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Bruh that's fake news

[King Zultan]

As such we should strive to gain as much of an advantage right off the bat as possible.
Maybe it's time for Sas to redeem himself and put his exceptional bowman skills to use for a good cause.
I propose we feed Sas the mushroom that is supposed to sharpen one's focus so that he can attempt to kill or debilitate the titan from as far away as possible, maybe by shooting it in the eyes or something.

+1 We should also summon some kind of animal or spirit to aid us.

Next time we're in a town we should invest in a sword or some kind of weapon.

[Yellow Pixel]

I think the same, the conflict is imminent and cannot be avoided! We must therefore devise a fighting strategy, and it's probably an excellent idea to rely firstly on the archery talents of Sas. Moreover, I entirely support Strik3r's proposition:

feed Sas the mushroom that is supposed to sharpen one's focus so that he can attempt to kill or debilitate the titan from as far away as possible, maybe by shooting it in the eyes or something.

Additionally, we (Blackhoof) said previously about the same shroom: "this one can sharpen focus, or steal your breath and kill you, should you take too much..." So in the case that we would possess a lethal amount of said shroom, I think that we should give the right amount to Sas, and if some is left, to partake of it, thus improving our magical/fighting abilities.

We should also summon some kind of animal or spirit to aid us.

I totally uphold this second suggestion! And I know exactly what animal spirit we must opt for! Undoubtedly, we need one that is strong and resilient, that can survive on the most barren of lands, that is not afraid of the worst blizzards, and that, importantly, have horns! Yes, you guessed it right:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

a spirit muskox!

Behold it rushing downhill at high speed, and collide into the tundra titan in a mighty clash of power! The devourer of Wintervale's spirits will thus have to face the unleashed fury of the calm and stoic grazer that is the muskox, something it could never have expected! And beyond achieving such smashing effect of surprise, it will also allow us to make best use of our advantage of high ground and buy us time.

Nonetheless, because the tundra titan is somehow able to consume the power of spirits, our timing must be perfect: at the moment our foe is at the base of the hill, the spirit muskox must be at the top, with its hairy coat floating in the wind, and swiftly descend on the beast to injure and stun it with the maximal impact force. This way, it will suffer greatly and won't have enough time to avert the attack or maybe "eat" the beefy spirit. But in the eventuality that the muskox survive the shock, I think we souldn't continue to fight with it and rather let it return in the spirit realm, because otherwise, the titan might be able to absorb its remaining energy and thereby get empowered or healed.

Afterward, the terrible creature will probably be out of action for a little while, and I think it will be the right moment to cast a spell of fire protection on ourselves and on Sas, before being reduced to ashes in a vengeful breath of fire! The titan might however be reluctant to burn us, since it is interested by our spiritual power. Lastly, as regards Flax, I think we should stay confident in his combat skills, great strenght, fast reflexes and fire resistance to provide us some protection, even without sword. But it would be wise to ask him if he is still immune against fire whithout the necklace that he gave us.

[Quaksna]

Few things to say  - First, it's nice you are in control of some of Black's actions, however, I feel it's mostly I who dictate how he acts in every other situation. Now I can shape him somewhat more from all your insights and stuff, but still, I think it would be nice if you had more power even over these smaller actions. So that's what I am gonna use polls for now - a sort of survey on matters of thoughts/manners/ideology, you get the idea.

Also I recently started this rituals of taking a long walks across hills, forests and meadows, all dedicated to this story or Egheevin worldbuilding, and as a result, have a plenty of new material for future. In short, I feel very optimistic about this project, did lots of contemplation over deers recently. Also extensive study of Strik3r's posts 

Now on with the show!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You have to think quick, and you know it.

"Flax. You're still fireproof?"

"As ever, pal." he answers. "Sas, you still have the knife?"

Sas nods, and hands it over.



"Perfect. It's not much, but you know, better than nothing."



You take out the crushed mushroom, and measure two doses.

"Get some snow, gargle it up with this. It'll help you." you say to Sas, and take it yourself to demonstrate.



"I have a plan, sorta. Sas will be in the back shooting, obviously, he can start now."



"But it's so huge, it's like sticking a toothpick..."

"Aim for the head. We can still do a lots of damage with a lucky hit."



Thus, Sas loosened the first arrow.



It sweeps through the air, and hits the creature in the head, yet, without breaking a sweat, it runs on.



You look at the top of one of the hills.

"I need it down here, or a bit away from the hill. I'll be summoning. If this works, we might get a massive upper hand."



"We can't do that in time, it's too fast!" says Flax. "Let me engage it, I'll slow it down or maybe hold where you need it."

"Alright, but be careful..."



Sas shoots the second time, as Flax sprints towards the beast. He hits the muzzle, but once again, the beast doesn't hesitate a bit.



You start your summoning drill, Sas reloads.



Flax wanted to stand in the way of the titan, but realized it wouldn't work, so instead started jabbing it from the side.



The beast did slow down, and fought back. It's attacks were powerful, but too slow for Flax, who dodged his way through all of it spectacularly, yet alas...



The hunting knife couldn't do much damage against the titan. Despite this, it was going well, time was back on your side.

Sas shot again, this time the arrow landed lower, tearing the flesh of the beast's mouth.



It opened it's fuming maw, and it's nostrils and throat filled with flames. The second arrow of Sas has wholly disappeared in the fire.



And so would Flax, as the fiery cone was way too wide. He covered his face with his cloak, and stepped back.



After the smoke has disappeared, he did still stand there, though a bit more black in spots, and sweating intensely.



The creature stopped fighting him at that moment, though. It redirected its attention towards you, and went back on path. Flax went after it, but it doesn't mind him at all.



"I am not a fool."




Sas loosened a fourth arrow, once again hitting the thing in the head.



You can see he's getting goosebumps.



You're getting nervous too. The spell is taking too long... Suspiciously so.




"You are all alone, as you deserve."



What do you want to do?

[Strik3r]

Its good that you're thinking about stuff like that, but i don't think you should worry too much about it. The best way, i feel, to ensure Blackhoof stays in character, is to infer what blackhoof would do in any given situation or given any choice, based on prior choices made by the players.

Also i love how Flax takes a firebreath to the face and takes 0 freaking damage and how he looks afterward.

Nami's Echo

"I wish we could save it. There must be a way to! To pacify... or purify it or something, Blackhoof. We might end up doing more damage if we kill it...!"

Wraith Crackantler
●

(Soul-Link Telecomms),(Dark Counsel)
"Oh but it is a fool if it thinks you're alone. You still have me.

Without your precious Blueberry there isn't anything you can call... But me. And i'm ready to answer your summons, Blackhoof."

Drat, this battle clearly isn't going in our favor but we're too deep in the thick of it to back out now, we have to figure something out.
I wonder if we could get Flax to climb atop the titan and attack it that way? is he nimble enough?

Also we might have to deploy something other than summoning, from our shamanic abilities, as it seems we won't have any success trying to summon the spirit Ox. Though i fear a titan like that might be resistant to a lot of the stuff we might be capable of. There is also of course the option of eating the other mushrooms and facing it in the spirit world. Dunno how much help that would be.

Regardless, i think we should try replying to the titan and its apparent telepathic communication.

[Yellow Pixel]

Let us not listen nor respond to the beast, as it is ruthlessly racing toward us with the sole desire to destroy us and steal our deer spirit! But it is only speaking falseness, as we are far from alone! We have inside us a green spirit of nature that wishes to aid us! Let us summate its power to our, breach the evil charm of the Tundra Titan, and forcibly open a gate to the spirit world, through wich the spirit muskox shall pass.

Unfazed by the Titan's words of despair, we shall channel our shamanic power, and call to us the spirit muskox from the depths of its icy pasture lands! The clamor of its hooves shall echo across the vastness of Wintervale, its vigorous breath shall resist the scorching fire of our malignant adversary, and its hefty bulk shall crush it!!!

[Strik3r]

There is something i just considered in regards to Crackantler and of Wraiths in general.

As i've written a few blurbs of his dark counsel, he's actually starting to take on actual character. And he's also becoming undeniably more lucid and i like to think a bit of his original personality is starting to show through, but twisted and corrupted by whatever dark energy binds him.
I like to think that Crackantler was a bit overconfident in life. Just something to think about.

But this made me think about Wraiths in this world in general. i feel like at "best" they can be frighteningly lucid and manipulative but still undeniably insane with an insatiable hunger for spirits' energy, while at "worst" they're little more than feral, ravenous animals, relentlessly chasing and devouring spirits as they can.

Also, Q: Just because i'm writing the little sections for both (currently imaginary) Nami and for Wraith Crackantler, doesn't mean you can't incorporate them into the story yourself if you want to. In fact, i kinda wish you did, as of right now, both still feel kind of ephemeral and disconnected from the world you've created, to me. If they occasionally chimed in within the story, i wouldn't even have to write the blurbs, not that i mind it, but i feel like you'd do them more justice than me, also less blatant lorebreaking.
Also, Nami herself is free for you to do with whatever you wish; The last thing i'd want to do is hamper or hold up any ideas you might have by holding her hostage in a sense. I can still write the insight blurbs once she returns, if desired, but she's a character in your story, Q.
Just saying, in case any of that wasn't clear.

[King Zultan]

I'm not really sure what we can do in this situation besides continuing to summon the thing we were summoning.

[Quaksna]

'Kay a few words from our sponsor me. Nothing major, just some immersion breaking babbling, feel free to skip right to the story.

Also, Q: Just because i'm writing the little sections for both (currently imaginary) Nami and for Wraith Crackantler, doesn't mean you can't incorporate them into the story yourself if you want to. In fact, i kinda wish you did, as of right now, both still feel kind of ephemeral and disconnected from the world you've created, to me. If they occasionally chimed in within the story, i wouldn't even have to write the blurbs, not that i mind it, but i feel like you'd do them more justice than me, also less blatant lorebreaking.
Also, Nami herself is free for you to do with whatever you wish; The last thing i'd want to do is hamper or hold up any ideas you might have by holding her hostage in a sense. I can still write the insight blurbs once she returns, if desired, but she's a character in your story, Q.
Just saying, in case any of that wasn't clear.

Ohoho, just you wait, Strik3r, just you wait 

Also I love how Pixel writes his responses now, it's pretty sweet.

I had a weird dream today about ToDW. Not the first time that happened, I remember dreaming once about Blackhoof freezing to death so he did a very sensible thing and set himself on fire, but today it was a bit more meta, as I was part of the story, and simultaneously writing it, coming up with new concepts, which then got thwarted by the surreal uncontrollable progression of the dream, it was pretty wild. I don't remember that much, but I need to share this one thing, it's something I'm telling you.

I had a vision of Flax's dark secret, which was all along, he was member of a biker gang xD

It was quite an experience, it seriously gave me some new ideas and even created a new character I consider using. Well that's it, thought you could find this amusing.

. . .

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Conflicting thoughts fill up your mind. What is this being, and why is it hellbent on striking you dead? What's wrong with your spell? Can you reason with it instead? Where is Nami when you need her?

You tap the spirit that joined you back in the night. Its power might prove useful.



"You can't tame them both..."



The spirit responds. It sets your soul ablaze, and you feel powerful again.



"You better watch your tongue."



And then, atop the hill, rattling the ground beneath it's hooves, an ox, great and vigorous, runs down to help.



The titan slows down, you can see it is somewhat surprised. It can't avoid the attack for sure.

"Impressive... But your fate is already sealed."



It opens its maw again, and you know what's coming.



Heat most dreadful lights the throat, as the fire is climbing upwards, and leaping out to turn you into cinders.



You forgot to use your fire protection, but all is not lost.



With your hands, you use the other spell you were perfecting that night, redirecting the flames aside.



You both came out unscathed, only the snow next is no more, instead, black bits are swept into the air by the wind, your staff burning in the center.



The musk ox reached the end of its route, crashing into the beast with s mighty gore. The impact did not tip it over, as you intended, though, on the titan's hip, a horn tore the muscle open, a blood spring coming out of the wound, flowing down.



The titan fought back, and with its claws and size, you didn't see the ox winning any time soon.



Flax was sprinting as fast as he could, and was soon to reach the titan.

"Onto the back!" you cry.



The warrior leapt, and what a jump it was, forcing Sas' jaw to drop, and his courage to resurface as he then loaded again.



Flax landed on the being as planned, and started to stab through the flesh like a maniac. The titan, once again, did not mind this at all and fought the ox instead.



"You cannot win this fight."

You decide it's maybe time to address this ominous spirit.



"I would say I am doing pretty well." you respond. "You better stop slaughtering and tell me what is this all about."



"I am protector of the sacrosanct life, ways of whom you have betrayed. And for that, you shall perish."



What do you want to do?

[Strik3r]

Nami's Echo

"If you do have to kill the titan... Please don't let Crackantler consume it's spirit. It would make him terribly powerful..."

Wraith Crackantler
●

(Soul-Link Telecomms),(Dark Counsel)
"Look at how the little spirit grows as you feed it. Fattening it up like a pig, only to slaughter it. You've always been the clever one, Blakhoof. i can wait.

The big cow thinks you commited a sin, but you only set me free. While it remains a slave... Help it become free too."

Let us respond to the titan once more then, with
"I've paid the price for my actions in tears already. I wish only to set Crackantler's soul free now, but you're standing in the way of it."

In addition, with the help of the spirit inhabiting us, i believe something like the bind spell (the one that started this whole adventure) might actually have an effect on the titan but that would just be retreading old ground, instead lets continue advancing the idea of enhancing ourselves and our friends through magic. Its clear that Sas' bow isn't having much an effect on the titan, but perhaps we could Empower Sas' bow and arrows with spirit energy or something to make it maybe have more of an effect?

[Superdorf]

It occurs to me, this may well be one of the few creatures around that knows how to deal with a crazed soul-eating thingummy. Maybe Blackhoof can get some advice, if he plays his cards right.

[King Zultan]

Is there anything preventing us from just shoving his crazy ass into something else, or would that make the problem worse?

Also if we are gonna use magic to enhance something shouldn't we do the dagger and the bow so we deal more damage to it.

[Strik3r]

Is there anything preventing us from just shoving his crazy ass into something else, or would that make the problem worse?

I don't think it's gonna be that simple. You can't just shove crackantler's soul into a box and shoving him inside another living being (or god forbid, ourselves) would obviously mean that the two souls share a single body, with one of them being a wraith, and eventually merge. With everything that entails. You can probably figure out yourself what that results in.

Of course this is just my speculation, based on the stuff from the subsequence(that i wrote). i can't speak for Quaksna or what his plans are.

However If we could shove our problems inside a box and be done with it, it wouldn't make for an interesting or compelling story IMO. I actually like this conflict that has arised in this situation, one seemingly without a good outcome, regardless of choice. I feel like this is the only story here on the forums where choices have actual, long-term and significant consequences, so i don't know why so many people sleep on ToDW.

Maybe you could chime in, Q? Maybe you could give your own thoughts on all this? Without spoiling anything of course

[Quaksna]

You can do whatever you want You can ignore him completely, or eventually attempt to cast him away, but I can't guarantee a positive outcome In any case that wouldn't be that simple, you're linked after all.

I don't want to drop hints much, but one thing I'll say, the titan's spirit's gonna leave massive amount of power in this world should you successfully send him to afterlife. Something to consider.

Of course neither Flax or Sas know this, they just suppose you're somehow "fixing" the disturbed land. Also you hadn't told them about Nami or Crack, so maybe you would want to get rid of the wraith quickly, without them noticing anything. Again, it's all up to you, I have thought of many possible scenarios, I would say I am somewhat prepared for a wide range of your actions.

Thanks for letting me know this is what you think about tho, can contemplate on this topic further.

[Yellow Pixel]

After having carefully reflected about the whole situation, I have come to the conclusion that we shouldn't attempt to kill the Tundra Titan. We have discovered that it is a guardian of Nature, just like us, so to murder it would totally go against our morals!

But all of it is nothing but a terrible misunderstanding! If we are presently fighting the Tundra Titan, it's because the spirits of the sacred ground downhill have been perturbed by a mysterious force and we only desired to help them. And we thought that the beast was responsible for the great distress of the spirits, but in truth, as it has revealed to us that it is a protector of life, it must be that it also came here because the spirits have been disturbed, and it also wanted to come protect their sacred site!

So, by now, it's becoming evident that we have been fooled since a long while, with all those burning forests, those stories about a dragon ravaging the land, the frightened spirits fleeing danger, the ruins apparently defiled and full of ashes, and finally, the savage assault of the fire breathing titan. Moreover, we knew that evil matters were afoot in Winterland because of our ominous dream about some kind of necromancer slaughtering our tribe of deer men, and because of the strange events surrounding Elév and the wizard that was hunting him. And I must add that even us have done an occult action by summoning Crackantler as a wraith.

As such, we have seemingly found ourselves in the same situation as the Tundra Titan: we were tracking the malefactor that had put the spirits of the ruins in turmoil, who could very well have also been the culprit of all the evilness that is happening through the land, we thought we had found it, and we are now fighting it with all our might!

I'm telling you, everything is becoming clearer! The forests on fire are probably indications of a struggle between the Tundra Titan and an unknown dark force. It is also very possible that the titan has arrived too late to the sacred ruins, and that when it saw that it had been defiled in some way, it spitted fire in a fit of rage, wich would be proved by the piles of ashes we observed. Or maybe they are indications of a previous fight between the titan and a wicked being... That is hard to tell.

But anyways, when the titan detected us, with a wraith inside us, it must have thought that we were either the perpetrator of the wrong that has been done to the ruins, or that we were in league with the main evildoer. And despite the fact that the titan is misleaded as regards our identity, it is right to be angry about the fact that we imprisoned a soul in the form of a wraith. It's just that it doesn't know that we summoned a wraith to protect us from Flax's madness, right after Sas had accidentally killed our best friend, and that the wraith in question is the wraith of our friend, wich is truly horrendous overall... but we certainly don't deserve to die for this!

Therefore, friends of Blackhoof, what I propose you to do, so as to avoid that two powerful allies of Nature kill each other, and that such a magnificient beast as the Tundra Titan get slain, in another cruel twist of fate, is to tell the muskox, Flax and Sas to stop fighting, and to surrender. We should then tell the titan that we are the deer man shaman Catahecassa, that we are also a protector of life, and that we mistakingly thought that it was afflicting the sacred ruins.

Afterward, we should explain how and why we have turned our friend Crackantler into a wraith, beg forgiveness for the bad actions we have done, and say that we want to redeem ourselves by meeting a proficient shaman who dwells in the south and ask his help to free the soul of our friend. As a proof of our goodwill, we should also present the green spirit to the titan and say that it has willingly come to us when we offered it our aid.

[Strik3r]

Therefore, friends of Blackhoof, what I propose you to do, so as to avoid that two powerful allies of Nature kill each other, and that such a magnificient beast as the Tundra Titan get slain, in another cruel twist of fate, is to tell the muskox, Flax and Sas to stop fighting, and to surrender. We should then tell the titan that we are the deer man shaman Catahecassa, that we are also a protector of life, and that we mistakingly thought that it was afflicting the sacred ruins.

Afterward, we should explain how and why we have turned our friend Crackantler into a wraith, beg forgiveness for the bad actions we have done, and say that we want to redeem ourselves by meeting a proficient shaman who dwells in the south and ask his help to free the soul of our friend. As a proof of our goodwill, we should also present the green spirit to the titan and say that it has willingly come to us when we offered it our aid.

I very firmly disagree. We shouldn't be that pathetic and back down. If we surrender, it'll just use it as an opportunity to kill us. IMO the only way it'll end with everyone living is if one side turns tail and runs away with said tail or tails between their legs. And for some reason i don't see that happening.

Afterward, we should explain how and why we have turned our friend Crackantler into a wraith, beg forgiveness for the bad actions we have done, and say that we want to redeem ourselves by meeting a proficient shaman who dwells in the south and ask his help to free the soul of our friend. As a proof of our goodwill, we should also present the green spirit to the titan and say that it has willingly come to us when we offered it our aid.

This is pretty much what my remark in my post is, except more long winded. But the thing i don't agree with here is ejecting the green spirit within us for ANY reason. In case someone's forgotten we've got a hungry, crazed wraith tied to us who will jump at a chance to eat a spirit. I don't think feeding spirits to our wraith friend is a particular show of goodwill. Although... We might have to do so anyway... if the worst comes to pass, and we end up winning.

Moreover, we knew that evil matters were afoot in Winterland because of our ominous dream about some kind of necromancer slaughtering our tribe of deer men.

There's any number of things that could have been. But regardless, following that nightmare, Nami namedropped "Wraithcaller" for the first time.

That dream, or was it a dream? Maybe it was a vision, of things that have happened, or maybe of things yet to come?
Maybe an ancient memory, from another time.

But one thing is clear is of that wizard in our dream and that is his name... a name that would send cold shivers down anyone's spine:

"Wraithcaller, The one that would drape the world in shadow..."

hehehe... sorry.

As for the blood vial? Weren't we taught to never play with blood? Its unclean. Best we toss it as far as we can.

And i suppose Elév, whatever his mission was, completed it. Or maybe he's still around, and just watching from the shadows... Some people say that the eyes of owls can see everything, even through any illusion.

Way before the confrontation with her.
Its not even impossible that she caused that nightmare in the first place, as a warning. As we remember; she was quite upset about the whole Crackantler business.