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File 133176855660.png - (149.17KB , 720x900 , 01.png )
392815 No. 392815 ID: 885ee8

Chapter 1:
>>/questarch/327976
Chapter 2:
>>344839
Discussion:
>>/questdis/350106
Wiki:
http://tgchan.org/wiki/Oblitus
Expand all images
>>
No. 392816 ID: 885ee8
File 133176857512.png - (222.43KB , 720x806 , 02.png )
392816

Adventurous. Mysterious. Alluring. You wish these words described you, but you've been shuffled quietly away from all the excitement into this stupid job in this stupid library. Now, you lose yourself in books while you quietly wait for your shift to end. Your name is Padma and your certain, shall we say, "proclivities" were deemed too distracting by the overly studious male population of your homeland in the elemental plane of water, so you were sent here to "study abroad". You had heard that this place was the height of debauchery, but you're not sure what kind of misconceptions caused that rumor. There is certainly a large collection of volumes about music, sex, drugs, and poetry here, but you're not sure where they came from. Day in and day out, if anyone comes in at all, they're looking for some stuffy tome on history or magical theory. And always bugs, or birds, or scaly things. Not an attractive pseudopod in sight.
>>
No. 392817 ID: 885ee8
File 133176859438.png - (302.83KB , 720x845 , 03.png )
392817

You hear a loud crash, and look up just in time to see a few stray shards of glass drop from a broken skylight.
>>
No. 392820 ID: ed57e8

hide under your desk and peek over it
>>
No. 392824 ID: b6edd6

Out of sight sounds like a great place to be at the moment.
>>
No. 392825 ID: d3ccca

Investigate

This can't possibly go wrong
>>
No. 392833 ID: 6e44d2

Maybe it's a stud with some sexy pseudopods.
>>
No. 392848 ID: 1854db

Peek around something to see what it is. CAREFULLY. And quietly.
>>
No. 392851 ID: a2fa74

>>392817
Call out "Hey! Quiet in the library!"
Then hide under your desk.
>>
No. 392855 ID: 6616f3

Discover a tree man. Be inexplicably attracted to him, despite lack of manly pseudopods.
>>
No. 392882 ID: 885ee8
File 133178334920.png - (495.32KB , 720x1200 , 04.png )
392882

The first thing you think is that your boss is going to kill you for the window, before you remember that you prepare basically nothing but mending spells every day anyway.
You sneak over between the shelves and peek around the corner, and are stunned to see some sort of tentacled being rising from the pile of broken glass, totally unfazed like a complete badass. He seems to be fusing his tentacles together to hide his shape. Your mind instantly ventures into a fantasy about a swarthy, shapeshifting swashbuckler, who swoops in through the ceiling and takes you away to be part of his sexy adventures. With your mind elsewhere, you don't react quickly enough as he looks up and spots you. His eyes widen.
>>
No. 392885 ID: 1854db

Um, smile and wave! Say that he looks cool.
>>
No. 392886 ID: d5ee6f

>>392882
Hot as he may be, he is a shapeshifter and YOU JUST SAW HIM SHAPESHIFT. SCUTTLE AWAY!
>>
No. 392887 ID: 6f9630

>>392882
OH MT GAWD! He's a tentacle guy and a shapeshifter. That's just SOOOO hawt!
>>
No. 392891 ID: 673411

>>392882
Quickly, ask him to take you with him! This is your chance for ADVENTURE and ROMANCE.

If you miss this opportunity, you'll just end up stuck here, in a dusty stupid library, doing your stupid job.
>>
No. 392892 ID: ed57e8

wiggle your pseudopods and ask if he is looking for something
>>
No. 392897 ID: a2fa74

>>392882
"Can I help you, sir? Perhaps you would like to get out of here and go some place... quieter~"
Then mend the window. No need to leave things a mess, after all.
>>
No. 392900 ID: f70e5e

judging from the fact he just plowed through the window he's probably on the run, and he's probably considering whether or not leaving a witness is a good idea. pointing out that even if you did tell someone they'd just think you were crazy, and you disappearing would probably give whoever is chasing him a clue to how he escaped, namely it would when combined with the broken window more or less prove that he entered the library.
>>
No. 392906 ID: 6e44d2

Tell him you'll mend the window to cover his tracks if he takes you away from this place.
>>
No. 392915 ID: 885ee8
File 133179104785.png - (180.50KB , 720x614 , 05.png )
392915

"Oh, hi!" You exclaim, sheepishly. "You look cool. I mean, you looked cool, a second ago. Dragonborns, though... they have these big ugly nostrils in front. You uh...forgot them." Stupid, stupid, stupid. The first thing you say to this guy is a critique of his appearance? You feel your face flush. "I mean, let me start over. Hi, I'm Padma."
He looks like he is carefully considering how to respond before he speaks. "I am sorry about the skylight," he says in a very deep voice that makes you swoon, though you note he did not offer a name. A pair of nostrils appear on his face.
"I have a first aid kit at my desk," you say. "Cure light wounds wands, you know, and, uh, cure hangover, and suppress fertility haha." You shrink back behind the shelf and knock yourself in the head for not shutting up, but your mouth keeps moving. "And uh, dragonborns have names with a lot of consonants, like Grath or something."
>>
No. 392917 ID: 885ee8
File 133179107464.png - (304.56KB , 720x900 , 06.png )
392917

He looks concerned for a moment, then slowly begins to smile. "What a coincidence," he replies, "Grath is my name. And yes, that would be great."
You make the minimal gestures to cast the mending cantrip, and you see "Grath" tense up for a second. He quickly regains his composure, though, and follows you to the desk. "If I may ask," he begins, "what are you?"
"An undine," you reply, "from the elemental plane of water. What about you?"
"I'm not sure," he answers. "I seem to have lost my memory. I have been meaning to come out here to the library, though. Also, I hear there's a museum? But, I need to find my way back into the outer city." he continues, seemingly unsure about what to do next.
>>
No. 392918 ID: 885ee8
File 133179110009.png - (300.85KB , 720x792 , 07.png )
392918

Your eyes widen. "Woooow. You lost your memory? That sounds...bracing!" You finally manage to extract a cure light wounds wand from the first aid box and burn a few charges on him. You're a little annoyed, though, because he doesn't seem to be paying much mind to all the invasion of personal space and lascivious hip-wiggle you're throwing his way.
He rotates his shoulders and flexes his clawed hands. "Thank you for the healing. I fell quite a long way."
The thought that the only thing above you is the executive bloc, levitating high above in the energy stream, makes you giddy. This guy must be a fugitive! "Well, don't worry, Grath. I didn't see anyone unusual come through here." You wink at him slyly.
He blinks, then widens his eyes. "Oh! Thank you for your discretion," he says. You get a little more frustrated. It doesn't seem like he's blowing you off, it seems like he's genuinely clueless. But, maybe that's just his game. What do you do? You've never been to the outer city, but you know the way. But you also think you could keep him here with some books on...physiology. Purely to help him discover what he is and okay totally to turn him on. Or, you might want to ask him to someplace private after your shift.
>>
No. 392919 ID: ed57e8

both, bring him books on various... subjects, and then invite him to your house to stay for the night.
>>
No. 392921 ID: 1854db

>>392918
Offer to show him books about various species. Maybe we can find something?
>>
No. 392923 ID: 673411

Tell him you can guide him out, you just need a few of your things if you can do so quickly. take the chance to grab the books on physiology, and leave with him.
>>
No. 392925 ID: b6edd6

The obliviousness is kind of to be expected from the amnesia. Like those amnesiac spies you read about who can cast greater invisibility from memory but can't tie their own bootlaces. Maybe something in the books on ... unusual anatomies can remind him~
>>
No. 392926 ID: d5ee6f

>>392918
Ask him if maybe... He needs somewhere to hide overnight?..
>>
No. 392928 ID: a2fa74

>>392918
He's obviously a shape-shifter. If he's not ignoring your advances but simply oblivious to them then he might be from an asexual species and not really understand genders and flirting and such.
...which means you might be able to convince him to let you teach him anatomy and sex ed. Obviously you can't do that here.
Grab some encyclopedias on the anatomies of sapient species, and a few on gender identity and the related social mores.
Take those books and skip out on the rest of your shift. Beyond this being a once-in-a-lifetime chance with a full-on freeform polymorphic sapient, you don't want to be here when they come looking for him.
Lock up and ask him if he'd be willing to help you carry the books home - or anyplace else he'd like to go.
>>
No. 392958 ID: 72d49b

You're gonna have to be a bit more obvious. Or a lot more obvious.
>>
No. 392970 ID: 6f86af

Is "suppress fertility" birth control? Or, since a first aid kit is for emergencies, I'd expect it's more like a morning after pill. Weird that they'd have it in a library?

I have a great idea! Ask this guy out to dinner. He looks like a fellow who enjoys a good meal.
>>
No. 392971 ID: 07eaf7

>>392928
Agreed.
>>
No. 392981 ID: cf49fc

>>392928
Double Agreed. Oh, and be aware that he may in fact be genderless, like Doppelgangers.

Ignore this and continue with the above plan.
>>
No. 392989 ID: d1f1b7

>>392928
This is good.

Also, if all else fails, this is pretty much your ticket to adventure. Which, while perhaps not the debauchery you seek, is still better than being stuck in a library for the rest of life.
>>
No. 393010 ID: 6af537

Also don't forget to mend the entrance hole.
>>
No. 393025 ID: 76c597

So you like the bad boy-things. Just how hard up are you? Cuz this is gonna be dangerous, and this dude is pretty slow.
>>
No. 393045 ID: 885ee8
File 133184346162.png - (365.49KB , 720x900 , 08.png )
393045

You start to consider maybe ditching the rest of your shift or something, but that's crazy. You're flirting with this guy at work, sure, but you're not gonna run off and lose your job over it. But, there's only a couple more hours in your shift, and then the library closes. You don't see any problem with letting him stick around while you close and then taking him someplace. "Hey, why don't you stick around," you offer, "we've got a bunch of books about different species, maybe you can figure out what you are? And, y'know, if you wanna check out some books we can go somewhere after I close up..." Man, what has gotten into you? You're not usually this assertive. Maybe it's because you think he won't understand anyway.
He nods, and thinks for a moment. "That sounds agreeable. But, do you have any books that discuss the gods, as well? Currently worshipped, or past?"
"Uh, sure. Why?"
"Just a hunch," he replies, cryptically.
You wander through the aisles and pick out a few good books, getting a good mix of books about anatomy, plus a couple books on historical religion. You put the religious ones on the bottom of the stack and the infamous "Xenophile: Madam Drayvan's Exhaustive Manual" on top, and haul the stack back to a table near your desk.
>>
No. 393046 ID: 885ee8
File 133184348146.png - (297.40KB , 720x1068 , 09.png )
393046

Grath sits down and cracks open the top book, which is divided by chapter into several types. He skims the decriptions of each, either unfazed by or not completely understanding he subject material, before flipping to the chapter "Aberrations". He flips past the opening text of the chapter and begins thumbing through the entries. "Aboleth" (magical and psionic), "Athach", "Avolakia", "Balhannoth"...He stops when he sees the picture: a large, looming creature with six tentacle legs and a large, gaping mouth. He starts to read the entry, and his eyes quicky widen and his face darkens.
"Oh!" he exclaims in his rumbling voice. "I didn't...hmm." He tenses up and flips a little further, stopping on "Choker", a humanoid creature with tentacled arms that split into four at the end. He pulls the book a little closer and the hues in his entire body, even his mock clothes, shift a little redder. "So, when I... ah..." he mutters, as he reads feverishly. He flips back to the beginning of the chapter and reads the introductory text. "Wow."
You are now Viktor.
>>
No. 393048 ID: ed57e8

so does that mean? or.. hmmm.. maybe you should... keep reading? or go to the next book and try to figure out what you are before thinking about what you can do?
>>
No. 393050 ID: d5ee6f

>>393046
If you need anything explained feel free to ask the librarian. She'd love to help. Plus, it's her job.
>>
No. 393055 ID: afa2e7

Does that mean someone fucked an Aboleth and lived to write about it? Wait, no, there's entries for two varieties. Does that mean someone fucked TWO Aboleths and lived to write about it??

Look up the entry on myconads while the undine is still hovering over your shoulder.
>>
No. 393062 ID: ed57e8

>>393055
oh yes. some info about ivet could be useful.
>>
No. 393077 ID: 6e44d2

Notice how she's touching you as you read?

Yeah. She wants some. Just thought you should know.
>>
No. 393104 ID: 1854db

Uh, before we continue, ask Padma if this is really what people study about dangerous monsters. And we should maybe ask for another book on the social/cultural expectations of this subject.

...the entry on myconads might indeed be enlightening. Perhaps it'd give us some indication of what Ivet would expect from us in the... act itself. Other than that, maybe we should uh, look at a different book about species. One that's less sexual.

After skimming that for possible matches, check out a book on old gods.
>>
No. 393193 ID: d5ee6f

Look up myconads and then Undine.
>>
No. 393201 ID: a2fa74

>>393046
Read the entry on Undine, then very carefully study the entries on Myconids and Dryads, then put the book in the check-out stack. Look for a book on gender roles and sexuality in cultures, and study the entries on Myconids, Dryads, and Humans. Put that in the check-out stack as well. Stick the books on physiology and anatomy straight in the check-out pile - worry about them later.

Basically? Your disguises aren't going be believable if you don't react properly to situations. Sex and gender are core aspects of almost all living beings, so you absolutely need to be able to recognize and respond to those kinds of situations. You can make serious errors in you physical appearance without it being a problem, but people will notice even minor behavioral mistakes. Since you're in a mixed area you have a lot of leeway with most things, but sexuality isn't really one of them.

Then read the books on gods.
>>
No. 393218 ID: 88e5ad

dude, she has tits AND tentacles. you should keep her.
>>
No. 393281 ID: 61e7f9

>>393218
Well duh, she's a keeper.
>>
No. 393290 ID: d09277
File 133193276155.png - (380.96KB , 720x900 , 10.png )
393290

A lot of things are starting to click into place in your head while you read. You suddenly understand things about your urges and desires you hadn't before. But, flipping through this chapter and a couple others that might be relevant, you don't see anything resembling you. "I had no idea how this worked," you say, absentmindedly, "it answers a lot of questions, but not the ones I was asking in the first place."
Padma recoils slightly. "Wait, wait, answers questions? You actually didn't know how sex works, y'know, physically? I was just trying to turn you on, I didn't think..." She suddenly turns red and shakes her head as if mentally berating herself. "I mean, sorry, that's cool and all. You're like this hardcore badass who just jumped out of a flying building and crashed through a skylight, and you're a shapeshifter with amnesia, and you don't know how sex works. Or, didn't, until just now. That's... pretty incredible, honestly."
"Did this author actually do this with all of these creatures?" you ask, gesturing to a particularly grotesque depiction of a gibbering orb.
Padma laughs. "She talks about her methods in the last chapter. Madam Drayvan was a pretty powerful wizard, she used a lot of astral projections and constructs with magic to link her sensations to them and stuff. Something like that anyway."
"Is this really what people study about dangerous creatures?" you ask, feeling like you've been missing a big part of the picture this whole time.
"Haha, noooot usually, no. Madam Drayvan was...well, a lot of people called her a lot of bad names. I'd call her eccentric. There's a great biography on her over at my desk, I can bring it if you'd like."
"I don't think that would be particularly relevant," you reply. Something occurs to you and you flip to the chapter on Fey until you find a picture of something that looks like Ivet. The entry is short, and refers to "standard rules" and trust issues mentioned in the "dryad" entry.
"What are you looking that up for?" asks Padma.
"I just wanted to read about someone I know," you reply, as you keep your finger on the page and refer back to "standard rules" in Chapter 1.
"O..oh." Padma says, looking a little downtrodden. She seems to think for a moment, and perks back up. "But, this person's not your girlfriend or something, right? I mean, amnesia, and not knowing how sex works..."
"I guess not," you answer, trying not to think about that too much.
"Hmm," she sighs, and rests her head on your shoulder again. She spends a minute or two reading along with you before speaking up again. "So uh, this is a little forward of me buuuuut...well, the library closes in a couple hours. Would you maybe...wanna come up to my place after I close up?"
>>
No. 393292 ID: 88e5ad

well, you do need a place to hang low until things cool down a bit.
>>
No. 393295 ID: 72d49b

I don't see why not. If we get her emotionally involved with us, she may be a fairly useful resource. At the very least she'll be a person worth more outside our stomach than in it, which is pretty rare.
>>
No. 393296 ID: d5ee6f

>>393290
Flip to the Undine page. Ask her for clarification on a few things.
>>
No. 393297 ID: ed57e8

that would bea good place to lay low for a bit. take that stack of books with you.
>>
No. 393322 ID: 6e44d2

Yes, definitely. She can teach you some stuff that will help you with Ivet, and she may prove to be a valuable resource in other regards as well.

Also, be adult about this whole "sex" thing, no need to turn all embarrassed or whatever.
>>
No. 393326 ID: 431fa8

>>393290
Keep looking up the references for Ivet, then look up Undine and read over the entry carefully. "Certainly, if I am still here by then. It would be prudent of me to avoid notice for a while... and I suspect that you will prove unexpectedly educational."
>>
No. 393343 ID: 1854db

>>393290
Trust issues? Better look at that carefully before deciding if Ivet would be angry with us for doing this.

I think the next book we read would be the one on old gods. Then after that, maybe something about social interaction and/or dating.
>>
No. 393345 ID: 9531e3

>>393343
this
>>
No. 393347 ID: b5319e

Viktor, in case you're just that clueless, by "come up to my place", she means for sex. Just want to make sure that's clear.

I'm not sure if this will cause problems with Ivet. She obviously has feelings for Viktor, but as he said we aren't officially romantically involved (yet). It might cause problems, though, if Padma sticks around when we go find Ivet. So, maybe make this a one-time thing. If Ivet has problems with that, it's her problem.

I am a little uncomfortable that we're doing this instead of going to find Ivet right now, though. The circumstances of her disappearance make me uneasy.

But of course my suggestion is hell yeah, hit that like the fist of an angry god. That might actually be a literal description of what we do in the bedroom, anyway.
>>
No. 393362 ID: 88e5ad

wait, do you even have a pecker?
>>
No. 393377 ID: a2fa74

>>393290
"I should be more clear. I have a partner. We are not involved like this, but it explains much of her behavior. She and I are going to need to talk, as I have apparently been neglecting her.

When the library closes I shall search for her.
You should meet her. I promise it would be worth your time. At the very least she could introduce you to people you would find of interest."
>>
No. 393378 ID: ed57e8

>>393377
indeed
>>
No. 393397 ID: 1854db

Hey I just had an idea. How about... we go find Ivet and then come back to the library for the sex date and/or more reading? That way we can talk to Ivet about it without missing out.
>>
No. 393417 ID: d09277
File 133194922326.png - (379.50KB , 720x900 , 11.png )
393417

"Certainly, if I am still here by then. It would be prudent of me to avoid notice for a while... and I suspect that you will prove unexpectedly educational," you reply, feeling a little rush.
Padma's cheeks flush a deeper shade of red and she repeats you, "Educational...?" and giggles a little. "Awesome. Hey, I'm gonna grab one of my books and we can read together. And uh... Undines are in 'Outsiders'. You know, for educational purposes." She smiles and wiggles back to her desk, looking over her shoulder and making an excited half-giggle as she catches you absentmindedly looking at her backside.
When she reaches her desk, you hear the front door open and smell something vaguely reptilian. You don't see anyone come in at first, but you see Padma talking down at someone very short over her desk. "Oh, hello sir. What can I do for you?"
You see Padma's gaze tracking someone walking in as you hear a high-pitched, scratchy voice on the other side of the desk. "Oh nothing much, just going around to all the businesses in the area to ask a couple questions. How long have you been here today?" You finally see the short form of a crocodile-like creature waddle into view on the other side of the front desk. He's decked out in the blue and brown of the workers you saw in prison, and is covered in golden jewelery. His giant eyes twitch in your direction and widen further.
"Oh, since about four," Padma replies, but the kobold excitedly sprints over to your table, hops up on one of the chairs, and plants his hands on the desk.
"Ohmygosh, a dragonborn I don't know! Black dragon, by the looks! Oh man, when did you get to town? Which lineage are you from? Do you know anyone in town?" He fires off his string of questions excitedly and without taking a breath, punctuated by his tail wagging and smacking the back of the chair loudly.

What do you do?
>>
No. 393421 ID: 07eaf7

>>393417
"Ohmygosh, a dragonborn I don't know! Black dragon, by the looks! Oh man, when did you get to town?"
>Just got here, in fact. This is my first stop.

"Which lineage are you from?"
>That's the thing, I was recently struck by some rather troublesome amnesia - most of the mages and the like around where I used to live couldn't do a damn thing. I'm mostly here to relax and figure out what to do next.

"Do you know anyone in town?"
>Can't say I do, but I wouldn't mind making a few friends. Just recently met the librarian here. Name's Grath. I think. What's yours?
>>
No. 393422 ID: 1854db

>>393417
What a bother. Say that you came into town just today, but you're not willing to discuss your personal life. Suggest he continue speaking with the Undine over there and cease bothering you in the middle of your studies.

(please tell me we're reading a less raunchy book)
>>
No. 393423 ID: d5ee6f

>>393417
The other night, orphan so you don't know, you're staying with a friend.
>>
No. 393424 ID: 88e5ad

tell him the truth: you know nothing about your lineage and you're not from around here.

unless this is the kind of setting where dragonborns are people who willingly transform into dragons via a ritual and dedicate themselves to a draconic god. because in that case you would probably fail to make anything sensible up and it would be easier to just eat him here and now.
>>
No. 393426 ID: 1854db

>>393421
Ahhh, don't tell him we have amnesia. That's too suspicious. Saying we're an orphan works though.

And we don't want to be his friend. We're a man-eating monster. Let's keep our friends limited to those we can trust to know all our secrets. For the record I don't consider Padma to be a friend. Our relationship is merely mutually beneficial in a temporary manner. She doesn't even know we eat people.
>>
No. 393429 ID: ed57e8

this guy is probably looking for us. if he goes missing it would help them find us.
>>
No. 393444 ID: 431fa8

>>393417
Because he's talking so quickly, we don't actually need to answer all his questions. Instead, answer just the ones we can actually answer, speaking deliberately and carefully sticking to things that are true. "I arrived here just a few days ago, in the company of a friend who spoke quite highly of the place. We will be moving on soon, although I am not certain when the necessary business will be concluded. I have not yet had the chance to make many acquaintances here; my more well-traveled friend is occupied elsewhere and I have been enjoying your fine libraries."
>>
No. 393482 ID: a2fa74

>>393417
"Shut it, runt.
Second generation dragonborn. I got two lineages, and since I'd have to say one of 'em second I ain't saying either.
Got here a few hours ago. I don' know anybody an' I don't wanna.
Satisfied?"
>>
No. 393495 ID: d09277
File 133196521197.png - (891.00KB , 720x2000 , 12.png )
393495

"I just came into town today," you reply, "with a friend of mine who spoke highly of the place. We will be moving on soon--too soon to make many acquaintances, unfortunately."
"Ah, but you didn't say what lineage you're from. Y'see, there's a reason I asked, and it has to do with the reason I'm here... nasty bit of business I heard about from up top. Not s'posta talk about it, see, don't wanna cause a panic, but there was this other black dragonborn guard an'... well this crazy tree fella grabbed her up, her and a bunch other guards, impaled 'em-"
"I don't need to hear this," you say, cutting him off, "keep your state secrets."
"Nah, yer cool, just keep it quiet. Impaled 'em on 'is branches, tore off a chunk'a the outer wall, straight THREW it at t'other guards, and, get this, jumped off the side. What a story, right? Can't find his body. Damn huge tree folk, branches fulla dead guys, can't find him, nobody seen him, 'cept to say they saw him fall in this neighborhood."
You're not sure how much of that Padma heard. Your recently-acquired acute senses detect a bit of erratic breathing, but that's par for the course with her so far. "Yes, sounds serious. I will keep an eye out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to complete my studies before I have to leave."
"Aw, don' be like that. Say, whatcha studying anyway?" He leaps up onto the table and leans over your arm in a flash. "Say, isn't that Madam Drayvan's..." He stops as he sees the page you had flicked to prior to his entry, and looks back at Padma. "Aaahh," he croons perversely, "you dog, you. 'Leaving too soon to make any acquaintances', right, I getcha, I getcha." He elbows you in the arm and widens his eyes. "Say, give her the ol' twister, yeah? All six of her socks, knock 'em right off. Eh? Eh? I'll be on my way then, leave you two alone." He hops off the table and waddles back to the door, turning to Padma on the way out. "Hey, y'seen any big walkin' trees around?"
"Nope," she replies, without looking up from her book.
"All right then. Well, you see anything suspicious about, you cozy up to that guy right there," he says, pointing to you. "Stand up fella, and ruddy tough, look at those muscles."
She smiles at you. "I'll do that, thanks." The kobold winks and salutes, then exits.
Padma laughs as soon as the door closes, takes her book and sits in the chair next to you. She leans into you and snickers, prodding your mock bicep. "I'm not sure what it is, but please don't give me the twister tonight. Sounds uncomfortable."
You can't help but chuckle, and the tense atmosphere feels diffused. "Don't worry, I don't know what it is, either." She scoots back into her chair and settles back to read her book, when you realize something. "So, did you hear all of that?"
"Most of it. They always make it sound way worse than it was, huh?"
You think there's enough time before closing to finish getting the important information out of this book and one more, and you'll have to check the rest out to read later. You can also get Padma to fill in any information about the city or find more books for you. What do you do?
>>
No. 393497 ID: a2fa74

>>393495
Read the books on gods. The ones the singer mentioned should be in there somewhere, and those should mention you. You need to find out more about what you and what that means. From there you can look up the information on the details of your species sexual aspects - it would be absolutely horrible if you had sex with Ivet only to discover your penis spews acid or eats souls or something.
No, that doesn't mean you should test it on Padma; she's too useful a source of information to risk. Read about yourself first.
>>
No. 393498 ID: ed57e8

yeah look up gods the other guy mentioned. oh, you still have a coin? show it to padma she may have seen a picture of it somehow or something.
>>
No. 393499 ID: 1854db

>>393495
Read the Old Gods book. Ask Padma more about the mages in charge.
>>
No. 393500 ID: 12c19f

>>393497
>it would be absolutely horrible if you had sex with Ivet only to discover your penis spews acid or eats souls or something.

He could always... Stimulate himself in private and see what's going on... Yup.
>>
No. 393502 ID: 431fa8

>>393495
I think we need to think on something important before deciding how to move here: Does Padma smell like food? What is she made of? She looks pretty fleshy, but on the other hand, elemental. Might not be edible. These are vital considerations.

Anyway, finish reading up on whatever this book can tell us about Ivet and Padma's habits, and then look through the books for something on the old gods if you can find them. Skim a bunch of books rather than reading one- we can take all the ones with relevant information with us; I doubt Padma will stop us and I'm sure we'll manage to have at least some free time to read them in detail once we're safely laying low at her place.

While that's ongoing, ask Padma for some more information about the people in charge here. It seems like they're more than willing to casually execute people who have done nothing to them, they're extremely elitist, and they don't know a threat when it's busily eating them. But surely they have at least a few redeeming qualities. Learning about what they do when some of their own get killed would be nice, too.
>>
No. 393504 ID: 1854db

Hey, we should ask her for some... exotic cookbooks.
>>
No. 393505 ID: 6616f3

>>393500
Lets... not do that.

I'd rather know more about the genasi in charge. The way our luck is going, we're going to run into her at some point. And then - again working on pattern recognition here - she will either want to bed us or murder us.
>>
No. 393507 ID: 1854db

Hmm... wait a minute, if they're looking for us like this, they must be looking around for Ivet. Maybe we should get a move on.
>>
No. 393509 ID: 88e5ad

stop fucking around with Necronomisutra books and pick out a book that might actually have something about your origins. something that deals with the old gods, or obscure monsters, or something.
>>
No. 393511 ID: 72d49b

I don't think we need to worry too much about whether or not we have a lethal penis. Quite frankly, if we kill her by accident it's not that big of a deal. Whacking one out here in the library has significant potential to cause us greater disadvantage.

We already knew they were looking for Ivet and it's obvious in retrospect that they would be looking for us too. Good thing they don't know we're a shape shifter. Ivet's probably holed up in her house. We should check up on her as soon as possible, but we now have gotten ourselves an obligation to fuck an undine, which we should fulfill in order to secure this library as a resource that we can covertly access. Being on the run is a pretty good excuse for leaving in the morning, though.
>>
No. 393512 ID: 6e44d2

>>393509
He should at least finish reading the relevant sections of that book before moving on--namely, the parts which concern Ivet and our new friend here.

After that, I'd say old gods.
>>
No. 393739 ID: 228285

Consider checking if there's something like a book of legends regarding the Ungolan empire. That's where Ivet recognized your coins as coming from.

Your best bet for finding Ivet might actually be taking a discrete walk with Padma past Ivets house (if you know how to find it) to see if it is being watched or has been broken into or whatever. Then try to track down that 'Jen' wizard friend that Ivet mentioned. Other than that spending the night with Padma to show her what a strong, flexible shapeshifter can do sounds like a pretty good idea.
>>
No. 393743 ID: f70e5e

we should try and make friends with the undine, but i'm against sleeping with her. Ivet is known to be big on monogamy, and while we are not officially dating her or anything there is something there. we should at the very least hold off one sleeping around until we know exactly where we stand with ivet. Ivet has been kind to us, and a one night stand is not worth possibly hurting her.
>>
No. 393750 ID: 6e44d2

>>393743
Nah. We should sleep with both.
>>
No. 393801 ID: a375cf

>>393743
I'm in the same camp. We've only picked up heresay from the avian woman but I'd rather not Viktor damage his relationship with Ivet to get in Padma's pants. Remember; this is only a stop over. Viktor's objectives are to learn about his past, find Ivet and get out of dodge.
>>
No. 393808 ID: 1e3433

Ivet is not Viktor's waifu. He owes her no sexual loyalty.
Currently the city is at threat level red. Looking for Ivet will be dangerous for her never mind escaping with her.
>>
No. 393893 ID: d09277
File 133210343392.png - (468.46KB , 720x900 , 13.png )
393893

You finish reading the Undine section in "Xenophile", making idle small talk of an increasingly lascivious nature with Padma as you do. In addition to the physiological stuff, it includes a little blurb about general disposition and things to be wary of. The notes make it seem like most undines aren't all that interested in sex, compared to some other races. Most apparently dedicate their lives to a cause, hobby, or area of research, and just get lost in the minutiae. You ask Padma what hers is.
"It says 'most', and it's right. Most of us are like that. I don't think I am." She smiles and sets her book down. "Did you read the thing," she begins, and points to a diagram of her unusually-curved branching vaginal canal in the book. She traces it and makes a "werk" sound.
You chuckle a little. "Don't worry," you reply, "duly noted."
She giggles, scoots up against you, and continues reading and chatting idly.
Then, you go back and finish off the cross-references in the entry for Ivet's race, "Myconads". The "standard rules" refer to the physiological configuration of the sex organs of the majority of humanoids, fey, and many others, and goes pretty in-depth into how to satisfy them on a physical level. Beyond that, it says the particulars are in each creature's entry, so you refer back to the "dryad" page like it said to do.
It talks about how dryads form bonds based on trust; they are loving towards those they deem trustworthy, and practically murderous towards those they do not. This mostly takes the form of a strong tendency towards honesty. The book says this stems from their sworn duty to protect their forest and, more specifically, one particular tree to which they and they alone are bonded. It goes on to say that a small minority of full dryads and a majority of half-breeds are not born with a tree, but many mix up this nurturing element with their sex lives, and try to substitute their tree for a lover. You think this was probably what Jen was talking about. The book also mentions "adopting an attitude of general disinterest" towards any other paramours "as if you were a tree and they are but animals in your branches" to get around this. Since you're not actually romantically involved with Ivet (though you would like to be) and you don't know that you'd want to be with anyone else if you were, this seems mostly irrelevant. It seems like there is more to learn there, and you ask Padma for another book. "Do you have a book that just goes over... I'm not sure how to say it, social expectations of sex and romance?"
She gives you a funny look. "Social...do you mean, dating and stuff?"
"Yes, I guess so."
She smiles a little. "Do you want to go on a date?"
"No," you reply flatly. She suddenly looks very hurt, so you quickly elaborate, "Let me read the book first so I'll know what one is."
"Oh," she replies. She stops looking hurt and giggles instead. "Well, I dunno if there's really a book that would talk about that. There's so many different cultures and they all do things differently. But dating is really only something kids do. Adults just hang out, go to parties and stuff, if they're romantically interested in each other. Or, y'know, spend a while at the library with each other." She laughs and starts to talk about some of her past dating experiences in the elemental plane of water, as you try to push the party you went to with Ivet out of your head.
Considering that you've probably taken as much from "Xenophile" as you can take with a limited-time reading, you set it aside and dig through the rest of the stack. "Religious History of the Ungolan Empire: a Treatise" catches your eye, and you recall Ivet said the coins in your small room in the ruin were Ungolan.
You open up the book and start to skim through it. The language is academic and you're having a hard time making heads or tails of it. A lot of it seems to be cross-referencing ancient deific tradition with the current pantheon of gods, and indicating that they maybe changed something about themselves? But then it goes on to say that there were once only seven gods worshiped at all, whereas now there are "potentially as many as twenty-three, with some fading in and out of prominence as time passes." It seems to assume foreknowledge of the gods as they are currently known, so you're having trouble. You start to skim through here and there, trying to make heads or tails of it all when you find mention of a god not represented in the modern pantheon. Teyu, The Abyss. You flip through his chapter and your eyes widen as you find two images.
A tentacled, horned face carved in stone, with three eyes of inset black onyx. An altar with attached manacles, overlooked by a three-eyed statue. You start to study the images closely, and are only vaguely aware as Padma says something.
You shake your head. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
"I said 'I'm gonna start closing up.' Man, you got quiet for a few minutes there. Those are the books on religion, right? How'd your mysterious hunch pan out?"
"I think I might be a god," you reply.
Padma laughs. "Yeah, I have that fantasy too." She grabs your sleeve and tugs. "C'mon, I'll check those books out and then we can go."
>>
No. 393894 ID: d09277
File 133210347490.png - (713.56KB , 720x2000 , 14.png )
393894

"Hang on," you reply, "have you got one on the history of the Ungolan Empire?"
She sighs. "You're really gonna make me wait, aren't you?" You consider how to respond, but she says "No, hang on, I know exactly where one is," and quickly shuffles away and back, with another book. She marks some things in a list at her desk and then takes your hand and pulls you through the door.
As you walk through the city, you notice that the ubiquitous fog hovering overhead has turned black, as the sun beyond it has presumably set. Still, through the black cloud, you can see the blue glow of the branches of the energy stream maintaining the cloud as they arc lazily through the air. You notice that you can hear the conversations of people in the buildings as you pass, smell what they had for dinner, and feel their footsteps walking around, and you suddenly realize why. When you were in the jail building, you couldn't eat anybody except the first three interrogators without being seen, so you had stashed the rest of the dead or dying in your branches. When you jumped off the side, you ate them after you had fallen far enough to disappear into the cloud. You were then too busy trying to rearrange your body to catch the air and still look like a tree at high-speed, and immediately afterwards you were too busy hitting the ground to direct your growth. You figure that your senses must have increased on their own, and you wonder what else changed about you. With a little introspection, you put two and two together and realize why you didn't break the floor of the library upon landing, and why your footsteps aren't making the ground shake like they were in the prison. Your mass seems to have decreased to fit your current form. You start to panic when you realize this, hoping it's not lost for good. No sooner do you think this than your knees suddenly buckle and you have to catch yourself from falling over, and your moving foot gouges a scar in the cobblestone walkway.
"Are you okay?" Padma asks, looking concerned.
You let the excess mass drain away and stand back up, making sure nobody else is in sight or hearing range. "Yes, I am fine. Shapeshifter stuff."
"Fair enough," she replies.
You and Padma chat a little and appreciate the blue glow in the sky as you walk, and you can hear her heart rate increase and feel her body temperature rise. You practice altering your mass as you do, being more careful to hold up your bulk when it increases, and you think you gett the hang of it. You can't seem to make yourself weigh any less than about what a dragonborn of your size would weigh, though.
Padma approaches a small but ostentatious building, opens a door and pulls you inside eagerly, face flush. You get just a moment to take in the comfortably-decorated tile room dominated by a pool on one half, before Padma takes your hand and pulls you close "So, I just gotta know what you look like for real. I only got a glimpse of you in the library."
"Are you sure?" you ask, a little hesitant. You aren't even sure what your normal form looks like now. "I'm fairly large, and most things seem pretty scared-"
"Yesiamsure," Padma says, impatiently. You nod and start to relax your form. The mock clothing loses its color and melds into your body, tentacles begin to sprout from all over, and your mind is flooded with new sights as several eyes pop open. Padma seems to make an involuntary squeaking sound and leaps on you at once, pressing her lips to yours.
>>
No. 393895 ID: d09277
File 133210350111.png - (397.38KB , 720x1200 , 15.png )
393895

Your transformation is not over, however. Your body continues to swell and you feel armored plates form on your arms and back. More and more tentacles spill from you, and your legs grow thicker and taller. It soon becomes clear that you will not fit in the room. You want to focus on the kiss, but are forced to break it and stop your transformation. Padma opens her eyes and looks shocked. "Holy- you weren't kidding, you are huge. You look like you could wrestle a dragon."
"Would it be okay for me to take a smaller form?" you ask, and she nods. You quickly compress yourself into a crudely humanoid shape and adopt her kind's webbed ears, and the two of you embrace and kiss again.
>>
No. 393896 ID: d09277
File 133210354347.png - (652.84KB , 720x1500 , 16.png )
393896

An embarrassingly short time later, the two of you stare at the ceiling in awkward silence. You feel like you should be doing anything else, and like that could have gone better, but you're not sure what to say. You start with "Sorry," and proceed to state the obvious "I haven't done that before."
"Nah," she replies, "that's... about what I should have been expecting, I think. It wasn't...bad. I mean, most of the time in the water plane, the guys were just trying to get it over with so I would stop bugging them and they could get back to their research."
You realize you were just contemplating grabbing a book and continuing your reading when she said that. "Why haven't you had sex with anyone here before?" you ask.
She laughs and rolls over, resting her arm on your chest. "Oh, I have, a few times." she grabs one of your tentacles and wiggles it around, "Doesn't do much for me, though. The guys around here, they only have one dick. It's less than a foot long, and not prehensile."
You can't help but start to feel a little excited as she toys with the sensitive tentacle, and Padma quickly notices and smiles slyly. "You're rounding out again," she says, and starts to play with it with her mouth. "Wanna try for round two?"
>>
No. 393897 ID: d09277
File 133210360057.png - (514.80KB , 720x1444 , 17.png )
393897

A longer time later, the two of you stare at the ceiling in breathless silence. "Better?" you ask.
"Better," Padma responds.
You feel a lot less high-strung than you felt previously, less tense. You start to wonder how long you should wait before asking Padma to get the books, when you realize you can just stretch and grab her bag from by the door. You fish out the book on modern religions. Padma, upon hearing the pages turn, sits up and sees what you're doing. She sighs a little sadly and curls up against your chest. "Just like back home," she mutters, under her breath.
You focus on the six modern gods and goddesses which you found overlapping functions in the Ungolan religion book, and take that book out as a cross-reference. You recognize Lunaras and Utia from Ivet's talk earlier. Lunaras was the one whose church was recently built in the city, which upset the Utia-worshiping fey.
Lunaras, as Ivet said, is currently worshiped as a god of death, and is represented as pure white serpent, coiled into a circle that is the first moon. You hadn't seen a white moon, only a cracking, ringed black one, and you assume it simply wasn't out during the night you and Ivet crossed the desert. When you refer back to the early Ungolan deities, however, he is called Diaban, and, while still a serpent, he has a head at both ends: one skeletal and one living. While still having to do with death, he seems to have been more like an arbiter between darkness and light, and opposed necromancy, called out as "in direct opposition to Lunaras's modern practice of creating shadepriests."
Utia, or At'ya, is stated to be something of an exception in the Ungolan religions book, not having significantly changed more than she already was doing repeatedly. She represents fertility, lust, and nature. The Ungolan book says she joins the mortal world and only ascends to godhood when her mortal form dies, and is given a day to make the changes she deemed appropriate while mortal before reincarnating and starting again. The modern religions book doesn't mention this fact, however, just that she is deferred to in matters of love or harvest as well as predators and decay, and was responsible for allowing all the intelligent races of the world to interbreed.
The other four have all changed, but overall they are about law and judgment (Harak), creation and chaos (Kestephon), physical might (Chragath), and will and the mind (Gharliz). The modern religions book only covers fourteen more, representing twenty of the other book's listed twenty-three, but you recall that some must have drifted out of prominence like the other book said. Skimming through those entries, they seem to be deities attuned to a specific race or discipline.
You go back to try and extrapolate more information about Teyu from the Ungolan religions book. He was recognized as the keeper of secrets and patron of the ocean and the night, but seldom worshiped by anyone but necromancers. He faded from prominence during the reign of the Ungolan empire, and the book states that his closest modern analogue would be Vels Nimith, god of Dragons, but that's not a particularly good fit. Beyond that, you're having a hard time gleaning anything useful.
Finally, you withdraw some of the other books about various races and anatomies. You spend a while looking through "Xenophile" again, mostly looking at the images. Occasionally when you see something you recognize or that looks particularly unusual, you'll stop and read over it a little.
You also check out the other books on anatomy that Padma brought out. One seems to be a rather dry manual listing various characteristics of different races. You start reading through it, but it quickly bores you. You do think it gives you lots of ideas for new forms to take, though. The last "anatomy" book just turns out to be a strongly sexual narrative about forbidden love between two undines, and you set it aside in favor of the book about Ungolan history.
This book is easier to understand, and seems to be chiefly educational in nature. It talks about the Ungolan architecture and social structure, their divinely mandated rulers and the extent of their conquest. You read all about their holy order of paladins, dressed in gold and riding horned birds which they revered, and make the obvious connections with the Ash crow, the birds in your vision, and the ones on the coin and cursed sword. It also covers the schism in the church and the eventual civil war that tore the empire apart, some 700 years ago.
You note with a bit of annoyance that Padma has been asleep in your lap for several hours. You feel like you've spent enough time here and you'd like to go out and find Ivet. What do you do?
>>
No. 393902 ID: 3947e9

>>393897
>You fish out the book on modern religions. Padma, upon hearing the pages turn, sits up and sees what you're doing. She sighs a little sadly and curls up against your chest. "Just like back home," she mutters, under her breath.
That was bad bedside manner. You should have cuddled longer without distractions.
>>
No. 393909 ID: ed57e8

you can probably move her without shifting her body by shifting yours. would let you set her down easily.
should leave a note or something.
>>
No. 393912 ID: 3947e9

>>393909
Seriously? how about you put down the book, pay her some attention, and be there when she wakes up?
>>
No. 393915 ID: 6616f3

So... that happened.

I take it we're basically done with the rampage thing?
>>
No. 393919 ID: 1854db

>>393897
Shapeshift so that she sinks slowly to the couch. Bed. Thing. We'd like to leave without a fuss.

Then first, we go check on Ivet's house. Take on a form that can travel quickly and wouldn't be out of place. Perhaps even something very small.
>>
No. 393921 ID: 57f35b

>>393919
Like a small bird, perhaps. Though whether you know how to fly is in question.
>>
No. 393928 ID: 1854db

Oh but DO leave a note saying that we still had that business to attend to that we mentioned already, and if we had the time we probably would've stayed.
>>
No. 393930 ID: d5ee6f

Rude. Wake her up with some manual stimulation, she did us a huge favor, we're not going to sneak out on her.
>>
No. 393931 ID: 57f35b

>>393928
This. I dun wanna dissapoint the cute octogirl.
>>
No. 393939 ID: 865603

Morning after quicky!
>>
No. 393948 ID: 6e44d2

>>393928
This works.

Viktor, you seem to have quite an appetite for knowledge, as well. Do you need to sleep? I bet you don't.
>>
No. 393962 ID: a2fa74

>>393928
Leave a note. "I apologize for the lack of aftercare and for parting before you woke, but as of yet time is precious.
You have helped me more than you know, and gratitude is such a troublesome thing to express. I can make no promises, but I will certainly try to meet with you again soon."

Try to slip out before she wakes up, and memorize where she lives.
Our first stop is getting our loot appraised so we can convert them into things which are more useful, such as a bag of holding and some sort of long-range communication device. Padma is certainly fun, but that pales compared to the value of having a line to a librarian and her library. Not to mention what other useful people we may encounter.

After that we're going to search for Ivet. We need to find her and make sure she's safe, then find a way to keep her safe while we're in the city and surrounding areas.
There are a few ways of doing this, but since you're a highly skilled shapeshifter you should be able to cover her with a tendril in the form of an outer shell so she appears to be something else entirely. This would require constant physical contact, which limits your options.
As an alternative, you could become such an outer shell yourself. Ivet would be impossible for hostiles to find without powerful scrying magic, and if they were going to use such it would have already happened.
Either of these would be rather uncomfortable and disconcerting, but I'm at a loss for better options.
>>
No. 393966 ID: 3947e9

>>393962
Alright go with this.

You aren't a god but you are probably a fragment of one; hence-force we shall refer to our kind as "fragments". Recall your body rebuilt itself from some blood, probably that of a god. You met two other fragments thus far, both wanted to eat to be whole and their dialog fits perfectly with the theory. The first you ate which gave you a huge boost, the second you had to escape from and claimed to have eaten others (which explain his relative power). And he had to escape from a group of mages, so don't go think that being a god fragment makes you all powerful; you probably have to eat all of the other fragments to become a full god; and even then he along with the other old gods were killed and eaten by the new gods.

The bardic fragment did control the talpids though which most likely makes him their new leader (which fits with their leader claiming the old gods were murdered by new gods and that one's power is yet unclaimed). We need to find a way to uncurse that paladin sword as I imagine that it could be useful in fighting a being of our type; so this is something to look for in the city before departing. Ivet could be captured by the cloaks (which mean they lied, I kinda doubt it). Or captured by the talpids (hopefully as a hostage to weaken you in your eventual rematch and not for killing outright) or she could be hiding, contacting the bartender and jan would be a good starting point in finding her then; as well as checking the apartment.

The vulnerability of the bard to the cloaks, as well as your own capture suggests that perhaps we should pursue magic. Perhaps get a book on learning it to work on as well as acquiring a full suit of powerful magic items for personal use.
>>
No. 393972 ID: ebe13c

Wow, giant infodump.
Okay, so the trust thing isn't a big deal. It means we'd probably be better off telling Ivet about Padma so she doesn't find out another way and it all blows up in our face. Then we can show her what we learned.
Viktor's new form looks like it'll be pretty terrifying.
These other gods are probably going to start paying attention to us soon if we really are one of them. Be prepared for that.
So if I'm interpreting right, the equivalent of a tentacle boner is where the pointed tips become fat and round. But, Viktor's a shapeshifter. I'm all for waking her up with some manual stimulation, with the added benefit that we can make it feel just like the real thing.
Then we have her for breakfast tell her we had fun but that we have to jet, and we'll call later after telephones are invented.
>>393962
>Our first stop is getting our loot appraised
Our loot is in Ivet's house, which only she can open. We might just be able to tear through the tree, but we probably shouldn't. Should be the first place we check for her, though.
>>
No. 393973 ID: ed57e8

>>393972
we may be able to emulate the magic needed somehow.
>>
No. 393976 ID: ebe13c

>>393972
Actually now that I think about it maybe having her for breakfast isn't such a bad idea. She knows a lot about us, and will probably figure out the kobold wasn't exaggerating at some point. She doesn't yet know "Grath" is a killer but I expect she won't react pleasantly when she finds out.
>>
No. 393980 ID: b6edd6

>>393976
She found the fugitive part to be adventurous. I think she would only have a negative reaction if someone tells her the story of our escape in great detail, which is fairly unlikely as the guards seem fairly secretive about such things.
>>
No. 393981 ID: 3947e9

>>393972
Just to be absolutely clear, knock on her door and say "its victor" but do not tear it down if she isn't home.

>>393976
Jesus fuck no we are not eating her. What is wrong with you people.

>>393980
WE could tell anyone the story and they would probably take our side. We were at the club when it was attacked earlier, did not fall to madness and were trying to save our friends, complied with the cloaks when they arrived and turned ourselves in, and when they found out we truly did not know anything and were totally innocent declared that it was a "pity" we really were that innocent as all we are good for now is being executed to be raised via necromancy. At which point we killed our way to freedom.
Oh, and when we raised protecting the city they said that they are protecting the true citizens and that all the squatters at the lower levels can die for all they care.
>>
No. 393989 ID: 72d49b

Yeah, we'd better leave without waking her. Leave a note, vaguely citing our status as being on the run from the law, and suggesting that we'll return for her. No specifics and ideally nothing that could disadvantage either us or her against the fuzz, although of course any note will potentially be evidence. For that reason we should probably recommend she destroy the note after reading it.

The place Ivet is most likely to be holed up is her home, since it's basically the perfect hideout in every way.

Oh, and if there's more reading we want to do, take some books with us.
>>
No. 393991 ID: 88e5ad

don't be an ass and eat the nice lady who offered you free sex, a place to hang low and most importantly critical information on your heritage.

make a mental note to seek more information the next time you're around a church of Vels Nimith, as their high-ranking priests may know somethings.

slip out quietly. you don't owe her any explanations. go to Ivet's house, maybe.
>>
No. 393995 ID: 6e44d2

>>393972
Don't play with your food and don't eat your playthings. This is a good policy, Viktor. Don't forget it.
>>
No. 394031 ID: 865a6b

>ignore her for books and knowledge
>she falls asleep because you neglected after-sex cuddling
You are not allowed to be annoyed.
>>
No. 394035 ID: a2fa74

>>394031
Agreed.

Oh, and go ahead and sign the note "Viktor".
>>
No. 394037 ID: d5ee6f

>>394035
Sign it viktor.
>>
No. 394038 ID: 865603

Sign the note as Viktor. Don't want to make her feel cheap.
>>
No. 394039 ID: 1854db

Don't tell her our real name. She was perfectly willing to SUPPPLY us a fake name.
>>
No. 394040 ID: 72d49b

Simple proposed note text:

"Dear Padma,
As you can no doubt surmise, it is unwise for me to remain here for too long. Additionally, it's quite possible that a friend of mine may be in danger. I've dallied enough already, so though it pains me I must disappear for now. Assuming no trouble prevents it, you will see me again before too long.

Signed, Grath"
>>
No. 394051 ID: 1854db

>>394040
That's about right.
>>
No. 394056 ID: 88e5ad

I don't even see how it matters, since there's like three or so people who actually know our name. which, by the way, isn't anywhere near uncommon.
>>
No. 394061 ID: 6e44d2

>>394040
Yeah, but sign it "Viktor." Nothing wrong with that. I mean, it's a name we arbitrarily chose for ourselves after this most recent bout of amnesia. I'm sure there's some more significant, deeper name we'll find later.
>>
No. 394062 ID: d09277
File 133214848349.png - (750.02KB , 720x1781 , 18.png )
394062

You very carefully slip off of the couch, shifting subtly to place Padma on the couch without waking her. You start towards the door, but decide to leave a note for her before you go. Nothing that would incriminate either of you in case it was found, but just enough to let her know why you left.
You find a loose piece of parchment that doesn't seem important and a charcoal stick and write out a note for her.
"Padma, as you can no doubt surmise, it is unwise for me to remain here for too long. Additionally, it's quite possible that a friend of mine may be in danger. I've dallied enough already, so though it pains me I must disappear for now. Assuming no trouble prevents it, you will see me again before too long."
You consider carefully which name to put at the bottom, but you ultimately decide to write "Viktor".
You settle on a raven as your next form. Your new ability to decrease your density should allow you to fly even while small, and some ravens are known to speak, which should help if you are called on to do that. It takes a little clever shapeshifting once you get outside to get the door closed behind you, and then you take off into the fog, now glowing dull orange with the rising sun.
>>
No. 394063 ID: d09277
File 133214851275.png - (398.10KB , 720x1200 , 19.png )
394063

As you fly over the walls separating the inner city from the outer city, you see very few passages through. Those that you do see are flanked by guards, but only on the outside.
You get your bearings and veer towards Ivet's house, picking up snippets of conversations from the people you pass far below. The trees and other plants quickly grow thick as you gain distance from the inner city, and you hear and smell many of the fey in them. You spot with some small surprise someone with a brown and blue hooded robe gliding silently through the forest, flanked by three Cloaks. He happens to be going the way you are, and as you pass over them you keep an eye out for whatever he might be pursuing.
It doesn't take long to spot the large crowd gathered at the base of one of the gargantuan trees. Atop one of the roots stands a man and some sort of large ape, and pinned to the side of the root by his hands is another blue/brown dressed man. The one standing on the root is addressing the crowd, and you pick up some of what he's yelling.
"...our brothers and sisters, our lovers and children, in cages. They are the animals, not us. What are we?"
"HUNTERS!" the crowd shouts in unison.
You hurry on to the tree with Ivet's home in it, and are disappointed to sense no signs of life inside. Remembering that it is magically empowered to be less detectable, you check for witnesses and morph a heavy pseudopod and knock at the door. "It's Viktor," you say, loud enough that she should be able to hear through the wood.
There is no reply. You think you might be able to tear the door open, or you could go check some of the other locations she might be. The birch tree where the party was and the nymph pond spring to mind, or you could check out that crowd. What do you do?
>>
No. 394065 ID: ed57e8

the pond. if she is laying low the that would be the best place.
>>
No. 394067 ID: a2fa74

>>394066
We are in agreement.

Keep tabs on the cloaks. They might be able to detect things. Things such as myconids who are also female. It would be very bad if they met Ivet first, since then you'd have to break back INTO prison to save her.

When you get to the throng of people return to your human or tree form and move towards the front so Ivet would see you.
>>
No. 394068 ID: 72d49b

Wait a moment longer, then check out the pond or crowd, whichever is close.
At the nymph pond, do a quick sweep of the nymph pond just to check it. Flying overhead in bird form should be enough that you'll see her if she's there.
At the crowd, stay above, don't get involved, just scope out if she's one of the people there. Your improved senses should make that perfectly doable.
If she's at neither place, check the go to the party location to search for potential clues.
>>
No. 394076 ID: 1854db

The pond could be where she is, but personally... I would like to assist the crowd. They are about to be attacked by the enforcer with three Cloaks, and we have made an enemy of those they are fighting. We could assist at range by using our tremendous strength to throw heavy objects at high speed. The Cloak constructs surely cannot defend against such immense physical impacts. Maybe we could do something with stretchy tentacles and large amounts of torsion or tension, for small-mass high-velocity impacts.

Aiding them in such a manner could open up their resources for our disposal. Out of all those people there, surely someone knows where Ivet might go to bunker down.
>>
No. 394084 ID: a2fa74

>>394076
This is reasonable, but how we present ourselves is important.
First, lets scan the crowd to see if Ivet is there. Get her out of there first, if you can.
Second, lets shadow the Cloaks until they make their move. They're moving slowly, so they person they're flanking is probably going to make some sort of announcement. Once they've sufficiently pissed off and/or frightened the crowd, pull out your tree form and destroy the Cloaks.
>>
No. 394108 ID: 3947e9

I doubt we will find her just going places. And if she was taken by either the bard fragment or the cloaks then her time is running out. Cloaks makes more sense considering she was on us when captured and they had already segmented the battlefield and were arresting EVERYONE.

I think we have several options:

1. Enhance our smell sense and track her (will require eating a bunch of people).
2. Interrogate people who were in the area where she was last seen (unfortunately they were all mad and taken by the cloaks, or the cloaks themselves so... interrogate cloaks). But maybe we could locate jan and the bartender (maybe they were released) and ask. We could eat cloaks and focus on improving our ability to read the memories of those we eat.
3. Hire professional tracker (which probably uses some creature with amazing sense of smell) to lead us to her.

I am most inclined to focus on 2 at first but already start on the others. We should bore a SMALL hole in a discreet location, and curve it so it doesn't allow seeing through it into her apartment, to get a piece of her bed sheets or even better a used pair of undies for smell sample; and since we are already there a few coins (not all) to fund hiring a tracker. Based on tracker / our own tracking we would either locate her hiding place, on determine if she was taken by cloaks or the bard fragment.

Oh, we SHOULD try eating an animal to find out its effectiveness compared to sentients.
>>
No. 394117 ID: 431fa8

>>394063
Hrm. Our senses are extremely keen- can we recognize Ivet's scent? If so, can we tell how recently she's been here? It's possible that she hasn't been back here at all.

I'm not inclined to help out the fey- it would tip our hand. Nor am I inclined to break into Ivet's, even if we know she's in there; that would be exceedingly rude and ruin her sanctuary. Scan through the crowd to try and find her by whatever senses we can, then if that fails check the pond as that was an isolated location she might think that we'd look to find her but those who can point to her house might not know of.
>>
No. 394120 ID: 228285

If Ivet is keeping a low profile then she is likely to have shapeshifted herself as well.

Maybe you could take a new shape to display a sign only Ivet would recognize... Like a picture of a small square room containing a large hunched male and a small female with a sword lying on the ground. That's something only she would recognize. If you put that on a tabard or flag then it might draw her attention.
>>
No. 394124 ID: 1854db

She would probably recognize either the treant, normal, or barbarian forms. The Treant form is what our enemies are hunting, so we can use that while fighting them. Normal form is right out. Barbarian form would be good for being inconspicuous, but if we get in a fight while using that form, it loses its usefulness.
>>
No. 394127 ID: 7e3704

>>394108
We DO have awesome senses. We could go back to the party site and try picking up her scent. But, it also looks like we're about witness the start of a full-blown civil war.
Tough choice. Plot density dictates we'll probably find her with the rebels. Logic dictates we should go see if we can pick up her scent at the party site.
Actually, that guy leading the crowd looks like a ranger. I say we go and singlehandedly take down these cloaks and see if we can't get him and his gorilla to track Ivet for us out of gratitude.
>>
No. 394136 ID: 3947e9

>>394127
Its not plot density, where else would she lie low at?
She is either lying low (or actively joining the rebellion), was taken by the bard fragment (unlikely considering he had already retreated and we were cordoned by the cloaks) or was taken by the cloaks. If her scent goes into the tunnels then we go after the Bard Fragment. If she wasn't then joining or even leading the rebels would be ideal for us. We use it to locate her, take out the rulers, and we get to nom on powerful mages and potentially the lady herself. And we then have our own army to use against bard fragment so we could kill him with our army and then eat him.
>>
No. 394177 ID: cc5a0b

Check out the crowd, but stay as a raven and listen from a branch that's out of reach (and sight, if possible, while still being able to see). You have no obligation to any of these beings, so may as well figure out exactly what's happening before engaging.
>>
No. 394201 ID: d09277
File 133220649981.png - (386.74KB , 720x735 , 20.png )
394201

You check around and wait a moment just to make sure, then you take off towards the gathered crowd you saw earlier, thinking that Ivet might have joined the group.
By the time to return to the scene, it's clear that the skirmish between the Cloaks and the crowd has already started. You swoop overhead and scan the masses, but don't think you see Ivet. It's hard to tell though, there are a whole lot of creatures and a whole lot of unique smells. You also see a fire elemental diving into the crowd and setting fire to several people; you think the other cloaked figure must have summoned it. You perch on a branch and survey the scene more closely. One of the remaining cloaks dives into a thick crowd and disappears with several of them, only to reappear moments later.
The man who was addressing the crowd earlier leaps through the air and cuts one of the cloak's tendrils off. Upon landing, he yells to the crowd. "Look for the caster! He is probably invisible!" No sooner does he say that than you see the figure gliding silently along between the trees below you. His appearance seems fuzzy and semitranslucent, and no one else seems to notice him.
A pixie in the trees near you spins around and eyes you suspiciously. "I think I found his familiar!" she calls out.
What do you do?
>>
No. 394204 ID: ed57e8

"craw, not familiar to him, friend of druid. see him running through trees below, craw. follow me" and then start flying around his head and move out the way if he points finger at you, would probably be a spell.
>>
No. 394205 ID: ed57e8

oh and if you get a shot. fly right at him and before you hit put yourself to full weight.
>>
No. 394210 ID: b6edd6

Act indignant, something like "Who are you calling a familiar? Besides, the caster is right down there [gesture]. No respect from the humanoids these days. Don't have thumbs and they think you are some kind of critter..."
>>
No. 394232 ID: 612323

Pixies aren't known for loud voices. Did anyone hear and acknowledge her? If not, eat her before she gets someone's attention, then drop down and eat the caster before departing in search of Ivet.

If everyone sees you, just bugger off and avoid trouble.

Alterrnately you could tell them you're just a bystander and alert them to the location of the caster, with the intent to let the groups and caster weaken each other and then eat everybody as soon as the fight starts winding down.
>>
No. 394234 ID: ed57e8

>>394232
why? it's rather obvious the upper city is mostly assholes. want the upper city to lose this civil war.
>>
No. 394275 ID: 88e5ad

unceremoniously land on the invisible guy's shoulder.
>>
No. 394276 ID: a2fa74

>>394201
"Cute. Wait here."
Then do this: >>394205

Eat the corpse quickly, then repeat the process on the three Cloaks. Minus the eating.
>>
No. 394282 ID: d5ee6f

>>394276
Nonono. Shapeshifters are NOT going to be popular right now. At ALL. Remember the party? Just divebomb the dude and fly off.
>>
No. 394288 ID: a2fa74

>>394276
Oh, and when you're done use the Tree disguise, then demand to know where Ivet is.
>>
No. 394292 ID: 1854db

>>394201
Say "I'm not. Watch me."

Then divebomb him, raising density briefly to basically pierce right through the fucker.
>>
No. 394311 ID: a76cbb

Poo on mr. invisible.
>>
No. 394338 ID: d09277
File 133222978256.png - (417.53KB , 720x815 , 21.png )
394338

You try to make your voice match a raven's caw as best you can before answering, and correct the mistake your sense of smell is telling you that you made when assigning a pronoun to the cloaked figure. "Not familiar to her, friend of druid. See her running through trees, look." You caw again and spread your wings to dive at the cloaked figure, but the fairy quickly starts to make some arcane gestures.
"Then let's see if your druid friend steps forward," she responds. Streams of white light burst from every surface nearby, quickly connecting into a vast web.
You manage to dodge all the streams of light, but they quickly solidify into an actual physical web that blocks you in every direction. The cloaked figure below, however, gets caught in the strands. You see a clawed hand protrude from under the cloak and start trying to tear the webs off.
>>
No. 394339 ID: d09277
File 133222980890.png - (452.82KB , 720x900 , 22.png )
394339

You quickly decide you would rather alert the fey to the cloaked figure's presence than attack the pixie, and weave through the webs as best you can as you start to dive. The dodging and few stray webs you still encounter slow you down significantly, and you don't build up the momentum you had hoped to before increasing your density. You catch the top of the mage's face mask and she topples over backwards, and you land in the dirt with a heavy thud.
You suddenly recognize the scent, albeit without the heavy smell of alcohol you associated it with yesterday.
>>
No. 394340 ID: d5ee6f

>>394339
Jen, you been a bad giiiiirrrlll. Eat her eyes. Or steal her mask, it's covered in juju.
>>
No. 394342 ID: a2fa74

>>394339
Remember how they wanted to kill you and raise you because you were immune to mind-effects?

She's not. See the thousand-yard stare in her eyes? She's not in control here.

Turn into a tree and hold her captive while you start smashing the Cloaks.
We need to reveal this to them - the upper city isn't just capturing their loved ones, they're turning them into meat puppets.

Once you have the attention of the people you can ask where Ivet is.
>>
No. 394344 ID: a2fa74

>>394342
Oh, and take her cloak, mask, and anything that could be enchanted. We want her visible.
>>
No. 394345 ID: d5ee6f

>>394344
Turn into something low profile, heavy, and camoflague colored, grab mask and cloak, and slither away.
>>
No. 394346 ID: 88e5ad

oshit

good thing we didn't kill her that would have been stupid

fly off somewhere away from their eyes, but keep watching. if she looks like she's gonna be in trouble transform into your human form behind a tree or something and rush in to help her.
>>
No. 394347 ID: 1854db

>>394339
There's a bunch of runes on the inside of the mask. It was controlling her.

Recover yourself and turn into something that should actually be shapeshifty. Surely we know some race that qualifies. Then grab Jen and remove the cloak as well. See if you can locate the source of her invisibility and/or mind control. Then announce our discovery.
>>
No. 394351 ID: a2fa74

>>394347
She was hit by a Symbol of Insanity. They are not kind enough to spend a level 5 spell to help her.

When their control breaks she's going to be insane. We need to restrain her before anything else. We can strip her afterwards because shapeshifter.
>>
No. 394352 ID: 88e5ad

>>394351

uhh. strip?
>>
No. 394354 ID: a2fa74

>>394352
Anything can be enchanted. That's the best way to ensure all enchanted objects will be removed.

While we're holding her the restraints will preserve her modesty, and somebody here will have a blanket or a spare shirt she can use once the fight is over.
>>
No. 394355 ID: a76cbb

>>394354
God damn you and your logic. Fine.
>>
No. 394356 ID: 801747

>>394346
If it comes to this, we may want to appear as our human form with the raven on our shoulder. It might lend us some credibility if we arrive as the "druid" whose raven took her down, rather than some random bystander leaping in to protect one of the cloaks. It may also help us explain why we know that she's being mind controlled.

On the other hand, if we're asked to demonstrate any druidic powers that could cause problems of its own. It's an option to consider, though, and if we want to do anything to protect her as an (ex-?)friend of Ivet it might be the best way to do it without unnecessary violence. Drawing attention to ourselves again would be problematic.

So I say let the other folks do the fighting, but do what we can to elucidate the situation; not all the cloaks they see fight willingly, and the mob may be surprised to see some friends behind the masks.

An added bonus of the "druid with crow" form is that we could argue with ourselves. If you're voicing both sides of an argument, it's easy to make the opposing side seem less credible.
>>
No. 394362 ID: 88e5ad

>>394354

heh. fine by me.
>>
No. 394378 ID: 7e3704

Isn't there a pixie right there? I'm gonna vote against shapeshifting. Especially since I'm not sure we can change between two forms without a tentacle form in the middle.
>>
No. 394393 ID: 3947e9

If those are fake cloaks under mind control then maybe you shouldn't smash them all up. Ivet may also be one of them.

I say take up your giant form (we need a recognizable one if we are gonna get some followers), grab the pixie and jen both. Tell the pixie "I am not going to hurt you, just listen. I know this person and she isn't with the cloaks, they cloaks kidnapped her last night, and look at her eyes and you can see she is enchanted. The cloaks are having you fight your own people who are under mind control. Can you use your magic to dispel it?"
>>
No. 394394 ID: ed57e8

>>394393
there are two kinds of cloaks, the long cloaks with the tendrils are constructs.
>>
No. 394399 ID: 3947e9

>>394394
Ok, break the constructs. But for those who aren't constructs try to remove the clothes of and check their eyes to see if enchanted. In fact, after assuming our giant form we should boost our voice a lot and yell "they are using kidnapped civilians under mind control to augment their numbers! Rip off their masks and check their eyes to save their victims".
This should rile up people even more and also potentially save ivet or some of her/our other friends from being killed while under cloak mind control. And seeing us rescuing the mind controlled would help solidify our leader position.

Keeping our ability to shape-shift an absolute secret is of limited use. First, many creatures can shape shift, second we are on the ground level of a serious rebellion. I say we do expose ourselves and rile up people and become the leader of this rebellion, by sheer dint of being the best at killing their enemies. We could save our friends as we conquer the town and it will give us an army. We need an army if we are going to face the bard fragment who is individually more powerful then us AND has his OWN army. And he is probably not the only fragment to do so. Not only that, but the bard fragment might be angling to conquer this place too. We must preempt him.
>>
No. 394404 ID: ed57e8

>>394399
indeed. shapeshifting is not a thing people are scared of around here. lots of things do it.
>>
No. 394443 ID: 76c597

>>394351
It could be TEMPORARY screaming insanity.

Anyway. If we do become large enough, like that tree form, we could probably just stick her inside us like the coins and kangaroo away. If we don't want to reveal we're a shapeshifter, we could make it seem like the treeform is coming up from the ground with the raven now in its branches, maybe? There should be a druid spell for that.
>>
No. 394476 ID: d5ee6f

>>394404
A shapeshifter just ate dozens of people. Plant-morphs can attest to that. This is a very special circumstance and people are going to HATE shapeshifters for a while.
>>
No. 394507 ID: 3947e9

>>394476
There were no witnesses. Everyone who saw that was hit by insanity spell and started killing each other, then cloaks arrested EVERYONE in the area and nobody knows what happened to them (except us; we found out they were mind controlled and sent to quell the crowd or killed and raised if immune to mind control).
As far as the people know the cloaks randomly attacked a party and kidnapped all the civilians inside.

>>394443
there is such a spell, Ivet used it in thread 1. Can you clarify though what YOUR position is (rather then just "if we vote for this do that")?
>>
No. 394513 ID: 6616f3

>>394507
There's not really much more for me to add to this idea beyond 'pretending to be our own (treefolk) druid/familiar team'. Alternatively, Viktor may simply have had enough of this bullshit, resume a large form and forcibly restrain all contenders. "EVERYONE WILL NOW STOP BEING STUPID THANK YOU." /tentacles everywhere.

Given we no longer have any idea where Ivet may be, staying to quell the riot one way or another would probably be wise.

For all we know, Ivet's under one of those cloaks, too.
>>
No. 394672 ID: d5ee6f

>>394507
No, any plant-types were immune. Ivet was not the only one. Some of them must have escaped. Even if they didn't, people know SOMETHING happened.
>>
No. 394688 ID: d09277
File 133232123761.png - (605.99KB , 720x1200 , 23.png )
394688

You reduce your mass again and hop over to make sure it's really Jen. Sure enough, it looks like her, but her eyes seem wrong somehow. They're out of focus, staring into the distance. She starts to stand, and you hear the pixie speak up. "Huh, guess you were telling the truth, I heard SOMETHING hit the ground. So, the caster's right there, yeah?" You turn just as you hear her start to speak some arcane words, and lightning starts to form at her fingertips.
You flap your wings urgently. "Wait, wait! I recognize this one! She was one of the ones taken by the cloaks yesterday! She must be under mind control!"
The pixie stops casting and looks confused. "Then, um...Wait. I don't know what to believe anymore. I can't see anyone. I can dispel her, though, maybe."
The sounds of fighting in the clearing seem to have died down, and Jen is starting to get back up. Not wanting her to get away, you take a chance on your shapeshifting powers and try to change directly from a raven into a treant without showing any tentacles in between. It works, but you think if the form you're changing into were more difficult to assume, you'd have trouble. You quickly snatch Jen up in your claws and hold her up to the pixie.
She just looks even more confused. "Davin, get over here!" she calls out to the crowd behind you. "You're gonna want to see this."
>>
No. 394689 ID: d09277
File 133232125899.png - (495.66KB , 720x1090 , 24.png )
394689

The man who was speaking on the tree root earlier approaches, blades drawn and accompanied by the ape. A good bit of the crowd cautiously files in behind him. He eyes you suspiciously. "I've never seen you before, treant," he says, simply.
"He says he caught the caster," the pixie chimes in. "He says she was at the party, and got mind controlled. Oh, and he was a raven a second ago."
"Hm," Davin says, "You were at the party?"
You're starting to get frustrated. This isn't bringing you any closer to finding Ivet. You hold Jen up. "Look, she's right here, but she's got a blank look in her eyes. She had a mask on, and it has runes inside."
"I don't see anything," he replies, still fixing you with a steely glare.
"She's invisible," you respond, "you said so yourself."
"I did hear her hit the ground," says the pixie. "And saw her tearing up my webs."
"It might be an item," you say, "should I strip her?"
"Dispel her," he responds, pointing to the pixie and ignoring you. He turns and quickly scans the crowd before pointing to a nearby nymph. "Lily, break any enchantments." The nymph steps forward gracefully, and she and the pixie cast their spells.
Jen loses her translucency and her eyes snap back into focus. She surveys your claws on her with increasing ire and you start to set her down.
Davin's expression turned briefly to shock, before quickly turning furious. "Jen? Put her down. NOW."
"I am," you reply, already releasing your hold on her.
"Davin?" Jen asks, "What's going on?"
He doesn't say anything, he's just staring at you intently. You speak up to break the silence. "Look, I'm just trying to find my friend-"
"Don't make me waste words on the questions you know I'm going to ask," he replies, interrupting you. You can see the crowd starting to murmur and move in behind him. What do you do?
>>
No. 394690 ID: ed57e8

quick summary. went to party, singer got on stage, cast mass insanity, he started eating everyone he could. plant like people immune to insanity spell. cloaks appear during fight and grab everyone they can. you broke out of jail, they may hear story of you about that from guards. just ask about "the big tree dude that broke out" they will assume rumor got around and tell you.

now, if you can answer my question, have you seen ivet.
>>
No. 394692 ID: ed57e8

if they interrupt you again when you are asking about ivet, just leave.
>>
No. 394693 ID: a2fa74

>>394689
"Then I shall tell what I know.
I know Jen because Ivet mentioned her several times, and Jen identified herself when she drunkenly attempted to warn me off of romancing Ivet when Jen saw me at the party with her.
The Singer and his bugs showed off a bunch of these symbols, then almost everybody but Ivet and myself went crazy. I scooped up Ivet and tried to get retrieve Jen and Teak while escaping - Ivet may hate you at the moment, Jen, but time heals all wounds save for regret.
An earth elemental blocked our path so I engaged it in combat. I ripped off its arm before a Cloak grabbed me. Ivet was not with me when I arrived in the prison. I demanded the guard put us in the same cell.
After a time they called me in for questioning and presented me with an incompetent illusion of Ivet. They demanded to know about Ivet's mission and what happened to Avara. I refused to cooperate without Ivet. When I said I did not know where Ivet was the interrogator ordered that I be executed and prepared for raising.
With negotiation no longer an option I forced my way out of the prison killing all who stood in my way. I understand there is a fairly incompetent coverup of my prison break taking place in the upper city at the moment.
I hid for the rest of the night, then returned to this area to find Ivet. She did not appear to be home, and this seemed like a good place to start a search party.
I was looking for the source of the chaos here when the fairy accosted me. It was then I attacked the wizard, at which point I knocked off her mask and discovered it was Jen.

Are your questions answered, then?"
>>
No. 394694 ID: 1854db

Say that you are a friend of Ivet's, and were at the party, but weren't affected by the insanity. On your way away from the party a Cloak teleported you to prison. You escaped afterwards and are now looking for her, and she apparently did not get captured, for you made sure that she wasn't at the prison before leaving.

Let's not give them our name or tell them the details of what we were doing at the party. We do NOT want them to know we're a major shapeshifter. If pressed, say that we have been called Garth.

Ask why they are so hostile. You just aided them in their fight. It doesn't matter who you are, does it? All you want to do is find Ivet, and you thought someone here would know where she went.
>>
No. 394696 ID: 673411

Begin by saying you are looking for your friend, but will tel him what you can think of first.

Add that you came here hoping that Ivet might have joined this group. When you saw they were having trouble with an invisible mage, you helped. You recovered this girl without causing any real harm to her. When you recognized her, you realized she was being mind controlled, and stopped the pixie from killing Jen.

If he says he needs more, tell that must wait until he answers your question. If he wanted to know something else, he should have asked it. Tell him you are looking for your friend, Ivet. Do not let him interrupt this. He has already done so once, and you answered his vague demand out of courtesy. If he refuses to answer, or to let you speak, leave. You have important business elsewhere.

If he answers, even if it's that he doesn't know, answer any additional questions of his before leaving.
>>
No. 394697 ID: ed57e8

>>394694
just point out if you didn't stop and restrain jen then when the invisibility ran out you would of all attacked and probably killed her before realizing who i was.
>>
No. 394710 ID: 3947e9

You know, there is a reason I suggested taking on our giant form, that way Jen will recognize us. We still can shift into it.

also, don't forget to grab the mask and have the casters dispel it too so they can see it and study the runes. They might identify them as runes of control

Did the fighting completely die down? I would say "I will tell you what you want but first lets make sure the other cloaks are not killed by the mob, they might also be mind controlled victims like Jen was"
>>
No. 394720 ID: 76c597

>>394710
Since the druid didn't bother to ask any questions, I'm not sure he deserves any answers. "I, too, would prefer not to waste words while people are fighting and dying."

Ignore him and wade in. Tackle the cloaks yourself.
>>
No. 394724 ID: f70e5e

if they ask about the shape shifting say its an ability granted by an item, it lets you shift between a few preset forms. if they press about what your true form is, or what other forms you can take apologize but explain that you keep that information private as a matter of course. if they can't detect magic on you point out such an item would be a poor means of disguise if it did not hide its own magic aura. they will probably want to ask how you got that, but if you make a point of not wanting to discuss it they may not press the point.
>>
No. 394732 ID: 7e3704

>>394720
I'm getting more of a "ranger" rather than "druid" vibe from this guy.

We may support the idea of this rebellion, but its leader is kind of a jerk. For a guy who seems to feel so strongly about not wasting words he sure doesn't mind interrupting you. I get the feeling he's trying to start a fight with us, but I'm not sure why.

Just give him something along the lines of "I was just passing through, looking for my friend Ivet. I saw you guys fighting and decided to help out. Have you seen my friend?" Maybe even try to come off as a bit of a simpleton. He might let up a little.
>>
No. 394740 ID: 88e5ad

he's being an arrogant fuck. I hate arrogant fucks. he does not have the right or the might to order you around. if I were you, I'd make that very clear to him. besides, a question not worth being asked is not one worth being answered.
>>
No. 394741 ID: 88e5ad

also? the leafy design on his blades make him look like a fag.
>>
No. 394746 ID: a2fa74

>>394740
If our roles were switched and it was our confused friend in his hand I seriously doubt we would be as kind and understanding. No, we would have started the conversation by pinning him to the ground and half of us would want him eaten.
He cares about his friends. I respect that.
He's pretty level-headed. I respect that, too.

Being combative isn't going to help, but cooperating will get them to help find Ivet.
>>
No. 394749 ID: 88e5ad

>>394746

speak for yourself. maybe you would have, but I wouldn't ever threaten a guy who just saved my friend from my enemy's mind control majikks.

I resent that, and I sure as hell am not inclined cooperate with people who act in a way that pisses me off.
>>
No. 394750 ID: 3947e9

Maybe instead of addressing him we should address jen... like "Jen, its me victor, do you know what happened to Ivet?"
>>
No. 394756 ID: a2fa74

>>394749
Except he doesn't know that. The upper city does a lot of teleporting magic. As far as he can tell we are the wizard and we teleported Jen in as a ploy to ingratiate ourselves with the rebels.

All he has supporting our version of events is our word, and lying is a thing that happens. We need to tell them things in order for them to believe anything we say. Things they can verify.
>>
No. 394757 ID: 7e3704

>>394750
I don't think we told her our name last night, did we? And we looked like a human then, too.

Didn't they crucify someone on the tree? Maybe we should make sure that's not someone we know, too.
>>
No. 394759 ID: ed57e8

>>394757
"you said ivet wanted a tree, well look at me now"
>>
No. 394793 ID: 3947e9

>>394756
>>394757
>>394759
Then, taking the same form Jen saw us in last night might help us get recognized.
>>
No. 394796 ID: 6616f3

>>394756
So we: 1) subdued Jen 2) stuck her in a suit full of mind control magics 3) made someone invisible 4) turned into a bird and defeated our invisible pawn 5) teleported Jen into our grasp wearing the mind-control suit

All this in order to ... what, trick Ranger McLeafyblades and get in on the ground floor of his murderous mob aimed vaguely in the direction of law and order (who are also dicks; we cannot win)?

Presumably if Davin's mates have dispel and break enchantment and stuff, they have a detect magic/identify spell somewhere. If our working theory about the mind control suit is right, then they should be able to tell that.
>>
No. 394802 ID: d5ee6f

>>394694
This. Just this.
>>
No. 394845 ID: 72d49b

I think at this point it's going to be easier and safer to tell the truth than to weave a lie. We should still be careful how much information we give up though.

"I am acquainted with Jen because she moves in similar circles to Ivet, who I would consider a friend and for whom I am currently searching. I met Jen at the party. An entity caused insanity in most of the partygoers using symbols, but I remained lucid and opposed him. Unfortunately he was my better in combat, and while opposing him I was captured by a Cloak. I initially cooperated with the authorities, but they were unhelpful to me and attempted to kill me, so I left them, and am now trying to reunite with Ivet. I saw the cloaked figure running away invisible, so I stopped her at the request of the fairy. If you have nothing further you would ask of me, nor information that would benefit my current task, then I will leave you now."

Note that this makes our current priorities clear as well as indicating we care little for the current fracas but are still essentially friendly to their cause.

If they ask why we can see the invisible and resist insanity, say that we are not so fickle of essence as to be subject to such things. If he asks for more information say that we don't know more ourselves (which is true, even though we could make educated guesses).

Don't use the "Grath" name, Grath is the name of a dragonborn who briefly met a kobold and banged an Undine, we don't want to associate that with a shape shifting treant who caught a mind controlled mage and bloodily escaped from jail. It's not ideal to let them know that we're the same guy as the human. We may feel it wise to use another name, but I don't think there's any huge reason not to call ourselves Viktor in this case. It's too likely to come to light that we are in fact Viktor. Let's not mention our human form, and hope that Jen doesn't remember it. If she does, not a huge deal since they already know we can change shapes anyway.

>>394710
The Cloaks are constructs. Jen was a mage who happened to be wearing a cloak, as in the article of clothing. The Cloaks are almost certainly not mind controlled.
>>
No. 394874 ID: 1854db

>>394845
It may not be a good idea to call ourselves Viktor because Ivet likely introduced us to other people at the party. It would be another way to expose us as a shapeshifter beyond the power of anything these guys are aware of. Highly suspicious.
>>
No. 394890 ID: f70e5e

>>394874
they know we are a shapeshifter, they saw us turn from a crow into a tree. they also know enough about druids that we could not fake being one to them.
>>
No. 394892 ID: a2fa74

>>394796
1: Who was captured at the party.
2: Supplied by the upper city government, for whom these things are cheap and readily available.
3: Was the caster ourselves.
4: Was caught by a rebel and forced to crash
5: Had Jen teleported into our grasp as a cover story.

Starting to see the problem?
>>
No. 394894 ID: 88e5ad

>>394892

I... call me daft, but I honestly don't.
>>
No. 394900 ID: 7d7f79

"Okay, look, fine. I'm still new in town after arriving with Ivet, whom I met underground a while outside of town while things were trying to kill her. The first place she takes me to in town was a party and while I'm there some bard suddenly turns into a monster, casts insanity on the place and starts eating everybody.
"After discovering that the local guard here seems to be kind of rude, twice, I kept my head down for a while pretending to be other people and trying to dodge official attention. You folks agree that someone trying to kill you is rude, right? That seems to be happening to me alarmingly often since I got here.
"Beyond that, you folks probably know more than I do except for a small detail: I saw those guards take Jen and a bunch of other people away the first time I was learning how rude they were, and here she is now, wearing strange clothes and magic items.
"Now you please tell me, did I just walk into the middle of a civil war?"
>>
No. 394908 ID: a2fa74

>>394689
Alternate option:
"They're after Ivet. She escaped them at the party, and I need to find her before they do. She's not at home, I already checked."
>>
No. 395387 ID: d09277
File 133257391335.png - (554.44KB , 720x900 , 25.png )
395387

You go with your gut instinct and don't reveal anything about what you are. "I am new in town after arriving with a Myconad named Ivet, whom I met outside of town while things were trying to kill her. Last night, we went to a party, from which I recognized Jen. A creature disguised as a musician made everybody start attacking each other with magic, and then started eating them. Ivet and I were unaffected, but I was taken by the cloaks. They said they did not have Ivet, and they tried to kill me. I broke out, and have been searching for her. I saw your fight, decided to intervene on your behalf, and saw Jen here. If I had not brought attention to her you likely would have killed her without realizing who it was. Now, I would like to continue my search for Ivet. Do you know where she is?"
The whole time you spoke, Davin stood there, completely still, like a statue. When you finish, he turns to Jen and ignores your question. "Do you recognize him from last night?"
She squints in thought and looks apologetic. "I don't know. I drank more than I should have. I remember seeing someone with Ivet, but it was a human, or maybe a half-giant or something."
Davin looks back to you and takes a deep breath. "I'm not inclined to trust you. You're the second person today to ask me where Ivet is. The first is nailed to the tree behind me. We call that monster you met last night 'The Singer'. He's attacked us a few times over the last three years. We have reason to suspect he was created by the false mother or the snake-church as a tool to wipe us out. He never attacks the inner city. Today, we will. I have no reason to help you, and you have no reason to help me. However, if you prove yourself loyal to us in battle, I will help you track Ivet. We march now, regardless." With that, he motions to the crowd and walks into the trees.
You're not sure how many people you could feasibly eat in a large battle, but this man might be able to find Ivet where you couldn't. On the other hand, there are only a limited number of locations she could be, so his help may prove unnecessary and time-wasting. What do you do?
>>
No. 395390 ID: a76cbb

>>395387
Hmm.

"If I go with you, I direct myself - no orders. I would be happy to help you, if that is the case. Those guys are assholes. Mostly."

When we head out, BEELINE FOR PADMA. We must find her before the army reaches her, make her our 'captive', and extract her.
>>
No. 395391 ID: 72d49b

How long will it take him to get there? How fast can you fly? I doubt she'll be there but if it's possible to sweep the springs and rendezvous with him before the attack begins, do so. Otherwise, we'll march with these folks. We've already checked the place she's most likely to be. If she's in trouble we have no way of finding her, and if she's not then it won't matter too much if we waste time.
>>
No. 395393 ID: f70e5e

I think getting caught up in a rebellion would be a mistake. lets look for ivet on our own.
>>
No. 395394 ID: ed57e8

"like a siege engine i work best breaking things open, not being swarmed by hundreds of soldiers. keep them off me and any wall in the way will fall"
>>
No. 395396 ID: 88e5ad

don't pick a side before knowing the full deal with each. besides, this dude is a complete and utter asswad.
>>
No. 395398 ID: a2fa74

>>395387
If you don't there's a good chance they'll attack you, and that would be inconvenient. It would also be wise to keep them from destroying the library, and nudge them away from Padma's home.
"Very well. I will tear down their walls, but you will leave the civilians unharmed. Sinking to their level would be unforgivable.
Oh, and bring all the corpses here. They will attempt to retrieve them for resurrection before retaliating, and that makes for an ideal trap."

Turn to Jen.
"Jen, I need you to find Ivet. Tell her to stay hidden, that I am fine, and that I will meet her at home. My name is Viktor."
>>
No. 395400 ID: 72d49b

>>395394
Don't say this. We can't eat walls. He can see by looking that we're big and strong and thus good against walls, but we want to be inundated in meat, not stone. So don't emphasize wall interactions at all.

>>395398
Don't mention corpses yet.
>>
No. 395401 ID: b85f8c

>>395387
Ask yourself something: Would Ivet want you to do this?

Hmm. Suggest a compromise. Say that you have a few other places to check (and list them), and that if they can direct you to which one would be most likely to be where Ivet is, then we will return with her and assist them in their fight as soon as we find her. Also note to them that you probably don't need their help to find her, this is just a matter of convenience for you.
>>
No. 395402 ID: b85f8c

For the record I am against just going along with them.

This could really take an awful lot of time, and we can fairly quickly check the other locations we had in mind.
>>
No. 395409 ID: a2fa74

>>395398
Alternatively:
"I must find Ivet first, and I will help you if that is her wish. Do as you like, but Jen is in no fit state to help fight."
Turn to Jen:
"Jen. You told me what Ivet really needs is someone to be her tree. I am now a tree. Please, help me find her."
>>
No. 395411 ID: 228285

I would recommend going with Jen. Keep her safe and try to get her to help with your search. If that brings you into battle then so be it.

There is a possibility that The Singer actually works with the inner city somehow so your true nature might be known by a few people.
>>
No. 395454 ID: 7d7f79

This is a mob folks, one does not reason with a mob, whether it is being lead by someone or not. And are we really stupid enough to join a civil war on the side that has fewer (as in without us zero) gods? We're pretty sure they have at least one, probably two if the one that attacked the bar isn't the ruler herself.
At the moment Jen knows less than we do about Ivet's current location but may know more about where to look, she won't recognize us unless we resume brawny-dude's shape.
>>
No. 395471 ID: 3947e9

>>395454
You are absolutely correct that you cannot reason with a mob. However you misunderstand the politics and divinities involved.

>The Sides
The Bard is not a server of Mother nor a god, he is a fragment who leads the talpids. Ivet and Avera went to negotiate with him on behalf of Mother and he attacked them instead of negotiation so he is her enemy.
Mother is a ridiculously powerful Fae, she is most likely not a fragment due to her association with the churce of a new god (who ate the old gods and will probably eat up fragments; note to self, avoid churches). Just because she is associated with the church though doesn't mean the god will literally come here to fight on her behalf.

>Our Goals
I think we are losing sight of our goals here. Yes, Ivet is important to protect and so is Padme... but we also need to finish our divine ascension. This means to seize military might in order to take down the Bard Fragment who is individually stronger then us AND has his own army. If we lead this city we could reveal him as the leader of Talpids and the one praying on the cityfolk and lead an army against them. The problem is that this is an unruly mob and they have no strategy beyond charging in and possibly attacking the civilians too.

We can't side with Mother, she is with the new gods. The rebels, as much as they suck, are our only option... but we are not siding with them so much as using them. (and it CAN be for their own good and the greater good if we treat them right since their leadership and organization sucks).

>Our Strategy
Confront him about strategy. "Wait, do you even have a strategy or is this just a mob? I think its best to attack the cloaks prison first. This will remove the cloaks from play, and release the innocent prisoners who might help us. We also capture their magic weapons and rearm with them, then we can take out the Mother with no interruptions. All this of course while leaving the civilians and town itself unharmed.".
If need be here, work more on Jen to vouch for us as per some of the other posts.

>Our Actions
Follow him regardless of his answer.
If the rebels are winning then demonstrate your worth and try to get as high up as possible in order to later usurp power from the new unstable government; if you are really lucky the Mother will kill him in the last confrontation and you will take her. Or at worse he takes command and you are among the inner circle inform him of your conclusions about The Bard and get his assistance there (maybe he can fall to the bard and you seize power then, when already known as a hero). If he questions why you followed without going all out on his behalf at first say it was because you wanted to see how he treated the civilians, you would not allow the replacing of one tyrant with another.

If the rebels are losing, based on whether he attacked civilians or not (a measure of his mental stability and how safe to manipulate he is), either kill him discreetly and then try to reorganize the rebels yourself or save him to espouse trust and cement your position as his right hand man.

Either way, you should avoid consuming corpses in public. Delayed gratification and all that.
>>
No. 395490 ID: e440a4

I think the fey worship the nature goddess Utia. Ivet said last thread:
>Most of the fey worshipped Utia and this was sort of her unofficial central church, but then Mother Oasis agreed to relocate Lunaras's main church here. A lot of the more religious fey considered it kind of a slap in the face.
This is sort of shaping up into a conflict between the two gods.

Viktor's priority 1 right now seems to be finding Ivet. This antler guy seems like a major doucher, and so much can go wrong with this plan. He could ask us to do something unconscionable like attack civs, he could die in battle, he could get mind-controlled, or he could just decide to be more of a dick. In any of those cases, he's not gonna help us find Ivet, and then we're right back where we are now.

Ivet's either at the nymph pond or at the party site, or else kidnapped by the bard. I say we fly to those places real quick and see if anything jumps out at us. If so, pursue that. If no, then fly back up to the battle, or else go underground to rescue her, but we can make that choice when we get there. I think we are powerful enough to equal anyone else's contribution to the fight in a fraction of the time, so it should be easy enough to earn this guy's favor if we decide to join the party late.
>>
No. 395495 ID: 6e44d2

>>395471
Yeah, probably this.
>>
No. 395505 ID: 1444d5

>>395387
>He never attacks the inner city.
This is odd. Ivet and Avara were on a diplomatic mission from Mother Oasis. Either she has a vested interested in the welfare of the outer city and not just the inner city, which would imply the shenanigans by the Cloaks against the inhabitants of the outer city are unauthorised, or the attacks on the inner city are being covered up for some reason (Maybe Avara's mission was to forge an outright alliance? That would be very bad news), or that Davin is either lying or greatly stretching the truth, or is very misinformed and possibly being manipulated.
>>
No. 395513 ID: 3947e9

>>395505
I think you are over-thinking this and finding a conspiracy where none exists.

The "inner" city is flying on top of a magically solid cloud and protected by a very powerful being and her army.
The "outer" city is on the ground underneath this cloud and unprotected (considered squatters by the army / law enforcement).
And the bard escaped from the cloaks who tried to arrest him in the club by using talpid/earth elemental dug tunnels under the city; he could not do so if he was attacking the upper city, where he would have been captured and killed.

There is also the conflict of religion (the Bard openly defies the new Gods and declares his loyalty to old gods)

>>395490
>Ivet's either at the nymph pond or at the party site, or else kidnapped by the bard
We already checked the nymph pond and her home. You also assume the cloaks told the truth and they don't have her.
I doubt she is back at party site but if people insist we could take a quick look there... Although if she IS there she would be safe until after this is over and we cannot miss this opportunity.

>He could ask us to do something unconscionable like attack civs, he could die in battle, he could get mind-controlled, or he could just decide to be more of a dick.
Every single one of those I accounted for in my plan, did you stop reading after the political situation correction?

>Most of the fey worshipped Utia
An important distinction. so this means we can side with either of them... this revolt is not lead by gods. MOST fae is not ALL fae.
However I doubt we will get a chance to usurp power if we side with mother.

>Viktor's priority 1 right now seems to be finding Ivet.
>or else kidnapped by the bard
So you don't care what happens to Padme, all of Ivet's other friends, or our ascension to divinity?
Fine, then what about the fact that leaving now and FINDING ivet at the hands of the bard is disasterous because then the bard's advantages on us are:
1. He is individually stronger
2. He has an army
3. We are at his home base
4. He has a hostage.

Finding =! Rescuing. If he did take her hostage he will keep her unharmed until we get there to blackmail us... And with an army we are at a better position to rescue her.

We really need a questdis
>>
No. 395517 ID: e440a4

>>395503
>Every single one of those I accounted for in my plan, did you stop reading after the political situation correction?
World keeps on turning without you, man. Not every post that disagrees with you is a response to your post. But sure, this one will be.

First off, *Avara, *Padma, *Fey. We have not checked the nymph pond, we went straight to Ivet's house, and then straight here. I don't know where you got the idea that the new gods ate the old ones, or that they'd have any interest in eating us, but okay whatever. And siding with MO was never on the table here, the options are "get involved in a civil war that doesn't actually involve us" or "stop wasting time and find Ivet."

As I stated, this guy is a major doucher, and he's already started walking away. If we run after him and start shouting military strategy at him, he is probably not going to do anything but get even more annoyed with us. It is not our job to protect every civilian. It is not our place to take over this city. Viktor is not a general or a leader, he is a terrifying man-eating monster just like the other terrifying man-eating monster that these guys already hate, and thanks to the shapeshifting, they likely won't understand/care about the difference. I don't know that any of Ivet's friends are in there, but if they are, they chose to join this rebellion like adults and in no way is it our place to make sure nothing happens to them. I hope you don't mean Jen, because we know Ivet hates her. And all the other plans involving Jen vouching for us that you mentioned also involve revealing that we're a shapeshifter, and that seems like a Bad Idea.

And yes, you are right, The Singer has an army and we do not. His army already knows what he is and is stupid enough to follow him anyway. They're more like a cult than an army. If it's even possible that we make this angry mob our army somehow, we are stuck pretending to be a tree forever. We're using a fraction of our power, bringing food to the enemy, and forgoing eating any of The Singer's army because treants don't eat meat. It's probably more advantageous for us to wade in and devour his army alone, because he made the mistake of making them edible.

And I'm not forgoing getting involved in the first place. I'm saying, fly off and see if anything jumps out at us at the nymph pond or party site, and then fly back and join in if not. I'm not so sure the nymph pond is less likely than the party place, though. She could be hiding still, or thinks you'll come look for her at the last place you saw her, or she could be knocked unconscious in a corner somewhere, or something. I'm just saying, check.
>>
No. 395519 ID: e440a4

>>395513
I wrote my response to your previous post, but I guess you deleted and rewrote it. most of what I said still stands though. And we do have a questdis, it's on the first page of questdis right now and also linked right there in the first post of this thread.
>>
No. 395589 ID: 6616f3

Singer: we don't know specifically that he leads the Talpids, although since there were a few with him, it does seem likely.

There is the fact that the Singer is rather unlikely to be on the side of either the snake church or this 'false mother' (does he mean the new god, or the genasi leader, or...?), since he's some kind of malformed Old One like us trying to go all Highlander on us. This is a fact that you would think Davin maybe should know (claim you are old enemies or something if he asks how you know this)?

Unless he knows more than we don't, 'They're not dead' is a shitty reason to think the Singer is their attack dog. It's just... poor logic. Tautology, I think it's called. It sounds like he's just trying to make the facts fit his dislike of the church.

The rebels are just going to be killing lots of potentially innocent people and inviting more reprisals from the cloaks.

Try to repurpose his rebellion for your own purposes, or at least aim it at the actual Singer, not the church that's been bugging them to convert or whatever.
>>
No. 395591 ID: e555bb

Go with him.
>>
No. 395593 ID: cc5a0b

Regardless of this guy being a dick or not, you need to find Ivet, and he seems to only be willing to help if you help him first. Do your own thing, find her by yourself.
>>
No. 395594 ID: a2fa74

This argument is going nowhere.
People seem to want to go with this mob so they can manipulate it, but we lack the tools to do so.
Ivet has clout. Find her, get her to support you, and you can cause a schism to pull some of them under your command, assuming that usurping control entirely isn't an option.

Also, you can travel far faster than an army. Take Jen to find Ivet, then fill Ivet in on the way back.
>>
No. 395596 ID: 3c585f

join the rebellion
>>
No. 395613 ID: 3947e9

>>395517
>World keeps on turning without you, man. Not every post that disagrees with you is a response to your post. But sure, this one will be.
Except you started your post by correcting me on the political situation.

>Attacking the bard with an army gives him people to eat and prevents us from going all out
He could sense us at a distance so he will not let us just feed on his minions. It will be us vs him and them together. And some of them are casters.
Recall also that last time the cloaks beat back both us and The Bard with their spells.
I am not saying throw warm bodies at him I am saying bring a strike-force of casters (can harm him) & elementals (can't eat).
We need some advantage to beat him and current we are outclassed in every single manner.

>Jen issue and don't run after him shouting strategy
Those arguments actually make sense.

>Not our job to rule
But it is our job to obsess over a girl we knew for 2 days and make bad strategic decisions just to find her faster while unable to save her?
>>
No. 395622 ID: 6e44d2

We are intelligent, powerful, and ambitious. Of course we will rule. Join the rebellion and usurp leadership when the moment is right.
>>
No. 395747 ID: d09277
File 133266702708.png - (456.10KB , 720x1200 , 26.png )
395747

You turn towards Jen and hesitate as you consider perhaps asking her to find Ivet for you, but before you can make up your mind she takes off in the opposite direction of the moving crowd. You resolutely turn back and try to catch up with Davin.
"What is the plan?" you ask, your heavy footfalls finally catching up with him. "Are we attacking civilians?"
Davin continues to face forward as he responds. "The plan is to move in along the east side. We strike at a public location. We show them that they have made a mistake, and that there are people here willing to make them pay for it. We move in teams, and try to hit the central plaza. If it goes south before we get there, we disperse," he responds, as if he's rehearsed this. He still failed to answer your second question. You feel your eye twitch a bit, and you wave away the ape, who seems to be sniffing you curiously.
"You told me you don't like to waste words, and then make me ask a second time. Are we attacking civilians?"
Davin's brow drops almost imperceptibly lower."We are all civilians. You're asking me to make a distinction that our enemies do not. How would you have reacted if they had killed Ivet? Or did to her what they did to Jen?" In your mind's eye you see a trail of demolished buildings soaked in blood, and hear screams of terror from faceless smears of blue and brown as you bite into them with a sickening crunch. You quickly shake your head are silent. Davin continues. "Our targets are not civilians, but we will not distinguish if they get in our way. You should be in a strike group."
A pale, horned man steps forward and looks up at you with a sly expression you can't quite place. "I'll take him, boss," he says, and nods to you. "Name's Lothar."
"Viktor," you reply.
"Hopefully it's a prophetic name," he replies, and grins eerily. He gestures to one of the groups nearby. "C'mon, let's chat. Bossman's too tightly wound to be fun to talk to. You, however, look like you've gotten laid more recently than he has." You see Davin turn and give him a look, to which Lothar just replies, "See?"
>>
No. 395748 ID: d09277
File 133266706482.png - (346.98KB , 720x900 , 27.png )
395748

Lothar waits until you're out of earshot from Davin before speaking up again. "So, uh, D-man's being kinda..." he trails off and makes a motion with his hand, as if he were shaking a stick, "but what else is new?"
It takes you a moment to discern the meaning of the gesture. "He's manually stimulating his male genitals?" you ask.
Lothar makes a sound like he's stifling a laugh inside his nose. "Yeah bud, manually stimulating the fuck out of his male genitals. And then you showed up and asked him to track down his ex. Ballsy."
Your eyes widen. "Wait, what?"
He starts to laugh. "Yep. Oh man, that face you just made. Worth it, just for that."
"Is that going to cause problems?" you ask.
"Ehhh, I dunno, overdramatic bullshit plus fey? Don't get me wrong, I love it here, but these guys got a knack for it. You know how it goes. Guy gets girl, wants everyone else. Guy gets everyone else, loses girl, gets all broke-dick about it. Tale as old as fucking. But hey, that's only the second reason I wanted to get you over here. The first is to score that badass transformation move you did. Who's your patron or matron or whatever?"
"My what?" you ask.
"C'mon, you seriously playing that coy bullshit with me? Look at me. I am literally half-demon. Who'd you get your power from? I can feel that shit radiating off of you just by standing over here. Druids don't get that."
"I'm not playing coy, I really don't understand," you reply.
Lothar looks confused for a second. "Huh. You actually don't know? Well, I almost hate to break this to you, but people like me, we get our powers from something bigger than us. Something lower than us, usually. Some of us have to barter for it, or there's the lucky ones like me who are born with it." He grins and holds up his hand, and green sparks arc between his fingers. "And you, my friend, are a 'people like me'. At least, you feel like one."
>>
No. 395752 ID: d09277
File 133266778986.png - (455.76KB , 720x900 , 28.png )
395752

You think this might have something to do with your hypothesis about Teyu, but you don't want to reveal that yet. "So, how would I know for sure?"
"Well, the easiest way is to just try and, I dunno, force some magic out. We don't do the rituals or the praying or the preparing spells of everyone else, we just point and make shit happen. So just...do that."
You think you could use a little more instruction, but you comply anyway. Cupping your hands, you try and focus anything magical through your fingers. You feel your arm grow lighter. You're excited at first, until you realize you're only using your mass-altering magic. You try again, hoping you don't have to come up with an explanation for Lothar's apparent failure of his senses.
Suddenly, you feel something well up from deep inside of you and pass through your arm.
There is a bright blue flash and a dull pain all over.
Lothar busts out laughing hysterically. When it seems like his laughter is dying down, you ask him, "What happened?"
"Well Viktor buddy, you gotta point that outwards next time." He gestures to the same nymph you saw earlier. "Lily, baby, come lay your pretty hands all over my buddy Viktor here. I think he hurt himself." She giggles and heals your self-inflicted wounds.
You can see the outer wall of the city growing closer through the branches. Anything else you want to do before you arrive?
>>
No. 395755 ID: d5ee6f

>>395749
I like Lothar. Let's keep him.
>>
No. 395756 ID: fb9917

>>395755
Agreed.
>>
No. 395759 ID: 72d49b

This guy seems alright. I don't think there's anything else we need to do. We're as prepared as we're gonna get, I think.
>>
No. 395760 ID: a2fa74

>>395752
"There is a person who hid me after I broke out of prison. I learned much from them.
The civilians are kept ignorant of what their leaders are doing. This attack will appear unprovoked, and the leaders will use that to start an open war of extermination. This is what they have wanted. Davin's 'plan' plays right into this with very a public attack that advances no goals, will kill their civilians, and does not include escape.
Unfortunately, without Ivet I have no credibility. Saying he's either a fool or a traitor would have turned the angry mob against me.

I ask your assistance in keeping the mob away from the one who aided me. This entire plan is terrible, but I can at least return their protection."

Or you could tell them you'll be right back and fly over to check the nymph pond and the party site before they even get to the city's walls. That's also a thing you can totally do.
>>
No. 395761 ID: 6e44d2

That is way cool. We should let him know that we aren't an ent. He gets bro points.
>>
No. 395762 ID: d5ee6f

>>395752
Chat him up about the people below, sources of power. Specifically Teyu.
>>
No. 395763 ID: 88e5ad

>>395755

yes. yes, we should.

I'm not sure how I feel about working with insurgents, however. sacrifice innocents just to get back at the one you have a trouble with... it's petty and dickish.
>>
No. 395764 ID: b85f8c

Experiment with that magic of yours again, and direct it somewhere.

Also don't rock the boat. We made a deal, and going back on it will call attention to us that we can't really afford.
>>
No. 395768 ID: fb9917

>>395763
They WERE going to kill us just because we didn't have the information they wanted. I don't entirely object to attacking these people.
>>
No. 395771 ID: 72d49b

Don't tell him shit he doesn't need to know. He's a cool guy but information is kind of important, don't go spilling all our secrets to him just because he's nice to us.
>>
No. 395805 ID: 3947e9

>>395755
Definitely agreed. He is a cool guy and with having a down below patron we could probably even get another person we trust with knowledge of what we do (eat people for power)

If we play it right, we could wrangle from him tutoring in using our type of magic and information about the politics of hell. And if we are a fragment as we suspect we might be able to become a patron. I suggest we start by asking him to tell us about the various major players to see if any of them ring a bell as being our patron.

While walking & talking, try focusing your energy in a smallish amount into a thin beam pointing at the ground further ahead (not close enough to get yourself in the explosion, but where if it cuts right through we don't accidentally kill someone we don't intend to). Ask him if he can feel a noticeable difference in your energy, aka, whether you are expending it in a noticeable rate (gotta know how much juice we have)

>>395768
That was the cloaks not the civilians. The civilians include Padme.

Speaking of, maybe mention we have a girl who lives in the upper city and frequents the library and if he has ideas on how to keep the fighting away from that area.
>>
No. 395808 ID: ed57e8

not "a girl" say you literally landed on the library and the librarian there hid you. you owe them big time.
>>
No. 395838 ID: e440a4

Are we getting warlock powers?

I still think this rebellion was a terrible idea and D-man's little strategy talk there did nothing to increase my confidence. It sounds like he lost somebody last night. He's all emotional about it and trying to hide behind a tough guy facade. I think we should talk to lothar about maybe taking this strike team in a different direction. The opposite one, if possible. Towards the prison, if not.

>>395805
I might be wrong, but I don't think we have a patron. Warlocks bargain for their power from demons or other magical entities. I think we are getting it from ourselves somehow, or from the remains of Teyu.
>>
No. 395840 ID: ed57e8

>>395838
yea, we are probaby the source of power. but asking is to know some things to look out for.
>>
No. 395904 ID: 6616f3

So, this guy is a pretty cool guy. And he's on board with the 'start attacking and hope to score a significant hit somewhere' strategy?

Whatever, then. Looks like we're tagging along for justice and free snacks.

On the upside, just think how glad Ivet will be when we show up with her douchebag ex boyfriend? Maybe we'll get the ability to grow leafblades shortly after.
>>
No. 396096 ID: 3947e9

>>395838
Obviously. The whole "maybe I will recognize my patron" is a misdirection (technically not a lie) to get info from him.
As I said, if we are what we think we are we can possibly become a patron ourselves (once strong enough).
>>
No. 396322 ID: e0877a

>>395748
>"Huh. You said you lost your memory, right?"
We never said anything about our memories to these people or our current amnesia.
Lothar is potentially a spy or a psychic. Or this is could be a simple typing error.
The first two possiblities do not look good for Lothar as potential Bro-material.
>>
No. 396327 ID: ed57e8

>>396322
uhh... hmmm...
>>
No. 396584 ID: d09277
File 133292312669.png - (511.66KB , 720x900 , 29.png )
396584

You raise your arm and direct it towards a nearby rock, trying to draw upon the same feeling you had earlier. A thin blue beam jets forth from your outstretched hand and the rock shatters. Lothar crows and punches you on the other arm. "Now you're getting it," he says. You grin, feeling a little giddy with the power.
"How often can I do this?" you ask, remembering how Ivet said she could only cast a certain number of spells before resting again.
"As often as you want," he replies. "How much do you not know, man?"
You look momentarily puzzled. "I'm not sure that is a question anyone can answer. But, I don't have much memory from before a couple of days ago."
"Wait, no shit? So, uh, you've probably got a couple of other powers...you might have been using them already and not known it, I guess. I dunno, man, I'm not a teacher. Just do what comes natural."
The wall is growing closer and your sense of urgency begins to increase. "Listen, after I escaped jail last night, someone in the city helped hide me overnight."
"Yeah? It would suck if he got hurt, huh? So, you're down for making sure Davin doesn't do something stupid out there too, right?" Lothar asks eagerly.
"Wait, you also have misgivings about this plan of his?"
"Listen Viktor, I don't want to be misunderstood here. People in power suck. Universally. If it's not a prerequisite, it's an unavoidable consequence. If you put a man above another man, he will learn to abuse that power eventually. Mother Oasis and all her little piglets are terrible, for sure, and I would love to see them go down. That said, D-man here's riled up a couple hundred people with his own grief, figured out how to point them vaguely in the direction we're headed now, and now he's learning how sweet that authority tastes, too. I dunno if you were here for the whole speech and cheering and camaraderie bullshit he was shilling up on that tree, but make no mistake. This is nothing but personal to him."
"So why are you still participating, if you feel that way?" You ask.
"Because Davin is my bro." He replies, simply. "He hasn't pissed me off quite enough yet with this bullshit for that to stop being the case. So this strike team here, with you and me and these other sons of bitches stupid enough to be following us," he said the last part with increased volume, drawing laughter from some of the people behind, "we are the official badass motherfucker squad, here to make sure not Davin or nobody else is gonna be crying into their breakfast tomorrow about how bad they fucked up. Sound like a plan?"
>>
No. 396585 ID: d09277
File 133292316403.png - (425.34KB , 720x900 , 30.png )
396585

"I agree with the sentiment," you reply, "but that's not really a plan."
Lothar turns to the nymph Lily and jabs his thumb towards you. "Look at this guy thinkin'," he says, and turns back to you. "The plan is to keep everyone alive, keep us all away from civilians, and to make sure we've always got an escape route, and to generally try to make sure this giant angry mob doesn't do anything stupid. Let me introduce you to the heavy hitters here. I believe you've already met Lily. Ugliest goddamn nymph you'll ever meet. Luckily Utia doesn't mind, 'cause she's a damn good cleric."
Lily exaggeratedly rolls her eyes and waves coyly to you. "A pleasure," she says, her voice carrying a fair, lilting quality.
Lothar next points to a strange, lanky, shirtless man with feathery wings and pale blue skin. His eyes are milky white and something resembling a golden flame dances atop his head. "I don't even know what this asshole thinks he is, but he goes by Thoth and he does all that finger-wiggling chanty magic."
Thoth grins far too widely, showing off a row of needle-like teeth, and salutes to you jokingly. "Lothar seems like he's being mean, but he only does that to his friends," he says.
"Thoth's one of those guys that makes you wonder how someone so smart can be so dumb," Lothar explains, before moving on. He points to a bald, tired-looking humanoid woman. "This lovely lady is Elize. I'm going to try not to explain what she does or I'm going to get another lecture."
"Psychoportation, mostly," Elize says. Lothar widens his eyes at her with exaggerated expectation, and she laughs. "Psychic stuff. I move things around."
"Shortest explanation I've ever gotten out of her. Viktor, I gotta keep you around."
You've been too engrossed in introductions to pay much attention, but it quickly becomes clear that the tree line ends ahead and the leading edge of the crowd is beginning to breach it. You see two jackal-like sentries and a handful of insectoid ones assembled around. Oddly, you also faintly detect the life signatures of six more beings inside of the wall, three to a side, just standing there.
"Weird," Lothar says. "They knew we were coming. Seems like they would have posted more guards here."
You hang back at the tree line and search the sky, noting that you see no signs of the cloaks.
What do you do?
>>
No. 396586 ID: ed57e8

they could have more civvies in there magicked up into play guards.
>>
No. 396587 ID: d5ee6f

>>396585
Tell them about the life signs, duh. Probably an ambush. You and Lothar should be able to break a hole in the wall if you hit together, judging by your last performance, so that takes care of the element of surprise.
>>
No. 396588 ID: 6af537

>>396587
This.
>>
No. 396589 ID: d5ee6f

>>396585
Oh, and one one side we see Some sort of stocky thing with a thing tail, stick thin dude, and another thin guy with big tail. Other side we can't make out.
>>
No. 396592 ID: a76cbb

>>396585
"Six more just inside, waiting to attack, I imagine. A clear and simple ambush. Aren't these people supposed to be the smart ones in this?"
>>
No. 396608 ID: a2fa74

>>396585
"Six people inside the wall. Three on each side. All could be like Jen. I can not tell if there are constructs.
Give me a moment."
The expectation is that the rebels will storm the gates, so this is probably a meat grinder.
Camouflage and sneak up on the guards. Grab them, then fall back. The ones in the walls don't know you know they're there, so this will let you see how they prepare for hit-and-run tactics.
Following that, fly over the wall and flank them.
>>
No. 396667 ID: a79487

Maybe turn this into a double ambush. Can Elize teleport others?

If Lily, Lothar and Thoth strike the front and Elize teleports Viktor in behind the wall then the ambushers can be flanked and eaten while they're distracted by the frontal attack.
>>
No. 396819 ID: d09277
File 133300112595.png - (516.98KB , 720x900 , 31.png )
396819

You peer towards the wall, trying to make out more about the figures, but you only get a vague shape. "Hang on, there's people inside the wall. Three on each side," you say.
"How do you...nevermind. Do you think it's an ambush?" Lothar asks.
You shrug. "I'm not sure, but what else would they be doing?"
Elize looks around concernedly. "No cloaks showing up, only minimal gate guards, only one person with three cloaks sent to our meeting...this is too easy."
Lothar nods. "Yeah. I dunno if they want us to get in or if they think they're gonna ambush us somehow. But hey, who cares." He leans casually against your arm. "Ely baby, get us in there. Let's start on the left."
Elize grabs your other arm as Lily and Thoth form a chain on her other side. "You got it," she replies, and you see a bolt of energy arc between the five of you.
>>
No. 396820 ID: d09277
File 133300114389.png - (438.86KB , 720x855 , 32.png )
396820

You appear suddenly inside a small stone room. Three figures in similar black garb whirl around as you appear. They smell like death and seem to be wrapped in bandages. You recognize the birdlike one from in the prison - she stayed out of your way then, just seeming to watch your rampage disinterestedly, so you left her alone. She didn't smell edible, at any rate - in fact, none of these three figures do.

You have a moment of surprise. What do you do?
>>
No. 396822 ID: b85f8c

>>396820
Take out the one closest to the two casters on your left. You're the tank in this situation; protect the squishies. Then see if you can remove the enemy mage from the equation.
>>
No. 396824 ID: ed57e8

squish the one with the sickles then the mage.
it seems they have no qualms with using undead soldiers for their ranks.
>>
No. 396835 ID: b6edd6

>"No cloaks showing up, only minimal gate guards, only one person with three cloaks sent to our meeting...this is too easy."
It occurs to me that they might be allowing Davin's mob make it into the inner city so they can justify launching a large-scale counterattack against the outer city.
>>
No. 396836 ID: ed57e8

>>396835
indeed, f something seems too easy, it may... hold the phone, you said 3 LIFE signs. these are undead!!! quick look for invisible things and hit them!!
>>
No. 396839 ID: f70e5e

look at the shape of the insects jaws under the wrapping, I think these guys might be undead. its possible the plan was to let you inside before ambushing you so they could reanimate your remains out of sight.
>>
No. 396852 ID: 72d49b

The current positioning has the two enemies on the flanks as easy targets for your companions. Gator Face is about to eat Warlock power, and Sickle Kid is about to be ganged up on by Flower Hair and Fire Hair. It's not clear if No Hair is going to attack with them or go for the Vulture. But we should go for the Vulture. We're in the best position to get at that one anyway, and it's the one most likely to be left unengaged by one of our combatants. We want them all engaged to avoid moving around and getting our people flanked. You might have that issue anyways depending on how good Lothar is at keeping Gator Face tied up, but you're most able to take it and we're still greatly reducing enemy mobility. Additionally, these beings look to be magic users for a couple reasons. Firstly, they're not built like warriors, nor armored. Secondly, they're wearing robes, two have inquisitor's hats, and one has a cowl, both articles of headgear associated with religion and cults. Thirdly and most conclusively, they're wearing moon pendants, and we've learned that the god of the moon is the god of undeath, and they seem to be wholly or partly undead. That means we want to tie them up to impede spellcasting.
>>
No. 396859 ID: d5ee6f

>>396820
Grab the one with the polearm and smash the other ones with him.
>>
No. 396866 ID: a760e9

grab 'em all with your tentacles. I don't even care about keeping up appearences anymore.
>>
No. 396902 ID: a2fa74

>>396835
That's kinda sorta EXACTLY what I said.

Grab the bird and one of the others. Address the bird.
"I remember you from my breakout. You remember me, I expect. You will do nothing, because nothing you can do will stop me, and I do not waste effort on those who do nothing."
Then let the bird go
"You understand."

Turn to your new crew.
"This is a giant trap. It is obvious. Davin must be stopped, or friendly casualties could be enormous. Talk him down, dispel whatever control they could have on him, whatever it takes. If you cannot, I will kill him; Ivet would mourn his death far less."
>>
No. 396913 ID: e440a4

>>396852
Oh shit, good eye. Seconding this course of action too.
So these aren't just MO's minions, these are the church's. It looks like they were just chilling in here scrying on the battlefield before we arrived. I'm usually a fan of diplomacy but they're clearly undead and clearly hostile so smashing them up seems like the way to go. I guess if we have the time, then snatching up the vulture one and shouting a bunch of crap at him might yield something useful, just be prepared to crush him.
>>
No. 396917 ID: a79487

Go for the one in the back. Quickly dash in, grab its head, mold your hand around said skull and shake the body around a bit. Should prevent verbal and somatic spellcasting hopefully. Once you have one grabbed reach for another.

Keep an eye open for anything they might try to do, like raise an alarm or activating any magical items or traps. If they try anything then it is limb breaking time.

I guess these guys might be killed prisoners that were raised to serve as guards?
>>
No. 396922 ID: 1444d5

Hang on, weren't the inner-city folks (Utia-worshipping Fey) rather pissed at the Lunaran Church for moving in? There may be three factions at play here, not just two. The Lunarans may even be intending to back Davin's rebels, but probably only as far as is deniable.
>>
No. 396926 ID: e440a4

>>396922
Why would the Lunarans be doing that, though? Do they have anything to gain from it? I thought they liked MO for letting them in her city.
>>
No. 397085 ID: d09277
File 133309570350.png - (823.92KB , 720x2000 , 33.png )
397085

You do a quick check to make sure that these are the life signs you detected through the walls, as Lothar takes a quick leap to the side and raises his hand. "Heads up, far wall," he shouts, and blasts the undead thing nearest him. It flies across the room and smacks against the wall with a crunch.
You take advantage of your long reach and crush the one you recognize into the wall as well, smashing her through a wooden crate and impacting heavily against the wall. You stop, trying to think of what to do with her. As you do do, you see Lily conjure some sort of bright white light, and the one with the sickles makes a terrifying shrieking sound and starts to smoke and crack.
Thoth starts to chant and then cackle gleefully, his massive toothy jaw splitting his head from ear to ear. He doesn't stop laughing as he fires off three red beams from his hand, one completely piercing the sickle-bearing creature. It collapses to the ground, and the vulture-like creature hisses in your hand.
"Thoth!" Lothar yells, "Dial back the crazy by half."
Thoth closes his mouth and nods. "You got it, boss."
You turn to address your captive. "You recognize me, don't you?"
>>
No. 397088 ID: d09277
File 133309646863.png - (516.19KB , 720x900 , 34.png )
397088

"Yhess," she hisses. "Yhou are making a misstake." Before you can react, you feel her body slip out of your grasp like a handful of sand, as she and everything she was wearing shift into something resembling a free-floating shadow. You swing your other arm around with all your might, but it passes through her and knocks a hole in the wall. She looks to her fallen comrade, narrows her eyes menacingly at you, and then drops through the ground below your feet. You see the other one also shift into a shadowy shape and follow suit, leaving the five of you alone in the room. You can't seem to detect her any longer.
Lothar inspects the hole you made in the wall. "Goddamn, dude," he says, breaking the momentary silence.
You're really considering the fact that the vulture might have had a point. This seems like at the very least a conspiracy to justify mass attacks against the outer city, but you're not sure if you should bring it up, or how to do so.
You feel the vibrations of the gate opening.

What do you do?
>>
No. 397089 ID: ed57e8

"i'm starting to think this whole thing is a trap. they let the rebel group in and then some general uses it as an excuse to take out the entire lower city. it's too late to stop the attack but if we can, say, break the cloak controller they would have to fight instead of teleporting people and killing them in a cell."
>>
No. 397090 ID: 72d49b

The ambush is dealt with. For now, Lothar's the boss. It's probably ideal to touch bases with the main column then proceed ahead.
"You are making a mistake" was probably just general evil-person stuff, talking down to us. Even if it was legit advice we don't know what mistake we're making (besides opposing her, which was actually kind of on purpose) so we can't rectify it.
Next time you see her, use your warlock beam instead of your fists.
>>
No. 397092 ID: d5ee6f

"Undead. Lunarans? Might be stepping into something heavy. Easiest way to protect the mob would be to break the gate from this side. Your call."
>>
No. 397094 ID: d5ee6f

>>397092
"We could figure out what's happening alone, just the people who know what we're doing."
>>
No. 397095 ID: 77b5a0

next time, consider using your own warlock powers against a such incorporeal creature.
>>
No. 397104 ID: a2fa74

>>397088
Gently put a hand on Lothar's shoulder and turn him to face you. Look him in the eye while you talk.
"Lothar, this has been a secret war. The civilians bear no ill will, but to them this attack will seem unprovoked. They will support open war. This was planned. The upper city has doubtless prepared for it.
We must stop this now. Elize, take us to Davin."
>>
No. 397106 ID: a2fa74

>>397092
Also this. Get those gates closed, and jam them shut.
>>
No. 397146 ID: 1444d5

"They were waiting for us. They expected us. They were Lunaran, not cloaks. Somebody has changed sides".
>>
No. 397171 ID: e440a4

>>397146
I really don't think they were expecting us. They were watching the fight and seemed completely unprepared for our arrival inside the wall. Unless you mean the rebellion in general, but of course they were expecting that. MO sent out mind-controlled Jen and three cloaks to deal with that, it should be common knowledge among the powers that be by now. That fact that they knew about it and there were still only about a dozen guards at the gate (counting the six people inside the wall, which might not even count) to stop the mob of several hundred is what's suspicious. I do feel like we're missing part of the picture here, but I don't think a Lunaran rebellion is it.

Lothar said Davin is his "bro", maybe we need to convince Lothar to talk Davin down. Davin's not going to listen to us--he doesn't trust us, nor should he under the circumstances. This might be the best option here:
>>397094
but we'd probably have to get Davin to tag along, too.

Unfortunately that also entails figuring out how to get Davin to talk down the murderous mob while still saving face. I spent about 20 minutes sitting here writing and rewriting ways to tell him to do this but couldn't come up with anything that sounds reasonable. Maybe someone else has an idea.
>>
No. 397173 ID: b85f8c

Conspiracies are hard to do anything about without evidence.

How about we just keep punching/blasting things until we find more information?

The gate's opening. Doesn't it need to be open to let everyone through? There's a winch over there, maybe we can assist it in opening. Also we should probably like, make sure the gate can't go back down.
>>
No. 397174 ID: a2fa74

>>397171
Something like "Davin, we got the drop on some mages inside. Undead lunaran ones. This is all a set-up. They have been keeping their attacks on the outer city secret so when they are attacked their people will think it unprovoked.
The leaders want an excuse to exterminate the outer city, and this would give them one.

If that was a fight the outer city could win then the singer would have long since been slain. The fight must be one of public opinion.
Gather the wounded. We shall send refugees into the city. The people will grow concerned over such inflictions right outside their walls, and word of the Singer will spread. The people will force their leaders to stop him to protect themselves. Do this for every attack, and the snake will feast upon its own tail."
>>
No. 397178 ID: e440a4

>>397174
Is the fact that we ran into Lunaran clerics really a piece of information that supports the idea that the rebellion is a setup, though? Davin already thought they were working together. That actually seems to support his paranoia.
>>
No. 397179 ID: 3947e9

in the future, if an enemy turns incorporeal you should shoot magic beams at it rather then trying to physically grasp them.

You might be able to magically imbue your hands to grab them without killing with some practice though.
>>
No. 397524 ID: cc5a0b

I don't even know why we're here in the first place. Like I said earlier, we don't owe these people anything, and their leader is seemingly a headstrong tool. I did enjoy learning that he previously dated Ivet; tasty tidbit.

I would go and convince Davin to the best of your ability that this is a big trap (maybe mention Ivet to rile him up?), but if he insists on being an asshole, I would get the heck out of dodge.
>>
No. 398756 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133358886556.png - (690.83KB , 720x1500 , 35.png )
398756

You've been feeling uneasy about this plan and the near-total lack of resistance is not helping. A thought occurs to you, and you run it by Lothar. "Could the inner city be trying to let this rebellion get far enough to justify a full-scale attack on the outer city? That could explain why they're practically letting us in."
Lothar looks thoughtful. "Huh, I never thought of that. But, justify it to who?"
Elize chimes in, "Well, it's not like they're totally separate. There's a lot of inner city people who go to the outer city, and vice versa. I used to live there, myself. They could be trying to justify it to everyone who cares about someone on the other side of the wall."
"Why do you think they could stop us, anyway?" asks Thoth. "I say we keep going and don't stop until we hit Oasis."
Lily looks up from digging through the dead creature's stuff. "But they have to have been scrying on us or something. They knew we were coming, and they sent that harpy to intercept Davin's speech. If they think they could stop us and are wrong, it would have to be because they underestimate us, not because they don't know about us."
"But what would they have to gain by attacking the outer city?" Lothar asks. "I mean, I guess she sees all of us as a liability for her diplomatic and trade stuff, but some kind of full-scale civil war isn't going to help that."
Thoth pokes the dead body absentmindedly. "Well, if a civil war was going to happen anyway, maybe she's making the best of it?"
"I don't know that war would make trade that much worse, especially if she's confident she can keep our attacks out of the city proper..." Elize says.
"...Which she can, because we're shackled to a gigantic crowd of people who aren't as badass as we are," Lothar concludes.
"So we should unshackle ourselves from that group," Lily says. "Honestly, we've already given her some justification, I'm sure they've killed those gate guards outside by now. Anyone who doesn't know what's going on will think that was unjustified. Maybe we could get the crowd to go out and tell people about the injustices we've faced..."
"No one's going to believe that Mother Oasis made some giant monster to eat people," Lothar says.
"Not that," Lily replies. "We've got the harpy girl, and the mask they used to control her. That doesn't look good for Oasis."
Lothar nods slowly. "You know, that could work. So the crowd is a bunch of angry protesters, and we are a few vigilantes who took it too far. If we kick ass all the way to the top, then it's not an issue anymore. If we're going to get caught, Elize can just teleport us out of there."
"I'm already a wanted criminal. I killed several guards in the jail," you say. "That could help our image as vigilantes. And, even if we're arrested, I've broken out once already."
"So the only obstacle now is Davin," Elize replies.
"Well, I can try to talk some sense into him," Lothar says.
You can detect the life signatures and feel the vibrations from the crowd outside. A large number of them moved through the gate since it opened, and you haven't heard any signs of combat for a while now. You decide that Davin must be on that side by now, so you decide to take the quickest route.
>>
No. 398757 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133358889588.png - (353.74KB , 720x900 , 36.png )
398757

The wall crumbles against your fists, and you hoist everyone into your branches and sprint for the front of the crowd. You see Davin at the very front, pointing his sword at some small ratlike creature.
"Okay, yeah, out of your way, you're the boss," he squeaks, inching to the side, "It's just, uh, it's my life's work in there, you know?"
Davin doesn't respond.
>>
No. 398758 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133358892851.png - (476.11KB , 720x936 , 37.png )
398758

Lothar leaps out of your branches and grabs Davin by the shoulder. "Bro, what are you doing?" he asks.
Davin doesn't meet his gaze as he responds. "Making the museum a symbol."
"What? Man, I have to call you out on this. You are going too far. What good would that do? Look, there's no guards coming to get us."
"They're scared of us," Davin replies.
"No, it's a trap. You do something pointless like destroy this museum, what do you think happens then? War. They'll use it as justification to just wipe out everyone. Not just the people here, everyone outside the walls."
Davin keeps his sword pointed at the rat. "If they're outside the walls and they're not here now, then they'll learn they have to fight this oppression like I am."
Lothar furrows his brow. "Would you stop being so fucking selfish and listen to me? This is a mistake. If you want to go on some suicide mission-"
Davin's calm facade cracks and he whirls around towards Lothar. "They're the fucking selfish ones! I will not lose someone else I care about while I just sit back and let this happen!"
You feel Lily fidget awkwardly in your branches. "Would you please just move on," you hear her mutter quietly.
Lothar lets his arm fall to his side. "As I was saying, if you want to go on some suicide mission, I'll be there with you to fucking bail you out again, bro. But this fucking crowd here? They're not gonna help your case. They're gonna be fuel for the fire Oasis uses to burn down the forest. Look, there's a better way to do this. Turn this propagandist shit back on her! We have evidence! Get Jen, and the mask, and get these people out there to let everyone in the inner city know what Oasis is doing. You and me, and these badasses?" Lothar gestures to you and your tagalongs, and Davin looks up at you for the first time. You hear the crowd in hearing range of this argument start to murmur in agreement. "If you still want to fight, then we fight, and we don't do it for the outer city. If you want to be a fucking martyr, I'll let you. But can I please, as a friend, ask you to, I dunno, sleep on it first?"
Davin sighs, and looks like he's trying to think, rather than actually thinking. He turns to face you. "You again. Say something."
>>
No. 398759 ID: ed57e8

"quick strikes to key structures would do far more good then a path of destruction. shut down the prison so they can no longer use the cloaks."
>>
No. 398760 ID: f70e5e

"it is a mistake to hold the entire population of the inner city accountable for the actions of those in power. most of them simply wish to live there lives in peace, and simply do not look past there own lives and the lives of there loved ones. if they were aware of what Oasis was doing they would be horrified , why else would she hide it from them? why else would she work so hard to create a justification to for full scale attacks at the outer city? if you wish to truly help the outer city the best thing you could do would be to drag out oasis'es crimes out into the open. but if you strike at the people of the inner city they will not look beyond the threat you pose to them and those they hold dear, and they will cheer as oasis burns the outer city to the ground."
>>
No. 398761 ID: a2fa74

>>398758
"Have you ever known somebody who had wisdom while enraged? Tell me who you lost, and I will see if they can be found. Another prison break could be fun.

There must be some who escaped the party. Gather them and send them into the inner city for treatment. Have them tell all who would listen the horror of the Singer. The people here will fear a monster so close, and demand it be destroyed.
>>
No. 398762 ID: d5ee6f

>>398758
"We found Lunarian priests in the room we just exited. More is going on than we know."
>>
No. 398766 ID: 431fa8

>>398758
"If you are so incompetent as to lead others in actions this counterproductive to your purpose, then your assistance in locating Ivet would likely be useless and I will cease squandering my time assisting you."
>>
No. 398767 ID: e440a4

"I agree. Sleep on it first. If the lovely Lily here has the spells prepared, I'd ask her to revive those guards, too. And maybe use her...obviously abundant charisma to make sure they won't be too upset. I'm out."
Then peace out like a boss.
>>
No. 398781 ID: b6edd6

>>398762
Supporting this one.
>>
No. 398786 ID: 1444d5

"You wish to fight? An effective guerilla war cannot be waged by a crowd. It can by a small armed band moving with no identification through a population. The crowd immobilises the inner city population while we are free to make pinpoint strikes, and any retaliation will inevitably impact inner city residents. If we can avoid any trapped locations the campaign can be sustained for a significant amount of time."
Then mention the Lunarians.
>>
No. 398793 ID: a2fa74

>>398761
Oh! Also!
"The singer was aided by Talpids. Ivet was sent to them on a diplomatic mission. She was the only survivor. The Inner City's interrogator made it clear that finding her is of the utmost importance to them. I do not know what they want her for, but I believe it is because of what she discovered.
This is why she must be found."
>>
No. 398797 ID: 72d49b

>>398758
"I agree with Lothar." Say that before saying anything else. Do mention the Lunarians, do mention that as a strike team we are more mobile and thus better able to hit important targets. Don't call him out, making him made doesn't help anything. Don't ask about who he lost, it's not any of our business and doesn't help either. And that "lost" sounded a lot more like "dead" than "captured", especially since Lily wants him to move on.
I agree with the ideas in >>398760
but don't start off with "it is a mistake."
>>
No. 398798 ID: 3947e9

>>398797
upvote
>>
No. 398802 ID: 8db51b

>>398797
>>
No. 398812 ID: 16da88

yeah, maybe don't mention the one he's lost. it's clearly the reason he acts so irrationally, and having him think about that some more really won't help him calm his tits.
>>
No. 398867 ID: e440a4

C'mon, Lothar suggested he sleep on it. We gotta second that. Do we really wanna get wrapped up in some stupid revenge-based strike force that we have no stake in? Maybe we can get him to help us find Ivet anyway.
>>
No. 398925 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133368248164.png - (384.55KB , 720x900 , 38.png )
398925

"I agree with Lothar. If the people of the inner city knew what Oasis was doing, they would be horrified. Why else would she hide it from them, or try to hard to justify an attack on the outer city? I think the best way to help the outer city is to drag Oasis's crimes out in the open," you explain.
Davin huffs and looks away. You can hear the crowd behind talking about whether or not to proceed, as Lothar nonchalantly lights a couple of cigarettes and hands one to Davin. He takes it silently, and Lothar talks to the rest of the team. "Elize, go get Jen and bring her here. She should be at home, just go knock on the side of the big rock to the left of the winery. Thoth, I need you to keep the crowd corralled and keep them here for Lily. Lily, see if you can help any of the guards back there, and then let them and the crowd know our new priorities." Lily hops and Elize teleports off of your branches, while Thoth takes to the skies. Lothar pats Davin on the back. "C'mon, bro. I don't wanna sit back and take this shit either, but there's gotta be a better way than this. We can talk strategy and have another go later." He looks up to you. "Viktor, you're welcome to come with if you'd like."

What do you do?
>>
No. 398926 ID: b85f8c

>>398925
If it's alright with them you really need to go find Ivet. You won't really expect help tracking her this red hot moment, but we can't stand around either. Perhaps we can go with Elize and talk to Jen about places Ivet might be?
>>
No. 398927 ID: 431fa8

>>398925
"I need to resume searching for Ivet if there is no immediate difficulty here. Your assistance in that would be appreciated. In fact, Davin promised me his already in exchange for my assistance- which I have given, both in force and in counsel."
>>
No. 398931 ID: 72d49b

Go along. Helping these guys succeed is liable to be quite advantageous to us. The only other thing we have to do is find Ivet, and these guys are our best lead on that anyway.
>>
No. 398936 ID: a2fa74

>>398925
"Yes, but we have a task first.
Talpids were aiding the singer, the Talpids nearly succeeded in attempted to kill Ivet at their diplomatic meeting, and the warden was insistent on finding her.
It is clear they are after her for something she knows. We must find out what. You are a tracker, Davin?"
>>
No. 398943 ID: 60eae6

>>398936
excellent point
>>
No. 398950 ID: e3aff6

We haven't yet mentioned Avara the "big, important hero" who was the one actually sent on the diplomatic mission (Ivet just traveled along with her). Her death is quite possibly what the snake person was trying to kill us to cover up.
>>
No. 398985 ID: 16da88

look for shroomtits.
>>
No. 399005 ID: b0d466

What about going crow-form and scouting?
>>
No. 399031 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133374589082.png - (481.71KB , 720x900 , 39.png )
399031

Your highest priority is still finding Ivet. You decide to see if they can help and set out on your own if not. You start to follow Davin and Lothar as Davin's ape lumbers over to his side. "Yes, but there's something I think we should do first," you say. "The Talpids were aiding the Singer, and they were the ones that killed Ivet's friend Avara-"
"Shit, Avara's dead?" Davin interrupts.
"Fuck," Lothar exclaims pointedly.
"...Ah." You try to think of what an appropriate response would be, finally settling on, "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. But the Talpids were also trying to kill Ivet-"
"Who are the Talpids?" Davin asks.
"They are a race of short, furry creatures that live underground, and are helping the Singer. I was under the impression they had been proselytizing to you about the Singer's religion for some time."
"He means the molemen," Lothar explains.
"Oh, got it," Davin replies.
"Right. So the molemen were trying to kill Ivet, and the warden in the prison was looking for her, too," you explain.
"How the hell did you escape the prison, anyway?" Davin asks.
"I broke through the wall and jumped," you respond simply.
"That's one hell of a fall," he says.
You shrug, eager to get the topic back to Ivet. "Yes. I am pretty tough."
"Nah, I guess you turned into a bird or something," Davin shoots back, a little self-congratulatory.
"I buy it," Lothar responds, pointing to the rubble of the wall by the gate. "See that hole there? Vik here tore that through the wall with his bare hands. Like fucking paper, dude."
You try not to feel too proud of yourself. "It was not like paper," you correct him, "It took a good hit. So, the warden-"
"One hit?" Davin interrupts.
"Would you let the guy talk? He's trying to lay some shit out for you," Lothar says, then looks up to you and jabs his thumb at Davin. "Don't let this motherfucker try and pull that 'strong and silent' bullshit on you again. He loves to hear himself talk. You were saying?"
You sigh exasperatedly. "I'm just saying that whatever's going on, it seems like Ivet is important. I think we should find her first."
Davin throws his arms out. "Ha," he laughs once, forcefully. "Yes, absolutely. Gaston, see if you can get Ivet's scent off of him."
The ape lumbers over to you and sniffs you, then looks up and sniffs the air for a bit. He then drops his head and grunts quietly. "Anything?" you ask.
You see Davin relax and smirk a little. "Nope. He thinks the scent is too slight to trace. We'll start at the birch, then." The three of you set off through the gate, passing Lily casting something on one of the crumpled guards. Davin takes a drag from his cigarette. "So, Viktor. Did you see the guy Ivet was with last night?" Lothar clears his throat pointedly, and Davin continues, "What? It could be relevant. She's at a party with a guy, we can't find her the next morning."
You have a feeling that this line of questioning might last a while if you let it. What do you say?
>>
No. 399035 ID: 7c31d2

Don't say anything, shapeshift into the form you had last night
>>
No. 399036 ID: 16da88

turn into him. no more deceptions.
>>
No. 399037 ID: a2fa74

>>399031
Remember when you told Jen you spoke with her at the party? And how they know you're a shape changer? Yea.
I'm all in favor of just telling them it was you, since you already gave them enough information to figure out it was you anyway, but you are probably being spied/scried on and it would be nice to have a form the inner city administrators don't recognize.

"Irrelevant. Ivet would still be easier to track regardless. Jen may be able to enter Ivet's home and find something with her scent. That would be a decent starting point.

Can any person in either city resurrect the dead without the body? Or is Avara a total loss?"
>>
No. 399043 ID: e3f578

>>399031
They already know you're a shapeshifter so whatever.
Shift into the barbarian form and say "You were looking for somebody?"
>>
No. 399047 ID: f70e5e

eventually they are going to start to ask questions about how you can shape shift, if we don't tell them what we are eventually it might come out at an inopportune time. if they ask how you can change shape say you'll tell them once you find ivet. we are similar enough to the singer that without someone to vouch for us being sealed in a room until recently they might attack us once they know what we are.
>>
No. 399048 ID: cc7642

"Oh. Yes. That was me"
WARP ZONE.
>>
No. 399051 ID: b85f8c

We do kinda have an excuse for shapeshiftiness. Like Lothar said, we've got some freaky powers, ones that we "might have been using accidentally". Easy excuse.
>>
No. 399052 ID: 6616f3

>>399036
If that was true, we'd be telling them all about our tentacley-ness. We are not.

If we turn into Ivet's new squeeze, Davin is going to get all butthurt about the one that got away, and there'll be lots of male posturing, and it'll take even LONGER.
>>
No. 399060 ID: e440a4

>>399051
This is perfect. Seconded.

Maybe change topics as well as shapes.

"Yeah, that was me. I change shape sometimes. Ivet knows. So, how did you and Ivet meet?"
>>
No. 399088 ID: d5ee6f

>>399031
Yeah, turn into the barbarian.
>>
No. 399093 ID: e440a4

>You see Davin relax and smirk a little.
On second reading, this bothers me a little. Why is he smirking? Look at that face. I am thinking he was jealous at first because he thinks you and Ivet's relationship was not romantic. It wasn't, but that means he's very bothered by the prospect.

I dunno. I guess my suggestion >>399060 stays the same but maybe also throw in something about how you are glad you and Ivet are FRIENDS.
>>
No. 399104 ID: ec2e47

>>399060
This. If we actually do the shapeshifting right here somebody might notice it not being like normal magical shapeshifting.
>>
No. 399150 ID: e37972

Yeah turn into the human, but don't make Davin jealous or talk about his relationship with Ivet. He's going to be upset anyways, and we just got him talked down into helping us and not being a hotheaded ass.

Victor is above all a gentleman, maybe apologize for the deception or the confusion you caused.
>>
No. 399152 ID: 2153a4

>>399093
Yeah, it's clear that he's thinking "Ha, still got her" or similar. Shift back to barbarian, and if he gets uppity about it, state in clear, simple terms, that you are out to find Ivet, not fuck her. Pure and simple.
>>
No. 399174 ID: 72d49b

>>399051
That's kind of bullshit, though. Better to say that we believe it to be an inherent ability, and if pressed let them know that we seem to be the same species as the Singer. We've thrown our lot in with these guys, we may as well throw it all the way at this point. They might be a bit suspicious, especially Davin because he's cautions like that, but there would be suspicion anyway. Honesty is the fastest way to get it into the clear and then no longer an issue.

>>399093
I think he's smirking because the gorilla smelled undine sex on us.

>>399152
It would probably not be ideal to talk about it in sexual terms at all.
>>
No. 399188 ID: 3947e9

In addition to them knowing we are a shapeshifter, we have been using the SAME NAME.

There is nothing wrong with being a shapeshifter and we can easily spin a LOT (even spin away being the same species as the singer although we should have appropriate dialog there; I don't think now is the right time to mention the singer, so don't).
Trying to hide something and failing is shady and suspicious, and its too late to hide our shapeshifting or that we were the guy from the party.

In the longer term, we want to get some heavy hitters to help us kill the singer, and they will fare better against him if they know about his capabilities. So we would need to come up with an explanation to sell them, something to do when in a more private location in the future not right now in the crowd.

>Take his shape
Fine plan. "I already told you, I am Victor"
If pressed about your native species "I can't show you my native shape here because its massive, building sized. I have no clue what I am though; no recollection"
>>
No. 399213 ID: b0d466

Only shapeshift if you can do it without tentacles showing up!
>>
No. 399336 ID: e0c3b7

C'mon, even the Lunaran people in the wall were scrying on you. Everyone is watching. don't transform until you get in Ivet's house or maybe Jen's since it's supposed to be the same. If at all. You can just say you can change shapes. They should understand that you don't want to right now.
>>
No. 399346 ID: b85f8c

Hey, let's NOT say that we are the same species as what is basically the cause of every problem these guys are having right now, please?
>>
No. 399393 ID: 6af537

"I already checked with him. He doesn't know any more than I do."
>>
No. 399407 ID: 844262

>>399393
Viktor doesn't lie. The second line is probably fine, but I don't know if the first one counts as technical truth. There's still all sorts of things we can say while maintaining technical truth, though. "He doesn't know any more than I do. I know he doesn't have a place to stay yet, and I already checked Ivet's house. If he was a human or half-giant like Jen said, he would have been affected by the insanity spells last night and probably arrested."
>>
No. 399433 ID: 1444d5

>>399407
Simplify. "I am aware of him. He had no more information than I do".
Technically correct, and subtly implies ('had') that Victor has somehow taken him out of the picture.
>>
No. 399947 ID: 6af537

>>399433
IMHO "I am aware of him" sounds strange.
>>
No. 399961 ID: a2fa74

>>399031
If Gaston could pick Ivet's scent out of the bunch on Viktor then he doesn't need to sniff Viktor pick up the scent. The sniff was to invade Viktor's privacy.
"Davin, please do not mistake my indifference for obliviousness. Lets focus on our task."
>>
No. 400059 ID: 70591e

just because you didn't technically lie doesn't mean they won't still be pissed off at you for hiding the truth. for no real reason. said truth also being far from being difficult to uncover.

hell, if it was me, I'd be doubly annoyed when I found out because that's such a lame way to lie. don't be annoying, Viktor.
>>
No. 400064 ID: 3947e9

>>400059
Exactly. They have a ton of hints (same name, our talk with jen, they know us to be shapeshifter, bartender could have survived, etc) and they will be pissed, and we gained jack fucking shit from crafting this elaborate ruse to hide from them our ability to shapeshift, of which they are already aware.
>>
No. 400077 ID: e440a4

>>400059
How do you figure it's not difficult to uncover? We used the same name as we did talking to a bunch of people who are either dead or insane and were drunk besides, and shapeshifted in front of those same people. I don't know that our talk with Jen uncovered anything, and we didn't even tell her the name Viktor at the party.

I'm not saying we should hide it (I am >>399060 and I still stand by that), I'm just not sure why you think it's a foregone conclusion that we'd fail if we tried. What exactly do you think they already know?
>>
No. 400787 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133431006234.png - (379.13KB , 720x1144 , 40.png )
400787

You realize that Davin obviously doesn't need to speak to his ape to communicate, so the verbal command he issued must have been a misdirection. You surmise that this and the rest of your dealings with him are likely going to be colored by his former romantic relationship with Ivet if you don't address the issue somehow. Not wanting to lie, and hopefully getting it out of the way sooner rather than later, you elect to answer his question via demonstration. You compress yourself down further into the human form you were using earlier as you respond, "Yes, that was me. I change shapes sometimes. Ivet knows. And Davin, please do not mistake my indifference for obliviousness. Let's focus on our task."
Unfortunately, rather than focusing on your task like you said, Davin and Lothar both stop walking and stare at you with shock and curiosity, respectively. Davin fumbles to grasp the handles of his two swords, but does not draw them.
>>
No. 400788 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133431010121.png - (421.44KB , 720x913 , 41.png )
400788

Lothar punches Davin in the arm. Davin looks over at him, and he shakes his head.
Davin throws his hands up in the air. "What the hell am I supposed to think of that?"
"Cut him some slack, man. He's lost his memory, but he's a warlock," Lothar says.
Davin widens his eyes. "Are you sure?" Lothar nods. "Well. My condolences."
You're not sure why you would need condolences. "What do you mean?"
Lothar looks worried and he starts walking again. You, Davin, and Gaston follow him. "Man, I hate to have to break this shit to you, but uh, these powers aren't free. More like, 'on loan'. Whoever the patron is, they put a little of their soul in yours, and you give yours back to them. Only, you don't remember who your patron is, or how to use your powers. Kinda like you paid for something and then forgot it at the store."
You hope this doesn't apply to you, but it's interesting nonetheless. "I see. So what happens when a warlock dies?"
"Uh. Well, the patron takes their soul. Mostly when people make that kind of deal, they do it knowing the risks. No afterlife in exchange for power in this life. And me, I grew up knowing this would happen. You, on the other hand, don't have any memory. You're like a whole new person, born into it. Like I was."
"Can they still be resurrected?" You inquire, thinking of Ivet's friend.
"Resurrected?" Lothar asks, and laughs. "Like, brought back to life? Who told you about that?"
You're not sure how to respond. It seemed like a reasonable question. You shrug. "Nobody," you reply.
"Well, there's bullshit stories about that kind of thing happening ages ago, but realistically the only way to keep living after death is with necromancy," Lothar states, matter-of-factly. "Even then, if you're gonna keep your mind through that, you gotta prepare beforehand.
You could have sworn that such a thing was possible, but you're not sure why. There goes your plan to revive Avara. "What do the patrons do with the souls?" You ask, changing the subject.
Lothar sighs. "Depends on the patron. Some make them servants or soldiers. Some just like to keep a collection, like a fuckin' zoo. The younger ones who are still weak enough for one soul to make a difference just eat them. My mother was a servant of Kestephon, who typically just uses them as raw materials in his art."
You're not sure how to respond. You'd offer some form of condolences like Davin did, but he thinks this is your fate as well, so you're not sure if it would be appropriate. The three of you walk in silence for a while longer until you start to steer the subject in yet another direction. "Did your mother raise you?"
"For the first part of my life, yeah. I wound up on this plane pretty young, though. I basically grew up in one of the settlements off the Boiling River." You can see Lothar beginning to brighten. "Oh man, I got into some fuckin' business out there. Thoth, too. I don't know if you noticed, but that guy is nuts."
"That's where I met him," Davin chimes in.
"Oh yeah! You and tits-for-brains were out there looking for that goddamn whale box thing. Whatever happened to that thing?"
Davin and Lothar reminisce about their old adventuring days, and Lothar tries to make sure you understand what they're talking about. You start to lose track, though; the names are hard to remember and after a while the plot gets so convoluted you can't make sense of it anymore. Nonetheless, you laugh along with them and feel a little of the tense atmosphere dissipate.
>>
No. 400789 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133431012092.png - (326.21KB , 720x900 , 42.png )
400789

Before too long, you find yourself back on the same path up to the gigantic birch tree where the party was. However, massive thorny vines have grown up in a sheer wall, weaving in and out of one another along all the gaps in the roots. As you apporach, you think you could hack and push your way through, but it would likely be difficult.
You all circle the base of the tree as Gaston sniffs the ground and the air every few moments.
"Gaston only has her scent coming in," Davin says. "Either she's still in there or she changed into something else before she left. We won't know which unless we go in."
You approach the wall of vines but you can sense something living on the other side. You also feel several vibrations in the ground as if from more creatures, and faintly smell death.

What do you do?
>>
No. 400792 ID: b85f8c

>>400789
Could you turn into that raven again, and squeeze through?

Man, what is that in there? It has long spindly limbs like Thoth. Mention it before you check it out.
>>
No. 400811 ID: 70591e

watch out for molemen. tell them there'S probably an undead thing in there, and it knows we're here.

shapeshift into something smal and tough, like a dire badger, and get in there.
>>
No. 400814 ID: a2fa74

>>400789
"Smells of death; not the Singer's work.
Sense a little life in there, but a lot of movement. Probably a horde of undead.
Lothar, can you blast a small hole in the vines so I can investigate?"

Rescuing the witness is pretty important, but releasing an undead army on the outer city would be bad. Lets go in there and secure the witness, then extract them while keeping the undead away from the exit. We can plug the hole with dead undead.
>>
No. 400824 ID: e3f578

>>400789
I'd suggest turning into a small creature with large claws and start a little digging.
>>
No. 400830 ID: ed57e8

do you think you can just break a hole in it?
>>
No. 400851 ID: 6e44d2

There's some creature on the other side that seems to have noticed us. I'd squeeze through as something small and scout, then decide how to get the rest of the party through, afterwards. Alternatively, use your warlocky powers to blow a hole in the thing.
>>
No. 400871 ID: b85f8c

Okay basically I'm downvoting attacking the vines until we know that they are not there to guard civilians. They aren't necessarily there to prevent rescue. This could be Ivet calling in a favor from a friend of hers, even.
>>
No. 400925 ID: e440a4

That's a weird position that thing's in. he might be messing with dead bodies on the ground, or kneeling to something we can't see? Viktor could see the undead creatures through the wall with his life-o-vision earlier, so undead shenanigans are not what is happening here, unless there's just the one. How close is that guy? Maybe just try calling out to him. We've got no idea if he's hostile or not. "Excuse me can you help us? We're trying to find someone."

Also, after perusing the warlock class description, Lothar is right. Viktor should know a couple of other invocations in addition to the beam thing which I am assuming is his eldritch blast. Invocations are like spells but he can keep doing them as much as he wants. He should try one of the weaker ones and see if it works.
>>
No. 401023 ID: d5ee6f

>>400789
Um. That thing can see us too. It is looking directly at us. Warn them, an attack may be coming. Also describe it- elongated, very thin, large clawlike hands, shoulders pop up oddly.
>>
No. 401263 ID: 622e4f
File 133445519144.png - (362.14KB , 720x900 , 43.png )
401263

"I guess we hack our way through," says Davin, and starts to draw his swords.
"Hang on a second, guys," you say, quietly, "There's something alive in there, something tall and thin, like Thoth. Looks a bit taller, though. I think it hears us. There's also something dead."
"Huh, yeah. We don't know if this barrier is here to keep things out or in," says Lothar.
The vines are too tightly-woven for any of you to fit through easily, but your raven form should have no trouble. You change into it and fly up to a larger gap. "I'll see what it is," you say, and hop through the vines.
The signs of movement suddenly stop and you see the living creature scurry up to your position.
As you poke your head around the last layer of vines, the creature completes its strange, disjointed shuffle up to your position and raises its face to you. You see now that she is a tall, vaguely-humanoid creature whose skin matches the birch tree bark.
"Little bird, little not-bird, hello little bird. Where do you belong little bird not here not here," she says.
What do you do?
>>
No. 401267 ID: 2fe09b

>>401263
Look at bodies. See if Ivet's there.

"You're right, I don't." hop back out, alert your friends as to what's inside. Cost assessment as to whether it's a good idea to blaze in. Describe the thing you saw - some sort of... elemental? Golem? Treant?
>>
No. 401270 ID: ed57e8

is it the only thing around? no undead things like you fought near the gates? if so then i would say you can take it. but may be best to go back and tell the others what it is. just describe it's looks.
>>
No. 401272 ID: a2fa74

>>401263
Turn into your Viking form
"Are you in need of assistance?
I'm looking for a friend of mine - a myconid druid girl. Do you know where she is?"
>>
No. 401273 ID: a2fa74

>>401267
It looks like the birch tree. It is probably the birch tree's dryad.
>>
No. 401274 ID: d5ee6f

>>401263
Ask if she's seen Ivet. Describe her. Be prepared to get heavy or release a warlock blast.
>>
No. 401280 ID: 70591e

>Gaston only has her scent coming in

>Ivet didn't leave

>pile of dead bodies

>go berserk
>>
No. 401282 ID: 256d52

Politely ask her if she knows what's happened here and what the purpose of the vine barrier is, like a sensible person.
>>
No. 401284 ID: d624bc

>>401282
This

Also prepare to leave quickly if this is some horrible mind flaying monstrosity.
>>
No. 401296 ID: b85f8c

>>401263
Ask about Ivet. If she's here, say that you are Viktor, and she knows you. Also tell her that David and Lothar are out there.
>>
No. 401302 ID: e37972

First we have to assess what side she is on. I vote before bringing anything up, politely ask her what she is and if her intentions are hostile. Unless asking what she is might seem rude?
>>
No. 401315 ID: 622e4f
File 133445945156.png - (337.58KB , 720x900 , 44.png )
401315

It is not difficult for you to remain unfazed; after all, you've seen worse. You do, however, start to feel uncertainty growing in your chest. You see nothing in here besides dead bodies, and Davin said Ivet's scent did not leave this place. You do not see Ivet among the corpses, but you do note that they seem to be arranged oddly, all together in a pile behind this creature. She stands up straight, towering over you, easily taller than even your natural form, her limber extremities making the whole swaying assembly seem eerily unfeasible. You croak out a reply. "Ah, I am looking for my friend Ivet. I last saw her in here. Do you know her?"
Her face does not change. "He comes, he comes to eat, to pluck out my puppets' eyes? No, no, this one does not lie, he does not. A little songbird, the wrong bird, fly away to die. Your friend, she flew away. My puppets dance, but they want a song. They want a Singer to sing along. Your friend flew away, and I hope she dies. Leave me alone, I love to watch them dance." Several of the corpses twitch at her last word.
What do you do?
>>
No. 401316 ID: a3b384

>>401315
Eat her.
>>
No. 401318 ID: e18a1b

>>401315

Inform the group that shit is about to get real and it would probably be best if they did not interfere.

Then, we eat her.
>>
No. 401319 ID: ed57e8

corpse puppeteer. dead bodies are edible right? she will probably make them rise up and attack you.

anyway, seems ivet escaped somehow. but will need to follow the trail all the way. grow to full size. and fight.
>>
No. 401320 ID: b6edd6

>>401280
That would be a fairly large assumption to make. Druids are notably slippery.

You know, about people being dead...
The outer-city people said resurrection is unheard of, and intelligent undead take preparation before death.
In the prison they said to "leave a body to raise, just in case", and we certainly weren't preparing beforehand to be raised.
>>
No. 401321 ID: ed57e8

>>401320
OH YEAH!
>>
No. 401322 ID: e18a1b

>>401320

THEY could have been talking about something..less than true resurrection, perhaps a body is necessary to communicate with a shackled soul?
>>
No. 401326 ID: a2fa74

>>401315
No need to be rude, and picking a fight is just going to waste time.
"Not saying what she turned into as where she went, then? Ah, too bad. I bid you well, regardless."
Head back outside
"Some kinda birch thing. She seemed rather insane, but said Ivet 'flew away'. She wouldn't elaborate.
Will that help you track Ivet?"
>>
No. 401328 ID: 2fe09b

>>401326
Yeah, this. No need to fight crazy birchtits.
>>
No. 401331 ID: e18a1b

I am conflicted.

One ONE hand we don't really need to fight her..yet.

On the other if we fight her NOW rather than later, she won't have the opportunity to become stronger, and if we consume her NOW we would stronger for the next obstacle.
>>
No. 401332 ID: b85f8c

>>401315
...

Ask her if she is allied with the singer. If she says yes, then we could just kill her to get at the corpses (and eat them). Maybe leave one there so the smell of death is explained.
>>
No. 401333 ID: e440a4

...Is she making all those zombies have an orgy? They appear to be all naked, and piled on top of each other...

Ugh. We need to get Ivet's scent. I think we maybe possibly need to fight her. Try to make it quick.
>>
No. 401352 ID: b6edd6

>>401332
I support trying to ask more about the Singer.
While quite creepy, so far she hasn't done anything particularly evil, but if she supports the Singer than she has to go.
>>
No. 401361 ID: e37972

Maybe if she has a peaceful reason to be allied with the singer we don't have to kill her. She is being a corpse puppet psycho, but she didn't kill them. Also if we start taking out civvies we might lose some of our new friends.
>>
No. 401371 ID: cc5a0b

"Which bird are you looking for? Maybe I know him."

"Could you tell me which way she went?"

I think you need to try and get more information out of her before you default to trying to eat her.
>>
No. 401378 ID: d5ee6f

"I can sing as well. One voice must sing the song of the deep, it will be mine. Will you dance to my tune?"
>>
No. 401386 ID: e440a4

>>401361
she did say she hopes Ivet dies. I have a feeling this won't be the last we see of her if we don't deal with her now.
>>
No. 401420 ID: 70591e

well, she does look... yummy... bah, who am I kidding, I wouldn't eat her with a sixty-foot-straw. she's gross. just kill her.
>>
No. 401428 ID: d624bc

>>401326
This

also gtfo, this thing gives me the creeps and does not look edible in the slightest.
>>
No. 401454 ID: 6e44d2

Do you think she's one of your kind?
>>
No. 401511 ID: b85f8c

>>401378
Hah, we might say that... Assuming we are out of earshot of the others.
>>
No. 401525 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133452640628.png - (675.33KB , 720x1500 , 45.png )
401525

You try to determine if this woman is like you and The Singer, but you don't think she is; you're not getting the same feeling from her. Though, you note that she does seem edible, based on the sound of her heart beating in her chest and the smell of the blood in her veins. Based on what you read in the book on different races, you would guess that she is some sort of dryad, but heavily mutated, much like this tree must have been heavily mutated to grow so large. "Ah, could you tell me which way she went, or at least what she turned into? I was hoping we could track her by sense of smell," you request, slightly uneasily.
She holds up her hands in the shape of a bird and flaps her fingers, and makes a squawking sound. "This kind," she says, "the bird that eats my pets, my puppets. They came to me to dance, I love to watch them dance. The naked together dance, all for me, all for my parties, to watch. But now I don't need the parties anymore." She leans over, bringing her face very close to you. "They will dance, for me, alone, forever, and I will watch. I don't need the parties. No more parties. Go away now. You are not gone." She produces a small wooden tube with a brass latch at one end and smiles exaggeratedly. "Here, a shiny thing for you to take. They left it here when they left. Birds like shiny things. Take the shiny thing and leave too. Go away and die later, or stay and be dead now."
You hear Lothar yelling outside. "Everything cool in there, dude?"
What do you do?
>>
No. 401528 ID: b85f8c

>>401525
She seems like a very high profile target. Killing her may make us unpopular.

Go back to Lothar and co. and report this and what you've learned. Also sure take the "shiny thing". It looks very important.
>>
No. 401529 ID: 2fe09b

>>401525
Take the gift and go. Then tell your bros about what was inside. Tell them also what she said, as close to word for word as we can get.
>>
No. 401530 ID: a2fa74

>>401525
Take it and go.
She can't leave the birch, so we can have somebody come here and try to heal her insanity - symbol of insanity, remember?
Ask Lothar and Davin if they recognize it.
>>
No. 401542 ID: b85f8c

To sum up:
Ivet turned into a vulture and flew away. (Vulture is her bird form)
The birch dryad is making corpses fuck eachother and doesn't want anyone to bother her anymore. Possibly affected by the insanity spell that was cast at the party.
Request that you open the wooden thing in private, as it may be meant for your eyes only.
>>
No. 401546 ID: a3b384

"Yeah... everything is just fine."

I don't like this thing, not at all. And it would be a fine source of power for us if eaten. You could eat her, you should eat her. But doing how now would be risky and troublesome to say nothing of what our new friends will think of our aggression and feasting. Take the "shiny" and take our leave for now. But let's remember this place and return later.
>>
No. 401552 ID: 72d49b

Okay, accept the shiny thing then bugger off and leave the crazy dryad in peace as requested. Tell Lothar everything's cool. Have the ape check for buzzard stench, but it's unlikely he can track flying things. Let them know that there's a crazy dryad, but it seems harmless when not provoked.
>>
No. 401555 ID: 804cbf

I think it's for the best if we just fucking kill her.

She may or may not get tired of making THESE specific corpses fuck each other, or maybe they rot away while fucking each other, and then she will probably try to get some new toys.
>>
No. 401566 ID: a2fa74

>>401555
She's obviously this tree's dryad. She let people have parties here, then the Symbol of Insanity happened, now she's anti-social and psychotic.
Symbol of Insanity is curable, as evidenced by Jen.
Dryads are unwilling to and incapable of leaving their trees. Insanity changes neither of these factors. People would have to come in here to be at risk.

We will see to it that people are warned, and have them send somebody to cure her. No further action is required; no other action is advisable.
>>
No. 401568 ID: 70591e

but she knows about the singer! we need to extract info from her. maybe by threatening to burn her tree or something.
>>
No. 401603 ID: e37972

No, leave her alone. She's been at least civil and polite, and she's probably sick with Symbol of Insanity. It wouldn't be Gentlemanly to hurt her, and we can probably get less cryptic info if we cure her later.
>>
No. 401640 ID: 9beecc

>>401566
excellent explanation. Take her gift, go back outside, explain this to allies and see if they have the means to uninsanity her
>>
No. 401651 ID: cf590a

take it and leave, this chick is bad news.
Ivet turned vulture and left, so get out and report that and the nature of the being inside.
>>
No. 401681 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133456003752.png - (568.57KB , 720x1159 , 46.png )
401681

"Everything's fine," you shout back, and take the tube. You hop a few feet back into the vines and pop it open, and are vaguely aware of the lady behind you fidgeting impatiently. Mindful of the possibility of scrying, you change your wing to be as hand-like as possible, and unfurl the sheet of parchment contained in the tube.
There is writing on the page, as well as a sketch of a symbol. You can't exactly read the writing as words, but looking at them you get a strange impression of what they say. Something about a trigger, then the symbol. Then below that there's something about scrambled thoughts in an area.
You recognize the symbol as the one that was on the ceiling when everyone went crazy at the party, and surmise that this must be a scroll to cast the same spell.
You tuck the scroll back into the tube and fly out of the tree. "Okay, there is a very strange woman in there. Does this tree have a dryad?"
Lothar frowns. "Oh. Yeah, that's Ritva. She's a bit of a nut."
"Throws a great party, though," Says Davin. "Is she gonna let us in?"
"I don't think so," you respond. "But she told me Ivet turned into a vulture. Is that enough to track her scent?"
"Not many vultures out here," Davin replies, and smirks annoyingly. "It will be tough. It's a good thing I'm fantastic at this."
Gaston waddles off, sniffing the air, and Davin follows. "What's that," asks Lothar, pointing to the scroll.
"She gave me a scroll for the spell that made everyone go insane in the tree. She said 'they left it when they left.' I think she's probably been hit by it, herself."
Davin turns around and he and Lothar exchange looks. "Uh, yeah. Maybe," Lothar says.
Davin and Gaston begin to circle the tree again, and you recount the events inside the tree to Lothar, who opines that it "sounds pretty fucked up."
>>
No. 401682 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133456006832.png - (361.28KB , 720x900 , 47.png )
401682

Davin steps up to the edge of a drop-off towards the center of the city and points to the tree Ivet's house is in. "Alright, Gaston found a vulture's scent, going that way. I didn't want to mention this at first, but I'm pretty sure I know where she is. It's kind of a special place, and she doesn't want most people to know where it is, so you two head off to meet up with the others. If she's there, I'll get her up to speed and bring her along. If she's not, I'll follow the trail the rest of the way."
"Don't think so, bro," replies Lothar.
"You mean her house inside that tree there?" you ask, pointing to the base of the tree. "I already checked there."
Davin's face lowers. Lothar looks like he's suppressing a snicker. "I can leave you two alone to go find Ivet's special place," he says.
"Ah. It's fine, then. I trust- it's fine," Davin says. "We know she's not there, but it's where the scent trail goes. If we want to follow it, that's the next stop."
The three of you follow Gaston the rest of the way in relative silence, passing several other Fey out and about on the many winding trails and catwalks. You reach the dark alcove between the wall and the base of the tree, and Davin walks up to her hidden door. "Okay, Gaston's got her scent coming and going a couple times from here," he knocks on the side of the tree, "just in case. So, give him a second to find the freshest-"
"Who is it?" demands Ivet's voice from inside, and your heart jumps.
Davin's eyes open wide and he looks up at you guardedly. "It's Davin," he says.
>>
No. 401683 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133456010022.png - (788.54KB , 720x1500 , 48.png )
401683

The hole in the wall opens partway, and you see Ivet, scowling with her arms crossed. "What do you want?"
Davin puts his hand on his sword and looks over to you. "Do you know a shapeshifter-"
Ivet looks up and sees you. Her face instantly brightens. "Viktor! There you are!" She immediately opens the door the rest of the way.
"Thatisashapeshifter," Davin spits out quickly, as Ivet steps over the opening door and runs towards you.
"Yes yes I know shut up, I was worried you never made it out, Viktor! Where have you been?" She leaps and embraces you.
Davin gets a strange look in his eye. "Yes, Viktor, where were you? I thought you checked here already." Lothar lights a cigarette and tries to hand it to Davin, who ignores it.
"I did, just around dawn," you respond, hugging Ivet back. "I was worried about you too, Ivet."
"Oh! Well damn. I stayed up all night waiting for you to get back and I guess I fell asleep, hah. I hope you didn't go to too much trouble finding me," she replies.
"Yes, I hope you didn't," says Davin.
"Why don't you fuckin' smoke a fuckin' cig, fucker," spits Lothar through clenched teeth, jabbing the cigarette towards Davin pointedly.
Davin waves it away. "What kind of trouble did you get into? I understand it was quite a while between the end of the party and when you found me. Smells pretty fishy to me."

What do you do?
>>
No. 401687 ID: 673411

Explain that, as you said earlier, you were arrested, and escaped. You did not escape until you discovered that there was nothing to gain from being there, and until you verified that that Ivet had not herself been arrested. This is the cause of the delay.
>>
No. 401689 ID: b85f8c

>>401683
Say that you visited a library and took the opportunity to research into the few things you can remember. You didn't think it was prudent to search for Ivet and possibly get into more trouble right after breaking out of prison.

As for what you learned, well, we should talk about that in private.
>>
No. 401691 ID: b85f8c

>>401687
Ooooh, wait, this is a better story to tell David, that completely shuts him down.
>>
No. 401693 ID: a2fa74

>>401683
"Brief overview? I broke out of prison, made a crater in a library floor, and met a very interesting librarian. She fixed the damage to the library and hid me from the guards overnight. I left early in the morning. I'll save the many intimate details of my various learning experiences for when we have some privacy, Ivet; Davin here has all the subtlety, wit, and propriety of a cat in heat.

Anyway, after that I looked for you here, followed by looking among Davin's army. I saved that and a mind controlled Jen from each other. I joined their march on the city, but Lothar and I quickly determined they wanted us to attack the city to turn the people against us, and managed to convince Davin to turn the army around.
We checked the Birch, where we discovered Ritva is alive but rather insane at the moment. She told me you turned into a bird, so we tracked your vulture form here.

Oh! We have some things to do! We need to get my things appraised and purchase supplies for a prison break. Know any good dealers for magic items?"
>>
No. 401698 ID: fb9917

>>401693
don't say this
>>
No. 401699 ID: cf590a

>>401693
lol
second
>>
No. 401701 ID: d1f1b7

->>401693
Yeah, no..
>>
No. 401705 ID: b85f8c

An alternate strategy is to just beat David to the punch. Just go "Yeah, I fell into the library and the librarian there helped me avoid being found out by an upper city soldier. I read a bunch of books, found out about sex, tried it out on her at her house, and after finishing off the rest of the books came to find you."

Act like it is no big deal at ALL. David will look like a tool for trying to hold it over your head.
>>
No. 401706 ID: 9718f3

If Davin does what he looks like he's about to do and tells Ivet that you had sex with another woman, explaining that you didn't even know what sex WAS before meeting that woman will probably help your case. Also that she knew what you were and you didn't feel confident in her discretion if you didn't go along with what she wanted.
>>
No. 401709 ID: 70591e

>>401693

naw. that's just plain sleazy, man.

>>401705

also no. monogamous people don't work that way. Ivet will find it very aggravating when she finds out we did it with Padma during a time she'd (at least on a subconscious level) expect us to be spending our efforts on her instead. sure it's completely illogical because Vik didn't even know about sex for all we know, but logic is kinda irrelevant when it comes to this kinda shit.

>>401706

I think warlockbro will help Davin shut the fuck up until we have a little chat with him to make sure he does so indefinitely.

long story short? don't tell her about Padma and give Davin the evil eye to clarify we know he knows.

motherfucking Davin should just accept that he blew her chances with her and now she's ours goddammit.
>>
No. 401713 ID: b0d466

I'd say don't even mention Padma--remember the whole "treat other paramours like animals in your branches"? So, yes, it happened, but it's not even worth mentioning to us~

Talk about things like the fact that they used a fake Ivet to try and find out where she was, the insane dryad and the scroll, Jen, the raid on the city, that sort of thing.
>>
No. 401714 ID: ed57e8

if we don't come clean, davin will say it, making us look like the bad guy. saying it happened but not caring about it is what we need to do.
>>
No. 401723 ID: a3a875

"After I escaped, I landed in a library. At the time, it seemed prudent to do some research into my situation, although I may have gotten carried away. I am sorry if I worried you. I didn't learn much, although I would like to discuss what I did find out. Later. Privately." Glare at Davin for effect.

...I'm pretty sure getting freaky with the librarian counts as research, yes? Yes. It was definitely a learning experience. All in the name of science.

Freaky, tentacled science.
>>
No. 401725 ID: ed57e8

>>401723
okay that's good. and yeah, during that alone time explain you learned she was giving signals you were too clueless to get.
>>
No. 401728 ID: b0d466

Okay, yeah, all good private moment talking points. But are these really things we want to be discussing in front of an obnoxious ex? Can we get alone with Ivet first?
>>
No. 401733 ID: 9beecc

1. There is some major shit going on (not the sex stuff), we could focus the conversation there.
2. He looks petty if he brings it up.
3. There is nothing to "come clean" about. Especially to a guy who didn't know what sex is until yesterday and whose only source on it (the book & padme) indicate multiple partners are socially acceptable.
>>
No. 401740 ID: 7f554e

Might be worth mentioning that you were imprisoned and after a pitiful attempt at interrogation the leader told the minions to leave a body to raise. If they ask what happened next just say "I didn't leave enough of their bodies to raise."

Also it's probably a good idea to emphasize that you and Ivet are quite wanted by now and that there are agents looking for the both of you. Propose that Singer and the talpids are working together, possibly even with Oasis if Davin is correct.

This might be a good idea to find out exactly who gave Ivet and Avara their mission and directions. Were they sent on a hopeless quest?
>>
No. 401741 ID: 673411

>>401728
This. A lot of these things are none of Davin's business. If we're going to give him an excuse, keep it basic. The prison related stuff is major enough to cover our bases.

Also, how would he even know about Padma? Has she come up at all yet?

We can talk more with Ivet later.
>>
No. 401745 ID: 7e3704

Hrm. So, we have a scroll for Symbol of Insanity, but I'm not sure we know how to use it.
Davin's last face needs to be a "U mad, bro?" macro. So this shitstain's been holding onto this information about Padma since all the way back when the gorilla sniffed us, I bet.
>Smells pretty fishy to me.
fuck you, guy.
>Why don't you fuckin' smoke a fuckin' cig, fucker
Lothar is the bro-est.
Okay, so odds are, he's gonna find some excuse to tell Ivet about it if we don't. Our best bet is to tell her ourselves in some way that makes Davin look like the bad guy.
"Well, we do have more important things to discuss, but apparently Davin wants to address the fact that I learned how sex works last night."
No, wait, that sucks. I'll try to think of something better later.
>>
No. 401779 ID: e440a4

She was at home the whole time? Are you fucking kidding me? I thought this quest was better than that.
>>
No. 401785 ID: b85f8c

>>401725
Actually we STILL never figured out she was sending signals.
>>
No. 401787 ID: 76c597

>>401779
I'm feeling pretty confident she wasn't.
>>
No. 401789 ID: ed57e8

could be lying to davin
>>
No. 401807 ID: d5ee6f

>>401683
I fell from the upper city. They are intensely interested in your whereabouts, so I thought it best to lay low for a while to avoid bringing more trouble to you when I began my search. A nice woman hid me and taught me what sex was. I enjoyed it a great deal, but upon reflection I believe I owe you an apology.
>>
No. 401808 ID: d5ee6f

>>401689
We should NOT say this. We need to protect Padma. She doesn't need blowback from helping us.
>>
No. 401812 ID: b6edd6

>>401807
Actually, I like this one. Deception would likely cause more trouble in the long term (and the short term with Davin hanging around).
>>
No. 401840 ID: e37972

I agree, Victor wouldn't want to put Padma in trouble or make her look like a cheap slut. Don't mention the librarian at all. Tell her, but glance over it all innocent like it's not that big a deal because you just figured it out and Fey are hella polyamorous anyways. also the jail.
>>
No. 401848 ID: e37972

*Don't mention that you met a librarian.
>>
No. 401854 ID: 804cbf

Why are we assuming that she would actually CARE about us fucking around with Padma? This is a Fey city, Ivet TOOK US to a fucking Orgy waiting to happen.

What the dick is PROBABLY smirking at is that he can reveal at ANY time NOT THE FACT that we fucked Padma, but that we LIED to Ivet.
>>
No. 401855 ID: b85f8c

>>401854
We don't lie. We haven't even fudged the facts when speaking to Ivet, so far. Let's not start.
>>
No. 401856 ID: 804cbf

>>401855

Lie of omission, etc etc.

My point is that we don't even know what Ivet would get mad at the fucking or the not telling.
>>
No. 401857 ID: ed57e8

>>401856
it was rather heavily implied that her race cares more about truth then much else. be honest with her no matter what.
>>
No. 401860 ID: 804cbf

>>401807

I would say let's go with this.

Ivet knows we don't have much of a grasp on the basic facts of life anymore, only eating and being a gentleman, and it would sure as hell take the wind out of Davin's sails.
>>
No. 401863 ID: 72d49b

Say you were in prison for rather a while, they kept a pretense that Ivet had been captured, when you became certain that they were full of shit, they tried to kill you and you broke out, then you hid and laid low in a library for a bit, and then you began searching for Ivet, after which you met with Davin and Lothar, helped them with their war thing, requested help finding you, and then in the interests of securing cooperation helped them with their war thing some more. Then they helped you find Ivet and then it was now.

Don't bring up anything sex/romance related. Davin might think it's important because he has a bug up his ass about their break up or whatever, but there's really no reason for us to perceive it as mattering much.
>>
No. 401865 ID: b85f8c

>>401863
If we're just accounting for time, then Viktor would mention that he spent a chunk of time at someone's house.
>>
No. 401866 ID: 2fe09b

No reason to tell her unless she asks. If she does ask, tell her it was merely a learning experience - nothing more.
>>
No. 401868 ID: d91f96

I say go with honesty. Just tell them what happened at the prison and after.
>>
No. 401869 ID: ed57e8

>>401863
davin will say gaston smelled padma on us.
>>
No. 401870 ID: b0d466

>>401869
Coulda shoulda woulda but let's not go and stick our feet in our mouth pre-emptively!
>>
No. 401874 ID: 6e44d2

It's very simple. Say,
"This is something I'd rather discuss in private with Ivet. Thank you so much for helping me find her. It's been a pleasure working with you."

Conversation over. We can be open and truthful with her when it's just the two of us.
>>
No. 401970 ID: 9beecc

why is everyone talking about talking about sex with Ivet (this sentence is not grammatically incorrect).

She asked what we have been up to, that includes the cloak technicians who got away from us with ominous wording and the fact we have a crowd of people in the inner city illegally who crucified a cloak and are now spreading counter propaganda (hopefully, they shouldn't be lynching anyone I hope), and a potential for a counter attack at any moment, not to mention the bard and symbol of insanity shens... (speaking of, I am sure the one we have is active and I want to have a means to dispel future ones ourselves, I say we capture the crazy dryad alive, eat the corpses she has there, and the experiment in disenchanting her using our magic powers)

If this rebellion fails because we got sidetracked by Fae relationship drama it would be pretty sad.
>>
No. 401972 ID: 804cbf

>>401970

That's why we HAVE been thinking about this, we HAVE to think about it now otherwise later it'll hurt us more, and Davin is a really shitty leader who apparently doesn't have the ability for long-term planning, and he WOULD drag this rebellion down in his lust for Ivet and jealousy / scorn of us.
>>
No. 401973 ID: 980e12

>>401970
we are all talking about it because it's obvious davin smelled the sex on us back here
>>399031
and is itching to blurt it out to ivet at the first opportunity. In hindsight I don't know why we didn't see this coming but too late for that now. I absolutely agree we shouldn't get sidetracked by relationshit but we also can't stand to have this thrown in Ivet's face before we even have time to properly say hello. Davin is forcing the issue right now, or at least is imminently going to try to, and we need to deal with it.

I agree with the idea that we should capitalize on our lack of knowledge and the relative unimportance of this whole sex thing by just listing off everything that happened, sex included.
>>
No. 405918 ID: 622e4f
File 133577396779.png - (389.56KB , 720x900 , 49.png )
405918

You tense up a little bit. It's obvious Davin is trying to pull something over on you, but you're not sure what. Based on what Jen and the book told you, you suspect it would have to do with Padma. You're not sure if that's something Ivet would disapprove of or not, but if it is, you feel like you'd be better off telling her yourself than letting Davin do it on his terms. You briefly wonder how he would even know in the first place, but you remember when he made Gaston smell you, and quickly realize he likely got enough information from that to tell. So much happened since you saw Ivet last, and you decide to tell her everything.
"I was brought to the prison in the floating building, and I tried to find you. I asked the people at the prison where you were, and they said they'd take me to talk to you." You notice she looks a little worried at this. "They took me into a room with an illusion of you the way you were dressed when we met, but I saw through it, and they tried to kill me. I escaped and jumped out."
"You...didn't tell them where I live or anything, did you?" she asks.
"No, of course not," you reply reassuringly. "They seemed really interested in finding you, though. That's all they asked about, even though I was trying to tell them about the Singer at the party last night. They said that they thought everyone in the outer city was going to be eaten by predators."
She sighs. "Did they see you shapeshift?"
"No. I stayed in tree form the whole time."
"Good. The less they know about you, the better," she says. "Then what happened?"
"I managed to glide a little bit once I got out of view and I landed in the library. The person working in the library saw me transform, and helped me hide from the officials..."
"He saw you transform? Is there any chance he'll tell someone?" she asks.
You feel a lump growing in your chest and you're not sure why. You swallow and continue. "I...no, I don't think she will. She brought me some books that helped me learn some things about myself," you resist the urge to start fidgeting with your cloak, "and she hid me at her apartment overnight and taught me how sex works."
Ivet's eyes widen. Davin raises an eyebrow, and Lothar slaps his hand on his forehead. Ivet's brow furrows and she takes a little half-step back. "Um. Okaaay," she says. Your heart sinks a little, but you push forward with the explanation.
"So I left this morning while she was asleep and went out to look for you. I checked here first, but I guess you were asleep too, and then I went to this rally that Davin here was heading, because I saw some cloaks headed towards them and I was worried you might be there. Jen was there, but she got mind-controlled by Mother Oasis's people by a mask. Somehow I got involved and Davin here said he would help me find you if I helped him with his riot."
Ivet, who had been staring off to the side with a disappointed expression, snapped out of her reverie for a moment to sigh loudly and turn towards Davin. "Sounds like him," she said.
"Lothar here and I convinced him it was a bad idea, though," you continue. "Hopefully the rioters are now trying to tell everyone in the inner city about how they mind-controlled Jen, and since they seem to want to find you really bad, that you could help with that, somehow."
She looks across the three of you and exhales audibly. "Viktor, I... need a minute. Let me...let me get dressed. I'll be out in a minute." She turns and walks towards her door. Davin reaches towards her as she passes and starts to say something, but she knocks his hand away. "Process of elimination isn't going to do you any good, asshole," she says. He looks away, and she nods her head towards Davin and Lothar pointedly, looking over her shoulder at you. "Viktor, have you had breakfast?"
Before you can answer, she shuts the door.
What do you do?
>>
No. 405922 ID: ed57e8

she's dissapointed, but still on speaking terms with you. she'll bounce back. better, is address that she basically asked you to eat them. i like lothar though and he may have more to teach us. need to test how much they will speak of this "you know, that was a signal." and take on your full size, whatever that may be. then stare down at them "to eat you, but i like you lothar, i don't want to, but you davin, better give me a good reason not to"
>>
No. 405925 ID: d5ee6f

>>405918
I think she just told us to eat Davin. I don't think I want to eat them though. We're not her personal monster.
>>
No. 405926 ID: d5ee6f

>>405925
Also, don't mention this.
>>
No. 405936 ID: 72d49b

She clearly wants us to eat them, but I think they're more useful outside of our belly now. Their connections and their influence among rebels is useful. On top of that, Lothar has been nothing but nice to us, and deserves to be considered a friend, and it's unlikely that we'd be able to eat Gavin without also eating Lothar, since he'd likely get quite upset at Gavin's death.
Don't go out of your way to communicate to any of this to them, though. If they ask what she meant by that, just note that she was suggesting you eat while she changes, but you are not inclined to do so at this point. If they misinterpret that as you not being hungry, this is acceptable. Don't say anything if they don't ask.

Just chill until she reemerges from her home.
>>
No. 405939 ID: 6e44d2

Don't say anything to them about eating. Can't eat Davin, he's Lothar's bro, and Lothar is too cool about his bros to let that happen.

You sorta' didn't handle that quite right, buuuuut maybe I'm wrong. I'm pretty sure she'll forgive you, regardless. Tell Davin to stop being such a tosser.
>>
No. 405955 ID: 6f4add

we can't eat stagfag without becoming hostile with warlockbro because they seem to be good friends. and I'm not down with becoming hostile with warlockbro. stagfag ain't worth it.

tell Davin you hope he's happy. wait for Ivet to change.
>>
No. 405968 ID: a2fa74

>>405918
Tell Davin it would be best if he was somewhere else when Ivet returned. Suggest he find somebody to help the dryad.
>>
No. 405979 ID: 3087d0

"I've eaten already, thank you." It is a refusal, and doesn't let the two bros know what's going on (Though they may be suspicious). Also, may make Ivet think we ate the other half of our recent amorous encounter. Though a less meaning-laden reply such as "I'm full, thank you." could be used instead. However, we're never full, making this a lie, which may be picked up on. The first is not, as we have eaten at some point in the past.

I'm probably over-thinking this.


Random Thought: Ivet's scent goes in and out a few times, according to Gaston's nostrils. She said she waited all night, and slept for at least the period around dawn that we checked on her location, so she's been in and out a lot today. Wonder where? We may wish to ask about that when we have time for private conversation.
>>
No. 405999 ID: ed57e8

>>405979
she already closed the door. she can't hear any reply.
>>
No. 406001 ID: b6edd6

Another reason not to eat random jerks is we will likely be revealed eventually, and when that happens we want to be able to distance ourselves from the Singer as much as possible.
>>
No. 406037 ID: e440a4

It probably wasn't unusual enough a thing for her to say to warrant a response, and we shouldn't eat either of them for sure. We should probably say something to Davin, though...or maybe just punch him. Lothar won't mind as long as we don't kill him, probably.
>>
No. 406104 ID: 72d49b

>>406001
Random jerks tend not to be missed down in the roots, and we need to eat people to get stronger. Taken purely from that standpoint, the benefits outweigh the risks when it comes to eating random jerks. It's only these specific people, since Davin has other benefits associated with keeping him alive (mostly not pissing of Lothar) and Lothar isn't a jerk at all.
>>
No. 406493 ID: 70ef5e

Am I the only one who is slightly concerned about how she casually offers to let us devour people she isn't really fond of?

I'm also slightly concerned about how...hostile she seemed to the idea of someone knowing that we can shape-shift, from what I gather, True shape-shifters aren't common, but certainly aren't unheard of.

I might just be a bit paranoid however, I still just can't shake the feeling that something is off about this situation.
>>
No. 406534 ID: e440a4

>>406493
I remembered this conversation from last chapter, after Ivet mind-controlled a guy who was hitting on her into a more secluded space so we could eat him.
>"Speaking of eating things, what am I going to do about that while I'm here?"

>"Probably the same thing we just did. I mean, I have a bunch of friends here, but I also know a lot of people who are huge jerks, so I guess ask me first so you don't eat anybody I like. Oh, and I guess we can do the whole livestock thing too, once we get your money thing sorted out." She grins slightly. "There's definitely a couple people I know that you need some 'private time' with, though. I mean, you're not my personal people-disposer, but, y'know, since you're gonna be eating people anyway, might as well make the best of it." Something about the way she says that excites you and you grin widely. She takes notice and chuckles. "You like that idea, huh? Hmm..."

So yeah, Ivet is kind of a sociopath, really. But Viktor eats people. As far as I can remember, she's the only one who knows that fact and doesn't want to kill us. Absence of a sense of value for the sanctity of life is what Viktor needs in a woman.
>>
No. 406554 ID: 8c2977

>>406534
this, but with less vengefull bitchiness.
>>
No. 406576 ID: 5e3d1a

Don't get downed at this. You have awesome magic powers, the body of dreams, new exciting things happen all around you and you're rather rich. Speaking of which you need to put that money to use. Maybe you can buy something small and very magical?

Also ask if you can try a cigarette. You've never done it before.
>>
No. 406797 ID: f92bc6

Yeah, it's pretty fucked up that she's okay with you eating these guys, especially since they'd be missed; they're not nobodies, they're leaders in a small revolution. At least the guy before KINDA deserved it. But I don't think now is the time to really talk with her about that (if we ever choose to address it with her).

Just wait for her to come out, I'm sure Ivet will dismiss these guys if they're still out here when she comes back. Tell them thanks for the help, you'll take it from here.
>>
No. 406846 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133594470311.png - (654.46KB , 720x1248 , 50.png )
406846

All the happiness you had initially felt at seeing Ivet again seems to have instantly turned into a strong feeling of uneasiness. Even though the entire point of Davin helping you find Ivet was so she could help with the revolution, you still wish he would disappear. You think very hard about her words, "have you had breakfast." She wants you to eat him. Eat them both, really. Whether or not her request was moral never really enters your head. You literally survive by ending the lives of others, you've got no objection whatsoever to Ivet helping you to do that. What stops you, though, is Lothar. He seems like he might be a friend, and you'd rather not eat him too. You've got a feeling that you would probably have to if you ate Davin in front of him. Still, you'd like it if he left, and resolve to tell him so. You turn and square your imposing figure against Davin, who seems lost in thought. "I think it would be better if you left before Ivet comes out," you say.
He snorts derisively and turns to face you, puffing his chest out. "Of course you do." You feel Gaston lumbering up behind you. "I came here to get her involved in my revolution." Lothar clears his throat loudly. "Excuse me, this city's revolution," Davin corrects himself. "That hasn't happened yet, so I'm staying right here. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Yes," you reply, feeling heat rising in your face. "You're upsetting Ivet."
Davin throws his arms out and takes a sauntering step forward into your personal space. You hear Gaston snarl right behind your head. "Looks like I'm upsetting you, bro. What's your problem? Did fishy-smell not do a good job teaching you how sex works last night?"
There is enough clarity bubbling up through your rising temper to recognize that he is intentionally provoking you, and you can't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it, nor can you resist the urge to respond to it. "You're trying to start something with me?" You blink, quickly shifting your eyes and teeth to complement your ensuing snarl. "You have no idea how badly that would go for you. Back. Off."
Davin widens his eyes and cocks his head at an odd angle. "Or what?" he asks, drawing his swords halfway and keeping his hands on the hilts.
>>
No. 406847 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133594472587.png - (503.09KB , 720x1200 , 51.png )
406847

The heat you felt in your face seems to throb. Is he really going to force the issue? As much as it might make you feel better to smear him into the tree bark, you really wish he would just back up and cool off. You feel power inside of you force itself to the surface, and there is a loud rushing sound.
You seem to be underwater now. Davin and Gaston are on the ground a few feet away, and both are soaking wet.
Everything is suddenly calm, cool, and quiet. You hear Lothar speak, his words muffled by the water. "Someday, you're going to have to learn to be accountable for your own fuckups, Davin." Davin sits up slowly, keeping his gaze lowered. Lothar takes a long drag from the cigarette, throws the butt on the ground, and steps on it.
What do you do?
>>
No. 406852 ID: 2fe09b

>>406847
Just chill. As far as we know, you don't need to breathe. Even if you really needed to, you could just push some probiscis out. So shrug and sit down. No spell, or effect, lasts forever.
>>
No. 406857 ID: 72d49b

Tell Lothar you will drop this if it's his preference, because you consider Lothar a friend. No harm in insinuating that Davin would die otherwise, though Lothar seems to understand it well enough at this point.
>>
No. 406859 ID: 5029d1

"lothar, my thinking you're a cool dude is the only thing holding me back, please convince davin to leave before i lose my patience"
>>
No. 406873 ID: b3eb21

"Lothar, please know that the only reason I have not smeared your friend to a paste is because I like you. I ask that you please get him away from here before I really lose my patience."
>>
No. 406880 ID: 6f4add

uh. I'm not quite sure if that water thing was your doing, but if it is, drop it before hostilities arise. if not, become too big for it to contain you, preferably without changing your form. it seems like you can't talk from within that thing, and I still think you should try and resolve this with words. for Lothar's sake.

afterwards, tell Lothar that Davin and Gaston only live still because we consider them the friends of a friend, but that won't stop you if they don't leave Ivet be.
>>
No. 406882 ID: 7ffc97

I get the impression that, bro or not, Lothar doesn't care if we couldn't breathe in here. That may, in fact, be the point.

Not sure he likes us well enough for bro feelings to go both ways.
>>
No. 406896 ID: 6e44d2

>>406882
We created the water, bro. Notice how Viktor was saying he wished things would cool off. That's our water. Drop it, then say this:
>>406873
>>
No. 406952 ID: e440a4

Or we could, y'know, be the better man, drop the water thing, and give him a hand getting up. They already know your opinion about why Davin should leave. He might leave on his own after this, but if he doesn't, he does have a point: they helped you find Ivet for a reason.
>>
No. 407038 ID: f70e5e

>>406873
this, Davin is probably looking for a reason to not fight us right now, but doesn't want to lose face. he's probably used to Lothar dragging him away from fights so Davin will probably let Lothar drag him away from this one.
>>
No. 407121 ID: 5e3d1a

Before trying to drop the water aura see what it's like walking around in it and moving. Does it move with you or stay in one spot? What happens if you go near a wall? See if you can still talk from inside it by vibrating your body to create sound or something.

It's probably best not to confront Davin regarding Ivet. At least when she's not around. He's just going to get upset. Maybe you should just change the topic. What are they planning to do with this revolution/uprising? Who is it that actually needs to be toppled?
>>
No. 407245 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133600517464.png - (753.52KB , 720x1800 , 52.png )
407245

You take a moment to do a few quick experiments with your new power. You note that you don't seem to have any problems breathing the water, which seems to be hovering in a roughly spherical formation, centered somewhere in your chest. You take a step to the side (noting that you can't seem to swim in the water, only walk on the ground) and see that the sphere moves with you. Finally, you find that dismissing it seems simple enough, and you do so; the water dissipates nearly instantly, and you turn to address Lothar, who is still leaning against the tree. "Can you please tell Davin to leave?"
Lothar doesn't move. "Nope. I'm not his boss. He's a big boy and he's going to have to figure out how to deal with this on his own like a fucking adult."
You take a deep breath and furrow your brow seriously. "Please know that the only reason I have not smeared your friend to a paste is because I like you."
Lothar remains unmoving. "Then it's probably a good thing that I'm going to be standing here, continuing to hope that nobody dies. I respect your ability to handle your own business. Davin, you have been my bro for years, but I don't have that same respect for you. You and me, we got a lot of power back in our adventuring days. I've been stepping in for so long to protect other people from you. I'm fucking done. I'm not going to protect you from other people, too. And I wouldn't have to, if you'd figure out the difference between power and respect."
"Go fuck yourself," spits Davin, still seemingly unsure of standing up.
"Grow up," Lothar responds.
Davin reaches for his fallen short sword, his breath ragged and his hand shaking. You shift into a more defensive stance, mentally preparing yourself to throw Gaston into Davin if you have to.
Davin stands and sheathes the sword. He walks past you wordlessly and continues down the path away from Ivet's house, Gaston accompanying him.
Lothar exhales audibly, seeming to brighten a little. "Viktor, it's been real, man. You gonna stick around town for a while?"
"I think so," you reply, a little surprised by his more friendly change in tone.
"Cool. I'm sure I'll see you around. Good luck with your memory and..." he nods towards Ivet's door, "...everything else."
"Thanks."
"Yeah. Later, bro." Lothar, too walks down the path. As he disappears, you note that, based on the vibrations, he seems to be going in a different direction than Davin.
You sit against the side of the tree as a few minutes pass in relative silence. Finally, the door opens, and Ivet steps out and looks around. She smiles a little. "Thanks for getting rid of him."
"I didn't eat them," you reply. "They left."
"Ah," Ivet replies. "That's okay, as long as I don't have to deal with Davin right now. So, uh...yeah. We could go turn your treasure into gold or uh... there's probably a party somewhere. And the protest thing." She shuffles a little awkwardly. "So...yeah. What's up."
What do you do?
>>
No. 407253 ID: 5029d1

she doesn't want to think about it so don't think about it.
so let's get our treasure turned into things. an amulet or ring would e best, those can work almost regardless of form so long as they are o what counts as the right appendage.
>>
No. 407256 ID: 2fe09b

>>407245
Let's go fucking SHOPPING. Chicks LOVE shopping.

Lothar is a real man, by the way. Remember that.
>>
No. 407259 ID: e3f578

>>407245
"Do you really want to go to a party after how the last one turned into complete chaos and you almost lost a friend to mind-controlled servitude? This government is a threat to both me and you, and they know something related to me. Besides, we're high-profile targets now. This barbarian form was the last seen with you, and Davin even thought of looking for the form if I didn't change to it in front of him. How does this city function with it on the brink of war so often from the inside?"

The protest sounds interesting, but we're going to have to incapacitate any and all cloaks we meet to free them from their enslavement. That's not just to be good, but it's so we don't end up getting more friends of Ivet's killed we don't know about and free them, and to not get blamed for killing them. Less cloaks out there also means more peace around here and easier movement, and less raided parties and protests. We do need to find more to eat.
>>
No. 407263 ID: f32e89

Well, nothing's really of imminent importance, now that we've successfully reunited with Ivet. We could chill for a bit. From a practical purpose, converting our treasure to useful goods is probably what we should do next, whether that might be magical items or appreciating investments. The protest thing should be left some time for word to be distributed and sentiment to stew. Parties are all well and good, but a bit hectic for post-battle relaxing.
>>
No. 407270 ID: b3eb21

how about we get that gold
party sounds like a bad idea
so very bad
>>
No. 407272 ID: a2fa74

>>407245
Sigh
"First? Talk." then fill her in on the details we hid from Lothar and Davin.
The two most important being 'am a fragment of a dead god' and 'so is the singer'.
Also: "I would have rather learned from you."
>>
No. 407274 ID: e75a2f

Ask her what her beef with Lothar is. He seems like a very responsible and very cool dude.
>>
No. 407276 ID: b6edd6

Now would be a good time to plan for how we will respond to the guards' (likely continuing) interest in finding Ivet.

Until then, we should suggest that Ivet use a disguise or druid form to avoid being recognized.
>>
No. 407283 ID: e3f578

also go "Hey girl, what did you see in him? I thought hate those antlered, emotional perverts. Was it the sexy goatee?"
>>
No. 407310 ID: 8e8b4b

>>407283
She saw what everyone sees when they get into a relationship, whatever they want.
>>
No. 407311 ID: e3f578

>>407310
So...
the sexy goatee?
>>
No. 407322 ID: a2853b

>>407272
I support Seven's idea.
>>
No. 407323 ID: 72d49b

>>407272
Filling her in on the details we left out before is a good idea, and I support it.

>Also: "I would have rather learned from you."
God, no. Quite apart from bringing up something we'd rather not have her think about too much, this is creepy and presumptuous of us. Just because Viktor has little practical knowledge of how relationships work doesn't mean he needs to start acting like a ridiculous autist.

>>407283
>>407274
She had us get rid of him because she didn't want to worry about his bullshit. Therefore we shouldn't make her worry about it.
>>
No. 407331 ID: 3734f6

is she a friend of the insane dryad? (if so we should get her uninsaned).
Also, any other friends she has that could have gotten hit last night she wants to check up on.
>>
No. 407350 ID: 6c5b9b

Maybe we can buy her a present that will cheer her up. Something small
>>
No. 407392 ID: 5029d1

>>407323
i agree. that's like... way too far.
>>
No. 407440 ID: 3734f6

>>407323
just in case, adding my vote here so we don't make sure a horrible blunder.
>>
No. 407466 ID: 6e44d2

>>407323
Yep.

And let's go for a walk. Walks are really nice. Enjoy each other's company in nature.
>>
No. 407527 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133603491085.png - (577.44KB , 720x1500 , 53.png )
407527

You don't know how to read Ivet's behavior. She seems to be trying to act normally, but you can tell she's more reserved and nervous than you're used to seeing her. You want to talk about what's bothering her, but it seems like she either doesn't want to or doesn't know how to broach the subject. You're left mildly bewildered and default to pretending nothing's wrong until you can sort it out in your head. "I think I've partied hard enough for a while," you joke.
She chuckles briefly. "Yeah I don't know why I...just throwing it out there."
"Why don't we go sell the treasure?" you suggest. "Is there a place we can buy magic items in town?"
"Yeah, there's some pretty good ones. We might want to take the hub out to some other cities, though. Dayseal is pretty much all magic people, but they're probably gonna rip you off if you're not in their little cult. Fourgate is big enough to have some nice shops...yeah, we'll figure something out," Ivet says.
"If we're going into the inner city, maybe you should get some kind of disguise or turn into an animal. Aren't the authorities looking for you?" you ask.
Ivet ponders a moment. "I don't want to use an animal form, because then I won't be able to talk. I've got a big robe I can throw on. Hang on, I gotta grab your loot, too." She starts to turn around and head back towards her door. You start to stand up to follow her. "Wait right here, I'll be back in a second," she says, and disappears into her house, shutting the door behind her. Your heart sinks as you realize she's not letting you into her house anymore.
Moments later, she re-emerges, wearing a large robe with a part that covers the lower half of her face. You also notice that she's changed her skin tone in her face to a bluish-grey. You can faintly detect a jingling sound coming from her satchel.
"Alright, let's go," she says. "But hey, since I gotta wear a big goofy disguise, shouldn't you change forms too? Someone might recognize you from the party."
You briefly ponder what form to change into, but more of your thoughts are preoccupied thinking about what you're going to talk about with Ivet on the long walk into the city. What do you do?
>>
No. 407529 ID: 256d52

Start by just trying to break the ice a little - ask her what she thinks is a good form.
>>
No. 407530 ID: b0bf34

>>407529
I was going to suggest the dragonborn form, but I like this more.
>>
No. 407538 ID: 72d49b

Match her, look like a larger male in a cloak with skin and hair colored like hers.
>>
No. 407562 ID: 9718f3

>>407538
Yeah this. Hopefully you'll look like adventurers from a similar order/custom. Probably not too conspicuous.
>>
No. 407564 ID: 5029d1

talk about how you learned you may be the shard of a dead god.
>>
No. 407572 ID: 256d52

>>407564

Don't do that. That way lies library-wards!
>>
No. 407583 ID: 6f4add

>>407538

yeah, ok.

ask about Dayseal and their cult- we're a shapeshifter, we might be able to trick 'em into thinking we're something they revere or something.
>>
No. 407587 ID: 2fe09b

>>407538
Yearp, sounds good. Ask if you look alright.
>>
No. 407631 ID: 5e3d1a

>>407538
Yes do something similar. Large-ish male in heavy robes. Maybe with long dark dreadlocks and again a beard. Give it something to stand out, like a scar across one eye with the eye completely white. That kind of detail would probably throw off anyone looking for shapeshifters. Just in case. You should probably bring up the fact that your prison break was more of a case of you eating your way out. Your true form has grown a few sizes and you've gained some some supernatural abilities. You did research on the Ungolan Empire and found mentions of a god named Teyu who appeared to at least once be represented by a three-eyed tentacled head. It would also be nice to get out of the city to cut loose for real. Getting rid of the talpid threat could be interesting, but it would be best to have powerful allies if that Singer creature might be around.

Also ask Ivet what she is going to do about this revolution. Davin is a bit weird, but there might not be much of an outer city left for long unless something is done.

Also get some more information about Ivets mission with Avara. Were they possibly just put on the chopping block? Is it possible that Singer is the new god the talpids are worshipping?

Regarding magical goods it would be good to get something that prevents from sonic attacks. Your nemesis isn't called Singer for nothing. Small items is probably the way to go so you can still turn into tiny animal shapes. Might be good getting something for hurting ethereal/noncorporeal foes though. Don't want any undead mages slipping away again.
>>
No. 407809 ID: b0d466

How about a small, unimposing disguise?

Kobold~
>>
No. 407810 ID: b6edd6

>>407809
Heh, even if we don't end up going with that one I kind of want to see Ivet's reaction to it.
>>
No. 407910 ID: fb9917

>>407809
Be TWO kobolds. Holding hands.
>>
No. 407913 ID: 256d52

>>407910

Now's probably not the best time but remember this for later!
>>
No. 407915 ID: 3ce5b2
File 133612480639.png - (503.50KB , 720x900 , 54.png )
407915

You decide to go with a form that complements Ivet's. There are certain tells that would make her identifiable if they know she can adjust her appearance, the greatest of which is what superficially appears to be hair, but is actually more papery. You start to sculpt a new form to match hers while you're still too far out of sight for anyone to see your tentacles, and you add prominent white hair, which should help people fill in the details with what they think is under Ivet's hood. You copy the grey-blue skin coloration and make a similarly-designed robe, and tuck your scroll into the back of what passes for your belt. You don't match any creature you recognize from the books you read, but Thoth and a few others you've seen don't seem to fit into descriptions of any races you're aware of, either. You also give yourself a scar across your right eye, just to add more superficial detail. You hold your arms out and ask Ivet for an opinion.
"Looks fine," she says, and starts to walk out from the concealment of the tree root. "Reminds me of some sort of eastern hero. And, we match, so that should help with the disguise."
You nod, and shift your voice to one you think matches your new form better. "So I neglected to mention some things while Davin and Lothar were here. First, I did some research on ancient Ungolan religions. I found a god named Teyu, who was represented by a three-eyed face with horns and tentacles. I think I and the Singer are related to him in some way." It's frustratingly difficult for you to tell Ivet's reaction; the hood is obscuring her face from your angle. "We might even be fragments of him."
She turns to look at you with a mix of concern and surprise. "That sounds...well, crazy, to be honest." She raises an eyebrow. "But, I believe you. It fits, and I've seen you do some crazy things." She turns back the way she was facing.
"Yes, speaking of which, I can do more crazy things," you reply. "I didn't so much escape prison as eat my way out. I grew a lot and I gained some supernatural powers."
"Ooh! Like what?"
"Well, so far all I can do is shoot beams of magic and make water hover around myself. Oh, and I can see living things through solid objects." You make sure you're not missing anything. "Oh, right, and I can make myself weigh less."
"Good," she says, "then we can take the scenic route." She points to a long suspended rope bridge from a ways further down the ledge you're on to a tree further into the center.
You look around the surrounding area and see a path winding its way around the trunk of the tree, with several larger platforms built into the side of the tree. Your distant gaze catches the birch tree and you're reminded of something else. "Oh right, I also ran into someone I think is the dryad of the tree from last night. I think she was affected by the insanity spell. She also gave me a scroll. I think it is the same spell the Singer used last night, it makes a symbol that causes insanity when it gets triggered." Ivet doesn't seem to react, so you elaborate. "She was reanimating the dead from the party."
Ivet turns to look at you. "Yeah I...am not sure that was the spell. She's always been a little, well, let's say eccentric. Did she tell you anything else?"
"I think she mentioned the Singer. She wasn't making much sense, though. Other than that, and telling me you left as a vulture, not anything important. Do you know her?"
Ivet turns away. "Not that well, really. It's not our problem, in any case." The two of you have reached the rope bridge, swaying gently from side to side. She gestures to it. "After you."
Something about this whole situation bothers you. "How does this city continue to exist? It seems to be on the brink of war from the inside. The Singer is showing up and eating people, Mother Oasis is capturing and brainwashing the citizens, and everyone goes to party at the local necromancer's. It all seems unstable."
Ivet shrugs. "Most of those problems are new. From what I understand, people out here have always had a problem with the government, but it only became serious during my lifetime. But it's only during that time that Mother Oasis really even made herself visible as a public figure, too. I mean, she was always running things, but there are all these guilds and agencies...I guess you don't stay in charge of the same city for centuries if you put your face on everything, though. I think it started when there was this group, maybe twenty years ago? I was barely old enough to remember. Anyway, this group was trying to revere Mother Oasis like a goddess or something. She refused them, though, forced them to break up. Apparently, since then, she's been more visible to the public, and things got bad, and then they just kept getting worse. Last night was the most arrests at once that I can remember." She shakes her head. "Anyway, yeah. It IS unstable. It just turned unstable, and I still don't know how things will settle. Remember, you just got here. This has been building up for...well, a long time."
"Davin seemed to think Mother Oasis was responsible for the Singer," you say. "But I thought you and Avara were supposed to be doing some sort of diplomacy thing with him? I'm assuming he's the one the Talpids worship."
Ivet sighs. "Avara was. I was tagging along because I know my way around the underground better than she did. Though, I think she just wanted company, really. But they collapsed the tunnels and sealed us in with them..."
You don't want to upset her, but you feel like you need to figure this out. "What was the plan supposed to be, though? What was supposed to happen?"
You can see Ivet tense up a little bit. "I...I don't actually know. I'm sure Avara trusted me, she just... she said she wasn't allowed to tell anybody. It wasn't because she didn't trust me enough." You think you hear her voice crack at the word "trust".
Speaking of trust, you really want to earn it back from Ivet, but now you feel like you've gotten yourself involved in some sort of emotional landmine. You might want to comfort her somehow, or get her mind off the subject, or something. And you're starting to think that pretending the whole library thing didn't happen isn't going to do you any favors, but you know enough to recognize that you probably shouldn't bring it up right this second. You really wish you were better at this.
What do you do?
>>
No. 407928 ID: 6f4add

you don't deal with emotional things like this right after they happen. she'll think more clearly, and probably more lenient, a while afterwards. maybe a after few days, maybe a week, maybe more, I don't know. but not now, that's for sure. just go.
>>
No. 407933 ID: a2fa74

>>407915
Give her a gentle hug.
Not a quick one, either, hold it until she gives you a cue.
>>
No. 407939 ID: 5029d1

rub her back with one hand. not a lot just a slight contact sort of thing. and the fact she is talking to you shows you didn't lose trust. she is just mad about it.
>>
No. 407944 ID: 2fe09b

>>407915
Emotional harm heals slowly. It takes time. You need to prove you aren't going to betray her ever again, and in order to do that, you need to simply stay with her. An apology, later, when she isn't so upset, will do a lot of good, but now's not the time.

Instead, focus on keeping her safe. Maybe >>407939 , but really, ask her if she needs help with anything or if there's anything she wants to do. It's not like you've got anywhere specific to be, right?
>>
No. 407963 ID: 3734f6

Touching is risky, if accepted is good, but if rejected it makes things worse. I wouldn't go for comforting hug unless she is crying.

Solution is >>/questdis/362006 but victor wouldn't know it

>what do
"It must hurt so much to lose your best friend that way.
There were times I thought you might have died in last night attack and it felt... my heart...
How do people make such a thing stop hurting?" Why would victor know... until she tells him that is

At this point a comforting touch is appropriate followed by.
"The Singer will pay for this with his life"
>>
No. 407992 ID: e440a4

>>407963
fuck no, this is so goddamn cheesy.

I wish I had been on in time to suggest after the last update, because, no offense, but you guys really suck at this. Here's this big sexual elephant in the room waving its big elephant dong around some other girl's weird branching vagina while we're spouting off facts, hounding her with questions, and making her doubt that her recently-dead friend was even her friend at all. good fucking job. We needed to address the padma thing.
>You want to talk about what's bothering her, but it seems like she either doesn't want to or doesn't know how to broach the subject.
You don't fix these kinds of things by not talking about them. Did we make a mistake? Probably, yeah. But Ivet and Viktor are not romantically involved, and she knows he is pretty clueless about this kind of thing. Unfortunately, we're going to have to take a step back before we can take two steps forward. We should have bitten the bullet and explained what happened, and thrown in something about how we do not care about this other girl. She broke up with Davin not because he slept around, but because he slept around while he knew that doing so was outside the boundaries of what Ivet was comfortable with. Monogamy is clearly not the norm in this culture.

Gah, I am rambling. Okay, what to do now? Comfort her, tell her you're sure it wasn't a matter of Ivet not being trustworthy enough, but Avara being so trustworthy herself that she didn't want to break her vow of secrecy. Tell her you're sorry for her loss, and yeah, I like MrTT's direction he went in with telling her you were worried that you lost her too but for the love of god do not use those exact words he posted.

Does Ivet eat? maybe ask her if she wants to get something to eat along the way. And I don't mean people, I mean Viktor should try some regular food just so we can start learning more limits for his whole digestive thing. Girls + food + feelings is an okay combo. Don't bring the padma thing up now, but after you've sat down and gotten some time to talk, maybe then just tell her you feel like the two of you need to talk about what happened. Just be totally open and honest with your explanation, she obviously values that. Good communication is really all you need. She might get angrier right now in the short-term, but it will be so much better for you in the long-term. We've been going about this whole mess in a sort of childish way. Remember what Lothar said?
>Someday, you're going to have to learn to be accountable for your own fuckups
>Grow up
Take a page out of Lothar's book. You know why he's so cool to be around? Because he speaks his mind all the time and doesn't play games. Be more like that.
>>
No. 407995 ID: e3f578

Easiest thing to say is to admit your sorry about the lesson. Don't offer an excuse or anything. You can have a private conversation and make it have meaning now.
>>
No. 407996 ID: e440a4

>>407992
Oh, and for fuck's sake, don't bring up the "animals in the branches" thing. That book was written from the perspective of some sort of epic sex wizard. She slept with an Aboleth. We don't need to be like that.
>>
No. 408006 ID: b85f8c

Do not wait much longer to breach the subject about your sexual encounter.

But yeah, not immediately, this is a bad time. Also uh, the thing is, we need to make it clear that we regret doing it. It obviously hurt her to find out, and it hurt us to admit doing it. We shouldn't make excuses about it, but we need to acknowledge that we made a mistake and that we hurt her and we're storry. She knows we don't know a whole lot about social stuff already, and that's pretty much our only excuse. We should've talked to her about it first. We should've told the undine more about Ivet's behavior, so she could get a better indication of whether it would fuck things up for us. We should've gone to find Ivet earlier.
>>
No. 408028 ID: 6e44d2

A gentle hand on her shoulder sounds great right about now.
>>
No. 408033 ID: 8e8b4b

She needs to be open with her feelings and not expect a week old autistic shoggoth to read her mind. Get mad at someone because they break a promise or lie to you not because they're ignorant.
>>
No. 408048 ID: 5c7a63

>>408033
I don't think she's mad at Viktor, just upset about the situation. If she was mad at viktor she would probably have disowned him as hard as she disowned david and the harpy girl.
>>
No. 408075 ID: d5ee6f

>>408048
She didn't let us into her house.
>>
No. 408371 ID: 2ebde7

>>408075
True, but she still wanted us to eat Davin. It could be worse~

No suggestions at the moment, but I am not surprised she's upset. I'm picturing this being some kind of pushy-pully thing soon that ends up with them kissing~
>>
No. 408684 ID: a94792

"Ivet, I feel like we need to talk about what happened to me. I sense that you seem a bit... upset, but I'm not exactly sure why, and I can only guess that is because I'm not well-versed in your culture. Could you please explain, so I know what to be sorry about?" Smile sheepishly.

The only way to really talk about this with her is to be pretty straight forward. I don't know if we want to put it /quite/ this bluntly, but this is the gist of how we should approach this, in my humble opinion.
>>
No. 408805 ID: 9718f3

I think telling her that we recognize that she is upset and would like to know why, but also don't want to pressure her. We'll be ready to listen when she's ready to talk about it.
>>
No. 408810 ID: 5e3d1a

No touching. That just seems a bit creepy.
>>
No. 408912 ID: 6e44d2

>>408810
Doesn't know how physical affection works.
>>
No. 409675 ID: 622e4f
File 133646712770.png - (522.36KB , 720x900 , 55.png )
409675

You stop and put your hand comfortingly on Ivet's shoulder. "I'm sorry you lost your friend. I'm sure it wasn't that she thought you weren't trustworthy, but that she was so trustworthy herself that she didn't want to tell her secrets. Do you want to talk about it?"
Ivet stops and sighs. "No, not really. Thanks, though."
With the topic being cut off like that, you aren't really left with much to say as the two of you walk across the gently swaying bridge. Your gaze is drawn to the plaza and the tiny people bustling about below like insects. The forest below is so alive. Nearly everywhere there is a gap in the trees, you can see people milling about on the ground. Small impromptu structures dot the landscape below, some built into the trees. Many types of animals move through the forest, and you can see the occasional harpy or other winged creature perched in the canopy. As you near the other end of the bridge, the massive branches of the tree that the bridge is tethered to cast dull, mottled shadows over you and Ivet.
"I'm glad we took the scenic route," you say. "This place is really beautiful."
Ivet turns to face you, and you can tell from her eyes that she's smiling a little sadly. "It really is. I try not to get too used to it living here, but, well..." she trails off.
"Are you hungry?" you ask, changing the subject. "I feel like stopping to get something to eat on the way."
"Oh? Well, yes, I'm kind of hungry. But for you, it's going to be more crowded around here, but we can probably find some way to get somebody alone..."
"What kind of things do you eat? I haven't even tried any other sorts of food, I might like it, too," you say, hesitantly.
Ivet chuckles a little. "I forgot you haven't tried eating anything other than people. I'm sure we can find some food somewhere. I don't need to eat very often, but I eat normal stuff, you know, fruit and vegetables and meat and things. Most people will share their food, and a lot of people just love to cook. It's usually considered polite to give them something in exchange, or help them grow their garden or something. I grow some mushrooms that some people like to eat for fun, too. Tending mushrooms is a little different than plants, and most people don't bother."
"What do you mean, eat for fun?" you ask.
"Oh, well, they eat them, and then after a little while they start to feel and experience things differently. They don't affect me or a few other types of creatures, so I'm not totally sure how to describe what it does," Ivet explains. "I can use them as raw materials for a couple of the spells that I can cast, though."
The two of you reach the end of the bridge and step off onto a large platform attached to one of the branches. You start to wind your way down to the ground, traversing pathways and ladders, passing through other similar platforms occupied by groups of mostly elves and fey, with a few unusual creatures here and there. You and Ivet chat idly as you pass through a few conversations, two musical groups, an unabashed pair of nymphs having sex with a satyr, and many clouds of sickly-sweet-smelling smoke.
>>
No. 409676 ID: 622e4f
File 133646719297.png - (876.95KB , 720x1726 , 56.png )
409676

As you approach the ground below, you can smell the smoke from a small fire below, carrying the taste of spices, vegetables, and meat. An Elf with enormous pupils waves to you idly as you approach and goes back to playing with her hair, lounging against a male Nymph playing a lute. He, a drum-bearing Halfling, and a Pixie with a fiddle are playing a lively upbeat tune, and a Thri-Kreen tending the food greets you and Ivet warmly as you approach. "Hello! New faces on these travelers."
"Hello there," Ivet says, "Yes, we are passing through from the underground, enjoying the view. It is very beautiful here."
"Perhaps you will rest and enjoy some food?" she asks. "We are all one clutch here, one family." She offers you each a stick with a variety of roasted meats and vegetables skewered on it.
You and Ivet say your respective thanks, and Ivet offers the cook a small bag from one of her pouches, who rushes excitedly to another elven creature lounging nearby and shows him its contents.
The two of you wander idly to a small rock wall overlooking the inner city, and Ivet drops her hood and mouth covering to pop a roasted red vegetable in her mouth. You tentatively sample a bit of the cooked meat, but you don't find it much to your liking; to you, it tastes like they tried to cover it in other flavors to hide the fact that it's been dead for more than a few seconds. You inspect the twisting pattern of the massive tree's roots as they wind their way down the steep slope below, trying to swallow the knot in your throat to talk to Ivet about what is bothering her. Finally, you remember what Lothar said to Davin about being accountable for your mistakes, and you speak up.
"Ivet, I feel like we need to talk about what happened after I went to prison. I feel like I upset you, and I..." you hesitate to say that you don't know why, because you've got a pretty solid bet that it has to do with having sex with Padma, "...I want to talk about why that is," you finally say.
Ivet tenses up and swallows, then looks away. "I'm not upset!" she replies quickly. "I mean, okay, maybe... Look, Viktor, it's not even...I mean I don't have any say in what you..." You can see the bluish skin tone she adopted turning more indigo. "Bluh," she groans frustratedly, and pulls her cowl up over her face.
You're not sure how to respond to that outburst. After a moment of silence, you ask, "Ivet?"
"Do you remember right after we got into town," Ivet asks through the cloth over her face, "and I asked you how you felt about me?"
You try to fight your rising tension. "Yes," you respond.
Ivet pulls the cowl back down and looks at you, her cheeks almost totally purple at this point. "So you really don't understand why I could possibly be upset?"
You bluster for a moment. "Listen, Ivet...I made a mistake. The girl at the library didn't mean anything to me, I was just too excited by the prospect of learning something new that I didn't stop to consider the repercussions. I'm sorry."
"Augh," Ivet grumbles and looks away. "Look, can we just not talk about this? Let's just go get your stuff sold, okay?" She pulls her hood over her head and roughly bites off a chunk of meat as she walks towards a path winding down the incline.
You droop a little in defeat. "Yeah, okay."
End Chapter 3.
>>
No. 409684 ID: 6e44d2

Ugh, fuck. Sorry, man... That is an uncomfortable moment. I still don't really get why she's being so shy about talking about sex, though. I mean, she's a grown woman. Ugh. Whatever. You care a lot about her, work with it. I think you're going to have to start doing things like surprising her with chocolates or flowers or whatever the equivalent would be for her kind. Be sweet and romantic with her. You'll win her back.

No worries, brotha man. You're cool.
>>
No. 409688 ID: 6d6017

I told you man

I told you about awkward!
>>
No. 409730 ID: a2fa74

>>409676
Don't press the issue. It's too fresh a wound, and she's suffering from internal conflict over it.
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