Dog Days Quest Episode 106

"So. You two."
Charlotte stands just inside the Gallete Embassy of Biscotti. She has a look on her face that is less-amused than normal.

"Want to explain what is going on here?"

Yuuki, your partner-in-crime, is a combination of angry and guilty right now. She stares Charlotte down, but decides to not answer her question. She's leaving it for you to do.

Slowly, you take a ball of fuzz from behind your back and hand it over to Charlotte.
"Here's ol' Antonin back." You refrain from smiling. "He'll be fine in half'a hour, but next time brief 'im on taking on heroes head to head."

You are Jack Albator, excellent, kind, strong, sober-
Mostly sober-
-Yikes, you've drunk that much of your flask already?

-..Hero of Biscotti.
Today, you're here to get some answers.
Answers about identities, about plots, plans, schemes, conspiracies. All of which is contained within the head of a certain traitorous butler. One who is carrying out his sentence tomorrow.

Argh, who ye kiddin'? After Yuuki gets her hands on him, he won't make it to sentencing.
You're here to make sure that doesn't happen until you get the answers that you want.

"Well, y'see." You start your, hopefully sober-sounding, explanation to the Princess. "That guy y'sentenced this mornin'? Yar, he knows more about the girl we found. The one we think is yer sister."

Charlotte visibly bites her lower lip.
"Go on."

"-And also, ye may have a little brother, too."

Her fists are clenched, now.

"Thanks for telling me this now."
"Aye, don mention it. So where is he?"

"-In the back, not sure how much talking you're going to get."
"Damn it Lass, don't tell me he's dead."
"No, but-" Charlotte pauses, "Last night, there was a lapse in security and- the Chef cut his tongue out."
"..Aye, what?"
"The chef, he cut the Butler's tongue out."

>Great.
>Can we just heal it? With like, magic or somethin'?
>He has a hand, he can write.
>I have a couple of friends who might be able to help with that.
>Other?

Other urls found in this thread:

pastebin.com/jCGAA6J2
suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=dog days quest
twitter.com/Announcer_QM
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

Pastebin:pastebin.com/jCGAA6J2
Archive:suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=dog days quest
Twitter:twitter.com/Announcer_QM

>>Can we just heal it? With like, magic or somethin'?

Huh
Nobody's home?

I'll give it a few more minutes and then write.

>>Can we just heal it? With like, magic or somethin'?
Sorry I'm late!

Damn.
Your attention turns back around to the other resident expert. A wise apothecary with a certain charm to her.
"Madeleine, Any suggestions?"

"Well, we could regrow the tongue or-"

Her fingers snap.

"We can put a charm on him. I'm not really keen with the specifics, but I do have a couple- Hold on."

She reaches into her bag and rustles through it. With a grab, she takes out a small kit with a green symbol on it.
"Here it is, a few things I've purchased over the years."

The wooden box opens, revealing a multitude of tiny patchwork. Each one has a symbol on them.

"This is it, this is the one used for mutes." She takes out a tiny patch. "one problem with it, charms only work if the person who is getting charmed accepts it."

You vaguely remember this from your previous experience with it.
Yuuki seems to wince a little at those words.

Yuuki herself was charmed a few nights ago, and was only saved by the quick actions of a certain fire-spitting hero. She agreed to help some old lady, and that somehow counted as consent to be charmed. So, clearly there must be some way to trick people into accepting it.

Yuuki takes a step back, away from the box. You step forward and take the tiny patch from Madeleine's hand.
"Aye, so there's a way to make him accept?"
"Probably, but-" Madeleine closes the box, "He probably won't accept through beatings."

Great, you have to interrogate someone, and you can't even use your most appropriate interrogation technique.

>Then I'll leave this to you.
>Maybe we should think of something else.
>How about the chef? Let's talk to him first.
>We could try beating him anyway.
>Other?

>>How about the chef? Let's talk to him first.

>>How about the chef? Let's talk to him first.

>so what about the regrowing solution?
>>if i turn him into a fuzzball, will it grow back instantly?

...

>Would fuzzball regrowing work?
>How about the chef? Let's talk to him first.
Writing!

"Hey wait a minute."
You think about this for a second.

"How did he lose his tongue? Aye though the barrier protected against all that."

"Well, it does."

"That purple stuff, we found some on the chef. It has something to do with it." Charlotte intervenes. "Not sure what the connection is, but the Butler definitely had some before he was cut."

Damn it, Lass. Can any of your men search someone worth a damn? You should be glad he had that powder instead of that kidnapping wine.

"-Aye, let's go ask that Chef about that, then. Aye'm kinda curious how he just happened to have all that stuff on him. Ye men did search him, right?"
"We're just as puzzled as you are."

--

"AYE!" You kick the bars, the slumped-over man in the cage jumps to his feet. "Rise and shine, cupcake."
"Pst." The man behind the bars regards you with disgust, slumping back down onto his back.

"Yer gonna tell me some things."
"Go to hell."
"First, ye are gonna tell me how ye got the butler's tongue out."

Silence.

"Or else, imma find out from trial and error."

"Go ahead."

"Jack, Jack." Madeleine puts her hand on your shoulder, "Let me deal with this, open the cell."

The man rises to his feet the second the door swings open. With a lash, Madeleine's tail knocks him back onto the stone wall.
Reaching into her pouch, she procures something which looks to be a tube, with a needle on the end of it.

Bloodletting?

"This here," She uses her tail to grab him into a stranglehold, "-will make it seem like talking to us is the most normal thing in the world. So just relax for a few minutes and let it kick in."
"ERGH-"
..

After a few minutes of waiting; Madeleine reaches over and peers into his eyes. His pupils are completely dilated.

"Okay!" She happily chirps, "Ask away!"

>First off, who hired ye to kidnap Charlotte?
>How long have ye known the butler?
>Is he hiding any more secrets ye know of?
>How do we find this other hero guy, the big one?
>Tell us about any spies.
>Other?

>First off, who hired ye to kidnap Charlotte?
>How long have ye known the butler?
>Is he hiding any more secrets ye know of?
>How do we find this other hero guy, the big one?
>how did you cut his tongue? diminished the barrier or something?
>Tell us about any spies.
woo, drugs!
and yeah, ask all the questions

>>First off, who hired ye to kidnap Charlotte?
>>How long have ye known the butler?

>First off, who hired ye to kidnap Charlotte?
>Is he hiding any more secrets ye know of?

>First off, who hired ye to kidnap Charlotte?
>Is he hiding any more secrets ye know of?
>Other good questions!

Writing!

"First off, who hired ye to kidnap Charlotte?"

He seems groggy at first, maybe even a little uncooperative.
His voice slurs as he starts to talk some sense, for a change.

He was hired by proxy, apparently from someone who he never met before and would likely never see again. He didn't even know about the butler until a day before the supposed hit was supposed to happen.
The idiots in the bar were hired off his own dime as a ploy to cause chaos and destruction someplace far away from where he was supposed to be. The fact that they were even discussing coming to Charlotte's dinner party at all was them being incompetent and stupid.

He doesn't know of any more secrets beyond that. His job before this was just drifting to whoever needed a sellsword, and carrying out any manner of acts that he could fetch a penny from.

By the end, there's a part of you that almost can relate with the guy.

"One last question." Charlotte steps up, "Why did you cut off the Butler's tongue?"
"I just din' want him squealin'. Those types at the end of there rope always squeal and make things worse. Got a knife from a guard's shavin' kit he left, n just went to town."

"Why did his tongue come off if we're inside the barrier?" Yuuki aptly asks.

"Well, yo see, they make'a flower that grows outside tha barrier, looks like purple powder, when you grind it up."

Ah, so that explains where he was getting that stuff.

Well, that's not much, but it's at least a lot less than you'll have to ask ol' mutie across the hall.

You let the guards restrain him as Madeleine leaves the cell. He flops back down onto the floor and is out cold.
"It's just a side effect, he'll be awake in a couple hours." Madeleine smiles.

You scary, girl.

>Butler time.
>Formulate a plan before you charge in there.
>Pfft, when have you ever done that?
>Onward!
>Other?

>Any idea what the purple flower looks like?

>>Butler time.
>>Formulate a plan before you charge in there.

Why is scale tail so much best?

>>Butler time.
>>Formulate a plan before you charge in there.

>>Butler time.
>>Formulate a plan before you charge in there.

Writing!

"So-" You try to actually formulate a plan before you just go charging in, "Ye think that stuff will work on the butler?"
"It could, but he can't talk."

"Would it help him agree to one of them charm things?"
"Probably not, but we could try it anyway."

Madeleine, you know how to make a man happy.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Aligot waves his hand, "Let's focus on getting him to accept it first, before we start pumping him with drugs. If his mind isn't clear, then the charm wouldn't think he agreed to it anyway."

That's worrying, you were hoping Madeleine had some kind of magic drug for this, too.

Aligot takes on a more mature air about him, "Listen, we could get him to agree to this very easily. He knows he's going to die tomorrow, but we can try to convince him that if he just cooperates; then we could get him spared."

"I don't want to spare him."
"Aye don't want to spare him."

Both you and Yuuki grumble.

"That's okay, you don't have to actually spare him. Just make it seem like this could be his best hope, and maybe he'll just agree to the charm. That's all he has to agree to if Madeleine's potion works, right?"

You hate to say it, but that's actually a good point.

It also hinges on your greatest weakness, the ability to work with someone. It's way easier to just deck them and take what you want.

--

The poor sod is laying in a bed behind bars. He's still in a cage, but they at least gave him a bed this time.
Yikes, he looks bad.

You can tell Charlotte has been doing a number on him. You're amazed he's not a permanent puffball by the way he looks.
Not sure if there's even any information left to get.

>Cont.

Aligot takes the lead on this one, and Madeleine just keeps Yuuki at bay. She still wants a piece of him.

"Hey, you awake?" Aligot nudges the old butler.
There's a light moan, and then silence.

Aligot talks with him for a few minutes, about the future, about where he's going, and how he can help.
Then, he presents the tiny patch for the man. Promising that this one patch will make all his problems disappear.

Without hesitation, the old man greedily takes it. He's enveloped with a blue light, and an eery glow from his forehead.
Yuuki anxiously steps away from the cell. Madeleine steps inside to deliver the 'dosage' of whatever that strange medicine might be.

>So, what questions do you ask him?
>The girl?
>That hero guy?
>What was his plan?
>All of it.
>Everything
>Other?


>Thread End.

Okay.

I stopped here because it's late and I need to go to bed.

So, as I mentioned before, we are having a thread on Saturday. Said thread will pick up where this one left off.

After next thread, we will be in the final arc.

What does that mean? It's just the last plot thread I think I wanted to explore in the quest. Who knows how long that will last. Six months, another year, it's hard to tell with a quest.

But- you will have all the pieces remaining to finish the quest by then depending on what questions you ask and where you go next. All up to you.

Sorry this was another short thread. I didn't mean to start so late. But that's okay, I think we got somewhere.

Let me know what you thought, and be sure to vote! Next thread on Saturday will pick up where this one left off. Have a nice night.

ask everything, of course
and also
>who was working with him

alright, thanks for running

>The girl?
>His co-conspirators.

Thanks for running.
Damn, snek's getting scarier by the day.