(2/3) kpwlt 2025/01/04(Sat)22:28 No. 1101978 ID: 127310
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You turn to Mary, who is already writing notes about how hazardous mole people are or something. Her mole person looks like it’s been out cold for a while now.

“You ready?”

She flashes an ever-so-slightly sinister smirk at you.

You laboriously force the gates open.

“WHO GOES THERE?!”

(3/3) kpwlt 2025/01/04(Sat)22:28 No. 1101979 ID: 127310
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The voice booms throughout the cavern. You can see a figure shrouded in darkness sitting atop a hideously tall throne. You also swear you can see something… dangling just behind the throne.

“Come into the light so that I may lay eyes upon you!” The figure commands.

“Who is it, King?” Another voice asks. “Oh, by the Crown! Whoever you are, come help me, please!”

Though the king quickly roars him into silence, you recognise the second speaker as the Minister for Spatiotemporal Anomalies

Demand the release of the minister. Ask what terms his majesty would have you meet.

Definitely specify you won’t be leaving without the minister. Also perhaps state that your goal is to remove yourself from the mole people’s territory as soon as possible once we’ve secured the minister’s safety. If this king simply wants us off his land so we’ll stop hurting mole people, there’s an easy and diplomatic way to go about it.

>>1101982
This argument is good, plus begin by introducing yourself with a bow or other courtesy befitting nobility. At leaast it won't hurt.

(1/1) kpwlt 2025/01/09(Thu)19:20 No. 1102135 ID: 8ba6a7
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>Demand the release of the minister. Ask what terms his majesty would have you meet.
>Definitely specify you won’t be leaving without the minister. Also perhaps state that your goal is to remove yourself from the mole people’s territory as soon as possible once we’ve secured the minister’s safety. If this king simply wants us off his land so we’ll stop hurting mole people, there’s an easy and diplomatic way to go about it.
>This argument is good, plus begin by introducing yourself with a bow or other courtesy befitting nobility. At leaast it won't hurt.

You come into the light and bow. Mary remains just out of sight.

You explain your situation to the king, applying plenty of respectful language. Though he is still just a silhouette to you, you think you can make out some sort of long and pointy implement in his hand.

“Nice try,” exclaims the king, “but I can smell the surface on you! I know your objective is to annihilate my kingdom! As for this guy, he trespassed, and his punishment is to spend eternity bound in my chamber! And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll let me tie you up for eternity too! Otherwise, I will kill you.”

Ask the king how much room he has for prisoners, for if you fail to return the government will send more agents. But if he is open to negotiation, then his kingdom could be declared off limits to the surface.

Also, if you were here to annihilate, then you would be fighting now, not talking.

There's not just the prison size issue. Every time an agent is sent, they have to fight their way here, which means his people suffer. The path of least suffering is for him to let the prisoner go.

As for the "You're here to destroy my kingdom" part, what gives him that idea? You have avoided conflict thus far. If you wanted to destroy his kingdom you could have chosen to do a lot more damage, and in fact it would be very unwise for you to be here in this room if you wanted to do damage to his kingdom. After all, he's far stronger than you, isn't he? Coming here would be foolish unless your objective was in this room, and since you are weak then your objective cannot possibly be to kill him.

Ah! I have it! He thinks we’re here to eradicate his people, right? Well, perhaps an arrangement can be made that would allow for such an eradication to be completely off the table. Perhaps we can explain to the king that we cannot guarantee his people’s safety unless a temporary non-aggression pact is made. Whatever Spatiotemporal anomaly is down here is probably causing problems for the Mole People as well. If we have the means to possibly stabilize it, all parties involved will benefit. You get to get rid of the anomaly, and once that’s done, the ministry will have no more business down here and we can leave these Mole People alone. All that’s really needed is a temporary pass to locate this anomaly and do away with it. If your company is as efficient as it should be, the whole process shouldn’t take more than a few days, surely? Unless there are in world complications to this idea. I don’t think it’s wise to lie to this king just yet.

(1/1) kpwlt 2025/02/01(Sat)03:10 No. 1103141 ID: 127310
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>Ask the king how much room he has for prisoners

“Plenty! I am not for want of more room. In fact, I’ll show you, once I have learnt everything he has to tell me. He’ll be thrown into the pit with the others, where they shall forever wallow in blackness and silence. Forever!”

>Also, if you were here to annihilate, then you would be fighting now, not talking.
>You have avoided conflict thus far. If you wanted to destroy his kingdom you could have chosen to do a lot more damage

“Lies! I know better than any that regimes are not felled with spears and bombs. You wish to corrupt my very mind and seduce me into destroying my own kingdom! Now, allow yourself to be tied, or I will kill you and throw you into the pit.”

>Whatever Spatiotemporal anomaly is down here is probably causing problems for the Mole People as well. If we have the means to possibly stabilize it, all parties involved will benefit. You get to get rid of the anomaly, and once that’s done, the ministry will have no more business down here and we can leave these Mole People alone.

“Whatever what?! If you tell the truth- no. More trickery!”

The Minister now pipes up.
“It’s true! My king, that is what I first came here to do!”

The king now addresses you.
“Hmmmm. I have an offer. I will release this weak one to clean up or fix whatever issue there is, if, and only if, you throw yourself into the pit. It is behind my throne. Otherwise, I will kill you and send the prisoner into the pit.”

You get the idea that this fellow has a bit of an eroded sense of reason. You are also not entirely certain whether or not he could overpower you. He speaks very severely, but you think you can make out very skinny limbs moving in the darkness.

>>1103141
Ask the captive if the king is indeed strong, or if he got beaten by servants... or he lost in a battle of wits.
It occurs to me that we have not seen the pit, either. The proposed deal might work if the fall is survivable and then you could climb out.

You also have Mary's help. I wonder what help she can be here? She's been awfully quiet.

Heh, could be amusing to challenge the king to an arm wrestling match.

This is a false dichotomy, as the king's description of the pit sounds much like death.
What assurance is there that the King will keep his word?

Hmm… That’s certainly an offer. I think there’s still an “honorable” way to go about this, since I’m sure we have no interest in jumping in the pit. Since the only issue with the offer is the whole pit thing, I suggest we challenge the king to a duel. Whoever loses will throw themselves into the pit in exchange for the Minister’s release. Seems only fair to duel for which one of you throws themselves in, no? (This way the minister is released even if we fail, and can go with Mary, worst case scenario. We’ll easily best this king, surely, but it’ll feel nice knowing the mission is technically already completed)

Wait! Better plan! Or alternative plan? Return his ultimatum with your own. We will throw ourselves in the pit if and only if we are bested in combat. Otherwise the minister is to be released with no sacrifice.

(1/2) kpwlt 2025/02/04(Tue)05:31 No. 1103241 ID: 127310
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>Ask the captive if the king is indeed strong, or if he got beaten by servants... or he lost in a battle of wits.

The Minister manages to explain before the king hushes him.
“I surrendered when I saw he had a gun. Good on you for mustering up your courage despite that though, mate!”

A gun is arguably the most deadly thing a layperson can have and operate on their own in this world. Hence why they are almost completely illegal here in Southshoals.

>You also have Mary's help. I wonder what help she can be here? She's been awfully quiet.

Mary presumably wishes to remain concealed so she can strike at the most opportune moment. Oh, nevermind, she’s now shouting at the king.

“Hey! Drop your firearm immediately! I’m arresting you for possession of illegal weaponry. As a citizen of Southshoals, of course.”

At least she has her flail drawn and ready.

(2/2) kpwlt 2025/02/04(Tue)05:31 No. 1103242 ID: 127310
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>It occurs to me that we have not seen the pit, either. The proposed deal might work if the fall is survivable and then you could climb out.
>This is a false dichotomy, as the king's description of the pit sounds much like death.

“You will survive the pit, interloper, but you will never, ever, ever, ever leave it!”

>What assurance is there that the King will keep his word?

“You have my word as king that I will keep my word.” He takes on a very solemn tone when saying this.

>Whoever loses will throw themselves into the pit in exchange for the Minister’s release. Seems only fair to duel for which one of you throws themselves in, no?
>We will throw ourselves in the pit if and only if we are bested in combat.

“You anger me with your words. I cannot understand what you want, you speak too much! You argue for a fairer bargain than the one I have given you? Do you wish to fleece me? I’ll kill you!”

With that, the king makes an almighty downwards leap from his throne, and rises, pointy thing outstretched towards you. You can also see the glint of the pistol he has tucked under his belt.

The king is pretty slender, so you think you might be able to scoot around him to get to the Minister, if you don’t want to fight him. As long as he doesn’t manage to shoot you in the process.

>>1103242
The crown, it says.... "W.O.L.A.N.T."? This guy isn't even a mole person. A false king.

>threatens to kill you
>doesn't pull his gun
Maybe it's out of bullets. Anyway, the best way to avoid getting shot is to not let him draw the gun at all. Get in there.

Slip around him as a feint, so Mary can attack from behind. Try to keep moderately close so he isn't tempted to draw his gun.

(1/2) kpwlt 2025/02/06(Thu)04:47 No. 1103370 ID: 127310
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>The crown, it says.... "W.O.L.A.N.T."?

Does it? You aren’t entirely certain. Your eyes are on the knife right now.

>This guy isn't even a mole person. A false king.

Almost makes you wonder how he came to be king of the mole people in the first place. Or whether the mole people even know that they’re being ruled by a false king.

>Anyway, the best way to avoid getting shot is to not let him draw the gun at all. Get in there.
>Slip around him as a feint, so Mary can attack from behind. Try to keep moderately close so he isn't tempted to draw his gun.

You have an idea.

You barrel directly into the king (avoiding the knife of course), knocking him over and catching a whiff of his psychic aura. Something to the tune of you should throw yourself in the pit, because squadrons of braver warriors than you throw themselves in the pit without argument.

Anyway, after smashing into the king, you strafe around the throne to assess the situation with the Minister.

(2/2) kpwlt 2025/02/06(Thu)04:47 No. 1103371 ID: 127310
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Before you can process what you’re seeing, the king draws his gun and blows a massive crater in the wall, mercifully yet inexplicably far from where you or Mary are standing. You then hear the sound of a man in a ridiculous outfit being clobbered by a Hazard Association Agent.

The Minister for Spatiotemporal Anomalies is restrained very thoroughly. Although, if you could get to him, you’re fairly certain you’d be able to remove the ropes with relative ease.

The only problem is that he’s suspended over the dead centre of what you presume to be the pit. Surrounding the pit is a well-like concretion. Inside the well seems to be a slope, steep enough to ensure that almost nobody will be able to scramble out, but shallow enough to not necessarily mean certain death on impact.

Anyway, you reckon you can jump to the Minister and are strong and dextrous enough to hold on to him and untie him then and there, but the only problem is that you have no idea how to untie him in such a way that you and he will be able to jump out of the pit. You don’t even know if you can get back once you jump to the Minister regardless of whether or not you untie him.

“Thank you ever so much for coming, I thought I was going to hang up here forever.”

>>1103371
Maybe you can just swing? Hold onto the rope as you're untying the minister, make sure he's got a grip on it as well, and then the two of you swing on the rope until you've got enough momentum to jump over the side of the pit.

I'm wondering if you can use the rope to recover the people trapped in the pit? Seems pretty long, but we don't know how long the slope is.

>>1103374
That seems like the best bet. It looks like there is a lot of rope to work with.

And on the note of the king's combat-argument:

Jumping into the pit is neither required to be brave nor to prove it. Moreover, I'm not here to prove my bravery or combat prowess, but to rescue a person of import Jumping into the pit would be counter-productive to this goal.

(1/2) kpwlt 2025/03/02(Sun)07:18 No. 1104374 ID: 127310
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>Maybe you can just swing? Hold onto the rope as you're untying the minister, make sure he's got a grip on it as well, and then the two of you swing on the rope until you've got enough momentum to jump over the side of the pit.

You jump off the edge of the pit and grab on to the Minister. The sudden jolt of weight snaps a cord above you. It also jerks the Minister’s glasses off and into the pit. He assures you that retrieval of those will be unnecessary. The ropes continue to adjust to their new burden, and it’s not clear to you how they’ll eventually end up. You quickly start untying him.

>I'm wondering if you can use the rope to recover the people trapped in the pit? Seems pretty long, but we don't know how long the slope is.

Surely it can’t be that deep, right? Once you’ve managed to get yourself and the Minister to safety, you are free to decide whether or not to rescue the people in the pit.

>Jumping into the pit is neither required to be brave nor to prove it. Moreover, I'm not here to prove my bravery or combat prowess, but to rescue a person of import Jumping into the pit would be counter-productive to this goal.

If you have to fight the King at any point, you’ll keep this one in mind.

(2/2) kpwlt 2025/03/02(Sun)07:18 No. 1104375 ID: 127310
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Speaking of, here come Mary and the King now! Somehow, they both seem to be fairly evenly matched. Mary, although definitely stronger than the King, appears to be struggling to control his unwieldy body or her unwieldy weapon at such a close range. The King also waves his gun around ineffectually, threatening to shoot some random point in the cave. You see Mary’s psychic field flaring and flickering as she tries to predict his movements.

A terrible idea seems to occur to both of them, as they unanimously struggle over to the edge of the pit and try to force each other in, whilst keeping a firm grip on each other. There’s no telling who will come out on top here.

Better get in there and turn the tide. From my impression he's probably using the Argument from Authority fallacy a lot so you can be quick to counter him with that.

Keep untying the minister so one of you can drop on the king.

our duty as a public servant is first and foremost to the minister! we should untie him first and then all three of us can defeat the (quite illegitimate) king!

Untying the minister ought to be our first priority as a servant of the state. However, as soon as we manage to untie him, we should rush to Mary's aid. Looking a bit too close to the ledge for comfort, there.

(1/1) kpwlt 2025/03/04(Tue)06:15 No. 1104496 ID: 127310
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>Keep untying the minister so one of you can drop on the king.
>our duty as a public servant is first and foremost to the minister! we should untie him first and then all three of us can defeat the (quite illegitimate) king!
>Untying the minister ought to be our first priority as a servant of the state. However, as soon as we manage to untie him, we should rush to Mary's aid. Looking a bit too close to the ledge for comfort, there.

You get to untying the Minister.

By the time he’s almost free (but still bound securely), you can see the pair of combatants tumble over the wall of the pit out of the corner of your eye. Damn!

Mary grabs a loose piece of cord. The King grabs her leg. All four of you can see that if she continues to hold on for much longer, the link to the ceiling will snap. For a brief moment, she engages your psychic field.

Something isn’t right. My arguments with the King… He seemed to indicate that the people he sent to the pit already intended to go there. Get the Minister out of here, and come find me if you also want to get to the bottom of this.

And then she’s gone.

You finish untying the Minister and get him to safety. You then get on with the “Okay, Mister Minister, let’s get you home” but he cuts you off. “If you’re going down there, I’m coming with you. Don’t try to stop me. Besides, I need my glasses back.”

You could carry the Minister all the way back to the Lower House if you really wanted. You consider that the Minister only wants to come with you out of guilt or embarrassment over not being useful thus far.

Attempt to convince the minister to exit the catacombs and return to safety. Once again, we are a servant of the state, and thus our mission is of the utmost importance.

However, as a servant of the state, we also have a responsibility to safeguard its citizens, and Mary is (presumably) a citizen of Southshoals. If we are able to convince the minister to head back, we should do our utmost to assist her. In the case that we are utterly unable to, defer our next course of action to the minister's authority.

Pull down the rope and secure it to the edge of the pit. If it reaches the bottom then fine, you'll go down and help. If not then the minister will have to admit you need more rope before you can proceed. You cannot allow the minister in the pit without a secure egress.

Only allow him to come if he's useful.

I think we might need the Minister’s help. The spatiotemporal anomaly is still down here, and based on argument weirdness, probably down there. Think of it this way. Remember our point from our negotiation with the king? If the Minister can finish what he set out to do here in the first place, then he has no further business here, and we don’t have to risk disturbing the mole people any further. Two birds with one stone type deal. If we can safely ensure the completion of the Minister’s mission, at the very least we know we won’t have to save him from this hole AGAIN the next time he comes down.

(1/3) kpwlt 2025/03/10(Mon)05:32 No. 1104771 ID: 127310
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>Pull down the rope and secure it to the edge of the pit. If it reaches the bottom then fine, you'll go down and help. If not then the minister will have to admit you need more rope before you can proceed. You cannot allow the minister in the pit without a secure egress.

You try to see whether the rope will reach the bottom of the pit. It is impossible to tell.

>Only allow him to come if he's useful.

You think he probably won’t be. He may be the Minister of Spatiotemporal Anomalies, but his job is only to run a Ministry of people who know about the subject. You tell the Minister that you would really prefer it if he didn’t come.

“Fine. But you had better come straight to my office the moment you resurface. If I don’t see you again this week, I’m coming right back here.”

>I think we might need the Minister’s help…

You really hope you can finish the Minister’s mission without him, but you decide to leave him out of this for now.

You navigate the Minister back through the catacombs and deposit him back in the bathroom. You ask him for any information that could help you with his mission.

“A while back, when the catacombs were first discovered, they were just a complete no-go zone. Because of the mole people, you know. Of course, people went in anyway. Teenagers, mostly. They usually just went in to gawk at the residents, but eventually NESTPOL started receiving panicked reports of something weirder down there, with photos to back it up. People that aren’t quite right, formless blobs, things like that.

It was initially presumed to be a hoax, until this pretty well respected organisation, WOLAND I think they were called, applied for permission to investigate, saying that they had some ideas about what might be going on and might be able to clear it up for us.

So we had a joint expedition down here between some of the Lower House and some guys from WOLAND. They said they didn’t find what they were looking for, and nothing was out of the ordinary. I didn’t realise this in the rush to leave, but that throne room? I asked everyone from the House if they remembered going in it and none of them did. Some didn’t even know it existed. Of course, they were all comfortable saying that the WOLAND agents must’ve checked it thoroughly enough to say definitively that there was nothing there, but this has been keeping me up at night. And look! There was definitely something there!”

Before you head back down to the pit, you go to hand the Minister his beacon and tie.

“Keep it." He says, pushing back the beacon. "You can use it to send out a distress call. I'm sure it'll be more use down there than it is up here."

(2/3) kpwlt 2025/03/10(Mon)05:32 No. 1104772 ID: 127310
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You return to the pit. Now that the silence is no longer broken by fisticuffs or conversation, the room takes on an awfully sombre quality. You collect Mary’s belongings, grab a rope, take a deep breath, and leap in.

You slide down, into the dark, gradually building up momentum. You hold on to the rope ever tighter but that doesn’t stop it from being jerked from your hand the moment it goes taut. The slide steepens, then shallows, then steepens again. You are sure that this is death.

(3/3) kpwlt 2025/03/10(Mon)05:32 No. 1104773 ID: 127310
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In an instant, you see light, rushing towards you, then engulfing you. You skid across dirt interspersed with leaves and twigs before slamming into a tree.

You appear to be in some kind of forest of thin, densely-packed trees. You can see shapes moving in the distance ahead of you, obscuring the light of the sky. Short grey ones (which seem to be keeping away from the others), white ones, and a tall black one.

Taking some time to appreciate the subtler details, you notice a path. It’s not well defined, but it almost certainly has less debris covering it. Many footprints seem to have gone along the path, and have gone off it at various points.

At almost a right angle to the main line of footsteps, you notice another, clearer trail. This one is made of prints that look almost nothing like the main ones. Shoeprints, not an animal trail, but of a distinctly different shoe. They also only go in one direction, and there is only one set. They are also accompanied by a long, slithering pattern, which runs continuously, occasionally obfuscating some of the other prints.

Your observations are interrupted by a stiff thwack of something rather small impacting rather forcefully on a nearby tree, scaring off the birds that were perched there.

>>1104772
That's... that's not how you use a rope to descend...

>>1104773
Oh well I guess we're stuck here now, like all the rest.
>thwack
Probably an arrow, you're being fired upon. Get behind a tree that gives you cover from whatever direction the projectile came from then try to locate the aggressor.

I'd prefer to follow the path, to try to find the king and the allied agent. If we can do that while avoiding getting shot that'd be great.

Guess we can investigate the noise and then, if the source of it is nothing too distracting, follow the main, heavily-threaded path.

That sounded like a sling shot. Keep low and see if you can spot where it came from.

>Shoeprints, only one set, accompanied by a long, slithering pattern
That sounds worryingly like someone dragging a body. investigate

>>1104795
Wouldn't dragging a body be a straight line? Sounds more like a tail to me.

(1/2) kpwlt 2025/03/20(Thu)06:21 No. 1105114 ID: 127310
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>That's... that's not how you use a rope to descend...

Damn it! You knew something was off about the whole affair.

Tell you what, seeing as this was on me, say the word and I will retcon a rope into existence. Just for you.

>That sounds worryingly like someone dragging a body. Investigate
>Wouldn't dragging a body be a straight line? Sounds more like a tail to me.

The trail looks a bit small and wiggly to be a body. Maybe it’s a snake that followed directly behind and a bit to the right of whoever left these footprints? Must be a big snake.

>Probably an arrow, you're being fired upon. Get behind a tree that gives you cover from whatever direction the projectile came from then try to locate the aggressor.
>That sounded like a sling shot. Keep low and see if you can spot where it came from.

You hide behind a tree and keep your eyes peeled. As you scan for whoever (or whatever) shot at you, the white figures clarify themselves in your eyes. It turns out that they are people (or people-shaped things) clad in primarily white armour. There does not seem to be a consensus among these people for how much armour is necessary, as they all appear to be wearing different pieces of armour. Some are completely covered in it, some only seem to wear the parts that are convenient to them. All have a gleaming white helmet. They also seem to be carrying a number of weapons. Swords, maces, a crossbow, et cetera. They seem to be using the crossbow to shoot at birds.

(2/2) kpwlt 2025/03/20(Thu)06:21 No. 1105115 ID: 127310
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>I'd prefer to follow the path, to try to find the king and the allied agent. If we can do that while avoiding getting shot that'd be great.
>Guess we can investigate the noise and then, if the source of it is nothing too distracting, follow the main, heavily-threaded path.

You follow the main path, whilst keeping your distance in case any of those armoured people come near. After following the trail for a while, you see the tall black figure again. It seems to be a person clad in dark armour and some small amounts of cloth. It carries no weapon and is followed around by a number of other armoured people.

They all seem to be milling around some kind of campsite situated in a clearing. Several irregularly shaped deep grey tents are dotted around the clearing. Some fly white banners, some have people going in and out of them. After a while, the dark figure and a few white figures head off, leaving the rest of the soldiers to lapse into rest, having conversations, cooking, et cetera.

You can see the path continues through the camp and stretches away from you.

>retcon a rope?
Eh, even if the protag climbed down on the rope it was apparently too short to reach the bottom of the ramp, so it wouldn't have done much for us except possibly soften the landing.

>>1105115
Hmm. Alright, so there's a bunch of soldiers about and what looks like their leader. Considering you weren't chased, that crossbow bolt missing you wasn't actually aimed at you and was accidental, so we don't know if the soldiers are hostile or if they saw you.

Eavesdrop on the soldiers to see if you can get any idea as to what they're doing here, then go around and follow the path.

>they are people (or people-shaped things)

how can we determine if they are actually people (and not say souped-up mole-people)? Can we hear/understand what they are saying?

try to sneak into earshot, see what they're talking about.

(1/1) kpwlt 2025/03/26(Wed)06:44 No. 1105428 ID: 127310
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>Eavesdrop on the soldiers to see if you can get any idea as to what they're doing here, then go around and follow the path.
>how can we determine if they are actually people (and not say souped-up mole-people)? Can we hear/understand what they are saying?
>try to sneak into earshot, see what they're talking about.

You spot two very conveniently positioned soldiers. At present, they’re seated facing you (approximately), but once you go around the camp and get close they’re pointed the exact opposite direction from you. They seem to be enjoying lunch. You seem to be arriving at the tail end of conversation.

“Regardless, I hope they sub us out soon.”
“What, you tired of galah and roo already? Our supplies can’t be too far off.”
“I suppose.”
“Look, I think we can get out of here. Nobody else wants to take that government guy down, so we’ll volunteer and then they’ll have to send us back home. Maybe the next well won’t be so bad.”

As the two ponder on what the next well (?) could possibly entail, another soldier blunders into camp, rushing straight past you without even realising.

He’s most certainly panicked, but delivers his message in an almost calm tone. “An Engelkind,” he says “has been spotted downstairs.”

The entire camp is on their feet with a weapon in every pair of hands in the blink of an eye. A great deal of commotion is burgeoning, soldiers are asking each other for the quartermaster, the pair that you eavesdropped on earlier are well and truly assimilated with the bubbling crowd.

There's that word 'Woland' again. Some sort of mercenary outfit? or a corporate interest?

Sounds like they have orders to find you so best to sneak away while they're distracted.