? There was an option to tweak your appearance, you just didn't want to really do that. Wow, a true internet neckbeard's dream, to be a little girl.

They don't seem to be depicted with any other powers except of facilitating profitable transfer of goods between parties. From the myths you note that this person specifically loves to fuck with mortals by mimicking as a normal human. All of her Cup Bearers are depicted as really young women too. Well, I guess if you are such a lolicon and you can decide to literally create your servants from the ground up you might as well, right? Urgh... absolutely horrific. You hope that she doesn't abduct children for that or something.

There are statues of other deities as well. Most of them appear to be quite human with notable exceptions. The god of earth, rock, mining, metals and architecture Belkh doesn't look human at all. They look more like a cross between a human and something Lovecraftean. Well, you should have expected that after seeing his servants but sheesh man. Is that what subspace body does to people or did you just like the style? I mean, the T shaped head is not that much different from Egyptian animal headed gods but still.

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>>2889726
The other inhuman deity is Ignis. He is a deity of fire, heat and chaos as well as assorted stuff. He is depicted as ethereal red and orange "ghost" of sorts. His shrine does not appear to be really liked and people mostly leave sacrifices so he would not cause them harm. Wow. How do you even fight a ghostly being? You might need to research more into that as you don't think you could live peacefully with that guy around.

The last inhuman- looking deity is Marco. Local take on a trickster deity. He is depicted as a shapeshifter and his sculpture also contains weird eldritch elements in it. With that face he could film in horror movies, wow. He is depicted as the deity with highest potential for fucking with mortals or in fact anyone including the entire pantheon. He is described similarly to Loki minus the part where he thought that admitting to murder is the best trick at parties. He doesn't 'prank' beyond what a person can handle while sometimes helping to those who were wronged and harming those who are evil. So basically prankster Robin Hood. Great.

Other deities are not that notable from a glance. There is a guy who likes mechanisms and complexity and his servants look "artificial", there is a god of law and order who is the post paladin- looking guy you have ever seen, there is the stock hippy- looking goddess of plants and harvest, the not-Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty who has the largest...figure among the whole pantheon and so on. You have memorized what their Cup Bearers look like and some of their habits but none of them stood out specifically.

Well, time to go to the beach. Unless you have some other questions.
>Beach time!
>Other?

>>2889738
I apologize for delays. Having internet connection problems. Should be fine now

>>2889710
Fuck the mad goddess tho.

Thinking now, we actually did her a favor, she wanted to beat elspeth with that but wasn't wven able to beat us, a recent awakened pod person, we saved her from a big humiliation

>>2889738
>Beach time!

>>2889738
A quick note about the parties, it is from Poetic Edda and the reason Loki was chained to a rock and had poison dripping in his eyes. He took the joke too far when he decided to confess that he killed Baldur on an Aesir party.

Marco on the other hand appears to have a line in his pranks that he doesn't cross.

>>2889738
>Beach time!

>>2889751
To be fair, what we faced was only a portion of her power and it seems quite possible that she could've taken down the pantheon as they'd have no idea where she was coming from or anything.

Fact is though, we must get stronger. Training montage levels of strong.

>>2889738
>>Beach time!

>>2889819
I actually like what this pantheon has being doing here, they at least don't murder 4k just to provoke a former coworker, that we know of at least

>>2889843
I'd say we know too little to really say if they are that much better.


After all, we have no idea what their rise to power and era of expansion was like.

>>2889880
fair, but like I said, I've known enough about the mad bitch to not want to have anything to do with her, both because of the murders and because of her attitude regarding them

>>2889891
Oh fair enough she's quite insane and her disregard for people is simultaneously understandable and entirely alien to our character. I doubt we'd be able to co-exist long term but luckily we are separated by a vast radioactive space for now.

>>2889782
>>2889819
>>2889843
Writing

>>2889914
PHONEPOSTING ANON LIIIIIIIIVES

What exactly are the traditional prayers to invoke the dieties? In case we want to call them for whatever reason?

>>2890068
There are people called "oracles" and they seem to be able to directly send and receive messages from their respective deities. Think of astropaths in 40k. An oracle can be usually found in polises, large settlements and high importance sites. This settlement is not quite large enought to get one. People seem to think that it is the "sure way" to get the prayer through but oracles have long queues and don't let just anyone in. No one lets you just prank call deities and they are not fans of that. So the normal prayers have a "maybe gets through to the deity" status and thus are applied en masse and Oracle messages are reserved for Cup Bearers, heroes with reports of dangerous monsters or requests that whole city voted for or similarly important subjects. Few deities allow just anyone, like Valentina. Apparently she is amused when people show up to request advice about their private lives or ask for true love.

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>>2889914
It is finally time to do what you came here for. To visit the beach. With the climate being similar to Southern Europe it is still warm in the early Autumn so you have pretty high expectations of your visit. You take your light toga and move out of the town walls and the shanty towns to get away from possible interference.

The beach is beautiful. The sand is almost completely white , the sea is clean and blue and there is not a single cloud in the sky. The day is just perfect. You stand there for a bit. For the first time since the pod you start crying a little. You remember how you traveled with your parents when you were smaller. How your mom always chose a hotel closer to a nice beach. How there were always so many people there sunbathing and swimming. Other children running around, always so active. And there were you. With a sensation like you were almost drowning. You were almost always somewhat tired but back then you couldn't really tell or even understand why you didn't like it. The sand always got into the sandals or the sun was too bright or the sea salt was disturbing the skin or a beach shower was ice cold... You knew you should like it. Millions of people do. Your parents... did...

You drop your cape on the sand and set up your stuff. The beach... it doesn't look that bad anymore. The sun is warm and no longer causing a headache by being right into your face. The sand feels soft and warm instead of scorching hot and sharp. The breeze smells nice... It's a shame you can't experience it with your parents. They died even before you got into the pod. Now they are further away from you than they were from middle ages. It is insane to think of it. A person in your state could say that they've met Ptolemy and they would not be lying. Are they... still up there or did they stop watching you long ago? You continue to lie there on your cape for a while as you think all of this over.

>>2890144
In about half an hour you come back from your thoughts and start noticing interesting things. For one, your vision tints itself when you look directly at the sun. It is kind of cool. So your eyes can autotint themselves. Probably a similar thing happened back when you beat up the Mad Goddess. You really need to look more into how your body reacts. Maybe you'll learn how to summon that armor on command or something.

The other thing you noticed is that the pebbles on the beach are not stones. They float and wash up on shore like embers. You took one in your hands and it turns out that it is granulated plastic. Over thousands of years all the plastic waste in the ocean eventually fragmented into this. Most of it is probably buried below ocean floor but some pieces actually survived. You noticed similar colored jewelry on the local people and you think that the material has similar importance to ember for them. Fascinating.

In any case time to do something. You don't seem to get a sunburn anyway and it would take days to see if you can tan. Time to do something different from just lying around.

>Take a short swim. You want to get a bit cooled off
>Try diving. You might be able to dive for hours with those lungs
>Try to swim further away from the beach. You have infinite endurance after all
>Train your powers. Maybe telekinetic swimming or lifting blobs of water with your mind? Or maybe something else?
>Other?

>>2890150
>Try diving. You might be able to dive for hours with those lungs
>Train your powers. Maybe telekinetic swimming or lifting blobs of water with your mind? Or maybe something else?


I'm curious how many atmospheres we can dive and survive, not to mention how rapidly we can surface without dying.

>>2890150
>Take a short swim. You want to get a bit cooled off
>Try diving. You might be able to dive for hours with those lungs

Relax and explore a little,o

>>2890150
>Try diving. You might be able to dive for hours with those lungs

>train your powers
With the water, we can more easily and accurately develop a 'proof of concept' for a skin level forcefield we could use to augment strength, durability, and possibly even develop into flight. All we have to do is counter the resistance of the water.

>>2890150
>>Take a short swim. You want to get a bit cooled off
>>Try diving. You might be able to dive for hours with those lungs

we start with this >>2890165

and when we get tired we do these>>2890179
>>2890159
to relax

what to you guys think?

>>2890183
+1

>>2890183
Ok, let's test powers before swimming

>>2890217
>>2890201
>>2890183
>>2890179
>>2890165
>>2890162
>>2890159
>>2890157
Writing

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>>2890272
There is no one around and thus it is a rare opportunity to train your powers. You have quite a few ideas to try after all. During the last major battle you've managed to make a cushion of telekinetic force to slow down projectiles before they impacted your shield, accelerate your actions and you also managed to effortlessly hover in place. Before you couldn't manage the latter without intense focus. Maybe you could improve upon this?

With minor concentration you manage to walk on the surface of the water. It looks like it is easier to plot the field when you have a relative surface to compare it to making it less taxing on your mind. You might need to work on your perception of your powers just as well as the powers themselves. In any case you now know how to make yourself exert almost no pressure on the surface. That might allow you to avoid traps, cross over unstable terrain, leave no footprints and even replicate that moment where Legolas walks on the surface of the snow while everyone else has shoulder deep in it. Useful.

Unfortunately hovering is a bit harder. You can effortlessly suspend yourself in the air but it is still difficult to move fast. You can hover ominously and float around at walking speed pretty easily but you rapidly lose altitude if you focus more on moving and less on lift. Trying to angle the vector away from the reference frame quickly takes up more focus. You can launch yourself at an angle but maintaining directed acceleration is difficult. It keeps "slipping" away from where you are the moment you lose focus. You think that this is possible to train but for now no flying for you.

You can't just fly across the surface so it is time to get wet. You expected the first several seconds to be uncomfortable but you think that your body can better resist the changes in temperature. With a little bit of practice you manage to propel yourself across the surface and underwater. You have neutral buoyancy and it looks like adjusting for lift destabilizes your flight. In water you can easily move in any directions and even rapidly change your trajectory with relative ease.

>>2890440
Time for phase two. You had a few thoughts on kinetic shields of sorts. A way to block projectiles in flight from hitting your body completely. Sort of like Neo with bullets or how Mass Effect shields work. And you think that water would be the best way to prototype. At least you can get navigational shields. You attempt to create telekinetic field in the rough shape of a bullet and accelerate through the water. After some experimenting with shapes you manage to affect your speed slowing down with a wide "re-entry spacecraft" shape while getting faster with a long conical and bullet shaped fields. That means you could make a telekinetic parachute. Hmm...

You decide to try to use your new knowledge to your advantage and push off the sea floor and then off the surface of water. It is actually much easier than hovering but you leave the imprint of your power. It looks like an invisible object is pushing on the surface. It kind of looks cool. You are floating in the air and water is getting pushed away from you as if you were a helicopter or a super saiyan. Ok, enough nerding out for a day, this is useful to save energy and allows you to hover close to the ground and you can fly faster than before but as you gain altitude you lose lift as soon as your mind stops considering ground close enough to push against. Still flying a couple hundred meters above the ground is pretty neat. And easily visible. Yeah, you shouldn't do that carelessly.

Back to the matter of shields, it seems that you make some kind of acceleration field. Objects with mass in it experience acceleration in the direction you demand but increasing the acceleration is progressively more draining. Deflecting incoming fish is easy, deflecting machine gun fire won't be. Also the "thicker" the field is the more acceleration it can deposit. Thus you assume that you need cushion space between you and the opponent. It is easier to stop a bullet if it flies through a meter of your barrier and not through an inch of it as it would take less acceleration. All in all it is a bit bulkier than you've imagined but it makes the job done which is important. Training how fast you can apply your telekinesis will improve how fast you can decelerate projectiles and thus make the cushion field smaller.

In any case, time to try out some diving.
>Roll 1d20 for encounter!

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>2890452

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>2890452

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>2890452

>>2890482
Hype

>>2890518
I don't think it will be picked, I think encounter rolls are first come first served, but if it is picked we will probably find something awesome>>2890471
guarded by something terrible>>2890482

>>2890531
I acount all rolls in some way into the post. And it is not really "good" or "bad", higher is more beneficial and lower is more chance of hostile encouner. Rolling a 1 in Labyrinth would throw a forgotten beast at you in some cases for example.

>>2890462
>>2890471
>>2890482
Writing

>>2890579
so.... its more or less a neutral encounter?

>>2890712
No we get to fight some stuff at the end. We rolled a 1 after all.

>>2890719
>>2890719
You can thank me for giving us something to test our powers and train further.

Thinking now the beach was empty, maybe this thing is the reason, if we take it's carcass to the city there'll probably be a bounty

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>>2890579
Time to test how well your body reacts to diving. While you were sucked into the 4d space you had enough oxygen for about 2 hours. But you were taken while you were mid- breath. Let's see how well you can perform once you have your chance to pre- breathe a little. You start inhaling... and inhaling... and inhaling. Holy shit how much can you inhale? It is not like you are inflating or anything. Where are you storing all that air? It takes a couple of seconds for your body to process the air and you exhale for a pretty long time as your body dumps excess gas. 12 hours of activity and half a month of unconsciousness. This is freaking insane. You wonder where the hell is that huge oxygen tank inside of you since you can't seem to feel it at all. As if it all was mixed into the bloodstream as usual. That's useful. Death from suffocation is a common fear for a reason.

Equipped with this knowledge you decide to dive as deep as the sea would allow. It is an important test as humans are vulnerable to the Bends. If the pressure drops or rises too fast the inert gasses in the bloodstream will start coming out of solution causing the blood to produce bubbles as if it was soda. It would be bad if you were affected by something like that.

Luckily you aren't. Some distance from the coast the sea floor drops deep down hundreds of meters at almost 90 degree angle so you have enough space to test it. You make quick deep dives and then get back to the surface several times in quick succession and you don't feel any worse. Even your ears don't pop. Most probably you are completely immune to this phenomenon. In addition you don't feel any discomfort from keeping your eyes open underwater. They are probably somehow reinforced against salt. Else you would be in pain right now.

>>2890847
With the important research out of the way you decide to explore the depths a little. It is quite strange, but you find absolutely no shells anywhere. As you think about it more you remember that ocean acidity was rising due to climate change in your time. It was getting lowered through some international eco engineering projects but those probably ceased to operate once nukes fell. That means for some time acidity in oceans rose significantly and while it is not acidic now all the calcium shells dissolved. There are some chitin shelled creatures like shrimps around but it seems that there are probably no more oysters or corals left in the world. This is sad but what can you do?

As you went further from shore you discovered sunken remains of a wooden ship. One of those larger vessels with three rows of paddles and a sail. All around the ship you see bodies of drowned people attached by one leg with some kind of rope to the sea floor and their upper bodies are pierced by numerous spikes some of which are almost half a meter long. These bodies float like sea mines. This is freaking horrifying and you are so glad you learned how to shield yourself as they seem to shoot these spikes in your direction as you swim past them.

You were freaked out enough to stop your immediate exploration and start floating directly upward. Enough of sea horrors for a day. As you were rising you noticed a large shadow in the distance. Some kind of whale- sized creature swimming in one direction with determination. You didn't give it any thought before you got to the surface and saw a sail in the distance. Whatever that is it is homing directly towards a civilian ship!

...should you help them? I mean, they are pretty far away and you have no mask or anything to hide your identity and you can only use your telekinesis. On the other hand dozens of people can get killed if you don't help.

>Move in to defend the boat
>Move to intercept the creature before it reaches the boat
>Let them be
>Other?

>>2890865
>Move to intercept the creature before it reaches the boat

>>2890865
>Move to intercept the creature before it reaches the boat

Budget Superwoman go!

>>2890865
>Move to intercept the creature before it reaches the boat

go all out, from this distance they won't be able to know who did it

>>2890865
>Move in to defend the boat.

Can we get some seaweed in our hair and lose the more distinctive clothes in a hollow? Pretend to be a sea goddess for kicks? Manipulate water to let us bullet swim through it for powerful blows from difficult angles??

Use ideas you want, I hate phoneposting

>>2890865
>Move to intercept the creature before it reaches the boat

>>2890879
>>2890883
>>2890885
>>2890890
>>2890907
Ok then. Writing

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>>2891005
There is no time to lose! If you manage to intercept the creature far enough away sailors would not be able to see you well enough to identify. The creature, however, will be within their visual range when you intercept it. Well, they would definitely have a story to tell once they are in port.

To be on time you need to move fast. Faster than you've done before. You can't maintain that velocity on the surface for long enough so you have to find a way to do it in the water. Think, there is a type of torpedoes capable of moving at hundreds of km/h through water. Basically underwater missiles. They are called supercavitating torpedoes. They create a bubble of gas from the nose which reduces friction. The problem is that every sonar in the area would be able to sense the sonic waves from that and you would be basically blind while using this effect.

However if you don't do it the creature will reach the ship before you get into range so you have no choice. Let's go! You start accelerating and reshape your aerodynamic field to compress water at the front tip. The compression causes heating flashing it into steam as you gain speed and that massively lowers the drag. Within just half a minute you gain up on the creature and drop out of the supercavitation state. You've left a trail of waves on the surface and the creature definitely knows you are there.

It is a strange thing which looks like a huge teeth filled mouth with a long tear shaped body and a lot of articulated fins. Some seem to be more altered for grasping while others are for movement. Upper half of its head is white and houses a pair of tiny eyes. It doesn't seem to react to you for now and continues at the ship at full speed. You need to wound it enough to force it to switch priorities.
>Roll 1d20. Strategies welcome

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>2891105

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>2891105
Use the water to create something sharp to impale the beast, form teleknetic spikes with it

>>2891105
Drop pressure around some tubes of seawater rapidly enough to create brine spikes, which we can then impale it with.

Spikes of super-fucking cold salt can make for.a bad time.

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>2891105
Simple make a pressurized water distortion to hit the thing hard.

By that I mean hold in place the water we want in the shape we want, then drop the surrounding pressure.

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>2891105
>>2891156
>>2891163

try those

Rolled 16 (1d20)

More rolls

>>2891110
>>2891121
>>2891163
>>2891167
>>2891222
Writing

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>>2891260
You need to wound the creature sufficiently enough to draw its attention from the ship and to you. However you have no weapons on you and it has extremely thick hide. You wouldn't be able to easily pierce your way in. But you have to try.

You start with making a high speed pass and ramming it with supercavitating telekinetic fields without anything else behind them. Apparently water is not the best material for a projectiles. You could compress it into exotic ice but it would be exhausting and time consuming. Thus you have to just send packages of water with telekinesis. The projectiles impact the creature's hide but it doesn't seem to display more than minor discomfort. At this rate you are just punching it really hard. It is not enough to cause any major damage with that amount of skin and fat. You need some other solution...

This is sea water so it contains salt. If you rapidly drop pressure the salt will condense out of the solution. You try to focus a cylinder of water and drop the pressure inside of it. Salt indeed forms but it forms as individual crystals. You can't use powder as a weapon! Or can you?

You focus down the volume around the beast and quickly drop the pressure in it. A ringing sensation rolls across your head as you overexert yourself but you get the first result. The salt formed but didn't do much. However the shockwave caused by the water trying to fill the low pressure zone stunned the creature like lithium in a bottle stunning fish.

As the thing is stunned you get really close and personal. There is a type of tool which cuts steel with high pressure stream of water. You create a distortion which sucks in water and expels it at high speed in a single direction at high pressure. This is so powerful that you have to anchor yourself against the creature as you readjust the "nozzle" to cut its flesh. The beam of water pierces the skin and fat causing foul smelling purple blood to spill into the water. Disgusting.

You then proceed to make a long cut across its belly exposing its inner organs and causing more and more of the blood loss. Eventually the creature bleeds out and stops resisting and trying to swat you away with tentacles. Just give in, big guy. You are a Death Star and I am an x- wing. You had no chance against a snub fighter like that with your huge size. Honestly it was kind of anticlimactic. Just a big dumb dangerous monster.

The ship has raised its sail and seems to be rowing furiously away from the area. You're welcome, guys. Well, this was not as difficult as you've thought. You don't think that these skills would help on the surface but that pressure cutting might be helpful in some situations. The creature's body smells terrible and you want to get the hell away from it. If it is like a whale there would be a lot of useful organs but it is just nasty. Like if it was rotting inside all this time. Probably some kind of predator deterrent.

>Move back towards the beach
>Follow the ship
>Other?

>>2891371
Any choice organs or biological compounds? Any poisons we can make some use out of?

>>2891428
Do you really want to mess with something that smells so bad? You could probably salvage some whale oil or something but it won't be pretty and its meat would be unedible.

>>2891371
>>Move back towards the beach

time for our swim

>>2891371
>Follow the ship

>>2891443
I change to
>Follow the ship


let's see if our new body can zoom eyes and see if we can see inside the ship from a distance

>>2891428
>>2891484
>>2891548
Writing

>>2891552
You decide to follow the ship for a bit to make sure they are alright. As you've expected they burned out relatively quickly. A rowing vessel can't maintain that speed for long so they had to switch to a more reasonable pace. The ship decided to head for the dock in Mesino which is the closest town in the area. They are probably hoping that the creature requires deep water to live so they could escape once they get closer to the beach.

This ship appears to be one of the larger merchant vessels. A large ship with three rows of oars and a single sail like galleys. Unlike military ships it has proportion of 4 to 1 between length and width. Military ships had more of 6 to 1 proportion for better speed. Curiously, the ship is equipped with some torsion based weapons. Some kind of stone throwing catapults. They were loaded in a hurry and are currently operated by sailors. They are trying to see if they are still being pursued. You guess that large naval creatures are a common enough occurrence for them to be armed with specialized defensive weapons.

These ships can have from 30 to 50 people on board and this one is designed to be loaded with something large and heavy while it is half empty now. It is operating at full crew capacity at the moment. You guess that it can be a grain hauler of sorts. It also has a structure on deck which is probably designed as additional room for merchants. You don't want to get discovered so you keep yourself far enough away so they won't be able to discern your features. At most they'll have a story about a sea goddess or something.

As the ship gets into dock you gain more depth and plot your way to the shore. It doesn't take you long to return for your stuff. On your way you manage to snatch several sealed clay wine containers from one of the ship wrecks you noticed as you were on your way. It was not infested with mine hedgehogs luckily and it would work as some additional funds as you can't really cash in this huge creature and not reveal yourself.

To your surprise no one has taken anything from the beach. You had enough smarts not to take anything you'd miss along but it seems that it was not needed. Your "towel" is still there as well as a basket with your lunch. To your additional surprise this adventure didn't cause a wardrobe malfunction. Your light toga is unscathed. You are just soaking wet which is to be expected. You just need some time to dry off on the sun.
____________________________
I am sorry but I need to pause for now. It was a bit short but I am getting noticeably slower. We will continue as usual as soon as I wake up and get something to eat. Sorry for that and feel free to discuss.

>>2891760
Thanks for running.


More exploring guys or what?

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>>2891795
Let's see... There is a market, you could visit the docks and you could also try to hunt something for extra money. Or as usual, writeins. Maybe additional underwater exploration or checking out rumors. Or maybe visiting that town on a lone island in the middle of the gulf.

>>2891830
oooh I'd like some money o I'd vote for monster hunting, after that we can hit the markets or check that town

>>2891856
+1

>>2889738
so how attractive is agatha compared to other gods/cupbearers ? i know she isnt drooling levels attractive like the goddes of beauty bow how would she rank

>>2892360
I would say pretty high up there, judging by our body mod, but every pod person is turned into a model too so...

we gonna have to hit on those angel cupbearers man, maybe get Matilda to thank us privately for our service

>>2892387
well i would support this
raging lesbian goddess question

>>2892392
we do not rage anon, we are calm and composed

>>2892360
I'd say she is on their level but not the prettiest face around. The body aug gives some advantage to being attractive but everyone in the pods was tidied up to look good. Things like spotless skin or not a gram of fat where it is not needed. Also beauty really depends on the perspective. Different cultures have different opinions on beauty and different people have different preferences. So it is hard to rate the pantheon girls in how attractive they are. There is Valentina and her menagerie of cup bearers on top because they were literally designed that way and she is a goddess of beauty so she makes the local cultural standard, then goes everyone with body aug and then goes everyone else. So Agatha is comparable in beauty to people like Nike' and Elspeth.

>>2891760
After chilling for a few hours under the sun you decided that you would really like some more money. This is a trading town so you could find some unique things on the market. Ceramic vessels with wine would have some worth but it won't buy you much. You need to do something productive and earn yourself some cash. And the fastest way to do it is by checking out the information board in the monster hunter inn.

As you come back and take a look it seems that this town has more problems than Mirangi and not all tasks consist of killing monsters. Some tasks also include checking out dangerous areas, beating up bandits or recovering certain items from dangerous places. Monster hunters are not quite adventurers but they are still somewhat like freelance mercenaries slash pest control. Local adventurers are more like half criminal mercenaries. Risking their lives for treasure, robbing tombs, sometimes getting hired to "solve problems" and so on. It looks like different towns have different attitudes to them. Some separate them from adventurers while others, like this one, just treat them as almost the same thing. Probably that depends on how bad local wildlife is. You can't be mean to a person who saves your butt once a week while here locals feel safe and away from any possible minor monster attacks.

Dropping all the shit you don't want to do you filter out a list of tasks that fits you. The more the danger the higher the pay. Let's see here...

The local area is much less forested than in Farsalos region and mainly consists of hilly plains with small forests. One of the nearby paths between Mesino and the town to the south has been frequently raided by a small group of bandits. No more than a dozen and it seems that they are mainly equipped with hunting bows and farming tools. They don't attack well defended merchants but they extort the nearby villages and are generally annoying. The task is to find them and to exterminate them. The town has already passed the judgment on them so there is no requirement to catch prisoners. The only reason local military is not dealing with them is because hiring some adventurer is plain cheaper. Payout is quite bad but it should be simple to the point that they won't be able to even pierce your current armor.

>>2893184
A giant crab creature walked out of the sea and destroyed one of the nearby coastal villages. Most of the people have managed to flee and the creature appeared too slow to follow. It is currently residing in the area. The creature is described as being taller than the town's temple but slow moving. This is a large group task for a dozen or so people which recommends renting large siege weapons, however if a trapper manages to kill it solo or with less people they would split the bounty pool into larger chunks. This is not the first time such creature has appeared and it is said that their meat is a delicacy and their shells are used in armor and jewelry. If the meat is not poisoned the payout would increase.

There is a salt mine nearby. Several days ago miners broke into a large open cavity and they had enough brains to immediately plug it in. They need someone to scout it out and check if there is anything dangerous inside and whether it is connected to the Labyrinth. Not enough information exists on how dangerous it is so it has additional hazard bonus.

There is an open entrance to the Labyrinth with a known route between this town and a town on the island in the middle of the gulf. The path is somewhat risky but faster than by a ship and thus it is sometimes used for small but valuable shipments. A week ago some kind of creature attacked an underground trading caravan. The few survivors claim highly contradictory things about it and following caravan encountered overwhelming sensation of dread forcing them to return. Thus the trading route is closed until the anomaly is cleared. The task is to get in and try to defeat this creature. It has the highest threat level and recommends people with extreme willpower. Payout is substantial.

>Bandit extermination
>Giant enemy crab
>Salt mine investigation
>Labyrinth clearing

>>2893192
>>Labyrinth clearing

>>2893192
>Labyrinth clearing

Two birds one stone, we get paid and get to know the city in the gulf

>>2893192
>Salt mine investigation
Maybe it's a old bunker or something.

>>2893192
>Labyrinth clearing

Given the description that might be the creatures we encountered previously.

>>2893192
>>Giant enemy crab

>>2893264
Yeah, this is good too, maybe when we are back we can have a look

>>2893192
>>Salt mine investigation

>>2893243
>>2893250
>>2893264
>>2893274
>>2893288
>>2893299
>>2893315
Writing

>>2893367
Clearing the labyrinth would be a good warm up, you think. The pay is big and it is a thing that only you can do. Plus you have just beat up a psychic zerg goddess, what's the worst that can happen? Some kind of psychic critter? They are probably wimpy without their powers so it should be a cakewalk. In addition maybe you'll be able to check out that island town. You've heard that they are famous for their sea food.

The entrance is situated some distance away from the town and it has a keep of sorts built on top of it. This is interesting, as classical castles appeared in Europe only when the ancient empires crumbled into tiny states. A castle played a role of both lord's home and of a military base to enforce the rule on local peasants even with inferior forces. Here it appears to be mainly a way to keep the stuff in, not people out. It is garrisoned by a contingent of Cenophilan military and it has surprising amount of siege weapons set up in a long corridor leading to the Labyrinth itself. There is also a mechanism which drops a large column of rock into the tunnel to block it off completely in case of emergency and the keep has a high tower with a signal flame always prepared.

Local commander is not sure whether he should commemorate your bravery or suicidal hubris as you are going in alone. The hunters that were in the inn didn't want to do anything with that task anyway. Well, less people- more money for you. Time to get started, the sooner you get in- the sooner you'll be out.

The thick wooden door is opened and you enter the huge dark tunnel which is big enough for two carriages to pass at the same time with some space spare. It leads down at a shallow slope for over a hundred meters after which the normal honeycombing of the Labyrinth start appearing. For the first quarter of the trip you note that basically all the secondary tunnels are plugged with thick layers of concrete. That probably makes the trip somewhat safer. These people were lucky it was almost a completely straight lava tube going from the island to this place. However the more you go the less frequent the plugs become and in the end it starts looking all 'natural' again with just the path directed by wooden signs at regular intervals.

>Roll 1d20 for encounter

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>2893478

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>2893478

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>2893478
Time for forgotten beast

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>2893478
Time for that 1

>>2893508
Kek, what kind of treasure or rare substance we can find? Or maybe another Labyrinth dweler in trouble like Claudina.

>>2893513
What about A third pod

>>2893484
>>2893486
>>2893489
>>2893508
Wow, ok. Writing

>>2893600
Well, shit, Okay guys, by the power of me mixing the notes you have a unique opportunity to choose your fate! Would you like...

>Remnants of the previous caravan full of various rare and luxury goods
>Something fascinating that you can take along
>A strange and fateful encounter

>>2893653
>a strange and fateful encounter

>>2893600
>A strange and fateful encounter

>>2893653
>>Something fascinating that you can take along

You forgot to add a fourth option
>A MYSTERIOUS BOX

>>2893653
>>Something fascinating that you can take along

>>2893653
>a strange and fateful encounter

[Spoiler] hopefuly a hot girl lol [/spoiler]

>>2893711
strg+s is your friend

>>2893700
or better yet
>A strange and fateful encounter carrying something fascinating that you can take along

>>2893657
>>2893658
>>2893698
>>2893700
>>2893711
>>2893715
>>2893718
Ok then, writing

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>>2893742
As you were going through the tunnel a dim light caught your eye. Almost too dim to notice. People who use this road couldn't navigate in perfect darkness and they would not deviate much from the set path so this was probably missed. The tunnel leading in that direction was just wide enough to comfortably crawl through so you decided to try your luck with it.

The tunnel had a few twists but eventually you were met by a beautiful sight. Giant transparent crystals several times your size. You lit your lamp and heated one of them up. Quartz. It is a giant quartz geode. Hundreds of meters wide. Some crystals are large enough for a carriage to stand on them. It reminds you of that gypsum cave you saw once on discovery channel where miners are dwarfed by the size of the gypsum growths.

What is most fascinating is the light. Certain small crystals appear to glow. Some glow soft yellow, others glow bright white, hot pink, vibrant red, emerald green or any different menagerie of colors. Some glow constantly while others pulse by slowly increasing or decreasing their intensity or color. Some even glow in soft ultraviolet or are strangely warm and glow in infrared. They don't appear radioactive and they are all different types of quartz. You have no idea what causes them to glow. Maybe they are somehow psychically charged? Or maybe there is some kind of other mechanism.

You can't really take large crystals with you. The hole is only so big and you'd hate to disturb such a place of beauty too much. You don't think that anyone has been here before you, and judging by the carbon dioxide buildup in the geode no one will for a long while. You can take some rocks. Maybe you'd be able to make a small light out of them or decorate some of your items later on...

>Take nothing
>Take one or two most interesting rocks
>Fill up your bag with various kinds of glowing crystals
>Other?

>>2893943
>Take one or two most interesting rocks
A bright white for the laboratory and an ultraviolet one.

>>2893943
>>Fill up your bag with various kinds of glowing crystals
This is a win win scenario. Maybe the gems can help us in our scientific discoveries, or at the very least we can sell them for some money.

>>2893943
>Take one or two most interesting rocks

Can we seal and mark the place for later extraction?

I don't know what we could do to them but if they don't jave any othet particular use besides being pretty we can
>Fill up your bag with various kinds of glowing crystals
To give as gifts later, but only get those that wouldn't disrupt the place much unless they prove more interesting then normal

>>2893990
UV light can be used for ultraviolet disinfection of materials which is useful for medicine and in certain types of manufacturing processes. Infrared crystals appear to be a constant source of low amounts of heat. It is not enough to cook but it is enough to provide warmth. Other crystals appear to just provide various kinds of light. The cave atmosphere is filled with CO2 meaning that any local would easily asphyxiate if they try to get into it. You keep a note about the location for the future.

>>2894012
so my vote is for a couple UV and Infrared, and some colored ones that can be easily reached

>>2894012
Can we verify if cutting the gems make them lose their properties? It would likely influence the size of those we chose if we can't facet them.

>>2894039
The crystals don't appear to stop glowing when damaged or severed but they are quartz crystals. They are pretty hard to cut with no tools. It also looks like the crystal dust doesn't glow which means there is a certain minimum size a crystal has to be to manifest this effect. Something below a couple millimeters you assume.

>>2894039
>Can we verify if cutting the gems make them lose their properties?
I don't think that is possible. When you cut a magnet in pieces, you just create lots of (albeit weaker) little magnets. In this case it should be the same, since they are crystals.

>>2894025
I agree with you, but lets take our time in picking the best crystals of each kind we can find. After all, we have ~12 hours of oxygen .

>>2893981
>>2893983
>>2893990
>>2894025
>>2894066
Writing

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>>2894126
You decide to take several good samples of the glowing crystals. No need to cram your bag full of them. You don't know how rare or useful they are. You will remember this place and later you will be able to visit it once more if you discover some kind of useful property in these things.

The first thing you take are several large crystals which glow in UV. You chose the most perfect options available. About the length of your hand these things emit pretty purple glow as well as soft ultraviolet light. This would be useful for disinfection of rooms, tools and certain foodstuffs as well as for some industrial applications like artificial aging of materials. You could replicate this eventually when you get some electricity, optic glass and chemical manufacturing going but this might be a bit faster.

Then you decide to take one relatively large crystal which glows in infrared. It is roughly 25 cm long. Unlike other crystals it does not produce cold light, it glows because it is warm. The warmth is not sufficient to cook but it is still really nice. Maybe you could use it to warm up your bath or maybe take it along in case you want to feel snug while camping.

Then you take a bunch of different colored glowing stones. You take a little bit of time to pick a few interesting ones with the least amount of damage or imperfections. If you can't use them for lanterns or decoration you could probably sell them. Or you can keep them as a souvenir. In any case you are done here.

You climb out of the crystal cave and back into the road and continue on with your actual task. You need to find out what attacked the caravan. Eventually you sense the growing sensation of unease and dread. It is quite obviously psychic in nature, however it is different from those ethereal creatures you saw close to Farsalos. This psychic effect is not directed, it is more like an aura. It also projects a message "GO AWAY" on repeat in some kind of universally understandable psychic concept based language.

>>2894374
You continue to creep up and eventually you notice a silhouette of a cart filled with various goods. The package is intact and not opened. There are also weird shaped rocks on the floor and a light further in the caves. The cracking sound of burning wood can be heard there. In the shadows you can see the silhouette of a tent on the wall. It is some kind of a camp and it seems to still be occupied.

You quietly sneak towards the strange rocks and try to discern its features. It looks like a statue... of a male mercenary human. It is made out of some kind of stone and it has a horrified facial expression. The armor and weapons are made out of iron, bronze, leather and linen. There are several other statues in the similar states. Some are drawing weapons, some look angry and are "charging" with their weapons unsheathed and some are lying on the ground clenching their heads in horror. Some are statues of merchants while others are statues of guards.

As you listen closely you can hear breathing coming from the direction of the fireplace. It is soft and measured as if the person is sleeping. Once in a while you can also hear sobbing as if someone is crying there. What do?

>You've read Greek mythology, avoid eye contact. Navigate off secondary senses
>Pull out the bow and try to pinpoint the location of the creature
>Get melee weapon and try to sneak up
>Stop creeping and make some noise to wake up whoever that is
>Load explosive round and just shoot the camp
>Other?

>>2894399
>>You've read Greek mythology, avoid eye contact. Navigate off secondary senses
>Try to call the person out.

>>2894399
>>You've read Greek mythology, avoid eye contact. Navigate off secondary senses
>Try to call the person out.
aslo
>Maybe you could use it to warm up your bath
nice!

>>2894427
>>2894415
Writing

>>2894534
Well, you don't need to be told twice. The thing that attacked these people turned them to stone. Like a Gorgon or a Cockatrice of sorts. How? Psychic nano techno pod magic or something as usual probably. You can move things with your mind so you shouldn't be too surprised even though you are. In any case, how do you protect yourself?

In most myths turning people to stone requires direct eye contact. Gorgon was so horrifying that she turned people who saw her directly to stone. Your eyes have automatic tinting and probably they can engage polarization as well but you can't manually trigger that and you don't want to risk it. It would be pretty stupid for mighty you to get 'stoned' in a tunnel.

Thus you close your eyes and decide to navigate off additional sensory organs. While you won't be able to use your amazing multispectral telescopic vision you still have biological radar of sort and your hearing is amazing. You should be able to easily navigate and even fight while blind.

The fact that there is a camp and fire shows that the creature is probably self aware. A fire left a week ago would have long finished burning by now. Maybe you could try diplomacy first? In the worst case you could just splat it into a fine paste on the wall in less than a moment if the diplomacy fails. So you stand up into clear view and call out towards the camp.

You hear some ruffling and moments later it intensifies as you are hit by a potent wave of psychic energy. It is nowhere near what the mad goddess used so you barely flinch. It is a directed version of what the creature was transmitting previously. Among the command to go away and telepathically projected dread you sense fear in the source of transmission dripping into the signal. You have startled it. From the ruffling sounds in the tent you assume that the creature got tangled up in the fabric they used as the bed and were trying to untangle themselves to face you. They are a bit too far away to discern with your bio radar but the size of the camp suggests they are at least comparable to human in size.

The psychic signal changes. The emotion transmission lowers and the message turns into more of a plea. It is asking you to leave and that it doesn't want to do something to you. Then it says something about self defense and stone. It is kind of hard to make out while you are mostly zoning out the signal. It looks like the fact that you are not instantly leaving is making the creature more and more nervous. Almost anything you do can cause a rash panic response from them due to fight or flight. What should you do?

>>2894744
>Shoot while they are in shambles!
>Attempt to talk with them. Maybe some calming tone?
>Drop your weapon and raise your arms. You are not sure if they see you but universal surrender gesture should still be around, right?
>Start walking backwards. You are not sure if that would work
>Try or pretend to flee. Maybe that would calm them down?
>Raise into the air and hover ominously. Maybe that would help?
>Prepare to knock them out with telekinesis the moment they become unreasonable. Might be lethal
>Other?

>>2894753
Ask if the creature can speak.

>>2894753
>Sheath your weapon and raise your arms. You are not sure if they see you but universal surrender gesture should still be around, right?
>Attempt to talk with them. Maybe some calming tone?

>>2894772
This

>>2894753
>Stop moving and make them know it
>Attempt to talk with them. Maybe some calming tone?

Lets take this slow, because we literally came here to kill it, but seems like we don't really need to. Do we have some food to offer them?

>>2894753
>>2894753
>>Attempt to talk with them. Maybe some calming tone?

Sheath our weapons too, the poor thing is afraid, a shame this all happened

>>2894772
supporting

>>2894867
>>2894800
>>2894798
>>2894792
>>2894772
>>2894761
Writing

>>2894903
The being is frightened. You can hear the fast heartbeat and breath from where you're standing. Poor thing. And you came here to kill it. But maybe you won't have to. Maybe you'll manage to calm it down before they do something stupid.

You slow down and make sure that it is easily visible. You carefully lower your halberd and shield on the floor and slowly raise your hands up while trying to calmly speak with it. You ask it who it is and if it can speak Cenophilan. It should have gone smoothly. Dropping weapons and raising hands is a common gesture throughout the human history. It would have been understood from modern times all the way to antiquity. Oh how wrong you were.

The glowing rocks in your linen bag made your silhouette project on the fabric of her tent. As you were raising arms you became visibly "bigger" relative to it. That is a reason why when attacked by dogs or bears you raise your hands in the air in addition to making loud noises after all. You understood it just a little too late...

The underlying emotional projection became filled with horror as you were slowly raising your arms and eventually the creature snapped. You've heard what can only be described as a girly scream and you felt something washing across your body. Your skin became disturbed and felt like you had a rash and you feel tiny pieces of material falling off your face. As if you were covered in a layer of dry dirt and tried to move. And you feel that everywhere. Dang it, the sensation is like having rough sand in your underpants but all over. Incredibly itchy.

So that's what getting turned to stone feels like. Thankfully it doesn't go beyond the very upper layer of the skin. Thank you so much whoever made the body aug. You make a mental note to get them a box of chocolates or something if they are still alive. Now back to business.

Looks like that power has nothing to do with vision so you can safely open your eyes. It looks like the creature experienced one of the really weird effects of fight or flight reflex. They lashed out and then were stunned by fear. They are shaking all over and the psychic waves are just completely crammed with dread. Their dread. Come on, you don't look that bad, right? You are pretty sure you made your hair correctly today.

>Retaliate with lethal force
>Retaliate with telekinesis. Try to knock them out
>Don't move. Maybe they'll think that they succeeded once the shock wears off?
>Slowly approach the tent
>Continue talking to them. Maybe that would help?
>Other?

>>2895123
>try to speak t it in Cenophilian and English once again.

>>2895123
>Continue talking to them. Maybe that would help?

>>2890847
I'm still catching up with the thread, but I wanted to contribute a fact before I forget: free divers never have to worry about the bends--regardless of how deep they go.

The bends can only occur if you breathe at one atmospheric pressure then travel to a lesser one. If you fill your bloodstream with dissolved oxygen that you inhaled at sea level, you don't need to worry about it coming out of solution unless you are somehow thrown to a much higher altitude or into a partial vacuum. You can't get the bends from holding your breath, diving, and simply returning to the same atmospheric pressure that the gases were dissolved at in the first place.

However, diving with an external air supply requires that said air supply's pressure increases proportional to the depth or else your lungs won't be able to inhale. Same reason why diving with a hose to the surface doesn't work without a compressor.

So oxygen you inhaled and dissolved at five fathoms from a scuba tank or something will threaten you with the bends if you don't allow it to come out slowly by respiration and a gradual ascent.

If by chance someone already covered this, I apologize.

>>2895123
>>Continue talking to them. Maybe that would help?

>>2895189
>>2895137
>>2895127
Writing

>>2895151
I agree with your points. However Agatha is not freediving. She has a pressurised oxygen supply in the form of special organoids in her blood. She also has methods to rapidly purge her blood from neutral gasses as well as a bunch of other mechanisms that prevent trombs or bubbles from clogging blood stream. In other words we are immune to reasonable rapid pressure changes.

Thank you for a more in- depth explanation though. I have accounted for a lot of things but I am not omniscient and I can make mistakes. My knowledge of the bends is limited to an article about decompression in space I once read.

>>2895225
You continue trying to talk with the creature while keeping your distance. You understand that it was not acting rationally and you can forgive them for that. It would not be fair to response to that with violence.

You use Cenophilan but you also use modern English. You can't know for sure they aren't people from your time. Eventually the creature's shock wears off and it transmits "Sorry... don't hurt me... did not want... to happen" in its conceptual language. You respond by detaching and dropping your sword from your belt and replying that you won't hurt them.

After a small pause they reply with the following: "Can't understand... surface thoughts... protected... can't learn... speech". It appears that the creature can speak neither Cenophilan nor English and it can't access your surface thoughts to learn of your intentions. It looks like by surface thoughts it means the "internal monologue". You should be able to control it well enough not to accidentally reveal anything to it... maybe.

>Drop the counter psychic focus to allow them to communicate
>Lower couter psychic focus a little
>Don't risk it. Try to manage to communicate as is
>Approach them and attempt to use gestures
>Other?

>>2895333
>Lower counter psychic focus a little

>>2895333
>>Lower counter psychic focus a little

>>2895333
>>Lower couter psychic focus a little

>>2895333
>Lower couter psychic focus a little

>>2895393
>>2895387
>>2895349
>>2895344
Writing

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>>2895433
You lower your defense just a little and when you sense that the creature has made contact you repeat yourself in your mind. The speech of the being immediately improves and switches to Cenophilan that you can understand. It starts immediately apologizing for trying to turn you to stone and asking you to spare them. After a bit of argument as you try to show them that you mean no harm they finally show themselves. And that is quite surprising.

You know, when you saw elves you were not too surprised. Some pod person with biosculpting probably really liked the looks and added their aesthetics to their creations. When you saw monsters you weren't too surprised either. They were supposed to be bioweapons so the horrifying appearance made sense. But this is something else. She is a snake person. A naga or a lamia, you are not sure what's the difference. A human with a huge snake tail from the hips down.

Monstergirls now, really? You know, you would really like to chat with some of the people who makes these creatures. What is their thought process? Do they have some kind of great plan or adapt them to some kind of environment or is the power of aesthetics and weird fetishes strong enough with them to subject many humans and all their descendants to alterations which would make them shunned by the rest of human society? Or is a form of strange fantasy creatures somehow better for cramming more psychic forces into their heads? You know, you are not even mad. Making supersized snake organs and human organs working together is probably a monumental task. Something that would require decades of study and vast knowledge of biology and medicine. Maybe even several scientific groups of biosculptors if there is no genius mad enough among them. Which makes the choice to create these beings all more questionable.

The human half of the person looks pretty young. She is probably in her early 20-s. Her hair is black and curly and it is held in place with a headband and tied up in a ponytail. Her snake part scales are sky blue with the belly side colored yellow. She is... not wearing much. The fabric is high quality but her clothes appear to look more like an elaborate bra with a separate skirt rather than a fully functional attire fit for adventuring. You guess that it could have cultural or religious significance for her. She has a bow of sorts wrapped in cloth in her camp and she is currently unarmed.

In any case, you are here for a reason. To clear out the obstruction and investigate the attacker on the caravan and this is obviously her. What should you do?

>Demand her to surrender. You will take her to trial or something
>Demand explanation on what happened here. Maybe her side of the story is not how you see it now
>Try to comfort her somewhat. You have a few sandwiches wrapped up. You think the fish in them is tuna but you are still not sure
>Other?

>>2895558
I promise that the fact that this is a female character is not somehow intentinal. The dice has spoken here

>>2895558
>>Try to comfort her somewhat. You have a few sandwiches wrapped up. You think the fish in them is tuna but you are still not sure

sit by the fire, ask how she ended up here

>>2895572
This

>And ask what happened

>>2895560
Do not worry, Ag likes that way

>>2895558
>>2895558
>Demand explanation on what happened here. Maybe her side of the story is not how you see it now
>Try to comfort her somewhat. You have a few sandwiches wrapped up. You think the fish in them is tuna but you are still not sure

>>2895558
>>Try to comfort her somewhat. You have a few sandwiches wrapped up. You think the fish in them is tuna but you are still not sure

>>2895623
>>2895606
>>2895578
>>2895572
Writing

>>2895560
Honestly, i can see the advantages of monsterpeople in this world. Everything is bigger, more aggressive and weirder, so it stands to reason that some biosculptor would want to try something different from elves and such. But not this dude. I'm pretty sure he was thinking with his dick or cooch in all of this process.

>>2895644
You decide to try to comfort the snake girl. You take a sit near to the fire and offer her one of the sandwiches you've bought in the town. You've asked what type of fish they were made of but the seller was ignorant. Innkeeper probably doesn't really care what kind of fish they cook for street food. It is just something edible which was caught by the fishermen. The meat looks somewhat like tuna but you have no idea if it is tuna. Or if there is still tuna somewhere in the world after all the global catastrophes.

In any case the girl doesn't have too many supplies with her. She reluctantly accepts the offer and you try to ask her more about why she is here. Her name is Elpis and she comes from a small settlement of people just like her. They live somewhere within a week of travel from this area inside of an improbably large cave and trade with some other settlement of underground people nearby who sound suspiciously like dwarves. There are less than 200 of them around and she knows of no other settlements of her people.

Apart of their tails, her people are known for their telepathic powers. They can instantly learn completely foreign languages and they can also project emotions over distance. Most members of her people can overwhelm wills of some animals but few are capable of affecting minds of other individuals. Those who can are capable of altering memories or controlling the bodies against their will and for that they are respected and feared. These rare individuals can become spiritual leaders of the settlement.

Her people worship spirits of animals, plants and objects but they do have a concept of deities, they just don't worship them. The deities in their stories used to alter some members of their kind into becoming protectors of some sights of importance for the deity. Their hair was replaced with live snakes and they stopped aging but they also forgot everything about their kind and mercilessly killed anyone who comes into their territory. This hasn't happened for as long as the settlement had records but there are places which are forbidden from access due to those ancient guards.

>>2895717
The most interesting feature of being chosen by their deity is an ability to turn living things to stone. The process is reversible but the victim appears to be in the "I have no mouth and I must scream" and total sensory deprivation state until they are recovered. Elpis was unlucky enough to possess this ability which is extremely rare by the standards of her kind. She had trouble controlling her power before and thus she has been constantly sheltered in her home. This was both to protect the village and protect her from getting lynched whenever she loses control. She says that using the power is taxing and causes strong headaches.

She has stupidly decided to leave her home after she has heard of some kind of new people closer to the surface from the "dwarves". When she reached the designated spot she encountered the caravan and the guards immediately tried to kill her. She has instinctively stoned them all and she couldn't successfully recover anyone as she is a weak girl and the moment she gets someone out of the rock they immediately try to attack her. She has only wanted to see a world beyond her four walls and the village. She didn't want to hurt anyone and she feels guilty for this situation. Or at least that's what she says. Ok, how should you fix this mess...

>Take her along to the nearest post and make her revert the statues there.
>Tell her to revert them one by one. You'll keep her safe.
>Tell her to revert the statues and just immediately knock these people out once they wake up.
>Other?

>>2895721
>>Tell her to revert them one by one. You'll keep her safe.

>>2895721
>Tell her to revert them one by one. You'll keep her safe.


poor thing, we can take her to see the world

>>2895721
>Tell her to revert the statues and just immediately knock these people out once they wake up.

Can we do this safely for those affected? If not then

>Tell her to revert them one by one. You'll keep her safe.

I would prefer to not let it be known of her existebce so she and her people are not put in danger

>>2895761
changing to this.

if it can be done without harm, do it, if not just go one by one

>>2895764
>>2895761
>>2895752
>>2895726
Writing

>>2895768
From one hand it would be beneficial to keep the existence of Elpis a secret. On the other hand it would be quite problematic to do. The issue is that the margin of error between knocking a person out and causing permanent brain damage is pretty narrow. Only in movies the main hero can punch someone in the back of the head and keep them out cold for hours. It is possible to do that IRL and it is called coma which is pretty descriptive. That would at least cause a concussion and possibly brain damage. You really don't want to risk lives of innocent people with no need.

Thus you have to thaw them out one by one. Let's start with that charging pikeman mercenary. The stone reversion is kind of fascinating. A wave of light passes across the surface and the stone turns back into flesh. You wonder how does this work. If the experience would not cause a person to feel like they are absolutely alone in the universe the entire time it would have massive medical applications.

As soon as the process stops the mercenary flops on the floor. Their pose wasn't the most stable as they were stoned mid charge. It takes them several minutes to get back to their senses but once they see the snake girl they panic and start frantically looking for a weapon. Once you get them under control and explain the situation the man demands you to kill the subhuman immediately.

According to him they are not only filthy and unholy hybrids of humans and the creatures that prey on humans. It is also impossible to know what's in their twisted heads. They are all the same. Trying to pass off as your kind to lure you off the track and reveal their monstrous nature. Killing them is the only way to be safe from danger. Wow man. Harsh. What is it, fourteenth millennium? Being specieist against human derived beings at this day and age. You knew that the less human a being is the harder for them to live in Cenophila but this is just ridiculous.

>>2895829
Luckily not everyone shared merc's opinion on the snake girl. Most were just glad to be able to tell if they are alive or not. The merchants thank you for timely intervention and after checking their shipment for theft they agree not to report this situation in detail. One of them claims that while the position of his employee is common, it is ignorant to consider every inhuman sentient creature as a monster. Apparently there are people living deep below the waves that sometimes trade exotic items with Cenophilan merchants. They barely look human but they have never tried to drag you into the water and devour you as the spearman so 'helpfully' tried to insert into the discussion. To be fair there are monsters posing as humans to lure unsuspecting prey but those are relatively rare even though infamous.

Surprisingly, apart of minor psychological trauma the people end up perfectly fine. They are neither hungry nor dehydrated. After a short bargaining session with the mercenaries the caravan decides to continue on their way. The merchant promises to pass a good word about you and after refueling their lamps the caravan sets off into the darkness. Wow, it is kind of admirable how quickly potential for profit overwhelmed the experience of being stuck as a statue for a week. Maybe the time is not experienced at the same rate while in that state? You need to test it somehow and preferably not on yourself.

In any case, you still have the situation of the lamia girl. She is currently leaning on her bed sheet and rubbing her forehead due to a headache. What should you do with her...
>Send her off home. Her parents are probably really worried
>Accompany her home. That should keep her safe
>Suggest her to join you in the adventures. She wanted to see the surface, right?
>Offer her a trip to the surface but in the end she will have to get back home
>Other?

>>2895833
>>Suggest her to join you in the adventures. She wanted to see the surface, right?

>>2895834
Aaaaand timeout. Looks like there is only one player left. It means this is time to wrap up for this week.
_________________________
It is time to finish this thread for now. Thank you for participating in this quest and see you next week. As usual feel free to discuss.

>>2895886
Thanks for running, I kinda passed out

kek, merchants are the same no matter the time period.

well, if she can try to not turn people into stone we could take her with us and when she decides she has seen enough she can go back.

Thanks for running. Captcha stopped working for me so I couldn't post anymore. I was sad.

>>2895833
>Suggest her to join you in the adventures. She wanted to see the surface, right?

>>2895833
>>Send her off home. Her parents are probably really worried

>>2895833
>Accompany her home. That should keep her safe

>But mention we might be amenable to having her join us.

I wonder if we can develop low level telepathy by practicing with her. Just short range communication only stuff, nothing too invasive. Might enable us to communicate with our pod friend at home.

Hey guys. I’d like to make an announcement. I did this before but as the time approaches I feel like I need to remind you what’s about to happen.

On the 30th I have a flight which will bring me from Germany to Moscow. The exchange program is finally over and I am returning home. This means that next session will be the last session to use current schedule and the schedule will change for every thread after that. In other words we won’t have two days in a row anymore.

I don’t know what schedule I’ll be able to make. We might just have the first half of the session on Saturday but it is possible that the thread would move backwards by up to 10 hours to start in the late morning.

I will do everything I can to run for as long as humanely possible per week. However I hope you do understand that it is unfeasible to maintain two allnighters in a row during university courses.

In other words, please reply on how flexible you are with timing. My current possibilities are:
>Friday- Saturday night
>Saturday-Sunday night like first half of the session now
>Saturday from about 10 am Moscow standard
>Saturday from about 10 am until exhaustion. Should be able to pull off until Sunday morning but I won’t know unless I try.
>Anywhere in between. Maybe Saturday until exhaustion but starting later and running longer?

>>2899067
>>Saturday-Sunday night like first half of the session now
please clarify this one for me, it would start around what time and end at?

I suspect that would work best for me at least, since I tend to get only the first part of the sessions, and players usually drop after a certain hour.

but
>Saturday from about 10 am Moscow standard

>Saturday from about 10 am until exhaustion. Should be able to pull off until Sunday morning but I won’t know unless I try.

could work too

>>2899142
Right now I start session on Saturday evening around 7-8 pm and run until about 8 am. Then I sleep during the day and start in the evening again and run until 8-9 am on Monday morning. In that option I suggest to do only Saturday-Sunday part meaning that only first half of the thread remains. However the time shift would be minimal.

>>2899162
For me that would work best, at least that is my vote if it's ok for you

>>2895833
>Offer her to join you in the adventures. She wanted to see the surface, right?
>Though Her parents are probably really worried
As long as she's with us both her and random bystanders are safe
>>2899067
I keep a decent track of the catalog so even if rarely join in I'm fine with whenever.

>>2901153
This. So long as the running is regular and / or frequent it's fine.

>>2899067
I say, whatever works for you without tanking your energy for education. But then again this anon usually catches on late.

>>2896286
>>2897893
>>2898121
>>2901153
Ok guys, as I can see I balled up my descriptions again. As I understand most of you want to suggest her to join but some want to get her home. I'll add an option to get her home after proposing her to join you and an opportunity to visit her home after the visit to the island town.

About schedule, I will experiment a little with the option to run for 20 hours from morning on Saturday. If it flies- great. If not we will switch back to regular time on Saturday. Also a note, there won't be a session on 29th and 30th for the reasons of the flight. The session this week will still be on schedule so no worries.

>>2903839
we can invite her and when she decides to go back we show her the way I think

>>2895833
>Accompany her home. That should keep her safe
Also I imagine it would be interesting to see what some other pod person decided to set the medusa guards over.

>>2895833
>Accompany her home. That should keep her safe

>>2905711
>>2905437
>>2901153
>>2898121
>>2897893
>>2896286
>>2895951
Ok then, preparing to run again. Inventory has been updated with the glowing crystals.

>>2908934
It appears most of the people were split between accompanying her home and suggesting her to join us. I will do a composite solution

>>2908946
We are live! >>2909121

>>2909167
This thread is archived