>>39615991
Your name is Cennen. You don’t have a last name, those are things for foreigners or noblemen. You are neither. What you are however, is alone. Alone for the first time in weeks.
It’s not a great feeling.

You are leaving the palace, a nasty mixture of humiliation and actual physical pain twisting up the inside of your gut.
You know exactly where you are leaving, particularly WHO you are leaving. But where are you going?


> To the nearest bar. You’re not one for this usually but the sooner you forget the last hour the better. Isn’t it about time that you had some honest uncomplicated fun?

> Back to the Trebain House to get your pack and your ingredients. You feel naked without them.

> You’re actually still doing what you’ve been told to do and are investigating Oster’s continued absence.

> Loiter outside in a state of aimless discontent.

> You’re only heading out for a short breather. And then you’re going right back into the ballroom, making sure that they can’t see you.

> Other

>>39615997
>> You’re actually still doing what you’ve been told to do and are investigating Oster’s continued absence.
If only because it's trouble and you may need his help with the ambassador.

>>39615997
> You’re only heading out for a short breather. And then you’re going right back into the ballroom, making sure that they can’t see you.

>>39615997
>> Back to the Trebain House to get your pack and your ingredients. You feel naked without them.
We can be the first people to brew up that sweet crystal blue... than we become heisenberg...

>>39615997
>Back to the Trebain House to get your pack and your ingredients. You feel naked without them.

Oh boy I hope broyip find us on the mean streets before snake man. Assuming we even clear the courtyard with creepy seer still there.

>>39616092
Damnit why must the elipsis abuser follow every quest that I do

>>39616151
Hey, fuck you, I think elipsis's look stylish, and I prefer them for such a reason.

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>>39615997
>> Back to the Trebain House to get your pack and your ingredients. You feel naked without them.
We must brew. Brewing makes the pain go away.

>>39615997
>> Back to the Trebain House to get your pack and your ingredients. You feel naked without them.
let's get some good quality spite going

>>39616181
I kind of want to try out that soul drift potion during this thread

So guys, what if we put alcohol in the soul drift potion, or bunyip hair in alcohol?

>>39616210
the latter would be more productive I think.

>>39616197
why not?

Of course with snake man roaming the city and the seer seeing us, we likely won't make the manor. Even if we do with all the important events at the palace we're fucking ourselves over even more by running.

>>39615997
> You’re actually still doing what you’ve been told to do and are investigating Oster’s continued absence.

>>39616181
Disappointed in you as hell Tiger.

"Maintain social relationships or do something useful?"
"Naah let's go brood."

>>39616244
The snake man will probably avoid the city. He doesn't want to many humans to know that he exists

>>39616267
Except in an interlude he already killed a watch lieutenant and a n informant on Hiss via canal snatch. He's here and hunting us even now.

>Back to the Trebain House to get your pack and your ingredients. You feel naked without them.

You exit the palace into the carriage courtyard, still rubbing your cheek. You almost can't believe it. She actually hit you!
Can she actually do that? Evidently so. The real question is 'Would' she actually do that and for some reason you'd thought that the two of you had been building something special. An hour ago and you would have said no to that question nearly every time.

Well you know what? Screw her! And not even in the way you were hoping. Somehow during these last few weeks, you'd let her trick you into believing that she wasn't a monster. No, worse than a monster, she's just an awful person in general. The term monster could be used for the Bunyip you met, who was awesome and your best buddy. Hiss is not awesome and she is your worst buddy.
You're unsure just how many of these thoughts are immediate spite and how you really feel about her right now but you don't care. There'll be plenty of time for soul searching (hopefully not literally) when everything's settled.

You give one of the coachmen a signet and tell him to take you back to the Trebain House and to be quick about it. You fume in the carriage all the way back.
You left your backpack full of assorted nobblements and alchemical business back there and you need it. You're going to forget all about this nonsense and brew a...a...a...something! You haven't thought that far ahead. Maybe even just alcohol.

The gate is ajar when you get there, something you promptly take no notice of. It means you can just let yourself into the yard and you promptly do so.

You stomp your way up to the front door and then stop. You and your companions wreaked a small measure of havoc on the Trebain House for sure, but you're pretty sure you never smashed the front door down.
1/2

>>39616281
I was under the impression that it was in a river a bit outside of the city

>>39616210
Oh please let bunyip hair be the key ingredient in a hangover cure.

>>39616259
How dare you sir.
Cennen is an alchemist. Brewing is always useful. Especially while we're in this inevitable clusterfuck of a city.

>>39616302
2/2

And yet it here it is, the stout wooden door lying in fragments around the now vacant doorway. You look through it into the house but see only darkness beyond as night has well and truly fallen by now.
Wasn't there a doorman? Where the hell is that old bastard? You're starting to have the sneaking suspicion that he didn't just take the night off.

> Enter the doorway. You need your backpack!

> Walk around the back of the house and try the rear entrance.

> Walk around the side of the house until you find your bedroom and climb up through that window to get your pack all sneaky-like.

> LEAVE.

> Other

>gate is ajar

Oh hey Giant snake monster. Good that we've found you all alone.

>>39616350
>LEAVE

>>39616350
> Walk around the side of the house until you find your bedroom and climb up through that window to get your pack all sneaky-like.

>>39616350
>> Walk around the side of the house until you find your bedroom and climb up through that window to get your pack all sneaky-like.

>>39616350
>Enter the doorway. You need your backpack!
The whatever has already been through here, so really, this is probably one of the safer way to enter.

>>39616350
>> Walk around the side of the house until you find your bedroom and climb up through that window to get your pack all sneaky-like.
Pack is best waifu

>>39616302
>You and your companions wreaked a small measure of havoc on the Trebain House for sure, but you're pretty sure you never smashed the front door down.
Fuck.

>>39616350
>> Enter the doorway. You need your backpack!
We really do. It's our only way of making the things we rely on to not die.
Head in carefully. Chances are whatever did this is gone, but no sense taking risks. I'm pretty sure our climbing is less than stealthy, and that entering like a burglar is going to be noticed by the people who were too scared to say anything about whatever smashed the door.

> Walk around the side of the house until you find your bedroom and climb up through that window to get your pack all sneaky-like.

Well, whatever the problem is, it doesn't change the fact that you really want your pack back. Not only does it contain all of your brewing tools, it has all of your completed potions inside as well! None of your alchemical prowess matters without either. Almost the entirety of your magical potency is currently tied up within that backpack.

Besides, whoever did this is probably already gone. Probably. But if you just get your hands on your potions you can handle a gang of human ruffians. Hell, it'd be a welcome reprieve considering the number of arbitrarily invincible enemies you've found yourself up against.
Still, you're not just going to go right through the doorway.

You make your way around the side of the house, counting windows until you think you've located the room holding your effects. It's one floor up so it'll be a bit of a climb but that doesn't bother you. There's a tree right next to it and plenty of ledges jutting from the old house itself.
Hopefully you can just do it quietly.

Roll a d100 for climbing.

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>39616537
rolling hoping it's good.

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>39616537

>>39616547
nice roll

>>39616547
Nice.

Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>39616537
Last one for fun.

>>39616547

>91

You scramble up the side of the house with uncommon skill, as quiet as a mouse all the while. Quieter even because you don't squeak.
The window is unlocked and you just swing it open, holding on with one hand to the windowsill in order to do so. It doesn't even bother you.

You slide through the open window, finding yourself back in the room where you'd spent the night. The door is closed and your backpack is right there next to it. You put it on and grin.
Jackpot.

> Well, time to start brewing.

> Leave back through the window, though going down looks a lot more treacherous than going up.

> Open the door and leave through the house itself.

> "Hello? Anyone home?"

> Other

>>39616634
Sneak though the house, looking for clues, Have anti-snake brew ready.

>>39616634
> Well, time to start brewing.
>Make one Animal attraction brew.

Let's set a trap,

>>39616634
>> Well, time to start brewing.

>>39616644
This

>>39616634
>> Open the door and leave through the house itself.
This is not a secure location. Get out while we can, brew somewhere less perilous.

>>39616634
> Leave back through the window, though going down looks a lot more treacherous than going up.

Jesus Christ. I feel like you guys just want to die.

>>39616634
Hey Ouro. Good to see back and kicking. Did you get over you sickness yet?

I'm folding these votes together since one is just more or less an upgraded version of the other.

> Sneak though the house, looking for clues, Have anti-snake brew ready.
> Open the door and leave through the house itself.

Well, you don't want to go back down that way. Knowing your luck lately, you'll probably fall and break something important.
Instead you just open the door, intent on making your way through the house and leaving the regular way. It's not far from here to the front door. The biggest obstacle is getting down the staircase and then you're basically in the clear.
You get several brews from your backpack and ready them in case of trouble as you creep down the hallway towards the staircase. You're going to do your best to take this quietly.

The way down the staircase looks clear or as clear as you can see in the dark. It's not so bad really. Your eyes have adjusted. You make your way down the stairs slowly, doing your best to avoid any creak. Once you get down them the doorway is just around a corner and down a corridor-
The bottom of the staircase is blocked. You nearly step on it before you notice. Something wet and squishy coating the last few steps. You bend down, recoiling from the corpse smell.

It's the doorman. Or what's left of him anyway.

> Time to freak the fuck out.

> Just step over it and keep going. Stay calm.

> Run back up the stairs. You might need to be quick.

> Go back up the stairs as slowly and quietly as possible.

> Don't move.

> Call out.

> Other

>>39616782
Yeah or I wouldn't be running. It was nothing serious in the end, just bile causing stomach pains and making me feel awe-inspiringly crappy.

>>39616856
>> Just step over it and keep going. Stay calm.
Get out of the house. Move.

>>39616856
>Spot check.
> Just step over it and keep going. Stay calm.

As soon as we're clear of the Mansion double time to palace.

>>39616856
>> Time to freak the fuck out.

>>39616856
How far away is the front door?

>>39616856
>Just step over it and keep going. Stay calm.
Get safe, then freak out.

>>39616901
Once you get down the staircase, you just have to take a corridor and get down a fairly short hallway filled with doors.

>>39616856
> Go back up the stairs as slowly and quietly as possible.

> Just step over it and keep going. Stay calm.

Holy shit. This isn't even a corpse. The poor bastard's been minced. Your eyes follow a bloodstain that stretches all the way up the wall. Are those little fragments of bone embedded in the wall there?
Nope. Just keep walking. You're nearly out. You're nearly out.

You do your best to step over it without gagging and keep going. Lady Trebain can discover him later, you suppose. Not your business. You just need to leave.

You round the corner, entering the final stretch, the hallway with the remnants of the front door at the far end. You take several steps down it before you have to stop yourself from leaping back and making a racket.

The hallway is lined with doors. That itself is no great surprise, nor even the fact that most of the doors have been bashed in or ripped off their hinges. But poking out of an open doorway in the side of the hallway just ahead of you is the very tip of an enormous black scaled tail.

It's the monster from the swamp. What else could it possibly be? It's followed you all the way here.

> Throw one of your anti-snake potions at the tip of the tail.

> Just try to make your way past the open doorway with the tail sticking out of it as stealthily as possible. The exit is in sight!

> Slowly retreat backwards, further into the house.

> Sneak up close and peek around the side of the doorway as unobtrusively as possible.

> Pray for help.

> Other

>>39616926
>Once you get down the staircase, you just have to take a corridor and get down a fairly short hallway filled with doors.
>hallway filled with doors.
Fuck. Scooby Doo roulette.

>>39617078
> Just try to make your way past the open doorway with the tail sticking out of it as stealthily as possible. The exit is in sight!
Pivot as we get past it. Keep it in sight til we're clear.

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>>39617078
>> Just try to make your way past the open doorway with the tail sticking out of it as stealthily as possible. The exit is in sight!

>>39617078
>> Just try to make your way past the open doorway with the tail sticking out of it as stealthily as possible. The exit is in sight!
Potion in hand incase it moves.

>>39617078
> Slowly retreat backwards, further into the house.
Try to find an advantageous spot to use the snakebreaker flask if it follows us
I would vote to pray but I'm pretty sure Hiss is way too far away to hear it

>>39617078
> Slowly retreat backwards, further into the house.

>>39617078
>Slowly retreat backwards, further into the house.
NOPE, let's fine another exit. Our mighty Bunyip friend lost against it, so I don't know if I wanna put too much faith into a potion, even if it is a pretty solid one.

>>39617156
I don't know if we can kill it but we can certainly injure it if we weaken the scales with the snakescale acid and then hit it with the snakebreaker brew

>>39617185
Then we could hit it with our nonlethal poison or that poison we added our own venom to. It should be absorbed through the wounds inflicted by the scale shrapnel

Rolled 3 (1d6)

Looks like a tie between retreating and continuing. Odds are for the former, evens the latter.

Creaking stairs when?

> Slowly retreat backwards, further into the house.

You don't make a sound but instead step back once before turning around and walking back towards the staircase. You do your best to stay composed. Fuck that. Fuck that and everything to do with that.
Still, at least you know where it is now.

You just need an alternative route out.

> Back up the stairs and out the window.

> Find the back door.

> Just stay in here and brew.

> Head down to Eugene's basement.

> Go back to the hallway out by the front door and just keep watch on the tail.

> Other

>>39617328
> Find the back door.

>>39617328
> Find the back door.

>>39617328
>Find the back door (or a window to scurry out of).

> Find the back door.

You silently retreat further through the house until you find the back door that opens up into a small veranda overlooking the small yard. From there it is simple to work your way back around the side of the house, still doing your best to tread as silently as possible.

There's no doubting that it's the snakeman from the swamp. And yet you could see him quite plainly. Your eyes didn't shy away from him, driven away by some sort of camouflaging Art. He had not been shrouding himself. What did that mean? Had you truly seen him completely unaware?
You'd be quite happy if you never knew the answer to that question in your life.

You walk back through the front yard, passing by the ruined front door as you do so. It's impossible to get to the gate otherwise. And just the glimpse you get through it as you pass informs you that the tail is still there, that the monster hasn't moved.
All is well.

You slip through the open gate and back to the waiting carria-hold on! The road is empty. The coachman and his carriage didn't wait for you at all! They just buggered off. Doesn't anything buy loyalty anymore?

> You think you can get to the palace on foot.

> See if you can finagle another carriage.

> Rennington's is just down the road. See if anyone's there that might give help to a familiar face.

> Find a safe place on the streets and start brewing.

> Other

>>39617522
> You think you can get to the palace on foot.

>>39617522
> See if you can finagle another carriage.

>>39617522
> You think you can get to the palace on foot.
Or find a carriage in a safer place.

>>39617582
>>39617522
I'll go for getting to a populated area to find another carriage.

>>39617582
Yeah, start walking towards the palace while looking for a carriage to take us there

>>39617522
Seconding >>39617622 (as the dub-twos compel)

>Don a cardboard box.

Lets go solid snake, it should work for us in this quest!

>>39617682
It's just a fucking 22. Seriously? Trips, I can understand. But doubles?

>>39617697
No cardboard in renaissance fantasy land.

>>39617735
er... a regular box? This is a quest about magical snakes, surely solid snake must be an immensely powerful rogue!

>>39617717
It's dub-twos replying to dub-twos, though!
It didn't actually influence my vote, I just noticed it when making the post and thought I'd point it out.

>>39617781
Huh. That actually makes a lot more sense.

But yeah, can we get some confirmation whether or not solid snake is some figure of immense power in snake mythology or not?

>>39617907
u serious m8?

> Start walking but be on the lookout for another carriage.

You keep moving, wasting no time until the Trebain House is far behind you. Then you permit yourself to start shaking a little.
Holy shit. That'd been way too close. You can't believe you actually made it out!
Sure you have your various snake brews but they are all untested and up against a set of scales that can rebuff your best explosive concoction. You made them for this eventuality sure but you vastly prefer the idea of never having to use them on account of never seeing the snakeman again. Ever.

The moon is nearing full and the streets are still occupied, far too many people still going about their business as if it was the sun that shone above them.
You find a coachman and his carriage sitting by the road near a tavern, the man obviously drunk. You give him a signet anyway and after a quick bite to be assured of its reality, he offers to give you a trip back to the carriage.
"Sure I can get you there mate, it's a bit too posh for my tastes though. You'll have to settle for the gates."

"That's fine. Let's go!"

You virtually carry him onto his seat before climbing into the small carriage itself. You need to get back quickly to...to...do what?
What is your motivation here?

> Warn Hiss about the snake monster.

> Tell Lady Trebain not to go home tonight.

> Enlist Eugene's help against the monster.

> Settle things with Hiss.

> Lay hands upon the ambassador.

> You're just going back because the palace is the safest place in the whole damn city.

> Other

>>39617929
> Warn Hiss about the snake monster.

>>39617929
> Tell Lady Trebain not to go home tonight.
> Enlist Eugene's help against the monster.

>>39617929
> Warn Hiss about the snake monster.

>>39617929
>> Tell Lady Trebain not to go home tonight.
>> Enlist Eugene's help against the monster.
We owe them enough to not fuck them over like that, also Eugene is currently my favorite character.

Also

>warn hiss about the snake monster, in passing.

>>39617929
>Tell Lady Trebain not to go home tonight.
>Enlist Eugene's help against the monster.
And I suppooooose, I mean, if we have the time, we could maybe spare a moment to
>Warn Hiss about the snake monster.
Not that she'll care. Probably get pissy at us for not wrestling it to death and bringing a trophy back for her, like a proper lower being servant. The jerk.

>>39617929
> Warn Hiss about the snake monster.

> Tell Lady Trebain not to go home tonight.

> Enlist Eugene's help against the monster.

No particular order.

>>39618014
you're acting a bit ridiculous

>>39618022
Well, you're acting ridiculous-er!

>Tell Lady Trebain not to go home tonight.
> Warn Hiss about the snake monster
>Enlist Eugene's help against the monster.

You gather your thoughts as the carriage rattles on, the road invisibly passing by beneath the floor.
You need to tell Lady Trebain about what's happened to her home and to her servants, that's why you're heading back. And to see if you can enlist Eugene's aid in dealing with the monster. Maybe he can handle all of it for you!

You're definitely not going back to warn Hiss about the Snakecatcher. Nope. Not in the slightest. You've had enough of her for the night. But maybe...No. You're good. Nothing for you here. Absolutely nothing.
Alright you'll tell her if you see her. But you're NOT going back for the purpose of warning her. Absolutely not.

The carriage pulls to a halt at the gates and you hesitantly get out and get ready to walk the rest of the palace grounds after clearing your way through the guards. They'll still remember Lady Trebain's invite, right?
That creepy Seer might even give you the go-ahead again, even though you've got a pack filled to the brim with magic.

And yet there are no guards at the gate. No blindfolded self-mutilated seers either. The gate to the palace is closed and there is nobody to open it for you.

> Rattle it and call for the guards.

> See if you can climb the gates themselves.

> This looks like a problem that can be solved through alchemy!

> Pray that SOMEONE come down and get this open for you, you have urgent information regarding snakes.

> Walk the fence and look for a good spot that might let you get over it.

> Just wait, they'll back from whatever's keeping them soon no doubt.

> Other

>>39618281
> Pray that SOMEONE come down and get this open for you, you have urgent information regarding snakes.
Why not just tell her about the snakeman in the prayer?

>>39618281
> Rattle it and call for the guards.
if that fails
> Pray that SOMEONE come down and get this open for you, you have urgent information regarding snakes.

>>39618295
You can add that if you want. The default option is the way that it is because Cennen no longer trusts Hiss to come down straight away just for him unless he baits her with something to be learned afterwards.

>>39618281
>Walk the fence and look for a good spot that might let you get over it.
One of our dangerous loose ends just caught up to us, and now things are looking strange here. We probably don't want to draw too much undo attention.

>>39618334
Yeah I'd like to add it.

>>39618352
>>39618295
>>39618281
And I'll support the custom prayer.

>>39618295
>>39618352
>>39618389
Thing is if she's busy she might just leave us outside. Her forethought is lacking remember?

>>39618405
I'm pretty sure she'll understand the severity of the situation

>>39618429
Or she might just brush us off since we didn't follow orders.

HAVE WE CAUGHT ANY SNAKES YET NOW?

>>39618451
She wasn't actually that pissed off about that, she was putting on a show for the ambassador. She felt awful afterwards

I was tempted to also add the prayer to my vote, but then I remembered that they can be intercepted, and what one of our dangerous-loose-ends-which-want-to-kill-us are. It's probably still the best idea, but I'm a scaredy-cat

>>39618473
WE CAUGHT HISS AT THE BEGINNING!

>>39618478
Cennen doesn't know that.plus
>>39618488
Makes a compelling point. ANY snake could here us and the seer might too.

>>39618473
Oh man, I just realized that we totally missed a chance back at the Trebain House. We should have grabbed the tail!

Then again, it might not count if it's just the tip.

>>39618518
it's not a true snake and we'd have to incapacitate it too. It's better we ran.

>>39618539
I just realized that there's a chance that it is coming to the palace now, it probably learned we were going there from the doorman's soul

>>39618595
Yup. Hence me saying a prayer may take too long.

> Pray that SOMEONE come down and get this open for you, you have urgent information regarding snakes.

You rattle the gates around a bit anyway but nobody shows. The carriage trundles away behind you, the coachman only half-awake.

Looks like you're going to just get a message to Hiss directly through prayer. You suddenly don't like the idea of it though. Sending your thoughts out in an entreaty, a plea makes her out to be some sort of superior power worthy of prayer. But what else are you to do?

You send out a lengthy prayer asking for Hiss to get down here right now and let you in. The Snakecatcher is in here in the city!
That should get her attention. Now you only have to wa-

-Snakecatcher? At last, an interesting prayer. Fear not mortal, help is on the way-

The inside of your head freezes over with a cold flame as something inhuman surges back along the cord of prayer, driving you to your knees. The pressure within your mind is absurd, driving you to genuflect a-and then there was nothing. You blink and get to your feet, your thoughts thawing.

This has happened to you before. Back in Melire. What is a manifested spirit doing here? It IS a big city, you suppose.
But any spirit at all is the last thing you want right now. Forget about it seeing Hiss, what will it do if it perceives your Bane upon arriving? You don't have any dispel potions on you and you have no idea how to combat them without one.
Shiiiiit, what do you even do now?

Above you, the moon is hidden by a sudden influx of swirling storm-clouds.

> You can't make another prayer. Just run.

> Pray to Hiss and tell her to flee now!

> Send out a desperate prayer trying to explain the situation as something innocuous.

> Climb the fence and start running towards the palace. No prayer!

> Stay where you are and brew.

> Other

>>39618629
>> Stay where you are and brew.
We might want to make some weaponizable shit while we still have time...

By the way ouros, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being worst possible route, 10 being best possible route, where do we fall on the scale currently?

>>39618629
Does the souldrift potion need to be ingested for it to work?

Fuck... don't most spirits hate us on principal?

>>39618657
Nothing we can do can kill a spirit. Even one who's taken a flesh form would merc us. Since he can call lightning at will.

>>39618629
> Climb the fence and start running towards the palace. No prayer!

>>39618689
yes

>>39618707
Yes spiritbane


>>39618488
you were right anon.

>>39618732
I was worried about the snakecatchers over the spirits. We can probably duck and dodge enough to explain our spiritbane (some guy threw a bound lesser spirit against us and we had no choice), no such luck with a snakecatcher.

>>39618754
Anon it won't matter. Him simply seeing us throws him into terminator mode.

>>39618629
>Climb the fence and start running towards the palace. No prayer!

>>39618707
Indeed. And a certainly loose-end in particular has reasons beyond that. Though the tone from the response we just got makes me think that this is not the same spirit as that one.

>>39618629
> Climb the fence and start running towards the palace. No prayer!
If the spirit comes after us, the souldrift potion is our best bet. Maybe the snakebreaker brew could do some serious damage to its physical body though

I'm pretty sure our scale bomb might do serious harm to everything, especially spirits. It seems it might be more of an insanely powerful reagent than anything.

Also in theory snakeblood in negative things would flat out make it dangerous to spirits.

>>39618781
>plantie human vs a lightning spirit centuries old
kek

>>39618779
Its the one who possessed a tedwell peasant and vowed revenge for the death of the spirit who made all the children there

>>39618629
>> Climb the fence and start running towards the palace. No prayer!

>>39618809
I bet it would be more interested in getting information from us than killing us immediately, given its goals

>>39618809
We don't know that, even with OOC info. It could be a completely different spirit.

>>39618831
Sadly spiritbane makes any spirit hate us with a dragon's passion on sight. It sees us we're dead. The only reason we survived the tedwell spirit is because it was about to die anyways. This one is healthy, angry and looking to kill.

>>39618840
Obviously Cennen doesn't know this but it's pretty clear through OOC info

>>39618863
Alright, I'm willing to be convinced. How it is it clear that this is that one particular spirit, and not any other?

>>39618921
manifested spirits are rare as fuck
it's in our area
it's a lightning spirit
it's interested specifically in snakes

>>39618921
It had lightning powers we have storm clouds are coming in. Both times it spoke civilly even while incensed. Also there a not a lot of free roaming spirits in the world.

> Climb the fence and start running towards the palace. No prayer!

There's no way in hell that you're sticking around. You've never had the best luck with spirits and you're pretty sure all of them are now inclined to hate you anyway, since you bear the sign that only a spirit-killer can. And that's not even getting into just what a spirit would think of Hiss, a snake wormed deeply into human lands.

You struggle up the fence and manage to throw yourself over it in a sudden surge of energy. You roll as you hit the ground and start running up towards the palace. No doubt this looks suspicious as hell but for some reason there doesn't seem to be any of the royal guard patrolling the grounds right now.

You can see the palace up ahead as you run up the road meant for private carriages, your breath coming in shorter and shorter grasps as you struggle to keep your pace up.
You hear a thunderclap behind you and you cannot resist looking back just once.

The palace gates fall to the ground as a ragged human silhouette rimmed by blue flame steps through. The fallen gates are shorn in half, the cut ends glowing white hot.
The figure steps past the threshold and begins to follow you. It isn't running. It isn't even walking very fast.
You don't see even the faintest trace of a halo. But what is it then, if not a spirit?

"Cennen!"

A sudden cry snaps your head forward once more. Just there by the courtyard filled with carriages, Hiss is pulling herself out of one.
She hasn't seen the gates yet. She might not even be able to from her angle. And yet she's running towards you anyway, or at least running as fast as she can in her dress.

> "No! Get away from me! Run!"

> Don't tell her anything. Maybe the spirit will want her over you.

> Try to yell to her about the snakeman.

> Yell to her about the spirit but don't tell her to run.

> Ignore her and run right past her. Every man for themselves!

> Other

>>39619061
> "No! Get away from me! Run!"
> Turn around and throw the scalebreaker potion once the spirit is in range

>>39619061
>> "No! Get away from me! Run!"

>>39619061
> "No! Get away from me! Run!"

>>39619061
> "No! Get away from me! Run!"
>palm one of Eugenes magic potions

You guys might not think it... but I'd imagine its quite crippling if he suddenly became a very small photosynthate at night... Also it looks like something that'd be quite lethal immediately due to the fact that its sparking yellow.

>>39619133
If it has to be ingested then we should do some physical damage to the spirit first, hence the snakebreaker potion. Also I'm pretty sure the spirit wouldn't be able to exist for long if we manage to use a souldrift potion and separate it from its body

>>39619153
I'd also imagine it would be detrimental to the spirits existence to get shrunk down and repeatedly curb stomped.

>>39619153
>>39619168
Both potions have to be drunk to take effect. Best chance is to get Hiss to drink it and hope she Becomes a temporary dragon.

>>39619190
It can also be ingested through a cut or something though. Which the snakebreaker potion could definitely make

>>39619199
We only have one snakebreaker potion, we shouldn't waste it at extreme range.

>>39619218
Which is why i said to wait until it's within range in my vote. It should have a huge area of effect considering it uses snake scales for shrapnel

>>39619061
>"No! Get away from me! Run!"

>>39619061
Ouro don't both potions have to be drunk to take effect? The magic dandelion shit and souldrift?

>>39619265
Both are hilariously magical to the point that who the fuck knows how it can be activated.

>>39619315
Point is a partial or fractional dose reduces the effect right? Considering the spirit's halo was plant shaped(chrysthemum I think) and the fact forcing it to materialize might not kill it(took it's buddy years to fall apart)using either on it seems unwise.

>>39619361
However, turning him into a pint sized plant definitely will be severely incapacitating.

>>39619361
Maybe we should drink the souldrift potion? First we hide somewhere and then it's completely unable to harm our soul but maybe we could do something to it while freed from our body. We'd be untouchable as long as it doesn't find our body

>>39619385
If it does so. It took the full dose to minsize us and he has to have some magical resistance at minimum. a small bit getting in or on him will likely do nothing.

>>39619394
Or have Hiss do it. Her spirit form is hopefully powerful given she had a full halo. Or she'd be a dragon.

>>39619394
>inb4 our soul is basically just a dandelion

> "No! Get away from me! Run!"

You're shouting back at her before you can even think, doing your best to ward her off.
"No! Get away from me! Just run!"

You hadn't even meant to do that at first. It had risen up from deep within, an earnest desire to see Hiss unharmed. Is that it? You can't even claim it to be a practical decision. Here you are, right at the end, still being a fool for love.
Love? No, where did that thought come from. You hate her!

Hiss slows as she hears your shout and then turns tail and begins to run away much faster than you as she sees the thing behind you. You take another glance back and flinch as you note that the distance between you and it has halved.
How is it coming so fast? It's not even running! And yet every stride of its tattered boots seems to cover seven.

"Calm yourself, mortal!"
The voice is so human it almost makes you trip. It's old and its scratchy with disuse but it is a human voice from a human throat. And the tone is firm yet polite, a guardsman making his inquiries.
"You will not come to harm. Tell me about these snakes. You must tell me everything!"

While the grounds might have been suspiciously clear of guards, the royal guard by the palace's entrance still remains. You can hear them hollering out uncertainly, none of them making a step towards the so obviously magical figure.

> Stop and talk. This lets Hiss run and means the guard don't have to get involved.

> Shout at the guards. "Assassin! He's here to kill the ambassadors!"

> See if you can hide in one of the carriages while the figure is distracted by the guards shouting at it. It'll at least give you time to set something up.

> Just keep fucking running into the palace.

> Drink a brew (Specify).

> Throw a brew at the figure (Specify).

> Make a wish (Specify).

> Other

>>39619503
>Just keep fucking running into the palace.

>>39619503
Guys... he doesn't recognize us... we might be able to bullshit our way out of this, hell, we can claim the serpent that we're running from is hiss's biggest disciple. Pitting two enemies against one another!

>>39619503
> Stop and talk. This lets Hiss run and means the guard don't have to get involved.
Tell him that Hiss is currently at the trebain house or maybe even on its way to the palace. We could even take him there if he likes

>>39619503
> Shout at the guards. "Assassin! He's here to kill the ambassadors!"
> Just keep fucking running into the palace.

>>39619503
>Keep running, yell over your shoulder, "There's a snakecatcher monster at the Trebain House, ask it!" Then keep running, into the palace.

>>39619588
On second thought, maybe just say a monstrous snake is at the trebain house instead of calling it hiss

>>39619503
On the note of my point >>39619550
> Other: Lie like your life depends on it!
"There is a great evil serpent in the city, with blade-like claws, venom capable of killing villages, speed like the devil, and the ability to dissapear at a whim. It is working for a she-witch serpent whom has been pandering around as a "queen in exile" it has gone after me and my lover for us knowing too much, I discovered it after rescuing a bunyip from its grasp. We last saw it at the Trebain house, it had broken in and murdered a guard."

This bluff should work.

>>39619503
has he not noticed the fact that we're a spiritbane?

>>39619688
If he has, he's not acting like it. But then again he's still a bit of a distance away. You don't know the detection radius on these things.

>>39619688
Human eyes can't see it? Or he's gone full rogue and his friends death is more important to him.

>>39619688
Hes very weak, blind with grief, and probably has seen too many mortals to recognize one, just as you wouldn't recognize one bee from another.

>>39619688
fuck I bet he assumes that we killed his spirit buddy once we get closer

>>39619755
Doesn't he know a snake did it?

>>39619503
>Yeah it was at the Trebain mansion and I think it's heading this way! Run you idiot! Run to palace.

Well that looks like the vote for stopping and talking, assuming the 'Lie like crazy' vote relies on you talking to him.
Writing.

>>39619773
I'm not sure, his interlude didn't specify

>>39619814
That reminds me, will we ever get our long sought for interlewd?

>>39619857
Ouro said no lewd or smut ever anon.

>>39619857
I'm not really sure what you're referring to

>>39619875
None of you have hoped for an interlewd?

>>39619894
Not particularly. Not every quest includes smut

>>39619894
Ouro said never going to happen anon.

>>39619875
Pastebin with lewd/smut. Probably between Hiss and Cennen.

>>39619688
fuck I hope the spiritbane mark somehow specifies which spirit was killed

>people voting to help the cunt
I want to go on alchemy adventures with Broyip, not babysit a tube with teeth.

>>39620012
looks like you're outnumbered anon. sorry.

> Stop and talk. This lets Hiss run and means the guard don't have to get involved.
> Lie like CRAZY

You stop running, your arms windmilling out to stop yourself from falling over as you skid to a halt.
Here. This is a safe distance from the palace. The longer you talk to this thing the more distance comes between it and Hiss, along with every other innocent guest at the ball.
Time for you to lie like you've never lied before.

"O-okay! I'll tell you everything! Sorry, you just seemed so scary!"
You feign fear. It's very easy.

The figure slowly approaches you. You still can't make out the silhouettes features, the man remaining in an unnatural state of darkness lit only by the small blue flares constantly sparking from his edges.
"A common reaction. Now, you will tell me ab-"

He pauses and then slowly steps closer until he's but two feet away from you. The air is filled with the smell of hot tin. You suddenly discern eyes, human orbs lit from within by a smoky light. They meet yours.
"Bane!"

Oh nuts.

He moves in a flash, one hand taking you by the front of your doublet, the other stretched out in front of your face. Sparks flicker between his fingers as it hovers but an inch from your eyes.
This is somehow all very familiar.
"Did you think I would notice? Did you think I would forgive?"
There is a tight anger in his tone, an eternity's worth of hatred soundly locked away.
"You are not the killer I am searching for. But..."

Something invisible passes through the hand holding you by the shirt and you scream as your body is suddenly wracked in pain, lightning locking your every joint in a rictus. It only lasts a second but you know it could come at any time.
And yet, it doesn't hurt as much as the time Hiss branded you. It doesn't even hurt as much as the time when Fel Snakebite struck you with his killing hand. Some insane part of you wants to giggle but you refrain.
1/2

>>39620157
2/2

"But," the thing continues. "I do not believe in coincidences. Tell me all you know and speak truth and you might just live."

> Spit at him.

> Tell him the truth. Tell him about Hiss.

> Lie like a fucking maniac.

> Nobble him in the balls.

> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.

> Other

>>39620187
> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.
If it goes poorly
> Nobble him in the balls.

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>39620187
>> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.
> Lie like a fucking maniac.

ROLLING FOR OUR LIES! WE ARE A SMOOTH CRIMINAL!

>>39620187
>> Lie like a fucking maniac.
>> Nobble him in the balls.
I CANT NOT VOTE FOR A NOBBLE

>>39620187
> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.
> Lie like a fucking maniac.

>>39620187
>> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.
Big scaly thing at the Trebain mansion. slaughtered the servants, missed me. I ran here to find my friends. It's probably headed this way.

if he isn't buying it.
> Nobble him in the balls.
then slam the snake poison bottle into him.

>>39620187
Is the snake catcher that horrible monster chasing us?

If so

> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.

>>39620236
DAMNIT ANON DON'T ROLL NEEDLESSLY

>>39620187
>> Nobble him in the balls.
>> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.

>>39620187
>> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.

>>39620187
>"Consider how freely the last two spirits I met were to murder, I doubt that. But yeah, I'll tell you."
>Tell him about the Snakecatcher.

Damn, its been a while since ive felt this much TUMBLING DOWN, but i've missed it

>>39620595
It's certainly preferable to how the last two threads made me feel

>>39620609
Oh come on, OPs done a good job with this so far. Hes run what can be called a harsh but fair quest thread. Now that we know the rules, know the risks, and know he really doesn't have a problem with us fucking everything up ever, we know to not be idiots, hell, hes even reinforced this by K/Oing us and putting us in mortal danger after we've repeatedly kissed poison incarnate!

>>39620658
That's not really related to what I was talking about

>>39620609
the two threads have been part of the TUMBLING DOWN though. impotent rage can be fun in small doses, as long as ouro doesnt inflict his NTR fetish onto us all the time along with his handholding one

> Tell him about the Snakecatcher.
> Lie like a fucking maniac.
If that fails:
> Nobble him in the balls.

Alright, time to magically lie your way out of this situation. But then again, they say some of the best lies are such because they're wrapped around genuine truth. So why not see if you can lead two enemies against one another?
"P-please don't do that again, I'll you whatever you want. Just don't hurt me!"

"Talk."

You babble out a description of the monster back in the Trebain House, playing it up as much as you can as the abomination it is. The figure's eyes search yours but if he spots any lie he doesn't show it.
"...And that's why I was praying! Just a habit, I didn't expect any of you to actually show up! Please don't kill me!"

His grip loosens on you, letting your feet drop back down to the ground.
"Very well. I will keep m-"

Something fast slams into him from behind, a black and red blur wresting him away from you and freeing you from his grasp! You keep your balance and jump back away just in time for a sudden CRACK! as Hiss is flung away from the figure, landing in a slump by your feet.
You goggle down at her as she looks around in a daze, steam rising from her skin.
"Ow."

"What are you doing here? I've been buying time for YOU!"

She groans as she lurches to her feet, her fangs extending.
"And what do you think I felt the moment he got his hands on you? It wasn't dandelions and sweetness, I'll tell you that."
Oh right, the wish-bond. She's compelled back to stop you from being killed, regardless of your intent.

"Let me guess," you say. "If it'd been up to you you'd have just kept running."

"What? No!"

"Enough."
The figure doesn't speak with emphasis. It doesn't need to. Just the word itself seems to charge the air around him. The darkness around him is fading, revealing an older man in tattered brown farming clothes. His eyes are lit by stormclouds and sparks fly from his lips when he speaks.
1/2

>>39620828
We should have made dispel potions.

>>39620861
Unfortunately they're still too complicated for cennen

>>39620828
God fucking damn it, our wish bond fucked us over!

>>39620828
Damn it, she could have at least tried to conceal the fact that she's a snake

>>39620861
>>39620876
>>39620880
>>39620921
Time to give her the souldrift potion and nobble her body away. Which might get us 3 more wishes by coincidence.

>>39620828
Oi! Did we just get our shit kicked in by Raiden?

>>39620828
2/2

"I see how it is now. Snake! It is time for you to pay for your crimes! Justice has come. And not just for you."
He extends one arm towards the two of you, index finger raised. Electric blue frame forms a corona around the digit as he aims at you. The world seems to slow to a crawl as it draws a bead on both you and Hiss, even as Hiss ever so slowly takes you by the hand and pulls you back even while throwing herself forward at the same time.
You meet her eyes as she lifts you off your feet but to no avail, they're nothing but cold snake slit-pupils. And then they flicker back to brown human eyes at the last moment, ones locked with yours.
She's terrified.

And then there is another crack and your brief pause ends as a bolt of lightning jumps from the outstretched finger, bright enough to hurt your eyes. And yet you are already being pushed clear, carried just out of the bolt's trajectory. Your hand breaks free of hers as she finishes throwing you out of the way.

Hiss herself dives forward and that's all you can see as the light scorches your eyelids closed.

You hit the ground and roll, rubbing your eyes just in time to see Hiss dance around the man. He makes a clumsy un-coordinated swipe at her with his left hand which she avoids easily, stepping past it.
But as it passes by her head, a second arm seems to detach from it, phasing through his flesh and bone as if it wasn't there. A thin stick-figure arm made of lightning. Hiss throws herself backwards but it strikes her at the face anyway, another crack breaking the air as Hiss is hurled backwards, the right side of her face burning.

But now his back is turned to you.

> Throw a potion (Specify)

> Make a wish (Specify)

> NOBBLE HIM.

> Go check on Hiss instead. She looks hurt!

> Flee.

> Other

>>39621094
>> Throw a potion (Specify)
Point blank scalebreaker potion!

>>39621094
> Throw a potion (Specify)
Snake breaker

>>39621094
> Throw a potion (Specify)
Scalebreaker
> Go check on Hiss instead. She looks hurt!
Give her or healing potion.

>>39621156
>>39621116
>Scalebreaker

Are you referring to Scalebane or Snakebreaker here?

>>39621222
grenade.

>>39621094
Snake breaker potion followed by our lethal poison+cennen venom brew. Or the regular acid brew

>>39621222
I think that's snakebreaker they're referring to boss.

>>39621094
>Sneak up on him from behind, try to force him to drink the souldrift potion.

>>39620880
Well, yeah. That's all it's ever done.

>>39621222
Whichever one is a glorified magical pipe bomb.

>>39621259
Souldrift won't kill him and he'd electrocute us.

>>39621222
>tfw nobody else reads the pastebins

I just realized, isn't that potion basically the unholy hand grenade?

>>39621378
More like a shrapnel explosive

>>39621378
Which potion?

File: Horrifying.gif (2.63 MB, 450x450)

2.63 MB GIF

>>39621378
It literally is. For our next big one, I vote we research how to make a grenade that is actually spiders.

>>39621432
The one made from the shed scales of spirits banished from heaven and declared anathema to Creator.

honestly, right now im hoping for the Snakecatcher to turn up, fight the Spirit, followed by the Captain and a bunch of mooks, the Snakecatcher is the last one standing, and then broyip turns up and stomps its nearly-dead ass through the cobbles. but im exhausted, so you guys, dont fuck everything up forever.

> Throw a potion (Specify)
> Snakebreaker Flask

Well, this isn't quite the enemy that the Snakebreaker Flask was designed for but it should be no less effective against this...spirit...man...thing.
You scramble backwards as you judge distance. If you don't want to hit you or Hiss than you need to throw it behind him at just about...
It's an easy throw.

The man lit from within lowers his hands as Hiss writhes around the ground several meters away from him.
"I can't ask for either of you to understand my quest, but know that my cause is righteous. How could it be any other, when it brings me against a filthy snake!"

You stay quiet, still trying your best to get the Snakebreaker Flask from your pack without attracting your attention. Hiss however is under no such restrictions, despite lying prone on the ground with one hand over her smoking face.
"Fuck off."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. The Creator already has way with us, what gives you the right to judge further?"

"My vengeance has nothing to do with that! Not that a snake could ever understand the bonds of love. The Creator shouldn't have been so lenient."

"Oh?" she croaks. "And what do you recommend, you blue sparkly cunt?"

His reply is lost to the world as you throw the Snakebreaker Flask. The potion landing behind the man. You jump behind a carriage as the world seems to explode.
Or at least that's what it sounds like.

You peek back around to see a scene of surprisingly small devastation, the detonation barely more than that of a regular explosive concoction. But the ground is littered with sharpened scale fragments.

The man shudders, his body poked full with thousands of small holes. He should be mincemeat right about now but a crackling blue light shines between each fragment of him, holding the body together for a brief second before the entire thing explodes outward in a spray of gore.

1/2

File: GTFO.gif (2.2 MB, 337x268)

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>>39621611
GET DUNKED ON SON!

Ain't no-one gets to manhandle our snek but US!

>>39621648
Let's not count our eggs too soon, lest a snake comes and eats them from our hand. Along with our hand. Because snakes.

>>39621611
2/2

And then rocketing out of the spray is a huge stick-figure, reminiscent of a child's clumsy drawing, one forged from lightning itself in hideously gangly proportions that could never be mistaken for human.
A chrysanthemum hale of screaming neon shakes behind it, the halo (and the spirit itself) clogged with burning scales. And yet that doesn't stop him, the spirit still lurching forward.

You run forward but it does not stop on your account, reaching down to pick up Hiss by the throat with one burning hand.
-Extermination! That is what the Creator should have done. And for you at least, I will correct his mistake.-

She screams. Behind you, the royal guard lay down their swords and flee. There's some sort of commotion going down in the palace itself though you know not what.
The spirit hunches down, each scale embedded in its ethereal form digging further and further into it. It's killing it, you realize. The Snakebreaker is still at work. But something is letting this thing still go on for a while longer.

-I-I will not fall. I am more than mere Dreamstuff, I am holy purpose! You took him from me and for that you must take the slow death!-

Hiss stops screaming and instead simply hangs limp in the lightning-spectres grasp, only moving in disconnected jolts as lightning purges itself through her body. But it isn't enough to kill or at least not right away.

You're just standing there. What can you even do?

> You must have faith in your alchemy. Wait for the Snakebreaker to finish its work.

> Distract it however best you can.

> Flee.

> Attack!

> Use a potion (Specify)

> Make a wish (Specify)

> Other

>>39621827
Drink souldrift potion and attack it in soul form. Try to make it release Hiss. Kind of a gamble but nothing else comes to mind

>>39621827
> Distract it however best you can.
> Smash one of Eugene's Dandelion potions on it.

They're the most magical and potent potion we have that are still available to us. They're imbued with some of a Wizard's soul, or at least his magic. That has got to count to for something.

>>39621827
>Use a potion (throw one of Eugene's potions off to the side, hopefully it'll produce a sufficient distract)
I would say to throw it at him, but I have no idea how that would interact with the Snakebreaker potion currently doing its work.

>>39621827
>Use a potion: Eugenes dandelion

They fundamentally corrupt you into being partially plant on a soul level. This will probably SEVERELY fuck with his powers temporarily.

>>39621937
It's worth a shot. Let's try it

>>39621957
>>39621973
>>39621982
He's in spirit form, this seems to mostly effect the body

>>39621957
>>39622006
>>39621827
Alright then. If that's so, I'll support downing Souldrift and going mano-a-macho with Raiden.

>>39622035
so are you changing your vote here>>39621957
to support my idea?

>>39621827

> Distract it however best you can.

>>39621827
I back this. Spirit bane says they can't affect our soul right? Does that mean in spirit form he can't touch us? Fuck you no touchy? Would us touching him be painful to him?

>>39622065
I think you linked the wrong post

>>39622053
Yeap.

>>39622075
Err shit

>>39622065
This is me I meant >>39621937

> Drink Souldrift Brew

You reach into your backpack, frantically searching for your Souldrift potion. Hopefully this works the way you think it should. Where is the damn thing? You have too many potions in here, seriously.

The spirit shakes Hiss around like a ragdoll but fails to elicit another scream. It's still talking, more to itself than to anyone else.
-I never condoned what he did but I loved the motive behind it. All he wanted to do was to preserve the mortals! And you, you with your stomach glutted with so many innocent mortal souls, DARE slay him? You will not drag them down with you!-

You pop the souldrift potion open and drink it. It tastes fucking awful, like sour milk and blood. You can feel it slosh around inside you for but a moment before all feeling vanishes.
You stand up as your body falls to the ground.

It hurts. That's the first sensation that comes back to you in your new form. There's something in you, deep within the core of your soulform that is freezing you to death. You don't have much time.
You are still yourself, a Cennen made of ice, steam and snake blood. But your entire perspective of the world changes. Everything seems so dull and far away, the lighting creature the only thing to stand out. It is beautiful and vibrant here, for all that it bleeds from a thousand cuts. Its halo is a hole in the world itself from which pours a stream of energy that cannot be denied.
Hiss looks so small from this point of view, something clutched entirely within the spirit's crackling fist. The only things that stand out about her are a collection of shining lights, human faces dancing around her like a swarm of stars. They are all screaming, staring at her with a mixture of hate and fear. Her soul gullet.
Are...Are they aware? Have they always been aware?

1/2

>>39622347
Oh damn! Can we ice strike in soul form?

>>39622347
2/2

The spirit wrenches her, prying the souls further and further away from her, ripping huge fractures through her own soul. Hiss' soul is black and stained and so much smaller and feebler than even the least of the human souls bound to her.
And there is a thin thread, one almost invisible to you even now, leading down from her to you. Is this the wishbond? You have no idea how anything in this world works.

> See if you can tackle the spirit down now without harming Hiss.

> Use the thread to pull Hiss from his grasp.

> Expose your freezing heart to the enemy.

> Don't do any of that silly shit. Just punch him in the face.

> Other

>>39622413
>> Don't do any of that silly shit. Just punch him in the face.

>>39622413
> Expose your freezing heart to the enemy.
seems... promising? I have no idea what I'm doing

>>39622413
>NOBBLE

>>39622413
> Don't do any of that silly shit. Just punch him in the face.

>>39622413
>Expose your freezing heart to the enemy.
Option three is probably the better choice... but this seems way more cathartic.

>>39622413
> Expose your freezing heart to the enemy.

>>39622413
>Expose your freezing heart to the enemy.

If only we could falcon punch!

>>39622413
I'm curious about why there's ice in our soul. Maybe that first spirit we killed had ice-related powers or something? It didn't really seem the type though

>>39622413
>>Expose your freezing heart to the enemy.

And so Cennen becomes tutorial boss tier, showing off his weak spot to the enemy. Let's up the spirit is still working out the controls.

>Expose your freezing heart to the enemy.

Man, you don't understand how any of this soul-world stuff works. Can you touch all of this stuff? What's real and what's not? Can you just do anything?
What does any of this mean?

The spirit's hand crushes down further, pulling the souls further and further away from Hiss' own soul, the threads between her and them snapping one by one. He's not just killing her. He is going to completely annihilate her soul.

Or something. Look, you don't really get any of this. How do you even fight on this level?
You begin your charge nonetheless since after all, you have to do SOMETHING.

There's something deep within you that is freezing you, imprisoning you in this icy form. It is resisting this soul-form and will freeze you back to the solidity of the physical world in due time.
You give a roar and jam your hand into your own chest, melting your frozen ribcage. It's the Bane, the thing freezing your soul into a single solid form. It has a fell power to it, you decide, the last act of a spirit before oblivion. But you can't dislodge it. Nothing can. To shift the Bane would be to shift the world itself.

Hiss rouses herself enough to give one final scream, pure pain and anguish.

You rip the Bane out.

A winter falls upon the world around you, a torrent of cold wrapping the lightning spirit as you raise the Spiritbane...
And then smash him in the sparky groin with it.

"Eat shit!"

The already dying spirit freezes, lightning trapped in ice. You strike it once more and it shatters, suddenly no more than glass. The halo burns itself to cinders, the window to the Dreaming closed forever.

And Hiss falls into your hands, still holding the freezing Bane. She's torn apart here, one person in many pieces. But she reaches across and touches the frozen thing that had resided in your heart and it...doesn't melt. You were expecting it to melt or something. Something to signify your emotional state or some bullshit like that.
1/2

>>39622682
2/2

But nope, what happens instead is that the Bane finally rejects you from the Souldrift state and you snap back to your physical body. Said body is lying on the ground eating dirt.

Back in the real world, Hiss falls to the ground from an unhealthy height as her slender assailant snaps into oblivion.

> Check on yourself.

> Check on Hiss.

> Try to talk this out with the royal guard before they do anything whack.

> Just grab Hiss and run before something worse happens.

> Other

>>39622713
> Check on Hiss.

>>39622713
>> Check on Hiss.

>>39622713
>Just grab Hiss and run before something worse happens.
Time to bail before the snakecatcher catches up somehow.

>>39622713
> Check on Hiss.
...souldrift potions are dope

>>39622713
> Just grab Hiss and run before something worse happens.

Oh god we are so fucked in the afterlife, our soul is literally incompatble with the spirit world.

Holy crap. We're literally engineered to kill spirits at this point.

>>39622751
Hopefully we can achieve alchemical immortality someday

>>39622713
> Check on Hiss.

>>39622751
well, im sure we can brew some kinda Philosophers stone when we are chief lieutenant to Empress of the World

Actually. Isn't it extremely significant that Hiss in spirit mode didn't explode or get worse when she touched our spirit bane?

>>39622853
You mean Royal Consort and Chief Spirit Executioner, right?

> Check on Hiss.

What the fuck was that? What the fuck was any of that? Are you still a Spiritbane? What did it mean?

All of those questions (and many more) can wait, you decide. You crawl over the courtyard, slicing up your knees on scattered Snakebreaker scales as you do so. You don't even care about that. You need to make sure she's alright.

Hiss gets to knees, somehow acting less fucked up than you are. But she doesn't look it.
There's a burn running down her right cheek and her right eye is completely gone, replaced by a small bead of molten flesh. She looks astoundingly pale and for good reason you suppose.

She doesn't say anything as you reach over to steady her shoulders but she smiles and leans into your sudden embrace. The two of you sit there together for some time.

"So, how about that?" You say. "It's a pretty nice change, me saving the day."

Hiss jerks back from you as you talk, a look of pure bafflement plain to see on her features. That itself is strange enough. You haven't seen her expression so unguarded and honest since your first few days with her when she was still learning how to control a human face at all. She pushes you away and sits still. Too still. She's not moving like a human at all right now.

She opens her mouth to talk to you but her only words are pure gibberish, unintelligible unwords.
She paws the air blindly, as if trying to reach something that was no longer there.

You think back to what the spirit had been doing to her and it dawns on you.
Hiss has lost her human souls.

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kek

>>39622899
And after we die the position will be formally referred to as "Cennen."

>>39622916
Oh shit she has been crippled.

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>>39622916
Sonovabitch.

>>39622880
As if she would ever be hurt by Cennen's heart, anon. Or more accurately, she is not a spirit regardless of which mode you perceive her as.

Anyway, I've archived the thread and that's that for tonight. Next thread either tomorrow or the day after, check the twitter etc.
I hope this one was much more enjoyable than the last few. It certainly was for me.

>>39622967
Thanks for running, I had a great time

>>39622967
I guess Hiss has to get some memories back
Time to curl up on Cennen again to learn from scratch

>>39622967
Much more fun.

Although Hiss is now crippled Jesus. Where are we going to take her to recover? Are we going to brew her a restorative potion?

>>39622996
She can't now. Spirit Bane.

>>39623003
Looks like we need to find some humans for her to eat

Hmm. This'll definitely get in the way of any heart-to-heart conversation to settle the troubles in their relationship. Hopefully they can get Hiss functional again without going on a murder spree.

>>39622996
She's not missing her own memories, she still has all of those. It's just that she was leaning on her souls for things like vocal language, body language, reading humans, assorted trivia required to function in the human world, etcetera.
All the things she never actually learned herself.

>>39623040
We gonna nurse maid the shit out of her. Seriously I feel horrible for her.

>>39623040
So does she remember any of the info she got from the ambassador?

>>39623040
What did you think of the quest length discussion we had after last thread? Did it affect you or the quest direction in any way?

>>39623087
Well I was asleep while it was happening but I did catch up on it yesterday or so. I didn't take all of onboard as I feel that a lot of it was more a result from having such a bad thread slopped up.
But I have taken some elements into consideration, as always.

>>39623149
just caught up after losing track from thread five, its been great, i dread the explanation next thread. and also dread dealing with all the other shit (ambassador, guard captain and snakecatcher abomination), but thats just part of the FUN i guess

>>39623286
Well where the hell do we go? The last place is a no go destroyed.

So do we find an inn? Or what? We need to give her a restorative potion to help get back that eye.

I'm hoping that if we can manage that we can get her to an inn and go "ooohh well she's drunk!" Let her sleep or some such for a night. Get a bath and a meal in her. Then maybe feed her a person or something.

>>39623315
We could always burn our last wish to give her a helping hand in relearning everything.

So if we stick around her we have to babysit her even more now? Let's ditch her and go on cool adventures with BFF Broyip.

>>39626190
Bad idea for a few reason
1. Need to find bunyip, which may be impossible
2.Still gotta deal with the snakecatcher, and our supply of alchemy is depleted.
3.Cennen still has feelings for Hiss.
4.Still gotta warn EUgene and Lady Trebain about aforementioned monster
5.That'd just leave more loose ends to bite us in the ass.