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>>43859369

You hop west along lower branches, absently watching as Sera runs her fingers across a deep cut made in the trunk of a tree as she walks past, her eyes straining forward to keep you in sight in the darkness. The twisting forest canopy shuts out the moonlight, forcing you to rely on your memory and sense of direction as you jump half blind between the trees.

You’ve made good time in spite of the conditions, still able to keep a much better pace than the humans did in the afternoon, and it takes only a little while for the distant orange glow of flame to peek into your vision.

You slow down and climb to a better vantage point when the forest starts to thin out, and surprisingly the state of the village would not be accurately described as “everything is on fire” or “everything was on fire”. There are signs of battle, and some houses have clearly been subject to more burning than they were designed to take, but much of the place is in tact. You can see torches set up, one by the west gate and one by the north, and judging by the flickering against the various structures of the village there are more within, along with a larger flame somewhere in the center.

You think you see movement near the north gate, but you can’t make out what at this distance.

Sera’s looking up at you. If you want any chance of success (what the hell is success here, anyway?), you’re going to have to be sneaky, and you don’t think Sera has nearly your skill in that area.

>

[ ] [Scout] Skirt the forest edge and check out the north gate, you want to see what’s going on.
[ ] [Enter] The western gate looks quiet. Maybe you have a chance to get in.
[ ] [Write-in?]

> And

[ ] [Stay] Have Sera set up here, ready to cover your escape. You’ll be sneakier alone.
[ ] [Follow] Keep Sera with you for now. She’ll be more useful closer.

>>43859369
Thank goodness, for a second I thought it was cancelled.

>>43859477
>[ ] [Scout] Skirt the forest edge and check out the north gate, you want to see what’s going on.
Keep a good distance, our main objective is to try and make out what's in there and how many they are.
>[ ] [Stay] Have Sera set up here, ready to cover your escape. You’ll be sneakier alone.
Return to her later with this information. Try to convey it through body language.

>>43859477

[ ] [Scout] Skirt the forest edge and check out the north gate, you want to see what’s going on.

[ ] [Stay] Have Sera set up here, ready to cover your escape. You’ll be sneakier alone.

>>43859477
>[ ] [Scout] Skirt the forest edge and check out the north gate, you want to see what’s going on.
&
[ ] [Stay] Have Sera set up here, ready to cover your escape. You’ll be sneakier alone.
depending on what we see so far the only thing I can think working would be finding the prisoners, create a distraction and see how many we can get out before the little green bastards can do much.

>>43859477
>[ ] [Enter] The western gate looks quiet. Maybe you have a chance to get in.
>> And
>[ ] [Stay] Have Sera set up here, ready to cover your escape. You’ll be sneakier alone.
We don't need to do it now, but how are we going to explain to Sera to put out the torches with water spells?

>>43859587
Adding onto this, we're going to want to move slowly, with our chameleon ability, we can stay on the roofs and identify things.

If possible we want to look for ways sera can sneak in, unoccupied buildings, food caches, supply caches, and most importantly, prisoners.

With those supply caches, we can get sera to do what any good mage is trained to do. Set shit on fire with extreme prejudice. This would make a loud enough distraction for us to go and try to open a cage/prisoner thing up.

Alternatively, we can torch flammable shit with a regular torch while sera frees everyone, possible thumbs would make the freeing prisoner task easier for her and as such faster. Hell, we've really only got stealth going for us here.

Oh, interesting. With [Stay], would you guys rather Sera do something like inscribe circles to cover escape, or watch and be ready to join you?

>>43859761
She should do something productive, at a minimum put "blow up everything ever" runes on walls to houses or something. Being able to make an alternate exit/entrance as needed would be useful.

>>43859761
>circles or watch
CIRCLES YOU MAD BASTARD
we only have a 2 ft tall lizard and a little girl with a magic book. We need some way to cover our asses should things go pear shape

>>43859819

Well, it's more whether you want to get her close or inside the village, or have her stay in the forest.

You also have no idea if she's capable of just blowing a hole in a wall, though you do know something like that would take a lot of mana.

>>43859761
Either set all the torches to go out for maximum chaos, or set all the flammable stuff to go on fire for maximum chaos.

blowing up the wall for an escape route might be a bit too loud

>>43859869
It definitely takes a lot of mana to do on the fly, however, presumably with clever placement of fire runes, you could turn a wooden wall into a charred husk in moments, of course thats assuming runes work like that and aren't completely different in this.

(Okay, I think I've got a good idea of the intention here.)

>>43859568
>>43859587
>>43859645
>>43859825

(Writing.)

>>43859761
I'd just have her stick to the forest unless she can prepare some spell to create an escape route along the lines of what >>43859875 said.

(I'll also note something about magic and runic casting, since it's never been explained.

A runic circle is a set of instructions for making the caster's mana act in a certain way. It's possible to activate circles at a distance, but an apprentice shouldn't be able to do that.

Runic casting is a method of making magic more efficient - you can cast without runes at all, or use other systems, but pure casting is absurdly mana inefficient. Time lets you prepare more complex circles, making spells more efficient.

An inscribed circle is activated pretty much immediately (though time-delayed effects are possible), and disappears once it's used. The amount of mana pumped into it is controlled by the caster. Enchantments and persistent effects are another thing entirely.

Every living thing has mana and can feel it, but on average mana and inscribed circles can't be sensed except when close enough to touch.)

>>43860174
yeah, as I said here >>43859875
inscribe circles all around as we clear them for safety.

When it's time to activate, literally just run around around the whole thing activating each one as she passes by.

Well, everything isn’t completely screwed forever yet, so there’s nothing to do but continue. You move west along the forest edge, keeping yourself and Sera hidden any prying eyes. As the distance to the northern gate closes, you make out two of the mottled green Wild you’re here to antagonise near the torch, apparently talking with each other.

You stop at a small patch of dirt and plant detritus, relatively clear of obstructing roots and undergrowth, drop down from your branch, and turn to Sera. You point to her, then point to the ground.

She pauses.

You point to yourself, point towards the gate and the goblins.

She blinks.

“[I shouldn’t with you] suna’rui?”

You stare at her, then trace a circle on the ground and point to the village, trying to tell her to do what she can to prepare for the inevitable everything-fucks-up scene. It takes a while, and she glances up towards her old home and back to you multiple times, before she nods.

You really do hope she understood you, and isn’t going to do anything insane. Switching your scales to a pattern of dull greens and browns, you make your way across the field towards the northern gate. You pass by all sorts of things along the way: grass upturned, arrows sticking out of the mud, thick scents that colour your imagination crimson; things you don’t want to dwell on as you crawl along on all fours, pressing your short form close to the ground.

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>>43860787

As you approach, you start to make out the rough, croaking voices, speaking in lazy tones.

“- they ‘sposed to be here ages ago, take the softies away?”
“‘Cares? Take all the time they want, still got drink to go through.”

The Wildtongue words concern you. There might be prisoners alive in there after all, but how long do you have to help them?

Carefully avoiding the torchlight, you raise your head and see the source of the two voices to your right. One’s on the floor, holding a bottle of liquid, and the other’s leaning against the wall, looking all kinds of bored. The latter is holding a spear and wearing mangled leather armor, while the other looks to be unarmed.

Further behind them, just out of the glow of the flame, you see a large, slowly shifting mass in the darkness. It takes you a while to realise that there are half a dozen wolves there, seemingly sleeping, the faint tinge of mana coming from their direction.

>

[ ] [Sneaky] You can avoid their sight and get through the gate easily. You need to find the prisoners.
[ ] [Wolves] Check out their rides. You’ll have to deal with them somehow, and now seems like a good time.
[ ] [Other?]

>>43860829
>[ ] [Wolves] Check out their rides. You’ll have to deal with them somehow, and now seems like a good time.

>>43860829
>[ ] [Wolves] Check out their rides. You’ll have to deal with them somehow, and now seems like a good time.

>>43860829
>[ ] [Wolves] Check out their rides. You’ll have to deal with them somehow, and now seems like a good time.
except we don't have poisons or anything of the sort. Best we'd be able to do is either get them drunk or collapse their den in fire and FUCK YOU.

>>43860829
>[ ] [Wolves] Check out their rides. You’ll have to deal with them somehow, and now seems like a good time.

>>43860829

[x] [Wolves] Check out their rides. You’ll have to deal with them somehow, and now seems like a good time.

>>43860829
>[ ] [Wolves] Check out their rides. You’ll have to deal with them somehow, and now seems like a good time.
If nothing else, it'll prevent them from pursuing us once we've escaped with the prisoners (this is our goal, right?)

>>43860989
>>43860971
>>43860926
>>43860924
>>43860897

(Unanimous as hell, it seems.

Hmm, I think next update will be short and up quickly.)

>>43861046

(And yeah, you're fairly sure Sera wants to be a Big Damn Hero, and since you've tagged along that'd be your goal.)

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As far as you know, wolves aren’t very fond of being pets, let alone being ridden. Somehow, though, this clan of goblins have managed to make that a key part of their raids. Something you have to deal with, one way or another.

Moving along the flickering edges of the flame’s glow, you slowly move towards the sleeping canines. You really don’t like the idea of being pursued by these things, especially considering the people you’re here to help might not be particularly capable of running. You can’t imagine they’ve been treated very well.

The sizzling sense of magic crawls along the surface of your mind as you approach and you notice four wooden objects, small and shorter than yourself, pushed into the ground around the wolves. Moving close to one shows a very slight, orange glow, and you see a sigil of the runic word for ‘calm’ carved into its surface.

Bingo.

You unsheathe a claw and make to scratch the sigil, but a thought pauses you. Are these things keeping them asleep? If they are, would they wake when you break the sigils?

>

[ ] [Sabotage] Get rid of those sigils.
[ ] [Chaos] Get onto a wolf and try to make it aggravate the other wolves by stabbing it unt- fuck no let’s not do that.
[ ] [Nope] Time You’ll have to figure out how to Maximum Sneaky, but maybe you can get away with leaving them alone.
[ ] [Other?]

>>43861384

[ ] [Sabotage] Get rid of those sigils.

>>43861384
>[ ] [Sabotage] Get rid of those sigils.
even if all it is doing is keeping them calm it will still pull goblins away from wherever the prisoners are being held so we might as well get rid of them.

>>43861384
>[ ] [Sabotage] Get rid of those sigils.
that works too, I guess.

>>43861384
Hmm, I was hoping for some way to dispose of them. Oh well, let's see if can't turn them against their "owners".

>[ ] [Sabotage] Get rid of those sigils.

>>43861433
>>43861437
>>43861486
>>43861670

('Kay then!)

So. What do we do when they run off? Hope they don't run in our kid's direction?

>>43861797
they're still in cages aren't they?

>>43861797
Hopefully they'll direct some anger against the ones who were keeping them in a magical cage. Hopefully.

>>43861829
The runes are the cages

test

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Your claw makes a small, deep mark across the sigil carved in wood, and you turn around for the fourth time, half-expecting to see the bared fangs of a really big, really pissed off dog. Again your heart slows down as, thankfully, nothing of the sort happens, and it’s only after you slip by the gate that you start to hear confused voices follow a low, barely audible bestial stirring.

You dash off to your right immediately after passing the gate, the area far too well lit for your liking. You see more torches set up haphazardly, and down near the center of the town there’s a fairly large campfire, blackened charcoal and ash speaking of the blaze it must’ve been hours earlier.

You spy more of the mottled green Wild around it in various states of consciousness, sitting and lying around half-eaten food and broken wooden cups and buckets. Much of your view is obscured, however, by a pair of large wagons, one appearing to contain weapons, mostly spears, bows, and arrow quivers, and the other a variety of tools and goods, including bundles of cloth and leather, spare torches, and accompanying pots of pitch. Two brown-furred boards lie prone next to the wagons, their huge forms rising and falling slowly in slumber.

>>43862403

Continuing to note bloodstains and other grisly signs scattered in too many places for comfort, you hear before you see one of the goblins from the northern gate running down the dirt path in front of you, shouting.

“Master Rantha! S’one, someone call Master Rantha!”

The half-smashed wooden door of the building across the dirt road opens, and another of the short monsters pokes their head out as you hear dazed mutterings come from the center of the town.

Confused voices sound out and continue to grow, but you don’t listen, because past that half-smashed door you see humanoid forms crouched and slumped in the darkness against the building’s walls.

You’ve found your objective… but are you prepared to go?

>

[ ] [Crunch time] Get in that building and free them. You need to leave, now [Escape plan?]
[ ] [There’s more] You won’t make it. There has to be more you can do [What?]

>>43862427
>[ ] [There’s more] You won’t make it. There has to be more you can do [What?]

Huh, that route down to the west actually looks incredibly viable, if we can get out safely without being detected, we can come back for the girl and have her use her sweet thumbs to make short work of those stupid doors, also she'd get her shot at heroism.

>>43862427
>[ ] [There’s more] You won’t make it. There has to be more you can do [What?]
all there weapons are in wooden wagons, they're are torches everywhere and right now everyone is distracted. light em up

>>43862427
Cut their bindings, then run back to sera and have her do her thing. Then go straight back and lead the ones who didnt have the sense to run or hide.

Id give more orders, but we cant talk.

(Just to be clear, that weird oval thing half covered in gray represents the prisoners.

'Course I can't guarantee the map is to scale or accurate or anything, haha.

Also Sera is probably about 150 meters north from the gate. You can get to her in maybe two or three minutes by yourself, but you don't know how long the wolf distraction would work for.)

>>43862595
>>43862605
>>43862699

Comes down to:

>

[ ] [Partner in Crime] Sneak out and retrieve Sera first.
[ ] [Artillery Support] Keep Sera back.

[ ] [Fire is the Best Distraction] Start burning things.

[ ] [Make a Break For It] Free the prisoners and break through north.

(Or anything else.)

>>43863016
>] [Artillery Support] Keep Sera back.
>[ ] [Fire is the Best Distraction] Start burning things.
I like these lets go with them

>>43863016
>[ ] [Partner in Crime] Sneak out and retrieve Sera first.

>>43863016
>[ ] [Artillery Support] Keep Sera back.
my only worry is how she'll know when to start activating those circles
>[ ] [Fire is the Best Distraction] Start burning things.

>>43863016
>[ ] [Partner in Crime] Sneak out and retrieve Sera first.

[ ] [Fire is the Best Distraction] Start burning things.

>>43863126

(The field is clear enough that she'll be able to see the prisoners if they leave the village. No way she can see a small lizard at that distance though.)

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>43863016

(HowToRoll.)

>>43863304

(Right then, writing for [Magic Fireworks] + [Burn All the Things!])

>>43863333
these should be good

The confusion works to your advantage, letting you dart across the dirt road when you find a gap in the hostile fields of view, but you need a bigger distraction. A panic.

Which is why you decide everything needs to be on fire.

You jump up and unsheathe your right claws to detach the cloth-in-pitch-wrapped head of a burning torch, skewering it with your left as you run down towards the wooden wagons. The chatter hasn’t been nearly loud enough to wake their boar steeds, but you’re certain that will change soon as you leap up onto the closest wagon and leave the torch-head on a loose roll of cloth, the flame licking up and spreading hungrily.

Reaching the second wagon, you look around for another torch-head but see none close enough, and briefly consider the burning embers of the campfire before you rule it impossible to reach without being seen. So you take a breath, heart pounding, and focus.

-right, cheerful amber eyes, sultry, exotic tongue-

You trace a circle on the wagon, rapidly scratching the rune for flame into the wood-

“-more than that, little one. The more steps you leave out, the more mana it w-”

Shut up shut up shut up- You shake your head and activate your hastily inscribed circle, summoning a small burst of fire and setting the wagon and a nearby crude bow aflame.

You can’t have much time at all before your work causes the chaos you need, so you rush back, matching your scales with the brown dirt ground and building’s wooden walls as you move, and dart inside the temporary prison as a goblin hurriedly walks out towards the north gate.

>>43863937

Your eyes find forms in the dark quickly, and you see your objectives. Humans, people suffering obvious signs of harm. Worry and panic clouding the defeated expressions of the half awake, and harshly furrowed brows marking the dark dreams of the barely asleep. All of them adults, some still wearing bits and pieces of bent metal armour, varying between those freshly reaching their prime or aging past. All bound by rope around their wrists and feet.

There’s two goblins in the room, one apparently just waking, and the other, wearing anxious confusion on his face, looking between the prisoners and the door.

The door, where he would find you if you haven’t leapt into the air, your claws centimeter from his neck.

>>43864005

A pair of corpses, blood, and strips of cut rope litter the ground. You scan the crowd of a little less than a dozen, noting bleeding wounds, bruises, and limbs twisted painfully in unnatural ways. Many of the humans are shaking each other awake, and others are retrieving the few worn spears and broken swords lying around the floor of the structure.

All of them stare at you, lost, wary, and trying to communicate, but your mind is elsewhere.

You listen to shouts and yells outside, the crackling of flame, the squeals of the boars at their rude awakening, and know you haven’t much time.

>

[ ] [North] Go straight north. There’s definitely resistance, but you have backup past the gate.
[ ] [East gate, then North] The east gate should have less attention, but you do need to get back to Sera.
[ ] [East] You’re to get these people out safely. They’ll want your group, Sera should be fine.

>>43864081
>[ ] [East gate, then North] The east gate should have less attention, but you do need to get back to Sera.
Sara has the ruins up and we are going to be chased. Sara will buy us the time we need to actually get the fuck out of here.

>>43864081
[ ] [East gate, then North] The east gate should have less attention, but you do need to get back to Sera.

>>43864081
[ ] [East gate, then North] The east gate should have less attention, but you do need to get back to Sera.

>>43864081
[ ] [East gate, then North] The east gate should have less attention, but you do need to get back to Sera.

>>43864081
>[ ] [East gate, then North] The east gate should have less attention, but you do need to get back to Sera.

>>43864129
>>43864154
>>43864173
>>43864190
>>43864195

(Okay then, that's really clear!)

(Right, this is way longer than I planned, so I'll post some of it and continue writing. Bear with me!)

You briefly peek outside, rounding the corner for a second to glance at your handiwork, and the entirety of your vision is orange flame and black smoke. Everything flammable around the wagons (read: fuckin’ everything) is burning, and the shouting of the Wild and squeals of the boards collide into a discordant, hysterical wail of panicked noise.

Yep, time to go.

You run back into the building and point frantically at the back door. The walls of the structure do absolutely nothing to mask the catastrophic chaos outside, and the humans raise no questioning voices as someone smashes the door open, shoulder first. You run out and lead them down the narrow space between houses and the eastern village wall, stopping and looking around to match pace as they support their injured and weak.

You reach the gate, and a pair of armed Wild running towards the center of the settlement stop and see your party. There’s a pregnant pause, fear freezing you solid as you realise just how poorly this event goes when you lack the element of surprise, and time starts up again as two large shapes barrel past you, a pair of probably-guardsmen lodging a mace in one goblin’s face and a sword in the other’s chest.

Wonder if they’ll like to be your servants, too. And where the hell did that mace come from, anyway?

The group starts to cross the threshold, and you join the two guards in gesturing with your hands to the rest of the human, hurrying them along. You look west along the straight path bisecting the village as the last of them cross the gate, and for the second time in as many tens of seconds you freeze.

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>>43864885

Despite the distance, you can see it charging towards you - a boar-driven wagon, a goblin at the reins, a large metal cage seemingly strapped to the back, clattering and shaking at the chariot’s speed. It crashes through the settlement, sending pots and tools flying as it breaks through the village square, and your heart sinks further as you see the tops of other similar cages shaking dangerously behind it, no doubt attached to more of your new worst enemy.

It’s here that your mind briefly casts back to the very first conversion in Wildtongue you heard today, and you realise you may have slightly overstayed your welcome.

You run right past the former prisoners, many of them screaming as they look back and see the approaching threat, and gesture wildly to the north, changing the colour of your scales to red and blue and yellow and green and whatever the damn hell will make them look and see and follow, before running off towards your backup in the forest.

>>43864949

As you lead your group, panic mounting at their slow pace, you come into sight of the north gate; the wolves definitely woke up, and it seems they weren’t very happy. A handful of injured, groaning goblins lie in the grass alongside dead canines in pools of blood, with any living of the great gray beasts clearly having left. The few goblins still standing notice your group very quickly, and you hear their harsh outcries and see the moonlight glint off raised arrowheads.

“The prisoners!”

There’s no way you can deal with them, not when you still have those stupid boar-cage-chariot things chasing you down. You don’t have to, however, as the arrows go wide when large irregular blocks of ice at the end of massive parabolic arcs fall like stars from the glittering night sky, smashing into the ground around them.

And in front of your group, not more than a hundred and fifty meters north, through the thinning tree trunks of the forest, shines the arcane blue light of your salvation - your goddamn servant.

>>43864987
and that's why you have artillery to back you up.

>>43864987

The prisoners press on, the injured and supporting moving in awkward, galloping steps. The hailstorm rain on the northern gate stops quickly, but it was more than enough to keep the goblins down, drained from their pet problems as they were.

Then the high-pitched squeal of a boar reminds you that you had more problems than that.

You look back and see those patchwork cage-chariots gaining on you, the boars panicked in a way that betrays the lack of training for war.

“Dhasa ernurd, caaf sillailr!”

A familiar voice rings out over the commotion, and soon a burst of blue light shines again from the forest, heralding a wave of water that rushes past, crossing the path that your group of freed prisoners traced just a moment ago. The field is wide, with very few opportunities for the wave to build height or pressure, but the summoned torrent of water is massive enough to push the boar chariots back, the goblins flailing at the reins to keep their terrified steeds moving forward.

Too massive. The light in the forest doesn’t fade, but the torrent weakens.

“-’d do well to learn them properly, little one, or your spells will run you dry-”

Shit. SHIT.

[ ] [Keep Going] You need that torrent to stay up, or you’ll lose people. Sera… Sera will be fine. She has to be.
[ ] [Stop Her] Save even half these people, and you'd have done way more than expected of both of you. Stop your stupid servant before she kills herself.
[ ] [Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?]

>>43865265
>[ ] [Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?]

>>43865265
>[ ] [Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?]
lizard time?

>>43865265
[ ] [Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?]

>>43865265
[ ] [Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?]
MYSTERY BOX!

Also are we only capable of using magic purely because we've effectively been irradiated to hell with it?

>>43865346
I figured we somehow became the girl's familiar with realizing it and her memories are leaking through into us

>>43865265
>[ ] [Stop Her]
>[ ] [I'll Finish This]
Assassin's Liz time

>>43865346

(Mana is in everything that lives in this world, so everything can pure cast. Capacity and talent for magic can vary wildly though.

Also pure casting sucks, so pretty much all magic users learn a system of magic. Sera and her master use runic casting, which is the most popular.)

>>43865369

(The lizard's knowledge of runic and magic comes from another source, something in his past.

Something with bright, cheerful, amber eyes.)

>>43865315
>>43865330
>>43865340
>>43865346

(And I'm reminded that [Hero] and [Don't Hero] isn't really a choice, haha. Writing).

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>43865265
[x] [Who The Hell Do You Think I Am?]

>>43865435
Not unless you're a QM who makes it clear dumb heroes die.

>>43865369
That'd actually be interesting, having us somehow accidentally become her familiar seeing as we attempted to enslave her and/or exploit her for food originally. Which appears to have heavily backfired now that I think about it.

>>43865538
Naw man, we are amassing an army of slaves by making them think we care. It's genius.

I've gotta tap out guys, its 1:25 here. The Aussie time zone is too stronk for me! Don't ruin everything ever while I'm gone.

The light doesn’t fade. You watch, seconds of eternity crossing your eyes, and the light isn’t fading - Sera doesn’t intend to cut off her spell.

This pisses you off.

You think about running up to her and pulling her hands off of whatever she’s inscribed into her spellbook, stupid hero crap be damned.

You think about how if you would receive praise if you even save half of these people, rather than blame for not being able to do the same for the other half.

You think about how much the two of you, a half-meter tall Wild and a human girl that can’t be more than twelve years of age, have managed to do.

Then you think about how you’re an awesome lizard thing, and that shit like this is absolutely nothing.

>>43865930

You see one of the wagons tip over, the boar breaking off and dragging the rider holding the reins across the field towards the eastern edge of the forest. The other two chariots take its place, and you see from the corner of your eyes movement from the north gate, and know that if you want to leave this place with everyone in tact, the group needs to keep moving.

So you run off to the side of the large, yet waning torrent of water, and briefly feel incredibly thankful for Sera’s choice of spell. You search, but there’s too much grass, too much mud, and too little time, so you pick a smooth-looking rock instead, unsheathing a claw as you trace a circle in the stone.

“It is yours to tie them physically, little one. To let their structure guide your spell, and to give their meanings life.”

You rack your brain and disentomb forgotten memories, searching for the words you need.

“Runic inscription relies on the mind and its perception, just as magic as a whole,”

Mana. Air. Fire. You scratch and scratch. You ignore the cracking and leaking blood.

“So your own thoughts will disturb them, change their meanings, but that need not hinder you. Understand it, and the chaos will work for you.”

Entangle. Persist. Flow. Your claw refuses to move, so you unsheathe another, and keep going.

“Magic is power, little one. Meaning is what gives that power direction.”

>>43865947

You make your final stroke, and the circle glows. The stone is stained with your blood, but the inscription, the physical structure holds.

You place both your claws on the circle, filling it with power. You feel your mana surge forward and transform, and you guide it as it merges, as it comes to life. You draw it out into the world, sizzling and crackling, and roar as you send it forward as a bolt of blinding-white lightning that arcs through the midnight air, crashing into the closest boar-drawn wagon. The energy pours through the beast’s form, squeals overtaking its rider’s screams, and you will the damn thing to obey and persist, to arc and jump and dance, and it cracks and thunders across space once more to send the second and final makeshift chariot to the same hell as the first.

Because these are /your/ humans, you ugly green little shits.

>>43866004

You hardly notice when the torrent of water stops as your adversaries fall. You hardly notice anything at all, actually, except the fading blue-white glow of the runes in front of you, wisps of mana floating up to join the stars, and the infinite, pitch-blackness of the night, far darker than you remember.

Maybe you just did something stupid. Something you were just angry at Sera for trying.

Something in your head tells you you still need to run, but the rest of it can’t respond; and before the blackness takes you, you swear you hear a familiar voice from the depths of your memories, from a time that feels far too long ago.

File: umm hi.png (94 KB, 700x600)

94 KB PNG

(WE'RE DONE FELLAS THE MC IS DEAD no I'm kidding

Thanks for joining me again guys! I'll probably do this again next week, same time, but you can follow me on @boxofmithril in case everything goes wrong forever and always.)

(Now for those still awake, let me tell you about my run-in with the QM's curse.)

>>43866098
computer problems?

>>43866098
>WE'RE DONE FELLAS THE MC IS DEAD
yaaaaaa-
>no I'm kidding
-still yaaaa-

>(Now for those still awake, let me tell you about my run-in with the QM's curse.)
-not yay, not yay at all.

>>43866098
Thank you for running, and more importantly, Thank you for stopping! Unlike you crazy Australians We here in America need to sleep at sane times.

And don't you get started about those dirty communist TIME ZONES of yours!

>>43866141

Hahaha, thanks for sticking around! I want to keep these threads from going for too long, but my need to make them nice kinda-standalone episodes is stronger it seems.

>>43866098

Now then, if you'll indulge me for a bit.

On the 17th of this month I spent six hours as a QM for this quest. I started ALTQ with consideration for my absurd amount of free time, but a mere six hours was suffice for the curse to set in, for on the following day, I received a job offer that consumes all of my weekdays.

On that same day, approximately 30 hours past thread 1, I woke up fifteen minutes past midnight, unable to rest. I turned on my PC, typed into a document the text 'here lies stupid shit I write down so they can GET OUT OF MY HEAD AND LET ME SLEEP, FUCK', then produced an eldritch text amounting to almost three hundred blasphemous words before going back to bed.

Questing: not even once.


Oh, and is there something wrong with the archives? I can't get it to work for this thread.

>>43866235
>I received a job offer that consumes all of my weekdays.
money is good, right?

>produced an eldritch text amounting to almost three hundred blasphemous words before going back to bed.
I-I don't remember that part of the QM curse...