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>>1127609
>Something versatile. Keep your options open.


And thank you for being back mitts! May cute goats be bestowed upon you!

>>1127609
>[ ] Something versatile. Keep your options open.

>>1127609
>Something versatile. Keep your options open.

>>1127609
>[ ] Something versatile. Keep your options open.

It's time for GOOOOOOOOOATS

>>1127609
>[ ] Something versatile. Keep your options open.

You draw your attention inwards and a warmth traces the lines on your fur and skin. One of your markings starts to glow, the spirit inside stirring, and you hope it isn’t bright enough to attract any attention.

Thorns. Brambles. It’s a little bit annoyed with you, but it looks like it will help anyway.

You call on its power and... well, you get a bit indecisive. The spirit holds a few shapes you can take, one of them your original gray wolf form and another a smaller weasel-like animal. Either would be useful if you assume you’re going to break your goat out of a cage, but you don’t know much about the situation. The bug wasn’t being very thorough in explaining.

You have another one that you really don’t like, but considering you’ll be going through a city it’s definitely the most appropriate.

The spirit picks up on that thought and speeds up the decision for you.

Crap.

A blanket of light envelops you, and suddenly you’ve lost most of your fur. Plus you’re on two legs.

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>>1128075

Dammit.

The bug stares at you, floating in the air. “You should just stay like that all the time,” she says.

You twitch an ear sharply and glare at her with red eyes. Wolves are made for four legs and muscle, not this body of twiggy limbs, smooth skin, and teeth barely for biting.

Your claws, ears, and tail were thankfully kept, but the excessive amount of hair is not a replacement for fur. You feel a hint of impish glee from your spirit as its glowing marking fades back to dark ink.

Fine. You’ll work with it. Your tongue feels thick and awkward, so you open your mouth and test it.

“Bark.”

“Are you trying to be funny?” Lulette asks.

“Yes.” You yank at a bundle of your blue-gray hair, frowning. “Now can you make yourself useful-”

“-Lulette is always useful!”

“-and get me some damn clothes?”


>

[ ] Track your goat immediately. Follow her scent.
[ ] Track your goat cautiously. You need to know the area.
[ ] Information first. Gossip, idle talk. A tavern?
[ ] Find a lone guard and punch him in the face. Information very first.

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(Sorry for the delay. I might be slower today. I'll see if I can run for a bit longer though.)

>>1127694
>>1127863
(Heh. Thanks mate.)

>>1128081
>Track your goat immediately. Follow her scent.

>>1128081
>[ ] Find a lone guard and punch him in the face. Information very first.

Wolves ain't got time to deal with this shit!

>>1128081
>Track your goat cautiously. You need to know the area.
There are enough guards here to wreck our shit if things go south, so caution is key right now.

>>1128139
Actually, I'll change this to anything that's not attacking a guard.

>>1128081
>[ ] Track your goat cautiously. You need to know the area.

>>1128081
> Track your goat cautiously
We are very vulnerable as an awooo, best not to rush in.

>>1128208
this

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Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXufurW7QNg

The fairy disappears and returns a few minutes later with a simple tunic and trousers combination. Perhaps to prove her point, she also hands you a small iron key while you pull the slightly-too-large outfit on.

Lulette can be useful whenever she feels like it. The latter part is the problem.

There’s only two guards by the main gate to the city. Even this far into the evening there’s a portly merchant arguing loudly with one of them about having to wait until morning for entrance. You wait for the other guard to start watching the scene before slipping past him.

Unlocking a smaller side gate takes you to a wide road flanked by tall brick buildings. Light and laughter shine through the windows and open doors of some, and steps of hard leather clack on the cobblestone street.

The city of Silvercrest is far less loud and busy than it would be in the day, but it’s still too many people heading to and fro than you prefer.

>>1128688

You sniff the air, and among the garble of dust and sweat, oils and cooked meat, blood and grime and ale, you find that familiar scent; a strange blankness, rusting metal, a field of grass.

With this form you can pass for a wildblood, so you don’t bother hiding. Following the scent leads you through the city to a quiet square with empty wooden stalls. A market, where tanned hides and lacquered wood mix with the lingering smell of fruits and fish.

There’s nobody here save for wandering revelers or the occasional labourer carrying a crate of whatever, and they ignore you as you follow your goat’s trail.

“Here! Here is where it all happened! Where it all went wrong!”

You stop in front of a store with the sign of an anvil hanging in front of it, watching the bug appear out of the air and wave frantically.

“We were standing around and looking at stuff and then all these people came! And they were all serious and everything and said they’re arresting Baphy for suspicion and collusion and stuff and then they dragged her away!”

Listening to her hurts. And why were they hanging around a smithy anyway? Did those empty wooden racks display shovels?

“They had a shiny person as well! He was all mean and said she looked funny!”

That gets your attention. If your interpretation of idiot-speak is correct, your goat was pointed out by a mystic. Someone who could see her Veil-mark.

You curse for not realising that would happen sooner. Your group came here to follow the Witch Of Crows, who’s very much a wanted criminal; of course they would have hired people who could see the Veil.

But as unusual as your goat looks, her mark alone doesn’t link her to the witch. Lulette drops onto your shoulders, and you promptly pull her off then continue tracking your goat’s scent.

>>1128697

You find yourself heading deeper into the city, walking barefoot-and-fur through blocks of sleeping homes to a large squarish structure. Its gray bricks are undecorated, there’s a lazy guard leaning against the wall by the entrance, and you’re fairly certain your goat is inside.

There are many others within as well. From how utilitarian the place looks, you think it’s a barracks.


>

[ ] Find a way to sneak in. A back entrance, an open window, whatever works.
[ ] Get close and wait. See what you can learn.
[ ] Have Lulette put the guard to sleep, then search him for useful stuff before entering.
[ ] Other?

>>1128725
> have the bug put him to sleep
We are not going to be able to just go in and sneak the goat out because she will refuse to leave without her bucket. So we will have to go find that and by that time we will have wandered through most of the structure already. So best to deal with everyone up front.

>>1128725
>[ ] Find a way to sneak in. A back entrance, an open window, whatever works.
Messing with the guard in front of the barracks is way too risky for my tastes.

This is probably going to end in lots and lots of running though.

>>1128725
>[ ] Find a way to sneak in. A back entrance, an open window, whatever works.

>>1128697
>[ ] Have Lulette put the guard to sleep, then search him for useful stuff before entering.
If all else fails, distract him with your alluring body while the bug goes scouting.

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Approaching slowly from the side, you point to the guardsman by the large door. He’s a rough-looking man, not young and not old though looking more the latter from his yawning.

“Deal with him, will you?”

“Aye!” The fairy salutes in mid-air, almost dropping her poor potted plant, then vanishes. A few seconds later the guard droops against his spot on the wall, sliding down to the ground asleep.

You crouch down in front of him, swaying your tail behind you and sniffing the air for anyone coming by. The bug reappears looking smug, and you gesture at the drool steadily streaming from the corner of the man’s mouth.

“Is it normal for your victims to leak rainbows?”

“Yes.”

Well, that’s a pain. It looks like the guard has dozed off except for that one odd detail that stands out up close.

A quick search yields a steel key which you stuff in your borrowed trouser pocket along with the other key from earlier. You consider dragging him off to a nearby alley; he’s not particularly big and his armour is merely hardened leather, but you don’t have much strength in this form.

Either way, you might run into some trouble after someone comes to check on this guardsman.

Stepping into the building, you look around and see a paper pinned to the wall. With so few opportunities to practise your letters in your past, you have to take a while to read it.

‘Prisoners under suspicion of witchcraft are to be held in the south block and immediately prepared for transfer to the castle dungeon.’

Well, that’s useful. Not that you couldn’t have found your goat by scent, but knowing that they plan on moving her soon helps.


>

[ ] Bucket and shovel: look for them now, or release the goat first.
She won’t leave without them.

[ ] Act quickly, find her.
There’s only guards here. Wait longer, and the situation may get more complicated.

[ ] Scout around. Point your bug at more guards.
This key probably isn’t for the cells. Finding another and handling some of the guards now will make this easier, but I doubt we can leave quietly afterwards.

[ ] Figure out where and how she’ll be transferred out.
Perhaps I can wait until they’re in the middle of transporting the goat. But I don’t know what I’ll have to face if I wait.

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Stopping this session for now. Thanks for participating fellas!

Sorry bout the sparser updates. I've been a bit under the weather lately, so keeping up my previous pace is a bit hard.

No clue if this is going to be a habit.

Ha ha.

Anyway! This thread continues same time on Tuesday, or maybe Monday for some of you. 41 to 42 hours if my maths isn't whack. Do remember to vote so I know where to start next time!

>>1129486
>[ ] Bucket and shovel: look for them now, or release the goat first.

>>1129538
Thanks for running! I hope Ashtia doesn't end up like in any of these pictures. The doggo must stay unchained!

>>1129486
>Bucket and shovel: look for them now, or release the goat first.
Fuck it. There might be another guard on the way that we can mug for keys anyway.

>>1129538
>Ha ha.
What did he mean by this?

>>1129486
>[ ] Bucket and shovel: look for them now, or release the goat first.
Follow her scent to the South Block while also keeping your nose open for her bucket and shovel which should share her scent.

>all these chained wolfgirl pics.
Are we gonna get captured and raped?
along with baphy?

>>1129738

This is a comfy quest, that shit ain't gonna happen.

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>>1129568
>>1129738
>>1129822
The only thing that chains Ashtia is guilt.

Originally I was going to use pic related, but, well, that's a bit lewder than what I normally go with.

>>1129486
[X] Bucket and shovel: look for them now, or release the goat first.

>>1129538
Thanks for running! Ashtia is cute.

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>>1130030
Hey Mitts, a kind anon over on /i/ did a request of Baphy for me. Check it out!

>>>/i/493271

>>>>1129486
>Bucket and shovel: look for them now, or release the goat first.
What is a goat without a bucket and shovel, but a miserable pile of fluff?

>>1129538
Get well soon! Looking forward to more goats

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>>1130766
That's awesome! Thanks!

This quest is the cutest.

>>1133846
There needs to be more cute quests

>>1135673
hear, hear

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You close your eyes and shift your focus elsewhere. Other than your goat’s presence there are no strange scents, no ripples in the fabric. There are no mystics here, or at least none you can detect.

The hallway is stone, short and wide enough for two or three people to stand side by side. You see a candle or two on tables along the sides but none of them are lit. There is light coming from one of the rooms though, and you approach cautiously.

“Because the grove tender of the Lochwoods gave Baroness Ephon the Silver’s Claw, and with it-”

“Wweird animals handing out swords is no bay-sish for a right to rule the fiefdom. Power- Power comes from the people!”

“And the people still remember her heroics during the war-”

A guardswoman being kept busy by a drunkard. You slip by, stealing a glance into the small room when you know neither of them are looking at the door. Part of you hopes Lulette will tell you if there’s anything important inside before you continue on.

You can’t see or hear the bug anymore. If her mischief makes your task harder, you will eat her.

You reach a narrower hall and turn south, creeping noiselessly on soft padded feet, past a chorus of snoring coming from one room and reaching two opposite thresholds. The one to your left is a locked gate of iron bars which presumably lead to the holding cells, and the one to your right is an open wooden door.

Carefully peeking inside shows you two guards, the room lit by a simple oil lantern. One is a frazzled-looking woman with her elbow propped up on a wooden table, resting her head on a fist, and the other is a young man sitting crouching in the corner in front of a crate.

You see a long handle sticking out of the large wooden box, leaning up against the nearby wall. On the floor is your goat’s bucket, and the young man has his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth while carefully attaching a small piece of paper to the bucket’s side. You recognise the markings on the charm; runic, arcane. Obviously not made by the guardsman.


>

[ ] Knock them both out. Secure the goods then go to the holding cells.
[ ] Leave them be, they’ll likely be taken along with the goat. Figure out how the transfer thing will go.

>>1137123
>[ ] Knock them both out. Secure the goods then go to the holding cells.
With most of the barracks in snooze mode this seems to be the better choice. Meanwhile the transfer would likely be public, in broad daylight and with alert guards.

>>1137123
>[ ] Knock them both out. Secure the goods then go to the holding cells.
Other option has too many assumptions, and many more ways to go wrong.

>>1137123
>[ ] Nap time for guards

love that picture.
also love how ashtia refers to the others as "her goat" and "the bug"
too cute

>>1137123
>[ ] Knock them both out. Secure the goods then go to the holding cells.

>>1137123
> knock them both out
Don't eat Lulette, you mean awooo!

You don’t know if either of the two guards will leave, and waiting to find out might take too long. The shovel and bucket are necessary, so knocking these two out now is ideal.

The thing is, you don’t really have a way to do that without making noise. The room full of sleepers from earlier isn’t far enough for you to take that risk.

There’s a fluttering noise. Lulette is hovering in the air behind you, half-obscured by her pot and Bushjack. You twitch an ear and raise an eyebrow and she responds with a smile and a thumbs up.

The bug is being too useful today. This worries you.

Keeping your tail off the ground you slowly step into the room, then push the wooden door closed. The clack makes the dozing woman start and the young man look up.

Prey.

Both are deep into their forced naps thirty seconds later. The young man has a fairly severe nosebleed, and you spend some time trying use his clothes to wipe your paw clean.

Lulette appears again and pulls a key from the thoroughly concussed guardswoman. She then sits on the wooden table, swinging her legs happily, and you place your goat’s bucket next to her.

The runic charms disintegrate when pulled off, their magic spent. You check the bucket’s contents, noting the leaves of Siperweed, the watering can, the box of fire steel, the glass vial-

That cracked a while ago, didn’t it. You give it to Lulette, who buries it into her clay pot before the Bushjack tries to bite it. The plant settles for the fairy’s wrist instead, and the two of them struggle while you grab your goat’s shovel from the crate.

You note the room is windowless. You still don’t know any way in or out of the building save for the front entrance.

That could be a problem. You don’t know when that transfer you read about is supposed to happen. With luck it would be in the morning, but it did sound immediate.

The steel key you acquired earlier unlocks the iron gate, and you walk down a corridor seemingly dingier than the rest of the building. You come across a middle-aged man who’s likely the warden seated on a chair and reading a large newspaper by a waning candle.

You hand out your third concussion of the night before reaching the cells.

>>1137330

The south block isn’t very big, consisting of two holding cells opposite to two others. There’s someone in the nearest who’s holding onto the bars of his prison.

“Are you with the rebellion?”

“No.”

“Oh.” He looks down, disheartened.

Two cells are empty, and the last one has a lonely, sorrowful bleating coming from it.

That would be your goat.

The bizarre noise stops when the cell door is unlocked and pulled open. She stands up, then the bug appears on her shoulders.

“Baphy!”

Your goat walks out wordlessly, her beige hair and pale skin almost glowing in the thin candlelight. You raise an eyebrow when she examines you curiously. Then she circles you and hugs your tail to her cheek.

“Fluffy,” she decides.


>

[ ] You’ll need to do a bit more scouting. Find a quiet exit.
[ ] Screw it. You need to leave. Head out the front, running if necessary.
[ ] (other ideas?)

>>1137335
>You’ll need to do a bit more scouting. Find a quiet exit.

>>1137335
>Spring the other prisoner so long as he promises to help us get out. Also, no killing anyone.

>>1137335
>Spring the other prisoner so long as he promises to help us get out. Also, no killing anyone.

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>>1137335
>[X] You’ll need to do a bit more scouting. Find a quiet exit.

>Then she circles you and hugs your tail to her cheek.

>“Fluffy,” she decides.

FUCK THAT'S CUTE

>>1137335
>[ ] You’ll need to do a bit more scouting. Find a quiet exit.

Passing by the despondent youth sitting against the wall of his cell gives you pause. You don’t have a good escape plan, but this guy sounded like he half-expected to be broken out. Perhaps he has an idea.

“Hey.”

He starts, blinking and jumping to his feet.

“Know a way out that’s not through the front?”

He nods three or four times in half a second. “There’s a storeroom in the north block with a window that isn’t barred. I can take you there.”

Fair.

A quick introduction gives you Tobias as his name. He’s young, probably under twenty, has messy brown hair, and looks like he would hug you if not for your claws and the goat still on your tail. You detach your goat, handing over her shovel and bucket before speaking to your new guide. “Lead the way.”

>>1137824

Moving back through the barracks is tense, despite half the people in the way not being conscious. You think Lulette cast some sort of silencing spell earlier to let you fight unheard, but you don’t feel any magic here. Asking her to do so again might be pushing your luck with the fickle thing, so you tread quietly and hope everyone else knows how to do the same.

The shovel and bucket makes stealth difficult for your goat, and everyone holds their breath when creeping past the room of sleeping guards.

You pull Tobias back and stop the group before the corridor reaches the wider hallway near the entrance of the barracks, your ears prickling. A woman in the standard leather and plate guardsman armor pulls a fat, obviously drunk, and seemingly half asleep middle-aged man towards the northern side of the barracks, turning out of sight.

That was lucky, considering that the five of you didn’t have a place to hide.

The rest of the way is taken swiftly. Down the hall, a right and a left to a closed wooden door. The youth seems to search the short sleeve of his shirt, then takes from somewhere inside the cloth two small sticks of metal. He puts both into the lock of the storeroom entrance, and half a minute of soft clicking later the door opens.

“Couldn’t you have escaped by yourself?”

He gives you a frown. “The warden was awake. I can’t just punch out the people in my way.”

Ah.

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>>1137829

There’s a simple open window in the storeroom just as Tobias had said. You leave first, hopping onto the dirt, then dart down the left of the dark alley you’ve landed in. You can hear noises, people talking into the late night. Peeking around the corner shows a large wagon carrying a covered cage.

It looks like that transfer really was planned to be immediate.

There’s two men in heavier metal armor, and one is shaking the guard that Lulette had put to sleep earlier. An older man is with them, tired and aggravated from his expression. He’s not armoured like the others and wears a cloak over his clean tunic.

There’s electricity in the air. The scent of the arcane.

The mystic closes his eyes. You stop watching and dash back through the alley.

Your goat’s Veil-mark is exceedingly obvious even at a distance. He might not be able to track her position accurately, but he will know she’s in the area and not in her cell.

You reach your companions. “We need to leave, now.”

Tobias hesitates. “I, uh, need to go my own way. I can’t let you follow me.” He pauses, then speaks quickly. “I know you’re not with the rebellion, but if you care at all about Silvercrest...”

The youth tells you about an inn near the north wall of the city as a way to get into contact with his group. You know almost nothing about the rebellion he’s talking about, and right now you don’t have time to concern yourself with it.

You all head off through the alley towards the back of the barracks building and Tobias splits off towards the north while you, the bug, the plant, and the goat turn to the south.

The sounds of people stirring, of hurried steps come from all around.


>

[ ] Keep to the alleyways. Find a place to hide.
[ ] Head to the walls of the city. Leave for now if you have to.

>>1137850
>Head to the walls of the city. Leave for now if you have to.
If they can track her general location through magic bullshit they can just do a grid search and find us. So we have to outpace them, hopefully they don't get their horses saddled too fast.

>>1137850
>[ ] Head to the walls of the city. Leave for now if you have to.

>>1137850
[ ] Head to the walls of the city. Leave for now if you have to.

>>1137850
>[ ] Head to the walls of the city. Leave for now if you have to.
Why not just go back to the swamp or get lost in a forest? It's not like we need supplies or anything.

You lead your group, remembering the path you took to get here. The alleys take you southward rather than closer to the gate that you entered through, but you have a headstart over possible pursuers. You could turn onto the open streets and run.

Your goat hesitates, and you grab her wrist. “Come on. We’re getting out of the city.”

“I didn’t get to find the witch yet.”

“You can’t look for her while there’s people chasing you.”

It’s clear that she doesn’t like it, but right now there’s too much of risk to staying in Silvercrest. A risk that you don’t want to take.

They’re chasing you because they suspect Baphy is connected to the witch. That’s technically not wrong.

They might hurt her if they catch her. They might take her from you, if they’re convinced she’s dangerous.

You can’t let that happen. You can’t lose another.

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>>1138257

Light engulfs you and you settle onto four legs again. The marking on your fur glows briefly, then fades as the spirit within decides to rest.

It returned you to your original shape of a smaller gray-furred wolf; something you’re thankful for considering the width of the passage. You continue leading your companions, paws plodding over the dusty ground, searching for a way towards the west gate.

You turn a corner onto an alleyway absolutely filled with pigeons.

The cacophony of flapping and cooing is loud enough that you wonder how you haven’t been hearing it the entire night. Your eyes see through the night easily, but that means little when the entire scene is feathers.

Some of the birds turn to your group, others just hop around and peck bits of probably-bread off the ground and scratch their taloned feet on the cobblestones.

“Git off, git off you little rats!”

An old, bearded, messy man emerges from the chaos, batting birds out of his face. One pair of birds, white and black, remain attached to his head and right shoulder respectively.

He stands up and opens his right eye, scrutinising.

Then he closes it and opens his left.

“Who the hell are you lot?”

You wish your transformation had lasted another two minutes, so you could direct the same damn question back.

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And that's the end of thread #8!

As always I'll announce the next thread on twitter. You can find links to that and the archives in the opening post.

And thanks for the kind comments fellas. Knowing that people like following this silliness is always motivating.

Thanks for reading!

>>1138265
Thanks for the run.

>>1138299
Thanks for running

New thread. New episode >>1159630