Previous Threads: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=FoxFire

Where things are said: https://twitter.com/Riz_QM

Where things are asked: http://ask.fm/RizQM

Assorted Supplemental:
None yet (Working on a basic character sheet concept)

Write-ups:
None yet.

Misc notes:If you have specific things you're curious about, or may want to see in the character sheet, go ahead and tell me. I can't promise it'll be there/explained, but who knows?

I was about to do this weekly before remembering new quests should be run fairly often at their conception. Expect threads fairly regularly for at least a week or two

>>62719
>>Hang back, let her meet her squadmate before you arrive.

>>62719
>>Hang back, let her meet her squadmate before you arrive.

>>62719
>Hang back, let her meet her squadmate before you arrive.

>Hang back, let her meet her squadmate before you arrive.

>>62777
>>62824
>>62870
>>62890
Kay. Writing!

You maintain your careful pace, unwilling to risk slipping as the woman's distance grows further and further. This is fine, you suppose; She had told you already that the rest of her squad would have tried to kill you for a bounty, no sense in running dizzily into someone you expect to be hostile. Besides... Her aggressive nature aside, the excitement that had crept into her voice upon seeing the rover wasn't entirely born of malice.

You would let her have her reunion in peace, at least initially.

Before long you were alone, keeping an occasional eye on the woman's distant form as she stopped near the rover and began to hunch over in gasping breaths. There was someone else there with her, similarly dressed in heavily wrapped clothes that obscured their build and features. The complete silence of the Hydra covered rolling hills lent itself well to letting you overhear the indistinct yelling and cursing that you had come to associate with that woman.

They were too far away to make out the exact words, but given the frequency in which she repeated a specific set of her vocabulary, you suppose that just keeping them in mind would fill in at least half of the furious racket drifting up from the otherwise peaceful expanse. It's only as you gradually grow closer does the swearing begin to slow, the shuffle of something scuffing across the dried sludge sheets causing your ears to twitch attentively.

"I've been trying to pry the gunk off of the tires." An unfamiliar voice, one you attributed to the unknown squadmate, began to explain.

"You know damn well not to drive after that shit falls." The woman returned blisteringly, another rough scuff following the first, with a third and fourth occurrence creating an unsteady rhythm. "The hell ya couldn't just wait at camp?"

"Oh yeah, that's a great idea! Wait outside the only exit to a place with a crazy Gardener in it, surely that'll go well!"

"What 'bout the rest of us then, huh?!"

"The rest of you were dead!"

"I look damn good for being a corpse then, don't I?!"

A pause, only briefly interrupted by scuff.

"Being a corpse would be an improvement, if it'd shut you up."

"Oh I'm sorry, here I thought you wanted me to use this fucking medkit."

You let your head hang in familiar exasperation as slowed your approach and let them talk. The rover's tires had become gummed up in the sludge while it was wet, a dangerous result considering the state it seemed to solidify into once it dried... But this was what the woman had meant by not being able to ride far after it rains.

"Hey, more importantly, what'd you find down there?" The squadmate's voice lowers conspiratorially, "I've never seen the Hydra react that quickly before."

"The fuck do yo- ...Oh. Oooh fuck, shit. Right, about that. That? That's not my fault, and I didn't find shit down there."

"Then what-"

"It found me." She continued, interrupting his questions quickly, "And it's not happy about us looting."

"You brought the fucking Gardener with you!?"

"Hell no, I killed that fucker!"

You glance back down the road as they begin to squabble, curiosity luring you to wonder just what had given away your approach... Only to see a trail of deep violet flowers blooming beautifully along the sides of the road in your wake, a line of blossoms flanking the asphalt strip where once only the obsidian thorns had lurked.

No wonder that sickeningly sweet stench had followed you down from the forest. Even now, as you looked closer at the Hydra around you, green buds were beginning to worm their way through the glossy black skin of the vines.

>Introduce yourself
>Just let them keep talking
>Experiment with the Hydra
>Other? (Write-in)

>>63393
>>Introduce yourself
Maybe you wont get shot!

>>63393
>Just let them keep talking

>>63393
>Introduce yourself

>>63393
>Experiment with the Hydra

>>63393
>>Experiment with the Hydra

>>63430
>>63463
Introductions!

>>63436
Lurking!

>>63476
>>63552
Experimentation!

I'll wait 5m on a tie break between Introductions and Experiments, then roll for it.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>63562
1. Introductions
2. Experiments

Here we go.

Your tails twist curiously through the air as the green buds force their way out into the sunlight, small strips of violet already visible along them as they struggle to bloom. Most flowers would face the sun, or perhaps sway in the breeze as they attempted to attract pollination... But these flowers, even as you sat back onto your haunches sceptically, were blooming for what seemed to be only a single reason.

If it weren't for the nose wrinkling smell that drifted out of them and sent tongue curling along the edges, the trail of violet blossoms might have been an inspiring sight. However, curiosity was your natural response even through the deeply unsettling way you felt about Hydra. You felt a sharp pain twist in your stomach as you forced a thimble-sized tongue of flame to flicker alive upon the tip of one of your tails, holding it aloft to one of the tenderly uncurling flowers before you-

It's cold... So cold...
Bless this meal, the fruit of our toil.
Forgive us our sins, your fervent children.
Oh God, why have you forsaken us?
Don't cry, you bastards! This is the future you chose!
Such a beautiful FoxFire...

-Your flame winks out, the vision of an endless black sea whose tides threatened to pull you out into the swirling vortex at their center fading away alongside it. You feel your hunger pulse through your body, a headache that sends a shock of burning white across your vision with each plaintive groan.

You catch yourself tipping over, stumbling away from the delicately hanging blossoms which seemed to have nearly exploded into being far ahead of their kin. They covered the ground, and even rose up into the sky, a small field of unnerving flowers blooming brilliantly under the sun as the wind lifted their newly born petals.

You needed to eat something.
Now.

>Eat the flowers.
>The relics are near, consume them.
>You can hear prey nearby.
>Other? (write-in)

>>63867
>The relics are near, consume them.

>The relics are near, consume them

>>63867
>The relics are near, consume them.

>>63867
>The relics are near, consume them.

>>63867
>The relics are near, consume them.

>>63867
>>You can hear prey nearby.

>>63867
>>You can hear prey nearby

>>63891
>>63905
>>63925
>>63936
>>63967
Relics!

>>63968
>>63986
Evidently we are not fond of hunting.

Writing!

>>64055
I doubt anyone would want to hunt in this place
Espacially with the whole Okami thing we have going with us

>>64103
We could eat our enemies

Unsteady steps lead you away from the flowers, following a primal yearning towards something much more appealing. You could hear prey nearby, but there was another source of sustenance close to them... If you could reach it, then there wasn't any point in wasting your energy hunting. Your ears twitch, senses sharpening out of desperation as you scamper down the asphalt strip, rapidly approaching the yelling prey.

You ignore them for now, even as one of them seems to break and clamber towards the stranded box that held your quarry. Moving across the dried sludge was treacherous, a fact you came to understand as your hurried sprint was interrupted by a deafening blast as you crashed face-first into the ground. Tripping... A part of your mind growls at the embarrassment as you tried to find your way back to your feet. Your hearing was starting to return, but there was still so much noise.

Hadn't it been quiet not long ago?

You snarl as three of your feet find ground and you slump over once more in what was the second most frustrating method of mobility you had experienced in your life thus far.

Your tails thrash angrily as you roll back upright, balance shifting to accommodate the sudden change of limbs. As your attention sweeps across the asphalt strip, the two prey are holding their ground, shouting at one another indecipherably. Another deafening crash rings out, ears folding flat against your skull in offense, and a chunk of the asphalt near you cracks apart in a small flurry of debris.

Abruptly you understand why you suddenly only had three legs.

Something akin to outrage gurgles within you as you lay your sights on the noisy prey from earlier, the two of them holding onto tools you vaguely recall seeing used before, deep within the Burial Grounds. Instincts screamed out to you as one loosed a shot, your body jerking aside to avoid the brightly colored bolt that screamed past you not moments later.

There was more screaming. Your remaining three paws caught you adeptly along the ground, claws gouging through the dried sludge to anchor your weight against sudden acrobatics. You could feel the anger and fear, it rolled off of them near palpably. Perhaps more importantly to you, the coppery scent of blood was growing sharper in the air.

A pale white wisp licked at your stump, tongues of ghastly flames leaking in place of blood.

>Reform your leg.
>Rush for the food and leave before it gets more dangerous.
>Lash out in retribution.
>Other? (write-in)

>>64250
>Lash out in retribution.

>>64250
>>Rush for the food and leave before it gets more dangerous.

>>64250
>>Rush for the food and leave before it gets more dangerous.
Food first, creepy powers later

>>64250
>Chuck fire at the dude and eat things

>>64250
>Rush for the food and leave before it gets more dangerous.

>>64250
>>Rush for the food and leave before it gets more dangerous.

>>64275
Retribution!

>>64326
...Sort of retribution?

>>64288
>>64318
>>64329
>>64350
NopeNopeNope.

Writing.

>>64369
Ah right.
Can I get you guys to roll 1d100 for me? Best of the first three.

it's dice+1d100 in the options field, for anyone new.

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>64401

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>64401

Rolled 89 (1d100)

>>64401
lets go then.

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>64401

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>64369

This was more than you bargained for, and as another particularly irate voice is overridden by the discharge of those strange weapons, you find yourself using your twin tails to help offset the balance change from being a leg short. Rapid movements lead you forward and around the constant discharge of bolts, many of them coming perilously close to another maiming injury.

But close is all they would come, as you put trust into your body and weave through the impact zones at a frightening speed. Three legs were more than enough to outmaneuver the shoddy hail of fire as you cleared the remaining distance between the two of you and dove towards the vehicle you knew the relics to be stored in. Whether it be consideration or good fortune, the constant discharge was finally replaced with the relatively more bearable yelling long enough for you to find the case you were after.

The vehicle shook as your tails shot forward to wrap around it, wrenching it free from its confines clumsily and just in time for you to fling it back around behind you and intercept one last bolt - Launched from over the shoulder of one of the prey - Before you were left perching along the frame of the vehicle and ready to bolt yourself.

Unfortunately you had precious few choices, most of which consisted of running back up or down this coverless asphalt strip. The third choice would almost assuredly get you away from these weapons, but...

You glance towards the endless fields of Hydra reluctantly.

The ominous sound of something clicking into place, and unsheathing metal, tells you that you don't have long to decide.

>Into the Hydra
>Back to the Burial Grounds
>Flee down the road
>Other? (write-in)

>>64512
>>Back to the Burial Grounds

>>64512
>Back to the Burial Grounds

>>64512
>Other? (write-in)
Steal the gun too
Then burial grounds

>>64512
>>Back to the Burial Grounds
We can use whatever is holding the relics as a shield if we need to

>>64523
>>64526
>>64544
Burial Grounds!

>>64531
Burial Grounds but also gimme that gun.

Writing.

There's only one direction you know you'd be safe going in, but the long strip of asphalt between here and there leave you wary.

A pulse of hunger rips through you; Ravenous and demanding, it's enough to cause your stance to falter and you nearly tumble off of the vehicle in the process. The case hits the ground ahead of you, followed quickly by the rest of your face landing atop it, before you flop over onto the ground in a near instinctual - Yet terribly clumsy - way of dodging the imposing sound of weapon's discharge.

There is more shouting as your blurred vision clears, but the clatter of something falling to the ground is the first thing to draw your recovering attention. You recognize the outline of the weapon which had been firing at you not long ago, and you lurch forward to grasp it in your jaws and bite down harshly onto the hard metal surface. Pale embers spark from your maw, small white wisps as your teeth begin to sink through the increasingly malleable frame.

You don't want to test your luck though, sparing the entangled forms of the two prey a final tentative glance before turning to scamper back towards the distant forest; Back towards the home you knew would be safe.

You have what you came here for, but your vision was starting to flash with every few steps. You push through the pain, unwilling to slow down lest you deal with any possible pursuers. Until the pain was a constant, burning wire that threaded itself through your body. It was only when you had finally retraced your steps into the edge of the forest did your body break down and resort to slamming the case into the asphalt and breaking it open, ancient musty artifacts of varying sorts coming tumbling out of it.

In another state, when you weren't in a near delirious state, more respect would have been paid to them. Now though... Now, thoughts of the Faith within them elicited nothing but a salivating rush. You had already snapped one of the stray antiques up, mouth awash with a heatless flame that was consuming the ancient metal with every frantic bite.

A small staff, an urn, diminutive statues and carvings... More and more, you feasted, sating your hunger without regard to decorum or respect. You could feel burning wire through your body begin to abate, the edge of your hunger being forced back and conquered.

It was only when your animalistic search led you to trying to bite down on a small, peculiarly shiny orb did you regain your sense of self.

Or rather, it was the near bone-cracking vice that closed around you as you tried to bite it which forced you to recoil and take a second stock of what was going on. The orb rolled out of your mouth, pristine and unharmed; Seemingly twinkling at your expense.

You nudge the bite-sized orb cautiously, rolling it around the ground as you waited for something else to happen... But all you really found was that you seemed to enjoy playing with it.

The minor, and slightly disconcerting distraction aside, it was beginning to grow dark. Though you had consumed the full haul of those scavengers, presumably the treasures which had littered your ruins, you still felt... Peckish. The hunger was nowhere near what it had been, but there was a negligible burning at the edge of your awareness that let you know you could stand to eat more. Still, this was the fullest you had been since you had been born.

You spare a glance towards the weapon you had stolen, finding its frame partially melted and perforated around where you had bitten down to carry it earlier. Whatever it had been for, the fact you could see through it in several places made you question whether it could still hope to perform its previous function.

...Speaking of previous function.

You stare down at the stump that used to be your fourth leg. It was still gently leaking the pale flame you had come to identify as FoxFire. You had expected blood, or perhaps bone... But all the issued forth was the same, innocent light which you had learned to summon from your tails. It didn't hurt, even now... But it was certainly inconvenient.

Several thoughts began to creep into your mind. Questions and curiosity primarily... Would there be unfound Faith back at your ruins? It had been a large complex, surely there was more to it than this motley case had held.

>Go scavenging.
>Wait to see if anyone followed you.
>Investigate shiny ball further.
>Other? (Write-in)

>>64742

>Investigate shiny ball further

>>64742
>Wait to see if anyone followed you.
Then
>Investigate shiny ball further.

>>64742
>Wait to see if anyone followed you.
>Investigate shiny ball further.

>>64742
>Wait to see if anyone followed you.
>Investigate shiny ball further.

>>64747
>>64759
>>64763
>>64768
Investigating shiny ball as we wait.

Writing.

You find yourself settling back onto your haunches as you stare down the asphalt strip. There were a great deal of blooming Hydra in that direction now, indicative of the path you had travelled twice now. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, they weren't quite as verdant as the blooms you encountered as you and the woman had left the Burial Grounds.

For quite some time, as the sun dipped further and further beyond the horizon, you sat and waited; Senses straining. The soft glow of your glowing stump reflecting off the tiny ball as shadows began to fall, until only that unnatural source of light remained to illuminate your surroundings. You don't know exactly what you had expected, perhaps the ambient sound of animals emerging from their den and attempting to call, but only the self-same silence which had surrounded you during the day was there to greet you.

As you waited, the ball was an effective way of keeping yourself distracted. Your remaining front paw batting at it experimentally from time to time, an almost illogical sense of contentment being elicited by the contact as you rolled it back and forth in front of you during the short breaks you took from listening. Each passing swipe of your paw pulled away another layer of grit and wear from it, polishing the once rough looking orb under constant ministrations.

Before long, all of your attention was focused purely on that task. Your one stump held aloft to highlight the stone held between your tails as you pawed it clean of any dirt or grime that had been collected. It seems like an eternity later that you finally notice your own reflection in the tiny ball, a crystalline surface that glimmers beautifully under the pale white light of the FoxFire.

On second thought, you realize it wasn't reflecting the FoxFire at all; It was producing it. The same heatless flame you had grown accustomed to seeing yourself now shimmered brightly around the orb, bathing your tails in its harmless wisps. Within its surface, a single ember floated aimlessly, like a star in the night sky.

This felt right. Like an important part of you had been returned to its rightful place.

As dawn crept into view however, the flames around the orb began to fade; The ember within it flickering weakly with each passing hour until it, too, finally vanished.

In the end, no one had come that night.

The silence of the day greets you, just as the fall of night had, and you shake off the restless feeling as a calm breeze ruffles the leaves of the trees above you - The first sound you had heard in hours - Before everything goes quiet once more and you're left to decide what to do.

Your home was the Burial Grounds, but that woman had already told you that more scavengers would be coming for it. You're not even sure that there's anything left for you there any more, as you don't have any memories of the place to exactly cherish. Even now, as you stare off the strip of asphalt towards the ruins, you realize that with the lack of Faith stored within, the Hydra was beginning to encroach upon what had at one point been 'sacred ground'.

...Or perhaps, it was always encroaching. The Gardener who had lived there was dead, and with them, any hint of what you were or what the place had been. You don't fully understand what a Gardener was supposed to be, but you vaguely recall being told they tried to keep the Hydra away.

This asphalt strip, most likely it would lead you to where ever that woman had lived. The city, one powered by consumed Faith. You had hazy memories of what had occurred yesterday after your experiment with the Hydra, but you got the feeling that you wouldn't be welcomed by the locals.

And speaking of that woman... Had she left with her squadmate? You held no harsh feelings towards her; She had told you when you first spoke that she wouldn't try to help you or her squad if it came down to their hostility. She had upheld her word.

>Stay at the Burial Grounds.
>Travel to the city.
>Go searching for that woman.
>Seek out other Gardeners.
>Other? (Write-in)

>>64893
>Perform a cursory check for the woman.
>Seek out other Gardeners.

Woman seems sensible, she should have left already, but we ought to confirm just in case. City is probably hostile. More gardeners can update us on the magical situation.

>>64905
Writing.

>>64939
The fuck do you live mate? I honestly tried my very best to keep up with Valen Quest for the first few threads, but I'd end up passing out a third of the way through. I'm only awake now due to midterm bullshit.

>>64893
>>Stay at the Burial Grounds.
At least for tonight, maybe we could find some clues about ourselves or at the very least eat those two dead bodies if they're still good.

>>64944
East coast of the states! I'm naturally nocturnal though, because the sun gives me terrible headaches and exhausts me.

I try to start earlier in the night, because a lot of my players don't share that particular affliction, but I'm also terrible at time.

>>64955
Are, are you a fucking vampire or something?

File: WhyWouldYouAskThat.jpg (77 KB, 453x553)

77 KB JPG

>>64966

You scoop up the ball in your mouth, careful to let it be cradled on your tongue as your jaws close around it. You weren't going to try eating it again, not after what had happened the first time, but this was the most convenient way you could think to carry it with you.

You take your time in travelling back down the asphalt strip, keeping a careful distance from the Hydra blossoms around you as you go. You had never been particularly comfortable with them, but your last experience left you far more unnerved by their existence than their odd blooming habits and horrible smell ever had. Your goal this time wasn't to go quite as far, just to make a quick, cursory check for what had happened to the woman.

She was probably long gone by now, having finally caught up with the rest of her squad and given access to that vehicle they had apparently managed to find their out here on. Still... It wasn't concern, exactly, that led you along this path. You hadn't been alive for very long, and it seemed that from the moment you had been born there had always been noise. The sound of the intruding scavengers, the weapon discharge, and most prominently, that woman's constant talking and cursing.

It was only after you were alone did you realize what that incessant chatter had been masking, and...

...No, even if she were still there, she had already stated her thoughts on this wild. There really was no point in you coming back out to try and find her.

However, if you hadn't come, you would have gone the rest of your life never knowing just how close she had been. It was the scent of blood as you once more crested that hill, mixed into the disgusting smell of the Hydra, that told you of her presence.

You sat down before her, twin tails curling around you as you glanced past her still form, picking out the drops of blood which had stained her clothes, and eventually found their way to the ground as she walked. This was, you remember, also how you had met the woman. It seems it had been a trait of hers, to keep moving when she was in a state like that.

Only this time, there hadn't been a saviour to greet her in the dark.

The rover was long gone, and presumably her squadmate with it.

'My whole team died, even if I go back empty handed, corporate is gonna be coughing up dough by the bag.'
'Then you do not need the Faith you located here.'

>Leave her corpse.
>Consume her.

>>65022
>>Consume her.
Better then leaving her to rot or then letting the hydra grabbing what's left of her.

>>65022
>Consume her.

God fucking damn it. Didn't even get her name.

>>65030
>>65033
Writing.

>>65022
Congratulations on your first stupidly killed NPC, anons.
It probably won't be the last.

>>65033
Maybe we can absorb her memories or something and get a name there...

Her soul is most likely long gone though... Too bad we can't steal her corpse

>>65087
By eating her we gain our third tail and gain a human form.

>>65083
I doubt anyone really cared about her that much
By the way we should be careful with gardeners because she said they all turned into assholes or something
And I have felling that our gardener wasn't normal

>>65096
The guy seemed to care for us, I think Gardeners are on our side

>>65022
>Consume her.

>>65096
I did care for her a little since she seemed fit for being our companion and i would hope we somehow keep a bit of her by consuming her, but such is life i guess.

The pale flames burst into existence along the tips of your tails, two healthy balls of flame floating carelessly in the air in front of you as you bow your head in prayer. There was no ceremony you were aware of, only a continued silence as you set her body aflame, the pale flames quickly catching hold of cloth and skin alike before spreading out to consume.

From the earth you came, and to its bosom you return.
Accept this child, your faithful servant...

The prayer has no meaning to you. They were words engraved upon the stone grave you had awoken on top of. Were they for the deceased? Did they wish them peace? All you knew were the words, hardly the intent behind them, but it was all you could offer.

Hydra bloomed around you as the corpse burned, the blossoms being coaxed out from within their obsidian vines in a bountiful flurry. If you had left her here, you've little doubt that her corpse would have been taken by the Hydra before the week's end. Even in death, it wasn't a fate that you could approve of... So until then, you stood a vigil over the smokeless bonfire. Until the flesh was destroyed and the bones rendered little more than a pile of ash.

You raise your head finally, feeling a breeze begin to pick up as the ashes stir.

There was nothing else left for you here, and you walked back down the familiar strip of asphalt. For now... Seeking out more Gardeners seemed like your best option. That woman had told you they sought out holy grounds; If you went searching for one, you would be liable to find the other. A fortunate convenience for you, as your meal yesterday had imparted to you the fundamental understanding that you needed the Faith they housed in order to keep your wits.

You had gotten what you were after in the end, but your steps felt heavier as you left to seek out other Gardeners. You had little reason to believe they would be friendly, but there were still questions that you had which perhaps only they could answer.

Days and nights blurred together in that time, your body seemingly uncaring for sleep as every moment was spent plodding along the asphalt strip. Your only companion at night being the crystalline ball you carried in your mouth, a single floating ember that faded with the morning light held within.

As distasteful as you found the plant, you could only follow this strip in search of blooming Hydra. Where their violet petals showed themselves, you were certain to find Faith... Well, so long as you didn't make a habit of looking behind you, at least.

It turns out that Hydra also covered the other side of your forest, and if you were honest, probably surrounded that forest on all sides. No matter how far you walked, only its wretched scent and obsidian vines remained an endlessly familiar sight. Its rigid vines unwilling to even provide you a sound beyond your own plodding paws, even when the cool wind attempted to whistle through it.

Forest gave way to plains, and upon those plains you could glimpse towering structures far into the Hydra's domain. Things which must have one scraped the skies themselves, now only monuments to the insatiable plant; Glinting tarnished steel and broken glass in the distant sunlight.

There were roads which led to them, many of them long abandoned and partially overrun with black thorns, and you wondered if anyone even lived in them any longer. Were these the cities that woman had spoken of? Had they once housed more people like her?

Had they fallen like this long ago, under some conflict..? Or merely ran out of Faith, being consumed quietly as the energy that supported their life gradually slipped away.

Your ears would twitch as you walked, angling this way and that through out the day. Silence reigned supreme, so any single sound that broke it would capture your interest. Often little more than the wind, or the distant crumbling of those long abandoned modern-ruins. None of them held the violet blossoms that signalled what you had been searching for.

You forget how many of those modern-ruins you had seen, much less for how long you had walked, before a solitary violet blossom upon the road side drew your attention.

It was small, pressed flat upon the ground, and looked as if it had begun to wilt; Petals shrivelling back into a mace of spiteful thorns ever so slowly. You glanced up towards the sky, capturing glimpses of similar petals being carried aloft from the direction of one of the many modern-ruins which dotted the landscape.

Travelling there would require crossing the Hydra, however. The moisture in the air had been growing these past few days as well, if you stayed upon the road then you imagine it would eventually lead you to some body of water.

>Stay to the asphalt
>Cross the Hydra

>>65163
>Cross the Hydra

>>65163
>Cross the Hydra

>>65163
>Stay to the asphalt

Roads lead to buildings in the end

Mourning music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmiBRxOoTWo She seemed nice.

>>65163
I don't think that counts as consume
>Cross the Hydra

>>65167
>>65173
>>65184
Cross the Hydra!

>>65179
Roads lead to buildings!

>>65184
The MC has more than one way to consume things!
And there's more than one thing which they can consume.

Writing.

>>65181
Doesn't really sound like mourning music to me
It sounds more like traveling them for Hydra lands

File: HoneyLocus.jpg (506 KB, 1200x1600)

506 KB JPG

>>65194
Speaking of hydra, it occurred to me that "thorn" probably doesn't quite convey what covers them.

Pictured is what's known as a Honey Locust tree. It's one of the few trees which naturally grow thorns upon it, and these are the types of things which will go clean through the soles of shoes; Sandles, tennis shoes, actual boots, you name it.

It's one of those little horrors of nature that people generally aren't aware of until they encounter it in person.

>>65210
Maybe you should've posted this before people voted to step on picrelated repeatedly...

>>65210
Oh god, we should have stayed on the road

Can we use our fire to burn things without consuming them?
If so I vote for burning any and all Hydra in our way from now on

I guess it starts flowering when we're near it, so we should be fine crossing it

>>65221
Why not consume it?

>>65225
For the same reason smart people don't eat diseased tissue
Hydra is nothing but cancerous plague growing across planet

>>65221
You can choose to consume, or not consume, when using your FoxFire.

However, bare in mind that use of it draws upon the Faith you have stored within you. The flame itself is fundamentally created from that Faith.
It is, after all, a part of you.

>>65233
Does Hydra contain any Faith?
How hard would it be to start chain reaction if it does?

>>65246
It does not contain Faith.
Though you have glimpsed inside it once already, and seen what lay there.

>>65253
inb4 Hydra contains memories

>>65253
So I take it her team mate killed her? If we had lashed out at him could she have been saved?

>>65280
Yes.
And Yes. Similarly, if you had chosen to go with her, you could have confronted him with a sane mind instead of being subjected to the primal hunger. There were a number of ways to have kept her alive or handled the encounter.

Also update coming shortly, it's nearly done.

>>65283
Would she survive if chucked fireball at him and ran with money?

>>65284
No, for various reasons. One of which being that you were too weak to produce more than a lighter's worth of flame, the other being that she.. never died in a fight.

You've travelled this far searching for these disgusting blossoms, you imagine it would be foolish to ignore the one trail you had found in the time. Naturally, perhaps the places you had been searching for had all been far off the beaten track... To be sure, your own ruins had not been on a direct course, but hidden in the woods.

It did not help you enjoy the notion of taking your first step off of the cleared asphalt strip any, with each of your three limbs carefully negotiating your weight across the expanse of vines so as to not step blindly upon one of their many thorns. You had to keep yourself moving as you traversed the vines, adroitly seeking out the tiny gaps between countless menacing black spines as your tails alternated keeping your balance through each leap, and serving as a stand in for your missing leg.

Though the thorns themselves were intimidating, their glossy black sheen and incestuous intertwining telling a story of their greedy expanse, it was what lay behind you that hastened your path. Each step upon the vine left behind a verdant footprint, green blossoms prickling under your paws with each step as the very field of Hydra began to blossom in your acrobatic wake.

Its sweet smell haunted you across your travels, forever one step behind you. Those blossoms were your only guide to the remaining holy grounds, but it was not out of good faith that they guided you; The only purpose for their deceptively soft petals was to consume the very Faith they bloomed in response to.

You moved quickly, sharp ears catching the cracking and splintering of the hardened vine surfaces behind you as you ran. Proof that now, more than ever, you couldn't afford to turn back. Even as the towering ruins began to loom overhead, their once great figures casting long shadows across fragmented streets and countless abandoned vehicles which had long sincee been overtaken by the black vine.

Though you had seen it from the asphalt strip, and known that the Hydra's grasp firmly ensnared this city, the reality of seeing it in person left you struck with awe. Buildings from another time whose sheer height was enough to stretch into the heavens, packed side by side like a procession of titanic monuments to the creations of mankind. This place was nothing like your ruins had been, its roughly hewn stone and moss covered entrance speaking of its rural origin...

Perhaps depressingly, the buildings here lacked even the warmth you had felt in your home. Steel and ruined glass stretching into the sky, creaking out a mournful dirge that echoed out of the empty hulls of its perilously standing siblings.

The very people who had created these humbling structures had never once placed Faith in them.

Yet even still, violet blooms graced this ruined city's streets. A single place, hidden between the criss-crossing monoliths, stood as an oasis in the silence. Unlike the flowers which marked your every step, these blossoms showed their age, or perhaps their hunger; Their brilliant color draining to black, falling from the very vines which birthed them as they shrivelled into the vicious thorns.

You come to a halt as you look on into the dwindling oasis, a small church whose symbol of faith had fallen away some time past. Its grounds were tended dutifully, even the Hydra kept at a uniform distance upon the crumbling waist-high wall that surrounded it.

However, a second wall had arisen upon the bones of the first. Thicker than ever before, the Hydra's vines twisted and curved a tumultuous thicket whose bloodthirsty thorns stabbed out and aimed to strangle even its own cousins. There was no negotiating its length, as the very flowers which bloomed upon its edges had fallen time and time again, rising up as newly sprouted lengths, ever greedy to rejoin more of its ilk in its thirst.

However, even if the Faith that had once filled this place had weakened, the Hydra's reach still had yet to cross that boundary. Perhaps something still lay within?

>Find a higher place to leap down into the church grounds.
>Burn your way through.
>Attempt to navigate the thorns.
>Other? (Write-in)

>>65290
So he backstabbed her. The dick.


>>65299
>Find a higher place to leap down into the church grounds.

>>65299
Can we still regrow our limb?

>>65299
>Other? (Write-in)
Fix this leg
Or at least move the one we have to middle so we have some sort of balance
>Burn your way through.

>>65313
I don't think burning out way through is a good idea. Hydra seems to yearn for our foxfire, I think they might try to consume it.

>>65311
Yes. Doing so would consume a portion of your stored Faith, but is otherwise doable at any time, for just about any body part.

You are rather resilient to physical damage in general, assuming you have enough Faith to weather the aftermath.

>>65299
>Other? (Write-in)
Look around for planks or rubble to help us climb over it safely, if none can be found
>Find a higher place to leap down into the church grounds.

>>65299
>Find a higher place to leap down into the church

>>65318
> just about any body part.
Our head is instakill though, yeah?

>>65299
>Find a higher place to leap down into the church grounds.

>>65305
>>65321
>>65326
Jump in!

>>65313
>>65311
Fix leg!
Or become Tripod Fox!

>>65313
Burn in!

Writing.

>>65326
Even your head is restorable.

Can we live temporarily without a body if we have some Faith stored still?

>>65339
Yes, though I imagine that would be a rather boring existence. You couldn't actually go anywhere... Unless you fulfilled some conditions.

You keep moving, unable to stop and take as long a look as you would have preferred. The Hydra's violet petals were blossoming behind you with every passing moment, and you realized with a sinking resignation that you had the span of time for a single circuit around this church before it would become dangerous for you to try and cross its barrier. You spent that opportunity to scan the parameter for any debris, reasoning that there had to have been some fallen given the state of the rest of the city.

And, indeed, you did find such a thing. A pile of shattered wood and planks, the twisted remains of folding chairs and wooden pews, all aligned in such a manner as to facilitate leaping the imposing wall.

Only it was built from within, and meant to allow one to jump out.

The land in front of it had only a thin layer of Hydra, leading away further into the city. It was a stark difference from the rest of the streets, which had been covered to the point of being unable even to see the strips of asphalt which you had come to believe humans loved to travel upon... However, none of this would help you enter from this side.

You continued circling, coming to view the blooming violet petals which hungrily signalled the end of the road for you. With little recourse upon the ground, and even less time until you were forced to abandon your entry entirely, you turned your eyes skyward.

In this city of crying monoliths, strangled by the same vines their creators fled from, your answer came from the scraped heavens in the form of a half-collapsed building that leaned a perilous arch directly over top the small church. It only took you seconds to trace its partially collapsed supports to ground level and set a new course for your careful bounding.

The interior of that building, however, was an entirely new sort of hell to you. You had become used to Hydra upon the ground, even if you found it unnerving. You had intellectually come to understand that it could exist upon walls; An understanding confirmed during your time travelling the dilapidated city streets.

What you had not done, however, was entertain the idea that Hydra could ever occupy every given surface within all directions.

You're not certain why you believed the roof would be safe, but it was a cruelly false dream.. As you carefully, very carefully navigated the twisting halls of the ruined building, finding purchase between rusted desk and crumbling drywall, as you wound your way through the tilted corridors of black thorns.

Every so often you allowed yourself a chance to stop, peering through the obscured windows to grasp your bearings. Using the twisting corners and the disorienting perspective changes of the floor slowly shifting into a wall and vice-versa to measure your progress, until you reached finally reached the destination you had ascended for.

Staring down through the curled thorns and vines, beyond the long shattered window beneath you, sat the small church so far down as to be viewable in its entirety from beyond this tiny portal.

You had a single, fleetingly dubious thought regarding the safety of this particular plan and decided that... Perhaps you could have found a more earthbound method of entry. It is not that you were afraid of heights, for they held no particular thrill to you, but that this was a very, very long fall.

Unfortunately, by the time this thought had concluded, you were already three-fifths of the way back to the ground, fur bristling in the screaming wind as you fell. With the rapidly approaching roof of the church beginning to loom ever larger with your accelerated descent, you wagered that perhaps you had enough time for a second thought as well. That perhaps, before you had jumped, you should have given more thought as to how one might stee-

Womp.

You did not have time for a second thought, that was a mistake. Hitting the ground wasn't so bad. The debris falling on you from the broken roof afterwards were considerably worse. You forced yourself to stand, devoting a moment to willing your severed stump to reform in order to help you stand. Until now your tails had performed the missing limb's job admirably, but you needed every limb you had in order to force the things atop you to shift aside as you finally scrambled out from beneath your ill-fashioned parachute of wood, drywall, and other such materials.

"...Are you an angel?"

Only to be met with a question so absurd it had to have come from the mouth of a child, a dirty stuffed... Thing held in one hand as they peered in frightfully from a distant doorway.

"..."
"Mommy! An angel came!"

You open your mouth to object to this new title, only to nearly drop the little ball you had been faithfully carrying within.

By the time you had successfully caught the little trinket in your tails, it seems the child had already run off somewhere.

>Follow the child
>Track down any remaining sources of Faith
>Go wandering
>Other? (write-in)

>>65424
>Follow the child
We came looking for answers, feeding can wait.

>>65424
>Go wandering
I'd like to get an understanding of who we're dealing with here before we reveal ourselves to anyone else. Also
>Regrow limb

>>65424
>Track down any remaining sources of Faith

The child can wait.

>>65439
Following!

>>65442
Wandering!

>>65445
Tracking!

...I'll roll in 5m, if there's no tie-breaker.

>>65461
Ties, forgetting and stupid choices: the replacements for death and taxes in Riz's quests.

Well, not for death.

Rolled 3 (1d3)

1. Following
2. Wandering
3. Tracking

>>65465
I tabbed back in all excited, expecting a tiebreaking vote. Instead, I got this.

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36 KB JPG

>>65475

You let the wreckage behind you finish collapsing, walking away from the miniature cloud of dust and tiny specks of debris which rose as your tails stopped supporting it. It had taken you a little longer than expected, but you were finally inside of this last little haven of Faith that had been squirrelled away within the labyrinth of moaning monoliths. Unfortunately, you had already seen the outside; What Faith had once kept this place safe was nearly gone.

Which begged the question of just what, exactly was left? Even as you looked over the rows upon rows of wooden pews in the room you had crashed into, there was nothing left upon the walls which could be thought to be considered a religious symbol. Empty nails hung barren, plucking out into thin and musty air. You glanced back, catching the multicolored stained glass image of a winged human installed high upon the backmost wall... One which had been broken in several places over the years.

You slowly pad down the center of the repetitive row of pews, testing out the weight of your gait on your newly formed limb. You had spent long enough learning to get along with only three legs that having your fourth back made you feel some awkward mixture between nimble and awkward. On one hand, now that your tails were adept at helping keep balance, you wondered if falling over was even possible with four legs anymore.

On the other, you needed to remind yourself to actually move your fourth leg as you stumbled along.

Ultimately this was a minor problem though, and one easily rectified with a few minutes of dedicated thought and practice. In the time it took you to cross the high-ceilinged room, you were walking smoothly once more as your eyes roamed the seemingly inhabited church. It had been a very long time since repairs had been applied to its many cracked or groaning structural wounds, and it seemed that even the doors and pews of this place had been in the process of being ripped out for some alternate use.

The first few steps into the open hall told you little new, but helped to confirm what you had already assumed. Faded paint and empty pins dotted the walls, a remnant from the time when things once hung upon them in proud reverence... Yet even its disrepair, it held a warmth to it that had been missing from the rest of the Hydra-ridden towers. It was a familiar feeling, not quite tangible, which spoke of belief and trust freely given.

Regardless of what it totem it had once been directed to, the warmth it provided still remained.

Perhaps, in this day and age, what the Faith was held in was of less meaning than that there was Faith to be held in the first place.

Your twin tails swished through the air lazily, gaze directed out into the surrounding sea of thorns that seemed to be waiting politely just beyond the short stone walls. You could pick out the wailing moans of the various buildings from here, muffled through the old church's damaged walls. You wondered just how long a place like this would remain, before the city itself finally collapsed.

Your first cursory investigation into the building had yielded you little in way of remaining Faith. It was here, still, that much you knew for certain... But there was no holy artefact or sacred altar to hold it.

What there was however, were signs of being very much lived in. A small kitchen whose floor was held buckets of brackish water, the scent of freshly burned ashes willowing out, though the smell of whatever had been cooked caused your stomach to twist.

And finally, there was, of course...

The child, who had returned in as stealthily a manner as possible sometime during your inspection, and attempted to follow you unbidden.

You had left them alone, keeping at least a portion of your sense well sharpened in case they proved to be a thread in some manner... But in the end, they had only clumsily maintained that distance, taking several deep breaths from time to time as you suspect they tried to introduce themselves... Only to run out of courage quickly afterwards.

A routine that was repeating even at this moment, as you sat outside the only remaining doors of the church. Not only were they still fully attached, but also shut tight and locked.

Unfortunately, the Faith which you sought lay beyond.

>Acknowledge the child.
>Burn the door down.
>Other? (write-in)

>>65641
>Acknowledge the child.

>>65641
>Acknowledge the child.
There's probably a way in that doesn't require Faith consumption.

>>65650
>>65653
Writing.

>>65674
I'm wondering how power-effective Faith-based technology is relative to how much we have to consume. How long could the doodads we'd eaten power, say, that rover?

You deposit your little ball into one of your absently swishing tail, freeing up your long unused throat to turn towards the pillar you knew the child to be hiding behind.

"I know where you are. I will not bite."

The words flow out of your mouth, a different language than the one that woman had spoken, but it made little difference. The sharp intake of breath told you that the child - a young boy - knew they had been caught. You allowed a moment's wait, before once more urging them to come out... Lest you come to them.

This time, at least, they moved. Peeking their tanned skin around the column to warily watch, timid words forming and dissolving upon their laps time and time again before finally finding life.

"Did you come for Momma?"

you stared at him, the exasperation in your body unconveyable through your vulpine features to the frightened, yet hopeful looking child across from you.

"Why would I have come for your mother?"

"Momma said that as long as we were good, then there would always be an angel there to look out for us." The boy explained, softly at first, but gaining in confidence towards the end as they paraphrased words that were likely well recited.

"And have you been good?" The tail holding your ball hovered half-heartedly just behind your head, ears swiveling as they strained to hear something else in the church.

"Mm." A hesitant nod, "I wash my clothes, and I don't complain when I eat, and I don't eat much, so papa doesn't have to leave as often."

There was one other scent in this church, thinly veiled under the ambiently saccharine Hydra blossoms outside, and that of the far more recent child.

"Are you a family of Gardeners, perhaps?"
"Momma and papa are."
"...But you are not?"
"Nn. Poppa said he'd teach me when I turned twelve."

Your free tail curled about you patiently, as you slowly sifted through the overlapping scents and started to piece together the rancid aroma just barely filtering into the hall.

"I wish to speak to your parents."
"...You'll have to wait until papa comes back."
"What of your mother?"
"Momma is sleeping."

The tip of your tail twitched.

"I understand. Where has your father gone, then?"
"He left to get medicine for Momma... Hey, you really are an angel, aren't you?"

>Yes.
>No.
>I don't know.
>Other? (Write-in)

>>65729
If we're speaking theoretically the the entire case had been used to power purely the Rover, disregarding disrepair and such, then that Rover could have been trucking along for perhaps two or three decades.

Rovers don't use much Faith. Most portable Faith based technology is actually very low maintenance... Partially because Faith itself is extremely potent, but also because - Much like the Medkit - They're made with the idea in mind that they can be powered by the users themselves.

Cities on the other hand use Faith at varying rates, depending on what they have going on within them. Some could be powered for merely a week using that case. Others could have seen that case as over a month's worth of power.

Scavenging is a job whose value only goes up over time, as the availability of Faith just laying around in doohickeys starts to dry up. Cities will begin to pay more and more for what gets found, and it becomes something of a cutthroat profession.

On the flip side, the further out one needs to travel to find those doohickeys, the less people who will do it. Run ins with Gardeners and irate Nature Spirits can and will wipe out entire teams.

Regardless of how much Faith actually powers cities, the supply shortage means that they will eventually be forced to restrict more and more of their running utilities until they eventually go dark permanently.

>>65737
>Other? (Write-in)
I'm a Nature spirit.

>>65824
Writing.

"I am a Nature Spirit." Before now, you had never been called anything else. That woman had loudly proclaimed you as such not long after the two of you had met, and you had little reason not to believe her swear-laden words.

"You really are an angel..!"

The tail holding your ball sinks inadvertently, but you don't sigh. Not yet.

"That is not what I said."
"Papa told me that angels were just really fancy words for Nature Spirits, cuz neither of 'em exist if you don't believe in them."

Your tail begins to sway thoughtfully once more, feeling as if you were getting the out-of-context and annotated version of husband and wife squabble. Regardless, if the child was going to insist that they were the same thing, then you suppose you're not in position to object. After all, Gardeners were the people you had come to ask about things like this.

"Very well." You would accept the title, if only to make things simpler. "When will your father return?"

"Soon. I think." The child appended a concerning statement to their answer. "He said he would come back before Momma woke up."

You turned your head towards the closed door, staring in silence with the child at an innocuous door that symbolized so much more. "Your mother is sleeping inside?"

"Mm. She gets really tired because of the plants outside. Papa told me I shouldn't try and wake her up."

"Is there another way into this room?"
"I don't... Think so." The child murmured doubtfully, "Papa took the key with him when he left."

You do sigh this time, empty tail jerking to one side and curling about your haunches. You weren't keen on using your FoxFire for no good reason, especially in a place as overrun with Hydra as this. You certainly weren't sure where your next 'meal' of Faith would be coming from. There was certainly something beyond these doors, but you had no way of knowing if it would be worth the expenditure of getting to it.

You tilted your head back, staring into the decrepit and water damaged ceiling. While reluctant to actually burn down the door, it was still an option... Though it might excite the child. There was also the possibility of climbing back up a tower and then jump-

...No, that wasn't something you'd actually do.

There may still be tools laying about the church for you to use, and if you were quite lucky, maybe even a spare key.

Though, perhaps, if you were desperate enough, you had already proven that the roof wasn't entirely sturdy. There may be merit in checking it out.

>Burn it down
>Look for tools
>Check the roof
>Ask the child something (What?)
>Other? (write-in)

>>66095
>Other? (write-in)
Wait for the dude to return

>>66095
>>Ask the child something (What?)
How long has it been since your father left?

then

>Check the roof

>>66095
>Look for tools
>Ask the child something (What?)
-Are you and your family the only ones in this place?
-What did your father tell you about 'angels'?

>>66124
Wait for him to return!

>>66129
Asking questions and checking the roof!

>>66132
Asking questions and looking for tools!

Well, we're going to ask questions at least.

If there isn't a tie breaker between
1. Checking the roof
2. Looking for tools
in 5m then I'll just roll for it.

The waiting will happen regardless, just because I'm surprised someone picked it.

>>66095
>>Check the roof
>>Ask the child something (What?)
Ask the kid how long it's been and what his mom is sick with

Writing for roof, then.

>>66237
How are you still alive, you've been writing for almost 15 hours now....

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>>66359

You eventually turn away from the locked door, pacing your way back towards the large room you had crash landed into. If the child was convinced that it's father would return soon, then you would at least humour it for some time before looking into alternative methods of entry. In the meantime, there was plenty here to keep you occupied. Specifically speaking, you had many questions running through your mind, and a talkative child who... Possibly qualified as a Gardener... To answer them for you.

"Are your mother and father the only Gardeners in this city?"
"I'm here too! I'm gonna be a Gardener just like papa when I get older!"
"I see."

The answers weren't always informative, and suffered the simple restriction of coming from a child's perspective. Though you could often extract meaningful information from your conversations, just as many questions were all but worthless to you.

"Do you know what your mother grew ill with?"
"Papa never told me, but it must have been something really bad."
"Why do you think that?"
"...Some days, when it was really rough on her, momma would just start crying."
"That does not sound life threateningly severe."
"It was." The child insisted, "Papa would always she that she'd rather die than stop believing!"

You stopped for the moment, craning your head back to look at the small child riding upon your back. He held tufts of fur within his hands, a minor but annoying pain as his small arms shook stubbornly.

"How long has she been that ill?"
"Ever since I was little."

The child was still little. How was that supposed to answer you? Of course when you pointed this out, it only resulted in more fur pulling.

And over the course of those days you spent waiting...

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"
"I do not sleep."
"...So I can't?"

...The child had his own questions to ask of you. Some you could answer. Some you could not. Some it seemed to simply ask as an excuse to begin lecturing you on stories of his mother's faith - That is, her system of belief. None of which were particularly helpful to you.

The stories the child told you of his father's beliefs, however.

"Papa said that believing in angels was too old fashioned." The child admitted doubtfully, "That we didn't have enough faith for our prayers to matter any more, so believing in something that couldn't help us would be a waste."

You sit across from the small pot of boiling water, a yellow flame of the traditional sort kindled beneath it as the child stirred the plucked Hydra flowers within, their purplish hue being becoming lost beneath the bubbles and steam. Your nose wrinkled, but the smell was far from new; This was how you had watched them eat every meal for the past week.

"He told me that... Nature Spirits really do exist. That when enough people had faith in them, they could do amazing things." The child stops stirring, using a very used utensil to withdraw the foul smelling and soppy plant that had swollen with water, biting into it with a strained smile. "Momma told me that a lot of people used to believe in angels, and in her stories, they always did really cool things. When I asked papa if they were the same, he got this weird look on his face... But I think they are!"

After two weeks had passed, the groaning of the collapsed tower above the church had begun to become a concerning constant in your daily life. You decided that the time to humour the child's insistence that his father was returning was ending, and finally made your way up to the roof.

Of course there was an entrance there. Rather, you had been slowly creating one during the nights the child would leave you alone.

What you found inside was unsurprising. Just as your nose had tipped you off initially, the child's mother had long since died within this room. Laying stretched out beside the bed, the sheets torn into disarray and the tattered remains of a book whose shredded papers litered the room as a final memento to her dying ires.

You knew this. You knew this a week ago, when you had finally made it inside. Occasionally you would return, slipping into the foul smelling room in the dark of the night and allowed your precious ball to illuminate the room with its pale white corona. You continued to visit, because you knew the Faith had been coming from inside this room... And it still was.

"...Papa told me that as long as you have enough faith, you can keep going. That losing faith is something no Gardener should ever do."

Your eyes finally came to rest upon the mother's corpse this final night.

"So.. I really believe in papa. And momma. I want to grow up to make her proud. I want to be a Gardener like papa."

As a creature of Faith, you eventually came to realize that perhaps the form which held Faith didn't matter, So long as there was Faith to be held.

Unfortunately, no amount of faith placed within a human would change the end result. They made up fanciful stories of angels and other such things to ease their own worries, and pass on values through the ages... But those stories were just that... Perhaps that was why they made so much to do over the afterlife; That their faith might influence their soul once the light had faded.

>Consume the mother's corpse.
>Steal her form.
>Burn her.
>Leave.
>Show the child.
>Other? (write-in)

>>66576
You cannot do both.

>>66572
>>Show the child.
>Consume the mother's corpse.

>>66572
>Steal her form.

>>66572
>>Steal her form.
seems like it would be useful, also should we ruse the kid and pretend to be his mom or just leave him? mimicking a person we've never met would be difficult...

>>66572
>Consume the mother's corpse.

>>66572
>Steal her form.

>>66589
>>66624
Consume corpse!

>>66598
>>66599
>>66665
Steal Form!

Writing.

>>66359
It's a cloudy day, so the sun isn't out!

>>66599
I want to help the kid. We don't have to reveal that she's dead for some time. At least find someplace where the child will be safer and not surrounded by Hydra.

I think Riz is secretly Haremhorn as well. God both of these are depressing.

If we consume all the Faith here, we'll need to get the kid out for sure.

>>66718
The kid could probably serve as a Faith battery if we can keep successfully pretending to be his mother.
This can only end in tears.
I surely hope Riz didn't enter a "Hideaki Anno off his meds" phase

>>66779
Last time we possessed someone they grew double tails... Not sure if we can pretend to be his mother for long.

>>66798
We can say it's.. a side effect of helping her feel better. Sure.

One way or another, this will be your final night in the church. The creaking tower above you wouldn't last for very much longer, and you had finally identified the remaining dregs of Faith which had been keeping the Hydra at tentatively at bay. The question for you now was simply what you would do with the Faith now that you had found it.

The simplest and most straight forward answer was merely to consume. You had come in search of both Gardeners and Faith, and with this you had found both. The amount of time you had spent out here had been an unexpected drain on your Faith reserves... Not so much as to drive you into that familiar territory of hunger pains, but you can't say you were pleased with the result. Even if you did consume the mother's corpse, the amount of Faith stored within was barely a bite to you.

...Your other option was far more troublesome. The tower would fall soon, of that you were certain. Even if you left, the child would surely stay as he waited faithfully for a father that would never return; A mother that would never wake up. The dead would never rise again, and that was a simple fact that no amount of Faith would change.

However, when it came down to it, children were gullible. Simple things, easy to convince. They would seize upon what was told to them by those they trusted, and if it were something they truly wanted to believe, would ignore all evidence to the contrary.

Your little ball illuminated the room in a pale white light, two tiny embers floating aimlessly within its confines, as your tails gently wrapped their way around the Mother's corpse, stripping it free of its clothes.

There was no need for the truth, when a convenient lie would do just as well.

It was with these thoughts in mind that your tails jerked taught in separate directions, the corpse held between them straining pitifully for brief moments before its rotting flesh loosed a wet tear within the sealed room. You discarded the desecreated body carelessly, its soulless husk being thrown to crumple into the corner as you brought forward the corpse' skull.

With this, you could do it.

It took you the rest of the night to strip it of the unnecessary meat, your claws and tails working in concert to hollow it of deceased and worthless remains until it was fit to be worn.

As the morning dawned, what emerged from that room was a form none other than the healthy complexion of a tanned woman with long, straight hair.

"Momma...?"

And the warm smile she had always worn, engrained within her body and read off the imprint of the mask her skull had become.

"Oh, my child."

You didn't particularly enjoy being touched.
In fact, you were rather averse to it, if you were being honest.

"Momma...!"

But as the child's tiny arms wrapped around your hips, their teary face staining your stolen clothes, you resigned yourself to tolerating it in this instance...

"Come quickly now, we can not stay here forever."

...And for the many days to come.

File: Tree of Faith.jpg (202 KB, 1060x744)

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http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=FoxFire

And we are archived.

I'll lurk the thread for a bit to try and answer some questions if I can.

Apologies to all anons who participated in FoxFire but died at their keyboards wondering when QM would finally stop.

To those who did not make it to the end, we will never forget your sacrifice.

A new companion!

>>66934
Mother trucker I will make that little kid have a good life whether he wants it or not.
Thanks for running Riz your gonna make me have an ulcer one of these days from the twists and turns you make in your stories.

>>66934
I must say, all these timeskips make for a bit of unusual experience. Fittingly inhuman.

Do we have tails in the mothers form?
Is it a drain on our Faith reserves to maintain it?

>>66934
So when we started did you think anons would go more blood thirsty in the beginning? Is this world of your own creation or is there some setting or series that I need to check up on for that sweet sweet meta knowledge.

>>66927
Too bad I wasn't here for vote
That child is going to be giant nuisance very soon
And I seriously doubt that meager amounts of faith it will give us are going to be worth it

>>67000
And once he's a teen he'll be some sort of an anti-Faith generator.

Is anti-Faith a thing?

>>67011
You want to keep him around that long? Just think about all the food he'll need, that's one more thing to worry about.

>>67011
Hydra absorbs it
But for all we know belief that we suck would make us suck

>>66983
>Ulcers
Please stay healthy, anon! I'm counting you!

>>66990
>Do we have tails?
No. Possession is separate from stealing someone's form, as implicated in the extremes we had to go in order to steal said form. This actually lifted from the korean Gumiho, which has several folkstories involving it wearing the skull of someone it kills to become them.

Gumiho are traditionally Evil, but the MC's attributes are drawn from a wide variety of cultures folklore regarding foxes, so it doesn't necessarily say anything about the MC's personal inclinations. Those are entirely on you.

>Is it a drain on our Faith?
No more than being a normal fox, though changing from form to form will drain you each time. It isn't something you should try to flick on and off if you can help it... Which means you will likely be remaining in Mom form until you can find more Faith, unless you want to risk Primal Hunger.

>>66998
>More bloodthirsty?
I honestly didn't know. However, you may notice that the MC's FoxFire is described as pale white - There is a reason for this, and it's fairly relevant. It'll be referenced a little whenever I finish this character sheet.

>Metaknowledge?
This is OC, though as mentioned I'm drawing inspiration from various things (Fox folklore, someone caught on to some Okami themes, and I'm personally experimenting with a specific type of narrative commonly found in a game I won't mention)

>>67011
>Is Anti-Faith a thing?
There is not. There is an absence of Faith though!

>>67050
By the way, you have at least two anons who stay up at night to catch Valen.

>>67050
Do we still have our ball thingy?

>>67096
Please don't die, anons.

just how big are we?

I mean I always thought we were just the size of a normal fox until I read that we could give the kid piggy back rides.

>>67103
Yes. You will always have your ball thingy, and should panic immensely when you don't know where it is.

Ball is love; Ball is life.
Ball is being given hints towards its actual nature. Let's hope you don't make any decisions you'll regret before then.

>>67124
You are typically normal fox size. You may be able to grow larger with more Faith/tails!

However, your tails are far stronger than your entire body, so you could have just as easily been carrying the child on one, or supporting him along your back. Those things have monstrous strength.

>>67159
Is it that jewel some fox spirits have that's literally a part of them? Aka if itgets stolen we are fucked?

>>67159
how old is the kid?

>>67173
The thing you're thinking of is the Hoshi no Tama.
And yes.

>>67176
Few years under 12. It's left ambiguous because the MC doesn't really understand time, or experience it in the same way humans do.

A similar question you might ask is "How long ago did that woman die?"

>>67173
When we bit down on it we felt pressure and pain, so it's probably literally /us/. With the fox form being more of a projection thing.

>>67207
This is actually very accurate. It also relates back to:

>>65339
>>65345

And why you can more or less recover any physical injury, so long as you have enough Faith.

>>67217
are we a boy fox or a girl fox? I keep thinking girl because this quest keeps giving me an okami feel.

>>67217
Thanks for running, and sorry for not being able to participate, but i was over at a friend's house.

>>67217
When will you run next ?

>>67217
How do you like running your new quest compared to Valen?

>>67278
I went to bed before this happened, but to answer your question, we're a fox!

>>67773
I hope you enjoyed catching up!

>>67969
I'd like this thread to archive so I can keep each session archived separately. That said, i doubt it will happen tonight (thursday) or tomorrow, or even the next day. So earliest we can expect a new thread would be... Maybe sunday or monday? My twitter's linked, and I'll always give you guys an hour's heads up there.

>>68300
I prefer Valen. I'm still uncomfortable writing FoxFire, and Valen is my baby. Which is a little sad, because FoxFire seems much more successful, but we all must make sacrifices for love!

>>71268
I think Foxfire is more popular because it got foxes
And cool name