Despite the protests and disagreements of your legs and from us, you're certain walking all the way yourself was well worth it. You sit to enjoy the view of the capital for a moment, and not because you're on the verge of collapse. You idiot.
The perpetual lava falls on the cliff face backlight the marble white city in the evening light of the setting sun and the planet's orbiting rings. You take a moment to breathe, and enjoy the cool wind on your back as it rustles through the grass, bringing with it a smell of petrichor.
Still somewhat shaky, you get back to your feet and walk to one of the side gates of the outer wall. Even though the roads should be safe this close to a city, it's best to get inside soon. The white of the marble fades to the gray of stonework this far out, only the crenellations having any white to them.
As you approach, only one of the two town guards acknowledge you, while the other leans against the wall. She even has a pillow propped between her and the coffin shield on her back. Their armor is functional, I suppose, with only a modicum of style in the gold colored trim patterning the all black plate mail, and covering most of their faces.
The one actually standing at attention, spear in hand, flicks her wrist, a sheet emerging from a slot on her gauntlet, and holds it out to sign. “State your name and place a mark here please.”
//(To speak for you, you summon:)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB1]]
[[Kasa|K1]]
[[Yultholth|Y1]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS1]]
<<set $injured to 1>>\
<<set $Ophiel_injured to 1>>\
<<set $best to 1>>\
With a boom, Kasa appears behind you, the weight of the giant putting indents into the land at least a foot deep. The guards crane their necks to look up at her as she kneels down to gently grab the parchment, doing her best not to tear it. She bites into her pinky, drawing a dot of blood she presses against the sheet. Even the relatively tiny dot is enough to soak nearly half of it and the guard gingerly takes it back, placing it back in her gauntlet before enhancing her arm with magic and lifting the gate.
[[Enter the city]]As what I can only assume is a poorly thought out prank, you summon Yultholth to speak for you. The giant and terrible creature appears suddenly behind you, its hermit crab shell creating a crater as it lands. The guards ready their weapons in a panic as Yultholth’s many chitinous limbs begin to emerge. You are quickly arrested and thrown in prison.
<center>//Your story has ended//</center>You make the correct choice and summon me to speak for you. As this is our introduction to the city, I make our entrance suitably dramatic, my form coming together out of white mist from your censer that coalesces into the most gorgeous woman you’ve ever laid eyes on, twirling on my high heeled sabatons.
Despite the amount of times you’ve seen me, my radiance never ceases to impress. Clad in form fitting white plate and a matching cape that flows alongside my dark hair all without a speck of dirt or dust.
Both guards nearly fall over in surprise at the sight of me. Their eyes flick between the two of us, as surprised by the contrast as I was when we first met. Finally, the more professional of the pair manages to speak. “Greeting, your grace… Would you mark this, please?”
I lean down and place a finger upon the parchment, leaving a glowing imprint on its surface. I signal the guards to open the gate, and they dutifully obey, the slits in their arms glowing blue as they enhance their strength enough to lift the wooden gate above their heads. I usher you forward as I turn back into smoke and return to the censer.
[[Enter the city]]The fairy appears with a flash of shining dust when her form coalesces from the smoke of your censer and immediately snatches the parchment from the guard, throws it into the air, pins it to the wall with throwing darts, unsheathes her pen, taking a dueler’s stance as she strikes the parchment as she would an enemy, and signs her name in perfect calligraphy. She unpins the parchment and hands it back to the guard before disappearing again, giving you a quick salute as she does so.
The guard blinks before looking down at the sheet, confirming its authenticity. She nods to her companion who turns back to the gate and lifts it up, a blue line in her arm, enhancing her strength, and beginning to glow as she lifts.
[[Enter the city]]Your summon turns back into smoke and returns to your censer, and you enter the city. It's far more bustling than your hometown, hardly able to see a hundred feet before your view is blocked by the crowd. At the very least, you don’t require a map to navigate as the building you’re searching for is one of the largest, and one of the only made of lumber, rather than stone.
You try to keep your head down as you make your way through the city, but quickly realize that’s not necessary. Everyone here walks so fast and pays each other almost no mind. You notice that nearly all the conversations you can overhear are business negotiations, rather than people talking to each other on the street.
[[Find the Hunt Contractor's Guild]]Surprisingly, you make it to the Hunt Contractor's Guild without issue, or anyone even speaking to you. The doors to the guild hall are about twice your height with one of them hanging off its hinges. You stop and take a breath, preparing to enter, then follow two burly women as they step through.
Inside is a madhouse. It looks more like a scaled up bar fight than a guild hall. The only area of calm is the mostly empty second floor. But even that has evidence of a fight with partially broken railings. On the other side of the mayhem is a counter taking up the entirety of the far wall, behind which guild members calmly prepare food despite the ruckus.
No one in the fight has drawn their weapons, keeping this disorderly instead of disastrous, but several tables, chairs, mugs, and parts of the walls are all broken. There's even a small fire going on in the corner no one seems to be concerned with.
[[Find someone sane to talk to]]You slowly navigate through the chaos, trying to make it to the counter where you hope to talk to someone less violent. The fighters who notice you do their best to keep away from you and not run you over - when one woman is about to fall on you before she’s caught by the collar by the person fighting her. She takes a punch to the jaw that whips her head around where she can see you. “Hey,” she smiles, showing the blood staining her teeth. “You new here?” Your hand goes to the censer, but before you can decide which of us should respond, the person grabbing her lifts her up and slams her through a table. You quicken your pace.
You make it to the desk without injury and take one of the stools, releasing a breath. “Hey there,” one of the hunters behind the desk says. “Sorry about the fight, this happens a lot around here. What can I getch’ya?”
You get a message from Bang that she’s in a good position, so you place your censer down on the counter, summoning the general to speak for you. The smoke coalesces into a fairy shape before manifesting her standing on the counter. “We will take two slow burning incense and two combat ones, and I will have one jackfruit seed, if you please.”
“Comin’ right up.” you hear shifting from under the counter and a slot opens up in front of you with the items you requested. “You want anything, boy?” You shake your head. “Suit yourself. That’ll be thirty two marks.”
Bang picks up her seed, it being nearly a quarter of the size she is. “These are just for the two of us. We will need more.”
“Ah, got more spirits in that thing?” You nod.
//(Who do you want to put up with next?)//
[[Kasa|K2]]
[[Yultholth|Y2]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS2]]
Almost as soon as she appears, someone is thrown into the back of her head. She bares her teeth and balls her fist trying to keep calm. “I’ll have dragon thigh. And make it quick before I have one of the guild members instead.”
“You got it.” She runs to the back, unsure about how serious she’s being. As you wait, Kasa gives you a gentle nudge in support.
//(Who do you want to put up with next?)//
<<if not hasVisited("Y2")>>[[Yultholth|Y2]]<</if>>
<<if not hasVisited("CS2")>> [[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS2]]<</if>>
<<if hasVisited("CS2") and hasVisited("Y2")>> [[That's everyone!]]<</if>>
You shift your censer’s filter to the sea salt, and Bang cocks her head, listening, then orders a raw squid tentacle for your giant hermit crab. The woman behind the counter writes the order onto a piece of parchment and it disappears with a puff of flame. A few moments later, the gargantuan limb slaps down on the counter, causing it to shake.
Not wanting to cause yet more destruction to the hall, you just summon its mouth which snatches up the massive hunk of meat from the table and swallows it in one bite. It taps you on the shoulder with an antenna as thanks and makes a burble of support before disappearing.
//(Who do you want to put up with next?)//
<<if not hasVisited("K2")>>[[Kasa|K2]]<</if>>
<<if not hasVisited("CS2")>> [[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS2]]<</if>>
<<if hasVisited("K2") and hasVisited("CS2")>> [[That's everyone!]]<</if>>
You twist the censer so its filter is the dust of my original sword and I appear in all my glory, sitting beside you and doing my best to pay no mind to the debauchery going on behind us. I lean over the counter and rest my head on my hand while smiling at the guild member. You turn away in embarrassment because you are a child as I introduce myself to her. “And what’s your name, if I may ask?”
“Oh, uh, I’m Kelaby. What can I get for ya?” Taking care of your delicate sensibilities, I lean and whisper to her how I would like her to put love into the food. “I’ll let the chefs know.”
We both sit in silence as we wait for her return, and I shift my stool closer to yours. “We’ll be fine, you know. Whatever the answer is.” You give a reluctant nod as Kelaby returns with my, what you call ‘pompous food’.
//(Who do you want to put up with next?)//
<<if not hasVisited("K2")>>[[Kasa|K2]]<</if>>
<<if not hasVisited("Y2")>>[[Yultholth|Y2]]<</if>>
<<if hasVisited("K2") and hasVisited("Y2")>> [[That's everyone!]]<</if>>
As expected, the total price of everything is quite steep, but so long as you become part of the guild in the next few days, money won’t be a problem. Instead we will have far more fun obstacles, such as the very real possibility of dying.
As we finish our meal, the fight behind us stops in an instant at the sound of one heavy stomp stomp. Everyone looks up to the second floor where first you see a set of four, fur covered hooves connected to legs each almost as tall as a person. They’re covered in splotchy black and white fur that goes all the way up the centaur's body before cascading down to her horse back in a thick ponytail. The guild master. “That’s enough!” she shouts. “If we get more damages than our insurance covers, it’s coming out of all your pay.” There’s groaning from the entire guild.
As she descends the stairs one of the guild members slams another's head through a wall. They spit to the side before throwing a bag of coins on their victims back. “I’ll pay for that,” they say casually. You take a breath and I give you an encouraging pat on the back as you approach the guild master.
//(Who speaks for you in what is probably the most important conversation in your life?)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB3]]
[[Kasa|K3]]
==Yultholth== (No, he cannot speak.)
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS3]]
You think maybe a show of strength will work. Kasa disappears from the counter and manifests beside you. Even the guild master has to look up to see her face. “Hey,” Kasa says. “We want to join.” Blunt as ever.
“Sorry, kid, we can't hire spirits. You’ll need a summoner.” Kasa points to you, and, to your credit, you don’t hide behind Kasa’s leg. The guild master purses her lips as she seems to see you for the first time. “We can’t hire men either.”
She tries to walk past you, but Kasa places a hand in front of her. “We can do it.”
“No he can’t, and even if he can, I don’t care. Leave.”
Kasa narrows her eyes. “You are making a mistake.”
She walks away without looking back. “I gave you my answer, and I won’t be repeating myself.” Kasa glares at her as she leaves to speak with her guild, but doesn’t speak further.
Kasa sits beside you in a huff. “It seems this will be as difficult as we feared.”
[[Time for plan B...]]The general flies up to be eye level with the guild master. “Greetings,” she says with a bow. “We would like to request entry into your guild.”
“Alright. Who’s your summoner?”
“They are quite proficient, managing to make it from Alsitear in two weeks.”
She nods, at least a little impressed. “Okay. Is there a reason I’m speaking to you and not her?”
“They have a disability rendering them unable to speak verbally, so they speak through us instead. While it is a strange arrangement, we have managed to make it work for some time.”
“I’ll still need to see her myself before I can let anyone try to join. I’m assuming she’s here with you.”
Bang nods. “Are you certain that is necessary? After the journey here, they would prefer to rest and leave matters to us for the moment.”
The guild master narrows her eyes. “I can meet her later if necessary. Why don’t you point them out to me.”
Bang sighs. “He’s there.” She gestures to you.
She glares at Bang. “Don’t waste my time,” she says, turning away.
Dejected, she flies back to you. “As suspected, the direct approach did not work.”
[[Time for plan B...]]I appear with a perfect bow, one arm at the waist and the other out to my side. “Greetings, guild master. I do not wish to waste your time, so I will make my request succinct. I am looking to join your guild.”
She pauses, slightly taken aback. “You?”
“As a spirit, a position of leadership is rather untenable, but as I’m sure you’ve heard, I am capable of far more than leading.”
“I have heard. I’ve also heard that you’re the kind of spirit to accept any summoner just to get back.”
My decades of experience in politics allows me to hide any bristling. “Thankfully, that notion is not common, and so has little bearing on my behavior. I would not sully myself with an unskilled mage, though you are correct that my skills are enough to bring even the lowliest of magic users up to greatness.”
She laughs. “True enough. Sadly, we can’t accept spirits into the guild. Your summoner is going to have to be the one to join. If she can just manage to not die during the trials, you’ll get in just fine. Bring her to me, and I’ll sign off on your trial.” In your head, you hear me call you over, and you do your best to stay steady as you approach her. Her face goes flat as she sees you. “Unless you're here to sell that censer, I’m not interested, boy.” She looks back at me. “Find a woman who knows what a wand is, and I can let you in.” Without another glance, she turns and walks away.
I sigh. “We will need to rest before we head out.”
[[Time for plan B...]]The guild has guest rooms for travellers, which you qualify as for at least a few days, but getting any sleep is about as difficult as sleeping out in the wild. While outside, it’s bugs and bad weather, in here it’s the sounds of general violence that easily carry through the thin walls of the guest room.
When you wake up, thankfully, it’s not to the sounds of another fight starting. You’re more well rested than usual, but you're still groggy. Though with what you need to do, you could sleep for another day and not feel ready. Better to get this over with. You feel us all encourage you. You’ve faced worse than Geovores before, even if it’s been tough. Just grab one head from a monster that happens to be destroying the world and come back. Simple.
[[You wash off in the empty men's room and head out.]]You're hardly out of the city before you’re stopped. “Hey, wait up.” you hear from behind you. You turn to see the woman who briefly greeted you at the guild before being put through a table. Her nose is still broken from that. Now that you get a better look at her, you can see she has fiery orange hair tied back in a loose bun with light freckles across her face, is wearing simple leather armor with what looks like a stone glove on her left hand, and bears a rapier on her hip that’s burning with what have to be phantom flames.
//(To respond to this meddlesome intrusion, you summon:)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB4]]
[[Kasa|K4]]
[[Yultholth|Y4]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS4]]
She’s taken aback as soon as she sees me appear. “Hi, your grace. I didn’t know you were part of the retinue. Can I… I was hoping to join you.”
“That depends entirely on why you wish to follow us. Know that if you have any untoward intentions, I am more than happy to live up to more than the first half of my title.”
“Nothing like that, I swear. I want to help you guys. If you’ll allow me.”
I smile. “Of course. Any party can’t go wrong with having two gorgeous women." She blushes.
“Hey,” Bang says in your head so I can hear. “What’s that supposed to mean? Kasa, are you really going to take this?”
“I don’t care.”
“If I may ask,” I say, ignoring their complaining. “Why do you wish to accompany us?”
“Honestly?” She blushes even more. “I mean, I don’t know either of you that well, but I mean… I wouldn't mind seeing you both around the guildhall more often.” Now do you see why you should always summon me? We haven’t even joined the guild yet, and already we have supporters due to my radiance. (And whatever you have going on I suppose.) “Oh, my name’s Ophiel, by the way.”
[[Head out]]The creature’s mouth and legs appear above you, his claws sinking into the earth on either side of you. He makes some rumblings and squelching sounds.
“I’m here to help you kill the Geovore, actually. I hope that’s not a problem for you.” To all of our surprise, it seems she can actually understand Yultholth. “No, I’m quite quick, you don’t have to worry about stepping on me.”
Yultholth makes more noises.
“No, I’m not trying to steal him, you big bug.” He squelches. “Crustacean, whatever. I’m sure I can’t replace a sea monster as his best friend. I think your spot is fine. Will you just let come with you?”
Yultholth pauses before making more rumbling sounds.
“Thank you, mighty crustacean, for your benevolence,” she says with a sarcastic bow.
[[Head out]]“Go back to the guild. Neither of us are in the mood to hear how you believe a man is incapable of doing this. We have heard it enough already.”
“I-. No, no, that’s not why I’m here at all. I want to help.”
“We can do this ourselves.”
“Look, this mission is dangerous to anyone, not just to men. I just don’t want him to die, or any of you to die again. That’s all.”
Kasa kneels down, getting her face close enough for her to feel Kasa’s breath, looming above her. “Do not. Lie,” she rumbles.
“I’m not lying!” She steps back, but Kasa leans forward, not allowing her to get any distance. She stares up at Kasa, clearly nervous, but finally stands her ground. Kasa holds her gaze for a few more moments before relenting.
“I believe you. You may follow.”
“Uh… Thanks. I’m Ophiel, by the way.”
[[Head out]]“Greetings, hunter. I must say, this is quite the surprise. What can we do for you?”
“I'd like to come with you. I think he could really use the help.”
“I assure you, we are more than capable of carrying out this task ourselves. Besides, the rules of your guild state that any wishing to join must accomplish their quest on their own.”
She grins. “Actually, it doesn’t.”
[[“I beg your pardon?”]]
“I beg your pardon?”
“Well, technically, it says ‘any who are sent on this quest are not allowed any outside support.’ And I wasn’t there for the conversation, but I’m guessing the guild master didn’t send you on this quest, did she? I bet you’re using the loophole where it says if you return with Geovore’s head, you get to join, without saying you need to be sent on a quest to do it.”
Bang tilts her head. “That is… correct. Though are you certain you have read the terms properly?”
“Trust me, I’m great with loopholes. And I reread the whole thing before following you just to be sure.”
“Hmm…” Bang narrows her eyes in suspicion. “And why would you want to help? You don’t know any of us, even back when we were among the living. What do you have to gain from this?”
“Is it not enough that I’m just that nice?” Bang’s eyes narrow further. “Fine. Our guild master has a stick so far up her ass it reaches her human half, and I want to piss her off. Is that good enough?”
“Hm. Very well. We will not stop you from following, but neither can we officially accept your assistance. You will not sabotage this effort, neither physically or by technicality.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, ma’am,” she says sarcastically. “I’m Ophiel, by the way.”
[[Head out]]She follows you, standing somewhat awkwardly next to you as you walk. “So,” she says. “I noticed you get your spirits to talk for you. Any particular reason for that?”
//(How rude!)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB5]]
[[Kasa|K5]]
[[Yultholth|Y5]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS5]]
“He can speak through us just fine. We can leave it at that.”
“But-” Bang gives her a look. “Okay. Leaving it at that.”
[[Continue to the Hole in the World]]
Kasa leans down and flicks her gently on the head. “Ow. Okay, touchy subject, loud and clear.”
[[Continue to the Hole in the World]]Yultholth follows behind you and pushes the two away from each other while gurgling. “Well you don’t exactly have a way with words either, pal.” Yultholth gurgles some more. “Oh.” She looks down, slightly sheepish. “I see. Sorry I asked.”
[[Continue to the Hole in the World]]“He can’t speak.”
“Huh, why?”
“Just leave it.”
She hesitates, looking between you and me. “Alright.”
[[Continue to the Hole in the World]]
You both make it to the hole in silence and remove the gathered foliage and trap door over its top. “I should have asked this sooner, but you have a line or something, right? I can let you use mine if you don’t.”
You shake your head and jump into the hole. With a yelp of surprise, she leaps in after you. “I hope you have a way to land!” she shouts over the crescendoing wind. You spread yourself out to slow your fall and give her a thumbs up.
The fall feels like it takes forever. Even though we've done this before, it feels like it takes longer every time. You focus on not scraping against the wall and get used to the darkness, and you’re fine.
Finally, you make it to the exit, falling into a truly massive cavern that stretches for miles in every direction. The only light being cast by bioluminescence moss. Pillars of stone tapering in their center are all around you, looking static no matter how far you fall.
[[Summon Kasa to break your fall]]
You twist your censer to Kasa as you approach the ground, making her about as solid as a pillow as she reaches up and you land in her hand. You fall through her, dissipating the smoke that makes her body, keeping yourself as spread as possible until the last moment where you land into a roll, emerging from her foot. That the gravity is lower down here was the only reason you didn’t break something like last time.
Ophiel lands next to you a few moments later, rappelling on a line attached to the exit of the hole above you. “Please tell me you tested that beforehand.” You nod, brushing the dust from your clothes. The floor here is covered in it, deep enough that every step makes a clear footprint.
You walk through the barren underground. There's little around here to act as a landmark, so you make sure to remember your steps. While your footprints could theoretically stay indefinitely, you never want to make assumptions down here. Suddenly, Ophiel puts a hand on your shoulder, stopping you in place.
You turn and see she’s staring intently off to your left. Without a word, she points in the direction she’s looking and holds up two fingers.
[[Summon Bang to Scout]]
The summon takes longer than you would like, but before the Geovore makes it to you, a boulder smashes into its side.
Kasa steps between you and the creature, readying another boulder into her sling. She throws it forward with the force only a giant is capable of, but it’s ready this time. It leaps into the air, over both the boulder and Kasa, and tries to land right on you.
For the first time in the battle, you're no longer sure which move is going to be the best.
//(To defend yourself, you summon)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB6]]
[[Kasa|K6]]
[[Yultholth|Y6]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS6]]
The smoke for Kasa dissipates, then reforms in front of you as Bang, flying straight at the monster. You bring your arms up as it descends on you when you hear a slash and you open your eyes to see its pincers stabbed into the ground to either side of you, unable to close due to Bang's sword, expertly placed at the pincer's joint.
Undeterred, it lunges for you, its terrible mouth open wide revealing the almost incomprehensible cavern beneath. You stumble back, hardly able to stay on your feet, and you raise your arm to defend yourself and it bites down on your forearm. You desperately try to pull away, but it's unmoving before Bang smashes her sword into its skull over and over, making it retreat. <<set $injured += 1>>
[[Ready yourself for its next move.]]
Unable to disappear and re-form that far away quickly enough, she turns, running back towards you, and lets her sling dissipate. She grabs its leg and tries to yank it back, but its momentum is too much. While she does prevent it from crushing you, it still lands with you in range of its claws and swings its pincer at you just as Kasa manages to wrench it back, causing its pincer to graze you rather than snap you in half. <<set $injured += 1>>
She turns, hurling the monster away from you, sending it twisting through the air. It manages to get its legs underneath it and skids across the ground, shaking its head before locking its gaze on you again.
[[Ready yourself for its next move.]]As quickly as you can manage, the shell appears above you and you hear the clash and scrape of claws against shell as the monster bears down on Yultholth. In its desire to kill you, it leaves itself exposed long enough for Yulthoth to take advantage, stabbing his claw into its joint.
Blood oozes from the wound as it reels back and roars, stumbling out of his range. While it keeps its guard up against him, its attention never leaves you for a moment. <<set $best += 1>>
[[Ready yourself for its next move.]]
I appear, already twirling my blades and moving the ground beneath us to dodge. Unfortunately, I can only stabilize myself while you go tumbling back at the speed required to avoid the creature.
I help you up as you try to hide your bruises. Ophiel launches herself from her opponent and crashes into the one before us, not allowing it a chance to make another strike against you. She gives you enough time to let the world stop spinning around you.
[[Ready yourself for its next move.]]You bring the smoke back around you, ready for whatever it does next. Even as it continues to bleed from its wounds, it hardly seems to slow. It brings its head down and charges, determined to not let anything stop it this time.
//(To defend yourself, you summon)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB7]]
[[Kasa|K7]]
[[Yultholth|Y7]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS7]]Bang leaps off your shoulder and stabs her sword into its mouth, but it doesn’t slow. While Bang isn’t able to stop its movement, she does keep its head above you, allowing you to duck under it, its legs just missing you.
You look back to see it whipping its head back and forth, spitting Bang out onto the ground along with her sword.
[[Steady yourself]]Kasa braces herself, ready to grapple the creature before it crashes into her. The collision is violent enough to be audible and Kasa is pushed back, her feet scraping up a plume of dust as she’s pushed past you, her legs going past on either side of you.
She pushes its head down away from her face and tries to grab it around its neck. It twists its head around sharply enough to snap a human's neck and bites into her gut, the gambosin being torn through with relative ease. Kasa grunts in pain as smoke spills from her side, putting all her weight on its back, trying to at least keep it prone before she disappears. She manages to push it down most of the way before it sinks its teeth into her calf and yanks back, shoving her to the ground and she dissipates in an explosion of smoke as soon as she hits the ground.
[[Steady yourself]]He braces himself for the charge, but even with his size it's not enough to stop it. You have to run to not be crushed under his shell. You dive out of the way and look back to see that Yultholth has finally managed to stop it, but not without his shell cracking in several places and you turn him back into smoke before you lose him entirely. The Geovore stumbles when it's no longer pushing against anything before it turns back to you.
[[Steady yourself]]I twirl my blades in somatic movements, shifting the ground beneath the creature to veer it off course. As I said, it would not allow anything to stop this charge, and that extended to itself, unable to halt its momentum as I steer it directly into a stone rise.
The rock cracks and shakes, but holds fast against the Geovore’s head as it slumps over in pain. It stands again on trembling legs as it shakes its head, dizzy from the impact. It turns back to us, not letting its guard down, despite the blow.<<set $best += 1>>
[[Steady yourself]]Its throat bulges as it begins to gag, before it launches a mass of rock and digestive acid from its stomach at you. You dive out of the way of the first attack, but are barely back on your feet before it launches another.
//(To dodge, you summon)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB8]]
[[Kasa|K8]]
[[Yultholth|Y8]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS8]]She swings the flat of her blade as hard as she can, corroding her sword and causing it to smoke, but pushing most of the acid aside. Still, some managed to get past her. You scramble back, and raise your arms to guard yourself and with a hiss, you feel your clothes and skin begin to boil. <<set $injured += 1>>
You scream and claw at yourself, trying to get it off you. Your fingers become red and bleeding as you scrape the acid off you, but at least all your fingers are still attached by the time it's all removed.
[[Twist the censer]]Kasa grabs you and pulls you away fast enough to give you whiplash, spinning around, and using the momentum to hurl another boulder at the creature. The Geovore, still gagging from its attack, is unable to dodge and the boulder strikes true, cracking the shell around its head.
[[Twist the censer]]A shell appears in front of you, and you hear sizzling and cracking as the shell breaks under the acid and rocks. You hear Yultholth chitter in pain, but your protection holds. He crawls forward before dissipating, letting the bile fall far enough away from you to keep you from harm.
[[Twist the censer]]Taking a wide stance and raising my arms, I lift a massive pillar of rock to block the attack. It raises just in time to connect, sending acid splashing over its top and falling just short of hitting us.
I lower my arms, allowing the pillar to fall back into the ground. Before it does, there’s a crashing sound as the pillar cracks in two and begins to fall towards us. I grab you around the waist and dive out of the way just as it crashes into the ground, the Geovore riding the pillar as it falls.<<set $best += 1>>
[[Twist the censer]]You twist your censer again, but before you can summon any of us Ophiel comes roaring over the rock face and stabs her rapier into the thing’s neck, right where Yultholth had grabbed it. The monster roars in pain and whips its head to the side, throwing her off and trying to bite her, but she twists out of its reach.
“You got anyone who can hit that spot again?” she shouts over to you as she dodges between its attacks. You look over to the other Geovore and realize that Ophiel has already defeated hers, but from here all you can see is a leg.
//(To finish him off, you summon)//
[[General Bang Xi|GB9]]
[[Kasa|K9]]
[[Yultholth|Y9]]
[[Cathareen Stulka, the Beautiful and Mighty|CS9]]Even though you didn’t summon me, I also think this is the correct choice. Bang launches off you fast enough for you to feel it as she charges the beast. It doesn’t even have a chance to react before Bang is on top of it. Distracted by Ophiel, it only notices Bang in the moment before her blade has sunk into its neck.
It rears back in pain as Bang lifts the sword up, tearing flesh and bone as its head hangs looser and looser against its neck. With a final battle cry, Bang severs the monster’s head from its body, landing with a wet splat as its body collapses behind it.<<set $best += 1>>
[[Try to recover]]Kasa appears mid charge and punches it directly in the snout, sending it reeling back. Ophiel follows up, striking a hind leg, sending it tumbling to the ground. Kasa plants her foot on the back of its neck, wraps both hands around its neck and pulls. There’s a sickening tearing sound as its head is slowly stretched off its body.
Before Kasa can finish it off, the blood oozing around its neck makes it slick enough for it to twist its head and bite through Kasa’s hand. She cries out in pain and lets go, allowing it to stand and sweep its limbs back at Ophiel who gets caught on the leg as she tries to jump away, sending her corkscrewing through the air.
When it stands again, Kasa isn’t going to let it get away again. She buries her finger into the open wounds on its neck. It stabs into her sides with its claws, but Kasa ignores it, pressing her foot against its leg and pulls with all her might, roaring as she tears the creature's head off.
She falls to her knees, breathing heavily as she lets its head fall to her side with a splat before she turns back into smoke.<<set $Ophiel_injured += 1>>
[[Try to recover]]Again, you summon Yulthoth on top of it, but this time, it’s prepared. It twists, dumping Yultholth off of its back, and moves to dash away. Yultholth's claws manage to grab its neck before it can escape. The creature spasms, trying to get free, scraping against Yultholth’s shell, face, and limbs in desperation.
Yultholth bleeds smoke and cracks appear all across his shell, allowing the monster's flailing limbs to swing through and slice his softer backside. Ophiel charges in to assist, but is unable to dodge the wild and random attacks from the creature that send her tumbling back into the ground.
Pushing past the pain, Yultholth gives one final pull, yanking its head free from its body.
[[Try to recover]]I charge it, making the signs to move the earth again, and make the ground fall beneath its feet. It lurches and is unable to get its limbs up in time to defend itself as I leap towards it, its head low level with the ground surrounding it.
I stab my high heel into its forehead, giving me leverage to jump towards the gaping wound. I stab both blades into the hole and pull them opposite each other. Its neck bulges as it vomits up more bile and it spills out of the hole, forcing me to leap away.
Ophiel jumps in, lighting her sword as hot as it will go and burning away most of the bile as she delivers the final blow to the creature’s head. As she lands, she quickly scrapes off what acid managed to cling to her, while behind her, the head splats against the ground, just on the edge of falling into the hole I made.
<<set $Ophiel_injured += 1>>\
[[Try to recover]]You twist the censer, returning what smoke you can to it as both you and Ophiel fall to your knees, panting for breath. “Sorry about the other head. I got a bit carried away.” You look back at the Geovore she fought, or what’s left of it. It looks like its entire torso exploded, leaving only a chunk of its faceplate and some of its limbs recognizable through the scorch marks.
I feel it's important to note, we would be capable of that level of decimation if we weren’t trying to preserve it. In the end, I suppose it's lucky we ended up facing off against two of them.
<<if $injured > 1 and $Ophiel_injured > 1>>\
Ophiel begins to bandage you, but you stop her, indicating she should tend to herself first. She seems reluctant, but she lets you bandage yourself.
\
<<elseif $injured > 1>>\
Ophiel begins to bandage you, but you stop her, indicating she should tend to herself first. She seems reluctant, but she lets you bandage yourself. You do your best to hide how painful it is rather successfully.
\
<<elseif $Ophiel_injured > 1>>\
“You mind helping me with these?” Ophiel asks. You stand and walk to her, using your own bandages to wrap her wounds. “Don’t be shy about hand placement.” You roll your eyes and she raises a hand in protest. “I didn’t mean it like that, sorry. A lot of the nurses get shy back at the hall and it can really slow things down. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” You believe her, but I don’t.
\
<<else>>\
“We make a good team,” Ophiel says, smiling. You return her smile and give her a thumbs up.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $best >= 3>>\
Ophiel takes a breath, before starting to laugh. “Holy cow. I wish the whole guild could have seen that. We were amazing. I mean, they know I’m amazing, but they really need to see how good you are too.” Despite being exhausted, that makes you feel much better.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $injured > 1 or $Ophiel_injured > 1>>\
Thankfully, between the both of you, you have more than enough salves and wrappings to make your wounds manageable on the way back.
<</if>>\
[[Claim the head!]]You nod and summon Bang who flies where Ophiel’s pointing.
When she returns, she holds up two fingers, confirming what Ophiel suspected and points to her mouth, indicating they're feeding. Bang returns to smoke as you both quietly make your way to the Geovores.
There’s a rise in the land before you, topped with jagged stone, its sides covered in easy handholds. You climb to its top, peeking over to see two Geovores standing at about twenty feet. Each is nearly as large as Yultholth, and almost twice as large as Kasa. They're facing away, crouching down on six spiderlike limbs to bring their eyeless heads to the ground while they eat and regurgitate rocks.
Ophiel looks at you, her earlier confidence slipping just a moment before she points to you, indicating you to go first.
[[Summon Yultholth to attack]]While the creature is unprepared, you click through your censer to Yultholth and summon him right above the one closest to you.
The Geovore is sent sprawling as Yultholth crashes into its back, sending dust flying from the impact. He grabs the neck of the creature in both claws and pulls. You hear snapping as its exoskeleton begins to crack. It roars in defiance, alerting every other of its kind for miles and, thanks to its echolocation, now knows exactly where you are.
The other charges to help and Ophiel flicks her stone-gloved hand making the rock in the creature's mouth is shoved back into its throat, causing it to gag and stumble. She unsheathes her sword, phantom flames replaced by actual tongues of fire, and breaks off a chunk of stone beneath her before flicking her wrist again. She rides the chunk of stone into the air before launching it back down at the Geovore, letting her sail on the momentum as the rock smashes into its head. Twirling in the air, she launches herself back down on a jet of fire, the trail of her burning rapier following like a meteor as she thrusts towards the monster.
It raises it front legs just in time to block, flame exploding from the point of impact, and cracks spiderwebbing out from its center. Ophiel flips back onto the ground as the Geovore stumbles from the blow.
The one pinned under Yultholth manages to throw him off as it reels upward, ready to strike Ophiel from behind.
[[Summon Cathareen to help Ophiel]]Yulthoth disappears as you summon me back to back with Ophiel and magic circles appear around my wrist as I strike forward, moving the ground under its feet back, causing it to miss and stumble as it strikes the empty ground.
[[Replace Cathareen with Bang]]You summon Bang in my place, and she and Ophiel both charge their opponents. Bang flies under the creature’s strike and goes for the neck, a blade as long and wide as a human’s forearm appearing in her hand. She drives it into the Geovore’s neck, and it roars, snapping its head around and catching her in the leg. Smoke pours from the wound and she grunts in pain, the Geovore wiping its back and throwing her against the ground, making her disappear in a puff.
It looks up, seeing its other still fighting Ophiel, before turning its attention to you. You hold your ground, twisting the censer again as it rushes you.
[[Summon Kasa to defend]]You pick up the Geovore’s head, but immediately begin to strain. You try to get into a position that’s less awkward, but it quickly becomes clear that the solution to the problem is to have listened to me months ago when I told you exercise was important. “Want me to carry that for you?” Ophiel asks. Reluctantly, you nod and she lifts it over her shoulder, her arm glowing blue as she enhances the strength in her arm and spine.
You both return to the entrance without incident, and brush away the dust covering the rune. Ophiel places her hand on it, her arm glowing blue as she infuses it with magic, and you feel yourself become lighter before you both begin falling upward.
The fall back upward is silent, aside from the rushing of wind. (If you did everything perfectly: Though you do feel her grinning at you from behind you.) Even on your way back, she's too tired to speak, and you’re far too tired to summon any of us.
[[Return to the guild]]When you return, only slightly distracted by the amount of people pointing at your trophy, the guild master is waiting for you both outside the door. She glares at Ophiel. “The moment you left, I knew you were up to something. I’m assuming you did something I would never allow, but not technically against the rules I have laid out.”
She smiles, impishly. “You know me well,” she says, giving her finger guns with her free hand.
She snorts. “Let me guess. You found a way to let him go on the quest anyway.”
She shrugs. “Actually, he doesn’t even need to go on a quest. The rules say that if someone returns with the head of a Geovore they killed, then they can join the guild.”
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Nobody mentioned 'keeping your enemies closer' would be this annoying.” She pinches the bridge of her nose as she thinks. Both of you, and all of us, hold our breath as we wait for her to make a decision. She can’t deny you a spot in the guild, but that in no way guarantees she’ll let this work. “Fine. You may join my guild…” The way she pauses does not fill any of us with confidence. “As a chef. Join the others in the back. I hope you came with more than just other people’s abilities. There’s not much delegation as a line cook.”
You sigh. We had expected something like this, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. Still, you’re a guild member now, and that means you can work your way up, and possibly even vote. Though going through that legal nightmare is low on the list of priorities. Ophiel sighs. “I hate when she gets like this. Don’t worry though. I know plenty of ways to sneak into missions you weren’t assigned to. I think we’ll work well together.”
Despite everything, you smile.
<center>//You joined the guild!//</center>
<center>//To be continued...//</center>
[[Author's Note]]Author’s note: Thank you to my writers room (Erika and Mildred), who managed to help me turn this from an incomplete mess into a complete mess. (As is the case for all first drafts). And thanks to the family and friends that made this a far more cohesive story in such a short window (my mom and dad, and a last-minute Allyson Gray), because I started writing this way too late for the Spring Thing.
And thank you for playing 'Maybe You'll Respect This Dead Person, Instead'
Your stats:
<<if $Ophiel_injured > 1>>\
Ophiel was injured while helping you! She doesn't seem to mind, though.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $injured > 4>>\
You were injured four times! That's... kind of a lot.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $injured == 4>>\
You were injured three times! That's not quite the very worst you could have done, so congratulations!
<</if>>\
\
<<if $injured == 3>>\
You were injured two times, which you can totally recover from.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $injured == 2>>\
You were injured only once! Tis but a scratch.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $injured == 1>>\
You escaped the battle with the world-devouring monsters without a scratch. Amazing!
<</if>>\
\
<<if $best > 4>>\
You always chose the optimal summons. Congratulations!
<</if>>\
\
<<if $best == 4>>\
You chose the optimal summons three times! Close enough for guild work.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $best == 3>>\
You chose the optimal summons a couple times, which is not bad at all.
<</if>>\
\
<<if $best == 2>>\
You chose the optimal summons once, but it was a really crucial juncture, so congratulations.
<</if>>\