>>31266171

Elsewhere, dear reader, we happen upon a very long and wide street. So much so that it clearly cuts the smallish town of Lukewater in half. Alchemically treated tiles pave this street and keep it gleaming and snow free. The storefronts and business on either side of it bristle with signposts, tempting any and all travelers with good food, expensive gear, and warm beds. Most of it’s three hundred feet hum with excitable conversation and the twinkling of countless bells and wind chimes.

Two young adults step into view, dead center of Bell Street’s length, between a deli shop and a confectionary.

“But why did you have to side with the party pooper!” The shorter, gloomier of the two says.

“Mica, I... I wasn’t siding with her. She was right! She, she deserves to take a break. You saw that huge thing!” The young man says, adjusting his glasses as he promptly bumps into a passerby and issues an apology.

>1/2

>>31266180

“It was just a snowball fight! She just doesn’t know how to have fun.” Mica pouts.

“It ATE her! And, well, even if it hadn’t, I don’t think Fera’s the type to just ‘have fun’ so easily.” The boy punctuates the end of his sentence with a shrug while one hand scratches the back of his head.

The two look at each other for a moment. They are both barefoot and dressed in three layers too little for the currently heavily snowy weather. The shorter half elf sighs to herself before adopting her usual sleepy smile.

But, before she says anything, we should probably decide which one of these two we are at the moment.

>[ ] Well, uh, we appear to be Nolan.
>[ ] We are Mica of course!

File: 1396659868408.png-(938 KB, 1762x1500, Mica sketch.png)

938 KB PNG

>Carrying over a single vote for Mica from yesterday before the thread died.

Also if you happen the voter in question feel free to say hi so I know not to duplicate your vote. Or if you change your mind from yesterday idk

>>31266201
>>[ ] We are Mica of course!

>>31266292
>>31266240

>Mica UNLOCKED
>http://pastebin.com/xH3RsArP

>[ ] "Exactly! That's why we have to teach her how to have fun!" [Chipper]
>[ ] "She isn't here you know! You can loosen up now!" [Insinuating]
>[ ] Pout in silence!
>[ ] Custom

>>31266201
>>[ ] "Exactly! That's why we have to teach her how to have fun!" [Chipper]

>>31266638
>[x] "Exactly! That's why we have to teach her how to have fun!" [Chipper]

>>31266939
FINALLY THERE IS ANOTHER PERSON HERE!!!

>>31266980
Where's the author? Let's get some momentum going now.

>>31266939
>>31266968

“Exactly!” You squeak. “That’s why we have to teach her how to have fun!” Nolan sighs and looks up into the sky. “She just...” You put a finger to one of your dimples as you try to remember what your next point was going to be.

Oh well, you’re sure you’ll remember it later.

When you look back up you can see that a bunch of the shops on Bell Street are still open. With a good amount of people around even. You can really strongly smell something delicious coming from town the street to the west. And as you look down the street that way you spot what seems to be Antonia with her group.

“Uh, Mica? You were saying?” Nolan leans past you to find out what you’re looking at.

“I was saying, Fera just took a break herself, so we should too!” You grab one of his sleeves as you start to walk towards the other initiates and the bakery they happen to be at. “Cinnamon rolls sound great right now.”

1/2

>>31267200

Oh! You just remembered what you were going to say. “Really, Fera should be here right now. Hanging out on Bell Street, eating piles of sugar and baked dough, that’s all things friends do!”

The bakery happens to be Miss Oburry’s she and her husband are the youngest shop owners on Bell Street as it just so happens. The front of the shop is decked out in orange with a little bell shaped like a bird on the front door. There are a few tables set up outfront too, where people usually sit while eating whatever it is they ordered and drinking coco or coffee or somesuch drink.

Oof, normally you’d really like some coffee but, after the lake.

“Oh hey, spooky girl! Good to see you again. How’s it go with the hunt?” Your attention is caught by one of the few people sitting out front of the bakery.

It’s Lem, one of the town’s local hunters. You were PRETTY certain at one point that she and Fera were friends. She’s even taller than Fera is, and she has this funny curly brass colored hair that she keeps cut short, or maybe it’s just REALLY tightly curly.

>[ ] “I was just taking a break!”
>[ ] “Actually I’m following up on the third clue from the third leg of the hunt!”
>[ ] “No time to talk, cinnamon buns are necessary!”
>[ ] Custom

>>31267446
>>[ ] “No time to talk, cinnamon buns are necessary!”

>>31267446
>[x] “No time to talk, cinnamon buns are necessary!”

>>31267510
>>31267543

“No time to talk, cinnamon buns are necessary!” You smile as unrudely as possible before heading inside. The little bird bell tweets as the door jostles it around. Oh wow it’s warm in here. Oh right, the potion.

Mr Oburry happens to be manning the counter as you enter. He goes to wave, but he kinda stops in the middle of it. His eyebrows crumple against each other in confusion as he looks between the two of you. “Are you two, ok? What happened to your coats?”

You walk up to a basket of cookies. “They’re at the lake!” You don’t see any cinnamon buns here.

“Uh, there was a potion, Andrea’s scavenger hunt.” Nolan adds. Mr Oburry seems to understand now. You rummage around for your coin purse, you, well you don’t find it.

“Gah!” You smack your hand against your forehead. “So are my crowns.”

“Ah, don’t worry ‘bout it Miss Dresdner, you come around here all the time anyway. Consider it on your tab.”

“You do tabs here?”

“No, not really. What were you interested in getting anyway? Those macadamia cookies there are a jewel each.”

“Are you baking cinnamon buns right now?” He nods. “Two of those then! We’ll wait outside.” You start heading for the door. “Oh! And can we have tea?”

“The usual?”

“Uh, can I just have milk?” Nolan speaks up, he looks kinda lost again.

>1/2

>>31267802

The front door tweets merrily as you step back outside. All at one of the tables are: Antonia, the third captain, Lem, Tobias, and Rory from Iori’s group. They have apparently been staring at the two of you through the windows. Antonia is the first one to speak.

“Hello! Mica was it? Don’t you think it’s a bit nippy out here?” She wears a silly face as she looks you up and down, and flicks a bit of her long hair behind her.

“Oh, hi Antonia! I think it’s fine out here!” You take a seat at an adjacent table.

>[ ] Engage Antonia’s party in conversation.
>[ ] Ask Rory why the rest of her party isn’t here.
>[ ] Ignore the others and talk to Nolan
>[ ] Custom

>>31267948
i honestly have no idea which one to pick here

>>31267948
>>[ ] Engage Antonia’s party in conversation.

Seems like the right thing to do here.

>>31267977
>>31267995

“Hey! Did you already do the thing where you had to give away your extra stuff?” She seems surprised when you bring that up. Why would she be surprised when it was her idea?

“Y-yeah, Iori showed up too but, I didn’t see any of you after the, well, the banquet.” She takes a sip of what smells like coffee as she looks around behind you. “What happened to your captain anyway? Fera was it?”

“Oh she was tuckered out after a snowball fight. She’s already in bed now I think.” Antonia and Lem look at each other, while Tobias perks up.

“There was a snowball fight?” Tobias asks.

“You sure you’re talking about the same chick? Walker’s kid right?” Lem gestures while leaning back in her chair.

“Actually, now that I think of it, I don’t think I should have told you that.” You maintain a smile as you turn back to the bakery to see if anyone’s come out with cinnamon buns yet. Rory finishes up her cup as she stands up.

“The woodswoman, inna snowball fight. Right.” She leaves an extra jewel coin in her cup before she turns to leave. “Oh and thanks for the extra compresses Antonia.”

>1/2

>>31268342

You wonder if Rory is here looking for the “tallest tip-top” at the same time as Antonia’s group is.

“You know,” Antonia says putting her cup down. “I still have more compress-rations than the old blood here will let me take with us. Be sure to check with me at Albrook Inn tomorrow morning.”

“Wow thanks, you can afford compresses?” Nolan says.

“Well they aren’t very expensive to prepare yourself.” Antonia replies as she looks over Nolan. “Hopefully you find my cooking agreeable.” Nolan scratches the back of his head like he does when Fera makes him uncomfortable.

Suddenly a plate appears in front of you, you crane your head back and you see that Mr Oburry has arrived with the both of your plates.

You and Nolan make short work of the delicious pastries over the next few minutes. You find out that Antonia still has some proper gear she could see about lending, but she would rather speak with Fera herself about that tomorrow morning. Her group also found the “tallest tip-tip” and she suggests that you give it some time to get over the paranoia. You aren’t quite sure what she means by that.

Anyway! Now that you’ve had a little break it’s time to find the next hint. You take out the little scrollcase from the snowman and look over it’s hint again.

“Twenty sets of bells all have their own chord, the one you are looking for responds to the name ‘Ferris’.”

Obviously it’s on one of the lines of bells up and down the street.

>>31268660

>[ ] Split up! I go west and Nolan goes east.
>[ ] Let’s stick together.
>[ ] Invite Antonia and company to follow along
>[ ] Custom

>>31268669
>[x] Let’s stick together.

>>31268669
>>[ ] Let’s stick together.

>>31268721
>>31268974

“Ok! Let’s start looking in the east half of the street.” Nolan follows without comment, too busy licking icing off his fingers. You wave goodbye to Antonia and her new friends. The girl waves back about as cheerily, while Tobias huddles into his oversized jacket and Lem lets out a bemused huff.

You look at the lines of bells as you walk past them. Each of the twenty is suspended between two iron flagpoles on either side of the street. Fraying hemp rope sits in little coils where there are hooks on the poles to secure the lines. There isn’t much wind right now so most of the bells are silent except for a lonely twang here and there. Nolan gently tests one of the lines as he pulls slightly on one of the ropes, just above where it’s fastened. The bells ring first and the wind chimes on it continue to call out for a few moments more.

>[ ] SENSE+PERCEPTION 4d10 to compare all the lines
>[ ] SPIRIT GUIDE 4d10 Maybe someone here knows where it is
>[ ] Just start ringing all the lines!
>[ ] Custom

>>31269062
>[x] SENSE+PERCEPTION 4d10 to compare all the lines

>>31269127

>4d10 get rollan

Also, not really sure if the other anon is here so please roll one die at a time until we got four.

Rolled 3

>>31269310

>>31269310
I KNOW ITS SUPER DUMB, but yeah if we dont see them by the next choice then i'd be fine with you just rolling entire sets.

Rolled 10

>>31269310

Rolled 5

>>31269310

Rolled 7

>>31269310

>>31269330
yeah i'm the anon that didn't vote this time and i'm going to be going to sleep soon and i probably won't be rolling so he can just go ahead and roll the entire dice

>>31269567

Night then!

>>31269322
>>31269375
>>31269425
>>31269439

You think you and Nolan might be getting some odd looks as you go from pole to pole, ringing the bells on their lines. That’s nothing you aren’t used to anyway. It’s a good thing it isn’t very windy right now, or else you wouldn't be able to tell any of them apart.

That said, you really can’t pick out anything out of the ordinary with all the lines. You try calling out to them like the hint said. Nolan looks a bit more nervous when you start doing this.

>Nolan gets a 2x9 set to compare the lines

“Hey, wait, I think i see something there.” He reseats his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he steps closer to the line you were just about to pull.

“You think this is Ferris?” You let go of the rope and give him space to look at it,

“This rope isn’t hemp.” He feels the rope and presses his thumbnails into it to try to pry the fibers apart. “But I’m not sure what it is.”

“Hey Ferris! Are you here?” You call out into the air with your hands cupped around your mouth. Nothing happens.

“Maybe there’s something on one of the bells here?” Nolan looks up at the line across the street as he continues to fiddle with the loose end of the rope coming out of the bundle. There’s actually a LOT of rope here.

>[ ] Ring the line!
>[ ] BODY+ATHLETICS 4d10 Climb the pole!
>[ ] SENSE+PERCEPTION 4d10 Look over the bells.
>[ ] Custom

>>31269633
>>[ ] SENSE+PERCEPTION 4d10 Look over the bells.

>>31269809

>4d10 get rollan

Like the other anon said, feel free the roll the entire set at once

Rolled 1, 5, 10, 2 = 18

>>31269852

>>31269864

>No sets, height 10 to look over the bells.

This line has a whole bunch of windchimes on it actually. A lot of them are made from those pretty rocks that have crystals inside of them. There’s a few of the normal metal tube ones too. Only three bells on this one, odd.

Nolan gives the line a pull and all the chimes and bells jingle nicely. You think you hear him say something about a black windchime before he’s cutoff.

When you turn around, you, what?

You seem to have spaced out for a moment. Nolan seems to have gotten wrapped up in the extra length of the rope by the base of the pole. Wait, no he’s clearly wrestling with it, and failing badly.

“H-HELP! WHAT IS GOING ON!?” The rest of his pleas are muffled as the rope snakes up around his head and lifts him off the ground slightly. You hear someone else running up to you. It looks like Rory.

>[ ] BODY+ATHLETICS 4d10 To pull the rope off!
>[ ] COMMAND+INTIMIDATION 5d10 To FIRMLY INSIST the rope put your new friend down.
>[ ] PANIC!
>[ ] Custom

Rolled 1, 4, 6, 9 = 20

>>31270094
>>[ ] COMMAND+INTIMIDATION 5d10 To FIRMLY INSIST the rope put your new friend down.

No one messes with our new found friend! No one!

>>31270142

>5d10 get rollan

Rolled 5, 1, 2, 10, 9 = 27

>>31270293

>>31270385

>No sets, height 10 To pull the rope off!

You reach for the far too smooth rope as it continues to constrict around Nolan. This is really tough! It almost feels like you’re pulling on steel cables instead. Rory comes to a stop, sliding on the snow a bit before she leaps at the roughly Nolan shaped cocoon or rope that now stands upright.

“Is the rest, o’ the, hun’, like this!?” She grunts out in between pulls on the top of the coil.

“Sorta!” She gives up on pulling as she rummages around in her peacoat.

>[ ] BODY+ATHLETICS 6d10 “Let’s pull from both ends!” +1die bonus for helping Rory’s check.
>[ ] COMMAND+INTIMIDATION 5d10 This rope is getting on your nerves now!
>[ ] Check the locket’s hint again.
>[ ] Custom

Rolled 5, 8, 5, 5, 6 = 29

>>31270586
>>[ ] Check the locket’s hint again.

Welp... I think I'm going to call it now. Man. I figured we'd get a few new followers tonight.

>>31270637

You remember about the hint again, quickly fussing to catch the the scroll tube as you produce it from your pocket. You see Rory pull something shiny from her coat just as you get the note out. In your panic you read it aloud.

“Twenty sets of bells! All have their own chord! The one you are looking for responds to the name ‘Ferris’!”

You hear Rory and Nolan yelp as the rope jerks quickly. Something metal clanks and slides away as Rory hops off the coil. It loosens enough that you can see Nolan’s mouth and some of his face again. “Do that again! Whatever you did! Do it agaiGGHCK” The coils constrict again.

Oh, duh.

“FERRIS! STOP!”

>1/3

>>31270941

The rope goes slack and Nolan lands in a heap of snow. He quickly rolls over, screening and holding a hand to his tailbone. You see Rory crouching nearby as she puts what you spot is a knife back into her coat. “Wot the hell!”

Nolan suddenly scrambles back out of the mess of rope. When he finally stands up he attempts to fix his glasses again, and is bamboozled when he finds he isn’t wearing any.

“Oi, lumberjack,” Rory pats some snow off her shoulders even though it’s still snowing. “I think I saw your lookers in the middle of the street.” He turns to the street and squints, heading slowly into the street shortly.

“Um, Ferris?” You say, crouching down near the pile of rope. “Do you have the next hint?” The rope lurches slightly. Rory takes a quick step back. You see a ripple shoot through the coil eventually climbing up the pole and ringing all the bells.

Poor Nolan gets pelted with bells and wind chimes just as he finds his glasses. The entire length of the rope slips off the other end of the street and straight out of all the bell’s loops. Except for one that get’s caught when the end whips around to snag it.

The end of the rope that now carries a black windchime slowly approaches you. You notice one of it’s tubes is a scrollcase, just like the one from the snowman!

>2/3

>>31270954
Go on...

>>31270954

“No bloody way!” Rory busts out laughing as she sits down with a heap. “If that trick rope ain’t the third prize, wot the hell is it even!”

“Nevermind that! What is the Forging’s prize!” You say back to her. You pop the lid off the tiny scrollcase once you take it from “Ferris”. Nolan cautiously approaches to read over your shoulder.

“Congratulations! You found all three hints for the third prize! Do be a sweetheart and be sure to let the others know it’s been found.

As you have likely figured out by now, this trick rope answers to the command word “Ferris” and can animate itself to be as useful as possible. Be sure to be very clear with instructions you give it, Ferris isn’t very smart.

Ferris is about sixty feet long last I checked, which is why it’s made of silk to keep it light. Don’t worry about damaging it too much, Ferris is harder than most swords, and it can easily carry around two tons before snapping.

I shouldn’t have to tell you this is a very valuable piece of magical equipment. As long as you take care of it, Ferris should serve you for decades before needing any sprucing up.”

You can barely contain your smile. Nolan seems to busy grinning himself to notice your teeth when you do so. Rory continues to eye the rope as it goes slack again.

“I think I’m gonna grab the others before I ‘ead to the next clue.”

>FULL STOP

That's all for tonight!

YES thank god I managed to get to a good stopping point tonight. It's definitely the little victories.

Planning on taking a break until Saturday evening, 5PM MST! See you then!

>>31271100
Roger wilco. See you tommorrow.

>>31271100
>>31271117

>headdesk

I MEANT SUNDAY, I CAN'T INTO DAYS NOW APPARENTLY.

>>31271137
Then on Sunday. LOL

So, I just noticed now, I accidentally skipped a number in the title.
OOPS.

Well we were actually a number behind for a while if you actually count up how many threads there were.

SOOOO yeah there's just no Sojourner Quest #7.

SHRUG.

>>31271076

>Nolan and Mica gained 1 WILLPOWER each for completing the third leg of the scavenger hunt!