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>>1949367
Interlude

In Dis, the city at the end of the world, there is a place called Dinu’s Bones. It’s easy to spot and is often what a newcomer soaring above the city in a sky-rail notices first. They’ll notice that nestled among the city’s many impossible towers, there are two rows of ivory spires that bend and curve inward towards each other. It is the vast and eternal ribcage of some long-dead alien being, one that was dead before the first city in all history was built atop it. For lack of a better term, the people of Dis affectionately call this corpse ‘Dinu’, the reason for which is long lost to time and even after millenia of continual expansion upwards, his ribs still arch high enough to be seen within the towerscape.

If you follow those ribs down far enough, past where they protrude through the undergrowth of the Maze Layer and into the depths below, you can find where his ribs meet the dirt and dust of the earth. There are other bones down here as well, the colossal remains of an impossible creature forming the shape of some subterranean aquatic thing. The bones sing in the night they say, make noises that no tongue could vocalise and the people of Dis, hardy and jaded and full of civic pride as they might be, find the district marked down on most maps as ‘Dinu’s Bones’ to be thoroughly unsettling. They cannot explain why, just that something lingers between those bones of a time before any sort of Man.

Only the poor and the mad would live here by choice and the poor have many other places to go, living in Undertown or the Wallmites or even the Tombs before they would chance the Bones. Thus the Bones are a place for madmen and for those who are not men at all. And here, here where the ribcage contracts along a vast spinal highway that leads into the broken bone throat, from beyond which springs forth an eternal font of purest blackest loam, there are pilgrims.
The men and women crawl through the dirt on their bellies, pulling themselves forward slowly with their elbows and knees. The soil is thick and cloying and they practically bathe in it as they writhe towards the throat, staining their bodies and their souls.

One of them, a filthy and bedraggled man who has been crawling for three days and three nights all the way up from Dinu’s tailbone, looks up as a pair of pristine black boots enter his field of vision. It is a man, tall and slender but not willowy and clad in shining black and white, a suit rich and beautiful enough that it is no doubt worth more than what those who live here would earn in a decade.
Unlike the pilgrims before him, he is not human. He knows Dinu’s true name, the kind of name that can only be spoken not with mouth but with hands. Like the pilgrims before him, he is here to pay a visit to she who makes her home in Dinu’s skull and even for him, there are some traditions that cannot be bucked.

The Inspector General gets down on his belly and begins to crawl.

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>>1949380
Chapter Nine: First Sin

And higher, much higher, above the Undertowns and the Maze, the three of you gather in the bowels of the tower called Folly and discuss your plans to lay low the rulers of this place. There are seven sinners who killed the sun and even now bear shards of its true flame, shards that are twin to the one trapped within your broken lamp-post. You have come to this unholy city not just on a mission of vengeance but also of rebirth, to take back what was stolen and return fire to Man.

The first of the sinners you have identified is the as-of-yet unnamed leader of the Viridescent Consortium, the massive trading company that distributes ‘safe’ flame throughout Dis, where true fire and light are outlawed. You had known the pale green flame to be a blasphemy the moment you saw it and Beatrice later confirmed it to have once been true and pure fire, one that has been perverted from its true shape by some unknowable alchemy. That could only be true if the Consortium had a source of flame that the earthen darkness of Dis could not quench. Somewhere down deep within the midst of their firecrafting works, a trapped shard of the Wheel God waits for you.
This shall be your first great test.

You’ve just reunited with your two companions and alas, you are already running into problems.

“Listen Orion,” Beatrice says. “I know you wanted me to stay behind. But I’ve been doing some talking and- and this Viridian Consortium sounds like some serious shit. The two of you are going to need me.”
The foul-mouthed witch is, as always, a sight for sore eyes. Her gray skin is pale and blotched with ugly discolouration, bruises clustered around her eyes and mouth where her own blood was trying to kill her. Such are the wages of redemption for one who once betrayed humanity. Still, despite her many mistakes and the wickedness of her base nature, you know that she walks towards the light. Her usual hat is gone and she clutches a black and white peaked military cap in its place as if it was a talisman.

“You look as if you can barely stand.”

“Don’t need to stand to shoot.”

Abe just shrugs.
“She’s been like this all day. I’ve been trying to convince her to stay behind.”

They are both correct in their own ways. And who are you to stop someone from risking their life in the cause of righteousness?
“I’m afraid I agree with Beatrice on this one, Abe. But you are right as well, she isn’t combat-ready as she is now. One of us will have to protect her.”

Abe doesn’t look happy about this.
“She told me about what happened to her yesterday. I really don’t think it’s safe for her.”

“It isn’t safe for any of us,” you tell him. “But nevertheless, we must continue to fight.”

“Hey!”
Beatrice interrupts the two of you, the short and slight woman glaring up at you from beneath the brim of her newfound cap.
“Don’t I get a say in any of this?”

1/3

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>>1949388
“You do and we have but this must be considered well,” you say. “I will not stop you from coming with us but you must be careful until you recover. This is serious work.”

“Personally,” Abe says, “I’m beginning to have doubts about whether we should go at all right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said, Orion. I did some talking while I was in the Workshop and they told me a little about this place. The Viridescent Consortium? Their headquarters is a single massive tower made from steel and concrete and is so heavy that people say it’s been sinking into the ground for years. And they reckon that all the firecrafting gets done down in the bottom, beneath the ground. I don’t think we can just storm it.”
You can’t help but notice that he only voiced these reservations after you confirmed that Beatrice would be taking part. You shouldn’t have expected any different. Abraham is quiet and easy to overlook but you know for a fact that he doesn’t value his own life. He’s a modest looking man, tall and bearded and dressed in plain and unassuming clothes. He’s recovered from his gargoyle bite quite well, albeit with the help of Dis’ Tangle Workshop. You can usually rely on him to be practical but unlike Beatrice, who is flawed but undoubtedly bears the faith, you’re never truly sure whether Abraham believes in your cause or not. He seeks death more than he does redemption, though he’ll never say it out loud. Still, you trust him to have your back.

“Are you suggesting we falter? We have little time left before this place swallows us whole. Hesitate and be lost!”

“Can we not wait a few days for Beatrice to recover? Or use a plan more subtle than just storming the gates? These people are rich, Orion and who knows what kind of guards they’ll have!”

“Being kind of a pussy Abe,” Beatrice chimes in with her usual charm.

“And what would you suggest?,” you ask.

The three of you speak for a while longer, trading plans and suggestions to overcome the obstacles in your way. But no amount of talk will change the fact that the foe before you is vast and almost insurmountable or that your chosen mission is nigh-impossible. There is no rationalisation that can make this seem truly wise. But to give up would be to turn your back on God entirely and to let darkness swallow the last of the sons and daughters of light. Dis may continue forevermore but you cannot forgive nor forget them for those who suffer outside its walls, the countless people that this city gave to the dark when it ate the sun. And for what? Just so that it may continue to exist. It is a self-perpetuating sin and though it may seem impossible to fight, you must do so anyway. You are bound to take light into the dark places after all. Where else could you be?

You are Orion, last of the Lamplighters and
bearer of the sun. This is your duty and it is a burden you choose to bear with glee.

>>1949408
In the end you decide to make a distraction, to draw out the Consortium’s guards with trouble elsewhere as best you can before you make your way inside. And once within...it is nothing but death or glory.
All you have to do is present them with something they cannot ignore. How should you best go about this?

You can choose multiple options.


>Setting some part of the tower on fire, a big one, would probably do wonders to scare people out.

>Light the nearby lamp-posts and let true radiance shine upon that little patch of Dis once more. That’ll hopefully attract attention if you do it enough and may drive out any nasty inhuman surprises.

>Call down a star nearby or even upon the top of the Consortium tower itself. There is no judgement more divine.

>Issue a public challenge to the leader of the Consortium. You will not be present where it says you will be, of course.

>Enlist Alex’s little temple-gang to help perform a little of their traditional work.

>It’d be a shame if the Consortium workshop’s latest shipment was filled with real flame instead of the imitation…

>Have Beatrice and Abe circle around the surrounding areas taking potshots at the people in the tower.

>The top of the tower is likely connected to the sky-rails or at least close by, considering how rich and connected they are. If you could just lure down a behemoth from the upper rails it’d cause all sorts of havoc.

>Other (Specify)

>>1949417
>Light the nearby lamp-posts and let true radiance shine upon that little patch of Dis once more. That’ll hopefully attract attention if you do it enough and may drive out any nasty inhuman surprises.
>Enlist Alex’s little temple-gang to help perform a little of their traditional work.
>It’d be a shame if the Consortium workshop’s latest shipment was filled with real flame instead of the imitation…
The gang can do the second part while we do the first. After we supply them with the real flame.

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Welcome back to Lamplighter Quest, now resuming right where we left off! As you might have noticed, I have melded some of the old thread from several months ago to the start of this once since I sort of collapsed halfway through the vote and because I feel it's better for you to plan in the present rather than vaguely recall the plans you made months ago.

I will also be trying to pace myself a little better this time and not over-extend my energy. I hope you all enjoy.

>>1949417
>Setting some part of the tower on fire, a big one, would probably do wonders to scare people out.
>Light the nearby lamp-posts and let true radiance shine upon that little patch of Dis once more. That’ll hopefully attract attention if you do it enough and may drive out any nasty inhuman surprises.
>Enlist Alex’s little temple-gang to help perform a little of their traditional work.
>It’d be a shame if the Consortium workshop’s latest shipment was filled with real flame instead of the imitation…

>>1949417
>It’d be a shame if the Consortium workshop’s latest shipment was filled with real flame instead of the imitation...

Oh boy, oh boy.

>>1949417
>Setting some part of the tower on fire, a big one, would probably do wonders to scare people out.
>Light the nearby lamp-posts and let true radiance shine upon that little patch of Dis once more. That’ll hopefully attract attention if you do it enough and may drive out any nasty inhuman surprises.
>Enlist Alex’s little temple-gang to help perform a little of their traditional work.
>It’d be a shame if the Consortium workshop’s latest shipment was filled with real flame instead of the imitation…

FUCK YES YOU"RE BACK OURO! Glad to see you. Hope life has been less shit for you.

>>1949482
This

>>1949417
>>Light the nearby lamp-posts and let true radiance shine upon that little patch of Dis once more. That’ll hopefully attract attention if you do it enough and may drive out any nasty inhuman surprises.
>>Enlist Alex’s little temple-gang to help perform a little of their traditional work.
>>It’d be a shame if the Consortium workshop’s latest shipment was filled with real flame instead of the imitation…

>>Call down a star nearby or even upon the top of the Consortium tower itself. There is no judgement more divine.

>>1949482
Supporting

Really glad to have you back Ouro.

>Setting some part of the tower on fire, a big one, would probably do wonders to scare people out.
>Light the nearby lamp-posts and let true radiance shine upon that little patch of Dis once more. That’ll hopefully attract attention if you do it enough and may drive out any nasty inhuman surprises.
>Enlist Alex’s little temple-gang to help perform a little of their traditional work.
>It’d be a shame if the Consortium workshop’s latest shipment was filled with real flame instead of the imitation…

“We must present them with something they cannot disregard. Setting some part of their tower aflame and rousing the fire cults should accomplish that.”

“Whatever happened to laying low?,” Beatrice asks, referring to your instructions some few days prior. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

“We won’t be able to hide forever. And it is long past time that the people of Dis learn that there must be consequences for their actions.”
And with that in mind, you continue.
“I shall light the lamps as well, as per my duty. Let them and all else know that the light has not yet died.”

“We could also sabotage some of their shipments,” Abe adds. “They value themselves on their safe fire after all.”

“Hah! We may as well call down a star by that point. Crush their tower down to rubble and sort through the pieces.”
Beatrice drives her fist into her open palm. Sickness or not, she’s clearly got her blood burning again and in her case, that’s not even a figure of speech.

“There’s only one star above Dis,” Abe says. “Any other we call would have to travel some distance.”

“No, there’ll be none of that. I want to keep the Starbreaker a secret for as long as possible.”
You eye the dirty metal briefcase that houses the ancient Second Age machine. Just as the Second Men placed the stars in the sky to watch over the world, so they created the means to pull them down. But even the stars dim and blink out now in the slow dying of the world and you’ll not call on the sacrifice of such holy machines without good cause.

“But anyway, once all that business is done we’ll break in and storm the place right?”
Beatrice has her pistol out, cleaning it with a stained rag that can be no cleaner than the gun itself.

“We’ll be sneaking in,” Abe corrects her.

“Right. And we fuck that up we’ll storm the place.”

“More or less.”
You don’t have the patience to argue with Beatrice right now and beyond that, you have the feeling that she might be right. Subtlety is not your strong suit.

“I’d rather we didn’t,” Abe says. “You musn’t exhaust yourself before we find the shard.”

“I’m already exhausted all the time.”
Beatrice hands him a rifle, pauses for a moment and then takes it off of him to make sure it’s loaded correctly.
“Kind of ahead of the game there, you know.”
1/2

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>>1949651

“We don’t even know if these cults will help us!”

“They will. I have spoken to Alex and though she is not representative, I believe she and others of her Sun Temple are righteous enough that they will aid us. In fact, I am going down there now to enlist them.”


>And you’ll be going alone. Abraham and Beatrice can accomplish some of the other tasks while you are gone.

>Take all of them with you. You’ll need to be on your guard.

>Take only Abraham. You can’t imagine a witch like Beatrice will endear herself to the redcloaks.

>Take only Beatrice. If you must take only one person, she’s the most useful in a firefight.

>Other (Specify)

>>1949655
>>And you’ll be going alone. Abraham and Beatrice can accomplish some of the other tasks while you are gone.

>>1949655
>And you’ll be going alone. Abraham and Beatrice can accomplish some of the other tasks while you are gone.

>>1949655
>And you’ll be going alone. Abraham and Beatrice can accomplish some of the other tasks while you are gone.

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After discussion with a friend, I have decided that in the best interests of my health and to ensure I don't over-extend myself again, I will be doing Lamplighter in update blocks. Basically what this means is that every update will have a voting window of a full hour before I even start writing the next one.

This lets me remain in better health and not burn out while giving you guys plenty of time to get your vote in and discuss. But mostly for the 'my health' part.

Hopefully this'll let me do longer updates in general and I'll go back to normal pacing for action scenes and dice rolls. Your thoughts?

>>1949693
Works for me! Do what you have to do

>>1949693
It'll make the quest run long, but hey, if it works, it works.


As for us going alone, bea is a witch, and abe needs to look after her.

>>1949655
>And you’ll be going alone. Abraham and Beatrice can accomplish some of the other tasks while you are gone.

>>1949651
>And you’ll be going alone. Abraham and Beatrice can accomplish some of the other tasks while you are gone.

Writan'

>>1949655
>Take only Abraham. You need to see how he reacts to the their resolve.

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>And you’ll be going alone. Abraham and Beatrice can accomplish some of the other tasks while you are gone.

“And I’ll be going alone,” you continue. “The two of you can work on some of the other tasks while I’m gone.”

“Which ones? We can’t exactly light the lamps.”

“Don’t worry Abe,” Beatrice says. “Let us handle contaminating the shipments. I’ve already got a foolproof plan on how to sneak proper fire into them.”

“Very well. Abraham, Beatrice, I entrust that to you. Make sure there are no misadventures this time.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

And with that, the three of you part ways. You’ve got a checklist of sorts to fulfill before you can feel comfortable assaulting the Consortium and attending to the redcloaks is one of them. You’ll handle that end and Abe and Beatrice will handle theirs.
Now if you recall correctly, Alex told you that the Sun Temple is based in the Mazes, the layer where the interweaving bridges and roads between Dis’ omnipresent towers close together and form a solid shell of frantic habitation. It’s an intimidating prospect but you’ve already navigated the Folly’s markets so you’re probably prepared.

*******************************

You were not prepared.

The Mazes more than live up to their name, winding streets built ground up next to other streets that hang above others and snake around each other around the bases of towers like the roots of a strangler fig. Everything is cramped up right next to everything else and every single inch of stone and metal that can be used is, if not for habitation than for business or, failing even that, a place to scrawl and defecate. Even the passages with walls and ceilings cannot escape the constant labyrinthine wonder, gaps in the floor letting you peer down into an endless spiral of streets and walkways below while the ceilings quake with the drum of constant footsteps.
People fill the Mazes as best they are able, sharing tiny houses with dozens of others and reappropriating streets and broken down rails for their own purposes. The towers themselves are almost entirely indistinguishable at this level and you could have easily have passed through the lower levels of several without even noticing, such is the entangling nature of this urban undergrowth.

This, more than anything in the valley of tomb and monuments outside Dis’ walls or the ancient silver sky-rails, impresses upon you just how old Dis is. People have been living in the Mazes for generation upon generation a thousandfold, streets built above streets and old houses turned into ramshackle pillars. Everything Dis is built upon is just...more Dis. There are buildings down here, entombed forever by the rising street and fossilized, that are older than the entire Third Age of Man.

In the end it is not you who find Alex but Alex who finds you, the boy-girl tatterdemalion spotting you in an understreet and hastening to your side.
1/2

>>1949983
"What are you doing down here?,” she hisses. “I thought I told you to wait.”

“I would speak with your people.”

“About what?”

“An offer.”


>An offer for them to atone for the sins of Dis.

>An offer for them to prove themselves in the eyes of the Wheel God.

>An offer for them to probably make some money, practically speaking.

>An offer to cause havoc and take revenge against the rulers of Dis.

>Other (Specify)

>>1949992
>An offer for them to atone for the sins of Dis.

>>1949992
>An offer for them to prove themselves in the eyes of the Wheel God.
>An offer to cause havoc and take revenge against the rulers of Dis.
They seem like big fan of havoc if I remember right

>>1949992
>An offer for them to prove themselves in the eyes of the Wheel God.
>An offer to cause havoc and take revenge against the rulers of Dis.
I don't see how they would make money off of this.

>>1949992
>an offer to be trained in the more.....practical aspects of the Faith.
>an offer to make some hope for flames. For where there is smoke...

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>>1950022
Looting the pale flame shipments might be an option and considering that if you're actually successful, Dis is going to find itself in a major shortage.

>>1949992
>>An offer for them to prove themselves in the eyes of the Wheel God.
>An offer to cause havoc and take revenge against the rulers of Dis.

>>1950023
I actually like the training offer

>>1950031
>>1949992
>An offer for them to probably make some money, practically speaking.

>An offer to cause havoc and take revenge against the rulers of Dis.

They don't have to be faithful to be of use.

>>1949992
>An offer for them to prove themselves in the eyes of the Wheel God.
>An offer to cause havoc and take revenge against the rulers of Dis.

>>1949992
>>1950057
Actually change "Make some money" to "receive training".

The people of Dis WILL be in desperate need . . . Of the true flame.

>>1950031
Yeah I'll include that in my vote too then

Vote called. Writing.

>An offer for them to prove themselves in the eyes of the Wheel God.
>An offer to cause havoc and take revenge against the rulers of Dis.

Alex takes a step back, looking up at you suspiciously.
“What kind of offer?”

“An offer for you all to prove yourselves in the eyes of the Wheel God.”

“Have we not proven ourselves enough? We suffer every day for Him and it’s not like He can even see it.”

“Proven yourself, how? Existence alone cannot be worthy or else indolence would not be a sin. Have you laid the servants of darkness to waste? Have you lit the lamps?”

She looks away.
“Those things are easier said than done, especially for an outsider. We try our bes-”

“You try your best and people see you as a nuisance, nothing more.”

“And what are we supposed to do? Die like martyrs? This isn’t wherever you come from, Lamplighter. This is Dis and here, they are the law.”

“And what do you do to strike back against that law?”

When next she speaks, she is a little hesitant.
“Break stuff, mostly? Set things on fire? We beat people up sometimes too and witches too, if there’s enough of us.”

“None of us that is wrong. But it is small. The sinners who rule this city will never even know of you if that is the best you can muster up.”

“And what would you have us do, Lamplighter?,” she asks defiantly. “Sing hymns and pray?”

“What? Certainly not. I want you to help me destroy the Viridescent Consortium.”

This brings her up short.
“The Consortium? That Consortium? The whole thing?”

“Is there any other?”

“That can’t be done. I mean, it’s too big. How could we do that?”

“Take me to your temple and I will show you. What you have been doing thus far is perfectly fine but the scale is too small. With my help, we can loose havoc together and force those on top to take notice. I’m talking actual change here.”

“Okay,” she breathes. “I mean, when you put it like that...are you really a Lamplighter?”

“You know that I am.”

“I didn’t think any real ones still lived. But you’ll probably need more than that to convince everyone else.”

“I have more than that. Lead the way.”

It’s not a long walk to the Sun Temple, the Temple itself just a little cavern hollowed out underneath one street but before the next, a little pocket left behind by slapdash growth. The little flat space, with a roof so low that it brushes up against your hood, is packed full of worshippers. Most of them are not true ‘redcloaks’ but are instead like Alex, wearing and holding red scarves, hats or badges. Many of them turn to look suspiciously at you as you enter but your choice of guide seems to ward them off.
1/2

>>1950374
The cramped temple is scattered with lanterns and candles and braziers. Some of them are dull or broken or bearing only a weak and flickering flame. Some of them even bear the green flame instead, casting the procession in an unhealthy corpse-glow. But most of them are simply unlit and dark, lanterns empty, candles cold.
An elderly man wearing stained robes and a dull red sash is in the center of the kneeling crowd, a burning candle in one hand and a gobbet of molten wax in the other. His hand and upper arms are covered in hundreds of tiny burns. He is no Flame Artist, it seems. You doubt these people have any left.

“Let us pray,” he quavers, waving the candle upwards at a banner in the back of the dirty wall, the familiar shope of the spoked wheel still shining gold. “Pray and be anointed.”
He passes by the kneeling cultists and one by one, sears them with the burning wax. This is like no church service you’ve ever been to.What is this supposed to be?

“Kneel!,” Alex hisses.


>Kneel and join them in prayer.

>Stride to the front of the room, before the banner, and cast off your cloak to reveal your sigil.

>Light the lanterns.

>Other (Specify)

>>1950384
>>Light the lanterns

>>1950384
>Stride to the front of the room, before the banner, and cast off your cloak to reveal your sigil.
>Light the lanterns.
At the same time.

>>1950374
>Stride to the front of the room, before the banner, and cast off your cloak to reveal your sigil.

>Light the lanterns.

>>1950384
>>1950394
Make sure the door is closed or something

>>1950384
>the familiar shope of the spoked wheel
>the familiar shope
>shope

jesus christ

>>1950408
no. you don't get to post. Calm down and wait that one hour. A little typo isn't gonna kill us.

>>1950384
>Light the Lanterns
>Stride to the front of the room, before the banner, and cast off your cloak to reveal your sigil

I love you Ouro thanks for being back
Wish your health was better but don't push yourself too far and vanish on us for a long time, I have been craving this quest for forever it feels like. I am more than happy to take this quest in nibbles if it is what it takes

>>1950416
Well great, now I feel like an old man or something.

>>1950430
To be honest, this is bit more consistent then me showing up, doing 3-5 posts in quick succession and then flaking out for the rest of the day and the day after.

>>1950433
Thats true I forgot how much of a flake snake you could be back in the day :p

Vote closed. Writing.

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>Stride to the front of the room, before the banner, and cast off your cloak to reveal your sigil.
>Light the lanterns.

You ignore Alex’s plea and step forward, stepping through the sea of kneeling faithful as you do so. And as you walk past the broken and empty lanterns you clutch your wick tight and gently brush your hands against them. The metal of your gauntlets make a faint clicking sound against the glass before the strength of your Flame Internal makes itself known.
The susurrations of the crowd give way to an awed, almost horrified silence as one after the other, the lanterns fill with pure white light. This is no false green flame, nor is it the flickering embers that most people must make do with. This is true flame, drawn forth from the burden upon your back and for most people, a sight unheard of since the death of God.

Wick: 5/10

You let your staff drag upon the ground as the worshippers now part before you, the wooden stave striking sparks off the cold dead stone. The old man takes a step backwards and drops his candle, falling to his knees as you stand before him, before the Wheel God’s sign. And as light floods the Sun Temple for the first time in what must have been decades, you hold aloft a burning staff and cast your makeshift cloak to the ground.
Beneath is runecarven plate and the red cloak of the Lamplighters, split only by the golden sigil of the unbroken Wheel God. The silence quickly breaks apart into gasps and whispers and more than a few sobs.
Behind you, you hear the old man speak.
“...The Promised Flame.”

You know not what he means.

“My name is Orion Polycarpus, Witch-finder and Cenobite of Saiph, Ninety-Seventh Watchtower.”
May they rest in peace.
“I doubt those names means anything to you. I have travelled far to-”

Someone in the back, it may have been Alex, raises their hands in the air and shouts ‘Lamplighter!’. Whoever it was, they aren’t alone. Others in the crowd take up the cry and as if a dam just broke, the cultists get to their feet and rush forward like a human wave. Some of them cradle lanterns, others hold tattered pieces of red cloth aloft, many of them are crying. You’ve dealt with this reaction before in the wasteland but never quite this intense.
You do your best to gently rebuff the tide, men and women and children reaching out to touch you, to brush up against your cloak or your armour.

And behind you, the old man rises to his feet.
“Is it really you? After all this time? Lamplighter?”

“Aye. I don’t know how long you have been without my kind but that time is over. I swear upon the Wheel God and the Primordial Flame that I am true.”

“I was just a boy…”
He shakes his head, clearing it.
“Oi! You lot! Get away from him! Give him room.”

“Thank you, Elder.”

“Is it time? Have you come to pass judgement?”
1/2

>>1950704
“Yes.”
You pause and then raise your voice so that all might hear it.
“Yes! The time for judgement is nigh! The time when Dis bows to the children of darkness is at an end!”

You are bombarded with pleas.

“Have you come to rescue us?”
“Where did you come from?”
“Is God really dead?”
“What’s going on?”

“As I was saying, I have travelled a great distance to be here. I am a pilgrim from outside. From the world that this city chose to sacrifice! I am here to bring back the light!”
You wait a moment for the voices to subside.
“And I need your help.”

“Excuse me…?”
It’s the elder again, the man peering at your cloak.
“May we have word, O Lamplighter? In private?”


>Agree. He does appear to be their leader after all.

>”Whatever you have to say to me, it can be said here.”

>Unveil the lamp-post. Let there be no doubt in the righteousness of your mission.

>Agree but bring Alex with you.

>Other (Specify)

>>1950709
>Other (Specify)
Use a Benediction of Succour on the elder
>”Whatever you have to say to me, it can be said here.”

>>1950709
>Agree. He does appear to be their leader after all.

Let's use these people, but not callously. We can always storm out and denounce him after if needed.

>>1950709
>Agree. He does appear to be their leader after all.

>>1950709
>Use a Benediction of Succour on the elder
>Elder, when the sun was aloft in the sky, it gave warmth to us all. Now it is our turn to share our light, not just Lamplighters, but all who are ready and willing to serve.
then we follow him in private.

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>>1950839
fuck why do I notice mistakes only after uploading

Voting closed. Writing.

>>1950857
Is...is that Persona 5?

>>1950857
Haha nice flek snek

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>>1950874
>Persona 5

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>>1950874
Actually, I think I'll be resting for this afternoon. I'll be back later tonight!

>>1950933
holy shit

>>1950934
Thanks for running Ouro, if you need more rest, you can always come back tomorrow, or later

Wew lad. Thanks for running!

>>1950934
Thanks ouro see you later

Aw damn I missed everything. I hope to catch at least something live.

>Agree. He does appear to be their leader after all.

Yay I made it!

Poor elder, we've come to take his flock.

I don't mind causing havoc, but in order to get into the fortress, we're going to need to lessen the amount of guards inside. How are we going to do that?

>>1950933
This is really great!

>Agree. He does appear to be their leader after all.

“As you wish.”
You give him a nod, according him the equivalent respect that you would give a Mayor or otherwise ordained spiritual leader. You doubt he has any kind of certification but he’s clearly all these people have in a city that has abandoned them.

He leads you away to the side, through a small wooden door that you have to duck your head to fit through. What lies beyond isn’t much, just a split-off corner with a sleeping roll on the floor and hollows in the walls stuffed full of candles, scrolls and other odds and ends. Equal parts living space and storage, you get the impression that this isn’t an uncommon situation in the Mazes.
“Rest assured,” you say after he shuts the door behind you. Being away from the crowd is a sizeable comfort in itself. “I have not come to steal away your flock.”

“And yet you shall,” he says simply. “And I cannot blame you for it. What do you know of their circumstances?”

“Very little,” you admit. “I should hope that this does not stem from envy.”

“Of course not. But let me tell you, life here was never easy for those of us who keep to the true faith and it’s only gotten worse in the past three decades since the sun fell. Oh yes, oh yes, we are free to practice as we see fit. The great freedom of Dis,” he says a little bitterly.
“But that doesn’t really mean anything save that they do not openly sweep us from the streets. They still openly turn a blind eye to our misfortune, even when they are not actively causing it. They still shun and hate us and use every excuse to punish us. It is easy to see why the young are so angry. But there is nothing they can truly do. Nothing that I can do. But you...you are a figure who has stepped straight out of legend. You can do anything and I’m sure they believe that.”

“Are you saying that you don’t?”

“I’ve lived too long. You aren’t the first Flame Artist I’ve met. Faith is all very well and good but there is something to be said of the virtues of practicality. I know you will lead them, you are the Promised Flame. All I can do is plead that you do not lead them into danger.”

“I did not lie just now. I am here to topple the princes of Dis from their thrones and I intend to do so.”

“And what of us? Will you drag these people into this fight? I can just imagine that a Lamplighter may survive this. I cannot say the same of us, who barely live as it is.”

“No dragging will be involved. Members of your congregation already chafe at the bit they have been born into, they fight back through any means they can.”

“Youth,” he says as if that word alone said everything. “It doesn’t accomplish anything except to make people spit on us and say that we are ruffians.”

1/2

>>1951277
And yet they are what everyone else speaks of when they mention the Sun Temple, you think to yourself. And while you yourself admonished Alex on the nature of her rebellion, who are you to deny their rightful passion? Who would dare tell them that they aren’t right to be angry? You certainly wouldn’t.
“I will not force them.”

“You might as well have already done it. At least some of them will already do whatever you say, I’m sure. So just...treat them kindly, please? Do not lead them to their deaths.”

“I cannot and will not dissuade anyone from choosing a righteous path. And if that includes danger, so be it. I will not lie to you and promise safety where there is none.”

“And if you fail in whatever godly task you have? You’d drag us all down with you.”

As always, you can choose multiple:

>”It sounds like you should have more faith, elder. God is not yet dead.”

>”And what, you would rather them sit back and be slowly ground beneath the boots of evil? Indolence and inaction can be the greatest sins of all.”

>”For some it is better to fight and lose than to never fight at all. Those ‘youths’ understand that even if you don’t.”

>”This city bought wealth and longevity for itself and all within its walls and let the rest of the world pay the price for it. You are ALL complicit in this unless you fight it.”

>”If it is any consolation, I will not endanger them recklessly.”

>”You have failed them. Get out, lest I drive you out. I know witches with more flame than you.”

>Ask him about these other Flame Artists that he knows of.

>Speak of other things (Specify)

>Other

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Heading off to bed now, will update more when I wake.

I was starting to lose hope that you'd come back, good to see you Ouro

>>1951279
>Ask him about these other Flame Artists that he knows of.
>”It sounds like you should have more faith, elder. God is not yet dead.”
>"But it's not for long if this chance is missed."

>”It sounds like you should have more faith, elder. God is not yet dead.”
Too revealing. He might be protective enough that he might still us out to save his peeps.

>”And what, you would rather them sit back and be slowly ground beneath the boots of evil? Indolence and inaction can be the greatest sins of all.”
Correct, but not convincing.

>”For some it is better to fight and lose than to never fight at all. Those ‘youths’ understand that even if you don’t.”
Correct, but again, not convincing.

>”This city bought wealth and longevity for itself and all within its walls and let the rest of the world pay the price for it. You are ALL complicit in this unless you fight it.”
Might work. Alex did not respond well to this tack.

>”If it is any consolation, I will not endanger them recklessly.”
Yep.

>”You have failed them. Get out, lest I drive you out. I know witches with more flame than you.”
Right, like this is going to help.

>Ask him about these other Flame Artists that he knows of.
Useful.

>>1951279
My vote:
>"I won't put them directly in the line of fire, but you can't take this away from them. They've been waiting to fight all their lives.
Our job is to make their sacrifices, should they choose to make them, worth it."
>"The Flame Artists would be more capable of fighting than your flock."
>"It is the responsibility of all of us to fight."

>>1949367
I hope you're doing well, Ouro. Really glad to see you.

>>1951279
>"Their youthful struggle that you scoff at is as radiant as the sun to my eyes. What do you know of life outside Dis, old man? Do you think you have it bad, being scorned and ignored? I have traveled this broken world for thirty years and the villages can barely muster up gratitude for lighting their lamps. No matter how many witches and their abominations I slay it is too little, too late. The closer I got to Dis people thought Lamplighters were a myth! Mud and Earth and Sorcery is all that's left outside, the rails and concrete shattered and destroyed. There is no hope left in man, those who still live out in the wastes are bereft of spirit and faith but here in your temple it is stronger and more able than I have seen in decades. If they have hope and faith in mankind's future they are my comrades and brothers in arms."

>>1951279
>”It sounds like you should have more faith, elder. God is not yet dead.”
>Show him the lamppost on your back
>Ask him about these other Flame Artists that he knows of.

>>1949367
>Dinu's bones
>Dinu Lipatti's bones

Ouro = John Darnielle

>>1951279

> I come not alone, but with our God. He is not yet dead. Would you like to see him?

> We shall seat him upon his throne, or die trying. There is no retreat for me. There is no "failure", these are the final days and to fail here is death of the soul regardless if the body lives.

> The fate of the world is in our hands, not just for now but for the future too. The times require Heroes; you know that means the times requires the sacrifice that makes men into Heroes.

> Death awaits regardless of if we fight or not. But fighting leaves us with a chance to not just live, but to save everyone else who can't fight. Who has faith, but not strength.

>Ask him about these other Flame Artists that he knows of. If they failed without dying then it is possible they fell and will have to be either brought back into the fold, or dealt with if they fell too far.

>>1951279
> I can't promise you to not spend their lives. I can only promise you that they won't be spent freely. I shall be the miser of what few true believers I have found here.

If we're going to expose the fact that we have a Sunshard, I'd rather it wait until we can use it to bait out one of the other Sunshard holders. Not to mollify some two-bit priest with shaky loyalty to us. We need to wait until it's tactically useful information to share.

>>1951444
Agree. We don't need the sun shard to impress these guys.

>>1951279
>”And what, you would rather them sit back and be slowly ground beneath the boots of evil? Indolence and inaction can be the greatest sins of all.”

Okay, so this is the plan so far:

We're going to sabotage the shipment, have the Red Gang cause havoc, light the nearby lampposts, and set the fortress on fire.

This is a really weird plan. Sabotaging the shipment will do nothing immediate, the Red Gang causing havoc will only distract the local police, lighting the Lampposts will draw attention to the areas around the fortress, putting the human guards on guard. Setting fire to the tower seems to be the only thing that will actually make entrance easier.

The only thing we're going to accomplish with this current iteration of the plan is setting the city on edge and getting the Red Gang persecuted more, while possibly making it easier to enter the fortress, which will be on fire.

We'd still need to navigate the fortress and fight anyone who finds us and isn't frantic with the fire.

If we don't steal both the shipment and the Sunshard tonight, the insanely rich Inventor is going to simply buy more security.

If we only steal the shipment, the Inventor is going to have to make another batch and send more security with the next shipment. This might strain his Shard, and if we steal the second shipment too, he might be unable to immediately make a replacement. If he's using it to power his defences, that might help us too. He might be goaded to send most of his fortress' security with the third shipment, which would make entering the building easy. Best if we can get him to accompany it himself.

That's the best plan, imo. Keep stealing shipments until his money or security runs out, then enter the weakened building, when he thinks that he's only being targeted by pests after his money. Possibly while lighting it on fire.

In order to steal the more guarded shipments, we can light Lampposts, use the Red Gang, cause general havoc. Easier than entering a fortress.

>>1951489
Our gang is not very smart.

>>1951489
Do we have that kind of time?

Against the Witches?

I don't think we do.

So let's not fuck this up okay? Problem solved.

>>1951489
Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good plan.

>>1951489
>>1950031
We'd probably also become really rich. Though it might be hard to convince him that we're only after money if we only fuck up his shipments instead of stealing them.
I'm trying to think of uses for citywide havoc, and it's really a double-edged sword. It's going to convince people to take us seriously, but on the other hand, it'll convince people to take us seriously.

Use #1: Recruitment. We can use tonight to recruit malcontents, racists, the hopeless, the iconoclasts, and pyromaniacs. Also the quiet ones who will only send info. They'll see our power, and be interested in helping.

Use #2: While the police are out dealing with havoc, lesser-guarded areas are vulnerable. Looting, county-jailbreaking, and targeted disruption are all on the table. Maybe even assassination. If there's a Shard that would require police to defend it, Havoc Night is the time to go after it.
>>1951497
>Do we have that kind of time?
>Against the Witches?
>I don't think we do.
>So let's not fuck this up okay? Problem solved.

No offense, but we're on the brink of fucking this up. We're spreading ourselves too thin, with missions that barely have anything todo with each other. We should only cause citywide havoc when citywide havoc helps us, and we should only attack the fortress when we can get in.

We obviously have time against the Sunshardbearers, otherwise we wouldn't have to go through seven of them. Let's put it this way: Either Havoc or Sunshard stealing will start the clock. At the moment, they don't care about us, we're not important enough for them to worry about us.

Ramping up on the Consortium should not get more interest to find us than there is already, until we snag the Shard. From the Interlude, they're busy playing politics with each other.

>>1951489
>>1951523
So, putting all this together? I don't think we should storm the fortress tonight. Still too guarded. We should change our minds.

Tonight, we should sabotage or steal the Consortium shipment, cause citywide havoc, make a spectacle, and quietly fuck up something strategic.

Leave the fortress for later.

>>1951279
>>”For some it is better to fight and lose than to never fight at all. Those ‘youths’ understand that even if you don’t.”

WOOOO IT"S BACK

>>1951541
Time waits for no man. We're doing it now

>>1951651
Why? That's dumb, we're not really lacking in time, we should prepare better, otherwise we're just going to fail this whole mission.

>>1951651
>Time waits for no man. We're doing it now.
If we insist on taking the Shard tonight without attempting to take out shipments first, then we should go all-in without the currently unhelpful, time-and-resource-consuming city havoc plan. If we want to storm the Consortium Fortress tonight, it's not smart to send away the Red Gang through the city when they could be used to help more directly.
Lamplighting might also be a waste of time if we're making a large fire anyway. OuroQM, will a large fire make nearby lit Lamps redundant?

>Set the Rail Spiders on the place and set it on fire, while we use the Red Gang to cut off their water. We'll then go in with the guards' attention split three ways, with no water to douse the fire.
If we're lucky, large fires will be hard for witches to douse with earth.
Hopefully, cutting off their water can be done from where the guards won't easily get to. There are a couple of different scenarios I'm envisioning.

>The Red Gang cuts off the water and defends the breach.
Maybe they poke a hole in the pipes and attack anyone who tries to get close, maybe they take over the water tower that supplies the fortress. This is going to draw off more guards, but they're more likely to get hurt. We might have to go rescue them once we've got the Sunshard.

>The Red Gang breaks shit and runs away.
This will draw few guards, since no one's fighting them. They just need to make sure the vandals don't come back. However, water will be back online soon. Less fighting, less effective.

>>1951717
I know it's been a while IRL but in the quest we literally just decided to go ahead with the attack. Backing out now would be OOC and also really annoying. The plan is already set in motion.

>>1951937
>I know it's been a while IRL but in the quest we literally just decided to go ahead with the attack. Backing out now would be OOC and also really annoying. The plan is already set in motion.
It's a bad plan. It can be easily changed. We've only sent Bea and Abe to fuck up the shipment, and we haven't told the gang what to do yet. We're going to meet up with A&B later anyway. It's not at all out of character for Orion to brusquely tell them that the plan has changed, especially if he thinks it'll give them a better chance. He's not dumb, he just wants the shard.

>>1951651
>>1951717
The Inspector General chasing us down should be a clear sign that the Witches are aware of us and probably planning to use us because that's what we do.

3 days while the IG is busy crawling (maybe).

3 days to get this done.

I'm not saying we need to do it tonight but we should get it done quick.

Also there's probably spies all over in here. We souls really check to make sure nobody left and that they're not beholden to an imp or an important in disguise.

Regardless if we don't move quick then we'll get tagged and crushed.

>>1951987
The Inspector General chased down Bea and let her go. If his boss knows anything about us, she's using us against the others. The witch that helped us into the city is also aware of us, and is also using us against the others. Politics are more of a defense to us than secrecy and speed.

Second, Green Flame is needed at all times. It's shipment after shipment. I bet we could disrupt three shipments in three days.

In the meantime, there's nothing keeping us from targeting one of the less-defended others during the havoc we have planned, other than knowledge that the Flame Cult could probably give us.

>>1951428

> We shall seat him upon his throne, or die trying. There is no retreat for me. There is no "failure", these are the final days and to fail here is death of the soul regardless if the body lives.

> The fate of the world is in our hands, not just for now but for the future too. The times require Heroes; you know that means the times requires the sacrifice that makes men into Heroes.

>Ask him about these other Flame Artists that he knows of. If they failed without dying then it is possible they fell and will have to be either brought back into the fold, or dealt with if they fell too far.

>>1952197
Is this a vote?

>>1952266
Yeah, I replied to the wrong post

>>1952021
So you're fine being used by a Witch? Working to their plans?

Fine I'll compromise

>>1951279
> Ask the Old Man to give you a better target then. If he can't, then it's your plan.

>>1951279
>>Ask him about these other Flame Artists that he knows of.
> Ask the Old Man to give you a better target then. If he can't, then it's your plan.
>”And what, you would rather them sit back and be slowly ground beneath the boots of evil? Indolence and inaction can be the greatest sins of all.”
>”This city bought wealth and longevity for itself and all within its walls and let the rest of the world pay the price for it. You are ALL complicit in this unless you fight it.”

>If this works the sun may return. They didn't Kill it, they ripped it apart. into shards. The Pale Consortium ahs one they used for that abominable pale flame.

Guys. This is the only shard we know about. Quit trying to pussy out.

>>1952462
I mean, the guy has his ear to the ground. He might have a better target.

Vote called.

>>1951279
Not sure how you do votes but ibdobthink it's worth tossing in the Compromise option of letting him try to convince us of a better plan.

But we aren't here to fail. We aren't here to compromise, that's the poison of Dis that led to the state of the world as it is.

> MFW I think Dis isn't that bad and I have to argue against it because Orion is a zealot. I don't think Dis couldn't be better, but so far it sounds like everyone from the Church was a total cunt or blind to their own failures. The Wax Saint, the Train, the Flashbacks with Orion's lover getting chain raped, Bea's discrimination because of her sex and the hidden history of the First Flame.

Well fuck it. Maybe we can become the Flame God and be more active in our role than the last one so that our powers aren't perverted and used for Evil like last time.

>>1952481
Dis is a city of what let's says a hundred Million. It actively fucked over the rest of the planet to a long slo w painful death. Imagine New York, Fucking over the entire rest of the world.


That's still fucking evil.

As for the wax saint she was clearly defective from old age, the sun dying and no maintenance. Even Orion knew that.

As for the traitorous whore who Orion once loved? The men were wrong, yes. But they were not even church men, just men. She had other means available to her, instead she chose witchcraft which turned her into a sociopathic traitor. Additionally if you did not read bea's thing, the old gods in charge of witching people are not above manipulating people to make them their servants.

The gender discrimination was societal, not religious. IT came about to the fact women were more useful making babies than fighting, given WAR. Then it stuck past when it needed too.

The Hidden history is hearsay. We don't know it's validity and it could be shit made up by the old gods to validate their followers. Same goes for Lamplighter sun origins, BUT they used their powers to help people, not turn them into puppets or kill them outright for lulz.

>>1952494
TL:DR if you look past the problems of SJW approved culture and dislike for a wartime effort tied with Religion, the witches and Dis are still super fucking evil.

>>1952494
I never said Dis wasn't evil. But people there have lives and rights without having to kowtow to a God that takes away your humanity if you don't follow it.

The war wasn't to the point of needing women to "just be breeders" when Bea faced her prejudice.

Orions lover explicitly pointed out she had been abused by fellow Lamplighters and that none of them did anything about it when they knew.

They lived in a theocracy, there was no separation of Church and State.

There's no "Muh SJW" here. They had a literal God asleep at the wheel and the men who ruled with his blessing as legitimacy failed in several places.

People in Dis aren't outright puppets. They can become so if they willingly surrender to the Imps though. Bea turned away from the dark gods and the only suffering she received was at the hand of the Lamplighters and herself. Heck even the Imps are more concerned with breeding than anything else, which they can only do with consent so turning people into "literal puppets" actually is counterproductive for them.

Finally sociopaths aren't necessarily evil. They often even recognize the practical benefits of cooperative behaviour.

I feel a large part of why witches are terrible is because they're often wounded people driven to extremes who then receive power at the same time as being made into sociopaths.

I'm just saying there's a lot of morally grey areas in the quest. Which Orion, as a zealot, has difficulty with. Not everything about Dis is "evil", and in large part its ability to cause the catastrophe was due to the Evil that existed among the Lamplighters.

We don't have to tolerate Dis, but I sure do hope Orion is able to learn from it.

>>1952508
Dis is evil, but Dis being super evil doesn't mean we have to ignore the evil that isn't as obvious. Or the good that might exist in Dis.

>>1952533
>But people there have lives and rights without having to kowtow to a God that takes away your humanity if you don't follow it.

The wheel god doesn't do that. That's the Old Gods which they do follow. Humans are born of flame, when the flame gets snuffed out by Earth, Boom sociopath who will happily murder people to increase their own power. The only reason it is not rife here is because the older more established witches would rapidly eliminate a witch who tired that here.

>The war wasn't to the point of needing women to "just be breeders" when Bea faced her prejudice.
You didn't read what I said about it stuicking around past the point it needed too? Lest you forget this was a society more or les forced into medieval stasis after the advent of witches. Shit sucks but yeah the renaissance which was coming got nipped in the bug by Dis.

>in large part its ability to cause the catastrophe was due to the Evil that existed among the Lamplighters.

No. Literally not what happened. Dis broke with the Lamplighters and the rest of the world during the second age, literally nothing that happened in the world affected them, and then they decided to Fuck the planet.


>Orions lover explicitly pointed out she had been abused by fellow Lamplighters

False. It was fellow refugees. Additionally if she didn't tell a lamplighter how would they know?

>MFW I think Dis isn't that bad

It actually is, it's an oppressive society that uses it's people like fodder for the few empowered by earth wealthy elite who Do not give a fuck about the rest. You saying it's not that bad is like saying a consumerist dystopia is not that bad.

>>1952533
I feel like their God is just the sun. Not an actual active entity.

Interlude

The Consortium tower towered up into the dismal sky, a squat rectangle of reinforced concrete and steel plating dotted with windows and gateways that stretched out into the network of streets that crisscrossed the sky. About halfway up the side of the building, well out of the Mazes and into the crisscrossing streets and walkways that made up much of the aerial space between the towers, the Greenside Market thrived. Greenside was an impromptu city square that had originally just been several streets and an old sky-rail lashed together with bridges in between but had, over the past thirty years had built together and joined into a single large communal space atop it all. It had grown and grown, its good becoming richer and higher quality and it still showed no signs of slowing.
The reason for this was due to its proximity to the Consortium or more specifically, its western 34th floor vent. Large shipments of green flame were pushed through the vent four times a day and thanks to a lucrative trade deal, most of it went directly to the uses of Greenside, keeping the marketplace well-lit and warm as well as providing them an excellent excess trade good that could be sold at below market price due to buying directly in bulk. Greenside had built its fortunes entirely on just being [i[near[/i] the Viridescent Consortium, testament to the power of the throbbing green heart of Dis’ commerce.

Greenside had a great many middlemen, those who bought from the Consortium in bulk and then, after diluting and watering down the barrels, made an excellent profit shipping them off to vendors, be it those in the Market or further afield. The Consortium pumped out the pale flame in enormous quantities but it was never enough. The city always needed more. Light and heat remained basic necessities for the human population after all and after the Senate passed the Safe Burn Act, the Consortium’s miraculous safe-flame, which provided heat and light but did not discriminate against the children of the Earth, was the only game in town. That it was fairly common knowledge that the Iron Duke, the little-seen founder and leader of the Consortium, was the one responsible for funding the Safe Burn Act in the first place meant nothing.

Out of all these middlemen, the one that is currently of any concern is a relatively young man named Adrian who cannot believe his luck. He had been looking to hire a witch for his business for some time now to help him fortify his green flame shipments. As far as he could tell, there was no witch-sign that could actually do this but the general public believed there was and barrels that could be stamped with [Witch-Fortified: Guaranteed] surely outsold the regular kind, even if they all were just the same product. But hiring a witch had not been an easy task for he was far from the only one looking.
1/2

>>1952593
Witches were just too damn useful for just about anything, a good one without any obvious eccentricities could name their price.
So imagine his surprise when a witch came to him! She had been an outlander no less, a bruised and beaten refugee from the savage wastelands and she had the brand to prove it. He had been able to acquire her help for a mere pittance of what a capable witch could ask for! Some would say that Adrian had taken advantage of her ignorance but in the end, that was just good business. Things were looking up.

******************

“Man, I can’t believe that idiot is literally paying me to contaminate his whole supply room. Look at how many of them are in here!”

“Quiet down Beatrice. He might hear you.”
Abe held the green-burning lantern high as he and Beatrice walked between the barrels inside their ‘employer’s’ warehouse.

“Nah, we good.”
Beatrice reached into her pockets and retrieved a pinch of blackpowder, tipping it into her mouth and licking her fingers. A shiver passed through her entire body before her bruises began to darken and a thin line of blood began to trickle down from her nose.
“Get that barrel open and help me bleed into it. Just a bit should do.”

>>1952554
Yeah but the alternative was WH40K Imperium.

Let me rephrase: Dis us full of people who found living there to be preferable to living under Lamplighter rule.

Almost none of them are witches.

The wheel god literally made stupider people to control them easier. They're still puppets, just with longer strings.

Apologies for the delay on the actual update. These votes are turning out to be a little annoying to properly collate and I keep going back and checking them.

>>1951407
That is in fact the origin of the name, yes. It was originally a placeholder but I decided I like it enough.

>>1952610
>>1951407

Aw yiss, I knew it.
Missed ya.

>>1952599
>Let me rephrase: Dis us full of people who found living there to be preferable to living under Lamplighter rule.

Dis left the world of men before the proper lamplighter order even formed. They've been alone for centuries and liked it that way. The people here know o other way because unless you're a witch or a earth beast you literally cannot leave, and why would they promote the good things about their enemies?


Almost none of them are witches.
A great deal of them owe their livelihood, shodaws and other things to witches or earth beasts. Backing the flame would literally get them killed. That said they hate outsiders and anyone not born in dis or not born in their district or closer to the center is less than human to them.

>The wheel god literally made stupider people to control them easier.
Citation needed. It did not make people dumber. It at worst made a new race of humanity because witches and earth beasts were ANNHILATING the previous one.

But apparently all religion is evil so having more gender equality and slightly better technology makes it perfectly alright to mass genocide the rest of the planet entirely.

Goddamn, my connection is not liking anything today. Constantly failing to load youtube videos and just this fucking quest thread is enough to induce lag when I try to move around in it.

>>1952636
When did I say all religion is evil? I get the feeling you're arguing about real life stuff here instead of talking about the in game universe. You keep tossing in things like implying I'm a SJW who is against war, or against religion.

> MFW I'm actually Mormon IRL.

You really need to re-examine your relationship with God bro. And maybe tone down the zealotry a lot. Try to keep your real life politics out of the quest.

>>1952667
No worries! Pretty sure we'll all be here whenever you get back.

>>1952636
Oh. And citation for making the men dumber? Literally a major plot point regarding the lost marvels of the last age because they were basically elves.

You're seriously asking a citation for a major plot point?

Let's stop here because I don't want shitposting to ruin Ouro's quest, but I really don't appreciate all the implications you made about me personally.

>>1952668
Your entire hatred of this is based on "Muh gender quality" and the fact that religion plays a part in the world. Religion like everything can be corrupted or ignored. These mortals were just that mortal. Does not give Dis a right to genocide people. Also Dis is not provably better for humans.

>>1952682
>Literally a major plot point regarding the lost marvels of the last age because they were basically elves.
THAT THE WITCHES WIPED OUT ENTIRELY. You dumb motherfucker, you can't cherry pick like that. The new race of men needed to come about because the old one was being driven to extinction.

>>1952667
>living in a desert island penal colony
>expecting good internet

>Speak

“I promise that I will not endanger them unduly or spend their lives for no purpose. But neither will I stop them from doing what is right. It is better for some to fight and lose than to never fight at all.”

“Very romantic,” the elder says. “Idealistic even. But this is the real world and you need more than just that.”

“What is faith if not that? I would take a dozen empty-headed idealists who still dream over a hundred cynics who have given up. It is easy to say that it is to too awful be changed, it gives you the excuse to sit back and not even try. Indolence and inaction can be the greatest sins of all.”
You shake your head.
“You may think them fools but if any are to grasp the future and help save us all, it will be people like them.”

“You mean people like you.”

“I am not here to self aggrandize but...yes. You cannot ask me to question faith. God is not yet dead, not as long as fire still burns in the hearts of Man. Some of your redcloaks have that flame still and you would extinguish it.”

“I would not!,” he protests. “That isn’t what I’m trying to do! I protect them! If they would just follow my advice-”

“To what? Die slower? I do not believe you are a bad man. Can’t you see that this is the last chance we’ll ever get? The fate of the world still hangs in the balance but that will never last. I imagine the first to fade away shall be my people and locked away behind your walls you would neither notice or care. But it won’t stop. And we can either stop it now or surrender. What would you have me do?”

He is silent for almost a minute, his eyes flicking from the lanterns to the ceiling to your sigil.
“I...I cannot condone these actions. They are dangerous and will only bring the law down upon us all. I will tell my congregation this.But! I imagine that I will be ousting a good number of malcontents today. I shall have to do it publically, to make sure that it is known that the Temple is not associated with ruffians and looters. These outcasts will surely not wish to join their cause and they will not go with my blessing, neither will they be waiting for you in the street behind this one. Do you understand?”

“I do. Thank you.”

“For what? I am doing nothing to aid you, you are a danger to us all. Now begone!”

“I shall. But just one more thing first. Just now, you told me that I wasn’t the first Flame Artist you’ve seen. Where are they?”

“Nonexistent, I’d wager. Sure people are probably still born with the gift and the Wick but it is not taught. Even before the sun fell it was increasingly taboo and now? They break the law with their very existence.”

1/2

>>1952770
You can’t say you’re surprised. This city no doubt fell into the veneration of the Old Powers of the Earth long before the death of the Wheel God. They would not tolerate the gifts that the Primordial Flame bestowed upon humanity to fight them.
“So who did you see?”

“When there were Flame Artists still practicing publically, back when it was still allowed, most were with organisations like us. Not a surprise, is it? The elder of the Temple back when I was just a young man was a true master though he kept his skill hidden. He was the greatest of us all.”

“And what happened to him?”

“He vanished when the sun fell. There were rumours that he was dragged from his home, a fragile old man, and was taken away. I never found out the truth but I’m willing to believe it. There were many purges in the name of civil unity in those days, people were panicking. No doubt he was guilty of some rebellion or another even if he himself didn’t know it.”

“I see. I think I understand your position a little better now.”

“No. All that tells me is that you were right. In the end it won’t matter if we fight or not, they can always find an excuse. But still…”
He sucks in his breath for a long moment.
“You told them that you were going to save Dis. Is that true?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think you have come here to save this city. You have come here to destroy it.”


>”I can only hope so.”

>”I know that many people who live here have committed no true crime. This does not change my mission.”

>”It is, in a way, self-defence.”

>”If there is value in the people of Dis, it will persist beyond the city itself.”

>”Dis was meant to fade and die nearly thirty years ago. It chose itself over the world for a reprieve. I will not grant it another.”

>Other

>>1952777
I come to return the sun. If the city can be saved while doing so I will. Regardless a city is not buildings and streets, it's people. I plan to save as many as I can. If you saw the outer world, where witches and beasts of the earth go from here or from below to slaughter every man woman and child, you'd agree with me. If I fail, Dis will be the last place humans are left, and then even that will end, as witches and servants of the Earth either kill the rest off or turn them into cattle.

And since today is Game Day, I will be off! The voting window will remain open until I return.

>>1952688
Since the thread is over let me reply.

No reason to make them dumber just because they were dying out - oh wait literally because "they were too curious and looked into witchcraft" and then some people used it. Why not make people smart AND strong? Why dumb them down? Wouldn't smart And strong men be more capable of crafting tools to defeat the Witches instead of merely holding them down? Or would they look too far into the Wheel God?

"An open mind is an unguarded fortress" - Inquisition thought of the day.

Honestly I see Dis as more like Israel.

Also my point was that there was plenty of corruption and inequality under the Lamplighter rule. Like living in a Muslim theocracy.

I have no problem with there being religion in the world, not sure where you keep getting that from. I mean, Dis has its own Gods too.

But the Wheel God did nothing. He couldn't even protect himself. And the fact that there's an alternate history makes me suspicious if he was even a "God" at all.

Believe me, us Mormons know all too well how religion can be corrupted.

But you're so busy getting mad at reasons you think I have for criticizing the Lamplighters that you can't think straight

Oh damn Lamplighter!

>>1952777
>”If there is value in the people of Dis, it will persist beyond the city itself.”

> I plan to destroy Dis, but also to do my best to save its people.

> I bring the Light, and it can drag many unpleasant truths into sight. But as it burns out evil, it warms and nurtures the good. It will hurt, and it will be hard. But what is left behind can heal stronger and better than what it was before.

> It is a difficult thing to ask someone, even one such as yourself who has managed to hold on in this pit of darkness for so long. But please, have a little more faith. Not just in me, but that the Wheel God WILL save those that can be saved, and that here there exist men worth saving still who will also work to make it happen.

>>1952777

>>1952788
Seconding this

>>1952847
The reason they were not as smart? Partially to resist the memetic effects of witch craft. In case you forgot witch sign is memetic and easily spread through sign. Aka, it's a huge mindfuck tot he second men and the witches royally fucked up the planet in their war. The third men came about they were tougher and more able to resist the witch sign. MNot necessarily dumber, but when you have a massive war going on and have lost the vast majority of your technology base, recreating lost tech is not easy. You're assuming that "we can't replicate the feats of the past = dumb." I'd like to see how much progress you get trying to make a fusion power plant with only a rock and some twigs.

Your point was Dis is literally better than everyone else. It's not and the only reason it's progressed as far as it has, and partially recaptured a fragment of the second age was due to it's monstrous actions.

The wheel god is literally too big and powerful to safely affect people. We are getting scorched every time we simply unveil a fragment of it, dead but still living much like the olds gods. Furthermore it took the dead gods nearly a full age to wake back up after death. It'd scorch anyone trying to act on it, quite possibly to death. Kinda hard to interact with anyone when hey guys and then they turn to ash.

As for defending itself, other than "BURN EVERYTHING EVEN MORE" what could it have done? Nothing, and the aforementioned course of action probably still wouldn't have saved it and turned the rest of the planet into a barren rock.

Dis is still a shitty place to lvie anon. Yopu saying it is not so bad demonstrates a severe rose tinted glasses favoritism to it, because it's a post modern dystopia due to not getting fucked up the ass like the medieval era world around it.

>>1952777
>There will be many who will not be able to live in the chaos to come. I do not care. When they watched the sun be torn down from the sky, and tolerated, nay, GLORIFIED the instigators, I lost all sympathy for them.
>Many will burn in order to bring back the light, but that is a burden you and I both accept.
>Show him our hands

>>1952898
Ironically our write ins are similar.

And stupider people are more susceptible to memes.
Finally they literally had an age to recreate the lost technology but they didn't. They just held the line. What doesn't grow, dies.

Dis survived by compromising. People need Sun but also Soil to survive remember.

There is hopefully a way to break the cycle.

The Satellite's are weird too though. And the whole "shifting earth" prior to the sun god.

And like I keep saying, just because Dis is shittier than the Lamplighter's were, it doesn't mean we can't make something better than what they had that allowed the world to get fucked in the ass.

All I said was "Dis wasn't that bad" not that it was better. I never said

> Your point was Dis is literally better than everyone else.

Literally. I never said that.

But it does sound like the Church was pretty oppressive to a degree not excused by the situation. If it had been more flexible, then things could have been handled better. They wouldn't have people living such shit situations that they figured Dis was a better choice for them even if it fucked over everyone else.

And yet, Orion as a character isn't the type to ask those questions. Dude has a mission, and fixing the world can come after saving it.

>>1952777
>”If there is value in the people of Dis, it will persist beyond the city itself.”

>>1952946
>And stupider people are more susceptible to memes.
Yeah but Third men are not nearly as susceptible to Memetic influence as per word of god.

>Finally they literally had an age to recreate the lost technology but they didn't. They just held the line. What doesn't grow, dies.
They had a couple of hundred years and were fighting constantly and under constant siege. It took Europe nearly a millennia to get out of the dark ages. Technology is exponential and getting set back to base zero sets people back quite a bit before the wars and conflict occurs. Being busy does not mean dumber.

>Dis survived by compromising.
It survived by actively hunting down and killing anyone associated with the flame and then killing the sun. That's not compromise anon.
>People need Sun but also Soil to survive remember.
people were surviving fine without the witches and monsters trying to eat them.

>There is hopefully a way to break the cycle.
What cycle?

>The Satellite's are weird too though.
They are night light and probably recon devices the second men set into the sky. Because you know, earth beasts hate light.
>And the whole "shifting earth" prior to the sun god.
Earth still shifts anon. The Landmasses are by and large dead gods the first flame and first men killed.


>But it does sound like the Church was pretty oppressive to a degree not excused by the situation.

How was it oppressive? So far all we saw was a no girls allowed from a woman who is far removed from the fight and front, and Orion's youth which was during a war and bad. The saitn was broken anon and we've seen so little of the rest of the church as to not be able to make a clear judgment except based on the "They must be bad because girls are nto allowed to fight" front.

>>1952998
> It took Europe nearly a millennia to get out of the dark ages.

Ironically the "Dark Ages" is a meme. There was constant technological and social progress in the middle ages.

And the Lamplighters were oppressive with an entrenched underclass that didn't have access to protection from the nobles.

Finally the cycle is dealing with the Earth Gods. If the Earth God's can't be killed, then they have to be dealt with eventually. Somehow. Man I hope the Wheel God's plan isn't to burn everything if we DO bring him back.

Maybe there is a way they can coexist. Like you said, Dis had lasted longer than anything else. No sense throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe it would have been a nicer place if it wasn't constantly under attack, and backed into a corner (much like Israel).

They're just becoming able to make progress themselves.

>>1953032
>Maybe it would have been a nicer place if it wasn't constantly under attack, and backed into a corner (much like Israel).
they've had 20 years of unopposed life, and even before that most everyone just ignored them.

they're doing plenty oppressing themselves.

>>1953032
>>1953032
>Ironically the "Dark Ages" is a meme. There was constant technological and social progress in the middle ages
And all we saw was a single snapshot of the Third age. You assume it was ALWAYS like that when ouro had said trains and guns were a recent re-invention.

>And the Lamplighters were oppressive with an entrenched underclass that didn't have access to protection from the nobles.
So exactly like Dis except the nobles of dis could rip you apart with your own shadow for annoying them. Or worse.

>Finally the cycle is dealing with the Earth Gods. If the Earth God's can't be killed, then they have to be dealt with eventually. Somehow. Man I hope the Wheel God's plan isn't to burn everything if we DO bring him back.
The cycle was supposed t end with the prophecy, but hey Dis broke that.

>Maybe it would have been a nicer place if it wasn't constantly under attack, and backed into a corner (much like Israel).
Dis has literally never been attacked, except by itself, since the end of the first age when it said "Fuck everyone else i'm leaving" Anything bad about them is their own doing, they've been alone for Millennia at this point.

>They're just becoming able to make progress themselves.
Literally not anyone's fault but their own, They have had millennia, unmolested, unattacked to do so on their own.


Imagine say, New York, Disappearing for a thousand, then coming back, fucking over the entire rest of the world, and STILL being only half as good as the world at it's best. That's basically what happened. Dis was never attacked, it was never under threat except from the prophecy which we all know are nebulous at best, and itself. It's a shitty place to live because it's run by a bunch of sociopaths who want to stab each other in the back and take control for themselves.

>>1953051
Jews had to wander for 50 years.

China took 50 years to (start) recovering from the Great Leap Forward.

Europe took 70 years to recover from WW1.

20 years is barely a generation.

>>1953095
> Imagine New York

Escape from New York?

>Only threat was the prophecy

In a setting with multiple gods and magic, that's more of a threat than you might think. I mean isn't that what religion is, in a sense? Don't you have faith Anon?

>Dis has literally never been attacked.

Like you said, we only get snapshots. They had to isolate themselves for a reason.

>>1953341
>In a setting with multiple gods and magic, that's more of a threat than you might think.
The prophecy itself was vague as shit anon. and all prophecies are up to interpretation.

>Like you said, we only get snapshots. They had to isolate themselves for a reason
Anon not even the Second men could get close enough to build a rail there. Ouro has stated literally no one attacked them because no one COULD. Except themselves.

>>1953341
China and Europe are entire nations. Dis is one city. One where the ruling powers have a tight control on economic and political power.

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>>1953364
Exactly they're working with significantly less.

>>1953363
Literal God says he's coming for you, I dunno man. Do I think what they did was worth it or right? No. But it's kind of understandable.

>>1953363
Ech. "Attack". Is Germany under attack by refugees? Is France under attack by Anglo language and culture? Is all of Asia under attack by Chinese pollution? Is the Islamic world under attack by extremism?

Dis had a rail line, they ripped it up. We followed one of the rail lines to Dis even. They never fully completed it, but it wasn't "unreachable" until the third age when things went down.

>>1953459
Ok first of all it said Dis would be no more, for all we know it'd get a name change. Vague prophecies are vague.

>>1953466
Dis was literally never reached by anyone other than witches or beings of earth since the second age. They suffered no attack or anything else for at least an age and a half.

>>1953478
Yeah clearly the Wheel God liked them a lot.

They're just hardcore AnCaps. Which is like, the worst philosophy. But I can respect their desire for self-determination.

Less so ruining the whole world.

It'll be interesting when we find someone who can explain why they did it. Like someone involved in it.

We certainly didn't get the reception from the refugees fr the third age that we expected to get.

Kind of hard to explain why you need a war to people who think it's over to be fair.

>>1953539
>We certainly didn't get the reception from the refugees fr the third age that we expected to get.

what?

>>1952349
>So you're fine being used by a Witch? Working to their plans?
Until suddenly we're not, yeah.

>>1952593
>Large shipments of green flame were pushed through the vent four times a day
Ahaha, we're going to need to steal more than three to make a dent in the Consortium's finances.

>>1952875
>”Dis was meant to fade and die nearly thirty years ago. It chose itself over the world for a reprieve. I will not grant it another.”

>"Who was responsible for tearing down the Sun?"

It would be nice to have more leads. More info could mean easier targets.

However, seeing exactly how rich the Consortium is, how many shipments it can afford to send out per day, I'm leaning back towards storming the place tonight. Can't afford the Iron Duke simply buying more security. Blitzkrieg all the way.

>>1952777
>"My mission is to revive God. If something can't stand the God's light, is it worthy to survive?"
>”If there is value in the people of Dis, it will persist beyond the city itself.”
>"Who was responsible for tearing down the Sun?"

>>1951489
>>1951523
Anon has the right of it we need a long term plan and a better one than just charging in on a suicide mission, however we do need to move with a sense of urgency in retrieving the shard.

Also the Pastor doesnt realise as soon as we start fucking with the status quo in a serious manner using the cult the powers that be will come down like a ton of bricks on them and no amount of removing firebrands from their midst will assuage that outcome.

>>1953928
If we decide we're not going to try to bait the Iron Duke and his guards away from his shard, then we're going to have to try to maximize chances of survival.

Vote called. Writing.

>”If there is value in the people of Dis, it will persist beyond the city itself.”
>"Who was responsible for tearing down the Sun?"

“I come to return the Sun and if this city can be saved while doing so, I will. But a city is more than its buildings and streets, it is its people! If there is value in the people of Dis, it will persist beyond the city itself. But there is no value in what it is now, the very institution is rotten to the core! Supporting that through inaction is itself a sin.”

“It must be easy to speak of such disasters when they are subjected upon others.”

“Many in my position would have spoken of it even easier and without my kindness! When the Sun was tore down, a choice of sorts was made by all in Dis who chose not to fight it. Many will not survive but I do not care. That is the price of glorifying when you should have castigated. But we are speaking in circles. Just know that there will be some who born. Some may not deserve it but that is just the way of things. We all burn in the end.”
Coming to a conclusion in your head, you unbuckle your right gauntlet and pull it off, revealing the painful scorch marks disfiguring your hand, wrist and beyond.
“All of us.”

He stares at your hand, captivated by it.
“A-and what is this? You are a Lamplighter! You cannot burn.”

“I have seen the face of God. It was a scouring experience. Do you doubt me now?”

“You know I can’t. Is there anything else you need before I expel you from this Temple in disgrace?”

“Yes, actually. I am new in town and though my purpose is righteous, my knowledge is less than perfect. I already have some targets but if you can tell me who was involved in the death of the Sun, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“They don’t particularly crow about that fact, you know.”

“I guess as much. But still, some of it should be obvious.”

“Oh, surely so. To start with, you could point fingers at any who rapidly benefitted from the situation but there were many. A lot of scum rose to the top.”

“The Viridescent Consortium, for one.”

“Absolutely. They didn’t even exist before it happened or if they did, I’d never heard of them. And now they’re everywhere. They’d been waiting.”

“Anything else like that you can think of?”

The old man thinks for a time, a gnarled and wrinkled finger tapping against his chin.
“The Tangle Workshop, for one. They’d existed for years beforehand but they were small and they never had any of the business they have today. They have all sorts of strange life mimicry and their rise afterwards was fast. Like they had a deal with someone. And speaking of the Workshop, there’s also the Chemist!”

“A chemist?”
1/3

>>1954270
“No, the Chemist. The so-called genius recluse behind all those damn Tonics. They’ve only been on the market for the last few years, much later than anything else suspicious but those restoratives of his do things that they say not even the Second Men could do. I thought of him because he works closely with the Tangle Workshop. They guard and protect him supposedly and in return they get first access to his chemicals.”

Tonic...the name rings a bell. Hadn’t the Workshop members who had seen to Beatrice and Abe dosed them up on that stuff? Beatrice in particular had seemed quite taken with the stuff, claiming that it actually made her perpetual sickness disappear. You hope it’s not addictive or worse.
“Anything else that springs to mind.”

He scowls and when he next speaks his voice is sour.
“There’s always the Sables. Don’t know what their link would be but they have their repugnant fingers in everything. They did only make it big after the sun fell but that’s not totally suspicious in their case, the sunlight had been a natural barrier to them anyway.”

“You don’t sound fond of them.”

“It’s the Sable Imp Fellowship or S.I.F sometimes. You heard of them? They have their big business excavated down through the Undertowns, giant dirt mines. They dig up soil and clay and imps. They literally dig them from the earth and stranger things beside, or so people say.”

The name rings a bell. Where have you heard it before? You think for nearly a minute before your memories deposit you back in the company of the beggars in the Folly Market. More particularly the company of Old Boniface, the rotting corpse-man who had claimed to have died and to have bought his way back thanks to the Sable Imp Fellowship. The debt for paying this had brought him to poverty. You still don’t know what to think of him and people like him. He’s clearly a child of darkness of some sort, isn’t he? Isn’t he?
“I’ve heard they raise the dead. But I have never seen Benediction nor Witchcraft that could accomplish that.”

“But accomplish it they do. And what’s worse, they act as a hub for all the imps in town. Lease out places for them to stay, hire bodies to wear, feed them prisoners and debtors to tame...It’s a bad business. Witches are one thing but imps are no good for anyone”

More memories come rushing back, a poster seen on the side of the market wall, a remark made by an imp who had attempted to ambush you…
“People sell their bodies for imps to possess.”
You’re not sure what else you expected. Had you not already seen a brothel offering up human woman for imp pregnancies?

2/3

>>1954271
“It’s an excellent way to clear debt or so I hear. They make the imps sign a contract beforehand so if they skip town with the body or damage it or refuse to give it up they have to pay a fee. Theoretically everyone gets their own soul back after the lease is over. Except for the criminals the city ships them. They let the imps tame them and then sell them back as servants. I don’t think anyone deserves that.”

“That’s disgusting.”
You set your staff down, the tightness of your grip beginning to hurt your fingers.
“And this is the kind of depravity the people accept?”

“God made us to adapt and survive. I don’t think He planned for us to adapt to this but people can and will. People will accept anything as normal if it means they don’t have to question it.”

“What else?”

“Nothing of any particular note. I honestly don’t know the answer or who exactly was involved. But it makes me wonder...how would they get involved in the first place? They must have kept this plan secret for a long time so they couldn’t have told many people who weren’t directly involved. So those who were in on it must have all been essential to the crime in some way. Maybe if you think about that you might find more.”

“Thank you, elder. You have done much to help me today.”

“Eh, what are you talking about? I’ve had enough of you and your dangerous ideas. I haven’t helped you, I’ve thrown you and all those other dangerous people out. Or will, at any rate. Please remember where you’ll be able to not meet them shortly.”

“Oh yes, my mistake.”


>Leave immediately. You need to get in contact with Alex and the others that the pastor will set aside for you.

>Stay awhile and speak to the congregation first.

>Meditate.

>Bestow a Benediction upon the elder.

>Other

>>1954272
>Meditate.
It'll be nice to do so in an actual place of worship

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>>1954270
>there will be some who born.

That should really be 'burn'. And I should really proof-read a little better.

So I have a bunch of questions for Orion.

>Does lighting Lamps force away Imps?
>Do Imps have to follow contracts? They have to have permission from the people they possess, sleep with, and Tame, so verbal consent ought to be magically important to them.
>Do large fires count as Lamps when it comes to warding off the Dark and its creatures?

So we've got the Doctors, the Green Fire, the Chemist, the Imps. The Inspector-General probably serves one of the Seven.

Where are the Witches?

>“Nothing of any particular note. I honestly don’t know the answer or who exactly was involved. But it makes me wonder...how would they get involved in the first place? They must have kept this plan secret for a long time so they couldn’t have told many people who weren’t directly involved. So those who were in on it must have all been essential to the crime in some way. Maybe if you think about that you might find more.”
They'd need someone to pull down the Sun and someone to bottle the pieces. The GFC is probably the bottler, what did they need the Imps, Chemist, and Doctors for?

>>1954279

>Does lighting Lamps force away Imps?

Proper sunlight acts as a solid wall for Imps, they cannot enter it. Any that get caught up within it get forced back down into the ground and if that ground is concreted up, they go splat instead.

>Do Imps have to follow contracts? They have to have permission from the people they possess, sleep with, and Tame, so verbal consent ought to be magically important to them.

Imps require consent for all of those things because they cannot interact or meddle with the business of life otherwise. As errant syllables of the witch-sign names of the Old Powers, there is an inherent barrier between them and humanity that requires consent to cross. This is also why witches need a similar process of informed consent to become what they are. Any great cross between the internal workings of a human soul and the dark need people to let the dark in. It doesn't always have to be done fair but it has to be done.
The contract on the other hand is just a business deal. They are not bound to it by any mystical means, just financial and legal ones.

>Do large fires count as Lamps when it comes to warding off the Dark and its creatures?

Large fires are good but they're not proper sunlight. The central lamp-posts, as relics from both the First and Second Ages, are designed to transmit something very much like true sunlight to everything within its radius.

>>1954272
>>Bestow a Benediction upon the elder.
fuck it. Imp or no, elder sounds like he could take a fire-infused break.

>ask for a map of lamposts. preferably, one with an optimal route for someone to make a perfectly harmless pilgrimage in as little time as possible, at a full run.

>>1954271
>But accomplish it they do. And what’s worse, they act as a hub for all the imps in town. Lease out places for them to stay, hire bodies to wear, feed them prisoners and debtors to tame...It’s a bad business. Witches are one thing but imps are no good for anyone”

I wonder if we could steal those lists and carry out a night of long knives type deal, yknow butcher imps en mass

>Stay awhile and speak to the congregation first.
>meditate

We need to tell anyone who won't be joining us to lay low and out of trouble because the city is going to come down on those who worship flame like a ton of bricks

>>1954272
>Bestow a Benediction upon the elder.
>It only takes a spark to start a wildfire elder. Remember that.

>>1954291
>>1954272
>Meditate.
>Ask for a map of lamposts.
Yeah. I'd be especially interested in any Lampposts near the Sable Imp Fellowship holdings. They sound like easy prey. A good target for Havoc Night. While everything is on fire, we light their Lamps and steal their shards.

>Preferably, one with an optimal route for someone to make a perfectly harmless pilgrimage in as little time as possible, at a full run.
Save it for Havoc Night.

>>1954288
Doctors to Prepare the bodies of the possessed for imps and to fortify witch bodies.
Chemist to for sun fire retardant (chemically treating the sun breaker and people to not burn) and healing boosts
Imps for workers that would not blab. Possibly needed them to pull up a old God fragment capable of killing the wheel God. (Possibly from the one whose corpse smothered the first frame to death.)

>>1954288
Imps probably pulled something up that helped break the sun, doctors may have developed a host for it if....... shit what if they someone made some kind of super witch?

Witches are also probably part of some kind of perverted priesthood/upper class unless they for whatever reason aren't on good terms with the powers that be.

>>1954291
>fuck it. Imp or no, elder sounds like he could take a fire-infused break.
We really ought to be properly paranoid about everyone we trust with our location and plans. I'm worried about running out of Wick, though. I'd really rather avoid using our Lamp if possible. It's game over if we're burned all over.

>>1954293
>I wonder if we could steal those lists and carry out a night of long knives type deal, yknow butcher imps en mass
Probably. Can you think of a plan where it's beneficial to terrorize the city like that, and easy to find and kill the imps?

>>1954313
Mass hysteria and panic on most of not all levels of society makes it easier to get to places we aren't supposed to be if they're trying to impose order or protect certain interests

Also we'd be destroying if not crippling one of the darks most important resource providers (black loam and atrifacts)

Imps are relatively easy to kill particularly when outnumbered

So, do we want to blitzkrieg the Consortium Fortress first, the Imps first, or do we want to start Plan Havoc Night?

>>1954357
If we're talking about minimizing casualties, Imps should be our first target. We need to take down their organization before they can make use of the bodies they have contracted.

If we're talking about crippling Dis and its ability to function, Consortium may be worth the short term risk to make long term battles easier.

>>1954357
Consortium for sure

>>1954272
>Bestow a Benediction upon the elder.
>Meditate.
We need to top off our Wick before heading into combat
>Obtain a disguise
We shouldn't attack as a Lamplighter. We should try and make it seem like an attack from a competitor for as long as possible.

Are we sure that it's best to make Dis jump to Defcon 1 before hitting other shards? The Viridian Consortium is crucial.

I'd rather hit the easy target first, while it's still easy. The imps might not know we're a Lamplighter yet, and once they find out, any nearby Lamp will be guarded before we can light it.

>>1954384
pretty sure hitting the imps would also put them in defcon 1.

Well, imps would also be better from a PR perspective. Whether Orion cares is another thing.

>>1954389
Who cares about imps, though? If I had to rate order of importance to Dis as a whole, it would go:

>Green Fire
>Doctors
>Chemist
>Imps

If the police are on the list, I'd put them above Doctors. I think that causing general havoc would draw about the same amount of heat, since it would be widespread, not just knocking over a single company.

>>1954272

>Bestow a Benediction upon the elder.
>Stay awhile and speak to the congregation first.
>Meditate.

Do people agree that when we storm the Consortium using the faithful to cut off the water supply like >>1951908 is better than randomly spreading them throughout the city?

I am awake and I am alive. Writing.

>Bestow a Benediction upon the elder.
>Meditate.

“I will speak with them shortly, once I have regained my strength. But first, give me your hand.”

You take his hand in yours, the burned claw encompassing his and calling forth a soft white light. You bring forth a Benediction, the softer side of the Flame Internal. In this case it is a Benediction of Succour, simply to wipe away his aches and pains and to leave them entirely refreshed. It is a small blessing but in Dis, even those must have value.

Wick: 5/10

“Now, leave me please. I will require some time to recuperate. Tend to your flock and do what must be done.”
You sit down in the corner, relaxing a little when he wordlessly leaves. You never feel quite at your best when you have to talk to people and that was a lot of talking. But it was very much worthwhile. You have no doubt gained some useful followers with which to scourge the evil of Dis with. Your plans are nearly complete.

You sit in the corner, your lamplighter’s wick spread out across your knees. It shouldn’t take long to recuperate and you’ll need every shred of power for what is to come.

>Roll a d6. The highest of the first 3 will measure how much Wick Orion regains.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>1955402

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>1955402

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>1955402

You should probably throw out a tweet if the threads live m8

>>1955450
Oh whoops, forgot I didn't do that.

>5

It takes almost an hour but once you’re done, your Flame Internal feels completely refreshed and ready for whatever else the day may bring. And it will probably bring a great deal.

Wick: 10/10

By the time you rise it’s been nearly an hour. No doubt the broken sun is now high in the sky, up above the streetscape canopy of the mazes and the polluted clouds full of poison and unknowable creatures. Even it’s pale half-light does not descend upon Dis.

The congregation is gone when you leave. It looks as if the pastor has dealt with them already. The hour of judgement is almost at hand, you can feel it. You’ll need to get your plan into action soon.


>Meet with Alex and whoever else she and the elder got together.

>Find Abe and Beatrice first, they are probably done with their task now.

>Scout out the Consortium yourself.

>Acquire a map of the lamp-posts, if such a thing exists.

>Other

>>1955574
>Meet with Alex and whoever else she and the elder got together.

>>1955574
>Acquire a map of the lamp-posts, if such a thing exists
>Meet with Alex and whoever else she and the elder got together.

Even if we aren't going to use them just yet we should tell them to lay low until we need them.

>>1955574
>Meet with Alex and whoever else she and the elder got together.
If they're familiar with the city they're likely to know where the lamp posts are

>>1955574
>Meet with Alex and whoever else she and the elder got together.

>Acquire a map of the lamp-posts, if such a thing exists.

Vote called. Writing.

>>1955800
Or trying to write anyway. My stomach's not being super cooperative.

I think I'll rest a bit for today. Sorry. I'll be back later tonight to actually update.

>>1955979
No worries man.

>>1955979
It's alright, you don't have to apologise. Thanks for running, and don't push yourself too hard to write.

>>1955574
>>Meet with Alex and whoever else she and the elder got together.
>>Acquire a map of the lamp-posts, if such a thing exists.

>>1955574
Why does Dis even have Lamp Posts?

Hope you feel better soon!

>>1956889
Probably couldn't be fucked removing them after the lamplighters died out and couldn't be used anymore until gorge green flames were bastardised into existence

>>1949454
Good to see you back Ouro

I have returned.

>>1956889
As the first city ever built, long before the sun existed, Dis was built with a great many central lamp-posts. This was before it isolated itself.

>>1957849
Why didn't Second Men invent hydroponics? I imagine that would be safer than tamed soil.

>>1957850
They did! It didn't last after the Second Age ended however or at least, not in a form that was more efficient. Tamed soil is very safe.

Could Bea design dice that followed Sun fate lines to search for Shards?

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>>1957859
>There is no conspiracy to make traditional games politically correct. Characters in fiction and gaming communities simply change with respect to the latest cultural values. But you fedora-tipping cancerous fucks always blame imaginary SocJus boogeymen when people start hating you for the shit that you do. As long as you continue to refuse act like decent human beings, people will keep noticing.
>But of course, you will keep blaming imaginary "SJWs", "poseurs" and "normies" when you the public hates you for the scum you are. And let's not even get started on how you all react to games becoming more popular and easily accessible.

>>1957856
'Sun fate lines' do not exist. The Primordial Flame set time in motion with its emergence (supposedly) and this was used to build the framework of the Ages and the predictions that Mankind would go Three Ages of various forms of strife before the Fourth Age brought a lasting peace. But Dis struck the sun down specifically to prevent the Fourth Age from ever occurring and now fate is broken. Time no longer spins forward the way it is meant to and instead simply occurs, unguided and stagnant.

>>1957859
You people were using this copypasta years ago. Please get a new one.

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>>1957859

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>>1957864
>...predictions that Mankind would go Three Ages of various forms of strife before the Fourth Age brought a lasting peace. But Dis struck the sun down specifically to prevent the Fourth Age from ever occurring and now fate is broken.
Defend this, Disanon.

(I'm kidding, you don't need to defend it.)

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>>1957869
What the fuck is going on?

>>1957877
Kas went on a loli purge, kun-anons are pissed.

>>1957926
okay but why should I care about the shithole that is Akun?

more immportantly why is some fag shitposting in this thread about something unrelated to lamplighter quest?

>>1957932
Bait. Didn't you notice that rant against anti-SJWs was by the same person?

>>1957859
Dude what. I just want a kinder interpretation of religious obligation. Like. Hate the sin, not the sinner.

It seems sometimes people here want to go full Isis.

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>>1957873
Hitler predicted his third Reich would be an eternal peace.

Eternal peace = stagnation. The peace of the grave.

>>1957873
But seriously it'll be interesting to hear their motivations and reasons when we find someone who did it.

And then kill them because subjective right and wrong < bringing back Wheel God.

If you read the ask.fm Ouro answered 1 months ago that Witches aren't actual sociopaths, and Imps become 100% devoted to whoever bears their child.

So if they aren't complete monsters they should have some valid justification.

Lie Orion cares though. He wants atonement and validation now, more than saving any one person or group of people.

Needs of the many is a great excuse, Comrade.

>>1958037
>Needs of the many is a great excuse, Comrade.

When literally the rest of the world is suffering a mass genocide by those who rule this city? (imps, witches other earth beasts) I'd say it is valid. The prophecy said Dis would be forgotten. Not destroyed, not nuked, just forgotten. it could have been bad, yes, but it also could have been people in the fourth age literally don't remember Dis because it's been gone for so long. (vague prophecy) instead the enact an event that dooms the rest of the world and start a systematic removal of people who could disagree.

>>1958037
>If you read the ask.fm Ouro answered 1 months ago that Witches aren't actual sociopaths
Why am I not seeing this in the ask.fm anon?

>>1958030
So a prediction of peace wouldn't be so great for imps and witches, and could maybe mean death for everyone. It's a defense. Not convincing, but it is a defense.

>>1958037
Needs of the many doesn't work if you're not the many. (Of course, after so many people dead, they might now be the many. Orion will not be amused at this defense.)

I'd be interested in hearing their justifications and maaaan, it's going to be painful depriving Dis of doctors, immortality, rejuvenation, easy fire...

Also:
Do Imps have more Imps?
If witches aren't sociopaths, what are they? I think they're simply not human anymore.

Orion is a human supremacist, and it's pretty hard to blame him. I guess I'm a xebophobe.

>Meet with Alex and whoever else she and the elder got together.
>Acquire a map of the lamp-posts, if such a thing exists.

You would have like to have spoken with the congregation but you don’t want to go entirely against the old pastor’s wishes. In the end, he helped you greatly did he not? You may not share his attitude but you can at least understand it and with that understanding, show him at least a modicum of respect. You can only hope that the same applies in return. You have no desire to bring undue harm to any of his followers.

You take care to wrap your outer cloak back around yourself and to make sure that the bundled-up lamp post upon your back is firmly stowed away before you depart. There are almost certainly already rumours of you beginning to spread, the last thing you need is for it to reach the ears of this ‘Iron Duke’ before your stave reaches his skull. You must admit, this entire business has not quite been as you imagined it. Looking back you’re not entirely sure what you had been imagining. That you would issue some righteous challenge and the lords and ladies of Dis would ride out to do battle against you? That would certainly be simpler. You had spent all your focus upon the journey, where it had been sorely needed and had neglected your destination. Your plan of attack against the Consortium, once iron-clad in seeming, now seems worrisome in your mind. Could you be doing something better?

You banish those thoughts from your mind after a cursory inspection. Now is not the time for doubt, there are people who are looking to you to be as a pillar. Abe and Beatrice, the tame witch doing it more than you are exactly comfortable with in fact and now these redcloaks. And speaking of which…

You make your way back into the Mazes, the crowded streetstack no less disorderly or populous than it was when you had first journeyed down here. There must be more people in just this area of it than there were in entire cities back home. You follow what you remember of the elder’s directions, looping around the street past the little hollowed-out Sun Temple and finding a little alcove set into a building that opens into an alleyway thin enough that you would barely be able to fit two men abreast. Even this tiny street is lined with doors and rickety stairs and while it ends in an open courtyard, the open space only continues up for three stories before three separate streets cross over the top of it and give it a makeshift ceiling.
1/3

>>1958148
The redcloaks are waiting for you beneath the colourful awning of a closed-down shop in the corner of the courtyard. There are, including Alex, eleven of them, mostly men as far as you can tell and dressed in plain and dirty outfits that you must have seen a thousand times already in the Mazes. Their only signs of their true beliefs are the tattered pieces of dull red cloth they wear as badges, armbands or scarfs. These are the outcasts, the cultists that the pastor delivered directly into your hands.
None of them could be any older than 22.

“He’s here!”
“Quick, get inside!”


You follow them through the little wicker door, finding yourself in a cramped little room filled mostly with dusty old crates. They must still be used for something, you can’t imagine that the space would go unused otherwise.

“You’re late,” Alex announces.

“My apologies. I had an inquiry of a spiritual nature.”

“Are you really a Lamplighter?”

The speaker is probably the youngest, a boy not yet full grown. Alex promptly stares him down.
“Yes, you idiot! Didn’t you see what he did? He’s come here to help us fight! He’s got a wick and everything.”

“You have done well to fight by yourselves,” you say. “But today everything changes. I won’t demand that you help me. In fact, if you value your life, you probably should not. I’m sure the Temple will have you back.”

“We aren’t cowards,” Alex says.

“This is going to be dangerous.”

“We’ve faced danger plenty of times before!”

“Probably not like this. I cannot guarantee your safety. I want you think about this seriously. If you can accept all this, step forward and follow me. You do not have to.”

All eleven of them take the first step at once, crossing the little room and crowding around you in what is almost perfect unison. You hadn’t quite expected that.
“Really?”

“I’m sick of people treating us like we’re scum!”
“Fuck them!”
“It’s only going to get worse!”
“Someone has to do something!”
“They’ll kill us all eventually even if we don’t!”

“Quiet!”
You hold a hand high and silence them before the general uproar gets too far out of hand.
“I won’t ask your reasons again. From this day on, you are brothers and….and sisters and you are all champions of the flame. Even as it grows dim, as long as we still let it burn within our hearts the will of God will not die out! Kneel and accept my blessing.”

Considering how cramped it is to fit you all in this room, this is easier said than done. You walk gingerly around the kneeling forms of your newfound acolytes, placing your palm gently upon the foreheads of each one.
“When next you rise, you will be holy avengers, the last sparks of righteousness in Dis. Will you join me in casting down the sinners of this realm?”

“Yes!”
A chorus of untested voices.

“And are you ready to risk your life to fight for your rightful place?”
2/3

>>1958151
“Yes!”

The last forehead you touch is Alex’s. She stares up at you with her teeth gritted. You look over them all for a long few seconds, noting their faces as best you can. You don’t know these people. You can’t claim to understand everything that they have gone through or what has lead them to make the decisions they now do. But neither will you toss away a sword when it has been so eagerly pressed into your hands.

“Then gather your weapons and prepare yourselves as best as you are able. Today we shall let them know that the true faithful still draw breath.”


>They are to support you in a direct strike upon the Consortium itself.

>They should cause havoc as best as they are able while keeping themselves as safe as they are able. Hopefully they shall serve as a distraction.

>No, you’ve decided that the Consortium is not the best first target. What is? (Specify)

>They are to spread the word of your coming.

>Test them first. Perhaps a local witch?

>You have a different plan in mind. (Specify)

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You may notice my ID is different. I had to rejigger to my IP to avoid it floating into a 5 year old ban. Voting will remain open while I sleep.

>>1958155
>Hit the Consortium's water supply.

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>>1958178
Ah thanks, I knew I was forgetting something from the discussion you guys were having. This is a valid option.

>>1958155
>Search for the ones who have the talent for flames.
maybe Bea can teach them

>Steal shipments of green flames. They will have to expend resources to track you down, and the green flames will serve as ample bait for fire traps in the coming shortage.

>>1958155
>They should cause havoc as best as they are able while keeping themselves as safe as they are able. Hopefully they shall serve as a distraction.
>They are to attempt to disrupt the Consortium's water supply, in anticipation of tonight's arson.

How did Orion manage to get so close to Dis, before finding Agatha and Zeno? How did he know it was Dis that murdered the sun?

>>1958155
>They should cause havoc as best as they are able while keeping themselves as safe as they are able. Hopefully they shall serve as a distraction.
>They are to attempt to disrupt the Consortium's water supply, in anticipation of tonight's arson.
>They are also not to reveal themselves as cultists, to hopefully mislead the opposition.

>-Benediction of Succour-
>Cost: 1 Wick (Light Required)
>This blessing uses some of Orion's Flame Internal to replenish that of the target so it cannot be self-targeted without creating a useless feedback loop. When touching the target Orion may choose two outcomes: Either the target's Wick pool increases by one point (but cannot break the maximum) or the target is relieved of their physical stresses, wiping clean exhaustion, hunger and discomfort and placing them into a brief state of bliss. When used on a creature of the Dark this Benediction causes stinging pain and a lasting minor ache.


>-Benediction of Bliss-
>Cost: 2+ Wick (Requires Light)
>Taught to you by Belle
>This blessing fuels the body and soul of those it touches, piecing them together and making them whole. The target of this Benediction has their natural healing process vastly improved and considering that Third Men already possess a healing factor, that can mean quite a lot. >Additional Wick can be burned before the spell is cast to increase the blessing’s power. When used on creatures of the Dark this slowly dissolves their flesh.

Will either of these have any benefit for fighters about to enter the fray?

>>1958221
He saw it happen. He literally watch a ship come up from the horizon (only Dis is that way) and watched it kill the sun. The only reason he managed to save the sun shard was because one landed near him while he was dragging the broken lamp post as an atonement, and he used that lamp post to save the shard.

>>1958246
Wait, they used a ship to do it? Who in Dis uses ships?

Secondly, if he knew where Dis was, why was it such a trial to find? I'm guessing it might have something to do with the space-warping Guardian statues...

>>1958261
>Secondly, if he knew where Dis was, why was it such a trial to find?

He was REALLY far away. Like on the other side of the planet. He spent thirty years walking from basically Alaska to the tip of Russia through all the denizens of the Earth and witches to get to Dis.

As for it being a ship, It was probably some amalgamation of earth and second age tech, and frankly Orion is not good with second age tech names. So it could have been an airship, a automaton golem or something else entirely.

>>1958050
11 months sorry. He says they can still form emotional bonds, talks about coves etc.

>>1958155
>They should cause havoc as best as they are able while keeping themselves as safe as they are able. Hopefully they shall serve as a distraction.

>>1958236
These are good additions too.

>>1958155
>They are to support you in a direct strike upon the Consortium itself.

>>1958057
I don't see Orion saving witches or Imps.

Or even Dis.

I'm just saying personally it's a shame it got to this point when it might have actually been possible to coexist.

Like you could have wild Imps and tamed Imps who had a "wife" that gave birth to whom they would be fully devoted. Wild Imps would be required to find a guaranteed wife for their offspring before they were allowed to breed. All the "wives" would be part of an organization responsible for controlling the Imps, at the same time helping them find wives. Their motivation would be that it would give the wives special privileges within their organization. Soft power.

Witches would have to be bound, or have their own territory.

Co-existence was impossible under the Wheel God though.

And like I said, Orion would never accept it.

>>1958312
There's also the fact witches feel it is perfectly acceptable to kill people and turn their corpses into ghouls.

And that imps like taming people and stealing their souls.

The ONLY reason Dis even half way works is because the witches in charge realize people are a resource like any other and too much disruption causes the imps and them to lose out.

You keep making out the Wheel god to be some horrible tyrant, with witches and creatures being blameless, when you forget the only reason he second age even ended was because witches were genociding the second men wholesale for lulz. The third men were born to fight witches, with a healing factor and resistance to witch sign's memetic effects.

Co-existence long term is a pipe dream at best. Even here in Dis humanity's time is numbered. the Gods of Earth HATE the various races of men because the first men killed them. The imps need bodies to possess and they won't stop breeding. Other earthen creatures explicitly feed on men. Finally witches need corpses for the power it'd give them. Evnetually the demand of the EArth will outstrip the human's of Dis breeding and feeding potential. The only reason it has not write now is because witches and other creatures are marauding the rest of the world and slowly exterminating the people there, and once that is over they will go to Dis as it is the only game really left in town.

In the long term, the creatures of Earth and Men born of fire are simply unable to coexist.

Tactical question: Should we light the Lamps near the Consortium, or try to keep that ability secret until we hit the Sable Imp Fellowship, where it will likely be a deathblow?

If we give away the fact that we're an actual Lamplighter, they'll guard the Lampposts specifically.

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>>1958050

>>1958382
Thanks. I appreciate you, Disanon.