Hellborn Quest 149

>If anybody spots Crowther and has an opening to extract him, do it.

Wait. Stygians. They're all about Illusions. Make sure to confirm magical signal before going in. This entire damn thing might be a trap or a feint.

Roll some dice for Stygian watching and remaining out of sighting.

Rolled 83 (1d100)

Rolled 78 (1d100)

Rolled 73 (1d100)

Damn. Veeky Forums is ornery with our continued presence. BQ got a Nat 30 with 3d10 yesterday. 1 in a thousand roll.

At least the duel hasn't yet begun or this might be a very unfortunate roll.

I saw a roll that was 10 10 10 8, here on tg

>The roll was 4d100

Actually it was 4d10. So it was a Really Good Roll.

Fucking trish and her bullshit Korean luck.

You grab Orias’s radio from him. “Nobody blows up anything yet,” you order. “This is a duel. Keep an eye out for Anatu and stay out of sight. But if anyone spots Crowther and you have an opening to extract him, you take it. Out.”

You start wondering whether you should tell Wolfgang to get off the island, or if he might be able to stay.

Your thoughts are interrupted when Orias forces you down further into the mud and shushes you, lying prone at your side. “They’re looking this way,” he says.

Hesitantly, you tilt your head far enough so that you can see down to the docks.

One of the Stygians, his boil-addled face-half sagging from his skull, lifts his rifle and aims directly at you. “Something moves on the ridge, there,” he shouts in Heltic.

“We’ve been spotted,” Orias breathes out, holding perfectly still.

The bull-wolf officer shoves a few soldiers out of his path and smacks the rifle up the air.

“The first to fire a shot is the first to lose a hand,” he snarls to the growing mass of troops, baring dozens of crowded, serrated teeth.

Another officer, this one tall with a large, misshapen chest and engraved breastplate pulls up his visor with one anvil sized hand. His face consists of several slashing mouths, which all suck in a rattling breath from your precise direction. “I taste three demons,” he shouts in a gargling voice. “Send word.”

Half the assembly of soldiers has by now turned their attention to where you and Orias hide.

The one with many mouths brushes forward out of the crowd and faces up at your hiding spot. “Bring word to your mistress!” he announces, sweeping his long blue cloak out behind him. “Crown Heiress Anatu-allatu, of the beloved Mother Countess Usholaguissa, seeks satisfaction assured her! She shall reveal her face to the servants of the Crown, or she shall forfeit the blood of the Hellion!”

Forfeit the blood of the Hellion? That’s freaking Papa Crowther they’re talking about. (+2 Fury: 22) (+2 Stress: 25)

Orias gives you a serious look. “I can’t without being seen, but you can,” he says.

>Not necessarily. (Deploy enshrouding mist so you can both leave in secret.)
>Stay put. I’ll get them looking somewhere else. (Translucent yourself out of there.)
>There’s no point. I’m dueling Anatu one way or another. (Stand up and reveal yourself.)
>Other (?)

>There’s no point. I’m dueling Anatu one way or another. (Stand up and reveal yourself.)
We really should take our time maiming her.

>Not necessarily. (Deploy enshrouding mist so you can both leave in secret.)

>There’s no point. I’m dueling Anatu one way or another. (Stand up and reveal yourself.)
These demons are still nutters, they won't attack us out of the blue.

What's the weather like? Is it still raining?

>>There’s no point. I’m dueling Anatu one way or another. (Stand up and reveal yourself.)

Yes.

>>There’s no point. I’m dueling Anatu one way or another. (Stand up and reveal yourself.)

"Anatu is a ratchet ho that is going to her weave ripped off"

Fuck it. Why should we be the only person confused here. They want to smug all smug like with their "Muh court intricacies" bullshit then we'll respond with some ebonic niggeryboogaloo slang.

"niggeryboogaloo"
I chuckled.

Reminder that we're immune to electricity.

Aw shit. Did we bring anything to wrap our horns, or are we going all Boudicca and fighting with our demonic head tits out.

It's been compared closer to a bare belly than tits.
Not quite boudicca levels of nudity.

Yep, we're going to look completely uncivilized as we fight to the death.

I feel like we could honestly weaponize Sierras texting.

But seriously, she's from the hood. She's gotta have some ability to chirp.

I'm pretty white though, so I would probably intimate that Anatu was underweight with smaller horns than average and probably has to have mommy kill her mates for her after she gets worn out from chasing them down since nobody wants her skanky demon ass.

I don't think the duel is necessarily to the death. I mean, it could be?

But what do we call a small horned woman that carries the same level of insult as the ones we call flat chested women?

I'm sorry, that was just a guess. I suppose we will graciously allow the massive bitch to keep her life in exchange for their prisoner.

Yea it's to the deah

I don't really see why it wouldn't be to the death.

Do you even Demon?

This bitch dies tonight.

Turn her against her mother. She ain't gonna be mothers favorite anymore if she fucks up and I imagine her sisters will be there to take advantage of the situation to steal her place and influence.

I'm okay doing either in any case.

nah, she won't learn not to fuck with unless we almost kill her or cripple her for a very very long time at the very least, even then that woul likely just get her to hate us more.

No.

There's literally Zero reason to keep this bitch alive. That's like the most undemon unImperiate like thing to do.

She challenged our rule, kidnapped what is essentially a member of our family, is trying to kill everyone we know and care about, AND is trying to steal all of our territory.

I'd much rather kill her. We have enough problems with court rats already.

I would just prefer to not fight the army she brought. Especially if it becomes our army if she loses.

If we really want to kill her, we can frame someone else for doing it like the Yellow King or Waldric and use that as an excuse to take away his position.

If it wasn't so out of character.

We don't know how demonic it is. We didn't stop to ask anyone about the rules and shit for this sort of thing.

You realize beating into submission is also how we got Ranthix, right?

But user, thats why the soard team's here. What good is her army if they're on an exploding island?

>You realize beating into submission is also how we got Ranthix, right?
Yes. And?

So we'd kill Lucifer and not kill Anatau?

That makes no sense.

To be fair, she is apparently just forcing us into a duel rather than trying to assassinate us.

So, is our position strong enough to force her to do this - I mean she was able to gang CROWTHER.- Or does she honestly believe that the best ruler will win?

What's so bad about her army becoming our army?
I know it's not subtle, but it would be nice to have some more people helping us with future threats to our home.

Just saying let's see how it goes before going full murder boner.

You can't just kill everyone.

You don't seem to understand how this shit works. If we kill this bitch in front of all of her minions then there's really nothing these guys can do against us and they'll know it. Not to mention we WANT everyone to kow we killed it. It says to everyone that we're real, we're hot shit, and anyone who stands against us is gonna die.

And why the fuck would we frame Waldric?

I meant I'd rather have her surrender her army to us and keep her life, than kill her and have to fight that army.

>Or does she honestly believe that the best ruler will win?

Depending on how common Ranthixes beliefs are, and how they are interpreted, it's possible that she might think she's the true imperiate. or at least a candidate.

Because Waldron is a court rat that keeps going behind our back? And you're talking out of your ass about how this army is supposed to act. Once again, we have no idea how this duel is supposed to work or what the etiquette is.

Her "army" would never follow us. They belong to her mother and would never follow us.

Best case scenario we fucking rek this bitch anatu and send her minions scurrying off back to their mother with the message that we're not to be fucked with.

Yall niggas are forgetting that these stygians don't belong to her. they belong to Ushologuissa.

I had no illusions about it actually becoming our army user, don't worry, I'm just partial to the idea of having one.

And it's also possible that she will genuinely believe us to be worthy if we beat her.

I mean, don't get me wrong I would prefer to kill the smug bitch too. Just not at the worst possible time if this duel is about honour and shit.

Which gets weird when you look at how different cultures create moral codes that look nothing alike.

If we manage to kill Anantu we should try and kill Nabbuth next. Fuck that guy.

He went behind our back once and everyone (in quest and out, except Ranthinx) agreed that he did all of this to help us and buy us time.

Yeah, but we're the Imperatrix. They're going to be our army sooner or later. Especially with how sexy our horns are.

So not all court rats are bad then?

if the duel is to the death I don't really see how that would cause problems, unless demons have a weird obligation to kill the winner i the loser was involved with them. which would be an amazingly destructive system.

Then best case scenario to send send them back home to mummy with their tails behind their legs.

But letting someone as powerful and as dangerous as Anatu live is dumb. She will come back, and next time it won't be a duel but an ambush and assassination against us and all of our conclave.

No shit.

To do tha

To do that we need to kill Ushologuissa

I'm all for killing Anatu, bitch fucked with us, now she has to deal with the consequences.

Lucifer was supposed to be an ally from the start and he commited treason. Anatu has been direct with her demands of either submitting to her or fighting her from the start.

Which one would be more deserving of dying?

Both, but treason is a worse offence.

“No point,” you tell him. “I’m dueling Anatu one way or another.” And with that, you push yourself up. You feel like you weigh a hundred pounds more than you should, but once you’re on your feet, battle mode takes over and the tension merges naturally again as a part of you. (+1 Fury: 23)

The Stygians below are startled by your sudden appearance.

Before you can announce yourself, the congregation bursts into conversation.

“It’s the child of the tyrant!” shouts one.

“That thing?” asks another. “It looks like a skinless boar pup.”

You hear hushed agreement among the footmen that you are much too small to be the child of the tyrant. They doubt if you’re female at all.

Their muttering conversation leaves you vaguely confused and insulted. (+2 Stress: 27)

“What’s happening? Is it the tyrant child or not?” asks the many-mouthed captain, blindly tasting the air in your direction up at the top of the slope.

The wolf-bull officer lifts the brim of his hat and squints sideways at you. “It has the look of Belphegor, or perhaps Infernus,” he says, unsure.

The captain growls impatiently and swats his comrade. “Yes I tasted as much, and is it female?”

The demon glares at your chest, and makes motions over his own as if trying to simulate size. “I cannot be certain,” he says in exasperation as he gives up, “it is dressed as a man.”

What? You look down at yourself. No, you look fine. You’re fine. (+1 Stress: 28)

Like man I know we've been fighting with Ranthix lately but sometimes you just gotta kill a bitch.

God, this is like one of those dreams where you go to work without your pants, isn't it?

Another Stygian officer walks out front of the crowd of bickering soldiers, and unrolls a scroll of parchment. It bears a mostly accurate drawing of your face on the front. The paint of the image begins running in the rain. The creature glances to you and back to the drawing again, licking his wide fish-eyes clear of rain as he tries to concentrate. The motion reminds you of windshield wipers.

Four other Stygians of rank join him, adding their combined efforts in making the match. Unfortunately, their decision making process dissolves to bickering.

Orias stands up behind you, flicking the mud from his hands and surveying the Styigans below. “Now I know you are the true Imperiate,” he remarks flatly. “Merely laying eyes upon you inspires chaos in the armed legions of Halth.”

Native Stygians aren’t so great with girls, you guess. You can’t help but feel a little sorry for them.

>Say stuff (?)
>Do things (?)
>Other (?)

Way easier to do that before the duel. Especially if, once again, they could jack up Crowther.

Just saying, hey, we might have to think about actual politics and shit instead of playing murder hobo.

>The demon glares at your chest, and makes motions over his own as if trying to simulate size.“I cannot be certain,”
KEK

Do something suitably impressive, like letting go of our glamours and saying our name.

>actual politics
demon politics is brutally murdering the ones who ATTACK YOU, and KIDNAP YOUR LOVED ONES

Shock and awe. Drop the glamour and try to be impressive. Maybe glide down on our shadow wings? Then flirt with one of them and drain them while casually touching them to top up our PP.

>Do things (?)
Deploy Unnatural Charm to have them respectfully escort you to Annatu.

I'll support this.

Bring me to your leader

>You can't just kill everyone.
That sounds like quitter talk.

"Anatu challenged me to a duel for the rights to my feif, I am here put down this ursurper"

Unnatural charm. I support this action.

Dude. Even Ranthix knows it's more complicated than that. Especially when you're the smallest force involved.

You probably voted for Bernie.

>flirt with one of them

>Drop glamors, introduce yourself as Sakheris

Fuck Bernie and fuck you.

You kill your enemies. Especially ones who've done shit like this.

>Say stuff (?)
"My patience wears thin, you witless imbeciles. Bring me to Annatu before I lose my temper."

I think simpler statement would be more impressive.
>"I am here to slay the usurper Anatu."

>Unnatural Charm + Drop Glamour + Use the spooky version of our name.

>Say stuff (?)
"What a fucking shit show this is."
Walk past them

Fite me bro IRL I bet you're like a Navy seal and shit. Swear on me mum I'll wreck you m8.

I don't think Sierra is that eloquent.

Can we pick things Sierra would atually say? Like ?

> MFW we bond with Anatu over how terrible her troops are.

Supporting that in addition to "What a fucking shit show this is."
Drop glamours.

Also, call out anyone that stares at our horns. Or the highest ranked person doing it.