File: 13fa792d39b2209018b100638(...).jpg (65 KB, 550x413)

65 KB JPG

>>3300653

You, Adalard and every other company member look in shock as a giant, box-like machine slowly crawls its way from between the buildings. It enters the street, accompanied by a large group of Uspeshan riflemen. You scream in frustration. There’s no way you’ll be able to help the wounded with this thing roaming around. Suddenly you hear Adalard’s voice.

-”Go help these people, Other soldiers will surely pin down their infantry and the tank, well...leave it to me.”

-”Are you insane? A mere fireball or two won’t take it down.” - you say looking at Adalard with pure bewilderment.

-”I’m not planning to use any offensive spells. Planetary magic can be used to control objects, remember? I’ll flip it over.”

There’s no way you heard that right.

-”You’re nuts! It will consume too much magical energy. The over-usage will kill you!”

-”Probably. But it may save the rest of you.”

The elven mage takes a deep breath, before heading towards the exit.

>Try your hardest to stop Adalard from attempting this suicidal manouver.
ROLL D6
>Let him go. This may be the only way to save these wounded soldiers.
ROLL D6 HIGH RISK

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>3300660
>Try your hardest to stop Adalard from attempting this suicidal manouver.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>3300660
>Let him go. This may be the only way to save these wounded soldiers.

>>3300739
>>3301749

>>3301835
>>3300698

The vote is currently tied (even the roll results are the same, damn). I'll get home in a couple of hours, hopefully one option will gain an upper-hand until then.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>3300660
Let him go. This may be the only way to save these wounded soldiers

>>3300739
>>3301749
>>3302249

A lot later than I was expecting, but here we go.


>Rolled 6+3+1=10 Average = 3.33

You want to say something, tell Adalard that there are other ways, but you never was much of a liar. You finally manage to open your mouth just before the elven mage leaves the building.

-”I...a...good luck.”

The elf smiles and turns towards you one last.

-”Thank you. Sincerely. Now follow me and get these guys to safety.”
He then exits the bulding shouting.
-”Whatever happens, don’t look at me. Focus on the wounded!”

You quickly run after him. Immediately, hundreds of bullets start flying towards every feasible direction, as if every single soldier in the area was waiting for this precise moment. The tank’s several machine guns spring into life as their gunners frantically fire either towards you or towards the rest of your company. Despite their best efforts, more and more Imperial riflemen join the fight as they fire at their Uspeshan counterparts from every possible window or hole in a wall. Before you reach the first of many wounded soldiers, your absorbs quite a lot of enemy fire. Fortunately, it holds. You approach the nearest person that needs your help and kneel. Then, you hear the tank’s cannon. It fired, but there was no explosion. You unwittingly look towards it.

Adalard stands in the middle of street with both of his hands pointed towards the mighty steel beast. Its front hull is lifted several meters above the ground. The elven mage probably managed to lift it just before it fired its shot, which was now flying high into the sky. You can notice that the elf’s skin is already opening up in several places. You quickly look away, fully aware what will happen next.
-”Focus on the wounded. Focus on the wounded.”

File: 2648252-GXSBTFDL-7.jpg (141 KB, 770x1106)

141 KB JPG

>>3302865

Despite dozens of rifles firing around you, Adalard’s screams quickly become the loudest sound in the area. While you run towards the second wounded, you glimpse at the tank and almost scream in surprise. Its front is now staring directly into the sky. It’s actually standing higher than some of the building around it. Just one last push from the elf’s magic and it will completely flip over. His screams were becoming louder each second.
-”Focus on the wounded. Focus on the wounded.”

The next two sounds you simply couldn’t ignore. The first one was another Adalard’s hellish scream, the loudest one yet. He sounded like someone whose entire skin was peeled off exactly at the same time, which knowing the consequences of overusing magic, wasn’t away from the truth at all. The second sound, was a sound of a 30-tonne steel behemoth slamming into the ground, with its mangled crew inside. You look towards the elven mage.

Surprisingly enough, he’s still standing. Barely. He’s bleeding from atleast 40 different places and the red liquid covers most of his skin and uniform. His head slowly turns towards you.
-”S-see? W-wasn’t that ba...” - before Adalard is able to finish his sentence, his body practically explodes in a fountain of blood as his skin is ripped open in dozens of new places. Some of his blood ends up landing on you. After that, what remains of the elf’s body lands with a splash in a pool of his own blood. Still on your knees, you approach Adalard. At the same time you can see Konrad entering the street from one of the nearby buldings, but you ignore him for the time being. As you kneel in a pool of the elf’s gore, you try to fully grasp this situation.
-”Why would you do that? Why would you die like that? Nononono, you can’t be dead. You talked to me just a moment ago. I can still fix you, right? Right?”

>Try to „fix” Adalard, no matter how much of your magic it takes.
ROLL D6. This option is available because you decided to focus on mastering your healing magic before the battle.
>Gather your thoughts and focus on fulfilling your objective. There are wounded friendlies lying around.
ROLL D6

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>3302870
>Try to „fix” Adalard, no matter how much of your magic it takes.

That was graphic. I love it

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3302870
>Try to „fix” Adalard, no matter how much of your magic it takes

File: 02X120_0760_9-930x600.jpg (108 KB, 930x600)

108 KB JPG

>>3302897
>>3302987

-”Yes, that’s right, I’m a healer. don’t worry Adalard, everything’s going to be alright.” - you quickly begin to close the elf's wounds. You work quickly since you have no time to waste. You don’t really care how much magic you use to close each individual wound, you’ll worry about that later.
-”See Adi? Another one gone. You are almost fixed. Just a little more.”
After a short while you start feeling a little dizzy. You lean back for a few seconds to recover some energy. There are still more than 50 holes left, but you don’t want to pass out. Suddenly someone pulls you away from the elf’s body.

-”What the fuck are you doing?” - you hear Konrad’s voice. It’s filled with anger.

-”I...I’m healing...”

-”He’s dead, you hear me? Dead!” - von Hohenberg violently shakes you, his face being mere inches from yours.

-”But...”

-”My men are bleeding to death while you are trying to patch up a corpse!”

After hearing these words, you start to regain your senses. You frantically look around you. Dozens of faces all around you. Looking at you from the street, from the windows, from the doorways. Then you look down. A significant part of your uniform is covered in Adalard’s blood. There is even some on your face. To the soldiers around you, you must’ve looked like a complete lunatic.

Trying your hardest not burst into tears you silently nod. Konrad lets you go and watches over you as you slowly make your way towards the wounded. He then looks at the mage’s lifeless body as he ignites a cigarette.
-"You were right, Erika. It really is a grind."

When you are busy healing the wounded, two soldiers from your company pick up Adalard's body and carry it towards the field hospitals set up outside the city. The elf looks exactly like the mage you’ve seen in a camp before the battle of Locronan, but this time you don’t need to use your imagination. You’ve seen this grotesque spectacle happening right before your eyes.

After treating the wounded the company resumes its advance towards the library. You suffer a lot of casualties clearing the buildings. It feels like the Uspeshan resistance grows stiffer every moment. Following Konrad’s orders, you trail behind the frontline and only tend to the wounded when von Hohenberg orders a short break. During these few hours of rapid advances you notice that these breaks are too short for you to heal everybody, even with your neck-breaking pace. You also feel like you are getting weaker by the minute and the excessive amount of blood coming out of your nose is a proof of that. What is Konrad thinking? Does he want to work you to death?

>Find Konrad and ask him to slow down a little to give you and other soldiers a time to recover.
>Simply continue to do your job. You owe him that much.

>>3303334

>Simply continue to do your job. You owe him that much.

rip in peace elf bro.

>>3303334
>Simply continue to do your job. You owe him that much.

>>3303334
>>Find Konrad and ask him to slow down a little to give you and other soldiers a time to recover.
Let's not keel over, guys. Adalard would like that even less.

>>3303560
>>3303592

You decide to grit your teeth and focus on the job. You remember all these people, looking at you when you tried to heal Adalard, even though who was already dead. At this point, you deduct that the best course of action would be simply to heal as many people as possible, just like you did before, to convince them that you are not as insane as you may have looked. Yet.
-”Besides he surely has his reason. I trust him.” - you tell yourself as you resume your march yet again.

After 6 hours of battle you are beyond exhausted, and so is the rest of your company. In fact, you almost pass out a couple of time while treating the wounded. It got so bad that wounded soldiers themselves told you to take a break. After all, they can be transported to field hospitals and treated by the surgeons. You obviously refused their offer, still treating as many of them as possible. It the end, it was your body that gave up first. During one of the rare breaks you quietly sat in some corner and passed out.

You weren’t sure if your rest lasted even a minute as screams and rifle fire woke you up almost immediately. You look towards the source of the voices and see a wall of fire, covering the front of your column. Within it, you can also see human silhouettes, being consumed by flames.

Cont in the next post.

File: flames.jpg (124 KB, 770x940)

124 KB JPG

>>3304302

You immediately force your body to get up and run towards the front. You begin to think.
-”There were no explosions. The fire simply erupted from nowhere, which means...”

Enemy mages. The pride of the Uspeshan Royal Armed Forces.

Fortunately, even mages can’t stand too long against concetrated machine gun fire. Soon, thanks to some brave gunners, they and the supporting infantry find themselves ducking for cover which allows you and rest of your unit to run into the buildings and regroup. You enter the one closest to the wall of fire, hoping Konrad would be there. You were quickly proven right, although the situation was far from ideal as even the buildings themselves were filled with the sound of gunshots.

You run towards von Hohenberg. He looks at you, angry and tired. Despite that, his first words do not reflect this expression.
-”Thank Amelia, you’re here.” - you are quite surprised by this sudden change of tone. -”We are currently dealing with a big counterattack. Atleast 2 enemy battle wizards are pushing the street alongside a large formation of infantry. Some of them are also attaching us from the basements located beneath these buildings. It seems like they did some digging to connect the basements with each other.”
After hearing these news you almost collapse into ground. A well-coordinated enemy attack that came when the company is at its weakest, exhausted and demoralized. You feel anger slowly overtaking your mind.
-”Why now? In my current state I’m barely able to cast anything without passing out. Damn those Uspeshans. Damn them all to hell.”

-”Hey Amelia, you still here?” - Konrad’s voice snaps you back into reality. -”You are the only magic user I have left. You know everything about magic .Tell me how to deal with these bastards.”

>Tell Konrad that you can the basements to get as close to the enemy mages as possible. Their shields are useless in melee.
ROLL D6
>Tell Konrad to use the buildings to flank the mages at bring them down with concentrated fire from all sides. Their shields won’t be able to withstand it.
ROLL D6

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>3304305

>Tell Konrad that you can the basements to get as close to the enemy mages as possible. Their shields are useless in melee.

Could you later make a scene to show Amelia dealing with Adalard's death? Adding some guilt would be great for character development

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3304305
>>Tell Konrad that you can the basements to get as close to the enemy mages as possible. Their shields are useless in melee

>>3304452
Certainly. I was planning to do that when we get to one of the more quiet sections.

>>3304452
>>3304476

-”Alright. Basement it is.” - Konrad says after hearing your opinion. His tired expression is replaced by a smile. -”Let’s get close and personal with them.”
He slowly walks towards the entrance to the basement. Then he draws his sabre and shouts.
-”Everyone who can hear me, gather near the basement’s entrance! We are going in! Time to show these bastards what assault company is made of!”

Of course, with most friendlies being either engaged or stuck in different buildings, von Hohenberg’s counterattack force was rather small. Still, he managed to gather around 20 men which, while still exhausted, were fully ready to take the fight to the Uspeshans. After assembling the troops, Konrad again turns towards you.
-”Stay behind us and don’t strain yourself too much.”

-”But captain...”

-”You’ll surely have a lot to once this is over.” - after these words he finally gave the order.

The fight was fast-paced and absolutely vicious. Konrad’s men, armed with semi-automatic weapons and grenades, were clearing room after room. Uspeshan soldiers, often armed with long-barreled bolt-action rifles, found themselves completely outclassed in this close-quarter combat. The stormtroopers swiftly moved forwards, leaving behind a trail of corpses in light blue jackets. Of course, many of von Hohenberg’s men got wounded in the process. You were doing your best to heal anyone injured, but in your current state you restrained yourself to stopping bleedings and removing bullets.

Finally, you’ve managed to locate a staircase which led directly into the street currently occupied by enemy mages. Not wasting any time Konrad and several other soldiers start climbing the stairs, with you right behind them. Suddenly, all of you are hit with an energy burst that catapults you back into the basement. Your shield allowed to absorb some of this force, but it still pushed you a good several meters. Your back hits one of the shelves located in the basement and you scream in pain. Still slightly stunned you look up and see several Uspeshan soldiers running down the stairs. They are accompanied by an elven woman. She doesn’t look much older than you, but as an elf, she’s probably atleast twice your age. She stops mere 2 meters from you, ready to cast another spell

The few Imperial soldiers that weren’t hit by the elf’s magic immediately return fire. Her shield had no trouble holding, but it successfully dragged her attention away from you. You are fully aware that the remaining friendlies stand no chance against her. You notice Konrad’s sabre lying next to you, but the owner is nowhere to be found.

>Grab the captain’s sword and charge the enemy mage.
ROLL D6 HIGH RISK
>Do something to distract her from the rest of the squad.
ROLL D6 HIGH RISK

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>3304678
>Grab the captain’s sword and charge the enemy mage.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>3304678
>Grab the captain’s sword and charge the enemy mage.

>>3304719
>>3305022

Without hesitation, you grab Konrad’s sabre and lunge yourself forward, closing your eyes. Your mind is showered with thoughts as you approach the enemy battle wizard.
-”What am I doing? Do I want to hurt her? What if she dodges? I...” - you stop as you feel the blade pushing against something. You open your eyes and see it burried almost completely in the elf’s stomach. You look at her face. Time freezes for a moment as your eyes, filled with fear and shock, meet for the first and the last time. Then, the Uspeshan mage starts screaming in agony. You let go off the hilt and take a step back, still not fully comprehending what just happened. The elven woman drops to her knees and clumsily tries to remove the blade from her guts. You look at her with panic.

-”I-I-I-I...’ - you try to form a coherent sentence, but it’s an impossible task. You slowly reach out towards the elven mage.

Gunshot.

The now lifeless woman’s body drops to the ground. You watch silently as Konrad approaches it and starts to pull out his sword.

-”Don’t worry, This one’s on me. I won’t allow you to become a killer.” - he says as he starts walking towards the staircase. Still in shock, you get up and follow him.

The company’s soldiers, seeing their captain emerging from the basements start their charge towards the remaining Uspeshan forces. The panicked Whitepants start fleeing, but are immediately cut down by Imperial machine gunners. The two remaining mages try to put up a fight, but are quickly surrounded and bayoneted to death. After emerging victorious from the battle, Konrad looks upon his men and says.
-”Gentlemen, I think we’ve earned a break.”

Moments later von Hohenberg sits down on some solid chunk of debris. He soon finds himself looking at Amelia as she stares blankly at some unspecified point in the distance. He can’t help, but pull out another cigarette.

Meanwhile…

File: dark_road_ahead.jpg (173 KB, 900x760)

173 KB JPG

>>3305248

The much needed break finally gave you an opportunity to gather your thoughts. You look at the corpses charred in the magical firestorm.
-”I’m so sorry Adalard. I can’t help them. No matter what I do, people keep dying. I’m powerless.”
You take a deep breath.
-”The only thing I’m good for is watching things from the distance and soothing the suffering of those who were lucky enough to survive being shot.”
You lift your head and look at the blue sky.
-”You scolded me for risking my life to treat wounded soldiers, but then you proceeded to throw your own life away. Why, Adalard? Why?”
Suddenly, you remember your argument with Adalard just before he went out there to confront the tank.

-”You’re nuts! It will consume too much magical energy. The over-usage will kill you!”


-”Probably. But it may save the rest of you.”

-”It may save the rest of you.”

Then it hit you.

-”That’s it! He...he tried to teach me a lesson! To show me how you really save people in this war!”
You smile a little, satisfied that you’ve finally figured it out.
-”Tell me Adalard, how many people you’ve saved in Locronan, when you hurled countless fireballs at enemy soldiers? How many people you’ve saved this morning, when you burned enemy machine gunners alive? How many people would’ve died if you didn’t destroy that tank?”
You look at friendly soldiers, resting in the ruins.
-”How many of you would be dead if your comrades weren’t there to pull the trigger when it was necessary?”
You look at Konrad, your eyes meet.
-”How many were saved by your ability to lead people to kill during crucial moments? If you didn’t storm these basements, how many of these men would be corpses by now?”
Finally, you look at your own hands.
-“And how many did I save by stabbing that woman? By hurting her before she was able to hurt us?”
Your hand slowly reaches towards your pistol holster. You can feel the handgun. It was never fired.

Once again, you find yourself blankly staring at some distant point.
-”Is this really it? Is this what you’ve tried to tell me this whole time, Adalard?”

>”...Yes”
>”...No”

An even longer update than usual. I’m really curious to see what do you think about this development of Amelia’s character.

>>3305250
>”...No”

>>3305250
>>”...Yes”

>>3305250
>”...Yes”
It's kinda cruel, but it's true. Amelia needed a reality check.

>>3305434
>>3305445

It’s hard to describe how you feel about this revelation. It’s a combination of relief and overwhelming sadness. You finally fully understood and embraced the cruel reality of war, but were all of these sacrifices necessary?
-”Adalard was right. I’m a bloody idiot.”

You’ve spent the rest of your break regaining as much of your energy as possible. Listening to distant sounds of explosions and guns in a relative peace was a nice change of pace. Of course, it soon comes to an end as Konrad orders a continuation of the assault. To your surprise, he also summoned you to his side. His face betrays signs of concern.

-”How do you feel?” - he asks.

-”I’m fine. I feel...like I did the right thing.” - you answer after a moment of consideration.

-”Yes. Yes, you did. Unfortunately I can’t say the same thing about myself.”

-”What do you mean, captain?”

Konrad sighs.
-”I shouldn’t have pushed forward so fast. People died because I had a bad feeling about something.”

You really have trouble understanding what von Hohenberg is trying to say. You simply look at him puzzled.

-”My friend from the military academy, Erika von Glattekronne, I’m sure you’ve seen her once or twice. I...I gave her the scepter.”

This news was hardly surprising for you. After all, you followed Konrad and some female officer through the camp on the same night your unit recovered that artifact. Surely, it unsettles you a little that the scepter is no longer with Konrad, but that Erika surely can’t have bad intensions, right? She’s an Imperial officer too.

Konrad continues to speak.
-”Her unit is also pushing towards library. I wanted to get there first to make sure that nothing bad happens, but after I’ve seen the consequences of exhausting my troops I decided to put my irrational fears aside.”

You appreciate the captain’s honesty. Both of you and Adalard came to a conclusion that the unknown type of magic stored in the scepter cannot be used for anything. It simply floats around, in a completely passive state, absolutely harmless to anyone and anything. Nothing more than a magical curiosity. Still, you can’t forget the overwhelming feeling of dread that washed all over you when you first felt and saw this artifact. There was definitely something wrong. Or maybe it was just your own irrational fear?

You look at Konrad and…

>”I don’t think your fear was irrational. In fact, I think the sooner we get to the library, the better.”
>”I’m glad you came to your senses. We couldn’t kept that neck-breaking pace forever.”
>”Tell me more about von Glattekrone. Why was she so interested in this artifact?”

>>3305627
>”Tell me more about von Glattekrone. Why was she so interested in this artifact?”

>>3305627
>>”Tell me more about von Glattekrone. Why was she so interested in this artifact?”

File: sunset.png (694 KB, 464x583)

694 KB PNG

>>3306922
>>3306939

You decide that you’re going to need more information before making up your mind
-”Tell me more about von Glattekrone. Why was she so interested in this artifact?”

-”Can’t tell. She never paid too much attention to the supernatural. She was more interested in proving that she has other things going on for her than being a general’s daughter. Frankly speaking I’d hate to be in her shoes.”
Konrad pauses for a second, probably thinking about something. Then he continues.
-”Erika is the only child of Walter von Glattekrone, the same man who is in charge of our division. Their family serves in the military since the beginning of the Gunpowder Age. No surprise she was trying way too hard to prove to everyone that she can live up to that legacy.”

-”So she thought recovering and using an ancient artifact would her help achieve that?” - you ask curiously.

-”That seems to be the reason. I remember the disappointment in her eyes when I told her it’s useless.”

You look deeply into von Hohenberg’s eyes. There’s still one thing you need to ask.

-”Do you trust her, Konrad?”

Konrad carefully considered his answer for a few seconds.
-”I know her for years, she’s my friend. But as a woman with no supernatural abilities and with a background such as this, she’s bound to struggle. I’m afraid this pressure may cause her to do something stupid, something reckless.”

After hearing this answer, you can’t help, but smile at Konrad.
-”So do you want to protect the artifact or do you want to protect her?”
Konrad opens his mouth in surprise, but he’s unable to produce an answer. But that in itself already tells you everything you need to know.

After advancing for quite some time, almost completely unopposed Konrad orders another short break as he summons you and every available sergeant. He shows you the map of Magnier.
-”We are approaching the library. There are 2 always to get there. We can either go through a narrow shopping street, which is a more direct path...” - he slides his finger on the map. -”...or we can advance through Kléber’s Square which is a much more open space.”

You look at the sky, thinking about your answer. It will be getting dark soon Seeing the setting sun once again fills you with this eerie feeling that something terrible is going to happen.

>Tell Konrad to attack through the narrow street. It will probably result in a lot of close quarter combat, but this is where assault companies shine the most.
ROLL D6
>Tell Konrad to push through the square. It will be much easier to heal people during less chaotic, long distance firefights.
ROLL D6

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>3306997
>>Tell Konrad to attack through the narrow street. It will probably result in a lot of close quarter combat, but this is where assault companies shine the most.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>3306997
>Tell Konrad to attack through the narrow street. It will probably result in a lot of close quarter combat, but this is where assault companies shine the most.

>>3307048
>>3307148

You decide to go with the more logical option. Although you hate these fast, chaotic engagements, but the rest of the company surely prefers them over prolonged firefights. Before you begin the assault, you finally pull out your handgun. You secretly hope that you won’t need to use it, but you are prepared to do so. If necessary, of course.

Soon, the charge begins. Soldiers run into the street, enterting shops through doors and windows. Hailstorm of machine gun fire covers the street and soon you find yourself running through it, scrambling to get to the wounded. And there are many of them as Uspeshan defenders, instead of pulling out, decide to push forward engaging Tornland forces in a brutal melee combat with knives, bayonets, swords or even bare fists. Despite this ferocious resistance, the assault company keeps pushing forwards towards the end of the street.

As you frantically run from building to building searching for the wounded, you enter a small antique shop. Its interior was turned into a mess and you see several people from both sides lying on the ground. You start checking if any of the friendlies is still alive. Suddenly, someone grabs your ankle from behind. You quickly pull your leg out of the unknown grasp and turn around and see an Uspeshan soldier planting his knife into the shop’s floor, in the same place where your leg was just a second ago. He quickly pulls it away and tries to get up, undoubtedly planning to charge you.

>Shoot him before he gets up.
ROLL D6
>Try to push him off-balance with some magic.
ROLL D6 HIGH RISK
>Run past him before he gets up and leave the building.
ROLL D6 LOW RISK

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3307231
>Try to push him off-balance with some magic.
Tough choice. I think that's what she'd do instinctively

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>3307231
>Try to push him off-balance with some magic.
Worked for us before.

File: 437.png (680 KB, 695x466)

680 KB PNG

>>3307580
>>3307881

Guided by your insticts, you quickly unleash some magical force towards the enemy soldier. It hits him before he’s able to get to you. You send him flying a short distance. He lands on his back groaning. Still having some fight left in him, he rolls on the floor and tries to reach his knife which landed next to him. Seeing this, you unleash another wave of magical energy which drove him straight into the wooden floor. He lies barely consciouss amongst the broken floor panels. You surely broke atleast some of his bones.

Convinced that the enemy was neutralized for the time being, you lean on the nearest wall and take a deep breath. These few offensive spells combined with the all the healing you’ve done in the past several minutes surely took its toll on your body. You sigh and close your eyes.
-”By the end of this, I’m going to be a complete wreck.”
Your thoughts are interrupted by painful moans of the Uspeshan soldiers. He’s still trying to get up. This time you decide to whip out your pistol.
-”Don’t move.” - you try to sound as menacing as possible although you end up sounding like a deeply disappointed older sister whose younger brother keeps doing the same dumb joke. Fortunately this time, the man opposing you finally understood the position he found himself in and slowly rose his arms as a gesture of surrendering.
-”Great. What do I do now? I’ve held anyone at gunpoint before.”
You spend the next several moments considering your option. You want to leave the building and keep searching for wounded, but you cannot leave him here by himself. You also don’t want to take him outside since there is still firefight going on outside and he can very easily be hit. You simply stand there and wait for some time until at last some friendlies finally arrive and relieve you. You thank them from the bottom of your heart and leave the building.

Cont in the next post.

File: the_glow.jpg (2.45 MB, 1500x1497)

2.45 MB JPG

>>3308112

Fifteen minutes later, the battle is over. All Uspeshan forces in the area were either killed, routed or captured. You look at the cheering soldier. It made you realize how few of you made it this far. Your grim thoughts are interrupted by Konrad.

-”Listen up, men! It’s been a long day, but we are only one step away from out objective. The enemy kept throwing everything at us. Mages, tanks, machine guns – you name it! And nothing, I repeat, nothing managed to stop us! Right now, the remaining Uspeshan forces, if we can even call them that, are surely depleted and demoralized. Our victory is nothing, but a formality!”
He pauses for a few seconds waiting for the cheering to stop.
-”Now let us move forward and capture that library! I wonder if they keep any erotic novels in the-”
His joke is interrupted by someone shouting.
-”Captain! Over there!”
Everyone looks towards the supposed location of the library. The view of the building itself is still obstructed by other structures, but you can clearly see a sickening green colour illuminating that area. You turn pale as you observe the glow in silence. Your mind is ravaged by hundreds of questions and the feeling of irrational fear slowly overtakes you. There is something disturbing seeing the evening sky covered in this otherwordly light.

Looks like the sun has finally set on the city of Magnier.

---

Tomorrow I'll be quite busy, but I'll continue the quest at around 10 PM UTC. I'll be checking the thread from time to time though and I'll respond to any questions or feedback you may have. I really want to know how do you enjoy the quest so far.

>>3308129
The only thing I can say is that I enjoy the mystery and Amelia's character arc. You should actually focus even more on exploring the character's thoughts.

>>3308129
Keep going dude, can't wait.

It's a great story, it would be nice to have more information on the countries (cultural, social and so on) . Your magic system is good too, you could add details on training and different systems.

>>3309828
>You should actually focus even more on exploring the character's thoughts
I think you'll enjoy the upcoming updates.

>>3310497
After this story arc, I'll defitenily create a pastebin containting additional information about the setting. I probably should've done it from the start, but I didn't want to bombard you with all these details from the get-go.

File: 16.jpg (268 KB, 1600x1200)

268 KB JPG

Time to continue the story.

You stared motionless at the green light coming out of the library’s building for what seemed like an eternity. And you weren’t the only one. Both friendly soldiers and captured Uspeshans looked at this phenomenon with a mixture of fear, disbelief and curiosity. Even the gunfire sounds throughout the city seemingly died down as soldiers fighting in other parts of the city noticed the glow.

You almost lose your balance and scream in surprise when someone grabs you by your shoulders.
-”What the hell is this? You told me this thing couldn’t be activated!” -Konrad von Hohenberg’s practically screamed at you.
You took your eyes off the glow and looked at Konrad. You desperately want to produce an answer, a logical explanation, but there simply was none.
-”I-I...” - your mind makes one final attempt at trying to figure out this mystery. -”I don’t know how to explain this.”
Konrad pushes himself on you even harder.
-”Tell me right now, is it dangerous?”
Slightly scared by von Hohenberg’ behaviour you scream.
-”I DON’T KNOW! I...I would need to get closer to examine it.”

Konrad releases your shoulders from his grasp and takes a few steps back before looking towards the library again.
-”Get closer, huh?”
Now his voice is almost a whisper. You are not even sure his words are directed at you anymore.
-”What have you done, Erika?”
He takes a deep breath and slowly turns towards his men, most of which are still looking into the green sky.

-”Attention people! Look at me! This glow is coming out of the library! I don’t know about you, but I’m not a person that gets scared away by some weird lights.”

You look at Konrad in surprise.
-”He’s surely not planning to-”

-”We are going to continue our advance, go the library and identify the source of this little spectacle. If it belongs to someone or something friendly – good. If not, we’ll destroy it. Any questions?”

Someone from the crowd shouts towards the captain.
-”Shouldn’t we atleast wait for a little and see how the situation develops, captain?”

Konrad immedialy responds.
-”I’m pretty damn sure thinking about doing something like this. If we don’t want to fight throughout literally entire batallions of Uspeshans who are making their way towards library as we speak, we need to move now.”

You find yourself looking at the green light again. Apart from it, everything seems to be normal. Once again, the magical energy is just...kinda there. You feel that your fear is slowly being replaced by another feeling. Curiosity.

>Konrad is right. This scepter needs to be found and examined.
ROLL D6
>Try to convince Konrad that you really should wait before moving forward, just in case.
ROLL D6

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>3310729
>>Try to convince Konrad that you really should wait before moving forward, just in case.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3310729
>Konrad is right. This scepter needs to be found and examined.

>>3310721
That's cool, but if you could weave those details in in the less combat heavy parts it would be awesome

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3310729
>Konrad is right. This scepter needs to be found and examined.

File: red-cosmos.jpg (125 KB, 900x809)

125 KB JPG

>>3310785
I did that a few time and I'll try to do it more often.

>>3310785
>>3310834

Despite Konrad’s behaviour just a moment ago, you can’t help, but agree with him. You need to make sure this thing is still harmless. Additionally, if Erika von Glattekrone found a way to somehow activate the scepter, you must know.

Not all soldiers were convinced, but eventually their loyalty towards a commander that thus far, always carried them to victory, prevailed. Soon, you were on the move again. The company was advancing in silence, everyone absorbed in their own thoughts. You weren’t an exception.
-”Why did you have to die today, Adalard? I don’t know if I can deal with all of this by myself. I feel like this scepter will haunt me for the rest of my days.”
As your unit got closer to the source, you decide to stop and examine the glow. You stand at the middle of a crossroad and once again look towards the library, trying to examine the magical aura surrounding the building. You open your mouth in surprise.

A massive field of passive magical energy. That’s it. No weird abnormalities, no destructive potential. It just oozes from the scepter in unprecedented quantities.
-”Why would someone create an artifact whose only purpose is to emit passive energy?”
The green colour illuminating the dark sky seems to get more intense each second.
-”Could this possibly be...”
Something odd in the clouds above the library attracts your attention. Your eyes widen in fear.
-”...a beacon?”

You look directly towards a massive hole in the sky itself, located directly above the library building. It’s covered in a bright shade of red, one you’ve never seen before. One that simply cannot be from this world. If you look closely, you can see some dots and spots inside it. Stars? Constellations? After a few long moments something starts emerging from within this hellish portal.

Then you hear a gunshot.

You drop to your knees, screaming in pain. You look at the gaping wound in your right leg as more bullets start flying all around you. Looks like some Uspeshan soldiers accidentally bumped into your company while making their way towards the library. Out of all possible moments, they chose this one. Don’t they realize what’s happening? You feel anger and despair building up inside you. Pain stops you from forming many coherent thoughts. You want to cry, you want to scream, you want to run, you wish that every single Uspeshan soldier still inside the city would simply disappear, all at the same time.

Another bullet hitting your shield forces you to make a decision.

>Scream in frustration and start firing your handgun in the general direction of the enemy.
ROLL D6
>Limp towards the nearest cover and focus on healing your leg.
ROLL D6 LOW RISK
>Start crawling around, looking for wounded. Your wound can wait.
ROLL D6 HIGH RISK

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>3310961
>>Limp towards the nearest cover and focus on healing your leg.

File: the_guest_from_beyond_the(...).png (209 KB, 530x296)

209 KB PNG

>>3311012

-”I need to get away. Heal myself, then the rest.”
You start slowly limping towards the nearest pile of debris. Rifle bullets keep hitting your shield, but they are the least of your worries. When you finally enter the sweet embrace of ruined buildings, you almost shout from joy. You slowly sit down and glance at your wound.
-”Nothing I can’t fix.”
Before you start healing yourself, you hear something moving behind you. You turn around and see a charging Uspeshan soldier, mere few meters away from you. The only thing you manage to do is putting your right hand forward.

The man’s bayonet goes straight through it.

You scream in agony as you look at your hand, pierced by the bayonet. The man, probably not expecting to hear a woman’s scream stops for a second, looking at you. Then a bullet from a distance enter his skull and he falls dead just centimeters away from you. You barely take notice as you squirm on the ground howling in pain. Tears start streaming down your face.

Breathing heavily you look towards the cosmic hole in the sky. What you see almost makes you forget about your 2 wounds or the hellish fight going on around you.

You see a massive pitch-black object, kinda shaped like an upside-down mountain, hanging directly from the hole. The substance its made from seems to somehow constantly alter its shape. Thanks to that the object looks like its swaying from side to side on the night sky. You quickly realize these movements aren’t random. There is some regularity to them. Through all of the pain and various emotions, a lone thought makes its way to your brain.
-”This thing looks like...it’s breathing. It’s alive. I am looking at a living mound of black flesh, a creature from a distant world.”

The air is instantly filled with painful giggling as you can’t help, but start laughing at the sheer absurdity of this claim. After a short while your laughter is replaced by panicked breathing as the severity of the situation hits you. You feel like the emotional and stimulational overload is slowly turning your brain into a mush.
-”God, what even is that thing? What does it want? Where’s Konrad? Adalard? Must find. Must run away. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.”

>Focus and try to patch yourself up.
ROLL D6
>Get up and try to find...someone
ROLL D6

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3311277
>Focus and try to patch yourself up.
No good will come of passing out from blood loss.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>3311277
>Focus and try to patch yourself up.

File: the_mound.jpg (68 KB, 675x900)

68 KB JPG

>>3311426
>>3311558

Despite your panic, you decide to focus on healing yourself before doing anything else. Judging by the sounds around you the battle escalated quite a bit, probably other units from both sides found their way towards the crossroad. Before you go out there, you must be prepared and healed.

You sloppily start treating your leg, casting spells with your left hand since that bayonet is still stuck inside your right one. It takes you a while, but you are satisfied with the result. Then you look at your right hand and start sobbing, fully aware of the thing you’ll have to do in just a moment.

Your hands shake terribly as you grab the bayonet. You grit your teeth and pull it out of the wound with one swift move.

You almost pass out from the pain. It takes you a while before you recover and start treating your wound. After stopping the bleeding you decide to take a short breather. Then you notice some glass lying in the ruins. For the first time since the beginning of the battle you can see your reflection.

With jagged uniform covered in blood and a pale face covered in dust and tears you can barely recognize yourself. You look more like a walking corpse, or something that crawled out of hell. Just like that mound…

You find yourself glancing towards it again. You can clearly see that something is happening with this unholy being. Its „shell” starts to open up in various places, similar to the way mage’s skin opens up after overusing magic. The cracks are small and you are not able to see through them. You look hard trying to catch any important details. And then, they open up.

Dozens upon dozens of eyes start popping out all around the mound as the entire city is fill with a mind-crushing shriek. In a single moment, Magnier is covered with a bright red glow, the exact same colour that came from the hole in the sky. You try to plug your ears, but to no avail. The shriek continue for many seconds, drilling deeply into your skull. Just when you feel that your brain is about to explode, everything goes black.

Suddenly you fight yourself in an endless, perfectly black space. It’s also completely silent. You look at your hands, there’s no sign of the bayonet wound.
-”Am I dead?”
You take a few uncertain steps forward, looking forward for anything that sticks out from the neverending darkness. You quickly notice a silhouette in a distance. It’s wearing an Imperial uniform and holds a small flame in its hands.
-”A-Adalard? B-but...”

>Quickly run towards him.
>Turn around, it cannot really be him.

>>3311629
>Quickly run towards him.

>>3311629
>Quickly run towards him

File: bbe792d6f14abca6dd35d4aa6(...).jpg (99 KB, 590x588)

99 KB JPG

>>3313497
>>3313647

You run towards the elven mage, hoping to get any clues about your current predicament. Is this a dream? An illusion, perhaps? Are you still even alive? Will you ever come back? You’re not sure if you even want to. Even this black void seems better than the battlefield of Magnier.
As you get closer to Adalard you notice that he’s not paying any attention to you as he stares at this flame motionlessly. You shout.

-”Adalard?! Is that really you?”

He flinches a little and turns towards you. His face is calm, he seems to be at peace.
-”Oh, Amelia. I’m glad that you are still doing well.”
Your eyes widen as you see a small trail of blood coming out of his nose.
-”Unlike me.”

Adalard’s starts breaking in many different points, just like during his final moments. The elf seems to be completely unfazed by the fact that his body literally starts to fall apart. You try to look away, not wanting to witness this again, but Adalard quickly approaches you and grabs your head, forcing you to watch the spectacle unfold. Tons of blood ends up landing on your body and your face, but most of ends up on the ground. Soon, the red liquid reaches your ankles.

-”Why didn’t you save me, Amelia?”

You feel something grabbing your calves from below.

-”Why didn’t you save...us?”

Adalard releases your head from his grasp and you immediately look down. You see tens of people in Imperial uniforms emerging from the blood covering the floor. Dozens of rotten hands start grabbing your legs in various places, Many deformed or decomposed faces, often covered in maggots looking directly at you. You freeze in terror.
-”I-I’m just one person, I can’t save everybody...please, stop...”
Your begging falls on deaf ears as more and more dead soldiers start to rise up from the ocean of blood. They all start to either climb or walk towards you. Their grey-blue mouths also start to move, drowning you in gurling voices.

-”Otto, where are you? It’s getting cold...”
-”Mother, it hurts...”
-”I want to see my son!”

Your mind can’t take it any longer. You close your eyes and start whispering to yourself.
-”I’m dead and this must be hell.”

The dead soldiers are getting closer every second. They look forward to engulfing you in a see of corpses and flesh-eating bugs…

>Start begging for forgiveness.
ROLL D6
>Try to fight your way out.
ROLL D6

---

We are entering quite a dark territory here. I hope you don't mind.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>3313860
>Start begging for forgiveness

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>3313860
>Start begging for forgiveness.

File: 362.png (234 KB, 311x413)

234 KB PNG

>>3313966
>>3314578

You are scared and confused. You know you have no chances to run away. You look at the soldiers that surround you from all sides.
-”I-I tried to help everyone, I really did, but...I’m too weak. Adalard, everyone – please forgive me...”
The corpses seem to ignore your please, still pushing closer . You drop to your knees.
-”I’m just a simple cleric, fresh out of the academy. Why is all of this happening to me? I’ve tried my best, I don’t deserve this fate! I DON’T!”
Despair sets in as you feel maggots starting to crawl all over you.
-”They’re not listening to me, they don’t care about my remorse.”
The sad realization finally hits you. You’ll die here. Your survival instict finally hits in. You desperately start scratching your body to get rid of the bugs. You feel hundreds of tiny legs walking all over your skin. Your frantic scratching leaves bloody marks on your body, but you don’t care anymore.
-”You bastards! What else do you want from me?!”
There is no answer. Your fight quickly becomes hopeless as corpses start piling up on you and the bugs start eating you alive. The last thing you manage to do is convincing yourself that this isn’t really happening.
-”This is a dream, I need to wake up. I WILL WAKE UP!”

Then you actually do.

You wake up lying in the exact same spot where you lost consciousness. Tears of joy start flowing down your face as you look at your body which isn’t crawling with bugs. Then you notice that its covered in scratchmarks. Your fingernails are covered with your own blood. Was it really just a hallucination? You shift your attention to the weird creature in the sky. The mound is still menacingly hanging from the sky, its hundreds of eyes still widely opened. The most unsettling thing about the city right now is the sound. Or rather, the lack of it. You cannot hear any gunfire. You decide to look around you.

It almost makes you wish you never left the nightmare.

Hundreds of soldiers roam the streets of Magnier. Some scratching their faces. Some mutilating themselves with knives or bayonets. Some bashing their heads against the walls. Both of the warring armies have gone mad. You once again look at the scratches. You realize every single man in the city is going through the same nightmarish visions you went through. Tens of thousands stuck in their personal hells. You seem to be the only person around who woke up from it. Not being able to look at this anymore, you once again lift your eyes towards the sky.

You see another set of holes that starts popping out all around the mound. This time, you notice swarms of black dots falling out from them, straight towards the city.

-”No more, oh God, no more.”

The library is still illuminated by the green light. You decide it’s time to act.

>Get up and start looking around for any person who retained their sanity.
>Start walking towards the library.
>Try to find a way out of the city.

>>3314824
>Start walking towards the library.
It's probably stupid but we want to save people aye? Well maybe if we can find whatever started this shitshow we can end it.

>>3314824
>Start walking towards the library.
>>3314842
This.

>>3314842
>>3314875

-”This nightmare must end.”

You start walking towards the library. Your leg is still hurting and you’re limping slightly, but fortunately this time you don’t have to worry about enemy soldiers since all of them appear to be fighting their inner demons. You are still concerned about the unidentified things that fell from the mound into the city itself, but you decided to take the risk. Going through the ruined streets filled with hundreds of people who lost their minds makes you with that your sanity was also gone. After seeing an Imperial soldier falling from a window located several meters above the ground only to start bashing his broken body against the floor, you decide to focus on your own thoughts. Anything is better than watching this madness.

-”This scepter is a magical beacon. Maybe if I turn it off that...thing will go away.”
You find yourself looking at the mound again. You’ve studied the history of magic for years back at the university and you don’t remember ever reading or hearing about something like this. Surely, an event such as this would surely be documented. There is only one event in history that can be compared to this.
-”Is this how dwarfs came to our world?”
A little over 4 centuries ago, the dwarven race came from the skies. With them came various technologies that changed the world forever. That was the beginning of the Gunpowder Age. No one ever came up with a logical explanation as to why this event occured. The dwarfs themselves, were unable to remember anything that happened prior to their arrival.
-”Were they guided by a beacon aswell? Did they come out of a similar hole in the sky?”
You are unable to answer any of those questions. You keep reaching into the depths of your mind trying to solve this nightmarish puzzle. Dwarfs as an alien race, are unable to establish any connection with either planetary or cosmic magic, which renders them totally unable to use it. During the last 400 years, there wasn’t a single known dwarf that could use magical powers.
-”This mound is probably an alien too. If it interacts with the scepter, it means that the magic stored inside it must really be from another world.”

Suddenly you hear someone shouting.
-”You girl! Hands up, don’t move!”

>>3315177

You turn towards the source of this voice, taken completely by surprise. You see an elf, wearing uniform of an Uspeshan officer, standing in a doorway, few meters away from you. His revolver points directly at you. His another hand is bleeding, badly. It also lacks atleast 2 fingers. Did he cut them off during when he was experiencing a nightmare?

-”I said hands up!” - his eyes are open wide and his voice is shaky. You decide to follow his instruction.

-”What the fuck did you do to our city?”

>Tell the officer that whoever did this is an enemy of both Tornland and Uspesh, as both sides were affected equally. Suggest that working together is the best option.
ROLL D6
>Take a few steps forward and offer treating his wounds. If he keeps bleeding like this, he’s sure to pass out soon.
ROLL D6 HIGH RISK
>Start running away. Your shield will surely withstand a few bullets and you can’t really waste any time dealing with him.
ROLL D6 LOW RISK

>>3315185
>Tell the officer that whoever did this is an enemy of both Tornland and Uspesh, as both sides were affected equally. Suggest that working together is the best option.
And then offer to heal him. He's of no use to us dead.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3315311
Sorry I forgot to roll

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>3315185
>Tell the officer that whoever did this is an enemy of both Tornland and Uspesh, as both sides were affected equally. Suggest that working together is the best option.

>>3315311
>>3315317
>>3315408

-”Look around you! All of us are suffering because of that thing! Why would we want to hurt our own soldiers?”
The elf opens his mouth, but doesn’t say a word. You decide to continue.
-”Listen, whoever did this isn’t working for any of our two countries. We need to forget about this war and work together to stop this.”

The Uspeshan officer lowers his gun and starts laughing.
-”What do you mean ‘stop this’?” - he points his gun towards the mound. -”It turned the entire city into a mental asylum in one short moment. This is not something that can be stopped!”

You hesitate for a second, but finally decide to share your plan with the officer.
-”I…I think that if we manage to remove the source of this green glow we can send this thing back.”

The elf looks at you surprised.
-”Wait, you actually want to do this? You want...to go there? I mean, to the library?”

-”Yes. And I will need any help I can get.”
Before he manages to say anything about your proclamation, you ask.
-”Can I look at your wound? I’m a healer.”

The Uspeshan looks at his hand and sits down.
-”Judging by your gender, it may actually be true. Do as you please.”

You spend the next several minutes tending to his wounds and getting to know him a little bit better.
-”What’s your name?”

-”Talvin Arcand. Yours?”

-”Amelia Weisseblume.”

-”Doesn’t sound as harsh as your typical Tornland name.”

You smile slightly as you focus on stopping the bleeding.

-”Prepare to be disappointed, Talvin. I may be a cleric, but I can’t regrowth your fingers.”

Arcand chuckles. After a few seconds he asks.
-”Listen, why do you even want my help? I can’t help you with anything magic-related.”

-”I may run into other Uspeshan soldiers. Someone like you may be able to convince them to join us or atleast leave us alone.”

-”And you need other soldiers because…?”

-”Because people who created this mess may still be inside the library, ready to defend the source. Alright, you’re good to go.”

Talvin leans on the nearest wall for a moment, apparently satisfied both by your answer and by your medical service.
-”I’m ready to do whatever it takes to bring my men out of this nightmare. Let’s go.”

>>3315684

You spend the next several minutes walking towards the library. At this point you lost counf of how many soldiers you’ve passed, but every single one of them was still under the influence of the mound. You find yourself thinking about Konrad. Was he killed in the firefights before the mound opened its eyes? Was he still trapped in his own mind? Or was he also on his towards the library?

Suddenly you hear a weird noise coming out from behind the nearest building, next to the crossroads you were about to take. It sounds kinda like a...loud wheezing? Talvin points at the nearest pile of debris. Both of you quickly crouch behind it, observing the crossroads. You see a group of Uspeshan soldiers standing at the middle of the crossroad, scratching their bodies. Unsurprisingly, they are completely oblivious to this sound. Finally, the source of the wheezing emerges from behind the building.

You definitely weren’t prepared for this.

You see a massive floating torso, atleast 5 meters tall, with equally long arms. Its wrinkled skin looks like a fossilized tree bark. The creature’s face is covered in multiple holes. No eyes, no mouth, no nose. Just holes. You watch in silent horror as this monstrosity reaches towards one of the soldiers and touches it with one of his fingers. You almost scream as his body starts turning into dust as a result. A small, blue orb emerges from within the man’s collapsing body. The creature immediately absorbs it with the holes on his face. Then it moves towards the next soldier, still wheezing.

You look at Talvin. He decides to do the same and your eyes, filled with fear, meet. Both of you are unable to say anything. Finally, you decide to break the silence as the creature keeps consuming the Uspeshan soldiers.

>Tell Talvin that you need to stay away from the streets, but still press on towards the library.
>Tell Talvin that you need to flee the city. Immediately.

The thread went into an auto-sage mode. I'll make a new one later today.

>>3315695
>Tell Talvin that you need to stay away from the streets, but still press on towards the library.

>>3315695
>>Tell Talvin that you need to stay away from the streets, but still press on towards the library.

File: images (3).jpg (34 KB, 468x655)

34 KB JPG

>>3315695
>You see a massive floating torso, atleast 5 meters tall, with equally long arms. Its wrinkled skin looks like a fossilized tree bark. The creature’s face is covered in multiple holes. No eyes, no mouth, no nose. Just holes.

Oh hello 093

>>3317208
This image was definitely an inspiration for me, although I don't think I've ever read about this SCP. I hope I didn't accidentally copy the concept.


The quest resumes at 7 PM UTC, btw. I'll post a link to the new thread as soon as I create it.

New thread is up!
>>3317906

Thanks to anyone who follows this quest!