Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 ... 147 148 [149] 150 151 ... 161

Author Topic: Our Salvation: It Is Written  (Read 264726 times)

AoshimaMichio

  • Bay Watcher
  • Space Accountant
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: We Can't Stop Here
« Reply #2220 on: June 05, 2017, 12:27:28 pm »

Let's channel some very destructive power. The Word, through the spear, into the belly of the beast. Devastation. Destruction. Disaster. Let the End come.

"Spear of APOCALYPSE! This is the End!"
Logged
I told you to test with colors! But nooo, you just had to go clone mega-Satan or whatever.
Old sigs.
Games.

Xantalos

  • Bay Watcher
  • Your Friendly Salvation
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: We Can't Stop Here
« Reply #2221 on: June 05, 2017, 05:16:31 pm »

Hmm. Attempt to take the manikin into my inner temple with me so that the brothers there may inspect it.

((Sorry for the delay, got caught up in binge reading.))
Logged
Sig! Onol
Quote from: BFEL
XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
Quote from: Toaster
((The Xantalos Die: [1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 6]))

Toaster

  • Bay Watcher
  • Appliance
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: We Can't Stop Here
« Reply #2222 on: June 05, 2017, 05:23:17 pm »

((Was away last week and forgot to mention here.  Shame on me.  Also, so much for not touching wells.))


Hmm.  Strange, but this person seemed to be straightforward; maybe some up to date information could be gotten here.  "Ah, hello!  Can't see you here in this dark; really quite dark in here, really.  Maybe you should pay your power bill, hah hah.  Anyway, yes, you sound knowledgeable; really now, how do I get to Albany from here?  These people seem to be leading me to an airport but their play-acting is getting in the way.  Mr. Munderly will be terribly sore with me, I am sure."

Ask
Logged
HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

Harry Baldman

  • Bay Watcher
  • What do I care for your suffering?
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2223 on: June 06, 2017, 06:32:30 am »

"... Of course."
Lovely; I'll have to be more careful with that measure of theirs when I get it fixed.
Leave, then look for a ye olde DIY shop or equivalent; you never know.
I could have probably picked up some copper from the labs, come to think of it. Possibly the graphite, too. Ah, well.

[The Merchant Quarter: 6]

You bid Lady Craik adieu and wander back out into the desolate alleys of the merchant quarter, occasionally passing a malignant street sweeper but encountering few other signs of life. The shops of the area are darkened and in many places collapsed or outright squashed by newer structures from the higher areas. You keep walking until you're in what feels a lot like the bad (well, worse) side of the quarter - whereas the main street showed signs of halting activity, this part of the merchant quarter hasn't seen light in quite a while, and the shops look filled with cobwebs.

You wander for quite a while along the trackless walkways of the forgotten area until you see a faint light in one particular shop, an ancient stone building that appears to have made a solid foundation for no less than three other buildings above it without bending or even slightly breaking. It looks like a vault for nuclear waste, its very construction giving rise to primal connotations of unfriendliness like some Lovecraftian ruin.

Next to the open stone door is a corpse, crudely nailed to the wall and failing to be welcoming with its desiccated hand nailed up in a friendly wave. It looks about as dead as a creature can be. However, you fail to resist the temptation to look inside.

The inside of the shop is bare, the furnishings not made of stone worn away by time, and the ones actually made of stone merely smoothed to a rounded and shapeless form. On a platform behind a stone counter you see the source of light - a leathery figure with fingers like tree roots wrapped around the top of the counter's surface and seemingly grown out to encompass a large part of the room, walls and floor and ceiling and all. The figure stares forward from behind an ornate copper mask suggesting the stylized face of a nobleman coated in verdigris, the light coming from out of its eyes. It makes no motion or even sign of recognition as you look into the store, and naturally doesn't look to be breathing either.

Let's channel some very destructive power. The Word, through the spear, into the belly of the beast. Devastation. Destruction. Disaster. Let the End come.

"Spear of APOCALYPSE! This is the End!"

YES, shouts the elder, YES!

APOCALYPSE

[Word: 6]

Your spear glows brightly and you hear the rest of the Moth Clan echo your cry as you stab straight into the heart of this terrible beast and rip a great glowing hole straight through it, perhaps miles long as the earth shakes and groans around you and its spirit bleeds into your ears, crying for mercy!

YOU'VE GOT THEM ON THE ROPES, the elder screams, CHARGE! CHARGE ONWARD!

You do, and so does the clan in your wake, as the cavern complex behind you begins to collapse...

... you have been running for hours or perhaps days, stabbing at walls and screaming just like the rest, and reached the end of the tunnel you ripped open, reaching daylight and the mountainous terrain of the north, the distant wall of the Corner of the World now faintly visible through the distortion of the air with faint stars embedded in it, not quite drowned out by sunlight.

And there in the distance you see Elizabeth, where the mountains turn into a fertile plateau, separated from you by perhaps a day's worth of woods to traverse. You start laughing, and the clan laughs with you manically until the elder, bewildered by the sun he has not seen for many, many years now and the clansmeet within reach, passes out in the arms of the three clansmen carrying him onward.

[A Shining Success: 2]

And with him, the rest of the clan passes out as well, driven to complete exhaustion as they tumble like an impressive set of dominoes, leaving you barely standing in the middle of a legion of unconscious Moths as you narrowly resist passing out yourself.

You do feel a bit left out. You can only imagine what kind of dreams they must be having.

Hmm. Attempt to take the manikin into my inner temple with me so that the brothers there may inspect it.

((Sorry for the delay, got caught up in binge reading.))

[This Is Not A Manikin: 1]

You attempt to take the manikin into your temple, and it does appear to work at first, but it becomes regrettably apparent that the creature isn't what you would describe as a thinking being (at least not right now), so the result is much like if you tried to take, say, a VCR into it, with about as much knowledge or, if anything, even less knowledge of how it actually works. Of course, the brothers are still interested in the shape of it, and the properties you provide it, but within the confines of your own mind you seem to only be able to investigate what you already know, which is precious little. It moves, of course, but does it think? It seems able to provide a reasonable approximation of sentience, but so can a Roomba, with adequate reading and a good deal of imagination.

You spend a less-than-enlightening hour on this, to very little avail, and eventually go to sleep dreaming of philosophical zombies. When you wake, the ship has set off with a skeleton crew on hand, many of the others still recovering from their injuries. Stepping out on the deck, you see Two Shores already waiting. She looks like she has not slept much, very much unlike Peaks, who stands next to her and watches the happenings on deck - she sees you and waves, prodding Shores as well, who smiles and waves a little slower to you as well.

((Was away last week and forgot to mention here.  Shame on me.  Also, so much for not touching wells.))


Hmm.  Strange, but this person seemed to be straightforward; maybe some up to date information could be gotten here.  "Ah, hello!  Can't see you here in this dark; really quite dark in here, really.  Maybe you should pay your power bill, hah hah.  Anyway, yes, you sound knowledgeable; really now, how do I get to Albany from here?  These people seem to be leading me to an airport but their play-acting is getting in the way.  Mr. Munderly will be terribly sore with me, I am sure."

Ask

[Assiduity: 6]

Your answer: the city of Albany located in the state of New York in the United States of America (see Earth, exploration initiatives, concluded projects) no longer exists in the implied location or time frame. Therefore travel there is possible (see interuniversal tunneling, corner gates, interuniversal medium) but unlikely to satisfy the request. An incomplete recording of the city of Albany, New York exists in the information collected before it was irreparably damaged - however, corruption is possible and the information is impossible to verify (see data collection policies, deconstructive studies, data storage risks). The entirety of the information can be provided at the cost of a fulfillment.

You have two questions and one fulfillment remaining.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Logged

AoshimaMichio

  • Bay Watcher
  • Space Accountant
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2224 on: June 06, 2017, 11:55:19 am »

"Praise the sun."

Well, if everyone else is sleeping, then at least one much keep watch over them. Even if it's on half eye only. Take a quick look what's happening in Jehwlheimr, see if anyone remembers what happened after sniffing stuff with the elder, because it seems I have missed something. What's the state of the land?

I should stick to drinks and leave sniffing drugs for actual junkies...
Logged
I told you to test with colors! But nooo, you just had to go clone mega-Satan or whatever.
Old sigs.
Games.

Toaster

  • Bay Watcher
  • Appliance
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2225 on: June 06, 2017, 05:10:46 pm »

"..."

This was not helpful at all.

"You're worse than the cosplayers, really.  At least they have the decency to pretend they're clueless, instead of spouting compete crap.  Obviously there is an Albany; I came from there just before I got to this strange place."

Thomas stopped and thought for a second.

"Oh, there was no girl.  You tricked me down here.  I should be going unless you can give me real useful information."

Converse.




Logged
HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

penguinofhonor

  • Bay Watcher
  • Minister of Love
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2226 on: June 07, 2017, 02:26:40 pm »

Okay, that's terrifying. But it's probably not worth getting all wrapped up in to save a stoat that Oggie would probably strangle as soon as he was rescued.

"A deal's a deal, I guess." I gather up Oggie and the Doctor and head toward the road to Speaker's Bridge.
Logged

Xantalos

  • Bay Watcher
  • Your Friendly Salvation
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2227 on: June 07, 2017, 02:44:45 pm »

"Didn't get much sleep, Shores, I take it?" Daniels says as he walks up to the duo. "How's things?"

Conversational start point!
Logged
Sig! Onol
Quote from: BFEL
XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
Quote from: Toaster
((The Xantalos Die: [1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 6]))

Harry Baldman

  • Bay Watcher
  • What do I care for your suffering?
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2228 on: June 08, 2017, 07:08:57 am »

"Praise the sun."

Well, if everyone else is sleeping, then at least one much keep watch over them. Even if it's on half eye only. Take a quick look what's happening in Jehwlheimr, see if anyone remembers what happened after sniffing stuff with the elder, because it seems I have missed something. What's the state of the land?

I should stick to drinks and leave sniffing drugs for actual junkies...

[Two Hundred Drunken Moths: 4]

You take a quick look inside Jehwlheimr with the right hemisphere of your brain and notice rather quickly that the party is clearly still going inside there, the entirety of the Moth Clan seemingly inducted into the ranks of your faithful, the elder himself leaping from house to house as he rings in the arrival of a new day. The Moths cheer and dance and drink like their very lives depended on it, the proceedings looking somewhere halfway between a wild party and a pitched battle. Even the gods appear to be having trouble keeping up. An electric charge has built up in the ground from their unfettered thoughts, crackling as you step along.

It's not at all long before you see familiar faces. Morag is in the very middle of the festivities, having the time of her life. Bruce, currently the size of a house, playing bowls with frost giants while Lee, still much the same as you remember, watches him like a hawk. Earnest, meanwhile, seems to be watching her while being shoved around toward increasingly exorbitant pleasures. And May, the standoffish woman from earlier, seems to be walking toward you while downing a pint of mead, unmindful of the fact she has no clothes on. Occasional shouts from the elder ring out like thunder. Driven to exhaustion, the Moth Clan dreams on.

"..."

This was not helpful at all.

"You're worse than the cosplayers, really.  At least they have the decency to pretend they're clueless, instead of spouting compete crap.  Obviously there is an Albany; I came from there just before I got to this strange place."

Thomas stopped and thought for a second.

"Oh, there was no girl.  You tricked me down here.  I should be going unless you can give me real useful information."

Converse.

Albany, New York exists in incomplete form as part of your template (see substrate, template, interpreter), but experienced fatal damage in the process of recording. In your template's frame of reference Albany, New York appears to have existed, but the concept of Albany, New York is irrelevant in the current universe you occupy. In the simplest available terms, Albany, New York existed when you were taken from it, but does not exist anymore, having been destroyed in an entirely preventable incident (see notable incidents, intervention limits, tool diversification). What remains of Albany, New York can be given to you as a fulfillment.

[Test Run: 5]

The girl you mention is a reconstruction of a source made available previously. It was being tested during your brief encounter and experienced mild spillover into non-designated spaces (see border friction, testing compartmentalization, reconstruction). If you are interested, the girl can be made available for a limited testing run under field conditions - if a full report is made after this, a suitable reward will be provided.

These clarifications made available free of charge. You have two questions and one fulfillment remaining.

Okay, that's terrifying. But it's probably not worth getting all wrapped up in to save a stoat that Oggie would probably strangle as soon as he was rescued.

"A deal's a deal, I guess." I gather up Oggie and the Doctor and head toward the road to Speaker's Bridge.

Some gruesome fates you just can't avert, you suppose. You motion for Oggie and the Doctor to follow - you are done here, better leave the good parasites to their business. The doctor appears to have many questions, but the very much palpable sensation that you are being watched as you go dissuades her from asking most of them while Oggie is content to just keep her eyes peeled at the surrounding area. On the way back, you wave to the stoat watchman and wish him good luck. You feel like the poor bastard will need it.

[The Long And Winding Road: 3]

The forest feels restless as you proceed beyond the inn, the few animals present invariably jittery and so skittish you see a bird fly away at the sight of you from half a mile off. This makes for relatively peaceful traveling overall. You and the doctor breathe a sigh of relief as a few miles out you manage to leave it behind for the fallow farmlands of the ruined north of Benzerwald, for every seemingly occupied farm along the way finding three completely deserted ones. And the ones that are occupied, even by what look to be regular people at first glance, appear almost violently unfriendly at your passing, going inside and closing all the shutters well before you've made it up to shouting distance.

At some point the doctor gets to chatting with you again as Oggie mostly devotes her attention to staring down any distant figures. What do you think you'll say, she asks, when you show up at the town?

You shrug - a humble traveler, you would guess, coming here to see the sights. Worked on the stoatman, didn't it?

The doctor shakes her head - pretty unlikely, she has to say - you clearly aren't from the heartlands, or the free ports. And you're certainly not from El, not with the way you or she looks, though perhaps Oggie might make that an easier sell. You can't be from the north as you're not a clanswoman. Maybe you could pretend to be undead creature come from the east? She suspects that would make things more difficult, however. You can't just be a wanderer, however, that much is clear, drifters were not commonly let into towns for long in her day and she does not imagine that's terribly changed under the new regime, at least not for humans or, well, human-looking individuals.

She thinks for a moment, maybe a monster hunter of some kind? You certainly have the credentials for that, she should think. Maybe a-

Oggie grunts and points forward. You squint at the horizon - a group of stoatmen, reasonably well-armed. A guard patrol, you think, about six or seven miles outside of Speaker's Bridge.

"Didn't get much sleep, Shores, I take it?" Daniels says as he walks up to the duo. "How's things?"

Conversational start point!

Oh, Shores responds, she actually did get a reasonable amount of sleep. Right here on deck, in fact, which her back has been quick to let her know about this morning. Nevertheless, it appears to have got the job done.

She offered to let her come sleep in her cabin, Peaks chimes in, but she's too proud! Too proud for her old friend Peaks!

It simply would not be proper, Shores explains patiently, for her as first mate to sleep in the second mate's quarters when she has been seemingly deliberately denied her usual place. It would be shirking disciplinary measures at the very least, which she cannot abide. Besides, she smiles, it does build character to spend a night under the open sky every now and then.

Eh, have it your way, the alchemist responds. And, since her duel-date is here now, that means she's off to do her own stuff! Peaks looks over at you - speaking of, you want to come along later? She'd like to see if there's something she can figure out about that weird meat you're made out of. The tools on board are nothing special, mind, but there's probably something she can work out.

He will probably be able to make it, Two Shores responds in your stead, unless circumstances align to make it sadly impossible. She will try not to hold you up for too long, of course.

Right, right, Peaks says before going on her daily business, well, if you have time, pop by her lab at some point, she's got a couple things in mind.

As she leaves, Shores turns to you. Would you like to start now, or have breakfast first? She does realize you do not particularly need to eat, but the ritual can be useful sometimes. If not, no worries. She can just get right down to it if you like, she says as you notice the two-handed sword trailing very lightly behind her.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Logged

Xantalos

  • Bay Watcher
  • Your Friendly Salvation
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2229 on: June 08, 2017, 08:40:57 am »

"Depends," Daniels replies. "You hungry? I'm game to eat if you are."

Disciplinary measures? What even for? What does making her sleep on the deck accomplish? The captain continues to cement himself as a bit of a whiny shit. But I suppose if she isn't too hung up on it.

You hungry, Shores? If not, let's get down to business.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2017, 01:39:16 pm by Xantalos »
Logged
Sig! Onol
Quote from: BFEL
XANTALOS, THE KARATEBOMINATION
Quote from: Toaster
((The Xantalos Die: [1, 1, 1, 6, 6, 6]))

AoshimaMichio

  • Bay Watcher
  • Space Accountant
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2230 on: June 08, 2017, 11:23:57 am »

An electric charge? Better make sure it won't cause problems in future. A safe way to discharge it, or store into a battery for later use perhaps.

Otherwise the result is excellent. Gotta convert authority figures first for rapid inbound of new Asatruer.

"What's up, May?"
Logged
I told you to test with colors! But nooo, you just had to go clone mega-Satan or whatever.
Old sigs.
Games.

TopHat

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2231 on: June 09, 2017, 10:18:01 am »

"Hello! What wares do you stock here?"

Greetings. Probably followed by looking around a bit when there's no response.

((Sorry for my continued unpunctuality recently; I'll be doing my best to curb it in future.))
Logged
I would ask why fire can burn two men to death without getting hot enough to burn a book, but then I read "INEXTINGUISHABLE RUNNING KAMIKAZE RADIOACTIVE FLAMING ZOMBIE" and realized that logic, reason, and physics are all occupied with crying in the corner right now.

Toaster

  • Bay Watcher
  • Appliance
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2232 on: June 09, 2017, 10:28:52 pm »

Thomas stared agape.  This guy was even more of a lunatic than he first thought.  Why would anyone destroy Albany?  How?  Surely any terrorist attack would go after the City first; Albany really wasn't that interesting, just how he liked it.  Then what the person said snapped him to attention.

"What?  Yes, sure, that's why I came down, because she needed help. Sure."

Agree.  Miss any subtext of "testing run," especially any gutter-minded one.


Logged
HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

penguinofhonor

  • Bay Watcher
  • Minister of Love
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2233 on: June 10, 2017, 07:14:35 am »

"Monster hunter is a pretty good idea. Let's go with that if anyone asks."

I continue along the road as nonchalantly as possible, hoping that the stoat patrol doesn't stop us. If they do I identify myself as a monster hunter looking for quarry in this region, and introduce my doctor companion and my trusty sidekick Oggie.
Logged

Harry Baldman

  • Bay Watcher
  • What do I care for your suffering?
    • View Profile
Re: Our Salvation: Assiduity
« Reply #2234 on: June 11, 2017, 04:24:40 pm »

"Depends," Daniels replies. "You hungry? I'm game to eat if you are."

Disciplinary measures? What even for? What does making her sleep on the deck accomplish? The captain continues to cement himself as a bit of a whiny shit. But I suppose if she isn't too hung up on it.

You hungry, Shores? If not, let's get down to business.

Hungry? Never. She subsists on practice. Bread and water as well, when the mood happens to strike her. She lets her sword down by her side, and begins a quick warmup - wouldn't want to get yourself hurt now, would you?

[Scars of Time: 4]

You go through a routine of your own, though you somewhat doubt its efficacy in the face of a body only nominally bound by physical and biological laws of this world.

You do, however, have the opportunity to observe Two Shores, wearing a look of serenity above a solid background of nervousness. It is at this point that you notice something - her many and varied battle scars do not quite mar her beauty, for it seems to have never been natural to begin with, and the more you look, the more it seems that they were not obtained in battle at all. Instead it is as if someone molded her with scores of quick incisions, clearly done by a sword across a period of years. Random at first, but in the end clearly purposeful to make her look like she does. Ruined, but closer to perfection for it.

Shores turns to you - are you quite ready? You nod and stand within the sparring circle she sets up, your murder-thought scrabbling at the deck in preparation. She holds her sword forward in one hand and smiles politely.

[Move Like This: 1+1]

With a sword in hand Shores moves with such impressive confidence and ease it feels almost as if it were just another limb for her, somehow integral to her full range of movement. You go on much the same way as yesterday, and one thing you discover immediately is that this is plainly insufficient. Her advantage in reach disallows you from menacing her with your fists, and the minimal distraction you provide lets her keep a good eye on your murder-thought.

She appears content to run rings around you at first, testing your abilities. And you, of course, are determined to prove that her confidence is wholly unwarranted, and move for a desperate maneuver to shift her blade aside with your superior strength and pin her down with your murder-thought.

What happens instead, however, is that you manage to lose all four of the fingers of your right hand as you attempt to catch the sword, which turns out to be not just incredibly sharp but also quite difficult to reliably grasp. Having gambled and failed, you give Shores a moment to maneuver. At this point she turns about and with an overhead swing manages to somehow catch it on the very edge - and immediately sunder it. A sudden pressure explodes in your skull, and everything becomes pain.

And that's all you remember before you wake up in an unfamiliar cabin that smells strongly of pineapple, Peaks Ever-Crumbling standing over you and taking very careful notes. She does not fail to notice you stirring.

You bubble a lot when you're unconscious, she notes. There's an inherent instability to it all. Suppose that fits with what you already know, of course, but at least it made gluing your fingers back on a lot easier.

You look at your hand, and find it in surprisingly good health, if a few seams richer. Simple solutions are always the best in her experience, Peaks tells you. Lucky your weird thought-construct has enough presence of mind, if you'll forgive the turn of phrase, to put itself together.

Oh, she adds as an afterthought, and Shores did say to tell you she's terribly, terribly sorry about that. You hear a scratching at the door, and Peaks opens it up slightly to let a very concerned Dan inside - awfully well-behaved creature, that juggler of yours.

An electric charge? Better make sure it won't cause problems in future. A safe way to discharge it, or store into a battery for later use perhaps.

Otherwise the result is excellent. Gotta convert authority figures first for rapid inbound of new Asatruer.

"What's up, May?"

[Wall of Thought: 2]

The charge building up, you quickly realize, is just the pressure of roughly two hundred minds currently operating your mythscape, seemingly all collectively inducted into the ranks of its shapers by whatever psionic narcotic binge it was that empowered the elder. It's awfully light on your own head, you note with slight relief, but then you also notice that the place in general looks different. Hillier, darker, wilder, with dark places and crevices and considerably deeper shadows and tall exotic forests shrouded in absolute silence - Jehwlheimr has come alive, but also now seems beyond your grasp on a certain fundamental level. The box is no longer closed, the floodgates open. There will only be more changes from here on in.

But that's a matter for later. Right now you're conversing with a very drunk and naked woman. She fortunately is entirely pleased with this state of affairs, almost giddy - the elder told her about what you did, Leif, and she's absolutely delighted. They were stuck in a rut down there and it is wonderful that you came along with, well, all this - she points to the realm around her. It's nice to share a dream sometimes, don't you think? A little freedom does the mind good!

You look at the other Moths, who look much more clothed, but do not seem to pay her much mind despite this.

"Hello! What wares do you stock here?"

Greetings. Probably followed by looking around a bit when there's no response.

As expected, the person behind the counter makes no motion or sound. So you go in.

[Tread Lightly: 5]

You step carefully over the dozens of roots laying around on the ground and walls, reasoning that since they're extending from the proprietor it'd be rather rude to just tread on them. You step over to the counter, and find there to still be no reaction - although from behind the mask there is the very faintest of hums, like a distant industrial ventilator cycling busily while the rest of the place remains still, and concurrent with this you see a faint pulsing in the eyeholes, barely perceptible from as little as three feet away.

Behind the proprietor you see a dark passage leading into a back room, which you successfully illuminate with the very mild spillover from your helmet. It seems to be where all the goods are stored, or what little remains of them at this point. You suppose you could climb over the counter and take a look inside, if you were inclined toward petty theft.

Thomas stared agape.  This guy was even more of a lunatic than he first thought.  Why would anyone destroy Albany?  How?  Surely any terrorist attack would go after the City first; Albany really wasn't that interesting, just how he liked it.  Then what the person said snapped him to attention.

"What?  Yes, sure, that's why I came down, because she needed help. Sure."

Agree.  Miss any subtext of "testing run," especially any gutter-minded one.

Your affirmation is noted.

A figure places its hand on your shoulder, as if it materialized the moment you agreed. She stands beside you, and you immediately know her name to be Evey, and in a brief moment of confusion you arrive at the unquestionable certainty that you are a man of means and knowledge, after a fashion, and she is confused but at the same time eager to help.

Thanks for the help there, Evey says, she thought she'd be stuck in this bloody hole forever. Whichever idjit it was what threw her down here will come to regret this, that much she swears. You stand there a second before the dark compels your attention again.

You are asked to take Evey with you. Expose her to the environment and take careful note of irregularities. For the report you will be granted three more answers. For returning her whole and broadly undamaged you will be given a fulfillment.

You have two questions and one fulfillment remaining. If you would prefer to save them for later, you are free to leave at any time.

"Monster hunter is a pretty good idea. Let's go with that if anyone asks."

I continue along the road as nonchalantly as possible, hoping that the stoat patrol doesn't stop us. If they do I identify myself as a monster hunter looking for quarry in this region, and introduce my doctor companion and my trusty sidekick Oggie.

[No Police Gonna Shut Us Down: 3]

Of course the patrol stops you. You're two humans and some manner of night creature strolling nonchalantly along the road to town. If they didn't stop you, you'd have to seriously doubt their commitment and general fitness as guards. They don't quite see the need to go as far as surround and menace you, of course, but you feel like they don't have quite as much to prove as the people in Anglefork would have. These stoatmen, as mildly comical as they look in their armored getup, have clearly received a good deal of training, and their weapons look fairly well-kept.

Your introduction, too, seems to raise a fair amount of questions. For one, it's very rare to find a human with a flawless command of the stoats' own dialect - secondly, a monster hunter? And that thing you're traveling with! This Oggie! Is she fit to even go inside a town? Good heavens.

No, they say, they must insist that you go to the Speaker immediately. Under the watchful eye of several of their men. Anything less would be unconscionable.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)
Logged
Pages: 1 ... 147 148 [149] 150 151 ... 161