Dungeon Life Quest (DLQ) 90 - Cockfight Edition

I forgot it honestly, I know the rule

>> Charge! He'll never expect it!

> Vim /can/ still come through for you. Hold your ground!

The guy has a bullwhip, we need to get close so he doesn't fuck us up with it, we've seen what he can do with a lasso.

I think it's closer to "distract" and "stand still"

>and
than "stand still", rather

>>> Charge! He'll never expect it!

Our blood is boiling, to battle!

> Charge! He'll never expect it!

You make a good point. Changing

To charge.

> Charge! He'll never expect it!

That was a hell of a nap. Will call and write Shortly(tm), gonna get some water or juice or something.

Called, writing. Narrow victory for Charge

No double-coffee? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU MAN?!

My god.

You could back down from the fight, but you saw what this man did to your brother with a lasso. Retreat is not an option, not for your survival or for your honor. Nor do you want to face that whip at a distance.

With only one real choice, you rush the Master of Lizards with a mighty cry: "Face your death, villain!"

"Idiot," the man drawls, before snapping the whip out.

But he's slower than he was expecting. Your venom is doing its grim work, and you dodge the lashing tip of the whip.

"You little shitstain," the Magister snarls.

"SIR SHITSTAIN!" you correct, and then you are upon him.

Your talons rake his leg, only for you to get thrown off by his kick. You roll aside, away from the lashing tip of his whip, as chaos breaks loose all around you. Lizards, maddened for blood, rampage through the ranks of their supposed masters. Above the din of battle, a spectral screech sounds, high-pitched and full of inhuman hate.

"I...am taking..you with me," the Magister manages. Somehow, impossibly, he is still standing. He drops the whip - his arm will not hold it further - and lunges for you with his gladius.

He never makes it. Icy claws plunge through his chest, and Kat /pulls/, opening his ribs and sending chunks of frozen blood spilling to the earth.

The shadow shrieks in unholy triumph.

* * * *

You are Brianna la Croix and FUCKING GODS KAT IS MAKING NOISE SHE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT.

You fucked up somewhere down the line and hit the tipping point where she started getting smarter. Maybe it was the elemental ice that did it. Either way, she's tearing her way through every soldier she can catch, rending limbs from bodies and littering the ground with shards of frozen blood.

Between the rampaging lizards, no one here being prepared to fight a demon, and the combination of Kat, Whisper, and the boar, the soldiers are starting to rout.

> No survivors
> Let them run

>KILL THEM ALL AND BURN THEIR ASHES
THESE MEN DESERVE NO QUARTER, SAVE FOR THE SIZE OF THE CHUNKS WE'RE GOING TO LEAVE THEM IN

>No survivors.
This is grim shit, but there's no helping it. We can't let anyone tip off the Lush that /we/ are here. If we do this right, it'll look like those rebels with the scarecrows were responsible.

As for Kat? We haven't seen anything from her indicating aggression or malice towards us or any of our allies. Hell, the bit with Nate's shadow made me think she was /happy/. Me thinks that she's got a berserk button, and the Magister hit it. We just have to wait for her to calm down.

> No survivors

Christ, user, who hurt you?

>No survivors
They don't deserve to die, but the alternative is OUR men die, and we can't countenance that. What dreadful business..

I'm passing out in my chair. Thankfully I have nowhere to go tomorrow and nothing to do. Votes remain open.

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

Thank you all for reading and participating!

> No survivors

Should have just burned the place down.

Anyways, if Kat is getting that sentient anyways we might as well double down and make her smart enough to have some self control so she can go berserk at appropriate times.

I think Kat is just, you know, animal/toddler smart. They're capable of flipping between lovable and psycho because they don't have any emotional brakes yet.

Very true. We probably should have started training her weeks ago (In literal time, not quest time; should have started after we killed the Baron).

What were her upgrades again? I think it was just the Witchlight Core and the Ice Claws. We shouldn't be surprised, considering the kind of emotion that went into her creation. Lust, Anger, Shame and Fear.

Lust and Shame are great for modifying negative actions.

>No survivors.

No Fire. Fire is bad. Fire is not the friend of war, it is the enemy of all.

So we need to set aside time to train and teach Kat to make her not a danger to us and our allies, maybe Nate's shadow can help.

Bump.

> Let them run

didn't we go out of our way as fetch to avoid killing people?

Not really. Fetch prefers honorable duels, but this is the time for destroying evil where it nests.

Vox, what happens if we have to put Kat down?

It would make me sad, but Brianna knows what happens. so we should too.

Okay...Fetch, DONT TAKE ON THE INSULT THE CRETIN GIVES YOU SERIOUSLY!

>Let them run
More people know Lush is fucked the better.

>> No survivors
It might allow us to keep secret the fact that we're here.

Brianna would be without a shadow for awhile; during this time she'd be weakened, distracted, and fairly listless.

We should remember that the Lush has a necromancer of his own, and if he gets the thought in his head that we're here, or learns from field reports, he can track us down regardless of any divination protection.

As distasteful as this may be, it's a necessary evil. If we feel incredibly guilty about this later, Brianna can always talk to their ghosts and ask forgiveness.

Ouch. Yeah, let's try and calm the upset shadow/toddler.

Hey, is it possible that by Brianna being stressed, Kat can become stressed too? I mean in the 'Brianna wants so badly to cry and get angry right now but can't' way, so Kay picks up on this and has no way of dealing with these emotions. Seems possible, in a sympathetic/empathetic shadow-connection sort of way.

Actually, Kat has done this many times before, usually when we can't cry, she will seek Nate's shadow and hug and cry, and the like.

I think, right now, she's just being am murder monster because that's what we have made her to be somewhat. The elemental ice seems to have done it - the Witchlight was just fine. Though, it's also important to remember the icy lace she leaves for nate's shadow.

She's just being what we need her to be at this moment - let's not panic yet.

YET.

Education time soon fellow skelly cocks!

Plus consider that Bri's still repressing a lot of rage and sorrow from the Jaw, and /experiencing/ a lot of it from recent events - to say nothing of her feelings on the Lush.

Wait I just thought of this....can we upgrade Nate's shadow to cuddle fuck Kat into submission just in case?

I don't think His shadow needs any upgrades, he seems to be doing a fine job with Kat already.

This keeps getting asked and the answer is the same: you'd need to teach the boy necromancy. How badly do you think he wants to know necromancy?

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that part. My bad.

Meh, he'll probably learn some by being Mr. La Croix. But that's still a ways off.

Called, tallying, writing.

you order Fetch.

Fetch agrees.

It's bloody, awful business, but it's over in minutes. You wince as you see Kat catch the last runner by the ankles. His desperate clawing to get away drags long furrows in the grass and soil before she silences his struggling with claws through his heart.

More than eighty men and women are dead.

Your boar and, for that matter, your companions are slathered in blood and gore. Whisper and Kat put down the loose lizards, and you herded the remaining soldiers into one of the vacated pens, stripped of their weapons and armor and manacled together in pairs.

The dead lizards are in one pile, and the dead soldiers in another. You haven't had time yet to try and strip them of anything, and you're not sure if you want to.

"What /are/ you?" a terrified man asks, near the fence.

You light a cigarette and take a long drag. Kat growls at your feet, glaring hatefully at the man; he and his new shackle buddy scramble back.

"We only have one wagon," River points out, in a small voice.

"Thankfully, I have a knife and some free time," Eric offers, viciously.

River gives you a pleading look.

> These men are your prisoners, and you're /about/ to have a shitload of undead lizards. March them to New Hell after reanimating the lizards.
> Take Eric up on his offer. You don't have time for this.
> Chain them up inside the buildings and leave Tina to mind them. You can deal with them later.

AND

> Animate the dead soldiers along with the lizards
> Only animate the lizards

>> These men are your prisoners, and you're /about/ to have a shitload of undead lizards. March them to New Hell after reanimating the lizards.
>> Only animate the lizards
None of these guys and gals had the mark right?

Well, none of the survivors anyway. A few of the corpses, including the Magister, did.

> Chain them up inside the buildings and leave Tina to mind them. You can deal with them later.
> Only animate the lizards

>> These men are your prisoners, and you're /about/ to have a shitload of undead lizards. March them to New Hell after reanimating the lizards.
> Animate the dead soldiers along with the lizards
We're going to need every edge we can get.

By the way Vox, after we've finished with our zombie army, can we 'de-animate' them or somesuch, maybe regaining a portion of the energy invested in their creation? Or will we have to run them off a cliff or something?

There's limited recycling capability. Making all these zombies at once is a bit of a bitch, but the traditional thing you do is enlist the aid of another necromancer if you can (you have one), sacrifice living beings if you have them on hand (you do: the remaining lizards) and then make /very shitty/ zombies. Sheer numbers mean a lot, especially considering that even shitty zombies take an awful lot of killing. When you're done with them you can bottle the death energies involved, though that's more a case of recycling glass than it is of getting back the sand you used to make it.

Well fuck that guy.

Cool, I was afraid we'd be using up like 30 years of life or something, get one good use of of them, them toss them away.
Related, does using a sacrifice or having another necromancer reduce the total cost, or just make the casting easier?

The sacrifices let you use the life released in place of your own. Having River help makes the casting easier and lets you two balance the load.

> These men are your prisoners, and you're /about/ to have a shitload of undead lizards. March them to New Hell after reanimating the lizards.
And
> Only animate the lizards
Once they past the threshold any that weren't fed for doing their job the way Lush wants should, in theory, drop like flies. We can leave with the New Hell citizens until we get back.

Going to get some breakfast, will call and write when I have eaten.

Oh no. No. Stop right there. We are NOT, going zombie army.

Remember user, they are /healthy/ as long as they /do not/ eat. While they still experience hunger, thirst, etc, they're sustained not in spite of starvation but /by/ starvation. Those that cross the threshold won't die of not eating, though they'll likely be hungry as shit.

>These men are your prisoners, and you're /about/ to have a shitload of undead lizards. March them to New Hell after reanimating the lizards.

>Only animate the lizards

We're not the Waerloch.

They killed everyone and then some. We're not going that route, period.

Does this mean that "Lay down your arms and go to New Hell, we'll feed you if you do so you don't have to be hungry any more" might be a good sales pitch?

Could very well be. Mind you, they already surrendered or got captured so they have 'lay down your arms' pretty much handled.

>> These men are your prisoners, and you're /about/ to have a shitload of undead lizards. March them to New Hell after reanimating the lizards.
> Animate the dead soldiers along with the lizards

Taking care of chores, then will call and write.

> These men are your prisoners, and you're /about/ to have a shitload of undead lizards. March them to New Hell after reanimating the lizards.

> Chain them up inside the buildings and leave Tina to mind them. You can deal with them later.
AND
> Animate the dead soldiers along with the lizards
Raising these dead may very well save some lives in the coming battle.

Called, tallying, writing.

You blow smoke out of your nose and give Eric a long look. "We aren't killing these men."

"And what /are/ you going to do?" the teamster asks, derisively.

You can almost hear the faint 'crack' of your patience snapping.

"What am I going to do?" you ask. "I'm going to question them, and then I'm going to drag all the lizards into one spot, kill the living ones, /animate them all as zombies/, and CACKLE MADLY, AT THE TOP OF MY FUCKING LUNGS, BECAUSE THAT IS HOW IT IS DONE!"

You are keenly aware of the /absolute silence/ that you now command from everyone around you.

"And after I'm done going mad with power, we're going to stick these men atop said zombies and turn them over to New Hell for safe keeping," you finish. "I am not a monster."

"They deserve it," Eric spits.

"If you wanna ride this horse I can put you in the zombie pile," you warn. "I'm not going to become the people I'm fighting. If you'd like to, the door out is that way. You think about that for awhile. River?"

"Yes?" your sister asks, snapping to attention.

"Ask Robert for advice on raising this zombie army we're about to raise, since he's the one with experience. Amy, Eric, Nate, Tina, if you'd be kind enough to go through the officers' quarters for intelligence and then stack the bodies inside. We'll get some oil around. Tina, I'd like you to put a fire in on a delay and make sure it won't spread."

"Why?" the demon asks, blinking.

"...Are funeral pyres not a thing you've heard of?" you ask her slowly.

"Oh. Oh! I figured you'd just leave them to rot - why are you both glaring at me?"

You and River sigh and shake your heads. You turn your attention to your prisoners.

"Where do the harpies nest?" you demand.

"Quickling Grove," one man blurts, earning him an irritated headbutt from the man chained to him.

"Good man," you praise sarcastically. "Now..."

> What were you preparing for?
> Where is Riley the General?
> How many men does the Lush command?

> What were you preparing for?
Can we ask more than one thing?

Not this vote.

>> How many men does the Lush command
> What were you preparing for?

user pls. Pls.

Oh, oops. Only
> How many men does the Lush command?
Then. I didn't have auto-update on.

The Lush knows we are coming for him, its pretty much a waste to ask unless the papers Fetch found had something different.

>What were you preparing for?

I imagine the answer is in the paperwork Vigor delivered, but this way is faster.

>> What were you preparing for?

I figured that no matter what, we know we're horribly outnumbered, and asking how outnumbered won't change that.

Now that I think about it though, could we ask where the troops are? That would be incredibly useful.

>> What were you preparing for?

Probably us, but there's also the Resistance faction to worry about. Keeping their shit from getting pushed in is also a pretty high priority.

Gonna call and write in about thirty; I'm finishing some Professional Writing.

Called, writing.

"What were you preparing for here?" you demand, to the group in general.

Silence.

"I know what you're thinking," you tell them. "You're thinking that the Lush will do horrible things to you if you talk and he catches you. But /I/ am /right here/, and my shadow, for some reason, fucking hates you. Probably relating to the bits where you tried to kill me."

Kat snarls, and the grass upon which she rests frosts over.

"She will /definitely/ do horrible things to you if you don't talk," you conclude.

"The Broken Jaw!" one man yelps in terror. "We were to retreat across the Broken Jaw and smash the geargrinder army you're building!"

"GOD DAMN IT BILLY," a female sergeant roars.

"That's an interesting thing to be preparing for," you note mildly. "It'd explain all the winter gear I found for the lizards too. Everyone else preparing for that?"

"Yes," Billy moans in fear, trying to scoot away from the sergeant. "Don't kill me! Don't do unnatural things to my corpse! We were going to reinforce the Sunless Sea after!"

A sound catches your attention from behind - the twang of a crossbow, followed by a screech of pain.

"Bri," Nate calls. "I just shot a harpy."

"I told him to," Amy confesses.

"You probably made the right choice," you say with a sigh. You look over at River; she's starting to prepare the ritual circle around the other empty pen, and fairly soon you're going to need to arrange things with the lizards.

> "Make sure the harpy's finished off."
> "Bring the harpy to me."
> "We'll deal with this later. Wrangle the lizards."

>"Bring the harpy to me."

How long does a harpy's song take to take effect? As in, if we hold a harpy at crossbow point, and it starts singing, can we shoot it before we go all happy like?

>Bring the harpy to me.

Yes, but considering that Amy, Fetch, and both shadows are entirely immune you may not have to care.

Cool. In that case
>> "Bring the harpy to me."

>"Bring the harpy to me."

> "Bring the harpy to me."

> "Bring the harpy to me."
Make sure to do it in your best sexy villainess voice.

Raising a skeleton army should also be good for negotiations with harpies since of the things they respect a lot is pure power.