Dungeon Life Quest (DLQ) 71 - U Fukkin Wot Bote Edition

Now seems like an excellent time to go visit our friend Bridget. Who's up for hitting the atheneum?
>Nope.stainedglass read the telebook

> No. I am not going to be your captain. I am going to turn around and go back into town. And if you have any sense in your head you won't pull that trigger, because some day I plan to come back for you, and you will never have a better chance to be free again than you have with my help.

Hm, supporting this one, tentatively. Death is not on our schedule here.

The problem with outright running will be that the ship will start firing cannons at the port, though. And neither Emily nor Hatchet will be useful in having a go at a ship.

So we need to buy time in some manner. But what to do with that time once we have it? Go places, bell people?

Hm, the bell... there's an option, if this goes sideways.

Would like to add this one as well. Odds are high that we'll be bound, same as the previous captain, but getting confirmation would be useful.

Wonder what our allies are looking at right now, including the new Chosen of Death.

Ship that can't die? New Death Chosen? Maybe some sort of solution can be worked.

This is also a great chance to actually settle up this chain. That bit is ticking on a timer; if we put it off, things will quickly get worse.
Hard to say What To Do, but I'm leaning to...
> Get closer/more information, but don't promise anything.

Called, writing. General trend seems to be 'don't take her shit, but find out more'. Lemme know if that doesn't seem accurate while I get more coffee.

Further thoughts. Necromancer + Ship Of Death = Massive Synergy; it shouldn't be hard to do something with all that energy to take out the other ship, get the captain back, or mangle the enchantments/curse on the ship itself.

>Grin like a madwoman. "Tell it this then. I won't become the Captain until I can hold the Chain. How unlucky that the Chain and it's Captain are on the Dirge. Now, we can work together to get both back... or we can make a mess in the streets, and be right back where we started."

I dunno; I more get the impression that /Pallbearer/ effectively "eats" death. The only way to use that energy to fuel Bri's powers would be to take it from /Pallbearer/, which would be about as pleasant as taking it from, say, you.

I just got a funny feeling that "the captain goes down with the ship" will probably apply somewhat forcibly when the chain breaks.

Just something to keep in mind.

Yeah, that's the real danger here.

"Put the gun away, Rachael," you say flatly. "You can't kill me /and/ bring me aboard."

"I can cripple you and drag you aboard," the First Mate warns.

"Good luck with that. The last guy who tried that ended up so frustrated with the effort that he killed himself on the floor of his own ballroom."

"I can't just let you /walk away/ either. I have my orders, la Croix. Please, don't make this hard on me. I don't want to hurt you. Hellfire, I /like/ you." Rachael takes a deep breath. "...I don't want to go back to ravaging this Floor. Those islands, they used to have a lot more people on them..."

"Then let's talk about how we can keep you from not having to do that," you reply, calmly. "Just as soon as you put the gun away."

Trust holsters her revolver and spreads her hands in the universal 'look at all the weapons I'm not holding' posture, and you nod quietly. "Thank you. Now: do you really think a new Captain can restrain the /Pallbearer/?"

"I don't know," Rachael admits. "She's only ever had /one/ Captain. For awhile...for awhile I thought he /was/ the ship, that she reflected his desires, his pride, his fury. But then he was removed from her, and now the /Pallbearer/ is abandoning him. Leaving him to die."

"You said she wouldn't fire on him," you point out.

"I don't know any more. I...la Croix, this is new. This is /terrifying/. Ever since we were summoned into this accursed job it's just been bad to worse to horror. I don't /know/."

You sigh. "Even if I take this offer, I need to make some preparations. I'm dead on my fucking feet."

"I can't go back without you, or without a really good excuse," Trust warns. "And then we're right back at step violence."

The First Mate steps closer and offers her hand from down on the water. "I think you can do it," she murmurs. "You didn't get this far without strength of will. You could command the /Pallbearer/. Immortality isn't so bad..."

"Wrong offer," you say softly.

> Take her hand
> Attack
> Nope.stainedglass
> Write-in?

>> Nope.stainedglass

ABANDON SHIP!

And now, Gainful Employment. Votes remain open until just after midnight EST.

Questions, comments, discussion, feedback, and criticisms remain welcome and appreciated.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

just wondering, do we know where this levels chain is? On the old Captain? On the ship itself?

On an island somewhere in the saltwater section, being guarded by the /Lonesome Dirge/.

>Nope.stainedglass
"Already immortal, after a fashion, so if you push me I'll just off myself and reform elsewhere. You can't force me into this, Rachael, so quit trying.
Not to mention I'm not really down with the whole slaughter and pillage thing. If that's Her goal, the only place I'd sail her is to the Sunless Lands."

If we can get back the old captain, I'm pretty sure we'd be able to leave the ship back to them and get off Mr. Bones' Wild Aquatic Ride. One of the largest boats on the sea, plus a formidable ally, in exchange for having to have pirate adventures? I think we could handle that.

>Take her hand

> Nope.stainedglass

>> Nope.stainedglass
>> Write-in?
>Sorry, theres too many things I have to do.

In support of this.
While taking it might lead to a large amount of shit to deal with, fucking off would probably mean that we can't take care of it. As in bombarded-town, pillaged-by-insane-ship-level sorta not taking care of shit.

Hmyeah.... immortality is the wrong offer, but the immediate alternative is a bombed out port. And frankly, I can't think of an Excellent Excuse to send her back with. What would it even take for them to accept her not coming along?

So begrudgingly I'm gonna support this.

The ship will be useful it taking on the Dirge and getting the chain. Once we have that the ship will be a minor issue. I'd assume that we can direct the ship, not just be taken on a ride for some pillagin'.

> Write-In
> One condition: Hatchet comes along with me.

Emily gets the fuck outa here on the boar, up to a safer level. Back to the Roost maybe.
I don't think she's ready for this and I'd rather not have the boar fall into the sea.

Although. It probably wouldn't mind and can just walk along on the sea floor to where ever. Hm.

>> Nope.stainedglass
Enslaving ourselves to a ghost ship that feeds on death does not strike me as something a responsible la Croix does.

The old captain's on /Lonesome Dirge/, aka the thing /Pallbearer/ and her crew have been fighting for a while. /Pallbearer/'s stopped caring about him and wants us because she thinks we can give her more food (ie she's gonna demand we give her a fuckton of death on a constant basis). So if we go on her we're gonna have to basically bumrush /Lonesome Dirge/ and hope we can destroy the chain before everything goes tits up, which is a BAD PLAN.

Also just as a warning, Vox, y'ain't supposed to refer to a ship as "the /name/" unless 'the' is actually a part of their name.

But would a responsible La Croix let her immediate surroundings be turned into burning rubble by refusal? She's already haunted by her personal ghosts. Not sure we wanna add a whole lot of external ones as well.

Mind you, we don't know how well the port is actually capable of defending itself. Could go either way. It is only one ship, after all.

If becoming the captain means that we're stuck with the curse too, NOPE. Only have what you can take? No thanks.

I'm thinking we may have to fight.

We might be able to help against the Pallbearer. The only guns it has are cannon, which probably don't have the best tracking or elevation given their broadside mounting. We've got some shiny new wings. We might be able to fly over to the Pallbearer and disable the cannon somehow.

I have no idea what to vote, right now I just want to punch the guy who put this curse on them in the teeth.

Oh yeah, she CAN fly. That actually makes this a tougher fight for the Pallbearer. Especially as we still have a couple bone wands we can drop on them for some wide area nailings.

Of course they still have guns, so that may not be such an advantage after all. Those can still be aimed.
If it were to come to combat we'd need a way to either take their ship out (at which point we'd have to figure out a new way to get at the Dirge) or clear it somehow (get Hatchet and the Boar onboard via carry/catapult?).

Still tricky. Still involves the port getting shot at with cannons.

This is all assuming that the fucking necrodreadnaught doesn't have some sort of death ray or something. Who's to say what the hell comes out of those cannons? Maybe they shoot cursed skulls that animate the corpses of the slain or something. Maybe their firepots are full of balefire. Maybe they shoot grapeshot made of cursed teeth.

A chosen of the Quell. It seems that Chosen making stupidly bad decisions is not a new phenomenon.

> Of course they still have guns, so that may not be such an advantage after all. Those can still be aimed.
Pretty sure Lora mentioned that the only guns left in the dungeon are the Pallbearer's cannon.

Ctrl-f "revolver"

>nope.stainedglass
"I'm really sorry Rachael. I'll be back when I can actually help."

Ask the Pallbearer for 3 days, swear that if she/he/it waits for 3 days we'll come willingly, Rachel could even come along to make sure we don't welch on the promise

Now that I think about it, killing ourselves is an option. We respawn far away and Trust gets an excellent excuse to give the Pallbearer. Although I'm not sure if that would stop it from just rampaging through the sunless sea again.

I think that's a bad idea, if only because of what the Pallbearer will likely do to the town given that it's been denied. I think our options are to go with it, fight it, or try to talk this out. Running away just ends with a lot of innocent people dead.

>Find out what being the captain involves and if you can leave.

Rachael needs to hold out a little longer. We've got a lot on our plate already and adding the responsibility of being Davie Jones would complicate things more than we can really afford.

Five hours and change to call.

So... a chainbearer unknowingly wants Brianna to be in charge of it? What is stopping Brianna from just getting its chain from the treasure area and feeding the hunk of wood to Lora?

>Write in: "So, how much control did the previous captain have over the ship?

1)The ship doesn't has the chain
2)It's probably too consumed by instinct to realise the other part.

And I'm pretty sure that "captain the Pallbearer, get the chain, have Lora dump the ship and the rest of it's crew into the Veil" is a potential solution to the level here.

>The ship doesn't has the chain
Damn. It was on the other ship huh?

>have Lora dump the ship and the rest of it's crew into the Veil" is a potential solution to the level here.
Sounds like a favor to them honestly. Fuck that eternal life BS.

Not another vote because I already voted, but not being the captain means we have no way from holding back the ship from doing damage to the civilian populace besides attacking it with force we don't have. The ship feeds on death, and the siphon from the roost is running out of energy. The Sunless Sea's already in a bad shape thanks to these huge boats, we should probably try and stop it from getting worse.

>Look, I am in the middle of A LOT OF SHIT. Can the pallbearer wait for an hour? Maybe two?

>Once I'm on the ship can I step off it? Because if I can't I need to make arraignments with people before I disappear

Four hours and change to call.

This is starting to look like one of those votes I may need help tallying later.

Yes. With the captain.

This is probably going to mean we'll need a boat and crew to get to the chain, and if one is being offered...

Two hours and change to call.

Didn't the old capitain of this ship have the angle bone sword that "insert name I forgot here" la Croix had? Because that sword would make bri a legend.

Someone down here does. It was never said who.

>angle bone sword
I don't mean to sound obtuse, but that isn't right.

What is it with my quest and math puns?

Yeah, it might have been an ax!

It's a cute joke, but it's tangential to the topic at hand. Let's keep the parallel conversations to a minimum.

I know, right?

>> Nope.stainedglass

Home soon. If someone would be kind enough to tally I'd be much obliged; otherwise I'll count after I find dinner.

If I counted correctly it's majority for noping out with some wanting to try and gain more info before doing so.

I'd say that most people want to not immediately agree to becoming the pallbearers captain and try to at least figure out something to get our affairs in order first

Can we talk to Silence and our other friends first via the bells before we make a decision?

Silence is the only person to actually have personal experience so she'd have some input we could use

The thing is, Rachael is asking for a decision /now/. She's desperate and on the verge of violence, /now/. "Hey wait," is not gonna fly so well.

I guess I'll tally the votes myself; without a hard count, and in the presence of disagreement, it's likely the best thing. I'll get on it after I finish dinner here.

Could we perhaps tell her "Yes but I need to do a few things before I go" type of spiel?

Yeah could we do that?

Such as? Emily and Hatchet are on their way out /now/. What else is there to attend upon?

Save the innocent in the city?

Call silence to get her opinion of the deal, inform our allies where we are and what we're doing

Personally I'd just like to say sorry and nope out. Sad as it is we have things we need to take care of. Not the least of which is helping Emily.

This is kinda what I was suggesting as 'a few things'. We can't really just abandon everyone to be a death pirate without telling them first.

Aight. Counting the greentexted votes I've got 7 for nopeing out, two solid 'yes', and three that were maybe, verging on yes. Even combining yes & maybe, 'nope' wins the day.

Called, writing.

Could we just get an idea first of what would happen if we flat out turn her down? Like none of us are actually against the idea

remember everyone, greentext your votes.

We've chosen our path, we must now accept the consequences.

We will find out now.

Fetch's brother?

that is a cockatrice

You crouch down and take Trust's hand. "I think I might like you too, Rachael," you tell her. "At the very least, I understand. I know about fear."

You can see the relief in her eyes.

"I can't go with you," you tell her. "But I'll be back."

The surprise of your statement is enough for you to yank, slamming Rachael's face into the dock and dropping her into the water instead of standing on the surface.

"STAY IN YOUR SHELTERS!" you call, turning and slinging your pack from around your shoulders.

"LA CROIX!" Rachael yells, indignantly. "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL THE SHIP? HUH?"

"TELL HER THAT IF SHE TOUCHES THESE PEOPLE OR THIS CITY, I WILL SHACKLE HER MISERABLE LITTLE SOUL TO A BALEFIRE CANDLE AND USE IT TO LIGHT MY CIGARETTES!" you scream back. You get out the book you keep in your bag and start reading, frantically, from it.

You step into the Atheneum at full tilt and slam into the protective wards around the bookshelves. You stagger, totter, and hit the ground hard.

Someone's yelling.

"TellBrigette," you mutter, "t'send someone to th'Jaw. Emily..."

It's been a long day. You deserve some rest.

* * * * *

You are Nathan Bookchild, and fucking what.

"A truly innocent soul?" you repeat as a question, because what the fuck else do you say to that.

Flitter nods. "A soul that never developed a personality. A...a person /in potentia/, basically. They happen sometimes, very rarely. Writings on conversations with Fangs Choir angels and fallen suggest that it's a normal and expected result of whatever puts mortals in their bodies."

"...Come again?" you ask.

"You /are/ a soul. You /have/ a body," Flitter says, patiently. "Jack needs that soul. He needs it really badly."

"Why?" you ask. The old halflings are glaring between you and Flitter, but you can tell the conversation has their interest.

The pixie squirms and looks away. "...He owes someone, big time. And it's his ticket out."

> What do you say?

> If it's a map, can't you, I don't know, transcribe it or something? Make a rubbing of it?

>Well, you're son's sculpture seems to be even more valuable than you thought. How about it?
if he still doesn't budge:
>This feels like something Jack should bargain for himself.

This seems like a good idea, though if for whatever reason that isn't an option, maybe Flitter can borrow it to find the soul? Pay a bunch of money, put something precious down as collateral, and promise to return it once she finds the soul?

>Then what do you owe to Jack?

supporting this user.

As you probably guessed, I'ma pass out now. Votes remain open.

In a somewhat related story, we may have new readers arriving who stopped by to participate in the one-shot on /qst/!

Questions, comments, discussion, feedback, and criticisms remain welcome and appreciated.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

One last thing since I'm still awake - expect a doc on geargrinders Soon(tm).

>"Your son must have been one hell of a sculptor"
>"I'm going to need some more information, because it doesn't seem like this is something to take lightly."
It sounds like you could make a human body or maybe a freshly deceased person, put this blank-slate soul in it and get new life.

.....fuck

*your

eternal shame upon me

This got creepy.