The Centipede's Dilemma [Exalted Kung Fu Quest]
- Thread starter Omicron
- Start date
- Location
- Texas
Looks like it's a tie so far! So much for writing the next update to distract myself from Hellworld 2020
Well, since there's demand for a tiebreaker...I am nothing but helpful.
[X] Approach the mountainborn tribes. According to Abanya, though they took tribute from Embercairn, they also provided them with much-needed resources - but the Adder's presence has turned them into enemies conducting dangerous raids on the village. If you could reach out to them and arrange negotiations with the villagers, you might both mend the rift, and create a powerful ally against the Adder.
[X] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
Edit: For voting logic...
Look, something has to be done about the mountain tribes. Not approaching them does not mean they don't exist, and if Golden Road manages to throw the Steel Adders into disarray, well, they'll still exist, and they'll still be inclined to raid the village and demand tribute. The villlagers just won't have a team of goons to fight them off any more. They WILL, however, still have a history of non-cooperation to make the mountainfolk even less friendly than they were in the past.
I think the only solution to the problem that doesn't have an implicit epilogue note of "and then relations between the villagers and the mountainfolk were aggressively terrible for the next 5-10 years while everybody worked out a new equilibrium that might still be worse that what existed before the Steel Adders came in and shook things up" is one where the mountainfolk are involved. If they aren't part of the solution, they WILL be part of the next problem.
That doesn't mean they won't manage to be part of the problem regardless, but it's the best shot of the available options.
Now, Omicron, go! You're free! Write like the wind!
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CuttleFish2.0
Friendly neighborhood cuttlefish
- Location
- Seattle, Washington.
[X] Ask for Marrow's help. The sickleman knows the land and its people, making him half a friend and half an outsider. Though he has a lover in the Adder, he also sees the harm they do to Embercairn, leaving him conflicted. You can try and solve that conflict with him, convincing him to grant you more direct help and advice and to be your intermediary with certain key people on both sides of the community.
[x] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
[x] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
- Location
- madison
[X] Approach the mountainborn tribes. According to Abanya, though they took tribute from Embercairn, they also provided them with much-needed resources - but the Adder's presence has turned them into enemies conducting dangerous raids on the village. If you could reach out to them and arrange negotiations with the villagers, you might both mend the rift, and create a powerful ally against the Adder.
this is the issue that if we don't solve could get the town burned down.
[X] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
because I just kinda like the idea of somone who has a sense of duty and will stick to no matter what.
this is the issue that if we don't solve could get the town burned down.
[X] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
because I just kinda like the idea of somone who has a sense of duty and will stick to no matter what.
- Location
- Ireland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Imma come back and talk and put some effort into a post at some point since life is hectic right now but I don't wanna be locked out of a vote
[X] Ask for Marrow's help. The sickleman knows the land and its people, making him half a friend and half an outsider. Though he has a lover in the Adder, he also sees the harm they do to Embercairn, leaving him conflicted. You can try and solve that conflict with him, convincing him to grant you more direct help and advice and to be your intermediary with certain key people on both sides of the community.
[X] To uphold the honor of the martial arts. Because you cannot abide seeing the once-proud disciples of the Snake having devolved into glorified thugs.
Marrow is good and I like the sort of smouldering, still-there pride inherent to the second option.
[X] Ask for Marrow's help. The sickleman knows the land and its people, making him half a friend and half an outsider. Though he has a lover in the Adder, he also sees the harm they do to Embercairn, leaving him conflicted. You can try and solve that conflict with him, convincing him to grant you more direct help and advice and to be your intermediary with certain key people on both sides of the community.
[X] To uphold the honor of the martial arts. Because you cannot abide seeing the once-proud disciples of the Snake having devolved into glorified thugs.
Marrow is good and I like the sort of smouldering, still-there pride inherent to the second option.
- Location
- HELL
- Pronouns
- They/It
[X] Ask for Marrow's help. The sickleman knows the land and its people, making him half a friend and half an outsider. Though he has a lover in the Adder, he also sees the harm they do to Embercairn, leaving him conflicted. You can try and solve that conflict with him, convincing him to grant you more direct help and advice and to be your intermediary with certain key people on both sides of the community.
because yeah as it turns out just smashing through things doesn't actually solve that many problems
[X] To uphold the honor of the martial arts. Because you cannot abide seeing the once-proud disciples of the Snake having devolved into glorified thugs.
and we can imply that "I'm doin this for your own good, binch."
i super agree with tenfold; these options play really well with each other
because yeah as it turns out just smashing through things doesn't actually solve that many problems
[X] To uphold the honor of the martial arts. Because you cannot abide seeing the once-proud disciples of the Snake having devolved into glorified thugs.
and we can imply that "I'm doin this for your own good, binch."
i super agree with tenfold; these options play really well with each other
TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
My issue with this is that like-
Yeah but you could turn this pretty deftly on it's head with "so if you oust the Adders you have an abruptly homeless group of kung fu gangsters who most likely turn to banditry on the roadways of the Grave or set up the same schtick but far more aggressively and with far less tolerance in Some Other Town, assuming they don't cycle back here for a bloody brawl out in a few weeks". And the reason I'm more partial to the Adder than the Mountainborn is that...for better or for worse Embercairn is the Adder's home in exile too. They're hardly good guests and they're hardly polite guests, honestly they're kind of bored-out-of-their-skull assholes, but they've been a fixture of the village for four years now and, by all implication, just don't have anywhere else to go. And setting aside the fact that they don't have all that far left to fall and if you push people like that something's gonna break, something's going to get torn up, and it's by and large the people of Embercairn that'll bear the brunt of that-
I'm kind of just more inclined to push for the people sitting in the semi-metaphorical lifeboat to find a way to live with each other than to go fishing for some entirely new deal. And I kind of have this low-key issue of "the Adder disrupted a harmonious relationship!" when all the information we have indicates that the Mountainborn were very...not-that. They took steep tithes of crops and goods and, sure, they brought stuff to trade too and sure this whole borderline patron-client dynamic isn't all that exceptionally bad by Creation standards, but we're still talking about a regularly scheduled kinda-mugging here. And it's telling that once they were pushed out they escalated and stayed pretty consistently in the band of violent raids to take what they couldn't trade for now.
They've got a bit of a bastard to them already is what I'm saying.
And while it's hard to plot out what kind of dynamic will evolve from unfucking the dojo and village's shit, for better or for worse it means that Embercairn can meet the mountainborn as basically equals, rather than essentially a hostage population or the clear structural subordinate in any new relationship.
- Location
- Texas
I think we have very different expectations of where things end up with the Adders, then.
Because I don't see how a path to fixing up the village's problems that leaves the Adders present in anything close to their current strength, regardless of which option is chosen.
The fundamental conflict is coming from the fact that Embercairn is too small a village to comfortably support a martial arts monastery, and it's also too small and remote to entertain a pack of full-time martial artists.
Any solution is going to either involve a lot of Steel Adders evacuating Embercairn semi-permanently, or a lot of Steel Adders giving up on being full-time martial artists and taking up subsistence farming. Or, I guess, the Steel Adders take up raiding other villages or groups for resources, but that doesn't sound like something Golden Road would consider a win.
There's not a solution here where the Steel Adders just stop being jerks, because the problem isn't that they're jerks. (They may BE jerks, but that's not why they're a big problem.). The problem is that they're a bunch of extra non-productive mouths to feed, whose only skill is violence.
The mountain folks at least have something going for them besides a habit of punching people who question their contributions to local society. They might be predators, but they aren't parasites.
Because I don't see how a path to fixing up the village's problems that leaves the Adders present in anything close to their current strength, regardless of which option is chosen.
The fundamental conflict is coming from the fact that Embercairn is too small a village to comfortably support a martial arts monastery, and it's also too small and remote to entertain a pack of full-time martial artists.
Any solution is going to either involve a lot of Steel Adders evacuating Embercairn semi-permanently, or a lot of Steel Adders giving up on being full-time martial artists and taking up subsistence farming. Or, I guess, the Steel Adders take up raiding other villages or groups for resources, but that doesn't sound like something Golden Road would consider a win.
There's not a solution here where the Steel Adders just stop being jerks, because the problem isn't that they're jerks. (They may BE jerks, but that's not why they're a big problem.). The problem is that they're a bunch of extra non-productive mouths to feed, whose only skill is violence.
The mountain folks at least have something going for them besides a habit of punching people who question their contributions to local society. They might be predators, but they aren't parasites.
CuttleFish2.0
Friendly neighborhood cuttlefish
- Location
- Seattle, Washington.
I mean... the kind of possible reaction you've described for the Adder is literally what the mountainborn did? An antagonistic, but stomachable presence that got pushed out of dominance and turned just outright violence.My issue with this is that like-
Yeah but you could turn this pretty deftly on it's head with "so if you oust the Adders you have an abruptly homeless group of kung fu gangsters who most likely turn to banditry on the roadways of the Grave or set up the same schtick but far more aggressively and with far less tolerance in Some Other Town, assuming they don't cycle back here for a bloody brawl out in a few weeks". And the reason I'm more partial to the Adder than the Mountainborn is that...for better or for worse Embercairn is the Adder's home in exile too. They're hardly good guests and they're hardly polite guests, honestly they're kind of bored-out-of-their-skull assholes, but they've been a fixture of the village for four years now and, by all implication, just don't have anywhere else to go. And setting aside the fact that they don't have all that far left to fall and if you push people like that something's gonna break, something's going to get torn up, and it's by and large the people of Embercairn that'll bear the brunt of that-
I'm kind of just more inclined to push for the people sitting in the semi-metaphorical lifeboat to find a way to live with each other than to go fishing for some entirely new deal. And I kind of have this low-key issue of "the Adder disrupted a harmonious relationship!" when all the information we have indicates that the Mountainborn were very...not-that. They took steep tithes of crops and goods and, sure, they brought stuff to trade too and sure this whole borderline patron-client dynamic isn't all that exceptionally bad by Creation standards, but we're still talking about a regularly scheduled kinda-mugging here. And it's telling that once they were pushed out they escalated and stayed pretty consistently in the band of violent raids to take what they couldn't trade for now.
They've got a bit of a bastard to them already is what I'm saying.
And while it's hard to plot out what kind of dynamic will evolve from unfucking the dojo and village's shit, for better or for worse it means that Embercairn can meet the mountainborn as basically equals, rather than essentially a hostage population or the clear structural subordinate in any new relationship.
- Location
- Seattle
[X] Ask for Marrow's help. The sickleman knows the land and its people, making him half a friend and half an outsider. Though he has a lover in the Adder, he also sees the harm they do to Embercairn, leaving him conflicted. You can try and solve that conflict with him, convincing him to grant you more direct help and advice and to be your intermediary with certain key people on both sides of the community.
normally i'd vote for the mountainborn but the scene of golden road and marrow shooting the shit and playing games in the morning really sold me on their dynamic and I'd like to see more of that
[X] To uphold the honor of the martial arts. Because you cannot abide seeing the once-proud disciples of the Snake having devolved into glorified thugs.
i will always vote for martial arts bullshit.
normally i'd vote for the mountainborn but the scene of golden road and marrow shooting the shit and playing games in the morning really sold me on their dynamic and I'd like to see more of that
[X] To uphold the honor of the martial arts. Because you cannot abide seeing the once-proud disciples of the Snake having devolved into glorified thugs.
i will always vote for martial arts bullshit.
[X] Ask for Marrow's help. The sickleman knows the land and its people, making him half a friend and half an outsider. Though he has a lover in the Adder, he also sees the harm they do to Embercairn, leaving him conflicted. You can try and solve that conflict with him, convincing him to grant you more direct help and advice and to be your intermediary with certain key people on both sides of the community.
[X] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
[X] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well this looks more clear cut. All right, I'll leave it an hour then call it.
[X] Approach the mountainborn tribes. According to Abanya, though they took tribute from Embercairn, they also provided them with much-needed resources - but the Adder's presence has turned them into enemies conducting dangerous raids on the village. If you could reach out to them and arrange negotiations with the villagers, you might both mend the rift, and create a powerful ally against the Adder.
[X] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
[X] Because you have to. Marrow was right. You are a magistrate, even without a title and in a foreign land. The law must be upheld. The wicked must be punished. It is your duty.
And, of course, once the Adders are gone you really need something to switch the Mountain Tribes back to doing something less destructive than raiding.
'Cause, you know, I don't see them stopping doing that without talking to them.
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Vote closed! By my count Marrow/Magistrate wins.
- Location
- Texas
Right.
However, the vote is done, so it's time to see how things play out.
MiracleGrow
Miracles for only $19.99 [They/Them]
- Location
- DOOR STUCK DOOR STUCK PLEASE I BEG U
I'm guessing in this quest we get to have a multitude of dramatic fights with different kinds of Martial Artists. Deep down I know for certain that we shall face a Hidden Horse Stylist. I hope you are all ready for the heart wrenching moment where they taunt us while spinning our rather confused ox dragon in the air.
- Location
- PA
Dangit man, now it's going to happen and it's going to suck when that smugging jerk does it because we could have had a team of hounds that'd help us funnel in the Hidden Horse Stylist for us to lasso right out the saddle.
- Location
- some computer lab
No, we shall fight their trickery with our own horse, who burns with a passion for Truth and Justice. As Horseback Centipede Style seems to have been our own innovation, he will not know how to respond properly.
- Location
- my house
[X] To prove that you can. Because you are not meek. You are not a cripple. You have strength none of them could possibly know, and you will show them.
This one seems the most interesting. Golden Road clearly has issues with her impairment, and it seems more fun that going the pure hero route
This one seems the most interesting. Golden Road clearly has issues with her impairment, and it seems more fun that going the pure hero route
IV. Storyteller
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
IV. Storyteller
You have a difficult decision to make. And so, as you often do in such cases, you decide to sit and meditate.
The walk back from the dojo to the center of the village may be short, but it is painful on your knees, and the dry air of the afternoon makes your throat parched. So you direct your steps towards the well, and lift yourself up onto its rim; you sit there and unstrap your legs, breathing a sigh of relief when the leather straps stop digging into your skin. You take the wooden bucket and dip it down into the dark waters below. The water shimmers playfully when you draw back the bucket; it is thankfully clean.
You set the bucket onto the rim of the well, and begin to make your ablutions. You rub the water along your neck, your arms, your knees, then part your hair and rub your forehead clean. Then you spill a little water on the ground before you. You pull out a cloth and rub yourself dry, then reach into your coat and draw out a small sandalwood box, rectangular and flat; you open it and dip your fingers in the red paste, re-applying the bindi on your cleaned forehead.
You sigh, closing your eyes and lifting your head up to the sky, then clasp your hands and give thanks to the sun for your continued journey.
When you open your eyes, you find someone standing in front of you. A child, looking at you with wide eyes.
"Are you the meek woman?" asks the little boy - he must be no older than seven. You give him a benevolent smile.
"Please," you say, "call me Mistress Road."
"Mistress?" he asks, looking puzzled.
"I was once a very powerful woman," you say, putting on a look of exaggerated pride. "With much honor, wealth, and servants obeying my call."
The boy frowns. "I don't believe you. You got no legs."
Little brat. You give him a glare. "What, do you think I was born this way?"
That suggestion actually seems to shock him. "Oh! I hadn't thought… I guess…"
"Here," you say flippantly, reaching into your coat and tossing something shiny at him, "catch."
You have to grant the boy he is quick on his feet; he jumps up and catches the bauble in both hands - a gesture that reminds you of your brother catching grasshoppers in the field, long, long ago. You smile at the memory while the boy opens his hands and marvels.
"It's a bit!" he says, looking up. "It's a bit of a jade coin!"
You smile mischievously. "Like I said: very wealthy."
"Can I… can I keep it?" he asks, not seeming to believe his luck.
"I suppose you may."
"Thank you lady Road!" the boy shouts, turning around and racing off towards one of the houses surrounding the plaza. "Mom! Mom, look at what the nice lady gave me!"
Children. You've always loved them, even as insufferable as they might be. And a bit - a quarter of an obol coin - is really no big expense to you. Back when you had a regular income - when Prasad itself gave you your stipend - you would spend some of it on charity wherever you went; every town had a family who could use enough coin to have a healer take care of their sick sheep, or something of the like.
You should be careful, of course. While you are not penniless, you do not have an income anymore. What you spend will be gone for a long while, until you can-
You are drawn out of your thoughts by the sight of the boy coming back. He seems contrite - ashamed even - and is carrying a small bundle in one hand, clenching the other tight as if to protect something in it.
"What is this, then?" you ask as he pauses before you - but he averts his eyes as he offers you his hand, opening it to reveal the jade bit in his palm.
"My mom says I am not supposed to take from the meek," he mutters. "That it is contrary to hospitality. She sent me to give you the bit back, and also this flatbread as an apology. I think she thinks I asked you for coin… She is very upset."
"Oh…" You frown. "Poor darling." You take the broken coin back, and the child produces the rough cloth, opening it to reveal a round flatbread.
What a pickle. You're not even angry, but if you refuse the gift the mother might feel her son has genuinely offended you. You wanted to give him something nice and instead you took something from his family - you suppose it is better to count that loss. You take the bread, bow and give the boy your thanks, and he nods quickly without another word before turning away.
"...wait!" you call out, struck by sudden inspiration. He turns to you, looking worried. "What's your name?"
"Shun Rice-born," he says meekly.
"Well then, Shun," you say, tapping your chin in thought. There is no place in this world where the sick, the crippled, the disabled, are treated simply as some kind of sacred burden, expected to give nothing at all. And Prasad's dominion reaches far and wide, over many cultures and peoples; you have seen places like this before, and you just need to figure out where you are meant to fit…
Ah. You have it.
"Tell me," you ask the boy, "would you like… a story?"
"I love stories," he whispers.
You nod. "And do your friends?"
He nods quickly.
"Then you should tell them to come gather before the well, and I, Mistress Road, will share with them a tale of grand adventure."
Shun's eyes nearly sparkle with curiosity, and he bows quickly before running off. Within minutes, a horde of children swarms the plaza - they are of various ages, the youngest a toddler who has no idea what's going on and is only here because he's in the care of his elder sister, the oldest a boy of about twelve, a little over twenty children in total standing before your well. They're scrawny to a fault, some of them have circles of fatigue under their eyes - the marks of lack of food and too much work. It stings to see, and yet it does not make them any less lively than any other children you've met - the opposite, perhaps; all too eager for a distraction from their routine.
"All right, all right," you say, raising your hands, "everybody sit down and be quiet."
After a few moments of commotion, some shouts, some 'shut up!'s some loud whispers and hushing sounds, the whole gaggle is seated before you in rapturous attention. You can't help but grin at the sight.
You clap your hands to command attention. "I am Mistress Golden Road!" you say proudly. "Though I stand before you today diminished, I was once a Magistrate of Prasad."
"What's a Prasad?" shouts a young girl.
"It's the big city in the south where the walls are made of pearl!" answers an older boy, sounding very confident.
"What's a magistrate?"
"It's somebody who figures out plans for great battles!"
"Nu-uh! That's a stratogist!"
You raise an eyebrow. "Well, if you want to just talk among yourselves, that is fine too. I suppose the Tale of the Robber Prince is not interesting to you anyway…"
Two dozen pairs of eyes snap to you.
"Why would a prince be a robber?" asks a girl.
"You will know if," you say raising a finger, "and only if, you are very quiet as I tell my story."
There is a loud cacophony of cries paradoxically telling you how quiet they will be. You smile to yourself. Children are never quiet during stories like this, but it's important to convey the idea that they should be, to better draw them into the tale.
You wait, and after a moment, the plaza becomes very quiet. An older man pauses at the threshold of his house, watching you, but then smiles and goes on his way.
"Now," you say, leaning down from your perch and lowering your voice as if to bring the children into a shared secret, "this Prince was a Robber, and he was a Prince of Robbers, and he was a Robber of Princes. Oh, he did not steal because he had to, no, not at all; he was fabulously wealthy, and his lands were beautiful, and his people were kind and faithful to the gods. But that prince had a black heart, a heart like a spoiled apple - yes, for indeed, the God Kegare had bitten him, and his poison had rotted the prince's soul! And now he stole, not because he had to, but because he wanted to, for the thrill of the crime… And that is how I came to be called into his lands, by his own unsuspecting family..."
When you are done, the sun is descending upon the horizon, and the children are silent for a good five seconds before breaking into excited shouts, arguments among themselves, questions to you, and so on. You laugh out loud at their excitement, but thankfully by the time you were reaching the end of your story a few parents were already waiting, and they quickly call for their children to come home and attend to the chores you no doubt disrupted by gathering them here. The children scatter, siblings still talking excitedly; only one stays behind, a girl of about ten who approaches you shyly.
"Go on," you say kindly, "ask what you must."
The girl hesitates for a moment, grasping for words, and then asks:
"If it was Kegare who poisoned the Robber Prince and made him evil, why is it also Kegare who helped you reveal he was bad?"
"So you wish to enquire about the mysteries of the gods, child?" you ask, looming over the girl, and she squeals like a mouse. "I am joking - I am only joking, don't worry." You give a glance at the edge of the plaza, where a mother frowns; you should probably make this quick. You bite your lip in thought, trying to put this into words a child will understand easily.
"Have you ever seen centipedes near a dead body?" you ask, and the girl nods - without showing disgust; kids in such villages are often more inured to the simple facts of life and death than the more pampered ones you've met at times. "Well, centipedes do not eat dead bodies. But plenty of other, smaller things do - bugs and beetles and flies. The centipedes eat those. When something dies, it starts rotting, and that rot is the touch of Kegare. But the centipedes who feed on that decay, keep it from running wild and poisoning the land and its people, those also are the touch of Kegare. That is his secret: Kegare does not kill, but when something has died, he both brings decay and consumes it. Kegare bit the prince because there was something in him that had already died, and so he made his heart rot; but he brought me, like a centipede, to consume that rot, so that it might not run rampant in the world. It is part of the order of the world. Do you understand?"
"I…" the girl hesitates again. "I think I do. But- oh, my mom is calling. Thank you Mistress Road good bye see you soon!"
And she's off. Such whimsical things children are.
You relax for a while, drinking more water from the bucket to soothe your dirt-parched throat, and after a moment clicking footsteps come your way.
Marrow slides onto the well's rim, sitting besides you. You wish he wouldn't, it makes you feel small.
"Did you spend all afternoon telling stories to children?" he asks, amused.
"One story," you say, "and it was a good one."
"Did you actually fight a corrupt prince bare-handed in the middle of his throne room before arresting him for robbery?"
"Well, he wasn't a prince, that would have been a whole other bundle of politics, but I wasn't going to try and explain to the kids the finer subtleties of Prasadi bureaucracy. 'Prince' is a good enough approximation. I did fight him in the middle of his banquet hall, though."
"Eh. Throne room's better," Marrow says.
"Right?"
There is a long, but comfortable silence. You watch the sun together as it makes its way towards the cresting mountains, casting them in beautiful orange tones.
"So," Marrow finally asks, "how did your meeting with the Adder go?"
"Not great," you admit.
"Figured as much."
You smirk. "Are you going to be in trouble with lover boy?"
"Road…"
"Sorry." You shrug. "I have difficult decisions to make."
Marrow nods thoughtfully. "You're going to cause trouble, aren't you."
"Trouble was already there. I just…"
You clutch the mudbrick in your hands, frustration rising as you realize that you've made your decision long ago. It was no accident that you chose this story to tell the village's children. The stucco cracks under your fingertips; you shake them off, dust spraying over your trousers.
"You were right," you say. "I never stopped being a magistrate. I turned a blind eye to my calling, but it still haunts me. I can no more renounce it than I can renounce the gods, or the martial arts. This place is twisted. The order has been broken. The most ancient laws abused. I cannot let it stand."
You turn to gauge his reaction and see that he is not looking at you. His reptilian face is twisted in an expression you cannot read, glaring in the direction of the dojo, lips half-pulled up and revealing his many sharp teeth. A long, thin tongue slips out, brushing the length of his muzzle.
"I mean to cause you no ill," you say sadly,"but-"
"No," he says, "don't. Let me… think."
You nod once, and wait.
"I like Shay," Marrow says finally. "I don't love him, but I am fond of him. He is arrogant and cold, yes, but he also has a sense of humour, and he respects me - respects my strength and my boundaries. He is a fragment of peace whenever I am here."
You say nothing. This sounds unlike the man you've met, but then you've barely talked to Shay, and he saw you as an enemy since the moment you walked into town; what would you know his deeper truth?
"I'm a merchant, Road. Of course I realize what the Adder has been doing to that town. But I decided it was none of my business, and I let my affection for Shay twist my vision, let it make me think they were better for this town than the alternative. Even though I was already coming here before they arrived, and the people…"
He sighs, scratching his arm-feathers with a long talon.
"It's the children, Road," he says. "They didn't use to be this thin."
"I know," you say sadly.
"So what are you going to do?" he asks. "Are you going to walk back into the dojo, challenge Nashai to a duel, make yourself a pariah by breaking hospitality and try to fight… whatever the hell she is… with your peg legs? You've got to have something better."
You smile. "I do. I have you."
"...beg pardon?"
"To the Adder, I am an enemy. To the villagers, I am a cripple. To both, I am an outsider. I tried to give something to a hungry child, and his parents refused my gift. I cannot convince them to accept my help - but you can. You're their friend, but also someone who straddles the line between the two sides. You can bring them together. Talk to them."
"...your solution to this mess is to tell me to fix it myself?"
You burst out into sharp, brief laughter. "No, you big, toothy dummy! I'll fix it. But I need the buy-in you have, I need you to reach out, to find some neutral ground where Embercairn and the Adder can meet, and I can talk to them. Abanya said that some of the village's youth had started joining the Adder - they have been here long enough that, even if they exploit the village, bonds, relationships must have been forged. If we can convince some of the students that their master's ways are wrong, that they should be standing for Embercairn, not above it..."
"Yes," Marrow says, narrowing his eyes. "Yes, this could work. The Adder has always stood united, and if you strike them they will stand as one. But if we find the good in them, if we convince some to do the right thing…"
You chuckle. "Then maybe I won't have to punch your boyfriend in the face?"
"Be nice," he says, "this is not easy for me."
"Sorry."
"You're going to need some kind of… hook," he says, sickle-claw tapping the ground as he thinks out loud. "The Adder consider themselves above and apart from the villagers, the villagers fear them, if you just tell them to gather on the plaza one afternoon to talk it will break down quickly. You need to sell it somehow, establish circumstances in which they will be placated and open-minded before you drop the catch on them."
"Wow," you say, "you really are a merchant."
"...what did you think I was?"
"Some guy who got hired to transport goods from one place to another and back?"
"Wow, rude."
"Who probably rents his cart from an actual merchant-"
"-bold words from a girl who apparently just forgot she was a magistrate for several years-"
"-probably gets scammed on the price of his goods by every backwoods villager in the Grave-"
"-supposedly a great detective and law-bringer who can't even figure her way out of a basic hospitality taboo-"
"-thinks he can make a living as a travelling peddler without paying obedience to Ruvia-"
"-worships gods that don't even show up at their festivals-"
"-wait. Wait!" You say suddenly, your train of thought utterly derailed. "What did you just say?"
"...that your gods are weird and I can't understand why you'd worship them?"
"No," you say, mind suddenly racing. "Gods and festivals. Does this village have a god?"
"Of course." Marrow looks surprised. "Every shard in the Grave - sorry, every settlement - has a spirit guardian. Isn't that the case where you come from?"
"Only large towns produce city-fathers," you say.
"I don't know about a 'city-father,'" Marrow says with a shrug, "most guardians are local spirits. Some villages worship the crocodile that keeps the river running, some pay respect to their founding ancestor, and some make sacrifices to the sword in the stone."
"And Embercairn has such a guardian spirit?" you press him.
"Of course. They call her Hounds-The-Rain-And-Brings-The-Harvest. She was a rice guardian once, and they built the Ember shrine for her - but ever since the Golden Hounds have found a home there, it has changed her. She's more than she used to be."
You snap your fingers. "The squash," you say. "You talked about pies and how much children love them, and most of what you've brought is food. Her festival is soon, isn't it?"
"On the Sun's Day," he nods. "The village puts up a big feast, certain special foods that don't grow here, it's a whole thing."
"That's why Nashai was waiting for this specific week! She's going to take advantage of the celebration of the goddess to entreat her! Not only would this be an auspicious time, if that guardian spirit has been affected by the Golden Hounds' powers, she might be able to ensure Nashai bonds with them!"
"That… makes a lot of sense," Marrow says, looking surprised. "And if it doesn't work - the festival is one of the rare times in the year that the goddess manifests bodily. Nashai could..."
"Challenge her," you say grimly. "Try to claim the Hounds by defeating their guardian. Perhaps even killing her."
"The situation is much worse than I thought."
"Do Adders take part in the festivities?" you ask, the picture quickly coming together in your mind.
"They did the first year they were here - then a bunch of their students got drunk and got into some pretty bad fights with the villagers. That almost got people riled up enough to kick them out, but Nashai managed to half-placate, half-scare them into letting them stay. Both years since, the Adder have stayed in their dojo during the festival, conducting their own ceremonies… Road?"
"Pay no mind," you say, touching your hair where a second white lily has grown, right next to the first one. You can feel the hum of your mind's song as the flowers open, breathing in the evening air. "So on the day of the festival Nashai can bring the whole school to the shrine without drawing suspicion. But if instead the students were invited to take part alongside the villagers…"
"You're suggesting using this as our hook," Marrow says, an impressed note in his voice. "Bring those Adder who can be swayed to the festival as a gesture of peace and forgiveness, then make them feel like part of the village…"
"And reel them in to our side. The only problem is that it means waiting for the very last moment and risking Nashai getting her hands on the Hounds. I would much rather pre-empt her somehow, or force her hand into acting too early for her taste."
"Don't let better be the enemy of good," Marrow warns.
"You're right." You sigh. "So, Sun's Day. Four days from now - time enough to prepare."
But how?
You and Marrow attempt several approaches over the next few days. Each of you meets notable success in one endeavour.
You...
[ ] ...find a skilled cobbler among the villagers who has worked on prosthetics before; he fixes up your legs so that they stop hurting every time you walk.
[ ] ...seek out the guidance of the gods, and receive an omen which will help you at a crucial time in the days to come.
[ ] ...make yourself a small reputation as a storyteller, earning respect from the village-folks and love from their children.
While Marrow...
[ ] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
[ ] ...gets into a stupid fight with an Adder student in which the student is wholly at fault, causing some other Adders to question Nashai's leadership when she protects him.
[ ] ...decides to sell some of the small luxuries and trinkets he brought for other villages along his trading route for much less than they're worth, bringing villagers and Adders together in barter.
But this does not go without incident, for while you are busy preparing, someone approaches you at a most inconvenient time.
[ ] The goddess comes to you in dreams on the night before the feast, suspicious of your motives.
[ ] Shay finds you as you practice your katas alone, where no one else can see you, and learns more than you'd like.
[ ] The mother of a child is angered by your stories, and by the dreams they put in her son's head.
You have a difficult decision to make. And so, as you often do in such cases, you decide to sit and meditate.
The walk back from the dojo to the center of the village may be short, but it is painful on your knees, and the dry air of the afternoon makes your throat parched. So you direct your steps towards the well, and lift yourself up onto its rim; you sit there and unstrap your legs, breathing a sigh of relief when the leather straps stop digging into your skin. You take the wooden bucket and dip it down into the dark waters below. The water shimmers playfully when you draw back the bucket; it is thankfully clean.
You set the bucket onto the rim of the well, and begin to make your ablutions. You rub the water along your neck, your arms, your knees, then part your hair and rub your forehead clean. Then you spill a little water on the ground before you. You pull out a cloth and rub yourself dry, then reach into your coat and draw out a small sandalwood box, rectangular and flat; you open it and dip your fingers in the red paste, re-applying the bindi on your cleaned forehead.
You sigh, closing your eyes and lifting your head up to the sky, then clasp your hands and give thanks to the sun for your continued journey.
When you open your eyes, you find someone standing in front of you. A child, looking at you with wide eyes.
"Are you the meek woman?" asks the little boy - he must be no older than seven. You give him a benevolent smile.
"Please," you say, "call me Mistress Road."
"Mistress?" he asks, looking puzzled.
"I was once a very powerful woman," you say, putting on a look of exaggerated pride. "With much honor, wealth, and servants obeying my call."
The boy frowns. "I don't believe you. You got no legs."
Little brat. You give him a glare. "What, do you think I was born this way?"
That suggestion actually seems to shock him. "Oh! I hadn't thought… I guess…"
"Here," you say flippantly, reaching into your coat and tossing something shiny at him, "catch."
You have to grant the boy he is quick on his feet; he jumps up and catches the bauble in both hands - a gesture that reminds you of your brother catching grasshoppers in the field, long, long ago. You smile at the memory while the boy opens his hands and marvels.
"It's a bit!" he says, looking up. "It's a bit of a jade coin!"
You smile mischievously. "Like I said: very wealthy."
"Can I… can I keep it?" he asks, not seeming to believe his luck.
"I suppose you may."
"Thank you lady Road!" the boy shouts, turning around and racing off towards one of the houses surrounding the plaza. "Mom! Mom, look at what the nice lady gave me!"
Children. You've always loved them, even as insufferable as they might be. And a bit - a quarter of an obol coin - is really no big expense to you. Back when you had a regular income - when Prasad itself gave you your stipend - you would spend some of it on charity wherever you went; every town had a family who could use enough coin to have a healer take care of their sick sheep, or something of the like.
You should be careful, of course. While you are not penniless, you do not have an income anymore. What you spend will be gone for a long while, until you can-
You are drawn out of your thoughts by the sight of the boy coming back. He seems contrite - ashamed even - and is carrying a small bundle in one hand, clenching the other tight as if to protect something in it.
"What is this, then?" you ask as he pauses before you - but he averts his eyes as he offers you his hand, opening it to reveal the jade bit in his palm.
"My mom says I am not supposed to take from the meek," he mutters. "That it is contrary to hospitality. She sent me to give you the bit back, and also this flatbread as an apology. I think she thinks I asked you for coin… She is very upset."
"Oh…" You frown. "Poor darling." You take the broken coin back, and the child produces the rough cloth, opening it to reveal a round flatbread.
What a pickle. You're not even angry, but if you refuse the gift the mother might feel her son has genuinely offended you. You wanted to give him something nice and instead you took something from his family - you suppose it is better to count that loss. You take the bread, bow and give the boy your thanks, and he nods quickly without another word before turning away.
"...wait!" you call out, struck by sudden inspiration. He turns to you, looking worried. "What's your name?"
"Shun Rice-born," he says meekly.
"Well then, Shun," you say, tapping your chin in thought. There is no place in this world where the sick, the crippled, the disabled, are treated simply as some kind of sacred burden, expected to give nothing at all. And Prasad's dominion reaches far and wide, over many cultures and peoples; you have seen places like this before, and you just need to figure out where you are meant to fit…
Ah. You have it.
"Tell me," you ask the boy, "would you like… a story?"
"I love stories," he whispers.
You nod. "And do your friends?"
He nods quickly.
"Then you should tell them to come gather before the well, and I, Mistress Road, will share with them a tale of grand adventure."
Shun's eyes nearly sparkle with curiosity, and he bows quickly before running off. Within minutes, a horde of children swarms the plaza - they are of various ages, the youngest a toddler who has no idea what's going on and is only here because he's in the care of his elder sister, the oldest a boy of about twelve, a little over twenty children in total standing before your well. They're scrawny to a fault, some of them have circles of fatigue under their eyes - the marks of lack of food and too much work. It stings to see, and yet it does not make them any less lively than any other children you've met - the opposite, perhaps; all too eager for a distraction from their routine.
"All right, all right," you say, raising your hands, "everybody sit down and be quiet."
After a few moments of commotion, some shouts, some 'shut up!'s some loud whispers and hushing sounds, the whole gaggle is seated before you in rapturous attention. You can't help but grin at the sight.
You clap your hands to command attention. "I am Mistress Golden Road!" you say proudly. "Though I stand before you today diminished, I was once a Magistrate of Prasad."
"What's a Prasad?" shouts a young girl.
"It's the big city in the south where the walls are made of pearl!" answers an older boy, sounding very confident.
"What's a magistrate?"
"It's somebody who figures out plans for great battles!"
"Nu-uh! That's a stratogist!"
You raise an eyebrow. "Well, if you want to just talk among yourselves, that is fine too. I suppose the Tale of the Robber Prince is not interesting to you anyway…"
Two dozen pairs of eyes snap to you.
"Why would a prince be a robber?" asks a girl.
"You will know if," you say raising a finger, "and only if, you are very quiet as I tell my story."
There is a loud cacophony of cries paradoxically telling you how quiet they will be. You smile to yourself. Children are never quiet during stories like this, but it's important to convey the idea that they should be, to better draw them into the tale.
You wait, and after a moment, the plaza becomes very quiet. An older man pauses at the threshold of his house, watching you, but then smiles and goes on his way.
"Now," you say, leaning down from your perch and lowering your voice as if to bring the children into a shared secret, "this Prince was a Robber, and he was a Prince of Robbers, and he was a Robber of Princes. Oh, he did not steal because he had to, no, not at all; he was fabulously wealthy, and his lands were beautiful, and his people were kind and faithful to the gods. But that prince had a black heart, a heart like a spoiled apple - yes, for indeed, the God Kegare had bitten him, and his poison had rotted the prince's soul! And now he stole, not because he had to, but because he wanted to, for the thrill of the crime… And that is how I came to be called into his lands, by his own unsuspecting family..."
***
When you are done, the sun is descending upon the horizon, and the children are silent for a good five seconds before breaking into excited shouts, arguments among themselves, questions to you, and so on. You laugh out loud at their excitement, but thankfully by the time you were reaching the end of your story a few parents were already waiting, and they quickly call for their children to come home and attend to the chores you no doubt disrupted by gathering them here. The children scatter, siblings still talking excitedly; only one stays behind, a girl of about ten who approaches you shyly.
"Go on," you say kindly, "ask what you must."
The girl hesitates for a moment, grasping for words, and then asks:
"If it was Kegare who poisoned the Robber Prince and made him evil, why is it also Kegare who helped you reveal he was bad?"
"So you wish to enquire about the mysteries of the gods, child?" you ask, looming over the girl, and she squeals like a mouse. "I am joking - I am only joking, don't worry." You give a glance at the edge of the plaza, where a mother frowns; you should probably make this quick. You bite your lip in thought, trying to put this into words a child will understand easily.
"Have you ever seen centipedes near a dead body?" you ask, and the girl nods - without showing disgust; kids in such villages are often more inured to the simple facts of life and death than the more pampered ones you've met at times. "Well, centipedes do not eat dead bodies. But plenty of other, smaller things do - bugs and beetles and flies. The centipedes eat those. When something dies, it starts rotting, and that rot is the touch of Kegare. But the centipedes who feed on that decay, keep it from running wild and poisoning the land and its people, those also are the touch of Kegare. That is his secret: Kegare does not kill, but when something has died, he both brings decay and consumes it. Kegare bit the prince because there was something in him that had already died, and so he made his heart rot; but he brought me, like a centipede, to consume that rot, so that it might not run rampant in the world. It is part of the order of the world. Do you understand?"
"I…" the girl hesitates again. "I think I do. But- oh, my mom is calling. Thank you Mistress Road good bye see you soon!"
And she's off. Such whimsical things children are.
You relax for a while, drinking more water from the bucket to soothe your dirt-parched throat, and after a moment clicking footsteps come your way.
Marrow slides onto the well's rim, sitting besides you. You wish he wouldn't, it makes you feel small.
"Did you spend all afternoon telling stories to children?" he asks, amused.
"One story," you say, "and it was a good one."
"Did you actually fight a corrupt prince bare-handed in the middle of his throne room before arresting him for robbery?"
"Well, he wasn't a prince, that would have been a whole other bundle of politics, but I wasn't going to try and explain to the kids the finer subtleties of Prasadi bureaucracy. 'Prince' is a good enough approximation. I did fight him in the middle of his banquet hall, though."
"Eh. Throne room's better," Marrow says.
"Right?"
There is a long, but comfortable silence. You watch the sun together as it makes its way towards the cresting mountains, casting them in beautiful orange tones.
"So," Marrow finally asks, "how did your meeting with the Adder go?"
"Not great," you admit.
"Figured as much."
You smirk. "Are you going to be in trouble with lover boy?"
"Road…"
"Sorry." You shrug. "I have difficult decisions to make."
Marrow nods thoughtfully. "You're going to cause trouble, aren't you."
"Trouble was already there. I just…"
You clutch the mudbrick in your hands, frustration rising as you realize that you've made your decision long ago. It was no accident that you chose this story to tell the village's children. The stucco cracks under your fingertips; you shake them off, dust spraying over your trousers.
"You were right," you say. "I never stopped being a magistrate. I turned a blind eye to my calling, but it still haunts me. I can no more renounce it than I can renounce the gods, or the martial arts. This place is twisted. The order has been broken. The most ancient laws abused. I cannot let it stand."
You turn to gauge his reaction and see that he is not looking at you. His reptilian face is twisted in an expression you cannot read, glaring in the direction of the dojo, lips half-pulled up and revealing his many sharp teeth. A long, thin tongue slips out, brushing the length of his muzzle.
"I mean to cause you no ill," you say sadly,"but-"
"No," he says, "don't. Let me… think."
You nod once, and wait.
"I like Shay," Marrow says finally. "I don't love him, but I am fond of him. He is arrogant and cold, yes, but he also has a sense of humour, and he respects me - respects my strength and my boundaries. He is a fragment of peace whenever I am here."
You say nothing. This sounds unlike the man you've met, but then you've barely talked to Shay, and he saw you as an enemy since the moment you walked into town; what would you know his deeper truth?
"I'm a merchant, Road. Of course I realize what the Adder has been doing to that town. But I decided it was none of my business, and I let my affection for Shay twist my vision, let it make me think they were better for this town than the alternative. Even though I was already coming here before they arrived, and the people…"
He sighs, scratching his arm-feathers with a long talon.
"It's the children, Road," he says. "They didn't use to be this thin."
"I know," you say sadly.
"So what are you going to do?" he asks. "Are you going to walk back into the dojo, challenge Nashai to a duel, make yourself a pariah by breaking hospitality and try to fight… whatever the hell she is… with your peg legs? You've got to have something better."
You smile. "I do. I have you."
"...beg pardon?"
"To the Adder, I am an enemy. To the villagers, I am a cripple. To both, I am an outsider. I tried to give something to a hungry child, and his parents refused my gift. I cannot convince them to accept my help - but you can. You're their friend, but also someone who straddles the line between the two sides. You can bring them together. Talk to them."
"...your solution to this mess is to tell me to fix it myself?"
You burst out into sharp, brief laughter. "No, you big, toothy dummy! I'll fix it. But I need the buy-in you have, I need you to reach out, to find some neutral ground where Embercairn and the Adder can meet, and I can talk to them. Abanya said that some of the village's youth had started joining the Adder - they have been here long enough that, even if they exploit the village, bonds, relationships must have been forged. If we can convince some of the students that their master's ways are wrong, that they should be standing for Embercairn, not above it..."
"Yes," Marrow says, narrowing his eyes. "Yes, this could work. The Adder has always stood united, and if you strike them they will stand as one. But if we find the good in them, if we convince some to do the right thing…"
You chuckle. "Then maybe I won't have to punch your boyfriend in the face?"
"Be nice," he says, "this is not easy for me."
"Sorry."
"You're going to need some kind of… hook," he says, sickle-claw tapping the ground as he thinks out loud. "The Adder consider themselves above and apart from the villagers, the villagers fear them, if you just tell them to gather on the plaza one afternoon to talk it will break down quickly. You need to sell it somehow, establish circumstances in which they will be placated and open-minded before you drop the catch on them."
"Wow," you say, "you really are a merchant."
"...what did you think I was?"
"Some guy who got hired to transport goods from one place to another and back?"
"Wow, rude."
"Who probably rents his cart from an actual merchant-"
"-bold words from a girl who apparently just forgot she was a magistrate for several years-"
"-probably gets scammed on the price of his goods by every backwoods villager in the Grave-"
"-supposedly a great detective and law-bringer who can't even figure her way out of a basic hospitality taboo-"
"-thinks he can make a living as a travelling peddler without paying obedience to Ruvia-"
"-worships gods that don't even show up at their festivals-"
"-wait. Wait!" You say suddenly, your train of thought utterly derailed. "What did you just say?"
"...that your gods are weird and I can't understand why you'd worship them?"
"No," you say, mind suddenly racing. "Gods and festivals. Does this village have a god?"
"Of course." Marrow looks surprised. "Every shard in the Grave - sorry, every settlement - has a spirit guardian. Isn't that the case where you come from?"
"Only large towns produce city-fathers," you say.
"I don't know about a 'city-father,'" Marrow says with a shrug, "most guardians are local spirits. Some villages worship the crocodile that keeps the river running, some pay respect to their founding ancestor, and some make sacrifices to the sword in the stone."
"And Embercairn has such a guardian spirit?" you press him.
"Of course. They call her Hounds-The-Rain-And-Brings-The-Harvest. She was a rice guardian once, and they built the Ember shrine for her - but ever since the Golden Hounds have found a home there, it has changed her. She's more than she used to be."
You snap your fingers. "The squash," you say. "You talked about pies and how much children love them, and most of what you've brought is food. Her festival is soon, isn't it?"
"On the Sun's Day," he nods. "The village puts up a big feast, certain special foods that don't grow here, it's a whole thing."
"That's why Nashai was waiting for this specific week! She's going to take advantage of the celebration of the goddess to entreat her! Not only would this be an auspicious time, if that guardian spirit has been affected by the Golden Hounds' powers, she might be able to ensure Nashai bonds with them!"
"That… makes a lot of sense," Marrow says, looking surprised. "And if it doesn't work - the festival is one of the rare times in the year that the goddess manifests bodily. Nashai could..."
"Challenge her," you say grimly. "Try to claim the Hounds by defeating their guardian. Perhaps even killing her."
"The situation is much worse than I thought."
"Do Adders take part in the festivities?" you ask, the picture quickly coming together in your mind.
"They did the first year they were here - then a bunch of their students got drunk and got into some pretty bad fights with the villagers. That almost got people riled up enough to kick them out, but Nashai managed to half-placate, half-scare them into letting them stay. Both years since, the Adder have stayed in their dojo during the festival, conducting their own ceremonies… Road?"
"Pay no mind," you say, touching your hair where a second white lily has grown, right next to the first one. You can feel the hum of your mind's song as the flowers open, breathing in the evening air. "So on the day of the festival Nashai can bring the whole school to the shrine without drawing suspicion. But if instead the students were invited to take part alongside the villagers…"
"You're suggesting using this as our hook," Marrow says, an impressed note in his voice. "Bring those Adder who can be swayed to the festival as a gesture of peace and forgiveness, then make them feel like part of the village…"
"And reel them in to our side. The only problem is that it means waiting for the very last moment and risking Nashai getting her hands on the Hounds. I would much rather pre-empt her somehow, or force her hand into acting too early for her taste."
"Don't let better be the enemy of good," Marrow warns.
"You're right." You sigh. "So, Sun's Day. Four days from now - time enough to prepare."
But how?
You and Marrow attempt several approaches over the next few days. Each of you meets notable success in one endeavour.
You...
[ ] ...find a skilled cobbler among the villagers who has worked on prosthetics before; he fixes up your legs so that they stop hurting every time you walk.
[ ] ...seek out the guidance of the gods, and receive an omen which will help you at a crucial time in the days to come.
[ ] ...make yourself a small reputation as a storyteller, earning respect from the village-folks and love from their children.
While Marrow...
[ ] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
[ ] ...gets into a stupid fight with an Adder student in which the student is wholly at fault, causing some other Adders to question Nashai's leadership when she protects him.
[ ] ...decides to sell some of the small luxuries and trinkets he brought for other villages along his trading route for much less than they're worth, bringing villagers and Adders together in barter.
But this does not go without incident, for while you are busy preparing, someone approaches you at a most inconvenient time.
[ ] The goddess comes to you in dreams on the night before the feast, suspicious of your motives.
[ ] Shay finds you as you practice your katas alone, where no one else can see you, and learns more than you'd like.
[ ] The mother of a child is angered by your stories, and by the dreams they put in her son's head.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] ...seek out the guidance of the gods, and receive an omen which will help you at a crucial time in the days to come.
[X] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
[X] The mother of a child is angered by your stories, and by the dreams they put in her son's head.
[X] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
[X] The mother of a child is angered by your stories, and by the dreams they put in her son's head.
- Location
- Elsewhere
[x] ...seek out the guidance of the gods, and receive an omen which will help you at a crucial time in the days to come.
Omens are neat. i do like the others, though.
[x] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
Feels comparatively safe. Fighting the Adder could be interesting, but I'd prefer it in combination with different options, I think.
[x] Shay finds you as you practice your katas alone, where no one else can see you, and learns more than you'd like.
I want to know what he found out, too. And making an enemy of the mother or goddess bothers me more than empowering an existing enemy.
Omens are neat. i do like the others, though.
[x] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
Feels comparatively safe. Fighting the Adder could be interesting, but I'd prefer it in combination with different options, I think.
[x] Shay finds you as you practice your katas alone, where no one else can see you, and learns more than you'd like.
I want to know what he found out, too. And making an enemy of the mother or goddess bothers me more than empowering an existing enemy.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
This is an interesting set of vote options. I read it as You get one small little thing that's going to mark a turning point later, while Marrow manages something more obviously large and flashy, but on the other hand, someone whom you'd rather have on your side is instead not as a drawback. You can pair them up a bit, like storyteller vs storyteller You and drawback, but...
[x] ...make yourself a small reputation as a storyteller, earning respect from the village-folks and love from their children.
[x] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
[x] Shay finds you as you practice your katas alone, where no one else can see you, and learns more than you'd like.
This is the combo I think I like most. Golden Road builds bridges and shows she's a deft hand at being a good magistrate, not just a magistrate.
And I want some proper angst over Shay.
[x] ...make yourself a small reputation as a storyteller, earning respect from the village-folks and love from their children.
[x] ...manages to sell his plan to lorekeeper Abanya, ensuring that the elder will be helpful rather than suspicious when comes the time to talk with the Adder.
[x] Shay finds you as you practice your katas alone, where no one else can see you, and learns more than you'd like.
This is the combo I think I like most. Golden Road builds bridges and shows she's a deft hand at being a good magistrate, not just a magistrate.
And I want some proper angst over Shay.