Pilgrim Quest

[MrRigger2]

I think part of your update was cut off. All I see is the Inventory and Word spoiler boxes.

MrRigger

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

You are absolutely right. My most humble apologies; it was late at night when I posted that and I was inattentive. Here is the actual update as it was supposed to be. Again, I apologize for the error.
------

“Well, may I pass?” you ask next.
“No!” the dog barks sharply, taking a more aggressive posture.
“Why not?” you ask reasonably.
“Nice man said guard path!”
“Why?”
The dog pauses for a moment, as if trying to remember. The next sound the dog makes is more howl than bark, and the meaning it conveys is “Danger!”

The dog does not want to let you pass, but you have a duty to travel this path. What do you do?

Inventory:

Spoiler: show

Equipped:
Traveling Clothes: trousers, undershirt, overtunic, rope belt, straw hat, walking boots
Walking Staff: sturdy, can be leaned on or used as a weapon
Glasses: without these, your vision could generously be described as ‘bad’
In your backpack:
Food: enough to last you five days, most of it bread and dried fruit
Flask: contains enough drinkable water to last you six days
Tinder and flint: to start fires with
Knife: a sharp implement suitable for cutting things or striking against the flint to make sparks; using it as a weapon is possible, but not recommended
Wooden Case: contains a spare pair of glasses, in case yours break
Spare Clothes: spare trousers, shirt, and tunic

The Word:

Spoiler: show

You can currently take up to 5 points of backlash without consequence. You have taken 2 points of backlash so far.
Words Known:
Comprehend: Allows you to understand any creature. Backlash 2.
Fix: Perform minor repairs on an object. Backlash 1.
Sealing: Maintain the seals that bind the Fell. Backlash 4. You also know how to construct such seals, but you are not yet powerful enough to do so without severely hurting yourself (Backlash 10).

[bookworm702]

Reply patiently, "Can we talk to nice man?" Hopefully, we can get better results with someone a little more...intelligent.

[AlucardBackwards]

lets go with serbii's idea.

[gman391]

Go with serbii's idea

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

You kneel down and scratch the dog in the way you know dogs love to be scratched. The dog pants happily and nuzzles closer to you.
“Can I talk to the nice man?” you ask patiently.
The dog whines like it really, really wishes it could do what you want.
“Nice man down path.”
“Well, can I go down the path now?” you ask next.
The dog whines again.
“But nice man said...”
“Come on, please?” you plead, still scratching.
The dog seems torn.
“You not want go down path,” the dog tells you. “Dangerous. Nice man sent everyone away. Said bad things happen in home-place. Said anyone in home-place get hurt. Told me to guard path, let no one go to home-place.”

What now?

Inventory:

Spoiler: show

Equipped:
Traveling Clothes: trousers, undershirt, overtunic, rope belt, straw hat, walking boots
Walking Staff: sturdy, can be leaned on or used as a weapon
Glasses: without these, your vision could generously be described as ‘bad’
In your backpack:
Food: enough to last you five days, most of it bread and dried fruit
Flask: contains enough drinkable water to last you six days
Tinder and flint: to start fires with
Knife: a sharp implement suitable for cutting things or striking against the flint to make sparks; using it as a weapon is possible, but not recommended
Wooden Case: contains a spare pair of glasses, in case yours break
Spare Clothes: spare trousers, shirt, and tunic

The Word:

Spoiler: show

You can currently take up to 5 points of backlash without consequence. You have taken 2 points of backlash so far.
Words Known:
Comprehend: Allows you to understand any creature. Backlash 2.
Fix: Perform minor repairs on an object. Backlash 1.
Sealing: Maintain the seals that bind the Fell. Backlash 4. You also know how to construct such seals, but you are not yet powerful enough to do so without severely hurting yourself (Backlash 10).

[gman391]

"Well the nice man never said how long you had to guard it right? Oh I know you come with me and you can keep guarding me."

[bookworm702]

Calmly explain to the dog, "I really need to get past. I'll go talk to the nice man. I think I can help him. If he tells me to go back, I'll go back, okay?"

[Darkandus]

Gonna go with Bookworm.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

“I really need to get past,” you explain to the dog. “I will go talk to the nice man. I think I can help him. If he tells me to go back, I will, all right?”
The dog hesitates... and finally dips its head and moves aside.
“Thank you,” you say politely. “You could come with me and keep guarding me, if you want.”
The dog shakes its head.
“Must watch.”
You nod understandingly and continue down the path.
You move more quickly now, knowing you have lost some time in talking to the dog, and concerned about the dog’s warnings of danger. As you continue along the path, the vegetation around you gradually becomes thicker and taller, until at last you are in a forest.
You are getting close. The shrine is just on the other side of these woods. But... something seems wrong here. These woods are cold, and the light seems dimmer than it should. It is nearly silent in a forest that seems as though it should be bursting with life. You shiver, from the cold and from unease.
Something is wrong.

Do you hurry on your way, hastening to reach the shrine? Do you seek the source of the wrongness in the woods? Do you do something else?
What would you like to do?

Inventory:

Spoiler: show

Equipped:
Traveling Clothes: trousers, undershirt, overtunic, rope belt, straw hat, walking boots
Walking Staff: sturdy, can be leaned on or used as a weapon
Glasses: without these, your vision could generously be described as ‘bad’
In your backpack:
Food: enough to last you five days, most of it bread and dried fruit
Flask: contains enough drinkable water to last you six days
Tinder and flint: to start fires with
Knife: a sharp implement suitable for cutting things or striking against the flint to make sparks; using it as a weapon is possible, but not recommended
Wooden Case: contains a spare pair of glasses, in case yours break
Spare Clothes: spare trousers, shirt, and tunic

The Word:

Spoiler: show

You can currently take up to 5 points of backlash without consequence. You have taken 2 points of backlash so far.
Words Known:
Comprehend: Allows you to understand any creature. Backlash 2.
Fix: Perform minor repairs on an object. Backlash 1.
Sealing: Maintain the seals that bind the Fell. Backlash 4. You also know how to construct such seals, but you are not yet powerful enough to do so without severely hurting yourself (Backlash 10).

[ShonenHero]

Lets go get our gangly butt kille--I mean, let us go and seek this wrongness. That nice dog seemed very concerned for the man, and perhaps it wouldn't hurt to follow up on it?

[gman391]

Prioritize
Keep the abominations that are trying to destroy the world out first.

Head to the shrine fast as we can

[bookworm702]

The shrine has held for a great time now. It can wait a small while. We should quickly seek the disturbance in the forest and help the nice man, as we promised.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

My apologies for taking so long with this; it proved difficult to write. On top of that, real life demanded a great deal of my time this past week.

------

The shrine will hold for a little while longer, you think. You decide to seek out the source of the wrongness that you feel.
You turn around in a circle, trying to gauge which direction the sensation comes from. It is tricky to tell, but it seems to be in the direction you were going, only off to your left a little. You head that way, and soon conclude that this is indeed the right direction: your sense of unease grows rapidly as you walk.

You are shivering hard from the cold and the fear, and squinting to see in the dim light, when you come upon what you seek.
A young man – younger even than you, still a boy really – is leaning heavily against a tree. His dark hair is longish (though shorter than yours) and tangled with twigs and leaves, and his hazel eyes are exhausted. His clothes, practical clothing much like your own, are torn and streaked with dirt and grass stains.
The dark-haired stranger is staring into a clearing from the shelter of the trees around it. In the center of the clearing stands another man, this one a full-grown adult who looks a little older than you, with eyes closed and head thrown back. He is neatly dressed in the kinds of robes often favored by wizards, and his blond hair is cropped short in the style common to larger cities. His arms are thrown wide and you notice with dread that dark tendrils coil around them and stretch out of the clearing... in the direction of the Mirayuki Shrine.

What would you like to do now?

Inventory:

Spoiler: show

Equipped:
Traveling Clothes: trousers, undershirt, overtunic, rope belt, straw hat, walking boots
Walking Staff: sturdy, can be leaned on or used as a weapon
Glasses: without these, your vision could generously be described as ‘bad’
In your backpack:
Food: enough to last you five days, most of it bread and dried fruit
Flask: contains enough drinkable water to last you six days
Tinder and flint: to start fires with
Knife: a sharp implement suitable for cutting things or striking against the flint to make sparks; using it as a weapon is possible, but not recommended
Wooden Case: contains a spare pair of glasses, in case yours break
Spare Clothes: spare trousers, shirt, and tunic

The Word:

Spoiler: show

You can currently take up to 5 points of backlash without consequence. You have taken 2 points of backlash so far.
Words Known:
Comprehension: Allows you to understand any creature. Backlash 2.
Repairing: Perform minor repairs on an object. Backlash 1.
Sealing: Maintain the seals that bind the Fell. Backlash 4. You also know how to construct such seals, but you are not yet powerful enough to do so without severely hurting yourself (Backlash 10).

[MrRigger2]

Full body tackle or walking stick to the face.

MrRigger

[bookworm702]

Agreed. We seem to have caught him unawares. A quick dash and a big stick to the skull should put an end to his tomfoolery.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

Who did you want to attack, the dark-haired youngling or the older blond man?

[MrRigger2]

Older blonde man.

MrRigger

[gman391]

This is why I said go to the shrine....Anyways lead off with a tackle/stick attack against the guy with the dark tendrils.

[Tempest Kitsune]

I agree with the idea to attack the older man, but I disagree with the first target. He appears to be unaware of our presence? Go for a low blow, follow it up with a strike to the diaphragm, and then take him out with a strike to the head while he's breathless and in too much pain to think.

[ShonenHero]

Yeah, I'm with Tempest. Strike low, strike hard, and then strike to knock him out.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

You rush out of the forest and strike at the blond man’s knees. His eyes snap open and he turns his gaze to you even as his knees buckle and you strike at his stomach. The dark tendrils reach for you, but shrink back again as your second blow drives the breath from his lungs. You attempt to strike at his head, but your staff becomes tangled in the darkness as it floats about him in confusion. You hiss softly in frustration.
The blond man falls to his knees, gasping for breath, as you strain against the tendrils that stop you from continuing your attack. Fear begins to worm its way into your heart and tightens your grip on your staff.
The blond man looks up at you as the dark tendrils move slowly up the staff to wrap around you, sliding down along your arms towards your neck and seeking to force you back from him. They move like snakes, although slower, but feel slimy like slugs. You can feel the slick, gooey substance of them even through the long sleeves of your shirt. You shudder with disgust; it will take a great deal of bathing before you feel clean again. You dig your feet into the ground and are able to resist the pushing, just barely.
The blond man rises to one knee before he speaks.
“Why do you attack me?” he asks in a voice that echoes and rumbles strangely, as if a second speaker asks with him, a second speaker whose voice is deeper than any man’s you have ever known and harsher than the cawing of crows. For all that, his tone seems little more than mildly curious. “What do you hope to gain from it? Leave now, boy, and I will let you live.”
The blond man begins to stand, although he appears a bit unsteady.

Your response?

Inventory:

Spoiler: show

Equipped:
Traveling Clothes: trousers, undershirt, overtunic, rope belt, straw hat, walking boots
Walking Staff: sturdy, can be leaned on or used as a weapon
Glasses: without these, your vision could generously be described as ‘bad’
Hairtie: keeps your hair out of your eyes
In your backpack:
Food: enough to last you five days, most of it bread and dried fruit
Flask: contains enough drinkable water to last you six days
Tinder and flint: to start fires with
Knife: a sharp implement suitable for cutting things or striking against the flint to make sparks; using it as a weapon is possible, but not recommended
Wooden Case: contains a spare pair of glasses, in case yours break
Spare Clothes: spare trousers, shirt, and tunic
Extra Hairties: in case one breaks or is lost; you have two

The Word:

Spoiler: show

You can currently take up to 5 points of backlash without consequence. You have taken 2 points of backlash so far.
Words Known:
Comprehension: Allows you to understand any creature. Backlash 2.
Repairing: Perform minor repairs on an object. Backlash 1.
Sealing: Maintain the seals that bind the Fell. Backlash 4. You also know how to construct such seals, but you are not yet powerful enough to do so without severely hurting yourself (Backlash 10).

[gman391]

Use seal, damn the backlash.

[Tempest Kitsune]

Reverse our pull on the staff suddenly to get him off balance, let go of it, and punch him in the temple as hard as we can. Attempting to Seal right now would probably kill us.

[bookworm702]

I'm afraid I've got to disagree. The tendrils don't seem to be attached to him, so I don't think it would throw him off balance. I have two options. If we're close enough, a swift quick between the legs, hard as we can. It's shown that pain distracts him enough to lose control of the tendrils. Using that as an opening, beat him down. The staff if we can get it out of the tendrils grasp, our fists if we can get our arms loose, or just our feet if we can't escape at all.

The second option, if we are not close enough to attack, is to comply. Back off, and start asking him questions. Listen, and try to catch him off guard if we see an opening.