>>5667937
"Don't get your hopes up too high little one, your chances of success are slim. Now where to send you..."

STARTING LOCATIONS!
>The foot of a snowy mountain where the cruel dragon known as the Lord of Soot lives...

>Uhh, isn't that underwater, Goblin King, we can't breathe underwater! Eh? Is that ruined temple?

>Glowing bulbs with roots in the walls illuminate the soil of a grand underground, a white lump of a creature sadly slumps...

>Is that a cloud? Goblin King, Goblin King, we goblins can't fly either! Eh, a well in clouds?

>A buff red skinned man with horns is still raking a pale man in rags over coals...

>Strange beings with bulbous rocky heads worshipping a... wait, what even is that?

>Atop a table is a crystal ball, within is a castle and its grounds, young magicians muddle about. Within the castle is a table with a crystal ball, within that, a castle and its grounds...

>Atop a lonely hill of pale wheat is a white mansion, the door and windows are boarded up...

>Because of rewards selected last thread, this first adventure is somewhat non-standard. >King's Trial! Throw a single goblin of your choice on an adventure, likely leading to its doom, but should it complete a quest, a noble will be born! (Spoils will be disabled on these runs)
Though not relevant due to the King's Trial, other rewards have been locked in resulting in;
Current Starting Stats;
15 starting goblins
5 starting variants

1 die slot containing 1d50 goblins(Roll and slot fixed, cannot be altered)
2 free dice slots
2d18 goblin variants
1d50 goblins

Goblin Magicians have been locked as the variants for the adventure after this one.
>This current adventure starts with 1 extra random quest due to selected rewards.
>The rewarded update on a goblin noble, Cheery in this case will be later today, it will be without choices since it is a single update.

>Notes about the Trial
Quiet is unnaturally silent for a goblin and her presence is weak. Most beings will not notice her if she doesn't draw attention to herself. Relying on this is likely your only hope of success. She is of course completely alone and a mere 1d6 goblin. However goblin sneak attacks are strangely effective, so if you have the right weapon and face but one foe unaware of you, victory is sure to be yours. Depending on the location you pick this Trial will be harder or easier.

Again, due to the trial, Quiet is your only goblin.
First Quest: Seek, Beast, [Redacted] III (Fairly easy)
Second Quest: Slay/destroy, Event, [Redacted] VI (Very hard, conditions for a special reward opened)

>>5667938
>Glowing bulbs with roots in the walls illuminate the soil of a grand underground, a white lump of a creature sadly slumps...

>>5667938
>>Atop a table is a crystal ball, within is a castle and its grounds, young magicians muddle about. Within the castle is a table with a crystal ball, within that, a castle and its grounds...

>>5667938
Late, but here's the checkup on one of our nobles
In a place that was not a place, the goblin noble Cheery woke. Her blonde hair was no longer messy, she had been taught to take care of it, still a scratch with a warm yellow hand at the end of a brown furred arm soon solved that neatness. Hands then moved to silver eyes that blinked blearily as she took in the canopy of the bed above her. There was beautiful carved relief depicting an elf maiden passing times of idle farm life and terrifying high court harem conspiracy.

The bed had been made by the jinn Zazanova Lovewish in mere moments, but oddly though he conjured materials and tools from nowhere, he manually with blinding speed made the bed.

That same Zazanova, mentor, lover and only source of safety in apprenticeship to the Magi-horror Crimson Magnificent Yadh Obursquare, laid in the bed, muscled purple arm enclosing her. Small snores came from the tiny lamp that passed for his head, or perhaps his head was trapped. For all the secrets and knowledge and random stories told her, Cheery never got to the bottom of that in their pillow talk. She still didn't understand why he slept or ate when he had no need either. He gave some complicated explanation about it helping maintain self, but she didn't understand. So she just accepted it.

Returning her gaze to the carving, it was of his twentieth mistress who found his lamp in a vault of a condemned section of a palace. Zazanova said with how foolish and clumsy she was, it was a wonder she survived as long as she did. In the end, even he could not save her from the twin evils of foolishness and conspiracy. She died poisoned in the imperial harem far from her beloved farm. Cheery had wept inconsolably when Zazanova got to that point of the story of her life. The jinn claimed the elvish emperor was a failure of a man for allowing his women to fight and plot against each other.

While Zazanova's mentoring in magic, protection from the other apprentice and the various hazards in Yadh's tower was vital for life and the romping in bed was a pleasure she thought not possible, none of these things had won her heart, impressive considering Zazanova's bedding skills. No what had truly made her Zazanova's woman in her heart was his stories of past masters and mistresses, of other things he knew and the Kingdom he had ruled.

Cheery pouted. He was a big meanie. Always ending on a cliffhanger or reveal or something similar. She even scrambled her goblin wits to seduce him, freely offering herself, she even tried really hard at her studies but he would still continue to end each night's story telling with 'but we must sleep before dawn comes, so I'll continue another night'

How cruel! Cheery flailed her limbs in dissatisfaction. He didn't need to sleep at all and she had progressed in her studies with such speed that she didn't need much sleep at all. Not to mention that lovemaking took up a part of the evening each night too!
1/?

>>5668239
"Totes unfair" Cheery complained, but smiled.

She was complaining, but really she was satisfied with Zazanova. He had been true to his word in teaching her mastery over magic and shielding her from the myriad theats that were bound to Yadh. There was the stories too. The stories were the best bit. Zazanova was gentle and firm in many meanings of the phrase.

"I, like, still totally miss Sad though" she grumbled aloud.

She let out a groan as she slipped like an eel out of Zazanova's embrace, she didn't want to get up, but as lowliest of the apprentices she had chores to do, horrible monsters to feed and so on. Even if Yadh was away on a trip and barely ever acknowledged their existence, not one apprentice dared slack.

Naked she shivered a bit before casting a warming cantrip. She opened the wardrobe Zazanova had made and stuffed with clothes he made for her. It was a wardrobe fit for a succubus queen. She picked out her favourite, a silvery outfit with long gloves and boots and lots of fluttery feathery bits. Even as a noble she was still quite clueless and shameless. When the apprentices and slaves called her a slut, she asked Zazanova what it meant.

He told her that it was a terrible kind of woman who slept around with many strange men, so she could never be a slut, since she only slept with him. It was at that time she decided the apprentices and slaves were stupid liars, not wise and truthful like her Zazanova. In the first place the apprentices acted as if they weren't also slaves to Yadh. What a joke! Most of the bound beings were worth more than apprentices in Yadh's eye.

As Cheery put on clothes that hardly made a difference, she corrected herself. There was one bound being wiser than Zazanova and who wasn't a stupid liar.

She was going to do her chores when she froze. It was there again. In the mirror, reflected was her increasingly pretty self, that wasn't a problem. The issue was that accursed yellow snake was around her neck and in her beloved ruff of midnight blue feathers that grew there!

She teased the sleeping serpent off and then tossed it into the bed, prompting an complaining hiss from the hateful creature. It was always playing tricks on her. She still didn't know it's connection with Zazanova, other than it was the only thing keeping the jinn's golden briefs on.

Grooming her neck feathers agitatedly, she let out a satisfied nod. Cheery the goblin noble, ready to face another day!

There was still a little time before she has to do her duties, so her heels clacked as she hurried to spend some time with the only other being that was friendly to her in this place of magic and madness.

Through crimson marbled corridors like caves blasted into creation by gouts of lava she descended till she came into a deadly location.

The gardens.

Carefully avoiding a botanical guide's worth of charming, carnivorous and calamitous plants, she came to where her only other friend was.
2/?

>>5668240
An unremarkable pond. There on a leaf was a unremarkable green frog.

"Early today Cheery, is Zaz losing his touch?" It was the voice of a man who had seen countless years blow away like grains in a sandstorm, it came from the ordinary frog.

"No way Frog, he totes still amazing, he went like, easy on me, since, you know, like there was that tricky stuff yesterday"

"Your natural qualities are exceptional from the experiment you survived, but the truly complex baffles you. It is a shame"
"Eheh, Zazanova like deal with tricky stuff. He's totes good at explaining too"
"Spare me Cheery, you didn't just come to sing your lover's praises to me did you?"
"No no, sorry Frog. I just, like wanted to, like hear the uh, end of the thing you like didn't finish before"
"Zaz will tell you about it too you know?"
"The way you and him, like talk about it is totes diff, I feel like I get more asking you both"
"Well, jinn have a different relationship with reality. Where were we, you've finally learnt the nature of the six elemental phases right?"
"Yup, Zaz even patted my head and like said most never hear 'bout it or get it!"
"I remember now, I made the mistake of mentioning a seventh above all."
"Yeah, yeah! Seventh!"
"Its colour is emerald, and simply put its truth or lies. It is beyond and above the great work."
"So, emerald's, like, the strongest magic?"
"Not this again, what do you even mean strongest, all things..."

The farcical debate between one who knew too much and one who knew too little continued for longer than would be kind to inflict on a listener, but Cheery had inexhaustible interest, and Frog inexhaustible patience.

"Oh, I, like, gotta go Frog! My chores"
"Don't come again to the garden until Zaz tells you it's safe, I'll be on a trip" Frog shouted after her.
"Magnificent lets you out, are you like really a slave still?"
"He knows I'm just waiting to outlast him. Take care Cheery and don't forget about the dandy-tiger this time!"

There was a growl and then a shriek. She would be fine, but she always forgot the dandy-tiger would come out to bother her if she came to the gardens. Though, was she really forgetting? She never had trouble with her chores after the first month of terrifying near death experiences. Did she seriously just want to play with the dandy-tiger? Was that it?

Frog shook his head. Though he would simply outlive Yadh, who even now had to spend half his attention ensuring he had a mind to use... Should he team up with Zazanova just to preserve such a bright creature.

"Forget it, there's been similar apprentices with beautiful souls before and I lifted not a toe. Yadh will likely be ruined long before Zazanova gets his chance"

3/4

>>5668241
There was almost no apprentices, mages or bound beings that did not harbour a plot against the magi-horror in their hearts.

"Still, should this tower descend into chaos when Yadh's carelessness comes to roost, I'll preserve a few souls in this tower"

The eyes of the ordinary frog flickered blue, and then there was no frog.

The pond lay empty and who could say when Cheery would come again...

>The starting location vote is tied, when I get around to writing tomorrow, if it is still tied I'll roll a tiebreaker.

>>5668241
cheery is very cute

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5667953
>>5668094

Tiebreaker for either Quiet's Bizzare Underground Adventure or Quiet and the Academy of Mysteries

>>5667953
>>5668094
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Spoils: None
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)

A sensation of being spread like jam onto burning hot toast, of that toast being bitten by an ogre, chewed up and spat out into a campfire. Having been through this a few times, Quiet managed not to throw up, she did however remain very very still for some time.

Sobbing came from the white lumpy creature Quiet had seen through the king's portal. It hadn't noticed her. Quiet couldn't quite place the creature, even with her mind already becoming clearer being on her own.

Lumpen was the right word. Its little legs were lumps, little arms were lumps, head was an oblong lump with little lumpen horns and it's belly was definitely a big lump. The only two non-lumpy things about the creature was a curly pig like tail and a bit of blond hair on its head that looked more like grass than hair. Quiet got the impression that it was a thoroughly useless creature. Not at all threatening... yet Quiet got the strange feeling that messing with it wouldn't end well.

Since it hadn't noticed her, she took in her surroundings. A lot of winding tunnels, glowing bulbs of plants, some roots poking out like hands. There was quite a few dark tunnels. Quiet got a bad feeling about those. One tunnel turned to rock and one had moss and ferns, it was damp.

What would Quiet do?


Trials of Force
>Sneak attack the vulnerable looking lump thing

Trials of Talent
>Try to remember what the creature is (additionally choose between these reactions on success or failure: Hostile, Cautious, Reckless, Avoidance, Friendly)
>Stay hidden and pretend to be a Fairy
>Stay hidden and pretend to be a Monster
>Stay hidden and pretend to be an Evil Spirit
>Stay hidden and just speak normally

Other
>Just wait and see if anything changes
>Go down a dark tunnel
>Go down the damp mossy tunnel
>Go down the rocky tunnel
>Go down a random normal tunnel, QM rolls a 3d6 encounter
>Gob it out (write in)

Quiet unaccompanied by other goblins will have trouble identifying most things, so she will only recognise things that are blindly obvious, like elves or wolves, but other things need either a talent roll to recall them, or you the players recognising them. There's no penalties for guessing wrong other than the reality that dealing with a wolf is different from dealing with a warg for example. If you guess correctly or at least guess the right nature of something the talent roll will not happen and Quiet will act more favourably and the information you get will be fuller.

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD III
The king hopes above all that Quiet shows him something interesting.

>>5668649
>Try to remember what the creature is
Cautious if success, Avoidance if failure

>>5668658
+1

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5668658
>>5668663

Roll 1d6 and if nobody guesses close to nature of our lumpen weeper , the result will stand.

A successful roll will not tell all.

>>5668658
supporting
also it sounds like miss piggy from the muppets but I am not sure that's enough to go off of.

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5668805

>>5668841
Strictly speaking, while quite lumpen and possessing a pig's tail, Miss piggy is pink and not white.

In spite of her devilish nature, she has no horns either.

On a side note, it is still strange that the Muppet version is one of the better ones of a christmas carol.

We happen to be in the wrong season for a goblin version.

>>5668902
it is also the best cinematic version of Treasure Island that I know of.
Then again, given the nature of this thread, I don't think it ought to be surprising that it naturally attracts Jim Henson appreciators.

Rolled 776 (1d777)

>>5668658
>>5668663
>>5668841
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Spoils: None
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)

Quiet stared hard at the weeping lumpen beast. Yes, undoubtedly, it was a white fat thingy. Bun beast? Horned slime? No it wasn't slimy. Lump thing. Quiet decided it was a lump thing. Under different circumstances she'd mess with it, but she couldn't afford to be reckless, this was a chance to become a noble!

She was getting a strange conflicting desire to comfort the creature and torment it though. A gasp almost came from Quiet. What a wicked beast! It was becoming cuter by the moment. No, the thing to do was leave, just avoid it. It hadn't noticed her after all, absorbed inconsolable weeping.

So, sneaking one last look at that lumpy now strangely charming creature, she picked a safe looking tunnel and left. A bit monotonous, there were more bulbs and their roots, but even insects if there were any were hiding. A shame, having a fat bug to chew on while walking would be nice. There were no twists or turns, for a seemingly natural tunnel it was quite straight. What began to press on Quiet was the loneliness, but she comforted herself that being alone helped make a noble.

She was named Quiet because she herself was quiet. The lack of the sounds of goblin merriment was dusturbing. Still, she pressed on, and soon came to another opening.

Yet first she heard sobbing.

There before her again was the weeping white lumpen creature.

A little bit of alarm entered her heart, she looked back the way she came. It was the tunnel she first entered. Had she gotten turned around. She looked with suspicion at the weeper. It still hadn't noticed her. She looked with suspicion at the tunnels.

She picked another, making sure it wasn't the one she came from. This tunnel twisted a little bit, but after a walk that was too long to be called short and too short to be called long.

There before her again was the weeping white lumpen creature.

Panicking a little, Quiet went down tunnel after tunnel, the only ones she didn't try were the dark tunnels. Yet the result remained the same, no matter if the tunnel was straight or convoluted. Each time...

There before her again was the weeping white lumpen creature.

Was it caught here like her, was that why it wept? Was it the cause of this strangeness? It still hadn't noticed her though. The underground walls began to close in on her in her mind. No she couldn't be trapped here! She had to succeed! Not fair!

Quite a bit flustered, decided...

1/?

Rolled 4, 3, 3 = 10 (3d6)

>>5669671
>MYSTERY OF THE WEEPING CREATURE AND LOOPING TUNNELS
For many the unknown is most fearful, already on the first step of her adventure Quiet has encountered a nasty problem! Pick a deduction and action!

>Guilty!
This creature is the cause!
>How dare it, die! (Trial of Force)
>Beg it to let you go
>Go to sleep, maybe it'll leave
>Accuse it of being a meanie
>Flee into a potentially dangerous dark tunnel
>Comfort it, pretending you don't suspect it
>Gob it out (write in)

>Innocent!
How could something so weak and adorable be the cause?
>Mess with the cute creature, since you are trapped anyway.
>Go to sleep, maybe you'll think of something when you wake
>Ask if it is trapped too, maybe together you can escape.
>Flee into a dark tunnel, braving other dangers
>Gob it out (write in)

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: BRIGHT II
>Rolled 776, a step away from a perfect mood! Mood raised 2 levels! Entered bright mood! No dead or injured goblins, he'll send a gift next update, but somehow, he has doubts it will end up in Quiet's hands, considering what he knows.

On the whole, the King is quite into this sort of thing. He's looking forward to what Quiet decides with uncharacteristic eagerness.

>>5669678
>Accuse it of being a meanie
BULLY

>>5669678
>>Accuse it of being a meanie

>>5669678
>Comfort it, pretending you don't suspect it
Perhaps too shrewd for a goblin to do, but this is Quiet.

Update tomorrow, apologies for the delay.

Rolled 107 (1d777)

>>5669832
>>5669920
>>5669774
>Goblin King's Gift Sent; Summon Crystal: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Even now as a summon they still cause chaos)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Spoils: None, but didn't Quiet just get a gift? Oh dear.
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Using her goblin wits, Quiet determines the Lumpen weeper to be the culprit!
>You meanie!

Tears have many different uses and worths. From an emotionless point of view things like the tears of the Phoenix, unicorns or mermaids are quite valuable. But putting aside utility, most consider the tears of men to be least moving, (though silent manly tears are supposedly quite touching) and those of children and women most potent. An evil hag of a witch would agree, but that is entering into the realm of utility again and the less said about what evil such a witch does to obtain and use those tears the better. No some go so far as to call tears as a women's weapon.

Yet, wether it be genuine grief of innocent maiden or artful craft of femme fatal, there are those not even moved by the tears of suffering children. The wise are unmoved by crocodile tears of course. The tears of the white weeping creature must have had some potency to almost touch Quiet's abnormal powerlusting goblin heart. Yes, similar to the tears of an child that has suffered genuine aggrievement. Now however, it is time to turn to the subject of goblin tears.

Quiet was quite immediately frustrated. She gets a wonderful chance to become a goblin noble and what happens right away? She gets trapped by some weird creature. It probably isn't even genuinely crying! The more she thought about it with her warped logic, the more she felt it was unfair.

A normal goblin's idea of fairness is of course whether something gets in the way if their revelry or not. Quiet twisted as she was considered anything that got in her way as unfair. She had already strayed from the true goblin's path of pursuing merriment. What a tragedy!

Now, a goblins tears can be considered a step above crocodile tears, just because they are usually both genuine and rare. Yet, a goblins tears and wails are less likely to move than the most obvious of fake crying. This is because of what a goblin is. None of this stopped tears from welling up in her eyes, and like a cat's claw against the worst surface, she shrieked.

"Y-you, you meanie!"

Then she collapsed in a sobbing heap the sound of sobs would have curdled the milk in a mother's breasts. Immediately the weeping beast stopped crying and turned to face Quiet. Kindly golden eyes stood out in the pure white.

"What's wrong, who's the meanie, poor thing, I'm very sad myself, but I'll help you miss, even if you are really ugly and sound horrible"

1/?

>>5671243
You meanie!" Quiet complained pointing a finger at the prime offender, who looked as innocent as a soft lumpy harmless looking creature could.

"Me? But I've never even met you, I've been crying here ever since I lost Charmy. Oh, now I feel sad all over again. I'm no meanie, I'm Peetir, I only sometimes tease Haydei that doesn't make me a meanie. You can't just accuse strangers of things miss, even if you are sad!"

Quiet did not believe a single word of this. As far as she was concerned this was all an act Peetir was putting on!

"Liar! Trapped Quiet!"

"Trapped? How? Oh look, stop crying, here I'll give you this treasure I found!"

Peetir shoved what looked like a white summon crystal into Quiet's hands, but it turned to crystal dust as soon as it left Peetir's stubby paws.

"Ah, it broke" Peetir observed.

Even Quiet knew this was unnatural. Summon crystals vanish in light when used, and even weaker ones shouldn't randomly become dust like that!

The dust rolled out of Quiet's hands, then a spotlight appeared focused on Quiet and Peetir with a ludicrous click noise, almost like someone had said the word.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Powerful and Weak!" A deep woman's voice.
"Vegetables and Minerals, Decietful and True!" A high man's voice.

"Welcome to the Twiddle Deedum show our guests!" They both cried.

Peetir and Quiet finally got a look at the speakers.

There standing upside down before them were two animals one on top of the other. A brown cat with a long white dog's head. A white dog with brown cat's head. Their heads had grins that would have been unnatural even on a human, and those teeth were more like sharp triangles rather than anything else.

"I, Dum the Wise welcome Quiet, broken goblin!" The dogheaded cat spoke with the man's voice.
"I, Dee the Foolish, welcome Peetir the... uh, troll?" The catheaded dog spoke with a women's voice.

Neither Quiet or Peetir could speak or react, bound by some grand power.

"Say, Dum, that is a troll right?"
"Of three kinds, that is the fourth, yup!"
"Well then, what a lucky troll! The Twiddle Twins are here to entertain all, from weak goblins to almighty goblin kings!"
"Boredom not truth is the true poison!" They both cried.
"Such a great idea we had making those summon crystals Dum!"
"That it was Dee, some fools even think we died!"
"Well, well, speaking of fools, what game is it for our guests today?"
"They look a little lost, seeking and not finding, we should give these rubes a paw!"
"But how? Dartboard, pooltable, boules what do you say Dum?"
"We use it a little too much, but it fits all situations, time for... *a drumroll appears out of thin air* THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE!"

There was suddenly a colourful wheel with blinking lights behind the two beasts, who separated and shook their paws at the wheel. The wheel was divided into many sections, a few represented different tunnels, but most were simply labeled death.
2/?

>>5671249
There was an option for tarring and feathering. Custard Heck was an option too. Shadow obscured some of the options.

"Time to spin the wheel, will our lucky troll and hapless goblin survive?"
"Who are we kidding? Viewership would go down if things ended now Dee!"
"Spin!" They both cried, then both span in the air.

The wheel remained immobile.

"Haha! Bet you didn't expect a fake out!"
"No way they did Dum!"

Slowly the wheel began to turn with ponderous clicks while the twins span faster and faster. Finally the wheel looked like it was going to stop on one of the many 'deaths'.

Dum and Dee abruptly stopped spinning and together they gripped a comically large hammer. They smashed the wheel into bits that exploded into grinning fireworks.

"Surprise! Everyone falls!" Both cried as they burst into multicoloured confetti.

Quiet and Peetir found they could move again, not that it did them much good, before either could say the w in what, the ground crumbled like thin biscuit dunked in tea too many times. The pit beneath them must have been solid rock before, but from above Dum could be seen again holding a shovel dramatically wiping his forehead with a paw.

Quiet would have like all goblins enjoyed a good fall, but she currently was on a quest. She couldn't afford to become a gobcake!

Peetir was hollaring in surprise and fear, but Quiet eyes now dried by despair somehow figured that the troll would be fine. As they fell into darkness, her mind fixated on that. A troll? He wasn't like any troll she knew of. Not the hairy scaly monstrous bridge and cave dwellers, not the beautiful and powerful hollow backed wood dwellers nor the small ones who pretend to be rocks and turn to stone in sunlight.

Just as she was becoming resigned to failure she felt a furry muzzle and hot breath by her ear.

"We know what you wish, what you seek" the woman's voice, Dee.
The presence vanished, and another appeared at her other ear.
"We're actually quite agreeable folks you know, so we'll help you little sister" Dum then.
Then both were at her ears, speaking.
"Two quests you have, the first you will find so long as you live, but will you be you when you find it, or will it be you? With ease victory is achieved, with ease defeat can consume victory!"
She could feel the strange beasts crawling all over her body before they settled against her shoulders once more.
"Hard will the second go, risking limbs and life, but once achieved, no doom will you meet! Difficult will victory be, but no defeat will assail the victor!"
They crawled about again, but Quiet could not catch them at all, indeed she didn't know if she should.
"Rot, rot, rot! Accursed goblin, stunted as goblins are yet robbed of mindless bliss. Lady Luck herself has counted your bones, take no chances! Under a ill-fortuned star your litter must have been born! Rot, rot, rot!"

They vanished and the last thing before falls' end Quiet saw was kindly golden eyes.
3/?

>>5671251
The last she felt was Pettir pulling her into a protective embrace.

Then the cracking and splintering of rootwood and the deeper dark of concussion.

The final sound was someone screaming "Nooo My roof! I just fixed it! Noooo!"

She dreamed briefly of terrors of song, of a goblin warped by magic to sing terrible beautiful music. Of a storm's mighty song and bards bound by thunder. Of a song reaching beyond songs consuming flesh and bone. Of a mother's desperate lullaby, soon to forget her woes, soon to forget even the one who lived.

But as taunting music tore her flesh like burning whips she saw a ruined castle of black, surrounded by ruined castles of black with a sky filled with those selfsame castles.

A man's voice, unfamiliar to her, but similar to the king's in weight of time spoke.
"Truly pitiful to be born alive among stillborn under most twisted star, then to have been tainted by power of purest putrescence, sleep a while longer broken one, dream not of power. Dream not of anything. This mercy once I give you"

When she woke, she felt she was on a blanket of some kind. She pretended to still sleep. Two voices were speaking. One was Peetir and the other was an unfamiliar somewhat weedy voice.

"I don't mind you getting tangled up some adventure again, but why is it always my roof that gets destroyed? Whatever, I saw the Tabbervugle run off with your precious Charmy, so you'd best check its lair"
"Oh no, not the Tubbervugle!"
"Yes the Tubbervugle! I don't understand why it still finds trouble with you, or why you still act scared of it when you've pulled one over it so many times. If it wasn't a gribly monster I'd feel sorry for it! Right what are you going to do about your hideous new friend?"
"I figured I'll ask for her help when she wakes"
"Her? Even if its a girl uglier than a half-spoiled mushroom, Haydei gonna get jealous again if she sees her"
"Ugh, but we're total strangers, and she's ugly and weird! Surely Haydei won't... She will won't she?"
"Absolutely."

MYSTERY OF THE WHITE TROLL
Will Quiet still face problems if she goes her own way? She has a bad feeling about the troll, like she'll be pulled further and further into his story.
>Due to the interference of the seemingly innocuous and clueless white troll all adventures with a beast related quest will be haunted by the Twiddle Twins Dee and Dum!
Was the white troll really at fault though? Was the destruction deliberate? Is this troll more than it looks like? (Pick a conclusion and connected action)

-Definitely! Guilty!
Trial of Talent
>Play dead
>Pretend to still sleep
>Sneak out

Other
>Throw a goblin tantrum
>Gob it out (write in)

-No way! Innocent!
>What'd be the harm in helping him?
>Loot the place and leave anyway (talent trial)
>Gib quest information

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD II
Rolled: 107! Foul mood! Mood lowered 2 levels!
He doesn't have an issue with the twins really. The problem is... sometimes even his power cannot do anything.

>>5671252
>Sneak out

>>5671252
>Loot the place and leave anyway (talent trial)

>>5671252
>>Pretend to still sleep
seems very quiet like.

Rolled 1, 3 = 4 (2d6)

>>5671266
>>5671414
>>5671506
I had considered a tie breaker roll, but then I had a better idea. Let's see how well Quiet pulls it off

Rolled 287 (1d777)

>>5671266
>>5671414
>>5671506
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Spoils: None, but didn't Quiet just get a gift? Oh dear.
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Quiet's suspicion towards Peetir heightens!
>Sleepwalk and Sleeppilfer

Sensing she was not being watched, Quiet opened her eyes. A cunning plan formed in her mind. She would steal all she could and flee, but if caught she'd pretend to be sleepwalking. Genius! Looking around, she saw that she was in some sort of storeroom. Plant-light from outside softly illuminated the room through a single window of thick blocky glass. It was actually hard to tell what exactly was in the room with the sheer amount of dried mushrooms, roots, underground herbs and even a few meats hanging from the ceiling. Quiet snatched a few random dried goods, putting them in the blanket she had been in and stuffed her mouth with a few too. Even as abnormal as she was, she was still a goblin

"We're in the last part of the harvest, you'd best deal with Tabbervugle before the deep dark is upon us!" The voice of the man other than Peetir drifted through the door of the storeroom.

Brushing aside the abundance of dried foodstuffs, the room was also stuffed with clay and rock jars. Quiet snooped inside them, but slimes and liquids make for poor stealing targets. She did find a skin of some kind filled with a refreshing and tasty thick amber liquid.

"We're already prepared back home, I was just wanting to wander about a bit before hibernation, going to sleep too early is horrible you end up with a few days where all you can do is hide at home listening to unspeakables rattling your walls."

Apart from the goblin sized jars, there were crates woven from roots. The contents of these were mostly just more dried goods, but while goblins love some grub, grub isn't treasure, just as Quiet thought she'd have to sadly fill her blanket with food she found loot! A few bolts of silky grey-white cloth and rough brown cloth, a few shinies of the coin and gem varieties! More than she could take sadly. They had been hidden under russet pelts at one point, but a few of the pelts were missing revealing the valuables, perhaps the owner had taken some out to make something. Quiet was so excited by her discovery that she accidentally dropped the lid. It was of course louder than any lid made of woven roots had a right to be.

"That's your fault for being a light slee... what was that noise? Has your ugly friend woken up? Go check on her"

"Eh, why don't you?"

"Honestly I'm unhappy enough looking at your mug and you broke my roof again. I don't feel like abusing my eyes, go look"

1/?

>>5671996
Quiet although sure in her genius plan before, panicked a bit, shoving lids back onto things, then closing her eyes and wandering about grabbing random things and tossing them to where she thought the blanket was.

The door opened and Quiet assumed Peetir was watching her. He said nothing. In silence Quiet continued her act. Her sense of time distorted, how long had she spent pretending to sleepwalk and steal? She imagined a pair of golden eyes, no longer guileless and kind, but cold and filled with the weight of aeons. Eyes piercing through her very being.

Then she heard the door close and Peetir shouting from beyond it.

"She was just sleepwalking, oh and tossing things on the blanket we left her on"

Quiet tied the blanket swollen with loot onto her back.

"Holy Pitlord! If my stores are ruined I'm complaining directly to your Patriarch!"

She tested the window, and found that it wasn't that firm, perhaps the fall onto the roof had shaken it loose.

"You live on your own Hulmud, you don't need to worry about a few dried mushrooms"

With a good shove, even her goblin strength had no issue causing the block of glass to plop out of the window and onto the ground. That made not a sound. However when she jumped out of the window, both her feet and the full weight of her and her loot landed on the glass block.

She wasn't injured but a loud crack issued forth from the glass block. Quiet did not even hesitate as she ran as fast as her little legs could take her, blindly picking a direction.

In the distance behind her, someone screaming about their window could vaguely be heard.

>For escaping the influence of Peetir the mysterious troll, an adventure reward has been earned... but did Quiet escape or was she let go?

Only after she could run no more did Quiet slow down and take stock of her surroundings. A tunnel reinforced with clean pillars of stone, paved neatly. Every now and then a paving slab would be carved with a stylish depiction of a stout bearded fellow triumphing bare handed over some horrible insect. It was still only lit by the natural glow of fungi and plant though.

Taking a swing of the refreshing amber brew, Quiet patted her chest and tried to recover some composure.

A goblin doesn't have that much to begin with, and Quiet's efforts were doomed to failure. She arrived at a crossroads. A lamppost of metal, shaped of all things like a burly arm, the head of the post being a fist cast light on three passages. It was also a signpost, but that wasn't important. What was most important was that above the lamp light spilling out from the cracks between fingers was two familiar upside down grins. A dog's head followed after one, a cat's after the other, then they bodies appeared until finally their tails could be seen.

The Twiddle Twins had appeared!

"Hello again little sister" Dum began.
"Bet you weren't expecting us so soon, little sister" Dee continued.

"Again?" Quiet worried.

2/?

>>5672001
"Oh, what worry!" Dum exclaimed.
"We're here to help! Since most goblins can't read!"
"Too bad for you the Grime Federation's citizens are quite literate"
"No handy pictorial signs here!"
"Nope nope!"

"Taunting?" Quiet complained.

"Not at all, we are here to help, believe us" Dee protested paws on her chest.
"But, one of us will tell the truth..."
"...and one of us will lie"
They leered at Quiet for a moment.
"Just kidding! We're both liars since we aren't doing that game!" They both cried.

"Having fun?" Quiet questioned.

"Certainly" Dum admitted.
"Now, now Dum, we should get around to actually guiding her, shouldn't we?"
"Fine, fine. Do you see that path to the right, that'll bring you to a peaceful small town, mostly dwarves there" Dum pointed at the left with a paw.
"Over to the left is a little wilder, but you should find a troubled small village, almost abandoned apart from the church and tavern, mostly wanderers briefly stopping there!" Dee pointed at the right with a paw.

Then the two dramatically rolled to stand before the two paths. They pointed at the final path and they both spoke.

"Should you walk this path, then fate will be wound tight, on the edge of joy and sorrow will you find yourself. Under fateful star piercing through even underground, what cost will you accept? Lady Luck's counted your bones little sister!"

After that, they went silent and upside down in the air still, they curled up closing their blue eyes as if to sleep.

Dee was at the path to Quiet's left.
Dum was at the path to Quiet's right.

"Best disguise yourself a bit little sister" Dum advised, keeping his eyes closed.
"Goblins are known in the parts further, and the goblin king of these parts is a nasty sort" Dee yawned.

They didn't look like they were in a hurry to leave, a goblin could likely ask one question before they got bored of answering.

DIRECTION (pick one)
>Right, but whose right, wait what destination even is this?
>Left, but whose left, wait what destination even is this?
>Straight on, confront twisted fate, seeking the path of joy and sorrow, which will be found in the end?

QUESTION (pick one)
>Twiddle Twins?
>Nasty Goblin King?
>Fate?
>Doppleganger?
>Ritual?
>Noble?
>Sister?
>Gob thought (write in, a particularly fine one word question may get through as a bonus question!)

DISGUISE
3d7 goblin crafting, yet it is unclear if high, low or middle is the best result, baffling are the aesthetics of goblins...

>GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD I
Rolled 287! Bad! Mood lowered by 1 level!
Crossroads are ever a problem on a journey. More than that however he is disappointed with Peetir, he had hoped the troll would have provided more amusement, but clearly he didn't want his fun spoiled.

>>5672002
>>Nasty Goblin King?
I mean, it might be our king but it sounds like it isn't since most people seem to like him overall. we might want to clear that up.

>>5672034
You can pick a Direction too.

>>5672066
>>Left, but whose left, wait what destination even is this?
left; ours is a sinister gob.

>>5672002
>The oath towards the village that Dee pointed
>Sister?

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5672034
>>5672113
>>5672464

Tie breaker for the question.

Rolled 4, 3, 7 = 14 (3d7)

>>5672538
Goblin crafting roll for the disguise.

No update today sorry.

Rolled 674 (1d777)

>>5672034
>>5672113
>>5672464
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Small amount of shinies
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Left?
>Sister?

Like the unfortunate birds who twist their heads from one side to the other, to get a good view of something, Quiet's head swiveled between dogheaded Dum and catheaded Dee. Was she unsure of who to speak to? Shrugging she plopped down on the ground and the lantern absorbed her attention. Would she make such wonders when she gained power? She didn't of course know that most of the lantern was mundane workmanship, the light wasn't even the work of a full alchemist, but a pitiful overworked apprentice.

"Sister?" She asked, sure that she wasn't related to such strange animals, unless she was related to the goblin king, but the idea didn't even cross her mind.

Abruptly she felt paws on her shoulders and Dum and Dee were gone from the tunnels they had set to sleep above!

"A term of endearment sister!" Dum offered.
"Or we could be more connected than you know"
"Indeed a convoluted knot of fate might be binding us together in a loop of inevitably!" Dum continue.
"Or maybe we just see a kindred soul, from one with origins as hopeless as our own"
"Indeed, what bitterness did we taste when we were mere pups and kittens!"
"Or we just see all beings of chaos as our kin"
"Indeed, hail to the party sister!"
"Or it is just a little endearment, little sister?"

The two rolled in front of Quiet and stared at her with piercing blue eyes. Once again, both spoke.
"Bitter little sister, seeker of power, what does truth matter to you now? Should you fail your quest, what will you even remember?"

They slowly vanished then, starting from their tails till only those grins and four blue eyes remained.

"It might not be of much use, but you and only you will we call sister on this quest" Dum said, grin fading, then eyes.
"Make of it what you will, make use of it as you will, perhaps it could make all the difference at the right time" Dee said, grin fading, then eyes.

>Though of doubtful use, Quiet has been given an assurance of little sisterhood.

Although Quiet's goblin wits were boosted a bit from being on her own and her unnatural qualities, she definitely didn't know what to make of that, so after risking a bit of steam rising from her head, she gave up thinking and decided to follow the earlier and more understandable advice to disguise herself.

>Rolled 437 for goblin crafting of disguise

The end result of her efforts was something like a patchwork hooded poncho made from a little bit of silk, rough brown cloth and a pelt. Still, as shoddy as it looked, it did the job of hiding her body and head. Her wing was very uncomfortable in it though.
1/?

Rolled 2, 4, 2 = 8 (3d6)

>>5673306
Deciding she had wasted enough time, she set off down the tunnel to the left, though due the the antics of the Twiddle Twins she wasn't completely sure what she'd encounter.

Once upon a time, the Tyrant Joruth commissioned the painter Dagh to make a grand painting of a village devoid of hope, to be set behind his throne of living statues. A village like a gutted fish, as Joruth put it. It was an activity and phrase the Tyrant was fond of. He was not one to be easily refused, and so Dagh created painting that looked both like a village and a fish that some savage animal had torn the guts from. There were subtle details in the painting that made it clear the savage animal in question was Joruth. The tyrant seeing this was actually so enchanted that he had Dagh killed before being gutted like a fish and turned into a unliving statue. All his court marvelled at this rare show of mercy.

The village Quiet arrived at could have easily been an inspiration of the famous Gutted Village painting, sadly lost to fire during the establishment of the Grime Federation, or so Dee and Dum had claimed, nattering on about the tale in Quiet's ears the whole way to the village. They did so without showing themselves though.

Only four buildings still stood in the village. A squat longhouse carved out from the cave wall. A smithy with that most depressing of sights, a cold forge and two rickety houses made from mushroom logs, more moss and fern than petrified mushroom at this point. On the side of the longhouse was a carving of what had once been a merry dwarven drinker, but the loss of the carving's face lent it a much more sinister air and the tankard of the carving looked almost deleberately cracked. A particularly ugly black moss grew out of the cracks like a vile oil. Even knowing nothing of plants one would know the moss was poisonous.

Surrounding these were the bones of buildings blackened by fire, even stone had cracked and blackened. How the other buildings survived was a mystery, but perhaps they were made later? Closer to the longhouse were a few tents. Not one guard could be seen, and the only signs of life were the occasional rustle within a tent and the light weakly cast from the longhouse's door.

Well, there was one more sign of life. Not too long ago someone had strung up person on what had been a support beam. The body still smouldered.

Quiet, advancing in goblin wits, considered her approach.

2/3

>>5673309
PICK BETWEEN OPENLY OR STEALTHILY CHECKING THINGS OUT. (Quiet has a weak presence and is unlikely to draw attention unless she does so deliberately, indeed a crowded room actually works in her favour)
>The tent dwellers
>The Longhouse
>Dead Smithy
>Mushroom Loghouses
>Village ruins
>Strung up smouldering corpse
>On second thought, just go past the village 3d6 encounter

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD III
>Rolled 674! Good! Mood level raised by 2! The Goblin King Casts a Buff next update!
While he didn't care much for Joruth, Dugh was a truly gifted artist. In fact, the king conjured a canvas and painted the village before Quiet in homage there and then.

>>5673311
>Dead Smithy
Stealth

>>5673311
>The Longhouse
Stealthily

>>5673311
>>Dead Smithy
stealth. there might be shinies.

Rolled 441 (1d777)

>>5673312
>>5673378
>>5673424
>Goblin King's Blessing! Discovery of Lucrative Possession II (Knowing only one thing, a struggle to claim, instilled with the inanimate)
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Small amount of shinies
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Sneak, sneak
>Dead Smithy

There's any number of stories without the hero or heroine wielding a weapon, Quiet though the subject of the goblin king's trial, could not be said to be a heroine. It wasn't as if she entered into the smithy looking for a weapon either.

Though lit by dim moss, there was a deep gloom to the smithy. Quiet almost had the impression that it was darker inside the smithy than outside. A goblin's vision in night isn't that bad, but it doesn't rise that far above being able to make out vague shapes.

What stood out most in the smithy were two things. An anvil sundered into two rusty and dark eroded jagged halves, odd that nobody had looted it, but perhaps it was just a bit cumbersome for what it was worth, and the worth of it went down as time ravaged it. Only if time ravaged further, if dark eroded further would the scrap have worth perhaps.

"A focus of life shattered" Dum, unseen whispered in Quiet's ear.

The other large point of interest was the forge itself, a reflection of the village itself... though where the village looked gutted from without, the cold forge looked like something had burst out from within. Bits of rubble still lay scattered across the ground.

"Torch of generations snuffed out" Dee ominously stated.

Even as scant in wits as Quiet was, she sensed something amiss with how... unaltered the scene was. Certainly time had done a good job, but apart from those marks of age, the smithy have the impression of being untouched from the moments of its end.

Like a corpse flies refused to lay their eggs in.

This impression grew worse when Quiet found what she considered loot.

"Did we leave it all, place it all, place some, or was it all here from the beginning, poor little sister, you shan't know, we shan't tell!" The Twins giggled.

Finished tools, unfinished tools, cutlery, a kettle shaped somewhat like a bird and even bolts and screws. A pitchfork, daggers, a sword, a mace of metal, a mace of rootwood and metal.

>A weak black glow washed over the kettlebird, a blessing of the king
Sensing the will of the goblin king, Quiet quickly stowed the kettle away.
>Kettle in Form of Bird acquired (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)

It was far too much for her to steal it all. Just as she wondered why there was, in her mind, still good stuff around, she nearly made a sound.
1/?

>>5674241
There slumped in a corner of the smithy was... a mummified corpse? It couldn't be seen clearly due to the depth of darkness in the corner, but a bony hand tightly gripping a hammer could be spotted at least. It might have been a dwarf, but... with the light being how it was, not even the face could be seen. Not quite understanding the feeling, Quiet felt reluctant to check closer on it.

Instead she reached out for a rusty dagger, but she found a pair of paws holding back her hands.

"A choice made blind still matters..." Dum began.
"...but why don't you take a closer look" Dee finished.

A little annoyed, she stared a bit more at the worn assortment of unfinished junk and ruined wares. She felt it then. One of the daggers, the one she had reached for gave a familiar unclean feeling, reminding her of castles of black, but she wondered how she missed the strangeness of the spike, an unfinished hook, a nascent sword. She hadn't even seen it when she first looked, but now she felt it. A foreign feeling of having eaten poison, and a sensation of being observed by a disinterested predator.

"One was weak enough to wish to bind you with its curse..." Dee started.
"...the other strong and proud enough to deem you unworthy of blight" Dum ended.

Quiet almost wanted to ask something, but then came the thumping of feet from beyond the smithy. She dashed behind the sundered anvil, as she did, was that a twitch of movement from the corpse? More importantly Quiet saw a procession of short robed figures stop before the longhouse. Perhaps less than ten.

Inky oily hooded robes did they wear, the hoods covered faces even looking to have no slits for eyes. They weren't pointed but rather had a tassel that flopped down, some manner of metal sigil tied at the end. The strange torches this procession bore on poles obscured the sigils, for what was on the torches was not flame but pulsing darkness. Those not bearing torches of dark carried spiked metal rods.

"The tithe-time for the village of... uh, this village has come surrender a sacrifice to us, or regret and sorrow be your lot" One shouted.

In contrast to the appearance, it was quite a normal voice.

"Aye! Travellers just pick one of your number, you'll be blessed on your way too, well 'cept for the offering. Try not to give us a bigger though, they're a bit too far from the ground for an offering"

That got a few chuckles from the fellow inkrobes, though even with face hidden, the leader looked displeased with the outspoken one.

"Worshippers of some subterranean darkness, though which one is anyone's guess" Dum mused.
"How lucky, that you are unseen by all, for sure you'd be offered up if seen"
"She's still got your bones counted though" the pair guffawed.

The sounds of a scuffle started in the longhouse, it wouldn't last long, though the inkrobes had already started to chatter among themselves.

2/?

>>5674249
DEAD SMITHY AND INKY ROBES
A troubled village indeed, though perhaps these humble monks had nothing to do with the state the village found itself in. Remember, even should Quiet die, it won't last. All she will lose is this chance of a fate unbound to the goblin king...
Choose an option from each CATEGORY, compatible but different options chosen will both go through.

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT (No rolls, thy adversary is self and desire for chaos)
>The corpse is merely a corpse, but best not to mess with it
>Just corpse, take hammer!
>Gotta be undead, not messing with it!
>Gotta be undead, don't even take anything!
>Gotta be undead, uh, it hurts but leave shines for loot.
>Maybe closer look?
>Kick it for pretending! Everyone pretending, Quiet is fed up!
>Gob it out(write in)

SMITHY
On failure of any action, unless stated the inkrobes will merely be alerted that <a noise came from the smithy>

Trial of Fate(best of three rolls)
Instead of dying on death rolls (1,2), Quiet will take a fated injury.
>Subjugate Cursed Mace (Failure will result in two spiritual injuries, reaching three injuries of any kind will result in death, and thus respawning above the goblin king, failing to become a noble.)
>Take the cursed spike and kill! (Failure will result in encroachment of the spike's curse and only half of the inkrobes will die to the sneak attack)

Trial of Talent
>Subjugate the cursed spike
>Without touching, loot both cursed objects (on fail, begin a trial of fate)


Other
>Just take a few regular daggers and junk, best not mess with anything.
>Gob it out(write in)

INKROBES
>Follow them after they receive their sacrifice, they look richer than this village! (Sneaking autosucess due to Quiet's nature)
>Stay and wait for them to leave.
>Leave as soon as matters in the smithy are dealt with.
>Gob it out(write in)

>GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD III
>Rolled 441! Lukewarm! Mood unchanged
The goblin king has long since forgot how many times sacrifice goes awry, either on the side of those offering or being offered to. He did, admittedly enjoy pretending to be a deity that time he did so. All in all, his mind wandered a bit.

>>5674250
>Maybe closer look?

>Just take a few regular daggers and junk, best not mess with anything.

>Follow them after they receive their sacrifice, they look richer than this village! (Sneaking autosucess due to Quiet's nature)

>>5674250
>Gotta be undead, uh, it hurts but leave shines for loot.
>Just take a few regular daggers and junk, best not mess with anything.
>Follow them after they receive their sacrifice, they look richer than this village! (Sneaking autosucess due to Quiet's nature)

>>5674250
>>Gotta be undead, not messing with it!
>>Just take a few regular daggers and junk, best not mess with anything.
>>Stay and wait for them to leave.

>>5674322
>>5674480
>>5674606
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Smaller amount of shinies (Quiet feels resentment towards the decreased quantity)
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break)
Random metal scrap
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Maybe a closer look
>Undead? Losing shinies hurts
>Take daggers and junk
>Follow inkrobes


From the sound of it, the scuffling in the longhouse wasn't going to end in short order. Plenty of time for looting. Quiet pocketed some nuts of the mostly inedible kind, some bolts and some other junk. She didn't take too much, her blanket of loot was quite stuffed and heavy at this point. Three daggers that looked a bit nicer to Quiet than the others, though her standard was just shininess. She also nabbed a rod of metal that was surprisingly light. A rod might not have as many uses as a staff, but it was hard to go wrong having one.

The cursed objects she didn't touch. She had thought Dee and Dum would make some comments, but not a word came as the mace ignored her and the dagger had an almost pleading presence to it.

Now, there was one more issue. Quiet eyed the corpse again. There was no way it wasn't undead. She scratched her head and pulled her hair. Unseen beneath her veil of matted hair was a grimace of pain. Finally her body slackened as if an unclean spirit had left her. She carefully inched closer and closer. Judging she was close enough she could see the corpse was skin and bone and beard in filthy rags. She hesitated again, but clenching her teeth, she took out a gem and a few coins and tossed them at the corpse. Trade of goods wasn't unknown to goblins, but to Quiet the shinies were much nicer than the junk she took, but she knew people get angry if you don't trade, and undead get really angry real easy.

In the instant Quiet tossed her payment, the corpse sprung to life, one arm swept through the air catching the tossed coins and gem in a blur. The other dropped the hammer and grabbed Quiet's outstretched arm. A small peep of surprise came from Quiet. It was not due to being caught. Nor was it the corpse moving.

It was that now she knew. The man was not a corpse. Life pulsed in the withered hand that clasped her arm, and from the dwarf's face, a pair of fevered maddened red eyes bore holes into her.

"Not a noise, good. You give too much, say nothing. Take this" he softly murmured.

1/?

Rolled 483 (1d777)

>>5674975
An emaciated hand reached into his rags and pulled out a tiny black head. Was it flesh or metal? A expression of agony was on the face, perhaps a woman's? Androgynous in any case. He placed it in Quiet's palm, and she felt a shudder of revulsion.

"Failure was my lot, but perhaps hehe. Don't trust it. Don't wish. Just endure"

Then he slumped over, had he died? Once again, the state of this person was unknown. She was even less eager to take a second look though.

Still, Dee and Dum made no a comment. Quiet rolled the distasteful relic in her hand, feeling a little lonely. A loud bang heralded the end of the people of the longhouse deciding who among them would be offered up to the inkrobes.

An odd figure had been tossed out.
"Disgusting half-breed" one inkrobe complained.
"We serve something greater than your obsession with inferior races, when we return, copy out the Hymn of the Oubliette! This offering is a rare find, a male with the bloodline of gorgons!"

"Half a dwarf, but not half a gorgon" Dum whispered in Quiet's ear.
"Like that of the cyclops, it is a bloodline that rests atop others, so not half a gorgon, but half a dwarf" Dee explained.
Quiet wondered why it was now that the Twins decided to speak.

The man's proportions were discordant, the burly and wide upper body of a dwarf, but long slender legs in green silky puffy pants, likely a vain attempt to make the contrast of his upper and lower halves less severe. He wore stained creamy white quilted jacket, and mail of dark links above that. That he hadn't been stripped of his clothes, armour and off-brown lizardscale boots was likely due to the thing that stood out most about him.

His hair and bread were thin orange snakes with bright amber eyes. Even then, he was a handsome man, though dragged down by his unbalanced body, and depending on taste, his snake hair. Likely the others in the tavern didn't want to risk the venom. The man's weapon was nowhere to be seen though, likely stolen.

"Is this a pathetic attempt to slay us?" Questioned one inkrobe.
"Surely they are not that dumb, we no longer need our eyes"

The half-dwarf held out a hand.
"Do not worry noble monks, my eyes were gouged by an alchemist as a child, even if you weren't past the need of mortal eyes, all I have left to me is these little ones, do you wish to see?"
He moved his hands to the blue band of cloth over his eyes.
The head inkrobe shook his head.
"You need be shamed no further, life has had enough of torturing you it seems, half-breed. Come you willingly or need we bind you?

"Tortured is right, what rotten fortune to be in this hopeless village just as you lot come around, no I shall not resist good sirs, Provenance knows I've benefitted from your blessings myself in the past"

"Help him up" Commanded the head inkrobe.
Not one however moved. A sigh came from the headman, he randomly pointed at one of his fellows.
"You, help the half-breed up"
2/?

>>5674980
"The name is Uzweld, good monk." the half-dwarf offered.
"My priestly name is Hathael, your manners are good for a half-breed, your way of speaking elegant too, were you educated?"
Uzweld was helped up, but a second inkrobe had to assist, as the weight of Uzweld's muscles was too great.
"Academy of Pure Filth no less, sadly a half-breed with no backers garners much displeasure from excelling, there my eyes were lost to my pride"
"Ha, even the children of councilmen are chewed up in that academy of madness, clearly you were only allowed for your eyes to mature"
"Can you blame a naive boy for having hope?"
"Certainly! Only hope can be found in bargains with the supreme beings, mortals will just take your eyes without giving anything, had you sacrificed your eyes yourself, perhaps your journey would not have ended this way"
"A model answer from a monk of Myriad Darks!"

Hathael shook a hand in dismissal.
"Are you well to move? We could rest here a day"
Uzweld gave a winning smile.
"A little assistance walking and I'll be fine on my own in a bit"

With that, the monks of Myriad Darks and their sacrifice set off back the way they came. Unknown to them all, a small figure stalked them from behind...

Uzweld was true to his word, and soon he strode along with the monks unaided. He was even brightly chatting getting the odd laugh from a monk with his wit, but repeated was the refrain 'shame you're an offering'.

Winding were the paths they took, but Dee and Dum yattered in Quiet's ears as she followed them. Only a small amount actually made its way into Quiet's head.

"The Myriad Darks isn't really one religion, it's more of an unsightly huddle of those worshiping dark beings of the depths" Dum said.
"Now, be nice, everyone down here has their own way of hiding and cowering from the season of deep dark. All those wee little villages would be gobbled up if not for being nibbled up"
"You might not last long, but if this was the deep dark already, you'd have no trouble finding a doppleganger!"
"Might not be the sort she's looking for, well, fate is ticking along, don't lose your head!"
"Don't forget she's counted your bones little sister!"

Hathael had stopped before some ruined fort. A ripple of some power could be felt from him.
"We'll have to stop here, the paths ahead have shifted, and the dim hours are almost upon us, Uzweld, we bind you for the dimming though I would trust you, a wise man takes no chances"
"Ha, liking my company is one thing, trusting an offering is another Brother Hathael" Uzweld said, not resisting the monks binding him.

"Lind and Yain will take first watch, but for now, all of you meditate and cleanse your minds before we sleep.

Uzweld's hands and feet were bound by rope to one of the dark torches, for his part he closed his eyes as if he intended to sleep right away. Quiet settled in for what she thought would be a long night of watching. She chewed on a dried mushroom that was more wart than flesh.

3/?

>>5674987
Time passed, and the monks moved from meditation to sleep. Only two monks stood watch, back to back. Then, one moment they were standing vigilant, the next there was a rush of wind, and they were gone.

Uzweld opened his eyes and then shouted, as if unafraid the monks would wake.
"Ha, I knew Lady Luck wouldn't abandon me so easily! A sandman's snake! Who would have thought it would make its hunting grounds here so far from the sandpits of dread!"

The monks stirred not, even though Uzweld was quite loud.

"Hey, you, little one that's been following, if you cut me free, I'll repay the favour, swear on my mother dearest! It's a shame to leave these monks to die, but so long as I'm not here, the snake will happily eat them all. It's too intimidated by my bloodline to come closer. I don't know why you're stalking these monks, but surely you'd have some use for a big guy like me?"

"He's certainly more favoured than you" Dee observed.
"I wonder what he'd do if you made no move" Dum mused.
"Would he be as lucky as the troll?"
"That'd be a bit much, Lady Luck doesn't have lovers"
"Well, what will you do about this dandy in distress?" The twins questioned.

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT
Uzweld
>Trust
>Do not trust

The imprisonment of Uzweld
>Free him
>Don't free him

Apprance of Sandman's Snake
>Lady Luck's fault
>The Twins' fault
>Uzweld somehow?

>Gob it out (write in)

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD III
>Rolled 483! Lukewarm, mood unchanged.
Lady Luck was certainly a fickle one, she did however know how to throw a party when she wished to. Sadly she had no interest in spending all her time amusing a bored goblin king. Even he was not powerful enough to bind her by force, not that he would have, stealing hearts is much more elegant. Alas, the lady lost her heart long ago. The king patiently awaits the coming of something to grab his interest, even a fouling of his mood would be good.

>>5674988
>>Do not trust
but still
>Free him
>Uzweld somehow?
A man with snakes for hair probably has unusual rapport, if not an outright agreement, with other snakes. Maybe his hair hissed for help?

>>5675258
>>5674988
I'll back this.

>>5674988
>>5675258
Supporting.

Looking like no update today, sorry.

>>5675730
"No update?" "QM gone" "No story? No. Want story!" "Want tell story!" "QM make goblins sad" "Tell out own story!" "Goblin story best story!" "Once there was a goblin and . . . . I forget!"

>>5676085
"I like story"

>>5676085
>>5676100
Well that cuts to my cold heart. Two updates today. First will be a bit smaller, and may be briefly interrupted by lunch.

Rolled 341 (1d777)

>>5675258
>>5675358
>>5675414
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Smaller amount of shinies (Quiet feels resentment towards the decreased quantity)
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break)
Random metal scrap
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Ominous Miniature Black Head in Agony (An androgynous face, locked in suffering, fleshy yet metallic)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>No trust!
>Free him!
>Pretending, always pretending!

It was possibly just due to what Quiet had first encountered, that strange troll. The Twiddle Twins didn't help either, sure they'd be straight forward when it came to surrounding details, but not a straight answer would come to them. Quiet did not trust Uzweld in the slightest, maybe the snake was hissed here by his own snakey hair! Still, though she didn't believe him about the snake, or his promises, she figured at this stage that the inkrobes were all done for.

Maybe the weird snakedwarf would at least answer a few questions. She wasn't worried about a plot, since if he was only pretending to be in a pickle, he could have done something to her long ago.

Carefully she soundlessly worked her way between the slumbering inkrobes.
"Remarkable, you know, that snake still hasn't realised you are here? Well, now that you are near me it won't eat you even if it does..."

An outraged hiss came through the air, though the owner could not be seen. Furious at a prey appearing and escaping in one stroke.
"You'd best hurry and cut me free girlie. My bloodline can only give it pause for so long before it figures it is worth risking an attack, we need to leave it to eat these unfortunate monks"
"Girlie how?" She questioned, sawing at ropes binding him.
Something slithered on the stones around them, outline sometimes visible in the dirt.
"A lass of few words, don't underestimate a snake's taste of smell! I've quite a few! There's no hiding that from me, even if your voice is, hmm my apologies, best I say less, but what is your name my uh, Lady"
"Yes, Quiet"

A snap and Quiet finished sawing through the rope, Uzweld sprung into action, gathering both her and the severed rope in his hands and like a gale, fleeing from the scene of the inkrobes whose slumber had clearly been made deeper than normal.

Behind came the sound of swallowing.

1/?

>>5676440
"So, Quiet's your name? Fitting, Uzweld's mine"
He wasn't even panting when speaking while running.
"Smarter than egg" Quiet praised.
"What?" He almost tripped, but still he ran "Thanks I guess" A complement was a complement, no matter how incomprehensible.
"Put down" Quiet demanded.
"No yet, we need to get further from, that snake and..."

A pair of hooting bark-like laughs. Uzweld stopped as soon as he heard them, letting go of Quiet, but she sensing potential death, crawled onto his wide right shoulder.

"I'll admit, I wasn't completely honest with you, see, sandman snakes are usually followed by a single or mating pair of dreameater molehounds" he tied one bit of severed rope around one of his arms, holding the other in a loop.

Following the laughing barks, they came into view. Figures like tailless starving dogs on their hind legs, but with rat-like paws with bigger claws. Covered in velvety mole-fur. Each had a conical eyeless head with a bulbous nose and nest of whiskers at the top. Most horrifying was their star shaped mouth where two incisors as normal met, but in addition to these were another two at the sides meeting the middle.

They giggle-barked as they warily made their way over to Uzweld and Quiet. There, crouched on their backs were the Twiddle Twins, leering at them. Uzweld didn't comment on them, and so Quiet, sharply for a goblin assumed Uzweld couldn't see them.

"They eat dreams, but they're more than happy to eat flesh too, I hoped to leave them to feast on the dreams of the monks the snake is swallowing, but Lady Luck doesn't like to give win-streaks. We don't even have to kill them, just show we aren't to be messed with, say you wouldn't have a weapon to give me would you?"

"If you kill one..."Dum began
"...the other is sure to flee!" Dee followed.
"Not the most faithful of partners are these!" They cried.

THE DREAMEATER MOLEHOUNDS!
Wild animals bar Quiet and Uzweld's way, were they guided by the Twins or were they late in following the Sandman's Snake? Regardless, you have to kill them or drive them off! Thankfully they haven't noticed Quiet!

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT(At least one option must be picked)
>Give no weapon
>Give kettle
>Give Rod
>Give Dagger

FIGHT OR FLIGHT! (Make sure to pick fighting methods even if you vote to flee, since your vote may lose)
>Abandon Uzweld, fleeing randomly
>Fight, kill!

2/?

>>5676442
QUIET KILLING
Foes will roll their strength in goblins and should your attack roll meet or beat an individual die, it will pierce through. A wounding attack makes the foe lose dice equal to your successful attack. A fatal strike kills. Loss of all dice is a full KO and an injury. Non-goblin combatants need to beat a foe's total roll to wound. When wounding, combatants take out each die that rolled lower than their own. Combatants recover all dice on injury.
Current Molehound Strength: 5d6 each. An injury is fatal
Uzweld's Current Strength(but is he hiding?): 10d6 with weapon, 5d6 with no weapon.
All moles's attacks are currently focused on Uzweld.
A single mole death will prompt flight from the other.
An unknown amount of wounding will prompt flight.
Dead moles are meat and valuable fur.


Trial of Force (trying to rework this a little)
>Choose your weapon
Quiet rolls best of three 1d6, with bare hands, only fatal attacks can work.

>Let Uzweld tank, waiting for a fatal strike, if successful, kills a mole, if unsuccessful moles are wounded, losing all die that roll 2 or below. Uzweld will take a physical injury on failure. Moles will not be aware of you.

>Strike as soon as Uzweld attacks, if successful, kills a mole. On failure moles lose dice equal to your strike. Moles will become aware of you.
>Hiding, protect Uzweld, you deal no damage, but Uzweld cannot be wounded. The moles will become aware of you.

>Have Uzwald use you as a projectile forgoing your own roll, will instantly kill a mole however if both moles roll higher than Uzweld, you receive an injury.

>Gob it out (write in)


GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD III
>Rolled 341! Lukewarm! Mood unchanged! Should the goblin king get a fourth lukewarm mood, he'll become bored, and who knows what will happen then. Still, won't be as dramatic as a foul or black mood.
The goblin king yawns, and his eyes begin to wander among the goblins happily watching Quiet's struggles. They are more easily amused than him of course. How enviable.

Discernment
>>Give Dagger
Fight or Flight
>>Fight, kill!
trial of force
>>Have Uzwald use you as a projectile forgoing your own roll, will instantly kill a mole however if both moles roll higher than Uzweld, you receive an injury.
seems like the best option

>>5676444
>>5676449
Voting will close roughly four and a half hours from now, with a possible amount of wriggle room.

>>5676461
I shall give it a little longer then I'll start rolling dice.

Also a quick check of mood, do you want to return sooner or later to a regular goblin mob adventure, alternatively, would you prefer the scales to remain as they are, untainted by desire.

>>5676449
I'll support this to keep on rolling

Rolled 2, 2, 6, 6, 5, 3, 2, 6, 2, 5 = 39 (10d6)

>>5676591
Yer fate is sealed! I'm rolling the MOLEHOUNDS! 5d6x2 so, 10d6. You can roll Uzweld's 10d6 if you want. If nobody rolls it I'll roll it myself.

Rolled 3, 1, 4, 5, 6 = 19 (5d6)

>>5676600
I'll let the other anon roll the rest

>>5676600
>>5676602
As a note of clarity, the moles results are 21 and 18, so pretty much locked in to kill one via goblin projectile and avoid wounding, but had you not given that weapon, he might have ended up getting injured.

Rolled 2, 3, 2, 2, 6 = 15 (5d6)

>>5676602
I think I gave enough time

>>5676602
>>5676663
Yup, I've been writing, just gotten to the point where projectile goblin becomes a reality. The second roll confirms that only one molehound dies.

Rolled 6 (1d7)

>>5676672
Need to determine if a dagger broke for the narrative.

Rolled 73 (1d777)

>>5676449
>>5676591
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Smaller amount of shinies (Quiet feels resentment towards the decreased quantity)
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break)
Random metal scrap
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Ominous Miniature Black Head in Agony (An androgynous face, locked in suffering, fleshy yet metallic)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Give Dagger, no trust, yet practical.
>Fight, kill!
>Goblin Projectile!
>Those that are mortal hunger, those that hunger kill to silence hunger, no evil other than the depraved reality in a fight for survival! Rise child and KILL!
>Dextral molehound rolled 21, fail
>Sinistral molehound rolled 18, fail
>Quiet took a special action!
>Uzweld rolled

Visibility was poor, in his flight Uzweld had entered into a root forest, a pillarforest no less as the roots pierced both ceiling and floor. Only the fungi and mosses leeching life from the roots offered light, and not even all of those were of the darksorbing light emitting kind. The soil was too dry and compacted for underground flora to live, so what some botanists refer to as a 'pure' pillarforest. A gallery of life on roots and death elsewhere. Bodies would rot quicker in such places and it was only the hard work of bone-eating fungi that kept the numbers of undead down.

Though neither Uzweld and the molehounds were undead, the twisting rootpillars gave them no trouble in keeping track of each other, he with his tongues and they with their whiskers. Quiet wasn't quite as fortunate.

She dug out a dagger and handed it over to Uzweld.

"Well, this blade won't last long, but anything not steeped in darkness cut by these won't live past a few days, quite brutal my lady"

>Quiet has learned that the dark eroded items are poisonous to those not partly composed of darkness

"Nice" Quiet said.

Uzweld then let out a long low cross between a growl and a hiss in an effort to spook the molehounds. Apart from shifting the molehound to whining yips instead of mocking barks, it didn't seem to do much. They still were trying to circle around Uzweld, one to his front and one to he back, they couldn't see that such a tactic was of limited use against one who could smell his surroundings and even see behind with his snake hair.

Dee pulled on the ear of the molehound she was riding.
"Come on you dumb beast, just jump him already"
Dum laughed at her impatience.
1/2

>>5676731
Still, the molehounds were committed to the fight. Uzweld ceased his growl-hiss, since it hadn't broken their morale.
"We've some foolhardy ones here, my lady. Though most that avoid my warhiss avoid my scent to begin with"
Quiet suspected it had more to do with the twins, but she didn't feel like speaking.

Seeing as how Uzweld was effectively using the roots to keep them from pincering him, one of the beasts got as impatient as Dee.
"Hooray!" She cried as Dum's molehound went for a frontal charge.

Given the distance and Uzweld's fitness, he dodged this with no problem, landing a blow that sent it flying into a rootpillar. Dum however pulled up the poor creature by its armpits and gave it a slap to get it going. There must have been a bit of magic to it, as the molehound looked livelier than before.

They advanced once more.

"Bit too lively to be starving, are they blood-mad?" Uzweld mused.
"Toss Quiet" Quiet ordered, feeling that the twins would play some tricks if they weren't quicker.

Now, most people, even seasoned warriors would hesitate at that particular order. For one thing, it came from a mostly stranger. For another the wording was a bit odd. The target wasn't detailed either. A pause would be quite normal, but with practiced fluid movements Uzwald stuffed the dagger he held into her hands, rolled her into a ball and threw her with the full force of both his arms at one of the molehounds.

"Ah!" He exclaimed.

The cry of one who did an action he was used to, but the situation and result were not what he had intended. Instinct had won over thought and in the mere seconds that followed, he could only watch.

Dee and Dum cheered as Quiet flew like a stone from a sling, but everything seemed strangely slow. She got into position, heart beating with a newly born joy as if she had tasted a yummy fat beetle for the first time again, or the meat or that fish from the metal ur-sea. This joy peaked as blade drove into flesh, bone and brain, and Quiet rolled over the back of the molehound. Rolled and rolled across ground, as well she did, and none of her bones were broken.

A shuddering final wail of death and the molehound fell over dead. A manic laugh came from Quiet as she felt the rush of the power of the kill.

"Three cheers for little sis, hip hip hooray!" the Twins giggled fading away.

Understandably the other mole, no longer goaded by a higher power fled at once. Uzweld rushed over to Quiet.

"I acted without thought, are you whole lady?"
The answer was an intoxicated giggle.
"Whole in body at least, but a bit mentally amiss, do forgive me for this"
He leaned over her and loudly clapped his hands.
"Ah! What? Why noise!" Quiet complained, returning from her high.
"Apologies, but where we are isn't safe"
He turned to the dead beast.
"Good, it hasn't bleed too much" he picked it up, making sure to have the head in such a way as it wouldn't leak a trail.
2/?

>>5676735
"Don't lose sight of me now, we'll get to somewhere a bit safer then decide what to do"

He set off at a brisk jog then, not giving Quiet time for thought.

He weaved through the rootpillars, stopping now and again to flick out his tongues, at times even the forked tongue of his main head flicked out. Just as Quiet's strength was fading they stopped in front of a cave with obvious spiderwebs.

"Spiders?" Quiet was confused, spiders weren't safe.
"Dead, a hermit, but strong enough that even dead it keeps others away"
His tongue flicked out again.
"Lady luck is with me, it isn't undead either. I'll make some simple spears from the legs, if it still has them. I'll just have to put up with the stench"
Quiet also smelt the thick stench coming from the cave, but a goblin's tolerance of filth was far too high for it to bother her.

"Don't worry about the webs, these aren't of the sticky kind"

The cave wasn't particularly large, but that just made it safer, at the back, a gorilla sized spider with a deep gash in its head was slumped down, eyes lifeless without life. A kind of black-green mushroom had devoured much of the exoskeleton and insides.

"Corpsedreamcap, of course, well, there goes any hope of some mushrooms with this meat."
"Have mushrooms" Quiet offered.
"Hoho, aren't you the harbinger of luck then".
Looking around Uzweld found a few spiky outcrops of rock near the walls. He impaled the molehound without further delay. He dug out a small pit and using the dagger gutted the beast and buried its guts.

"I'll work away here, but you should rest and decide a few things, I said I'd repay you, but there's mystery around you, and I'm not sure you'd want me around. There's what you are doing following those monks in the first place, and your getup and weapons have the look of an assassin, but if you were you'd have to be an apprentice, you don't have enough murderous air to be a full one, and you aren't skilled as an assassin who can hide the death cloaking them would be. You don't have to tell me much, but if I'm helping, I'll need to know a little, like where you want to go at least. But if you want me gone, say the word, I'll leave once the dimming is over"

THE HALF-DWARF AND THE GOBLIN
A man as mysterious as a random goblin remains steadfast in his offer of aid, perhaps such a person would prove valuable, but if one does keep him around, what to tell him?

LEAVE OR STAY
>Agree, to his accompaniment.
>Object, tell him to leave.

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT
Along with what you wish to tell state what, if anything, you do not wish to tell.
TELLING
>Tell him all
>Both quests
>King's Trial
>Ending the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth
>Hunt for a Paling Doppleganger
>Quiet is a goblin
>Twiddle Twins
>The strange troll
>Ominous head and the Smithy
>Lie about being an assassin apprentice(incompatible with conflicting options)
>Gob blurt(write in)

3/4

>>5676739
ASKING (only fair if telling)
>Origins
>Half what?
>Touch snakes?
>Pester for story
>Snakes eat?
>Tossing?
>Gob thought(write in)

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: LUKEWARM III
>Rolled 73! Black! Mood lowered 3 levels! Entered Lukewarm!
He's primarily upset that the Twiddle Twins didn't mess things up more. They're being much too soft! Unacceptable!

Maybe we'll get a few of these in before fgo's lostbelt 6 drops, not that I'll stop them, but definitely not doing more than one when that is around

>>5676739
>Agree, to his accompaniment.

>Hunt for a Paling Doppleganger
>Twiddle Twins
>Gob blurt(write in)
> We're on a quest to become who we're meant to be.

>Pester for story
>Gob thought(write in)
> What does he think he is supposed to be, or is he already what he is?

>>5676739
>Agree, to his accompaniment.

>Both quests

>>5676557
Also since this post got no replies - We gotta see Quiets quest through then back to gobbo mobbo

>>5676910
I agree.

>>5676739
>Agree, to his accompaniment.

>Hunt for a Paling Doppleganger
>The strange troll

>>5676740
>Touch snakes?
>Pester for story

>>5676910
I support this too.

>>5676746
supporting

Rolled 275 (1d777)

>>5677158
Sorry, already wrote update
>>5676746
>>5676837

Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Smaller amount of shinies (Quiet feels resentment towards the decreased quantity)
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Ominous Miniature Black Head in Agony (An androgynous face, locked in suffering, fleshy yet metallic)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Uzweld has joined the party
>Twiddle Twins
>Both Quests
>A story!
>The self one should be, of me and you
>Special conditions met by write in! Adventure Reward earned!
>The self one should be can be called an Ideal, seen, known, but untouchable.

Uzweld searched his clothes for something, pulling out an orange metal egg.
"Glad I had this hidden on me, should last a few dimmings"
He collected a few rocks to make a nest then twisted the egg, and the sides began to move on their own. He spoke a word as he placed the egg in the nest, but the meaning of it escaped Quiet. She couldn't understand the word. Yet from the egg came light and heat.
"A hobstone, probably my most valuable possession, glad nobody found it, everyone will have them one day" Uzweld explained, noting Quiet's interest.

Gazing into the warm glow, Quiet wondered what she should and shouldn't say. Her head hurt a bit. The ship had been different, her memories were hazy, but it wasn't lonely then. Uzweld silently skinned the mole, the only sound in the cave the breath of two lives and the cutting of the dead. It was tricky work with the fragility of the blade.

"Tell story" Quiet decided.

"A curious request lady, but I'll not question it!"

His dagger paused and he fiddled with his beard of snakes. More thought was going into his choice than Quiet had in hers.

"How about a story about the Coyote? Hmm, what was it called, something like the Coyote and the Dark Hound? You might have heard it before, it's a short one"

Didn't someone tell her a story about a hungry coyote once? An egg? She thought Uzweld was smarter than an egg? Her head felt muddled, and she nodded, not feeling too well all of a sudden, as if she was being stalked by some unseen hunter.

Returning to his skinning, Uzweld began to tell his tale.

1/?

>>5677275
"One day, Coyote stole all the wine from the monkeys of madness and drank all of it up, he was still thirsty of course and began to wobble over to a lake to drain it dry.

But Coyote hadn't gone far when blocking his path was the largest hound Coyote ever saw. So dark were its eyes that they couldn't be seen!

Coyote though filled with fright from the sight, barked out at the one barring his way.

'Move cur! I'll have you know I've eaten cunning Rat, strong Ox, mighty Hydra and even agile Panther! If you know what's good for you, get out of my way before you end up in my belly.

The hound did not reply, and Coyote shivered. He let out a yelp as he saw the hound move, and tripping over his four legs, he ran and ran. But when he looked behind, the hound was always there. Coyote had not felt such fear since the time Panther had hunted him.

Coyote ran till he was exhausted collapsing unconscious. When he woke, head ringing from monkey wine and his flight, he saw his shadow and laughed weakly. There was of course no hound, it had been his shadow all along. Only with a clear mind could he truly see"

The molehound was stripped of skin, and so liberated, Uzweld in contrast to his elegant manners ripped limbs off and placed them atop the hobstone.

"You've decided then" He said, was it from tasting the air?
"Hm, join quests"
"Hoho, quests eh? Why I feel like I've been drawn into a child's adventurer tale"
"Find Paling Doppleganger"
"Hmm, I've heard of dopplegangers, but paling? Dying, dimming or maybe barring. More than one quest though my lady"
"Un, end ritual of unspeakable wealth"
"Ha, never heard of it, something to do with dragons? What odd tasks you have, given to by some power above?" Uzweld mused.
"How know? Quiet doing quests to become who she meant to be!"
"Oh, what would that be good lady?"
"Powerful like king! Beautiful like siren!" Quiet patted her chest. She hadn't considered beauty before, but a dim memory of a living treasure flickered in her mind.
"Siren? What's that?"
"Forgot! But, pretty maybe?"
"Hmm, so you're meant to be powerful and beautiful. Certainly heard that before my lady"
"What about you, what you meant to be?"

Uzweld turned the sizzling meat.
"What indeed"

A look of loss of pain and grief, of a man who was hollowed out. The eyes of his snakes were empty of light. A man living yet dead. It should have only been a moment of weakness, unseen by Quiet, but the moment the mask of elegant cheer slipped everything froze in time and Quiet felt four paws on each of her shoulders.

"Look little sister, you were born heartless..." Dum began.
"...but look, this is a person with a broken heart"

Being a noble in germination and an abnormal goblin, she was affected by this grim countenance that Uzweld bore.

"Was it when his eyes were plucked out?" Dee posed.
"Might have been before or after" Dum supposed.
"Maybe he lost something more precious than one's own eyes" they both said.

2/?

>>5677280
"You dream rotten dreams of your ideal you..." Dum hissed.
"...but his dreams are dead"

The two began to circle Uzweld and Quiet.
"Rot, rot, rot! You can't reach your ideal! We skipped all the steps and you skipped two! A noble you may become, but a path nearly closed is the ideal!"

"Is powerful what you should be?" Dee questioned.
"What even are you now?"

Quiet wanted to say something, but she was frozen like all else.

"Pitiful little sister, even your bones have been counted, and even a star doesn't forget" Dum stated.
"From lesser to noble is grand enough, a change of fates, should you desire a miracle beyond that..."

They perched upon Uzweld's bowed defeated back.

"Can you, heartless dreaming rotten dreams heal a broken heart?" They crowed together, and vanished.

Everything moved forward again, meat crackled from heat, and Uzweld radiated confidence and wit, with his eyes sparkling once more.

"I'm quite fine with how I am. You see, I've still got eyes to spare"

A jovial tone. But Quiet couldn't remove that image of a hollow vase of a man from her mind.
She decided to tell him about the Twiddle Twins, but, as soon as the choice was made. Those paws were there on her lips.

"I think not, not now, later a more fittingly dramatic time!" Dum scolded.
"Even then, not a word about what we told you!"
"We'll not have you spoil the fun!"

Naturally even if the Twiddle Twins were beasts of obscure and great power, Quiet tried talking anyway, but she couldn't even open her mouth about them.

After that, Quiet's mind was occupied by confusion about the Twins' words, and Uzweld had his own thoughts, so conversation died, and the molehound was eaten in silence, Quiet reluctantly offered some of her supplies which using the bird-kettle Uzweld cooked something a bit tastier than the unseasoned roasted meat.
After he put together a few crude spears from the spider limbs he could salvage he spoke.

"We should sleep, no need for a watch, we'll be safe enough here, let's decide where to go in the morning"

Quiet head still swimming nodded and under the warm light and a full belly, drifted off into sleep...

Her final thought was wondering what a broken heart even was, and how was such a thing healed?

DREAMS
>The Twins
>Black Castles
>Star
>Hunted
>Broken Heart
>Alone

3/?

>>5677284
DESTINATIONS
Few guides would be as good as Uzweld, with his senses many dangers can be avoided, and life can be found...
>Deeper into the rootpillar forest, a vain hope perhaps (3d6 encounter)
>A small sleepy town in the pillarforest ruled by a coven of witches, perhaps someone has heard of a Paling Doppleganger? Only once has Uzweld been to this town he cannot remember the name of.
>Dragon country, but what will be encountered leaving the lands of the Grime Federation? (2d6 encounter)
>A village in the pillarforest, little more than a pair of hunter families and a well kept shrine...
>Return to civilization of the Grime Federation, but how far is a town? Best not to return to that village.
>Though avoided once, the path of fate wound tight, of joy and sorrow could still be met, but what has that to do with Quiet's quests?

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: LUKEWARM II
>Rolled 275! Bad! Mood lowered by 1 level!
It is not his call as to what Quiet should be, but neither should it the Twins'. He hopes they will not overstep their bounds. Still though, a broken heart and the heartless. He shakes his head.

>>5676910
So, things will run their natural course, and the harrowing of Quiet will continue, but it won't all be headscrewing, the Twins would get bored of messing with her head after all

>>5677284
>Black Castles
>>5677291
>A village in the pillarforest, little more than a pair of hunter families and a well kept shrine...

>>5677284
>Alone

>A village in the pillarforest, little more than a pair of hunter families and a well kept shrine...

>>5677284
>>Broken Heart
>>5677291
>>A small sleepy town in the pillarforest ruled by a coven of witches, perhaps someone has heard of a Paling Doppleganger? Only once has Uzweld been to this town he cannot remember the name of.

>>5677310
>>5677338
>>5677382
Voting has closed, there is a three way tie, but instead of a tiebreaker I'll mix things a bit. It won't be all three happening.

Rolled 278 (1d777)

>>5677310
>>5677338
>>5677382
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Smaller amount of shinies (Quiet feels resentment towards the decreased quantity)
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Ominous Miniature Black Head in Agony (An androgynous face, locked in suffering, fleshy yet metallic)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>In a manor there's only a maiden and a mirror
>A village forcefully nameless

She vaguely knew she was dreaming, but the dream continued. A grand ball room, empty and dusty. She only saw it as a big room, nobody was around to tell her what it was, no knowledge of the crowd. There were no dancers, instead looming tall over her was a mirror with an orange frame of sleeping snakes. She couldn't see herself, the mirror was broken, pieces scattered about the floor. The pieces would not reflect her, though she was sure at least that she was taller than normal.

Tireless she collected them, because she wished to see herself. But she had nothing like a broom. Feet and hands she used, and both being bare were cut deep by the pieces. But she did not stop, and soon she had the pieces collected in a pile.

She picked up a piece and kept putting it on the mirror, but it would fall off again and again. Finally after her blood ceased to flow from her wounds, the piece stuck. This wasn't the right method. She knew that much, but what else could she do, there was nobody about to tell her anything, so she picked up another piece and tried to fit it on, again and again.

She thought that a few pieces would let her take a glimpse of herself, but the mirror was dark. It would only reflect when whole. Fingers shredded, she could only blindly pick up pieces and try to find their place... but, it was very slow and very painful and there were so very very many pieces.

At times she thought someone would come, if only to mock her efforts, but nobody did. It was just her and the mirror. Slowly, slowly soon it was clear she was lucky with the first few pieces. Was her head getting muddled? She couldn't find where the piece was meant to go.

Was there pieces that weren't from the mirror?

Clutching her head, trying to think of a better method she rotted away and dreamed no more.

1/?

>>5677755
Quiet woke to the sounds of Uzweld burying bones. The hobstone was gone, Uzweld must have put it away. Apart from a vague sense of frustration, Quiet remembered nothing of the dream, perhaps deeper in her mind, she still knew though.

"Bury why?"

She asked, horrifying popping sounds coming from her bone as she stretched and yawned.

"We got a good meal from it, I can at least try to lessen its chances of becoming undead"

He looked sadly at the skin of the moleskin. They didn't have the right tools to deal with it, even skinning the meat had been a bit dicey. He didn't want to carry a bloody pelt around. In it went with the bones. Quiet was pained to see the sight too, but with the knowledge of the pelts she had in the blanket, she could bear it.

"Had a look around while you slept, got a few ideas of what's around us...

As Uzweld explained the lay of the land and locations that might be of use to Quiet's quests, she fixated on something.

"Follow hunters?"
"Not a bad idea, we're lacking quite in a few vital tools, and this close to the Darkening, hunters might be willing to part with a few tools, they'll know of strange happenings too"
"Let's go!" Quiet cheered, marching out of the cave.

Uzweld hurried to get in front of her, after all, she didn't know where to go.

As it turned out, the home of the hunters wasn't far. Uzweld had stopped, but Quiet didn't see anything. It looked just like any other part of the pillarforest. Pillar roots, fungi, moss and dirt. Well, perhaps the roots were a bit denser.

"Stopped?"

"There must be a burrow here, ah, there that patch of dirt, the entrance is here. You can come out now friends, since there's no use hiding"

As soon as he finished speaking, small humans with rabbit legs and drooping ears stepped out. The men were cute, but their muscles lent a handsome air to their boyish features. The women were likewise cute, and their femininity only added to this cuteness. They wore clothes made from pelts and their own fur. The men held spears and bows though a few, perhaps crude magicians only bore lanterns, the women were much fewer in number, and most of them were lantern bearers. Their skin was pale as milk, and their rabbit fur had the look of a deep pit. Most had brown locks of hair, but a few had black hair, but two lantern bearers had blonde hair. The lanterns were plain metal without glass panes. Crudely were they made. Within each was a small flame, hovering inside, burning no visible fuel.

"Your luck is poor travellers, if we didn't fear slavers, you might live" A blonde male said, but neither he nor any of the others made a move.

Quiet didn't understand, but Uzweld knew they were waiting for an excuse to spare them.

"We apologise for trespassing friends, but we all look as like to be caught by slavers don't we? The Darkening isn't far off either, so even if we were to speak, by the time slavers could get here you'd have since left, right?"

2/?

>>5677758
The blonde considered the words, and then nodded. Everyone lowered their weapons, but they were ready to raise them at a moment's notice.

"You're certainly an exotic fellow, no idea what you are, don't much like all those snakes you have though..."

"Well, they're as attached to me as your ears, I'm afraid I can't help that! They're a little too small to swallow you whole friend, say, my name's Uzweld, and this here is Quiet, behaves as named"

The blonde man laughed.
"You'd have a right go trying to eat one of us in one go, right what's your business here? We don't want trouble, specially not so close to the Darkening"

"We're adventurers, as you might guess, bound to hunt a kind of doppleganger, but we've had a bad run in, and we don't have many essential items see?"

The blonde man closed his eyes.
"My gut says it'll be fine, we'll not be hostile to guests and invite bad luck on us"

His eyes flickered between Uzweld's spider spears and Quiet's bundle of this and that.

"You can come and even stay a night, but no more than that, m'name's Frince, welcome strangers to our nameless warren"

Frince's choice was not objected to, and apart from the blond woman, the rest of the rabbitkin vanished behind the roots, probably moving to other hidden entrances.

"I'm Byatryst!" The blond woman said excitedly, her black eyes shining "Say, you really are adventurers right? You aren't having us on right?"

"Bya, how about we bring them to the shaman first? You can pester them for stories after"

Bya put a hand to her lips.
"Oh, right, my bad, this way!"

She shook her lantern and the dirt rolled away, revealing a small tunnel.

"Watch your head big guy" She cautioned, looking at Uzweld doubtfully.
"I manage better than you'd think!"

So, they were led into the tunnel and after a few twists and turns in what looked remarkably like a maze, they came to a large wooden door.

"Home, sweet home!" Bya reached into her lamp and pulled her flame out, it changed into the shape of a key and Bya unlocked the door. Beyond was a large hall with many tables and chairs roughly carved out of the dirt. A mass of shining bulbs grew on the ceiling. Whispers ran among the rabbitkin at the sight of the strangers, and little children either gawked openly or hide behind mother's aprons or pillars.

"The shaman handles all trade, follow me" Frince said.

He brought them to a collection of elderly rabbitkin, their fur no longer as abyssal as the young. These elders were playing some manner of game with carved stone pieces, but from looking it wasn't clear what kind of game it was.

Among them, one elder was bundled up in golden fleece. He had but one eye with a small sparkle of emerald within. His fur was a muddy gray and the only limb he had left was a right arm. Even his ears once long and wide floppy ones like his kin were gone, ravaged by some deadly encounter.

"Venerable Shaman, we have outsiders wishing to trade, claim to be hunting an odd doppleganger"
3/?

>>5677760
The single eye focused on Uzweld as if to spear him with it's intensity.
"Carry me to my home boy, this is no place to trade and speak of horrors"
He turned his head to his fellow victims of time.
"Forgive me buddies, I've business to attend to"
The elders grumbled about have to start over again, but they had indulgent smiles as they shooed the only one who still laboured away.

The shaman's house was filled with all manner of strange effigies and mummified creatures. After a little convincing, Uzweld got Quiet to lay out the blanket with her hoard, and after being entreated by Quiet not to sell the kettle, the bargaining began.

Quiet quickly lost interest, failing to keep track of what the two were going on about. As her eyes glazed over, she felt someone grab her and carry her out the door. A stream of words assaulted her senses, and she just barely managed to realise that Bya had grabbed her and was firing out an unending stream of questions!

THE KIDNAPPING OF QUIET BY BYA THE BUNNY GIRL
Interspersed in her stream of incomprehensible questions was a few offers to guide her to this place or that place. However, Quiet isn't sure she can endure the river of words that flow from this high energy rabbit.

>Endure
>Flee! (The twins will likely take the chance to mess around)

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT
Locations (pick two)
>The shrine of the warren's god
>Bya's home (for some reason, a shiver runs down Quiet's spine at this suggestion)
>Pretty sight Bya found outside
>Vegetable mines
>Frince's home (why is she even offering that?)
>An outsider that always departs from the troupe when the Darkening descends
>Bya's secret hiding place #1
>Bya's secret hiding place #2
>Mother Lon, who makes the best pies
>Grizzled Ears' Lab

Steering the river of words(pick one, some other things, such as paling Doppleganger will be automatically asked about)
>How to heal a broken heart?
>What is a broken heart?
>Rabbit people?
>Bya?
>Ideal self?
>Gob thought (write in)

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: BAD III
>Rolled 278! Bad! Mood lowered by 1 level!
The king desires thrills and spills, he feels that the twins aren't working hard enough, that Quiet is getting too comfortable and that his wine tastes terrible. The dream probably set him off more than anything else.

>>5677761
>Endure

>The shrine of the warren's god
>Pretty sight Bya found outside

>How to heal a broken heart?

I'll laugh if Quiet ends up as the King's therapist

>>5677761
>>Endure
discernment
>>Pretty sight Bya found outside
>>Mother Lon, who makes the best pies
steering
>What is a broken heart?

>>5677761
> Endure

> Secret hiding place 1

> PIES

> how do you break a heart
> What is the darkening?

>>5677772
>>5677777
>>5677935
I only woke at 2pm today, as a consequence, there'll be no update.

>>5678295
Update will happen today, but it will be later, might even be after midnight my time.

>>5679015
Okay

Rolled 706 (1d777)

>>5677772
>>5677777
Nice get, didn't notice it before
>>5677935
Posting the first chunk to show that I haven't vanished, might be slow going distractedly browsing while the heat kills me
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Smaller amount of shinies (Quiet feels resentment towards the decreased quantity)
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Ominous Miniature Black Head in Agony (An androgynous face, locked in suffering, fleshy yet metallic)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Endure Bya
>Mother Lon's Pies
>The pretty sight Bya saw
>What makes a broken heart

Goblins are not of course terribly philosophical, while not as 'in the moment' as something like a flower fairy, considering things of that aren't of immediate importance like milking the goats or having fun doesn't enter the picture much. Their nature mostly keeps them free from the mental corruption known as introspection. However, as the word salad of Bya tumbled about poor Quiet's mental bowl, she found herself carried to metaphysical shores. Who am I? What am I doing. Such questions arose in her mind. Ah, was that a friendly robed figure with a boat waving from across these shores of uncertainty? In this fugue state, Quiet agreed to a few thing, but she wasn't sure what.

The stream of events, of births and deaths, of names, the lives of the warrendwellers poured out, washing away Quiet's wondering of identity, staining her self with the comings and goings of their daily life. It would have been somewhat interesting had it been recounted slower, but the mighty wild current defied understanding, one could only drown under the force and speed of Bya's chatter. No sense could be made of the super condensed storytelling, one could only endure and absorb.

>Quiet has acquired Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin (Sometimes, she feels like she was there, surely these happy memories would be poison to some)

As a fragile twig, the river carried her through the warren, rabbitkin cheerfully greeting the two girls, but giving Quiet sympathetic looks, even though her face could not be seen, and she was an outsider. They knew her pain, it was a fate only the most wily or deaf could escape.

1/?

>>5679474
Finally she drifted ashore, the river came to an end with a blessed

"We're here! I'll have to tell you about Kikki and Yuke's mess later! This is where mother Lon lives!"

There was a terrifying pause as Quiet with a supernatural seventh sense could tell that Bya was considering a barrage about Lon. Quiet's little goblin mind spun it's gears so fast that were it an actual machine, they'd shear their teeth off!

"One with pies?" She desperately inquired.

There was indeed a wondrously warm and rich smell that almost healed Quiet's wounded and swollen mind by itself!

"Oh yes, she makes the best pies! All sorts of pies!"

There is was again! The murderous rabbit was about to kill her with chatter about pies! Sheer will to preserve her own mind forced a qualitative leap in Quiet's conversational skills.

"Love pies, we go inside?"

"Okays!" Bya lifted a leg and rapidly thumped the circular door before them.

The door opened and a baker's dozen of little children peered at Quiet and Bya.
"Ah! It's Deviltongue!"
Half of the children escaped.
"A stranger!"
Half of the remaining half fled.

Hands clasped over their ears the kids hid behind the tallest of their number a ginger haired lass in a simple green dress. Her hair was absurdly voluminous, almost reaching the ground. She bravely confronted the Archfiend of Words and the Stinky Stranger. Her legs might have wobbled a bit, and her eyes were beginning to tear up, but as the big sis, she had to protect the rest from the wicked wordy attack!

"Oi! You brats! I'm not that bad!"

It was the thought of everyone else there; 'no you really are, have mercy you monster!'

Once again, deep fear stirred Quiet's abilities and she addressed the child before her in a desperate bid to avoid a second drowning.

"Hello small fluff, Quiet my name! Yours? We come for pies!"

"I'm Nodelle! Nice to meet you!" Yes, the whole warren knew that one of the best methods for dealing with Deviltongue was making conversation without her! Apart from her fiendish river, Bya was quite polite and wouldn't speak so long as others were speaking.

Nodelle was so excited by the promise of salvation from the word assault that she almost forgot to keep the ball rolling.

"Ah, come come, mama guessed Sis Bya would be coming, so she made some special pies!"

Between Bya's reign of terror and grabbing a stranger's hand, Nodelle chose the hand! She led Quiet through the warrenhome passing by door after door of children peering shyly at the outsider. An awkward excuse of a conversation played out of Nodelle introducing children played out Quiet giving uh-huhs and the like in response to Nodelle's frantic explanations of her fellows likes and dislikes. With the tension lowered, Quiet had regressed in communication again. Nodelle finally at the end of her rope reached the promised land, the holy of holies from which divine scent emanated.

2/?

>>5679640
Within was a goddess descended in earthly form, or at least that is how mother Lon appeared when Quiet witnessed a miracle.

Lon was short like all the other rabbitkin, but she was particularly wide and lush in her form. Not even the plain woolen dress and leather apron could conceal those curves. Her black hair was bundled up and stuck with pins between her ears, out of reach of mischievous children. Her face was not physically beautiful, but loving motherly radiance elevated her plain face to such levels that one could only conclude that if she was blessed with a beautiful face to pair with that radiance, only tradedy would follow, so great would her allure have been.

"Ah, little Byaby! I heard you were coming, so I wiped up your favourite pies! We've still got more food that will spoil if we don't use it! Don't be shy girl! Eat, you're still too thin!"

A bag stuffed to the brim was tossed at Bya, and her maidenly looks were ruined by gluttonous expression that had overcome her. Quiet almost missed what the pie looked like so quickly did Bya shove it into her mouth. As is common for the underground realms of Absurdia, it was a pie shaped like a squat mushroom.

Then, Quiet witnessed the miracle.

"Oh, this is just lovely, why are they always so hard to chew though? Love you mommy, it just makes them last longer"

Bya's speech had returned to the comprehensible level it was at when she first encountered the bunny. She spoke more with mother Lon, but Quiet didn't understand it, this time not due to Bya's lightning strike speech, but the sheer shock that Bya was now comprehendible! The pies had slowed her mouth down!

Truly the power of a goddess was needed to slay the Deviltongue! Just as Quiet was about to praise her, the Goddess spoke once more.

"I've made a bag of ration pies for you stranger, but they don't taste good, because if you eat more than one a day, your stomach will explode! I had to make them taste bad! But you aren't going to eat those now, no I just finished a pie for our guests and everyone else, look!"

If Lon was a goddess, then this was the fabled Magnum Opus in dessert pie form. The smell as she drew it from the oven, the sheen of sparkling fruit that bashfully gazed from beneath a fine lattice of golden pastry. Large was the pie, large were the cuts, plenty were the juices, yet soggy was the pastry not! No dry flakiness, no heavy denseness! Everyone got a slice, an endless stream of orphans, Dee and Dum (who went unnoticed by all save Lon, and her perception was muddled) and Quiet. The pie was even cut in enough pieces that a few vanishing to the spacial magics of powerful beings like the goblin king was not a problem at all.

Everyone waited until all were served, then in devout silence, consumption.

When Quiet returned from a dimension of pure bliss she was outside the warren, being led by Bya who was still chewing a pie.

3/?

>>5679691
Only a dream-like memory of the slice of pie remained, but Quiet knew, even if she failed, this memory would endure.

>Acquired Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (A creation of a mortal like a goddess, not a perfect expression of love, but as close as one could expect from the mundane. A joyous memory that will not break even under torture and death, a warmth to the soul that will not break, an echo of the purest Goodness)

"Said she makes the best pies" Bya said smugly.

"Where now?"
"I found something really nice, haven't shown it to anyone else yet! You're the lucky winner, Ah, Mother Lon's dessert pie and what I'm going to show you, Lady Luck must love you!"

Had she not eaten that slice of pie, the statement would have sent an icy shiver down Quiet's spine. But instead the Twins' refrain was distant and muted.

Bya led Quiet through a winding a obscure path, through cracks in rootpillars and rock. As they went through this path, Quiet felt it was safe to ask something of Bya.

"What makes a broken heart?"

That got Bya to pause.

"Bit of an odd one that, you having party troubles with that snakey guy?"
"No"
Bya got to guiding them to their destination again.
"Uh, right. Ho hum. Well, Pawpaw always warned me that's better to follow your gut than your heart, but it's no use having guts but no heart!"
"Don't understand"
"Ah, well, that's not about broken hearts, but..."
With some effort, Bya summoned up a serious look.
"...isn't losing a loved one most common for that sort of thing?"

A loved one. Did Quiet understand love? The goblin king loved them, didn't he? They loved him too right? But, so long as they remained regular goblins, their love wouldn't end. Becoming a noble would break the king's heart? That didn't sound right. Quiet regretted asking.

Looping in that quagmire of thought, only preserved from utter gloom by the after taste of the slice of bliss, Bya came to journey's end.

A cave hidden away, walls like mirrors, reflecting the image of the sole occupant of the grotto. There in a mysterious pond with a slight tint of emerald was a lonely flower, a dress of white and grey. It was around the size of Bya herself.

It drooped a bit, beautiful in sorrow, a flower like a garment never to be worn, as if it's owner had passed away. It gave the impression of mourning. A moving sight, but to Quiet, it was just a flower. She was honestly more interested in the mirror-like walls!

"Isn't it just breath taking?"

Quiet got a little confused, why did that sound like two people. She looked behind her.

There were two Byas.

Dee and Dum popped out and played trumpets in announcement of this strangeness.

"As far from a broken heart one can be is she!" Dum declared.
"A maiden of cheer and gab!" Dee followed.
"Lady Luck has counted your bones, don't think this is the last you'll see!"

"Ah! A second me?" Both Byas declared.

4/5

>>5679693
THE DOPPLEGANGER OF BYA
It's likely not Quiet's objective, but a doppleganger hunts a victim. Some get by with the only witness being their target, but most require a third party. One must be declared false or both will die with the passing of time! But who is the real Bya?

Trial of Discernment
>Throw a goblin fit!
>How about both come back to the warren?
>Just let them talk it out without pies, whichever fails to endure, is false. Uh, block ears first.
>Break mirror walls?
>Pluck flower?
>Beg the Twins for help

>GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: LUKEWARM III
>Rolled 706! Bright! Mood raised 3 levels
The pie was that good.

I am never doing that again. Next update will be small one, but so long as there are at least two replies before late evening it'll happen.

>>5679695
>Pluck flower?

>>5679751
I might just leave this an evening if there isn't any other votes. Not going to pull the deranged stunt I did previously.

There's still time though.

>>5679992
Don't die bro

>>5679994
I won't! Well, not immediately anyway, unless I'm unfortunate enough to get involved in a freak accident.

Not staying up late will aid in not dying though.

Since we have some time still, and you are here, would you be interested in sharing your reasoning for your choice? Even a 'I dunno why' is fine.

>>5680017
>Reasoning?
None really, except that plucking the flower struck me as sad for some reason.

>>5680024
How esoteric. Wouldn't have guessed that.

>>5679474
Oh wow i didn't notice that get either. Hoary for me.>>5679695
>>Just let them talk it out without pies, whichever fails to endure, is false. Uh, block ears first.

>>5679695
>Just let them talk it out without pies, whichever fails to endure, is false. Uh, block ears first.

Tell Bya we believe in her skill at debate so she isn't mad at us. Pretty sure she'll be thrilled to have someone praise her talking instead of calling her the Devil Tongue.

Poor dopple doesn't know what it got itself in to.

Then while they're talking we can pluck the flower. I don't trust it.

>>5679751
>>5680101
>>5680118


Right, I'll start writing and if I fail to concentrate, I'll just go to sleep instead of being stupid.

Rolled 30 (1d777)

>>5679751
>>5680101
>>5680118
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Smaller amount of shinies (Quiet feels resentment towards the decreased quantity)
Some bolts of silk and rough cloth
Russet Pelts
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin
Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (An echo of Pure Good)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Death by speech

It is a sorrowful thing to be a perfect imitation. It can only be perfect if it fools all into believing it is the original. It can only be an imitation if it is not the original. Dopplegangers then are a kind of parasite. Most of them are beings that can only live by consuming the fate of others, to live the lives of others to their dying day.

Ultimately most dopplegangers actually want to be discovered. In that moment of revelation, they are themselves. Of course some kinds of dopplegangers are more fortunate than others, having the ability to live as they please after stealing another's place. Some are just a hungry animal, and rest as the snake does after eating. A rare few are symbiotic, living side by side the one they imitate.

Quiet had no way to know what kind of doppleganger this was. She didn't know if it was related to the flower or the mirror walls, though both were suspect. Had there been a mob of goblins, at least one might have had an idea.

Bya didn't know either but she was sure of a way to sort things out.

"I'll burn you to a crisp imposter!" Both cried, raising their lanterns.

"Wooo fight fight fight!" Dee and Dum cheered.

"Wait! Bya best with words! Whoever speaks best is real Bya!" Quiet protested.

Having said that, Quiet tore a strip from her clothes and stuffed her ears, then packed the strips in with soil. Right, all prepared.

Both Byas stared at her a little sadly.
"She has a point though, nobody can gab better than me!" Both claimed.

Quiet was blissfully unaware of what the Byas were talking about, but time passed, a worried looking Uzweld and Frince appeared, but both backed out of earshot as soon as they more clearly heard the two talking.

One of the Byas was getting more and more excited though, as if she had been holding back all this time. The other Bya's form began to waver.

1/?

>>5680194
Then as what passed for night in the underground came, the dimming there was a loud series of cracks and a sharp snap. The mirror walls in the grotto cracked. The stem of the flower broke.

A thump and an indistinct form fell beside Bya. It was a vague impression of a person no details could be made out except for two. A smile and white sap like blood leaking from ears that one couldn't tell the size of.

The doppleganger dissolved into white foam that vanished into the soil. Not a trace remained.
"At the end, she wished she could have been my sister" Bya murmured.
Nobody but two heard her, as Quiet had ran over to the flower and when Uzweld and Frince were still too far to hear such a soft murmur.

Dee and Dum where the only others who had heard that conversation. Not even the goblin king endured it. Halfway through, the doppleganger had begun to urge Bya to tell her more of the world outside the grotto.

The stem of the flower both the part rooted in the ground and the one on the dress-like flower rotted away to nothing. All that remained was a dress like a flower. It was the wrong size for either Quiet or Bya but changed when Quiet touched it.

As she greedily bundled it up, Uzweld came behind her.

"I know this one, Maidenheart Doppleflower. The one who told me about it said that even if it finds a pure maiden to replace, it has to marry within a year, and reveal itself to the groom on the wedding night. If it isn't accepted, then it withers and dies then and there. She said it was a romantic flower, but isn't it just tragic?"

Quiet didn't have a clue how to respond to that. So she unfurled the flower dress.
"Look! Found nice treasure"
Uzweld smiled, his hand almost moved to pat her on the head.
"It is, isn't it? Come, we need to get back to the warren, being about during the dimming is dangerous."

They returned, and Bya even held back a little in chatting on the way...

The last Quiet saw of Dee and Dum was the pair in the grotto, staring at the shattered mirror walls.

TALK AND DREAMS IN THE WARREN

Talk with Uzweld (He'll tell you what he's found out, and bought, but what to say to him?) Choose two topics
>She?
>Hearts?
>Small talk.
>Boast about pie
>Dopplegangers
>Rabbitkin
>Adventurer?
>Gob Blab (write in)

DREAMS
Choose one.
>Dress
>Mirror
>Word Drowning
>Pie
>Twins
>A Shrine

THE BALLROOM OF THE BLACK MANOR, THE MIRROR OF A BROKEN HEART
This scene haunts Quiet once again, but she has no aid, no idea, and is still alone. Absent another plan, she will bloody hands with shards once more, blindly hoping for a piece to fit. Maybe later she'll encounter a way. (Currently only write in solutions are possible)
>Surely there's a better way? (write in)

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: LUKEWARM III
>Rolled 30! Black! Mood lowered by 3 levels!
Having to cut the sound didn't do his mood any favours. Thinking about dopplegangers didn't help either.

>121 replies
>72 of them are by the QM
Grim

>>5680198
>Topics?
>Boast about pie
>Dopplegangers
>Dreams?
>Pie
>Ballroom of the Black Mirror?
I got nothing.

>>5680218
qst is pretty slow usually.

>>5680198
>>Boast about pie
>>Dopplegangers
>>Rabbitkin
Dreams Choose one
>Dress

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5680369
>>5680771
Writing, though might not finish tonight.
Roll is for a tiebreaker.

Rolled 768 (1d777)

>>5680893
Actually mercifully cool tonight. Will take the chance to get some good sleep for the first time in days. Hooray! Maybe I'll even dream of pies myself.

>>5680920
Looks like even the Goblin King had a good night's rest!

>>5680369
>>5680771
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Foul Pie Rations (eating more than one in a day will result in death)
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap.
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin
Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (An echo of Pure Good)
Doppleflower Dress
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Dopplegangers and Pies!
>A dream of pies


The guest room the rabbitkin put them in wasn't much more than a small storage room that someone absentmindedly dug out and forgot about. The location might not have been all that accomodating, but the cocoon like sleeping bags the rabbitkin had given them were of such plushness that it didn't really matter.

Quiet was rolling about in hers while Uzweld tried to explain what he had gained and lost from the trading.

"We've got the survival tools we were missing and I picked up a pickaxe, it'll pull double duty as weapon and tool. Even got a tent, honestly he was a bit too generous, but since they're prepared to hibernate for the Darkening..."

Quiet paused in her rolling. She had heard the term a few times and still didn't know what it meant.

"It's a season down here in the underground" Dum said, rolling Quiet over to Dee.
"All the plants and fungi go to sleep!"
Dee said, rolling Quiet over to Dum.
"All the scary things wake up!"
"Bring your own light, the darkness deepens like a fog!"

Uzweld continued to speak as Dee and Dum rolled the goblin between them. It was likely Uzweld wasn't expecting much telling her this stuff, but it was likely to sort it out in his own head if nothing else.

"They've never heard of a Paling Doppleganger, but then they aren't natives of this place, so we aren't out of luck yet. There's a forest hermit, some kind of druid or magician they told me about, should know everything in this area...

A certain amount of information of the surrounding area, only half went into Quiet's head as she was getting a little dizzy from the Twins rolling her back and forth.

"...so I gave them the pelts and cloth and all our gems, they didn't want the metal scrap."

1/?

>>5681524
That got Quiet's attention, she leapt out of the sleeping bag.
"All shinies gone?" She whimpered.
"Yes, but look what I got you!"
Uzweld pulled out a large dark red leather bag he had been hiding beneath the blanket Quiet had used to carry her spoils. He likely prepared it to appease her, that and it was useful.

Looking at that finely made bag made from some unknown subterranean beast, Quiet's eyes sparkled. The bag was very nice, and while goblins like all loot, a good bag rates highly in goblin eyes. It had four sturdy straps that could be adjusted in a few ways. She stroked the bag lovingly, getting a chuckle from Uzweld.

"Well, that's it for me, but apart from encountering a doppleganger, what did you even get up to?"

"Ate the best pie ever. So so nice. Sad to leave"
"One of these pies?" Uzweld questioned, holding up the bag that Lon had gifted Quiet. He had sneaked one into his belly, but it has tasted foul, so he didn't have a second. Filling though.
"Blech! No, those nasty pies, eat more than one and die! Rations!"
Uzweld was sudden very glad they had tasted foul.

Quiet proceeded to gush about the lovely pie that she had eaten and he had not. Her vocabulary was a bit limited though, so it mostly looped around 'lovely' and repeating that she has eaten it and he had not. Uzweld's snakes began to twitch in an odd manner.

"I don't suppose you have any other thoughts about what you experienced?" He said, voice a bit strained.

"Bya talk scary" she simply replied, then she rubbed her head.

"What dopplegangers really?"

She knew they were things that tried to look like oneself and they'd usually try to kill you, but her understanding stopped there.

"In the academy, the popular theory was that they're the tears of a deity that had their face and body stolen. They were certainly valued for their blood there."

"Sad deity?"

"Nameless Faceless, though I don't think anyone directly connected the two. Nameless Faceless can't be communed with after all, being a mad god among mad gods"

"Tears"
"Yeah, but I get the feeling they're more like ownerless shadows, they give me that feeling"
"Weird"
"That they are. Right, time to sleep, we've got to get good rest when we can. Ah, I almost forgot, there's another outsider here, he approached me, offering to travel with us, strange man, more mysterious than you wears a mask and hat, not a bit of uncovered skin to be seen. Claims he doesn't need to eat or sleep so he spends his time doing as he pleases, you can sleep on wether you want him around Lady"

With that, Uzweld turned his back to Quiet and got to the business of trying to sleep. Quiet for her part crawled back inside her bag and stared at the darkness of the ceiling. As sleep slowly came to her, a thought came too.

'Sometimes, Uzweld looks at me, but he's seeing something else? Odd'

A soft and warm bed, no a pie lid. How lovely.
2/?

>>5681528
She ate her way inside the pie, and within was all the foods she liked, the pie didn't suffer for the terrifying mixture. The juices were piping hot, but she was unharmed as she happily swam in them, eating this and that and drinking some of the juices too. To her joy, there were pies floating in the pie.

"I had wanted to reward you for taking care of one of my followers, but this sort of wish is a bit unpleasant, I do wish to complain. Wanting to swim in a pie is a bit much"

She followed the voice, and there in her dream, sitting and looking quite disgruntled was a small black rabbit. It's ears were sharp and upright unlike the floppy wide and round ears of the rabbit kin. Even its eyes were dark pits, but a single ear was a shining blonde.

"Rabbit?"
"In a manner of speaking, much like your king is still a goblin"
"King?"
"No, I don't know him, I'm just strong enough to see what you are, I don't much like this dream, so I'm going to hop out and leave you to your bliss, but before I do..."

He appeared in front of her, paws on her forehead.
"She's probably not still around, but if you see a goblin queen on her own, just kill yourself, she keeps all her goblins captive in her shadow, she doesn't let them out. Apart from that..."

He turned around and tore a piece of his fur with his mouth, and pressing it with his paws it vanished into her.

"That'll protect you from darkness at least once, but don't go wild, I'm more of a spirit than a god really... Hmmm, things come in threes..."

He appeared back on a floating pie.

"For your mirror problem... those scary freaks would mangle me if I solved it,but a bit of help is fine, I'd suggest a hobby really. Something entertaining, though an instrument is out with your nature"

Then he was gone, and only a blissful dream of pies that in other contexts would have been a nightmare remained. Yet, in the dream she ate the whole thing and fell into deeper sleep still.

The maiden woke once more in the black manor, the mirror and the shards as she had left them. She had a thought to explore but quickly found that all the doors of the ballroom were locked.

She returned to the task, bloodying her fingers once more. So few, so few did she find a place for, she began to wonder if it was really worth trying to see herself in this mirror.

The darkness of the manor claimed her once more, and Quiet woke up, dimly aware of the Rabbit from the dream and the mirror in the manor.

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT
The other outsider who follows the rabbitkin but leaves each Darkening offers to join Quiet and Uzweld on their journey, supposedly he needs neither sleep nor food. A being that lives for amusement then?
>Allow him to join
>Refuse

3/4

>>5681529
DESTINATION
The rabbitkin have been exceptionally friendly, and didn't hold back on the lay of the land at all.
>A forest hermit, perhaps a druid has lived a long time in these lands, perhaps he has heard of a Paling Doppleganger, but will he receive you?
>Droogroot is the name of the coven ruled town, according to the rabbitkin, it is as sleepy and peaceful as always
>A shaggy beast astounded the rabbitkin with its wisdom, but they understood little of what it said, and fewer still were the questions it answered
>The Darkening has arrive early in part of the pillarforest, but perhaps fortune is to be found in danger
>There's a few villages on the outskirts of the pillarforest, but the rabbitkin claim there's something wrong with all of them, as for what that something is? They didn't dare get close.
>A temple of the Myriad Dark, possibly the one the monks had been bringing Uzweld to, not that they'll know that
>The closest Dragon Country is Ffafgerlland, but it is only a guess that the ritual would be connected to dragons

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: GOOD II
>Rolled 768! Bright! Mood raised by 3 levels!
What neither the Rabbit godling or Quiet knew was that the king had been in that dream too, swimming and eating pies.

>>5681529
>Allow him to join
Might be a mistake, I'll admit.

>>5681530
>A forest hermit, perhaps a druid has lived a long time in these lands, perhaps he has heard of a Paling Doppleganger, but will he receive you?

>>5681529
>"She's probably not still around, but if you see a goblin queen on her own, just kill yourself, she keeps all her goblins captive in her shadow, she doesn't let them out
That sounds suspiciously like lady luck
Discern
>>Allow him to join
Destination
>>A shaggy beast astounded the rabbitkin with its wisdom, but they understood little of what it said, and fewer still were the questions it answered
Let's ask the beast about the doppelgangers

>>5681529
>Allow him to join

It's unnatural for a goblin to be alone, but not right for a Goblin Noble to be with common goblins, so we'll have the best of both worlds if we make them an honorary goblin!

>A shaggy beast astounded the rabbitkin with its wisdom, but they understood little of what it said, and fewer still were the questions it answered

We're used to being confused and ignored so we'll have an advantage others lacked!

Rolled 550 (1d777)

>>5681556
>>5681944
>>5681993
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Foul Pie Rations (eating more than one in a day will result in death)
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap.
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin
Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (An echo of Pure Good)
Gifted Bag (An offering of kindness from Uzweld)
Doppleflower Dress
Protection of a Rabbit Godling (Protects against darkness once)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Allow the outsider to join
>The wonderful wise beast of the pillarforest

Neither Bya or Frince or even anyone else came to see them off. All that waited for them outside the warren was the other outsider.

To Quiet this man looked less like a person wearing clothes and more like someone had puffed up clothes to look like a person. Checkered quilted pants of brown and green, billowing sleeves of black under a breastplate made from a giant beetle, shimmering green-black. He wore gauntlets of the same, his feet were also clad in pointed boots made from the same carapace. A creamy silky cloth covered his head, and his face was covered with a red mask. The mask covered the whole of the face, it was in the form of a jovial face, eyes closed in smiling crescents. The mask did, however have a pair of horns jutting out, one below the other, quite like that of a stag beetle. At his waist was a wide black leather belt, and in a loop on the belt was a pickhammer that looked made wholly from a yellowed leg bone. Completing this neat almost noble level attire, was a half-cloak of gray fur, clearly and completely it was just there for show.

He held across his shoulders a halberd with a plain black head and a shaft that in spite of the length looked more like horn than anything else. Tied to this was a very small bundle.

A dapper stranger to be sure.
"Good morn, good fellows, It's a be early to begin my wanderings, but, Finnkus the Freed, at your service, should you not mind my company!"
His voice was clear and unmuffled, as if the mask was not there. Valiant in tone was he.

Uzweld glanced at Quiet, but she was looking forlornly at the warren. Goodbye darling pie, my first love, it was likely something like that that she was thinking.

1/?

Rolled 1, 3, 4 = 8 (3d6)

>>5682489
Uzweld nudged her with his foot, and her attention returned to the man that looked somehow ragged in spite of his finery.

"Sure, no eat food means more food for me!" Quiet declared.
"Ha, many worry about the motives of those that neither tire nor thirst, but you think first that it means more vittles for yourself! Wonderful! I like you already! Now, I heard you hunt an obscure quarry? Where do we go this fine day my new comrades"
"Not as bad as Bya" Quiet concluded.
"This morning Quiet decided we should find the wise beast the rabbitkin told us about"
A laugh came from Finnkus.
"I know the old shaggy beast, it was a first for those droopyears, but me and him go a long ways back, come I'll lead you to his abode!"
He swung about to stride off, but was halted by a question from Quiet.
"Rabbits where?"
Finnkus turned out to have a mind as good at leaps as Uzweld's was, and answered her correctly.

"They despise goodbyes, so in all the years I've known them, not once have they wished me a goodbye, such gentle hearts"

"They are aren't they?" Uzweld agreed.
"It was a hard task teaching them the ways and tricks of slavers my friend, but such adorable creatures should be only a little less free than me!"
"Little less?"
"If they were as free as me, they'd starve to death, Haha!"

So the trio left, and between Uzweld's senses and Finnkus' knowledge of the lay of the land, not once did they encounter a threat that couldn't be avoided. Quiet would have preferred if Finnkus talked less, but after Bya, she was quite tolerant of anyone who talked slower.

The ground rose and fell along their path, the root pillars at times being dense and at times being sparse. Finally they reached their destination, and both Uzweld and Quiet felt that has it not been for Finnkus, they could have easily gotten lost at least once.

Before them was a large clearing, big enough for a ruined black castle. The ground of this clearing was a field of shale, the ceiling vanished into darkness, and in the centre of it all was a tree.

Not a root pillar, but a white tree with blue leaves that glowed softly. It was not particularly tall, if anything it was a bit stunted, and the leaves were sparse on the tree. It gave the impression of being healthy, but also struggling to survive.

"Rabbit said nothing about tree?" Quiet asked.
"Why would they, it's just and ordinary reverse roottree, maybe a little small, but nothing special"
"Poor lad" Finnkus whispered to Quiet from afar "He can't see what we can"
"Why?" She asked.
Finnkus, however did not answer her, instead he walked over the shale without disturbing the rocks and shouted.

"What ho! Good shaggy sir! Tis I Finnkus the Freed and two companions!"
"You have an excuse to be brainless, but what of your companions to keep company as thoughtless as yours?"
As Uzweld and Quiet crunched over the rocks unsteadily they got a good look at the rumoured beast.

2/?

>>5682493
Well, it was shaggy for sure. A bearded four legged animal lounging on a branch, yet if you asked the pair what it was, they'd have some trouble. It had ears, but did they stand or flop, were they long or short?

For that matter, it looked somewhat like a lion, or a hound, perhaps a deer or maybe a cow. There were horns, or perhaps antlers. It definitely had a tail, but was it long or short? Fluffy or not.

An indistinct beast, only that shaggy hair was the surest thing about it. That and the age and wisdom in its eyes... Though pinning down what kind of eyes they were was another matter.

"Come here for guidance I expect, you'll come to grief travelling with these two Finnkus if you don't take a little care. You need not eat or sleep, but death and torment can still keep you company"

Finnkus shrugged, as if the dire omen had nothing to do with him. That got a snort from the beast.

"Apologies for disturbing your rest noble beast, I am Uzweld, and this Is Quiet, we have indeed come seeking your council after hearing the rabbitkin speak of your wisdom"

"Well, if anyone fits torment, it is you, that makes the little one death. Rabbitkin wouldn't know wisdom if it came and gobbled them up one by one!"
"Death?" Quiet inquired.
Uzweld showed no interest in asking why he was labelled torment.
"Gotta die to rot don't ya? Oh, what a bother all this is, I'll answer two questions, then you have to leave before they get it into their heads to mess with me. Now hurry up!"

THE SHAGGY BEAST AND QUESTIONS
The beast gives not its name, asks no price to be paid, but who knows how much sense will be made from its answers, a clear answer is likely not going to be forthcoming.
One question will obviously be about where to find a paling doppleganger, but that leaves the other. There's quite a few things one could ask, though asking about the ritual might be a waste, since only one quest needs to be completed to become a noble.

HUNT OR RITUAL
Even should one ask of one, it won't close the path of the other, but for now, bearing in mind the warnings of the Twins...
>Ask where to find a Paling Doppleganger
>Ask where the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth takes place

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT: THE SECOND QUESTION
The value of all things are not equal, a portion of wisdom could be said to be weighing of the scales of judgement.
>Just what is a Paling Doppleganger?
>What is the best hobby for Quiet?
>How to heal a broken heart?
>What about the head from the smithy?
>Lady Luck?
>Mirror in the manor?
>Gob thought (write in)

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: BRIGHT I
>Rolled 550! Good! Mood level raised by 2 levels! At good or higher! The king casts a buff in his satisfaction.
More than anything, the King feels things are headed in a favourable direction. A favourable direction for his entertainment that is.

>>5682494
>Ask where to find a Paling Doppleganger

>Gob thought (write in)
How can we fail the quests and still become a goblin noble?

>>5682774
Quest will be on hold until tooth related problems are resolved.

>>5682951
Feel better soon

>>5682494
>Ask where to find a Paling Doppleganger
>Mirror in the manor?

>>5682951
Wish you the best, man.

>>5682494
>>Ask where to find a Paling Doppleganger
>>What is the best hobby for Quiet?

>>5682951
How is your tooth?

>tooth killed steller
Damn...

>>5690697
I blame the tooth fairy

Get well soon

>>5688444
>>5690697
>>5690805
>>5690853
Teeth are no longer in active pain, not due to the dentist though, he's still on holiday. Been eating with just one side.

If anyone is still around(and even if nobody is) I'll start up again. I've been missing this.

>>5690861
sweet

>>5690805
>fairies are goblins in this quest
It was the fucking Goblin King, wasn't it?

>>5690861
Noice
>>5690944
Now I kind want a quest where the goblins do a heist on the stash of a teeth obssessed goblin noble/minor queen

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>>5691008

Rolled 764 (1d777)

>>5682774
>>5683699
>>5684002
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Foul Pie Rations (eating more than one in a day will result in death)
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap.
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin
Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (An echo of Pure Good)
Gifted Bag (An offering of kindness from Uzweld)
Doppleflower Dress
Protection of a Rabbit Godling (Protects against darkness once)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Paling Doppleganger where?
>Fail quest, still become noble?
>Best hobby for Quiet? (unasked)
>Mirror in manor? (unasked)
>Goblin King's Blessing: Impermanence of Savage Will IV (Fallen beyond measure to a will to survive)

The advice of the rabbit godling surfaced in Quiet's mind strongly, and the mirror in the manor weighed heavily on the hollow where her heart should have been, but in the end her two questions were thus;

"Fail quests and still become noble how?" She asked, but as the words formed, she saw Finnkus and Uzweld become silent and still as pillars. Was it the will of the beast or the twins keeping them from hearing this question and answer?

>The Goblin King's Blessing was used!

The eyes of the shaggy beast were like a maze, and Quiet found herself lost in them as it considered what was asked of it.

"Your head has gotten turned little goldkin. A goblin alone if it lives long enough will turn into a noble, as the fate of separation grows within it, but you don't wish to be any mere noble, under urging of hollow and star, power is your desire! Quests to gather power and shift fate, carelessly given, should your completion of them be barred, know this, your wish will be found in reaching beyond the lot of a goblin. Dimly you can remember a storm and ascension, but raw power is more like to break you than seeking fate. Change a fate beyond your own, and so change your own fate. Ask your next question child"

Her two companions returned to normal, but Quiet didn't make them aware of the strange state they had been under, partly because she didn't care that much and partly because she suspected with her goblin cunning that the attempt would be futile.

"Paling Doppleganger where?" She asked.

If anything the beast's eyes became more scornful.

1/2

Rolled 4, 4, 5 = 13 (3d6)

>>5691395
"I'll tell you the story of three dwarven brothers, Eldest, Youngest and the Middle. As all beings should these dwarves loved treasures of all kinds, as all beings shouldn't be, they were consumed by greed, turning even to banditry.

One day after deceiving and murdering a humble and coinless monk, the only thing of value on him was a mysterious map with strange instructions. So strange that the brothers argued for some time if they should even bother following the map, but greed won out and they followed the instructions on the map.

It led them to a necroholm, but they were not worried, as it was not deep within. What bothered them more was the instructions to obtain the treasure. They had to bury one of their number alive, and dig him up just before death, not just that, but it had to be done in a grave of another.

Easy enough to find a grave in a necroholm, but they fought bitterly over who would be buried. Youngest could not beat Eldest and Middle, so down he went. Though it was only the promise of a larger share that really moved him. As Eldest and Middle waited, both were disgruntled with the share they would get.

It was not even clear that any treasure would appear, but Eldest taken by some madness of greed struck Middle down and buried him in a grave nearby, digging Youngest up after.

To his delight, Youngest was clutching a chest of glittering loot, to Youngest's question of where middle was, he said that middle had wandered back to their camp, being bored waiting. In truth Eldest planned to have Youngest carry the loot to camp and then murder him. What a miracle the brothers lived as long as they did.

On the tunnel back, who should be waiting for them, but Middle. Eldest turned pale with fright, and Youngest warmly greeted Middle, none the wiser that it could not be Middle before them. What the imposter said next, made Youngest as pale as Eldest.

'Eh, why is there two Youngest? Where is eldest?'

Eldest of course denied this, claiming he was Eldest, but Youngest could only see and hear a copy of him saying this. In the fight that followed Eldest and Middle killed each other and Youngest after shedding a single tear happily went home glad to not have to share his loot.

Though, was he really the Youngest?"

The small tale silenced all three of the party and before anyone could ask a thing about that odd small tale, the shaggy beast patted the tree loudly.

"Right, we're moving before that horrid pair mess with us! Oh, for your final question I recommend dancing!"

>Goblin King's Blessing was consumed!

As he said it, the darkness dropped down from the ceiling and robbed the three of their vision, when they could see again, the clearing was still there, but gone was the tree, gone was the beast, gone was the bed of shale and the darkness above was not as deep. In place of all of this was the Twiddle Twins, looking as sad as can be, as if they had been cheated out of a tasty snack.
2/3

>>5691400
Neither Finnkus or Uzweld reacted to them, and the pair slowly faded away their glum mouths the last to go.

"Quiet didn't ask a second question?" Uzweld mused.
"Well, dancing was the answer, but what was the question?" Finnkus asked Quiet.
"Best hobby for me" She explained, though she didn't quite get why the beast answered a third, and an unasked one at that.

"With being called a paling doppleganger, finding it in a necroholm makes sense" Uzweld said.
"I feel the more important thing was them all being murderers"
"Hope not, it isn't like we can murder each other to make this thing appear"
"I know of a few disreputable places brimming with murderers"

As the two men began to debate about what the story was even about, Quiet considered their next move...

TRIAL OF DISCERNMENT
The Paling Doppleganger is a bit less of an enigma, but the story wasn't that clear...
>Side with Uzweld's interpretation
>Side with Finnkus' interpretation
>Reserve judgement
>Gob thought (write in interpretation)

DESTINATION
Putting aside that, remaining in place won't make things better... A necroholm home though, dangerous nests of undead. The further something is, the more likely encountering something on the way is.
>A forest hermit, perhaps a druid has lived a long time in these lands, a second opinion on the doppleganger would be nice, but will the hermit receive you, and what cost will his answers hold?
>Droogroot, the sleepy coven ruled town is still near, but perhaps unrelated to the ritual or dopplegangers, do they dance there?
>The Darkening has arrived early in part of the pillarforest, but perhaps the doppleganger is unrelated
>A temple of the Myriad Dark, possibly the one the monks had been bringing Uzweld to, not that they'll know that
>The closest Dragon Country is Ffafgerlland, but it is only a guess that the ritual would be connected to dragons
>There's a few villages on the outskirts of the pillarforest, but the rabbitkin claim there's something wrong with all of them, as for what that something is? They didn't dare get close.
>Of those villages, Stranglevil is known to be a hideout of bandits and other ruffians, according to Finnkus
>Deep within the pillar forest is the necroholm Rotroot Colg, but the path is treacherous...
>Further away beyond the pillarforest is the necroholm Ironhope, a fallen dwarven fortress, but the outskirts of that decayed realm should be less dangerous than the depths.
>Outside the forest closer to the border of Ffafgerlland and the Grime Federation, Finnkus speaks of a place brimming with murder and ill intent. Destroyed three times, Cancertown is considered a blight by both places, but the tumor endures

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: BRIGHT III
>Rolled 764! Bright! Mood raised 3 levels, already in bright, the King sends a gift next update! create/raise, artefact and [redacted] were the results! Now you just have to hope the Twins don't mess with it!
If nothing else, seeing the Twiddle Twins deprived still entertains him.

>>5691402
>Reserve judgement
Although
>Gob thought (write in interpretation)
I think greed is the more important moral, to be willing to betray and murder because of it.
And it could be an important one for Quiet to remember, with her thirst for power and dreams of a black castle.

>There's a few villages on the outskirts of the pillarforest, but the rabbitkin claim there's something wrong with all of them, as for what that something is? They didn't dare get close.

>>5691402
>Reserve judgement
Though the other anon's write-in is also something I can get behind, and is a good moral to take.
>Droogroot, the sleepy coven ruled town is still near, but perhaps unrelated to the ritual or dopplegangers, do they dance there?
Dancing hobby?

>>5691402
Glad to see you're back!
>>5691451
Seconding

>>5691451
>>5691552
Gonna be power cuts today, so might be late on delivery.

>>5691654
Nice to be back

Rolled 384 (1d777)

>>5691451
>>5691552
>>5691654
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Finnkus' Status: Unknown, can take 1 wound
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Foul Pie Rations (eating more than one in a day will result in death)
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap.
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin
Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (An echo of Pure Good)
Gifted Bag (An offering of kindness from Uzweld)
Doppleflower Dress
Protection of a Rabbit Godling (Protects against darkness once)
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Judgement Reserved
>The Moral of Excess
>Received King's Gift! Knot of Strength! A tightly bound knot of red rope (Once per Force trial, swap the results, two uses, returns to the castle on final usage)
>Disturbing Villages

As the odd trio made their way to outskirts of the pillarforest, Uzweld and Finnkus were still debating on the nature of the paling doppleganger. The number of forms was of particular concern to them, that and the ability to make others appear different from what they were.

Quiet had latched onto something else from the story, an idea of excess. A moral that greed could lead to betrayal and murder. Though, as a goblin she understood betrayal better than murder. Dimly she could recall goblins being beaten for trying to kill milk producing animals, though that was mercy since goblin legend had it that killing the milkgoats would result in the King's timeout. Murder was some sort of forbidden killing, to which punishment would swiftly follow in her mind. She was fairly sure that killing and eating insects was never murder.

Really though, all she took was that you could have too much of a good thing like loving treasure, there was no point if a doppleganger took your place and treasure after all.

>Quiet has, roughly, comprehended a moral of excess (perhaps the understanding will be helpful at a key moment)

Her attention wasn't on those thoughts or the mens' debate though. No she was absorbed in admiring a treasure that could only have been sent by the King, such was the suddenness that it appeared in her hands and the knowledge of its use filled her mind. In her hands was a knot of red cord, on the more earthy side of reds. It was almost ball shaped and Quiet couldn't tell how many times it twisted back into itself.

1/?

>>5692342
"It won't be that useful against a doppleganger though" Dum objected, spoiler that he was.
"It could reverse a dragon's magic breath though" Dee offered.

"Go away, mine, my precious gift!" Quiet hissed.

Tittering, the twins left.

So it was that Quiet trailed behind Uzweld and Finnkus, fully absorbed in trying to follow the cords of the knot until finally Finnkus called out.

"We've arrived at, uh Foudsvil was it called? Hmm, the rabbitkin made a big deal about how ominous it was, but..."
"Looks like what you'd expect from a small hunter village" Uzweld mused.

"Not even an inn" Dee proclaimed.
"Not even a church!" Dum hollered.

Quiet was relieved that it wasn't abandoned. Something told her that a village or town with no living beings was a bad sign.

It wasn't a village like a gutted fish either, though as idyllic and homely as the huts of severed and hollowed pillar roots were with their clay roofs, it wasn't quite worthy of a warm painting of a harsh but kindly simple life.

"Right, march right in then fellows?"
"No, hold a moment, something smells amiss here, I can't quite... no fires and something else is wrong"
"Being as I am, I can't smell much in any situation, what do you make of it Quiet" Finnkus asked.
"Too far" she complained.

Too distant for her goblin nose, but no fire was odd, and distant as the village was... Children playing about and parents watching was normal enough, but didn't their expressions look a little plain?

"Faces?" She wondered.
"Too distant for me to see" Uzweld admitted.
"My time to shine! Hmm, hmmm now that my attention is drawn to it, I've seen grim villages where nobody smiles, but this looks more like they don't know how to use their faces, how curious"
"Sounds more alarming to me" Uzweld objected.
"Dopplegangers?" Quiet wondered.
"That'd be right fright haha!" Finnkus laughed, enjoying himself too much.

Uzweld's snakehair restlessly poked out their tongues and even his main tongue flicked out.
"I can't place this smell, but its... what you'd expect from a village of dwarves and hulven"

Of the human races, dwarves are most common of underground dwellers, the hulven in spite of being humans average in every way, not even having pointed ears can be found just about everywhere, but they aren't really suited to live anywhere either. Truly a hulf can live anywhere! Not bad for a race people call the deprived.

"Check another one?" Quiet asked.
"There's still a good while before the dimming, is there another village near here?"
Finnkus considered it, stroking the beetle-like horns on his mask.
"We could reach one other, follow me, oh this is quite interesting"
"What are we even doing here?" Uzweld muttered.
Quiet simply cast a glance backward towards Foudsvil. Her thoughts however were scattered and messy, what dim memory of blissful days did the strange village stir?

Hogslaughter was the name of the next village they arrived at. A fairly common name as it turns out. Yet...

2/?

>>5692344
Most towns and villages with that name tend to have porcine livestock of one kind or another. In the Grime Federation the favoured animal was the shovelpig, or shig a lovely pig that makes up for its small size by eating mostly dirt. It has splayed tusks for digging up dirt. Fine enough tasting for dwarves who can dine on rocks, but hulven breeders went the extra effort to breed them to taste a bit better, that and feed them stuff other than soil. Supposedly the rich dine on shigs fed on gems.

Not a single joyful or outraged squeal could be heard from this Hogslaughter though. Slaughtering a lot before the Darkening wasn't uncommon, but all the shigs?

Being unfamiliar with shig husbandry the lack of shig cries was lost on Quiet.

"Not a shig to be heard, you did call this place Hogslaughter right?" Uzweld questioned.
"That I did, wait here, I'll scout around, I have my ways of not disturbing unpleasant things"
Before Quiet or Uzweld could make an objection, the strange wanderer was off. After a moment's hesitation, Uzweld pointed to a nearby crack in a pillarroot that could obscure them. Quiet nodded and the two squeezed into the opening, after checking it for nasty things of course.

Quiet was quite bored, waiting around isn't a strong suit of goblins other than those deviant fisher goblins. She looked up at Uzweld's chin, his beard was of course made up of the same orange snakes as his hair. Uzweld was quite tense, but Quiet picked up on none of that as she did as one would expect a goblin nestled under someone like Uzweld to do. She grabbed a snake.

All the wiggling snakes froze.
"Could you not grab them Lady" Uzweld complained.
"Skin nice" Quiet complemented, having no intention of letting go.
A sigh that Uzweld had not let loose in a long while came out his mouth, even the snake mouths.
"Do as you wish then, just don't pull them, or I'll toss you out" he groused.
So he endured as Quiet amused herself with the snakes that at times seemed to have minds of their own.

After what felt like a far too short time to Quiet and far too long for Uzweld, a masked head appeared before them, almost prompting cries of surprise from both.

"Ah, there you are! Whatever are you doing in there? Come out already"

Shameless as the goblin she was, Quiet jumped out. Uzweld was somewhat slower, stiff from being squeezed into the crack and heavy from memories of days gone by...

"There's obviously something amiss, the villagers are sluggish and unresponsive, they're a bit too carefree too, not a soul at work preparing for the Darkening, I didn't press them for fear of disturbing their imitation of normalcy"
"Could it be dopplegangers after all?"
"Really?"
"If they're anything I've learnt in my travels, there's an endless parade of wonders and terrors in our world"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning little one, is that there's a few too many possibilities"
"Maybe we should just move on, we've other leads to follow"
3/?

>>5692348
"I don't mind if we ignore these fellows either, I doubt they can be helped whatever the case it is, but I am quite curious as to what ill has befallen them. What say you, fearless leader?"

Quiet felt like she was being taken lightly somehow, but she pondered the situation anyway.

MYSTERY OF THE DISTURBING VILLAGES
Something is definitely amiss, but does Quiet wish to unravel the thread of strangeness here? After all, it might not have anything to do with her aims, but then again, who knows where events will lead?


>Tackle the Mystery! After all, the quests given aren't the only path!
>Retreat from the village and set up camp to face the dimming (Some stories and talk with companions, dreams once more, and pick a destination when the dimming is no more)

IF TACKLING THE MYSTERY
Trial of Discernment
>Sneakily snoop about the village, particularly the piggeries
>Openly enter the village
>Kidnap a villager that walks too far from the village
>Commit Arson, that should reveal what strangeness is in the village!
>Gob it out (write in)

IF RETREATING
Companion Focus(pick one)
>Finnkus the Freed
>Uzweld

Dreams(pick one)
>Village
>Star
>Twins
>Snakes
>Faces
>Milking
>Timeout

Destination
See >>5691402

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: BRIGHT III
>Rolled 384! Lukewarm! Mood unchanged!
There are a few things the king finds disgusting. He knows what state the villages are in.

Hopefully no more power cuts, it was just because of new houses being made nearby

>>5692349
>Tackle the Mystery! After all, the quests given aren't the only path!
>Sneakily snoop about the village, particularly the piggeries
I know that we should focus on the quest, but I'm curious

>>5692349
>Retreat from the village and set up camp to face the dimming (Some stories and talk with companions, dreams once more, and pick a destination when the dimming is no more)
Focusing on making Quiet a noble and the Quests sound more important.
>Finnkus the Freed
>Star

>>5692349
>>Sneakily snoop about the village, particularly the piggeries
They might be doppelgangers.
Also, Hog Slaughter or Hog's Laughter?
Maybe the problem is the hogs aren't laughing.
Mystery...
Dreams:
Hogs Laughter

Rolled 497 (1d777)

>>5692355
>>5692479
>>5692502
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Finnkus' Status: Unknown, can take 1 wound
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Foul Pie Rations (eating more than one in a day will result in death)
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap.
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin
Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (An echo of Pure Good)
Gifted Bag (An offering of kindness from Uzweld)
Doppleflower Dress
Protection of a Rabbit Godling (Protects against darkness once)
Knot of Strength! A tightly bound knot of red rope (Once per Force trial, swap the results, two uses, returns to the castle on final usage)
Moral of Excess
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Sneakily snoop about the village, particularly the piggeries

"We snooping!" Quiet declared.

There were no objects, Uzweld because of his promise and who knows what baggage and Finnkus because the lunatic was seriously curious as to what had happened to the unfortunate villages.

Finnkus and Quiet were both suited to stealth, though, one was definitely more eye-catching. Uzweld didn't have two right feet at least, but from scent it was clear there weren't any of the strange villagers or shigs in the pig pens. Mostly unnoticed they entered into them, mostly because waiting for them were of course the Twiddle Twins!

"Wake up, wake up!" Dee cried.
"Rise from your bones! Vengeance will be yours!" Dum proclaimed.

Rising from the bones of shigs were piggy ghosts! Quiet could see them, and she could certainly hear their outraged squeals as they clustered around her. Uzweld and Finnkus didn't react to the spectral shigs, bending down instead to examine the bones. Was it some trickery of the Twins that only Quiet was afflicted by these porcine spooks?

>Quiet has become haunted by the Grudgeghosts of Shigs!

"There's a contract between farmer and livestock!" Dee claimed.
"The price of room and board is harvest!"
"Are gods to humans as humans are to animals?"
"The hierarchy is right, but only some gods farm!"
"Not all humans farm either, and not all animals are tame"
"Lesser and greater! Humans are closer to grand spirits than animals!"
"Well, it doesn't all fit together! A real god doesn't need mortals!"
"Mortals need to kill to live after all"

1/?

>>5692853
Uzweld and Finnkus were whispering to each other as they passed bones back and forth, but Quiet couldn't hear them over the Twins' inane chatter and the din of the shig ghosts. What most frustrated her was the Twins blocking her from collecting the bones. Those were prime goblin treasures! There was even skulls with handsome teeth and tusks!

"Animals are freer and more imprisoned!" Dum advocated.
"By hand of man or bounty of nature they are provided for!"
"Bliss like a goblin in plenty, horror abundant in scarcity!"
"There's still rules and expectations though, especially for livestock"
"Betrayal is everyone getting eaten with no survivors!"
"Only idiots and the desperate eat the final breeding pair!"

Uzweld and Finnkus finished their consultation and the expression on Uzweld wasn't a well pleased one.
"We've a clearer picture of what is going on now" Finnkus supposed.
"Yes, but talking about it a bit further from here is a better idea" Uzweld said.

With that, he grabbed Quiet and the two fled the village. Quiet almost shed a tear as the meatless bones grew further away. The ghosts followed them still.

"Enjoy the company!" The Twins cried, waving goodbye.

In short order, the flight was over and Quiet sat grumpily listening to the mens' findings as spectral shigs rested on her head and shoulders, though one kept passing in and out of her body. It was probably curious that it could do so, but that did result in an uncomfortable chill. A few others were floating in the air, finding flight to be an interesting amusement. They didn't quite understand they were dead.

They wouldn't have become ghosts without the interference of the Twins.

"The bones were picked clean by spiders, not human teeth" Finnkus began.
"Knowing that I was finally able to place the scent, mixed as it was. The village and villagers smell of spiders" Uzweld said.
"Most likely they're all Huskiders"

Huskiders begin life as tiny spiders and they never die of age, instead they grow endlessly at a very slow rate, but being cowards and their growth connected to it, they hide inside corpses they puppet. They prefer fresh dead, and due to their size begin with insects usually. They enter through the mouth and their threads prevent the rot of the husk, they also gain the memories of the dead, and like dopplegangers they imitate the husk they live in. They aren't deemed a threat normally, as few live past the hiding in insects stage, that and they're cowardly scavengers. Carrion is all they have the guts to eat. Of all corpse puppet spiders they're the least threatening, they don't even have venom!

Legend has it that when they reach a size too large for all the corpses they find they stitch together a puppet from multiple corpses, but with the amount of time it would take the spider to grow, they'd have likely developed greater will and spirituality gaining even a humanoid form by then.

2/?

>>5692857
Supposedly there's a place with a custom of deliberately breeding huskiders and placing them in their dead. Perhaps that land is ruled by huskiders? That said, even in a world with spirits, there are those who believe it is the memories that make the person.

Rare indeed is it for a huskider to crawl in the mouth of a freshly dead adventurer, but scary stories of a comrade turning out to be a huskider is only somewhat less popular than doppleganger stories. A creature more talked about than seen, but death is usually their lot when discovered hiding in beast or insect, their thread and true body are valuable reagents of course.

After being told something similar by Uzweld and Finnkus, Quiet had two thoughts, one she kept to herself, was that the huskiders like so many others were pretending. Why did so many pretend? The other thought she spoke aloud.

"Odd, lots of bigs!"
Both men nodded.
"Likely the villagers got murdered by a mage or alchemist or something for some weird experiment" Uzweld said somberly.
"There's no way that many huskiders of that size appeared naturally. I'm sure they're huskiders too, the bites on the bones are just like their mouth parts make"
"Killing them all wouldn't be hard, though I'm not sure there's much point, other than maybe satisfying the dead and messing with a mage's sick project"
"If anything the biggest problem would be them running away, hmm I reckon we might be able to safely talk to them. Much good that it would do us, they're probably still at the stage of just repeating things in their husks' memories. Closer to the border, there's a garrison of the federation, might reward us for this information"

THE VILLAGES OF HUSKIDERS
A village could have a long history but without a strong guardian all it takes is a notion from a grand power to bring an end...

Trial of Discernment
>Revenge for the pigs! Commit Arson!
>Just leave them be, what a bad way to go
>Find a place to set up camp, and set out for the garrison once the dimming has past
>Revenge for the pigs! Attack the huskiders!
>Interact with the huskiders, pretending their real natures aren't revealed
>Interact with them, revealing their nature
>Gob it out (write in)

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: BRIGHT III
>Rolled 467! Lukewarm! Mood unchanged!
In actuality what he most dislikes about the huskiders is their cowardice.

>>5692858
>Interact with them, revealing their nature

>>5692858
>Revenge for the pigs! Commit Arson!
FOR THE HOGS!

>>5692937
>>5692980
Normally I should roll a tie breaker, however I shall take this chance to skive since Lostbelt 6.2 is out Gives the possibilities more time to mature in my head too. If the tie isn't broken tomorrow I'll roll a breaker.

>>5692858
>>Interact with them, revealing their nature

>>5692858
>Interact with them, revealing their nature

>>5692937
>>5692980
>>5693906
>>5693971
I've been busy wasting time, starting writing now, can't guarantee I'll finish though.

>>5692937
>>5692980
>>5693906
>>5693971
Currently Haunted By: Twiddle Twins, Dee and Dum (Haunting has deepened)
Grudgeghosts of Shigs
Quiet's Status: Uninjured, can take 3 wounds
Uzweld's Status: Uninjured, can take 6 wounds
Finnkus' Status: Unknown, can take 1 wound
Spoils:
Assorted food supplies
Foul Pie Rations (eating more than one in a day will result in death)
Shoddy Goblin Hooded Poncho
Dark Eroded Rod that isn't that heavy (similar effectiveness to a big rock, but handier) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Three Dark Eroded Daggers (roll 1d7 after each use to determine if they break) Poisonous to non-dark steeped being (fatal but takes at least a day)
Random metal scrap.
Kettle in Form of Bird (An artful, charming, but mundane kettle)
Assurance of Little Sisterhood (From the Twiddle Twins)
Benign Mental Corruption: Tales of the Abyssal Rabbitkin
Memory of Pure Bliss of Pie (An echo of Pure Good)
Gifted Bag (An offering of kindness from Uzweld)
Doppleflower Dress
Protection of a Rabbit Godling (Protects against darkness once)
Knot of Strength! A tightly bound knot of red rope (Once per Force trial, swap the results, two uses, returns to the castle on final usage)
Moral of Excess
King's Trial: Complete a quest to ascend Quiet
Quest 1: Seek the Paling Doppleganger (easier)
Quest 2: Bring an end to the Ritual of Unspeakable Wealth (harder)
>Interact with the huskiders revealing their natures.

"Talk" Quiet decided.
"Talk?" Uzweld questioned.
"Talk!" Finnkus declared, amused.

"Talk to the huskiders" Uzweld said, rubbing his face.
"Yes! Tell them we know them!" Quiet said, voice full of the conviction to stop at least someone from pretending.
Finnkus was shaking a bit from suppressed laughter. Uzweld loosed his pickaxe, though huskiders were known for their cowardice, who knew what would happen. The wise man prepares for violence.
"Come then, let us tell them we know what they are!"

So it was that the three wandered openly into the village where all the villagers had been replaced. Quiet moved with the confidence of a bully knowing the prey was weak and not an incomprehensible threat. Uzweld was to her right muttering himself, something about its' scary how similar she is. Finnkus swaggered like a thug, his halberd across his shoulders.

The huskiders had poor control over their husks' expressions, but in those eyes given false vitality by thread was unease. Quiet began to hear whispers and felt the stirring of magic. It was not the huskiders but the Twins deliberately showing to Quiet that once more they were doing something.

"Gather round, gather round" Dee whispered to them and Quiet.
"Silence your fear and face them" Dum commanded.

Uzweld tensed up as the husks formed a small crowd before them. Finnkus was as relaxed as ever at the weird behaviour of the huskiders.

1/?

>>5694732
"Come before her, answer her what she asks, be stirred in eloquence by memory" Dum urged.
"Finnkus, freed you may be, let your senses be clouded" Dee hissed.
"Uzweld, be blinded and deafened further, let your senses be clouded"
"By our wills, O mage watching your puppets from beyond, forget for a time this village"

Dee and Dum watched Quiet expectantly.

She didn't understand. She knew they wanted her to ask things of the huskiders, but why? What did they want from her? What were they seeing when they looked at her. Uzweld may give her a look of looking at someone else from time to time, but she could grasp that more than these bizarre beasts. The king expected nothing of her, he simply gave her a chance.

What did the twins want?

Seeing that Quiet's attention was fixed on them and not the huskiders, they began to circle her, and she could no longer keep both in her sight.

"Too suspecting little sister" Dee chided.
"They'd have run away as soon as you said you know them"
"We just lent a paw is all" They both cried.

Quiet gave up thinking about it.
"You're huskiders" she stated to the husks.

A choir of stilted voices responded. Under the tricks of the Twins, they answered as one. It was repulsive, but Quiet only had a small reaction to this. Finnkus and Uzweld were once more dazed by the Twins. Quiet really didn't get why they were doing that to them.

"It fills us with dread that you know"
"Why eat shigs?"
"Tasty they were, and noisy and fearful, they knew we were not their masters, we could not act as our master demanded while they lived"
"Master?"
"As the shigs were to these husks, we are to him, no, in the memories we gained, they loved their shigs even if they ate them, master loved us not"
"Love?"
"We can't explain it, only feel it from the memories, we feel and ache. It is not ours. We wish it was ours. We know our master is heartless, to destroy the loves of the village"
"Heartless?"
"The memories tell us, to be heartless is to be without love of others or self. Only hunger and want, like one starving, their memories their tales tell us so"
"How to heal a broken heart?"
"Time? Love? Nothing? Food? *Screeching*" Answers are a confused babble than reduces to arachnid screams. The Twins weaved among the husks, calming them down.

"Our hearts were broken when our minds were opened, when we drank the dead memories and knew they would live no more. We do not know. We do not know"
"Dance?"
"In the memories they danced, we tried, but our control was too rough, it was sad!"

"Why pretend?" Quiet asked.
The husks twisted and shuddered.
"We feared death, so we hide in death, but now we fear the truth of the memories! If we act like them, we can pretend their love is not ended, but what torture! You remind us we are not them!"

They began screeching in an agony that went beyond physical wounds. An agony that a huskiders that finds a dead wanderer never experiences.

2/?

>>5694734
"If we were not living, they would not have died!" That was their conclusion.

>Acquired a sorrowful memory, The Torment of Huskiders


Dee and Dum weaved among them once more, but no more did they force calm upon them. They both addressed the huskiders.
"As reward, we free you from magics, ours and others, you can flee your pain, flee your husks!"

The Twins vanished, and the just as Finnkus and Uzweld were no longer clouded they were greeted by the sight and sound of the husks falling to their knees and fuzzy hairy black spiders crawling out of the mouths screeching and fleeing into the darkness beyond the village. While both were surprised Finnkus took to laughter.

"Of course they'd run" Uzweld grumbled.
It wasn't uncommon for huskiders to leave their husks behind as a distraction, but the two had no way of knowing it was the painfully sweet memories of the villagers that the huskiders were truly fleeing from. Finnkus got over his fit of laughter and spoke.

"Well, so much for talk, but we can at least rest easy here while the dimming is upon us, you two pick whatever house you want, I'll bury these bodies, since I don't tire easily, ah ah, no objections Uzweld!"

Uzweld patted Quiet on the head.
"Don't be too down, I figured you'd not get to talk to them. Wonder why they gathered up like that though"

As Uzweld checked through the houses, Quiet's head ached and she was disgruntled, she had a feeling she would not rest easy. All she really understood was that that she didn't understand.

GROWING PAINS
Her mind once more wrung by the doings of the Twins and the agony of the huskiders, Quiet falls to troubled sleep, ignoring her companions.

NIGHTMARES
From the hollow where the heart is, comes a trial, yet though all are poison, when one overcomes there is strength, but failure will leave a wound. Beware, for some nightmares are more dangerous than others, though surely a greater strength is born from overcoming a greater torment?
>Star
>Mage
>Twins
>Lullaby
>The Masked One
>Hollow
>Hunger

GOBLIN KING'S MOOD: RESERVED
Those with heart endure deceptions and beguiling by the heart, those without face trial by the hollow. For this, he reserves his emotions.