"Suggested to - no you're trying it on stone. I have ways to do what you've described already, I don't need you trying it with an imperfect method and possibly screwing something up. Believe me, the consequences for mistakes with our substrate aren't pretty."
The blacksmith rolls his eyes. Try WHAT on stone? It's just stone! Mundane, ordinary stone! Hardly untethered from possibility at all. You might as well just wear a SACK OF BRICKS on your torso. The only material interesting enough to do something unusual and most likely unusually powerful with on your person is your own flesh! That's most likely why the first attempt at a weapon even did anything, he nods knowingly at the murder-thought.
If you're merely interested in loading yourself up with a stone suit rather than something legitimately useful, why not bother the actual MASONS about it? The little one should be easy enough to compel to do your bidding, especially since you threw his more assertive and cleverer brother down a shaft where he has likely been dismembered by one of the many subterranean traps. Or even the DRUNKEN one - mention the man beneath the boards, and he'll assuredly listen.
That being said, the blacksmith decides to follow Mr. Wilde, who seems to be heading down to the well.
Okay now let's try not to get killed by something that I've already destroyed.
I scan the edge of the clearing for a spot where I don't see living gaunts, and run that way looking for a hiding spot. If it seems like I'm still completely surrounded, I see if there's any debris that's stopped moving that I could hide under.
[Cheesing It: 3]
The gaunts don't seem like they'd see you as a terrible concern, and you think you see a clear path, but you'd need to run straight through the storm of bones, the power of chaos uttered three times filling them with an idiotic, malevolent energy as they strike at anything and everything within convenient range. You take a deep breath and sprint for cover, prepared to dodge for dear life as you try and flee through an opening.
[A Bone To Pick: 6]
You sprint out along the wave of bones, weaving and ducking from strikes all around, some from bones, some from gaunts trying to ward the bones off. It goes really quite well as your acute sense of very much impending death carries you forward and through the worst of it, putting you right ahead of an incoming storm front of violently expanding debris and fleeing creatures of the night. You jump through the undergrowth and tumble between trees, desperate to put some distance between yourself and danger, with limited success as the storm ebbs in expansion, then flows out cataclysmically at times, obeying no real rule in its behavior. The gaunts aren't much better, their noises confused and arms swinging all about, and even now some rip past you with no regard for your health and safety.
You reason, however, that you'll most likely be safe on one condition, which is that you keep running, increase your pace and don't look back, oh my god, it sounds like nearly literal hell is breaking loose right behind you. You try not to look back. Rather predictably, this comes back to bite you as a gaunt with a head like some skeletal effigy of a goblin shark comes flying after you with the sound of a blacksmith's forge.
[Get Outta My Way: 1 vs. 2]
Its massive hand sweeps upward as it tries to get you out of the way in the middle of its sprint for dear quasi-life, and simultaneously you duck to dodge, its stunted foot catching on you as it tries to brachiate along, the whole thing shrieking wildly as it tumbles over and into a tree at high speed, wrapping itself around it with the sound of breaking and snapping bones, its voice terminating with a strangled mechanical noise.
"I don't really meddle with affairs of the heart; I've been told feminine wiles are wasted on me. But I'll look for a spot."
Misunderstand more. See if there's a spot that matches what she wants; indicate if so.
[An Assessment of Weakness: 5]
Well, you suppose there is. Right behind the corner building, actually - you think that if one got up to the tower, then went down the wall from there (which should be a plausible enough proposition if one had, say, a bit of rope), they'd have a clear shot until the river. It's on the other side from where the guards are constructing the bridge (on the other side of Anglefork Town, even), and the scavenging civilians do not appear to have made their way over there yet either. If ever there was a clear path, this would most certainly be it.
That said, you look down from the wall and notify the good lady of this rather ideal path. Brilliant, she says! You are an incredibly helpful man, Mr. Minstep. Luckily nobody has stepped down or up the stairwell either. So close your eyes for a moment, and she'll be right over the wall in a moment. Thank you again for your assistance.
"Huh, talking bush which burns without being burned. Feels mildly familiar. Say, do you have any cousins or like in similar profession?"
Leif has seen enough weird shit. Talking bush doesn't suprise him anymore. And the fire is suitably abnormal for Lee to follow.
This bush comes from a long line of apocalyptic imagery of salvation. Most of this line is appropriately hyperbolic and steeped in a satire of the times, and some of it no doubt would be subject to modern misinterpretation.
But that's not terribly important. What he brings is only the freshest in dire prophecy, and it goes a little like this, the bush says and clears his flame with a subtle oscillation of its heat - eyes among the stars have beheld the fate of the unintegrated clans, and would like them to know that if they were ever into reclaiming their not particularly ancestral homeland, now would be the time to do so, especially if they can get a guy like you to help.
You might wonder what he means by 'a guy like you', but the bush feels it better to peace out after having said all that rather than stick around to answer questions, and just as the fire came, so does it now flicker out of existence.
"Interesting. Very interesting. While we're on the subject, do you have another vial I could use? There's something else I'd like to try sampling."
Take vial if provided and head down to the well. Oh, and tell Deirdre about the whole made of rats thing.
Not ON him, Nately says, but there should be one that's easy enough to steal somewhere with so few guards about. He could go and look for one if you really need it, certainly.
You turn to Deirdre, who's a bit closer than you recall, and start relaying your- yeah, she says after you start telling her, she kind of heard all that. Crazy shit, she's got to say. Made of rats. But hey, wasn't it pretty clear you weren't human anyway? She thinks the minders said something like that, yeah?
Anyway, you start heading off to the well. Both Nately and Deirdre decide to follow, the former intrigued and the latter mostly interested in not losing track of you.
The bottom of the well is... surprisingly clean. Only a small puddle of viscera begins to form from the residual drip as you collectively climb down the chain, the rest of the floor looking absolutely spotless in that regard. You notice a great deal of clay pots around the edges of the room, a good amount of them smashed to pieces, but some still in decent enough shape to hold water. Would THOSE do as vials, Nately asks.
Leif Erikson, Miner
- A Word: INEVITABLE
- A Word: APOCALYPSE
- Mead of Poetry (6 shining revelations remaining)
- Enders' Friend: The Grave of Red Clouds Parting
- Small brass box
- Body Count: 1
- Reappropriated, Clean Skirt
- Inscribed Wooden Stylus
- Iron spear
- 1.03 gp
- The Box: ?
- Induced Lucidity: the Aftermath, or the New Beginning
- Compatibility: Minding
- Tricks of the Mind: Perception, Memory
- Tricks of the Mind: Engagement, Negation, Abstraction, Prestige
- Tricks of the Mind: the Self, the Other
- Gods of the Underground: Did You Just What
- A Visit From The Stork: Is What You Yes
- The Voracious Dark: Two Deals Made
- The Voracious Dark: The Promised Sixth
- Moth's Flight: Quest for the North
Eileen Minett, Vinyl Collector
- In Living Memory: Yeah She's Probably Dead Isn't She I Think She's Dead Yeah
- In The Dark Of The Night: Blood and Chaos
- Wounds: 4
- The Doom Guard: Consorting With The Enemy
- Exotic serrated zweihander
- Reclaimed Hooded Robe (worn, torn)
- Inauspicious Day: Off Into The Horizon
- Giant White Mushroom
- A Word: SEA
- A Word: HUNGER
- A Word: CHAOS
- A Weapon: Explosive Cysts
- The Voracious Dark: Three Connections Given
- Tower of the Mind: There's Something To Remember
- The New Queen: And Something To Forget
- Body Count: 1
- The Impromptu Prophecy: ?
- Sweet Little Children: Fond Farewell
Jack Daniels, Karate Man
- Red and gold vest and breeches combo (worn)
- Leather boots (worn)
- 14033 gp (in sack)
- The Flip Side: Uh, Yeah
- The Queen's Guard: Unusual Troublemaker
- Powers of the Beyond: Gardener of Thoughts
- Dusty Wooden Speaking-Trumpet
- Crossbow Bolt (in throat)
- A Word: REND
- A Word: SILENCE
- A Weapon: Murder-Thought
- Traces of Mischief: A Bisected Left Kidney
- Traces of Mischief: Ruined Left Hand
- Uncoupled: Strength
- Wooden Door (held)
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: An Adapted Method
- Tower of the Mind: Endless Well of Mystery
- Induced Lucidity: A Garden Well-Tended
- Elongated Affairs: Enemy of the New State
- A Place In History: Vastly Unreliable
- Anglefork Castle: the Great Serpent
- The Obsolete Class: Suggested Victims
- 2 rats, crushed
- 1 rat, strangled
- 1 rat, live
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday ± 2 Days
- The Impromptu Prophecy: There's A Mountain Higher Than We Knew
- Doomstones: So High Up But Such A Bitter View
- The Majordomo: A Great Divide Between Us Now
- The Voracious Dark: Decreasing Demand
- The Voracious Dark: More Specific Requests
- The Good Doctor: A Recommendation
- Body Count: 3
Thomas Minstep, Insurance Agent
- Troubles In Anglefork Town: Bearer of the Sword
- Wounds: 2
- A Word: ABSENCE
- A Weapon: The Sword They Fear
- Traces of Mischief: Nausea's Depths
- A Bowl, Black and Knobby
- Anglefork Castle: From Another Time, Another Land
- Gross Incandescence: Partly Illuminated
- Tight Leather Pants (worn)
- Incredibly Tight Blue Dress (worn, mutilated, mildly provocative)
- Travels In The Fourth Dimension: Sunday, July 25th, 409 S.D.
- The Majordomo: Busy Morning
- The Good Doctor: House Call
- The Queen's Guard: A Reward Well Earned
- Make A Man Out Of You: A Crowning Achievement
- The New Queen: Lasting Gratitude
- Tower of the Mind: Advice Given
- The Obsolete Class: Let Them Be
- The One They Fear: A Satisfactory Contract
- A Place In History: A Worthwhile Associate
- The Box: A Clear Path
- Body Count: 2
Oscar Wilde, Chemistry Teacher
- A Word: REVELATION
- Time-ender's measure (wrapped, yawning)
- 10 m of rope
- Half a candle
- This Is The End: A Grim Prophecy
- 1 rat, skinless and smoked
- 6 gp
- Poor Misshapen Dice
- Lock of Hair (unidentified)
- Iron nail, unused
- An Inauspicious Key
- Burlap Foot Wrappings (worn)
- Burlap Hand Wrappings (worn)
- Moth-Eaten Hat (worn)
- Respectable Brown Skirt (worn)
- Old Brown Waistcoat (worn)
- Bright Yellow Tunic (worn)
- A Wealth of Burlap Ribbons
- An Obsolete Class: Trustworthy Individual
- The Flip Side: the Denouement
- The Doom Guard: The Inquisition Moves On
- Tower of the Mind: An Interruption
- The Voracious Dark: Backed Away
- The Winding Path of Inspiration: Future Hopes