[491 / 17 / ?]
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<span class="mu-i">“Long ago, long ago, our world was lush and green. Singers sang and dragons flew, and sorcery and steel were made one…”</span> In the deepest dark of an ancient metal ruin, eyes of dead glass watched over broken eggs. Lifeless guardians of lifeless wards, eternal in their vigil, they awaited power which would never come. Severed cables wrapped like vines about the metal eggs, cradling their broken shells and the shattered songs within. They would never be heard, never know the sand and seas and skies, never live. So it had been for ten thousand years, and so it would be forever. Across the endless centuries, the egg crypt became known to the members of a diminutive and curious people. They took the shape and size of the old masters; tufts of fur upon the tops of their heads, their bodies surfaced softly in pale or tan hues, and possessing four limbs yet standing upright upon one pair and grasping with the other - and none of them were winged. Ignorant, the two-eyes knew little what the ruin once was, and nothing of the egg chamber or its dead machines. They came for salvage, and secrets, but gained little of either - ancient places do not give up such things. Slowly, even their pestering encroachments became nearly forgotten, swallowed by the sands. <span class="mu-i">Nearly</span> forgotten, until one of their young returned, pursued by its own kind through the shifting sands. Others fled with it to the ruin, but their pursuers were faster upon the dunes, piloting bounding bipedal machines and plated skimming craft. Only the young one lost its pursuers when it reached the metal fortress, disappearing within the shattered pyramid's depths. Rushing through the metal halls, it stumbled, fell, crashed, slid, and then lay still. Crimson fluid pooled from its cracked mask, and poisons leeched in from the toxic air. When its eyes opened again the burning had already begun, the <span class="mu-i">fire</span>, but the shouts of its pursuers sounded from high above. With failing strength it fled deeper into the dark, past shattered eggs and dead glass, through severed cables hanging like vines, and beyond doors overgrown with fungus, until finally it could bear to go no further. It collapsed within a small chamber, quiet and still, beside a large black egg resting in a bed of sand and coiled cables. The exhausted young creature pulled itself closer to the egg, and sang as it tried to patch its mask. It sang a lullaby taught by its crafter, - its mother - lyricless and soothing, while kneading a ball of repair agent into the cracked ceramic surface of its mask. If it did not finish quickly, then the growing fire within its mind would become an unbearable inferno, and wracked with madness it would perish in the toxic air as so many had before. No mask could reverse the change then. As the creature's fingers slowed, and the fire in its mind grew too hot, the surface of the egg <span class="mu-s">cracked.</span>>You are the song. [Hatching Egg] >You are the singer. [Young Creature]
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
Quoted By:
One more hour for voting.
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
Update should be out tomorrow, apologies for the delay.
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>5983838 Hopefully, it's just a weekend off.
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
>>5983838 >>5983842 Still alive, just a lot more going on that I thought there would be. The quest lives on, updates are going to be spottier than I'd like though.
Anonymous
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>>5983846 Understood, and understandable. Thanks for the update, QM. I hope all's well.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>5983846 OK don't worry about the delay.
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
“What be this place’s purpose?” You ask with trepidation, fear and curiosity proving a volatile mix - under the burning pressure of the curse they may yet prove <span class="mu-i">disastrous</span>. The red eyes behind the mushroom capped creature’s mesh mask dim to points, a kind of squint you realize, and its awful voice soon fills the air as it answers your question. “The world isss dying.” The creature speaks in <span class="mu-i">sentences</span> now, but it seems to strain it - you flinch away from the sound, sharp pain striking yours with every syllable. This thing is foul, unnatural; it should not exist. “It is cursssed. The purpossse of thisss placcce isss to sssave it. Ever hasss that been our purpossse.” “Who dost thou speak of, creature - thyself or the Sisyphytes?” If this thing will speak, then you will demand answers of it, however painful they are to hear, “All who live within the world know it is cursed, only death is our escape.” “NO!” The creature screeches in rage, its bladed arms shooting back out from its sleeve and cleaving down into the steel of the slate your prince lies upon, biting fingers deep into metal but never striking the prince - you almost cry out at the display, but hold your tongue lest the curse take hold and force something destructive out of you, some lethal tone, “There isss NO essscape! No ressst! You feel it, you mussst! Here, we try, oh, we TRY - but we only <span class="mu-i">recccycle</span>. You shhhould know - you are one of thessse, ssso it ssseems to my eyesss! One of the old warformsss, a sssinger and cursssed both.” “Speak plainly!” Casimir demands, confused and hissing out nearly as fearsomely as the creature. The pain of the things words must strike at him terribly, his pink eyes are squinting in almost human agony, and you can hear your song gathering about him, swelling to repel the noise once more with his glowing barrier. “I ssspeak how I will, hatchling!” The thing hisses out from behind its mesh mask, motioning with bladed arms from one location to another as it speaks, “Here, we recccyle, we transssfer. We move the sssoul, and bring another <span class="mu-i">in</span>.” “Thou remove… souls?” You gasp in horror, fear and burning fury welling up almost too powerfully to control - what has become of your prince? “What have you done to him?!” “I make room for new onesss. Transssfer the old elsssewhere within their form. I cannot dessstroy - no one can, not even Velssska.” The creature clicks its blades together and bows slightly, treating the foreign Empress’s name with a degree of respect you have not seen from it yet - it disgusts you, “You came for thisss one? I am done with him. He isss a failure. Too few memoriesss. A bad recall. A ssshame.” “He’s gone?” You barely manage the question, your words echoing about the white chamber before fading away into the thrum of song emitted from Casimir’s horn.
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
>>5984055 “Yesss, and alssso no.” The thing <span class="mu-i">shrugs</span>, an unsettlingly familiar gesture from something so alien - and you can tell that it is <span class="mu-i">deliberate</span>, an imitation that comes no more naturally to it than you would feel holding your arms wide as Casimir displays his wings when threatened. It is simply not in its nature, and it willingly defies that nature. “What will you do? Take him if you wisssh, but not the othersss… My work is not done. The hero demandsss more… Ssshe will wisssh to hear of you, and your dragon.”
>”I come for my prince alone, nothing else - give him to me!” Whatever this thing has done, surely it can be undone. Your prince is merely sleeping, he looks to be at peace. You can take him and flee from here at once, maybe even with the twins and Ahriman instead of splitting. >”The hero? Who is that? I do not understand, creature.” Curiosity has gripped you now, even as fear and pain do - you must have answers. >”Yes and no? Speak plainly! What has become of him - when will he wake?! Wilst thou do this foul thing to those within the pods as well?” You find yourself agreeing with Casimir, growing quickly tired of this creature’s caustic and painful speech. Cryptic words only anger you further, the curse is burning red hot again. >Write-in. Updates will likely be slower for the foreseeable future, maybe once a day or every other day. Anonymous
>>5984056 >”Yes and no? Speak plainly! What has become of him - when will he wake?! Wilst thou do this foul thing to those within the pods as well?” You find yourself agreeing with Casimir, growing quickly tired of this creature’s caustic and painful speech. Cryptic words only anger you further, the curse is burning red hot again. Anonymous
>>5984056 >>”Yes and no? Speak plainly! What has become of him - when will he wake?! Wilst thou do this foul thing to those within the pods as well?” You find yourself agreeing with Casimir, growing quickly tired of this creature’s caustic and painful speech. Cryptic words only anger you further, the curse is burning red hot again. !!3pJzZPMrTs3
>>5984056 >”Yes and no? Speak plainly! What has become of him - when will he wake?! Wilst thou do this foul thing to those within the pods as well?” You find yourself agreeing with Casimir, growing quickly tired of this creature’s caustic and painful speech. Cryptic words only anger you further, the curse is burning red hot again. Anonymous
>>5984056 >"I will take whoever answers my call." If the prince's soul is removed, it might be elsewhere, another body, or maybe some kind of machine. Anonymous
>>5984056 >”Yes and no? Speak plainly! What has become of him - when will he wake?! Wilst thou do this foul thing to those within the pods as well?” You find yourself agreeing with Casimir, growing quickly tired of this creature’s caustic and painful speech. Cryptic words only anger you further, the curse is burning red hot again. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>5984056 >”The hero? Who is that? I do not understand, creature.” Curiosity has gripped you now, even as fear and pain do - you must have answers. Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
Quoted By:
Voting will be open for another ten hours. I think I'll have time to write tomorrow.
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
”Yes and no? Speak plainly! What has become of him - when will he wake?!” You demand answers from the hissing mechanical creature, fury and fear burning hotter within your mind with every cryptic ‘answer’ it gives, “Wilst thou do this foul thing to those within the pods as well?” “The one you knew will not wake, he hasss moved, but another ssshall.” The voice hisses from the mask, metal clanking sounding as its unseen legs - many of them - move it to one side. It moves too smoothly, almost looking to glide despite the clear metallic footfalls, “A recalled one. Blank. Few memoriesss. It isss a failure. The othersss may yet be a sssuccesssss. They are nexxxt.” “Call him back from whence thou sent him, creature!” You shout at the robed mechanical <span class="mu-i">thing</span> and it clicks and clanks smoothing around the raised platform and closer toward you and Casimir. Casimir’s wings flap up defensively again, but the mushroom capped machine-thing towers high above both of you, “Give him back! Thou must be able to!” “Come and sssee.” The machine <span class="mu-i">bows</span>, the armored mushroom cap atop its stalk-like and dark robed body dipping slightly, its blade arm and two lesser appendages held out toward the slab your prince’s still body rests upon in an inviting gesture, “There isss nothing more to be done. Take him if you will, but not the othersss.” You rush closer to your prince’s side as Casimir continues his one-sided stand off with the machine-thing, and look down at your prince’s blank and peaceful face. Removing one glove, you place a hand upon his cheek and feel there is still warmth - the breath of life remains with him, but he does not stir at your touch. Gently, you shake him and speak his name - a name you are <span class="mu-i">never</span> meant to utter, a name only for the royal family itself to speak. “Lethe, my prince, wake.” You whisper. Slowly, Lethe’s eyes open, his gaze settling onto your own - He smiles, just as you have seen him do so many times before, radiant and warm, but a shadow soon covers his face. Confusion grows behind those pink eyes so similar to your own, a deep incomprehension, and you realize his eyes have <span class="mu-i">changed</span>. It is a subtle thing, a different shade of pink - Could it be the lighting? It must be.
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
>>5985264 “Are you sssatisssfied?” The machine-thing asks in a mind burning hiss from beside you, suddenly <span class="mu-i">there</span>. Lethe cries out in terror, in a <span class="mu-i">different voice</span>, and kicks at the robed machine, nearly falling from the slate before you grab a hold of him in a panic, struggling and then failing to keep him there. You fall across the slate as Lethe rolls off the other side and scrambles to his feet, fleeing the machine-thing’s foul speech. “No princcce, but another.”
“Get away! Where am I?!” Lethe shouts in confusion, his cries oddly softer than you recall them being, his movement utterly unlike him - reaching one glass doors at the far side of the pod lined chamber, he slams a hand against it but it stubbornly refuses to part.
>”My prince, I have come to rescue you! Come with me, I know the way from here!” Something terrible has happened to Lethe, you must take him away from here at once - there is no time for anything else with him in this dire state. >”...Who is that?” There is something terribly wrong about Lethe, could this creature truly have placed another’s soul within his body? >”Return him to how he was before, creature, or perish!” You have little strength, and are worn down, but the curse burns ever hotter within you - draw your blade and strike at this foul machine if it will not correct the horror it has wrought. >Write-in. !!3pJzZPMrTs3
>>5985267 >”...Who is that?” There is something terribly wrong about Lethe, could this creature truly have placed another’s soul within his body? We want our Prince back, but we need to udnerstand who this is and why the machine did or could NOT simply restore the Prince, first.
Anonymous
>>5985267 >”...Who is that?” There is something terribly wrong about Lethe, could this creature truly have placed another’s soul within his body? >>5984233 Anonymous
>>5985267 >”...Who is that?” There is something terribly wrong about Lethe, could this creature truly have placed another’s soul within his body? Anonymous
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>>5985267 >>”Return him to how he was before, creature, or perish!” You have little strength, and are worn down, but the curse burns ever hotter within you - draw your blade and strike at this foul machine if it will not correct the horror it has wrought. Anonymous
>>5985267 >>”...Who is that?” There is something terribly wrong about Lethe, could this creature truly have placed another’s soul within his body? Anonymous
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>>5985267 >”Return him to how he was before, creature, or perish!” You have little strength, and are worn down, but the curse burns ever hotter within you - draw your blade and strike at this foul machine if it will not correct the horror it has wrought Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>5985267 >”Return him to how he was before, creature, or perish!” You have little strength, and are worn down, but the curse burns ever hotter within you - draw your blade and strike at this foul machine if it will not correct the horror it has wrought. Anonymous
>>5985267 >>”...Who is that?” There is something terribly wrong about Lethe, could this creature truly have placed another’s soul within his body? If this were a fantasy novel from the 60s (or a modern Japanese light novel), 'Lethe' would probably be our self-insert point
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
Quoted By:
One more hour for voting, I should be able to get the update out tonight or tomorrow morning.
>>5986113 >Lethe is Isekai bait Certainly.
So is Casimir. Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
“...Who is that?” You gasp in shock, watching as Lethe continues to panic and bang at the door - this is not how he behaves, he is <span class="mu-i">composed</span>, regal, every bit the man who should one day be king. This <span class="mu-i">person</span> does not even sound like him, their voice is too soft, their intonations are all wrong. Weak. Fearful. “Gone.” The burning red eyes within your mind taunt you, the curse seizing upon your fear and anger - your <span class="mu-i">disgust</span> at what has happened to your brother. This is <span class="mu-i">wrong</span>. “Dead.” “Another sssoul, plucked from the broken moon.” The machine-thing’s caustic voice is almost a whisper now, insidious and worming - the curse within your recoils from it but flares only into a brighter agonizing hate, like a swarm of enraged scarabs hissing and skittering about the edges of a burning torch, “But it not sssufficccient to be ussseful, too fragmented. No memories. No passst to recall, but forccced to ssspeak onccce again.” “But <span class="mu-i">who?</span>” You press, demanding a clearer answer - this thing’s every word nearly sends you flying into a rage, a demand for Casimir to attack it hovering just at the edges of your mind. The pulsing red of the curse nurtures that destructive desire with each passing moment, the eyes demand death - they wish for this machine to be ended. “That is not known. I ssseizzze what is there to be ssseizzzed. There is no turning back.” The robed creature answers, turning from you and gliding toward one of the pods along chamber’s curving wall, too many metal feet clicking and clanking beneath its concealing robes, “I mussst continue. Leave thisss place, cursssed sssinger. Take the failure, or do not.” “What will happen to my prince… to him, if I do not?” “Disssposssal.”
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
>>5986640 “And thou shall visit this same fate upon the others?” You ask, eyes still fixed upon Lethe, now curled up like a frightened child near the far glass door. What a pitiful sight; it reminds you too much of yourself, just yesterday within the mountain. Terrified. Without hope, or a path forward, the curse consuming you. It <span class="mu-i">still consumes you</span>. Casimir shifts closer to you, trying to keep between you and the robed machine-thing, and laying a hand upon him once again sends the curse receding.
You know now that his power over it is imperfect, but it still fears him.
>”Then I shall take him and make my leave of this foul place.”The prince must be recovered, whatever his state - if he remains at all. If you had the strength, you would oppose this machine, but you are no warrior and Casimir is young. >”I will have my prince, and the others as well, creature! Release them.” Do what you must to free the other Albinics. This is extremely dangerous; you are not a capable fighter, and Casimir is very young. >”...If he is not my prince, then I shall not take him from here - but the others are still themselves, release them!” Lethe, gone though he may be, would have wished the others be freed. This is extremely dangerous; you are not a capable fighter, and Casimir is very young. >Write-in. Anonymous
>>5986642 >"Then I will find him myself" Sing Anonymous
>>5986642 >Take the prince and try to free the non-albinic prisoners up above, as he would've wanted Anonymous
>>5986642 >”I will have my prince, and the others as well, creature! Release them.” Do what you must to free the other Albinics. This is extremely dangerous; you are not a capable fighter, and Casimir is very young. Anonymous
>>5986642 >”I will have my prince, and the others as well, creature! Release them.” Do what you must to free the other Albinics. This is extremely dangerous; you are not a capable fighter, and Casimir is very young. !!3pJzZPMrTs3
>>5986659 If viable. I mean, we know an ally-seeking song.
Otherwise...
>>5986642 >”I will have my prince, and the others as well, creature! Release them.” Do what you must to free the other Albinics. This is extremely dangerous; you are not a capable fighter, and Casimir is very young. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>5986642 >”Then I shall take him and make my leave of this foul place.”The prince must be recovered, whatever his state - if he remains at all. If you had the strength, you would oppose this machine, but you are no warrior and Casimir is young. Anonymous
Anonymous
Greeble !!QqyjbNLbhm4
>>5986733 >>5986745 >>5986763 >>5986808 Writing, should have it out tomorrow.
Should have gotten back to address
>>5986659 sooner, there isn't a song known to Morrigan that would help in this situation.
>>5986808 The ally finding one included.
It was a good idea to suggest it though, how things work (both IC and out of character) hasn't been clearly established yet, but that should clear up pretty quickly. No harm in suggesting things in write-ins to feel out how stuff does or doesn't work! Morrigan should get a better idea in character soon, so more informed decisions will be a lot easier to make. Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous
>>5990506 I'm sure QM will return soon... right?
Anonymous
>>5991447 I fear it is over, anons... Though I hope I'm wrong. This was (is??) a really good quest with a cool setting.
Anonymous
Please do not leave us hanging qm
Anonymous
>>5996774 >>5996326 >>5991447 you guys better archive it for precaution, since it's page 9 already
Anonymous
Anonymous
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>>6003367 Why? If QM has abandoned it, good as it is, there's little point. If they return, archived.moe is there for them.
Anonymous
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>>6003367 I'd do it for you but I didn't read the quest and have no idea what description to put in there