>>32986605
Is this a recon mission or an assassination?

That dream we had last thread had frangelico forcibly separated from his contractor. Let's see if he could tell us how

>>32986605
A shield. Why do we not have a shield yet? At the very least, we'll need it to block Carna's rib-mouth when we inevitably hug.

>>32987000
I'll support this

>>32987000

It was lying to us.

>>32986605

Talk to the Black Cats.

>>32987003
If we had a shield we wouldn't be able to weave with our off hand any more. Or dual wield with the fire sword.

>>32987225
So do we have any countermeasure for Carna's touch and demon mouth besides push her away/dodge?

>>32987318

No. I thought about suggesting we get some armor, but what's the point? I think Librarian said something about contractor fights being Cthulhu-esque, shit we can't even comprehend.

>>32987225
A small shield designed to be strapped to the forearm would do just fine for protection while still leaving our hand free.

It'd also keep our hand concealed, which is relevant if the person we're fighting with is familiar with the movements for common weaves like the ones we know.

We've mostly relyed on dodging things in combat, though, and having a shield in the first place is more likely than not just going to encourage us to attempt to block attacks that we really shouldn't be considering blocking. It might be handy against a bunch of goblins and their pointy bits of choice, but they're not really the sorts we should be worried about.

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"Remember, our goal here is the capture of the witch and her demon. The demon alone failing that... and to discover what we can to do so in the future failing that." The White Cat reminds your group before letting you off on your tasks.

You bought yourself a little buckler waiting for this day to arrive. You've got your issues with keeping a hand locked but when your weaves fail you the protection will be appreciated. A strap keeps it around your forearm most of the time.

You make way back to the inn to gather your thoughts, and Frangelico's. This might be your last chance to get a good conversation out of him before you meet Carna and you have questions to ask him. You can talk to the others when you're riding with them but Frangelico needs attention now. Inside your room, you take a moment to meditate before calling out, "Frangelico." You say.

"Yes?" Its distorted voice sounds out in your mind, "Has the anxiety got you already? Are you ready to borrow my unending form yet?"

"I just need to ask you a question."

"Then ask and I shall answer your worries." Frangelico chuckles.

"In my sleep I saw your memory, that yo-"

"I did not give you permission to prod around my mind son of man."

"I did not give you permission to prod around mine..." You remind it how you're both stuck together, "The contractor in your memory, he ended your contract together. How did he do it?"

"Hmm... if you think you can get rid of a demon so easily, then you will find yourself wrong quite quickly. A contract only ends on agreement of both sides... or should one cease to exist."

"Then you allowed the man free?"

"He TRICKED me and ENTRAPPED me..." Frangelico snarls, "He BETRAYED me and KILLED me... I will not fall for it again."

Somehow you don't think that Carna's Frangelico will be any likely to give her up so easily...

>What do you do?

>>32987511
Ask him what specific powers he could give you.

>>32987511
Does our Frangelico want to eat Carna's Frangelico? How far would he go to do so?

Does he have any lingering bond with Carna's Frangelico? Do WE have any?

>>32987511

Accuse Frangelico of lying to you about being able to save Carna. See if we can play on his pride or rile him up, he may give us some clue (if there is a way). I guess we could just ask him about it as well, but I don't trust him.

"You keep telling me you can give me what I want, but a tiny demon like you couldn't save Carna." You have your doubts in the demon's power.

"Tiny!? I am Rasci! My blood is of the greatest ranks, only lesser than Rasc himself and the his primal children! I decide whether you live or die, and I will decide whether or not you can or cannot save one mortal girl!"

"Her demon is also you, Frangelico. But hers is great and dangerous; you are just a heart that speaks. You fear it, just as I do."

"Bring me to it and I shall consume it! I will reclaim my existence and make known that there is only one Frangelico! I will face it, kill it, and devour it! Its will will be mine once again!" Your demon despite his big words sounds off childishly.

"You and what power." Maybe it's not the best idea to tease a demon that decides whether you live or die...

"At my peak I am greater than five men! At my words all lesser fiends bow down! My claws render souls and no blade exists that can rend my body! I raise the dead and my body is an army of its own! Most deadly of all, my mind alone brings down kingdoms!"

"Except you don't have any of that."

"I DO. JUST LET ME LOOSE AND I SHALL SHOW YOU." Frangelico sounds agitated.

"If I cut you free you can do all that?"

"Well... first I must feed and reclaim my power. BUT AT MY PEAK I AM THE INCARNATION OF SUFFERING."

"If I cut you free. And you feed."

Frangelico says nothing at first. After some moments silence your heart thumps painfully against your chest once. It seems he doesn't have more to say.

Maybe you should get back to the others... but maybe...

>What do you do?

>>32988026
Don't let it free.

Ask the OTHERS if a demon can eat another demon to cancel a contract,

or if we can bait Carna's demon to eat our Frangelico and take his place as our heart.

>>32988026
>At my peak I am greater than five men!
Just five? Doesn't seem terribly ambitious.

It'd be nice to know what exactly happened when Frangelico put us on autopilot that one time. He keeps saying that he can't act until we free him, but he's we've already proven (and he's alluded to the fact that this can actually be repeated) that a strong enough desire can allow him to act even despite our not having made a contract.

We surrendered almost complete control to him in that instance and all he did with it was do what we wanted but weren't physically capable of, and then return to dormancy. How did he feel about this from his end?

The main thing he doesn't seem to understand is that what we want is a collaborator, not a great tyrant. He keeps talking about how terrifying he is, but that attitude is exactly why we're skeptical of working with him. It's become too ingrained in him to pander to people seeking tremendous power, and it's making it impossible for either of us to get any closer to what we want.

>>32988026
How much time to we have before we need to go? We could just get ready to head out.

Although his words might not give you an immediate idea to rescue Carna, you at least have an idea of what to expect when you see her. There's no doubt that the demon within her is at least near the peak that Frangelico speaks of...

"Ready to go then?" Kran greets you when you return to the caravan. It seems Anlak hasn't quite returned yet though, and you'll have some minutes to waste.

"Kran, we're trying to capture a demon right? What happens when one contractor's demon devours another's? If Graps were to eat The Little Witch's demon, would that be enough to capture it?"

"Ah well..." Kran places her hand on her hip and glances up and away.

"When a demon consumes another one, it devours its essence entirely. Most of the power will be lost to the mists, but fragments of knowledge and might and will be consumed." Dusty sticks his head into your conversation, sticking his hand below Kran's armless shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Kran hops surprised.

"I wanted to see if there was something inside the sleeve... guess you really are armless." Dusty takes a chomp out of a carrot, he chews it open mouthed.

"So, what would that mean for the contractor if their demon is devoured?" You stay focused.

"Defending onf the thort of contract anf how faa alon it isth..." He swallows, "A new contractor might be dazed if the demon is separated but they'll probably revert sooner or later... in a case like mine, my demon is so lodged in there that I don't think it could be separated without killing me first..." Dusty mumbles the last part sleepily.

"So there's no way to save a long-time contractor if they lose their demon?"

"Well you're talking about forcing it out, aren't you? If a demon agrees to leave on its own accord, maybe..."

It seems this man knows a little bit more than Kran. Perhaps the other Black Cat could help you too?

>What do you do?

>>32988544
Why would a demon agree to leave on its own accord. And is having one of your demons eat it the only way to get the demon out of the little witch?

>>32988544

Press him about making a demon agree to leave someone, how has it been done in the past? Do people usually have to trick the demon (i.e., entice it with a "better offer"), or are there other ways?

>>32988544
So we have to make ourselves a more enticing contractor than Carna, then eat the bastard with OUR Frangelico, because the Seekers only need a single Frangelico anyway.

damn, that's a tall order.

>>32988544
>If a demon agrees to leave on its own accord, maybe...
So we need to figure out a way to make Carna's Frangelico want to leave. The best thing I can think of is leveraging some of the stuff we learned from his dossier.

>An interest in love, an interest in tragedy. A demon that lends his powers to humans for little reason than to see them fall apart from it.

We know Frangelico loves this sort of tragic romance shit, which is part of why he wanted Carna to contract with him to begin with. I suspect that if we proposed to contract with him in order to free Carna, he might very well entertain it just on the merits of making both of us miserable (having a new host to torment, and leaving Carna to regret the decade of suffering she went through in order to try and spare us, only for us to end up sacrificing ourselves for her anyway.)

>He'll let them squirm around for enjoyment but he doesn't leave loose ends. More than anything else, he seems to enjoy building up and torturing his host.

Carna's demon is likely to view a proposed contract with us as an excellent opportunity to re-absorb the 'loose end' of our version of Frangelico as well, since nobody really knows that we've been in contact with our own demon. He gets his double-dose of suffering out of Carna, gets to re-absorb the spawn that split his power, and gets a fresh contractor to mess with for the next decade or more.

>Frangelico doesn't have a firm weakness, but it appears he can only control so many demons within a certain area...

So basically the main plan is to max out the number of demons he's able to control at once (so that he won't be able to control OUR Frangelico and ruin the final phase of the plan), coerce him out of Carna with the proposal of contracting in her stead, then helping our allies subdue him after he makes his way out, then releasing our own Frangelico to allow ours to consume him.

Not sure how feasible this is, but it seems plausible, at least.

>>32988026
Frangelico is moe103

If we find an isolated demon we should try to command it, just to test it out. I bet we could use some measure of Frangelicos power if we ask him to back us up or something

"How do you make a demon agree to leave someone?" You ask Dusty.

"Well, usually by turning their contract into a bad idea..." Dusty glances at you and smiles, "I seen it before once. We got a room back in Deneb dedicated just to that... we trap the host and the demon inside a casket, weaved down so that air barely escapes. Check on them once a day to see if they separate... though if you forget the demon ends up eating the host after they split most times."

"Is that the only way?"

"I'm sure there're others. As long as the host and the demon don't want each other they can split. The real problem is how great a condition the host'll be in..." Dusty takes a bite out of his carrot, chewing and swallowing, "When you contract, your body starts to change and your mind with it... your hair changes colours. You grow a tail. Your organs morph. You develop an insatiable hunger for carrots..."

"Your demon is making you eat carrots?"

"I'm right on the border right now. My tastebuds are about the only thing that still works right--I haven't slept in months since I might lose the rest of me." He shrugs, "It's a tough life. I guess. Want a carrot?"

"No thanks... so how do you intend to get the demon out of The Little Witch exactly?"

"Break her legs, break her arms. Both pairs of each if we have to. Drag her back and... I'll leave someone better suited to handle it. I'm only good at killing things these days." Dusty drops his carrot, "See, can't even hold things right any more."

"You make it sound so morbid." Kran shakes her head.

"That's fine, I'm not a teacher. Just a corpse waiting to be put down..." Dusty yawns and waves behind you. You turn your head to see Anlak coming up.

Guess it's time to head out.

You could get something quick done right before you go. Or see what other information you can glean while you're on the caravan... maybe it'd be best to just take a nap before en route.

>What do you do?

>>32989388
Carna will be long dead before Frangelico backs down. We gotta do the stupid and reckless thing and bait ourselves as good contracting fodder.

>>32989388
We never wrote that second letter. Should we send one to Rein?

>>32989538
I'd be down for writing a letter. But I'm not sure what we should say. We can't really tell her about the demon heart in case someone intercepts the letter.

We could just say something like "I got some answers about my heart condition I'll tell you about it later."

>>32989683
Our plan which I like very much is borderline suicide. We have an obligation to giver her an answer, even if it's only because dying with Carna is the cruelest answer we could give

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You already sent a letter to Ianc for pleasure and one to Gos for business, but you want to write one to Rein. Reassure her at least that you've got some ideas if not a solution about your current situation.

"Kran, could I borrow another paper bird?" You ask.

"I guess so." Your teacher reaches into her pocket and takes out a folded sheet, handing it to you. When you open it up you reveal a second sheet. "Oh oops... well, I guess you can keep one for emergencies."

"Thank you." You write a few words to Rein about the answers you've found, leaving out conspicuous details like the specific names of Carna and Frangelico. Keeping in mind that she's with Sheryl you do the kindness of adding a hello to the elf girl as well. You don't need to send it right away, you keep it on you in case you have more ideas of what to write.
The blank paper you tuck away into your pocket.

With that done you hop into the caravan with the others. In short minutes after you seat yourself, the carriage starts to move...

The White Cat sits up front guiding the horses. He doesn't seem to be a contractor. Dusty and Kran talk over mundane things, the female contractor Oprey mindlessly runs her nails against the wood walls to the side. Anlak sits at the end of the caravan, watching the road roll behind him as he often does.

It doesn't seem like this will be a long ride, you could probably just pass the time thinking if you wanted. But this is your last chance to discuss things over with someone personally before your mission begins.

>What do you do? Will you just wait to arrive?

>>32990064
Ask about the contractors skills and demons

>>32990064
Ask others about what their perceived tactics might be in the situation. How are we going to go about this? Doesn't hurt reviewing and re-reviewing.

>>32990064
Ask Fran if there's any way we could use a bit of his power in a pinch. Without cutting ourselves open of course

>>32990207

This.

"Could I get a review of the battle plan?" You put yourself near Kran and Dusty.

"He's a real scholar isn't he." Dusty smiles to you.

"Anlak and yourself will be watching with the White Cat up front and clearing small demons if necessary. Us Black Cats will try to cut way to The Little Witch and engage her directly."

"Kran will lead from the front and I will cover our flanks. My demon is sleeping right now but he can change my form to... well, dust frankly and despite my looks I'm pretty fast." Dusty says.

"What about the other contractor?"

"Oprey isss our name." The woman's raspy voice whispers into your ear, you turn to see her head peeking over your shoulder. "Venomsss, poisonsss, and all sortsss of the assssassssin trade are my specialty." You trace her shape with your eyes; with her blanket tossed aside you see that from the waist down she has a long snakish body. The end of her tail whips around the edge of the caravan.

"Don't scare him Oprey." Kran taps a hand against the wood.

"The other two are a dissstraction. They will keep the witch held while I catch her. Even Rasssci will ressst with the right concoction." Oprey snickers, a long forked tongue slinking out of her mouth.

"Ignore her, she just likes scaring people."

"We mean everything we sssay, Kran."

"Thanks for the briefing..." With that information gleaned, you take your distance from the three Seekers...

Your caravan comes to a stop a while into your trip. You step outside into an odd-road, and see valley sides in the distance behind tall trees. The whole border of the Artios region is filled with places like this. A shuffling in the trees grabs your attention, and you watch Henry drop out from one onto his feet.

"About time, I've been waiting. I'm hungry and my clothes a-" Henry spots you and his face goes into a big frown, "Ah, it's you."

"I'll catch him up..." The White Cat moves away from the horses over to the waiting Seeker.

>CONT

"Frangelico, is there any way I could borrow your powers?" You step over into some trees after giving the pretence of scouting, buying some privacy to talk to your demon.

"Not unless there's a hole in you. Let me out. Cut me open. Free me." Frangelico says, "My power is still weak, too weak... but I suppose if you're in danger in death, we might have the luck that your adversary cuts straight to the heart of matters."

He might be lying but you probably shouldn't play the odds unless you have to.
Some brush by the trees you've strolled into shakes. You look over to it to see a dog's tail sticking out the top of the bushes. It waggles about a few times before pulling back under the leaves, you can see greenery kick around as it runs away from you; a dark blur between the woodland shadows.

Was that a demon watching you? You should probably return to the others and get moving... in the worst case scenario it might give away your position though. Assuming it isn't just some stray mutt.

>>32990913
Whoops. This should be a >What do you do?

>>32990942

Take out the golden thread and see if it points in the direction the dog is running. If yes, run back and tell the others.

>>32990942
Don't tell them. We want Carna to have a chance.

>>32990913
Time to invesdogate.

Ostensibly we're scouting anyway, so we might as well see if this is something relevant to the situation at hand. Like if this dog is Dog.

Pull out our gold thread and see if it pulls in the direction the dog ran, so we know whether it's just a great mundane, or a devil dog.

>>32990913
Follow the tail.

>>32991017
If its a demon we ought to try and kill it before it reports our position. If it goes too far and we can't catch it we should return and report

>>32991092

I think Carna can see through its eyes, or the controller-controllee relationship is such that she'll know as soon as it's spotted us. I'd be okay with trying to kill it though, I'm >>32991017

>>32990942
Investigate, see what or who it might be.

So is everyone cool with Carna getting killed? There's not a whole lot we can do to stop it.

>>32991051
CCCCCAAAAAARRRRRRLLLLOOOOSSSS

>>32991321
>So is everyone cool with Carna getting killed?
Nope. We'll just have to improvise.

>>32991321
Not at all, Anon. If there's nothing we can do after all this time of remembering our life with her and the others, then that is very unfortunate.

>>32991321
Honestly yeah I am Carna worst grill

Our nameless dashing rouge of a protagonist Librairian give us a name pls on the other hand will go probably go apeshit if she dies... Now if w had to kill her on the other hand? That's a different story bruh

>>32991321
The plan is to separate her from her demon. We just have to find a way for them both to want to end the contract without horrific torture

>>32991321
I hope not anon im of the camp that wishes to wiafu her or die while in each-others arms

You take out your golden thread straighten it out with your hands, the loose strands on each end jolt forward and point at the direction of the dog before slowly shifting towards the left, presumably following it.
You kick off in pursuit of the escaping demon-dog. You don't have much confidence in matching its speed but the strand in your hand gives you an edge tracking it and predicting its route. You hop over roots and past branches until your thread stops wavering. The beast has stopped...
You can see the form of the beast await in the clearing before you. From behind the tree-sides you watch it turn to face you...

He's grown pretty big. His fur is unkempt and standing all over. His black eyes now glow yellow and the edges of his paw are razored and thick. His red tongue hangs loose from his crooked maw...
But you can tell by the markings of his fur and the notch in his ear. It's Dog.

He doesn't seem to be attacking you yet... you don't know if he recognizes you as well.

>What do you do?

1d12 if you want to get aggressive. Should've asked for this on the last roll but... eh.

>>32991449
My biggest regret in running this quest is never giving the protagonist a name. I feel like it's far too late though.

>>32991449
We do have a name. It was only mentioned in one thread. (I don't remember which) It's Ceil or something. All of the names in this quest have ridiculous spelling that I can never remember. It starts with a C and has both an i and e in it.

>>32991513
daww she kept dog lets get refriended give it a scratch behind the ears

>>32991513
Try to be diplomatic about this. Don't want mega rabies or something.

"Hey Dog! Remember me?"

>>32991513
Talk to it.

>>32991513
>It's too late

It's never to late!!!!

Anons assemble quick brainstorm some names
Also

If we still have some of that numbing agent lets keep it in our hand just invade dog tries I get aggressive in the meantime lets approach dog in a friendly way

>>32991513
Try to approach a bit, see what it does. Ready our wand behind our back just in case it becomes hostile. Demons are all evil after all

>>32991692

This.

>>32991476
>We just have to find a way for them both to want to end the contract without horrific torture
The "it-has-to-be-mutual" part is going to be the tough bit, I think. We might be able to tempt Frangelico on board, but I think anything that'll convince him is going to make Carna even more stubborn about not consenting to it.

>>32991513
See if he recognizes us, approaching slowly. Then if he does, check if his tail has been shredded from a decade of Carna's demon-feet stepping on it all the time. The poor guy.

And just have Carna (or Ianc?) call us something after things are resolved during the denouement and write the namelessness off as a narrative device dissociative mental construct sort of deal because of our weird unlife, and that we've finally come to terms with it. I dunno.

>>32991632
Nah.

Also
>!!!!
>to

The hell is everyone talking about. I could swear the MC's name has been mentioned before.

>>32991878
Listen Anon I wont grammar effectively at 1 in the morning

You approach Dog slowly, you have good memories of him but you're not going to let them blind you here. You keep your wand behind your back, and hope that you won't be forced to finally use it here...

"Hey Dog... you remember me?" Dog eyes you up and down, spreading its body out. It's a little larger than average but as demon-beast go it appears to have a fairly light case of taint.
Closer and closer you come, waiting for its reaction... when finally it lunges at you--and licks at your face.

"I see you missed me too Dog." You struggle to keep upright as Dog affectionately mashes up against you. His fur is ragged and there're some unfortunate splits along his tail but still you're taken back to an older time by your old friend.
You set down Dog and give him another look over. He stands attentively watching you. From what you can tell he seems to have a synthesized contract; and he's a lot more dog than demon now. Whatever demon merged into him must not have had much a mind of its own...

Dog stops wagging his tail. Standing upright and turning his head towards the valleys, away from your group. He gives you a whimper before turning and pit-patting towards the end of the clearing where deeper lies the forest.

"The girl is calling for her demons..." Frangelico says, "I can feel it. She's calling for all the demons in the area."

You should probably get back to the others...

"Why don't you follow it." Frangelico says, a humour in its voice, "Betray them now and you might save her, hahahah..."

>What do you do?

>>32992093
"Quiet, Fran." Follow Dog, see if you can't salvage the situation.

>>32992112
this lets save our true wiafu

Rolled 10

>>32992093
Follow Dog, and eat any other demons heading his way

>apacure the
We're trying captcha

>>32992093
Go back to the others. They have a good plan for incapacitating her and we can take it from there with Fran.

>>32992093
Follow dog I suppose

>>32992163
Pretty sure he can't consume anything until we let him out.

>>32992093
I can't see how going to Carna now is going to benefit us. We're probably going to need Oprey there to help subdue Carna's Frangelico anyway, and I can't imagine it's going to be easier for us to orchestrate that if we're being viewed as a traitor.

>>32992093

Go back to the others. He is trying to get us in trouble here, get us scared or injured enough to contract with him.

>>32992093
Go back we can't do this alone

Also start calling Frangelico Franny now cause I can not no matter how hard I try take someone with that name seriously
Frangelico
Pffffttt

>>32992279
This. Carna told us to leave or she's hurt us last time we saw her, I don't think we'll accomplish much by going to her personally

>>32992093
>get back to the others
This can only end badly.

>>32992093
If we're quick with a pen we can probably send off that second letter to Dog and let him trail it back to Carna, if we think we need to sow some of the seeds necessary to execute a plan that'll get Frangelico out of Carna. (With instructions to destroy the letter, obviously.) It'll probably be easier to sell if they've had a little bit of time to think about it rather than assuming it's a last-ditch effort sort of deal.

She's probably going to keep Dog close, so it'll be more likely to get to her that way, and the people keeping their eyes out are being debriefed at the moment so they'll be less likely to notice the note.

>>32992093
Follow Dog

Closing this one at the 20th minute from the >>32992112 post.

You want to go, you really do... you take five steps forward...
But just barely you manage to catch yourself. It'd be insane to go alone, you won't be able to save Carna this way.

"Quiet Fran." You say, as you turn away from Dog and start making your way back.

"FRAN!?" Frangelico screams into your mind, "My name is FRANGELICO! It is a name filled with pride and power!"

"Alright Franny." You wave his words off and continue...

"Alright, you're back then." Kran gives you a nod when you return, "We'll start walking now. You can give us your report as we walk. Henry says that The Little Witch is stopped at between the valley, she's set up camp there. It sounds like she's weak right now but there're two guards stationed."

"Two?" You're aware of Sissel, but who could be the other.

"Some hulking piece of armour. Could be some quiet man, some complicated weave, or a demon imitating a person." Henry says, shaking his head, "It looks real scary. There're demons prowling about too; one of them almost took off my foot. Took me hours to find out where it dropped my shoe."

"Who needs shoesss." Oprey snickers, waggling the tip of her tail around...

>What do you tell the group while you walk with them?

You finally stop at a short cliffside past some of the trees. You strain your eyes but you don't see Carna or any would-be camp anywhere.

"The Little Witch is a bit further in, we have the luck that she's set up on low-ground. If she hasn't moved then we might be able to sneak up her along the cliffs." Henry explains.

"We will watch from here then." The White Cat says, "Henry, you guide The Black Cats." He weaves his fingers into loops around Henry's hand, you have no idea what for.

"Alright then, anyone want to say something before we split up?" Kran looks to you and Anlak.

"Stay safe." Anlak says, his eyes staring off the cliffside.

>Any more words? Do you do anything but wait?

>>32992664
Tell Kran that you want to try talking to the Witch first, though with backup just in case.

Might want to consider letting folks know about possible Carna knowledge.

>>32992399
>we need to sow some of the seeds necessary to execute a plan
>sow some of the seeds
>seeds
aww yeah, seeds are our trigger for success

>>32992664

Say that we know her, the Little Witch. I think Kran knows we do.

>>32992664
Tell them that its important to us that the girl doesn't die.

>>32992664
Tell them we saw a demon dog casing our group. We started to follow it but decided to go back to the others because going alone would be stupid.

>>32992811
This. Don't want all that dialog to go to waste, Librarian.

>>32992664
Just follow them.

>>32992778
Please don't do this.

>>32992664
If we don't tell Kran about what we know (which I wouldn't mind terribly), I'd at least like to try and get her to let us have round two with Sissel.

Partly because I think we still feel like we owe it to Sheryl to see if we can find a way to handle him non-lethally, and partly because it means we'll be closer to where Carna is when the Contractors start doing their thing. Which means we'll actually be in position to do something about trying to get Carna and Frangelico separated rather than relying on the Black Cats to try for the best-case scenario in their combat operation.

Having at least Kran have some of the background information means we might be able to make Carna's Demon view it as us coming to her aid without all of the Seekers involved assuming we're actually betraying them.

"She probably knows we're coming, based on what he saw." Kran thumbs over at you, "I'll just have to break through the front and hope none of the demons there are too scary."

"Try not to kill her." You say, turning heads your way. "I want to talk to her."

"And now why would that be?" Dusty tilts his head.

You consider telling them about your relationship but it probably isn't the best time, "I want to know more." It's a pretty weak excuse.

"Well. If it's an option." Dusty steps over the cliff and his body vanishes into a cloud of dust. Without any wind, what was his form begins to drift further into the valley.

"No promisssesss." Oprey snickers as dragon-like wings burst loose from her back, spraying blood out onto the grass behind them. She takes off from the cliff and begins flying closely underneath them.

Kran gives you a solemn look for some moments before nodding. She starts to walk off.

"W-wasn't I supposed to lead them...?" Henry mutters before running off after Kran.

You know you want to follow after them but you're not sure what the best way to go about it is. You could try to bring yourself closer talking to The White Cat, or sneak away behind Kran and Henry. If you just ran for it you could likely beat their subtle steps but... you'll be in the lion's den alone.

The White Cat traces a circle in the air with two fingers before spreading it apart. The air splits open and the view within his drawing magnifies the distance. You can see a figure within it. Standing in the distance where the valley begins to close, Sissel stands with a hulking full-plated body accompanying him. There're small demons waiting all around them, on guard, under command.

"Well?" Anlak looks at you, "You want to do something don't you?"

>What do you do?

I had a bit of trouble reconciling this chunk of votes.

>>32993113
go on ahead and bring anlak

>>32993113
Take Anlak to go confront Sissel and who I suspect is Gos. To be honest I just want to fight them and have little else to justify this choice. We aren't really expected to just watch right?

>>32993113
Try to get a better view of the White Cat's weave and wait for a good moment to go after Carna

>>32993113
>>32993289
Well, we ARE supposed to be subduing demons around the area, after all. That said, Frangelico can only control so many demons at once, so clearing out the chaff just means it'll free up energy for it to control other demons in the area instead. In the worst-case scenario, it'd mean our own demon, and we'd be pretty hosed.

It'd probably be best to try and sidestep the smaller demons entirely, or at least disable them non-lethally so that they'd still take up Frangelico's mental energy.

You watch through the White Cat's weave... until the first of the bodies fly. A goblin cleaved in half flies through the air, slamming up against the unknown knight's armour. He doesn't budge, the pieces just topple to the ground before fading into mist. You can see the grand shape of Graps above the valley swatting away at the waves. It's time to move.

"I'm going to help." You say to the White Cat, giving him an excuse to engage Sissel.

"Go ahead then, I'll keep watchi-" He starts to say but he doesn't finish. Anlak shoves him off the cliffside.

"He'll see you if you don't break the weave." Anlak leaps off the cliff-side and jamming his blade into the stone as he scales down the side. You follow his lead. The White Cat seems to have caught himself in the fall but his complaints at your companion are quickly lost when the two of you dash past him. Running seems to be the fastest way there...

The two of you dodge the demons, doing your best to keep out of sight of The Seekers as you keep away from the mobs. The horde easily numbers fifty goblins and a good dozen or larger demons that encroach on Kran who has Henry cowering behind her. Graps looks like he'll be enough to combat them and now and again a few are whisked away by a dust storm before getting torn to shreds in the air. The third Contractor is unaccounted for.

Eventually you get past the demons and get near Sissel. There's nowhere to hide and he sees you immediately, shifting his gaze over to you and pulling his eyes into a glare.

"I thought I told you to stay away... I thought she did."

"I have to see her." You tell him again, "She's in danger."

"She is not in danger. I am protecting her... I and he." Sissel thumbs over to the metal guardian beside him.

"And who's that?"

"A revenant you need not know about. Turn back now, Carna needs to focus."

"Go on ahead." Anlak nods to you, readying his weapons. You want to see Carna but...

>What do you do?

Keep dice on.

>>32993113
Take out the smaller ones to free up concentration on the ones that matter, yeah. Prepare for CARNA PLOT.

>>32993578
go to her go to muh carna (lets not worry about it okay?)

Rolled 1

>>32993578
"Give me a reason to not see an old friend. Otherwise, get out of my way." Go see Carna.

>>32993660
>1
oh oh god

>>32993578
Oh shit. I bet Gos ran into Carna and got ganked. Tell Anlak to watch the blood when he fights sissel. I think we ought to help Anlak fight the two of them before we go though, we'll take the big guy

Rolled 6

>>32993578
"Then come keep me from interrupting her."

Head forward. Anlak's going to have issues if we leave both Sissel and the Armor behind, so provoking one of them into trying to follow us is probably our best way to keep him from getting pulped and/or distracting Kran when she notices Anlak fighting the two of them alone.

Rolled 9

>>32993692
I DID THIS. IT WAS FATED.

>[Alacrity 11]

"Give me a reason to stop, or get out of my way." You run towards Sissel.

"You... why is it always you." He draws two swords and runs to catch you, but Anlak intercepts him with his own weapons and stops him. You slip on past and step into the closing of the valley...
When a massive war axe swings over your head, cleaving into the stone above you.

The armoured knight faces you, his face hidden behind his helm. You continue moving and he follows behind, slashing away at the stone and dirt as he pursues you. You're faster than him but a single hit is going to be problematic; and you'd rather not have him interrupting your meeting with Carna.

His frame is massive, a little larger than Gos'. His axe is made for two-hands but he swings it it in one while using the other to keep his balance in his bestial pursuit.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to stop?" You ask him in jest.

He responds by swinging at your knees, and a tuck and a roll lets you avoid him. You flash light into his eyes but it does nothing to stop his run, and your attempts to blast him with sound or trip him with a magic grip are all in vain. Your other weaves might be more effective, or perhaps the ones you've tried if you changed tactics...

>What do you do?

Rolled 10

>>32993870
Go evasive, see if we can't exploit any openings! Try to force him off-balance if at all possible.

Dice still on?

Rolled 7

>>32993870
Pull his helmet off with grip. Shoot him with the wand in his head

Rolled 2

>>32993870
>His axe is made for two-hands but he swings it it in one while using the other to keep his balance in his bestial pursuit.
Freeze his off-hand to the ground the next time he's using it to try and keep from toppling over. Being unexpectedly anchored to the ground while trying to charge forward and swing a large axe should send him head over heels pretty reliably.

>>32993870
It's her father isn't it?

Rolled 1

>>32993939
Pretty sure he was a swordsman, but it's not outside of the realm of possibility. And it's not like his form with an axe is terribly conventional anyway, so it could easily be a weapon of convenience rather than one of choice.

Rolled 11

>>32993939
>>32993994
Actually, yeah, it's almost definitely him. Even though all the flashbacks had us mentioning him using a blade, when Carna was coming clean she mentioned

>I even ate my father, he couldn't even lift his axe when he saw me.

So yeah. This seems pretty likely, given the "revenant" comment and the axe-wielding.

>[Cunning 15]

He swings sideways at you and you duck underneath. Catching his balance he brings the axe back down at your back and you roll forward to avoid it; the strike makes the earth roar but you aren't slowed down for a second. As he tries to press himself back upright you turn and tuck towards him, pulling your hands into a weave. You call cold over his hands and the frost sticks his gauntlet against the dirt. The image isn't subtle but it seems he isn't a very alert opponent. He tries to rush forward but he's pulled into a stumble as his frozen hand drags a clump of dirt out from underneath it.

You move quickly, using your dominant hand to grip at the horns on his helmet and yank them upwards against his tumbling momentum. With your other hand you draw your wand and quickly pull it aligned with the head being revealed...

You fire straight into his eye, blowing straight through it...

And he turns his head to you, undeterred by the attack. His blonde-grey hair hangs dry and loose, his short beard collects the blood that drips out of his eye-socket.

He's long dead, you know he is. But still... you face Carna's father.

There's no time to stop here. You begin running again, he chases after you.
It doesn't look like human-standards will kill him. You need a way to stop the body of a man who walked The Dragon's Graveyard.

You have two shots left in your wand, and a repertoire of weaves at your ready. Your sword in hand and the shield around your wrist. Most importantly, you have all the wit you can muster.

>What do you do?

Rolled 1

>>32994172
Warn him once more to back off. If he doesn't... See if we can't do something about the man's legs. Any way we can bind them with a weave? If not, turn and blast one with the wand.

>>32994172
He's not very alert, lets use Cunning to dodge and position ourselves to where he would strike us but have our sword positioned so he would be swinging his own leg into it.

Rolled 1

>>32994172
Target the hamstrings. Gotta immobilize this thing

Rolled 3

>>32994172
Wand's out of the picture for future combat. If a shot through the eye isn't gonna do it, there's no point in wasting more of them.

Taking out a leg is probably our best bet, since he's capable of one-handing his weapon, and ambidexterity is probably not a problem for a zombie-man. Keeping him from being able to keep pace with us, then using our Razor weave from range seems reasonable.

Rolled 5

>>32994172
Use your wand, fight! Shoot him in the torso.

>[Cunning 6]

You decide to go after the legs, if a shot through the head doesn't kill him again then your only hope will be to stop him some other way.

"Back off, I'm off to see Carna." You say, knowing how useless your words are. And he charges at you. You call your frost again and freeze the ground along his step as he rushes forward; tumbling to the side as he comes by you. Directly the cold-zone up along his leg, you ice over a knee. He turns his body and leaps up, swinging down at you again. Dropping your weave, you draw your sword and wield it with your gun. A shot into the iced area blows through his plating and into the bone, but it's not quite enough. You run forward hoping to get underneath him...
But he pulls his weight around, spinning his axe in a full circle before he lands. The blade of the dragonslayer slashes through your back, leaving gore along its path.

"If he hit you from the front then we'd have something to talk about!" Frangelico laughs over your vicious wound.

You crumble forward, the blow is obviously one you can't shrug off. Still Carna's father's weight is pressing down on his broken knee. You only need one more hit to take him out... if you can muster up the strength. You pull yourself back on your knees and face the man again. He eyes you lifelessly. Your kind master is no longer there.

>What do you do?

Writing early because double 1s.

Rolled 8

>>32994351
Blast a hole in him with what strength we've got left. No sense trying to plead for anything else.

Rolled 7

>>32994351
Using our Razor weave is probably safer than the third use of the wand now that we've blown through the plating. It hits a wider area, which makes it more likely we'll actually get his leg, and also leaves us with one more round, which gives us a wider range of options in the future.

Having that wound cleaning tincture is probably going to come in handy once we're out of imminent danger.

Rolled 3

>>32994351
Don't get up. We'll bleed out. Sever the leg with a gripped sword

>>32994351
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1CHV1cxZaBM

Rolled 2

>>32994351
Do a light cut with Razor, then finish it off by using grip on a stick and hitting from behind. The irony, it is thick.

Can we use the paper bird to send a letter to Carna from a distance? Break her down with idle conversation, strengthen our hold on her past, and slowly getting to know her as she is now.

>[Alacrity 13]
You just need to break through that last layer of bone now.

He steps towards you.

Pulling your hands together you weave a razor and send it forward, slashing it against the body. You leave marks along the bone and cut out more of the flesh behind it but your magic doesn't have the strength to carve straight through.

Again he steps.

You aim your wand again, taking aim towards his injured leg. But your shot goes just little off course, slamming into his other leg and blowing into the armour there instead.

He continues towards you.

You toss your sword towards him, and he swats it away. But before it hits the ground you reach your hand out and grab the hilt with your weave. Carna's father lifts the axe over his head, ready to execute...
You pull your sword back across the vulnerable legs, smashing the steel into the bone chipped by your magic. Off-balance, he brings his axe down and it slams just beside your head, not quite grazing your ear. You weave the sword to the side into the other leg and dance it against his flash, against his bone. With one hand wielding and one hand keeping the first steady you carve into him until the standing ankle is bruised and battered.

You pull yourself to your feet. Your wounds are still there but you manage against them. You pull your sword back into your hand. Grounded with one leg destroyed and the other useless to move, he lifts his axe to meet you.

You dash in.

He swings at your head.

You dash low.

And gripping your sword in both hands, you twist around and swing at his neck. With more than all your might, you swing straight through and decapitate him.

"That's one for me then." You sheath your blade as the head rolls to the ground, the eyes moving around but no words or breath escaping. Pouring your tincture down along your wounded bodies, you continue forward.

>CONT

>>32994569
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1lMIqLYsEmj

She awaits at the end of the valley, where the afternoon sun awaits.
Dressed in blacks, accented in whites. Carna awaits. She sits on a rock, Dog waiting loyally at her side; a cat-eared hat rests on the dog.

"Come back to have your heart broken again I see." She says, a sad tone in her voice.

You don't know what to say.

"Dog..." Carna plucks the hat off of Dog, and places it on her head. Dog stands up on his fours, and dark wraps around his body, building on him until he stands twice your height. He stands between you and Carna, but you can see her between the gaps of his legs. He gives you a fierce look... but it quickly gives way. He lets out a whine before repositioning himself behind The Little Witch.

"Useless annimal isn't hhe." A heavily distorted voice speaks.

"Be kind Frangelico. I can't expect Dog to attack his other master." Carna says.

"Rrip his hheart out. I nneed to feed."

"Not today, Frangelico."

"...let's run." Your Frangelico whispers to you. "He wants to eat. He intends to kill us. I feel it."

"Ccommand him, my wwitch. There is a ddemon inside of hhim, ssimply ask and he shall do as you wish."

"No Frangelico..." Carna stands up and she looks at you; palm up, she stretches out one finger of his tainted body to point to you, "Dearest... why won't you just leave."

>What do you do?

>>32994665
http://vocaroo.com/i/s13ajJBoAro0

I await the response to these silly things.

>>32994665
We should say something reminiscent of the heart-driven responses we gave when the quest was beginning. I can't put my finger on what specifically.

>>32994665
I have 2 plans:
>Ask how much longer Carna can live like this
>Ask her if she ENJOYS living like this
>Offer to free her by taking her place: be Frangelico's contractor. We can't live without a demon, but she can.
>Kill that Frangelico and let ours eat it(?)

Other plan
>Write letters to each other
>Maintain correspondence, but never be near each other
>Get to know each other as we are now, while remembering how things were before
>Get Gus in on this too
>That's it

Rolled 2

>>32994665
I've decided to end the contract you started with Frangelico to save my life. I won't stop until I have the Carna I grew up with back in my life

Rolled 5

>>32994665
>"...let's run." Your Frangelico whispers to you. "He wants to eat. He intends to kill us. I feel it."

>I'M THE SCARIEST DEMON, FUCK THAT OTHER GUY, I'LL SHOW HIM WHAT FOR.
>OH WHY DON'T YOU FOLLOW, MAYBE YOU CAN SAVE HER.
>HAR HAR YOU GOT SLICED OPEN.
>Oh, you actually DID go and meet her again. You should probably run away. Seriously, please run away.
Fuckin' guy.

Let's get current events out of the way first: "Even if I know it wasn't really him, it was good to see your father again." Comes with the added bonus of focusing Carna's attention on our shared past rather than the current situation, even if it isn't something she can feel proud of.

I've already covered what I feel should be our end-game here >>32988977 but it's something we have to ease into. Speak to Carna first to try and loosen up her mental defenses, then address her Demon separately once he's become inured to our sentimental discussion.

>>32994757
>>32994801
These. Initiating sentimental discussion, lowering emotional barriers.
Followed by the plan we had thought earlier about imploring the option of taking her place.
Hey maybe if we're lucky we'll get to continue that sending letters ending. But we'll need to keep it secret so Anlak doesn't get jealous of us and Gos

"I can't leave, my heart is with you."

Carna lets out a little giggle, "Are you not liking my replacement?"

"It's a bit loud. It was good to see your father again."

"What I pieced together of him at least..." Her lips fold into a smile but her eyes stare off to a corner.

"Now, I've come to end your contract. I want the Carna I grew up with back, and I won't stop until I have her." You step forward, despite Frangelico's beckoning for you to stop.

"There's no ending this dearest, Frangelico will not let go and I cannot live without him."

"How much longer can you live like this? How could you want to? Let him go Carna, and I will save you."

"Oooooh bboy, how you sspeak such ssweet foolishness. In the centuries I hhave lived I've kknown few as sstupid as you. Rushing into ccertain death with naught to gain from it..." Carna's Frangelico laughs at you. You can see ripples in the air from his shape taking form, but still you do not see him.

"I only need her. Let her go Frangelico, and I will take her place. You can feed on the demon within me and take his place."

"WHAT!? You bastard. Are you really considering this?" Your 'Franny' protests.

"Ooooh? Hhow interesting... perhaps we ought to cconsider this." Frangelico chuckles.

"Don't even dare!" Carna yells at you, "You have family and friends now, just return to them and leave me be! There's no reason for you do this! It won't ever work!"

"I can make it work. Let me take this pain away from you Carna."

"Indeed. Llet him go ahead, my witch... beckon him ccloser."

"...would you... really?" Carna watches you hesitantly, she stretches her arms forward, gesturing for an embrace...

"Don't trust him. Don't trust her. Draw your blade, walk away, do a fucking tribal dance. But do not trust her. Don't do it." Franny pleads fearfully.

>What do you do?

>>32994958
This...is insane. I love it.

We should work out how this works, first:
>Carna's contract must be broken before we will accept ANY contract whatsoever
>Do we need to cut a hole in our chest? When?
>What will happen to Carna afterwards? We want to have medical attention ready if she needs it.

stall for the Seekers because goddamn, do we need their help after Frangelico cancels the contract.

>>32994958
Realize she's right and walk away and go live a happy and complete life with Rein

Rolled 3

>>32994958
>"Don't trust him. Don't trust her. Draw your blade, walk away, do a fucking tribal dance. But do not trust her. Don't do it." Franny pleads fearfully.
Assure our own demon that we will trust him to do his part if he can trust us to do ours. After all, nothing forges a partnership like cooperating against a mutual enemy. If Carna can let Frangelico go, we can trust her, but even if Frangelico is willing to leave Carna, we can't trust him. Our demon should know that.

That said, we've read about him. We know how he works. Carna's Frangelico is as likely to kill us with Carna's own two hands as he is to actually follow through on our proposal. We will not come to him. He needs to leave her and come to us.

If and when he does, we still have our dose of Wolfsbane, so it's probably going to be necessary to try and poison Frangelico once Carna releases him. That plus whatever degree of empowerment our demon derives from our own force of will is probably going to be necessary for us to have any chance of overpowering him.

>>32995023
These are all fairly reasonable points (especially the third; we've only got our vitality draft and our in-the-field healing supplies for medical care, and I can't see that being enough for anything more than a cursory treatment), and the spoilered bit is particularly important if we don't think we can handle Frangelico on our own.

Waiting too long means Oprey probably drops in and ruins everything, though, so we're going to have to time it pretty close.

"She won't break her contract. She'll be on the verge of death if she does. Don't trust her." Franny continues his pleading.

"Just trust me." You say to Carna and the two Frangelicos with various intents.

"I trust you... I always have." Carna lowers her arms, "But you can't trust me can you."

Her words cut into you. Your hesitation is showing. "I trust you," You say, "I promise I do."

"I don't blame you if you don't." She ignores your voice, "I'm a monster. I'd have eaten you if you came forward, I'd have ripped your heart out... and I'm so afraid that if I stopped being a monster that the world would crash down on me."

"A sshame! A ppity! The witch doesn't wwish to relinquish her contract and we are bback at ppage one! Hhow hopeless you are!" Frangelico cackles, "And hhere we mmight've considered it if you only ttrusted us more!"

You can hear footsteps behind you. Anlak steps into the end of the valley, his body cut up and marked all over. It seems somehow he won his fight. He glances between the two of you, holding his blades closely.

"Your friend has come for you, leave with him now. You've already away father and Sissel, so do not try to take away Frangelico." Carna lifts a hand, rubbing it against the distorted air beside her.

You need a way to convince her, but right now your hope isn't enough...

>What do you do?

>>32995222
>and I'm so afraid that if I stopped being a monster that the world would crash down on me
ahh, that's what this is about.

Clearly, we need to burn our bridges. Give her no choice, no place to run, save forward. In a way, she needs to grow up.

>Cut hole in chest
>implore Carna while blood still flows through the rest of body
>Pray Anlak has medical supplies
>Pray that ONE of these Frannies decides to take residence in our chest

>>32995222
>You need a way to convince her, but right now your hope isn't enough...

>"I don't blame you if you don't." She ignores your voice, "I'm a monster. I'd have eaten you if you came forward, I'd have ripped your heart out...
Frangelico said as much earlier.
>"Ccommand him, my wwitch. There is a ddemon inside of hhim, ssimply ask and he shall do as you wish."

And she refused, just as she refused when we first met again. It's never been about not trusting Carna. This is about letting Frangelico out, which necessarily means Carna will no longer be in control.

We know she's strong enough to live without him, and she needs to trust us to be strong enough to live with him.

I'd also like to ask Anlak whether his fight with Sissel was lethal or non-lethal, just to get that cleared up.

And besides, the only correct response to
>I'm so afraid that if I stopped being a monster that the world would crash down on me.
is "Don't worry about it, okay?" Hits all the emotional points and encourages her to act first and then contemplate the existential dilemma once it becomes relevant.

You draw your blade and lift it above yourself. You've already resolved yourself this far, and it's time to go a little bit further.

"What're you doing?"

"Don't worry about it, okay?" You answer Carna.

In one motion, you plunge steel into your chest, carving through flesh and bone. Straight to your heart your sword digs.

"Yyes!"

"No!" Each Frangelico expresses his feelings, as you slump onto your knees. The world is quickly fading into grey, save for the coloured threads that dance in and out of the air. Anlak begins his run towards you but a black blur whips out from Dog and slams him up against the ground. You can see Frangelico's shape, his monstrous visage hanging over Carna; it tries to stifle its laughs, covering its mouthless face with both hands.

The shape of a small girl comes into vision beside Carna, she brandishes a large scythe in her hands.

"Why would you... how could you do that?" Carna walks towards you, falling on her knees. She reaches out to touch you, but stops her serrated fingers before they graze your skin.

"Why... why! WHY!?" A black glob rolls out from underneath you, its only feature a single yellow eye. So that's what Franny looks like...

"Hahahah! Look at you ttwo. It's jjust like it once was wwhen I ttore you apart ten years ago! A boy lays dying against the ssoil and a girl too hhelpess to ssave him! I LLOVE IT!"

"Save him Frangelico! I'll undo our contract, just save him..." Carna's tears begin to flow as she watches over your dying body. She takes off her hat and hugs it against her chest, her claws cutting into the fabric.

"Ah... I ddon't know... I don't kknow if I want to do that." Frangelico's eyes curve upwards, "Tthis is ssuch a beautiful scene that I'd only rruin it by getting involved."

"Then I will kill myself if you don't."

"Go ahead, you sstupid girl. If the bboy seeks to llive, I will take him! And if he does not, tthen I will torture tthe Daktori until hhe gives in!"

>CONT

Carna turns to face her demon. You can't see her face, but Frangelico takes a pause to whatever look she gives him.

"Hahahah... hhe'll live if he cchooses to, but we mmust go. The ddemons up front are already dead and I'm sure Ssissel is captured."

"I will not leave until I see him well."

"You ddon't have a cchoice. You never ddid. Dog." Frangelico lifts a finger and Dog grabs Carna by the dress with his mouth. "Ffoolish thing... helpless again." Frangelico gives you a look over, tracing around your body with a claw, "Try again, mmaybe you'll do better next time. You've moved the girl, now mmove me."

A blade flies at Frangelico, it embeds itself into his hand.

Covered in wounds, with one arm hanging crushed. Anlak faces the demon.

"...I've llost some ggood fellows today. I think I need a rreplacement for Sissel."

And so, life goes on...

It's oveeeer, thanks for playing. Skipped the smoke today since I had one just before the last posts.

My deep apologies coming up to the end. I think it deserved a few more decision points but I started late and it ran significantly longer than I prefer. I really started running out of steam towards the end. I'm really not proud of my handling here and it would've been better to end right before meeting Carna to give more time to think it over, but by the time I realized that it was too late to reasonably back out. I really hate leaving things off without some kind of conclusion.

Pumping out the last few posts was difficult since I'm pretty lost on how to handle things right now. I'm still lacking experience. For all it's worth, neither the protagonist or Anlak are dead. If anyone is still up to read this instead of seeing it on the archives, I want to do two things early next time we run and I'd like your opinions.

First, I'd like to perspective swap to Anlak for a little bit. I've never done one before but it seems the appropriate time.

Next, I'd like to give the protagonist a name. I made him with the intent of him being a featureless character but in a large part due to my mistake he ended up picking a few fairly firm traits up quickly.

Again, sorry. I don't like how the last little bit ran and I think you deserved a lot more working space. Right now I'm still trying to get the balance between giving viable options for you to do what you want and having a direction. Last session I flopped and didn't have enough to run with, this session I feel I flopped and didn't give enough room for choice.

>>32995604
Well, here it comes...

I won't deny it if others say that cutting a hole was a terrible idea, but I'm still running with it full tilt.

Cauterize the wound, freeze the body. That should give us a couple of minutes to live. Use a small dosage of numbing draft on self, and MAYBE we can move. After that, we basically say "I trust you" to Carna AND Anlak AND Kran

>>32995485
>The shape of a small girl comes into vision beside Carna, she brandishes a large scythe in her hands.
Guess that's what our Valkyrie looks like, I suppose.

>>32995549
>And so, life goes on...
OR DOES IT?

Well, that's a hell of a cliffhanger.

C'mon, you stupid blob. Prove that all your "cut me open; set me free" yammering wasn't just empty talk. You can do it.

>>32995604
>First, I'd like to perspective swap to Anlak for a little bit. I've never done one before but it seems the appropriate time.
It's a lot better than dedicating a whole thread to that sort of weird protagonist-mindscape-wandering-as-metaphor-for-clawing-your-way-back-to-life, but Anlak's a fairly rigid character.

It's not going to be too bad (since we've got MUH KRAN around to help motivate some non-robotic decision-making, and he's been more proactive lately than he was early on) but I can see it being somewhat more subdued than prior threads.

We'd probably need to get some clarification on his thought processes and motivations to do proper Anlaking rather than just following the rules to the letter because it's easy to go "oh, well that's what Anlak does", but we could probably use some more characterization for him anyway. And it's probably better than having us play as Henry -- the other blank-slate choice -- since we don't really have any investment in his thoughts or actions aside from some mild amusement.

A lot of people really don't like perspective switches, but I'm not one of them, so take this all with a grain of salt.

Namelessness doesn't bother me one way or the other. Watching all of the hoop-jumping is kind of amusing, but I imagine having to write around it perpetually in your narration has got to be a pain in the ass. Whether you choose to tie the sudden name acquisition into the narrative or not, either way it probably isn't worth making a huge production out of. Just make a name and move on.

>>32995604
As long as we have a chance to make a deal with Fran(our heart demon) im cool with everything so far. Also personally I have never been a fan of perspective changes, thats a personal call for you or the other readers. As for a name Ezekiel or Zek for short seems to fit the MC, at least in my opinion. Also thanks for running been enjoying it very much so far.

>>32995604
>>32995812
As for the actual run, it's good that you know how you teeter one way or the other in terms of player agency and stuff actually happening.

It would be cool if we managed to CUNNING Carna into thinking we stabbed ourself but actually didn't, but I don't think we have anything that can do that, aside from using grip to force Franny to stay in our heart cavity.

Perspective-wise, you've got a number of options, really:
>Anlak
>still MC
>Franny
>CARNA
and all of them would be interesting. I don't mind which you pick in the end. Do what you think is best. Don't worry about it, okay?

>>32995604

I went to bed before all that went down, and even though I wouldn't have voted for it if I'd had a choice, I'm okay with how you did it. Also appreciate that you knew what you were doing.

I think a perspective switch to Anlak would be good. I would like to see what he thinks of all this. We've thrown away Rein (who is a sweetheart and objectively a better girl than Carna, not that it matters), we're about to throw away our lives and contract with a demon (if we don't I assume we'll die). I wonder what someone who's had to struggle for everything in their life thinks when they see someone lucky and privileged cast aside all they've been given?

I went to sleep half way through. As soon as I turned my computer off I had a feeling people were going to do something stupid. And I was right.

Why do people want to be a contractor so bad? I was fine the way it was.

>>32999927

I assume that people are trying to get blood from a stone, they think there's some way to wring a happy ending out of this. The reality, of course, is that we're going to wind up miserable and full of regret. We should have slit Carna's throat when we found her abed and her demon wasn't present, that would have been the nicest thing we could've done for her.

>>33000494
Carna is going to die without the demon. And she's going to die with the demon (only more slowly). I don't see any happy endings here.

Even if Carna's demon had accepted our offer Carna would have died without the demon there to keep her alive. I don't know what those players were thinking. They gambled everything on something that was NEVER going to work.

And, now we have no choice but to contract with the little Fanny. I really didn't want to become a contractor but now we don't have a lot of choice.

>>33000678

Pretty much. This has always been a tragedy though, Librarian said as much at the outset (does that make Frangelico a self-insert?).

I don't know that there was ever a possibility of a "true" ending. Good endings, sure, but saving Carna AND ourselves AND living happily ever after? Looks impossible from where I'm standing.

>>32997346
I'd say he'd probably think the dude is crazy as fuck, but maybe admire his resolve? As for names, that's tough but if I were going for biblical I'd say Samson, given our MC's attraction to Carna, his accomplishments and privileged life, and ultimately his possible death because of that attraction/affection toward that women