>>3029269
“Keep talking Paulie and I might just let you live.” Henry said.

The man was fearful for a few more minutes before a look of clarity crossed his face.

“Red cloak.. I know you… Henry the necromancer correct? Y-you… you don’t know who you’re messing with here boy.”

“Ha, if its someone who can scare you then that’s half the damned city ain’t it.”

“I’m serious Henry, stay outta this, I don’t know what you’re trying to get here.”

“I’m trying to find someone, a girl, Nessie’s nephew.”

“The barkeep?” Paulie asked nervously. “The hell she have to do with any of this?”

“Her niece got caught up in whatever idiotic scheme you cooked up, or I suppose whoever paid your debt off cooked up.”

“How do you know about-“

“I’m the one talking here, I also know about the sabotage going on around here, and I can probably keep digging and figure it out but you’d save me a hell of a lot of time.”

“Stay out of this one Henry.” Paulie said. “Look, you don’t want no part of this, hell I’m too deep as is, I don’t got a say in shit, and god just keeps hammered down on poor old Paulie.”

“Leave god out of this, you have some questions I want answered.”

>>3029274
“Where is her niece, that’s all I want to know, and it’s all I’m paid to ask for Paulie, I don’t really give two shits about anything else. Tell me, and I’ll leave you alone to do whatever the hell you are doing.”

Henry flashed a bit of red mana in his hand, but Paulie was completely oblivious. Henry figured he flat out didn’t notice, since Henry wasn’t trying to hide it. That made Paulie even less of a threat then he had been previously.

“Look, Duchane is her name right? She got herself caught right after I explained to her the plan… the woman’s bad luck anyways.”

“Where did she get grabbed?”

“Right here in Shearpoint, on her way back to my boat actually. The woman didn’t follow the instructions I gave her. The dumb broad screamed so loud I thought she’d bust the glass from the nearby windows. The Cathars had to place a rag in her mouth to keep her quiet.”

“And you didn’t tell Nessie this because?” Henry asked.

“I didn’t know that was Nessie’s fuckin niece, and if I did go now I’d probably end up dead! I ain’t willingly gonna fuck with Nessie alright?”

“So she’s in the lockup then?” Henry asked.

“Assuming she didn’t get moved. I imagine they ain’t gonna let her post bail since she caused a heck of a lot of property damage.” Paulie said.

Decisions:
1. “So with that sorta attack, is a war brewing around here or something?”
2. “Will your employer care if I bust her out of prison, he doesn’t want to ‘clean up’ does he?”
3. *Kill Paulie with your shortsword*
4. *Cast Memory scatter on Paulie* (roll 1d100)(will use up 1.5 blue mana)
5. *Kill Paulie with a bolt spell* (will use 1 red mana)
6. “Drop me off at a dock and we’ll be done with each other.”
7. (write in)

>>3029299
>4. *Cast Memory scatter on Paulie* (roll 1d100)(will use up 1.5 blue mana)
And cast it on the other guy.
No memories.
Only dreams

>>3029316
other guy is no longer in range, you all decided to wait until he left to make the confrontation easier. Also you forgot to roll

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>3029344
Well shit, I absolutely forgot.

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>3029299
Backing >>3029316
>>3029344
Rollan

>>3029407
>>3029350
>>3029316
writing

>>3029299
Since Paulie wasn’t a mage that meant Henry could easily remove the conversation they’d just had from his memories. He wasn’t going to kill a man for simply being a stooge, especially when he hadn’t actually done him any wrong. Henry only killed people if he had a damned good reason for it, generally, unless it was an accident. Then there was nothing he could do.

“Drop me off at that nearby dock Paulie, and I’ll get out of your hair.”

“Finally, I was half thinking you was gonna gut me. I still have half a thought you will.”

“Honestly you managing half a thought is rather impressive.” Henry smugly replied. Since Paulie wasn’t gonna remember any of this it wouldn’t hurt to mess with him.

“Oy you better hope we don’t cross paths in the sewers some time or I’ll remember this.” Paulie said.

“You really think I give two shits about ending you Paulie?” Henry said, his smile fading.

“H-here? In public?” Paulie asked.

“Whenever the fuck I got some free time, hell maybe I’ll even take my time doing it. Been a while since I practiced.”

“H-hey now.” Paulie said, holding a hand up while the other remained on his paddle.

“Just get me to the fucking dock Paulie, I don’t want to look at you anymore.”

As the boat slowly got to the dock, Henry gathered the required energy for the spell and let it fly, striking Paulie in the head and easily removing the last five minutes from his memory. Henry placed something simple In its place, a nice calm uneventful voyage.
It really helped that driving a boat thru a canal was so god damned boring.

Decisions:
1. Head to the lock up, at the very least you can case the joint out
2. Head home, you need some backup
3. Grab a bit to eat (may result in meeting new people)
4. (Write in)

>>3029436
>3. Grab a bit to eat (may result in meeting new people)
>4. (Write in)
Also grab a bite or two for Ophelia and Charles, we have associates that eat now.

>>3029436
Backing those trips in >>3029444

>>3029436
going to bed boys, see ya tomorrow

>>3029444
>>3029445
writing

>>3029436
Henry worked his way down to Delight Street a little bit outside of Shear Point. The place itself was known as Green Lane, and was more of a residential district where many factory workers resided. Henry wasn’t fond of the place; the smoke belching from the factories often worked its way over here if the wind blew in the district’s general direction. The place was in the outer ring, but felt like it was just barely good enough to be in the third ring, basically one step up from an utter shithole. Still, Henry didn’t mind too much, food was food, as long as it wasn’t poisonous.

Honestly the food at the random pub Henry had stumbled across wasn’t too bad for the price, a couple coppers for some food and light drink. Nothing intoxicating but at least it had a taste to it. The man running the counter was pleasant enough. There was a man working on a puzzle box in one of the seats. He had an odd pair of spectacles on which had many lenses which Henry figured were meant to zoom in on the object. The puzzle box itself was mad out of scraps of wood and metal, and had an odd air about it, Henry didn’t really know what to make of the man or the puzzle box, but the man working the counter said that he was passing thru like Henry was.

Then there was a much older gentleman with a long grizzled beard and a happy air to him sipping from a drink and passing the time. Henry figured he’d have some stories to tell. Old folks generally enjoyed rambling on he’d found. Johnny sure as hell fit the stereotype.

Lastly there was a healer outside offering services to the locals, Henry knew from opening people up that being close to the factories caused the lungs to fill with shit, He didn’t really know how much good a healer could do but at least the woman was trying. A couple children were watching as she cleaned a couple of medical tools in a flask.

Decisions: (pick one)
1. Keep to yourself, you’re not in the mood
2. Speak to the man at the counter
3. Speak to the healer
4. Speak to mister puzzle box
5. Speak to the old fart

>>3031235
>1. Keep to yourself, you’re not in the mood
Enjoy our meal, then see if we can't get some food to go for the ones that eat at home.
Even if the puzzlebox is interesting sounding.

>>3031235
>4. Speak to mister puzzle box

>>3031264
Fuckit, lets talk to the puzzled one.

>>3031294
>>3031264
writing

>>3031235
“Having trouble?” Henry asked the puzzle box man.

“Can I help you?” He responded.

“Just wanted some casual conversation, figured you were the most interesting person here.”

“Lucky me, though I suppose I haven’t gotten anywhere with this damned thing.”

“Where’d you even get it?” Henry asked.

“Friend gave it to me, said it was found in an old ruin in Burlum Province, nobody else has been able to open the darned thing, even a locksmith friend of his. Everyone else has given up but I’m not so easily dissuaded.”

“Names Henry by the way.” Henry said, holding out his right hand and using his left to place his food and drink on the table the man was sitting at.

“Brice, Actuary.” Brice said.

“That’s a type of … accountant I think?” Henry said.

“Astute, a specific kind actually, I work in insurance, and due to the spate of… shall we call them incidents that have occurred in Shear Point recently I was sent down to investigate. Lot of sabotage and some peculiar magic involved.”

Decisions:
1. “You don’t say?” (roll 1d100+10 for charisma)
2. “So you deal with numbers all day, sounds boring as hell.”
3. “I figured you weren’t from here, not too many educated folk in these parts.”
4. “Mind if I give the puzzle box a crack?”
5. “If you shuffle papers then why are you the one who got sent out here?”
6. (write in)

>>3031321
>5. “If you shuffle papers then why are you the one who got sent out here?”
>6. (write in)
>"Accidentally took the wrong person's policy?"

>>3031321
Backing >>3031330

>>3031347
>>3031330
writing

>>3031321
“If you shuffle papers for a living then why are you the one who got sent out here?” Henry asked


“An inquisitive sort then, well, who says that I was ‘sent’ out here in the first place?”

“Accidentally took the wrong person’s policy?” Henry asked.

“What?”

“I was asking did you piss a coworker off or something?”

“It doesn’t work-… is it that hard to believe that I like to get some fresh air once and a while? A little bit of adventure never hurt anyone.”

Henry didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“I am stuck inside of an office for hours at a time, day in and day out, and while I like my job immensely, and I’m good at it too, once in a while doing something different is what I would describe as incredibly healthy.”

“huh.” Henry said.

“Huh indeed.” Brice replied.

“So of all the places you could have been sent out to, why did you pick this one? It isn’t exactly scenic.”

“It’s within the city limits for one, so I don’t have to be away from the family for longer than normal, and I quite like the local architecture. Quite a bit of work went into these old buildings.”

“They can’t be more than twenty years old.” Henry said. “Shear point is fairly new too.”

“You’re missing the point.” Brice responded.

The man plinked away at the puzzle box for a few more minutes before setting down his tools in frustration.

Decisions:
1. “Let me take a crack at it, come on.” (roll 1d100 – 15)
2. “So how do you know the thing isn’t cursed?”
3. “Hear about the spider?”
4. “So what’s that I heard about sabotage?”
5. *end the conversation*
6. (write in)

>>3031363
>6. (write in)
"Whatcha got there?"
>Motion towards the oddity.

>>3031363
>2. “So how do you know the thing isn’t cursed?”
>1. “Let me take a crack at it, come on.” (roll 1d100 – 15)
Must be mana-based
also backing >>3031366

>>3031366
>>3031368
someone forgot to feckin roll

Rolled 77 - 15 (1d100 - 15)

>>3031368
Hell, I'll roll for it too.

>>3031392
>>3031368
>>3031366
writing

>>3031363
“So what is the thing exactly?” Henry asked.

“A very complicated puzzle box, very old too, I’m set to have a historian take a look at it this weekend, hopefully they can shed some light on the thing, perhaps it’ll give me a better chance of actually opening it. Beyond that I’m not really sure.

“So how do you know the thing isn’t cursed?” Henry asked, he glanced over and noticed that the owner seemed a tad worried about the thing, occasionally shooting glances over.

“Had a mage friend of mine take a look at it before I set about attempting to open it. It passed muster and I trust the man, since if I met an untimely end attempting to open this then his reputation would hopefully be ruined. If not then I suppose I’m a bit of a fool.”

“Dumber people have done dumber things.” Henry replied.

“Words to live by.” Brice responded.

Henry gazed at the object with his mage sight, sure enough there wasn’t a hint of magic on the thing, which struck Henry as odd. Generally there was a hint of magic in everything, this thing just felt… dead? Not really dead, just empty. He’d never really seen anything quite like it before in mage sight. It unnerved him a bit. But since it didn’t give off any kind of aura whatsoever it was either a masterwork or completely inert. Henry’s paranoia flared up but his common sense tipped toward the latter.

“Can I take a crack at it?” Henry asked.

“Go ahead, if you somehow manage to break the damned thing in two then at least I’ll know what was inside.”

Henry spent a couple of minutes wiggling around the set of lock picks that Brice lent him before eventually giving up. He had managed to get a single popping noise to emanate from inside the box, but Brice had informed him that several of the noises had gone off before, and his locksmith friend had explained it was probably the internal locking mechanism resetting after a failed attempt. Henry only felt a bit better when Brice explained that the fact he’d even managed to get it to reset was a rarity, most who tried didn’t get anything out of the box.

Decisions:
1. “I think the damned thing is busted.”
2. “Well I gave it a shot, no sense being ashamed.”
3. “So do you have any other strange hobbies?”
4. “Ever travel anywhere interesting?”
5. “Any interesting clients?”
6. “I really need to get going” *end conversation*
7. (write in)

>>3031432
>7. (write in)
Lets try our old fall back method for investigating magical or lack there of trinkets.
Lightly and slowly leak mana into it as we try to solve it.

Rolled 49 (1d100)

Rollin for the inevitable roll requirement

Going to bed

Rolled 4 (1d100)

>>3031432
Backing >>3031443
and also rolling

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>3031830
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEErollan

>>3031830
welp

>>3031830
writing

>>3031432
Henry reached out towards the box with a small sliver of red mana. He didn’t really want to risk using black mana and he was low enough as is on blue, so he figured it would be a safe bet either way. Boy was he wrong. As soon as his mana strand made contact with the box he felt a sort of spiritual tugging. His mana was slowly but forcefully being pulled into the box, and he wasn’t able to break the connection for several seconds. By the time he managed to yank his arm away he’d lost a good deal of red mana. The force of him pulling his arm away also sent him crashing to the floor in an embarrassing display.

(-2 red mana)

“I’m guessing you are a mage of some sort? My friend had a similar experience when he poked at the thing. I don’t believe magic is an option when dealing with it. I’d like to think the creator of it didn’t want anyone cheating.” Brice said, offering a hand to Henry.

Henry waved him off and got up off the ground. “I wonder if it would survive if I tried to blast it open.” Henry muttered.

“You will do no such thing.” Brice responded.

“Sorry, I’m just frustrated, I’m not used to being outsmarted, less so by a box.”

Henry could see out of the corner of his eye that the owner of the pub was chuckling to himself, probably because Henry had fallen like a newborn calf.”

Decisions:
1. “I have business to attend to.”
2. “I hope I never see that box again.”
3. “Have you tried using a sledge hammer?”
4. “I might know someone who could open it, bit of an odd ball but she is incredibly intelligent.” (Will get Ophelia involved)
5. (write in)

>>3034731
>4. “I might know someone who could open it, bit of an odd ball but she is incredibly intelligent.” (Will get Ophelia involved)

>>3034751
writing

>>3034731
“I might know someone who could open it, bit of an odd ball but she is incredibly intelligent.” Henry said.

“She?” Brice asked with a bemused tone of voice. “And to be honest I’m not sure I want to trust someone with this artifact, no offense but we’ve only just met.”

“Well considering you’ve been unable to open it, what exactly do you have to lose?” Henry replied.

“Fair point I suppose. But I’ll have to insist that we meet on my terms. Here is my business card by the way.” Brice said, pulling out a nicely made paper card with a few key pieces of information on it. A address in the second ring, the name ‘Brice Rosetta’ and the name ‘Mongoose Insurance Company’.

The company was fairly well known, for one they were the most important insurance company in Celeste by a wide margin. A lot of factories and other buildings were insured by them and the nobility had held fairly close ties with them. He then wondered if this whole pagan thing was just a way to scam insurance money. Someone wrecking their own factories wouldn’t have been the craziest thing he’d ever heard of.

“So I just stroll in and then what?” Henry asked

“Make an appointment, if you’re serious about this anyway. It will have to be in a week or two, I have that meeting with my friend soon, I’d rather not have the puzzle box damaged or destroyed before then. If I can help it.”

“Right.” Henry muttered, looking to the card once more, the thing had a nice blue and gray trim, quite a bit of work had gone into it.

“I’m afraid I must take my leave now, although it was nice meeting you mister… actually I don’t think I got your name.”

“Mister Fisher.” Henry replied, holding up his hand to shake.

Brice returned the gesture and quickly gathered up his belongings from the table, tucking the puzzle box under his arm and quickly leaving the building. Henry noticed that he was pretty much alone now, with the exception of the owner who was happily humming a tune to himself as he started cleaning off some of the tables.

Decisions:
1. Head down to the lockup, you’ve put this whole thing off long enough. At the very least you can gather some info
2. Head back home and grab some help for the ‘jailbreak’
3. Go pay Rosa a visit
4. Head back to undertown to get your illusion rune, it should be ready by now.
5. (write in)

>>3034797
>5. (write in)
Grab some food for ophelia and company, and
>2. Head back home and grab some help for the ‘jailbreak’
We can grab johnny for backup.

>>3034797
>3. Go pay Rosa a visit

Tell her about the lock up. She may have ways to get the niece out. Tell her about the pagan thing, the green mana and the factory destruction and Paulie tied up in it and scared spitless.

>>3034977
Oops - not Rosa - Nessie in undertown.
Jailbreaking is a foolish idea in the capital.

>>3034977
>>3034800
looks like we got a tie, surprised anyone else showed up. Just as well since I was getting tired

>>3034982
Damn, I had a remark about mentioning the pagans to the church member.

>>3034982
Lets go visit nessie on the way home

>>3035000
>>3034982
>>3034977
>>3034800
writing

>>3034797
Henry did a couple of things after leaving the pub, first and foremost was traveling back to Undertown to speak with Nessie, and gather his Illusion rune from Stefan. Getting the illusion rune went easily enough. As soon as Henry approached the rune appeared through a small panel in the door itself. How the house worked didn’t make too much sense to Henry, he just knew it had enough enchantments layered into it to supply a small army, or maybe a really big one.

As for Nessie, she didn’t exactly take the news lying down. In fact the woman nearly barreled out the door until being stopped by a few of the panicked regulars. Eventually she settled into a worried pacing routine. Henry wasn’t really sure what to make of it, he’d never seen the woman this worried before, hell he’d never seen her worried period. This was bad news.

Eventually she calmed down enough to think properly; the first thing out of her mouth was how stupid and naïve her niece was and how she was going to properly strangle the life out of Paulie. Henry wasn’t about to tell her not to, although he hoped she had enough sense to not do it within the boundries of Undertown. She mentioned that the Cathars would not be expecting anyone to break her out, they probably viewed this as an isolated incident, beyond that she wasn’t all that helpful. Henry again couldn’t blame her, she was worried sick.

Upon reaching his house he handed out dinner to both Ophelia and Charles, who ate at what was becoming the communal table. Henry didn’t really know where to start so he didn’t. Johnny was sitting in the storage room and Henry noticed a few scorch marks on the ground, he decided not to ask what had happened.

Decisions:
1. Get Johnny and head out to the lockup
2. (write in)

>>3035060
>2. (write in)
Tell Johnny the plan first.
Listen to input, then gear up and head out

>>3035072
heading to sleep, will continue tomorrow, hopefully around 7:00 pm eastern

>>3035060
Backing >>3035072

>>3035834
>>3035072
writing

>>3035060
Henry carefully explained what had happened to Johnny, and then went on to explain his scheme for breaking Duchane out of the lockup. The lockup itself wouldn’t be too secure so they’d have a chance if they hit it tonight. The other option would be to pay off the damages but that would far outstrip any reward that Nessie would or even could offer, and Henry wasn’t exactly swimming in coin.

Johnny thought it over, happy to no longer have to deal with Ophelia’s character flaws. The main issues he laid out were as follows. One, they had no idea if she was even there and then there were the guards themselves, how many, rotations, etc. Although he did agree that this would be the best opportunity to bust her out. Now or never he put it.

The two geared up, Henry with his short sword and a couple of throwing daggers, and Johnny with his horrible get up. The prototype rags Henry had made still worked but looked goofy and would draw quite a bit of attention. He’d have to make this quick. Hopefully the woman wouldn’t be too stupid. He could feel Ophelia looking at him all the while.

Henry slipped the illusion rune into a small crack in the wall near the entrance, and as Henry walked out the entrance disappeared from view. He didn’t want to have a repeat of Sophie visiting, and Ophelia was smart enough that she wouldn’t have much trouble figuring out what he’d done.

Decisions:
1. Scope the lockup out
2. Bust in immediately, you can figure things out as you go along
3. *bring other equipment* (write in)
4. (write in)

>>3036905
>1. Scope the lockup out

>>3036958
writing

>>3036905
The two walked their way back through the sewers of the second and third rings, emerged onto the street, and continued back down to Shear Point. The moon was steadily rising now and a couple of gheists had begun to pop into view. Nothing dangerous, mostly ghiests of people with a couple of odder ones occasionally mixed in. For the most part they avoided the street lamps that dotted the main roads and thoroughfares. At this point in the night few normal people would be out, and there would be Cathar patrols active which would create its own mix of problems. Time was of the essence.

The lockup was a small two story building which had a rusted iron lantern hanging outside the front door. There was a small perimeter fence, thin bars with sharp pointed flourishes on the top forming a small courtyard in the front of the building. Through a pair of glass windows Henry could spy a couple of Cathars sitting at a table and having a conversation. The backside of the building had two more doors, a back door and what looked to be a cellar door. The back door was made up of wood and yet more rusted metal while the cellar door was a sort of sheet metal that was rust free. Henry figured it must have been recently put in. While the lock on the backdoor would not be a problem, the lock on the cellar door was another matter. It was far more complex than anything Henry knew how to pick. If only he had a way to get Sophie to help him, but that woman wouldn’t work for small potatos.

Overall the building didn’t seem to be too well defended, but this building wasn’t exactly meant to be either. It was meant to stop people from getting out rather than in. The upper floor had a series of barred windows which led Henry to believe that was where the prisoners were held. There might also be runic enchantments inside but Henry couldn’t be sure. He just figured the woman would’ve tried to break out by now.

A ghiest slowly floated over a canal in the background as Henry tried thinking through everything in his head. This wasn’t too complex but not too simple either.


Decisions:
1. Head in through the front door and gather more information. (they’ll see your face and its overall riskier but it will get you more info)
2. Break into the basement
3. Lockpick the back door and slip in
4. Use Johnny to create a distraction out front (risky if the Cathars catch him)
5. (write in)

>>3037047
>5. (write in)
Ghiestcall and use as a scout or distraction.

>>3037047
Backing >>3037084

>>3037103
>>3037084
roll 1d100 to see how well the gheist trap works

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>3037170

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>3037170

>>3037191
>>3037175
actually writing now

>>3037047
Henry glanced over at the ghiest slowly meandering its way over the canal. With a flick of his hand Henry let loose a bolt of blue mana and struck the ghiest in the back of its spectral head, and it began slowly floating its way back towards Henry. The spell had been an obvious success. On closer inspection the ghiest had a faint white glow and appeared to have been horribly mangled in life based what Henry could see through the spectral rags that covered its body. Henry figured it had been caused some sort of factory accident based on the location he’d found it at. It was altogether fairly terrifying, which would work in his favor, the Cathar’s wouldn’t be able to ignore this son of a bitch.

(-1 blue mana)

“What are you thinking with this?” Johnny asked. “If that spell had failed you’d have an angry ghiest to deal with.”

“And the Cathar’s inside would have had a nice distraction regardless.” Henry replied.

“Fair point, still incredibly ill advised. So what do you want to do with him?” Johnny asked.

“I don’t have any way to hijack his sight so using him as a scout won’t work all that well. I’m going to have him float around and draw the Cathar’s out, alright?” Henry asked.

“Then why am I here exactly?” Johnny asked.

“Moral support, and so I have someone to fight for me if it comes down to it.” Henry said. “And you, Ghiest, go make a loud ruckus and get those two bozos in there to chase you.”

The ghiest heeded the command, floating over to the window where the two Cathars. It floated for a moment, let out a horrifying screech, and began to pound on the window, causing the Cathars inside to leap out of their chairs in surprise. Both charged towards the door and quickly pursued the ghiest down the street, cursing at it all the while. A few bolts of white mana were fired at the ghiest to little effect, the thing had no intention of fighting since Henry had told it to run, that’d probably buy them a few minutes.

>>3037240

“Come on Johnny!” Henry said, hastily heading into the lockup.

The interior was about as sparse as one would expect. A couple of weapon racks containing swords and spears, a few bunk beds off in one corner, and a few other pieces of furniture and decoration throughout. The table the two Cathar’s had been sitting at, now toppled along with the chairs sat in the middle of the room along with a mug of beer that had been spilled onto the ground, now seeping into the rug the table had been sat on. Johnny mentioned something about wasting food but Henry wasn’t in the mood to listen to yet another one of his life tips.

If there was anyone in the station they would need to play this off as them looking for help, otherwise they’d be in for a fight. The last thing Henry wanted was for causalities. The two quickly ascended the stairs, being careful not to make too much noise. Henry needed to make sure that their girl was actually in this place before doing anything else.

Upon reaching the top Henry pushed open a door and got a good look at the jail. There were about a dozen cells scattered about, five of them opened and the rest occupied. The main issue was that there was a child mopping the floor. Henry figured it was an apprentice but it was a further snag he didn’t want to deal with. Luckily the kid was utterly preoccupied with his task and hadn’t noticed their entrance. The kid was humming a tune having something to do with good fortune, Henry wasn’t close enough to hear it properly.

Henry slowly shut the door until there was only a crack remaining to see through. He needed to think quickly and act decisively.

Decisions:
1. Get the kid’s attention
2. Have Johnny subdue him
3. Ignore him, he won’t be able to stop you
4. Bolt him
5. (write in)

File: images.jpg (9 KB, 263x192)

9 KB JPG

>>3037248
also forgot the image like a dumbass

>>3037248
>5. (write in)
>Toss him a copper and tell him to take a break.
Also are we at least covering our face?
And we need to get a new cloak, one specifically for cloak and dagger missions as a red one is noticeable and memorable.

>>3037261
Fuck
I meant toss him a silver

>>3037261
roll for it boy

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>3037347

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>3037347

>>3037350
>>3037348
partial success

>>3037248
Pulling his cloak over his head, Henry swung open the door and more or less announced his presence, startling the boy and causing Johnny to slowly bring up a hand to his face. Henry produced a silver coin from his pouch and flicked it over to the kid all the while ordering Johnny to stay at the door.

“What’s going on, where are Doran and Michael?” The boy asked.

“Out on a walk, now, as for that piece of silver, you didn’t see what happened, understand?” Henry asked.

(-1 silver)

“I-I…uhm…” The child said, slowly backing away while holding up the broom as if it was a sword.

“You have poor form boy.” Johnny remarked. “Have you been an apprentice for long?”

“T-two years!” The child said. The kids legs were shaking with fear, but the fact that he’d maintained his composure well enough to know that there wasn’t anyone to help them was interesting, meant his training wasn’t for nothing. It also meant that those two Cathars were the only ones in the building at this time, the rest must’ve been out on patrol or at home with their families.

“They haven’t been teaching you proper swordsmanship then, or you have an pair of horribly weak arms.” Johnny replied, trying to defuse the situation.

“Oy what the fuck’s goin on?” A man from one of the cells called out. “We got visitors?”

“S-stay in your cell!” The boy said, swatting the mop’s handle at the prison bars.

“Settle down!” The prisoner said, “Fecks sake I’m only here till morning, I don’t want no trouble.”

Henry casually made his way over to the child and forcefully removed the broom from his hands. The kid leaned back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, unable to move due to overwhelming fear. Two mystery people had just come in through a building that was supposed to be guarded by two trained Cathars. Kid probably figured they were dead. Henry didn’t feel like correcting him and immediately went to work, inspecting the cells. Three of them had men, two had women.

>>3037425
“Taking to scaring children now sir?” Johnny asked.

“Fuck off and die.” Henry replied. He searched around for a keyring but was unable to locate it, the guards must not have been idiots, and didn’t keep the keys in the jailhouse.

“Duchane?” Henry asked.

At first there was no response, then a man from a different cell called out. “Yeah you hear to break me out?”

“I’m looking for a woman Jackass.” Henry replied. “Nice try though.”

“Did my aunt send you?” A woman called from yet another cell. “Fucks sake I told her in my letter I could take care of myself.”

“Least you’re smart enough to not use names.” Henry said. “Look we got limited time before the daring duo return. Hey kid, where are the keys kept?”

“I w-w-won’t tell you.” The kid said, terrified. “Y-y-you’re not good p-p-people. T-t-take your dirty silver back.” He said, before throwing it at Henry. “S-she hurt people, y-you can’t let her go. W-w-what did you do to Doran and Michael.”

(+1 silver)

Henry caught it and pocketed the silver coin in one swift motion before replying. “None of your business kid, and berating some bad people while they have weapons and you don’t is not a winning strategy.”

“Happy to see you’ve been instilled with the proper values of a Cathar, even if you have a ways to go in terms of combat ability.” Johnny said to the child. “I apologize for my companion here, but we are in a bit of a rush, nerves will flare.”

The skeleton sounded way too cheery and detached for what they were doing.

“I know where the keys are, but you gotta let me out if I tell you.” A man wearing a bandana with a skull on it said, calling out from another cell.

“Do you know where it is Duchane?”

“Wasn’t in any condition too look when they brought me here, so I haven’t the slightest.” The redhead replied.

Decisions:
1. Try to get the information out of the kid by force
2. Go along with the prisoners plan (let him out y/n)
3. Try to find it yourself
4. Have Johnny go look for it
5. (write in)

>>3037429
>2. Go along with the prisoners plan (let him out y/n)
Let him out only long enough to get the keys then mind wipe him, have johnny on standby incase he's also a mage.

>>3037433
heading to bed. I think this was a fairly productive session tonight.

>>3037429
Backing >>3037433
Good thing this mindwipe is only for real short term memory stuff

>>3037947
Yes, I forgot to say only short term. Good catch.

>>3037433
>>3037947
>>3038232
writing in

>>3037429
"You have a deal, but try anything and you’ll regret it.” Henry said.

“Yeah sure bud. Look, they keep the keys in a locked drawer downstairs, I saw one of the guards grab the key from under his mattress. I don’t remember exactly which one it was but it was one of the bottom bunks.”

Henry didn’t waste much time, racing past Johnny and back down the steps. He jumped over one of the fallen chairs and bolted to the bunkbeds. He quickly searched under all three of them, found the keyring, and bounded back up the steps. Nearly tripping in his haste. The keys were small silver pieces of metal each with a dozen prongs on them, all contained to a small iron key ring. Keys had been getting better over the years or at least Sophie had told him once, it was amazing that such complex locks could be made so cheaply now. He wondered if it would put Sophie out of a job, probably not.

He quickly opened Duchane’s cell and walked inside to offer her a hand up. The woman knocked his hand away and quietly left the cell, all while muttering to herself. Henry saw that she had a pair of mage-bane handcuffs on. He didn’t know where the key for them was but they could work on cutting them off when they got back to Undertown, right now they had to escape.

“You’re welcome.” Henry said.

“I told you I didn’t need the help.” Dunchae grumbled.

“No need to be so proud, ego is the last thing you want to have.” Johnny said. “And never be too proud to thank a man for helping you, even if it’s breaking you out of jail.”

Duchane merely glared at him as she tried to pass him down the steps, but Johnny wasn’t about to budge for her.

“Yeah thanks pal!” The man with the skull bandana called out from his cell.

>>3040432
Oh right, him. Henry casually strolled over to the cell, attempted to conjure a memory scatter, only to feel the spell fizzle out on him, he didn’t have enough blue mana left, fuck. He kept his composure and went through his options. He could let the man out, the man didn’t have cuffs on but it would be a two on one, he didn’t really expect Duchane to do much, she didn’t seem the helpful type. But on the other hand, if he left him to hang, the man might hold a grudge. Henry didn’t know how good his memory was or how crazy he was but he didn’t know if he wanted to leave it up in the air. He didn’t even know what the man was in for, he could be letting out a serial killer for all he knew.

“What’s taking? Can’t find the right key or something?”

“Get out of the way… weirdo.” Duchane said, drawing Henry’s attention away. The woman was fairly loud for such a small person.

“I beg your pardon?” Johnny asked.

“Your aura is all weird, whatever. Get out of the way!”

“Not until my friend here is finished with his business.” Johnny continued.

“Oy bud, you’re not just gonna leave me here are you?!” The bandana man asked, forcing Henry’s attention back to him.

Deicisons:
1. Leave the man to hang
2. Throw him the keys and bolt
3. Let him out yourself and get his help for the time being
4. (write in)

>2 blue mana spells casted today, memory scatter on paulie for 1.5 mana and the ghiest trap to create the distraction. 0.5 mana remaining, meaning you didn't have enough to cast the memory scatter on mr. bandana

>>3040437
>>2 blue mana spells casted today, memory scatter on paulie for 1.5 mana and the ghiest trap to create the distraction. 0.5 mana remaining, meaning you didn't have enough to cast the memory scatter on mr. bandana
Fugg How fast does mana regenerate?

3. Let him out yourself and get his help for the time being
That way we can watch him so he doesn't heart the guards or the kid.

>>3040453
requires resting for about 8-10 hours for it to recover completely.

>>3040437
>2. Throw him the keys and bolt

"Now, if you know what is good for you -we get. She will be none too happy if you mess up again, girl." And get moving. She will either listen or chase us.

>>3040523
You gonna let an unknown "bad guy" be alone with an apprentice cathar?
He probably gonna off the poor kid.

>>3040534
>>3040523
>>3040453
will post tomorrow, night

>>3040437
Backing >>3040453

>>3040453
+1

>>3040453
>>3041106
>>3042193
writing

>>3040437
Henry glanced at Johnny and nodded. They both placed their hands on their weapons, ready in case the man tried anything. After a couple unsuccessful attempts, Henry found the correct key and the door swung open.

“Fuckin finally, thanks pal.” The man said. “As for you you little shit.” The man said, turning towards the child. “Not so tough now huh?”

“Knock it off, I didn’t come here to hurt anyone.” Henry said, stepping between him and the fearful child.

“I ain’t gonna kill him, I just wanna rough the dumbass up a bit.” The man replied.

Henry began to unsheathe his sword until the man backed up, holding his hands out in surrender.

“Let’s get a move on before anything goes wrong.”

“Finally!” Duchane said.

The four of them descended the steps, before Henry hooked a turn towards the back of the building. The back exit would be much safer. Less visible from the street, less likely for them to bump into the two Cathars, among other reasons.

“Is the twerp following us?” Duchane asked.

“Keeping his distance, probably wants to make sure we don’t steal anything.” Johnny replied. “We won’t by the way.” He said, calling upstairs.


The group of four hurried out the back door, leaving it flapping about in the wind. The back gate was summarily kicked open, and the group scattered into the night. Henry let the man go his own way while the three of them quickly got the hell out of dodge. Nobody had died, no muss or fuss. A good breakout overall.

“So what do you-“

“Wait till we’re safely underground.” Henry said.

Duchane went to respond but quickly realized two men with swords didn’t really need to listen to her, especially when her cuffs were still on.”

“Look if we wanted you dead we would’ve offed you already.” Henry said, “And hopefully nobody wants you dead who’d go to the trouble of doing it themselves.”

Decisions:
1. Head down to Undertown
2. Head to your workshop and grab a few tools then meet with Johnny in undertown.
3. *wait till your underground then ask a few questions* (write in)
4. (write in)

>>3043173
>1. Head down to Undertown
Take a roundabout way to the bar where our dear employer is.

>>3043173
>1. Head down to Undertown
Get Nessie calming down first, then figure out what's going on with those pagans from Duchane.

>>3043200
>>3043198
writing

>>3043173
Henry took an intentionally long route to undertown, utilizing a couple of switchbacks and wrong turns. He often checked behind him, using mage sight on both himself and his surroundings to ensure that they hadn’t been hit with any enchantments or tracking spells. Once he was certain they were clean he began the long trek to undertown.

All the while Duchane was complaining about the smell, the cramped nature of the sewers, and how everything felt unnatural. Henry gladly ignored her, she just wasn’t used to city living, obviously.

Johnny tried to strike up conversation with her a couple of times but was met with little more than anger, venom, and snarling. Henry could easily believe that she was related to Nessie. Henry remembered how Nessie used to be before the woman had mellowed out, it probably just ran in the family.

“So we’re almost there now.” Henry said, glancing over his shoulder at the woman. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get the cuffs off, but the metal itself looks fairly cheap, so I should be able to work something out if Nessie isn’t able to.”

“I’d have theses flimslies pieces of metals off myselfsies if I didn’t have my magic cuts off.”

“Oh so you do have an accent.” Henry remarked.

“I tries to hides it topsides.” Duchane remarked. “Matters littles now.”

“I honestly prefer you speak normally, always a pain trying to understand people from the forest.” Henry said. “Well, Nessie mainly.”

“Wait… your from Nessie? She didn’t forgets about me?”

“What? Of course not, she’s been worried sick.” Henry said.

“What…” Duchane muttered… “Paulie….”

The woman began to tremble with a barely contained rage. It hadn’t even simmered down by the time they reached undertown. Luckily the toll Henry had paid was still active, and the gatekeepers seemed to let all three of them through no problem.

He’d always been uncertain how the rules of this place worked, but it usually wasn’t a problem.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>>3043234
Their walk through Undertown’s streets was a tad awkward. Duchane was being led around in handcuffs and drawing quite a bit of attention due to both that and her good looks. Johnny offered his robes to the embarrassed woman at one point but Henry shot him down. It wasn’t because he was undead of course, undertown had corpse traders and necromancers come through on occasion. But he couldn’t afford the getup he had to get damaged, it was the only one he had left. That and he’d rather not have people oogle at the skeleton, and certainly not anyone magically inclined. Johnny was a special skelly.

As they approached the bar Duchane whistled. “She worksies here?”

“She owns the place.” Henry said.

“What a shites hole.”

“Yeah but it’s everyone’s shit hole you know?”

Henry confidently strode inside, he’d accomplished his goal with absolutely NO collateral damage. Well except maybe a rogue ghiest, but that wasn’t uncommon in Celestes lower circles, and the Cathars would be able to handle the thing if they hadn’t already.

Nessie was drinking at one of the tables while a twig of a man was quietly working the counter. Henry recognized him as Nessie’s husband. The man wasn’t really a social man and rarely worked the front, but seeing how Nessie was drowning her sorrows in drink he understood why he was filling in for her.

When she noticed the three of them, she bolted up and ran over, wordlessly grabbing Duchane up in her arms and nearly crushing the poor woman to death in a bear hug.

It was a touching moment, truly.

“Oh thanks the gods.” Nessie said. “Thanks the elks, thanks the snakes…”

“Enoughsies Nessie!” Duchane barely managed to say, the woman was being crushed to death.

Nessie finally realized she was killing the woman and gently let her down, only to have Duchane collapse onto the floor breathing heavily.

As Johnny helped her up and to the counter. Nessie called out to the bar.

“A FREE ROUNDSIES FOR EVERYONES!”

The cheering was deafening.

Decisions:
1. Help yourself to a bit of the top shelf, just make sure you ask Nessie’s husband first.
2. “You really must be drunk Nessie.”
3. “So about my payment, I know we agreed that I’d get a small cut from Paulie but I just broke her out of jail…”
4. (write in)

>>3043256
>4. (write in)
Remove bracelets and tell nessie she can drop off the payment later, then go home and prepare.

>>3043262
will begin writing in 5 more min if we get no further votes.

>>3043256
Henry awkwardly coughed to grab Nessie’s attention.

“If it’s about yer pay you can keepsies anything you gots from Paulie.” Nessie said, still tipsy.

“And what if I got nothing?” Henry asked.

“I knowsies you gots something, otherwise you’d be complaingsie more.” Nessie said.

She wasn’t wrong, the gold idol that he’d managed to snag would go for a hefty sum if he didn’t decide to keep it. He’d have time to look it over back home, hell he could also fix that amulet he’d gotten off the dead mages in Grutzberg as well. He was beginning to get a collection of magical artifacts going.

“So there was one other thing.” Henry said, watching as Nessie’s husband helped Duchane to a seat and then got her some water.

“Whats that?” Nessie asked.

“She has a pair of mage bane handcuffs on her.” Henry said. “Besides the obvious she can’t use any magic while they’re on her, I don’t have any tools for the job on me but I could probably get a pair of bolt cutters or something.”

“No needsie.” Nessie said, lumbering over towards Duchane.

Duchane let out a frightened squeak when she saw that Nessie was back again. Nessie’s right hand flashed green and she strongly gripped the handcuff in her hand, vines and moss began to overtake the metal before the entire thing shattered into pieces onto the floor.

“No gizmo or metalsie thing can survive a bit of Nessie’s magic.” Nessie said cheerily.
That about solved everything, so with a wink and a nod Henry took off, with Johnny not far behind. The two made their way home, where Henry did a few final tasks before falling into bed and going out like a light.

============================(END OF CHAPTER)===================================

>>3043313
Look slightly dejected as we wanted the cuffs.

>>3043313
“An apprentice once said to me, ‘Don’t worry, its smaller than us.’ I laughed before explaining to him. So is a bomb rune.” ~ Inquisitor Rho.

=======================================(Chapter Start)=================================


Henry slowly got up and yawned, he had a good amount of work to do today. He still had his work orders, he had to get Ophelia settled in further and give her a job to do. He had to start actually training Charles, and he had to speak to Vermillion about the party. Work work work work work.

After munching on some more of the salted fish with Charles and Ophelia, and talking about random things and useless details, he set about making his todo list.

1. Teach Charles the basics of necromancy
2. Finish the damned work orders, you’ve been putting them off too much
3. Speak to Vermillion about an outfit for the party, a nice costume preferably
4. (Optional) ask vermillion about particulars
5. Kill the spider, he almost killed you after all, that’s not acceptable
6. Give Ophelia some job to distract her for a bit.
7. (add more as needed)

Henry sat the list down, sent Johnny off to do grocery shopping, and got ready to actually do some work.

Decisions: (choose one)
1. Teach Charles more magic
2. Work on the jobs you already have, you have paying customers waiting
3. Head to Vermillion’s place and get some damned answers and a damned costume
4. Speak to Ophelia and give her a project to keep her occupied.
5. (write in)

>Feels like its been forever since a new chapter, the next few days ingame are gonna go fairly quick while we finish tasks out.

>>3043390
Can't we have ophelia and charles help us on our work orders? That way we can teach them the basics and work on the orders?
Otherwise
4. Speak to Ophelia and give her a project to keep her occupied.

>>3043393
you can have Ophelia and Charles help you obviously. I was planning on having it be a learning experience for Charles.

as for Ophelia, I forgot to mention you need a write in for her project.

>>3043407
Hmm
Alright, have Charles help us with our work, and have ophelia work on mana transference rune stones.
Like, you put mana into one stone, and it comes out the other stone.

>>3043445
make 4 rolls
1 for Henry and Charles, 3 for Ophelia

Rolled 65, 20, 68 = 153 (3d100)

>>3043459

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>3043459
Well shit, I can't count.

>>3043461
>>3043468
gonna count the first roll as Henry and Charles' training session, which is a pass. 2 of Ophelia's 3 rolls are also passes, but that 20 is a failure. If anyone wants to try to salvage it feel free.

>>3043481
going to bed, feel free to try to salvage or improve rolls if you so desire guys, not explorer though he already rolled.
The next few ingame days are gonna go by quickly, I really want to get to this next case.

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>3043481
Rollan

>>3043539
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqCdSPhEZOg

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>3043481

>>3043539
>>3043468
>>3043461
>>3043987

writing

>>3043390
Henry got up and cleaned off his plates. He grabbed a few sheets of paper from his desk and committed his to-do list to writing, then set off to work with Charles on drafting blueprints. He gave the kid an introductory book to necromancy he kept in his library and then headed over to Ophelia.

“I hope you don’t expect me to waste my time learning the basics.” Ophelia said.

“You could use the practice, but I have something much more difficult for you.” Henry said.

“That would be?” Ophelia asked.

“I want some special runes, mainly a pair of them, an input and an output rune. I want one to absorb mana and the other two emit it, and the two of them need to have a connection. Basically mana goes in one and mana comes out the other.”

“Do you have a range in mind?”

“Honestly a few feet for the first draft, having a proof of concept would be excellent. Would five days be enough time?”

“I would need far more than-“

“So the mighty Ophelia is beaten by a few runes?” Henry asked.

Ophelia pouted, grabbed some paper out of Henry’s open hand, and began furiously scribbling notes down.

“I’ll have it done in three days, nobody calls me an idiot!”

The woman was hilariously easy to control.

“I didn’t say that.” Henry said, bemused.

“You meant it though, and that’s what matters!” Ophelia whined.

“Oh calm down.” Charles said. “The whole act is wearing a bit thin, act like an adult.”

Ophelia trembled in barely contained embarrassment as Henry walked her back to her chamber. The woman placed her head into her hands for a moment before setting out to work.

By the time Henry returned Charles was a few pages into the book.

“So what kind of leather is this made out of Henry, cowskin?” Charles asked.

“Human skin, bound with hair.” Henry replied.

Charles dropped the book like it was on fire, Henry had to scramble to pick it up off the damp floor, luckily no damage had been done to it.

The next day was spent drafting up blueprints and getting materials together for the big experiment. The occasional curse echoed down the way from Ophelia’s chamber, while Johnny acted as Ophelia’s errand boy. All in all it was a dysfunctional family, sort of.

By the end afternoon the plans had been finalized for all three work orders, about five undead total. Henry needed to grab both bodies, alchemical components, and armor for the undead. He didn’t need anything too expensive, but getting the bodies first would be far better than finding out the armor was too small, he’d made that mistake before.

>>3045572

Charles was copying down a few of the simpler runic patterns onto additional pieces of paper, and was trying to memorize what it all meant. Henry didn’t expect the kid to get it right away but he was making a commendable effort.

Decisions:
1. Have a big ‘family’ trip down to undertown for some food and alchemical components
2. Head down to see Xetram the corpse dealer
3. Head down to see how Duchane is doing with Nessie
4. Continue with Charles’ education, the materials can wait.

>>3045576
>2. Head down to see Xetram the corpse dealer
See if he has some dead animals charles can practice on.

>>3045576
Backing >>3045584

>>3045624
>>3045584
writing

>>3045576
Henry got up and stretched. He poured himself another cup of coffee and went to see how Ophelia was doing. He walked down the corridor, looked inside her chamber for a couple of minutes, and quickly backed away. The woman had scattered papers everywhere and looked like she was having some kind of mental breakdown. Henry decided that he’d leave her to it, maybe it was her time of the month or something. Johnny would be far better suited to dealing with her, on account of his indestructability.

Finishing his cup on the way back, he found Charles diligently reading out of the beginners book on necromancy. The thing was fairly expensive, although to be honest Henry had stolen it when he was still a child. The thing had served him well and hopefully it would do the same to Charles. The kid was using a piece of cloth to turn the pages, and the book itself was laid out on the table. Kid was crafty but that inability to touch dead flesh needed to be done away with.

“We’re heading out Charles.” Henry said.

Charles wordlessly, and a little reluctantly placed the cloth in the book and closed it. The cloth serving as an impromptu bookmark. With that the two of them took off for Xetram’s place. The man had a strange name and an even stranger base of operations. The thing was much lower in the city than Henry’s place. Lakeside in the fourth ring, outside of the prying eyes of the church, and with access to a water source. To allow for easy shipping of merchandise into and out of the city.

The walk went fairly quietly, with Charles occasionally kicking at rats that scurried along their path. Henry didn’t pay the kid much mind, he’d been a much bigger shit when he was young.

>>3045699
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Charles nervously tagged behind Henry as the two ascended to street level and made their way down towards the outer docklands of the city. After passing through the third gate and heading down below, it was a good twenty minutes before they arrived at their destination. A small building built into a massive pipe that extended out from the hill Celeste was built on. The entire thing looked fairly normal, besides being built inside of a giant pipe. Henry explained that it was put their as a lower cost option before people realized it wasn’t great living inside of it. Still it gave access to both the water and the inner sewers which was useful.

“So why didn’t we take the sewers to reach this place?” Charles asked.

“Charles, the lower sewers are completely unprotected. You don’t travel them, ever.” Henry explained. “Unless you have some heavy security or are already undead. I plan on having Johnny retrieve the merchandise once we’re all settled here. Either of us using the route would be suicide.”

“But wouldn’t the corpse-“

“The MERCHANDISE.” Henry corrected.

“Oh… uh… the merchandise attract bad things?”

“Well it gets brought to a big lift, by a bunch of very very nasty guards, then handed out from there. But this is where the exchange of cash happens. It’s a bit complex honestly. You’ll learn it over time.”

Henry walked up to the door, knocked a few times, then began to head around towards a back alley of the building where he knocked again on the back entrance before moving a collection of trash bins to reveal yet another entrance, which smelled significantly worse than the previous two.

“Do we really have to?” Charles pleaded.

“Shut up and follow me.” Henry said.

Charles descended first into inky blackness punctuated by a couple of candles and torches scattered about, while Henry focused on closing the entrance hatch, sealing them in and plunging the area into near darkness. Charles thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t have a fear of the dark or cramped spaces. As this would be unbearable otherwise.

The two continued on a little ways before reaching a brick wall with a steal door built into it. Henry rasped his knuckles on the thing then stepped back as a latch slid open and revealed a man with an eyepatch on his left eye and a single piercing green eye.

“Password?” The man asked.

“Fuck you Xetram.” Henry replied.

“Happy you still remember it.” Xetram said, sliding the latch closed and opening the door up to reveal a little house of horrors.

File: 409834.crop.hq.jpg (35 KB, 217x162)

35 KB JPG

>>3045743
>>3045743
While the two men hit it off and began talking, Charles gingerly walked into the chamber. There were about a dozen bodies hanging from both the walls and ceiling, and some hideous looking undead sizing him up with cold unmoving eyes. One of them looked like it was made from about five different people. It had a set of thin leathery wings coming off of its back, and what looked to be a dozen different non-human things sticking out of it, several of which glowed with magical energy after Charles took the time to give it a once over in mage sight. The creature absentmindedly held a couple of daggers out in a mockery of a fighting stance and occasionally paced around the room.

The other undead looked to be made out of several pig torsos and a human head and stood almost seven feet tall. The creature looked to be more fat than muscle and had to constantly hunch over and crawl about on its knees to fit in the small room. Even a longsword would have barely made a dent in the things hide. By the size of its arms it could probably bend a longsword in half. More disturbingly was what looked to be a massive set of claw marks six inches deep in the things chest. Charles couldn’t imagine what had caused that.

There were a couple other simple undead on one side of the room, each having a piece of wood on a necklace around their heads with various pieces of info on them. Charles didn’t understand the significance but he decided to keep away from them.

“Oh and I want my apprentice here to have something small to experiment on, do you have anything handy?” Henry asked.

“You could just go to a butcher for that, no need to come to old Xetram.”

“Nonsense, you supply me with all my corpses, no need to stop now.”

“Fine, but let your ‘apprentice’ pick them out.” Xetram said.

“You heard him Charles.” Henry said.

Decisions:
1. Pick an animal to use (write in optional)
2. Explore the chamber.
3. “D-do I have to kill it too?”
4. “Those are some b-big undead.”
5. “Wow, how did you make these?”
6. “How many people are these made out of?”
7. (write in)

>>3045796
goodnight ya'll

>>3045796
>4. “Those are some b-big undead.”

File: 4YOU.jpg (217 KB, 1200x798)

217 KB JPG

>>3045796
Backing >>3045815

>>3045796
1. Pick an animal to use (write in optional)
How about a raccoon or a opossum? Something with paws that can open doors and locks.

>>3045796
Backing >>3046501 too

>>3045815
>>3046247
>>3046501
>>3046572
writing

>>3045796
An awed fear overtook Charles as he watched the knife wielding undead abomination slowly make its way across the room. It moved with far more purpose than the mindless zombies attacking Blaise had, but yet not quite as much as the giant bird either. It was somewhere in between, somewhat aware and yet not. It made Charles extremely nervous and uncomfortable.

“Those are some b-big undead.” Charles said, unconsciously moving towards Henry and Xetram and away from the undead.

“Well they need to be to act as proper protection.” Xetram said. “A couple of normal corpses wouldn’t hold against a single Cathar, let alone what lurks on the trade route.”

The knife wielding broke into a silent cackle before resuming its mindless patrol.

“I told you to avoid letting them settle down into quirks or personalities Xetram.” Henry said.

“Can you blame me? They’re just so interesting.” Xetram replied. “Sides why shouldn’t I let your work have a long leash? Ain’t like they have anyone to harm down here or in the lower sewers.”

Charles watched as Henry clenched his fist, Xetram didn’t seem to notice, and Henry’s face was completely unchanged, exchanging jokes with the older man. Charles didn’t really know what to make of it, so he decided to give Xetram’s command some thought.

“How about a raccoon or a possum?” Charles asked.

“That’s a bit of an odd request, no shortage of raccoons around here of course, but still odd.” Xetram said.

“Would using a dog or cat strike a bit too close to home Charles?” Henry asked.

“N-no… maybe… but I was thinking something with paws, maybe it could open and shut doors!’

“Unless you control it directly I doubt a basic undead would have enough intelligence to. But that would be a pretty good way for you to learn some more complex command circles…” Henry said, drifting into thought.

“Speaking of that topic…” Xetram said. “I’ll have your shipment sent off in a day, a day and a half tops. Will you be sending that lovely skeleton of yours to collect?”

“I prefer you use his name.” Henry said.

“Now looks who’s giving his undead quirks.” Xetram rebutted jovially.

Decisions:’
1. “So why do you not want your undead to be quirky?”
2. “How did you make these Henry?”
3. “Can we leave now please” *whisper to Henry*
4. (write in)

>>3047305
>1. “So why do you not want your undead to be quirky?”
And to Henry
"What's wrong with quirks?"

>>3047307
writing

>>3047305
“So why do you not want your undead to be quirky.” Charles asked.

“Nuthin wrong with it, gives em some personality y’know, rather than em just being lumbering corpses.”

Henry was quiet for a moment. The man tried to speak up a couple times, probably in some attempt to say how utterly messed up that was, but even Henry couldn’t work up the sheer hypocrisy required for such a feat.

“Its… an undead having ‘quirks’ means they can act unpredictably, which can be a massive fucking problem when you need them to follow more specific orders.”

“Never had any trouble with them.” Xetram said confidently.

“Having them defend a cargo shipment to a known location isn’t a complex order Xetram.” Henry said. “Regardless, just be careful with the things, I’d like the extra cash from having to make more, but I’d rather not y’know, I got enough on my plate as is.”

“If you say so.” Xetram said, “Anywho Robert sent another request for you to join that necromancer’s guild he’s been putting together.”

“I don’t need to associate with that lot.” Henry replied. “I got plenty of work and plenty of protection, no need to ruin any of that on some new group.”

“Aye fair enough.” Xetram said, “The lad’s gonna be rather vexed though.”

“Don’t tell him I said this but he can go fuck himself Xetram.” Henry said.

That was the end of that. The two of them quickly ascended the ladder up into the street. The light from the falling sun was utterly blinding and it took Charles a couple of minutes for his eyes to adjust.

“So why does he not use the building?” Charles asked.

“What?”

“For his secret hideout.”

“The building is abandoned on purpose. Cathars occasionally come poking around but they only find this crummy place, sides it doesn’t directly tie into the sewers believe it or not. There is a fairly big wall behind it to keep the creepy crawlies out.”

“Oh.” Charles responded.

Decision by Henry:
1. Head back home and train with Charles some more, maybe see if Ophelia has lost her mind
2. Drop Charles off and head to see Rosa, seeing another sunset with her would be nice.
3. It’s time to head off to Vermillion, drop Charles off on the way, last thing he needs to see is THAT place.
4. (write in)

>>3047382
>3. It’s time to head off to Vermillion, drop Charles off on the way, last thing he needs to see is THAT place.

>>3047382
Backing >>3047385

>>3047390
>>3047385
writing

>>3047382
Henry had been putting off the meeting with Vermillion for several days now, but it really needed to get done. So as much as he hated it, as much as he’d rather be anywhere else, he made his way up towards the second ring’s sewers. Charles was beginning to understand the general layout of their local sewer system at least. The kid was steadily making progress in a variety of areas. If Henry could get Johnny free of the various chores Ophelia was giving him, maybe he’d let the kid run free in town for a bit as a reward, under supervision of course. But a kid needed to have some free time too, to be a kid. The thought was kind of funny in a sad way, but Henry wasn’t sure why.

Ophelia was curled up on the floor writing something in her room, amidst the rubble of several pieces of charred stone that had been blasted about the chamber. On the central table stood a couple runes that had been successfully carved, although the woman didn’t seem to be doing much with them. Next to them sat some sort of crude iron faceplate. Probably meant for protection from the flying pieces of rock. The thing had several noticeable dents in it, and a few additional pieces of metal had been welded on in a few places. Perhaps she was having trouble with something. Not really Henry’s problem, he’d come up with the challenge merely to keep her busy after all, and it was doing the job.

Charles ran and grabbed the book of basic necromancy off the table, laid out a small rug, and sat down on the floor and began to read. Henry noticed the boy wasn’t as disgusted with the book as he had been before. The kid was forcing himself to read it. It was endearing.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>>3047444
Henry reached the entrance of Vermillion’s ‘club’ and exchanged the normal banter with the stationed guard. Every fucking time he had to go through this. The guards acting like they didn’t know him, not being allowed to use the back entrance and avoid the ‘luxury’ of the front, and having to see what the latest depravity Vermillion and his patrons could come up with.

He noticed a few new people in the cages, a couple being poked with metal sticks that had been heated over a series of small fires. Honestly it was pretty tame for this place. Some of the older entertainers must have finally taken too much punishment.

Vermillion was sitting in his usual chair, discussing something or other with a visitor. The woman seemed to be someone of importance since Vermillion had actually bothered to sit upright. After the woman had left Henry stepped forwards to speak his piece.

“Ah Henry, come with some questions for me? I’ll do my utmost to answer anything my star has to tell me!”

Decisions:
1. “you’re star?”
2. “I need a costume for my ‘performance.’”
3. “I need something to hide my appearance, I’m not going to reveal my face during the party.”
4. “So what’s the layout of the place?”
5. “How’s business?”
6. *ask further questions* (Write in required)
7. (write in)

>>3047446
>2. “I need a costume for my ‘performance.’”
>3. “I need something to hide my appearance, I’m not going to reveal my face during the party.”

>>3047447
if you have questions about the upcoming party (case), now is the time to ask.

>>3047462
Fine
Who is the one needing protection and which oine does she need protection from?

>>3047446
Backing >>3047447 and >>3047472

>>3047446
also
>4. “So what’s the layout of the place?”
ESCAPE
FUCKING
ROUTES

>>3047936
>>3047446
This is pertinent to Henry's survival!

Brave Sir Henry Ran Away!

>>3047447
>>3047472
>>3047936
>>3048108
writing

>>3047446
“What’s the layout of the place anyways?” Henry asked.

“Oh, that.” Vermillion said. “I was meaning to get a copy of the official blueprints but it’s been a bit delayed, rest assured the people responsible for this will be properly punished.” Vermillion said. “The overall layout is the grand ballroom and the adjoining main and servants quarters, the wine cellar underneath, the inner and outer courtyards, the walled garden in the back with the greenhouse my friend’s been working on. Bit of an odd plant collection now that he has it up and running. Then there is the library and observatory building. There is a small family graveyard about a half mile from the property too. I wouldn’t recommend desecrating his families remains if you desire to live long.” Vermillion said.

“Whats the layout of the outer lands?”

“Forest mostly, there are a couple streams that always gave visitors trouble until he had a proper set of bridges put in. Won’t be a problem for you of course, although I can’t see why the performance should occur outside of the chateau itself.

“Just in case something happens or goes wrong.” Henry replied.

“Fair enough, this is a bit spur of the moment after all.” Vermillion continued. “Honestly if I didn’t have my own responsibilities I’d attend the party myself, I do apologize for that.”

“Thank you.” Henry said, doing his best to remain polite.

“Who is this woman I’m going to be protecting? No tricks or half-truths vermillion.” Henry said, making sure to be as inoffensive as he could manage.

“I suppose it won’t matter this late into the game. Lady Marlene Estavon. No noble house to her name but she has risen to prominence in the city lately, and stepped on quite a few different toes, myself included. Let’s just say she has caused me quite a bit of trouble, even though we’ve never even met. Funny how that works isn’t it?”

>>3048641
“I don’t see it as funny actually.” Henry said.

“It’s just how things we have nothing to do with can cause us so much pain.” Vermillion said. “Also, I won’t be around for a few weeks after tomorrow, so if you need something from me, feel free to ask. I’ll be leaving things in the capable hands of Sir Marcel and Ms. Artoah’

Marcel was his right hand man… and that other woman… oh fuck he was talking about Lisa. Lisa was going to be given actual authority…. Fucks sake.

“That’s an excellent idea.” Henry said, before cursing himself. He’d spoken without thinking. God damn it all.

“Happy you understand, I need someone to keep people in line after all.”

“Lastly I need a costume.” Henry said.

“I could probably get you something generic… but that’d be oh so boring! No… I’m going to contact a friend of mine, an artist really… no an artisan. She does such lovely work with needle and cloth, you could probably learn a thing or two with stichwork from her Henry.” Vermillion said. “So I’ll send you to her and I’m sure we could get something custom made quickly… tomorrow would be a good start, she can probably get something together in four days… yes, yes.” Vermillion muttered. “And don’t worry about the payment for that, I’ll take care of it, just tell me what you think your costume should be. A general idea. I’ll need you to go visit her on Rangley Street in the second ring tomorrow, and no dilly dallying.

Decisions:
1. A generic costume
2. A raven costume
3. An owl costume
4. a rat mask
5. (write in)

>>3048645
>3. An owl costume
Owls are cool, and super quiet.
And we can have talons that are a part of the costume, but are also real weapons.
I wonder if we can necromance an actual dead owl to go with our costume?

>>3048645
>A red skull mask + a blue cape with red trim + red left glove and blue right glove + black main outfit
Well?

>>3048645
> 3. An owl costume

Hoo! Would suspect us?

>>3048667
>>3048680

A black owl costume with a red and blue eye?

>>3048682
That works

>>3048683
>>3048682
>>3048680
>>3048667
>>3048663
writing

>>3048682
I'm just here to make owl puns.

>>3048645
“I’d like an owl mask and maybe a cloak of feathers.”

“Oh the wise owl.” Vermillion said, chuckling to himself as if Henry had said something funny. “Certainty, it suits you after all. I’ll let the tailor know, and it should be done soon assuming you show up on time.”

“Right.” Henry muttered.

“Oh one last thing, the only people who will be allowed weapons are the private guards as well as the pair of inquisitors who will be attending. Nobody else will be allowed weapons… and let’s say as a personal bonus, if you manage to convince people it’s one of the inquisitors, I’ll throw in some more gold. Like five or so. I’m sure the good lord will appreciate the irony of the situation.”

Henry wasn’t sure that would classify as irony but he knew better than to voice and objection.

“Now if that’s all you need you can leave.” Vermillion said, shooing him away like a man would shoo a nosy puppy.

Henry REALLY hated that man.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Henry returned home to see Ophelia having a conversation with Johnny, he managed to hear her talk about ‘unforseen complications’ when she noticed he’d arrived

“Ah, Henry.” Johnny said. “I see you’re well, how was that awful creature?”

“Vermillion is the same as usual. Insufferable.” Henry said.
“I’d love to meet whoever that is, I’m sure we’d get along fine.” Ophelia chimed in.

“You really wouldn’t.” Henry retorted.

Decisions:
1. Ask Ophelia to make a weapon you can sneak into the party (write in optional)
2. See how Charles is doing
3. Tell Johnny to get dinner ready
4. Review you preparations for the undead orders one more time
5. (write in)

>>3048721
>2. See how Charles is doing
Because apprentice
>4. Review your preparations for the undead orders one more time
QUALITY WORK

>>3048721
>5. (write in)
He's a fucking vampire that tortures people cause they didn't defer to him correctly, if you say the wrong word to him you'll be put in a fucking cage hung over a fire just for laughs.
Fucking blood suckers.
Grab a swig of strong stuff, just to take the edge off.
Put it back.
PUT IT BACK
DON'T DRINK MORE
FUCK
Fine, one more swig THEN put it back.

>>3048735
>>3048730
writing

>>3048721
Henry ignored both of them for a little bit while he checked in on Charles. Ophelia muttered something profane under her breath, and Johnny tried to keep her from saying anything to Henry. Whatever they were up to could wait.

Charles was still reading through the beginners tome to necromancy, although now the kid was occasionally looking at his hands and trying to conjure mana, based on the few shreds of black mana that were coming into existence. Henry was rather impressed that he’d taken the initiative like this.

“So how’s it going Charles.” Henry said.

Charles looked up at him and smiled. “It’s going great s-.. Henry.”

“You were gonna call me sir again weren’t you.” Henry asked.

“N-no…” Charles responded.

“No worries, accidents happen.” Henry said, glancing over to Ophelia. The fact he was referencing her seemed to fly straight over her head and into the next province.

“Really who is this friend of yours?” Ophelia said, pestering Henry.

Her routine continued throughout dinner and into the evening. Every time Henry tried to review his documents the woman found some new excuse to needle him with questions. Eventually he’d had enough and snapped back at her.

“He’s a fucking vampire that tortures people if they don’t give him his proper respect. If you say one… ONE WRONG FUCKING WORD TO HIM… you’ll be but in a fucking cage and tortured for his amusement.”

Henry stood up and rummaged through his things. He had to have some liquor about. Eventually he found a half full bottle of whiskey and took a swig. The stuff burned nicely and snapped him out of his stupor. He REALLY shouldn’t be drinking when he was angry, and he could feel Johnny’s gaze judging him.

He turned around, took one more drink, and set the bottle back down on his worktable. He’d already triple checked his notes and had found nothing wrong with them, they’d be good to go as soon as the bodies arrived. He’d tell Johnny in the morning to wait for them, and to have the payment ready too. A silver coin for each of them, assuming they were fresh of course, he only needed five.

Ophelia had been holding her arms out in front of her face, like she’d seriously been expecting Henry to take a swing at her. Henry closed the distance and stared her down until she moved her arms away. The look of surprise on her face was priceless.

Decisions:
1. “Can we get along better? I have far too much shit to deal with to put up with you.”
2. “Charles, don’t ever end up like her, alright?”
3. “Johnny, I demand you let me know what you two were on about.”
4. “Ophelia, do you want me to give you some help with the rune tomorrow?” (diplomacy)
5. (write in)

>>3048759
going to bed.

>>3048759
>4. “Ophelia, do you want me to give you some help with the rune tomorrow?” (diplomacy)
Teach her and charles necromany runes tomorrow, so one day they can maybe run the shop while we're out adventuring.

>>3048759
Backing >>3048764

>>3048759
>Ophelia, if I'm not telling you shit it's for an actual fucking reason do you understand? The fuck were you going to do, go around undertown and ask around for vermilion, telling people guy wanted to meet him, if I didn't answer? Straight into a fucking bloodsucker lair! Do you feel better now that you know? No? Gee whiz who would've thought.

>Other
Johnny give her a crash course of people and things she should avoid and never talk or think about before we're all fucked

>>3048759
+1 >>3048764

And johnny giving crash course of people

>>3048759
> 1. “Can we get along better? I have far too much shit to deal with to put up with you.”

Drink heavily.

>>3048964
>>3048952
>>3048911
>>3048769
>>3048764
writing

>the one day a snowstorm knocks my internet out I get 5 people voting
>FML

>>3048759
“Did you seriously think I’d resort to violence so easily?” Henry asked.

“You seem the type is all.” Ophelia said, unable to meet his gaze.

“Why must you ask so many god damned questions, can’t you just let some things be?” Henry asked.

“If we never asked questions about anything, we’d never get anywhere.”

“Ask too many, or ask the wrong ones, and you’ll be far worse off.” Johnny said, breaking the two up.

“Look, Ophelia, if I’m not telling you something it’s for a reason. Everyone in this city has a secret they’d rather not share, and I’m not entirely sure you’ve even told me yours. Just avoid Vermillion.”

“Even if she can’t?” Charles asked.

“Especially then.” Johnny replied.

“Look, Ophelia, we can’t keep fighting like this, okay? We’re partners damn it, and I need to start treating you as an equal.” Henry said, rubbing his arm.

“Oh… okay…” Ophelia said, not really sure how to respond to this sudden change in Henry behavior. It was a trick wasn’t it? Wasn’t it? How did someone suddenly flip their behavior like that?!

“I have an excellent idea for a team building exercise.” Johnny said.

“Oh god no.” Henry replied. “Not that.”

“Oh stop it you infant.” Johnny replied. “The two of you should work on that runic experiment you had her do. The poor woman is have quite the spot of trouble with a part of it.”

“I’m not having trouble… just experiencing some … MINOR… delays.” Ophelia said, trying to find something in the room to look at, eventually settling on her shoes.

“Why not. I got the time, between waiting for the damned corpses to show up and going to the tailor to get all done up for the party, I need a good time killer.”

“Thanks Johnny.” Ophelia said.

“Yeah thanks pal.” Henry said.

“Its what I’m here for.”

“Wait you’re going to a party?!” Ophelia said. “Does it have costumes?! Is it a ball?!”

“Why do you care?” Charles asked.

“Well I’ve always wanted to go to one… I mean I’ve been invited before but I was always too busy…”

“Or too socially inept.” Henry added.

“You’re not helping sir.” Johnny responded.

“Look, could I come along, I promise I won’t cause any trouble… and my bandages should be done by then right? Just a few more days of healing!”
“Well you can’t bring Johnny.” Charles said. “Too big a risk of someone seeing him, right?”

“Yes…” Henry muttered. He grabbed the bottle of whiskey he’d sat down and poured himself another shot. He was gonna need it.

Decisions:
1. Ophelia is allowed to tag along (will grant Ophelia as a companion for the Moonlight Ball)
2. Ophelia is not allowed to tag along (probably for the best...)
3. (write in)

>>3050183
>3. (write in)
WHERE IS THAT BOTTLE
>"Look, if you REALLLLLLY want to go, and are willing to obay ALLLLLLL orders from me, all of them immediately, I can possibly, POSSIBLY, be able to bring you. But you have to beable to fight and more so, kill."

>>3050186
>"Also change of plans, we, all of us including you charles, are gonna practice spells for attacking."

>>3050204
To ophelai
>"While I'm not sure you won't accidentally spell someone, I'd rather that then you getting killed."
To charles
"You can take what you learn from this and use it with all your spellslinging."

>Due to the horrid snowstorm that hit my town, I lost internet for a good chunk of the day and night. So as a way to make it up I will be trying to post throughout the day tomorrow, assuming I get enough responses. I'll be starting around 12pm eastern and will post into the evening. So probably on and off for 5 or so hours, then more after dinner. Lets see if I can actually commit to it.

>>3050183
>2. Ophelia is not allowed to tag along (probably for the best...)

I'm being there as a bodyguard i doubt that i can bring +1

>>3050183
Backing >>3050186 >>3050204 >>3050209

>>3050484
>>3050395
>>3050209
>>3050204
>>3050186
writing

>>3050183
Henry went to say no, thought about it for a moment, and then responded.

“Look, if you really want to go and are willing to obey everything I say, no if ands or buts, I can possibly… POSSIBLY be able to bring you. I’m gonna have to ask Vermillion about this, but having a talent mage along will be helpful, ‘specially after you helped me so much during the last case.”

Most of that was the truth, except the last part, she hadn’t done too much for him during the case. Still, he’d rather boost her confidence now.

“OH THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Ophelia screamed, wrapping her arms around Henry and giggling.

“Get… off.” Henry muttered. It took less than a second for the woman to comply.

“And that good behavior thing starts now, so no snide comments or rude remarks.”

“You sound like her parent.” Charles said.

“Quiet lad, they’re making progress.” Johnny replied.

“Look Ophelia, I have no idea how this party is gonna play out, if you need to kill someone, can you?”

“What the devil are you on about?” Johnny asked. “What sort of party are you going to, what horrible thing are you wrapped up in now?”

“Not now Johnny.”

“Well if they threaten you or me then of course!” Ophelia said, “I’m not dumb enough to let someone kill me just because I should have moral reservations.”

“Yes I suppose you don’t have those.” Johnny muttered. “Honestly Henry I must object.”

“Ignored.” Henry replied. “Ophelia, I’d like to talk to you a bit more about the party, either now or on the road. There is a bit more to it than just a simple ball.”

“Oh I don’t care about that!” Ophelia said. “I need to find a good costume right? It’s a costume gala right!?”

“Yes…” Henry muttered, wincing as the woman bounced around on her feet. Ophelia this cheerful was kinda weird.

“Charles, I want you to watch and learn as me and Ophelia work on the rune tomorrow, and while I’m out to the tailor I want you to practice channeling on your own. Its just concentration.”

“Alright Henry.” Charles responded.

Decisions:
1. *preform an action* (write in)
2. *say something* (to who)(write in)
3. *Let Ophelia know EXACTLY what the party is about, out of earshot of Johnny and Charles*
4. *Explain what the whole deal with the party is to everyone*
5. *say nothing more about the party for the time being*
6. (write in)

>>3050582
>5. *say nothing more about the party for the time being*

>>3050582
>4. *Explain what the whole deal with the party is to everyone*
They should be on standby in case shit goes south.
Like really south.
And standby for either helping with the escape, or leaving the city.

>>3050614
>>3050706
currently a tie, will wait for further votes while I deal with a few things.

>>3050582
Backing >>3050706

>>3051254
>>3050706
>>3050614
2 votes for telling everyone, 1 for hiding it, writing slowly

>>3050582
Henry sighed for a moment before grabbing a couple more glasses from his kitchenette and sitting down at his table, downing his second shot of whiskey, then pouring himself another one, and two more for Ophelia and Johnny. Upon realizing exactly what this meant he carefully poured Johnny’s shot back into the bottle, which he carefully sat upon the table.

Ophelia and Johnny shared a glance before Johnny sat down at the table, and soon Ophelia followed after a couple of polite coughs from the skeleton. The air was tense and after all eyes fell on Charles the boy hopped up onto a chair and the whole gang had gathered.

“I suppose this is about that party then, the floor is yours for the taking sir.” Johnny said.

“I know, look, this is Vermillion’s show, or at least one of his vampire friends. The whole point of the party is to be a god damned murder mystery.”

“So what, you’re the brave detective swooping in to solve the case like in a horrible mystery novel?” Ophelia asked.

“Like in the crimson rose?” Charles asked.

“What?” Henry asked.

“It’s a silly children’s book, pay him no mind.” Ophelia said.

“What do you mean murder mystery, what are you wrapped up in Henry?” Johnny asked.

“I won’t beat around the bush, Vermillion is sending some poor girl off to get killed for making the mistake of pissing him off. I’m going to deliver her there and make sure she’s properly handled.. then ‘solve’ the case by framing one of the party goers.”

“Good lord Henry.” Johnny whispered.

“I don’t have a choice in the matter.” Henry said. “I could’ve turned him down sure, but then I’d be turning down Vermillion, and my life would be done. At least I get to live a bit longer this way.”

>>3051865
“Hardly a life worth living.” Johnny muttered. “We need to do what we should’ve done from the start, get the church involved, get angels involved.. maybe I can… I might know someone…” Johnny said, losing his normal calm façade and drifting into thought.

“So we’re not murdering anyone then?” Ophelia asked, the woman was actually LESS concerned now.

“No, we’re just ferrying someone there.”

“So its like moving a group of pigs to a slaughter house, I don’t have any objections then, besides I’ll be able to see a murder mystery play out too!”

Henry didn’t really know what to say to that. He shared a horrified look with Charles while Johnny ran through options.

“Look it’s not like the woman’s hands are clean yeah? If she’s tangled with Vermillion she has to have some dirt on her. Vermillion doesn’t get outsiders involved if he can avoid it. That much I know for sure.”

“Its fine Henry.” Charles said. “You don’t have a choice right?”

Decisions:
1. “I have a choice, a lot of them, none are good.”
2. “You’re a fucked up person Ophelia.” (deflect the question)
3. “Johnny, I need you to be on standby if things go to shit.” (deflect the question)
4. “I do have a choice, I’m just too much of a coward to take it.”
5. “I don’t know.”
6. (write in)

>>3051869
>6. (write in)
>"Other party goers include inquisitors, which means this can go south fast.
So"
>3. “Johnny, I need you to be on standby if things go to shit.” (deflect the question)
>"If it gets too bad, and there's no way out, I want you to take charles."

>>3051875
writing

>>3051869
“There is more bad news by the by.” Henry said. “Two of the guests will be inquisitors, as if this whole thing wasn’t a big enough clusterfuck.”

“Oh joy.” Ophelia said, her giddiness fading.

“Look Johnny, I need you on standby in case things go to shit, I know there is a cemetary well outside the range of the guests, about a half mile from the manor. I want you there and ready in case we need to leave, and if things get real bad, and I mean it, I want you to take Charles and make prep to leave the province.”

“Now hold on a minute.” Johnny said.

“That’s an order Johnny.” Henry replied, leaving Johnny to silently sputter.

“So what do I do?” Charles asked.

“I want you to keep an eye over my home, I should only be gone for a day but I want you to take care of yourself and the house, alright?” Henry said.

“You can count on me Henry!” Charles said.

“This will not go unpunished Henry.” Johnny said, after Ophelia and Charles had left the table. “Vermillion’s never had you do something like this before… I think we need to seriously discuss leaving for Avignon.”

“No, I’ve got roots here Johnny, you know who has left me well enough alone, and I’ve got people I like and care about.”

“No you don’t Henry.” Johnny said sadly. “I think Charles is truly the first.”
Decisions:
1. “I care about you, you’re my friend damn it.”
2. “What about Ophelia?”
3. “Just because I won’t give my life for someone doesn’t mean I don’t care about them.”
4. (write in)

>>3051940
Enough of this "waaaah everything you do is wrong, you don't care" bullshit from Johnny the entire fucking quest
>Walk up to Johnny
>"Then what does that make you, huh? What does that make Gerald? Did we go through all that shit for nothing? Did you stick with me after that for nothing?"
>Disregard everybody else in the room and hug Johnny on the spot.
>"You're my friend, damn it. And no amount of your constant bitching and moaning is going to change that."
>Let go of the hug
>"Although I'd definitely appreciate it if you could bitch and moan a bit less." Chuckle and lighten the mood.
The "give my life" thing is too much a deflection, bringing up Ophelia will cause him to pull the "exploiting her for her gift under pretense of work" card. I feel like just cutting through all the bullshit is the best way here, unless someone else has a better write-in idea?

>>3051940
4. (write in)
>Yeah i don't. Gues I have long way to go.

Well we did agree to participate in murder of as far we know innocent person.

And also we agreed upon blaming another innocent person.

The best we could do is put the blame on somen shity person.

>>3051940
> 1. “I care about you, you’re my friend damn it.”
> Besides what about Rosa?

>>3052408
If she's working for Vermillion then she's not an innocent.

>>3052469
>>3052466
>>3052408
>>3052396
writing unless further votes come in

>>3051940
Henry stood up slowly, walked a couple steps and narrowed the distance between himself and Johnny, and bent down to eye-hole level with the skeleton.
“Then what does that make you huh? What does that make Gerald? Did we go through all of that shit for nothing? Have you stuck with me after everything just to see how much you could berate me?”

Johnny sighed. “Two things, throughout the years I’ve seen you do some truly awful things to both yourself and to other people, due to reasons both selfish and completely out of your control, without any way to stop it, and if we’re going to bring up other people, what about Sophie?’

Henry clenched his jaw and stared at Johnny with murderous intent for a split second before punching at the skeleton, stopping mere inches from his face. Johnny didn’t even react.

Johnny let the words hang a moment. “You wouldn’t even let me voice an objection to this hare-brained scheme you’re going along with.”

Henry hugged the stupid skeleton for a moment, ignoring the rest of the room. Johnny eventually awkwardly patted Henry on the back to move the moment along. It was a touching moment, truly.

“You’re my friend damn it, not my slave, not my servant. You’ve always been there for me damn it.” Henry continued. “So don’t get all fussy because we’ve hit a rough patch.”

“I suppose I’ve forgotten people can change Henry, I’ve been the same person for the last five hundred year. I keep forgetting that. I’m sorry, you’re right.”

Henry went to respond with a snide remark before the words registered and he was left speechless.

“W-what?”

“You’re right Henry, I’ve been reprehensible, I think you are trying to make a change. The moment you dropped everything to help Charles you made a change. I’ve always thought your chosen profession was… incredibly distasteful-“

“Ironic coming from you.” Ophelia chimed in.

The woman barely ducked in time to avoid the fork Henry had thrown at her.

“I’ve found your behavior over the years distressing and all of the events of the last few weeks have reminded me of old regrets. I’ve been taking it out on you and I’m truly sorry. I still believe you should stop the necromancy, but I know you will not, despite what you say you enjoy the craft. While I wish to god above you didn’t there is nothing I can do, not with words nor actions to change your course.”

“Shut up you old sod.” Henry said, punching the skeletons shoulder playfully. “Enough about all that.”

“Right.” Johnny said. “You’re right I’m already going back to it aren’t I.”

“Well that’s just who you are, a horrible nag.” Henry said.

“What about Rosa?” Charles asked. “Isn’t she you’re friend too?”

>>3051940

Johnny sighed. “I don’t know if your feelings for that woman are genuine but you know it won’t work out well, Henry.”

“I don’t need relationship advice for someone with no flesh.” Henry replied.

“The healer right?” Ophelia asked. It was as if the woman had teleported behind them.

Decisions:
1. “Shut up Ophelia.”
2. “Personal… space.”
3. “Yeah, and a bit of a firebrand too.”
4. (write in)

>>3056874
>4. (write in)
Little in life works out how we want.

>>3056874
>gonna blame New Vegas for my recent absences. Been modding the game with new content and I can't stop.

>>3056872
Backing >>3056877

>>3056910
>>3056877
writing

>>3056874
“Little in life works out how we want.” Johnny said.

“Is that a nugget of knowledge from a wizened old man?” Henry asked.

“Something like that.” Johnny replied.

“I know the feeling.” Ophelia said.

“Yep.” Charles added. “I don’t think life’s worked out how any of us wanted, but at least it hasn’t gone completely wrong.”

“Knock on wood kid.” Henry said.

“What?” Charles asked.

“He means don’t tempt fate.” Johnny explained.

“What a silly concept.” Ophelia remarked. “Then again I suppose it would explain how all of us came to work with one another, a genius working with a skeleton a conman, and a mere child.”

“Hey!” Charles said.

“I don’t think she meant it like that Charles.” Johnny replied.

Decisions:
1. *add something else*
2. *go to bed*
3. (write in)

>>3057033
>2. *go to bed*
I'll be doing the same

>>3057033
Backing >>3057040

>>3057042
>>3057040
will write tomorrow

>>3057042
>>3057040
writing

>>3057033
Henry bid the others good night and plopped into his bed. He could hear Johnny and Charles talking about things for a couple hours before they too went to their respective resting places. Charles to his new bed and Johnny over to one of the walls. He checked a couple times to see if Ophelia was still there, but the woman had slipped away at some point.

His dreams were fairly restless. Images of spiders and webs, of castles and cages, and of iron and silver. He rarely got dreams like this, Nessie had once said it was a way of predicting the future, but Henry didn’t really buy it.

He woke up slowly, noticing that Charles was already up. The boy had a blanket pulled over his bed and a light rune was dimly shining through. Henry hoped that the kid hadn’t stayed up all night.

Johnny nodded at him when he made eye contact. It was realy nice to have a bodyguard like him.

Decisions: (after having your breakfast of course)(pick one)
1. Head out to Vermillion’s tailor, Y/N to bringing Ophelia along
2. Work with Ophelia on the runic project, it’s not really critical but it might get you on better terms with her, assuming it goes well.
3. Practice magic with Charles
4. Go visit Rosa
5. (write in)

>>3058487
>2. Work with Ophelia on the runic project, it’s not really critical but it might get you on better terms with her, assuming it goes well.
Have charles observe so he can get better idea of how runes are made.

>>3058487
Backing >>3058507

>>3058517
>>3058507
writing

>>3058487
Henry had an enjoyable breakfast with Charles. When Ophelia didn’t turn up Henry sent Johnny out to see what was wrong. The skeleton came back, explained that Ophelia was fine and was working on the project. Henry gave him a warm bowl of oatmeal and sent him back to Ophelia, wouldn’t do for his inventor to be working on an empty stomach.

Charles was still flipping through the tome on Necromancy Henry had given him, the kid must’ve been reading for quite a while as he was almost halfway through the book now. The volume itself was fairly large and informative, at least in Henry’s opinion. It went over most of the necromantic rituals one would need to raise a corpse, and even delved into basic and advanced stich craft. It didn’t go too far into the higher levels of the craft, but Henry could teach his apprentice as needed.

Upon finishing breakfast Henry headed out to Ophelia’s chamber, to find the bowl of oatmeal untouched and her blackboard less so. Henry figured it must have been something she had Johnny get, and there were several unopened boxes of chalk on a nearby table. The board was filled with various blueprints on how to get the rune to work, and there were a bunch of stones on the table, the woman was mumbling to herself about issues with transference of mana.

Decisions:
1. Tell her to stop and eat breakfast
2. Figure out what’s on the board and try to help her
3. Began working on the stones.
4. Call back down the tunnel to Charles and tell him to watch.

>>3058551
>1. Tell her to stop and eat breakfast

>>3058551
Backing >>3058556

>>3058551
“Ophelia, you haven’t touched your breakfast.” Henry said, pointing at the bowl ineffectually.

The woman didn’t even notice his presence until he placed a hand on her shoulder, at which point she nearly jumped into the ceiling.

“D-don’t scare me like that!” She said, slightly annoyed.

“You haven’t eaten anything, take a minute and get some food.” Henry said with a touch of authority in his voice, like he was speaking to a misbehaving child.

The woman grumbled, went to the table, ate some of the oatmeal, tried to get up, then sat back down and at the rest after Henry gave her a look.

“Can we start now?” Ophelia asked after a bit.

“Yeah we can start, whats the issue exactly.”

“Well I got the runes to link up properly, I think. The input rune is working fine, taking in the mana I’m giving it, but the output rune isn’t really working well, It’s getting a tiny bit of mana but the loss is unacceptably large. I don’t really understand if it’s the rune itself or something I’m not taking into consideration. It’s not a wide distance and the room doesn’t have any disturbance in the aether, in fact this whole room is incredibly calm, I can see why you live down here.

“Well it’s a perk.” Henry replied.

The smooth Aetherflow she was referring to made spells flow easier down here. It helped him when spell casting or practicing. It wasn’t nearly as good as a proper mage room of course, but all in all it was a very good budget alternative.

>>3058627
>roll 1d100

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>3058654
LET THE DICE BE TASTY

>>3058660
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqCdSPhEZOg

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>3058654

>>3058663
saved the roll, writing

>>3058627
>8
Henry and Ophelia worked on their little project for a couple of hours, when they were finished they had a working set of runes. The distance on them wasn’t anything amazing, about forty feet before the connection cut out, but it showed that such a thing was possible. Henry hadn’t heard of anything of the sort being attempted, but maybe he could sell the plans if he could improve on the distance. Heck it might serve as a form of communication if he could make it two way, or he’d just have to sell two pairs of them.

Ophelia seemed rather pleased, bouncing around and giggling to herself, occasionally running back over to play with the runes some more. They’d only had one blow up on them. Henry rubbed his bandaged arm for a moment. It wasn’t a bad wound but it did hurt something fierce. Ophelia had gotten away without a scratch, perhaps that was fortune paying her back.

“So what is the plan for these then?” Ophelia said, “I mean I enjoyed making them, but I am curious what that brain of yours has planned.”

Decisions:
1. “I just did this as a way to keep you busy, don’t need it anymore now that you’re gonna be preparing for the party.”
2. “We could have a new form of communication on our hands if we can get these things improved enough.”
3. “Dunno, just figured it’d be usefull.”
4. (write in)

>>3058677
>2. “We could have a new form of communication on our hands if we can get these things improved enough.”
"Hell, if we implant one in a hand, we can bypass magebane cuffs and still be able to cast magic."

>>3058677
Backing >>3058679

>>3058684
>>3058679
writing

>>3058677
“We could have a new form of communication on our hands if we can get these things improved enough.” Henry said. “Hell if we can get them working we could make our own company, ha, that’s a thought.”

Ophelia went wide eyed at that, and excitedly flipped the board and began writing a few more things down, plans a bit too complex for Henry to understand well. It seemed to be from the scrying school of magic, and a bit of the mentalist school too. All blue mana fields, things Henry wasn’t the strongest in.

“Well, for starters we might be able to use these to get sneak attacks off on people. We could send a spell through them, if they could handle it.” Henry said, picking the runes up and inspecting them.

Ophelia had carved a buck of fancy patterns into them, heck of a lot more complex than a light rune. He’d have to go over them and figure out how she’d done it some time. Doing this in two days was quite the achievement.

“Don’t you dare!” Ophelia yelled. “I spent two whole days on these, don’t you DARE risk breaking them until I understand exactly how to make them. Those are prototypes and I’ll wring your neck if you break them!”

“Jeeze okay fine.” Henry said, setting the runes back down on the table.

Decisions
1. Head out (will bring up second decision)
2. “So do I get a thank you?”
3. “Come on Ophelia, we need to get fitted for the costumes. Can’t keep the lady waiting.”
4. “I want to check your bandages, see how you’re healing.”
5. (write in)

>>3058737
>3. “Come on Ophelia, we need to get fitted for the costumes. Can’t keep the lady waiting.”
Watch her as she is torn between two things she wants to do.

>>3058737
Backing >>3058746 but say something like "the runes aren't going anywhere, but the party will" to give her reassurance and incentive

>>3058746
>>3058754
writing

>>3058737
“Come on Ophelia’ we need to get fitted for the costumes. Can’t keep the lady waiting now.”

The woman took a few steps.

“I need to write just one more thing!” She said, flipping around and scribbling on the board again.

“The runes aren’t going anywhere Ophelia, but the party will.”

Henry took a small bit of enjoyment from watching Ophelia struggle. The woman wanted more than anything to continue working on their project, but at the same time she wanted to get a costume for the party. The woman walked back and forth between Henry and the board before finally heading out with Henry. She looked like she was ready to explode, and her pupils had shrunk as if she was an opium junkie fresh off a high. It was somewhat disturbing and lasted until they got topside in a dirty alley behind a bookstore and a barbershop. Henry’s enjoyment had completely faded by that point.

Decisions:
1. Speak up and say something to Ophelia about her behavior (write in optional)
2. Say nothing

>>3058882
still waiting on votes

>>3058882
>2. Say nothing

>>3058882
Backing >>3060255