/q/ - Quest

Our heroes have journeyed far and faced many dangers, culminating in their daring escapade in the arid city of Galatian, where they retrieved the Heart of the Sun once and for all, crossing the agents of the sinister warlord Styr Thenn. Aided by one of his former servants, a zorse named Kothbiro, they destroyed the precious jewel, that none could claim it.

Their actions will not go without repercussions, however. They are in hostile territory, on the run from Thenn's servants. Aided by a mysterious ally known only as the Fire Witch, they travel now to the closest pocket of civilization on the borders of Thenn's territory. From there, only the stars and I know what awaits them…

Two candles flicker on either side of a dusty old tome. The leather-bound cover creaks open and words slowly etch themselves into the paper. This old book begins to spin you a yarn. A tale of a small mountain village. A grand quest gone wrong. Self-sacrifice gone unrewarded. And, perhaps most of all, biting off a little more than you should chew.

Post Sheets

>pic is how I feel right now

>Blossom
>Spin

Last time, the fighting in the casino raged on. Though it is heavily falling out of the Protectorate's favor, they aren't out yet.

The bear-like minion made of fetal tissue attacks Blossom.
>Rolled a 3

Floop successfully heals himself, but fails to charge his arcane magic.

Meanwhile, Tourmaline shoots a Lifestream beam at Floop.
>rolled an 8

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The party have concluded their business in Withick, having made an ally of Sprig, gaining a new companion in the form of the griffon Sir Gawain, and being rejoined by Aegis. However, not all is well. They have been effectively forced to flee the peaceful swamp town due to a new threat, a nefarious assassin and old enemy of Hermodur's called Gavrilo. Employed by Lysander, Gavrilo has delivered a mysterious dagger to the party, its purpose unknown.

Not all is despair, however. The party have decided on a heading after much debate; they have opted to head southeast, retracing their original journey and traveling back towards Durenwol Fen. There, they hope to strike a deal with the Beldam, a captive spirit of the swamp, and have her keep the Cuckoo's Egg safe from harm in exchange for her freedom. To do that, however, they will first need to deal with their old acquaintance Black Pudding, an adversary of the Beldam. With his current whereabouts unknown, the party have opted to follow his trail, heading to his last known whereabouts: The cursed hamlet of Larkstead, which has been plagued by a false Oneiromancer. This mysterious entity is a puppet of Lysander and Grosvenor, intended to act as a threat to distract from their true intentions…

The party have completed their first mission for the Spacers' Guild, being accepted as recruits for the budding organization. With the help of their new companion Chekhooves and a chipper kirin named Luv, assistant of their employer Ochi, the party have departed on their next mission: hunting down a rogue robot on a remote jungle planet…

You have all been summoned to the sleepy town of Farmington, a majority pony village far from any sort of excitement. The word you had all gotten was that the dead were not resting quietly in the town's graveyard anymore and that a few people, mostly young, had gone missing. After arriving you are all greeted by boarded up windows and sandbag walls between the town and cemetery guarded by under-armed and untrained militia.

The mayor informs you that there have been more ponies taken, ranging in age from older adolescents to young adults. There have also been several grizzly murders done along the outskirts of town. The bodies of all the victims so far have been cremated as a precaution. She tells you that everyone here is terrified and that you should all not expect much in the way of help or support until until proof can be brought back that the threat has been taken care of. All she has to offer you is two potions of remove curse and a warning to stick together in the graveyard.

You are also given a warning to not go digging or grave robbing while seeking out the threat. According to town legend a great mage by the name of Lilly Vest lived in the a very long time ago. Supposedly she cast a spell of protection on the graveyard after a gang of diamond dog corpse thieves struck it. The most popular version of the legend says that anyone digging around in there would wake up every last corpse and bring them down atop their own head. No one here has ever tested it themselves or has the magical skill to investigate it. Rumor has it that wandering troublemakers occasionally vanish near the cemetery, and that things that go missing after strangers come through town sometimes turn up atop old graves.

After that the mayor hurried you all on your way, urging you to start your work while daylight still remains. She has a town meeting to call to reassure her people, she said, but is confident you will do just fine without her. The jumpy town militia was also quite happy to point you towards the cemetery gates, and even happier to stay behind their barricades.

The sky was already overcast and grey, but when you enter the graveyard it gets even worse. It takes your eyes time to adjust to the unnatural gloom after passing through the bone yard's iron gate. Fog fills the air and rests in a thick blanket on the ground. It swirls slowly around your legs and obscures your vision beyond a dozen meters or so. The cold, clammy air doesn't rPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

Temporary thread for Soul Quest this evening / any future instances where we can't play on our normal site, post your sheets for the 9th session of Soul Quest

Last time, on Anno Castra…

The party set out from Ironcastle with their deliveries in tow, and bore witness to the awesome destruction of the land caused by the stampede of the Dreaded Ones. All the badlands to the north, east and west had been trampled and reshaped by the passage of the Dreaded Ones who were whipped into a frenzy by the Siren Singer's call. Crags and hills had been stamped flat, low valleys uprooted and shaped again into steep crags. Heaps of rubble and corpses of trampled Dreaded Ones lay underfoot. At least now this meant a somewhat easier passage from Ironcastle to their first stop.

They headed north over the trampled badlands, and found that the Old World town had been little affected by the stampedes, even though the land surrounding it had clearly been trampled. Why the town and the fortress was spared was unknown. It was getting late in the Cycle, so they decided to stop and rest here.

By the lakeside just south of the Abandoned Fortress, they saw a Helping Hoof, an Old World tankpony robot, designed for household cleaning and defense. It had just slain a pair of Sightseers, and took up residence in the Fortress. After some deliberation, the party went to the Fortress to investigate. There, the robot ambushed Zamrud, but seemed to be asking him for directions in Old Equish. It sought to know where it was in relation to a place called "Canterlot," a term unknown to the party. They discovered that the robot had a function for learning new languages and regional dialects, and so they spent the rest of this Cycle teaching it modern Equish by providing audio samples.

Good decided to give it a "Spicy Señorita" accent. Its ultimate accent would be determined by the aggregate of the audio samples provided, so other party members still have a chance to influence it in that regard, if desired.

https://vocaroo.com/ahgNMyrfKsX

The party have acquired new provisions and narrowly escaped the clutches of the sinister Parliament, an insidious cult that rule over Last Hearth with an iron fist. Doing so was not without its toll, however. Violet fell in the encounter, her soul bound to a peculiar doll called a Crucible. Reviving her is possible, but will require time, sacrifice, and preparation.

Meanwhile, the Oneiromancer has stolen the body of the undead elk Etrigan, though through Zunden's intervention he remained by their side, having become one with the Fate's Fortune. The repercussions of this remain uncertain.

Licking their wounds, the party have continued on, at last reaching a safe haven for them; a far-flung swamp town known as Withick. Here they have quickly made a new ally in the form of Sprig, a genteel, slightly eccentric purveyor of antiquities who has a personal vendetta with Lysander. He was eager to form a bond with them, and will aid them in their endeavours. As one with some knowledge of magic, he has promised to lift a spell that renders a map unreadable to them, a map which may, fingers crossed, point them to a hidden place where they can safely hide the terrible Cuckoo's Egg.

In return for this, Sprig has asked them to investigate an anomaly: an entire complex of mysterious ruins has manifested itself into existence in the nearby wilds. A not unheard of phenomenon in the Echoes. Sprig has asked them to go there, scout the ruins, and come back with their findings, along with any trinkets and curios they may find there.

Time in Withick has not been uneventful for the party:

Lilura has found a new home in the castle of Caer Portach, working as a bar maid.

Aegis has left the party to pursue her own personal goals; namely, finding a way to seal her debt with Ragalaseab, and kill Lady Grosvenor.
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Hello, you, yes YOU will test drive my new CYOA!

This is the WIP header image, it's not done yet, as you can plainly see. What's the skinny? Read on…

https://zarciantundra.neocities.org/ This lays out some of the basics.

(YOU) are Curiosity/Wonder, a femanon/male-non sent to go to the Zarcian tundra. Your main character, as seen in the Twine game there, is Frost Shard.

More in the next post.