>>36820577

You don’t make it far before you hear a strange voice coming from the sand. Your group stops as you try to pinpoint where the voice is coming from.

“Urgent messag- Request for Captain Dera…” Is repeated endlessly in the same female's voice, over and over again.

The culprit for the noise is found, as an almost completely buried female’s body is found in the sand.

You waste no time to dig her out. “Are you alright!?” You ask as you push armfuls of sand off of her.

“Urgent messag- Request for Captain Dera…” She states vacantly at you, parts of her face have peeled away to reveal strange metal and strings.

“Do you need water?” You try to lift her body out of the sand only to find it to be heavier than that of a grown man’s.

The odd message is relayed once again.

You heave at her body for minutes, exerting yourself greatly only to move her a few feet. "Come on! Answer!" You yell, fruitlessly.

Autumn turns away from the sight, unable to look any longer.

“Leave her, Ed.” Vi says quietly. “I don’t think she’s there anymore.”

“Is she dying?” Cecilia inquires, staring at the naked woman.

“I don’t know.” You answer honestly, stopping your efforts.

No matter what you do, she only repeats her message. You’d like to take her, but her sheer weight makes the task near impossible.

>Leave her

>Write in.

>>36820649
Touch the red strings in her face together.

>>36820743
>Writing
Given that there is only one player, only one update will be written until more players join. Otherwise the thread will end early :_;

>>36820810

You’re not giving up on her just yet. She stares vacantly off into the distance as her mouth moves to the words she endlessly chants.

A few colored strings in her face poke out the peeled skin opening, a completely foreign sight, and the only thing that makes her different a normal human besides her bizarre weight. You reach forward and touch two intact red strings together, maybe it may cause her some pain and snap her out of whatever trance she is in.

The strings touch together and nothing happens.

“Urgent messag- Request for Captain Dera…” Is repeated once again and you rub your eyes in frustration.

“Ed, leave her! She’s not alive and she never was.” Autumn yells without turning to look at you or the woman.

Autumn seems strangely upset about the whole sight, but you suppose that it is a miserable way to waste time. The woman seems unwilling or unable to accept your help and standing around in the dry heat isn’t helping any of your party.

>Move on.

>Write in.

>>36821108
>"How do you know? Have you seen something like this before?"

>>36821108
seconding >>36821182

>>36821108
>Identify yourself as Captain Dera
it's not like Autumn is going to remember anything from her past besides vague feelings

>>36821182
>>36821253
>Writing

>>36821311
Let's do this after then.

>>36821321

You pluck Vi off your shoulder and approach Autumn. “How do you know?” You ask in a hushed whisper. “Have you seen something like this before?”

She looks at you with tear soaked eyes. “I don’t remember, it’s just something I know.” She turns away, not wanting you to see her in such a state.

Not wanting to press the issue, you place a hand on her shoulder. “We’re heading out again.” You announce to the rest of your party.

The rest of your party somberly follows your orders and begin traveling again.

“Wait.” Autumn demands suddenly and then marches over to the woman’s body. “This is Captain Dera, transmit your message.” She says in a clear and firm voice.

The woman, still reciting her message, is suddenly silenced. She focuses her stare on Autumn.

“Verifying identity…Identification software offline, identification impossible, relaying message. Message issued on 321.2702 T.E.” Her eyes close and then her mouth moves to another woman’s voice. “Mathias, our ship’s warp drive is completely broken and we’re out of supplies. The kids and I will be in cryo-sleep awaiting your arrival. I left the coordinates with Diana, please come quickly, love.”

Diana opens her eyes once again. “Message terminated.” She states simply.

Autumn stoops her shoulders and sighs. “Requesting current date.”

“Internal timers indicate that the current date is 104.11350 T.E.” Diana answers.

“Current systems?” Autumn presses.

“All systems have sustained irreparable damage. Power critically low.”

Autumn straightens her body out. “Shut down.” She says as she walks away from the woman without another word.

“Mission complete, shutting down.” Diana says as she closes her eyes and a small smile appears on her face. She remains unmoving, unspeaking. If she was ever alive, she most certainly isn’t now.

Your group leaves the strange woman and follow Autumn in silence.
[1/2]

>>36822113

~
“Here it is!” Cecilia announces happily as she places her hand on what appears to be nothing but air. “We could get a really good vantage point from the top of it.” She continues as she suddenly starts climbing what appears to be an invisible ladder.

You and Erin are stunned with mouths agape.

“You still can’t see it?” Cecilia turns to face you with only one hand gripping the ladder. “Follow me then, I’ll be your guide.” She giggles.

The prospect of climbing something invisible puts you at unease, but not knowing how high the climb is truly makes chills run down your body. But if it truly is a good vantage point, the information it could provide might be invaluable.

>Follow her.

>Remain on the ground.

>Write in.

>>36822138
>Follow her

>>36822138
>Follow her.
What's the worst that could happen besides plummeting to our death

>>36822192
>>36822259
Roll 1d20, best of three.

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>36822290
Oh god

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>36822290

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>36822290

Fuuuuuck

>>36822375
>Writing

>>36822405
Crap I get here just as we fall to out doom.

>>36822405

“I’m in your hands.” You respond nervously. Erin grabs hold of your arm and give you a look like you’ve lost your mind. You take a page from her book and shrug, not entirely sure if you’ve made the right decision. “You want to come with?”

She vehemently shakes her head in response, her brown hair flicking from one side to the other. You turn to Autumn. “Could you stay with Erin?” You ask not wanting to leave Erin by herself.

Autumn immediately accepts and turns to Erin. “Let’s relax in the shade and let them do that annoying and not fun climbing.” She says masking her true reason for not wanting to climb.

"I'll stay down here too." Vi flies over to Autumn.

You approach where Cecilia started and reach out slowly. To your surprise, your hand finds the solid rung of what feels like a ladder. A few moments and a few tenuous movements later, you’re finally climbing. Your heart begins to thump violently once you make it about twenty feet off the ground.

“Don’t look down.” You tell yourself, but looking forward and seeing an unobstructed view of a large portion of the sand garden doesn’t serve as any more comfort.

Your whole body is as you begin to shake like never before in your life. Your palms and feet tingle with fear. At about sixty feet above the ground you shout to Cecilia “How much further!?”

“We’re almost there!” She laughs as she hangs off the ladder with one arm to answer your question.

Thankfully, she’s telling the truth as a few feet later she climbs off onto what you hope is a large flat area with high railings.

Your heart skips as your arm reaches up to grab another rung and finds nothing. Luckily, Cecilia pulls you onto the top of the tower as you stumble and then clutch to her for dear life.

“Hahahaha, Ed, you’re okay now.” She reassures you and helps you to your feet. “Look!” She points off into the distance.
[1/2]

>>36823278

The sight around you is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Miles upon miles of perfect combed sand, all leading off in various directions like dozens of snakes. Colossal boulders sit by themselves in the nothingness. An oasis a few miles off catches your eye. A large body of water surrounded by distinct green, sticks out clearly in the distance.

“That would make a good target.” You say pointing toward it.

“What would?” Cecilia inquires as she peers into the distance. “That rock?”

“No, that oasis. Can’t you see it?” You insist.

“Hmm, I don’t see anything" She stares off into the distance for a little longer. "But I believe you.” Cecilia turns to look off in another direction.

Once the both of you have had your fill, you begin your nerve-wracking descent. You try to calm your mind and body by telling yourself it’s a safer than going up.

In your haste to reach the bottom you move your hand before you finding proper footing. Your foot misses the rung and causes you to slip off the ladder.

“ED!” You hear Cecilia shout after you as she becomes a smaller and smaller sight.

The whooshing wind rips across your body before you close your eyes in expectation of death.

A shattering impact causes you to open your eyes as you briefly think it’s your body that shattered. Several times you feel this before you realize it’s not the ground you’re hitting but plates of ice.

THUD. “There’s the ground.” You think as your head goes numb from the impact. Your torso is filled with throbbing pain, and your eyes won’t open as consciousness slips, but you’re alive.

~

The sun has all but set before you open your eyes again, you lie alone by a small fire. You try to sit up, but the soreness in your body forces you back down.

Where could everyone have gone?

You call out.

>Cecilia

>Autumn

>Vi

>Erin

>Anyone.

>Write in

>>36823312
>Cecilia
....
>Autumn
......
>Erin
.......
>Vi
....
>Anyone?
...........
And i'm alone........ Grrrrreat.

>>36823488
>Wrting

We're alone, in more than one way. One update until more players come.

File: sp2.jpg (122 KB, 867x921)

122 KB JPG

>>36823560

You call out for all members of your party, but find yourself to be totally alone. With much effort you flip yourself onto your stomach and then with a great deal of throbbing pain, stand yourself up.

The sudden flow of blood causes your head to beat in pain at the same pace as your heartbeat. A quick look over of your body tells you that no bones are broken, it just feels as if you were ran over by several horses. You kneel awkwardly to pick up your swords.

The sound of a commotion attracts your attention. In the light of the setting sun, you make out your group members fighting a creature that appears to be a giant scorpion in the distance. Your sense of duty propels you into a modest jog, with your muscles aching with each step.

Your charge is stopped as you crash into seemingly nothing. “We didn’t go too far from the tower I see.” You grumble as begin you pick yourself up.

Suddenly the sand near you begins to shake as a large dark brown shape appears. Another large scorpion shakes off the remaining sand off its carapace as it stares at you with its many beady eyes, its claws slowly open and close. The large stinger dangles menacingly over its body.

You stiffly unsheathe the warden’s sword. Perhaps you’re not in the best condition to be fighting this beast, but you have little other options. Your back presses against the invisible tower as you stare down the scorpion, the fire behind it causing its shadows to loom long.

>Attack

>Run to rejoin your group.

>Write in.

>>36824099
>Attack
Guess I killed the quest when I came in sorry Auri....

>>36824132
No, no, no, absolutely not. It's not any of the players' fault that it's like this.

>>36824099
>Attack


>>36824132
No. I just try to stay out of the voting with this quest. I assume there are others doing the same.

>>36824099
>Force scorpion into the fire by attacking
Sorry auri, I was out running errands

>>36824132
>>36824229
>>36824266
Roll 1d20, best of three.

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>36824297

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>36824297

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>36824297

>>36824320
Ok so we can kill a giant scorpion but not climb down an invisible ladder? Good to know.

>>36824320
>Writing

>>36824342
We're used to fighting things, not climbing magic towers.

>>36824369
Obviously. So any of you guys know why some of us can see some things but not others? Like the different timelines we were grabbed from shaping our prospectives in this place?

>>36824399
I read about sand gardens the other day and theyre all about perspective, maybe auri is doing something with that

>>36824349

You’re keen on disposing of this beast quickly to help out the rest of your party and the fire behind him gives you an idea on just how to do so.

A wide swing from your sword pushes the scorpion back a few steps as you had hoped, and you’re able to pull your back away from the tower. Another wide swing gains you more ground as you advance cautiously, keeping an eye on claws and stinger.

The scorpion lashes back with a claw, an attempt to grab your leg. You jump clumsily to dodge, crashing into the ground and sending sand flying into the air. You clutch a handful and throw it at the face of the beast which does little, so you rise back to your feet.

The injuries that you’ve sustained make killing the creature a much more difficult task than it normally would be. Your swings are slower and your footwork is messy, but thankfully you have plenty of experience. A series of thrusts forces the scorpion right where you want him. You lunge forward, sending the scorpion scrambling back onto the fire, with the flames burning the underside of his body.

A high-pitched chitter screeches out into the air as the scorpion rolls off the flames. You take advantage of its distracting pain and slash, carving off large chunks in a rain of its own blood clumping with the sand. Its panicked rolling soon ceases and then only a few of its limbs remain twitching in the air.

Once you are sure of its death, you turn quickly to help your group, only to find them running to help you themselves. You sheathe your sword and walk toward them stiffly, the adrenaline fading from your body causing the pain to return in full force.
[1/?]

>>36825512

“Ooof” You collapse to the ground in pain as Erin tackles you into a hug.

“I’m so sorry!” She shouts into your stomach as the rest of your group approaches.

“We didn’t know how many of them there were and before we knew it, we were separated from you.” Autumn stops near you, huffing to catch her breath. “I’m so glad to see that you’re okay.’

“Yes, yes. I’m quite fine, incredibly sore, but fine.” You stare down at the young mage still clinging to your body. “Thanks to you, Erin.” You say and she clenches your body tighter, making you want to shout in pain, but you endure it.

“That’s quite enough now, or did you miss the sore part?” You give out a strained chuckle as Autumn helps you to your feet.

Vi lands on your shoulder. “You’ll be really feeling it in the morning, and you deserve it for falling, you fool.”

“It was worth the view.” Cecilia chimes in. “Ed said that he saw an oasis.”

You nod in confirmation. “A few miles north of here, but we’ll leave that for tomorrow.” You walk back to the campfire and settle your weary body next to it, forgetting the fact that an eviscerated giant scorpion is lied next to you, you quickly fall asleep.

[2/3]

>>36825545

~

You awaken in the late morning to find yourself clutching the long brown stinger of the scorpion. You’re quick to fling it from your body, only to realize that such a movement wasn’t the wisest choice. The muscles in your shoulder scream at you for doing so and then a squirt of fluid shoots out from an opening in the scorpion.

Motivated by disgust, you roll away from the carcass and rise to your feet.

“Oh, finally awake are you?” Vi flies nearby. “We were going to wake you up earlier, but you just looked so adorable clinging onto your friend there.” She hardly finishes her sentence before bursting into her usual laughter, with her bare legs kicking in the air.

She recovers. “Ahhh, but we should be off soon to reach this oasis you saw. We’re starting to run out of water and the mage…”She points with her leg at Erin in the distance. “Says it’s a lot of effort to create ice in a place like this.”

You think that it would be good to be headed out soon, but you want to give your body a chance to get rid of some of its soreness before leaving, it has been quite a while since you’ve had a chance to speak to your group and you do have some things you want to discuss.

>Head out now.

>Speak with Vi about what she knows about this piece.

>Speak with Erin about her magic.

>Speak to Autumn about the woman from yesterday.

>See if Cecilia has something she wants to talk about.

>Write in

>>36825589
>Speak with Vi about what she knows about this piece.
We seem to see different things that are there but can or can't be visible.....

>Speak to Autumn about the woman from yesterday.
Anything I need to know or that you need help with?

>Speak with Erin about her magic.
You gonna be ok?


>See if Cecilia has something she wants to talk about.
Anything on your mind afore we head out?


Just make the convoes quick we're burning in the daylight.

>>36825589
>>36825665
Do as many of these as we can before we have to head out with priority being Vi>Erin>Autumn>Ceclila.

>>36825665
>>36825747
Was supposed to be one before heading out, but I'll squeeze in two. Vi and Erin.
>Writing

File: vi2.jpg (135 KB, 706x1000)

135 KB JPG

>>36825803

“Before that…” You let Vi land on the back of your hand and raise her to eye level. “What do you think about this piece? We seem to see different things, or rather, different things are visible to each of us. Nothing like that happened in the forest.”

Vi leans back on her hands and raises her head up in thought. “I feel magic around here, other than that constantly emitted from the sorceress. It’s getting stronger as we walk further into this piece.” She lowers her head to look at you. “The effects will be stronger the more we venture into here. Who knows what that may do to us?”

“But if you’re able to detect it, won’t we be able to know if we’re under its influence?” You ask the small fairy.

“We don’t just how much we’re under its influence right now, Ed, but she might.” Vi nods toward Erin. “But, even she can’t we have no choice to pursue it, it will likely lead us to this piece’s warden.”

You let her off your hand. “Thanks, Vi. I’ll go ask her about it right now.” You head toward Erin.

“Make it quick, Ed. I’m a forest fairy, not a desert fairy.” She calls after you.
[1/2]

File: er2.png (555 KB, 680x970)

555 KB PNG

>>36826403

As you approach Erin, you find her busy making some strange series of hand motions, which she quickly stops as soon as you’re nearby.

“You alright?” You ask jokingly.

To your surprise she quickly shakes her head. “It’s dry…and hot.” She says with a grimace tugging at her robes.

You laugh in relief. “We’ll be in a place with a lot of water soon.” You pause for a second. “Is there anything else bothering you?”

She takes a moment to think about her question, but shakes her head.

“That’s great.” You smile. “There’s something else I need to ask you, Erin.”

Her piercing blue eyes stare back at you and then she gives a quick sharp nod.

You motion around you. “When we entered this piece, did you sense any new magic?”

“Yes.” She answers almost immediately.

“Is it getting stronger as we travel?” You press on.

She nods in confirmation and tugs at the neck of her robes. You can tell she’s quite uncomfortable just standing around, so you decide to finish your conversation later.

“I’ll be counting on you to keep us safe from it, so let’s head out before you overheat.” You motion for her to follow you, and she keeps up at your side.

She stares at the side of your body, while you walk to gather the rest of your group. “Do I have to protect you from the magic that’s in your arm too?” She asks curiuosly.
~

>>36826438
Okay, that's where I'm calling it for today. Thank you to everyone that played. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them in the thread, and I will around to answer them.

If not, then as always, take care and I hope to see you next time!

>(Twitter)
https://twitter.com/QM_Auri
>(Previous threads)
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=otherworldly+arboretum

>>36826477
Thanks for running.

>>36826477
Only Question is how long will it take our back to heal. Thanks for running Auri.

>>36826477
Thanks for running auri
Are you still planning on starting another quest soon?

>>36826498
You're very welcome!
>>36826502
Given that your fall was broken significantly by Erin's ice, you should be at a hundred percent within two more days. Also, you're welcome!
>>36826557
You're welcome too!
It's in the works, but I'm still undecided whether or not I will run it. If I do decide to, I will post when on the twitter.