Ignore the butler. Focus on taking down the other two with Madohkikil and Lairehfsis, so all three of you together can take down the guy working with the freaking bullet-swatting demon.

Take down the weaker two, then go for the buttler.
We need to be able to take him on as a group, since we dont know what the demon can do.

Creepy butler looks like the toughest but he also looks like he is by far the hardest to hit, so you should focus on making sure the other two are dead first.

>>516870
No, it was three including one with a foreign weapon, not three and a foreign weapon guy.

[1/2] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/14(Fri)20:40 No. 516953 ID: 8fb35b
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I go for the spear(wo)man first, along with Madohkikil. We approach her at a fast pace, at right angles, so she can’t fend us both off with the spear at the same time. Also so Madohkikil doesn’t accidentally hit me with his sword.

Lairehfsis tosses another javelin at the injured dog, but Chelcahxix steps in the way and his demon flicks it out of the air. He moves in on Lairehfsis, cutting her off from the injured dog. They start fighting a few feet away.

The speardog in front of Madohkikil and I, keeping us away from the injured dog.

Both of the speardog’s ghosts merge over her body, so she’s at least as strong as I was when I killed that Hefehxn dog earlier.

Neither Madohkikil nor I can get super close to her without her brandishing the spear-point in our faces. We hesitate around for a moment. Another gunshot echoes in the clearing and I catch a quick glimpse of the demon blocking another bullet.

But I can’t take my attention off the dog in front of me.

I try a stab at her! But she jabs at me, too, and we both check our attacks so we don’t both get stabbed.

But Madohkikil takes that instant of distraction to step inside her range and he just. Gets her neck.

And the ghosts aren’t enough to turn the blade away. They go out like candle flames.

When I stabbed the dude in Meandraxix’s house, that was like, kind of clean. Her neck is split. I feel my legs lose a lot of strength and it’s hard to stay standing.

Before the speardog is even on the ground there’s another gunshot and the sworddog is uh. His.

Head.

I don’t think I’m cut out for fighting that much.

[2/2] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/14(Fri)20:40 No. 516954 ID: 8fb35b
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And it all happens so fast.

The two regular tombdogs are dead, their bodies quiet and ghostless for the moment.

But Lairehfsis is uh. Crumpled up on the ground, and there’s a lot of blood. She isn’t moving.

Chelcahxix doesn’t seem at all phased by us having killed the other two dogs. He just starts walking over to us.

I look over at the forest edge and can see Laikadehn quickly trying to reload.

Maybe if Madohkikil and I hold off Chelcahxix long enough, Laikadehn can reload, and there’s no way the demon can block three attacks at once, right?

But maybe I should just call for Laikadehn and his two ghosts to get over here and team up on this guy, like, now.

If I’m holding him off until Laikadehn reloads, how should I fight? Should I try to get behind Chelcahxix so he has to fight us from different directions? Or should we try to fight him from the front at once?

If I call Laikadehn in for help, what should I do then? How should we arrange ourselves?

How should I fight? How much risk should I be putting myself in?

Lairehfsis’ blood is dripping off the demon’s wings.

>>516954
Shooting him doesn't seem to be terribly effective. The demon doesn't apparently really have to focus to deflect the bullets. Tell him to come on and let's try a altogether beatdown. If we are circling trying to keep him distracted we might mess up the shot anyway. We need to attack from a bunch of angles at once I think. Probably at least 3.

Can you do a ghost shot? That's what the tower back before we joined McTrinckets? The Geofahn's tower shot a big ghost blast right?

Maybe we should try and do that somehow. Can a demon protect against a big ghost blast?

Hey, want to have a quick upper hand?
Even if it's dirty play?
Remember your last fight?
You were naked, but moreso the dude was shoked.
Flash your tits at the creepy butler.

>>516954
Get commando back over to you guys and team up, for sure. Flashing him is probably not going to be very effective, not this dude.

>>516954
Use your spear to throw dust into that demon's eyes. If it blocks the dirt, you can then stab while it's blind.

>>516955

What he said. The rifle appears to be ineffective; try a new tactic.

>>516961
Well, it's only ineffective against the demon-dog. I'm sure the other two dogs will die to gunshots just fine.

Circle around and try to get in between the butler and Lairehfsis. Shout at Laikadehn to drop the rifle and get in the fight. Can't risk the bird hitting somebody with the richochet.

The demon seems to be mostly working like a super-fast shield. You have a spear, and those are actually great for fighting against people with a shield* who do not have their own spear. What you do with them is circle around their shield side and use the length of your spear to stay out of their reach while continually jabbing downwards at their lower legs. The lower legs are further down than a shield can reach from a normal stance (think trying to touch your toes), so the shield user must either repeatedly step back from your attacks (not possible if you have allies circling them) or bend down awkwardly to reach your spear point with their shield or weapon, which makes it hard for them to maneuver or defend from other attacks while you are still outside their weapon reach because you have a spear and they don't. (Them doing that can also sometimes leave their head vulnerable if you circle your spear point upwards fast enough, but you probably shouldn't try that part with how fast this guy is). Remember to keep the length of your spear between you and him, and to drop the spear and fall back if he manages to grab the shaft and start pulling.

Laikadehn will probably not be that much help when you are fighting him in close combat unless he can aim extremely accurately and quickly.

*Tower shields are a whole other story but the bird doesn't seem to be big enough to count as one of those.

>>516976
Note the blood. I think the demon's doing close combat, too.

>>516968
The other two are already dead.

I'm voting plan "get Laikadehn in and surround the guy". He can't defend three directions at once. Try the dust-to-the-eyes thing too, if you can do it without getting in striking distance.

The demon is fast, and strong, but it can't cover every direction at once.

I think what needs to happen is the melee fighters need to engage it enough to create an opening for the gunner, or vice versa.

In the simplest turns: we need to use our numerical advantage to fork 'em. Preferably without getting any more of our people killed in the process. Lairehfsis looks like she may be a ghost or corpse when this is over already.

...the demon won't be able to stay bound to a dead dog, right? Although, it's not like they're supposed to even be able to contract with tombdogs to begin with...

>>517003
You can also get bludgeoned pretty seriously with a shield if they get close enough. The demon is definitely faster and stronger, but it is reach that matters for lower leg guarding difficulties (the wingshield is not not enough to reach the bottom of his legs unless he crouches or bends over), and if the demon had any crazy stretching powers or it would just cover him completely. We don't need to be quick enough actually make it through his defense; we just need to attack in a way that is inconvenient to defend against so he will have a harder time avoiding the other attacks.

Everybody, throw rocks all at once!

There are rocks around right?
It's four on one, that's enough missiles in flight to see how good that demon is at protecting the buttler!

This things dangerous charging probably won't work even with three of you. It might be best to let Madohkikil and hang back to either help him deflect blows or strike when he leaves an opening.

>>516957
That would shock the buttler, but there's no guarantee that it would shock him enough to stop any fighting and would leave us open for an attack.

Also, the bird wouldn't care.

Call in the other guy and all of you team up on that bird. Don't get within range of it's wings, since it's got two and they are apparently very sharp.

Is kill it with fire an option here?
Do we have anything flammable?

That's actually a good idea.
Can we get fire?

It's gonna be kind of a long update and I'm not finishing it tonight, but it's already in the works so I'm not gonna take any votes after this. Most of the votes are for ganging up on a three-way with the guy, anyway, so that's what we'll be doing. I'll try to have this up by tomorrow. The thread doesn't have much to it after this update, also! It is exciting times.

>>517172
>>517163
I will refer you to an earlier quote:
>The ground is wet here, but it’s the tombdog remnant. Everything’s always wet. The air is hot and humid and it feels like it’s going to rain any minute, just like usual.

[1/7] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/17(Mon)10:37 No. 517584 ID: 8fb35b
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I call Laikadehn to just come over and HELP because there’s seriously no way even Madohkikil and I can hold this guy off long enough for him to reload.

And pretty soon it’s the three of us trying to get a hit on this damn dog.

>Note the blood. I think the demon's doing close combat, too.

I call it out to Madohkikil, and it’s a good thing I do, because it’s one less surprise we have to worry about.

But Chelcahxix is terrifying. Him and the demon move in this synchronized dance and they never stop moving. The wings spin around and they’re definitely sharp. Just when you think you have an opening, the closes it with the wing, or his sword comes around and cuts your attack off.

The entire time, his face is just. So. Bored.

[2/7] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/17(Mon)10:38 No. 517585 ID: 8fb35b
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> The lower legs are further down than a shield can reach from a normal stance

This is the only idea I can really think of on how to fight so I’ll have to go with this and hope it works. I’ll try to keep him threatened but not risk myself too much.

I keep out of his range mostly and aim low, where his demon’s wings can’t protect him. It forces him to step out of my way a lot, and that puts him into Madohkikil and Laikadehn’s reach. I’m not threatening enough on my own, but I make it clear that if he doesn’t take me seriously, I’ m gonna like. Stab him in the butt.

He’s too fast for me one time, and his sword gets me across the face. I can feel blood and I can see it but I don’t feel any pain so I just keep going.

[3/7] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/17(Mon)10:40 No. 517586 ID: 8fb35b
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Madohkikil is like a cart someone pushed down a smooth hill. He just keeps going at Chelcahxix, beating on his sword, on the demon’s wings, the beak. The way his hook-sword sounds when it hits the demon I think the demon is made out of metal? It doesn’t seem to be hurt by anything we do to it.

I think Madohkikil loses a few scraps of his pelt, and the bird gets him across the skull with its wing once, but Maddy’s a corpsebound. So long as his body stays in one piece, he’ll be fine, and Laikadehn and I make sure Chelcahxix can’t focus on him long enough to do any real damage.

Laikadehn has what I think is a prayerman mace. He’s pretty aggressive with it too, but the demon blocks or Chelcahxix dodges most of the blows. Laikadehn, with his two ghosts, though, is pretty strong, and it doesn’t take him any time to recover from a whiffed swing.

Chelcahxix gets him once really good with his sword, but Laikadehn sucks it up and keeps fighting.

I think with the three of us surrounding Chelcahxix, we’re going to win.

[4/7] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/17(Mon)10:40 No. 517587 ID: 8fb35b
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It’s McTrinkets that turns things around. She runs out of the dark with the rifle in her hands and aims like she’s going to fire. She didn’t reload it, I mean, she probably doesn’t even know how, and she doesn’t shoot it, but it’s enough that the demon thinks she is.

Trying to defend in four directions at once is too much for him to keep up with.

[5/7] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/17(Mon)10:40 No. 517588 ID: 8fb35b
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It’s actually me that gets him though. I don’t even mean to do it. I was fighting kind of in a daze, jabbing and stepping away and doing that over and over. But when I see the gap I just stab at it and I feel my whole spear go stiff with resistance. It’s inside Chelcahxix’s body.

It’s in his chest, the side of his ribs.

It stops Chelcahxix for a moment. Laikadehn’s mace gets around the demon and goes right for Chelcahxix’s skull.

I close my eyes before it hits. I hear the crunch. I feel the shudder in the shaft of my spear. I feel Chelcahxix fall down.

[6/7] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/17(Mon)10:41 No. 517589 ID: 8fb35b
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When I open my eyes, the demon is eating Chelcahxix’s ghost. Just. Swallowing him whole. Like a fish. Chelcahxix still looks bored. I don’t. I mean. I don’t know.

Then the bird catches on uh. Fire. And burn away. Sure.

Why is this my terrible life now.

[7/7] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/17(Mon)10:41 No. 517590 ID: 8fb35b
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I don’t know how long the whole battle lasted. It might have been two minutes, honestly. I just sit on the dirt, and hold my bloody spear. I let Iaxio break the bind and he sits next to me quietly.

I feel my face. It’s bloodied to all get out and it stings numbly when I touch it.

“We could have matching scars,” Iaxio says. “It actually looks kind of bad. Does it hurt?”

“Iaxio I’m not sure about anything right now. Ow. It hurts to talk. Talking moves my face and moving my face tugs at the cut. Ow.”

“Do you think the bandits have medical supplies we can mooch?”

“I don’t know.” I go digging. The bandits don’t actually have very much, which makes sense if they’re like, traveling bandits or whatever. It only takes me a minute to find something to wrap around my face though.

Over on one side McTrinkets and Kekahkik’s ghost are talking with the ghosts of the dogs we killed.

On the other, Laikadehn and Madohkikil are talking to Lairehfsis’ ghost.

I can feel the sun starting to creep up. The sky’s changing a little. The humid air has that little chill of morning.

I don’t know if I want to join in on one of the conversations, talk to Iaxio, or just.

Sit here and think.

We need the bandit's on our side. Go talk with them.

go make out with McTrinkets

yes, extremely painful mctrinkets makeout session is needed

I think now might be a time to talk to Iaxio. I kinda feel like we tend to ignore him more than we should. Ghosts kinda need the attention yanno?

>makeouts
...yeah, no. Even if our face weren't half cut off watching a ghost get eaten alive by a burning duck is a pretty big turnoff.

>what do
Unless it's obviously a personal conversation you shouldn't intrude on, Lairehfsis? I mean, she did get killed for you guys. Is there anything you can do for her? I mean, you were trained to be a housedog, aren't ghost and corpse rituals things you should know? She um. Might not exactly have access to a tomb if she's living as bandit.

Time to share a moment with Iaxio.

Oh wait fucking shit Lair's dead motherfucker
You talk to her ghost and get up on the up and up. Have a big fat conversation and shit.
Corspsebound might have an idea how to make her corpsebound if she would like. We could also ask the Dox's for that too, I mean, really, they kind of owe them for risking thier necks like that against their former employers.

It's not like you can't chat with Iaxio as you chat with the bandits, his sense of humor can improve moral. But tell him to not joke about a ghost threesome with Lair and her ghost boyfriend. Or joke with him about not making that suggestion. Who the hell knows. Iaxio can bring up moral if he tries too though. We need moral if we want the bandits to not betray us in the coming nights in addition to whatever they wanted when they first agreed to this. They definitely deserve more than amnesty or a pardon.

oh and don't forget to take care of the Heffer corpses, if they cooperate and testify they probably will get access to the city crypt because the heffer crypt will probably be burnt to the ground. I don't know what they would do the corpses inside but most the family's going to die along with their house name. Even if they leave the Heffer crypt alone, it won't be tended to and the ghosts inside will slowly fade away into nothingness like yours did, only the Tashies never did corpse paste they were just run by a bunch of idiots that couldn't run a business for their very lives and unlives. So the Heffers will fade even quicker.

Eh, it's probably how the birds reproduce or something. They exchange great power for your soul and then when you die they eat you and use your ghost tower whatever to power their own immomolation, like how pine cones wait for the forest to burn down. Pretty sure there's a baby demon bird around here somewhere.

talk to Iaxio just to see how he is holding up then head over to the bandits since one of them did die while working for us so we might as will see what we can do to help. when we start to move on we can ask McTrinkets what she learned from the ghost.

Speak to the bandits first then go talk to the left over dog corpses and check if they made arrangements for when they die. Once that's done we need to move camp quickly.

>>517590
I think we should talk to Lair. Say you regret not being there to help her against the butler. Maybe if you had done that, none of them would've died.

Talk to Lairehfsis! She died and was on your side so I think it's super important to talk to her and try to comfort her or.. or something!

Note to self: Do not talk to adorable baby bird demons.

Wow thanks a lot guys. You left the most vulnerable fighter to get stabbed to death by dogdemon chumpbag. My plan would've saved her.

Go talk to the bandits and apologize. You apologize right now for not being more tactically aware.

>>517697
Yes, apologize that a spoiled noble girl out of her home for the first time possessed by a beggar's ghost on two weeks of sleep deprivation wasn't more tactically aware.

It's SOOOOOOOO unforgivable.

>>517699
Well it's more that you voted to go with Madohkikil instead of reinforcing our weakest flank but yeah. You apologize when a teammate gets killed even if you don't think it's your fault or you couldn't have saved them (which you totally could doompaul.jpg). It's just common courtesy.

I actually believe that apologizing could be bad, because then the bandits will shift blame to Sabbs, it's only when we know they think it's our fault we should apologize, but we should offer no excuses and merely accept responsibility then. I don't want to appear weak, we appear weak the bandits might betray us because we're going to look more like we're going to fail and siding with the Hef's has more chance of success.

We're dealing with bandits here, and the nice one is dead. We have to be extremely careful. If we're lucky, they'll chalk this as simply one of the risks of their lifestyle and blame no one but themselves.

I don't think apology is exactly the word we want to use here.

Sympathy is more what we want to offer. We're sorry she died, we're not accepting sole responsibility for her death. (Granted our actions influenced it. They probably would have never been attacked if not for us. Then again, if we had chosen to leave when McTrinkets gave us the chance, they would all be dead now, without a dreambug warning).

>>517697
...considering it took 4 on 1 to even get through butler-dog's guard at all, I'm not so sure it would have mattered. At best, we might have shuffled around who died.

Start out by thanking Iaxio. You'd probably be dead if it wasn't for his help. You really appreciate it.

Then, check with McTrinkets. These Hefexn guys had ghosts on them, right? Those ghosts have probably already informed the rest of Hefexn about the failure here. They're either going to flee or go all out, and you do NOT want to deal with them if they go all out. Figure out what you can by talking with them, then talk to the bandits. You need to get out of here as soon as you can, and you should bring Lairehfsis's corpse with you so that it can be cared for properly and won't be defiled by Hefexn. The Hefexn corpses will undoubtedly be retrieved by their house within the next few hours, but if there's anything you're supposed to do for them out of honor or whatever, make sure the bandits are OK with it before you do.

Join in the conversation with McTrinkets/Kekahkik and the enemy ghosts. There may be valuable tactical information. Make sure the immediate threat is over before you allow yourself to relax.

Hey there, I know this isn't a suggestion for what to do now, but it's still important. At some point, you are going to have to talk to SOMEONE about the strange thoughts of yours. The licking, the bug kissing, the idea of exterminating houses, whatever. The weird thoughts and impulses you've been having. Is it from the stress? Is it just a...perverse, in the sense of --cares about strangeness-- side of you? Is it some mad internal push just to cause chaos, to push at the boundaries of your world through your actions, see what happens? Who can you talk to about these things? And if you DO find someone wise to talk to about them -- is there any way to make these chaotic thoughts, uh, be useful to you? Perhaps in misdirecting the dreambugs? Even if you find a way, you should make an effort to only do the Weird Chaotic Thoughts that are actually harmless to you and those you care about, right?

>>517799
The only thought you really need to ignore is this one. You know how kissing bugs made you feel downstairs, and Maexiks is obviously into you anyway.

[1/2] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/18(Tue)13:17 No. 517882 ID: 8fb35b
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I decide to talk to Iaxio for a minute or two before going over and uh. Maybe apologizing to Lairehfsis for getting her into this mess they weren’t even in last afternoon.

“Iaxio, how are you holding up?”

“Me?”

“Yeah well like. We haven’t gotten the chance to talk much. It’s just been me running from place to place, doing thing to thing, and this is the first time we’ve had where we can sit down and got nothing to do but talk.”

“That’s true. I’ve mostly been watching you flitter about. When I haven’t been stacked onto you, or hiding out of the way.”

“… yeah so. How are you feeling?”

“I think this entire plan was crazy from the beginning, but I guess either way we’re at the end of it. Those dogs are dead, and if Family Hefehxn had anyone else around to kill us they would’ve come along with them.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Don’t relax up though. We’re not ever going to be safe until we’re somewhere House Geofahn won’t get to us.”

“… yeah. But how are you doing?”

“I don’t know! When you invited me to run away I wasn’t expecting uh.” He waves at the two groups. “Working with bandits to uh. Fight a guy with a metal bird on his shoulder. This is less roguish hijinks and more uh. I mean, those bandits.”

“Yeah.”

“How does the bandit chick have a real housedog for a boyfriend? That guy has a rifle. The guy’s a corpsebound and those don’t come cheap or I’d have metal spikes sticking out of me right now too!”

“Yeah.”

“And your new girlfriend—”

“She isn’t—”

Iaxio waves his hand in my face. I can feel it on my cut and it stings. “Eh eh eh, whatever, whatever. We’re strangers on the run, you can be as debauched as you want.” Iaxio straightens himself up. “I assure you, I will not complain if you and one of the ladies around here wants to start making out.”

I feel my ears burn hot red. “Okay that’s enough out of you. Let’s go uh, apologize for getting Lairehfsis into this.”

[2/2] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/18(Tue)13:17 No. 517883 ID: 8fb35b
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Iaxio and I walk up to the bandits.

Lairehfsis is completely dead. Looking at her corpse, she was cut right through the neck and clear through the belly. Looking at her ghost, she’s chatting with the other two bandits.

“Uh, hey,” I say.

They all give me a little nod.

“You uh,” I stammer. “Doing. Okay?”

Lairehfsis’ ghost looks at me and then laughs. “It doesn’t hurt anymore! It’s a miracle cure!”

Iaxio laughs too. “We should bottle it up and sell it.”

“Yeah, look, I’m sorry,” I say. “I mean, it’s not like I’m that good at fighting so I couldn’t really have. Done. Much but like. It’s still me that got you all pulled into this and I mean yeah Akilfhren said she’d be paying you but—”

“Kid, it’s cool,” Lairehfsis’ ghost says.

“It is not,” Madohkikil grumbles.

“It’s fiiiiiiine,” Lairehfsis’ ghost says. “Like, we’re all adventurers and mercenaries and stuff. Assassins. Bandits. Grave-robbers. I didn’t get into this life thinking, hey, I’m gonna become a grandma one day and live ‘til I’m a hundred years old! Pffft. ‘d be safer working in a mine. Least I die out here, my body isn’t under a wall of rock.”

“But your body is still out here,” Madohkikil says. “And we haven’t done anything that’s gonna get us paid yet.”

Lairehfsis does a “blah blah blah” with her hand. “So have House Whatever use my share to preserve my corpse long enough to send it home. Big deal.”

Iaxio and I trade looks. She’s taking being dead really, really well.

Madohkikil isn’t taking it very well. “And what if our business in town takes longer than a few days to finish? What if we’re detained there for a week? Do you think I’m gonna pay from my share, to keep your corpse smelling nice?”

“Oh sheesh! So put me in a cart with a nice traveler and send me off! I’ll give them directions! I can still talk, I’m just dead, it’s no big deal!”

Madohkikil turns to face me. “What exactly was this plan again?”

“What? Oh. Uh. You, McTrinkets there, and another woman in the city all go to House Doxedn and they say, ‘hey, the three people we got here can expose Family Hefehxn!’ And then Family Hefehxn loses all their allies and uh. Yeah something like that.”

Madohkikil looks back at Lairehfsis. “That doesn’t sound like that will be a particularly short adventure.”

Lairehfsis does the “blah blah blah” at him again. “We’ll figure something out, we always do.”

“Whatever. It’s about time to meet up with the House Doxedn dogs. We’ll bring them to the camp. Laikadehn, let’s go.”

Madohkikil and Laikadehn walk off into the forest.

“Guy’s a diiiiiiiick,” Lairehfsis says.

Before they return with Akilfhren, do I wanna chat with Lairehfsis more, or go talk to McTrinkets? What would I want to say to the one I choose to talk to?

This is the first time, in a long time, I’ve had any down-time to talk to people about just whatever I wanted. I should probably use it now while I can, I guess.

I don’t know if I can like. Stay. With House Doxedn, for the week or two it takes for them to do all their stuff. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s gonna happen.

You need to go talk to McTrinkets and tell her that you really like her as more than a friend, and ask if she feels the same way, and then kiss her on the mouth, with tongue, no matter what her answer is. She didn't even want to fight and you need to see how she's holding up and what her plan is from here on out.

Yes, yes. Let's confess our half-assed teenage crush of one day before riding off into the sunset never to see each other again...

See them to Doxedn and then get out. You needed to be out of this town yesterday. Geofahn waits for no dog and Geobug knows you now.

Spear's still bloody. You'll need to clean that off at some point. Bad for the blade to just leave it there.

>I assure you, I will not complain if you and one of the ladies around here wants to start making out.
Stop perving on us, Iaxio! We're family, remember?

>Confess crush
...with all these people around?!

>what else do
See what they learned from the murder-ghosts, I guess? Not sure what else there is to do right now, unless you know any rituals and stuff to keep Lairehfsis' corpse nice.

>stay
Not sure how much longer you'll be able to with the dreambug closing in. (When you see him again, don't give details about how the battle went. Like, that there was a bird demon, or how many people you lost. Better just to give him a hard time about it- if you wants to keep you safe, you'd be a lot safer if you could get to the dreambug you trusted).

I feel like as bad staying around might be (reliable location), the tedium of travelling probably will conjure less decision-making than hanging around here, and decisions are what increase probabilities we can end up in, and THOSE are what foil the Dreambug.
He might be in our dreams, but we can just ignore him and not say anything. I wonder if Iaxio could do anything about that? Probably not without practice though...

>>517883
go see how mctrinkets is doing. Ask her her real name. Lick her foot.

Guys, when Doxedn gets back with the bandits, that's the time Sabby has to decide what she wants to do. This is Sabby's one real free time to either learn more about Lairehfsis or McTrinkets. The next vote--which will probably be the last vote for this thread--will be talking about what Sabby should do in the long-term. Right now this is her last chance at learning more about her friends before things get serious again.

If you really JUST want Sabby out of here NOW that serious I guess she can just say "Bye!" and walk away like she doesn't care about anyone, but that's kind of seriously rude and not too smart. You have time to kill before Doxedn is here.

>>517883
Ask her if she would mind becoming a corpsebound, or if she wants to. Also, are the other Hef ghosts around? The normal non-butler ones? Go talk to them too. See what info you can get. Like I said earlier, they might also cop to the corpse paste crime stuff to get in the city crypt instead of getting their corpses burnt or left to fade in the Hefehxn crypt.

The more evidence and testimony we get our hands on, the more Doxedn will give us in exchange.

>>517896
Oh, then that case, I vote we spend a few more minutes talking to dead-bandit girl before going to talk to live-trader girl.

Maybe offer to help with the being dead-thing, if housedog training prepared us for that (I mean c'mon, we were going to be sold into a lifetime of having babies and taking care of ghosts. This might be the one case her education is actually good for something).

>>517900
She never really learned about how ghosts work, remember?

Anyway, yeah, talking in that order sounds good. Chat with the two of them as a group, then pull McTrinkets aside and have some one-on-one time.

McTrinkets. I don't know if we even know her real name!

Don't forget to clean your spear. Like, properly clean it. Weapon maintenance is important.

I say ask if Lair's gonna get to stay with her ghost boyfriend.

Maybe ask if McTrinkets is gonna stay in the city after this is all over? You're gonna have to keep moving so you won't be able to hang out with her much longer.

Try not to embarrass yourself in front of everyone.

You should definitely talk to your friends to get an idea of their stories -- they are now COMRADES, and you have bled together. Don't push too much, just ask for what they are willing to share; even if it is just their cover story, if they are willing to -admit it as such-, or explain where they got the idea, that would be plenty. The point is to bond!

might as well talk to the dead girl for a few more minutes just to learn a little about her, then lets much up and see how McTrinkets is doing.

If Lairehfsis doesn't want to be a corpsebound, maybe ask if you could take a relic?

See how McTrinkets is holding up; she's probably no more used to this violence than you are. Find out what the Hefehxn ghosts had to say.

>>517883
talk with McTrinkets, see if maybe she wants to tag along when all this is house toppling business is over.

[1/4] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/19(Wed)11:38 No. 518148 ID: 8fb35b
File 137166709440.png - (55.19KB , 600x600 , 137.png )

I’ll talk to Lairehfsis a bit about her being dead, and then go have some serious talks with McTrinkets.

“So like. What’s your plan? Now that you’re… dead.”

“Soon’s I find a way to do it, I’m gonna get back to my house. I don’t think I pissed them off enough that they’ll turn me out. I got money stashed away for this, anyway. Corpsefunds yannow? Gimme a month or so and I’ll back in it.”

“You’re going to be a corpsebound?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait so you belong to a house?”

“Well, yeah. I ran off with my boyfriend here after we killed him. Our houses didn’t get along.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah I’m the one that killed him. Oh like don’t look at me like that, that was our plan. We both have a skirmish and whoever kills the other, just, chop, off with a hand and run away with it. I’m pretty sure they’ll still corpsebound me.”

Huh. So she’s a runaway from her house too. I consider talking to her about my story, but I’ve decided to focus what time we got left here on McTrinkets, so.

“Well… it’s good you’re not upset at being dead, I guess.”

“Well I’m pissed I died on something this dumb. But I mean, all of our adventures ‘ve been like this. Like, random person showing up, job offer, okay we’re in the thick of things, okay we’re done. Not with the uh. Dogs wearing demons. Seriously, what’s up with that? That wasn’t even a simple demon either.”

“I don’t even know. Well, all right. I need to see if my friend is doing okay too.”

“Go at it.”

[2/4] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/19(Wed)11:38 No. 518150 ID: 8fb35b
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McTrinkets is done with the Hefehxn ghosts for now anyway, so I take her aside and talk.

“How’d it go with those ghosts?” I say.

“I think I convinced them their family is sinking. They can take our hand and be pulled up out of the water or settle in at the bottom with the rest.”

“Oh! That’s good.”

“They had to be desperate to do this to start with. Apparently, from what they said, they used Kekahkik’s finger to listen in on everything. They knew what we were up to. They thought they might get us by surprise and put an end to things out here. Whoops. I guess that’s proof enough that our plan of exposing them is going to work!”

“Hah! Yeah I guess we won then.” I touch my bandage. “Well, I mean, they did hurt me pretty bad.”

“And that dog in the yellow got a nasty cut on his tummy, and the other one’s dead. Well, I’ll make sure that House Doxedn pays them for this. At the very least, I think no one will be in any danger after all the deals are made.”

“So you’ll be safe?”

McTrinkets smiles. “I know Family Hefehxn. You killed one of theirs last afternoon, and we just killed three more today. They’re just a family, they don’t have the numbers to lose dogs like that. Even if we can’t prove anything, we have enough to scare their allies away. Hefehxn will probably offer us a bunch of deals to keep us all quiet, and House Doxedn will get to look over their shoulder to make sure they keep them.”

“Oh! So we.” I feel myself list. I’m still tired. “We actually did it?”

“We didn’t destroy the entire family like you planned,” McTrinkets says, “but we did save me, you, and everyone else. Mostly!”

Huh. I mean. This dumb plan to like. Try and blackmail an entire family into oblivion actually kind of worked.

>Maybe ask if McTrinkets is gonna stay in the city after this is all over? You're gonna have to keep moving so you won't be able to hang out with her much longer.

“So what are you doing after you’re all done here?”

“Well, I still have other business contacts I need to do selling for.”

“Contacts like… Family Hefehxn?”

McTrinkets gives me one of her merchanty smiles. “Are you going to say I didn’t learn my lesson? I think we made the profit out of this deal.”

“Hah. Yeah well. I’m. Being stalked by a dreambug. A different one, I mean. I mean the first one might be stalking me too but—no look, there’s a dreambug trying to hunt me down. The longer I stay in one spot, or the more simple my options are, the easier time he has narrowing down where I am or where I’m gonna be so like. I can’t stay here very long.”

“I’ll be tied up taking care of things here for a while still,” McTrinkets agrees. “I know I agreed to take you further south, but if you can’t wait… I can’t leave right now.”

“Yeah…”

“Well, I’m back to being in your debt. I can put you in touch with my contacts and they can take care of you, further down along the line.”

“Yeah…”

“What’s wrong? Gonna miss me?”

>You need to go talk to McTrinkets and tell her that you really like her as more than a friend

“Uh…”

Iaxio leans in. “She wants to make out with you. I get to watch.”

I slap him. “I’ll go back and piss on your corpse, you butt!”

“Just helping!” he says.

McTrinkets just has that face on I never know what she’s really thinking. “You actually are going to miss me, aren’t you?”

I don’t even know. I have no idea how I feel about McTrinkets honestly. I mean, thinking about it, she kind of blackmailed me into coming along with her, and she put me in serious danger having me deliver counterfeit money with a spy-relic hidden in it. On the other hand? She helped me escape for basically nothing but a favor, was willing to just let me go and leave her to die after I dropped off the box, and is one of the few people in my life who isn’t a total butt.

How long have I even known her for? We had that little business talk on the road-side, and then a bit of a chat in the coracle. And then breakfast, and then I didn’t see her again until we were planning to destroy Family Hefehxn. And after that, I didn’t see her until we met up with the bandits. I’ve known her for like, three or four days.

I mean, I don’t even know her real name. But maybe this isn’t like, a romance-novel-true-love thing. Maybe I’m just happy to have a friend that I’m like. Attracted to. I guess.

McTrinkets sighs. “So, yes?”

“Oh! Uhm.”

“We can meet up again, if you want.”

“I think I want to, yes.”

>kiss her on the mouth, with tongue

Madohkikil and Laikadehn return. Akilfhren walks in, too, in full housedog armor. Kehfn shows up, wearing the same. I glance at McTrinkets.

“Business time,” she says. “Later.”

Iaxio nudges my side. “I get to watch, okay?”

[3/4] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/19(Wed)11:39 No. 518151 ID: 8fb35b
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Akilfhren and Kehfn tell us what happened.

Right after the ambush failed, Family Hefehxn contacted him and asked to work things out peacefully. They spent the pre-morning hours working out a deal where basically no one goes after anyone. They leave McTrinkets and me and the bandits alone, and House Doxedn doesn’t bring up that they sent a party out to murder us in our sleep. They said they’ll return Meandraxix’s stolen relics, too, and turn over their supply of corpse-paste and suppressed relics. Of course, it means none of us can say anything bad about Hefehxn publically, or accuse them of anything.

“You’re all welcome back in the city, no worries,” Kehfn assures us. “The specifics of the arrangement beyond the basics are still in question, and your presence will ensure they don’t renege on their parts of it by the day’s end. We’ll give you hospitality for a week, until we’re sure Family Hefehxn is going to cooperate fully.”

The bandits talk to Kehfn and Akilfhren and work out a deal. Lairehfsis will have a route planned out for her corpse to take her back home, to be corpsebound. The other two bandits will hang around for the week to keep Hefehxn threatened enough to behave.

McTrinkets tells me about her business contacts. Further down along the main river-road we’re on, there’s a city with two lifelizard merchants. Even further down, at one of the bigger merging points, there’s a city with a uh. Hidden brothel. McTrinkets knows the owner and she says she’ll help me out. Somewhat across from that, on a separate main river-road, there’s a small prayerman settlement nestled in the swamplands. McTrinkets did a bunch of trade for them a while back, and she says they’d help me get further along as a favor for her.

She gives me one of Kekahkik’s relics, so we can plan a meet-up in one of those cities.

And then everyone’s all focused on me. Because it’s my turn to decide what I do.

[4/4] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/19(Wed)11:40 No. 518152 ID: 8fb35b
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I have a few options.

I can just head straight down along the river-road. The money I stole from Meandraxix and a small allowance Kehfn is offering will let me get half-way to the city with the lifelizard contacts. That will put me really a good distance south, closer to House Fauhredn lands than House Geofahn. But until I get to the contact, I’m on my own, hoping I can outrun Geofahn and the dreambug. The brothel contact is south on that river-road, too, so that’s two of McTrinkets contacts I can meet along that path. That’s also two places I can meet up with her later at.

Or! I can go along with Lairehfsis’ corpse, to her house. It’s actually just as far south as the lifelizard contact is, although it’s on a bit of a detour to the east. I don’t know if her house will actually be helpful or not, either, but it should throw the dreambug for a loop at least. Along that river-road south, too, is the prayermen contact, so I can meet up with McTrinkets there later if I wanted.

I also need to decide how long I stay with House Doxedn. I probably shouldn’t wait the entire week—although it’s temping, the dreambug will find me way before then. I’m not sure if I want to leave in a few hours, either, though. I still saw so little of the city, and when I leave, I might not be seeing the people who are sort of my friends for a long time. I could still spend like, a day or two getting to know McTrinkets before I have to get moving, maybe.

Either way, I’ll be sure to say goodbye to all my friends, so that’s not a worry. I’ll still get a chance to decide how I’ll say goodbye, too, so we’ll worry about those details when it comes.

I just need to know right now: Which path do I take? Go direct south to the lifelizard, and then to the brothel? Or detour with Lairehfsis to her house, and then south to the prayermen settlement?

How long do I stay in the House Doxedn city before moving on? I can probably get to know the bandits or maybe even talk to Kehfn or Akilfhren and get friendly with them, too, if I take the time for it. But how many days is worth making friends, if any?

Makin friends is worth it. Having people who can cover your tail and bs if some Geofahn people DO come this way can be really valuable. I'd say take 2 days to hang out, and one of those nights is for a date with McTrinkets. Alone. Iaxio can't watch.

After that, I think you should take the Lairehfsis path and meet up with McTrinkets in the prayermen village. It's just... a whole lot less predictable, and that's pretty valuable for you. Meeting lifelizars would be really cool, but it's the straighter path. Plus you'll have some company if you go that way.

Meet up with McTrinkets with the Prayermen. If your date tomorrow night goes well, maybe then you can get to sexond base.

Oh also see if in the town you can find out like, literally anything about dreambug magic.

>>518154
Because forewarned is forearmed, and dreambugs have like, big, spiky forearms, so a little forewarning might be a real solid plan.

>>518152
I don't trust the brothel contract. Brothel's are big with favor's and debts, and the way you repay them... I don't know man, ask McTrinckets if they'll try to trick you into being a whore or not. Even then if the madam/pimp is trustworthy their prostitutes simply are not and never will be.

Not to say I trust Lair's house at all, but slightly more than the brothel. I also trust Prayermen then I do lizards for some reason. It also through dreambug guy for a bigger loop so it's got other pluses. Lair's probably got cool things that she can teach us the way McTrinkets has with economics, she even probably understands house politics more than you or Mickey does, which is valuable. And I'm sure Lair would enjoy the extra company with somebody she knows. Not to mention we can help defend from Hefexn double crosses en route, everyone says everything's going to turn okay but that still means shit can go down on an individual basis. Butler's friends might be pissed and follow you, he probably does have friends outside Hefexn, considering he had a fucking demon on him that's a good bet. So you can possibly count on young stupid Hefexn's disobeying the smart ones coming for revenge as well as Butler's potential contacts.

>>518152
Go East young man! Seriously, you enjoy being in McTrinkets company and trust her. Ergo, you should go with the crazed ghost bandit whom you hardly know! The Dream Bug will have a hard time tracking you if you choose irrational options. Then you can rendezvous with the Prayermen and see if their priests can stop Dream Bugs from stalking your mind. Oh, and you should probably warn Maexiks about the hitsquad if you haven't already.

Make friends with Kehfn. It would be nice to have friends in high places. They could also maybe throw Geofahn for a loop when they come knocking.

As for directions, go south. Life lizards are neat and the quicker to Fauhredn, the better. In addition, you have a knack for house politics, generally to their detriment, so let's not go Romeo and Juliet with Lair and Ahru's houses.

Go east. You might be able to get Liar's boyfriend to teach Iaxio combat ghost power things. It'd also be a bit safer if you're attacked.

I'm saying you should go with the dead bandit just because once you're done with that it will take you to the prayerman settlement and you actually know some of there language so that would help, plus the brothel makes me a little uncomfortable for some reason.

And if you go with her I guess that means you leave when they ship out her body. If you do just head straight south however don't stay in the city for more then 2 days. Hell I think 1 day would be enough. That should let you stay long enough to rest and resupply a bit before you go and should still be short enough that the dreambug shouldn't be able to pin you down.

If you're going to hang around Doxedn for a few days, and don't have enough money for a full trip, then make some money while you're there! With your etiquette and diplomacy training, you could probably do a decent amount of Paralegal (or similar) work.

I am in favor of going with Lairehfsis. Mctrinket's life is not endangered, so she'll not be as friendly as she was when you were runaway-buddies.

Oh shit, what if Lairehfsis's House is allied with Geofahn!

WE DON'T EVEN KNOW THE NAME OF HER HOUSE!!!

You should stay at least a day. You need some real rest before you start running again.

>>518155 if there's anyone in the city who could actually offers real information about dreambug magic, that would be highly valuable, and certainly worth another day.

I don't have anything against Lizards, but the brothel makes me leery. That could go bad in so many ways. I mean, they do business in a certain way, even the nice ones are pretty much exploiting people, and they get a lot of customers, some of whom may be trouble in their own right (or if the house looking for you has any searchers nearby, they may stop by to use the place!).

Which means we take the first leg with Liar, I guess. (Hey guys! I'm the runaway who got your daughter killed. ...meeting her family might not be a great thing).

Be sure to hug goodbye friends who deserve hugs before leaving.

Spend the rest of the day and the coming night in the city. If you need to stock up on any supplies, invite McTrinkets along under the guise of needing her merchant expertise to not get swindled. As you exchange money, your hands brush. You look her in her sparkling eyes and smile. She smiles back...

Um. *cough* Sorry. Where was I?

Before moving on you should at least get both a bath with McTrinkets and a full night's sleep with McTrinkets that aren't going to be interrupted by assassins.

Head out early in the morning tomorrow. If Lairehfsis is leaving then, go with her. There's strength in numbers.

But if she's not leaving until later, strike out on your own for the lifelizards.

Don't worry about being forced to sell your body for the brothel. You're way too flat chested to even attract their attention. They are pretty exploitative though, taking money from desperate horny people that way. Kind of like casinos. Did you know they ask for more money after the guy is done, because the afterglow makes him more likely to part with more cash?

>>518240
...I reiterate my suggestion to go with the Ghost Bandit. Please.

>>518154
learning about dreambug magic is supermust territory, maybe you could get some Neo training for mind defense. Oh also see about trying to get Iaxio to be better at being a ghost! You should probably take the route to prayerman with bandit lady and see her house because it's pretty interesting how lax she claims they are.

Stay two days and get to know McTrinkets better (maybe get her real name?), then leave with the ghost bandit. We can chat with her along the way, probably- that's gonna be fun.

>>518287
Nice try, Dream Bug.

>>518151

I said this before, I'll say it again. You need to talk to someone you trust about the strange thoughts! The licking, the mouth kissing, whatever- the impulses. Is it from the stress? a perverse side of you? some mad internal push to cause chaos? is there any way to make these chaotic thoughts useful to you? Like with misdirecting the dreambugs? So should you make an effort to do some random weird chaos stuff each day? how do you make sure you stick to harmless things, and don't hurt people you care about?

Also, stay two days and go east. Brothels are predatory..

>>518152
we can't decide right now if whether to go with Lairehfsis or not. go spend the two days with friends, her included, and if you two 'click' offer to escort her. if not, go west.

you should also totally go on a date with McTrinkets. don't decide ahead of time that it'll be anything romantic, but don't resist it if it becomes that.

> is there any way to make these chaotic thoughts useful to you? Like with misdirecting the dreambugs?
Well there was that one time that Maexiks's dreams of Sabby were filled with her licking McTrinket's boots.

>>518397
And then there was the other time where Maexik's seer powers were completely blinded by Sabhaxlia's tongue.

>>518205
Too far south.

I say go with Lairehfsis, leave in a day. You need some sleep anyway.

[1/2] coracleboat 2013/06/21(Fri)15:20 No. 518610 ID: 8fb35b
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I’m super uncomfortable about the idea of a brothel, even if its owner is McTrinkets’ friend and I’ll have Kekahkik around to vouch for me. I mean, I’m pretty sure brothels go around kidnapping women and forcing them to do sex with strangers, right? I don’t actually know anything about brothels. I only know like, rumors. I mean. Tombdogs aren’t even supposed to have sex outside of marriage. Brothels are probably slave-markets or something for them to be possible! That’s what I think.

I say I’ll go along with Lairehfsis back to her house. Her situation is similar to mine, and it sounds way safer than the brothel. I mean. I mean, okay, if I returned to my house there would be huge problems, but I’m sure the situation’s totally different with Lairehfsis and nothing will go wrong at all.

I decide to stay at least two days in the city. If I sleep on the ride back, I can be awake and active all day today, and I can hang out all day tomorrow too. I want to spend a bit more time with McTrinkets before we like, just split up again, and I’d like to see if there’s something that can be done about this whole dreambug invasion.

I tell everyone my plans. Kehfn says he’ll put me up in a stranger’s inn, and I take him up on it.

McTrinkets is uh. She’s apparently staying with Family Hefehxn. I don’t even know.

All of us—even the bandits—collect our stuff, and we head out to the House Doxedn carriage waiting on the road.

We make a little small talk as we ride, but mostly, I just sleep.

[2/2] Sabhaxlia 2013/06/21(Fri)15:21 No. 518611 ID: 8fb35b
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The Geofahn dreambug is waiting for me there.

“You survived. You see what dangers your adventurous future has. Come back to us, where it is safe.”

I just stretch out on the wide dirt plain. “I am so tired right now I don’t even care. If you want to hang out in my dreams, fine, but you know what? I’m not doing anything other than sleeping.”

The dreambug fritters above me, but, you know what?

I don’t care.

I’m asleep.

>>518611
You're asleep in a stranger's inn, and you're asleep in the Dreambug Remnant.
You're double-asleep.

BEST END.