>>33149953
>Send in best stealth guy to scout the place. Once we know more, we can make better plans.

>>33149953
Allright, scorpions are back. We've got a lot of shit to do today.
Also, Hillallum getting overprotective is great.
> Go back and try to schmooze the king into granting you permission.
Also, if we go into the city, can we insist on bringing hillallum? we're kind of injured, and he's not.
Also, maybe throw in a bit of a
> Have your men surround every gate and catch any centaurs as they come out
>Send in best stealth guy to scout the place. Once we know more, we can make better plans.
combination. We should have at least one man at each of the gates looking for prisoners being smuggled out. Maybe a man to go in and investigate if we have volunteers.

>>33150026
I have too many alsos. I need to learn to write things all at once, and not bit by bit.

Here's the shit we need to do today, if I recall:
Get our men back by whatever means we can wrangle.
Get some kind of resolution on that scary skeleton.
Get some healing.
Find/warn the snake king about the wasp woman and the weird flying guy.

>>33149953
>> Have your men surround every gate and catch any centaurs as they come out
And then go attack their stronghold alone.

>>33150084
we're a bit hurt right now, we'd at least need to heal up somehow first. Either through blood donations from our own guys, or kingly blood supply favors.

We don't have much of a consensus at all this time around. A slight leaning towards keeping the gates covered.

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>>33149953
Mannuqappu insists that swift action must be taken, but you think that acting too rashly will only endanger the people you're trying to rescue. By way of a compromise, you let the men spread out so there's a company of soldiers watching each gate. The naga watching the gates from the other side don't seem to like this, but when you insist that it's on the king's orders, they don't argue.

> Ask for volunteers for bloodletting and heal yourself. Roll 2d6.
> Go to the palace and try to get more healing from those nice boys
> See what other kinds of healers or surgeons might be practicing in the city.
> Healing is for the weak. Head straight for those cow stables and rescue those men.

Rolled 5, 1 = 6

>>33150415
>> Ask for volunteers for bloodletting and heal yourself. Roll 2d6.

Rolled 1, 6 = 7

>>33150415
We're not very good at healing, but we do need some.
So, one of the first two options.
> Ask for volunteers for bloodletting and heal yourself. Roll 2d6.
> Go to the palace and try to get more healing from those nice boys

I have no music for surgery or healing.

Rolled 1, 4 = 5

>>33150415
> Ask for volunteers for bloodletting and heal yourself. Roll 2d6.
Nat12 inc

>>33150517
>>33150462
>>33150430
We do... not great. We are not good at healing yet. Need more dice.
probably no mutations though.

>>33150579
I agree. Blood Magic is often useful. We should spend even more time with it.

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>>33150415
You circle the city walls, heading for the gate nearest to the palace. Hillallum, Mannuqappu, and his personal guards follow you. You explain, "I'm going to go in, but not start a fight yet. Just scouting. I'm still just going on the word of one of the king's concubines. I need more information. I need to see for myself." You stumble and feel a sharp ache in your underbelly. You'd almost forgotten about the intenal damage done by the lizard-taur in his death throes. "Oof. And I need some more blood to work with. Will some of you give me some? I have the empty jars and the obsidian tools back with my bundle of things."

Unsurprisingly, Mannuqappu's entire honor guard volunteer at once. They seem not only disciplined, but ambitious, each wanting to outdo the others. Each one wears some extra embellishment in his otherwise plain bronze armor, a fether here, a plume of silk there, the identifying marks of aspiring heroes.

To your surprise, Hillallum also volunteers. "I, well... I'll do it if it'll work better. Does scorpion blood work better?"

"Actually, I'm not sure if it's better or worse. The spell wasn't made to work with anything but human blood. Better not risk it. Anyway, we need you at your strongest."

"All right..."

With an hour or two of work, you collect enough blood from your soldiers to cast Knit the Wound three times and bring you back to full health. Each time you cast it you're convinced that you're going to mess up horribly, but you prove competent enough for the task.

> Go to the palace
> Scout out the old cow stables. Roll 4d6 for stealth.
> Go to the temple of Agni
> Scout out the rest of the city just to see what you can find.

>>33150677
Hillallum is so moe.

Rolled 5, 4, 3, 1 = 13

>>33150677
> Scout out the old cow stables. Roll 4d6 for stealth.
We rock at stealth

>>33150677
Haha we can heal ourselves sort of!
Double rations for troops that helped us.
I'm split between going to the king to ask for a hand and visiting the stables ourselves. We can't really see inside even if we do go, can we?

I say
> Go to the palace
though I do have a strong leaning for
> Scout out the old cow stables. Roll 4d6 for stealth.
if we can be reasonably assured there will be windows or something. Or we're able to climb on buildings without them falling down.

Rolled 5, 2, 3, 3 = 13

>>33150677
> Scout out the old cow stables. Roll 4d6 for stealth.

I wonder if we'll maintain our sneaking ability as we get bigger and bigger.

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>>33150677
You arch your back and stretch your arms and claws. The extensive healing you received left your body a little tense, and it's good to feel that everything's in order and no longer stinging inside. "It's time. I'm going back in. Don't worry, I'll be careful. I don't mean to start anything yet."

"Don't worry? I never need to worry about you!" Mannuqappu says with a chuckle. He doesn't realize that you weren't really talking to him.

You pride yourself on being very sneaky for a creature bigger than a warhorse, but there's only so much you can do in crowded city streets at midday. The people do not fear you, but nor to they draw back in awe of you. They barely even make way for you as they go about their daily lives and do business in their own tongue. Monsters are benign forces to them, defenders of the people and the new social order in place.

As you turn onto a back street across from the old cow stables, you realize that a young girl ha hopped onto you and has been hitching a ride on you. With all the people bumping into you as you walked, you barely felt it. "Hey! get off!" You try to reach her, but neither your hands nor your claws can reach all the way down your back. You try to shake her off. She clearly thinks this is a very fun game. Behind you, a woman yells at the girl and scolds her until she climbs down from your back with a sulking pout.

Now that nobody's riding you, you can return your attention to the stables. They have two stories, with long, shallow ramps curving from the ground to the second floor so animals can reach it. There are tall, very narrow windows that not even an adult human could climb through. There are no doors on this side, but no guards either. When you look through the windows, you see empty sleeping mats on the fine tiled floor.

> Sneak onto the roof. Roll 4d6.
> Sneak onto the second floor. Roll 4d6.
> Peek around the corner to spy on the guards at the front door. Roll 4d6.
> Bust through the wall.

Rolled 5, 5, 4, 4 = 18

>>33150974
no wallbusting yet. Unless we roll low.

> Sneak onto the second floor. Roll 4d6.
Check all the windows along the way. Hopefully, we'll see SOME prisoners.

We still don't know what the heroes look like. I hope we can spot "heroicness".

Rolled 4, 3, 5, 2 = 14

>>33150974
> Sneak onto the second floor. Roll 4d6.

Rolled 4, 3, 1, 5 = 13

>>33150974
> Sneak onto the second floor. Roll 4d6.

Rolled 2, 5, 6, 2 = 15

>>33150974
>Sneak onto the roof
We can totally do it.

If it were any other time, little girl, we would have given you a ride. But we're on a mission.

Can we peak at the guards from around the corner on the second floor? Seems less likely to be noticed.

>>33151166
I just worry about things collapsing under us.

I mean, if it was a mountain or something, no sweat, all the way to the top.

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>>33150974
You get a clawhold on an unsupervised part of the ramp to the second floor and hoist yourself up. The open archway at the end of the ramp is guarded by centaurs, but there's a way in from the roof, so you keep climbing. The beds of dry, cracked earth and withered trees up here are all that remains of a garden that has fallen into disrepair. A ramp leads down to the second floor, which is lined with stables just like the floor below it. Some stables have stockpiles of food and wineskins piled up inside them. Another contains an effigy of a birdlike creature made of bundled sticks and straw. As you're searching, you bump into a centaur with an empty wineskin in hand. Both of you are dumbstruck for a moment.

> Sting him full of Hunzuu's Mercy. Roll 5d6.
> Grab him and interrogate him, though it will probably make more noise. Roll 5d6.

Rolled 1, 5, 4, 4, 2 = 16

>>33151187

> Sting him full of Hunzuu's Mercy. Roll 5d6.
Cover his mouth with our little girl hands while he falls asleep.

Rolled 1, 4, 1, 2, 1 = 9

>>33151187
This stealth-op must go well.

>>33151187
>> Sting him full of Hunzuu's Mercy. Roll 5d6.
We can always kidnap him and interrogate him later, if need be, after he's unconscious.

Also, if we don't need additional information, we can dump piles of wineskins on him to make nobody believe him.

Rolled 1, 6, 4, 2 = 13

>>33151187
> Sting him full of Hunzuu's Mercy. Roll 5d6.

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>>33151187
The struggle is a brief one. You strike him with your long curved stinger, overpower him, and hold his mouth as he loses consciousness, leaving you with only superficial bite marks on your hand. You drag the centaur away and into a stable that you're pretty sure isn't being used for anything. You see that it has some dry bones in one corner, including the horned skull of a bull.

As you continue creeping around the second floor, you find that the only other enemies on this level are the ones guarding the front entrance at the top of the long ramp. Below you you hear muffled voices.

> Put your ear to the ground and try to listen. Roll 3d6.
> Go back down to ground level and look for a window to spy on them through. Roll 4d6
> Steal all their wine

Rolled 3, 6, 6 = 15

>>33151356
>> Put your ear to the ground and try to listen. Roll 3d6.
We've been doing well on understanding garbled speech. Barriers, whether they be language or physical, is no obstacle for us.

>>33151356
> Go back down to ground level and look for a window to spy on them through. Roll 4d6
Spying is go!
We will steal their wine on the way out. And dump it all on the guy we stung.

Rolled 6, 3, 1, 2 = 12

>>33151408
I forgot my roll entirely.

Rolled 4, 1, 6 = 11

>>33151406
Holy cow. Nice roll.
>>33151356

> Put your ear to the ground and try to listen. Roll 3d6.

>>33151356
>Put your ear to the ground and try to listen. Roll 3d6

Rolled 1, 1, 1 = 3

>>33151356
>Put your ear to the ground and try to listen. Roll 3d6.

>>33151548
nice roll

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>>33151356
You carefully roll onto your side and put your ear to the ground. You hear some male voices conversing with each other over the sound of something being dragged along the floor.

"They won't bring us any more. I doubt there even are any more, here at the edge of the world."

"Yeah, and?"

"And we shouldn't hang around here anymore! Their drink is terrible, and soon we'll be out of the good stuff. Their human girls are boring and their snake girls aren't putting out."

"What do you want me to do about it? Orders are orders. Karkesh already went back to the northern group. Probably as soon as Appan-Tammuz comes back, we'll be joining him."

Another, much deeper voice chimes in, "So how many do we have now?"

"Counting Karkesh? It'll be four now."

"Five if we ever crack open Ligish. Maybe six!"

"How many will it take?"

"We'll see..."

> Break through the floor on top of them. Roll 5d6.
> Sneak away. Roll 4d6.
> Sneak around to the ground level and try to have a look at them. Roll 4d6.

Rolled 5, 5, 3, 2, 6 = 21

>>33151684
> Break through the floor on top of them. Roll 5d6.
"Ahh yes, I think you'll be joining him very soon..."

>>33151684
> Break through the floor on top of them. Roll 5d6.

Rolled 4, 6, 1, 5, 4 = 20

>>33151684
>Break through the floor on top of them. Roll 5d6.

If faced with a choice if killing an enemy and saving a Pazuzu shard, save the shard.

They have four apparently, if we can keep them safe/lock them away, it'll be that much harder to wake up the apocalypse.

Rolled 1, 6, 2, 3 = 12

>>33151684
>> Sneak around to the ground level and try to have a look at them. Roll 4d6.
We're trying to find the hostages, here. Rescue comes when we actually physically locate them, until then, sneaking.

Rolled 1, 3, 6, 6, 2 = 18

>>33151816
We'll need to up security if we do that. Otherwise we'll just end up with the world being fucked as soon as they manage to get a single decent sneak-op.

Rolled 4, 5, 4, 1, 3 = 17

>>33151684
>>33151760
forgot roll
appropriate video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar6xC8KM-jk

I love breaking into walls, but I fear we'll make the king angry by doing that.

>>33151864
Well, I hope we at least have some plan for dealing with the fallout for this.

I don't want to be at war with snake dudes, they seem like they could very well be friendly if we don't fuck with them too much.

Either way, try to keep fighting from going any further than here.

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>>33151684
You've waited long enough. This seems like a pretty good opportunity to get the drop on them. You leap into the air and strike the tiled floor with your claw as hard as you can as you fall, which is just enough to collapse the floor and send you and a couple tons of rubble falling down onto them.

In all the confusion, with dust all around you, it's hard to keep your bearings. Spears and swords come at you, and you strike back at the cloudy figures brandishing them. Your claws sink into something wet.

> Back away to where the air is clear and look for hostages.
> Stay in the dust and keep killing everything that attacks you. Roll 5d6.

>>33151950
> Back away to where the air is clear and look for hostages.
Remember your mission objectives!
Well we sort of flubbed those already.
But still! Accidentally killing a hostage would just ruin our day!

Rolled 2, 6, 4, 2, 6 = 20

>>33151950
> Stay in the dust and keep killing everything that attacks you. Roll 5d6.
Can't spell Slaughter without laughter.

>>33151829
Yeah, defiantly. In previous threads, there was talk of some kind of tomb. If Blood Magic can summon spirits from the underworld, can it also trap spirits? Some of the Pazuzu hosts are enemies, locking them away like that would probably be our best option.

As for any friendly hosts, we'll just insure they're guarded like Royalty.

Rolled 6, 1, 2, 1, 3 = 13

>>33151950
>Stay in the dust and keep killing everything that attacks you. Roll 5d6.

Deal with our immediate problem, then find the hostages. I doubt we have to worry about the hostages coming at us and accidently killing them.

>>33151950
> Back away to where the air is clear and look for hostages.

>>33151982
We could try keeping some in our ally cities too.

Also, we're having a very split vote day today.

>>33151964
Well, I'm not so stubborn about it as to hold up the whole quest.
In lieu of a tiebreaker, I'm willing to cede my vote.

>>33152125
Yeah, we suspect that some of these hosts are, in fact, the missing Heros of Zargos. If that's the case, they'll go back to Zargos.

Only now, Zargos will know about the Pazuzu thing, know they're hunted by retards that want to cause the apocalypse and know to guard them against that.

>>33151950
>> Back away to where the air is clear and look for hostages.

>>33152269
I really hope these are the zargos guys with pazuzu stuff in 'em.
Because if they're just entirely unrelated pazuzu hosts, then our entire "missing heroes" lead dissapeared.

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>>33151950
You don't need eyes for this. You know they're having as much trouble in the blinding, choking dust as you are. Whenever a weapon comes into view, you run down its owner and crush him under your legs and claws. You dance from centaur to centaur, then leap toward a red giant and disembowel him as he's winding up for an attack.

"By the dark lady's tits! This one is too strong! Maybe she's one of them, too! Take the prisoners and try to get them to the palace and Appan-Tammuz!"

You rush toward that voice, determined not to let them carry their prisoners away. You see two bearded men bound in chains of rippled red-and-black metal alloy. You block off the nearest archway and repel the men and centaurs rushing toward you with a loud, bloodcurdling hiss.

"Free us!" says the man with the longer beard.
"No!" says the other one, gesturing to his fellow prisoner with his head. "This one is mad. Keep him chained! Just free me and I can help you."

> Free them both. We're all a little mad here.
> Don't free the one you were warned about
> Free only the one you were warned about. Don't free the tattler.
> Keep them both chained. Take them in your claws and carry them off.

>>33152443
> Free them both. We're all a little mad here.

>>33152443
> Keep them both chained. Take them in your claws and carry them off.

Suspicious.

>>33152443
This is a tough decision.
> Keep them both chained. Take them in your claws and carry them off.
for now.
Tell them you'll free them later, first you have to find the others. Are there others?
If no, retreat, and ask why the crazy one is crazy.

>>33152443
>> Keep them both chained. Take them in your claws and carry them off.
Very suspicious
Check them for bear traps

>>33152443
>Keep them both chained. Take them in your claws and carry them off.
We can sort this shit out later, grab 'em and find the other two.

In fact, ask them where the others are.

Also, shout "Appan-Tammuz is dead you fools. I gutted him at the palace a few hours ago!"

Hopefully that will damage their morale. It might stump them if they want to escape. They's have to rethink where they'll escape to.

>>33152549
I don't know about telling them we gutted him. It might be giving them more information than they need right now.

>>33152389
Even if the Heroes aren't here, we still have that 'northern group' lead to follow.

They might have more prisoners with them.

>>33152443
Freeing them both might not be so bad. Or it could be REALLY bad.

Pazuzu folk have the potential to get ded crazy.

This is going to be one of those "truth-telling guard/ lying guard" problems.

>>33152649
I'm fine with freeing both of them, just after we can get them in our camp and not in a city full of civilians.

If the crazy guy is all jack the ripper, then that is the last thing we want to unleash in a city.

>>33152577
I don't see how it can hurt. On of them said "Take the prisoners and try to get them to the palace and Appan-Tammuz!"

We don't want to lose the prisoners and we don't want them running to the palace and telling the king we've been naughty in his city. If they know Appan-Tammuz isn't an option, they're a lot less likely to run to the palace.

We might even cause them pause long enough to grab all the prisoners before they bail.

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>>33152443
You don't have time to puzzle out who's mad and who's not. You seize them both by the chains and haul them away. Red giants are blocking off the doors and trying to keep you at arm's length by swinging their obsidian-studded clubs at you. No matter. You slam sidelong into the nearest exterior wall and bust straight through it. The prisoner in your right claw winces in pain and curses under his breath. You flee just in time before the wall collapses, crushing a centaur who was pursuing you and causing even more confusion.

As you flee for the city gates, the silver-armored naga and her company of city guards cut you off. Their fireballs glow bright white and make the air ripple with heat. "What's the meaning of all this? What are you doing?"

> "Uh, it's a long story. Want to come with?"
> "Fighting crime. You're welcome."
> "These are my countrymen. I'll be taking them back."
> Write-in

>>33152723
>> "These are my countrymen. I'll be taking them back."

>>33152723
>"Fighting crime. You're welcome."

Absolutely nothing can go wrong here.

>>33152723
>"Uh, it's a long story. Want to come with?"
We were going to explain the whole deal to the naga king anyway, if we weren't in such a hurry.
Also, maybe explain a bit of
>"These guys were kidnapped, and I'm taking them back."

>>33152723
> "These are my countrymen. I'll be taking them back."

>>33152723
>"These are my countrymen. They were kidnapped."

Hold them up and show chains.

>"I'm rescuing them. Uh, it's a long story. Want to come with?"

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>>33152723
"These are my countrymen. I'll be taking them back."

The naga follows you as yo keep running. For a heavily armored woman with no legs, she's pretty fast. She grips her spear tightly and frowns at you. "Yes, that would be a good idea. Keep making trouble and your countrymen will truly not be welcome here! I do not question the king, but this whole affair has been trouble. The war is over. We must keep the peace in this new world."

> "I'm going to my camp. You're welcome to kill any of my countrymen who come chasing after me. That will keep the peace faster than anything."
> "Come with us. I'm busy right now, but it'd be good to talk to you."
> "I'd like to bargain with the king now. Can we go there?"

>>33153038
>"Come with us. I'm busy right now, but it'd be good to talk to you."

It's only polite to explain the situation to her. Also, the Naga Police might be more accommodating if they know about the whole END OF THE WORLD thing. Really, the King was weirdly nonchalant about it.

>>33153038

> Come with us. I'm busy right now, but it'd be good to talk to you.

>>33153038
Hm. I'd like to drop these guys off at our camp, but I don't need her staying here covering our escape.

I guess

> "Come with us. I'm busy right now, but it'd be good to talk to you"
Then we can tell her as best we can that we're rescuing these guys, but one says the other may be crazy, and they're both really strong, and they may be your countrymen. It's complicated. We're releasing them at our camp, then we can get to the truth of the matter.

>>33153038
> "I'm going to my camp. You're welcome to kill any of my countrymen who come chasing after me. That will keep the peace faster than anything."

>>33153038
I am sorry about the whole thing, but I aim to preserve everyone's peace.
> "Come with us. I'm busy right now, but it'd be good to talk to you."

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>>33153038
"Come with us. I'm busy right now, but it'd be good to talk to you."

"Yes, letting you get away seems unwise..."

The naga follow you back to your camp, where the men who aren't watching the other gates are quite surprised to see you all arriving at once. There's a lot of commotion as you all try to explain yourselves at once. Hillallum tries to explain how these are two of the missing heroes of Zagros, and Mannuqappu assumes that he's in trouble and proclaims to the naga ow they kept their oaths and didn't enter the city, and the missing soldiers are just out drilling. You try to explain how these men have pieces of an ancient evil monster inside themselves, and Appan-Tammuz and his men were trying to use those pieces for evil but you just want to keep them safe.

The naga in silver listens to you all with an impatient look on her face. "Our king wants no part in wars that don't belong to us, and in this I agree. Will this be the end of your fighting in our city?"

"Yes, I believe so. We should get back soon."

"That would be best. The king may want one of you to stay and keep teaching him about your people, but no more than one. You people fight each other too much."

Neither Hillallum nor Mannuqappu seem interested in stepping forward to volunteer to serve as an ambassador.

> Command a random soldier from Ligish to do it.
> Try to get one of the soldiers from Zagros to do it.
> "You don't need one of us to stay here. Jaya and Kiresh will be coming home some day soon. I'll have them bring one of our people with them."

>>33153375
> "You don't need one of us to stay here. Jaya and Kiresh will be coming home some day soon. I'll have them bring one of our people with them."

I feel bad if we're not able to say goodbye to the king, though. I wanted to ask him about that scary skeleton. and, I guess, apologize about the scuffle in his city. We got a little jumpy when we heard some of our captives were there.

>>33153375
Ask Hillallum for a soldier that would make a good ambassador

>>33153375
Ask for volunteers, and if none speak up:
> "You don't need one of us to stay here. Jaya and Kiresh will be coming home some day soon. I'll have them bring one of our people with them."

>>33153493
Yeah, volunteers are a good strategy.
If nobody wants to stay, then hey, nobody wants to stay.

Maybe find out if those prisoners are our guys.

>>33153515
actually, now that I think about it, a soldier ambassadow might not be the best even. We didn't really bring any ambassadors. Sorry snake.

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>>33153375
"You don't need one of us to stay here. Jaya and Kiresh will be coming home some day soon. I'll have them bring one of our people with them."

The naga nods and adjusts her scale armor. "Fine. The fewer of you the better."

"Let me just talk to the king one more time."

"Only you. The rest still aren't allowed in."

"Sure. And if anyone's chasing me, direct them here. My people will fight them outside!"

You're escorted back to the palace. The king and his court are in the middle of a meal, where a place has been saved for you. He rises on his coils to greet you. "Hunzuu! You are... dusty."

"This one was fighting in the old stables with some of her countrymen," the woman in silver says to the king. "Innocents could have died. We're tightening our control over the area right now."

"Oh dear. Hunzuu, did you achieve what you set out to do?"

"Yes, I did. I freed their prisoners and possibly stopped the world from ending."

"That's very nice." He is indeed very casual about this whole Pazuzu business. Perhaps he doesn't really believe you when you say the world is at stake. "Well, I hope you will stay with us a while longer. Come, sit!"

> Ask him about that half-living skeleton in the depths of the temple
> Commend Jaya to him and recommend that he add her to his harem if she still wants him to
> Request more supplies for your troops
> Ask him anything else you want to know

>>33153672
> Ask him about that half-living skeleton in the depths of the temple

>>33153672
>> Ask him about that half-living skeleton in the depths of the temple
> Request more supplies for your troops

>>33153672
>Ask him about that half-living skeleton in the depths of the temple
>> Commend Jaya to him and recommend that he add her to his harem if she still wants him to

>>33153672
> Ask him about that half-living skeleton in the depths of the temple
What's he done to be treated so harshly? It made me feel horrible to see.
> Ask him anything else you want to know
Do you protect the nearby villages, or just your city? I still advocate watching them more closely.

and finally,
> Commend Jaya to him
It would be too obvious if we straight up told him to add her to his harem, but if we talk her up a bit, well, that could help. She was very good with helping us learn the language, and learning ours.

Those are all the issues I remember needing to take up with him.

Are we going north this expedition, or heading back home first? We may want to inform him either way.

>>33153672

> Ask him about that half-living skeleton in the depths of the temple
> Ask him more generally about how this city state came to be, slave uprising explain
> Segue this into an apology for our actions in riling the city, but link it back to their general desire to see men elevated above the status of mere tools
> Talk general shop about a number of things
> Ask for supplies for your troops, but act as though it's a trade for a representative from Ligish
> Mention Jaya will bring him, and promote the crap out of her.

>>33153796
most of these are solid.

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>>33153672
You carefully step around a line of concubines and take your place near the king. "It should still be warm," says the king. "I made sure not to serve you any meat, only rice and vegetables. I find it fascinating and inspiring how you seek to change yourself."

"Thank you for understanding," you say. This stuff tastes mealy and cloyingly spicy. It's pretty bad. It makes you wish you had a big slab of raw goat in front of you, but you appreciate the gesture and you dare not risk offending your hosts.

You overhear the king talking business with human and naga courtiers, some of which you understand. There is a human tradesman at court who is planning to renovate the temple of Agni, to clean out the sections that can be salvaged and wall off the sections that cannot.

You raise a claw and speak up. "If I may ask, your majesty... I did as you suggested and visited that temple to learn the story of your people. I saw a skeleton kept alive by blood magic. It was in agony..."

"Yes, I hoped you would. He is a very important part of our story. He is - he was - one of the priests of the old order. He committed atrocities against us of the foulest kind. He burned families alive to make room for the building of that temple. He created plagues with magic. He forbade anyone from selling food to those castes he deemed unnecessary. He is one of the three for whom I deemed that death was too kind."

> "Torturing him does no good to anyone now. Will you consider letting him die?"
> "My foster father is a master of using blood magic for torture. Will you let me bring the bones to him? He can devise some even worse torment, I'm sure."
> "I see. It is good to know that the guilty have been punished."

>>33154000
A toughie.
> "Torturing him does no good to anyone now. Will you consider letting him die?"
I mean, death is pretty bad already. That and it gave me all sorts of strange ideas on what your people might be like.

>>33154000
>> "My foster father is a master of using blood magic for torture. Will you let me bring the bones to him? He can devise some even worse torment, I'm sure."

>>33154000

> "My foster father is a master of using blood magic for torture. Will you let me bring the bones to him, or at least a few? He can devise some even worse torment, I'm sure."

No one needs to know that Hunzuu could also ask the Blood Priest to remove the man from his eternal agony. Papa Blood can't say no to the sad scorpion face.

>>33154140
>>33154118
I dunno, it sounds like we'd get our hands caught in the cookie jar if it turns out we didn't actually devise a worse torment.

>>33154000
>"My foster father is a master of using blood magic for torture. Will you let me bring the bones to him? He can devise some even worse torment, I'm sure."

This could be EXTREMELY helpful to us. This is something that can tram and bind a spirit even after the body has died.

If we could use than on the enemy Hosts, then seal them away in a secret place, we could derail the apocalypse!

With practice, Blood Dad might be able to bind the Shard without binding the soul of the Host. That way, we could use this on all the Hosts, even our friends.

After they live and die naturally, we just seal away their bodies with the Pazuzu shard still attached.

>>33154164

We can always tell them that it was not possible to devise a worse punishment. We aren't good enough at lying to tell the king that releasing him was an accident, but we could send a messenger to relay that message if need be, one who only new the truth we fed him.

>>33154216
so, a plan would be keep him sedated with our excess venom, and show him off when they arrive that "yeah, he's still totally in torment, see?"

Though, this is all a moot point, because he probably wouldn't let us take his temple centerpiece.

>>33154199
Couldn't we just get the pazuzu shard to come out as a creature on their death, like with that blight beast, and then seal the shard?

>>33154000

> "My foster father is a master of using blood magic for torture. Will you let me bring the bones to him? He can devise some even worse torment, I'm sure."

Blood Priest would appreciate the gift and the knowledge it brings. We should peek into his head at some point with the glove if nothing else.

>>33154000
>"My foster father is a master of using blood magic for torture. Will you let me bring the bones to him? He can devise some even worse torment, I'm sure."

Oh ho, he will like this.

>>33154252

How does one sedate a skeleton?

>>33154317
we did it before. We just sort of put the venom on the parts that are horrible blood worms.

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>>33154000
"My foster father is a master of using blood magic for torture. Will you let me bring the bones to him? He can devise some even worse torment, I'm sure."

The king's eyes light up. "Even worse, you say? And you must be speaking true about his skill in blood magic. He made you what you are now, yes?"

"Yes. I was just a beggar girl before he changed me."

"This will seem like a gift to you, but truly it is you who are giving a great gift to me. Take them. Let your father use all his genius and all his imagination and put it to work on what remains of that man. I will be in your debt. Some of us worked in petty blood magic before the secret came to us from the sea, but we are still learning. None of us are as experienced as your father must be. Tell me, what can we do for you in return."

"Well... All we really need is more provisions for our journey home. And your friendship."

"Of course!"

"When Jaya returns to you, she'll bring a diplomat from our people to take the place of Appan-Tammuz. She has done very well. Very, very well. You should be proud of her."

"Indeed I am. I transformed her myself, you know. Gods willing, she will serve me well for years to come."

> Ask him more about this region and its history
> Make more requests of him
> Just have girl-talk with the concubines until the meal is over, then go to collect the bones

>>33154280
It seems that the wasp HAS a shard, rather than BEING a shard.

Since it's been confirmed by a Goddess that the Shards return to Pazuzu when the Host dies.

I don't think the blight demon was ever a Host. It was just a cocoon holding the wasp, or something. That's a bit unclear. We may never know the details.

>>33154339
>> Ask him more about this region and its history

>>33154339

> Ask him more about this region and its history
> "You said that he was one of three men. Who were those others, and how did such monstrous men come to be?"

>>33154339
either girl talk, or history lessons.

>>33154339
>Just have girl-talk with the concubines until the meal is over, then go to collect the bones

Don't bug the King for any more favours. Best to quit while we're ahead.

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>>33154339
"You said that he was one of three men. Who were those others, and how did such monstrous men come to be?"

The king eats morsels of meat in between parts of his story "The second man was a commander in the soldier caste, who took any excuse to cut down my people. I had something nice made from his skull and spine. They tell me he can still see, so I painted a nice mural opposite the rack where I keep him. And the third man was my master once. I was a butcher in his household. And... well... you've seen what became of him. Seen and tasted."

"And how large is your realm? Is it just this city, or the outlying villages?"

"Three cities and a handful of towns, all told. None as majestic as this one. But each one was just as full of people hungry for justice. Once this city fell, the rest was easy."

"Can we talk about something else?" asks a concubine.

> Take the hint and steer the conversation toward less bloody things.
> "But I probably won't be here much longer! Tell me more about the revolution. Maybe I can learn from it."

>>33154550
>> "But I probably won't be here much longer! Tell me more about the revolution. Maybe I can learn from it."

>>33154550

> Take the hint and steer the conversation toward less bloody things.

>>33154550
>Take the hint and steer the conversation toward less bloody things.

Be the gracious Scorpion. Don't make our hosts uncomfortable with unpleasant conversation topics.

>>33154550
>> Take the hint and steer the conversation toward less bloody things.
Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to wreck the dinner conversation. We'll find out more about the revolution later. We'll ask our snake friends back at home, why not.

>>33154550
>"But I probably won't be here much longer! Tell me more about the revolution. Maybe I can learn from it."

Soon.

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>>33154550
You struggle to think of something to talk about that doesn't involve blood and murder. "So... tell me about those big round beds you sleep in! Those look nice. I have trouble finding places to sleep. When I'm traveling, I'll just dig a hole in the ground!"

"Oh, of course! They're lovely. The one made for the king's first wedding night was made of wicker, but we broke that one really fast!" Everyone giggles, even some of the human courtiers. "So the new ones are made of saplings."

You nod. "Yeah, I noticed there's so much wood here! Wood is scarce where I'm from. There's a forest, but we can't go there. The gods live there. We got in big trouble the last time we went near it. So now there's even an order of rangers dedicated to keeping people away from it!"

The idea of gods living in a physical place that can be pointed out on a map is somewhat of a foreign idea to these people, and they react with a mix of fascination and condescension as you tell them about your gods and their history.

After the meal is ended, the king decides to let your men into the palace for a night, because "None should come so close to the splendor of our culture only to be denied a look at it." You go to the temple the next morning and collect the mass of bones and writhing red vermin in a cloth bundle. As you look into the skull, you wonder what the Blood Priest will do with it. Is the end of this ma's pain, or only the beginning?

> I'm going to break here. Thanks for following!

>>33154855
Good run, anu!
And those guys are totally lucky to not have our gods. Ours are into flooding the world.

>>33154855

Thanks for another cool thread, Anu. I was sad you had problems running it earlier.

>>33155000
yeah, real life interruptions are always a problem.

Anyways, I wonder where we're off to next thread. It's been a while since we were home. And we don't know if the guys we rescued were the heroes we're after.

>>33155030
They were. Hillallum said so. There's a third guy you didn't find, though. You'll probably ask about him next thread.

>>33155088
Sounds good. Probably form up north.
We'll have to release those two to their hero friends, too.

>>33155088
Uh, are you archiving this time around?

>>33155388
Almost forgot. Archived now

>>33155727
Very good. Have a good rest!