Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)00:02 No. 658146 ID: f68a09
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"Stop talking," Bruco says.

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)00:02 No. 658147 ID: f68a09
File 143789416086.png - (18.15KB , 960x560 , 3.png )

"OoooOOOOoooooh," Andara gasps. "Strela! Your beau has been elbow dropped by the tyrant monkeyman!
That's like if your honor was elbow dropped!"

"You'll find an elbow drop is if you drop from the air with your elbow," Strela says. "That was a straight elbow."
"He was elbowed and he dropped!"
"And my honor," Strela continues, "needs none as reedy as Patifar to champion it."

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)00:03 No. 658148 ID: f68a09
File 143789417917.png - (17.33KB , 960x560 , 4.png )

She drops between the stakes into the fighting pit and lets her viper aspect knot itself up her shoulderblades.
"I'll defend it on my own."

Bruco pulls his hood off. His lips, green from smeared beetle-powder, curl into a grin.
"Thought Leonial girls didn't fight," he says. "Too busy weaving baskets and trimming their nose whiskers."
"And I thought monkey men smelled like shit and berry wine," Strela says. "So at least one of us is proven right today."

Bruco drags his ankle in a steep semicircle through the dust and feels the Boar aspect rush through his feet and into his core.
"Bandara women brawl as good as men," he says. "Ain't got compunctions about hitting a lady."
"It's not compunctions you need worry about, monkey man. It's contusions."
"C'mon, Princess."

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)00:03 No. 658149 ID: f68a09
File 143789421486.png - (25.03KB , 960x560 , 4a.png )

"Hold," the call comes from above, at the bamboo platform where the elders watch the pit.

"We do not recognize your fight, Bruco and Strela." Marlock, Leonial elder, extends his matted claw. "The bout has already been decided."
"Look at 'em," laughs Yarga, Bandara matriarch. "There's fire between them already. You can tell."

"Bruco has defeated Patifar, bridegroom of Strela," Marlock says. "The fight was fair and the victory decisive. Bruco will replace him and marry Strela in his stead."

Pick Your Protagonist Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)00:03 No. 658150 ID: f68a09
File 143789423722.png - (30.09KB , 960x560 , 5.png )

"What," Bruco and Strela say.

Who do you control?
1]] Bruco
2]] Strela

Strela.

>stop the fight, married already
Well if we're wed, we're going to fight like a married couple. You ain't stopping us.

Strela. Nice going, you mook.

bruco. say wut a few more times.

Let's go with Strela.

Bruco.

And definitely fight anyway.

Strela

Bruco!

>>658150
Strella

Strela! This guy thinks a single elblow is going to earn us in marriage he's got another thing coming!

>>658236
yeah!! kick ass strela!

To hell with that NTR-ing wench.

Be Bruco, elbow drop bitches and give no fucks.

Bruco

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)17:35 No. 658335 ID: f68a09
File 143795732501.png - (16.76KB , 960x560 , 6.png )

Strela stares at her father, trying to decide if this is some kind of joke.

Married?

To a fat, smelly Bandara?

"Uh," Bruco says. "Her?"

"Her," Yarga says.

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)17:35 No. 658336 ID: f68a09
File 143795733171.png - (16.77KB , 960x560 , 7.png )

"Uh," Bruco says. "Hi."

1]] Father you can't be serious. To him?
2]] I refuse.
3]] I didn't say you could speak to me, monkey man.
4]] Yes, me. You got a problem?
5]] Hi.
6]] So this is insane, right? You think this is insane too?
7]] Kick him in the face.
8]] If I kill him can I have the other guy back?
9]] _________________

6, 8

7

6 and 8. No use arguing with tradition to the elders.

3, 7

3,7. If this monkey can block our kick then he shall earn our respect.

6,8,7

in that order

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)18:31 No. 658355 ID: f68a09
File 143796071872.png - (22.60KB , 960x560 , 8.png )

"This is insane, right?" Strela narrows her eyes. "You think this is insane too?"

Bruco shrugs. "It's pretty insane."

"If I kill him do I get the other one back?" Strela asks.

"Hey--" Bruco says.

Strela aims a snap-kick at his face.
His arm swipes upward and slams her leg away. It's like kicking an iron bar.

"STRELA," her father hisses from the platform.
"WHAT, DAD? I DON'T WANT HIM."
"If you kill him you can't have the other one back," Marlock says.
"Ow." Bruco shakes his arm out, genuinely surprised at the shallow gash running down his forearm. "You kick hard for a kitty cat."

1]] Aim the next one at his gut.
2]] Scissor grab ad hurricanrana him into the ground.
3]] You move fast for a baboon.
4]] Fight me, Bruco.
5]] Fine. What now?
6]] ____________

1, 3 and

6: So what does happen if I kill him?

I like the idea of continuing to hold a conversation with each of them as we're still trying to kick his ass.

3... then calm down and ask your father what is going on, for real.

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)19:00 No. 658367 ID: f68a09
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"You're fast for a baboon."

Strela kicks off Bruco's forearm and uses the momentum to twist her other leg up and around into a hooking kick aimed straight for his gut.

"What if I kill him anyway?" she calls.

Bruco catches her foot and yanks hard to bring her down to earth.
"Then the tribes go to war and you're executed," Yarga calls.

1]] Fine. We're married. For now. Fine.
2]] And the fact that we are completely different species and don't love each other is totally not a concern?
3]] Bruco help me out here.
4]] I think I'd rather all that happen than marry him.
5]] Married or no I'm going to beat the shit out of him.
6]] He's stronger but you're quicker and longer. Plant your hands on the ground and donkey-kick him, preferably in the gonads.
7]] He's not expecting you to let yourself take a bruising but the ground isn't that hard. Absorb the fall then twist round on the ground and sweep his legs out from under him.
8]] ________________

>"Then the tribes go to war and you're executed," Yarga calls.
Fiiiiiiiiine.

But 5 and 7.

1,5,6

3, then 5-6
"Come on Bruco! You gotta have some way out of this monkey business!"

>>658367
1,5,7.

Seven, then three. That's not an unreasonable expectation of the man you're trying to kick in the groin, right?

>>658367
8]] What if I kill my father then? The guy who demanded the marriage in the first place?

>>658387
Assuming Mardock is Stella's father.

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)20:41 No. 658389 ID: f68a09
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Strela braces herself and hits the ground, rolling across her shoulder to keep it from dislocating. Like she guessed, Bruco wasn't expecting her to let herself take a hit.

She continues the motion into a quicksilver spin that catches his legs and brings him crashing to the ground.

"What if I kill you instead?" she says to her father, as Bruco cusses in the dirt.
"Aw come on am I really THAT BAD?"
Strela twists onto her padded toes. "Well you find a way out!"
"I can't!"

1]] Try harder!
2]] Then I guess we're getting married, asshole!
3]] If you snore I'm going to slit your throat in the night.
4]] Fine. Maybe you'll be an acceptable husband.
5]] Get on top of him and pin him.
6]] Use your legs to put him into a sleeper hold.
7]] Get up and kick him.
8]] ____________

7, 1, 2.

1 2

>"I can't!"
You're not even looking for a way out.

6

>>658389
8]] I don't like being told who to fuck for life by bunch of controlling old geezers. Do you like being told who to marry? Stand up to your Mom! What kind of MAN are you?

I STILL haven't received an answer, MARLOCK. Don't think being your my DAD will save you from my WRAITH. A CHILD HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE THEIR PARENT'S LIFE IF THEY DO A SHIT JOB. Congratulations, you've done a shit job.

This isn't even about you anymore, Bruco.

>>658389
5. Ehehehhehe.

>>658395
one negative vote for everything said here. we're clearly not going to get out of this by shitmouthing our parents during some kinda political fuckup here.

>>658389
2, 5, 4. Make sure it's full of innuendo.

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)22:43 No. 658421 ID: f68a09
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"You're not even looking for a way out!"
"Your plans so far have been 1 kill me or 2 kill your dad!" Bruco tries to stand up and Strela rolls over on top of him, locking her legs around his neck. "Should I be -ghak- trying to kill you? Is that what-- you--" His windpipe closes as Strela squeezes.
"Then I guess we're getting married, asshole!" she says.

His elbow comes crashing into her shin and she grits her teeth in pain. He winds up and strikes again. Which is going to break first, Strela wonders: her leg or his neck?

"HOLD, DAUGHTER." Marlock storms to the edge of the platform. "Do my eyes deceive me? Or is my flesh and blood truly dragging the Leonial Tribe name lower even than the mudsquatting Bandara?"

"You might wanna save it for the honeymoon, kids," Yarga laughs. "I'm surprised, Marlock. I like her."

Strela wrenches Bruco's head away from her hand as he bites down on her thumb. "You haven't given me an answer, Morlock!"

"I am struck dumb by my BLOOD betraying me!" Morlock runs his hands through his hair. Yarga and her mate are trying not to laugh. "For twenty years I have remained silent while you squandered your womanhood on combat, and I have bitten my tongue while you studied your profoundly dangerous magic and turned the pitchforks from my door when you turned the sky violet summoning spirits and I have allowed you to reach your twenty first birthday a maid! With no match! Abided your scoffing at all my suggestions when any father with his wits about him would have saddled you to the town drunk eons ago!"

Brom 2015/07/26(Sun)22:44 No. 658422 ID: f68a09
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"And now finally you are twenty-one and your marriage decision has been taken from you as is tribal law and STILL I have labored to find you an equal when it would be my right to marry you to a MULE! A warrior and a sorcerer and a leader of his people--"
"And a nice piece of ass," interjects Yarga.
"And you are strangling him with your thighs!"
Marlock stands at the edge of the platform and hurls his edict down. "To lead is to sacrifice, Strela! And I have asked no sacrifice of you until today! And TODAY, you will take your new husband and you will go with him into the jungles and cliffs and within 7 days you will find a dower worthy of both your stations, a gift to the new alliance of tribes that you and he have forged. And then you will return with it to us and the ceremony will be completed and he will be yours and you his. Or I forsake you and Tribe Leonial forsakes you as well and you leave this place with no husband, no family, no property, no future!"

"Bruco hon you're turning red as a radish," Yarga says.

1]] Choke Bruco all the way out.
2]] Fine. Banish me. I don't care!
3]] Then I'll take him to the Cartilage Plains and find some crypter's phylactery. Maybe he'll get turned into a frog and he'll be easier on the eyes.
4]] Then I'll take him to the Krongish Sunken Temple and find some ancient war machine to bring home. Maybe he'll be flayed by a cultist and it will fix his face.
5]] Then I'll take him to the Whisper City and steal some horror's servitor-imp. Maybe he'll be devoured by a cosmic maw and spat out as a deranged, jellified lemure and it will be A HUGE FUCKING IMPROVEMENT.
6]] Then I'll go kill a chief somewhere and bring back his head. Piece of piss.
7]] ____________________

>And you are strangling him with your thighs!
8. If my husband to be can't stop me from strangling him, he doesn't deserve not to be strangled, father.

3

4 and 1. Conjure a magical floating middle finger if you can.

4 then 1

then get a head start on him and start packing for the trip. If he hasn't woken by then tell someone else to tell him to catch up.

>>658421
I'm still going to kill you, Dad. Doesn't matter how this ends, me married to him or not. You've insulted me too much at this point. I don't care much for how this tribe does things, I think its time I change the ways around here. Say what you will about the Bandaras, smelly and dumb as they are, they at least respect their women enough not to scoff and feel ashamed when they're strong.

Yeah, I think I might marry this douche after all, kill you, adopt the ways they treat their women, and murder the way our culture treats our women. Yep, sounds good. And I'll kill any fool that stands in my way of doing that.

Bruco, wanna help me kill my Dad and take over my tribe? That can be the honeymoon main event!

Brom 2015/07/27(Mon)00:12 No. 658444 ID: f68a09
File 143798116010.png - (16.85KB , 960x560 , 13.png )

"Then I'll take him to the Krongish Sunken Temple and find some ancient war machine to bring home." Strela catches Bruco's increasingly sluggish elbow and pins it to the ground. "Maybe he'll be flayed by a cultist and it will fix his face."
She rolls off of Bruco and stands up, wiping the dust from her shinguards. He is firmly unconscious.

"I haven't forgotten this, father." She stalks from the ring. The crowd watches her in silence. Andara's eyes are as big as dinner plates.
Marlock puts his head in his hands.

"Daddy issues," Yarga observes. "But we can work on that."
"I'll fetch a bucket of water for your champion, there," her mate says, climbing down from the platform.


Her workshop's loamy air soothes the pounding vein of anger behind Strela's eyes. She places her torch neatly in its sconce, and her secret hiding places turn gently out from the rough-hewn walls. Trinkets, gewgaws, and the occasional item of sincere power twinkle in the lowlight. A row of eyeballs blink woefully at her, their stalks wrapped around cold iron spikes and forbidding-looking instruments.

Girl's gotta have a hobby.

By her own design the workshop acts as a sort of lending library. Only two artifacts may leave it at any time or the consequences are explosively unfavorable.
She examines her collection for things that might be useful in the Sunken Temple.

1]] A trogolodyte skull; held in one's hand it eliminates the need for air.
2]] The Serpent Bow; spits arrows envenomed with a slowing poison.
3]] A pair of dried Minotid testicles (very dearly bought); the taste of one, powdered and ingested, sends one into a highly suggestible trance and doubles their physical strength. Comes as a set.
4]] A bottle of endless worms; as the name implies, summons endless worms. They escape the bottle at a rapid speed and are hungry. Their teeth can eat through stone. Breaking it would be a really bad idea.
5]] Lovedripped Spear; The ointment that oozes from the barbs of the spear causes a mad, temporary infatuation when touched. It only lasts a breath of a second if it drips off; for best results, puncture the skin.
6]] The Bone-Rule; instantly analyzes and reveals the cause of a cadaver's death when placed upon the forehead.
7]] Shepherdstick; A small, orbed wand, found in the large intestine of a ram. Can cause violent, debilitating sneezing once every hour.
8]] The Blinking Brothers; three severed eyeballs. Strela can recite an incantation to see through them, and she's gotten quite good at hiding them. The Brothers count as one.

>>658444
1,4.

What would happen if you used both the testicles? You wouldn't be able to return them, so... can you change how your lab works with enough time?

Why not grab them all and rush out with a cool explosion behind you?

Failing that totally viable and rad option, 1 and 4. Anything with 'endless' in its name is ripe for nefarious exploitation. Does the skull work for two people if they hold hands?

>>658444
1 and 8 make for some pretty handy tactical stuff. Hide under a body of water, drop an eye here and there, bam.

>Sunken Temple
so the place is under water then?
1) sounds like a must then and
4) since I don't feel like having to run around the temple for a damn key 3 floors down to unlock a broom closet.

>>658448
cool explosion is a must
1, 4

1 and 3, if only because of the amusement you'll have when you tell Bruco what is only after he's taken it. by the way, it specifies the taste of one, powdered and ingested. But if it's powdered, you hardly need a whole one just for the taste, right?

Wait. If an alliance between two tribes depends on this marriage, what would happen if our ex-fiance won? Something smells fishy

As for artifacts, 1 & 8.

1, 4

>>658450
Just a note, even if the place's name is misleading the oxygen apathy will also assist in cave-ins or even just to silence our breathing.

1 and 8.
Also damn, Strela, you've got some weird hobbies. Is this voodoo thing common among Leonials?

1 and 4

So about the marriage thing, would anything stop you from being nominally married and then ignoring it in practice (living separately, taking lovers, etc)?

>>658486

I'm pretty sure this was all a set-up. Sounds like the tribes wanted to make an alliance, a marriage was needed, and Strela is the only girl the Bandaras would actually like.

Strela, if you're going to take the worm bottle, make sure to remember to take something soft and secure to wrap it up in.

1,6

Brom 2015/07/27(Mon)16:53 No. 658626 ID: f68a09
File 143804120394.png - (12.61KB , 960x560 , 14.png )

Strela retrieves the trogolodyte skull and carefully wraps the bottle of endless worms in furs to keep it from being jostled too much. No explosions. Her collection is important to her. Her leg twitches, the muscles aching where Bruco's elbow struck them. She purses her lips at the bruise spreading across it. He hits like a gorilla, she'll give him that.

From the doorway she hears the shunk of one of her spike traps going off.
"Hey." Bruco sidles past the barbs and through the narrow doorway into her workshop. "Nice spike traps."

Strela glares. He's up a lot earlier than she thought he'd be.
Bruco whistles. "Are those Minotid balls? Good stuff."

1]] What do you want, Bruco Bandara?
2]] We're going to Krong. Go get ready.
3]] You bruised me.
4]] Have a nice nap after I kicked your ass, monkey man?
5]] There's a space on my hooks for yours to join them.
6]] Get out, Bruco. I'll find you when I need to.
7]] So who the hell are you, anyway?
8]] They are. Know much about them? Father says you're a sorcerer too.
9]] Let's get something straight: You don't talk to me unless I permit you to.
10]] _____________________

5, 8

>>658626
4,7, then 2 once you're done talking.

5, 4, 8. Nice, friendly conversation.

5 then 2

Brom 2015/07/27(Mon)19:11 No. 658676 ID: f68a09
File 143804950287.png - (22.42KB , 960x560 , 15.png )

"There's space on my hooks for yours to join them," Strela says.
Bruco gives up a laugh which dies an uneasy death in his throat as he fails to decide whether it's a joke.
Strela touches the hook and lets them spin in the air. "You recongize them."
"Yes'm. Spiked a drink with one once. A minotid drank it. Different minotid. Ain't cruel enough to make a man drink his own gonads."
"You have a nice nap after I kicked your ass, monkey man?"
"You kicked my arm," he says. "I remember nothing about my ass, thank you."
"I won."
He nods. "Yep. I underestimated you."
"You won't make that mistake again."
"Here's hopin'."
"We're going to Krong." Strela strides past him, pushing her spikes back into place as she goes. "To find a stupid dower for this stupid marriage. Go get ready."
Bruco pivots loosely in place and strolls up the steps after her. "Ready as I gotta be."
"No accouterments?"
He shrugs, a dopey half-grin on his face. "Nope."
Strela shakes her head. "Father said you were a sorcerer."
"'Sright." Bruco affects a little bow. "Bruco of Bandara. One of the only two Bandara shamanics. Ritualist, sorcerer, and practitioner of the aspect of the Boar. And, uh, husband I guess. For now."

1]] "For now"?
2]] You sound unhappy about our betrothal, Bruco of Bandara.
3]] Your Boar sure didn't do much against my Viper. Will you make yourself useful?
4]] If we're ready then let's go. The sooner we're done with this the better.
5]] I suppose I should say my farewells to everyone before I go. In case you get me killed.
6]] There's more Bandara like you? I'm the only sorceress in Leonial. They're banned, usually.
7]] I was kidding. About cutting your balls off. I make jokes sometimes.
8]] You ever been to Krong? I've only read about it.
9]] ______________

1, 3, 6

1b]: For now? So you did find a way out of this marriage thing?
6]

7, 6, 2

>>658676
7, 6, 1
8]] I suppose you found a loophole? Or I take it you will get a mistress? That is fine, we can't have children anyway. No doubt your mother wants grandchildren. This can be a simple business relationship, we'll find physicality elsewhere. Agreed?

>>658683
That 8 was supposed to be a 9, but I'm not opposed to 8 either.

>>658676
1,3,6.

I don't wanna say 7, at least not right away. Let him wonder for a while.

1
7
8

1. - if he thinks there's a way out...?

6, 7.

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)00:29 No. 658774 ID: f68a09
File 143806855619.png - (132.44KB , 960x560 , 16.png )

Strela emerges from her workshop and pushes open the bamboo-lace gate of her father's estate, storming out into Village Square. The streets are mostly empty; the tribe is still gathered at the arena. "I take it you'll get a mistress. That a Bandara tradition? No doubt your mother wouldn't want a halfbreed child. So we'll find our physicality elsewhere. I can't imagine you'll care if I find a good, non-fat Leonial. Not when you're rutting every skirt in the jungle. Agreed?"

"Wow, you talk fast," Bruco says. "No that's not a Bandara tradition.
"And you keep magicians besides?" Strela asks. "You don't ban them? We ban them. Father says they're too dangerous."
"Yeah I saw your dad," Bruco says. "That makes sense. Guess we figure we keep enough trained sorcerers around, the stupid or nasty ones won't mess with the tribe."
"And that's you. A trained sorcerer."
"Yes'm. Me and my sister."

A bone-armored guard pokes his head from the turret. "Who goes?"
"Strela Leonial and guest," Strela says. "Open the damn door."
"Who's guest?"
"My husband. Talk to Marlock about it and open the door."

He scurries back beyond sight, and the stone arch shakes and raises. Strela ducks to go through as soon as it's high enough for her to move so as to spare the hoisters' arms, Bruco in tow. They pass the tent circle of his tribe, the air indolent with ripe berry and the smell of fresh-turned earth. Bruco waves at a passing gaggle of young Bandara kids, one of whom runs excitedly toward him, sees Strela, and runs back.

"You said 'for now'," Strela says. "I take it you've found a way out?"
"Yeah," Bruco says. "It'd be my second marriage in a row didn't work, though. Not good for me."
"What is it?"
"With the Bandaras if two newlyweds truly despise each other after they find their dower, they agree to take vows of silence toward one another and never speak again and the marriage don't happen," Bruco says. "Guess my people could strongarm your people into seeing this as a Bandara marriage with Bandara rules. It's kind of only for emergencies, though."
"This doesn't qualify?" Strela squints into the forest, trying to will a bear to come eat Bruco. "Is that what happened to your first wife?"
"Nope," Bruco says. "She died."

1]] Oh.
2]] Sorry.
3]] You led me into that one, jackass.
4]] How?
5]] I think I'd like to take that vow of silence instead, thank you.
6]] ______________

A]] Take the Switchbacks to Krong, high, precarious, and fretted by skysnakes.
B]] Take the Jungle Path to Krong, low, tangled, and lousy with cannibals.
C]] Take the cart road to Krong, out in the open where the highwaymen hunt.
D]] Incant a teleportation ritual to Krong, and attempt a deal with the dangerous and capricious spirits of travel who govern such things.

1, 2, BEAT, 3. "oh, sorry... wait, you jackass."

and you are both magical, take D

>>658776
this +5

Also 4.

"Oh, sorry... wait, you led me into that on purpose, jackass. That vow of silence is looking real good right now."

3, 5, and D. We ain't got time for this crap. The sooner we get over this, the better.

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)01:40 No. 658789 ID: f68a09
File 143807281306.png - (19.77KB , 960x560 , 17.png )

"Oh." Strela pauses in her stormy momentum. "I'm sorry."
He shrugs.
"Wait..." Strela's eyes narrow. "You jackass. You led me right into that."
He grins and shrugs again. "She did. Just saying."
"I think I'll take that vow of silence." Strela pulls her Focus from her belt. "How?"
"Nothing exciting," he says. "Pox. What are you doing with that?"
"It's my Focus," Strela says. "You have a focus, yes?"
"Course." He rubs the clasp at his waist, and Strela sees the gleam of brass under his covering's fabric. "You casting something?"

"A teleport," Strela says. "We're sorcerers. We can do that."
"We got legs," Bruco says.
"Shut up."

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)01:40 No. 658790 ID: f68a09
File 143807282012.png - (12.28KB , 960x560 , 18.png )

Although Strela has to admit to herself: He's right.

The incantation of a ritual is not something to be taken lightly. There are a few steps:

The first is identifying the effect of the incantation you are trying to cast. It can be anything you can think of, provided you have the means to pay the price.

The second is gazing into your focus until you find in its reflection a spirit who can perform the task you're looking to do. Too weak and the spirit will fail. Too strong, and the price rises.

The third is bringing the spirit out, hearing the price it sets for the task you have given it, and haggling over the details. For small, mundane tasks it may be nothing more than the corpse of a cat, someone else's favorite dress, or a childhood memory, scrubbed from the mind forever. The stronger the spell the graver the price. Spirits can be reasoned with, but only for so long, and their patience is thinner than a mortal's, and thinner still when pulled to their realm.

And then you pay, or promise to pay, and the spirit does its work. Simple enough, yes?

The problem is: once you've summoned a spirit, it cannot leave the mortal realm until the deed is done and the price is paid, or it takes you with it to the spirit realm, forever. The same thing happens if you break a promise to repay its services. And that's not a place a mortal wants to be. Death is preferable.

If the cost of what you ask is too great, if it's something you can't pay, there is no polite decline. No putting the genie back in the bottle. Your only choice is to fight the spirit yourself, head-on, and banish it away. And if you've overshot and asked for more than you can afford the chances are the spirit you summoned is going to be a difficult fight.
And for this reason the use of an incantation is never, ever something to take lightly.

Strela can handle this, though.
She's teleported before. The prices are never so bad as to be unbearable.
She peers into the focus and shapes begin to take form:

1]] Summon an Avigation spirit; it will fly you at speed to your destination. Its price is usually something physical and important to you.
2]] Summon a Transmittance spirit; it will clap its hands (or other appendages) and you will appear whole and hearty in Krong. When it names its price it will try to trick you.
3]] Summon a Plicature spirit to fold the distance in such a way that you will arrive in Krong in five reality-bending steps. Its price will include the extraction of a promise.
4]] Actually Bruco is probably right. About the legs.
5]] ________________

Fuck it.

Summon all three and suplex them into submission.

2

but trick it back totally double team it when you get there and give it nothing but your foot up it's ass.

>>658790
4, meaningless risk is dumb.

>>658790
4. I think any of the other ways would be less dangerous actually. Plus more time to get to know your husband, decide if you really want to take that vow of silence and likely never speak to a fellow sorcerer ever again.

3. Plicature sounds the least dangerous.

Let's...4.
If he asks...We thought twice and figured we might as well give it a few days before attempting plan silent vow, after the direct contest.

3?

4. Fuck it. You're being impulsive. It's not as if we want to rush ahead to the wedding.

>>658807
There's nothing wrong with being impulsive. Longer trips mean we have to spend more time with that insufferable monkey. And besides, we can't just backpedal now!

4. You don't really have that much reason to hurry, do you?

4. Let's walk.

A husband is an important thing, right? Can we promise them Bruco as payment?

4. Get to know your dear beloved husband during the walk. Were you trying to show off to him with a teleport?

4
5]] So, Bruco, don't take my attitude as hating you. This is who I am. Also, technically at this point, we haven't settled our match regarding my honor, so that's also a factor in my behavior right now. Fucking Dad. This whole thing would have been so much easier if they recognized our fight in the least.
Lets find something to punch on the way there.

>>658829
!

>>658829
>Get to know your dear beloved husband
in the biblical sense

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)12:42 No. 658887 ID: f68a09
File 143811255462.png - (8.42KB , 960x560 , 19.png )

>>658829
>>658857
Why would she want to show off to a neanderthal like Bruco? She glances at him. He's watching her from beneath his heavy eyelids, his expression one of mellow bemusement. He hardly looks like he has enough going on upstairs to appreciate the intricacies of her ritualism anyway.
"See anything?" he asks.

She licks her left canine thoughtfully.
Then she stows the Focus away. "We're walking."

"Walking." Bruco tilts his head. "Gotcha."
"I'm giving it at least a few days before the silent vow idea," Strela says. "It's not as if I want to rush ahead to the wedding."
"No ma'am."
"Unless I can promise you as payment."
He chuckles and shakes his head.
"That was a joke by the way, Bruco. I do tell jokes. I was also kidding about cutting your balls off."
"That's a pleasure to hear, Miss Leonial."

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)12:42 No. 658888 ID: f68a09
File 143811256652.png - (209.84KB , 960x560 , 20.png )

"I suppose we should try and get to know one another," Strela says.
"Us being nuptial," Bruco says.
Strela threads her way through a curtain of low-hanging vines. "For now."
"For now."

A curious jungle owlet flaps onto a low branch and watches the sorcerers pass. Bruco whistles at it and it rustles up and hops a foot or so back, hooting.
Strela tries to think of something to say to her stranger husband.

"If you were any kind of bird," Bruco says, "What kind of bird you reckon would you be?"

1]] That one. It had about the reaction to you I did.
2]] Crow.
3]] Falcon.
4]] Peacock.
5]] Songbird.
6]] Bird of paradise.
7]] I wouldn't be a bird. I'd be a skysnake.
8]] A parrot that only knew how to say "Shut up, Bruco".
9]] I didn't mean childish questions, Bruco. I meant, like, who even are you?
10]] __________________

A]] Take the Switchbacks to Krong, high, precarious, and fretted by skysnakes.
B]] Take the Jungle Path to Krong, low, tangled, and lousy with cannibals.
C]] Take the cart road to Krong, out in the open where the highwaymen hunt.
D]] Let Bruco take the lead. He seems like he'd know the jungle.

>>658888
2 or 7
D

7 and A

1 and 9.

As for the second choice, A.
As great as it would be to choose B with the hope that the cannibals will eat Bruco, he seems to know his way around the jungle, and thus we might turn up to be the one eaten. C is too dangerous, highwaymen probably attack in large gangs, we could get outnumbered. And of course we're not letting Bruco take the lead in anything in this marriage.

3] Falcon KICK! Also 9.
A] Time to Falcon PAAAWNCH some flying sneks.

2 and D. You might get some insight into his personality by watching the route he takes. Plus we do not have anything to prove by always leading.

>>658888
2, D
So, Bruco, got any interesting anecdotes about being a sorcerer? My funnest stories always involve my work with the spirits or my artifact hunts. What have you sold to a spirit in the past?

7, and A or D

1, but actually 7.

And I'm totally with >>658896 here, Strela can't let the D happen. I'm not really worried much about C as they're both capable of holding their own in a fight, and possibly even obtaining some trophies from said highwaymen! Cannibals do worry me though.
So A or C.

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)14:13 No. 658916 ID: f68a09
File 143811802891.png - (147.92KB , 960x560 , 21.png )

"Crow," Strela says.
"Not exactly a charming bird," Bruco says.
"I know. Or a skysnake."
"Those ain't birds."
"I'm not a bird either, Bruco," Strela says. "I approve of their grace. And their toxicity."
"Skysnakes're creepy," Bruco says. "Make me uneasy."
"So I've chosen perfectly."
"Your words, Strel."
"Strela." Strela digs her claws into the cross-grained bark of a thick tree and starts to climb up to the lower canopy. "And I'm sorry to hear you don't like them because we're taking the switchbacks to Krong.

Bruco sighs and finds purchase below her. "Fantastic."

Brachiating and scampering through the canopy clears Strela's head, and she's very pleased to see she's better at it than Bruco, whose heaviness often forces him to find a different, slower route.

The sky is rolling into night by the time the switchbacks come into view. High, asperous teeth stabbing up haphazardly through the jungle carpet. The line opens on the other side to breezy plains and a straight shot to Krong.

Bruco hoists himself up to the branch she stands on. It rocks and groans under his burden.
"Getting dark," he says. "Wouldn't much like climbing the switchbacks sleepy and in the dark."

1]] Fine. We'll make camp.
2]] Fine. Go make your camp. I'm sleeping up here.
3]] Too bad. We keep moving. Those skysnakes you fear will be at roost and I'll be damned if I'm going to share a fire with you.

>>658916
Climbing in the dark does sound like a bad idea.
2.

3) You know the skysnakes better than he does. We move during the night and make camp(s) later.

1. No need to shoot ourselves in the foot, here.

>>658921
yeah, you can take a few lame skysnakes, can't you strela?

1

Yeah, okay, let's get some shut-eye. It's not much use to move the entire night, because when the dawn breaks the skysnakes will be up fresh from rest, and we'll be exhausted.
1.

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)16:01 No. 658949 ID: f68a09
File 143812448725.png - (192.97KB , 960x560 , 22.png )

"Fine," Strela says. "We'll make camp."

"Sounds good." Bruco shuts his eyes and extends his hand.
It trembles suddenly, and one of his knuckles cracks as he flexes his fingers in a complex arrangement of sigils.

A wrapped bedroll emerges from the air in front of him.
A cantrip.
Strela's only recently made forays into them, mostly for combat magic purposes.
The creation of a cantrip is similar to that of an incantation. It starts with a summoning of a spirit in both cases.

To acquire a cantrip, however, you have to trick or defeat the spirit into enslavement. Just beating it down would be simple enough but the larger spirits are too strong and the smaller too quick to escape. You need a dose of cunning. It takes serious talent; spirits are hard to deceive. But if you manage it, you bind it permanently to yourself, and gain the ability to use its magic whenever you want. Bruco must have fooled some lesser foliot to the Mortal realm and then shackled it to this minor dimensional spell.

"Portable hole." He unwraps the bedroll and pulls a canvas bag from it. Inside is a clutch of pears. He takes a bite out of one and offers another to Strela. "Only got the one bed," he says. "Big spoon or little spoon?"

1]] That's a joke, right?
2]] Big spoon.
3]] Little spoon.
4]] I'm sleeping over here in the fork drawer tonight, thanks.
5]] Impressive. How'd you get that cantrip?
6]] Give me the bedroll tonight. Leonials aren't used to sleeping in the dirt.
7]] I don't need your food, monkey man. I'm going to go hunt something and start a fire.
8]] So, Bruco. I have some questions about you and Tribe Bandara: ______________

5 and 2

don't want his 'little monkey' getting into any monkey business.

1, 4.

1,4,5.

8: is it true they sit around in trees all day eating fruit?

5, 2. maybe ditch that impressive though.

>>658949
5, 2

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)17:41 No. 658971 ID: f68a09
File 143813046020.png - (25.78KB , 960x560 , 23.png )

"Big spoon."
His eyes widen. "Oh. I was kidding actually."
"What?" Strela pulls her skullcap off and stuffs it in her satchel. "You want me to sleep on the ground?"

"No no it's fine." Bruco unfolds the bedroll. "I just didn't think you'd, yknow. Want to share a bed."

"Don't go getting a single idea from this," Strela says, crawling into bed and rolling onto her stomach. "No monkey business."
"Hah." Bruco unclasps the brass stud from his beard and flicks it into his portable hole along with the rings from his dreadlocks. "No ma'am."

He settles down into the bedroll on the opposite side, at a respectable distance, and draws the hide up over his stomach.
"Nice ears," he says.
"Shut up. Don't look at them." Strela tucks one into her hair. She's very self-conscious about the little tufts on the end of them. Too cutesy. "How'd you get that cantrip?"
"Dropped a ring down a well and summoned a spirit to find it again," Bruco says. "Into a little snare I'd paid some other one to keep invisible with a little extra to keep its mouth shut. Zoop."
"Not bad."
"Feel guilty about it," Bruco says. "Making the poor pisspot open holes for me all day. Mad useful, though."
"Why feel guilty? It's just a spirit."
"I guess."
"Is it true that the Bandaras just sit around all day eating fruit?"
"Naw. We drink a bunch too."
"Is that how you got so fat?"
He laughs his husky laugh. "Must be. Why're you so skinny? Spend too much time hacking up hairballs and reading old scrolls and such, not enough farming?"
"I am svelte," Strela says, "because such is the grace of Leonial. And what you call old scrolls and such I call proper sorcery."
"Don't know much about proper sorcery," Bruco says. "My sister taught me most of what I know about it. And her granny taught her. I just kinda picked it up to help out around the place."
"Inspiring."
"Well how 'bout you? Why do you do it?"

1]] To help my tribe.
2]] To make sure foreign sorcerers like you don't wipe us out.
3]] For power, of course. Why wouldn't I?
4]] I thought it might piss my father off.
5]] It's a hobby.
6]] It's an intriguing area of study. Nobody understands the spirits or the power. I'm going to be the first.
7]] _________________

3, 6

Like I'm telling one of the sorcerers from another tribe that I wanted to keep my tribe safe from.

5, 4

5, Dirt- er, I mean, 4.

456

>>658971
All of the above.

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)20:33 No. 659025 ID: f68a09
File 143814079023.png - (12.58KB , 960x560 , 24.png )

"I thought it'd piss my dad off."

"You really need to broadcast when you're serious better, Strela," Bruco says. "Maybe we oughta work out a signal."

"It's a hobby. An intriguing one."

"Dangerous for a hobby."

"I don't care," she says. "It's an intriguing area of study. Nobody understands the spirits or the power. I'm going to be the first. And it really would piss my dad off."

"I guess that's a goal I can support," Bruco says.
"You don't like my father?" Strela hisses.
"That's my cue to wish you a good night." Bruco turns over. "Night, Strela."
"Is it because he's Leonial? It's because he's Leonial, isn't it?"
"Good night, Strel."
"Strela."
"Sleep tight."

Strela harumphs. Bruco chuckles to himself again.

After about five minutes he starts to quietly snore.
"Come on," Strela whispers. "Bruco. Bruco hey."
He doesn't respond.
Strela thinks about shaking him. Then a screech frog calls out in the trees and a group of hooting birds, alerted by the noise, fire themselves from a bush about ten feet from her head.
Compared to all the din of the night time jungle Bruco's snoring isn't that loud, she guesses.

She lets it continue.

It's actually kind of soothing.

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)20:34 No. 659026 ID: f68a09
File 143814084631.png - (13.19KB , 960x560 , 25.png )

Strela watches her husband's back contract and expand with his breath. There's a little mole on his shoulderblade.

He's just so... wide.
It's weird.
Leonial men all make sure to keep hardly a scrap of fat on them, and their muscles are thin and ropy. Bruco is so profoundly big.
If only he was just a little skinnier.
She guesses it's not really fat that he is, really. But it's still disconcerting. He doesn't even have any ribs showing. Is he soft at all around the edges? Is it all hard muscle? It's certainly not skin and tendon and bone all over like Leonial guys.

He's close enough that in a moment of innocent, catlike curiosity, she almost kind of wants to touch him to find out.
Then she reminds herself that he probably has fleas, and anyway it could wake him up.
Or maybe not, since he's sawing logs so firmly.

Still better not to risk it.

She watches the mole rise and fall for a minute.
Then she falls asleep.

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)20:34 No. 659027 ID: f68a09
File 143814085511.png - (25.81KB , 960x560 , 26.png )

"AUGH Strela!"

A skysnake dives from a nearby bluff and curls toward Bruco. It bounces off a shimmering dome of force he throws up just in time and twists through the air.
Bruco jumps back and drops the dome. "Bird-You is kind of a bitch!"

1]] You're kind of a bitch, Bruco. Hit it!
2]] Just keep on deflecting. If it dies more'll smell it and come over.
3]] Keep it distracted. I'll get it.
4]] Grab its tail. We have to trap it.
5]] Don't be such a baby. Hey, little guy!
6]] Throw it a pear or something! Maybe it's hungry!
7]] Use a Technique: ____________
8]] ___________________

7.

Use technique: Ultimate Razor-Sharp Kitty Twister Roundhouse Kick!

5. Tame the snake.

Sort of 1 and 4: That snake is making you its bitch, Bruco. Grab it behind the head so it can't bite you!

5 and 3

Brom 2015/07/28(Tue)23:49 No. 659069 ID: f68a09
File 143815254231.png - (16.81KB , 960x560 , 27.png )

"Just wait for it to go for you and get the head," Strela says.
"It's gross!"
"Grab it, you ninny!"
"Fuckin' worm thing!" Bruco throws up another shield and almost falls on his ass as the skysnake divebombs him again. Strela muffles a laugh. "This time. This time. Watch this."

The snake corrects its course, loops round, and whips toward Bruco. He plants himself, takes a deep breath, and snatches it out of the air about a foot from his face.

"YES." Bruco shakes the snake. "Take that. Aaaugh it's slippery."

1]] Good. Now can we get a move on?
2]] Nice one!
3]] Stun it or something!
4]] Throw it off a cliff so its death scent doesn't attract more of them!
5]] Tie its mouth shut or something!
6]] Snap its neck!
7]] Stick it in your portable hole!
8]] Let me see it!
9]] ___________

5, 7. Shoving living things in a bag of holding is a sorcerer-scientist's favorite thing to do.

8

5 and 8

If the skysnakes are indeed lured by their dead, we need to get rid of it. Snap its neck, grab by its tail, then swing it like a sling and throw it as far away as possible. Optionally, jam a stone down its throat to increase throwing distance.

8, maybe we can do smth useful with it
>>659125
also this

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)12:11 No. 659168 ID: f68a09
File 143819707015.png - (105.44KB , 960x560 , 28.png )

"Tie up its mouth!"
"Oh fuck it's gonna bite my fingers off"
"Be careful!" Strela cracks a smile as Bruco wrestles to loop a rope over the skysnake's head. "Here here let me see."

Bruco gladly gives the snake up to Strela.
With a few deft knots she ties the skysnake's mouth closed and lets out a length of rope as a tether.
"There! Skysnake caught."
Bruco scratches himself. "Why don't we just snap its neck?"
"I told you," Strela says. "I love these things. The smells this one lets off when it's pissed are gonna tell all the smaller ones to stay away."
"Just how big is this one?" Bruco asks. "In comparison."
"Medium."
"There's bigger ones?"
"Much bigger ones."
"Great."

"Come, Bruco," Strela says. "Come, Spuds. I'm naming it Spuds."

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)12:11 No. 659169 ID: f68a09
File 143819709246.png - (59.14KB , 960x560 , 29.png )

"There's a bridge up ahead. Keep up." Strela waves the tether at Bruco. Spuds thrashes bitterly. "I should have made one of these for you too."

"Spuds don't look happy about this situation," Bruco says.
Strela smirks. "He doesn't have to."

They walk further along the shaled path of the Switchbacks, blown into smoothtopped spikes by the endless winds. Spuds traces figure-eights in the clear sky above them.

"Right up here." Strela ventures out onto a high cliff face, the air whistling around her. "The bridge is--"

"What?"

"Not here anymore."

Two thick stone stakes shoved into the ground and a couple splintery boards are all that's left of the bridge that connects this peak with its neighbor. "It was here," Strela mutters.
"Was is the problem," Bruco says. "What do we do now, fearless leader?

1]] Now we climb. Down this one and up the other side.
2]] Now we venture off the path and find a different route. I'll figure it out.
3]] I don't know, Bruco. Got another fancy cantrip you want to show off at me?
4]] Got more rope? We could try to make some kind of tightrope.
5]] Now we do what sorcerers do and cast an incantation: ___________
6]] ________________

3, 5, and if none of those work 2.

How much would it cost you to have a spirt only move the two (three?) of you across such a short distance?

5: I suggest a flyiiiing jump kick across the gap.

>skysnakes are like Strela
>spuds, leashed, unhappy, doesn't have to like it
This metaphor got uncomfortable quick.

>what do
4 would work, as would 5. If we lack the tools though, we'd have to do 1.

Can we cantrip ourselves into Bruco's storage space, then open the portal from there on the other side of the bridge?
If not, the "2, unless 3".

Sorry, I've been playing Portal Stories lately and it's conditioned me to seek out the most obscure and complicated solutions.

Oh- can we use the skysnake to carry a line across for us? From there you can make a tightrope or a bridge.

>>659181
This!

>>659169
Summon spirit. Beat spirit up until it agrees to become servant.

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)20:25 No. 659230 ID: f68a09
File 143822673738.png - (11.88KB , 960x560 , 30a.png )

>>659181
>>659186
This is a good idea.
People think sorcerers are all flash but the trick to infinite power is finding the way you can solve your problems with as little of it as possible. Using resources you already have on hand is one way of doing that.

Strela raises her focus and gazes at it. She finds what she's looking for.

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and with the breath comes the Spirit, swirling into her heart.
The world melts away for a moment as Sorceress and Spirit exit their respective dimensions into the Liminal Space.

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)20:25 No. 659231 ID: f68a09
File 143822674736.png - (16.37KB , 960x560 , 30.png )

Sorceress.

Its voice fills her mind.

Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Name's Subordination.
What've you got for me today, eh?

"I need you to possess a skysnake to fly across a chasm with a rope," Strela says, "and tie it firm in place on the other side so my companion and I can cross it."

The Ape man? Who's he then?

"My husband."

Hah! Him? A Bandara with a Leonial?
My condolences, mistress Sorceress.
Right. Simple enough for a spirit like meself.
Let's talk price.

"Name it."

Two things, mistress Sorceress:

After I do what you want, tie your little knot, right, I want the skysnake's body as me own. Around time a hardworking spirit like meself had a sabbatical, I think. Why not a little tour of the mortal realms in a flapping lizard, I ask. No trying to catch me again, now. Safe passage out of the Switchbacks.

And, ah, let's see. A bit of blood. Not much. Just a cut across the arm. From you or the Bandara. I'll let you hash it out between you.

And those are my terms. More than fair, I'd say.
Do we have a deal, Sorceress?

[] Yes.
[] No.
[] Barter: _______________

slight barter. a promise not to use the skysnake to harm us beyond the bit of blood. such as leading other skysnakes to us.

other then that it looks good.

>>659231
Wait, the fact that he downplays the importance of the blood makes me think its what he mainly wants from this deal. That ISN'T the spirit trying to trick you, is he? Do you know what a spirit uses blood for? Have you done it in the past?

3] Droplets of blood from us both. We can't risk an infection in the forest or the hinderence from a cut across the arm. A small prick on the tips of our ring fingers. The body is fine, whatever.

... Don't we have technical ownership over this skysnake right now? Wouldn't that be bad for a spirit to possess? Like say it possessed the toy of a small girl, wouldn't the girl have ownership over the possessing spirit then?
Oh god, its name is subordination. If it's telling the truth, I think it's into BDSM and wants to be ordered around as a skysnake while being tied up.

Are there rules about letting spirits be active and independent in the mortal realm? I'm not sure how bad letting it roam in the skysnake is.

I suppose if he's bound to the snake, with the specification that it can't jump to another host, and goes back when it gives up the snake or it dies, it can't do much harm.

I note these terms don't say we actually have to release the skysnake once he's in it, even if we owe him safe passage. Technically, we could keep it with us till we're out of the switchbacks, then kill it.

I'm tempted to debate the safe passage bit though, cause it can bite us in the ass if something harm it. We'll offer it safety from us, but it's responsible for itself otherwise.

Blood spent for sweat saved is more than fair.

Is there any way this could bite you in the ass? what's the significance of the blood?

Make him promise not to undo the rope or undo you and yours, and he's got a deal.

>>659231
3. When will the spirit return to us? It is phrasing this like a vacation, but we should establish some time frame.

>>659231
Wait, so he wants a permanent physical body and blood from one of us, and his powers are related to possession? This doesn't seem as if it's as small a price as he's trying to sell it as. It seems perfectly likely that he could use the blood against us, and we'd theoretically be setting the thing free indefinitely on the physical world???

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)22:10 No. 659251 ID: f68a09
File 143823303268.png - (14.62KB , 960x560 , 31.png )

>>659234
>Technically, we could keep it with us till we're out of the switchbacks, then kill it.
Technically, Strela realizes, she could.
This might be an opportunity for a cantrip.

"I need promises."
Name them.
A spirit is physically unable to break a promise.
"These are my terms:
No jumping to another host."
Done.

"No using the skysnake to hurt us. Leading the others back or anything."
Done.

"Safe passage from us, but you're responsible for yourself."
Ha.
Done.

"No undoing the rope or anything."
Mistress Sorceress! Cor, I'm hurt. Don't you trust me? Done.

He thinks I mean the tightrope, Strela thinks, but that also bars him from undoing his tether.

"No cut on the arm. Pinprick from the thumb, from both of us."
Fine, a pinprick. But from one of you, Mistress Sorceress.
The blood ain't the point. It's who draws it, see?

"No using the blood against us."
Done.

"When will you return to us?"
I won't, will I?
After I do what you ask our contract is finished and I get snakey.
We square, mistress?

"We are."

Brill. My power is yours.

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)22:10 No. 659252 ID: f68a09
File 143823304314.png - (21.57KB , 960x560 , 32.png )

Strela opens her eyes, now aglow with the Power.

"What's the word?" Bruco asks.

1]] Give me a knife. I need to give it some of my blood.
2]] I need blood, Bruco. From your thumb.
3]] _______________

1. Our deal to make, our blood to give.

Give him your blood. When you capture this guy to use him as a cantrip, it'll be more satisfying to be able to say that you've done all the work yourself.

>The blood ain't the point. It's who draws it, see?
So either Strela draws blood from one of them, or Bruco draws blood from one of them. I'm trying to think if there's a loophole where a third person draws the blood.

Not sure if the snake would count, as it's not a person. If use it to injure us, that's the same as injuring yourself. I suppose we could get another spirit to do it, but that's another moving piece to go wrong, and if it acts on our behest, we might still be responsible.

Is it significant if one sorcerer pricks the other instead of pricking themselves?

I'm leaning to hold out our thumb and ask / order Bruco to stick it.

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)22:47 No. 659270 ID: f68a09
File 143823525453.png - (19.20KB , 960x560 , 33.png )

"Give me a knife, Bruco," Strela says. "I need to give it blood."
"You want me to draw it?"
"You have to hold the snake."
"Of course I have to hold the snake."

Strela's blood dribbles onto Spuds' twitching face.
Sorcerer blood glows, as a rule. Such is the power.

The skysnake's struggling slows, then stops.

Its eyes glow.

Brom 2015/07/29(Wed)22:47 No. 659271 ID: f68a09
File 143823526035.png - (56.96KB , 960x560 , 34.png )

"Rope," Strela says. "Give it rope."
Bruco wipes his knife on his leg and cuts a length of rope with it, which he stuffs into the skysnake's mouth.

It flies across the chasm, two rope leads trailing behind it. One is tied to the stake on Strela's side; the other is in her hand, tied firmly still around its mouth.

With a series of graceful, precise aerial maneuvering, it ties the rope taut to a stake on the other side.
The tightrope is made and the Sorcerers' passage is secured.

1]] Let the spirit free.
2]] Keep your grip on it.
3]] Give it to Bruco to hold again. It can't harm you directly, but crossing a tightrope with a struggling spirit/snake hybrid is going to take fortitude.
4]] OK, Subordination; we'll escort you out the switchbacks now. So no harm comes to you.
5]] __________________

3, for now. We cross. If the spirit makes a noise of protest- why, you're not afraid of being attached to one of us when we cross, are you? You're certain you tied a knot that will hold.

On the other said we spring 4.

2. if the method of binding it for a cantrip isn't too complex. it can't strugglw if you mention how it , the skysnake, whipping around could result harm. it only needs to think it could to mess with it's head.

Brom 2015/07/30(Thu)11:47 No. 659347 ID: f68a09
File 143828203326.png - (12.16KB , 960x560 , 35.png )

Strela holds the line out to Bruco.

"Seriously?" he asks.
"I gave the blood. You hold the snake."
"Fuck it. Fine."

About halfway across the skysnake starts thrashing so badly that Bruco has to drop into a shimmy, clutching the rope in his arms and between his teeth.

"Thish ish bullshit," he says. The skysnake whips around and the tendons in his neck stand out as he keeps it in check. It loops and he falls down below the rope, squawking loudly.

Strela laughs. She can't help herself. Neither can Bruco. "Thish fucking shnake," he says. "Fucking Shpudsh."
"I don't think he likes you," Strela says. "What's the matter?" she cries up to the possessed snake. "You're not worried the rope won't hold, are you?"
It lashes furiously against its tether.
"You've got me doing shome wild shit, Shtrel," Bruco says. "If I were a shushpicioush man I'd shay you dishliked me or shomething."

1]] Strela.
2]] I need him. I'm making a cantrip out of him.
3]] I wouldn't be making you do all this if I didn't trust you to.
4]] What's wrong, Monkey Man? Can't handle it?
5]] It's funny making your life hard.
6]] I don't dislike you, Bruco.
7]] I have a strong distaste for the circumstances of our companionship.
8]] I can take a turn holding it.
9]] [To the skysnake] We're just escorting you safely out of the Switchbacks! Wouldn't want you to get hurt!
10]] [To the skysnake] Stop struggling! The contract was binding! No helping it now!
11]] ________________________

>>659347
6 & 7

4 6 7. you don't hate him, you just hate being forced to marry him.

1, 7, 5, 9.

1 (absentmindedly), 6, 7

9, once we're on land. Those were the terms. Can't have you running off where it's not safe.

I wouldn't admit to 2 until it works. Don't be overconfident. (Plus, admitting to doing anything besides sticking rigouroudly to the terms might count as breaking the deal. Rule lawyer until he's good and caught).

4, 7. And 1, you thick-skulled monkey.

While 2 is true, you probably shouldn't say it where the snake can hear it.

>>659347
6, 7
11]] I kinda respect you Bruco, only kinda though. To gain my full respect, we'll need to finish our fight sometime without the Elder's getting in the way.

>>659349

Brom 2015/07/30(Thu)21:43 No. 659469 ID: f68a09
File 143831783114.png - (73.40KB , 960x560 , 36.png )

"Strela."
Strela hops off of the line and lands in a graceful dismount on the far peak.
"What's wrong, monkeyman?" she asks, as Bruco clumsily rolls onto the ground behind her. "Can't handle what I'm throwing at you?"
"Had worse," Bruco says. "Much worse. Just kind of wish-- nevermind."
"What?"
"Nevermind," he repeats, wrapping the rope a couple of rotations around his forearm.

"I don't dislike you, Bruco." Strela leaps gracefully across a low acreage of spiky rocks, eyes focused on the upcoming pillars she can get a foothold on, two ahead.
"You do a good impression," Bruco says, matching her movements with a precision belying his size.
"I have a strong distaste for the circumstances of our comradeship, however," Strela says.
"Course. I do too." Bruco holds off a little, sliding down a surface before he leaps, so that Strela can move ahead of him. "Don't have to take it out on me."

1]] I don't see anyone else I can take it out on.
2]] I'm not trying to take it out on you. I'm just frustrated.
3]] Shut up.
4]] Don't be a baby, Bruco.
5]] _________________

5]. Sigh and apologize. You're not trying to be unfair to him, this situation is unfair enough as it is.

...also, you're having a hard time holding onto anger when you may have successfully tricked your way into a cantrip. The thrill of excitement over that pending victory is distracting you.

>>659469
4.

2 then 1

>>659469
4
5]]If I was taking it out on you, Bruco, this situation would be much worse for you. This is simply what happens when you're my husband. You've saved my old Beau from my hellish demands, I'm sure he's praying for you in thanks as we speak.

1. Who went into the duel without knowing its conditions first?

>>659480
*cough*. Technically Strela is guilty of the same mistake. We challenged him without asking or thinking of the stakes either, at first.

>>659481
Are you talking about jumping into the ring after the wimp got whomped? That had no effect on the outcome, and we wouldn't have had a say in the previous match.

>>659482
It doesn't matter that it didn't affect the outcome of the previous match: Strela initiated a duel with him, without knowing what the consequences or stakes of said duel would be.

>>659483
There were none.

Brom 2015/07/30(Thu)22:45 No. 659486 ID: f68a09
File 143832155498.png - (16.88KB , 960x560 , 37.png )

"I'm not trying to be unfair, Bruco," Strela says. "But I don't see anyone else I can take it out on. I mean who jumped into that duel without knowing what was happening?"
"Both of us."
"You did it first."
"I guess." He sighs. Strela doesn't know how he has the breath for it. "Pisser, ain't it?"
"You could call it that."
"I mean that we missed any chance we coulda had at hitting it off."
"You'd put that chance at above zero."
"Sure," he says. "Don't know many sorcerers. Woulda been nice to be friends with one."
"Maybe once we get this sorted out we can compare notes or something," Strela says.
"No we can't." Bruco's expression is as flat as his voice. "Vow of silence."
"Oh. Right."

Two hour's silent hiking takes them to the end of the switchbacks.
As they drop down toward the foothills the skysnake's struggling grows ever more frenzied and desperate, as it begins to understand what's happening.

Strela takes the rope from Bruco and pulls it in. The snake tugs so hard she almost stumbles. Bruco puts a hand on her shoulder to keep her steady.

She seizes the snake by its neck and looks into the glowing eyes of what was once Spuds, as it flails and recoils.

"Thrsss." It tries to form words with its unfamiliarly forked tongue. "Thrsssst. Trssssted you."

1]] That was a mistake.
2]] Trust is a weakness.
3]] No you didn't, Subordination. Don't lie. You underestimated me.
4]] Cut off its head and drink its blood. That's the way to the Power.
5]] You can go this time. Learn from this.
6]] ________________

3
these spirits don't seem like the 'trust' kind of critters.
then 4. lets get this cantrip train arollen.

3, and four if that's how you gain a cantrip I guess? Shucks, I thought we really were escorting him out of the spires but it would be suicide to let an angry spirit go free at this point. Get in, Subordination.

3.

Get yon cantrip. You're never gonna be the one to understand spirits if you're going to back down and feel bad when they try and guilt you. That's the only play he has left.

>>659486
3.

6. ...I don't suppose you can get some information out of it in exchange for its freedom? You said you wanted to understand the Spirits. Here's one, at your mercy.

>>659486
3, it's that or...
6]]You're name is Subordination. You wanted this. This was too easy.

Brom 2015/07/30(Thu)23:27 No. 659500 ID: f68a09
File 143832405550.png - (18.30KB , 960x560 , 38.png )

"No you didn't, Subordination," Strela says. "Don't lie. You underestimated me."

She tears the skysnake's head off and sucks blood from the stump.

Strela has learned a new cantrip: Rope Charmer!
Any rope touching Strela can be controlled by her as if it was a living serpent. Its top speed is 30 mph, and it ignores its own weight, moving in defiance of gravity.
Tying anything weighing more than ten pounds to the rope makes it wobble and struggle to move. Past 100 feet from Strela, the power fades.

Strela can maintain the rope's animation for about five seconds at a time, fast enough to tie a solid knot around an object or a limb. It takes concentration; if she's struck or jostled too badly it will fail.

"A cantrip," Bruco says. "That's what you were doing." He nods. "Nice one."
"Of course," Strela says. "Why do you think I had you drag the creature around?"
"I was wondering, actually," Bruco says. "So where to?"

Brom 2015/07/30(Thu)23:27 No. 659501 ID: f68a09
File 143832407425.png - (53.59KB , 960x560 , 39.png )

1]] Tribe Predatus Territory. A good place to resupply before Krong. I've had correspondence with a Predatus sorceress. Not sure how much we can trust the rest of them, but they could be of help, if we can find them.

2]] Lumbertown. A Roadling establishment that supplies the wood for the Merchant Docks workshops. We'll bed down there for the night and tackle Krong in the morning.

3]] We're going to the Merchant Docks to charter a boat to take us to Krong. If we walk and then sail all night we should reach there by morning. That'd be the safest way.

4]] We're going along the Crags. It'll be cheaper than sailing. If we keep to the lower crags we'll avoid attention from the wreck-cults.

5]] Through the Ruins Forest. Fastest way. I've heard the rumors of necromancy and haunting in the area are highly exaggerated.

6]] ___________________

>>659501
5!

1. Pen pal buddies!

5. you can just beat the ghosts into submission.

1. Nothing wrong with more sorcery.

>>659501
1

2

2!
also, ask him what he thinks.

Brom 2015/07/31(Fri)14:35 No. 659570 ID: f68a09
File 143837855741.png - (31.26KB , 960x560 , 40.png )

"I was thinking Tribe Predatus Territory," Strela says. "A good place to resupply before Krong. I've had correspondence with a Predatus sorceress. Not sure how much we can trust the rest of them, but they could be of help, if we can find them. What do you think?"

Bruco looks agape. "You're asking me?"
"Sure," Strela says.
"Well you've known what you're doing so far," Bruco says. "Tribe Predatus."

They walk a horse-churned path across the plains. The breezes carry the husks of grass too weak to find root.
At one point, mid-afternoon, they see a horseman trotting the opposite way. Its rider, a Merchant-Town hunter in a wide-brimmed hat, slows, intending a greeting, then sees that they're barefoot Tribals, and hurriedly turns from them.
"How do," Bruco says.

The rider doesn't respond as his colt trots past. Plains folk try to have as little to do with the jungle Tribes as they can, fearing deeply their inhospitable homes and deep-blood mysticism. He probably thinks they're a couple of dangerous sorcerers.
Of course he's right this time but it's still racist.

"You sing much, Strela?"
"Hmm?" Strela looks back at Bruco.
"You sing?" he repeats.
"I am capable of vocalizing melodically, yes."
"Know any road songs?"
"Do not start, Bruco Bandara."
"Whatever you say," he says.

A few miles later he starts whistling.
Strela glares at him and he raises an eyebrow, his tone fluting for a moment as he smiles involuntarily.
She thinks of telling him to stop, but at least he's not trying to talk now. And he's not half bad at holding a tune.

Brom 2015/07/31(Fri)14:36 No. 659571 ID: f68a09
File 143837859661.png - (365.33KB , 960x560 , 41.png )

The Predatus Jungle eventually spreads itself across the horizon before them.

As they near Strela feels the mist rising from the fanned monocotic foliage, condensing on her skin.
The Predatus let their palms grow high, dark and tangled. All the better to keep their territory.

"Do we knock on a trunk or something?" Bruco asks.

1]] Enter the jungle, calling that you're looking for your friend the sorceress Markessa. Predatus have ears everywhere and they'll recognize the name.
2]] Move slow and quiet. It will be far safer to see them before they see you.
3]] Take to the treetops. You'll want to move quickly and see far.
4]] Cast an incantation: ____________
5]] ____________________________

3.

>>659571
The rope trick could be useful if we take a treetop route.

2 doesn't seem like it will work. It's very hard to surprise or sneak up on anyone competent in their own environment.

3 Might synergize with the rope trick, but Bruco's whole Boar aspect depends on a connection to the ground. We're either putting half the group at a disadvantage, or splitting the party, going that route. Doesn't seem worth it, unless we're not far above him.

If there's a sorceress about, maybe the quickest route is to look for evidence of sorcery?

5. Knock on a trunk.

Brom 2015/07/31(Fri)23:03 No. 659635 ID: f68a09
File 143840897958.png - (259.63KB , 960x560 , 42.png )

Strela swings through the treeline, silent as penumbra. Between vines her rope wrrithes and snaps like a living thing.
Bruco tries his best to keep up.

It takes an hour's travel into and through the jungle to find signs of the Predatus.
A flash of blue cotton and Strela's secreted in a high alcove. She watches three avian figures wind their way through the mists. Two lead a third, struggling against its restraints.

1]] Greet the Predatus from the trees: _______________
2]] Trail them silently.
3]] Drop down in front of them and introduce yourself: _____________
4]] Use Rope Trick to immobilize the bigger one.
5]] Have Bruco introduce himself first and watch from your hiding place.
6]] Cast an incantation: _____________
7]] _____________________

>>659635
2]] I don't know if Predatus would be Avian or anything (Honestly, I was expecting Predators. THE Predators), so we should look out and observe who these people are and what they're doing.

If this is slave trafficking right here, I don't want to throw us right in front of a bunch of slavers.

2. Don't let the cat out of the bag.

2, then maybe 5 if you don't learn anything.

We need a better look, here. We're in foreign territory here, and we don't know if we should be on the sides of the captors or the prisoner. Markessa is likely on the side of one or the other.

Brom 2015/08/01(Sat)14:41 No. 659710 ID: f68a09
File 143846529038.png - (83.97KB , 960x560 , 43.png )

Strela follows silently and signals Bruco to do the same.

They drag their prisoner to the edge of the jungle and the skirt of their territory.
The big one pushes the tied one to his knees.

His companion unsheathes a falchion from his hip and rests it in his hand.

"The choice is yours," he says. "The Sword or the Heart."
"You're idiots," their prisoner says. "Blind idiots! It wasn't me! When I'm in the ground you'll see that!"
"Sword or heart, Shester?" The one with the sword taps it against his palm.

"Heart," Shester growls. "Throw dung scattershot over my reputation while I'm alive but let no man question how I die."
"Blade's sharp." The big one speaks, in a voice too high and gentle for his size. "Heart hurts. You sure?"
"Do your worst, sorcerer."
"All right." The big one raises his hand.

1]] Let them do their work, then follow them home.
2]] Call to them and ask what the issue is.
3]] Rope Trick the big one.
4]] Rope Trick the one with the sword.
5]] Drop down and free the prisoner.
6]] Cast an incantation: ______________
7]] ___________________

1. Don't get tangled up in something you have no idea about. This man might be being executed for false accusations, or he might be not. Making a call now may and most certainly will backfire.

Incantation. Can a spirit divine for you what this man has done?

I get the feeling this one is innocent. Let's get wrapped up in something we don't understand, just for the fun of it. And hey! We might actually do good! Rope the leg out from under sword guy, signal Bruco to jump down and fist the other one in the head, you leap down on top of sword guy. Pin him so he can't get his sword into a useful position.

>>659714
Oh, and the big guy's apparently a sorcerer. Look out for that.

Has Markessa mentioned a sorcerer in her correspondence? There can't be too many in one tribe. You might already know if the hooded guy is a friend or foe of hers, which informs your choices.

If we're still ignorant, I favor 2.

>>659710
1]] It seems this fellow is being executed through due process.
Whether he's truly Innocent or not, it isn't our place to make the judgement for another tribe. This prisoner has made peace with his death.

Brom 2015/08/01(Sat)18:23 No. 659738 ID: f68a09
File 143847860686.png - (150.22KB , 960x560 , 44.png )

Strela watches.

The prisoner shudders, then shakes, then screams.

His heart rips itself out of his chest.
It trails a brilliant red blazon through the air and lands in the sorcerer's outstretched hand, where it spasms then goes still.

The prisoner's eyes glass over instantly and he falls forward into a growing pool of blood.

The sorcerer kneels, carefully wraps the heart in a bolt of blue cloth, then stands, nodding to the man with the falchion. They move on.

Strela secrets away after them, her mind reeling.
Using sorcery of that caliber on an execution? That's insane! Death magic is one of the most costly, dangerous schools there is. Spirits accept hardly any payment for life but life, the sorcerer's or someone else's. Years shorn off your natural lifespan or sapient sacrifice or signing away a loved one to an early grave.

Could it be a cantrip? Impossible. To defeat a spirit with that kind of power would be unthinkable. Who or what is that hooded behemoth?
She looks back at Bruco. His lips are pursed into a perfect line as he scampers across the high canopy. Likely he's thinking the same thing she is.

Brom 2015/08/01(Sat)18:24 No. 659739 ID: f68a09
File 143847866296.png - (290.86KB , 960x560 , 45.png )

"Think it was him?" the sorcerer asks the swordsman, so quiet Strela can hardly hear him.

"No," the swordsman says. "Shester was a hellion but he wasn't capable of such a thing. He was innocent."
"But I have his heart."
"Well he didn't leave the Mark but he certainly murdered Brassock when he accused him," the swordsman says. "That warrants execution as much as anything."
"People will think he did it."
The swordsman puts a hand on the sorcerer's shoulder. "Let them. Better he scrawled it than a Sunken Cultist."
"His name's tarnished now."
"There will be time to polish it once we find out what happened. Quietly. Panic is our enemy."

They leave the forest into a clearing, with a high stone wall on its opposite. Strela hangs back out of sight in the treeline, raising a hand to stop Bruco.
Burrowed into the rock is a cave, propped up by sure-cut wooden struts. The two Predatus disappear inside.

1]] Step out into the clearing and present yourself. They're sure to have eyes around the entrance, and they'll hear you out before things get violent.
2]] Yell into the cave that you're here to speak to Markessa.
3]] Yell into the cave that you're here to help with this Mark thing.
4]] Climb the stone face and find a way inside. There has to be ventilation above.
5]] Sneak inside the main entrance.
6]] Cast an incantation:_________________
7]] _________________________

I think 1 is the only real choice. This tribe is already upset about something if they executed, wrongly, one of their own. Any kind of subterfuge or sneaking will lead to being treated as enemies when discovered.

>>659739
7]] How do you normally contact our friend. I suggest trying that, if chaos is happening on the inside, make sure she's alive at least. You could figure out if its a good time to try this option or we can just back out of here and tackle one of our other options.

>>659742
I second this suggestion. Better safe than sorry.

1. We came here to resupply, not to steal.

Brom 2015/08/02(Sun)12:27 No. 659866 ID: f68a09
File 143854366641.png - (13.79KB , 960x560 , 46.png )

Strela drops from the treeline and lands gracefully on her feet. She looks back at Bruco. He gives her the thumbs-up.

Strela rolls her eyes and approaches the cave.

The heart-rending sorcerer emerges from the gloom, his massive arms tight at his sides. He's even bigger than Bruco.

"Why are you here, Leonial?" he asks, his high voice muffled a little by his canvas mask. The memory of his arm spattered with arterial blood murks through Strela's mind. She feels an aching tightness in her chest she dismisses as nerves.

1]] I'm a friend of the Sorceress Markessa, here on a visit.
2]] I'm investigating the Krongish temple. Thought I'd stop in here first.
3]] I overheard your execution. I want to help with whatever the problem is.
4]] I'm freshly married and hunting for a dower. Here to resupply.
5]] Sorry. I'm lost. This forest is scary. Can I come in?
6]] I come as an envoy of Leonial. Let me inside.
7]] My business is my own.
8]] How did you do that? The heart?
9]] ____________________

Let's go with honesty, and not pushing our luck.

4, 1

1 & 4.

4, 2

>>659866
>He's even bigger than Bruco
Offer him to elbow drop Bruco and become your new husband

1, 2. You know, the truth, without getting into our personal lives.

>>659866
4, 1

Brom 2015/08/03(Mon)00:51 No. 660014 ID: f68a09
File 143858827698.png - (234.90KB , 960x560 , 47.png )

"I'm freshly married and hunting for a dower," Strela says. "I'm a friend of the sorceress Markessa's. Thought I might drop in to say hello and resupply."

"Where is the husband?" the sorcerer asks.
Strela raises a finger and turns from him. "Come out, Bruco Bandara."

Bruco slides down a treebranch to the forest floor, not so much sticking the landing as rolling with it. He straightens up. "Hello!"

"Hmm." The sorcerer folds his arms. "You'll both come with me."

"Where are we going?" Strela raises her voice over the crash of a distant subterranean waterfall. It spins a wheel hooked up to a rickety network of cages and corkscrews that raise and lower, sometimes with a curious Predatus peering at the visitors between the bars.
"Keep going straight," the sorcerer says, pacing behind them.
"Not much other way we can go, is there?" Bruco says.
"Even so."
"Y'look strong," Bruco says. "How's a bird man do leg day?"
"My hind claw could unseam you top to toe," the sorcerer says.
Bruco scratches his chin. "Not what I was asking, friend, but good to know."

Brom 2015/08/03(Mon)00:52 No. 660015 ID: f68a09
File 143858832492.png - (21.16KB , 960x560 , 48.png )

The sorcerer bows slightly to fit under a low span of rock. "Through there." He indicates a doorway. "Down the hall."
Strela likewise has to watch her head as she cautiously opens the door and pads down a cavernous hallway lit by pale blue fire.
She tilts open a door at the end to a small, warm workshop, where a bird woman works, muttering curses to herself as she fiddles with the stopper on a glass bottle.

"Markessa?" Strela asks.
"Who? Me?" She turns around. "Who are you? Trimond, who's this?"
The sorcerer puts a hand on Strela's back. Her heart flutters. "Good question."
"It's Strela. From the letters? You invited me once, so..." Strela shrugs her sinuous shoulders.
"Strela!" Markessa puts her glass bottle down and gives Strela a feathery hug. "Of course! Gosh you look just like how I imagined you!"
"Thanks," Strela says. "I think. You, uh..." She looks Markessa up and down, from her beaming beak to her jagged toes, and unavoidably across her shamelessly bared cleavage. "Don't. Really."

Markessa grins and sashays a hip out. "Thought I'd be a little more bookish? Preoccupied with potions as I am? Gosh Master Trimond can you please not loom."
"Apologies." The big sorcerer (Trimond) steps back and away from Strela.
"It's good to finally meet you face to face, Markessa."
"You too, Strel."
"Strel?" Bruco cranes his neck to look past Trimond's imposing form.
"What brings you to our neck of the woods?" Markessa asks.
"She calls you Strel?"
"And who is that?" Markessa's eyes fix on Bruco. They travel across his barrel chest and she pushes her hip out just a little more.

1]] That would be my husband.
2]] You like him? Take him.
3]] That's Bruco Bandara. My assistant.
4]] We're here to resupply. Got any food or water?
5]] We're here to resupply. Got anything that might help us in the Sunken Temple of Krong?
6]] We're here to stay the night before we move on and find a dower. Do you have some spare rooms?
7]] We heard about your troubles. A mark of some kind? Cultists? The execution of a man named Shester?
8]] Who's Trimond and how does he do that heart vacuum thing?
9]] What's that you're working on, Markie?
10]] _________________

>>660015
1,5,9. 7,8.

"That's Bruco Bandara. My *audible sigh* husband."

>>660014
>"My hind claw could unseam you top to toe," the sorcerer says.
Definitely husband material here, Strela. Just sayin'.

>>660015
Do not ask 7 now. See if it's possible to get Trimond to leave us alone with Markessa. We can trust Markessa, but we don't know how Trimond will react if he learns about us eavesdropping on his not-quite-just execution.

Likewise with 8, it's not polite to ask about people indirectly. Either just ask him directly, or wait until he leaves.

For now, 1, 2, 9, then 5.

2 (Joking, smile)

1 (neither of us had much choice in the matter).

5, 9, 10: Who's Trimond? I don't recall you mentioning a sorcerer.

2, 1, 5, 9. I'm curious about 8 as well.

1, but don't skimp on the details, give her the full story. Then inquire politely about 5 and 6. And 9. Maybe you two sorcerers could offer some small assistance to help pay for your visit.

Brom 2015/08/03(Mon)12:45 No. 660110 ID: f68a09
File 143863115493.png - (16.02KB , 960x560 , 49.png )

"That's Bruco Bandara," Strela says. "My--" she sighs. "Husband."
"Ohhhh." Markessa's crest feathers droop a little.
"If you want him you can take him," Strela says.
"Nice, Strela," Bruco says.
"Hi, Bruco!" Markessa waves. "How's married life?"
"Hello." Bruco smiles warmly. "It's interesting."
"What are you working on, Markie?" Strela examines the table. There's a thick copper cable wound around Markessa's flask stand.
"I'm making a safe alternative to torches for the tunnelers," Markessa says. "These natural gas pockets here and there can sometimes-- oh, shit--"
A translucent streamer shoots from the flask in Markessa's hand. She snags it before it can escape. "Glow ghast." She wiggles it back into the jar, which Strela notes is filled with grey mist. "They have this tendency to phase through solid material unless you shock them so I'm working on a replicable incantation to get them to stay inside."
"Like a cantrip?"
She shakes her head. "Replicable incantation. An extended, mutually beneficial contract with a spirit."
"That sounds tough."
"Tough it is." Markessa sticks the flask back on its stand. A current travels through the cable and makes the ghast twitch and dance in the mist. "So how about you? What's the project?"
"Dower," Strela says. "Thought I'd look in the sunken temple of Krong."
"Ooooh. The temple." Markessa exchanges a glance with Trimond.
"That's right. Do you have any supplies I can use? I'd pay."
"Uh well." Markessa clears her throat. "I guess we have provisions and enchantments we can lend you but uhhh I might look elsewhere, Strel."
"Why's that?"
"The temple's not exactly safe right now."
"It's never safe. That's the point."
"Well it's especially unsafe," Markessa says.
"You're not going," Trimond says.

1]] Actually, I am.
2]] What is it? Those Sunken Cultists you were talking about in the forest, Trimond?
3]] I gather there's some kind of problem. I can help solve it.
4]] Trimond, can you excuse us?
5]] What if we organize a sortie? With you and Trimond with us I'm sure we could figure it out.
6]] If you say so.
7]] Fine. Provisions for the road, then? Not the temple? At all?
8]] _____________________

7, 4, 3 with Markessa. So, what depths have these cultists sunken to?

Okay, forget my last post(s), this one is the most grammatically correct and simple.
4]] Trimond, what were you told about looming? Did your mother never tell you that eavesdropping is rude?

It sounds like there's more a clan reason for wanting you to avoid the place than a danger one. You're stepping on their toes, or in their problem.

7,4,3 seems reasonable. Maybe we'll back down, maybe we won't, but err on the side of caution inside another clan's home, and with a sorcerer capable of doing something he shouldn't be able to.

>Replicable incantation. An extended, mutually beneficial contract with a spirit.
Whups. Guess we missed our chance to shoot for that, what with screwing over Subordination. (Not that I can think of a way we could have made that long term and mutually beneficial).

4. Trimond needs to leave and let grownups do the talking.

3!

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"Trimond." Strela turns to the sorcerer. "Can we actually have a moment, please?"
"Go on, Tri," Markessa says.
"They're not." Trimond leaves, his claws clicking against the floor.

"I gather there's some kind of problem," Strela says, when the clicks recede. "I can help."
"Listen, Strel," Markessa says. "I'm going to pretend we just had an argument here where I tried and failed to talk you out of going because I know I'm not going to be able to." She rummages through her desk. "So."

Strela is pleasantly surprised. "So?"

"So do you want the long version or the short version?"
"Short first."
"So the temple is infested with cultists," Markessa says. "And they've infiltrated the Jungle. Whether by subterfuge, incantation, or the conversion of some weak-minded tribesman. We keep finding these marks they leave. Glyphs. Wherever they're placed disease catches, food spoils, pets bite their owners..." She pulls a pair of small twigs out of her desk and holds them up. And they use these."
"What are these?"
"Springmatches," Markessa says. "Light it and inhale it and for about an hour you jump like you've got explosives in your shoes. We've spotted them thirty feet in the air with these things. Got this pair off a dead one."
"You're giving them to us?" Bruco says.
"It's probably how they navigate in the temple ruins," Markessa says. "If you're going in you shouldn't go unprepared."

1]] Damn, Markessa. Thank you.
2]] We'll be off right away. See if you can distract Trimond.
3]] Is there anything I can do to repay this?
4]] I think we'll set off in the morning, if you'll have us as guests for the night.
5]] So now that we're finally face to face do you want to hang out? And do sorceress stuff?
6]] So now that we're finally face to face you want to have a bout? Friendly, of course.
7]] Mind giving us a tour of the Predatus cave? It looked interesting.
8]] Do you have a fighting pit here? My husband and I have a duel to pick back up.
9]] There was this Predatus in the jungle with Trimond. He had a falchion and he seemed important. Who was he / Can I talk to him?
9]] _____________________

>>660405
1,5,7.
9, ask about the heart thing because you know you wanna ask about the heart thing.

>>660405
1, 3, 9
So why the hell is Trimond giving us orders when he has no jurisdiction over other tribes? He can't actually believe he can control THE Strela, right? I love the idea of punching cultists, why would he stop me, is he a cultist too?

1,3

9: Ask why T was so set on keeping you out of it. It's not like any of the tribes are fond of cultists.

1, 3, 5, 9: why was trimond so hell-bent on keeping us out?

1, 3, 7, 4. Challenge Bruco to a jumprope contest later.

1, 3, 6

Bonus points for saying 3 as seductively as possible

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"Damn, Markessa," Strela says. "Thank you."
"Thank me when you're out on the other side with all your skin still on," Markessa says.
"Don't worry about that." Strela pockets the springmatches. "We're prepared. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
Markessa shakes her head firmly. "No need."
"Do you need any help in your research? We have time to kill." Strela runs her finger across the dusty spine of a book on Markessa's desk. "We're finally face to face. Let's do sorcery stuff."
"Yes!" Bruco says. "Sorcery stuff!"

Bruco tilts his head back and bangs it lightly on Markessa's desk. He does it again. "This wasn't the kind of sorcery stuff I had in mind."

"That's because you don't know how to read." Strela turns to the next page of the sorcerer Arlesto's chronicle of incantations. "Could you have luck with this one?" She shows Markessa, who's unfolded a vellum scroll detailing the history of Lightning Sorcerers among the Acherontis Tribe. "Galvanism."

Markessa glances across the logs. "Too fond of trick-demands," she says. "Extra flashy ones they know you'll haggle over so they get leverage over the others. I'll keep that one in mind."

"I know how to read," Bruco says.
"So read." Strela slides a peerage across the desk to him.
Bruco slides it back. "I don't try and make science out of an art, thank you."
"Listen to yourself."
"Spirits ain't things you can study. They're quicksilver. You gotta feel it out."
"So you suggest we don't try? Just summon a lightning ifrit into Markessa's workshop?"
Bruco shrugs. "When you feel it you feel it. Ain't as hard as it seems."

"Admirable aestheticism." Markessa smiles a pretty smile at him.
"Thanks."

Strela rolls her eyes. "Boneheaded barbarism."
"The Bandara tribe had some of the very first sorcerers ever," Markessa says. "We can't dismiss what he's suggesting out of hand. Actually I'm happy to get a hold of someone taught in the Bandara tradition. You people hardly ever write anything down."
"Don't get too excited," Bruco says. "I was taught in my sister's tradition more than anything else. Lot of hitting me on the head with a treebranch."

"How did Trimond do it?" Strela flicks through the pages at a blur, watching winks and snatches of runes pass her eyes. "That heart thing he does."
"Oh, that." Markessa sits up. "It's actually what gave me the idea for my experiment. Trimond pays nothing for his heart trick. It's like a voluntary cantrip."
"Why not just replicate it?"
"Not likely," Markessa says. "He's never told anyone how to do it. But the legend has it that the spirit which does it has fallen in love with him."

1]] So we just make a spirit fall in love with you. How hard could that be?
2]] That's a hell of a legend.
3]] That is laughably impossible.
4]] This has been an elucidatory few hours but I think my husband is going to give himself a concussion on that desk. We ought to adjourn for now.
5]] So how about showing me around?
6]] Do you have a room for us?
7]] Do you have two rooms for us?
8]] Do you mind if I sleep over here? Bruco can find his own bed somewhere.
9]] It's getting late. We should start our way to the sunken temple. We'll reach it just before daybreak if we hurry.
10]] _________________

1, kind of 4/5: Maybe we really could smooth-talk a spirit into helping. For the sake of your desk, let's try some things the Bandara way. What's the safest/most expendable area of the caves to test in?
By the by, does Markessa have any cantrip(s) of her own? She doesn't need to say what they are.

>>660586
2. 1(joking).

5, why not. Also 6.

>voluntary cantrip
>in love with him
That... sort of makes sense. If there's no possible way he could afford to be paying for that, or have trapped the spirit doing it, the spirit must have to want to do it, for some reason of it's own. Could be love, but it could be other things as well.

2, and how so we experiment with that?

Stay the night. 6. (Or everyone crashes in one room).

10: Threesome

2, 5, 7, 8,

10) Politely ask for her company because you know that A) She's cute, B) you'd rather sleep with her than with Bruco, and C) you're interested in how Predatus treat m@+!N6 7!+...

>>660586
10]] I wonder how their sex life is? Hopefully not too boring if that spirit is pulling hearts out at demand for him.

2, 4, 6.

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Strela smirks. "That's one hell of a legend."
"Isn't it?" Markessa sighs. "Very romantic. If true. Which it isn't. But can you imagine."
"So we just find a spirit and make it fall in love with you," Strela says. "Easy enough."
"If you're gonna find me anyone, Strel baby, make him corporeal first and foremost," Markessa says.
"If we see any tomorrow that aren't trying to knit things out of our skin I will point them your way." Strela shuts her book and replaces it on Markessa's desk. "Well this has been an eludicatory few hours but I think Bruco and I had better find a room before he breaks your desk or his skull. You have one for us?"
"I do indeed." Markessa tilts the door out of her workshop open and effects a rustling bow-gesture toward it. "The Bridal Suite for you and the Boo."
Strela sticks her tongue out as she passes the avian sorceress. "Gag me with a spoon, Markie."
Bruco gives Markessa the thumbs up as he follows Strela out. "Night, Markessa."
"Night, Bruco Bandara! Sleep tight!"


"That," Bruco says, "is a small bed."
Strela folds her arms. "It is very small."
"Smaller than I expected."
"Mmm."
"For a bridal suite."
"I think that was a turn of phrase, Bruco."
"True." Bruco takes a step into the darkened bedroom. "So I'm on the floor, then?"

1]] You read my mind.
2]] Thank you.
3]] And give you something else to be a martyr about? I'm taking the floor.
4]] Just give me the sleeping bag. I'll use that.
5]] We can both fit. If we're gonna be married we might as well get used to it.
6]] Was I really that bad a bedmate last night? I'm not the one who snored.
7]] I don't mind. I found last night strangely comfortable, actually.
8]] __________________

5. This trip is supposed to be about giving this marriage thing a test run. Besides sharing a bed to avoid sleeping on the floor does not mean we have to start banging like rabbits.

>I've got the floor
Joking: Don't be silly. Why, we've got extra-dimensional space for extra room, or if you find that stifling, I could always suspend you mid-air. (Crack rope trick).

...actually I'm kind of tempted to combine the rope trick and the sleeping bag to make a kick-ass hammock. Kitty makes her own bed.

Hang it next to the real bed. Slumber party, and you have a chance to talk before that whole vow of silence thing later.