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Previously on 999 Quest:

You and Red had entered the soul of Blue, determined to save him from the spiritual corruption plaguing him. Unfortunately, you found yourselves more than a little webbed up instead, forces to hang to a pillar all whilst Blue struggled against terrible odds to preserve his own life. Luckily, you and Red managed to dislodge yourselves and come to his rescue within the nick of time.

The rest is kind of a haze from there on, though. You can vaguely recall fighting your dark doppleganger, along with flames and too many eyes, and all the chains, but beyond that? Not a blip.

You blearily open your eyes and groan, coming back to not only the world but all kinds of unpleasant aches and pains. This is not a nice feeling at all. Kinda like someone hugging you so tight that it becomes less a hug and more a squeeze.

"Oh, you're awake. And here I was making estimates that it would take you another few days."

A voice snarks from beside you, but you can't quite place it. And your vision is still too blurry at the moment to make out complex shapes. Time to settle for verbal exchange, then.

>>3549537
Ask him who he is and how long we've been asleep.

>>3549689
>Ask him who he is and how long we've been asleep.
"Blorb, blorb?" You try to turn over to where you think thevoiceis coming from, but your body aches too much. Definitely going to be dealing with this for a while.

"Orange, I thought that you'd easily be able to identify your kin?" the voice chuckles humorously, and you get the distinct impression its shaking its head a bit. You hear some shuffling and movement, and before too long a figure casts a shadow over you.

You tense a bit at it, still recalling in bits and pieces what you went through, but as your vision clears more and more, you start seeing the figure more clearly. And it takes you only a second to recognize who it is.

"Blorb?"

"[Yes, Orange. It's me, and you're you." Purple chuckles some more, tapping at what seems to be some kind of...clipboard? Has he been checking up on you? "[And as for your other line of questioning: you've been asleep for a week. Red and Blue too. I suspect it to be some kind of psycho-spiritual shock that put you all into a kind of coma. Likely a result of coming into such close proximity with Blue's corruption.]"

An entire week. That's...insane. How much did you end up missing in that time?

>>3549748
Asked him what happened over the week.

I'm sorry, OP
I'm so very sorry for everything I did
And I'm sorry I wasn't even brave enough to apologize honestly

>>3550111
You're the guy who rage quit some threads ago? Welcome back :)

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>>3550025
>Asked him what happened over the week.
"Blorble? Blo-borble?" you ask, as you push yourself up in a pained struggle. Ow. Everything aches something fierce.

"[Hmm? Oh, you want to know what happened last week? Well, nothing much really.]" Purple flips a page on what is most certainly a clipboard before continuing. "[When you and Red dived into Blue's soul, the wolf pack, Dr Spanko, Lord Blackwood and myself remained to watch over you for a time. But the pack eventually elaborated that leaving you in that area would only cause more complications due to the lingering taint that the Karcist had left there, and they themselves were moving on, to go find somewhere else to live and rebuild. Before that though, they repayed us for our aid by taking us to an establishment where you three would be at no further risk of corruption. That's where we are now, a kind of hotel I think."

Purple shifts a little bit, reaches into himself and pulls something out before showing it to you. "[And that's where these come in. They're bone charms, created by the pack to help disguise us in the city and around normal folk. They gave all of us one, though they had to implant the three of yours into your bodies due to your unconscious states.]"

Feeling around a bit, you indeed find the strange bone necklace-thing within your mass. Huh.

>You have received a Bone Charm. This little bundle of bone and magic shall disguise you as a human so long as you have it on your person. Thanks wolf pack!

"[Fair warning though, it's quite fragile. Closer to a basic illusion than it is a proper disguise. Basically any heavy force can dispel it.]" Purple warns, putting his charm back into his body.

"[Any more questions, Orange?]"

>>3550111
Don't sweat it. I think I've fucked up myself too. A major reason why it looked like there'd be no thread this time around was both because I was writing up the missing finale for Council Quest 2 and updating 999's stats, and also because I was panicking that no one liked the quest anymore. Truly though, it's good to see you back.

>>3550400
Ask if Red and Blue are awake now too.

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>>3551858
>Ask if Red and Blue are awake now too.
"Blorble blor blorb?"

"[Oh, well they should be.]" Purple responds, scribbling something down on his clipboard. "[I had made some rough estimates regarding when you'd wake up, but seeing as how you're awake earlier than anticipated, it's likely that Blue and Red will be coming to any second now. I had Lord Blackwood watching them, so don't worry about someone having stolen them or anything.]"

You wouldn't worry about that (maybe), but it's good to see that he thought on it.

"[They'll be in the other room. Come on, I'll show you.]" And with that, Purple moves over to the door opposite from your resting spot, opens it with a 'click' and walks out. You similarly move off the bed you're laying on to go and follow him out, but stop to survey your surroundings a little bit.

There's some windows to your left, curtains pulled to reveal the sun starting to peak up, casting a dim haze of light across the room. You'd guess that it's fairly early in the morning, but you can't be certain. Next to your bedside, is a desk with a pulled up chair and a desklamp shining down on a bunch of notes and scribbles and general calculations. It's a massive clutter of things, and you suspect that Purple likely didn't get much rest last night, if any. You should probably talk to him about that.

Jumping down from the bed, you move over to follow him out the door. And outside you see a bunch of doors lining the hallway (which is lined with a pretty nice and fluffy carpet, you note), stretching down for a good while. But one door to the side of your own room stands open, and you can hear Purple and another familiar voice in there.

Sliding yourself over, you peak into the room, and see a rather chipper, albeit disheveled Blackwood conversing with Purple regarding your present status along with Red and Blue.

"-So the young lad is truly up and about then? Splendid! We shall exchange good tidings once more! I can only hope he isn't too pained by his ordeals and-!"

Blackwood turns and catches sight of you in the doorway. You give a sheepish look.

"999, my boy! How are you? Tell me, where the fiends truly as indecent as I had come to suspect? Was the damage most severe?"

How do you react to your good friends...enthusiasm?

>>3552303
Tell him that shit was fucked up to hell and we fought our evil clone, but we won at the end.

>>3552344
>Tell him that shit was fucked up to hell and we fought our evil clone, but we won at the end.
You decide to go ahead and tell Blackwood all about your spiritual trials and struggles.

"...I must say 999 my lad, you have indeed suffered greatly." the good Lord strokes some of his beard hairs as he speaks. "-I do so hope that that abhorrent creature never returns to plague us, but alas. We do not always get what we desire in this life. And certainly not when at war against the forces of evil as we are. Aha, but I find myself rambling. Shall we not discuss your-!"

A groan, two groans to be precise, pierce the air and interrupt Blackwood, causing him, yourself and Purple to turn towards the source of the noise. Guess Blue and Red are finally waking up.

"[Uugh, my fucking everything.]" judging by the tone of the voice, you guess that Blue is the one experiencing what you went through upon waking. "[Red, Orange? I swear to fucking god, if you two aren't feeling this shit...]"

Another groan comes from Red, but he makes no move to speak like Blue does. Probably too busy dealing with waking up to UNBEARABLE ACHING PAIN instead.

...You should probably greet them honestly. Or you could take solace in the knowledge that you aren't alone in your pain. Either one probably works.

>>3553359
Greet them and tell them that we feel like shit too.

>>3553541
support

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>>3553541
>>3554427
>Greet them and tell them that we feel like shit too.
"Blorble-blorb. Blorb blor-blorble."you respond flatly.

Another pair of groans erupt at that. Red looks almost like he's trying to curl in on himself and disappear from the world entirely.

"[Orange, at least tell me that we got the fucker. PLEASE tell me that all this pain was worth it.]"

"Blorble blorb?"

"[Just because I'm still alive does not make this okay, Orange.]"

You shrug a bit, before walking over to him and offering him a limb up off the bed. Despite his disgruntled and pained expression, the figure before you is recognizably Blue. There's no more darkness flowing through him trying to subsume his identity, no more screeches of unholy agony unfathomable to the mind. It's just Blue.

And you're okay with that.

"[G-guys. I-I don't think I'm gonna m-make it. J-just, bury me in a ditch somewhere. No funeral.]"

You and Blue turn almost as one to the opposite bed, where Red seems to be trying very very hard to dissolve himself into its framework.

"[Orange? Can you kindly help me get this drama-queen out of bed?]" Purple heaves a sigh at Red's antics. "[I sent Spanko out to survey the area, and when he gets back, I suspect we'll have some business to be getting down to.]"

Ok. Get Red out of bed. That should be doable. Maybe. Hopefully.

>>3554812
Time for some heavy lifting.
Try to lift Red.

>>3554812
>Time for some heavy lifting.
>Try to lift Red.
>if we cant lift we will scop in bag

>>3554812
Pull him up like we did with Blue.

>>3554964
>>3555407
>>3555449
Time for some heavy lifting.
>Try to lift Red.
>if we cant lift we will scop in bag
Alright, how hard can this be? You turn to Red, and reach out with a set of pseudopods, wrapping them over and around the groaning red mass pressed into the bedframe, and you start to pull him.

Or at least try to, as you suddenly find yourself struggling to lift him up off the bed structure. Either sleeping for so long has vastly weakened you, or Red somehow produced more mass in his sleep. Not even ruling out both at this point.

It takes several minutes before you can get the moaning mass of slime off of the bed, but even so, he just sticks to the floor and slides across it slowly and almost deliberately. Eventually, Purple and even Blue chip in to help you get Red out the door, at which point he pushes you all of of him as he pulls himself together, and glares at all of you.

"[O-Ok. M-Maybe I deserved t-that, but still. Not nice.]" he glares at all three of you. None of you are sorry.

"Ah, let's not really any more, my compatriots! I feel Spanko has already returned, and with him, news! Onward!"

You hardly have time to react before Blackwood zooms out of the room, past the three of you, down the hall and around a corner. The three of you blink owlishly.

"[Well, okay then.]" Purple stares at where Blackwood ran off to. "[We should probably follow him and make sure there's no massive issues. You guys can ask what questions you want as we head downstairs. Hear they have some candy set out for you three, from earlier.]" Without further hesitation, Purple begins to walk, following Blackwood's trail.

Candy? Candy's always good. You could do for some candy right about now. It might take your mind off things too.

>>3549501
Heal self

>>3557094
Get down there and rush straight for the candy!

>>3557234
>Heal self
Oh right. You should probably get on that. Don't want to be constantly aching as you're eating after all.

Focusing yourself, you feel a warm glow encompass your body, clinging to you like some kind of passive layer of energy. Almost immediately, you can feel it partially soothing your sore body, easing your pain over time. Maybe you can extend this to Red and Blue too?

But more importantly-

>Get down there and rush straight for the candy!
Candycandycandycandycandycandycandycandy-

As you speed down the hall, rushing past Purple and leaving Red and Blue trailing far behind, you make all kinds of bends and turns and loops, practically flying across the stairs down, all for the sweet sweet candy that's almost in your grasp-

You barely manage to stop yourself from slamming face-first into a wall of a man, your race abruptly coming to a screeching halt. Looking up, you see that the msn's face is partially obscured by a large, dark brimmed hat, and his body is more or less obscured by a large black coat.

"You should be carefully where you're going kid. Wouldn't want to end up knocking somebody over or causing some other accident now, would we?" the man intones, voice not deep so as to be unintelligible, but it's easy to hear the gravel present in it all the same.

>>3559809
Apologize to him, slow down, and when he's out of sight, continue our quest for candy!

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>>3560131
>Apologize to him, slow down, and when he's out of sight, continue our quest for candy!
You look up at the frighteningly tall man, and mumble a small series of "blorbles" in apology. You can only hope that the illusion auto-translates for you.

"All their eyes need fixing." the man states, his voice sounding somewhat 'off'.

"Blorble?" you ask, looking up at him.

The man makes a noise you cannot recognize, and begins to walk away, his body moving oddly for a human. You watch as he continues walking down the hall, and out a wide set of double-doors, his body shifting strangely under his coat slightly.

Eh. It's probably nothing. Now, where's that candy?

You look over to the side, and see another wide set of doors. A sweet smell drifts out from them, and you almost drool at the scent.

>>3562443
Burst through the doors, FOR CANDY!

>>3562525
>Burst through the doors, FOR CANDY!
Alright, on three. One-THREE!

You burst through the doors. And as you do so, you're greeted by a stunningly large cafeteria-like area. The air is filled with the haze of food, but most notably, it's filled with the scent of what you most love in this entire world and beyond: Sweets.

You all but float over to where they're serving a whole host of chocolates, chocolate-coated pastries, things so thoroughly glazed in honey and golden caramel that you can't truly tell what they're meant to be anymore, various kinds of jelly, fudge, and did you already say chocolate? Because theres a lot of that here.

Most happily, you indulge in all they have to offer. And it is *wonderful*.

"[...Alright, so he can't have gone very far. He's likely in the dining area, so we just have to-Oh dear sweet God, HOW.]"

Oh, sounds like Purple and the others caught up. 'Took them long enough', you idly think as you swallow a rather large donut whole. Honestly, you'd think they didn't want any.

"999, my boy. Are you...feeling well?" Blackwood asks, tone sounding vaguely worried.

"Blorble?" you questioningly respond. You're perfectly fine. Why would he ask that?

"I ask mostly because, well-"

"[Orange, that is a fucking stupid amount of sweets.]"

At Blue's blunt interruption, you blink. What? No it isn't. This is a perfectly reasonable number of sweets!

"[Orange, I'm fairly certain that is enough food to feed at least a hall's worth of guests. Maybe even more.]" Purple responds flatly. "[It would not be inaccurate enough to call it a literal mountain of candy.]"

Looking back towards your precious precious candy, you scoop half a dozen tarts into your maw, chewing slowly whilst pondering. It isn't *that* bad right?

>A new trait has gained realization within you (Grand Eater) [F]: The amount of sweets you can ingest is truly unholy. Words alone do not do this justice. Dear 343, why.

...Yeah. You aren't seeing any issue here.

"[No seriously, Orange. How did you get all this. HOW.]"

>>3564046
Continue eating but pass some to our friends.

>>3564494
>Continue eating but pass some to our friends.
You shrug a bit and go back to eating not even bothering with an explanation. Especially since you honestly have no idea as to why theres so much candy. You never bothered to even question it.

Pausing in your snacking a bit, you turn to the others, all of whom except Red seem just a tiny bit output at your eating. Maybe you should extend an offer to them?

"Blorble? Blorble-blorb!" you wave a hand at the pile of candy, telling them to help themselves.

Almost immediately, Red all but leaps in, stuffing his face with as many sweets as he can. Shortly afterwards, Blue follows with a shrug along with Blackwood. Purple heaves a sigh, and just reaches over to pick out a chocolate muffin. That's the spirit!

For a good while, you all just make yourselves content with enjoying each other's company and eating, a well-earned reprieve from your struggles thus far. At least, until Purple notices something.

"[Hmm. That's odd. That's *very* odd.]" he looks over to some other corner of the dining area, which is now getting lightly populated by guests here and there. "[Orange, come with me a moment would you? I need to figure this out.]"

>>3565187
Devour another mouthful of candy and ask him what's going on.

>>3565187
>Devour another mouthful of candy and ask him what's going on.
>tell him about that odd fellow in teh coat from before

>>3565330
>Devour another mouthful of candy and ask him what's going on.
"Blorb-mm-blorble-blorb?" you stuff more candy into your mouth and get up to go follow Purple, asking him what's wrong whilst you let the others indulge themselves.

"[There's something up, Orange.]" Purple responds without looking back. "[I felt something when the wolves lead us here and we took the time to hold own the fort around here, but I ignored it in favor of keeping an eye on you. But now, I don't think it can be ignored anymore.]"

Purple reaches out and touches the air with a limb, infusing it with a faint spark of purifying light. It ripples.

"[The air here is saturated with some kind of power, dripping into the space around. I noticed it coating the food too, but I couldn't make sense of it initially. Not until you took all that candy.]"

The air ripples and parts some more as he starts to wave his arms through it. The space around you groans and seems to almost *growl* in protest as Purple continues his actions.

>>3566782
>tell him about that odd fellow in teh coat from before
You decide to tell Purple about the strange man you had encountered earlier, and his equally strange words.

"[Hmm, definitely not human.]" he remarks after a few moments to digest. "[I'm not sure *what* it was, but Orange, if you see anyone like that again you need to tell us immediately. We have no idea what anomalies truly inhabit this reality.]"

He waves another limb into the rippling almost gelatinous-mass that the Air has become, but then the limb suddenly hitches, becoming stuck in the path of its motion.

"[Uh.]"

An eye opens in the air above, blood-shot and twitching periodically. It stares down at you and Purple.

>>3566908
Say "hello?"

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>>3566965
>Say "hello?"
"Blorble?"

The eye stares down at you, almost mad as it twitches in your direction. And then you hear laughter flowing through the air.

"~Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe~"

The sound is high-pitched and airy, sounding unsettling and yet overall jovial at the same time. There is a madness to it, but it does not seem directed at you specifically.

The 'air' ripples once more, and the jellylike mass that Purple has gotten stuck in fills up with lights and colors, as all around you space and time go absolutely bonkers and descend into raw strangeness.

In the spot where Purple has gotten his arm stuck in, a billowing robe of multiple shifting colors and patterns shoots up, stretching up and up and up Ingo a towering figure. As it leans down towards you, you can see that its face is a well-painted mask of stone, with a grand smile seemingly carved into it, all as its mad eyes tack in yoyr very being and presence with a gaze.

"~Ooooooooh, children! Have you come to play and play and play? Or perhaps to eat and eat and eat till you rupture? Both are fine and dandy if that's your desire, dearies!~"

It means down at you, that titanic face taking up your entire vision. You can't help but gulp a little bit as it continues to press in towards you.

>>3568818
>"~Ooooooooh, children! Have you come to play and play and play? Or perhaps to eat and eat and eat till you rupture? Both are fine and dandy if that's your desire, dearies!~"

Reply with "I'm not interested in either of those things, especially since I just done the latter a moment ago."

>>3569151
>Reply with "I'm not interested in either of those things, especially since I just done the latter a moment ago."
"Blorble-blorb blorble-"

"~Oh no, dearie! You can't say something like that here!" the *thing* giggles again. "~Everyone needs to eat and eat very well if they want to live! That's the way the world works!"~"

Its giggling madness seems to infect the very air around, as the strange clown-thing flows and shifts around you, bending like a seroent wrapping around its prey.

"[Orange, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, can you please tell it to let me go?]" Purple voices his displeasure with the current situation, hand still stuck in the substance of the titan before you.

"~Ohoho? Your friend has found themselves in a sticky situation! Do you want them to get unstuck? We can help help help if you want!~"

You'd prefer not to, but you honestly have no idea how this thing will react if you tell it off so completely. And you worry about Purple's health in such a scenario.

What to do?

>>3570326
Tell the thing to let go of Purple.

>>3570451
>Tell the thing to let go of Purple.
"Blorble-blorble. Blorb, blorb. *Blorb*."

The entity twitches a bit, and you almost swear you can see its stone smile slip a little.

"~Nononononononono.~" it titters. "~Do you know what we are, dearie? We are Notes Of Hunger. We are the power of this place, its very heart. And you are in *our* domain now. You cannot say things like that here!~"

The thing's madness is quite obvious to you, and you intensify your guard as it continues to coil around you lazily.

"~We'll let you and alllll your friends go, but first you have to do one little favor for us. Can you do that?~"

You stare at it, clearly not liking the idea of hinging the lives of all your friends on some vague bargain. But before you can give your answer to the entity-

"My lads, are you here? It is quite unpleasant in these parts, I must say."

You turn towards the source of the voice, coming from behind you. Notes Of Hunger follows suit as well, and you're almost certain you see its grin start to drop.

"Oh dear, you seem to be in a rather terrible situation, my boys. And as for *you*," Lord Blackwood's tone turns serious as he pointedly glares at Notes Of Hunger. "What is the meaning of this? Speak quickly, if you would."

"~And who are you? Is this another one of your friends, dearies?"

>>3571521
"Yes, it is. You are 1 against 3 now, so don't try anything stupid."

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>>3572215
>"Yes, it is. You are 1 against 3 now, so don't try anything stupid."
"~Hmmmmmmmmmm. Is that so?~"

It focuses almost entirely on Blackwood now. Something alien flashes through those marble eyes in that instant.

"Greetings, I do not think we've met." Blackwood steps forward. "I am Lord Theodore Thomas Blackwood, 8th Viscount of Westminster. Renowned freelance explorer, archaeologist, naturalist and writer. I am a man of many things, chief amongst them being knowledge, adventure, and loyalty to Queen and Country. In my many years, I have faced innumerable horrors, upon my family name and my honour as a man of God, and even now I continue to do so. The world is ripe with danger and terror, but I worry not. Just more secrets to uncover, more nightmares to quell I say."

"But you...You are hurting my dear compatriots. And that is not something I can let stand, no matter what your purpose here may be. Release them now and we may yet part of amicable terms."

"~Ohohoho! Is that a threat, little thing?~" Notes shivers with some alien sensation of joy or pleasure, causing Purple to shake along its shaking mass.

" It's a promise." Blackwood offers simpky, expression stony.

"~Hmmmm. Most interesting.~" Notes hums for a moment, before its smile quirks up again. "~Aha! But we never had any intention of harming the sweet things, o' renowned one! We merely needed them to do a little task for us here! Nothing major, not at all!~"

Blackwood quirks an eyebrow. And you can't help but stare at the creature incredulously. What does it want you to do to get Purple out of this mess?

>>3574031
Ask it what the hell it wants from us.

>>3574424
>Ask it what the hell it wants from us.
"Blorble-blorb?" Let's cut to the chase.

"~Ohohohohoho! It asks it asks it asks!" Notes Of Hunger cackles, the sound mad and twisted to your hearing. And then it immediately stops, its smile completely falling with a sharp 'crack' in the air.

"~Something of ours has been taken. We are incomplete without it, and each day it is separate from us, we feel ourselves slipping further and further into a darkness. A hunger far greater than ourselves.~"

"~Find this treasured thing of ours. Bring it back to us, and you shall all go free. This we swear upon the Old Tongue.~"

"That seems like a reasonable task." Blackwood replies after a time. "But I must ask: what is this thing? And how do we locate it?"

Notes' smile turns up ever so slightly, another crack of unnatural stonework echoing through the air, and its eyes sparkle with alien lights.

"~We shall give give give the Purple one back, and Mark him with the location of where our treasured thing might be.~" it titters, voice melodic and high. "~Do hurry back, hehehe.~"

And with that, reality snaps back into place and you find yourselves back in the dining area once more, alongside Purple and Blackwood. Nothing seems out of place here, but the air feels strangely thick, and smells of something almost disgustingly sweet.

You'd have thought it to have been a dream, if you didn't currently feel the burning gaze of something vast upon you even now. Along with the whole weird haze of an aura hanging about Purple, who looks pretty damn unsettled right now.

...You should probably do something about that.

>>3575949
Ask purple what this aura feels like and if he now knows where their "thing" is.

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>>3576669
>Ask purple what this aura feels like and if he now knows where their "thing" is.
Purple shivers a bit, sighs, and then enters a slouch.

"Its kinda like feeling a thousand tiny arms holding onto you. Except that these arms are also covered in eyes. As expected, it feels awful."

Yeah, you can kind of get that.

"Anyway," he continues, shivering involuntarily again. "I can kinda *feel* it outside of the building. It's not too far away, so we should be able to catch up to it quick enough. But we should warn Blue and Red first."

You nod, and with Purple and Blackwood in tow, you move back to where you left Blue and Red earlier.

...Except they aren't there, the space where you left them completely empty. Instead, you get a very angrily cacking Dr Spanko.

"Startled motley black limes whiskeyed off the red piercements sludge! Cack!"

"What?" Blackwood actually seems surprised. "They took them? Where?"

Dr Spanko furiously nods his head, and then begins to fly towards one of the doors, gesturing to you all with a wing and cacking fitfully.

"Out and in the cupboard-pastries, cack! Tall seashells out the sideshow! Cack!"

>>3578807
Follow Dr Spanko through the door.

>>3579474
>Follow Dr Spanko through the door.
You nod to Blackwood and Purple, before proceeding to follow Spanko out the door and into the open air. Mid-morning light fills your vision, and temporarily blinds you for a moment, before oyur eyes adjust to the sensation. Looking around, you can see large buildings surrounding you from multiple sides, trees, and most importantly, the people walking up and down the streets or just hanging about. It's a nice sight, overall.

But no time for that! You've got to catch up with Spanko and figure out what's going on!

Looking side to side, you catch sight of Spanko cacking and almost bouncing in the air, pointing down the street before flying off and into an alleyway. Without further hesitation, the three of you rush to follow him, moving down the street and past numerous people after the very clearly panicked bird.

"It isn't often that he gets like this." Blackwood notes. "What could be gotten him quite so unnerved this time? If it was strong enough to capture the other two lads, then surely it must be quite formidable."

You can only nod at that assessment on part of Blackwood, before you take the same turn that Spanko did and move into the alleyway.

It's a short passage, filled with a dumpster or two, and a couple rusted bins (that are strangely empty), and before you know it, you're out on the other side again. Nothing much to it, andnothing quite abnormal from what you saw just passing by.

...Except, things aren't *quite* the way you left them. Everything out of the alley has faded into a dull grey bordering on black tone, the sky is overcast and obscured with inky clouds, and even the ground beneath your feet feels 'off'. Across the street from you, you can see Spanko pointing upwards, as the buildings part like trees in a forest and a grey road stretches upwards, into the inky cloud coverage above. A dim light emanates from where the unnatural pathway disappears to, faintly pulsing.

"Hmm. A reality distortion. Hidden in your common alleyway to prevent detection" Purple remarks. "Fascinating. I'd love to take the time to study this."

Maybe that can be saved for another time. Right now, you need to get to Blue and Red, and pronto.

>>3580517
Go up the road.

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>>3580869
>Go up the road.
You poke Purple a little to get him to focus, and without further delay, the three of you start to advance up the road. The road curves upwards seemingly unceasingly, but you notice the changes around you, as the buildings start to bend and distort into increasingly surreal shapes.

After a point, you end up passing through some kind of spacial 'barrier' and once more, the road twists and distorts, bending in all kinds of directions in a fraction of an instant. Your eyes can't keep track of the whirlwind of pathways, all the widening and shortening bends and curves, and it seems like you'll be torn apart in a tide of gravel and street-signs.

Until suddenly, it all stops. The world straightens and stills and becomes one again. And you taste sand in the air-wait. Sand? In the air?

Blinking your eyes open again, you look around at your new surroundings. All around you, a vast sea of golden sand and ruined buildings covers your view and seems to fade into the distance. Looking behind you, back where you came from, you find only dark clouds. Directly in front of you, you see a strange disjointed building pulsing with strange lights that stream out of its cracks.

"Out there, cack! Out the walled soodstring-nutbar, cack!" Spanko cacks furiously from above your heads.

"They're in there." Blackwood helpfully supplies, nodding to the tall atrocity several feet away.

If that's where Blue and Red are, then you're getting them out. No matter what.

Around you, the sands almost seem to laugh, as the ground splits open to vomit out pools of bubbling black liquid. The fluid swarms towards you.

"

>>3582272
Take to the air and fly to the building.

>>3582617
Roll me a 3d100 if you would.

Rolled 49, 10, 55 = 114 (3d100)

>>3583196

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>>3583239
114. Pretty damn good in all honesty. Writing.

>>3582272
>Take to the air and fly to the building.
You decide to take to the air, Purple quickly following your lead by morphing his own form and Spanko lifting Blackwood onto him. Despite this however, the black tides come crashing down with frightening quickness, almost scattering your form and dragging you down as they crash against the rocks and sand on the ground below.

As the black liquid smashes along the ground though, you realize something. Namely, that it isnt a 'liquid' at all. Instead, the black pools seem to be very very dense and finely coordinated swarms of spiders. Thousands-no, hundreds of thousands of them, if not more.

All in all, it's a fairly sobering experience in your opinion.

Now decently in the air and sure of your flight, you take off towards the clearly anomalous construct in the distance, speeding faster and faster in your approach to the structure. And when you get close enough, you have to suppress a gasp from yourself.

The building, a tall and hideously imposing thing, stands on a basis of a whirling pool of bubbling blackness. Yet more spiders, judging by the droning sound of chattering and terrible movement coming from that abyssal pool. But what truly catches you attention is the building proper. Namely what it's made out of.

The building has bits sticking out from every corner of it, jutting out from impossible angle and bends, like a special anomaly imposing itself upon reality as best as it is able. And you can recognize some of those shapes. They're twisted and distorted and ill-shaped now, but you can recognize them.

There are whole Foundation facilities bound up in the 'building', strapped with black webbing and swarming with spiders inching out of every nook and cranny, in all kinds of colours and shades, many which don't even exist. And in every crack and corner, every demented angle, you see sets of five.

"Do you like it, children?"

The voice that asks is light, sweet even. And it is *sickening* to all of your senses.

Cloaked in a swarm of spiders thrmaelves, an indistinct figure walks on the air towards you.

"Building this frame of our god took time, but your two friends aided us greatly by providing the substructure with needed nourishment."

"Now, you shall join them." It cackles, as the swarm spreads out around you.

>>3585124
Attack the figure and swarm with a song of fury.

Rolled 53, 85, 29, 95 = 262 (4d100)

>>3585473
Roll a 3d100 for how many filthy arachnids you wipe out.

Rolled 77, 82, 81 = 240 (3d100)

>>3587255

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>>3587266
240 vs 262. Better than expected, but there's still a fuckton of spiders. Writing.

File: 02e5e511c3f089698db61cab5(...).jpg (45 KB, 500x481)

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>>3585124
>>3585473
>Attack the figure and swarm with a song of fury.
You look to your companions, exchanging information between yourselves. It's go time.

As the spiders swarm around you, you see Purple blasting them back with spellfire and woven sigils of light, as Blackwood cuts through them with a blade of his own even as Spanko barrels through them like a wrecking ball. Despite all this, more and more spiders seem to *pour* out of the figure, flowing outwards endlessly.

Guess you're up.

Taking a deep breath, you push your wings outward. Immediately, an aura of purifying fire ignites at your back and burns away at the chittering swarm, even as you level a glare at your enemy. Slowly, you release the breath you had held in, letting it hang in the air a moment.

And then you sing.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NBpu3Fhvkdc

The song is akin to a war cry, an army charging, and its release sends the entire swarm flying away, falling as charred corpses to the sands below as it spreads out, becoming a wave of power stopping this nightmare in its tracks. The figure does not visibly react, but its laughter has stopped, even as you continue us to sing and your song begins to bear down on it.

"So you did I to play, little one." it all but hisses, the words like poison on the air, even as your song tears into it. "Fine. Let's play-"

The song cuts it off, melting energy crashing into the entity in an explosion of lights and sounds. And when the light fades, you don't see the figure anymore.

You heave a sigh of relief. That was easier than you'd been expecting. Now to get to Blue and Red, and get out of here-

Just as you start flapping your wings to ready yourself for braving the towering monstrosity before you, you watch as black pillars shoot upwards in front of you, pooling from the grounds below. Five pillars of what you realize to be more spiders. And when they stop flowing and finally fall, what remain are five figures, spiders covering their entire bodies, all as abstract insectoid monstrosities hang in the spaces behind them.

"This is the force that resists you so, Brother?" the left-most figure drawls, its lazy tone playing in tune with the spiders moving all over it. "They hardly seem worth the effort."

"They are stronger than first impressions would imply, Brother." the figure in the centre, the one from before, responds. "Now, focus. We cannot let them interfere with the coming of God. The Fivefold Lord shall arise in this world, and we are to bear witness to it. Show these interlopers the truth."

The air screams, as *something* lashes out at you, rendering the distance meaningless as speeds closer.

This is going to be where we conclude for now, give how close the thread is to death. Apologies for the cliffhanger. We'll continue with a new thread Saturday.

Thanks for sticking around for this one, guys.