>>37530924

You cup your chin with your hands in thought. Indeed, if you had left the others behind, they would not be as physically and mentally injured as they are right now. But, the thought of them being attacked while left behind, or needing their help in a similar situation only serves to stir up doubt in your mind.

Autumn senses your confliction and tilts her head to better look at you. “The two of us could try sneaking in attacking right now. That warden probably thinks us too injured to attack again so soon.”

“Attack…” You say quietly, mulling over the thought. Perhaps attacking now would give you an advantage, but as you look at the state of the rest of your group, reservation brews inside you anew.

You are indeed the leader, and as such, it falls on you to make a decision in order to move forward.

>Reject, wait until your whole group has recovered to try again.

>Accept, sneak attack tonight.

>Write-in

>>37530953

>Accept, sneak attack tonight.

>>37530953
>Accept, sneak attack tonight.
Time to catch him with his pants down.

>>37531065
>>37531147
>Writing

>>37531204

Anger rises inside you. Without turning to look at Autumn you give your reply. “I agree. Tonight it is.”

She nods in reply and gives you a sympathetic look, knowing full well the weight of the decision. “We’ll leave whenever you’re ready.” She gazes upwards to the night sky in thought. “I wonder if he sleeps.”

You stand and brush off the front of your clothes. You clear your throat to gather the whole group’s attention. “Autumn and I are going to sneak in and hopefully end this tonight.”
The group silently digests what you told them until finally, a voice speaks up.

“While I don’t agree with what you’re doing…” Vi sits up slowly wincing in pain, tears forming in her eyes from the strain. “I am in no shape to contribute to a different plan.”

She pauses for a moment to collect her breath and then gives you a serious stare. “We’ll be fine here, so be sure to focus on the task at hand.” She eagerly lies back down. “Idiot.”

A slight grin forms on your face. “We’ll be careful.”

Autumn stands and steps forward. “If we do get caught, it’d be good to know what to expect. Just what exactly did you see when he had you all under his illusion?”

“Don’t remember.” Cecilia calls out quickly and nonchalantly, still petting the pup.

“I don’t exactly remember either.” Vi calls out from her supine position. “I do remember that I wanted it off me, desperately.”

Erin simply shakes her head, whether saying she doesn’t remember as well, or in refusal to talk about it, you don’t know, and you don’t feel like pressing the issue.

Autumn sighs. “Well, I guess we’ll be leaving now.”

The group quietly wishes the two of you well.

“Let’s go.” You begin walk back to the fortress.
~
[1/2]

>>37532213

The light from the stars casts a pale purple light into the fortress vestibule. The serene setting of ancient ruins awash in this light belies the violence that you’ve experienced here.

You and Autumn creep through the vestibule carefully to not make any noise. Autumn is much quicker than you in this, and you find yourself trailing behind often. She’s had experience with this sort of thing.

Once past the door where you last saw Talrith, the two of you discover an enormous hall that stretches far off to both your left and right.

The two sides of the hall are very similar, but have their clear differences.

The path stretching far to the left has the occasional candle illuminating a few spots of the hall as well many open doors.

On the other hand, the path on the right has no illumination by candles, but instead has very large glass windows that allow for a great amount of the pale purple light to pour in. The right path is also is much better condition structurally.

Autumn turns to you. “Split up?” She tilts her head.

>Split up

>Stay together

Choose which path you and/or Autumn goes on.

>Left path.

>Right path.

>>37532236

>Stay together
>Left

>>37532236
>Split up.
Autumn to left.
Ed to right.

>>37532236
>Stay together
>Left

>>37532304
>>37532372
>Writing

woo made off work in time for this!

File: rg1.jpg (57 KB, 500x408)

57 KB JPG

>>37533040
Good to have you.
>>37532435
Although splitting up would make for quicker searching, it would leave the both of you more vulnerable to attack.

You shake your head. “Better not.” You turn to the left path. “This way.” You state firmly.

Autumn nods and the two of you set off.

Rubble and candle stands litter the floor of this path and a thick layer of dust has collected on all sides.

You stop to suppress a sneeze, while Autumn grins at the awkward face you make in the process.

The flames on the candles flicker lazily as the shadows that you cast are slightly warped because of it.

It’s possible that the candles are always lit, but the two of you would rather err on side of caution and proceed at meticulously slow pace, to not alert anyone who’s possibly nearby.

Eventually you reach the first of the open doors and slowly slide your body close to peer inside.

Nothing.

It’s just an empty, unadorned room collecting dust, so you move onto the next room.

The pace that Autumn sets is hard to keep up with, but you do your best. Since you haven’t heard nor seen any signs of life nearby you feel more comfortable making a small amount of noise.

Both of you take care to step over the large door that sits rotting on the ground and peer inside the next room.

You find yourself staring in disbelief as behind the doorway lies a strange grotto.

Large orange rocks surround a slow flowing pool of deep blue water. Soft mosses cover weathered rocks but there’s no life in sight. The whole scene reminds of the oasis your group visited.

“Why is this here?” Autumn quietly asks the question for you.

While you could take the time to properly search in this small grotto in hopes of answering your question, you must consider that there are yet other rooms to be seen and above all else you set out to find Talrith while it was still night. You can return here later, but excessive backtracking is sure to eat up time.

>Search the grotto.

>Move on.

>Write in.

>>37533292
>Search the grotto
Stick something in the water to make sure it IS water.

>>37533292
>Move on.
Probably a trap made with illusions. We can come back if we find nothing else.

>>37533292
>Search the grotto.
Inb4 cooler things that we can't search later because of time.

>>37533358
>>37533408
>Writing

>>37533478

You step into the grotto. “Let’s look around and see if we can figure out.”

The two of you search around to see if there’s anything to find. The steady pouring of water calms you and for a brief moment you forget about the events of the day. The pool of water reflects the stars above almost perfectly and watching Autumn reach into the pool is like seeing someone successfully grab at the stars.

The thought of which world you’re suddenly comes back to mind. “Wait.” You warn her as she stops only inches away from touching the many stars.

You pull off a few small clumps of moss with your left hand and drop them into the pool. The clumps simply float on the surface for a few moments before sinking underneath. Autumn now hesitantly reaches into the water, but finds it to be nothing more than that.

She playfully sends ripples across the surface of the pool while you move on to finish your search. You find nothing and prepare to leave when a small bundle resting on a high rock catches your eye.

You approach and find that the bundle is simply a pile of tiny thin dresses similar to the one that Vi wears, only a bit smaller. A small doll is found at the bottom of the pile, its wings lets you know that it was once property of a fairy. Finally beneath all of that is a small note scratched into repeatedly into the rock itself.

“I don’t want to die.”

[1/2]

>>37534230

You put everything back down, while you have your suspicions of what all this means, you wish Vi was here so that you could be more sure.

You scratch at your left hand and approach Autumn. “Let’s move on.” You continue to scratch at your almost unbearably itchy left hand.

She raises an eyebrow and points your hand. “Something wrong?”

You raise your hand to better examine what happening with it. At first you see nothing apparently wrong with it, but then spot the some of the scabs you received as result of the gate begin to fall off.

“It’s healing.” You say in bewilderment. Your mind races for what the cause may be and then instantly remember picking the moss with this hand.

You pull more clumps of the moss with your hand and clench it in your hand for a few minutes to test. All the while it itching terribly, but when you finally open your hand you see that the tiny wounds have healed a decent amount.

“Cecilia and Vi could use this.” Autumn announces as she begins to pull up clumps. The both of you take as much as your pockets will carry.

It’s time to move on.

>Continue down the same path.

>Backtrack to the other path.

>Write in.

>>37534259
>Continue down the same path.

Also heal moss! woo!

>>37534259
>Continue down the same path.

>>37534259
>Continue down the same path.
Good shit, healing moss

>>37534324
>>37534359
>>37534400
>Writing

>>37534448

“Let’s keep going this way.” You tilt your head to indicate your desired path. The whole experience with the rock grotto has left you feeling more confident in yourself.

As you and Autumn continue down the hall, you notice that it appears to be slightly less covered in dust, but still just as rundown structurally.

The two of you make quick work clearing through the hall, finding that most of the rooms are completely devoid of anything but the walls holding them up.

“I hope he’s actually here.” Autumn whispers her doubts to you after you find yet another empty room.

The concept of splitting up becomes more appealing to you as wonder how much longer you’ll have the cover of darkness as an advantage.

The two of you approach a room with candlelight streaming out from it. You take extra caution when approaching the room and slowly peer inside.

Inside you see a large room that would be best described as a gallery. Several candle sticks line a path throughout the room illuminating the numerous canvases. The canvases that you can see all appear to be ruined, but there are more out of view.

As far as you can tell there isn’t much that interests you inside this room.

Autumn finishes her look inside. “If you want to take a look around, I could go down and check out the other rooms. It should save us some time, and if I find anything I’ll come get you.”

Exploring as much as you can could be beneficial, but splitting up could be potentially dangerous in case one of you falls under an illusion.

Choose one from each.

>Stay together.

>Split up.

&

>Search the gallery.

>Move on.

>Write in.

>>37535003
>Split up.
>Search the gallery

>>37535003
>>Split up.

>Search the gallery

>>37535003

>Stay together
>Search the gallery

>>37535056
>>37535101
Splitting up and searching the gallery.
>Writing.

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141 KB JPG

>>37535234

“Alright.” You agree to her plan. “I won’t be long so be sure that you hurry on back.”

She smiles. “Got it.” She responds back enthusiastically and skulks off quietly but now with great speed not having to wait for you.

You take your first step into the gallery and find that it makes a loud echo. Your whole body tenses as you mentally chastise yourself for not noticing the marble floor of the gallery. A few moments of waiting to the side of the doorway without incident lets you know that you still haven’t been discovered.

Now carefully measuring the weight of your steps; you move on. The numerous standing candles cause your shadow to be casted in numerous directions as you explore. The candle flames hardly move, as if serving as the guards of the room.

Your eyes gaze upon ruined canvas after ruined canvas, the paintings lost to ever marching time, but the ornate frames of gold let you know that they were all highly valued at one point in far past. The ruination being held by gilded frame.

After many minutes of walking past crumbling paintings, you begin to think that there’s nothing of note in this room until your eyes gaze upon the last painting at the end of the room.

A grand painting of a woman with fiery hair breathing life into a crumbling being. You stand in awe observing the scene in front of you taking in all the details of the setting sun and the forest surrounding them.

A long time passes with you trying to draw meaning from the painting, but try as you might, your mind seems to be constantly only a step away from solving its meaning. Something important, something vital, displayed right in front of you, yet kept out of sight at the same time.

Frustration builds up inside you and you tear your eyes away from it. If only you had more time, maybe then you could solve it, but sadly, you don’t.

>Leave the room.

>Write in.

>>37535819
>Leave the room.
Not muc choice unless someone else has an idea, because I sure as hell don't

>>37535819
>Leave the room.
A lot of time passed there and Autumn still isn't back.

>>37535819
The sorceress? Something about she's dying and she needs to transfer power to someone to make the world whole? She's bringing them here for a trail of worth maybe?

I'm certain she's the sorceress is the crumbling figure Ed?

>>37536012
That's some wild speculation there. I like it, continue

>>37535931
>>37535968
>Writing

>>37536085
Sorry got voted down.

>>37536101

You let out an exasperated sigh and move on without giving the painting another look. While you did lose track of time, you know that you spent much more time than you should have in there and should find Autumn as soon as you can.

As you step into the hall Autumn comes sidling up to you with great speed. “I found him, Ed.” She whispers to you hurriedly and points down the hall. “He was meditating or praying or something, but he didn’t notice me at all.”

Your heart begins to quicken in pace. “Are you sure?” You question her.

“Certain.” She gives a firm nod and a smile.

“Well, that’s good enough for me.” You motion down the hall with your hand. “Lead the way.”

The two of you hurry along, only paying minor attention to how loud you make your presence. As you approach one of the last doors on the hall, Autumn motions for you to slow down.

“Here.” She mouths and points to the open doorway in front of you.

You slowly slide to the door and peak inside.

An impossibly large room adorned with nothing more than a few pristine statues of a faceless woman decorate the room. The rest of the room appears to have tried to stand against time, but clearly lost, crumbling and outright destroyed in many places.

In the center of it all sits Talrith, back towards the door, and staff firmly placed in his lap.

If you wanted to strike him by surprise now presents an opportunity that can’t be passed upon, he may not be so exposed for much longer. But perhaps you can synthesize the knowledge you gained here or have yet to gain would be a more effective approach, or perhaps not. A warden sits in front of you, so this decision weighs heavier than most.

>Sneak attack with Ed.

>Sneak attack with Autumn.

>Both sneak attack.

>Keep searching the rooms.

>Write in.

>>37536809
Skirt around silently make sure this isn't another illusion look around.

>>37536809
>Write in
Accuse the warden of failing the sorceress.

This is one of few choices I'd really rather not have to do a tie-breaker roll.

>>37536809
>>37536838
here change to
>Keep searching the rooms

A post was deleted so it's still a tie.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>37536908 =1
>>37537007 =2
Rolling for winner...

>>37537137
Sorry Auri someone was trolling us, either the anon, or a janitor.

>>37537184
No, I was just unsure and deleted my post to break the tie. Didn't see the new one come in before I switched tabs and then my second vote wouldn't go through.

>>37537327
It's cool, I dont think we really committed to anything to serious

>>37537435
You got the right thread, friend?

>>37537137

You shake your head and turn to Autumn. “Not yet.” You mouth.

Her expression turns to one of confusion and slight annoyance, but she eventually yields and pulls away from the door with you.

Once the two of you are a satisfactory distance away you talk about where to go next.

“There’s only one other room that I saw that’s worth searching.” Autumn announces, shortly. “Let’s make quick work of it and come back here.”

“Agreed.” You nod and follow her lead once again.

Knowing where Talrith is allows the both of you to proceed with greater haste, and reach the room in a short amount of time.

A simple room is all that you find, decorated with nothing more than one bed, a small table, and a window. The dark blue light of dawn fills the room. Searching the room doesn’t take very long, it’s clearly a place in which one would do little more than sleep.

“Ed, over here.” Autumn motions to the headboard of the bed, where a small note is attached.

The note itself is impeccably preserved, so you figure that it’s most likely newly written. Neat and rigid penmanship marks the paper.

“This duty comes above all else, use the tool I give you to the best of your ability.”

“Duty…” You mutter aloud, the familiar words.

“Maybe it refers to Talrith’s duty?” Autumn suggests.

The light entering through the window is quickly becoming less and less dark.

Without another word, you rush back to the room you found Talrith in.

The robed warden now stands with gaze upon the faceless statue. His back is still turned to the door, so while not as opportune as before, a sneak attack is still possible.

The words and sights you’ve seen in the fortress swim in your mind. Perhaps you can achieve your goals without having to risk your life, if you can pull something from the knowledge you gained here.

>Sneak attack with Ed.

>Sneak attack with Autumn.

>Both sneak attack.

>Write in.

>>37538054
Yup, that just confirms it for me.
>Write in
Accuse Talrith of failing the sorceress.

>>37538054
>Write in.
You failed your Duty Talrith. The sorceress breathed life into you, gave you your existence and all she wanted in return was for you to watch of this place. You failed you duty and then tried to cover it up by sacrificing innocents to cover your own ass. This place is a ruin and now in your pride you attempt to bock and kill those who wish to leave to try and fix it.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>37538169
>>37538258
Writing~

>>37538326
The dice roll didn't mean anything, just a mistake hehe.

>>37538353
Phew, thought I typed all that out for nothing.

File: ta2.png (831 KB, 825x550)

831 KB PNG

>>37538326

Your mind is clear and you’re focused on the task at hand. You turn to Autumn. “No sneak attacks, just be ready in case my plan doesn’t work.”

Confliction stirs in her face, but yours remains firm. She sees this and then nods her agreement. “I trust you.”

You step into the large room without trying to hide your presence, Autumn walks with you at your right. The path is long, and your heart belies your calm exterior. No shadows are cast in this strange room, and for now only the sound of your footsteps marks your presence.

You stop several feet behind the hooded figure, who hasn’t reacted to your presence in the slightest.

“Talrith.” You proclaim confidently.

The hooded figure’s shoulders tense ever so slightly, but his gaze remains on the faceless statue in front of him.

“You failed your duty, Talrith.” You slowly take a few steps toward him, hand at the ready on your sword’s hilt.

You place your hand gently on one of the faceless statues. “The sorceress breathed life into, she gave your existence.” You trail off softly, pausing for a moment. “And all she wanted in return was for you to protect this piece…” You remove your hand from the statue. “And yet you failed.” You announce harshly.

You press on louder. “You failed, and then you tried to cover up your failure by sacrificing the lives of so many innocents.” Your voice raises even louder, almost yelling. “This place is a ruin now, and in your pride you attempt to conceal with magic and kill anyone who might bear witness to this fact.”

Silence hangs heavy for a long time before you finish your point.

“You failed her.”

Talrith finally turns to face you.

He removes the cloak surrounding him to expose a large crystal based directly into his chest. An ethereal ring floats over his head as he slow steps toward you.

“No.” He states simply.

~

>>37539010
Okay, that's where I'm ending it for today. Thank you all so much for playing!
As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the thread and I will do my best to respond to them.

If not, then I wish you a great day/night, and I hope to see you again next time!

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

>>37539056
So how badly did we mess up Auri? Also did my write in help at all?(it was the complicated one)

>>37539056
Thanks for running!

>>37539130
In some aspects you did superbly in others... I can't comment on the write in write now since its still ongoing, but be assured that it had a sizable effect.
>>37539187
You're very welcome!

>>37539056
>>37539056
Thanks for running auri!
Are we going to make out alive?

>>37539262
On the write in right now*
Jeez brain.
>>37539310
You're also very welcome! And you know I don't know that.

>>37539262
So how close was I to the mark on a scale from one to ten?
Also what did Autumn think?

>>37539401
There wasn't only one particular mark to hit, but the effect had be about an 8 pushing into 9.

Autumn thinks, as is glad, you're speaking the truth, but is wary in case it results in violent conflict.

>>37539505
Was there any way to resolve this with him not trying to kill us? Also thanks for running. You get your connection fixed yet?

>>37539556
You're very welcome!
Violence isn't the only way this could be resolved and yes my connection is finally fixed at last, thank you very much for asking.