Where we left off…

For the days following your meeting with Ku-Lung, you decided to take the time to learn the spell Blinding Light. It could be very useful, you figure.

However, Ku-Lung’s message to you has stirred a bit of a dilemma. To your knowledge, he has not spoken to Vakith about this, and you’re certain he hasn’t spoken to Hope. It may be worth it to tell them, to give them fair warning about the fact that their fate may very well belong to the Shōlong. On the other hand, it may just worry them needlessly. After all, doesn’t it make sense to keep fighting the Contagion anyways? Perhaps Ku-Lung may never even have to call upon you.

>You should tell the party.
>You should keep it to yourself for now.

>>257905
>You should tell the party.
Can't see a good reason not to.

>>257905
>tell the party
Try to "chosen one" it up a little bit too

You decide to tell the party about this. They deserve to know what’s going on.

When the day drags late and the lights of the village are beginning to be put out, you return to the hostel. Dinner is served, and your small party eats while the others discuss the events of the day. When discussion settles down, you announce that you spoke to Ku-Lung. The party goes silent; they have a good idea of how big that is. You explain what he told you, that he now views your group as useful tools in the fight against the Contagion. You try to put a positive spin to it, that you’ve been chosen as champions to fight against this dark evil, but it doesn’t seem to help much. Vakith seems torn between his hatred for the idea of serving the Shōlong and the fact that he wishes to continue to fight the Contagion anyways. You can see fear in Hope’s eyes. No one suggests fighting back against Ku-Lung, likely because no one here seems to believe that’s even an option. And bitterly, you agree.

Your party heads to sleep. You at least try to. After a long while of sleep refusing to come your way, you get up and make your way outside. You used to have problems sleeping when you were little, and you would always sit outside and look at the stars to make yourself tired. Right now though, you don’t think it’s working. You recognise many of the Winter stars from your childhood, and it is slightly comforting to know that there are certain principles to the world that do not change. While you focus on the sky above, a voice breaks the silence, “Couldn’t sleep either?”

You look to Vakith as he takes a seat next to you, and shake your head.

He sighs. “Don’t worry Amber. This is all a little much for everyone. You’re not alone.”

You smile. “Thank you.”

He fixes his eyes to the stars above as you had, and you sit with one another in silence for some time.

Do you have anything to ask the Paladin about?

>You never did thank him for saving you.
>What does he think the plan should be?
>Just ask him about himself. It’s a good opportunity for it.
>No, not really.

>>258015
>>What does he think the plan should be?
>>Just ask him about himself. It’s a good opportunity for it.
one of these two or a combo of both...

“You know, Vakith, we’ve never really talked much about ourselves to one another,” you say, trying to begin conversation.

The Paladin smiles. “I suppose we haven’t. What did you want to know about?”

“How did you end up with your brotherhood?”

He nods slowly. “I’ve always been with them. My egg was given to my master from an anonymous source. I was raised by the brotherhood, especially the Paladins. They didn’t force me to take up their profession, but by the time I came of age I could not imagine living my life any other way. I’d started training with my master long before then, though, and when I started officially it was obvious I was to be put under his wing.” He smiles warmly. “I feel as though from your mother, your tale does not differ much.”

“Yes. I was born here in Vyre, and my parents were both mages searching the ruins. I just took after them,” you say, smiling with some level of embarrassment.

“It is noble to take after those who raised you. Feel no shame of it,” he assures you. “To follow in the footsteps of great men and women does not mean we did not carve out our destinies ourselves, it simply means we had inspiration when we did so.”

“I suppose so,” you say, eyes back in the sky. “Vakith,” you start after a long, but comfortable, silence, “What should we do?”

“About what?”

“About all of this. The Contagion. The Void. Ku-Lung,” you say, frowning.

“We continue doing what we believe is right. We protect the people from evils seen and unseen. The Contagion is an evil that seems to be ignored by all others, so it should be our priority to make sure it does not take more lives,” he says confidently. You feel a pang of envy at how assured he seems.

“What about Ku-Lung?” you ask.

“If he wishes to assist us in the pursuit of justice, let him at it. But if he attempts to obstruct us for his own selfish desires, we shall strike him down.” You look to him, expecting to see his steely resolve, but instead see a man who shakes subtly with uncertainty. He’s scared to, and that may be much more comforting than the alternative.

“Thank you,” you say, and stand up. “I think I’m about ready to head to sleep now.”

“Good night, Amber. Remember that we’re in this together, now.” With his words a comfort, you head back inside and go to sleep. You’re sure he follows soon after.

The new day comes, and following your early-day training you have choices to make.

>You should investigate what is left in the ruins.
>You need to figure out if the Contagion is endangering other villages as well.
>You should ask Obsidian is he has any new ideas as to what Sally's deal is.

(I'll just, uh, go tiebreaker on this 0-0-0 tie. Cough.)

You decide you should ask Obsidian what he thinks is up with Sally. As normal, he’s outside the mage’s guild taking and comparing notes with Sally before him. She probably doesn’t understand why every day she sits in front of this man, but she has probably grown to accept it.

You ask Obsidian if his theory has developed at all, and with some hesitation he tells you: he believes someone messed up the summoning of a fire elemental, and only summoned its spirit. It probably fused with Sally’s soul in desperate need of a soul. You ask why it didn’t do that to the summoner, and he says it probably tried and killed them in the process. Sentient creatures tend to resist having their soul taken over, even when it’ll kill them.

You look back to Sally. You don’t know what to really feel there, but you kind of feel that this makes Sally cooler.

>Go investigate the ruins.
>Figure out if other villages are in danger.
>Figure out how to ride Sally. Because riding lizards are the best.

>>258265
>ride Sally
Duh.

It’s time. You shall finally ride Sally.

You take your leave from Obsidian, thanking him for his help, and make your way to the town’s stables and request saddling for your lizard. They’re actually fairly happy to help you for free, given you having removed the monster that terrorised them and the fact that they have a slight surplus of saddles. In short time, you have Sally outfitted with a saddle and reins, tied around the head. You climb onto her back, to her slight confusion, and take hold of the reins.

You realise, however, that you don’t know how to make Sally begin moving. After a few awkward moments, she begins walking forward and you cheer her on as positive reinforcement. You may or may not be very inexperienced with the art of training animals.

After a longer amount of time and more awkward stares than you care to admit, you think you’ve reached an understanding with Sally. You are now a mounted mage, and that is awesome, you decide.

>Let’s check out those ruins, now.
>Let’s make sure the other villages are safe.

>>258332
>stop by and say hello to our parents
Then
>ruins

You decide to pay your mother a visit before checking the ruins out again. You arrive back at the hostel, and explain to her where you’re going. She’s concerned about the idea of you going back into the ruins, but would never stop you from doing what you believe is best. You thank her, and tell her you shouldn’t be gone for too long.

You head out and pick up both Vakith and Hope from their respective places of study, and make your way out to the ruins, on lizardback. Hope becomes jealous of your mount, and climbs on behind you with her arms wrapped around your back. You feel motherly with the smaller girl hugging you, but don’t tell her that. Vakith walks on the ground, like a man who lacks an awesome riding lizard.

Eventually, your party finds the entrance to the ruins from before, and make your way inside. You unfortunately must dismount from Sally given the smaller space. Hope seems as heartbroken as you at this fact.

Where should you go, now that you’re inside?

>Down, to Ku-Lung’s prison. It may have changed.
>Up, to the town and where the fleshwall had been.
>Follow the path Ku-Lung took on his burning rampage. You never did check that out.

>>258416
Check out dat burning rampage, maybe there's some cool treasure

You decide to follow Ku-Lung’s trail. He did cause a lot of chaos, it’s definitely worth checking out. You lead your group through the doorway that once had an iron door blocking it, and into what you imagine must have been the town’s mines or something. The great cavern before you however holds no signs of what was once here. Everything is burnt, melted and much of it coated in a thin layer of iron from Ku-Lung’s slag-breath. However, you hear skittering and scratching, and after taking a few more steps from every crevice and every hole comes lizards and spiders of varying sizes--but all are solid black and emblazoned with a red rune.

A voice drifts from this sable crowd, “The master is not to be disturbed. If you come forward, we shall destroy you.”

The master? Looking at them, their black exterior matches that of Ku-Lung’s scales, and the red runes are like those that adorned his body when you saw him rampaging. Do these things serve the Shōlong?

>Who is your master?
>We have business with your master.
>Sounds like this just leads to Ku-Lung. Let’s head back [where?].

>>258472
>Who is your master?

You ask the creatures, “Who is your master?”

“We serve the Black Furnace,” they reply.

“What is the Black Furnace?”

“Our master.”

“Does your master, the Black Furnace, have another name?”

“Ku-Lung, Death of Third Empire of Jō, and Lord of the Sable Flight.”

Those are some titles. But that confirms it: these serve Ku-Lung.

>Fight them?
>We have business with your master.
>Sounds like this just leads to Ku-Lung. Let’s head back [where?].

>>258514
Probably ought to leave him alone for now. Head back to that flesh wall to see what's up

You decide it’s probably best to leave Ku-Lung be. Very little good will come of meeting him.

Instead, you decide to head up to the town and see what became of the fleshwall. Arriving at the top of the stairs, you find that the torches that had been active before are gone now. You raise a light, and find that this place did not stay well in the previous few days. The hole left by Ku-Lung has widened significantly, taking some buildings with it. That’s not what you’re here for, though. You head forward, to where the fleshwall sat. At the sight of the blood and gore inside, Hope informs you that she’ll stay out for now.

You head inside with Vakith, and into the room where you had fought it. It is, as you somewhat expected, gone. Some of the burnt meat remains, fallen to the ground in large, black chunks. But beyond where the wall had been is a few feet of space to the real, stone wall. In that space hangs several skeletons bearing growths like nervous systems keeping them together, kept in the air by the nooses around their necks. Vakith frowns.

>Investigate them more closely.
>Destroy these skeletons, they seem to be connected to this mess.
>Leave that creepy shit be.

>>258579
Inspect em

You decide to inspect the skeletons. The growth on them is definitely related to the Contagion, but does not seem to be animating the skeletons or anything. Simply holding them together. How… strange. It occurs to you that it’s possible the growths may be serving some function like draining the skeletons--but that would require there to be a power source. Could the souls still be bound to these skeletons? You mention this idea to Vakith and he wastes no time obliterating them. He does not like the idea of necromancy or abuse of the dead in any way.

>This place seems stilled, now. It’s about time we left.
>Explore a little. Maybe there’s something valuable around?

>>258641
>>Explore a little. Maybe there’s something valuable around?
gotta go with potential loot.

You decide to explore the town region a bit with Vakith and Hope. In what appears to be some sort of church--very different from the one from before--once you get inside, you find some sort of metal holy symbol. It’s a large ring, with eight rods extending from it--you suppose it’s supposed to resemble the sun. Detecting Magic shows that it has Fire Magic stored in it, but you aren’t sure for what purpose.

>Experiment
>Let’s just… go. There doesn’t seem to be anything else here.
>Perhaps we should go speak to Ku-Lung now.

>>258790
>>Experiment
Better put on heat protection first though, if we have the materials for it at least.

You decide to test the Sun-Ring while you’re here. You cast Protection From Heat on yourself, just to be sure, then try to figure out how it works. First, you lay it down on the ground and fire a fireball at it. Fireballing things tends to be the way to solve problems as a mage. Unfortunately, nothing seems to happen, though it does glow with power for a moment afterwards. At Hope’s suggestion, you try shooting a fireball through the ring. Indeed, when your fireball passes through the ring it seems to grow in size and power. You guess it amplifies Fire (or perhaps Heat in general?) Magic, and you test with Magic Hand to make sure it doesn’t work with other types of Magic. Not that that was a very good test, but you feel extra confident now.

>>258836
Sweet!

Well, with the Sun-Ring explained (you think), you decide to check the rest of the town for anything else. Unfortunately, that seems to be all there was here.

>Let’s go see Ku-Lung, maybe?
>Let’s just get out. We made sure this place was no longer a threat and even got loot.

>>258898
>Let’s just get out. We made sure this place was no longer a threat and even got loot.
yeah.. lets just leave the dragon alone

You tell the group it’s about time you all left, and they tell you they agree. Your party makes your way out from the ruins, and into the cool air once more. You mount back up on Sally--less because it’s helpful and more because you can--and are joined by Hope. You make your return to the village, and Vakith takes the initiative in saying he’ll be asking around and looking for news that could signal the presence of the Contagion in other places. You thank him, and you head back to the hostel with Hope to explain to your mother what all went on.

In time, dinner is prepared and Vakith returns. Apparently his search had been more fruitful than expected: there’ve been mysterious disappearances in one village, and the sewers of a nearby city have had strange creatures lurking about them.

>We should check out the other village; it sounds like something we can handle quickly.
>We should head to the city. It sounds like a major problem.

(This will be my last post for the night, unfortunately. Should continue tomorrow)

>>258992
>>We should check out the other village; it sounds like something we can handle quickly.

>>259181
seconding

You say that it’s probably better to go to the village. It should be quick to fix. Hope agrees, though you feel like that may be because she’s not mentally prepared for something bigger. Your group resolves to leave after a night’s sleep.

Another dreamless night passes by. Is there anything you wish to do in Jokra before leaving?

You say your good-byes to the people of Jokra, and your party makes their departure. Your seat atop Sally has been usurped by your mother, unfortunately. It does remind you however that it’d be a good idea to acquire a pack animal, or a couple more transport animals. Maybe both. You’d need more money first, though.

It’s slow, but after a few hours you arrive at this new village, situated farther up in the mountains: Light’s Mercy. It’s an Ykliss village, so you’re less than shocked by the religious name. Vakith smiles over at you, and tells you this village is where Rikors the Blessed hails from. He knows much of it already from his conversations with Rikors.

You drop your things off at the hostel, and decide to start investigating the disappearances. You quickly pick up the vital information: the disappearances consisted of a militiaman, the priest’s apprentice, and a visiting monk. The only connection between the three that comes to mind is the fact that all three were probably capable of fighting at some level of competence; maybe. You don’t know what sort of training the priests here receive, if they’re simply trained in the procedures of the religious processions or if they are spellcasters. The militiaman isn’t necessarily capable of magic, so that connection may or may not exist, either.

How will your investigation proceed?

>Let’s head to the church, to get more information on the priest’s apprentice and the monk.
>Let’s head to the barracks, to get more information on the militiaman.

>>261113
>>Let’s head to the church, to get more information on the priest’s apprentice and the monk.

Your party makes their way to the church; Vakith probably would have beelined here regardless of what you said anyways. The place is significantly nicer than Jokra’s chapel, but that’s to be expected. The priest sits at the front of the church by the stone podium he preaches by, reading silently in his wooden chair. He looks up to you, milky-white eyes catching your area but not your eyes. He’s probably blind. “Hello, newcomers. What can I do for you?”

“You could tell we were new?”

“You bear the auras of an unfamiliar Paladin, as well as a mage and a necromancer.”

He still sees auras, though. That makes sense. You nod before realising the motion is pointless. “Yes, we’re here to investigate the disappearances.”

He frowns. “Oh my. Yes, the disappearances have been heartbreaking for the town. I especially hardly know what to do without my apprentice. If you can bring them back safely, I will be in your debt, travellers.”

>We’ll bring them back.
>We can’t make any promises until we know more about the situation.
>Hope will likely only lead to disappointment in this case.

>>265707
>We can’t make any promises until we know more about the situation.

I just realised that ‘Hope will likely only lead to disappointment in this case’ is really mean to our party member.

“We can’t make any promises until we know more about the situation. I’m sorry,” you tell him.

He nods slowly. “I understand. I can’t blame you, either. If there’s any way I can help you, please tell me.”

“Right now we’re looking to see if there’s any common ground between the disappeared. Can you tell us a bit about your apprentice and the visiting monk?” Vakith asks.

“Of course,” the priest says. “They both spent most of their time here, after all.”

The priest tells you a few key things:
The apprentice and the militiaman were siblings.
The visiting monk was also an Ykliss, so all three were (if there was any doubt).
The apprentice had some magical capabilities, but nothing combat-oriented.
The militiaman could use a few Light-based cantrips, taught to him by his sister, the apprentice.
The monk was here to make sure everything religious was on the up-and-up.
The monk had no relation to anyone in the town.

So that means all three were at least somewhat magical in capabilities, and that might be the vital connection.

>Tell the priest to stay in the company of others, he could be the next target as a magic-user.
>Ask if you can look around the church some more.
>Ask if he knows where they were last seen.

>>265823
>Ask if he knows where they were last seen.
inb4 the priest is related to the dissaperances

You ask if he knows where the disappeared were last seen at.

He shakes his head. “Not precisely. My apprentice was the first to disappear, and she was last seen having left to come to the church. She always came a good hour before me, so when I arrived she wasn’t here and there were no traces of her having been here. Her brother was second to disappear, and he simply never showed up at the barracks one day. He’d been fine the day before. The men of the barracks may know more. And the monk, Jurako the Servant of Light, was simply gone one day when I arrived.”

So all three disappeared while everyone else was sleeping, or possibly just waking up, it sounds like. It’s what was expected, but it helps to confirm a common thread.

>Ask to investigate the church, there could be clues here about the apprentice’s disappearance (and maybe the monk’s, too).
>Ask to investigate the church, and look for anything fishy. The priest could even be involved in this!
>Tell the priest to stay safe and careful, and never be alone. He could be the next target.
>Ask the priest to let you keep someone watching him, to use him as bait potentially to catch whatever’s doing this.
>We should check out the barracks now, and ask them about the militiaman.

>>265885
>Ask to investigate the church, there could be clues here about the apprentice’s disappearance (and maybe the monk’s, too).
better strike while the iron is hot

“Do you mind if we take a look around?” you ask.

“Not at all. Oh, I’m Huran the Wise Mentor. I apologise for my rudeness,” he says, his tone genuinely apologetic.

“I’m Amber Suarz. The Paladin is Vakith the Young Justiciar, and the ex-necromancer is Hope,” you say, beginning to look around the place.

>Ask if there’s any places we shouldn’t go, so we can respect his privacy.
>Ask if there’s any places we shouldn’t go, so we can specifically go into them.
>Just proceed without asking.

>>265948
>Just proceed without asking.
can't stop the rock

You decide to proceed with your investigation without asking; it’s better this way, after all. The church is a decent-sized complex; nothing compared to the Ancient Vyrian sun-church you met your party in, but still. Nothing really strikes you about the above-ground rooms, so you decide to head into the basement. It’s full of various religious instruments and magical objects. You cast Detect Magic, just to get a better sense of it all and are instantly blinded by a massive amount of Light-based magic signal. Including from places where there’s no objects. As your Detection fades, you contemplate this.

Is this room secured against Detect Magic? If so, why?

Hope, by your side, isn’t aware of your thought process. Looking at the various magical objects, you wonder if one of them is the jammer here. Perhaps the priest doesn’t even know about the jamming present; after all, most Light-based spellcasters do not have the ability to use true Detect Magic.

>Leave this be for now.
>Remove the magical objects from the room one-by-one, detecting on them to find where the jamming is coming from.
>Remove the magical objects from the room one-by-one where the priest cannot see.
>Just take them all out.

>>266000
>Remove the magical objects from the room one-by-one, detecting on them to find where the jamming is coming from.
nice dub trip OP

You begin the fairly slow process of taking each magical object from the room up the stairs, and detecting magic on it up there. And when the objects that are clearly magical have all come up negative for jamming, you begin on the seemingly-mundane objects. A few objects in, you find it: a candle holder enchanted to basically create a sphere of false-Light energy to hide magic.

When you detect magic again in the basement, the various magical objects still light up with Light energy, but you notice that some of the brickwork of the backwall is enchanted with… entropy magic? That’s unusual to say the least. You touch the bricks, trying to figure out what’s going on with them. Nothing happens. Entropy magic, Entropy magic. It’s not a door set to open under certain conditions; that’s Order magic. Entropy magic has never been a specialty of yours. You never really understood it. This is frustrating. Magic… a door that opens when the magic is removed?

How would you remove the magic from these bricks, though? Fireballing them probably isn’t the answer here. You ask Vakith and Hope if they have any means of dispelling, and they inform you they do not.

>Ask the priest if he can.
>Ask Mother if she can.

>>266079
>Ask the priest if he can.
Entropy magic in a church? sounds like heresy is a foot

Now, Entropy in a church isn’t the weirdest thing you’ve heard of. Shadow is the only true heresy to the Light. Entropy is just… the most fringe magic. Which is what makes this so odd.

You decide to ask the priest if he’s capable of dispelling the Entropy magic. Vakith keeps an eye on it, in case something happens, as you head back up. “Huran! We found something.” The old Ykliss makes his way across the church, and you assist him down the stairs. “There’s an Entropic enchantment on some of the bricks. Are you capable of dispelling it?”

He considers this carefully. “I can dispel living people; I am not sure about the inanimate. But I can attempt purification.” When he’s down in the room you lead him to the bricks in question, and point them out.

His hands glow and he touches them, trying to extend his power into them, but nothing happens. The Entropy remains. “I am afraid my purification will not work here,” he tells you. You help him back up.

>Explain to the priest the jamming enchantment; someone’s tampering with his stuff and he deserves to know.
>After he leaves, confirm with Vakith that the priest's aura shows no Entropy-casting.
>Ask Mother about her ability to dispel.

>>266294
>After he leaves, confirm with Vakith that the priest's aura shows no Entropy-casting.
and then >Ask Mother about her ability to dispel. (if it's possible to combine these two in one turn)

After he’s up and back into the main area of the church, you ask Vakith if his aura actually displayed anything unusual, and he confirms for you that no, the only present magical signature on Huran is that of Light. So it doesn’t sound like he made this Entropic enchantment.

Stuck at a dead-end, almost literally, you decide to consult with your mother, Kaara, about this. It’s a short trip back to the hostel, and your party eats quickly while explaining the situation. Unfortunately, your mother tells you, the only dispelling she is capable of actually has a reagent to it, and it’s something she’s missing: Shatterstone.

“Shatterstone?” you ask. “You’ve never mentioned such a thing before. Is it readily available?”

She frowns. “In the Shatterfrost, yes.”

The Shatterfrost. The divide between the realm of Cold, the Permafrost, and the realm of Heat, the Burning Plane. “Oh. Is it… commonly traded about?”

“Only in the Permafrost and Earthcore. To purchase some, you’ll actually need to go to one,” she winces.

You’ve… never travelled cross-Planar before. For that matter, you personally cannot. “Are you capable of transporting us to one or the other?” you ask, hopes low.

“To the Permafrost, I actually can. It will take some time to cast the spell, not to mention the time inside the plane and leaving.” Your mother doesn’t need to say the rest: that’s tomorrow’s journey. You tell Vakith to go tell the priest to stay careful; this operation may take more time than initially thought.

So what’s the over-arching plan?

>Spend all of our time trying to figure out a way to cast a sorcerous Dispel. It’ll take a while, but we’ll never have to go through THIS again. Probably.
>Sounds like we’re taking a trip to the Permafrost. Dress warm!
>Let’s just try to catch the person doing this; maybe we’ll even get to find out what the Entropic seal is for from them!

>>266389
>Let’s just try to catch the person doing this; maybe we’ll even get to find out what the Entropic seal is for from them!
off to the barracks we go then

When Vakith returns, you tell him that you’d rather just try to catch whoever--or whatever--is doing this. Trying to go to the Permafrost is dangerous and something you’d rather avoid for now. With some time still left to burn, you and your party depart to check out the barracks. It’s a quaint thing, a large wooden building with stone foundation. You enter through the open door, to the front room of the barracks, where a clerk prepares her papers and reports. When you mention you’re here to ask questions related to the disappearances, she quickly opens the door to her left and lets you through; you’re not sure if that’s just because she didn’t want to be the one being asked questions.

The main hall of the barracks is also their dining hall, and even now a few of the militiamen sit at one of the large tables, speaking to one another. You get their attention and introduce yourself and your purpose, and ask them what they can tell you about the disappeared militiaman.

“Yurik the Stone-Willed? He was a brave man who went above and beyond the expected very often. If an animal terrorised the farmers, he’d be out hunting it the next day,” the first of them tells you.

“Can you tell me about the last day you saw him?” you ask.

“Ah, we were all preparing to head out or go to sleep for the day--those of us who don’t run the graveyard shift, that is--and he was very upset. Stomping up and down the halls about no one finding his sister. Said he’d do it himself, and he left. He didn’t come back the next day,” the second tells you.

So it sounds like he decided to investigate by himself, and disappeared. Not very reassuring.

>Try to get more information about him and his sister.
>Ask where he lived, so you can check out there.

>>266502
>Ask where he lived, so you can check out there.
we detectives now, also respect for keeping up with just me here.

“Do you know where he lived?” you ask.

“Little house towards outer edge of town. Lived with his sister, old mom,” the first tells you. “I can show you there.”

You let the militiaman take the lead, following him to the residence of Yurik. Before you can even knock on the door, they inform you, “His mom’s not here right now. No one to take care of her here.” You shrug and simply open the unlocked door. The militiaman takes his leave as you step inside.

It’s a nice little home. Nothing too fancy… Definitely not lived in in the past several days. In the apprentice’s room you find your only real clue: her journal. You skim through it. It’s mostly a record of her time in the church, but towards the end you find the pertinent information: she started to doubt the safety of the church. She said she felt on edge in there, and that even her mentor became unnerving to her. She said she had nightmares of things under the church, of a door in the church cellar that she could never find when she looked.

She dreamt of the entropic seal? You’d nearly dismiss that as improbable, if not for your own strange nightmares before your encounters with the Contagion. This tells you very little, and it’s ever-more frustrating. It is interesting though that she found the entire church--priest included--unnerving though. Was that just a general fear, or is the fact relevant? You don’t think the priest is involved--nothing else really implies it--but the possibility still exists…

You shake your head. Baseless speculation isn’t very helpful at a time like this. You search through the rest of the house, but find nothing else of note.

>We should have someone stay with the priest, potentially hidden.
>It’s about time we went to sleep; see what we can find out tomorrow.

>>266699
>We should have someone stay with the priest, potentially hidden.
Find the old lady asap

Who will you keep with the priest?

>Hope
>Vakith

>>266729
Vakith

“Vakith, go find Huran and stay with him. He could be in danger.” You don’t need to say the other idea, that the danger may be coming from him. Without a word, he moves to leave you.

“Let’s go find their mother,” you tell Hope, and you return to the barracks. The militiaman who’d guided you earlier tells you the address of the home that took her in for the time being as well as her name, and you set off. It doesn’t take long to find the place, and when you come to it, it’s just another family’s home. You knock on the front door, and after a few painfully long moments it opens. A small Ykliss boy looks up at you. “Hello, we’re looking for Owellia. Is she here?” The boy nods quickly, and rushes off to get her. After a few moments you hear a terrified scream, and waste no time in entering without permission to get to the sound, with Hope rushing after you.

When you burst into the room, you see instantly what caused the scream of the woman who now kneels on the floor with her mouth covered. Owellia, sitting in the rocking chair located in the guest room, has her jaw removed entirely and a hole in her chest. She’s dead already. You illuminate the dark room, and on the wall is written in red, “ONE STEP AHEAD”.

(Rest of this post plus choices tomorrow!)

>>266865
so clearly someone knew we went to check the house, time to hurry back to the church. good thing we sent vakith to paladin bubble the priest

Grabbing Hope by the wrist, you depart quickly and turn to a sprint the moment you’re out the door. You need to get to the church. You have to tell them.

You push open the church doors. Vakith is bleeding profusely from wounds on his chest and face. Huran is not here. Hope freezes up, only for a second, before she rushes to his side and begins whispering an incantation. A translucent green figure that you can hardly make out the features of phases into existence by her side, and begins sealing the wounds magically.

Seeing the situation under control, you rush down the stairs into the cellar. On the wall where the entropic seal lay now hosts a black gate, swimming with magical energies.

>Go through NOW. You may not have another chance!
>You need your party first before you confront something that got the better of-

“Kill you… kill you…” Mumbling echoes down the stairway behind you, and you turn to see the still-very-injured Vakith limping down the stairs. He continues mumbling to himself as he limps towards the gateway. You reach out to stop him before he swings his maimed face towards you with hatred in the eye that can open. You shrink away from him, and he limps through the gateway as Hope bursts into the room.

“Sh-sh-should we go after him?” Hope manages to stutter out a yell.

You nod, and walk on through the gateway.

You feel like you’re swimming. For what couldn’t be even a second you’re suspended in the nothingness, before you step out onto the purple-black moss plain before you. The sky is a deep, endless black ruined only by the large yellow-white circle hanging on the horizon. You’re not on Ecliptica any more. Several metres away, Vakith continues his (slowing, now) limp towards a vague set of lights you see on the horizon.

Hope phases into existence next to you, and the moment she sees Vakith she rushes off towards him. “Vakith! You’re not healed yet!” she shouts, the worry clear in her voice. You follow after, and a few seconds later the two of you have Vakith held.

“Get a hold of yourself, Vakith. We’re in unfamiliar territory, we need to be smart here,” you tell him.

“It… took… Huran…” he growls out.

“What did?” you ask.

“The Chainmaster,” he says, before coughing out a decent amount of blood. You and Hope lower him to the ground--thankfully his adrenaline is fading and he doesn’t put up much of a fight before passing out again. Hope begins whispering the incantations to summon a spirit… and rather than the vague outline of an Ykliss or Baerysun as you would likely get back in Vyre, something that seems to be made more of shackles and chains phases into its slight-existence beside her, to begin the healing. You’re definitely not in Ecliptica any more.

The only feature you can make out on this plain are the lights. They seem to be far away, but you’re not sure how accurate that is. This is unfamiliar territory, though, and there could be enemies out here in this plain.

>Wait on them, then carry Vakith towards the lights. You need to be here to protect them.
>Go check on the lights yourself. You need to know what they are.
>Wait here until Vakith is awake and capable again. You need your party’s full strength before you do anything.

>>268736
>Wait on them, then carry Vakith towards the lights. You need to be here to protect them.

You stand next to the two as Hope continues healing through the spirit. You scan the dark plain, watching for any movement. After a minute or so, the dark blurs begin to shift, and something stands up. All you can make out is the silhouette, but like most other things connected to this place it appears to be wearing chains as it begins walking towards you.

>Try talking to it!
>Let’s just get the first shot in.
>Wait, see what it does.

>>268838
>Try talking to it!
inb4 steamrolled by chain tank, paladin gets PTSD

>>268861
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOF0i4I8EcA

Okay. Maybe this can be reasoned with. It’s probably an elemental. It’s in the Vyre equivalent for this realm, probably even speaks Vyrian. “We’re not looking to fight. We’re not even supposed to be here. We’ll be gone in a moment-”

You are cut off by a hook on a chain flying past your head. Thankfully, you’re also smart enough to not stand in one place and be hit by the return of the hook, and you dodge to the side.

“You bring a wielder of the Light into the Plane of Domination. To bring Shadow’s anathema into one of the Black Planes? You shall make a good slave. I will enjoy breaking you.” Another chain fires out, this time you dodge and barely miss it grabbing you. Looks like diplomacy failed.

>Fireball!
>Use the Sun-Ring to Fireball!
>Do… something else. I don’t know.

>>268959
>Fireball!
Fire, the solution to everything hostile

You loose a fireball at it, and in the brief second where it is illuminated, you make out its scarred and maimed visage, hidden beneath chains. The fireball collides, and it staggers backwards as its flesh ignites. It begins cackling madly, before throwing another chain your way that you dodge out of the way of, to throw another fireball. The blow from this one knocks it off its feet. Unperturbed by being on fire and being on the ground, it begins crawling towards you, dragging itself by its disproportionately large arms and hands. The next fireball connects with its face, and it loses the ability to hold itself up. Its laughter slowly dies down and stops.

Hope is still working on Vakith.

>Go to Hope’s side, she could use some encouragement and comfort.
>Investigate the Domination Elemental’s corpse.

>>269029
Blast it again, to be sure

Just to be sure, you hit the Elemental with another fireball or five. It is now significantly more burnt up and you are pretty certain it is dead.

>Inspect
>Inspect and by inspect I mean loot it.
>Leave it be. Touching it is asking for trouble.

>>269098
>Inspect
>Inspect and by inspect I mean loot it.