The full story of Dungeon Delvers. This story was run from February 20th 2021 to May 3rd 2021 and was originally posted on the Clockworksun Stories Discord server.
This story is 30 updates long, plus an epilogue, spread over 82 standard pages with a total of 25,000 words.
Note that some reaction counts may not be exact, as voters may have changed their reactions between the close of voting and the time this story was scraped from the server.
Note that some reaction counts may not be exact, as voters may have changed their reactions between the close of voting and the time this story was scraped from the server.
Howdy everyone, and welcome back to some story writing! As always, we have four scenarios on the docket to pick from. Three* of them are ones that weren't chosen last time, while one* was cooked up fresh and shiny new. Note that all scenarios will expire after four times up for voting and will be retired. The number of times each scenario has been listed is noted next to its name. Vote for the one you'd like to see turned into a full-fledged story!
(4) [SHORT STORY] Dungeon Delvers 
Action-Adventure
Magical Medieval / Renaissance - Underground Dungeon
A classic adventuring party a la D&D dives into a mysterious and dangerous dungeon in search of treasure, or perhaps something more valuable. What dark secrets lie in wait? What horrifying monsters bar their way? How many will die in the process?
(3) [SHORT STORY] The End of Everything 
️
Cosmic Atmospheric / Horror
The End of Time - Space
The end of the universe has been and gone, and yet life remains. Pitifully inching across the empty, frigid void, a single starship crawls across utter nothingness, its reactor capable of sustaining it for millennia more. But what is the point of living in this utterly dead existence? Is there a way to reverse entropy, to jump-start the universe back to life? You’re not sure, but it’s got to be a better plan than just sitting around in the ship, waiting for the ultimate end.
Action-Adventure
Magical Medieval / Renaissance - Underground Dungeon
A classic adventuring party a la D&D dives into a mysterious and dangerous dungeon in search of treasure, or perhaps something more valuable. What dark secrets lie in wait? What horrifying monsters bar their way? How many will die in the process?
(3) [SHORT STORY] The End of Everything ️
Cosmic Atmospheric / Horror
The End of Time - Space
The end of the universe has been and gone, and yet life remains. Pitifully inching across the empty, frigid void, a single starship crawls across utter nothingness, its reactor capable of sustaining it for millennia more. But what is the point of living in this utterly dead existence? Is there a way to reverse entropy, to jump-start the universe back to life? You’re not sure, but it’s got to be a better plan than just sitting around in the ship, waiting for the ultimate end.
(1) [SHORT STORY] Eir Terminus 
Science Fiction / Heist
The Future - Space/Kronwaë
(This scenario replaces To Turn Back the Clock, as I've decided I don't want to write a full novel in this universe quite yet. It keeps much of the same themes, though.) In today's galactic market, cybernetics, implants, and biotech are all the rage, though prohibitively rare and expensive for many. There's significant demand for these modifications at a more reasonable price, and where there's demand, there's supply. Enter our protagonist, a - shall we say "repossessor?" - of implants and other tech. Illegal? Sure. But who's going to stop a bounty hunter? Oh, the galatic police? Well, they can be a protagonist too, I suppose.
(1) [SHORT STORY] “HENRY” 
Puzzle / Mystery
Present Day - A large mall
Getting on the wrong bus by mistake can have consequences, but usually they’re limited to just wasting time or transit fare. This time, our protagonist has ended up in some sort of warped reflection of their original shopping destination, along with several other hapless shoppers. Together or apart, they must figure out a way to escape the mall while staying ahead of the many dangers it poses. It may also be a good idea to figure out where that bus went off to...
(Winner: )
Science Fiction / Heist
The Future - Space/Kronwaë
(This scenario replaces To Turn Back the Clock, as I've decided I don't want to write a full novel in this universe quite yet. It keeps much of the same themes, though.) In today's galactic market, cybernetics, implants, and biotech are all the rage, though prohibitively rare and expensive for many. There's significant demand for these modifications at a more reasonable price, and where there's demand, there's supply. Enter our protagonist, a - shall we say "repossessor?" - of implants and other tech. Illegal? Sure. But who's going to stop a bounty hunter? Oh, the galatic police? Well, they can be a protagonist too, I suppose.
(1) [SHORT STORY] “HENRY”
Puzzle / Mystery
Present Day - A large mall
Getting on the wrong bus by mistake can have consequences, but usually they’re limited to just wasting time or transit fare. This time, our protagonist has ended up in some sort of warped reflection of their original shopping destination, along with several other hapless shoppers. Together or apart, they must figure out a way to escape the mall while staying ahead of the many dangers it poses. It may also be a good idea to figure out where that bus went off to...
(Winner: )
10
4
5
8
Okay, our next story will be Dungeon Delvers! The first thing we’re going to need to figure out is what hapless adventurers will form our party.
Adventurers have a class and a personality. The former determines what challenges they are most effective at overcoming, while the latter determines how much their teammates will want to shank them while they sleep. The highest-voted adventurers will be picked in descending order until we reach the magic number for adventuring parties: four.
️ - Zeke, a brash and reckless human swordmage. Also known as bladesingers by people who want to impress them, swordmages have such strong bonds with their weapons that they can summon them out of thin air.
- Crumpet, also known as Crump to his friends, a towering and powerful ogre. He’s not the brightest, but carries a very big stick and definitely knows how to use it. Fiercely protective of people who are kind to him.
- Maiele, an elven elementalist with a particular focus in powerful area of effect spells. She also has experience in healing and revival magic, but only because her parents forced her to.
- Dave, an old and kooky elven wizard who specializes in pyromancy. He loves fire, burning things, and explosions. Sometimes forgets where he is, who he is, or what he’s doing. Probably won’t start a party member on fire by accident. Ideally.
- Jordufli, a dwarven ranger wielding a heavy composite bow. Banished from his clan, though is very tight-lipped about why. Has a worryingly strong sense of smell and can use it to sniff out prey.
- Gomm, an eight-foot golem made of clay. Not much for words, but can communicate reasonably well by gesture and some limited sign language. No one’s entirely sure how it - they? - escaped their master. Has limited anti-magic properties.
️ - Iofodil, a quiet and nimble assassin with a concerning mastery of poisons and other dangerous plants. Has a pet snake. Thinks she’s hot stuff. There is a nonzero chance she will murder a party member.
️ - Sanora, a half-elven paladin who serves the god of protection. Insufferably lawful good. Highly capable with healing and shield spells. Wears like eighty pounds of armor. Very poor dancer and defensive about it.
(Winners: , , ️ , )
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Alright, our party will consist of Dave the wizard, Maiele the elementalist, Iofodil the assassin, and Crumpet the... big boy. Truly a well-balanced team. So! There are a few more things we’ll need to decide before we actually get going. Here are some more choices:
What is the dungeon?
- Your classic underground dungeon. Bricks, traps, archetypal monsters.
- Ancient magitech-infused temple. Precursor artifacts, everlasting lights, strange magical machines.
️ - An old mine that broke into a cave system. Natural caverns, lightless plants, things crawling in the dark.
What is the party’s objective? [You can give suggestions for the bracketed parts in #story_discussion, or I can fill it in myself.]
- Loot! Wealth, treasure, money, gold, etc.
- A specific artifact with a perplexing power [What power?]
- A particular person [Who? Why are they in the dungeon?]
- Revenge [On who or what? Why?]
How long has the gang known each other?
⏱️ - About ten seconds.
- Eight hours or so.
- A few days; maybe a week or two.
What shall be our perspective? [Dave and Crumpet are not available options due to how their minds work. I didn’t forget about them or anything.]
️ - Third omniscient. The camera sees all and can listen to anyone’s* thoughts.
- Third limited. The camera is a physical object in the world.
- Third person, from Maiele’s perspective.
️ - Third person, from Iofodil’s perspective.
(Winners: , , ⏱️ , ️ )
- Your classic underground dungeon. Bricks, traps, archetypal monsters.
- Ancient magitech-infused temple. Precursor artifacts, everlasting lights, strange magical machines.
️ - An old mine that broke into a cave system. Natural caverns, lightless plants, things crawling in the dark.
What is the party’s objective? [You can give suggestions for the bracketed parts in #story_discussion, or I can fill it in myself.]
- Loot! Wealth, treasure, money, gold, etc.
- A specific artifact with a perplexing power [What power?]
- A particular person [Who? Why are they in the dungeon?]
- Revenge [On who or what? Why?]
How long has the gang known each other?
⏱️ - About ten seconds.
- Eight hours or so.
- A few days; maybe a week or two.
What shall be our perspective? [Dave and Crumpet are not available options due to how their minds work. I didn’t forget about them or anything.]
️ - Third omniscient. The camera sees all and can listen to anyone’s* thoughts.
- Third limited. The camera is a physical object in the world.
- Third person, from Maiele’s perspective.
️ - Third person, from Iofodil’s perspective.
(Winners: , , ⏱️ , ️ )
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9
8
2
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11
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9
3
5
11
8
1
1
Before we truly get started, make sure to check out the main page for this story here: https://clockworksun.com/work/stories/dungeon-delvers
You will find additional information on the characters and how choices will work in this story in the Characters and Rules links on the main page. Both will be updated with new information as the story proceeds, so make sure to check back every so often. Now, let’s get going.
Scene 0
“You think we’re close?” the ogre growled, shoving aside another branch blocking the path. With a sharp report, the wood snapped and allowed the ten-foot blue-grey brute to pass.
Perched jauntily atop the massive ogre’s shoulder, a little old elf in colorful robes and bright yellow rainboots grinned. “Oooh, yes. Very close now.” He closed his eyes and chanted briefly in a singsong voice. “Another hundred feet, same direction. Make sure you’re ready for a fight.”
“CRUMPET ALWAYS READY FOR A FIGHT!” the ogre roared, smashing through the remaining trees to cross the last hundred feet in a matter of seconds. He slowed to a stop and looked around, squinting as he peered into the forest. Nothing moved outside of the flocks of birds he had scared off. “Nothing here,” he grumbled.
“Let me down, please,” the colorful elf asked. “There is something here.”
Crumpet did as instructed and carefully placed his companion on the muddy ground. There had recently been a rainstorm and trees were still dripping water into the dirt, though the sun had come out now. A small clearing stood here, more natural than the path he had just cleared through the forest. He watched as Dave squished through the mud and waved his hand over the mound of loose dirt in the middle of the clearing. “Anything?”
The wizard looked up, palm glowing over the debris. “Oh ho, yes! This pile is new - a few days, perhaps. The trail leads into it, and I can pick up strong magical energy just below. This is undoubtedly the place!”
“Get in?”
“Yes, we’ll need to clear a path underground. If you don’t mind...?”
Crumpet plunged his hands into the ground and ripped out two massive scoops, tossing them away and showering the trees with clods of dirt. “ER - ZOG - I - WILL - FIND - YOU!” he shouted in time with his attacks.
Dave sat down against the base of a nearby tree and sipped from his waterskin. “Very good, Crumpet. Very good indeed.”
...
Earlier...
Maiele jumped as the main door slammed open and someone stumbled inside. She looked up, along with almost everyone else in the inn, at the disheveled man who fell to one knee. “H-help...” he exhaled, then collapsed.
There was a pause. Maiele blinked.
Suddenly, several patrons from a table near the door stood up and rushed over to the man. Maiele, curious but not exceptionally invested, returned to her eggs while keeping an eye on the commotion. Many of the other patrons did the same.
“Is anyone here a healer?” one of the helpers shouted. “This man is dying!”
Maiele winced, conflicted. No. I’m not a healer. I’m sure someone around here can help him.
“There’s an apothecary down the street,” someone else offered. See?
“He ain’t gonna make it that long! He needs help, now! Lookit him!”
There was a pained gurgle.
“What about the church? Y’think anyone there could help?”
“They’re all out in the fields for the blessings, remember? You, run and see if you can get them in time!”
The man coughed and gasped.
“He’s not going to make it! For the love of gods, can anyone here help this man?!”
Maiele relaxed her jaw, noticing she had been clenching her teeth together. She stood up and quickly approached. “I can help him,” she said quietly. “Where is - erk.”
She almost choked as one of the townsfolk moved aside to reveal the man’s back. Four enormous claw marks slashed through his shirt and cut deeply into the flesh beneath. Rivulets of blood pumped from his torso and pooled along the floorboards. Maiele gagged as she noticed a squirming motion from some glistening internal organ. Gods, I’m going to throw up.
She looked away and exhaled shakily. “Okay, please hold him still.”
The townsfolk nodded and gripped the man’s limbs. Maiele gagged again, then knelt down, placed her hands on his back, and began to recite the incantation. She had to hold that pose for upwards of thirty seconds as her magic slowly knitted flesh back together and regenerated missing blood. She choked twice more during the casting, but managed to recover both times before losing her grip on the spell.
Finally, it was over. She scrambled back and took deep breaths while kneeling on the floor, trying to keep her stomach in line.
A new voice joined the clamor - the person she had just saved. “I - I’m alive. I’m okay! Ma’am, thank you so much! I can’t believe I... ma’am, are you alright?”
At this point, Maiele had recovered enough to get to her feet with the nausea mostly under control. “I’m fine,” she gasped. “Healings like that take a lot out of me.” Not a lie, exactly, but tactfully omitting the real reason she had collapsed. Oh no, there’s blood on my skirt. And hands. Better not touch anything. Need to get some water. “Happy to help.”
“If there’s anything I can do to repay you, ma’am, I-”
“What did this to you?”
“Er, well... it’s going to sound hard to believe, but...” the man fidgeted with his shirt, seemingly unable to believe his torso was completely whole again. “I’m an explorer, you see. Out in the forest, I found a new sinkhole - I guess it had formed from all this rain - and there were some bricks down there. I jumped in to take a look, and there was a crypt or something! A big tomb! Then... this is the hard to believe part, but I swear it’s true. One of... one of the coffins picked itself up off the ground and chased me through the forest. I almost got away, but just as I got out of the trees, it managed to claw me across the back. Then it ran off; I guess it didn’t want to get involved with the town guards. And that’s, uh, what happened.”
Several patrons gave concerning looks. One made the “cuckoo” sign. Maiele stared at him. “Can you tell me where that sinkhole is?”
“Oh, yeah. I drew a map - here, you can have it. I’m never going into that forest again. Are you... going to go after it?”
Maiele tucked the map into the waistband of her skirt, grimacing at the bloody handprint she had just left on it. “Y-yeah. Yes, I am. If - whatever did this to you - if it’s still out there, no one’s safe. The least I can do is go check it out.”
There was some scattered nodding and a few mutters from the crowd. While the notion of a coffin monster was far-fetched, the claw marks were all too real. There was something dangerous out there, for sure, and if this half-elven girl wanted to go out there and look for it, well that was her prerogative. She didn’t look like the adventuring type, what with the flowery skirt and delicate arms, but she had just saved a man’s life. Maybe she was capable enough.
“Ma’am, thank you,” the man said again, clasping his hands together. “I - Brilareo of Redport - am in your debt.”
“I will let you know what I find, Brilareo. Stay safe.”
Leaving her food behind, Maiele retreated upstairs to wash up and gather her equipment.
...
Iofodil smirked, entertaining herself by again remembering the stupid face the girl had made when she had first seen the extent of the man’s injuries. Heh. Some powerful magic, sure, but not at all accustomed to adventure. No one who had been on the road for more than a year would balk at the sight of wounds like that. She was a newbie, and that meant she’d be easy to manipulate.
She scoffed again, catching a glimpse of her target through the undergrowth ahead. Honestly, who went traveling in a skirt like that? Maybe when riding horseback, but not when walking through a forest. The girl would be more at home in a noble court than out on the road, and that raised even more questions. Why was she here? Who was she related to? Could a ransom be set up? So many opportunities. But to start with, she’d want to at least tail the girl until arriving at that sinkhole Brilareo had been talking about. Coffin monsters or no, tombs like that would have treasure. She could figure out what to do with her target afterwards.
Something hissed in the undergrowth and Iofodil smiled. “Kesset, come,” she whispered. A three foot long green-brown snake emerged from under a bush and curled its way up her leg to eventually wrap around her shoulders. “Find anything good?” she asked, stroking the snake’s head.
Kesset didn’t reply - he never did, of course, as he couldn’t speak. However, Iofodil could often get a sense of his mood from his body language, and today he was fat and happy. “You found something good,” she smiled. “Good for you.”
She had originally bought Kesset about two years ago from a trainer in a town a few weeks west of Redport. The snake was her valued companion in many of her tasks: he provided venom, could immobilize or kill targets just as easily as Iofodil herself, and even had some sort of sense that allowed him to identify targets by their heat alone. She credited him with the primary responsibility on six of her kills since she had got him, with assists on many more.
Today, she might need him again. It would be so easy to have him slip in and poison the girl. He was even of a species native to this region. No one would bat an eye.
Behave, she reminded herself. You’ll get your chance.
...
Maiele began to hear loud crashing sounds as she approached the sinkhole indicated on her map. She slowed her pace, nervous as she noticed a wide swath had been carved through the trees just up ahead. Something enormous and in a big hurry had come this way. Running through her spells just to be sure she remembered them, Maiele carefully crept through the broken trees until she could peek into the clearing.
A ten-foot blue-grey ogre was standing in a hole, flinging dirt out at high speeds. Could that be the “coffin monster?” she wondered. Ogres tended to be dumb and mean, but they usually didn’t have claws. Blunt force was more their style. Hang on - someone else was approaching.
An old elf in colorful robes walked up to the hole and peered in. “Ooh, good work. We’ve uncovered it! How about you take a short break to rest, and then we’ll go in?”
The ogre hauled himself out of the hole. “Okay. Short break. Then we go. Erzog.”
“Yes, of course.” The old elf glanced around the clearing, his eyes faintly glowing with pale blue light, and blinked as his gaze passed over Maiele. “Oooh, hello there!” he called. “Crumpet, we have a visitor.” Raising his voice again, he added, “Why don’t you come say hello?”
“WHO VISITOR!” the ogre yelled, staring around.
Maiele meekly emerged from behind a tree. “H-hi.”
“Hello!” the wizard waved cheerfully. “My name is Dave and this is Crumpet. Pleased to meet you, young miss...?”
She cautiously approached, keeping at least one eye on the ogre - Crumpet, apparently - at all times. “Maiele. Nice to meet you too.”
“Maiele? HmmmmMM! That’s a very elven name!”
“Y-yeah. It is.”
“Very nice! So, what brings you all the way out here?”
She slowly started to relax as the ogre stretched out on his back and started playing with a clod of earth, leaving the conversation to Dave. “Well, I’m looking for a, uh...” She changed her mind halfway through the sentence. “Looking for a sinkhole leading into a tomb. Which...” She glanced into the hole. “Seems to be right here.”
“Mm hm! You’ve found it. What will you do now?”
“Uh...” Oh, why not. They might know something. “I’m actually looking for a monster that apparently lives here. It’s been described as a moving coffin, but I’m not sure. Would you happen to-”
“COFFIN MONSTER STOLE CRUMPET’S BROTHER!”
Maiele jumped back, startled, as the ogre angrily threw a spray of dirt into the air. She managed to avoid most of the debris. Dave smiled. “Ooh, yes, we know of the coffin monster. I met poor Crumpet here just a few days ago as he was chasing it down to rescue his brother. It outpaced him, so I helped track it. To here, in fact!”
“It stole his brother? The one I’m chasing attacked a man and injured him pretty badly, but it didn’t kidnap him. Do you think it’s the same one?”
Dave shrugged. Crumpet sniffled.
“O...kay? Well, it seems like we’re chasing the same monster, so do you mind if I, uh, stick around here?”
“Oooh! Crumpet, a new friend! You approve?”
The ogre sat up and regarded Maiele. She shrank down against the scrutiny. Finally, a grunt. “She is okay. Smells like flowers and blood. Strange scent.”
“Hey, that’s only because-”
“Ooh, very interesting.” Dave interrupted. “Another visitor. Do you know this one?”
An unfamiliar human woman was approaching. She wore dark, well-tailored clothing and carried a sheathed knife on each hip. Most unusual, however, was the snake wrapped around her shoulders. On being noticed, she gave a little wave and grinned.
“No, I don’t think so,” Maiele said, uneasy. Something about this woman conveyed danger.
“You don’t remember me?” she asked, stopping a few feet away and looking questioningly at Maiele. “Iofodil? From the inn? I’ve been there longer than you have.”
“Uhm...” Maiele hesitated. “I... maybe? We never spoke, though.”
“So unobservant. You should work on that; might save your life one day.” She tsk’d. “So, you lot are going down there? Mind if I come along?”
“Crumpet? Another new friend?” Dave asked.
The ogre squinted at Iofodil, who smiled banally. “She has no smell. Don’t know.”
“Well, that’s good enough for me. I’m sure my pal Maiele can vouch for me, right?” Iofodil wrapped an arm around her and the snake gingerly rested its head on her shoulder. Maiele flinched as its tongue flicked out and tasted her neck.
She wiggled out of her grip, shuddering. “I, uh.”
The snake stared at her with cold, emotionless eyes. Iofodil kept smiling, but with only the same non-emotion that she had used earlier.
“S-sure!” she squeaked. I really, really don’t want to find that thing in my bed at night.
“Hmmmm! Interesting. Okay, well, this is okay then. We have a real party now! Reminds me of so long ago...” Dave stared off into the distance for several seconds before Crumpet jumped to his feet.
“Let us GO!” he shouted, hopping back into the hole. “No time waste! Come!”
There was a massive crashing sound as the ogre smashed through the brick wall and created a new opening into the tomb. “It is very dark!” he yelled. “Cannot see! Come along!”
Who should lead into the tomb? [Remember, the lead character is most at risk, and their stats most affect the results.]
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
Who should support? [Remember, the supporting character has less risk and less impact on the results.]
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- Iofodil.
(Winners: , )
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
Who should support? [Remember, the supporting character has less risk and less impact on the results.]
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- Iofodil.
(Winners: , )
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Scene 1
Maiele glanced between Dave and Iofodil. The former was staring wistfully off into space, while the latter was watching disinterestedly. She nodded towards the hole as if to say “after you.”
“O-okay, one moment,” Maiele called into the hole. “I just need to get down the side...”
“Hurry up!” Crumpet shouted back. “Something here!”
She gulped at that - what if it were the coffin monster? - and carefully tried to lower herself down the side. Unfortunately, the mud and loose dirt forming the wall didn’t have much integrity, and crumbled. Maiele squeaked as she fell several feet and landed awkwardly in a pile of muck. She half-groaned as she got up, wiping ineffectually at her now mud-covered clothes. “Ugh, ugh.”
Still, more important things were at hand. She ducked into the break Crumpet had smashed in the brick wall and incanted a quick spell. In an instant, five embers of flame leapt from her fingertips and positioned themselves around the room, shedding red-orange light over the scene.
She was standing at one end of a large crypt, maybe thirty feet wide, a hundred feet long, and ten feet tall. Large stone plinths were arranged throughout the room with only a few feet between them for walkways. Many held old wooden coffins, but many more were empty. Interestingly, it looked like a few plinths were missing from the pattern. Crumpet stood about fifteen feet in front of her, having to duck to avoid scraping his head on the ceiling. There was some sort of scraping noise from in front of him, but she couldn’t see from where she was standing.
“AH, HA!” Crumpet yelled, swinging his massive wooden club sideways to avoid glancing it off the ceiling. It crashed through one of the coffins, sending splinters and less identifiable fragments spinning through the air, then slammed into something in front of him. There was a heavy crack and a screech like ripping metal. Many claw-like taps scurried along the floor. “COME BACK!” the ogre yelled, squeezing forward between the plinths.
“So, you gonna do something?” Iofodil had appeared in the entrance, looking bored and completely dirt-free. Maiele scowled, then cautiously stepped forward into the room. She needed a better vantage point.
She managed to clamber onto one of the stone plinths without too much difficulty, then was able to run and jump between them with relative ease. The extra few feet made a lot of difference and she was able to spot what Crumpet was chasing.
The ogre was rushing after an almost centipede-like construct, its body formed of an eight-foot stone coffin and dozens of lithe metal legs clattering along the floor. It was much faster than Crumpet and significantly more agile, able to weave between the plinths while the larger ogre had to slow down in order to squeeze his bulk through. It seemed to be making for a metal gate set into the left wall about halfway along the room.
What should Maiele do?
- Block it off from the gate; try to direct it towards Crumpet.
- Try to attack it directly.
- Nothing. It’s already running away. Much safer to just let it.
What should Crumpet do?
- Keep chasing the coffin monster!
- Strategize; try to cut it off somewhere.
️ - Give up. It’s too fast; it’s going to get away.
Meta option: Do you want to see little tags such as [Strength 23 - Success] or [Insight 6 - Failure] when the results of a challenge are revealed in the text?
- Yeah. Show the roll results.
- Nah. Leave it without them.
(Winners: , , )
- Block it off from the gate; try to direct it towards Crumpet.
- Try to attack it directly.
- Nothing. It’s already running away. Much safer to just let it.
What should Crumpet do?
- Keep chasing the coffin monster!
- Strategize; try to cut it off somewhere.
️ - Give up. It’s too fast; it’s going to get away.
Meta option: Do you want to see little tags such as [Strength 23 - Success] or [Insight 6 - Failure] when the results of a challenge are revealed in the text?
- Yeah. Show the roll results.
- Nah. Leave it without them.
(Winners: , , )
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Scene 2
Glancing between Crumpet and the monster, Maiele made a quick decision. [Magic 27 - Critical success] Taking a deep breath, she focused on the inner spark that connected her to the magic and began an incantation. The air around her grew frigid as a solid wall of thick ice emerged from the ground, completely blocking the metal grate. The coffin monster skidded and changed course, but Maiele was ready for that too. Continuing and extending her chant, she raised another wall between the plinths, then a third in the other direction. The construct turned about in confusion, suddenly finding all paths blocked but one. Maiele exhaled and dropped to one knee on the plinth, taking deep breaths as she recovered from the powerful spell.
“GOT YOU!” Crumpet caught up before the skittering monster could determine another course of action and brought his club down with thunderous force. [Strength/Dexterity 17 - Success] Weakened stone broke with a ringing peal and the monster fell to the ground. Another strike broke it open entirely, its many legs curling inwards like a dead spider. Silence fell aside from the slight crackling of the ice.
“ERZOG IS NOT HERE!” Crumpet had started kicking apart the coffin monster’s body, spraying chips of stone across the room. “Empty!” he growled, sitting down heavily on one of the plinths and accidentally crushing a wooden box. “Where is?!”
Iofodil threaded her way through the room and knelt over the... “body.” The coffin had been pretty thoroughly destroyed, and indeed appeared to be empty aside from some metal and glass components that presumably operated the thing’s legs. [Insight 16 - Success] “Kesset, what do you see?”
The snake slithered through the monster’s internals and returned in a matter of moments, circling several spots and flicking his tongue excitedly. Iofodil looked more closely. “A stain here... blood. But this one isn’t. More like...” She rubbed a gloved finger against it and sniffed carefully. “Contact poison. Not sure what kind, but probably something nasty.”
At this point, Dave and Maiele had caught up. Iofodil stood and - purely in the interest of preserving her temporary companions until they had found some treasure for her - relayed what she had found.
“Ooh, interesting.” Dave poked at the dead construct, little embers sparking from his fingertips. “I wonder how it was made. Eeh, but that’s secondary to finding what happened to its victims.”
Maiele folded her arms uneasily. “If there’s blood and poison in there, and you said this thing kidnaps people... What did it do with them?”
Iofodil tapped on the nearby ice with one of her daggers. “There’s a way down here. If someone hadn’t gotten a little too carried aw-AH!”
Part way through her sentence, something sparked in Dave’s eyes and he made a curious set of gestures with one hand. A sheet of flame pulsed out, quickly at first and then more slowly as it hit the ice wall, melting a perfectly smooth passage after only a few seconds. The metal bars on the other side also melted away, dripping into a molten puddle on the floor.
[Magic 11 - Critical failure] “Whoo... Did someone... say ‘burn the ice?’ HmmmMM, it’s a good time for a nap.” The old wizard carefully sat down on the floor and leaned back against one of the plinths. “See you in a bit.”
Iofodil slowly turned back towards the door, plucking out a strand of hair that had been scorched by the fire. “Well. Looks like that’s not a problem anymore.”
The passage leads down at a steep grade. A faint breeze is evident, though it’s unclear which direction it’s blowing. Two parallel grooves are cut into the floor, somewhat resembling rail tracks.
- Crumpet leads.
- Maiele leads.
️ - Iofodil leads.
- Crumpet supports.
- Maiele supports.
- Iofodil supports.
- Search the room before going down.
⏩ - Just go down; no time to waste.
- Take a break up here; wait for Dave to wake up. [This will take a while and is essentially equivalent to a short rest in D&D or similar systems. Energy is recovered, the gang might converse, and I get to roll on a “potential problems” table.]
(Winners: ️ , , )
- Crumpet leads.
- Maiele leads.
️ - Iofodil leads.
- Crumpet supports.
- Maiele supports.
- Iofodil supports.
- Search the room before going down.
⏩ - Just go down; no time to waste.
- Take a break up here; wait for Dave to wake up. [This will take a while and is essentially equivalent to a short rest in D&D or similar systems. Energy is recovered, the gang might converse, and I get to roll on a “potential problems” table.]
(Winners: ️ , , )
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Scene 3
“See if you can find anything else interesting up here,” Iofodil instructed Maiele. “I’ll scout ahead and see if there are any more of those things.”
“Er, wait, what about - and she’s gone.” She sighed. “Might as well, I guess.”
[Insight 13 - Failure] As she poked around the room, peeking in wooden boxes and looking around the plinths, nothing seemed to come up. Crumpet had sat up and was watching her as she walked. “Why here?” he eventually asked.
“Why am I here?” Empty again.
“Yes. Why out here? Look pretty, like seer. Not you?”
This one had some bones in it. Not useful, and not something she wanted to deal with. “Well, like I said, I’m chasing down a coffin monster, same as you. Sure, we killed this one, but what if there are more?”
He scratched at his head. Bald, but with some stubble. Did ogres shave? She didn’t know. “But you are hunting this thing at all. Why?”
Smaller bones. A child, perhaps. She frowned. “It attacked someone from the village? I don’t want it to hurt anyone else.”
“You are not answering question,” Crumpet growled. “Maybe I not clear. Why are you... out here? Not in safety.”
Ah. “Well, that’s kind of a personal -” Maiele broke off with a short cry as the latest box was not empty. [Dexterity 2 - Critical failure] There was a sharp click and something broke that had been precariously balanced. She came to several seconds later, dizzy and confused, as Crumpet picked her up off the ground.
“You are okay? Speak!”
“Huh? What - ow, ow. Please put me - ow - down.”
The ogre complied and gently placed her on a plinth, where she fell back to let the stars leave her eyes. Her arms hurt a lot. They looked red. “What happened?”
“Box blew up.” Crumpet gestured to it, as if she didn’t know what box he was talking about. “You passed out. Okay now?”
She blinked several times and tried to focus on her arms. A few cuts, but most of the damage seemed to be from the force of the blast, not from fire or debris. Well, if I’m going to be an adventurer, I should be able to handle minor injuries. I’m not healing this. No way. I don’t need it. “I... think so. Do you know why it exploded?”
“Not sure. Found this, though.” He held out a beaten-copper pendant on a chain of tiny copper links. A series of runes were pressed into the back and a dull emerald adorned the front. “Came out of box when it blew up. Strong, pretty. Like you.”
[You got an item! See the Rules page for additional information on how to use, identify, and equip it.]
Meanwhile, Iofodil crept down the tunnel with eyes and ears straining. [Dexterity 17 - Success] The slope only lasted for about 30 feet before leveling off and quickly terminating in a T-junction. The left arm of the T was much smaller and led to a human-sized metal door labeled in a language she didn’t understand. Lots of dots and circles. The right arm continued with the same tunnel size and led past several glowing blue circles on the wall - four per side of the passage - before turning left at a corner. The parallel grooves continued down this passage. No enemies in sight.
She definitely was not going to mess with the blue circles - magic stuff was best left to magic people - but did check on the door for completeness’ sake. Locked, as she expected. She could probably get in, but it might sound some sort of alarm. Probably better to go back and get someone who could investigate the clearly magical nonsense first.
That decision made, she quickly returned to the previous room to see that the girl had somehow gotten herself hurt in the few minutes Iofodil had been gone. She smirked, but hid the expression before coming too close. Oh, the girl had a new necklace, too. Interesting.
- Iofodil resolves to steal the pendant when an opportunity is available. [Needs half the number of total unique votes cast.]
Which way?
- Left.
- Right.
- Crumpet leads.
- Maiele leads.
️ - Iofodil leads.
- Crumpet supports.
- Maiele supports.
- Iofodil supports.
Put on the pendant?
- Crumpet.
- Maiele.
- Iofodil.
- No one.
(Winner: , , , )
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Scene 4
[Maiele puts on the pendant. She feels a constant, very slight breeze around her head and torso.]
After a few moments trading information, Crumpet picked Dave up off the floor (somehow still asleep even after the explosion) and the group descended. At the T-junction, Iofodil pointed out the two options and gestured to the door, whispering. “Probably should start there. Might have some controls for the circles, yeah? And you probably aren’t in top shape right now. So, what do you say, big guy?”
Crumpet stared at the door. “I no fit.”
“Eh - what?”
“Door is too small. See?” The ogre knelt down next to it. He was still both taller and wider than the door, by at least a foot each way. Impossible to squeeze through. “I can open, though!”
Catching on, Iofodil raised her hands. “No, wait-”
[Strength 23 - Success] With a mighty shove, Crumpet slammed his palm against the metal door and crumpled it like tin. The hinges snapped and the entire assembly crashed into the next room, sending clattering echoes through the hallway. Iofodil froze in place, cringing. Maiele smiled.
“Hello?” Crumpet peered into the room. “No one here either. Chairs, tables. Windows? Here, look.” He shuffled backwards and sat down, gently placing Dave down next to him.
A quiet sigh. “Fine. Stay here and don’t break anything else.”
“Okay!”
The room was narrow and smaller than the crypt upstairs. Wooden chairs and tables lay scattered around, old and ratty. Nobody had used them in a while. There was another metal door on the far end, but she didn’t check that out yet. On the right side of the room were several long windows overlooking a wide corridor broken up into sections by several deep pits across the path. Each section had a different size, color palette, and assortment of accessories. In just the first few sections, she spotted flamethrowers, pressure plates, blades suspended from the ceiling, gems set into the floor, and a few conspicuously-placed statues. The parallel tracks from the previous hallway seemed to lead along the ceiling. This was a gauntlet if she had ever seen one. But why was it here? [Insight 13 - Failure] Actually, nevermind. The correct question was: how to use it to her advantage?
Hm. The ogre would have to go that way anyway. And if she were correct... Iofodil quickly slipped over to the other door and cracked it open. Just as she expected, it met up with the gauntlet hallway on the other side. She was standing in a perfectly safe shortcut between two ends of a potentially deadly detour. Theoretically, everyone except the ogre could go this way. But that would leave him all alone with the fire and pits and statues. Someone would have to accompany him. Perhaps his accident-prone friend with the necklace?
She smirked. Easy. Maybe too easy, in fact. Would it do her any good to get rid of the girl now? Eh, I’m already in. I work best alone, anyway.
Who else should go through the gauntlet? [Needs half the total unique votes cast for a character to go. Crumpet has to go this way, as he won’t fit through the observation room.]
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
- Dave.
Who should investigate the magic blue circles? [Must be a character with magic.]
- Maiele.
- Dave.
- No one. Attempt to bypass them.
(Winner: , )
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
- Dave.
Who should investigate the magic blue circles? [Must be a character with magic.]
- Maiele.
- Dave.
- No one. Attempt to bypass them.
(Winner: , )
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Scene 5
A head of wispy white hair poked into the room before Iofodil could emerge back into the hallway. “Oh, hello!” Dave called as he stepped into the room and started poking the furniture. “These look like Leng designs. Huh, Olivien & Sons Carpentry. I had a chair just like this, back in-”
“Can you please focus on the immediate situation?” She walked sharply over to him, gesturing to the windows. “Your large friend there needs to go the other way. Through here. You should make sure he stays out of trouble.”
“But the chairs-”
[Charm 7 - Failure] “I don’t care, grandpa.”
“Hm! Very sure of yourself, young miss. Not a problem! I’ll go. But not until I’ve had my reminiscence about these inexplicable furnishings!”
Out in the hallway, Maiele was crouching next to one of the circles and trying to work up the courage to touch it. She wasn’t the best at reading the tiny nearly-invisible runes lining the edges of the circles, especially while trying to stay away from the possible blast zone, but the little she could see wasn’t encouraging. Some sort of triggering sigil, followed by a very complicated block that she couldn’t understand.
“Maybe wait for friend Dave?” Crumpet suggested, kneeling on the floor about ten feet back. “He is very good at reading magic.”
“No!” Maiele jerked back and shook her hand, wincing. A little burn. Not serious at all. Just had to be more careful. “No... I can do this. I don’t need his help.”
“Just don’t want, well, boom!” He spread his hands to mimic an explosion. Either one would easily wrap around Maiele’s head. “Already had enough, yes?”
“It’s fine. I - ah!” she yelped as a fountain of sparks sprayed from the sigil. She managed to avoid the worst of them, though a few started to burn little holes in her skirt before she could brush them away. “I know what I’m doing.”
She didn’t look back, but had a feeling Crumpet was raising an eyebrow. “Do not get hurt.”
“Too late,” she muttered, clenching her left hand as it jittered in some sort of aftershock.
“Huh?”
“Will do! Almost there...” Maiele never could really explain exactly how this process worked. It involved reading runes, sigils, and tiny invisible threads of magic to determine the shape and purpose of the spell. It required incanting miniature, intuitive, undefined spells of her own to probe deeper. It allowed her to peel back layers of magic - sometimes releasing dangerous energy - and get at the core of the spell. It was a thing that adventurers and battlemages did all the time to disarm traps and defeat their enemies’ shields. So it was something she was very anxious to learn and get right.
[Magic 18 - Success] Something popped in the sigil and a gush of blue, goopy magic flopped out of the wall. It dissipated immediately upon striking the floor, releasing tiny sparks that quickly fizzled and died. Maiele leaned forward, trying to get a better look at whatever was releasing all this energy. “Huh? It shouldn’t be...” [Magic 8 - Failure]
She yelped as the sigil began to collapse and prepared to spew out years and years of energy all at once with the force of a moderately large bomb. Maiele shoved her hands against the center like a desperate plumber trying to plug a leak with their thumbs, and shouted the first spell she could think of that might help.
She forced a powerful gust of elemental wind through the sigil, ripping the gloopy magical energy away faster than it could accumulate. The tunnel echoed with a howling gale as a firehose of magic splashed against not only the opposite wall, but all the other circles as well. Crumpet shouted something over the clamor, but his words were lost. Maiele just held on, hands pressed against the wall with all her strength and mouth moving soundlessly to prolong the spell. [Magic 19 - Success] After what felt like several minutes but couldn’t have been more than ten seconds in reality, she let the spell die away and risked looking up.
All six circles were nothing but scorch marks on the wall now, their destructive energy spent. The hall itself had been scoured clean by her gale, the dust and debris piled neatly against the opposite wall. Crumpet sat on the floor, dazed. Maiele shakily picked herself up. Her hair was a mess, her hands and arms hurt, and her skirt would probably never recover. “The, uh.” She stared at her hands, waiting for them to stop trembling. “Traps are gone.”
Dave emerged from the room. “Excellent work, young miss Maiele! Strong spellcraft, though your keening could use some work. Good improv. I give it a... 7.”
She blinked at him.
“Now, off you get! I believe Crumpet and I have a hallway to traverse!”
Maiele didn’t have the energy to argue and made her way into the next room. A brief start of fear jolted through her body as she noticed the snake again and realized she would be alone with it and the dangerous woman. Her fear receded, but didn’t entirely pass, as she rationalized that the others would be back soon and would know if anything happened to her.
Iofodil beckoned from the window. “Hey, want to watch those dorks fall in a pit?”
Who will lead through the gauntlet?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
What will Iofodil and Maiele do? [Distribution of votes will be weighted; this isn’t first past the post]
- Watch.
- Try to help. This won’t be easy due to the glass. Specify how to do this in #story_discussion.
- Have a nice chat.
- Have a “nice” “chat.”
(Winners: , > > > )
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
What will Iofodil and Maiele do? [Distribution of votes will be weighted; this isn’t first past the post]
- Watch.
- Try to help. This won’t be easy due to the glass. Specify how to do this in #story_discussion.
- Have a nice chat.
- Have a “nice” “chat.”
(Winners: , > > > )
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Scene 6
“Uh, sure? Wait, a pit?”
“Yeah. Come look.”
Reluctantly, Maiele approached. The snake stared her down as she walked, though at least Iofodil wasn’t watching. There were indeed multiple pits carved out of the hallway on the other side of the glass. Crumpet had Dave on his shoulder again and the two were conversing, pointing to various potential hazards along the route.
“Why is that there?” she wondered aloud, temporarily distracted from Iofodil. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
The other woman shrugged. “Couldn’t tell ya. Now-”
[Insight 19 - Success] “Wait, what about those grooves across the ceiling - like rails, maybe? They were in the floor in the other hallway... maybe something can hook into them and pass easily, while the rest of these traps are to stop intruders? But why would they do that when they could just make one big pit instead? Seems like it’d be easier.”
“For fun? I mean, you’ve got all these windows here. Look at them go.” [Strength/Magic 20 - Success] She paused a minute to watch Crumpet charging past the flamethrowers and hurtling over the first chasm. “Now, tell me something, would you?”
Maiele stayed quiet, nervous.
“What do you think you’re doing here? Who are you trying to fool?”
“Uh, what?”
“Look at you.” Iofodil grabbed her by the wrist and lifted her arm up.
“Ow, ow, let go, ow.”
She didn’t let go. “Pale, thin, smooth - well, aside from these burns you somehow got in the two minutes I was gone - you’re not from around here and you haven’t been on the road long. No scars, not used to injuries like that guy from the inn. So why-” she tugged at her arm again before letting go. “- are you down here?”
Maile rubbed her arm and glared. “Why do you care?”
Iofodil sighed. “Look, kid. You’re a novice adventurer, right? You’re gonna get yourself killed if you keep this up. Look at yourself - already exhausted and hurt, and we’ve been down here like half an hour!”
She stood up a little taller. “I’m not tired. I can keep going.”
“Sure. Don’t make me laugh. Just - what’s your plan here? Fame? Fortune? Altruism? I know what it’s like to be a newbie adventurer, but you’ve gotta have someone experienced around to watch your back and stop you from getting into too much trouble. I guarantee you’re not going to make it to the end here at your current pace. So. What’s your background? Why are you here?” As she spoke, she stealthily pursed her lips and exhaled a breath saturated with droplets from the leaf she had secretly popped into her mouth a few moments ago. She felt her limbs grow slightly heavier as the potent herb drew energy from her and began to work on the girl. It wasn’t anything deadly - this time - but just made her target a little more... talkative. [Charm 23 - Critical Success]
Maiele paced back and forth. The room felt a little warmer than before; maybe a little friendlier. Maybe Iofodil was actually being nice. Was she a little dizzy? Probably from all her magical exertion. “I want to... I want to be a hero.”
“Oh?” Another slight flush of warmth.
“I’ve got these powers. Magic. I can do things other people can’t. So I want to help them, and maybe be known for that.”
“Altruism. Good. How did you learn your magic?” Iofodil slipped slightly closer to double down on the herb.
“I... my parents, I - I mean, I taught myself.” [Charm 0 - Critical Failure] She could feel her face heating up. Not something she wanted to talk about.
“Parents?” Another breath, but subtly. Didn’t want to overdo it with this stuff.
“N-no, I misspoke. Just, did a lot of reading and a lot of practice.”
Interesting. Touchy subject; too touchy for the leaf to draw it out. At least not yet. “So why your type of magic? Why the fire, ice, and wind?”
“I don’t know. A lot of heroic magic users were elementalists. It’s good at fighting things, and heroes do a lot of fighting.”
The leaf was getting soggy; its effect didn’t last long. One more question. “Where are you from? You look so... noble.”
“Hhn. North. Near Dunlan’s Pass. Why?”
Iofodil swallowed the leaf. “Just curious. If we’re going to be exploring this place together, I want to know something about you. Look, they’re almost through.”
“Are those... skeletons??”
“Sure looks like it.”
“That one’s got a maul.”
“Yep.”
“And that’s just... normal?”
“Oh, yeah. You get used to these things.”
- Dave stays on Crumpet’s shoulder and provides support as he beats the skeletons to re-death.
- Dave gets down and they each fight some. Watch each other’s backs.
- Crumpet just charges past / through them. Dave holds on and nudges some away.
- Dave Ex Machina. [He can only do this a limited number of times, and it gets harder each time.]
(Winner: )
- Dave stays on Crumpet’s shoulder and provides support as he beats the skeletons to re-death.
- Dave gets down and they each fight some. Watch each other’s backs.
- Crumpet just charges past / through them. Dave holds on and nudges some away.
- Dave Ex Machina. [He can only do this a limited number of times, and it gets harder each time.]
(Winner: )
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Scene 7
[Strength 30 - Critical success] Crumpet bellowed a challenge and leapt into action. His club thundered through the air like a tree trunk, smashing apart skeleton after skeleton and sending their bones spinning into the air. Dave held on, giggling maniacally and sending the occasional burst of flame down to discourage any undead sneaking up from behind.
In less than a minute, the battlefield was clear. Crumpet shouted again, challenging the empty walls, then charged forward over the next pit. A shimmering barrier of orange-yellow light flared up but the ogre was moving too fast to stop and simply crashed through. Fragments of shattered magic smashed against the ground and burst into motes of light. Dave nodded appreciably. “Excellent use of kinetic energy.” Spotting something on the ground, he continued, “Oh, would you mind slowing...”
Whatever it was disappeared under Crumpet’s feet with a crunch.
“Nevermind, then. Onwards!”
The next pit had another orange-yellow barrier, bypassed just as easily as the first by the simple principle of “big thing going fast.” With that, there was only one more pit remaining. Flamethrowers, enormous blades, skeletons, magical traps, and even the most deadly foe of all - gravity - had all been defeated. All that remained was this one last challenge. Crumpet slowed to a stop as a circular section of the floor opened up.
Out of the darkness below rose a sleek, heavily-armored cylinder made of some incredibly shiny silver metal. It had a black band around the middle and was about two feet tall. After being raised up to the platform, the hole closed and the cylinder just sat there. Dave peered at it. “Hm. Interesting.”
“What is?”
[Insight 9 - Failure] “It’s some sort of silver cylinder. Fascinating.”
“No, but what is?”
“Presumably something meant to stop us. It’s probably highly magical. How exciting!”
“What do with thing?”
“Well-”
Suddenly, the cylinder sparked with blue light and a circular glow pulsed out of the band around its middle. “AH!” Crumpet swatted it with his club and it sailed into the pit. A few clattering noises rose up before a final crash, followed by a muted explosion. Little fragments of metal trailed smoke as they shot into the air and fell back down.
“That seems to have worked. Good thinking!”
Dave and Crumpet rejoined the others in the hallway. Iofodil gestured onwards. “Come on, let’s go. How was your gauntlet?”
“Is good. Hit many things. How was empty room?”
“Had a good conversation. Right, Maiele?”
“S-sure.”
“That’s the spirit. Okay, so these rails end right at this enormous metal door. Something tells me there’s going to be more of those coffin monsters in here. Maybe some other stuff. Before we - hey!” Crumpet lowered his club. “Not yet. Before we go in, we should probably come up with a plan for fighting more than one of them at once.”
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
Who supports?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- Iofodil.
What’s the tactic?
- Stay together, be defensive. Fight off enemies as they come.
- Spread out, be agile. Pick off enemies and avoid getting surrounded.
- Charge straight through. Blast enemies in the way.
- Stay at range. Pick off enemies from afar.
(Winners: , , )
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
Who supports?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- Iofodil.
What’s the tactic?
- Stay together, be defensive. Fight off enemies as they come.
- Spread out, be agile. Pick off enemies and avoid getting surrounded.
- Charge straight through. Blast enemies in the way.
- Stay at range. Pick off enemies from afar.
(Winners: , , )
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Scene 8
After a few minutes of discussion, the group got into position. Crumpet looked back to confirm everyone was ready, then heaved the door up and into the ceiling.
The room on the other side was large and tall, like a gigantic warehouse or factory floor. Dozens of coffin monsters queued on the left side near the entrance to a large conveyor belt. Pink crystals jutted out of the ceiling over the belt - as they watched, one of them fired a sustained bolt of light down into a coffin that was traveling along the belt. It was too far away to tell what was inside or what the laser was doing.
The conveyor continued past several more crystals, as well as a distressing assembly of drills and sawblades, before passing behind a raised dais. Upon that dais sat a dark stone desk with dozens of buttons and levers poking out at every angle. Slumped in the chair before it was a tall humanoid with a grey cube for a head and a long tether connecting the cube to something in the ceiling.
Further along the conveyor, past more pink crystals, the coffins traveled through a curtain into a separate room. More coffin monsters emerged from a smaller doorway, presumably emptied of whatever remained in them after the conveyor journey. Several coffins were either milling around aimlessly or sitting stationary on the floor just outside of this door.
At the sound of grating metal, every coffin monster not on the conveyor rotated on their little metal legs towards the intruders. There was a brief moment as both sides paused.
“This ain’t good,” Iofodil commented.
Every coffin charged at once, claws scrabbling for purchase on the stone floor. [Insight 17 - Success] “Aim for the desk,” she continued, making a quick deduction. “There’s got to be some way to control these things there.”
“Okay, we go!” Crumpet took a step forward, readying his club against the onrushing horde. Iofodil joined him, daggers at the ready (though she secretly doubted they’d do much against these stone constructs). Maiele and Dave stood back, the former too tired to muster any significant magic and the latter off in his own world again.
[Strength/Dexterity 24 - Success] Crumpet led the way to the dais, smashing apart any coffin monster too slow to get out of his way. Meanwhile, Iofodil darted around the group, taunting and distracting the monsters to lead them into the ogre’s club. This strategy wasn’t perfect - there were over two dozen coffin monsters and only four valiant adventurers. Iofodil was sliced down one leg by a too-narrow dodge, while Dave was actually almost eaten by one of the things and only rescued at the last moment by a backhand from Crumpet’s club.
Maiele, on the other hand, jumped out of the way of one monster and directly into a second. She hardly had a moment to realize what had just happened before it reared up and slammed its lid shut on her spine. Just before the blow connected, however, the copper pendant glowed hot on her neck and a hurricane-like gust of wind burst from her body. The monster was sent flying and she stumbled out of the way, totally unharmed. Ah, so that’s what that does.
Finally, the desk grew close. About half a dozen monsters had been felled and the rest seemed reluctant to approach the almost checkerboard-patterned floor in front of the controls. Instead, they formed a sort of semicircle around the maybe 30x30 ft area, lingering just out of reach and snapping their lids ominously.
“Go to desk, shut things down?” Crumpet asked, still facing off against the coffins. “You said, so you know how?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Iofodil grimaced, holding her leg with one hand. “I don’t like the look of ol’ cube head, though. Feel like it’s going to come to life as soon as I get close.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” Dave advised. “See, look what you’ve done.”
Indeed, the cube-headed creature was slowly moving, standing up and stretching out limbs that had been locked in one position for presumably centuries. Its skin was dry and leathery, stretched tautly over a powerful skeleton. It wore only tattered breeches that had probably once been blue.
“Okay, wise guy, what do you suggest we do about it then?”
The cube-head took a step forward, then another. It stood tall in front of the desk in a wide stance, arms raised to the ceiling. A moment passed.
“Hit it with a stick? That seemed to be quite effective previousl-”
The cube-head slapped the sides of its head with both arms and the cube suddenly lit up with a shimmering, multicolored light. Some sort of energy pulsed up and down the cable, sparking from its feet and transforming the checkerboard floor tiles into a glowing, rainbow-colored dance floor. An ancient machine sputtered to life somewhere in the ceiling and trickled out the first few notes of a fast-moving song unfamiliar to anyone in the group. The cube-head struck a pose and beckoned with one hand, the sounds of slamming lids from the coffins almost resembling applause.
“You’re kidding,” Iofodil said, deadpan. “It wants us to dance?”
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
Who supports?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- Iofodil.
What’s the tactic?
- Give the cube-head what it wants. Dance.
- Attempt to cut the tether tying it to the ceiling.
- Try to distract it somehow while sneaking around to the desk.
- Leave the dance floor; take your chances with the coffins.
(Winners: , , )
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
Who supports?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- Iofodil.
What’s the tactic?
- Give the cube-head what it wants. Dance.
- Attempt to cut the tether tying it to the ceiling.
- Try to distract it somehow while sneaking around to the desk.
- Leave the dance floor; take your chances with the coffins.
(Winners: , , )
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Scene 9
No one moved for a few moments. The thing beckoned again and stomped its foot. Lights rippled out along the tiles.
“Well? Who wants to dance?” Iofodil asked, taking several steps back. “Not me; not with this cut.”
Maiele glanced around nervously. No one else seemed to be volunteering. Someone had to, right? “I-”
Dave stepped onto the tiles with a flourish. “Foul creature! Prepare to be defeated in single dance-off! Observe your foe.” He swung open his cloak to reveal, pinned to the inside, dozens of medals. Every single one of them was for one of the top three prizes in a dance competition. Year after year was represented, each in its own category. Ball, swing, disco, partner, group, props, flying, upside-down, and on and on. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
The crowd went wild, clapping coffin lids together in thunderous applause. More of the creatures were appearing from various side rooms and the rest of the party drew closer to the dance floor as the mass of constructs grew.
The cube-head nodded, then began its routine. Lights flared and the music swelled as it danced, throwing itself around the floor with wild abandon but somehow always landing in perfect control. It spun and jumped and did that thing where you put your hands on your knees and cross between them. It was only thirty seconds, but what an impressive thirty seconds it was.
At the end of it, the cube-head bowed deeply and held the position as the now hundreds of coffins slammed their lids together. Iofodil looked away from the spectacle for a moment; her eyes widened. “What d’ya think’s keeping them back?” she whispered to Maiele. Crumpet was too busy laughing and clapping to talk. “And even if he wins this, is it gonna keep up long enough to turn ‘em off?”
“Uhh...”
“Yeah. You can’t fly, can ya?”
[Magic 9 - Failure] “Not... really? More like jumping.”
“If things go south, jump us outta here.”
“What about Dave and Crumpet?”
“I’ve got a plan. Trust me.”
“You haven’t exactly made it easy to do that, you know.”
Finally, the applause died down and the cube-head gestured elegantly to Dave, retreating to the side of the floor to give him room. “Pretty good routine,” he admitted. “But watch this!”
[Dexterity/Charm 7 - Failure] It started out strong. Dave gathered a curtain of flames around himself, spinning them into a miniature tornado. He leapt with a burst of fire and spun in the air, shedding embers and sparks like a particularly low firework. A smooth landing, straight into skating around the floor as if it were ice. One hop, two, then three - and a stumbling landing as the fire winked out and the wizard’s age betrayed him. He sat down on the floor, routine cut short, and raised his arms. “Ta... ta da!”
Some coffins clapped, but not nearly as many as with the cube-head previously. The monster bowed to its opponent, then slapped the sides of its head again. The lights changed from rainbow-disco to blood red, and all the coffins closed in at once.
“Mai, now’s the time,” Iofodil muttered, backing away from the encroaching constructs.
⏫ - Maiele jumps herself and Iofodil out of there.
- Try to fight off the horde long enough to reach the controls.
- Maiele throws Iofodil into the air, she cuts the cube-head’s line mid-jump, Crumpet knocks its block off while it’s distracted, and whoever’s in the best position turns off all the machines in a dazzling display of teamwork and skill. [Difficult to pull off as described.]
- Dave Ex Machina. [He can only do this so often.]
(Winner: )
- Try to fight off the horde long enough to reach the controls.
- Maiele throws Iofodil into the air, she cuts the cube-head’s line mid-jump, Crumpet knocks its block off while it’s distracted, and whoever’s in the best position turns off all the machines in a dazzling display of teamwork and skill. [Difficult to pull off as described.]
- Dave Ex Machina. [He can only do this so often.]
(Winner: )
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Scene 10
[Magic 16 - Success] [Dexterity 16 - Success] [Strength 19 - Success] [Insight 9 - Failure] In a potentially reckless split-second decision, Maiele raised her arms and blasted Iofodil into the air. Not away from the creatures, but straight above the cube-head. “The cable!” she yelled over the wind.
Fuckin’ clueless newbie kid Iofodil grumbled internally as she flew through the air. Still, she was already committed at this point, if only because she couldn’t exactly change her trajectory midair, and so extended her daggers anyway. Gonna have to knock some sense into her when I get back down there. Careful... now!
With two deft slashes, the metallic cable was cleanly severed. A powerful jolt of energy exploded from the point of contact, traveling up along the daggers and launching Iofodil in a completely different direction. Her arms tensed up momentarily and a jolting pain flashed through her, but the contact was too quick to be fatal. It was, however, still more than enough to knock her out before she crashed down into a pile of boxes on the other side of the room.
Meanwhile, the cube-head slumped down as the cable fell. Crumpet leapt forward and slammed his club down, smashing the thing’s head into the ground. Floor tiles broke and the cube itself sported a hefty dent. Several more strikes were enough to break a few pieces off and deform the rest of the cube into an uneven lump. “HA! Got thing!” he shouted, an instant before being jumped by a coffin. The ogre was much bigger than the thing’s interior, but he somehow disappeared inside.
Maiele ran forward. She had to get to the console before anything else went wrong. The coffins closed in and there were several more smacks of lids snapping shut. She didn’t look back, but assumed she was the only one left now.
The controls were hopelessly complicated; they weren’t labeled in a language she knew and there were only a few seconds to decipher enough to matter. Blindly, she picked a few important-looking levers and pulled them before a coffin reared up behind and everything went black.
...
Iofodil woke up to Kesset nipping gently at her nose. “Hm? What - ah.” Memories came back, along with an exciting assortment of aches as she untangled herself from the boxes. “Good work. What happened?” The snake, as per usual, couldn’t speak. Iofodil pretended he could as she surveyed the floor. It made her feel a little better.
Her companions were missing, but the assembly line was still running and coffin monsters were still milling around. The cube-headed thing was slumped unmoving on the dance floor. There was a set of shiny double doors just to her left with a button set into the wall that presumably led further into the facility. She could also try to sneak back and rescue the rest of the party from the coffins they were almost certainly entombed within. Or just run past and leave. She had to admit she wasn’t feeling too healthy right now.
... Hang on, what was in these crates? Mostly just straw padding, but a few potentially useful items. Two sparkly red potions that were likely healing, plus another one that resembled quicksilver and pulsed with a rhythmic, rainbow light. Last, a plain green headband with a series of presumably magical runes stitched into the inside.
So. What should she do?
[Choices in this block need half the total unique votes cast.]
❤️ - Drink one of the healing(?) potions now.
- Drink the rainbow potion.
- Equip the headband.
- Delve deeper into the facility.
- Dash past the coffins and run away.
- Save the rest of the gang. [How? Do you have a plan?]
- Investigate the room at the end of the conveyor.
(Winners: ❤️, , )
- Drink the rainbow potion.
- Equip the headband.
- Delve deeper into the facility.
- Dash past the coffins and run away.
- Save the rest of the gang. [How? Do you have a plan?]
- Investigate the room at the end of the conveyor.
(Winners: ❤️, , )
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Scene 11
If ever there were a time to blindly trust random magical artifacts, now would be it. Iofodil put on the headband, but didn’t feel significantly different. Maybe its effects would become obvious as she did things. As for the potions... well, she was pretty confident about the red ones. She uncorked one of them, trying not to consider how long it must have been there, and swallowed the mouthful of liquid in one gulp. After a few seconds, the cuts and burns sealed themselves. Healing, just like I thought. Good.
Feeling better, she stood up and tucked the remaining potions away for later. That rainbow one should probably be examined by some magical person before just chugging it. Unless a truly desperate situation arose, of course. Anyway...
With a sigh, Iofodil admitted she should probably rescue the rest of the party, at least as long as she didn’t get herself caught attempting to do so. This place was a mystery and she hadn’t even gotten much loot yet. There was more to find, and having other adventurers around would be a benefit, regardless of how unskilled some of them were.
There weren’t any coffins on this side of the conveyor, so Iofodil was able to weave her way between stacks of boxes and back across the room without too much trouble. She didn’t have a plan, exactly, aside from getting a bit more information and trying to track down where her companions were. That latter part would probably be tricky, but as she watched the conveyor at work - and peeked through the heavy curtain leading into the room at the end of it - a sequence of events began to come together.
[Insight 10 - Failure] Coffins got on the conveyor and opened their lids. Iofodil already knew that there were kidnapped people inside - that’s what the others had said earlier. Pink crystals shot down from the ceiling, doing some sort of magicky thing to whoever was inside. Then, that big assembly of drills and saws. She couldn’t quite get close enough to see what it was doing, with all the coffins assembled nearby, but she could see the results.
In the room at the end of the conveyor, another large machine reached down into the still-open coffin, removed a brain from each box, and carefully placed it into a jar. The jar was then set into a slot in the wall and quickly dropped out of sight through some pneumatic tube system. The coffin then continued along the conveyor until the end, where it was lifted up and shaken until the remaining brainless corpse flopped out into the flaming mouth of a large chute.
She had to admit, this was a new one. Even for her.
So: this facility was kidnapping people, stealing their brains, and dumping the bodies as waste. What? Why? Presumably the answers would be further below. In the meantime, she had to figure out a plan to get the rest of the gang out of their coffins, preferably with brains still firmly locked inside their heads. Unfortunately, they would be knocked out, she didn’t know what coffins they were in, and she had to be sneaky or get mobbed by hundreds of constructs aiming to put her on that belt too.
... It would be a lot easier to just cut her losses and leave.
What’s the plan?
[Choices in this block need half the total unique votes.]
- Cut her losses and leave. [Overrides other choices]
- Drink the rainbow potion. [Augments whatever else is chosen]
[Choices in these blocks will be roughly formed into something approximating a plan. More votes = higher impact. Feel free to suggest in #story_discussion, too!]
- Use Kesset to scout.
- Use Kesset to distract.
- Attempt to save before the drill assembly.
- Attempt to save before the brain extraction.
️ - Attempt to save before the chute.
- Be quiet.
- Be fast.
- Be disguised.
- Run after saving.
️ - Hide after saving.
️ - Mess with the controls.
(Winners: , , , , ️ )
- Cut her losses and leave. [Overrides other choices]
- Drink the rainbow potion. [Augments whatever else is chosen]
[Choices in these blocks will be roughly formed into something approximating a plan. More votes = higher impact. Feel free to suggest in #story_discussion, too!]
- Use Kesset to scout.
- Use Kesset to distract.
- Attempt to save before the drill assembly.
- Attempt to save before the brain extraction.
️ - Attempt to save before the chute.
- Be quiet.
- Be fast.
- Be disguised.
- Run after saving.
️ - Hide after saving.
️ - Mess with the controls.
(Winners: , , , , ️ )
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Scene 12
“Okay, Kesset, here’s the plan,” she whispered. “You go find out what coffins they’re in, then I’ll figure out the rest of the plan while you’re gone. Sound good?”
As always, Kesset still could not speak. He uncurled himself and slithered along the floor, though, heading off towards the pile of coffins. Iofodil didn’t worry too much about how he’d let her know where they were; he had his ways of communicating. Her task, however, was a little bit harder.
She was able to sneak right up next to the conveyor belt by just staying low; the coffins were shorter than the belt, so she was out of their line of sight. Unfortunately, as soon as she got up onto it - say to lift someone out of a coffin - she’d be immediately visible. Plus, she had three people to rescue and all of them would be completely useless while the poison wore off. Unless I happen to have an antidote on me... [Luck 9 - Failure] Hmm, nope. Not that I know what that poison is anyway.
So: she had to grab three unconscious people out of coffins on a moving conveyor belt, in full view of hundreds of murderous constructs, and somehow get everyone out of harm’s way fast enough to...
Iofodil shook her head. What the fuck? No! That’s so stupid. There’s no way you’re pulling this off. Think of something else.
Hm...
The controls. Presumably no one had managed to shut off these constructs while she had been out. The desk was also in plain view of all the coffins, but maybe if she were fast enough... And maybe if this potion did what she thought it did... And maybe if she had any idea how the controls worked... Ugh.
Something caught her eye and she looked up. Kesset had reared into view on one of the coffins - third in line to get on the belt. He quickly returned to a prone position before any of the other constructs could notice. So she had a few minutes given the current pace, but no longer.
Fuck it.
She could outrun the coffins without the rest of the party to slow her down. As long as she kept her guard up, she could give this half-baked plan one single try. She fished the rainbow-metallic potion out of her bag, stared at it for a few seconds, then drank it in one gulp.
Her eyes widened as the rainbow light of the potion began to ripple across her skin and clothes. Her muscles tensed up and began to shake lightly, anxious to move. An echoing beat pounded through her head.
Iofodil leapt over the conveyor belt and dashed for the controls. Several coffins noticed her immediately - she was rather hard to miss with the bright rainbow glow - and clacked an alert. Dozens more closed in and snapped at her. She effortlessly ducked out of the way of several, then struck one with her pommel. A crack of rainbow light spiderwebbed across the thing’s body and it simply shattered into a pile of stone fragments. Several others shared the same fate as they were too slow to dodge out of her way. She only had to touch them and they broke apart.
Iofodil reached the control panel, but she was so energized with the potion’s effects that she couldn’t focus. None of the labels made sense to her, but that didn’t matter at this instant. She swept her arms across the board, severing levels and dials and gauges. Steam vented from broken readouts. Sparks flew and wires dangled limply. Several pops sounded as components exploded within the console. The coffins collectively shuddered and stopped dead.
Several seconds passed. Iofodil vibrated on the spot.
Every single coffin beeped. Then again, and again more quickly. Smoke began to rise. They didn’t have to announce “self-destruct sequence activated” for Iofodil to understand what was going on. And her companions were still trapped in there. A little three-tone chime sounded in her head as the rainbow began to waver. Her potion effects were fading. What’s the plan?
️ - Run over and remove everyone from the coffins before they explode.
- Don’t remove them; just destroy the coffins around them with the potion’s power.
- They’ll be fine. Take cover; the potion will probably run out before these things explode.
If she goes to help the party, what order should she go in? [Most votes = first, least votes = last.]
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
(Winners: , )
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Scene 13
Without pausing to think, Iodofil dashed off to her right. Coffins scattered before her, the unlucky ones crumbling into fragments and the lucky ones rushing after her impotently. [Dexterity 25 - Success] The rainbow light began to dim and her movements slowed somewhat, but not enough to stop her from vaulting over the railing and tagging all three coffins Kesset had indicated. She was careful to only touch the coffins and not her snake or the prisoners inside. Blowing up one of her companions would not help her at this point.
Finally, the potion ran out. Iofodil crouched in the center of the space she had cleared out while the rest of the party slumped to the floor as their coffins disintegrated. With a sound like hundreds of powerful fireworks, the remaining coffins detonated. [Luck 15 - Success] Stone chips and metal fragments sprayed all over the room, though thankfully none of them came close enough to hit anyone.
A few moments passed as the rubble settled. She took a breath.
“Anything else?”
No reply.
“Better not be.”
Iofodil crouched down to examine the rest of the party. [Insight 8 - Failure] She still couldn’t tell exactly what the poison was - and with all the coffins exploded she would likely never know - but they’d probably wake up in a few hours given the duration of the poisons that would be standard for this type of thing. She certainly couldn’t move them (or at least, not Crumpet) so she sat down on the edge of the now-stationary conveyor belt and took a moment to rest.
The shiny double doors on the other side of the room were visible in the corner of her eye. Was she really going to try and scout ahead while everyone else was out for a while? Well, just sitting here would get pretty boring. But maybe there’s something else I can do.
[You may vote for multiple. If several options have similar totals, they can be combined.]
- Scout ahead.
- Just rest.
- Poke around the rubble and boxes for loot.
- Poke around the gang’s pockets for anything interesting.
️ - Investigate the machinery further.
- Attempt to identify the headband.
(Winners: > > )
- Scout ahead.
- Just rest.
- Poke around the rubble and boxes for loot.
- Poke around the gang’s pockets for anything interesting.
️ - Investigate the machinery further.
- Attempt to identify the headband.
(Winners: > > )
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Scene 14
[Insight 3 - Failure] Most of the crates were packed with construction material, old mechanical parts, or more dusty coffins. There were a handful of curiosities that might be worth selling, but nothing major. Maybe a few dozen gold at most. Very disappointing.
There was nothing too interesting in the room at the end of the conveyor belt either, surprisingly. The brain chute was sealed off and too small for Iofodil to fit, and she definitely wasn’t going to break it open to drop Kesset down there. The waste chute still burned with tongues of flame; she couldn’t get too close. From a distance, there wasn’t much to see. Just darkness and smoke.
[Insight 6 - Failure] The headband was just as much of a mystery. Iofodil couldn’t read any of the runes written on the inside, and no amount of fiddling with it could make it do anything. With resignation, she admitted that this would likely be a problem best attacked by someone with magical abilities. Speaking of which...
“North. Near Dunlan’s Pass.” Hmm. Out of habit, Iofodil stepped lightly as she approached Maiele, but she really needn’t have bothered. The poison - whatever it was - would last a while yet. Just a quick rifle through couldn’t hurt. Let’s see...
Money, a key from the inn, something that looked like a little reference for various types of spells, ah. A tiny locket. Always a popular choice for hiding secrets of the past. She popped it open to reveal portraits of two people, both scribbled over with red markings. Through the drawings, she could make out a male elf and a female human, both distinguished-looking and bearing a strong resemblance to Maiele.
“Hmm. ‘Parents,’ you said?” she muttered quietly. “I see you don’t get along with your folks. Maybe I’ll hang onto this for a bit. Maybe you’ll want to tell me a little more later, hm?”
She snagged the money, too. Just for good measure.
[During a rest, all characters will regain full energy. The remaining healing potion may be used, and Maiele can heal anyone for one level of health at the cost of one of her levels of energy. She also won’t be pleased to do so.]
❤️ - Use the potion.
- Don’t.
- Maiele heals one level.
- Maiele heals two levels.
- Maiele heals three levels.
- Maiele does not heal anyone.
[More votes for a character here will prioritize them for healing. Resources won’t be wasted unnecessarily. Iofodil is already healthy.]
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
[Identifying the headband will occupy a character during the rest and may prevent them from regaining as much energy.]
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- No one.
(Winners: :broken_heart: , :orange_heart: , :bulb: )
- Don’t.
- Maiele heals one level.
- Maiele heals two levels.
- Maiele heals three levels.
- Maiele does not heal anyone.
[More votes for a character here will prioritize them for healing. Resources won’t be wasted unnecessarily. Iofodil is already healthy.]
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
[Identifying the headband will occupy a character during the rest and may prevent them from regaining as much energy.]
- Dave.
- Maiele.
- No one.
(Winners: :broken_heart: , :orange_heart: , :bulb: )
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Scene 15
“After that, I just sat around here and made sure nothing else happened until you woke up. Looks like they’re all dead, so that’s good. No more showed up. So, what do you want to do now?”
“Erzog still missing! We keep going!”
Dave nodded. “Crumpet is correct. We haven’t solved anything yet. Plus, based on what you said... Hold on a bit; I’m going to do some poking around. Don’t worry if anything explodes.” He got up and slowly made his way down the stationary conveyor towards the brain room. “You young folks figure out what you want to do next. I’ll come along.”
“You wonder if maybe he wasn’t actually poisoned; just asleep?” Iofodil asked. “Seems awfully chipper.”
“Dave is mystery and magic man!” Crumpet grunted. “So yes.”
“I’m okay with continuing, but maybe we should be a little more careful? I don’t really want to end up in that chute.” Maiele didn’t look up from the headband Iofodil had given her, still tracing the delicate runes. “If there are a hundred more of these things through that door...”
“Yeah, we’ll take a peek before charging in. I was thinking Kesset can do some scouting since he’s pretty sneaky.”
“Kesset?”
“My companion. Have you not been introduced?” Iofodil leaned over and let the snake drop from her neck onto Maiele’s shoulder, prompting a nervous squeak. “Relax, he won’t bite. Unless I ask him to.”
“That’s great it’s nice to meet you Kesset I think you can go now thanks.”
Iofodil tsk’d, but called the snake back anyway. “Crumpet, would you like to meet him? Here.”
Kesset seemed as small as a misplaced strand of spaghetti on Crumpet’s massive shoulders. The ogre craned his neck to look down and rumbled a greeting in a guttural language. The snake considered this before blinking slowly and rubbing his head against Crumpet’s neck. The much larger being chuckled. “Oh ho ho! He recognizes my home tongue! Smart thing!”
“He reacted to... is it orcish you speak?”
“No! Orcs are different! Smaller, meaner, not good. We ogrin have own tongue. Is-” He pronounced a series of syllables that sounded like a collection of growls. “Or, if true name too hard, ogrish. Some snakes work with ogrin, so some snakes remember our tongue.”
Iofodil called Kesset back and sat down. “Huh, I never knew that. Does that mean he lived with ogres before I got him?”
“Maybe! Or his ancestors did! Our shamen wove spells that last for... long time!”
“Fascinating. Kesset, have you met anyone like him before?”
The snake, as always, could not answer.
[Insight 16 - Success] Maiele looked up. “So... I think I know what this does.” She handed it back to Iofodil. “If you say these four syllables...” She spoke the command sequence carefully and had Iofodil repeat it thrice before she was satisfied. “And if you’re wearing it on your head, you should be able to... either levitate or fly. I’m not sure which. It only has one charge that lasts a few minutes and then takes a few hours to regain, so I probably wouldn’t test it now. But it should be useful.”
“Should be indeed. Got a good eye for these things. First the traps in the hallway, now this thing. How’d you learn to read runes like this?”
“U-uh, l-like I said, I taught myself.”
“You had enough access to a bunch of rare magic books to learn how to read glyphs and actually cast spells? And you did this all yourself, without the aid of any teachers?”
“Mm hm!”
“Bullll.... shiiiiiit. Even Crumpet doesn’t believe that. Right, buddy?”
“Huh? Yes! What?”
“See? If you’re from up north, near the pass, then there aren’t any big libraries or academies around there. So either you’re not actually from there, you moved to learn, or you had some serious connections in the upper class. So. Who are you, really?”
“I - I don’t... Why-”
“You very demanding,” Crumpet grumbled. “Very orcish. Mean.” He slowly curled one hand into a fist and gestured at it in a very un-subtle motion.
“Alright, fine. You don’t want to talk about it? Whatever. Hey, look, Dave’s back.”
“Hello! Have a good plan yet? I found some clues!” He wiggled his fingers. “Plus some fire. Always welcome! Anyway, the big chute isn’t an incinerator. The flames are just for show; it actually goes down a long way. Might be something interesting down there. So, plan?”
“Well, I was going to send Kesset to scout the metal doors over there, but if there’s something down this chute...”
- Send Kesset to scout the metal doors over there.
️ - Jump down the chute. [Iofodil-only due to the headband. The rest of the gang must take a different route.]
[Or suggest something else!]
(Winner: )
- Send Kesset to scout the metal doors over there.
️ - Jump down the chute. [Iofodil-only due to the headband. The rest of the gang must take a different route.]
[Or suggest something else!]
(Winner: )
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Scene 16
“Oh, no, your first plan seems far more sensible. Why don’t you give it a try?”
In short order, Kesset had been passed through the door and safely returned to the factory floor. Iofodil took a minute to commune with him, then delivered the snake’s verdict: “The room through here moves down, then opens up into another level of this place. Nothing’s moving around down there, so it should be safe enough to at least go look. He can’t describe it with much more detail, for obvious reasons.”
With some discussion of tactics and promises to be more careful, down they went. The elevator doors opened on another hallway with several more doors available. [Dexterity 26 - Success] Between Iofodil and Kesset, a stealthy look into each room was gained.
The wooden pull-door directly to the right of the elevator opened into a moderately sized room with several sinks and flimsy-looking stalls on the opposite wall. A large mirror hung above the sinks and showed an anthropomorphic mushroom sitting on a closed toilet and sobbing.
The sleek double doors directly in front of the elevator led into a huge open banquet hall, of similar size to the factory floor they had just left. [Insight 17 - Success] Several tall, gaunt, tentacle-faced creatures instantly recognizable as mind flayers sat at tables or moved around the room, preparing dishes and setting out tablecloths. A handful of mushroom creatures assisted, though they did not speak and seemed very nervous.
The metal-plated doorway at the opposite end of the hallway from the bathroom only had to crack open a little bit to release the smell of frying meat. Three large, blubbery humanoids wore aprons and chef hats, tending to dozens of stoves and ovens.
Finally, the light green door at a right angle to the kitchen simply opened into another hallway at a right angle to the first. Several more doors were visible along its length.
Go where?
- The washroom.
️ - The banquet hall.
- The kitchen.
- The hallway.
Do what? [You can provide more specifics in #story_discussion.]
️ - Talk.
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: , ️ > ️ , )
- The washroom.
️ - The banquet hall.
- The kitchen.
- The hallway.
Do what? [You can provide more specifics in #story_discussion.]
️ - Talk.
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: , ️ > ️ , )
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Scene 17
“There’s something crying in there? What’s it upset about? Could you tell?” Maiele whispered. “Shouldn’t we help it?”
“It’s a mushroom. We’re not safe here. We’ve got more important things to do than placate a fungus,” Iofodil hissed back. “Now-”
“But it’s so out of place! Don’t you think it could be useful?”
“Everything here is out of place!”
“I’m just going to...” She eased open the door and slipped in.
Iofodil rolled her eyes, turning to the others. “Well?”
Crumpet didn’t speak - he didn’t have a ‘whisper’ mode - but nodded energetically and motioned to the bathroom. Dave gave a thumbs up.
She sighed. “Fine. But be quiet.”
By the time the rest of the party had entered, Maiele had already approached the mushroom. It was probably about two feet tall, tan with a green cap and beady black eyes. It looked up in confusion as she crouched. [Charm 17 - Success] “Hey, little guy. Are you okay?”
The creature chittered, sounding much like a large hamster or similar rodent. Little saplike tears collected on its “face” - really just the upper part of the stalk.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand...”
Another short burst of chittering. The mushroom bent forward, beginning to weep again. It had no arms to gesture with, just four stumpy legs of little use besides for locomotion.
“Hey, do any of you speak mushroom?” An assortment of ‘no’s. “Worth a try. Well, look. What do you need? To go somewhere?” She did her best to motion towards the door, but the mushroom either wasn’t paying attention or didn’t understand.
“Can you please stop patronizing the fungus?” Iofodil grumbled. “It’s clearly not going to talk to you and we don’t know when the noodle-faces are going to come in here.”
“Little thing.” Crumpet leaned down; the mushroom squeaked and scrambled back towards the wall. “You will come with. You show where. Yes?”
He took a few sentences of additional worried chittering as a “Yes,” picked it up, and put it on his shoulder. “Is good. Stay there.” The little creature looked around with wide eyes from a new perspective, its tears beginning to dry up.
Go where?
️ - The banquet hall.
- The kitchen.
- The hallway.
Do what? [You can provide more specifics in #story_discussion.]
️ - Talk.
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: :cook: , :eye: , :croissant: )
️ - The banquet hall.
- The kitchen.
- The hallway.
Do what? [You can provide more specifics in #story_discussion.]
️ - Talk.
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: :cook: , :eye: , :croissant: )
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Scene 18
“Great. Glad we got that sorted out. Now, how about actually getting something useful done? Messing with the squid guys is pretty dangerous.” Iofodil gestured out the door and led the group back into the hallway.
Crumpet looked up to the mushroom on his shoulder. “Kitchen? It says kitchen.”
“Sure, works for me. But there are a lot of chefs in there and you aren’t very sneaky, so you should stay here while I-” Iofodil cut herself off, staring in disbelief at the closing kitchen door. “He really just went in there? While I was talking?”
“Looks like it!” Dave was just leaning against the wall with a wide grin. “Going to do something about it?”
“Ugh.”
Meanwhile, Crumpet entered the kitchen. He was doing his best to be quiet and stealthy, using the countertops as cover, but unfortunately there’s only so much a ten-foot ogre can do to hide. Even crouching, he was still taller than the counters and was spotted almost immediately.
The nearest chef, though large and rotund, was still dwarfed by Crumpet’s full height. It rushed forward with a garbled shout, collecting a frying pan from a sink for a weapon. “Insdhusti! Asht rn tung iir?”
“Huh?” Crumpet looked around, keeping an eye on the other two chefs. The room had three rows of countertops, all containing some assortment of stovetops, ovens, and sinks. Dozens of dishes were in various stages of preparation, and all were meat of some variety. [Insight 15 - Success] About a quarter of the visible meals seemed to be lightly prepared brains drizzled in some light green liquid. There was another door directly to his right that he was blocking with his bulk. The other two chefs had picked up long knives; one was advancing on his left and the other stood behind the one with the frying pan.
“Instdujsr! Exjdpam jrls asrsdh!”
“Hmm.”
The hallway door cracked slightly open. Crumpet glanced back. “Being quiet did not help much,” he informed Iofodil. She sighed.
“INSTXFCSRWA!” the chef shouted.
- Fight them.
- Leave, apologizing for the intrusion.
[In any case, what’s the next destination?]
⤵️ - The right-hand door.
️ - The banquet hall.
⬇️ - The remaining hallway door.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: , ⬇️ , )
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Scene 19
“Sorry, we go now,” Crumpet told the chefs, quickly opening the hallway door and slipping back through. To the rest of the group gathered around and staring, he continued, “Should leave. They looked angry.” He grabbed the door leading into the next hallway and shoved it open, [Strength 21 - Success] accidentally breaking it off its hinges and sending it crashing to the floor. “Come, come!”
“Will you stop it? Running off like this isn’t-” Iofodil was abruptly cut off by a frying pan as one of the chefs emerged from the kitchen and [Dexterity 25 - Success] almost brained her with it. She jumped out of the way and drew two daggers as the bulbous creature screeched and charged in a straight line towards Dave and Maiele. The other two chefs ran out into the hallway as well, shouting and brandishing knives. “Idiot,” she muttered, eying the melee for an opening.
Just down the hall, Crumpet carefully perused the three additional doors available to him before deciding to peek into each one, all sneaky-like. [Dexterity 16 - Success] The northernmost door opened into a medium-sized room with a large hole in the ceiling and dozens of bodies stacked up on metal shelves. Two mind flayers stalked the aisles, occasionally pointing something out on a body, muttering quietly, or scribbling something down on a clipboard. The door directly south of that led into a larger room very similar to the kitchen from before. Here, instead of chefs and ovens, the counters were covered in magical paraphernalia and the cooks had been replaced with mind flayers wearing robes inscribed with arcane symbols. The southernmost door was by far the least interesting: it led to a continuation of the hallway. There was at least another set of metal double doors visible, which could mean another elevator.
“Hmmm...” Crumpet scratched his chin. [Insight 17 - Success] Had any of the bodies in there looked... familiar? “Erzog? Friends, in-” He cut himself off, noticing something down the hall where he had just come from.
[Dexterity 10 - Failure] Maiele yelped and jumped back just a little too late as two chefs - one with a frying pan and one with a knife - charged her. The frying pan clanged against the wall, but the long knife struck true. Just as before, the copper pendant glowed burning hot and a blast of wind sent both chefs flying. She didn’t pause to steady herself, instead moving directly into an incantation. [Magic 18 - Success] Flames licked from her hands as she gently raised her arms, coaxing two rings of fire out of the cold stone floor.
The chefs gibbered, confused and alarmed, as the flames rose higher. One tried to jump through the barrier, but a particularly strong gout of fire pushed it back. Together, they screeched as the flames grew tall enough to obscure them entirely. Something grim stirred in her mind and she almost grinned.
[Morality 9 - Failure] A cold, sharp pain blossomed in her lower back as the last chef drove its knife into her abdomen. Maiele gasped, the spell failing without her attention and dying out to reveal the two dead chefs. She fell to the floor, hearing a grunt of “gotcha” and a gurgling squeal as Iofodil skewered her attacker. There was a pause as the floor seemed to recede. Little sparkles formed in her vision. The healing spell. How did it go, again?
Iofodil turned away from Dave to hide her unavoidable smirk as the old wizard began to wind down his silencing charm. Too easy. I even have an alibi. She took a moment to shift her demeanor from “cackling” to “concerned,” then knelt down. “Mai, you okay?” The blade had hit a rib and deflected away from anything vital. Painful, sure, but not too dangerous.
“Hhhhhnnnn...” The girl couldn’t even raise her head.
“Hey, you gotta get up. We can’t stay here.”
Crumpet ran up just as the silencing barrier dropped. “What happened?!”
“The chefs you led out here attacked. Look what you’ve done.” She motioned to the still-spreading bloodstain. “Come on; we need to...”
Go where?
- Back into the kitchen; recover. [The second-place option will be chosen after this, if this is chosen.]
️ - The banquet hall.
- The bodies room.
- The room with all the magic stuff.
- More hallways.
How to deal with Maiele?
❤️ - The last healing potion.
✨ - Get her to hold it together long enough to cast a healing spell.
- Deal with it. It’s not going to kill her.
How sneaky was Iofodil’s plan?
- Very. No one noticed.
- Someone noticed... [Who? Or I’ll choose.]
What’s the strategy?
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
️ - Talk.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: > , ✨ , , ️ , )
- Back into the kitchen; recover. [The second-place option will be chosen after this, if this is chosen.]
️ - The banquet hall.
- The bodies room.
- The room with all the magic stuff.
- More hallways.
How to deal with Maiele?
❤️ - The last healing potion.
✨ - Get her to hold it together long enough to cast a healing spell.
- Deal with it. It’s not going to kill her.
How sneaky was Iofodil’s plan?
- Very. No one noticed.
- Someone noticed... [Who? Or I’ll choose.]
What’s the strategy?
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
️ - Talk.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: > , ✨ , , ️ , )
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Scene 20
“You, go block the door. Make sure no one else gets in here. And as for... where’s Dave? You know what, nevermind. Come on.” Iofodil struggled to drag Maiele back into the kitchen, posting Crumpet in between the two doors as a physical blockade. He stared after them, looking almost about to cry.
“Alright, Mai. I know you can do healing spells. You’ve fixed worse injuries than this just earlier today. You just need to focus. I’m here for ya, so take as much time as you need, but I can’t cast anything myself, so you’re going to have to.” She deftly avoided mentioning the healing potion still sitting in her bag. Unnecessary. She was playing the long game.
Fingers twitched and the girl gasped out a few words, her eyes still shut tightly. Iofodil leaned closer. “You want your hands where? Close to it, but not on? Okay.”
...
[Charm/Magic 23 - Success] Dave whistled nonchalantly as he strode into the room Crumpet had mentioned with all the magical paraphernalia. Shame about the chefs. He should have been paying more attention. It was always hard to stay focused these days. “Oh, hello there!” he said cheerfully to the robed mind flayers - warlocks, he surmised - sprinkling incense around a large circle. “Pleasant day?”
Two of them glanced up, then refocused on their task. The third, shorter than the others, gave a little half-wave and a nice smile invisible behind the facial tendrils. He could still see the eyes crinkling up, though, so that was lovely. Dave returned the wave and smile, taking a quick jaunt through the room. Ooh, extraordinary. [Magic 24 - Success] Brains in jars lined the countertops, each labeled with a date and a short description. He tapped the lid of the closest one, watching a sigil flare into being for an instant. Preservative. Didn’t want these things rotting away, he supposed! Ooh, now about that circle. The incense, the glyphs, the exposed brain lying damply at the center. The... smaller jar just beside it. Curious. Dave sat down in a convenient chair just beside a small chute leading even further down and watched the ritual.
The three flayers finished up their preparation and raised their hands, conjuring a dull pink light and what seemed to be an out-of-tune afterimage of a person, rising from the brain in the center. It was almost like it was formed from fog. Hm, yes. Most excellent.
Over a minute passed as the three warlocks chanted and swayed, moving around the circle in an attempt to tune the signal. The apparition grew clearer, then faded, then came back into focus. Finally, they seemed satisfied and switched to a new chant. Binding? Consumption? Something like that. Very abjuration-y.
This stage was much shorter. After only twenty seconds or so, the spirit in the center was compressed and forced down into the smaller jar, filling it with a wispy gas. One of the flayers tightly corked it, while another gently picked up the brain and set it on the counter in a pile of its fellows. The third began to erase several of the more specific glyphs. Extraordinary. These creatures were very clearly extracting something from these brains: souls, memories, consciousness, whatever you wanted to call it. The only other question was what were they doing with this extracted essence?
The flayer with the bottle walked over to Dave and tossed it down the chute.
Hm. Curious. Dave stroked his illusory facial tendrils in thought. He had an idea what was going on here. It just remained to be seen whether the rest of his eccentric group would figure it out as well. Oh, the excitement!
“Well, that was lovely,” he said to the one that had smiled at him. “I should be going, though. Lots of things to do.”
Another wave as he stepped back into the hallway, dropped the illusion, and wandered back towards the kitchen.
...
Maiele sat up and carefully stretched her side. Not even a little twinge of discomfort. A perfect healing. She frowned.
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah, fine.” A pause as she reluctantly looked up. “T-thanks. I don’t know how he got me, but... yeah.”
“Don’t mention it. What else are friends for?” Iofodil nudged her arm playfully. “Sorry I didn’t get him a bit sooner.”
“No, no, that’s fine. You helped plenty.” She’s being too nice. Maybe? Was she like this before? I’m so confused. Their previous conversation was still a bit of a blur. From her stabbing? The explosion? The poison? Had it been like this before? She couldn’t recall. “I just wish I... uhm, so... what next?”
“Wish you what?”
“No, it’s dumb. What happened with-”
“It’s not dumb. Do you need something?”
A few moments of hesitation. “Look, I just wish I hadn’t needed to heal. I - it’s stupid. I just... shouldn’t have to. Elementalists don’t heal. Combat mages don’t heal. Adventurers... well, they heal, but not like this.”
Doesn’t talk about family, somehow learned magic in the north, knows healing magic but doesn’t want to. I think I’m getting an idea here. [Charm 12 - Opposed success] “And why not? Because they can’t, not because it’s not useful. If I could do that, I would! All the time! Don’t be ashamed of the skills you have. They’re really helpful.”
“No, it’s not that. I know healing’s really important. It’s just... here. When you look at me, what do you see? Don’t answer that; you already told me. A girl, a newbie, a weakling. Someone who’s not meant for adventuring. [Charm 6 - Opposed failure] Just good for temple work as a healer. Nothing else.” Her eyes widened at that last part and she almost covered her mouth with a hand. Said too much. Shut up, shut up.
Iofodil blinked. “But you can do combat magic, too. You can set things on fire, disarm traps, and all sorts of other things. I’m not seeing the problem here, really. You’re an adventurer. Just... new at it. Everyone starts off as a newbie. Just because you can heal doesn’t make you any less powerful, or any less of a competent adventurer. I don’t see why you think it should.”
“No, you don’t understand. When I use my healing, I... I...” She squeezed her eyes shut, debating whether or not to continue. “I prove my parents right.” No no no no no why did I say that why did I-
The door crashed open. Maiele jumped. “Hello, hello!” Dave called as he sauntered in. “Ooh, do I have some exciting news for you!”
Go where?
️ - The banquet hall.
- The bodies room.
- The ritual room.
- The rest of the hallways.
What’s the strategy?
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
️ - Talk.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: , ️ , )
️ - The banquet hall.
- The bodies room.
- The ritual room.
- The rest of the hallways.
What’s the strategy?
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
️ - Talk.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: , ️ , )
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Scene 21
Several minutes later, Dave entered the room with all the bodies, tugging at his illusion’s features. There had been an awkward tension back in the kitchen and everyone had seemed really surprised he could disguise himself like this, so he had volunteered to go back out and get some more information. They couldn’t rely on him for everything, but for now he’d carry on.
[Charm/Magic 13 - Borderline] “Good day,” he nodded to the two flayers as he wandered confidently into the room. “Don’t mind me.”
The two of them looked at each other, confused, then returned to the clipboard. Dave quietly breathed out another trickle of glimmering magic as he reinforced the illusion while he was wearing it. Something had almost slipped him up. There was a lot of magical energy in this room; oh yes indeed. Perhaps even more than the ritual area to the south.
He pottered through the room, looking over the bodies lying cold and lifeless on rows of metal shelves. All were clearly dead, though doused in some sort of preserving magic that held them from decay. Additionally, every single body had the top of its skull cleanly sliced open and the brain inside removed. Scorch marks on some of the newer victims, towards the back of the room, clued him in that these people had probably just been dumped down here directly from the conveyor above. And as he approached the eastern wall and noticed a large pipe dangling from the ceiling, he confirmed he was correct. It linked up to the flaming chute from the floor above.
[Insight 7 - Failure] None of the bodies in the room were ogrish, though there were quite a lot of them and Dave hadn’t had time yet to look through every shelf. Perhaps Erzog was here somewhere. Though that wouldn’t matter too much without being able to reunite brain with body. And perhaps, given the rituals those flayers were performing to the south, reuniting some other component as well.
“They’re late. Have they no respect for schedule?”
Dave crept a little closer, nonchalantly poking through one of the shelves. The two flayers were discussing something.
“Perhaps they simply got held up briefly. A forty second delay is not unheard of.”
“I’m going to get them. We’re on a time limit, if you don’t recall.”
The second flayer shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
The first mind flayer stomped through the shelves, making for the door that led to the kitchen. Dave rubbed his chin. The second one was still engrossed in its clipboard near the center of the room. What to do, what to do...?
- Take them out. Eliminate the threat.
- Warn the gang before the flayer gets to the door.
- Distract them. Lead them away from the kitchen.
(Winner: )
- Take them out. Eliminate the threat.
- Warn the gang before the flayer gets to the door.
- Distract them. Lead them away from the kitchen.
(Winner: )
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Scene 22
[Charm/Magic 19 - Success] “Actually, if you’ll pardon the interruption, I believe I know where your missing chefs are.”
The flayer heading for the kitchen stopped and raised a tendril at Dave. “Well?”
“If I could just get some assistance first...?”
“What do you want?”
“Just looking for an ogre in this room, and they forgot to give me an index. There are so many shelves to search through.”
The flayer with the clipboard muttered and traced a finger down it. “Third row, seventh column, first shelf. That’s the only one here.”
The other flayer crossed their arms as Dave wandered over in that direction. “The chefs?”
“Passed them heading down that way, towards the bathroom and great hall. Said someone with a mushroom had asked for their presence.”
“Ugh. Typical. Those stuck-up elryths think they’re so important, even though we’re running the show here. Come on, let’s go get them.”
“But I’m almost done here!”
“You can’t be done without those chefs. Let’s go.”
Both flayers left the room. Dave grinned. That had gone smoother than he had anticipated, and he had found Erzog. The ogre was dead and de-brained, but still bore a strong resemblance to Crumpet to confirm the relation. All that was left was to track down his brain, put it back in, and cast a resurrection spell. Someone back at town could probably handle that. One of the clerics at the temple.
He wandered back into the kitchen. “Hello, hello! Ooh, even more exciting news! But, also, we should probably get moving pretty quickly.”
️ - The banquet hall.
- The ritual room.
- The rest of the hallways.
What’s the strategy?
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
️ - Talk.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: , ️ , )
️ - The banquet hall.
- The ritual room.
- The rest of the hallways.
What’s the strategy?
- Fight.
️ - Sneak.
️ - Talk.
Who leads?
- Crumpet.
- Dave.
- Maiele.
️ - Iofodil.
(Winners: , ️ , )
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Scene 23
A few minutes later...
Two mind flayers walked purposefully into the ritual room and impatiently waited while the three flayers already present finished the current spell. After a minute, the shorter of the new arrivals pulled one of the casters aside.
[Charm 19 - Success] “Listen, there’s been a mix-up. One of the brains in this batch isn’t supposed to go through. What information do you need to help me find it?”
“A... mix-up? What kind? What happened?”
[Charm 21 - Critical Success] The newcomer’s facial tendrils wiggled in agitation. “There’s been some noise from upstairs. The conveyors got messed up; we’re working on it, but not before one of our own guys got dropped down here. It got mislabeled, everyone missed it in the chaos, and now - just, it’s listed under an ogre. Erzog, apparently. You know where that one is?”
“Oh, uh, that sounds... disastrous, actually. Glad we caught it!” A clattering noise and some shouts rose from the corridor. The flayer glanced at the door nervously. “Yeah, I can help you track it down. But the extract might have already gone to Meld by now.”
“We can worry about that later; just the physical brain will be good enough to start with.”
“Right. Let’s see what we can find...”
As the flayer turned away to search through a pile of papers, Maiele glanced over at the taller newcomer and winked. Dave gave her a subtle thumbs-up.
Meanwhile, in the bodies room, Iofodil gripped her daggers and listened intently. The walls were stone - too thick to hear through - but the kitchen door was thin enough to just about work. Crumpet, listening at the hallway door, and Kesset, at the ritual room door, both remained still. Nothing to report yet. [Insight 15 - Marginal]
She couldn’t make out the words, but someone was definitely speaking in the kitchen. Two someones, both angry. Presumably they had found the chefs they had been looking for. Iofodil motioned to Crumpet as the voices grew closer. The ogre hefted his club menacingly.
[Strength 15 - Marginal / Dexterity 14 - Failure] The voices quieted just as they reached the door. Iofodil hesitated just a moment, then leapt back. “They know!”
The door slammed open and a bolt of crackling magic sent Crumpet stumbling into a shelf. Flimsy metal bent and broke, burying the ogre under an avalanche of corpses. The little mushroom tumbled to the floor behind the wreckage. Iofodil darted forward and barely did not manage to duck beneath the spell of the second flayer. Her left arm went numb and she almost fell with the jolt. One dagger slipped from her hand, but the other struck true and plunged into the flayer’s throat. It gurgled and collapsed; she yanked her weapon back out and jumped for the second-
A pulse of shimmering purple light billowed around her. A cloud of sparkling dust. Like little gems, or stars. The world was invisible behind it. Unimportant. The second dagger slipped from her fingers. She fell to her knees. Something tall approached. So hard to hold onto thoughts. Everything short, clipped. Like... [Insight 8 - Failure] Like what? Just light. So pretty. So commanding.
Crumpet cracked the second flayer’s skull open with his club. They crumpled to the ground and the spell collapsed with them.
Iofodil paused a moment, then snatched up her daggers and stood with Crumpet’s assistance. “That could have gone better.”
“Yes, very.” The ogre patted at his chest, which still sported a large scorch mark from the first bolt. “What now?”
Meanwhile, the occupants of the ritual room were listening in concern. “Come on, we don’t have time for whatever that is,” Maiele growled, dragging the other flayer’s attention back to the lists. “The others are handling it.”
“Right, right... hang on, here it is! Erzog, ogre, captured... eight days ago? You said this just happe-”
“Mislabeled, remember? The actual ogre was captured then. Where’s it say the brain is?”
“The extract is with Meld. It doesn’t say if it’s been consumed or not; I hope not, if this is one of our guys. But the physical brain should be...” the flayer sifted through a pile of brains lying wetly on the counter. Maiele gagged. “Here! This one. Wow, it really looks a lot like a real ogre brain.”
“Our brains aren’t that different from other humanoids. Have you ever seen a flayer brain up close before?”
“No, I guess not. Fascinating. Anyway-” A loud crashing noise sounded from the bodies room, followed by more yelling. “Okay, that is IT! This is absurd! What is going ON in here?!”
The flayer stomped towards the door, the other two following. Maiele glanced at Dave.
(Winners: , )
[Iofodil & Crumpet]
️ - Hide.
- Get ready to ambush.
- Retreat into the hallway.
[Maiele & Dave]
- Take them out before they get to the door.
- Pretend to help, but backstab them in the bodies room.
- Actually help them. It’s a good way to gain trust.
- Run while they’re distracted. Find Meld and the extract.
, )
[Iofodil & Crumpet]
️ - Hide.
- Get ready to ambush.
- Retreat into the hallway.
[Maiele & Dave]
- Take them out before they get to the door.
- Pretend to help, but backstab them in the bodies room.
- Actually help them. It’s a good way to gain trust.
- Run while they’re distracted. Find Meld and the extract.
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Scene 24
[Strength 22 - Success / Dexterity 15 - Marginal] “What is going on in - GLEK!” The first flayer to make it into the room got a knife in the neck for their swiftness. Iofodil jumped back, ducking out of the way of a bolt of magic. More shelves collapsed.
“Go; get help!” The second flayer dropped into a defensive posture and began weaving a hemispherical spell around the doorway, while the third ran out of the ritual room.
“You deal with him,” Iofodil ordered, leaping past the doorway and out into the hall. “I’ll get this one.”
Crumpet roared and slammed against the flayer’s shield, bouncing off three times in total before the bubble ruptured in a burst of magic. He swatted at the air, choking, before regaining his senses and spotting the flayer darting out into the hallway as well. “GET BACK HERE!” the ogre shouted, crashing through both doors in pursuit.
Iofodil, trailing just a few feet behind her target, jumped forward with dagger extended. She crashed into the flayer’s back and brought both of them to the floor, slamming through a set of double doors leading into a large open area. She quickly finished the job with a neck slice, then looked up and froze.
The great hall went silent as every mind flayer in it - perhaps thirty or so - turned and stared at the disturbance. A moment later, there was a scream and a crunch as Crumpet flattened the other one. Someone coughed.
“Uh.” She stood up and backed away from the flayer’s body. “I can explain.”
...
“Ooh hoo hoo, what an adventure!” Dave clapped, pointing at the ceiling with a burst of flame. “Such daring tactics! A fantabulous rescue will be needed! Oh ho!”
“Dave, what are you talking about?” Maiele hissed. “And please be a little quieter; we’re supposed to be undercover. They’re all distracted and we need to hurry to get that extract back from whatever Meld is.”
“Get ahold of yourself, Tim the small! There is no need for sneakery when you are INVINCIBLE!”
“My name isn’t Tim; I... hello? Are you okay?”
The elevator dinged and opened the doors into yet another hallway. Thankfully, no one was immediately visible.
“FORWARD! AGAINST THE CRAWLING VISCOSITY! PURGE! PURGE!” The old wizard set both hands alight and charged into the corridor, cackling maniacally.
Maiele held back, eyes wide. “This is not the right time for this oh my god where is he going.”
Dave kicked open a heavy steel door, a shower of embers erupting from his rainboots on impact. Still laughing, the flames around his hands suddenly burst with white-hot radiance and filled the room on the other side. Maiele caught a brief glimpse of hundreds of glass tanks and dozens of mind flayers before the door slammed shut from the fire-induced wind.
She drew in a shaky breath. “He’ll be fine.”
There was only one other door in the hallway. She approached it, grasped the handle, and stepped through.
The new room was about the same size as the kitchen on the upper level and had several racks of bright yellow hazmat suits. There were two other mind flayers in the room, one putting on a suit and one taking it off.
The first flayer paused in wrestling on a boot and nodded to Maiele, still in her disguise. “Everything alright out there? Heard some yelling.”
[Charm 8 - Failure] “Yep, fine! Nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever!”
The flayer taking off the suit wiggled its facial tendrils. “Are you sure about that?”
“Uh...”
“Because the Meld has just informed me of dangerous intruders in this very facility, some wearing the guise of our own.” They narrowed their eyes. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, now would you?”
[Maiele]
- “Haha, nope. Sounds crazy, though. ‘Scuse me, need to get in there.”
- “Yep! Surprise!” Cast a spell; incapacitate them.
- “Actually, there was something weird in the room with all the tanks...”
[Iofodil & Crumpet]
- “Uh... bye!” (Run away)
- Fight the flayers. Thirty versus two. Even odds. Maybe.
- Barricade somewhere; defend, deal with them one at a time if possible.
(Winners: , )
- “Haha, nope. Sounds crazy, though. ‘Scuse me, need to get in there.”
- “Yep! Surprise!” Cast a spell; incapacitate them.
- “Actually, there was something weird in the room with all the tanks...”
[Iofodil & Crumpet]
- “Uh... bye!” (Run away)
- Fight the flayers. Thirty versus two. Even odds. Maybe.
- Barricade somewhere; defend, deal with them one at a time if possible.
(Winners: , )
3
4
9
6
3
4
Scene 25
[Charm 6 - Failure] “Um, actually, there was something weird in the room with all the tanks just down the hall...”
“Oh really? The Resurrection Room, which everyone in this facility knows the name of?”
“Y...eah...”
The mind flayer made a sudden move, casting a blanket of glimmering magic over Maiele. She stepped back, feeling the illusion dissolving around her. “Ah, um-”
“Don’t just stand there; get her!”
[Magic 8 - Failure] Both flayers attacked in sync, each with bursts of sparkling energy that hummed in the air. Maiele hadn’t practiced dueling against other magic users before and resorted to just wrapping herself in a bubble shield. Safe from all directions, but only while her energy lasted. Which was not going to be very long if they kept up the assault. Had to do something else.
Keeping one hand up to steady the shield, she dropped her other and incanted a bolt of lightning: the first attack she could think of. Energy crackled, deflecting off one of the flayers’ shields. They had been able to get their own defenses up while she had been distracted. Maiele winced, almost dropping to her knees as her left hand grew hot with the strain of holding the shield. This isn’t working. Gotta think of something unusual. Unexpected. What can I do...?
With a sudden burst of inspiration, Maiele ran forward, drew the dagger she had gotten from Iofodil, and stabbed herself in the chest before she had time to change her mind.
Just as before, the blade stopped a fraction of an inch from her skin, then was torn from her grasp by the blast of wind emanating from the pendant. It hurtled end over end at one of the flayers and - guided very slightly by Maiele’s control over the air - embedded itself squarely in her opponent’s torso. The shield, geared to stop magic, had failed against the blade.
The first flayer gurgled and collapsed. Maiele hurled herself forward to rip the dagger out of its chest as the second one stumbled from the wind. It lost its concentration just long enough to break its attack, allowing Maiele to drop her shield and use both hands to guide the dagger through the air again, straight into the thing’s neck.
As the second flayer fell, it raised a hand webbed with red lines and cast a dying spell. Weaker than its prior bolts, yes, but more than enough to knock Maiele flat on her back, pain coursing through her ribs from the jolt. She wasn’t dead, but given her utter exhaustion and collection of new injuries, probably wasn’t far off.
Meanwhile, Iofodil was running through the factory floor again, dodging pieces of broken automata and bolts of magic from her pursuers. Beside her, Crumpet carried the corpse of his brother and ran with rage in his eyes. She wasn’t entirely convinced he wouldn’t turn around at any moment to flatten more flayers.
[Dexterity/Dexterity 10 - Failure] Both of them had taken several more bolts in the first portion of their escape, but had gotten far enough ahead with the elevator’s help that the flayers were having a hard time aiming. “Little bit farther,” she grunted. “We’ll meet them back in town. They’ll have the brain. Just keep moving.”
Crumpet growled, hopefully in agreement. Another wayward bolt of energy whipped past her head. She ducked lower. Almost there...
[Maiele]
- Pass out. [Recovers some energy. Being discovered while unconscious would be a bad idea, though.]
- Up you get. Through the door. Meet Meld.
- Try to find Dave.
[Iofodil & Crumpet]
- Leave the mushroom behind to distract the flayers.
- Destroy as much of the entrance as possible to delay the flayers.
- Just keep running. Don’t try anything fancy.
(Winners: , )
- Pass out. [Recovers some energy. Being discovered while unconscious would be a bad idea, though.]
- Up you get. Through the door. Meet Meld.
- Try to find Dave.
[Iofodil & Crumpet]
- Leave the mushroom behind to distract the flayers.
- Destroy as much of the entrance as possible to delay the flayers.
- Just keep running. Don’t try anything fancy.
(Winners: , )
1
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10
5
6
4
Scene 26
Maiele lay on her back for almost a minute, trying to get her breathing under control as her vision greyed and returned to color. Eventually, she felt confident enough to very slowly climb to her feet and stand up. Braced against the wall, she shuffled out of the room back into the hallway. Dave could help. He had to be able to. Otherwise... No. He’ll be there.
Meanwhile...
[Strength 19 - Marginal] “Hurry, hurry!” Iofodil kicked at the arch as Crumpet swung his massive club. Cracks formed in the wall until it finally gave, burying the entryway under thousands of pounds of rock and soil. The angry sounds of pursuing mind flayers were abruptly cut off under the avalanche. She stepped back to observe the damage.
“They will not be getting us soon,” Crumpet declared, kicking a nearby (inanimate) coffin for emphasis. He still carried Erzog’s body.
“Yeah, looks pretty solid. Good job, big guy. Let’s get the rest of the way out and we can wait for the others at town.”
A few minutes passed before, as they were walking back down the forest path towards Redport, Crumpet suddenly exclaimed, “Hold on! The entry is collapsed! How do they get out? Stuck below!”
“Crumpet, buddy, you need to learn when to cut your losses. We can’t go back down there. They’re both magic people; maybe they can teleport out or clear the blockage or something. But if not, well, at least we got out. That’s enough.”
“But Erzog! Not alive! And... want to help them! They are good, and friends!”
“Alright, go for it. I’m not gonna stop you. But if you get yourself killed trying to save them, I told you so.”
Meanwhile...
The room was quiet and dark when Maiele opened the door. Ashes drifted in the air. Little embers of fire still sparkled here and there. Everything was silent.
“H-hello? Dave?” she called. “Are you okay?”
Dead mind flayers were everywhere, all burnt to cinders. The glass tanks were melted and in some cases shattered. Shards of broken stone and glass littered the floor, some with destroyed magic circuitry still flickering on the surface. Everything seemed to have been blown outwards from an epicenter near the middle of the room. She headed towards it, kicking up ash and soot.
“Dave?” she tried again, quieter. Nothing moved.
There was nothing left in the epicenter. Just a scorched-black patch of floor and a ring of ash. No Dave, no cloak, no rainboots. [Insight 16 - Success] Nothing at a- wait.
Maiele knelt and brushed aside some of the ash. There was a little orange gemstone - carved into a clean geometric shape - lying on top of a burnt piece of paper. She picked up both the gem and the note.
“I am needed elsewhere and elsewhen. Elsewho, perhaps. A gift for you and your potential. Grow. Live. Good luck, small Tim Maiele. -Dave.”
The gem felt warm in her hand, like a cozy fire. [Magic 10 - Failure] It didn’t seem to have any other special properties. She stood, considering.
[Crumpet]
- Return to town. He can’t do anything for them at this point.
- Clear the entrance and charge back in.
️ - Stay just outside. In case they need him.
[Maiele]
- The final confrontation. Time to pay Meld a visit.
- Go back up. Try to get out. Stay away from flayers if possible.
- Attempt to teleport out. Dangerous. She hasn’t succeeded before and is very low on energy.
[Or suggest something else]
(Winners: ️ , )
- Return to town. He can’t do anything for them at this point.
- Clear the entrance and charge back in.
️ - Stay just outside. In case they need him.
[Maiele]
- The final confrontation. Time to pay Meld a visit.
- Go back up. Try to get out. Stay away from flayers if possible.
- Attempt to teleport out. Dangerous. She hasn’t succeeded before and is very low on energy.
[Or suggest something else]
(Winners: ️ , )
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11
4
6
1
Scene 27
“Cannot just leave here! Come! We go back!” [Charm 3 - Failure]
Iofodil scoffed. “Bye. Have fun.”
“But - do you not care?”
“Pfft. Doesn’t matter, chief. Nothin’ we can do. See ya around.” She disappeared into the brush, Kesset flicking his tongue in farewell.
Crumpet stood there for a moment, upset, then turned and headed back to the cave entrance. All was quiet and there was still no way down. Experimentally, he tried lifting aside some of the collapsed stone blocking the way in, but there was just too much, even for him. He sat down heavily on one of the nearby stumps. Maybe in a few hours or a day he could dig this out, but not in time to be helpful. He’d just have to stay here, ready to help if anyone needed him. They both had magic. They’d be okay.
Right?
Below...
Maiele tip-toed through the empty hallways, listening for any sounds. She didn’t have enough energy left for more than a spark of magic. If she tried anything bigger, she might very well accidentally kill herself. Nothing more than a dagger against dozens of furious squid-faced creatures who would no doubt love to get their grubby little hands all over her brain.
She had to admit, she hadn’t quite been in this bad of a situation before.
Maiele ducked into the elevator and started back up. Just had to navigate through the next level, make it to the elevator up to the warehouse, and then escape through the wide-open room to finally make it back to the forest. Maybe she’d run into Crumpet and Iofodil along the way. Hopefully they could help her. Hopefully they were still alive, with all this commotion.
[Dexterity 13 - Success] Dagger grasped so tightly it trembled, Maiele held her breath as the elevator doors opened. No one’s here?
Indeed, the hallway was empty of living creatures. There were, however, several corpses. Smashed, slashed, stabbed. Evidence of her companions. There had been a fight. She shuffled forward as fast as she could, dreading to hear any other footsteps that would spell the end. Nothing came. She was alone. For now.
The next elevator was also - shockingly - vacant. Did they kill everyone? What happened here? In she went, again gripping the dagger and preparing to stab the first flayer she saw.
The elevator doors opened onto the warehouse floor and Maiele sunk to her knees. She now knew where all the flayers had gone.
The warehouse was packed with mind flayers, most standing around and watching as a few debated or lifted piles of rubble with magic. The entire far side of the cavern had collapsed, totally sealing off any access to the outside world. Maybe someone would open it back up in the next day or two, but she didn’t have a day or two. If she tried to stay here that long...
[We are approaching the end of the story. This is not the final choice, but it might be the second-to-last, depending on the option chosen.]
- Try to sneak through; get a better look at the debris. Maybe there’s a way out.
- Try to hide in the complex until the flayers have cleared the rubble, then escape.
- Use her remaining life force as blood magic to destroy them all and the complex as well. This will kill Maiele.
- Surrender. Maybe they’ll just take her prisoner. Maybe there will be an opportunity.
- Go back. Meet Meld.
- Try to teleport out. Dangerous, difficult. Might kill Maiele.
[Or suggest something else.]
(Winner: )
- Try to sneak through; get a better look at the debris. Maybe there’s a way out.
- Try to hide in the complex until the flayers have cleared the rubble, then escape.
- Use her remaining life force as blood magic to destroy them all and the complex as well. This will kill Maiele.
- Surrender. Maybe they’ll just take her prisoner. Maybe there will be an opportunity.
- Go back. Meet Meld.
- Try to teleport out. Dangerous, difficult. Might kill Maiele.
[Or suggest something else.]
(Winner: )
2
4
3
2
9
2
Scene 28
Maiele turned back in despair and took the elevator back down. She shuffled through the halls to the next one and descended again, back down to the deepest level. No one was around to accost her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to get out up there. No, she had to finish this. The only way to end this nightmare was to confront its source. Whatever “Meld” was.
She almost put on one of the bright yellow hazmat suits, but decided against it. She was too numbly angry - or angrily numb? - to care. A moment later, she changed her mind again and glanced back, then turned away again. Another glance back. She sighed and grabbed a suit. Thanks, anxiety. She rolled her eyes at herself. Way to go with the whole self-preservation thing.
...
The chamber on the other side of the decontamination hallway was only of moderate size and mostly cylindrical. A large circular pool stood only about a dozen feet from the entrance, filled with some mysteriously glowing wispy green liquid. An enormous brain, perhaps seven or eight feet in diameter, squatted moistly in the pond. Strings of a ghostly white substance coated its wrinkly folds, strongly resembling the “extract” she had seen upstairs.
“Uh... h-hello?”
There was no reply. The brain did not move, though the gentle sound of liquid trickling echoed through the room. She stepped closer.
“I’m looking for... extract? From an ogre?” Might as well ask, right?
No response.
“Are you alive?”
Nothing.
“Hhmmmnnn...” Maiele nervously stepped around the sides of the pool, but didn’t find anything else of note besides a few tubes and wires that presumably controlled the liquid somehow. No other doors or exits. No stacks of jars sitting around for her to take back. No secret escape hatch. Just the pool and the brain.
[Two of these options will lead to the end of the story. Two will not.]
- Kill it.
♀️ - Leave the room.
️ - Touch it.
♀️ - Sit down. Stay a while. Listen.
(Winner: :woman_in_lotus_position: )
- Kill it.
♀️ - Leave the room.
️ - Touch it.
♀️ - Sit down. Stay a while. Listen.
(Winner: :woman_in_lotus_position: )
1
1
5
6
Scene 29
She breathed out and sat down cross-legged in front of the pond. Placed her hands on her knees. Closed her eyes. Quieted her body and mind as best she could. And then, igniting just a tiny spark of unguided magic, she listened. [Magic 14 - Success]
Nothing was audible for several minutes, aside from the continuing slow trickle of the pond. Then, very slowly, the trickle faded away. The remaining sounds and sensations of the world shed from her consciousness. A low, powerful bass note hummed through her bones. Maiele opened her eyes.
She was someone else, taller than herself and with a scratchy brown beard. She was standing in a kitchen, cutting up a potato. Stars glowed through the trees outside. A young voice called out from behind, “Is it ready yet? I want to eat now!”
“No, sweetie,” she replied. “It’ll be another hour at least.”
“But daaaaaaaaad!”
“If you want something to eaaatttttt----”
The sentence distorted and was swept away from her along with the rest of the scene into a confusing maelstrom of conflicting memories. Maiele. Her name. Her appearance. Her purpose. She wasn’t the man with the potatoes. She-
She sat on a hard wooden bench and stared anxiously at her fingers. Golden light streamed in from the window as the sun dipped below the treeline. A door creaked open. Footsteps. She looked up, breathless.
The surgeon shook his head and - nodded his head and - passed her by in the hallway and - she clutched at her head as fractured perception splintered into several distinct viewpoints. The surgeon spoke in overlapping tones.
“I’m sorry; he’s gone. There’s nothing more we can do.”
“He’ll pull through. He’s going to make it.”
“Sorry, the doctor will be with you shortly.”
“Who are you?”
Her emotions and thoughts also splintered, breaking apart as she felt elation, despair, and anticipation all rise and crash at once. She almost shouted at the conflicting, overlapping sensation until-!
She sat up in bed, gasping for breath. The room was frigid and the sheets tangled around her limbs. She had been thrashing around for a while. Bright, harsh moonlight shone in through the window - the.. open window. Why...?
She untangled the sheets and got up, padding softly on bare feet to the curtains. Peered out into the night. Nothing but pure, untouched snow. The woods looked magical tonight. No tracks, no people, not even any animals. Just a soft blanket of beautiful white snow coating the branches and needles and rocks. She breathed out in relief. Everything was okay. What a strange dream she had been having. What had it been about, again? She had been someone else.
She closed the window and returned to bed, snuggling up against her husband. Slept like a log, that man. Probably wouldn’t have noticed the window even if he had woken up with snow on his nose. She smiled and allowed herself to relax back into-
She closed the window and returned to bed, sighing at the cold, empty sheets. It had been almost a year now and she still hadn’t gotten used to this... loss. Emptiness. Void? It still felt like he might come home tomorrow, returning from the market like he always had. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t fair. She pulled the blankets up and buried her face in cotton. Come back. Please-
This was the place. She shivered. Cold, damp, and slimy. Still, it was no time to turn back now. She set her lantern down and dropped her pack on the ground. Took three items from the pockets. Nothing else would be needed. She breathed in, closed her eyes, and breathed out.
The water was frigid and she had to suppress a gasp and she waded into the pool. Little ripples caught her lantern’s light and sent scattered reflections across the ceiling. She held her arms high, keeping the book out of the water as she waded further in, submerging up past her legs and all the way up to mid-chest before the rocky ground finally leveled out.
Here would be far enough. She could still barely make out the words in the reflected lantern light. The two other items. She poured out the powder around her in a rough circle. It floated stationary on the water’s surface, undisturbed by the waves and ripples around it. She dropped that vial and uncorked the other.
“I’ll see you soon.”
The second substance was wispy white and extended across the surface before stopping at the powder’s barrier. Little tingles spread through her skin at the points where it touched her chest. She dropped the second vial and spoke the words-
She sat in a rocking chair on a porch, looking out into the woods that had been her home for forty years now. An old man with white hair and a contented expression held her hand and rocked beside her. In the forest, lights began to sparkle as the fairies and other nocturnal creatures emerged from their hiding places. Delighted laughs rose from the trees, along with an adult voice calling the children to come home for dinner.
All was well.
Maiele screamed and forcibly ripped her mind free from the mixed soup of memories. Little barbs dug into her thoughts and consciousness, but most of her made it out. She could see - sense? - a few little pieces of her mind - herself - disappear into the mix. Gone forever. Hopefully those hadn’t been important parts.
Name. Appearance. Purpose. History. All seemed to check out. No gaps, though there were more memories than there used to be. Were there? Was she sure? How many lifetimes had she lived? The woods, the hospital, the cave, the city. Magic, minds, thoughts - AGH!
Something large loomed nearby. Inviting her. She could return, rejoin. It wouldn’t hold it against her. Come back. Please come back. Don’t go. It loves you.
[This is the final choice. All options here will lead to an epilogue, then the end of the story.]
- Come back. Don’t go.
♀️ - Leave.
If she leaves, what then?
- Consume herself and the minds. Blood magic. Destroy the complex and everyone in it. [This will kill Maiele.]
- Try to steal a portion of its power and knowledge. Teleport out. [This may have unpredictable outcomes.]
- Reject it entirely. Return to herself fully. Get out under her own power. [It will be difficult to escape on her own.]
(Winners: ♀️ , )
- Come back. Don’t go.
♀️ - Leave.
If she leaves, what then?
- Consume herself and the minds. Blood magic. Destroy the complex and everyone in it. [This will kill Maiele.]
- Try to steal a portion of its power and knowledge. Teleport out. [This may have unpredictable outcomes.]
- Reject it entirely. Return to herself fully. Get out under her own power. [It will be difficult to escape on her own.]
(Winners: ♀️ , )
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4
Scene 30 - Final Scene
“I’m not... I’m not going to be a part of your... whatever this is!” Maiele dimly heard her own voice, or at least something that could be her voice. Quiet and mumbling. Where was she? What was she doing? Was that actually her or just another memory?
The presence drew nearer and more images flashed through her mind. A golden feather. Sunrise over the treetops. A kite shaped like a dragon. A picturesque cove by a beach. A fishing boat, a market, a mischievous smile, fingers, eyes, a single strand of hair...
Maybe...
[Magic 13 - Marginal]
Not really sure what she was doing or how she was doing it, Maiele nipped in close to the presence. It glowed with warmth and emanated peace. The sense of a contented smile. A relaxed sigh. The smell of fresh-baked pastries. A gentle, floral breeze. She could feel her resolve weakening, her mind being drawn towards it. So pleasant. So peaceful. Something like this... it just felt like love. The love of a friend or a family member, not a partner. It would accept her no matter her faults. Peace eternal.
A leafy twig, hand signs in the air. She drew closer still, tugging at the strand of memories. Moving it in a promising direction. Pages from a book. Ink pots, quills. Long hours as a candle burned into the night. Closer, just a little more... A sequence of words, a sequence of gestures. A flash of light. The other side of the room. There.
Maiele snatched the memory, cutting it out of the lumbering mass and secreting it away in her own mind. The presence reeled, retreating from her betrayal. There was no rage, no fear, no hatred. Just a calm, even sense of disappointment and sorrow.
“Sorry.” She hurled herself back into the body lying vacant on the floor. Hers, hopefully. It would have to do, even if not.
...
Maiele gasped and sat up. Her head hurt. She didn’t remember when she had fallen. Actually...
She looked around. Circular room. Brain in a pool. A half-dozen mind flayers surrounding her and looking very cross. She blinked. How... what... is going on?
“All clear!” someone shouted from behind the brain. “Her link is broken; she’s out of Meld. Hurry up and KILL HER!”
Time to go.
As the nearest flayers raised their heads and began several no-doubt deadly chants, Maiele whipped her hands around herself in a circle and rattled off eight words in rapid-fire. Her incantation built a wall of light around her until, as the final syllable fell, she vanished.
She reappeared an instant later, a few feet above the forest canopy. The thought “oh no” had barely enough time to cross her mind before she fell into the branches. One painful tumble later, she lay dazed on the ground and groaned into the dirt. She was utterly spent. Nothing left. Wouldn’t it be something if I came all this way just to-
Her mind went blank and she passed out.
Heavy footsteps woke her some time later. “Little seer! Mai-lee! You are okay!”
Maiele was lifted off the ground and half-smothered in a choking hug. She gurgled and spoke in a strained voice. “Crumpet, please - ow - stop.”
He relaxed his grip a little. “You are okay! I heard big noise and saw big light, and here you are! Okay! But... is Dave...?”
“He’s fine,” she managed to whisper. “Left to do his own thing. Where’s...?”
“Angry sharp one is gone. Walked away after entrance collapsed. Said you would not come back! I knew better! And-! You got the things for Erzog! Yes?”
Maiele blinked, reaching for memories and finding nothing but empty white static. She checked her bag and found both a poorly-wrapped brain and a vial of wispy white substance. “These?”
“Little seer is life-saver! We go revive Erzog! Yes! All is good! Come, friend! We go!” He hefted her up onto his shoulder and stomped off through the forest back towards the sleepy little town of Redport.
Epilogue
Flames danced and crackled. The fireplace gave off a cozy warmth, though the rest of the room was cold. It had only recently been lit. Needed more time to spread its heat.
“So, can you please tell me your name?”
“Maiele. I know that much, at least.”
“Very good. And your family name?”
Static. “I don’t know.”
“Mm-hm.” The scratch of a pen on paper. “And why are you here today?”
She shivered despite the fire. “I need to know if I’m insane, or sick, or cursed, or... I need to know what’s wrong with me.”
“Hm. And what is my name?”
“You haven’t told me yet.” She paused, stared at the flames. “Right?”
Pen on paper. She cringed at the sound. “Do you recall how old you are? When and where you were born?”
“I...” Rushing static. Empty white. “I’m sorry, I-”
“Quite alright. What is the most recent event you can remember?”
“... You asking me what the most recent event I can remember is?”
The man chuckled. “Of course. Let’s try a little further back. The most recent event you can remember before the start of this session, please.”
Blank walls. “I... I almost fell on the way into this building. It’s very icy outside. My mother had to catch me.”
Scratch, scratch. “Can you recall anything from yesterday?”
White nothingness. “I... There was an orange, at lunch. It was such a vibrant shade. Like someone had enchanted it. Tasted so sweet.”
“Excellent. Anything else? Just an outline of the day, if you can.”
“I got up and...” Empty. “I... there was a pool, and... did I go see the doctor? Were you there? Are you the doctor? Where...” She stopped, breathing heavily. White specks danced in her vision. “You... who are you?!”
“Maiele, please calm down. You are safe. I am Dr Heniel Yorvo, your psychiatrist. We’re just in the middle of one of your sessions. Please, focus on your breathing and the fire if you find it helpful.”
She stared into the flames and tried to steady her breathing. Over the course of a minute, she succeeded. “Sorry, sorry. I don’t know where I am or why I’m here. I’m so confused. Am I okay? What’s going on?”
“That is what we are attempting to find out. You are safe. Now, would you like to continue? If not, we can adjourn for today and you can go. I know how worrying it must be to not remember how you got here.”
“No, no. I can... I can stay.”
“Good. Now.” The man’s tone of voice changed, though she wasn’t sure exactly how. “Please tell me what the word ‘Crumpet’ means to you.”
Blankness. “It’s a cake, right? You can eat it for breakfast. I don’t think I’ve had any recently.”
Pen on paper. She hated the scratching. Maybe she would tell him. “Do you know anyone named ‘Dave?’”
The static rushed powerfully through her ears. “I... should I? I don’t... think so. But...”
Scratch, scratch.
Maiele growled. “Can you please be quieter with that pen? It’s driving me nuts!”
“The... pen?”
“Yeah, the scratch scratch scratch! The sound that- that one! You’re writing it down right now!”
There was a pause. “Maiele, I’m using magic to keep my notes. I don’t hear any scratching noises.”
She spun her gaze around the room, breathing quickly. “I... I can’t... I need to get out of here.”
“Of course. The exit is just behind you.”
Maiele stood up suddenly, rattling the chair in her haste. An indistinct figure sat off to her side, out of her previous field of view. The doctor, presumably. She ran past him and threw the door open.
...
Maiele entered the room and sat down in front of the fire. Her fingers were trembling.
“So, Maiele, how are you doing this week?”
“This... WEEK?”
“It has been almost seven days since we last talked. I heard you went on a short trip to the mountains, to take a break. I hope you enjoyed your time away.”
“Doctor...” The static. So painfully intense. “Whoever you are. I just... I just left here. I don’t know - has it been a week? You must be lying. This can’t be real.”
A little noise of disappointment. “I’m sorry, Maiele. I know it must be hard. If it makes you feel any better, I believe some memories of the week should resurface within the next few days. They usually do, at least for a little while.”
“I...”
“You say you just left our previous session. Can you remember anything we said during it?”
A blurry white grain over the images. Sounds muffled. So hard to recall. Slipping away. “You... you asked about, uh. Pancakes? Why...? Were you asking what I had for breakfast? Just to see what I could remember?”
“Very good. See, you are doing quite well today. Now-”
“This is ‘quite well’?! I lost an entire WEEK! Wait. No, no, no. Hey, why do you always ask all the questions? Why can’t - why don’t I get to ask anything?”
“There’s no reason you can’t. Feel free to ask whatever you wish.”
Her breath was too deep again, too quick. Static. “Are you REAL, Doctor?! That brain, that PRESENCE. You’re one of them, right? Just another memory of someone else. Something else. This isn’t real. Prove it. PROVE YOU’RE REAL, DOCTOR! PLEASE! I can’t... I can’t still be there. Prove it. Please...” She trailed off.
A delay. She heard some murmuring. “Brain, presence? Memories of others...” The doctor spoke up. “How would you like me to prove it?”
“I DON’T KNOW! HOW-” she choked and almost sobbed, surprising herself at how close she was to tears. “How... do you know I’m real? How do I prove it? Then do that.” She hiccuped, sniffling. “I guess.”
“Well... can non-real entities talk to you? Can they make sense? Can you hear them, see them, touch them? Do they stay the same when you look away and look back? I’ve been seeing you for months now and you’ve always been Maiele. You’ve always been able to talk to me and make sense. I think you’re plenty real.”
“So... so now you do it. Show me. Prove it. WHERE ARE YOU?!”
“Just beside you. Turn to the left... a little farther... there you go. See? Real as can be!”
The man’s face was white static. Maiele screamed and overturned her chair in an attempt to escape. The walls seemed to close in, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. The fire roaring and expanding and the fake-doctor standing up, reaching out for her with his horrible, distorted hand-
“STAY BACK!” She backpedaled, ignoring the pain in her ankle from falling over the chair. “STAY AWAY! YOU AREN’T REAL! YOU CAN’T HURT ME! YOU - YOU - AAAAAAAAAAAA!”
...
Dr Yorvo sighed and drummed his fingers on his armrest. The healer behind him finished their chant and patted him on the head. “You’re good to go, sir! Not a trace of soot left.”
“Thank you, Calvin.”
“Should I send in the parents, sir?”
“Yes, please. They’ll want to know.”
“Right away, sir!”
Only a few seconds passed before they entered. Adrian, tall but stooped. Hair grey with age and worry. Elaruei, shorter and graceful. A carefully measured expression, but tear tracks in her makeup told the full story. Elaruei spoke first. “Heniel, is she okay? Our daughter?”
“She’s fine. Sedated and out cold for a few hours, but she’ll wake up just fine.”
Adrian, next. “I do apologize if you were injured in the blast. I see your office has sustained some-”
“Quite alright. A hazard of the profession. No one expected her to attack like that, but I do think today’s session was quite productive not in spite of, but because of her outburst.”
“Because of?”
“Indeed! I’ve been working with Maiele for nearly ten months now, and today marks several very exciting firsts. Obviously, the first time she grew so concerned of my unreality as to actually attack me, but it’s what she said just before that I’m really interested in.”
“Oh?”
“She mentioned a brain, a presence, and called me ‘just another memory of someone else.’ I’ll have to do some research, but this was totally unprompted. I believe it could have something to do with the root cause of her condition. And if we review the recordings, perhaps some connection can be made between today’s circumstances and her outburst. Maybe we can determine what caused this. And if we can get a diagnosis...”
“We can get a cure,” Elaruei breathed.
“Precisely. Now, don’t expect a miracle breakthrough anytime soon. But I do believe we’re making progress, and I do believe there’s hope for her yet. Don’t give up on your daughter. Maiele is strong, and I know she can beat this. Even if it takes us years.”
/|+|\
Conclusion
Hey, thanks for playing! Man, I hope Dr Yorvo can cure Maiele of whatever the heck is wrong with her. Or maybe she’s still in that Meld of consciousnesses, doomed to be forever reliving memories of herself and others. And what in the world were those mind flayers doing there anyway? What happened to Dave? What’s that gem for? Did Iofodil come back? Was Erzog able to be revived just like that? I think most of these questions can be answered, or at least guessed at, just from clues given in the story. Anyway, congratulations on not getting anyone killed, at least. Though poor Maiele has a lot of work ahead of her...
So, what’s next?
To start with, if you have questions or suggestions, or if you just want to discuss the story, feel free to do so! I can answer questions about the world, the characters, or the writing process (though probably not too much about the connections to other stories). After that, I’ll be archiving the current #story_updates channel and creating a new one.
The next set of starting prompts will be up probably in the next 1-2 weeks. I will not be starting the next story until I’ve moved into my new house and gotten set up, so expect it to begin in the next 3-4 weeks. I think the next story will probably be either a novella or another short story; I’m not feeling up to another full novel quite yet. Based on the current set of starting prompts, it’ll be an interesting one regardless!
Thanks a lot for your support and engagement, and I hope you stick around for the next one!
~ Shaun / @Dungeon Master Blah
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