>>435486
You stare down the lizard monster, noting its solid black eyes. They’re like Eva’s, soft and wet and entirely monstrous. Huh. All this time and you never managed to fix the eye problem?
The camouflaged homunculus isn’t alone either. He and his brethren must be on a constant vigil around the palace.

The homunculus flickers in the light, long tongue whipping about to lick its own eyeballs.
“Please come with me.”
It’s not a request.

Moody looks disconcerted and confused by this revelation, she’s not going to be much help here. But that’s fine. You don’t need her.

“Sure,” you agree. “Take me to your maker.”

The homunculi turn and wordlessly escort you through the vast hand imprint that serves an impromptu square before the dark spires. The palace gates are huge, slabs of fortfied and bolted metal that don’t open outward as much as they are slowly slid to the side.
The attendants of the gate watch you with hollow eyes. They’re snakes. Dead snakes. You can’t help but notice that they seem to be wearing something very similar to Ishmin armour.

The palace grounds that you can see behind them is huge, long rolling hills dotted with suspiciously flat rocks and sparse trees. The smog in the air drowns out the light but the sun still falls upon the statues that line the road leading upward. Every statue is Hiss.

The homunculi crowd in front of the gate, stopping you and Moody from passing. Eventually the lead one explains his reason why. You get the idea that this brood aren’t the quickest thinkers.

“Only you,” it says. “Snake stays outside.”

“I’ve been kidnapped! Please save me!”
Moody’s begging falls on deaf ears.


>Make a third wish to release her.

>Put her in your pack.

>Declare the other snake you have in your pack, just so they know you’re on the level.

>”She can come with me.” She’s your hostage, you need her!

>Now that the gates are open, it’s time to make a break for it!

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>435489
>Make a third wish to release her.
>Declare the other snake you have in your pack, just so they know you’re on the level.
Release the other snake too I guess.

>>435489
>Make a third wish to release her.
You never know when you'll need a spare snake. I'd be surprised if these guys didn't have soulsight though.

>>435489
>Make a third wish to release her.
"Moody, I wish you'd forgive me for the inconvenience"

>>435489
Before we release her can we ask her if any of our other firends are still around?

>>435489
>Declare the other snake you have in your pack, just so they know you’re on the level.

>Make a third wish to release her.

"Makes sense. Moody, I wish you'd forgive me for the inconvenience. And uh, it stays forgiven for the next day or so."
Got to remember to time wishes like that or else the breaking wish-bond erases them.

Moody grins, taking a step back and suddenly looking much more relaxed.
"It's alright mate," she says, laughing it off. "You ever need another guide around town, feel free to ask. Sorry I tried to arrest you."

You nod, looking her in the eye as you do so. Her eyes are brimming with impotent tears of helplessness.
"Actually," she says, her voice catching. "Why don't I give you my address in case you need help-"

"No thanks, Moody. Have a good day."

The homunculus stops you again.
"Both snakes."

"Fair enough."
You give the other snake to Moody, setting it free with a bunch of useless wishes. Moody just clings to it, outwardly happy to help but trembling just a little.

After that, the lizard gives you the nod and resumes escorting you up through the palace grounds. The gates slide shut behind you.

The homunculus isn't leading you to the palace however. They only lead you halfway up the road before leading you off in a perpendicular route over to a small copse of gum trees. Hidden from outside view, it licks a small boulder and something whirrs deep underground before the boulder slides open, revealing a dark passageway that leads further underground.

You follow him deeper and deeper, the passage spiralling into some kind of basement that lies beneath the entire palace.

And it's filled with homunculi.

They come in many different forms, lizards and mammals and stone-skinned monsters. You see tentacles, bulging compound eyes, long and fragile feelers, thick and almost-human arms and everything in between.
You even see something that looks suspiciously similar to Hom's original ooze-form, only viable and apparently capable of independent movement.

And they're all at work, scurrying through the complex to and fro. You don't have much time to gawk however, the lizards leading you deeper until you arrive at the laboratory. It's less of a laboratory however and more of a sprawl, a profusion of glass and alchemy in every shape and form that overflows and covers every room it touches.

But before you get too deep, you are stopped by....Eva? The pale woman looks exactly like her, dressed in soft white and her liquid eyes hidden by what appear to be dark goggles of some kind.
She looks right at you but doesn't seem to recognise you at all.

"Give me that," she says, motioning towards your pack and bandoleer. "It will be returned to you in due time."

>Agree.

>Agree but try to smuggle a few potions in just in case.

>Refuse.

>"Eva? Don't you remember me?"

>"Now now, you wouldn't part a man from his backpack, would you?"

>"If that's what it takes then I'm not going anywhere. He can come to me if he wants."

>Other

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>>435587
>"Now now, you wouldn't part a man from his backpack, would you?"
>"Eva? Don't you remember me?"

>>435587
>Agree.
Call me naive but I don't feel like we're in much danger here.

>>435601
Inb4 Naja just kept us out of existence for 100 years and impersonated us during that time

>>435587
>Agree.
>"Eva? Don't you remember me?"

>>435609
That'd be fucked up. I don't think she would have continued our homunculus research on this scale though. And the homunculi said we seemed like their creator and they aren't easily fooled.

File: The Old Consort.jpg (217 KB, 1920x1080)

217 KB JPG

>Agree.
>"Eva? Don't you remember me?"

You look at her closely. She really does look just like Eva II. Is she?
"Eva? Don't you remember me?"

She stares at you blankly while you hand her your pack, giving up your potions.
"I'm sorry? You must have me confused with somebody else."
She turns towards the door she had been standing in front of.
"Maker? The anomaly is here!"

"Thank you Seventeen."
The voice is deep and old and yet unmistakably familiar.
"Send him in."

The door swings open to reveal what might have once been somebody's bedroom. But why down here, so deep underground?
Either way, it appears to have become just yet another extension of the laboratory long ago. Glasswork crowds the desks and brews and reagents litter the ground in orderly piles.

In the corner is a beat-up old writing desk and seated at is an old man. Perhaps old is the wrong term to use? His hair is white and he's clearly felt the passing of the years but aside from the wrinkles and lines of decades, he looks like a man in his prime. Only part of him has aged.
He's bent over a long piece of parchment, writing and re-writing something endlessly. One of the hands he's using is made from polished wood, a perfect replica with mechanical joints.

There's no point in beating around the bush. You knew exactly who you'd find down here.

In turn, the Consort barely seems to notice you. He's still editing what appears to be some kind of speech. You catch a few glimpses of it as you approach.
"As a human in the highest reaches of Her Majesty's government, I would hope that I am living proof that no anti-human bias exists within the system..."

"...the fact that most of the Guard are snakes, magically capable creatures that it would make the most sense to employ as peacekeepers and that most criminals are human...is an unhappy coincidence but no more. I can assure you that the idea of a 'human underclass' is preposterous..."

"...Her Majesty's curfew is unfortunate but necessary. It is time that we as a species must acknowledge our own flaws and work to police human communities ourselves..."

He sighs, mumbling a little out loud.
"Seems a little unfair to all the poor," he says, stroking his beard.
Only then does he seem to notice that you are standing right over him.

"And what are you anywa...oh. Oh."

There is a long and awkward silence.

"This is unusual."


>"What's going on?"

>Explain to him your circumstances.

>Ask him about the speech.

>Ask him about Hiss.

>Ask him about (Specify)

>Other

>>435685
>Explain to him your circumstances.
>Ask him about the speech.
>Ask him about Hiss.
Do you really believe all that? Or do you just not care?

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Apologies for being so damn slow with the updates in this thread and the last one by the way. It's terrible.

>>435685
>"What's going on?"
>Explain to him your circumstances.
>Ask him about the speech.
>Ask him about Hiss.
So you just stay in here brewing to your hearts content and pacify the people every once in a while? This isn't what I wanted.

>>435710
No worries, I'm just grateful that you're running despite the lack of sleep. I'm not sure what's up with the mediocre participation though. I think it's interesting to see the long term results of our actions but maybe other players are waiting to get back to our present or something.

>>435685

>"What's going on?"

>Explain to him your circumstances.

>Ask him about the speech.

>Ask him about Hiss.

>>435685
>Ask him about Hiss.
>Ask him about the speech.

>Explain to him your circumstances.
>Ask him about the speech.
>Ask him about Hiss

"Uh hi Cennen. It's me, Cennen."

"So I see," the older man says dourly. He rubs his eyes but otherwise doesn't look too surprised. He's tired, you realise. Something's burnt out.

"Wow. When was the last time you slept?"

"Sleep is unnecessary." he replies. "I have the means to eliminate it entirely and have done so. What are you doing here?"

"I'm from the battle, man. The Taldenral one. Naja got free and did something weird. Is this really the future?"

The Consort nods just a little and hunts for a different scrap of paper.
"Will need to record this. Apparently hallucinatory side-effects, was previous unaware..."

"What's this all about?"
You point at the speech he appears to be writing.

"I have to appear before the people tomorrow," he says. "Lot of upset about the human curfew Hiss put in. But you'd know about that, wouldn't you? I have to believe that you are some kind of figment. This has happened before."

"Whatever you want. So why you? Do you actually believe this? How'd this all start?"

He just shakes his head.
"It was those damn pamphlets that Hiss got into her head were a good idea. Now everyone is printing them and worse, people are reading them. They have 'coffee houses' now where people just read the newspaper! It's absurd. And propaganda that they might be, it means that everyone and their dog has an 'informed opinion' on how we should be running things."

"Do you run things?"

"Somewhat."
He looks a little taken back by the question.
"I mostly just brew. Experimenting is much less complex."

You look at the lab around you and see how it's grown, spilled out into other rooms. You look at the dusty old bed, a place to live in an apparently lightless tomb.
"I don't get it. Do you just live out down here the entire time? I can't imagine Hiss being happy about that."

"The less Hiss sees me the better," he grouses. "Me and her...it's complicated. We aren't together."

"What? But you love her?"

He looks at you with pity.
"No love lasts forever. All flames, no matter how strong, must always burn out. It's hard to feel passionate about her anymore and since she hasn't bothered me for a very long time, I suspect it's the same on her part. I visit her sometimes and she welcomes me when I do."
He slides the speech away.
"In the end we still need each other. I can't seem to keep my other lovers, they all leave in the end. Complaining about being cold and what I do to them and other such nonsense. And Hiss? She has others but they tend to break. She can't help but treat them with the full force of her personality...good and bad. I'm the only one who can handle her but to be frank, I'm sick of it. And the same applies vice versa."

"So you just stay down here alone and brew all day? Every day? This isn't what I wanted!"

"Well I'm hardly alone," he scoffs. "I have all my homunculi. Isn't that right, Seventeen?"

1/2

>>435772
Well that's depressing.

>>435772
How long has it been since the battle?

>>435772
So we are give old us a wake up slap, yeah? Then going to Hiss and doing the same thing.

>>435685
Perhaps old is the wrong term to use? His hair is white and he's clearly felt the passing of the years but aside from the wrinkles and lines of decades, he looks like a man in his prime. Only part of him has aged.
I wonder if this means he's formed himself new bodies with alchemy when he started getting too old.

>>435772
"I'm Eva Eighteen," a quiet voice interjects from beyond the door.

The Consort stops.
"What happened to Seventeen?"

"She dissolved three weeks ago. You spoke at her reconstitution."

"Ah? Ah. Right. I thought that was Sixteen. Truth be told, all the homunculi creation business is handled purely by the homunculi themselves. Brews creating brews, eh? I don't really have much involvement in the process anymore."

"She's your daughter! They're all your children."

"Outdated way of thinking. To be honest Cennen, the old way of thinking of them as such made my current situation with Eva rather awkward. They're not children, they're creations. You learn to let go of such sentimentality."

You feel strangely queasy.
"When you say current situation with Eva, you don't mean..."

"Yes, I'm fucking her. Get over it. I needed a way to relieve myself since Hiss can't bear the sight of me. This way I don't have to leave the laboratory."

"She's your daughter!"

"That doesn't mean anything, there's no actual breeding involved."

"She's supposed to help you brew!"

"Eva? Certainly not. They're incredibly outdated. Haven't been using them as a personal assistant since...Eva Four, I think? I've created models of homunculi that outstrip her alchemically in every way. To tell the truth, ones that outstrip me. But I keep the Eva models around because I'm a sentimental old fool and well...ever since the homunculi took over production, she's the only model who looks attractive in her natural state. Eh? Eh?"
He clears his throat, as if he expects you to laugh.
"Was I always so humourless in my youth? The point is, Evas are obsolete for their chosen purpose. So I found them a new purpose. It's nice to keep the old gal around."

"That's disgusting."

"You betrayed your entire race to fuck a snake, Cennen! You've got no room to judge!"

You shudder, still thinking about actually laying with Eva. Just the idea of staring into those void eyes or touching that clammy skin or meeting those pale lips and liquid teeth with your own...it still evokes the visceral disgust of the homunculi within you.
Perhaps the Consort has spent so much time with them that he no longer even feels the psychological effects of their abomination. You decide to change the subject to literally anything else.

"Speaking of betraying your own race, what's the deal with that speech? Do you actually believe any of it?"

"What I believe doesn't matter. It's politics, Cennen. Of course I realise that being meritocratic only goes so far. Snakes are inherently superior, they're going to form the upper class no matter what. And that leaves most humans to be trampled underfoot. That's just life. That's just how it works."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He shakes his head.
"I've simply given up youthful ideals. You wanted to build something? To raise more than you destroy? Well take a good look, this is what it involves!"
2/3

>>435807
Nah, he still has the wooden hand. He's probably a walking pharmacy but his body is still the original one.
>>435821
We should ask him about the other snakes we knew

>>435821
He takes the speech back out and brandishes it at you as if it were a weapon.
"Personally I blame Orange, that little shit. You want somebody to be mad at? Go find him. Or her, depending on how she feels today I guess. This entire system is all her doing. He traps you into a bunch of committees and next thing you know you're policing alchemy and managing royal snakecatchers and you're in the thick of the whole process. And you see that order doesn't come without sacrifice."

"I should have known Orange would have been involved. And what, do you fuck him too?"

"Only a few times. But that's not the point! The point is, this is what it takes. This is where following Hiss gets you. In hindsight, I almost wish I hadn't."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care what you believe. You'll have to accept it sooner or later. This is Hiss' future. We all just live in it."


>Tell him to go fuck himself.

>"Your mistakes aren't mine. I still believe in Hiss and you can't make me not."

>"Even so, I'm not going to abandon Hiss. Even if this is inevitable."

>Ask him about other snakes you know.

>"I don't want to believe it but I guess it's true."

>Punch him.

>Other

>>435847
>>Ask him about other snakes you know.
>"Your mistakes aren't mine. I still believe in Hiss and you can't make me not."

>>435847
>"Your mistakes aren't mine. I still believe in Hiss and you can't make me not."
Let me learn from your mistakes. And it's not too late for you to do the same. Youve just grown complacent and distracted yourself with alchemy. Also ask him how long it's been since the battle.

>>435847
>"Your mistakes aren't mine. I still believe in Hiss and you can't make me not."
I'll change it all no matter what it takes.

>>435858
Adding
>I don't know how long it's been since the battle, but you've gotten complacent. You've sold your soul more thoroughly than I have ever did. You know why you can't keep a lover? You've lost the fire, to create, to improve to change things. Something an Alchemist should NEVER lose. Instead you sit in your little corner, fat, dumb and miserable so wrapped up in yourself to even TRY and fix things or make things better. No wonder you and Hiss have separated, no wonder she can't stand to look at you, she see what everyone else sees. A sad pathetic, hollow shell of a man who's just as dead as the zombies she can create.

>>435847
Gonna support >>435882

>>435847
>Ask him about other snakes you know.
>>435882
what he said
if he still hasn't kicked us out of the lab, ask him about Naja

>"Your mistakes aren't mine. I still believe in Hiss and you can't make me not."

The old man stands up.
"Orange took what should have been a society of living breathing people and created a machine in its place. Just paperwork where hundreds of human lives are just numbers he rounds off. And the worst part is that he's right. It's the only way to run things. Let me tell you something Cennen, bureaucracy is where ideals like yours go to die. And Orange would do it to the entire world if she could and Hiss empowers her to do so because it makes her regime stronger."

"Shut up."

"What?"

"You heard me, you old cunt. Shut up. Your mistakes aren't mine. I still believe in Hiss and you can't make me not."
And every word of that is true. You have faith in her. You believe that she will lead you to glory like she promised so long ago. All of this? It's nothing.
"And as for you...you've gotten complacent. You've sold your soul more thoroughly than I have ever did. You know why you can't keep a lover? You've lost the fire, to create, to improve to change things. Something an Alchemist should NEVER lose. Instead you sit in your little corner, fat, dumb and miserable so wrapped up in yourself to even TRY and fix things or make things better. No wonder you and Hiss have separated, no wonder she can't stand to look at you, she see what everyone else sees. A sad pathetic, hollow shell of a man who's just as dead as her zombies."

He just sighs.
"You can't insult me Cennen. I am you."

"No. You're not. I don't believe you."
And the world breaks open.

The Consort, the lab, the entire dark city of Taldenral shatters as if it were all just an illustration upon stained glass. You fall through the floor as shards rain down upon you and land...

Well, you don't land anywhere in particular. Where the fuck are you?

You are floating in some kind of void, an empty field of warm darkness. It's almost like being suspended in a non-existent fluid.
And around you, scattered through the dark, are patches of light and colour. Like windows, each one opening to a different realm.

Behind you, the broken world that you just left is still falling. And you finally recognise all of it for what it is.
This is a prison.

But what are you going to do about it?

You grab the first 'window' that you see, a floating patch of blurred scenery that you can't make out and fall through it.

...

You are standing in a small village. You don't recognise it specifically but it feels like your old home. Or the old village in Snakehome. Or any other countless tiny hamlets scattered across Teleran.
The grass is green and the sky is clear and yellow flowers bloom. It is a perfect day.

A man sits outside in the summer breeze, whittling down a piece of wood. There are children by his feet, watching the shape emerge from the timber as if it were magic. They laugh and the man laughs as well, his scarred face completely free of worry or sadness.
1/2

>>435976
It took you longer than you'd care to admit to recognise Oster like this. He actually looks happy.

A well-built young man emerges from the house, a leaf-bladed sword in his hands.
"Here you are, old man," he says, the words coming to you muffled as if it were all underwater.
"Took my time working on this. It'd gotten all rusty."

Oster just chuckles and sheathes it, holding the other man's arm.
"It's alright, take your time. It's not like I have any use for it these days."

"Oster!"
You call out but he doesn't seem to hear you. Instead, he only seems to grow further away. The world darkens and dwindles almost as if it feels your presence and moments later, you are thrust back into the emptiness.

"It's no use, everyone only sees what they want to see. I guess you were a special case."
A pair of gloved hands take you by the shoulders, bracing you and stopping you from falling over with a quiet strength that outstrips your own.

You turn to find yourself face to face with Vtriya mask and immediately panic.Oh shit, Naja is back already!? They're standing out here with you in the darkness.

And then you see the difference in builds and the cloaked woman in front of you takes off the mask. It's Tanni, clothed exactly the same way as when you'd first met her.

That's not actually any better.

>Attack.

>Nobble.

>Flee.

>Demand to know what's going on.

>Act unsurprised.

>"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

>Other

>>435991
>Act unsurprised.
>"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
>Let me guess Naja either copied you, or your entire plan was to try and get into her and take her power?


Also this is just an thought but you know, when you turn a circle so you can only see one side, it's look remarkably like a line, or an I.

>>435991
>Act unsurprised.
So what did you want to see? I'm pretty sure it's not me.

>>435991
>Demand to know what's going on.
>>435999
Checked. But I don't get what you're saying about Naja here at all

>>435991
>Act unsurprised.
>Demand to know what's going on.

>>435991
>Demand to know what's going on.

>>436015
I'm saying there is more than one way to ascend and with a proper point of view and O can turn into an I when the O is turned to be viewed on it's side. What creature when full grown stand as an I more or less?

That felt a little weird. Everyone's still where they're supposed to be, right?

>>436023
>Let me guess Naja either copied you, or your entire plan was to try and get into her and take her power?
This is the more confusing part to me. I'm pretty sure Naja and Tanni have nothing to do with each other.

>>436029
I am saying Naja copied Tanni to try and get a handle on her abilities. Or just snagged her soul. OOOOR Tanni's whole plan was to get to Hiss and try to steal ultimate power (Naja) from her.

>>436024
Yep, nothing to see here. Being trapped in this dystopian future sure sucks.

>>436024
Yeah future us is a cold cynical hard hearted dick. We're going to punch him in the face then Give Hiss the what for. We can probably whip up a few snake breakers and dispels easily enough.

>>436032
They've always worn the same outfit but that's just a coincidence, I think maybe you're reading too far into that.

>Act unsurprised.
>Demand to know what's going on.

Shit, hold on, hold on. This is really fucking weird but is it any different from being suddenly flung into the future or whatever? Sure, Tanni's supposed to be dead but that's not the strangest thing that's happened today.
You can't let her see how spooked you are. That's probably a losing battle.
"Oh...hey Tanni. Fancy meeting you here. What the fuck is going on?"

She laughs and you can't help but laugh with her. Sure she might be your mortal enemy but it makes you feel good to have someone else in here with you. Makes you feel safe.
"What does it look like? It's a prison. That other Hiss of yours seems to have thrown us all in here."

"All? You mean-"

"Yes. Everybody. Looks like she doesn't want to be disturbed so she's sectioned off part of her...Dreaming? All the souls of Taldenral are here now."

"Uh...but why?"

"I think she's using them for resources. I don't know if you've noticed but this lady doesn't seem very creative. Did you see all those dark spires? Very droll. She's using people's own minds and dreams to create worlds for her. And that's why this is such a superb trap. Everyone is getting exactly what they wanted, a paradise that creates itself just for them. Nobody can even think to leave."

You stare at her and then look back to all the patches of light adrift in the void.
"Then how did you get out?"

Tanni shakes her hand in a noncommittal fashion. You can't help but feel a little aroused at just the fluidity of her motions alone. It's pathetic and what's worse is the knowledge that she's probably doing this to you because she's bored.
"I know what I'm doing, Cennen. Nobody exerts influence over me but me. I broke out ages ago and I've been waiting ever since."

"Even though getting out is supposedly impossible?"

She gives a languid shrug, setting your mind aflame.
"What can I say? I'm just that good. The moment I chose to reject reality I found myself out here. You broke out in the same way, didn't you?"

"Yes but...mine wasn't as you described. A bit of the opposite actually. It was terrible."

"Really? Well that's new. Cennen, what exactly is your relationship with this newborn god?"


> "It's...complicated."

>"She's kind of like Hiss but not."

>"I promised to make her a body but I didn't have the time."

>"I have questions of my own, lady. How are you here at all? I watched you die!"

>There's no point wasting time. You have to free everyone!

>Pray.

>Other

>>436065
>"I promised to make her a body but I didn't have the time."
I didn't even break my promise either. She's pretty impatient.
>There's no point wasting time. You have to free everyone!
I'm assuming Tanni's soul didn't quite escape the radius of the dreaming. I kinda wanna apologize for not saving her too. It's just that she's particularly untrustworthy and hard to deal with.

>>436065
>I promised to make her a body and soul to manifest her self with, in time. Then a war, a second war, and a spirit invasion happened so I had to put it off. The head spirit tried reaching into Hiss, and in doing so let her eat him which let Naja out. Funny thing is if she had waited a week or two I'd have made good my word.
>"I have questions of my own, lady. How are you here at all? I watched you die!"

>>436065
>"I promised to make her a body but I didn't have the time."
>"I have questions of my own, lady. How are you here at all? I watched you die!"
>"sorry about that, by the way"

What's this about Tanni? She shouldn't be in the future.

I wonder what will happen to Tanni if we destroy the dreaming? Her body is dead after all.

>>436065
>There's no point wasting time. You have to free everyone!

>>436095
We're just really wishing we didn't kill her. Maybe things would have gone differently.

>>436097
She'll probably cease to be, though I don't think she'd be against it unless there's a way for her to hijack a body and leave it's original soul stranded in here

>>436095
Now that old Cennen fucks all sorts of snakes we wish we could've given her a go at least once. She really does it for me.

>>436095
Kinda down on killing her. You know hindsight 2/20 after all. our dickish older self is needling us over it. The asshole that he is.

>>436095
Somebody ate her, probably

>"I promised to make her a body but I didn't have the time."
>"I have questions of my own, lady. How are you here at all? I watched you die!"

You shake your head.
"Probably not what you're thinking of. I promised to make her a body and soul to manifest herself with but then a war happened. And then a second war, thanks for that by the way. And a spirit invasion! A spirit grabbed Hiss and reached into her and pulled Naja out instead."

Tanni nods.
"I see now. The enlightenment detritus from the Compact House. That explains a lot."
She stops when she sees the way you're looking at her.
"What? Did you really think I didn't know exactly what went on in there? Tash is one with me now."

She runs a gloved finger across her lips just slowly enough that you feel a sudden urge to beg to be one with her as well. It's extremely disorienting.

"So," she continues. "This 'Naja', nice name by the way, I see what you did there, has special reason to hate you. So she made your prison to hurt you."

"Not just hurt me," you correct. "But to hurt m-"

"But to hurt your beliefs," Tanni says, picking up on your train of thought faster than you can. "I can see it on your face. She wanted to injure your faith in Hiss. That's interesting. Is she jealous?"

You do your best to shake Tanni's influence off. It's a losing battle however.
"What the fuck are you doing here anyway? You have a billion questions for me but I feel like this is more important. You're dead! I saw you die! Sorry about that by the way."

"It's alright. I don't want revenge."

"You don't?"

"No. But you know what I'd do if I did? I'd make you mine, Cennen. I'd fuck you. It would be the most amazing moment of your life and you'd forever be a broken shadow ever after. Addicted to me in ways you'd never have dreamt were possible."
She's whispering now and your legs weaken, falling to her knees right in front of you.
"But for me it would just be a mildly entertaining twenty minutes. You're not all that special."

You get to your feet as best you can.
"Stop that."

"Stop what?"
She asks so innocently. She mustn't be doing it on purpose.

"You're using your stupid voice on me again. And your body. Why? Is distracting me from what you're doing here so important?"

Tanni chuckles, just a little.
"I can finish a man without even touching him, you know. Just voice alone. Would you like me to demonstrate?"

"Stop that!"
You muster up your will and look away from her, depriving your eyes of her movements.
"Just answer the question!"

Tanni stops.
"If I said I was sorry, would you believe me?"

"Not really."

"Well I'm sorry."
You believe her.
"I've just been cooped up here in the darkness for a very long time and I'm bored. The truth of the matter is...I don't know what I'm doing here."

"Really?"

"Really! Would I lie to you? I mean yes I would, I love lying to people. Lying is basically all that I do. But not right now. Not about this. The last thing I remember is dying because you were an idiot."
1/2

>>436174
A sudden crushing shame nearly overwhelms you. You're a terrible person.
"I died and then I woke up in a false paradise. I figured it out almost immediately. So you know what? Maybe I am dead. Maybe my lingering soul was snatched up by the Dream. Maybe someone ate me when you weren't looking and kept my soul intact long enough. Maybe Naja created me specifically to stop you."

"You're not exactly comforting me here Tanni."

"I'm not here to make you feel comfortable. I'm here to make you do something for me."

"Yes?"

"I want you to help me destroy that bitch. To make her humble. To help both of us and by extension everyone else too I guess escape. I've been given a second chance at life and I don't intend to waste it."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go smash these things!"

Tanni just sighs, that sound and the tiniest movement of her head all that it takes to insert the feeling within you that you're a huge moron.
"You just tried that with the man-lover, didn't you? He didn't hear you. Nobody can hear us. All they hear is what the prison wants them to. Only by rejecting it can one break free but it's all too nice and beautiful and none of these idiots are smart enough to know when they're being lead around by the nose."
She reaches out and grabs you by the nose, pulling you deeper within the swarm of light.
"That said, I know you aren't actually dumb. Your mind is just sharp in a different way from mine. So maybe you've got some brilliant plan to get them to hear you."


>"I do actually." (Specify)

>Use potion (How?)

>"You know, I haven't forgiven you for what you've done."

>Attempt to break into the windows again.

>Nobble.

>"Can you at least not insult me?"

>Pray!

>Other

Well have fun in the future, Cennen. Whatever's happening to you is updating too slowly for me to bother to pay attention to it.

>>436209
Brainstorm time.
We could use the thoughtbrew to alter the dreaming since it's sort of like an extension of Najas mind. Maybe we could break whatever connections the souls have to the dreaming with soulmenders and serpentbanes.

>>436209
>>436227
>"I do actually." (Specify)
I think the easiest way to do it would be to fuse all the dreams together, get some conflict going between everyone's utopias.

Snakes can hear prayers but Naja probably can too. Otherwise we might need to use bloodkins to communicate with everyone. Also we could use thoughtbrew to implant memories telling them how to escape. Or just make them see things that would make them want to escape. Dispelling their illusions with a dispel brew might be worth a shot too.

>>436216
Whose world were we dropped in first?

Also we could slow the rate of her dreamings growth with haywire brews to interfere with the mental energy flow coming from everyone trapped inside.

If all else fails we could use the introspection brew to enter their inner world for real.

>Brew Thoughtbrew.

"I might actually have an idea!"
You unpack your various belongings from your pack, setting up your lab within the void itself. It feels really weird.
"I just have to brew up a Thoughtbrew! The Dreaming is basically Naja's mental energy writ large so I might be able to interfere with it, insert ideas into it!"

Tanni doesn't say anything, simply sitting down beside you to watch you brew. A minute later, she eventually speaks up.
"If it makes you feel any better, I very much doubt either Hiss or her shitty clone have the capability to create someone as incredible as I am. I'm not a trap."

"Uhuh."
You finish the Thoughtbrew, bottling it immediately.
"Alright Tanni, this is our ticket out of here?"

"...How?"

"Um."
Shit. What are you supposed to do with this thing? It has to be ingested. Is putting it in the Dreaming the same as ingesting it?
Your pour the Thoughtbrew directly into the void, softly chanting 'this isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real'.

Nothing happens.

Tanni shakes her head.
"I don't think you can make reality itself drink your potions."

"Well if you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it."

Tanni groans, a surprisingly genuine one too.
"Well that's that then. We don't have a prayer."


>Come up with something else. (Specify)

>You CAN make reality drink your brew, you just need to make Naja come here.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Start throwing haywire brews around.

>Pray.

>Nobble Tanni so you can wish her to full power.

>Try to move the windows around. Push them together.

>Other

>>436238
To expand on this, most people's idealized worlds would be incompatible with those of others, think for example Hiss' and Aash's paradises. If we managed to clump them together we'd end up with a massive clusterfuck of a reality with everyone pulling to get their happy world, resulting in nobody getting it. This in turn would make it easier for everyone to reject the constructed world and escape like Tanni did

>>436267
>Try to move the windows around. Push them together.

>>436267
Push the worlds together? Maybe hit them with the thoughtbrew too?

>>436267
>Come up with something else. (Specify)
So our communion brew let us make a connection to disembodied souls (mental energy) so maybe we could modify it to connect our mind to her dreaming? Maybe we could do something from there and if not we can drink a thoughtbrew and the effects will be transferred through the link.

Okay, I need you all to listen to me.

So, the plan - Are you all following me? - The plan here, is that we brew a love potion.

And then convince Naja to drink it.

This cannot possibly go wrong.

>>436283
This is definitely worth a shot.

>>436283
Oh also we might wanna drink a soul guard to offset the obvious risk of connecting our soul to her dreaming

Rolled 5 (1d6)

Looks like a tie between pushing the windows together or trying to tinker with the communion brew. Evens for the former, odds for the latter.

>Come up with something else
>Communion Brew.

"I have a second idea," you slowly say, still working out it in your head. A Communion Brew lets you communicate with a disembodied soul provided that the soul was suspended within the potion that you drank. Could it do the same with the Dreaming as a whole?

While you're working, Tanni just paces back and forth. And then she snaps her fingers, instantly bringing you to attention.
"What if we pushed these windows together? Is that possible?"

"I thought about it but I don't like it. It might be dangerous."

"You can't think like that if you're planning to win, Cennen. Like I said, if it's just up to you like that then we don't have a pra-"
She snaps her fingers a second time.
"Prayer! Just pray to everyone Cennen! I didn't even think of it because I'm a snake and my prayers don't do anything. But you're a human and you can do what humans do best. Beg something more powerful than you to intervene!"

You stare at windows as you brew. Would that work? It's true, there's a lot of snakes in there who could hear your prayers. But there's a problem.
"But Naja would hear my prayers as well."

"Is she a spirit?"

"Not really."

"Is she a snake?"

"Kind of?"

Tanni puts her hand to her brow.
"Does she devour souls or mental powers in any way?"

"No, she's a closed loop. Perfect and self-subsisting, that's just according to her anyway."

"So would she actually absorb prayers?"

You're not sure.
"I don't know. But if she can then it won't work. I still prefer to use this."
You hold the Communion Brew aloft. You had to borrow some of Tanni's blood for this, an unnecessarily erotic experience.
"This should let me connect with the Dreaming itself."

"Won't that just connect you to Naja's mind?"

"Mmmmmmaybe?"

Tanni is suddenly standing over you, one pointed slipper standing not ungently on your foot.
"I have my doubts about the wisdom of your plan. So either find a way to amuse me or start praying. Otherwise I will make you pray."

>"No!" Drink the communion brew.

>"Actually your idea about moving them around might have some merit."

>Do as she says.

>Find another way to entertain her.

>Nobble.

>"Back off, bitch."

>Other

>>436339
>>"Actually your idea about moving them around might have some merit."

>>436339
>"Actually your idea about moving them around might have some merit."

>>436339
Isn't the dreaming najas mind? Well whatever. I tried.
>Do as she says.

>>436339
>"Back off, bitch."
>"Actually your idea about moving them around might have some merit."
I Hate Tanni so much
i would kill her twice if i could
oh wait

>>436361
Oh thought i aborted that post

>>436339
>"No!" Drink the communion brew.
Sticking to my guns here because solving this without alchemy is lame

>>436339
>"No!" Drink the communion brew.

I REFUSE TO BACK DOWN, WE'RE DOING IT.

>>436367
Changing to this.
>"No!" Drink the communion brew.

>>436371
Delete one of them then bruv

Looks like a tie between smushing them together and drinking the brew. Odds the former, evens the latter.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>436394

There is no way this turns out well. We either get noticed by Naja and fucked over, Or her existence mindfucks us and makes us useless.

>>436399
Eh she could have noticed us messing with all the windows too. And by the time we got done pushing them all together the dreaming would be mostly formed.

>"No!" Drink the communion brew.

You sigh.
"Alright, alright. I won't drink it. Can you get off my foot now?"

She does so.
"Thank you. I just think that connecting yourself to our enemy is dangerous. It's fine if you want to fuck everything up for yourself. But I'm here too and I'm not going down with you."

“You make a good point and-”

She realizes what you’re about to do moments before you do it. She reaches for you in panic but it’s already too late, you’re drinking the Communion Brew.

The world changes around you.

Yourself, Tanni, the patches of light in the void...it all becomes nothing more than flat two-dimensional plane that you are bent over. And more besides! All of Naja’s Dreaming is represented to you like this and bent over the board as you are, you could go wherever you wanted.
Down on the board below, a two-dimensional Tanni is frozen just inches away from hitting a two-dimensional Cennen.
You could reach down and pick her up and move her away and she wouldn’t even notice until after it happened. You are connected to the Dream and you can move it directly. Is this what it is to Dreamcraft?

But you’re not alone. At the far edge of the ‘board’ is something dark and terrible and vast. You can’t even look at it. It hasn’t seen you yet, far too busy with its own little game in the far corner. You lean over to see what it is and then wish you hadn’t.
It’s a little two-dimensional Hiss. The thing is mutilating her.

Looks like Hiss was never in the prison with you after all.


>Rush over to help Hiss.

>Return to normal before Naja notices you.

>Try to move or undo the windows.

>Experiment to make sure your Dreamcrafting works before doing anything too dangerous.

>Attempt to attack Naja directly.

>Other

>>436414
>>Experiment to make sure your Dreamcrafting works before doing anything too dangerous.
then
>Try to move or undo the windows.
Hit the "x" in the upper right hand corner

>>436414
>Try to move or undo the windows.
First things first. I'd like to use a thoughtbrew on ourselves and transfer the effects through the link but we might be beyond drinking any brews right now

>>436414
>Experiment to make sure your Dreamcrafting works before doing anything too dangerous.
>Try to move or undo the windows.

>>436414
>See if it's possible to hide cennen's piece on the board
>Rush over to help Hiss.

>>436414
Well that's not quite what I expected to happen but I'm okay with it. Try to take over as much of the dreaming as possible and make it our own. The dreaming is her power source in a way.

So if we're a creator-like being now could we make some spirits to help us out?

>>436441
If we're just projecting our thoughts into her dreaming doesn't that make us just a spirit? This is confusing but I like it.

>Experiment to make sure your Dreamcrafting works before doing anything too dangerous.
>Try to move or undo the windows.

Hold on. You're a little dizzy just being here. Is this what Naja feels like all the time? But what can you do?
You have the feeling that you aren't elevated to the same level as her, not even close. You're just working off her connection to the Dreaming while she isn't noticing.

You very much doubt you could fight her in here.

So you need to be subtle. First thing's first, a little test before you interfere with the prisons themselves.

You reach over and grab Tanni's little piece. It wobbles in your grasp. So is this what Naja sees whenever she makes a change to someone or something? Or is this all just a metaphor constructed by your brain to help explain away interacting with the Dream from a higher dimension?

You prod the Tanni figure a little and it moves. And while she's in your hands, you get a sudden feeling of her. Not only can you move her. You can change her!
Can you?

You decide to experiment.

>Just move Tanni back and be done. Get to the windows.

>Attempt a physical change.

>Attempt a mental change.

>Change her Art.

>Re-establish the broken wishbond between the two of you.

>Other

>>436441
For the record, you aren't anywhere near Naja's level. But you're basically jacking her wifi connection while she's not looking to get at her Dreamcrafting interface.

>>436450
>Attempt a physical change.
Give her a stutter

>>436450
>Change her Art.
Give her venom that can kill or at least weaken Naja. We can use it for brews and she can use it to bite once we're done with this.

>>436457
>Re-establish the broken wishbond between the two of you.
Also this

>>436450
>Attempt a mental change
Inability to mind whammy us or Hiss. Also gets super aroused around human male dicks. Must be human though.
>Attempt a physical change
Less dead, more alive.

>>436450
>Change her Art.
The venom change would be nice but idk if it's possible. She's our best weapon right now. Get to the windows as quickly as possible though.
>>436461
What the fuck man. Stay focused. We're on a time limit here.

>>436450
Supporting >>436461

But I'd like to amend that we see if we can just mindscrew her into being completely loyal to Hiss/Cennen.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

Looks like a tie between >>436457 and >>436461 . Odds the former, evens the latter.

>>436479
Oh come on they're not mutually exclusive

>>436480
Ah fuck it, I'll just take everyone's suggestions.

>>436481
Hey, you wouldn't have done that if odds had won!

>>436481
>messing so much with Tanni
this pleases me

>>436484
Why are you mad about us possibly getting a way to kill Naja? Your mediocre idea is still happening.

>Practice your Dreamcrafting on Tanni.

First you reach into the little Tanni piece and grab hold of the Art-thread deep inside of her. Can you change this? Probably! After all, you've seen Naja change Hiss' Worldbreaker Coils Art to shrink her instead of grow her.
And think, what's the most versatile Snake Art there is? Venom! Venom can do all kinds of things.

You do your best to think of Venom Art as you haphazardly push it into Tanni. She needs venom. Not just any venom either, one tailor-made to hurt Naja. You think back to the time Naja tried to make your venom into something that would specifically effect Hiss and use much the same idea. There.

But you're not done, not yet. Truth be told you're still kind of pissed off at Tanni for toying with you. Maybe you'd like to toy with her back.
You try to reach into her mind, to make her safe from ever fucking with you and Hiss. And actually while you're there...you make one other change too. Now it should be impossible for Tanni to have the upper hand on you.

You also try to make her alive but you're not sure if you can or if it worked.

Your job well down, you set the now somewhat misshapen Tanni figure down on the board. It wobbles precariously.

>Roll 3 1d100. Best of the first 3 wins.

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>436495

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>436495

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>436495

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>436495
>>436496
noice

For some reason I have a bad feeling...

File: índice.png (5 KB, 168x196)

5 KB PNG

>>436506
>>436508

>>436509
It's probably nothing. This future-prison is awful, I deeply regret all of my choices especially not making Naja a body quickly enough.

>>436509
why did i ever listen to Hiss
she is dumb
you know who isn't dumb
Naja
So smart and strong and sexy
i am really regretting this decision, every decision
oh well time to fuck my 100 daughters for who knows who long
oh no shes melting all over my dick
this is the worse time
0/10
not fun

>>436414
Damn. Naja really resents Hisself.

Heh. Hisself.

>99

You push the Tanni piece back right where it was and the giant monster doesn't notice, still focused entirely on doing the same thing to Hiss that you were just doing to Tanni.
It makes you feel a little sick.

But it does mean you have more than enough time to mess with the windows. You reach down and sift through the prisons, as many patches of light as there are grains of sand. One for every soul in Taldenral.

You peer through them until you start spotting some familiar faces.

Oster, whittling happily in an idyllic country life away from civilization, never having to raise his sword in violence again.

Aashenpreet, kneeling in a dark tunnel just above an endless pit. She's holding onto somebody's arm, a Quedeshi woman you don't recognise. She can't pull her free but she's not letting her fall either. Aashenpreet doesn't look happy at all but she's determined enough to linger here forever.

Orange, sitting in his tiny snake form while Zigzag and Hiss fight over who gets to carry him in their shirts. Somehow they all end up making out.

Eva, sitting alone in her room and brewing. Blue later shows up to help and Eva is happy. The Queen needs 100 potions and Eva is the only one who can mass produce them in time.

Hom walks among Taldenral in his true form and everyone loves him. You give him a hug.

Zukhdeep's is empty save for him and Aashenpreet. Aashenpreet is crying.

Aqua is swimming through the open sea far away from any of this, her sisters alive again and beside her.

Blue, doing terribly indecent things to Eva. Funnily enough, even in Blue's deepest fantasy Eva is mostly nonplussed and confused.

Sarminda is back on her ship, full-sized and confidant in her command. Instead of beating Aqua she's recruited her as her second in command.

Elle is back as how she used to be, free-willed and intelligent. Hiss has been persuaded down and Snakehome is the same as its always been. Nobody is dead.

Namjot sits at a table with his wife and son, basking in a letter from Raja Tanni that he did an excellent job and how terrible it was that Sarminda died during the battle. How terrible indeed.

You can see the ruins of Tanni's old prison from a distance as well. It looks exactly the same as her normal life.

You hold it all in your hands.

>Smush them together.

>Try to smash them.

>See if you can reach in and change the people inside like you did to Tanni.

>Return back to normal.

>Mess with Tanni more.

>Other

>>436552
>Try to smash them.

>>436552
>Smush them together.

>>436552
>Smush them together.
Can we modify our own body and soul to make us immune or resistant to being dreamcrafted by Naja?

>>436552
>Hom walks among Taldenral in his true form and everyone loves him. You give him a hug.
oh god my heart

>>436552
>>Smush them together.
forgot to vote to many feels

>Smush them together.

Alright, it's time to introduce some discord to these previously perfect worlds. You take them all up in your hands then inelegantly smush them together like clay. Will that work?

You can't see into them anymore but you can feel them jumbling around in your hands.They're no longer perfect, they're becoming faulty. None of them the dreams you witnessed are mutually inclusive. They can't handle being together!

This should be enough to make people reject them surely!

The ball wobbles in your hands, growing increasingly more and more erratic, tearing inside, about to break...

And then Naja sees you.

The shadow-serpent whisks across the board and you flee. You can't fight her. Not in her own domain.

...

You suddenly snap back to where you had been standing, Tanni wobbling back a few feet away from you.
"What?," she says faintly. She touches her jaw and visibly jumps just a little when she feels fangs. Her voice is completely robbed of power against you, she's not even trying.

"Are you alright, Tanni?"

"I'm...I'm..."
Her gaze rolls helplessly down until she's staring at your crotch.
"Can I suck your dick?," she offers, a little breathless.

"Maybe later."
You turn to face the windows and what you see now is a jumbled up sphere, ripping and straining at one another. And yet it's not breaking free! Why not?

"What's happening to the windows?," Tann cries, sneaking looks back at you every now and then.

"They should be breaking! I don't know why they're not."

"What did you do?"

"I introduced discord. They're no longer perfect. They should be rejecting them."

Tanni blinks, centering herself.
"Maybe you need to tell them how. They're lost and confused and you've only made things harder to understand. You can't just reject something academically, you have to really FEEL it. So make them understand just what's been done to them."

"I don't underst-"

Tanni kicks your legs out from underneath you and before you can do anything else, grabs you by the hair and twists your head up extremely painfully.
"Pray, you sexy bitch! Pray for your life! Tell them you need their help to survive because as far as I'm concerned, they do!"

>Pray.

>Try to escape.

>Nobble.

>other

I'm going to go eat, I'll be gone for a little while. Don't worry though because I don't have work today so I'm going to keep running for as long as you guys stick around!

>>436595
>Pray.

>>436595
>Pray.

>that dick write in really happened
Seriously what the fuck guys

>>436595
>pray

>>436598
3 am here, will try to hold

>>436595
>Pray.

>>436602
Yup an end even more fitting than death
The Manslayer becomes a slave the truest form of masculinity the Dick
such poetry brings a tear to my eye

>>436602
Oi, I just wanted to give her a speech impedement

>>436598
I've got like an hour and a half left in me at most

>>436602
Hey man, it got votes. I'm just rolling with it.

Anyway, back after eating (leftover goat korma) and writing for Pray

>>436625
>that is the kind of vote that might win if I sleep
Tomorrow is gonna suck.

>Pray

Tanni's grip tightens as she threatens to lift you bodily into the air with your hair alone. It's excruciating and the boot she has crushing your leg doesn't help.
Is she actually going to do it? Is she actually going to kill you if you don't pray?

You're not sure and right now that scares you a lot more than Naja.

Please, you pray endlessly into the void, I need you guys. I know you might be happy where you are right now but it's not real! I need you to give it up, to come back to the real world where everything sucks. Because we need to fight Naja. We need to save Hiss. And most importantly, Tanni is going to kill me and/or have sex with me if this doesn't work!
You're actually not sure what fate is scarier at this point.

You pray harder than you've ever prayed before. It might be the last hope you all have left. And whenever you begin to falter, whenever you think to end the prayer...you think back to that tiny two-dimensional Hiss piece and you find the fortitude to keep going on. Because you love her. Because fuck that old Consort, he doesn't know what the two of you are going to do! And if it's what you need to get Hiss back then you'll pray as hard as you can.

Tanni steps back as if she was almost physically pushed, her hands going reflexively to her ears.

And the bubble bursts and this entire prison reality tears around you, the void ripping and fading away.
And of all a sudden, you and Tanni aren't alone anymore.

Everyone is with you. Oster, Aashenpreet, Orange, Blue, Eva, Hom and Aqua. Even that Quedeshi commander whose name you can't remember and Sarminda, still stunted by your wish. And behind them, the host of humans and snakes, Teln and Quedeshi alike, who Hiss had gathered to push back the Gatekeeper.

You're all in this together. Naja is an enemy to everyone.

And as the void shrieks and destroys itself and the prisons keep unravelling, you feel Taldenral reform around you. Not regular Taldenral of course, Naja's corrupted spiky one. But it's exactly where you want to be right now.

As it begins to form around all of you, you spot a faint light in the distance and without even questioning it, you break into a run.
Oster is the first to follow you and the rest shortly after.

You can see it ahead of you, like a painting on a wall of fading blackness. Hiss and Naja. Hiss, bent over, covered in tiny shrapnel wounds and gasping out tiny screams as Naja has her way with her. She's back to normal size at least.

You can even hear them.

"Whatever your boyfriend was trying, it didn't work," Naja crows. "I threw him out and if he ever connects there again I'll be ready to eviscerate him. That is, if he even still wants to save you anymore."

Hiss doesn't reply

"You see," Naja continues triumphantly, "I've done some fiddling with time. He knows where this path goes now, he can't possibly love you anymore. He knows you for the garbage you are. And he knows himself to be fated for even worse."
1/2

>>436639
Hiss whispers something that you can't make out. Her voice is scratched and ragged and barely even sounds like her anymore.

Naja recoils.
"Don't you dare lecture me about faith! You, of all people!"

"You're wrong," Hiss says, smiling despite herself. And you know in an instant that she heard your prayer too. She's held on for you.

"I literally can't be wrong! I'm God! I'm the Ouroboros!"

Hiss just shakes her head wearily.
"No. We were the Ouroboros together. You're far from perfect."

The white-gold halo atop Naja's head wobbles as if struck. Hiss thrusts out her arm as if to strike her, holding it with a confidence that she cannot possibly possess.
"I'm giving you one more chance to surrender, Naja."

Naja starts laughing and is still laughing when you all break back into her Dreaming proper and jam the Caster right into her mouth.

Alright guys, so here's how it is. It's getting pretty late and I know a lot of you in less fortunate timezones are feeling it pretty hard right now.
So we can either keep going tonight or run a short session tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow is my game-day so it'll only be for a few hours.

>Keep on running now.

>Tomorrow, I'm about to die.

>>436643
>Tomorrow, I'm about to die.
Aw shit is this gonna be the last thread?

>>436643
>Tomorrow, I'm about to die.

>>436643
How much longer would you run tonight?

>>436644
Maaaaybe. Probably not.

Anyway guys, the vote was just decided by my boss calling me up and asking if I could get dressed and come in as soon as possible to do some deliveries.
I am a pillar of my workplace. See you tomorrow.

>>436647
Thanks Ouro. This reminded me in the best way of Gurren Lagann.

Fuck multi dimensional labyrinths and the cunts who think they could ever trap the human spirit by way of them.

As promised, I'll be back here in an hour for a short session before I have to go to game day.

>>438113
woo

The world breaks around you as you all emerge back into Taldenral together, the ruined city bearing the scars of Naja’s redecorating. The sky is black from one horizon to the other as the dark walls of her Dreaming completely obscure the entire city.

You don’t waste any time, crossing the distance between you and Naja while the Caster, still embedded in your living wooden arm begins to spin. Naja is still laughing at Hiss’ defiance when you jam the Caster’s barrel right into her masked face.

She doesn’t even get a chance to react before you fire.

>It’s a point blank Spiritslayer.

>A point blank Snakebreaker

>Haywire Brew

>Solidification Brew

>Spirit Poison

>Thoughtbrew

>Other

>>438340
Magetheft.

>>438340
>>It’s a point blank Spiritslayer.

>>438340
How about a snakeslayer in the explosive compartment and a magetheft in the ammo compartment? Is that possible?

>>438375
Woops, meant to type spiritslayer.

>>438375
Yes, that is possible.

>>438340
>>438375
Going to go with this, then

>>438340
Also is this referring to a normal spiritslayer because I'd prefer the extra improved spiritslayer if possible

>>438375
>>438340

Sounds interesting, I want to try this.

Do we have to drink the magetheft after the target to take their power or can we drink half of it first? Maybe we could put half of it into a separate bottle and drink it right after we shoot.

>Combo Shot!

The Caster is already loaded by the time you reached, your vines loading your brews straight from your pack for you. An Extra-Improved Spiritslayer in the very back and your last Magetheft in the ammunition compartment. And both of them pressed right up against Naja's faced when they detonate.

There's a crack like thunder and a blinding light and when your vision clears, the entire top of Naja from the waist up has been sprayed down the street.
You force yourself to swallow an instinctual cry of triumph. Nothing is that easy.

And yes, you know that to be true. Naja's physical body has been broken but those robes, that mask...they're just things that she wears to define herself. There's nothing underneath.

And even as you blast her mask into oblivion and shred her robes into pieces, that nothing still remains exactly where it is, where Naja had been standing.

There was never a Naja piece on the playing board.

Something dark and venomous seizes you as a result, wrapping around your arms and legs and forcing you to the ground.
"Ah Consort," Naja purrs, her voice emanating from all around you. "Didn't you appreciate the last lesson I gave you? My vision of the future?"


>"Your lies mean nothing to me."

>"I'm surprised you thought I'd care."

>Act dumb. "Oh. Was that what it was?"

>Drink the other half of the Magetheft.

>Other

>>438433
>Act dumb. "Oh. Was that what it was?"
>Drink the other half of the Magetheft.

>>438433
>>Act dumb. "Oh. Was that what it was?"
>"That's funny since, there would only be a future if you were beaten. Ergo either you made shit up, or you intend to lose."
>Drink the other half of the Magetheft.

>>438433
>Drink the other half of the Magetheft.
You know what's interesting? You weren't in the future at all.

>>438433
>"I liked the alchemcal wagon"
>Drink the other half of the Magetheft.

>>438433
>"I liked the alchemical wagon"
>Drink the other half of the Magetheft.

>Act dumb. "Oh. Was that what it was?"
>Drink the other half of the Magetheft.

Blink slowly, doing your best to appear unconcerned.
"Oh? Was that what it was? I didn't really notice."

Naja's presence pulls back for a moment before suddenly being supplanted by an irritated shriek.
"I know you're lying! Don't play the fool with me. And..."

Your bonds tighten.
"Let me tell you a little secret, Cennen. That wasn't a hallucination like the others, it wasn't fake. That was the real future that I plucked out just for you."

You sneer.
"And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Time is a circle."
The broken shell is piecing itself back together, Vtriya outfit and mask crawling to one another upon shadowy hands.
"Don't you understand yet? Have you not seen how I reverberate back and forward through time? I cast my shadow upon history itself."

"Huh. Well, I liked the alchemical wagon. There was something funny about it all though. You weren't in it."
You drink the other half of the Magetheft. Or at least, you try to. The world is pushing against you and suddenly even trivial actions become uncertain.

>Roll a d100. Best of the first 3.

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>438491

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>438491
By showing us the future you gave use the chance to change it

Rolled 1 (1d1)

>>438491
This isn't tiring! I can do this all day!

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>438491

>>438503
Nice 1d1.

>>438510
I'm pretty sure 1s don't even count as critfails in this quest anyway

We need to start rolling faster in the future guys

>>438510
Its Naja's special ability. She can insert her roll into the order. It counts if it is in the first 3. So fucking roll every time.

>90

Despite it all, you raise the bottle to your lips and drink...and nothing seems to happen. You don't feel any connection at all, let alone stolen Art.

Naja laughs, her body reforming just in time to slam her pointed boot down upon your chest before you can get up.
"Is that all you've got? You know I don't even use Art right? There's no magic to steal!"

"Then why did you try and stop me from drinking it?"

Before Naja can answer a black-scaled fist cracks into the side of her head and knocks her off of you.
"Bitch," Hiss pants, dropping to her knees beside you. She's a real sight for sore eyes and you get the feeling that she's only just holding it together.

"Are you okay Hiss?"

"That's a really dumb question, Cennen. I'm glad you came."

By this point everyone else that had been following you has crossed over. Aqua, Orange and Oster stand in front of you and Hiss, blocking you from Naja's sight in what you know to be an entirely futile gesture.

"I'm getting kind of sick of being slapped around," Naja drawls. "I mean, it doesn't hurt but I feel like there's a level of dignity here that you people simply aren't giving me."


>Keep firing the Caster.

>Tend to Hiss.

>Let other people handle the fight for now, you need to figure out the Magetheft.

>Brew

>Other

>>438554
>>Tend to Hiss.
heal all
then
>Let other people handle the fight for now, you need to figure out the Magetheft.

>>438554
>>438558
Supporting.

>>438554
>Tend to Hiss.
>Let other people handle the fight for now, you need to figure out the Magetheft.
Go Tanni

>>438554
>Keep firing the Caster.
Get some venom from Tanni and put it in the caster. And drink that empowered champion brew. Maybe make a hollow space in our wooden arm and have Tanni fill it with venom through a bite so we can load it in the caster repeatedly.

>>438554
Have the homunculi tend to hiss while we figure out the magetheft. Maybe if we try to think like we did when we were dreamcrafting we can figure out how to use her art.
>>438580
I like this venom idea too.

>Tend to Hiss.
>Let other people handle the fight for now, you need to figure out the Magetheft.

You put your hand on Hiss' shoulder and use her as a support to help yourself up. She only trembles an inch in response but even that is far too telling.
"Stay back Hiss. You need some looking at."

"No shit," she sighs wearily. "Was it the point-blank Spiritslayer that gave you a clue? Or the fight with the giant spirit? Or maybe the prolonged torture?"

"You can't be hurt too bad if you've still got that attitude."
You lay her down and start to brew. You're going to need a Heal-all.

"My attitude is eternal, peasant."
Hiss' eyes droop shut just a little and her voice grows thick. You start ripping up your shirt to make bandages for her while the cauldron simmers behind you. She grabs your hand in hers before you can finish.
"I love you," she says woozily.

An exaggerated sigh echoes down the street.
"Love...it always comes down to love with you lot, doesn't it? With all of you. I'm fucking sick of it."

Naja raises her hand only to find Tanni standing in front of her. And yet curiously enough, this doesn't seem to bother her. Instead she just laughs again.
"Did you really bring her along with you? I guess I was overrating your intelligence after all."

Naja stops as if she's waiting for someone to ask her what she's referring to. A grim silence is all she receives instead.
"Why do you think I even grabbed her soul and brought her back in the first place? She's your enemy! I brought her here to mess with y-arrghow!"

Tanni punches Naja in the chest, her fist blowing a hole straight through her and bending her body double.
"Your mistake was thinking that I'm anyone's tool. And besides," she glances back to you for just the tiniest moment. "Maybe there are some people here I want to stick around."

Naja waves her hand at Tanni...and nothing happens.
"Oh come on! How fast do you roll?"

Her nonsense words are cut off as Tanni slams into her, baring her new fangs and biting deep into Naja's essence.

The entire world shakes.

Meanwhile, you're still stuck trying to figure out what the Magetheft actually did. You try to think back to that strange connected state where you had walked the Dream like Naja had.
Is it tied to that? You can feel the answer dancing on the very edge of your mind but you'll have to concentrate.

>Roll a d100. Best of the first 3.

Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>438636
holy shit mindfucking Tanni was actually a good idea

Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>438636

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>438636

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>438636
rolling again for the sake of speed, you guys are way too slow

Can't you roll another time? I'm a little busy right now!

>>438657
Fuck, maybe this is good enough combined with the write in from earlier

>>438636
>"Oh come on! How fast do you roll?"
Tanni quest when?

>65

You feel like you're getting closer, the connection is dancing on the very edge of your perception. But you've never been the best at clearing your mind and meditating. This is going to take a while.

>The connection stays locked until all the best-of-three rolls you've made add up to equal 150.

Meanwhile, the shaking dies down as Naja pries Tanni off of her.
"What was that? You mindfucked her? Well, two can play at that ga-"

A blade sprouts out of her mask through her mouth-slit and drowns out her speech. Oster stands behind her, his sword buried in the back of her head.

Naja just sighs.
"Getting real sick of being interrupted. Still, thanks for the help big guy."

Oster leaps back but she reaches out and grabs him all the same, throwing him down at Tanni so that his lower body hits her in the face. Tanni lets go of Naja immediately, sinking to the ground with Oster in a happy stupor.
"Have fun you two!"

Naja takes another step forward, only to be practically buried as the mercenaries, living dead, Quedeshi soldiers and constrictors all rush her. But attacking as a group was a fatal mistake.
She simply snaps her fingers and the ground opens up before her, a bottomless pit swallowing dozens of men and women alive.

"Aqua! Throw me in! Do it like you did with Zigzag before!"

In front of you and Hiss, Aqua is staring down at Orange while Naja works her way through your useless armies.
"That won't do anything, Orange."

"Maybe. But it'll delay her from reaching the Queen! And once Her Majesty has time to heal, she'll save all of us."

So as Naja daintily steps around the pit, Aqua simply sighs and picks up Orange.
"Your funeral, little guy."
Her throw is true, Orange soars through the air and hits Naja hard enough that she almost topples into her own bottomless pit.

Orange latches onto her, his fangs pumping poison directly into her head. It's useless.

Naja doesn't even seem inconvenienced by it.
"Oh, I'd forgotten you existed. Get off me, girl."

"Never! And I'm a man!"
Orange is crying as he does his best to hold her back. And yet even now he finds the time to bemoan the appearance you gave him.

"Oh, my bad. Let me fix that."

Orange's fangs vanish and without them digging in, she slides off Naja uselessly and falls to the ground as a completely normal human girl.

Hiss clutches your hand tighter as the Heal-All slowly takes effect.
"Cennen...now would be a great time to figure out that connection!"

>Roll again. 1d100. Best of 3. Current score: 65

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>438725

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>438725

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>438725
Come on!

Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>438725

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>438725
4u

Rolled 1 (1d1)

>>438725
Oh whoops. Looks like you're failing.

>>438741
90+65 = 155

I AM

>>438747
YOU ARE NOT

>>438747
Your waifu a shit

File: fug.png (9 KB, 400x400)

9 KB PNG

>>438747

>>438741
Nice.

>>438741
>>438657
I like how my rolls got the highest for both.

>>438764
you da real mvp anon

>>438767
The mvp is going to have to leave soon.

>90

Naja's control falters and breaks against you. Maybe Orange's doomed assault distracted her more than she let on?
Either way, you feel the connection finally open up.

"Oi!"
Naja's concentration, her one real limiting factor, is broken yet again as Aashenpreet charges into her. The constrictor has swollen in size until she's twice as big as Naja and is pushing her back towards her own pit.
"This is not what the Compact was for! You're not a god! You're a perversion!"

Naja stops just before Aashenpreet can push her into oblivion, reversing Aashenpreet's Art in the same way that she had done to Hiss before. Naja catches her as she falls to the ground, the priestess barely three foot tall.

"I'll show you a real perversion. What do you want to be for the rest of your life? A worm? A slug? Or maybe I'll just transfer around that faith of yours. Yeah. I'd like a priestess of my very own."

Aashenpreet just coughs and a white snake emerges from her throat, the python regurgitating Zukhdeep from where he'd been secretly stored. The little homunculi latches onto Naja's finger.

And...you're in. You've connected to Naja once more and the best part is, under assault as she is, she can't even do anything about it just yet.

That's her biggest weakness, her concentration. You understand it all now, the connection lets you see her for what she is. Sure, she's capable of remoulding anything in her Dream but she isn't the Creator. She's much more limited than she says she is and omnipotence is much a dream to her as it is to anyone else.

She can alter and influence probability on a wide-scale but she needs to be focused and attentive to do it. She can change Art, minds and bodies but she needs to be focused and attentive on them to do it. And doing anything particularly complex to them takes time! She can only work her power upon one thing at a time! Truly she is much smaller than you thought she was.

Her Dreaming is tiny, stunted and stillborn and barely covering a mere mortal city. But, and here is the biggest problem you discover, it's still her Dream. While you're all in here you're all still playing her game. You can't kill her. You can't really stop her. Any effect you impose upon her can be undone in an instant. The thing you're all whacking around, that's just a puppet. The Dreaming is her true body now.

And as long as you're all within its walls, her victory is inevitable.


>Is there a way to break or destroy the walls of the Dreaming?

>You all need to escape!

>Relay this information to Hiss but stay connected.

>Use the connection to bully Naja.

>Try and wrestle back Dreamcrafting from her. You still have work to do.

>Other

>>438809
>>Relay this information to Hiss but stay connected.
>Use the connection to bully Naja.
keep her distracted.

>>438809
>Try and wrestle back Dreamcrafting from her. You still have work to do.
Would increasing our mental energy by drinking some mental stimulants help?

>>438823
Yes.

>>438809
>Relay this information to Hiss but stay connected.
>Try and wrestle back Dreamcrafting from her. You still have work to do.
Drink all those mental stimulants and try to steal her dreaming or create our own so we can level the playing field. Tell Hiss to get everyone to distract her as much as possible. Tanni would be the best choice to attack her.

>>438829
Oh and we should hand out those haywire brews or shoot her with them to weaken her grasp on her own dreaming first too.

>>438809
>Use the connection to bully Naja.
For all the fuss you make you dream is still pretty small, eh?

File: bleh2.webm (673 KB, 400x224)

673 KB WEBM

are we kill?

>>438898
I'm guessing its either an unexpected phone call or an extremely long post

Sorry for the delay on this one. Phone call.


>Relay this information to Hiss but stay connected.
>Try and wrestle back Dreamcrafting from her. You still have work to do.

"Hiss! We need to break out of here. We need to crack the walls of the Dream!"

Hiss groans and sits back up, her wounds starting to heal.
"Right, right. I'm on it. Here."

She opens your pack and passes you the mental stimulants. How did she know? You drink them, only to find Hiss is pulling the pack away from you.

"Mind if I take the pack? I have some demolitions to do."

"Go for it."

Naja tosses Aashenpreet aside.
"You want to grab some crafting off me? Well go ahead and try it!"

She bends her will towards you, only for Hom to charge her! He releases his human form halfway and the momentum carries his true self directly into her.
As before, Naja doesn't budge. But this time that's fine. Hom's a pretty fluid guy.

He splats around her, pig entrails going flying as he doesn't hit her as much as he engulfs her. For a moment, Naja is buried in pig offal.

And that's when you strike.

You seize hold of the connection and rip your way back in and for just a moment, you once again see the world how Naja sees it. You don't know how long this'll last but you'll have to be quick.

>Try to weaken the Dreaming itself.

>Move Hiss towards the boundaries.

>Pray.

>Undo some of the damage Naja has done to your friends.

>Try and attack Naja herself.

>Other

>>438911
>>Move Hiss towards the boundaries.

>>438911
So since we stole Dreamcrafting from her with magetheft that means she can't do it at all right now, right?

>>438919
Dreamcrafting isn't Art! You can't steal it. But the Magetheft works off a soul connection and any connection brew can let you see the world as she sees it.

>>438911
>>Try to weaken the Dreaming itself.
>Undo some of the damage Naja has done to your friends.

>>438911
>Try to weaken the Dreaming itself.
If we could take parts of it as our own that would be great too

>>438911
>Try to weaken the Dreaming itself.
>Try and attack Naja herself.
We need to distract her while Hiss does her thing.

>>438911
>>Try to weaken the Dreaming itself.

>>438911
>Try to weaken the Dreaming itself.

>Try to weaken the Dreaming itself.

This power isn't yours. It's not meant to be used by you or anything like you. You've only got access to it because Naja overflows with it, that it can run down even a simple mental connection. And sooner or later, she's going to figure out how to shut down these connections for good so you have to make it count.

The Dreaming becomes two-dimensional one more and you are bent over the board. But this time you are not alone. A long dark snake coils through and above the Dream, looping around you loosely over and over.

Her concentration is still weak, she can't touch you just yet.

"Well, here we are," Naja says. "Do you really think you can fight me here of all places? I mean, you're welcome to try. Go ahead."

She's really expecting you to use this to attack her, isn't she? And in truth, that is probably what Hiss would do. It's what Naja would do.
"You don't know me all that well, do you?"

You take all the energy, all the power of those mental stimulants you just guzzled and direct it outward. No targets, no intentions. Just omni-directional force against the fabric of the Dreaming itself.

Nothing changes in the physical world but you can see the great dome of shadow above you begin to tremble just a little.

"No!"
Back in your weird pseudo-reality, Naja lashes into you and wraps tightly around you. She's not holding anything back now and she's matching your will head-on with her own.

Back in the physical world, you feel your body begin to buckle. The first to go is one of your ribs, the bone cracking clean in half as Naja ravages you through the connection.

And it only gets worse from there. Your thigh shatters. One of your lungs stops working entirely. More and more ribs snap like twigs as Naja does everything she can to distract you from attacking the fabric of the Dream.

Well it's now or never, isn't it?

Just as Naja is about to crush you with mental force alone, your broken ribs are re-knit. Vines flood down through your mouth and your nostrils and through your open wounds. You are operating upon yourself.
Branches hold your ribs steady, a cage of vines worms its way through your wooden body and surrounds your lung and begins inflating it manually. Wood takes the place of flesh and bone.
It has to be done. This is the sacrifice that must be made.

And then...finally, your energy dims and your assault against the barrier of the Dream comes to an end. You break the connection to Naja before you can hurt her more and collapse.
It's all up to Hiss now.

You watch with blurred vision as Hiss, somehow sensing that you've reached your limit, stops running and just throws your entire backpack at the wall of the Dream.

Dozens of potions detonate at once and for a moment you lose sight entirely as explosions and haywire rip up the side of the horizon and into the sky.
You've done it!
And then your vision returns and you see the same pitch-black sky.
1/2

>>438979
aw fuck

Still here Ouro?

>>439118
Apparently his power went out as he was finishing the big update

My power went out as I was writing through several posts worth of big updates and I lost all of it. Power still out, I'm at my DM's house for game night. I won't even be able to use this for updating because like a retard I was so caught up in all this shit that I forgot to bring my charge cord so now my laptop is gonna run out of power soon and I won't be able to charge it until I get home roughly TWELVE HOURS FROM NOW.

I am going to put the laptop away now because I am genuinely close to breaking the screen off by accident.

>>439125
Damn that's rough.

>>439125
I bet Naja did this

>>439125
Nothing wrong with an extreme cliffhanger every once in a while

>>439125
Man naja is a sore sport. Sorry man.

Everything is working again. Just give me a moment and I'll finish up the update.

Sorry it took so long!

>>438979
The dome is still there, the wall of the Dream is untouched! The light of the explosion slowly fades away and darkness once more shrouds Taldenral.

Hom looks up from where he had been smothering Naja's puppet-body and screams, a long pained squeal that ends when a hole twice the size of a person is blasted through his torso. Offal scatters itself across the road, his three murmuring pig heads blown apart and finally silenced.
Naja slowly stands, rising from the meat slurry as Hom collapses around her.

"Hom!"
Eva runs forward from where she had been hiding to Hom's side. But that's just a little too close to Naja to be safe. The homunculus pulls out a bottle as she approaches but it all takes is for Naja to snap her fingers.
The potion detonates in Eva's hands.

Naja effects an obviously fake yawn as she stretches.
"Not a bad effort, Cennen! Too bad it couldn't have possibly worked. Did I forgot to tell you that?"

She steps over Hom and starts implacably making her way towards you. You struggle to get up, to stand, to do anything but your broken body betrays you. It's all your vines can do to keep yourself alive.

"I control the inside of this Dream, we all know that. But the inside of the Dream also includes the walls themselves. You can't destroy them from the inside while I still draw breath, it's simply impossible. So all your little sacrifice did was to weaken the outside side of the wall and well, I don't know if you've noticed but I've swallowed this whole city. There's nothing left outside that can even take advantage of what you've done."

She's taking her time walking over to you. She's savouring all of it as best she can. She's still so much like Hiss.

And speaking of, you see Hiss from the corner of your eye, running back from the edge of the Dream as fast as her wounded legs can carry her. Can she reach you in time? And what could she even do if she did?
Naja softly chuckles and you know the answer is nothing.

The city around Hiss buckles and twists, the street collapsing in on itself to bury her. Not enough to kill her but it'll take her too long to break out. By the time she does you'll be long dead.

You spot Aashenpreet struggling off in the distance. She's trying to abandon her hiding place amidst all the rubble so that she can run to help you but Zukhdeep has wrapped himself around the tiny priestess and is dragging her back to safety.
He's probably right to do so.

Oster can't help you. Tanni has his leg in her grip and she's not letting go. He's somehow managed to keep his pants on for now but it only took Naja a small amount of effort to amplify the desires you'd already embedded into her. You can't expect help from either of them.

Orange is still hunched up where Naja dropped her, staring down at her powerless human hands. She's too out of it to help and wouldn't be able to do anything even if she wasn't.

2/3

>>441293
inb4 Eugene out of fucking nowhere

>>441312
I would laugh my ass off if that happened.

So who's left inside, Aqua, Blue, Sarminda, Elle, Narmjot, Eva. Outsiders include Zigzag, Eugene the two girls we saved from here. Third option is Hiss taking Naja back. Fourth would be Cennen pulling apotheosis out of his ass.

Oh, or Creator intervention.

>>441369
I'm actually hoping for a zigzag kinetic orbital bombardment

>>441381
"That's a Big black target. Seems to be about where Taldendral is. I'ma gonna hit it. WEEEEEE!"
>Zigzag logic.

>>441380
It's definitely unlikely but I really want an interaction with the creator before the quest ends.

>>441293
Eva and Hom can't help you either, you don't even know if they're still alive. That hurts almost as bad as the broken bones. Almost.

None of the soldiers or living dead or Quedeshi even want to seem to get close to her and you can't really blame them. You're fairly sure everyone who got swallowed up by her pit is dead.

And then Naja is standing above you, her boot raised above your head. You haven't even gotten up yet.
"Sorry, Cennen. Looks like love doesn't actually get you anywhere by itself."

And then Aqua emerges from the rubble and throws Sarminda straight into Naja's face. The false-Hiss rocks back as the tiny constrictor latches onto her mask. That's all the time Aqua needs to run over to you and wrap her one good arm around you.

"Come on, Senna! Get up! We need to get out of here!"
She picks you up despite your protests and starts to run.

It's no use.

Naja punts Sarminda away from her and glares at the two of you. You don't see exactly what happens but you can hear both of Aqua's legs snap like chicken bones.

"Ow," she says faintly. She's still cradling you even now as she collapses helplessly to the ground.

"Ah, the slut. I'd forgotten about you. Tell you what, Cennen. How about I do something terrible to her right in front of you?"
Naja stops and taps her mask in thought.
"Give me a moment. I've got to think up something ironic enough. Don't go anywhere."

A long minute passes, neither you nor Aqua able to move. It's all the sea-snake can do to keep holding onto you. She closes her eyes.
"I'm sorry Cennen."

"Ah! I know!"
But whatever Naja had planned you'll never know because it was at that very moment that the sky exploded.

There's a bang, a sound not unlike that of the Caster itself and a hole of night-sky punched directly into the top of the Dream. Something too fast to follow slams straight down from the sky, landing on top of Naja and smashing her into the ground.

Above, the hole punched through the Dream begins to unravel like so much lost thread. It grows wider and wider until the very horizon collapses and the dome fades. The night sky, first stolen from you by the harsh light of the Gate and then by Naja's eternal darkness, has finally returned.

"Urrrgh."
Zigzag stands up, still clutching her head.

"Ziggy?"

"ZIGZAG!"
Orange finally breaks out of her stupor, almost tackling the smaller snake to the ground and hugging her.

"Get your boobs out of my face Orange," Zigzag mumbles. "I'm gonna suffocate."
She peers around until she sees you.
"Thanks."

You blink. You still don't believe it. What just happened?
"Thanks?"

"I didn't know where to fall, it all looks the same from up there. I was probably going to fall in the ocean. But then when I was coming down I heard your prayer! Guided me right back home."
Zigzag sighs contentedly before her eyes wander back to the crushed Naja.
"Who's that?"

>>441409
ppppppppffffffft hahahahahaha bricksnake for the win.

>>441409
Best snek has finally returned

>>441409
"Ugh. Fuck this. Fuck all of you."
Naja slowly peels herself off the ground. She looks different. More solid. As if there's an actual body inside her now instead of just nothingness. And you guess that makes sense because until her Dreaming regenerates, that puppet-body is truly her.
"If I die because of the power of love or friendship or whatever I'm going to be pissed."

"You might as well give up Naja," you say. "You've lost."

"Yeah, now instead of being a god I'm merely an extremely powerful mortal who's going to turn back into a god in ten minutes. I really don't know how I'm going to cope."