This basket is so long disused that it may constitute a good hiding spot. If additional stealth is desired, you may be able to worm your way into the slit in the basket lining in which you found the scissors.

Don't lose track of Lisel. Best not to hide together, lest you both be discovered at once; but see where she is before seeking refuge yourself. When the coast is clear, try to reunite. Pilfer the matches, if you can hold them.

1/3 Nalthar 2024/06/20(Thu)18:15 No. 1093208 ID: 5ebd37
File 171893252632.jpg - (541.96KB , 800x600 , cadvere 43 hide a mice.jpg )

Hearing the sound of little claws clicking on the hallway floor boards, you hastily gather the loose matches back into their box and shove the thing into your cloak. The wolf hair garment is built for storage, but you don't think you will be able to take any more bulky items without dropping something.

Crossing to the door hinge, you try to peek through the gap to see who is coming. Unfortunately the angle is bad. All you see is the bathroom door opposite and a dusty hall runner carpet. Feeling exposed, you scamper back to the sewing basket. You hiss at Lisel to hide, and she without hesitation drops the paper she is examining and burrows into the ash. Tumbling under the spools, you hunker down in a corner and peer through the wicker. The room is deathly still as a tense minute crawls by. Then the lights come on.

2/3 Nalthar 2024/06/20(Thu)18:15 No. 1093209 ID: 5ebd37
File 171893255880.jpg - (674.59KB , 800x600 , cadvere 44 servants arrive.jpg )

Oil lamps flicker to life around the walls as the door nudges open an inch. A pair of glowing eyed rats, kited in spiked armor and wielding long spears creep in. Wisps of steam hiss from their clenched teeth, leaving ghostly trails behind them.

From above, the hiss of twine on metal sounds and half a dozen slumped shapes descend. The poorly dressed mice flop onto the floor splayed like ragdolls, then spring into haphazard poses. The horrid servants move haltingly, seeming to lead with the head while their body drags along like a sack of grain on a hook. Their limbs contort and twist in ways no living body could bear. Silent but for the faint creak of the cords they hang from, the motley crew stumble across the floor and flank the rat guards.

3/3 Nalthar 2024/06/20(Thu)18:16 No. 1093210 ID: 5ebd37
File 171893259037.jpg - (573.87KB , 800x600 , cadvere 45 decrepit pantomime.jpg )

"Morning fellows, morning! I have a task for you!" A gratingly high-pitched voice calls down from somewhere above. It sounds distant, like an echo from a tin can. "I must have my copy of Memorie sulla elettricità animale. I must... it should be, but why. It seemed so clear the way he wrote itGOOD SIR!"

One of the puppets jerks and starts trembling.
"Is that any way to address your betters? Henry control your men!"
Another puppet wobbles over and pantomimes a slap across the trembler's snout. The stricken puppet staggers, and then doubles over in a bow so low it thumps it's head against the floor.
"Good. I'll not tolerate such slovenly behavior in future. Now prepare yourselves while my guards retrieve the book."

The group troops across the room to the library door. The two guards slip past the door, and you can hear the voice shrieking orders in the next room. Hanging limply from their strings, the servants wait by the door unmoving. Stillness grips the lounge once more, save for the flickering lamplight.

>>1093210
Wait. Do not move, do not make noise. The danger is not yet past.

We are on a mission not only of survival, but of increase of knowledge. Hidden as we are, we may have a chance at discovering something new about our situation. What is pulling the strings? Your vantage is poor, but if you can afford to find a position that will allow you to better look upwards, it might be work the risk of motion.

Remember the presence of these armored rats. It will be a god thing to ask about later; are the house's puppets known to be chaperoned by fire-breathing lanterns?

So I think that is one of the elite guards. They seem like important, try to hide and if that works out try to follow them see where they would go.

1/2 Nalthar 2024/07/04(Thu)11:58 No. 1093781 ID: 5ebd37
File 172011950317.jpg - (512.82KB , 800x600 , cadvere 46 an odd device.jpg )

Moving as carefully as you can, you poke your head up out of the spool pile. With the lamps lit the ceiling's secrets are laid bare. You follow the puppets' strings up to a dizzying tangle of pulleys on tracks. Light glints off copper colored wire wound through the cords. Yet there is no sign of who is pulling these strings, they simply vanish into holes in the plaster.

The only other thing of note above is an odd metal trumpet sticking out high over the mantle piece. It seems oddly placed for a piece of decoration, being off center and right at the top of the wall. Beside it is a what seems to be a stylized eye crafted out of glass and metal. A sinuous pattern of reflected light sprays out from the curved glass.

2/2 Nalthar 2024/07/04(Thu)11:59 No. 1093782 ID: 5ebd37
File 172011954110.jpg - (541.77KB , 800x600 , cadvere 47 the empty hall.jpg )

The door creaks open wider, pushed by the returning guards. A large book is revealed, held aloft by a team of puppets. The lounge puppets drift over and form two lines. neither team can cross the threshold, so the book is shuffled along from hand to hand till it has changed teams.

Stiffly holding the tome like pallbearers with a casket, the group turn their heads in unison. Legs dangling, pulleys squeaking, the entire assembly moves across the room as one mass, followed by the guards.

As the armored rats are passing your hiding spot one twitches and halts. From your vantage you can see the spool of perforated paper attached to its back, similar to what you observed on the bat and spiders from last night. With a staccato series of clicks the spool spins, feeding the patterned paper into the rat's head. Jerking in place, and with a little burst of steam, the thug whips its head around to fix its burning eyes on your location. Gripping its wickedly serrated glaive it stalks towards you.

"No dawdling, James!" the tinny voice calls out. The approaching guard stops as if struck, its spool angrily clicking away, then turns on its heel and trudges away. As it reaches the hallway door the book has already been passed off to another team of puppets. Without even a backwards glance the guards follow the tome out and around the corner. With a spasm of strings, the servants in the lounge are hurled away, as if tossed aside by an unseen hand. Silence and darkness return, as the lamps extinguish.

Creeping out of the basket, you dart under the table. When no voices cry out you rush to the open hall door and peek out. The book carriers have already reached the kitchen door and handed it off, drawing to the sides of the hall and slumping. The lights flick off and the kitchen door clicks shut. Across the way the bathroom door stands ajar, and you remember that across from the kitchen is the servant's quarters where the others are hunting.

Lisel creeps up beside you, the already pale mouse now completely ashen white. "That was certainly harrowing. Shall we head on?"

Might as well keep moving. Bathroom might have extra passage ways that we could go

We should try to disguise in order to look like one of the puppets. We need to get closure and figure out how all of this works and to see this crazy guy. We need to blend in, do you have any idea how we might achieve that?

The kitchen is empty of fungos. We should join the others with what doodads we've collected so far.

Spare a moment to talk to Lisel, though. Do you need to clean the ash from her fur? Is she leaving tracks that would be easily noticed? Has she collected all the fragments of correspondences that she is interested in and able to carry? While learning more about the smoking lanterns would be nice, that can wait; knowing what she's gleaned from the fragments of the letters can also be postponed.

1/3 Nalthar 2024/07/18(Thu)22:08 No. 1094492 ID: 44c167
File 172136570994.jpg - (625.66KB , 800x600 , cadvere 48 swept off her feet.jpg )

You point out that Lisel is leaving an ashy trail. She looks down, "Ah, ha, so I am. Let me just pop in the washroom and clean off." You nod and scoop her up so as not to leave any footprints, eliciting a startled squeak. "Oh ho ho, how dashing. Sweeping me off my feet, eh?" Lisel bats her eyes at you, as far as you can tell through her thick goggles. You huff and roll your eyes at the teasing. Hurrying across the hall you slip into the washroom.

Nails clicking on the tiled floor echo through the empty room as you carry Lisel. She directs you to a wicker piece of furniture, and the pair of you scurry up the side. At the top is a porcelain basin, partially filled with water from a leaking metal contraption. While Lisel dips her paws and starts scrubbing the worst of the ash off, you survey the rest of the room.

There's not much to see. The light from Lisel's little lantern bounces off an ornately framed mirror above you, illuminating odd corners of the space. An inscrutable furnishing dominates, a deep basin and a metal box connected by pipes and a dangling chain. Faint scents linger from a basket of shriveled petals on a wicker cabinet.

2/3 Nalthar 2024/07/18(Thu)22:09 No. 1094493 ID: 44c167
File 172136576268.jpg - (473.77KB , 800x600 , cadvere 49 wash your paws.jpg )

You ask Lisel if she found anything of use in the burned letters. Pausing in her cleaning she considers. "Not as much as I would have liked. It doesn't seem as though he even opened the one from my old home. None of the others were of a scientific bent, rather, they all mention some party that went wrong. A lot of talk of cutting ties, even one or two disownings. It seems our puppeteer held a demonstration of his hobby and it was received poorly."

"There was one odd detail in a letter from his brother. Something to the effect of the master is exiled here until his blunder is forgotten, but there was a mention of a vault and something to be kept secret, even from the servants. What exactly was burned away, though I would suspect its just money. Humans are always overly paranoid about their money."

Listening to the soft splashes echo back from the tiled walls, you think about the behavior of the glowing eyed guards earlier. You ask Lisel if anyone has tried to disguise themselves as a puppet to get past them.

"Well its not appearance that's the issue, per se, its that the behavior of the marionettes is difficult to imitate. Your lack of strings can be missed in low light, but it is rather obvious that you are bound to the ground instead of dangling. I believe some of the others have posed as discarded ones in order to escape detection, to some success, but you obviously can't move while doing that."

"Speaking of their movement, did you notice? Those puppets were holding up that book grasping with their hands, something controlled by strings shouldn't be able to do that. A book whose author I happen to know of; Galvani, whom has made much study of electricity." With a smug look on her face she climbs out of the basin. "I think it's safe to say my hypothesis is correct, he's using electricity to manipulate the nerves of the dead. The only question is how he generates it."

3/3 Nalthar 2024/07/18(Thu)22:09 No. 1094494 ID: 44c167
File 172136579780.jpg - (570.48KB , 800x600 , cadvere 50 cleaning supplies.jpg )

Back to her usual look, the pale mouse rubs herself against a thick cloth by the basin. "Anyway, I'll just get a quick refill of carbolic acid under the sink here" she pats the tank strapped to her back "then we can meet up with the others."

Tugging open the wicker cabinet door, Lisel's lantern reveals dusty bottles and cleaning supplies. The science mouse pads over to an amber bottle with a syringe jammed in the mouth. Leaving her pack on the ground, she climbs up and starts carefully transferring the acid.

You poke around the cabinet while you wait. A box flops over as you try to peek inside, uncovering a hole in the wall. Eight glowing eyes glare back at you.

Hmmm until we are shown how this puppet master is generating electricity I am going to imagine that he has 100 off alive imprisoned hamsters that are running on a wheel in order to power his dead army. As for Lisel how did she manage to stay alive for so long if she is so careless, are her goggles hindering her sight? Interesting, it appears that the host of this home is cut off from his human friends, I mean he has people who bring him food but other than that he is practically alone with his army of dead servants. No wonder why he was so ecstatic when he saw new intruders, but this makes me wonder what is the state of his mind? Isolation can change human behavior for the worse. With all of that said I don't think that we have spiders who are on our side, so maybe get ready for a battle.

A true warrior appreciates the avoided battle. Replace the covering over the hole, and scurry off, giving a warning to Lisel that she may want to abscond with the acid she's collected so far. It's probably best to remove yourselves from this vicinity.

Nalthar 2024/07/27(Sat)10:05 No. 1094806 ID: 44c167
File 172209995746.jpg - (608.41KB , 800x600 , cadvere 51 bats again.jpg )

You throw your weight against the box to cover the hole again. The muffled clicks of a spinning spool are heard for a second, then the box shudders as the spider scrabbles against it. It's chittering is answered by a distant screech somewhere higher up inside the wall.

Lisel looks up at the commotion as you back away from the box, hand on your long knife. "Oh dear. Give me a minute to seal this up please." She hops down and fiddles with her bulky pack, air hissing as she tightens valves and straps.

The tense quiet is shattered as a tile strikes the floor. You hurriedly poke you head out of the cabinet and look up. Far up above a bat wrings itself through the newly revealed hole and launches downward with a piercing shriek.

Try to close the door of the cabinet, try to keep it shut as long as you can, and tell your companion that you got another opponent who is closing in on you right now. Keep your blad ready if the bat breaks your shield.

A rock and a hard place; the spider is summoning allies from within the wall, the bat assaulting from outside the cabinet. We can hear the coordination; we may need to fight for our immediate survival, but I fear a prolonged stand will simply allow greater forces to mass against us. We need a plan of egress.

If we seek our allies, then we risk bringing the battle to them. We are empty-handed, but racing for the safehouse once the coast is clear may be the most graceful option. We can ask Lisel, but I don't think that sounding an alarm is advisable; stealth is the mices' greatest asset. It might be nice to send a warning, or to use the disturbance we've caused to draw attention away from the borrowers, but I'm not certain how we might best do that.

But more to the present threat; we know how to weild a blade, but how does Lisel fight? Can we use the materials in this cabinet to our advantage, or would that cause so great a disturbance as to completely reveal the mices' presence to the master of the house? Note that this bat seems to be controlled not by a series of tubes, as those you met with earlier, but a roll of paper; severing it may bring the danger it poses to an end.

Nalthar 2024/07/30(Tue)22:32 No. 1094998 ID: 44c167
File 172240397444.jpg - (278.55KB , 800x600 , cadvere 52 hiding in the cupboard.jpg )

Slipping back behind the closed half of the cabinet, you listen as the bat clumsily hits the floor, claws skittering on tile. Lisel turns down her lantern, the harsh white guttering to a pallid gray.

The sound of the spider scratching at the back of the cupboard abruptly stops. You hear the faint clicking of its control spool spinning, then the tapping of its many legs as it retreats deeper into the wall.

Every squeak and scrape as Lisel adjusts her contraption seems like a thunder crack as you wait for the bat to inevitably find your hiding spot. It stalks slowly across the room, sporadically stopping and letting out a short screech, before adjusting its course, each time seeming to get closer.

After a tense eternity Lisel pokes you. "Lure it over here. I need a clear shot at short range." she whispers.

Perhaps the spider's retreat gives us a reprieve to focus on the other threat. Is there any trinket at hand we might be able to throw, to summon the bat's attention? It seems to be using sound to track you; if there's a bit of metal or wood about, you might cast it out into the room in a place that would give Lisel the best shot possible.

Try hitting the door of the cabinet that can create the sound to attract the bat, also remember the weapon that we upgraded that can be used as well if the situation becomes drastic.

Nalthar 2024/08/06(Tue)17:46 No. 1095441 ID: 44c167
File 172299160645.jpg - (474.56KB , 800x600 , cadvere 53 clinging to the door.jpg )

You pull the stopper from a perfume bottle and rap it against the door, before dropping it to clatter on the floor. A skittering rush from the darkness, and the bat slams into the open door. Clinging to the wood it swivels its head around wildly.

Lisel inches past you and points the hose from her tank at the bat and yanks the lever. Or tries to, the mechanism stiffly refuses to turn. "Shit" she mutters as the glowing-eyed thing fixes its glare on you.

You draw your long knife and ready yourself as the bat hisses and tenses for a spring.

Hm, not much you can do but try to get your sword in the way of the lunge. See if you can get the bat to impale itself, and then use the attachment point to throw the bat off to the side?

The bat is expecting to hit against the door of the cabinet so when the bat is lunging quickly open it, catch it off guard, and go for the neck or the eyes. Survival first celebration hug after the danger passes.

Yes, survival comes before anything else. If you can kill the bat, then kill the bat; if you can render the bat inoperable, then that might be cause less of a scene, and leave less gore to trail after you. The ribbon connecting the bat's skull to the console on its back may prove just as lethal as a stab through its chest. After all, this bat is already dead.

Nalthar 2024/08/13(Tue)16:33 No. 1095804 ID: 355e44
File 172359198976.jpg - (577.74KB , 800x600 , cadvere 54 taking control.jpg )

The bat flings itself at you, heedless of your blade, and gets impaled right below the collarbone. With that as leverage you are able to avoid its snapping fangs and shove it to the ground. Pinning the writhing thing, it struggles for several moments then pauses. The spool attached to its back clicks and rapidly winds.

Watching the perforated paper whip past your snout, you catch it in your teeth and yank. The thin material easily sheers along a row of holes, the ragged end vanishing into the bat's head. The creature remains still for a moment, shakes its head as if in confusion, then resumes writhing in your grip.

Behind you, Lisel has been bashing the spigot against the cabinet door. Whipping the battered metal behind her, she brings it around in one last desperate slam. Amber droplets shower around her as the lever jars loose, hissing where they land. Wrenching it closed again she screams over the screeching "Get clear!"

Get clear!!

I think the bat's natural state, due to whatever's been done to it, is to just lay there and do nothing. The spool is a kind of artificial brain, but it has to rewind occasionally to replay itself. Maybe you should ask her to wait a moment to see what the bat does without the spool. Maybe the effect will wear off now, and you'll be left with a zombie bat that doesn't move anymore...

1/2 Nalthar 2024/08/20(Tue)14:55 No. 1096184 ID: 355e44
File 172419092015.jpg - (620.47KB , 800x600 , cadvere 55 acid bath.jpg )

You wave Lisel off, curious to see what the bat does now that its contraption is severed. It continues to struggle, scratching at the wood and even biting it. It almost looks as though the thing is trying to fight even with its opponent out of reach. The dreadful screeching is getting softer, no doubt due to the knife stuck through the bat's chest.

"Tem'rty, please." Lisel's voice is bereft of the enthusiasm you've grown accustomed to. Startled, you turn to her and flinch at the sight. Her face is peppered with hissing acid, eating away the fur and in spots burning into the skin. With a tight set to her jaw she flicks the hose in her grip to indicate you should move, so you get up and quickly back away from the violent bat.

As soon as you release it the bat rears up, attempting to get back on its feet. Before it can do more than raise its head Lisel steps forward and sharply turns the handle. A jet of concentrated acid shoots the bat square in the face, the pressure blasting the creature onto its back. Even as its eyes sputter and run the thing tries to rise. So Lisel sprays it once more, and then again, until the flesh sloughs off and the big ears crumple. Truly blinded, the bat's flailing carries it out of the cabinet, where it lands on its neck with a snap. Little more than a ragged heap now, the body occasionally twitches but otherwise lays still.

2/2 Nalthar 2024/08/20(Tue)15:00 No. 1096187 ID: 355e44
File 172419123884.jpg - (540.85KB , 800x600 , cadvere 56 cost of her mistake.jpg )

Lisel stows the nozzle behind her and slips to her knees. Reaching into her sleeve she retrieves a pouch of white powder, which she starts smearing on the worst patches of acid. "I must apologize, Tem'rty" the white mouse says in a subdued tone "This shouldn't have happened, and I put you in harm's way."

She winces as the powder fizzes on the largest burn. "There is no place for carelessness in chemistry."

quickly you are in the bathroom find some water and pour it over the acid wound. That is what I remember from my chemistry lesson when it comes to dealing with it.

Nalthar 2024/08/28(Wed)21:11 No. 1096644 ID: 355e44
File 172490471897.jpg - (521.48KB , 800x600 , cadvere 57 highwater.jpg )

You ask Lisel how you can help with her injuries. "I could use some water." She replies. "I don't think I can climb up to the sink again just now."

You cross over to the sink, keeping a safe distance from the bat still intermittently spasming on the floor. Shooting up the wickerwork you find yourself on the side of the sink. Down in the basin another drip plinks into the pooled water. But how are you going to get it down to Lisel?

With Lisel's injury, we should prioritize retreat once our first aid is complete. IS there nothing on the sink that might act as vessel? A leftover cap from some toilet water or phial of medicine? It might help to know what Lisel wants the water for--does she need a basin to wash in, or a stream to drink from? In the worst case, we may be able to find a container and simply dribble it from the height one other floor, for her to use the streaming water. Otherwise, we'll have to scanenge something to carry it down.

If it would serve the purpose, and you feel safe going back into the wicker cabinet, it looks like there are cotton balls there ( >>1094494
). You could soak those in water, and carry the sopping wads down.

>>1096647

Brilliant idea go with that.

1/2 Nalthar 2024/09/04(Wed)22:43 No. 1096987 ID: 355e44
File 172551500055.jpg - (574.47KB , 800x600 , cadvere 58 aquire cotton.jpg )

Ah of course, the cotton. Sighing to yourself you slink back into the cabinet. Climbing up to push over the glass jar, the cotton balls slide out with a pleasant tumbling noise. You stuff a bunch under your cloak. It makes movement difficult, but you only need to carry them a short way.

Watching you stumble along, Lisel's snickers are punctuated by hisses of pain. You manage to get most of the puffballs up to the sink, where you dump the lot into the little pool. Then it's simply a matter of tossing them back down to splat on the floor.

2/2 Nalthar 2024/09/04(Wed)22:45 No. 1096988 ID: 355e44
File 172551510716.jpg - (596.56KB , 800x600 , cadvere 59 pinkeye.jpg )

While you wring the sodden cotton over Lisel's acid burns the chemist seems to be getting her spirit back. She takes off and carefully wipes her goggles, giving you your first look at her striking pink eyes. Noticing you staring, she quickly dons them again. Her cheeks lightly flushed she leans closer to you and murmurs "Mister Tem'rty, would you like to examine the body with me?"

Oh I'm always up for examining bodies.

Did she get an acid burn on her face, that is seriously dangerous. The first thing that you should do is clean her face with water and then you can examine her body.

First aid must be the first priority. Make sure that Lisel is safe and assess her mobility before anything else. After that, we might spend a moment to examine the corpse of the bat, but beware; having caused such a disturbance here, are we not liable to attract even greater attention?

Will nothing come to the aid of the fallen bat, or follow its alarm? How fastidious should we be in covering our tracks, to put the cotton jar back where it was, in order to try to prevent discovery of the entire rodent operation on the grounds. Lisel may be able to advise here.

I would think retreat, as soon as we've put things in order, should be the priority, so as to avoid any coming reprisal, but if Lisel thinks that's not necessary, in spite of her injury, then we might tarry a bit further, and extract with the rest of the group.

Nalthar 2024/09/14(Sat)18:39 No. 1097410 ID: 355e44
File 172636437552.jpg - (676.04KB , 800x600 , cadvere 60 a shattered cranium.jpg )

Your instinct is telling you to get out of here before anything more creeps up on you. Yet gazing down into those smoked lenses, knowing what captivatingly rosy eyes are hidden behind them, you can't help but assent. You almost blurt out something about checking her body, but manage to hold your tongue.

With the last of the acid washed off you check Lisel's injuries. Minor burns pepper her head and hands, with one large and raw oozing blood on her snout. Luckily the cotton fuzz, mixed with a little adhesive from Lisel's pocket, makes for a makeshift bandage.

The two of you look down at the ragged heap of former bat sprawled on the tiles. Even before its acid bath it was in sorry shape, with patchy fur and only a faded and worn pair of trousers to its name. The skull is scoured of flesh, its surface pitted and stained. Lisel picks up the grim bone to examine the back, where the strip of paper was spooling into. "I'm glad you agreed" the chemist says "None of the others will. Too much respect for the dead. Which is admirable..." She brings the skull down sharply on her knee, splitting the brittle thing open like an egg "but we must learn, if we are to overcome these strange foes."

You are no stranger to grisly innards, having slaughtered many fungal beasts, but you've never seen anything like this. A thicket of coppery wires sprout from the gnarled brain meat, snaking their way to a slim metal tube. The torn edge of the perforated sheet you tore from the bat's back still peeks from a wide slot on the side of the device.

Lisel stares down at the glistening organ and rather hurriedly sets it down. "Ah ha, well, the anatomy books don't quite prepare you for the real thing do they?" she mutters, seemingly more to herself than to you. "Anyway, it is the heart we want, and that glowing liquid within." She pulls out a small workknife and crouches down by the corpse's ragged torso. Setting blade to flesh, she hesitates, hand beginning to tremble. "Come now Lisel, for learning." she whispers, but still does not move.

Something is making scraping sounds in the cabinet again.

>>1097410
Help her cut. You are more experienced in that sort of thing.

I think we are on a timer, so cut for her, pick up what needs to be picked up and, move your position.

It is unwise to further tempt fate, especially with Lisel injured. Can we not attempt to take the bat with us, and butcher it later? We must move, and now, if we are to move at Lisel's reduced pace.

I think it is time to leave, as neither we nor Lisel should try to fight any of these monsters one vs one while the other harvests organs.
We should grab Lisel, the brain, and maybe the perforated piece of paper we ripped from the creature's back. Then make a break for it before whatever is in the cabinet spots us leaving and gives chase. We should maybe head back to the lounge, since it's nearby and relatively safe.
Prioritize our safety, we can get the heart another day if we survive this one.

1/2 Nalthar 2024/09/17(Tue)15:35 No. 1097498 ID: 355e44
File 172661253796.jpg - (638.89KB , 800x600 , cadvere 61 ticking heart.jpg )

Gently, you close your paw around hers, and push her blade aside. Drawing your long knife you stand over the cadaver. Butchering a fellow animal hews nauseatingly close to bestial cannibalism, but you steel yourself and strike. Lisel trembles yet doesn't look away as you quickly clear the decrepit flesh from the bat's ribs. Prying the bones apart reveals yet another metallic intrusion.

Where the bat's heart should be is a strange vessel, sprouting wires that burrow into the surrounding muscles. In its center a wheel ticks, half turning before resetting. You drive your knife into the thicket of wires and start cutting the horrid thing loose. As the connections are severed the body jolts and jerks. With one last spasm the last is cut, the device clicking to a halt. Glowing liquid oozes from a rent where you scraped the side, hissing when it meets flesh. Lisel hands you a thick cloth, and you hurriedly wrap it up, glad to get it out of your sight.

2/2 Nalthar 2024/09/17(Tue)15:36 No. 1097499 ID: 355e44
File 172661258726.jpg - (411.85KB , 800x600 , cadvere 62 long dark hall.jpg )

The scratching is getting louder in the cabinet, it's well time you were out of this room. Lisel gathers the little bundle in her arms and you hastily escort her to the door. Looking down the hallway towards the room you know the others are hunting in, its a long walk of at least twenty feet. The runner carpet bunches in few spots, but otherwise there is no cover from the guard patrol of three armed rats, which even now you can see are headed this way. A few inches from you is a hole in the floor, large enough to give you access to the underfloor.

Back in the bathroom you hear a thud as the box that was blocking the hole in the cabinet falls over.

Guess we're gonna try escaping through the underfloor.

Is it possible for us to return the way we came, the more we push forward the more monsters are there. We are not equipped for any more fights.

We could try going into the underfloor for cover while the guards patrol. If they don't notice us and walk by, climb back out. If they do notice us or if something else causes them to stay active in the hall, venture through the underfloor.
Also if we do go into the underfloor, make sure to have the lantern light as low as possible.

1/2 Nalthar 2024/09/24(Tue)18:20 No. 1097752 ID: 355e44
File 172722720199.jpg - (513.84KB , 800x600 , cadvere 63 under their noses.jpg )

Lisel winds her lamp down to the barest hint of light. Under cover of darkness the two of you slip into the hole in the floor. Clinging to the wall, you peek out as the glowing eyes of the guards slowly make their way down the hall. Below you spiderfolk pass unseen, their skittering loud in the dusty underfloor. No doubt they are headed to the bathroom to catch you. The occasional bat screech echoes down the corridors.

"This is odd" Lisel murmurs beside you, "they haven't responded so... stridently in the past."

After a long, tense wait the three guards slink past. Their seem to take no notice of your presence, nor of the scurrying below. Once they are well past you ascend, pulling Lisel up behind you. The pair of you pad softly down the carpet to the door of the servant's quarters.

2/2 Nalthar 2024/09/24(Tue)18:20 No. 1097753 ID: 355e44
File 172722725203.jpg - (429.67KB , 800x600 , cadvere 64 unkempt beds.jpg )

Slipping through a gap beside the door frame you find yourselves in a musty space. Distant glows of fungos pepper the dark hulks of unkempt beds, looming above you. One glow pops out from under a slumped bed sheet, revealing itself to be a lamp in Surrep's hands as she approaches you.

"What took you so long?" she hisses, then her gaze falls to Lisel's bandages. "Trouble?"

Yep! Patrol, spider, bat, patrol.

Trouble is always expected at this place. We managed to deal with it but we are not sure how long we will be able to get lucky with these missions.

Nalthar 2024/09/30(Mon)22:41 No. 1098070 ID: 355e44
File 172776129223.jpg - (500.25KB , 800x600 , cadvere 65 fungo wrangling.jpg )

You recount the near misses and escapes of the morning. Surrep shakes her head, "We nearly dodged some patrols ourselves. It has become more dangerous these past few days." She glances back at the bed and lowers her voice to a whisper. "We can't go on like this, the puppetmaster clearly knows he has folk hidden in his walls. It is only a matter of time before his thralls root us out. Afton is wrong, just keeping out of sight isn't going to be enough to keep us safe." She leans in conspiratorially "Would you two not agree?"

>>1098070
Tell him you can't make an informed judgement, having just gotten here, but you would like to do more than hide.

It sounds like Surrep has a more ambitious plan than simply scavenging. So what is the plan, targeting the puppet master?

Nalthar 2024/10/09(Wed)22:32 No. 1098429 ID: 355e44
File 172853836032.jpg - (614.84KB , 800x600 , cadvere 66 this is not suspicious.jpg )

You've only been in this house for a day, and it has been more harrowing than your entire journey through the woods. So you agree, and ask the lanky rat what she has planned. She glances surreptitiously over her shoulder once more, as the sounds of rustling and squeaking creep from under the bed. "Not here. If the mice catch wind they'll tell Afton for sure. Ah, other than you, Lisel. You seem a fair dash more adaptable than your usual house mouse."

The chemist grins "Ah ha, well I do try. My family traveled far, and we had to stray from the typical house raider's precepts or we would not have survived. The other mice, hiding is all they know, and its an easy life, when it works." She catches herself before she can ramble too long, "But yes, this is not the place to discuss these things."

Surrep leans in closer, "Tonight, come have supper with my family. We are roosting on the first shelf, so we'll have privacy. In the meantime, better get to hunting. We can't be sure how many days we will have access to this room, let's make it count."

You nod, and head towards the bed. As you walk away you hear Lisel whispering to Surrep. "One thing more, I have something I need to examine. I don't think Afton would like knowing about it, so I would keep it up on your shelf, if that is acceptable."

Nalthar 2024/10/09(Wed)22:32 No. 1098430 ID: 355e44
File 172853837768.jpg - (522.00KB , 800x600 , cadvere 67 moldering old bed.jpg )

Time to earn your keep. Looks as though you have your pick of hunting grounds. Rats and mice can be observed combing over the slumping covers, stalking the dusty under-bed, and even burrowing into the fungo tunnels that infest the mattress. Now where would you feel most at home?

I would feel most at home where the home doesn't want to kill you.

Ever since the permafrost set in the ground has been solid. It has been too long since your last good burrowing Tem'rty, so go to the fungo tunnels.

Yes, a mouse of the Gravel Pit would be at home where things are most pit-like. Tunnel into the mattress.

1/2 Nalthar 2024/10/21(Mon)00:00 No. 1098838 ID: 355e44
File 172949405042.jpg - (651.95KB , 800x600 , cadvere 68 a sweetly rotting bed to lie upon.jpg )

You wriggle into the crumbling mattress, and immediately feel at ease. Finding a small chamber in the moldering fluff, you curl up and take the opportunity to just rest, safely insulated from the threats of the open world. You indulge in some wistful dreams of settling here, digging a cozy den in the soft, warm slab. If only the circumstances were different.

2/2 Nalthar 2024/10/21(Mon)00:01 No. 1098839 ID: 355e44
File 172949407761.jpg - (533.08KB , 800x600 , cadvere 69 infesting morsels.jpg )

The first gnawings of hunger bring you back to the task at hand. Venturing deeper, you follow the faint scent trails of fungos til you pop your head into a larger hollow. Several small fungos are placidly chewing at the fibers of the mattress.

Fungal beasts are an odd breed, prone to strange mutations. Even such mild seeming specimens could harbor some defense. How best to play this?

>>1098839
Hmm. I guess once you're within the hollow, they will react... any fungal beasts that react with fear will likely be the easiest targets. Those that react by ignoring you probably have some manner of passive defense, and those that show aggression probably have nasty pincers.

It's good not to get complacent. This is still deep in unsafe territory.

Agreed, the fearless fungos are potentially the most dangerous. It may be prudent especially to avoid those that have prominent pincers. These seem to be feasting on the fibers of the mattress; would that diet lend itself particularly to some particular defense? No matter the form, I imagine that the best strategy generally would be to try to approach from behind and strike before being discovered.

Let your animalistic instincts guide your rezoning.

Nalthar 2024/10/29(Tue)22:16 No. 1099206 ID: 355e44
File 173026537440.jpg - (765.05KB , 800x600 , cadvere 70 this one's mad.jpg )

Surging out of the tunnel, you sink your blade into the big fungo's head. It lets out a thin screech as it writhes under you, clacking its mandibles uselessly. Lisel's tincture that still coats your knife quickly takes effect, and the fungo shudders to stillness. The smaller beasts behind you squeak and scuttle away.

A hissing alerts you to the remaining beast beside you. It fixes you with its three eyed stare and puffs up.

>>1099206
Back away. Drag the dead fungo with you.

A true warrior always appreciates the avoided battle. Knife at the ready, but retreat to secure the kill before attempting any further sallies.

So this thing wants to bite you, you bite it back!

1/3 Nalthar 2024/11/05(Tue)19:45 No. 1099434 ID: 355e44
File 173086471038.jpg - (751.95KB , 800x600 , cadvere 71 spore bomb.jpg )

Fighting down the instinct to sink your teeth into the bloated fungus, you work to secure your first kill. Dragging the corpse along with you, you would wave your blade threateningly, but its coating has it a bit stuck. Just as you yank it free the three-eyed fungo contracts and ejects a crimson cloud from the vents on its back.

2/3 Nalthar 2024/11/05(Tue)19:45 No. 1099435 ID: 355e44
File 173086474856.jpg - (862.89KB , 800x600 , cadvere 72 seeing red.jpg )

Retreating into the tunnel, you avoid the brunt of the spores. Nonetheless your vision tinges red. Rustling and scratching surround you, the fibers of the matress grasping for you. Bats screech, their cry's hunting you in this twisted maze.

3/3 Nalthar 2024/11/05(Tue)19:47 No. 1099436 ID: 355e44
File 173086482660.jpg - (833.53KB , 800x600 , cadvere 73 not dead yet.jpg )

Your pincered quarry rears up, looming over you on its hundreds of legs. Its eyes burn with blood. The gash you left in its head splits wider and wider until you face a rending and tooth-filled void.

Hallucination! Don't panic. Keep moving back. Get back to the surface and do not use your blade on ANYTHING. After you've recovered you can come back and retrieve the corpse.

Oh shit, oh shit that is a big bug! Retreat retreat! I don't think you can fight this alone!

Keep your calm; panic serves no one, especially when stealth is of the essence. You know what the fungos can do, and that this is just one of their tricks. Close your eyes, keep your grip, and retreat whence you came.

Nalthar 2024/11/16(Sat)20:17 No. 1099893 ID: 6c233e
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It's not real. You tell yourself it's not real, but a thousand roars and screams assail your ears and the clinging fibers scratch like thorns. Abandoning the corpse you scramble away, its whirling teeth screeching like an winter storm. A death grip on your blade is the only surety you have left as you claw through a world gone mad.

You burst up from the tunnels into a sea of blood. Great shadows of wolves loom over head. The nearest fixes you with the stare of the moon on a frigid night. Standing in the rushing surf, frozen by its gaze , you almost don't notice the pair of shambling guard rats.

Nalthar 2024/11/16(Sat)20:17 No. 1099894 ID: 6c233e
File 173181705887.jpg - (847.29KB , 800x600 , cadvere 75 yer gonna get stabbed.jpg )

Silently glaring, they stalk towards you, spray whipping from shaggy fur. The closer one staggers forward and thrusts a rusty polearm at you.

>>1099894
Dodge! Tell them to stay back, you're hallucinating!

Put your sword away.

Maybe even the guard is a hallucination but still try to avoid it's attack if you can. All of this is fucking weird, like some apocalyptic premonition. Is this how the world is outside? Does the giant thing seem familiar to you? I have a feeling, that all of this has a more significant meaning to you personally.

Your mind cannot be trusted right now. This is as likely a vision of friend as of foe; but if you announce your condition, a foe will not retaliate, and a friend might show mercy. Let it be known that you're not in your right mind, and take care to avoid harm without harming anyone else, or yourself, to the degree that you can.

Nalthar 2024/11/23(Sat)15:30 No. 1100287 ID: 6c233e
File 173240462797.jpg - (739.22KB , 800x600 , cadvere 76 I'm freaking out man.jpg )

Illusory as it may be, you don't want to get a pike in the shoulder. Flinging yourself down out of the path of the blade, you dig your nails into the rough fabric of the sea. Hissing through clenched teeth, you warn any nearby to keep away. Surprisingly, the wretched rat heeds your words and backs off, though its demeanor still appears hostile. And melting.

Eyes wrenched shut, you try to block out the hallucinations. You clutch your head and try to think of something, anything, to focus on.

>>1100287
Focus on your breathing. Think about your home.

Yes, remember your origins. Think back to the Gravel Pit Nest, and what brought you here; the long winter, the fallow harvest, and venturing out into the world, to have arrived where you are now.

Start chanting this over and over "Heart Lungs Liver Nerves". It might help

1/2 Nalthar 2024/11/30(Sat)18:35 No. 1100599 ID: 6c233e
File 173302052541.jpg - (743.69KB , 800x600 , cadvere 77 thoughts of home.jpg )

Home. You think of home. The gravel pit, the nest, the tunnels. The smell of dried oats and blackcurrants in the store room. The sound of walnut-fungcakes sizzling on the hearth. The view of the setting sun from the pine stump.

You think of old Forti, telling yet another parable on the virtues of being a good steadfast rat. You think of little Trep, sorting her collection of striped stones, arranging them around the big one with the hole through it. You think of Joc'lar, gathering herbs while chanting that horrible song she learned from the crows. You think of your sister Aud'ity, taking up the second of the only wolf-hair cloak and iron long-knife that the nest has. Her patting you on the back before you both went your separate ways, searching for an ember of hope in the frozen wood.

They're still out there, waiting for you. There's still time to save them.

2/2 Nalthar 2024/11/30(Sat)18:36 No. 1100600 ID: 6c233e
File 173302057341.jpg - (577.76KB , 800x600 , cadvere 78 disapointed.jpg )

You slowly open your eyes to a dark room. The meager light that filtered through the dingy curtains when you entered has faded to near imperceptibility. With a stiff groan you roll over, staring up at the distant ceiling.

With a snap, soft blue light washes over you. The lantern hovers in your face, blinding you for a moment, before Surrep sets it aside. The haggard rat looks down at you with a frown.

"I thought you had the looking of a capable hunter, not like these soft house mice." she hisses "What happened down there?"

Tell him a fungo had hallucinogenic spores and you tried to back off but still got too much exposure. That mutation's not easy to deal with in close quarters. Guess you'll go back to collect the one you managed to kill.

A soft house mouse wouldn't be alive to tell you.

At any rate you haven't hunted fungos before. You won't fall for that trick again.

What happened is that you successfully defended your mind from panic, and shielded your fellow hunters from retaliation against an imagined foe that lesser hunters would have attacked without hesitation.

But there's merit in the criticism; your guard was down, and you weren't expecting the beast to attack your mind. This is something you'll have to be more careful of in the future.

Tell that you saw some crazy shit and ask if the hallucinogenic fungos can be poisonous.

Nalthar 2024/12/09(Mon)23:02 No. 1101068 ID: 6c233e
File 173381414896.jpg - (774.91KB , 800x600 , cadvere 79 red dust.jpg )

"Wasn't... a normal... fungo." You croak, breaking into a parched coughing fit. Surrep takes the water skin from your belt and passes it to you. Taking a long pull, you feel well enough to sit up. "A *kaf kaf* a house mouse would have bloody well died, straight off. Never seen the like, some bewitchment of visions of Hell itself."

The slim rat regards you thoughtfully. "Hmm, that would explain the mouse corpse we found sometime back with its eyes clawed out." she lets out a tired sigh "Just another thing to worry about."

"There's still a carcass down there." you get to your feet a bit dizzily "I need to retrieve it."

"That will have to wait" Surrep lends you her shoulder, leading you towards the foot of the bed. "Everyone else has already gone back. If you run into that thing again, no one will save you. Come, Lisel insisted on waiting for you."

Resting against the footboard, the chemist stirs awake at your approach. Switching her lamp on, she looks up at you with a relieved grin. "Still with us Tem'rty? Oh, you've got some red on you." Running a hand through your fur she pulls it back covered in a clingy crimson dust.

>>1101068
Wait, that's dangerous! Those are the hallucinogenic spores. ...wonder if we can weaponize them. The zombies aren't *completely* brainless, after all.

>>1101069
That is thinking small potatoes, can this be used to poison the puppet master?

Warning first, plotting afterwards. At the moment, extraction is our primary objectve. We must ensure that all present are able to retreat to safety with all due promptness.

Although, it must be said that to the best of our knowledge, that fungo is still alive; its spores might be harvested. A mouse obsessed with developing futher knowledge and technology might even think to capture it, and maintain a store of the stuff for fun and profit. Imagine if such a mouse could amass a ready supply of it; that mouse might begin to identify its utility, and refine it for intentional use. Such a mouse would have to be bold, perhaps to the point of a foolhardy recklessness, in order to attempt such a thing, of course. But such a mouse is likely to be unable to resist the promise of the stuff.

But let us not forget that extraction is our primary objective. Let Lisel know what she's dealing with, and that she shuold under no circumstances ingest the substance, or touch her face before her hands are thoroughly washed. For that matter, if the stuff is still on your face, you had better get her help to clean it off, lest you breathe in a wayward mote too many and repeat the episode.

1/2 Nalthar 2024/12/20(Fri)17:23 No. 1101421 ID: 6c233e
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You grab her wrist. "Red? That must be what hexed me! The beast let out a cloud of the stuff right before the visions started."

Lisel's grin only widens. "And you brought me samples? Ah, you spoil me friend." She slides her free hand back into her coat's wide cuff and whips out several vials. Scraping them through your fur, she soon has three packed full of the vivid dust. The strange materiel glitters dully in the harsh lamplight. Stowing them away in her sleeve, she examines her other hand. "Hmm, no effect from skin contact. It must need to be breathed in. Hmm, yes, and from there it would enter the blood, and from blood the brain. This might have some usefulness to us, seeing as the glow-eyed ones seem to be controlled via their brains."

Surrep stalks over "How do you know that Lisel? You didn't practice that 'anatomy' did you? To butcher an animal is a sin Lisel!" The little chemist's enthusiasm falters, and she scrambles to defend herself. "No no, it wasn't that at all! Before, in the washroom, it-" "There was a fight." You interject "Before we met up. A bat attacked us, and it ended up getting it's head caved in. There were a lot of... wires."

Your family is somewhat more pragmatic on these matters, but you know many woods families take the proscription on hunting one's fellow animals very seriously. It may be the biggest taboo in the forest. So it is with relief that you see Surrep calm, her ire fading back into her normal more dour expression. "Very well then. If you think this powder can be used against them then investigate, you'll have my family's support. Let us retire for the evening, we can talk more when we are safe."

2/2 Nalthar 2024/12/20(Fri)17:23 No. 1101422 ID: 6c233e
File 173474422347.jpg - (733.05KB , 800x600 , cadvere 81 back at camp.jpg )

The three of you make the trip back without incident. Through the dusty and gray library, out the broken window and through the snow. The storm has broken for the moment and a brilliant full moon makes the night almost pleasant, the crystalline glitter of the hard packed snow matching the stars above. You take a minute to rub handfuls of snow over yourself, ridding your fur and cloak of the maddening dust.

Inside the shed is a bustle of activity. The fire pit is surrounded by cooking fungos and the eager mice that tend them. A few rats standing nearby look over as Surrep enters. She gives them a surreptitious hand signal, they nod and head away, weaving through the crowd. Surrep turns to you "Get some food in you, then come to the shelf. There is much planning to be done." With that she follows the other rats, only pausing to gather a few roasted fungos from the fire.

Lisel hefts the mechanical heart you two pilfered earlier in her hands, safely hidden under ratty cloth. "I should get this secured above before anyone sees it. Before you join us, you should take your finds to the tinker shrews. They may be able to make something from them. Thanks again, for all your help today." She executes a little half bow, more of a deep nod, and scurries off.

Left alone, you look around the hubbub. Some faces stand out from the crowd. The aforementioned tinkers are sitting on the stoop of their wagon, chatting with passers by.
Jasper is sitting with Horace, who looks some the worse for wear.
Afton is walking around, stopping to talk to various folk. His hedgehog bulk making him easy to spot in the crowd.
That sorrowful bat from this morning is also moving anxiously through the crowd, shadowed by her, you assume, younger sibling.
There's a set of three beetlefolk just come into the shed behind you. You would be alarmed, but you remember Lisel mentioning them earlier. They seem to be carrying fungos, though they aren't headed to the fire. Maybe bugs eat theirs raw? You wouldn't put it past the creepy bastards.

You think you'll have time to talk to a few people while you grab a bite to eat, before Surrep and Lisel wonder what's keeping you.

>>1101422
We should make a sketch of the spore-fungo with a warning not to breathe the spores, so that people will recognize it and know to hold their breath to avoid the hallucinations.
Talk to the tinkers, we've got business with them already.