Dungeon Life Quest (DLQ) 78 - I Meant It About Not Worrying About Arc Length Edition

Also, let's not go to Glen as fun as that might be to our crew later.

Vote will be extended while I handle real life, do some dishes, and discover the magic of Eating Food.

I dunno, could lend some weight and credence to the Duchess' position on opening up the mine. As in "the gods themselves are interested, let's exploit what we can out of it".

Good for tourism if nothing else.

imagine it though, middle of the day outside Henrietta is having a cup of tea with the cook, children are playing and harpies are hiding shyly in the shadows of tree's..

When suddenly an armed red headed elf shows up in the middle of the street with 6 celestial's and a knocked out half angel.

"everyone relax, I got this"

the guy has a point, even in the dumping grounds of the kingdom, it was still in her territory.

> "We'd best do this elsewhere. Can one of you take us to the surface?"

>break the fucking chain NOW!!

Imagine Bri's face when River gets there with all these celestials.

>Imagine Bri's face when River gets there with all these celestials.

"Hi, sis!"

you had ONE job River

but not really, Bri would be understanding

I'm looking forward to Bri finding out Matariel drowned a village because he lost one person, when she lost everyone.

It took me some time to notice. Then i remenbered Bri speaking about a flood. Fucks sake Matariel how can someone screw up so badly.

Notable: Bri remembers it as a burst dam that flooded the region, washing away her home town. Additionally, the Blind Marshes are /south/.

That doesn't actually rule it out, though. Just means your theory has complications.

Oh man if the village he drowned happened to be Bri's.

I know it's too convenient, but still the pure shitstorm that would go down would be amazing.

Well guess that sinks my theory.

That flood/storm/whatever happened shortly after Seraphina's birth, Bri's flood happened fairly recently, as she buried the victims. Time frame doesn't add up unless Seraphina is literally like 5-10 years old which I find unlikely.

Well all that water couldn't have just evaporated. If anything the river could have flooded from all the water Matariel manifested. But that would be more like the fallout of his attack.

Meh i guess it would be to much of a coincidense.

Doesn't even need to be the same village for the idea to hit close to home.

Angel kids age faster? We have seen weirder halfbreeds before so it is still possible.

> "We'd best do this elsewhere. Can one of you take us to the surface?"

Called, writing.

We can always ask Vox about it.

Whatever. We can still talk shut about petty reactions to losses. I mean, if he blames Lora we can blame him.

You take a deep breath. "I'm going to do something, and when it's done, can one of you take us to the surface?" you ask. "It'd be best if we do this elsewhere."

"I will," Sif agrees. "There's a clearing, not too far from here, where we can have our privacy."

You raise the chain in your hands. "Lora, I release you from this bond."

The links snap, and pure relief floods Lora's face. "I'll kill her remaining -"

"/No/," you correct, firmly. "Don't kill /anyone/. Why would I want that? Why would /you/ want that? Disarm the defenses, confine or restrain them if you think you must, but don't /hurt/ them. Hellfire, after what Seraphina did to Jewel before she got her wakeup call I wouldn't be surprised if those people don't remember who they really are."

For a moment you think the angel is going to refuse. But then she nods, and fades into the freezing fog that billows up from Cannot Hold.

Sif opens her palm and lets a lily bloom from it, white and pure. She blows on it, scattering the petals, and you find yourself drawn into a forest clearing, with the light shining from above and the scent of flowers on the breeze.

Every eye is on you. Jord takes a step towards Seraphina, and your hand goes to Sleep's hilt.

"Do you have any idea who you're challenging, whelp?" the angel asks, her voice a rolling growl.

"Do you?" you murmur, your tone low and calm. "La Croix have killed angels before. I don't want to do so again, but I will if you force me to."

You hold the she-wolf's gaze, heart pounding beneath your hard expression.

And she takes a step back, and settles down to listen.

Robert murmurs, awestruck.

"This is Seraphina," you begin, quietly. "Her master calls her the Daughter. She betrayed her aunt, your sister, and enslaved Lora for her own selfish gain. She was complicit in torture, murder, and destruction, as well as the enslavement of the innocent and the decimation of the Dungeon's way of life."

> "...She needs your help."
> "I have spared her life."
> Wait for their reply
> Write-in?

> Wait for their reply

>> Wait for their reply

> Wait for their reply

I still fucking love that picture.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

if 1
> "...She needs your help."

if 2
> Wait for their reply

>> "...She needs your help."
meh we are out of danger now, may as well get to the point

> Wait for their reply

>"...She needs your help."

> "...She needs your help."

> "...She needs your help."

Juuust to break the tie.

> "...She needs your help."

... I don't really like any of these options. The first kinda goes without saying but just dumps the problem on them . The second hasn't entirely happened yet. The third is waiting for them to do something when they don't even have anything riding on this other than some half mortal daughter of a sibling who doesn't seem to really care about what she's done.

Honestly at this point other than waiting for a reply that isn't even guaranteed to be there, I'd rather
>ask them for their take/point of view on the matter.

> So. Anyone here raised a half-mortal kid before? Because let me tell you no, this is not normal for them.

>I have spared her. She is My prisoner and I am loras executioner. I brought you because you are family and I give you a chance to make a decision. Don't waste the opportunity with grandstanding and threats.

Er, 'executor' not 'executioner'. Means she gave River power to make decisions for her.

> "...She needs your help."
She kinda does need help.

Phone posting, I don't question the diviner will of autocorrect.

Just fucking stop with the "lol kill her". We had three fucking votes on it, and I'm

I'm actually ready for shitposting round 3! Are you the metafag? Every time you bring this up I'm going to reference Crescendo just to remind you how shitty it is when anons get salty about votes not going there way.

>shitposting round 3!
No, fuck that shit.

Can't we just have some peace and quiet until Vox updates? Is that too much to ask?

Called, writing.

Incidentally, Gallows Humor has started updating again, admittedly still slowly and irregularly. Usual spot.

I guess. Nobody else really seems to be into it anymore anyways.

What part of autocorrect do you not understand? I never said "lol kill her". I said shut up and take this seriously because if you don't I have the authority to make the decision alone. The only shitposting here is you because you keep putting words i in other people's mouths and get angry over what you think is being said.

I'm not sure how you parse English, maybe it's your second language, but when you state autocorrect is responsible for saying execution instead of executor, and then proceed to say you don't question its divine will, that means that your are placing autocorrects statement above yours.

But I'm glad the salty user us back to play with me.

We were almost done with this shit.

> "...She, and after what she's done a lot of other people, need help."
>"Matariel needs help too, but a different sort that I'm not sure you can provide."

What I meant was that I can't change what it wrote after I clicked post. I was trying to say that he was right when he corrected me

Vox is kill?

Actually, yeah. I'm kill. Been staring at this posting box since I called the vote, can't focus. Votes're re-opened, and I'll write in the morning.

Thank you for your patience, folks. As always, questions, comments, discussion, feedback, and criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

>> "...She needs your help."

If it's any help, I was thinking of something like this;
>"She needs your help. She doesn't know how to be human /or/ angel, but her powers are too dangerous to be left on her own."
>"Matty here says that he left her at an orphanage, to be raised by mortals. But how do you discipline a child that can summon blizzards and hurricanes whenever she has a temper tantrum? How do you tell her 'No', when she can hypnotize and bend the wills of others?"
>"You don't need to pretend to be some kind of maternal or paternal figure; she knows who her father is, and I doubt she needs another one like him. Instead, you could offer her an apprenticeship of sorts, to guide her towards a better path."
>"I also suggest that, even if none of you want to take her under your wing, that her powers be sealed until she learns to use them for more than selfish purposes."

I really hope that this doesn't sound stupid or trivial. It's hard to think clearly after a nine-hour shift ending at 3 in the morning.

Welp, River just went up a level in Badass for staring down the Mother of Monsters and /winning/.

Fookin' `ell mate.

>River looks all of them in the eyes, and slowly pulls out the box of Lark's cigarettes, and puts one between her lips.
>Then, completely deadpan, asks them if they'd like a smoke.

I don't know if this would offend Sif and Jord, being so nature-oriented, but I think a couple of them might laugh. We probably need a tension breaker here.

Pre-sleep bump.

>I have spared her life
Because
>she needs your help.

I would be incredibly surprised if Bri listens to River's telling her all of this and she doesn't say, "Wow. I'd say I'm proud of you, but that really doesn't do it justice."

I was thinking more like

> She needs your help

> Matariel fucked up, and when he was confronted by it he had no idea even how he fucked up.

> When her mother died, he destroyed everything she had ever known and everyone she knew in a fit of pique because of HIS pain. He never even thought about Seraphial who had just lost her mother.

> He abandoned her to an orphanage, a young child with powers she had no idea how to control, and he clearly didn't provide a good role model himself on why anyone should control them.

> She's been hurting others, and hurting herself this whole time because she is so very afraid that she is worthless. When faced with death, she couldn't come up with a single reason she should be spared.

> So here we are. Not to punish her, because that's been tried before. But to try and save her so that she can repent. So that she can find worth in herself, and build worth in the world to pay back the hurt and damage she caused earlier.

> Right now, she doesn't need a judge, for she's already been judged. She doesn't need a jailer, because she's already trapped by herself. She needs a family, she needs people who can love her with healthy boundaries.

> Seriously, where the fuck have you all been her entire life? Doesn't matter anymore, it's time to step up, if family means anything at all to you.

I'd rather call them out and put them on the defensive and get them to justify why they should be allowed to take care of her.

Don't want to just pass the buck to Angels that aren't actually capable of helping.

Eh, Matariel aside, Domiel (stained glass angel) and Sif (obviously the Archangel of the Leaves Choir) seem like they might make good parents. Jord is off the list, just because I doubt she'd take kindly to someone who brought such harm to her sister. Erebus (angel fish woman, and probably Archangel of the Deeps) is still an unknown, and Duma (pretty obviously Archangel of Mysteries) is not fucking happening. Holy shit.

Mind you, these are just first impressions.

Yeah, the thing is I could actually see Jord being one of the BETTER parents. She did pick a pack animal as her form, and holy crap are inter-personal bonds important in those. All that alpha-beta bullshit was based on animals acting abnormally due to stress in captivity and people having difficulty telling animals apart.

Also being willing to call Seraphina on her shit instead of just going "Lol, they're just mortals anyways. Let's go drown a village, dying is what they do regardless."

>> Write-in?

> "I need your help in determining a fate for her that will not be a betrayal of all she has hurt, nor place the Dungeon or the wider world in danger from her, nor do further wrong /to her/ than has already been done."

Well, I mean, yes that's the compromising essence of what we want to post.

Where were you last night lol.

> Supporting this little niggas post.

I also feel that we're trying to cram too much into one conversational post. Like, let's have some back and forth here. This isn't a bioware game, we don't have to just pick Blue or Red and then watch the 15 minute cut scene and find out that we chose to kill everyone and drink their blood by choosing to say "I don't think so".

Wait for their reply, don't ask for their help just yet. These are still glorified manchildren when it comes to other mortals.

THIS!

>> "We'd best do this elsewhere. Can one of you take us to the surface?"

> All these votes after it was called.

>Votes're re-opened

This is better. changing my vote to this.

Well, in that case

> Supporting

Let's bully some angels. I wonder if she's actually ever had the people above her called out on her behalf anymore, instead of just feeding into her persecution complex. I mean, her Dad DID get a free pass on killing everyone.

See

That's my vote. Or at least

> Always vote for combined options.

I'm alive. I'll call and write after coffee.

PRAISE THE COFFEE MOTHERFUCKERS!

Coffee. Called, writing after I wrap this match.

Vox?

You take a deep breath. What happens now could - will - affect a lot more people than just Seraphina. It will affect all of the people she interacts with for the rest of her life - people who might be friends, family, strangers.

Victims.

"She needs your help," you say softly. "Matariel, he fucked up. And he's of no help here because I or someone else is still going to have to explain to him how and why he fucked up, because he still doesn't get it."

"I -"

You glare at the beaten archangel. He quiets himself immediately.

"The things Seraphina have done were her choices. The people she wronged, the blood shed in her name, those are things she will need to confront," you continue, quietly. "She may never be able to make amends to her victims, but she /can/ do better, I think. But the obstacles are great."

"What happened?" Domiel asks respectfully; his voice echoes, like a bell, and hangs in the air with an oddly comforting reverberation.

"Matariel lost the woman he loved. In his grief and sorrow, he destroyed everything and everyone she'd ever known, and abandoned his daughter to be raised by strangers. But what mortal could handle this?" you ask, gesturing to the unconscious nephilim. "How do you discipline a child who can summon storms and raise floods? The first time he entered her life, he took away all that she'd built and exiled her from her home, and that only made her more bitter, more angry, because while she /did/ need to be stopped, she did /not/ need to be abandoned all over again."

Jord and Domiel both glare at their brother. The Rain Choir folds his frozen wings to hide himself from their unspoken accusations.

"She craves glory because she fears, more than anything, that she is worthless, and unwanted, and unloved. Her only role model was the pitiless storm. I am hoping you can provide a better one."

"Nephilim are," Sif begins, a little awkwardly, "...difficult, to raise."

"They're locked into their bodies," Erebus explains. "They aren't true angels. These forms, we can -"

"Take them on and off, I know," you answer flatly. "And I'm guessing that Lady Jord has more freedom of that than the rest of you, to better understand her duties."

The she-wolf nods, sagely.

"But she's mortal," you agree. "And she'll need mortal role models in her life too. But the thing is...the thing is, she sees herself as an angel, and lusts to be a god, and doesn't act like either of those things. All power, no duty. Does that sound like you?"

Five of them look at each other. Matariel growls something in the tongue of demons that you're pretty sure is an imprecation about your bloodline and species.

"She needs a family," you continue softly. "Not a jailer, not a punisher. A family."

"You're mortal," Jord says suddenly. "What would you do with Matariel, if he were subject to your laws?"

"Lady Jord, I'm a necromancer. I'm already an outlaw."

"Details," the she-wolf snort.

> What would you do?

Well, he murdered a whole village because he got upset, if he was a human I assume he'd get outlawed and executed. Is Jord asking about what the law says or simply what River would do? Up until a month or two ago she'd just have killed him and collected the coin. Now? We don't really know if River is even law abiding or not, the dungeon hasn't really lent itself to explore that aspect of her.

>are we going to be able to give a fair punishment to him? even after his previous failure and lack of understanding of his consequences. I cant think of any other punishment but forcing him to live as a mortal for a few years and be held accountable for his actions when he inevitably fucks up again. But from the amount of time that has passed I am not sure if anyone is around to desire any recompense.

Jord doesn't really mean formal mortal law in the sense of things you get dragged into court for. She's asking how mortals would deal with someone who behaved this way; how would he be seen, treated, punished?

The thing about angels is they embody and enforce natural laws. Their perspectives are different, but the people Matariel wronged most, including his daughter, are all mortal - Firstborn. From an angelic perspective he didn't do anything particularly noteworthy; who knows how many people he kills just /doing his job/, after all. But River's spoken as if he did something that is, in fact, horribly wrong. So Jord wants to know what she'd have done with the man.

I retract this option in light of this

I don't know anything about the surface laws but I expect mass murder to be dealt with capital punishment- I don't know how much we intend to play up this whole "I'm trying to be a new person" thing and just say something that will make us the players and River feel good about ourselves.

Still going by the assumption of capital punishment, are we going to toss law and order out the window because we've gotten ourselves personally involved? Feels like we need to know just how lawful River is.

>If he were subject to our laws he would be executed on the spot. Mass murder is an unforgivable crime. What I would do? Capture him and bring him before a court that will establish his guilt and decide on the punishment. In this case, likely only the method in which he is to be killed.

>he was not doing his job, in a fit of rage he murdered and entire town of people. That level of crime is unforgivable, he would be tried, found guilty and summarily executed.

So not a vote, but some musings, here, whie I sort out my thoughts.

Theres two basic forms of reacting to wrongs. Eye for an eye, aka vengeance, aka hurting them back, and reconstrucitve. Making them repair or fix the wrong.

Eye for an eye doesn't work; and is also assumes an equal amount of eyes. Or wings. Or whatever.

Reconstrutive has far better results, and better long term fixing. For both the wronged, they're getting something repaired, and for the wronger - they're gaining life lessons in how to not be a dick. It also doesn't match gods vs mortals.

So whatever I'd go with, reconstructive insomuch as it can be done, in principle, is what I'll be suggesting as much as feasible once I sort this out.

>I understand that mortals may, and do, die in the course of his duties, and I cannot presume to judge him for that. The wind and the rain fall where they must and destroy blindly what they will. But the storm that day was of his own making, for his own reasons, and his eyes were open to those he slew by it.
>The closest mortal analogs to his actions would be mass murder or an act of war, and would be punished by death.
>Sometimes very inventive manners of death, depending on the executioner.

This isn't a vote for suggesting he be killed, mind, just a frank explanation of what his actions amount to. River's an ex-merc, she's probably seen more than one village razed by other means herself.

It's one thing if a galleon full of sailors with wives and children back home capsizes during a storm at sea. It's another for Matariel to selfishly use his powers to lash out at mortals that had done him no wrong.

Remember the conversation Brianna had with Lora, about how if Amy or Nathan died, she's still collect their souls? It's her job to keep things moving, to send the spirits of the deceased onwards to the Sunless Lands. Just as its Matariel's job to direct storms and raise floods.

Definitely need to combine this with any other votes.

The fuck happened to my post? Whatever. Short version.

> Different mortals do different things. We weren't the ones wronged by him, so we can't stand in judgement. The victims, relatives of those he murdered, and Seraphina should be the ones to judge him.

> I will say that one life doesn't pay for all the lives he took. Or even one of the lives he took. Ultimately the questions are can he also do better, and does he deserve the chance.