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File 148738690382.png - (55.48KB , 600x400 , dungeoner_ch3.png )
780479 No. 780479 ID: dd5b4d

http://www.tgchan.org/wiki/Dungeoneer

My dungeon is finally coming together.
624 posts omitted. Last 50 shown. Expand all images
>>
No. 807738 ID: 91ee5f

>>807677
In fact, you'd better address this Earth Pulse hates Sky Power thing now, otherwise next time you send someone to town, they might come back with a new recruit that specializes in only Sky Power stuff!

Or before your dungeon dwellers try to invite Ophelia to join the dungeon!
>>
No. 807740 ID: ba506f

>I don't think anything good is going to come of trying to dig up the past.
snrrk. Oh irony, how I love thee

but yeah anyways, as for mushrooms. Ask how to make healing and magic potions from them as those will probably see the most use by both your own team and wondering adventures.
>>
No. 807741 ID: 45b631

>>807628
Green-on-green Mushroom wallpaper! We now know what your farm's walls must look like!

There may be some advantage in allowing Izakikk to continue to believe that you can't understand their monologue...
Then again, you are here for knowledge, and their terrible translation is harming that. There is unlikely to be any great secrets that you can exploit and there is a sore dearth of people recognising how amazing your are.

Could a mage-rupture be referring to the same phenomena as your cleavage? If there are treatments that could improve your cleavage issues then you need to pursue that!

Does Izakikk know anything about combining mushrooms with living cauldrons? It seems liek a bit of a niche field but is relevant to your situation.

Are there potions which could enhance one's receptiveness to magical influences? It might backfire against magical heroes but if you could bolster the effects of boss-mode against muscle-brains...

Can potions help with smithing? Can they imbue magic into a material?

How do mushrooms respond to other materials? Especially slime-products and what you know of locally grown materials and reagets that you believe could be acquired and cultivated. Are there any elements that they shouldn't be mixed with?

Can toxins be extracted from these mushrooms? What of hallucinogens? Those can be marvellously subtle...

Is there any way to breed ambulatory mushroom monsters?

Do the mushrooms possess any combat potential in their curren state? Never overlook the hazard of a plume of spores...

Would mushrooms gain any properties from beign grown in the corpse of a demon-bear?
>>
No. 807742 ID: 3abd97

>>807627
As long as you don't tell him, he has no idea sky powers are bad. Is it really his fault he's been lied to his whole life? Stupid pervasive sky power propaganda.
>>
No. 807815 ID: d8ce3a

>>807623
>I don't think anything good is going to come of trying to dig up the past.
Digging up the past could be a description of your entire existence, Deem. If lying to your minions is bad, lying to yourself is even worse, just dont do it.
>>
No. 807820 ID: 094652

Mushroom spores: how should we cultivate them within closed spaces or dense walls?

I don't understand what conditions are required to force mana collection. Do you need to starve them or something? Throw them next to a magic-based weather condition and wait for them to adapt?

Ask for instructions to cultivate healing shrooms and poisonous shrooms of the same color. Get adventurers to trust the shrooms at the start, then laugh as they eat the instant-death shrooms right next to the treasure room.
>>
No. 807912 ID: 45b631

Also ask about mushroom cooking. You never know when there will be too many things to do and all your denizens wil be busy or incapacitated. Your most important work is, of course, performed from your heart, leaving your golem somewhat free to perform low-intenisty tasks such as watching some mushrooms boil and being nearby in case an injured denizen requires assistance.
>>
No. 814788 ID: b27cac
File 149977606116.png - (22.10KB , 600x800 , awkwardness.png )
814788

>Digging up the past could be a description of your entire existence, Deem. If lying to your minions is bad, lying to yourself is even worse, just don't do it.
Bah.

>>No. They don't have to know, no-one has to know.
>So you want another repeat of what happened with Hin and your heart? Wow, I thought you were supposed to be smart. You've gotta tell them, otherwise it's going to keep happening again and again and again.....
I don't care, I will not.

>As long as you don't tell him, he has no idea sky powers are bad. Is it really his fault he's been lied to his whole life? Stupid pervasive sky power propaganda.
Words are weak. It's always personal tragedy that moves someone to rebellion.

>Didn't you say something about maybe speaking his language? Might be better than him trying to speak in the local one.
"I am not a child, a wall, nor do I have rocks for brains."

Izakikk freezes. "You, you understood that?"

I nod.

Izakikk grabs me in a bear-hug. "Uwah, you know a real tongue. The barbarians here, they are a sea of nonsense! They chatter like dragon-flies! You, have you felt the shade of the pillar trees, felt the breath of-"

I pat Izakikk's back. This is the only way I'm getting out of this. "There, there. I just have a gift for languages. I tell you what, before you leave I'll see if I can teach you a few more words at least."

"Thank you, thank you!"

Once Izakikk settles down, they explain their mushrooms in earnest.

"Mushrooms may seem to just spring up overnight," Iakikk says, "but we who dwell in the Rotwood know all too well that such sudden growth is the end result of long preparation. The mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the carefully spread and extended mycelium living in the ground and other material it has infiltrated.

"These specific mushrooms, we call them kindly mushrooms, have been carefully chosen and cultivated for their benign nature and their ability to decompose dangerous material without becoming tainted by it. Mushrooms feed upon decay, they're very useful for breaking down substances that are rich in magic but possessed of an undesirable nature. Cursed ground, the viscera of monsters, such things can be decomposed by them. As I have said, they are kindly, they must be protected from pests and hazards for they have little ability to defend themselves.

"The process will be much slower and their mushrooms will only have little magical power if easier food is available. That is why scarcity brings out the best in them: they will scavenge from harder to decompose material and concentrate power to wait for conditions to improve."

Simple enough - they need material that is rich in mana and should not be provided with material that is easier to break down so they absorb as much mana as possible.
In a pinch they could simply be starved to make them spore less often but with more potent mushrooms.

>Can potions help with smithing? Can they imbue magic into a material?
Well, yes, various alchemical substances are often used to prepare materials to be fashioned into a magical item.

>Do the mushrooms possess any combat potential in their current state? Never overlook the hazard of a plume of spores...
They're not puffballs and they're not toxic. So no. Perhaps someone might stand on one and slip over. Or punch one and have it collapse on them if it was especially large.

>Is there any way to breed ambulatory mushroom monsters?
Well, yes. I would usually start by finding an ambulatory mushroom monster and then encouraging it to spread its spores around.

>That's another good question: What growth pattern is most conducive to growing a lot more mushroom stock quickly?
They're usually cultivated in stacks of damp logs out of direct sunlight. I'd just have to let them spore without harvesting them.
>>
No. 814790 ID: b27cac
File 149977626844.png - (38.09KB , 800x600 , mushroom_mushroom_mushroom.png )
814790

I sit down to absorb as much as I can of Izakikk's knowledge of mushroomy potions.

>With regards to potions, a more reliable healing potion would be useful to have around, and perhaps something to cure illness.
To be clear I should quickly explain that for injuries and minor illnesses, there's two types of healing potion. The first is for emergencies. It heals wounds and gives a quick burst of energy at the coast of depleting the body's resources. The second is to help recovery. It helps the user replenish their reserves, assists long term regrowth and accelerates recovery. It's sometimes called a potion of regeneration, though it often confused with potions intended to give a sustained burst of healing ability.

According to Izakikk the mushrooms would be suitable for such a recovery potion.

A general purpose curse removing potion could be made by processing some of the mycelium but that will reduce mushroom yields until it regrows. Dealing with stronger curses or diseases typically needs a tailored potion however.

>Ask about the biggening of man, and hope it's some sort of giant growth potion, rather than a... let's say, partial giant growth potion.
It's a potion that enlarges the drinker. Sudden growth is a very basic property of mushrooms so it's simple to make. And yes, there is also a medicine can that be made to treat impotence.

>Combat-relevant effects - strength, speed, mana recovery, all that sort of thing
Unfortunately it's not well suited to mana recovery. The mushrooms absorb magical power fine but it's mostly expressed in a few specialised effects.

The first combat-relevant potion gives a boost of strength and speed. Izakikk calls it a bloodrush potion as it improves circulation. It makes the drinker slightly more vulnerable to injury as a result. The second gives a large boost to strength and causes some increase to muscular bulk so it may not be a good idea with some armour.

>REISARF GETS MUSCLES POTION
>ask if it shrinks his balls tho
I think Izakikk's thankful to me for offering the language lessons, since they ask me to not spread this outside my dungeon. There's a special rite involving an extended period of synchronisation and purification followed by several days of performing feats of strength and consuming a special mushroom broth based on the previous potions to permanently increase physical prowess.

I don't know if that'd be the best fit for Reisarf though. Someone who has cultivated personal power still only has a limited number of mana channels. Wizards keep most untethered to be twisted into spells while warriors have those channels bound tightly into their mind, body and tools to reinforce them.

He is physically underdeveloped though.

>Potions to boost magic strength would be good too.
The potion for 'rupture of wizard' (as Izakikk previously called it) is a magical accelerant. It forces more mana to be cycled through mana channels faster, increasing the casting speed and strength of spells. The downsides are it stresses the channels, lowers the mana efficiency and the small tears it causes can develop into something worse if overused.

>A potion that can be thrown to explode upon an enemy caster to nullify their casting ability? What about a potion that nullifies magic effects on the drinker- either a one-time dispel or a continuous antimagic buff.
It might be possible to modify the rupture potion to cause, well, ruptures. I'd have to experiment to make it take effect on being splashed with it instead of drinking it. The others won't be possible with just these mushrooms, even if I use the mycelium. It's simply not voracious enough.

>Might want to ask what kind of sight enhancement is offered. Prophetic trances? Darksight? Seeing through illusions?
This one's quite difficult to make. It requires the mushrooms, the mycelium and samples of the feedstock. It always to you see spiritual contamination - traces left behind by others on anything they have interacted with. Normally unseen lines of influence and connection. It's very useful for investigating an area and for the study of metaphysical phenomena.

>Are there potions which could enhance one's receptiveness to magical influences? It might backfire against magical heroes but if you could bolster the effects of boss-mode against muscle-brains...
That would be a potion of vulnerability. Perhaps by modifying some of the other potions I might be able to do something there. Alkaline's slime might be a useful ingredient too, dissolution of boundaries. Hmmmm. Izakikk doesn't know any recipes for it.

I think I might turn into a mushroom after listening to all of this.

Is there anything else I should ask Izakikk? And secondly, should I ask anyone along for Izakikk's language lesson? A conversational partner would be useful and I might need a chaperone to protect me from these grabby strangers.
>>
No. 814797 ID: d79f26

yes, get alkaline to join in, she can practice her words too.
>>
No. 814806 ID: d8ce3a

>>814790
Yeah, bring alkaline. And ask how long Izakikk is going to be in the area. He should swing by again to check on our progress later. Also, ask himif hes seen Any interesting monsters in the area, we might want to try and capture them, for the dungeon, or to feed the mushrooms.
>>
No. 814828 ID: be0718

Does damage to a person's mana channels outlast 'resurrection' by the earth pulse? Could it even interfere with the process if it progressed drastically enough?

Thirding Alkaline! She'll make sure those grabby hands stick to one place.
>>
No. 814870 ID: 45b631

Alkaline might... dominate the lesson. It would be a wonderful experience, but Izakikk doesn't have an abundance of time. Perhaps it might be good to prepare a distraction if the lessons become too unfocused? Maybe a test to determine if additional honey and pancakes will have additional benefits to Alkaline's abilities? Perhaps Hin and/or Merud could handle the experiment?

Moriko probably has experience with multiple languages, so would be a good escort for you. The merchant likely has some experience of Izakikk's language, and might continue to interact with him, so there could be a lot of benefit there for Izakikk and some familiarity might help the lessons, so long as she doesn't butcher his language constantly. But she may bring her pet sky-priest along, and they both look like the physically affectionate sort, so do bring a bodyguard.

Kallia and Merud are both somewhat scholarly, so they might, potentially, be interested in languages, but probably in more of an academic sense than a practical sense, except when it comes to practical jokes, Kallia would probably love to know if there are any inter-language innuendoes that she could use to make Izakikk uncomfortable while theoretically speaking normally in her own language...
>>
No. 814948 ID: d36af7

>anything else I should ask Izakikk?
Get Hin's persistent cough checked out. Any doctor who wears a gas mask full-time and sleeps in a pressurized tent full of noxious chemicals would have to know a thing or two about respiratory problems.
>>
No. 814967 ID: 3ce125

>>814948
Worth a shot.
>>
No. 815384 ID: 5792da

>>814790
... could we use the mycelium to make golems? Like, either as the main material in place of clay, or as the rock accents? It's like half dirt, so it might work?

It'd maybe keep deem's leaky mana under control a bit more, or do other wonky and cool things with spell channels?
>>
No. 815564 ID: 8beaac

We could easily feed this kindly mushrooms with the leakage of our dungeon core. This could become pretty important, should the corebleed increase with more income.
>>
No. 815588 ID: c7c14d

>>814790
>language lessons
i want Alkaline in there.
>>
No. 815693 ID: b7627b

>>815384
I feel like that might eventually turn Deem into a walking biohazard as the fungus continues to grow, and mushrooms appear. It could perhaps also encroach on the channels in the shard over time? I probably worry too much.

I agree with James that it wouldn't hurt to ask Kikk about Hin's condition, even if he's more mad mycologist than doctor.
>>
No. 816193 ID: 5b93d3

>>815693
You say that like Acquired True Body: Mushroom Golem Deem is a danger rather than a goal.
>>
No. 816206 ID: 45b631

>>816193
No matter how much I look, I just can't see how a mushroom golem can fit as much innuendo inside itself as a dungeon can...
>>
No. 830069 ID: 673643
File 150521577253.png - (23.32KB , 800x550 , throat_poke.png )
830069

>We could easily feed this kindly mushrooms with the leakage of our dungeon core. This could become pretty important, should the corebleed increase with more income.
Yes that would be pragmatic.

>Does damage to a person's mana channels outlast 'resurrection' by the earth pulse? Could it even interfere with the process if it progressed drastically enough?
Somewhat. Resurrection depletes the body's resources so while they'd show temporary recovery they'd be more vulnerable to damage and long term effects from repeated use.

>Get Hin's persistent cough checked out. Any doctor who wears a gas mask full-time and sleeps in a pressurised tent full of noxious chemicals would have to know a thing or two about respiratory problems.

"Hmm." Izakikk pronounces.

"Hmmm?" I say.

"Is bug."

"Bug as in sickness," Hin says, "or-"

"No, bug! Gristleworm! Wrapping throat!"

I've never heard of those.

Izakikk flaps their hands like fins. "Swims through flesh. Like fishie. Is found in fishie!"

"Maybe you should explain this to me in your own language."

Hin leans forward. "Hey, I want to hear this."

"Hin, do you want accurate information or needlessly alarming pidgin?"

While Hin is looking conflicted, I abscond with our temporary doctor.

It turns out a gristleworm is an aquatic parasite that can phase through flesh. They're most commonly found in deep sea fish. They can't survive long out of a host and generally have to keep it weakened to stop it forcing them out. They don't normally migrate into humans. They can't survive well in them. It's taken up residence around her throat, the irritation is making it harder for Hin to eat and it's probably stealing some food. So the good news is I was right: it's an exotic illness but Hin really does just need bed rest and to eat properly to recover. And maybe to have a big rock ready when it's forced out.

I don't think Hin would appreciate me putting it to her that way.

The biggest unsolved mystery is how Hin caught it off Doyle. Maybe that final curse just left her more vulnerable to it? But I very much doubt Hin's been eating some bad seafood. Spontaneous generation? Maybe Doyle ate something weird. Can it get in frogs?
>>
No. 830070 ID: 673643
File 150521601788.png - (31.28KB , 800x550 , final_form_deem_discourse.png )
830070

>Yeah, bring Alkaline. And ask how long Izakikk is going to be in the area. He should swing by again to check on our progress later. Also, ask him if hes seen Any interesting monsters in the area, we might want to try and capture them, for the dungeon, or to feed the mushrooms.
>Thirding Alkaline! She'll make sure those grabby hands stick to one place.
I find Alkaline. She was with that priest child so it's good I could remove her from bad influences.

Izakikk is startled when I show up, royal jelly in tow. They shy back when I come around the corner, seeing Alkaline suddenly so close.

"Is something the matter?"

"Oh. Yes. You see, the slimies in my home. They have danger. No shape, the thinking is taken up by poison. Talk is chemical, very toxins. The slimies that look like a thing, they are the most danger!"

I think I followed that. Maybe. Alchemical and toxic slimes are common in Izakikk's homeland but they trade off that specialisation for being very dumb. The smarter and more complex ones are very dangerous

I wave a hand in my approximate vicinity a step behind and find Alkaline. I pat her shoulder. "Well you have nothing to worry about from Alkaline here."

"Yes, is good pet."

"Pet?" Alkaline says. She seems a little put out.

"If we're to have language lessons, perhaps you should talk in your own language most of the time and I can say it back to you translated." Hmm, I just realised I don't know what anyone calls the local tongue. I shall have to ask Merud later.

"Ah, yes. I was going to say that such beast taming is a useful skill for someone of your profession. I started at a young age. I remember when I was a child my first pet was a bumblemoth. Beautiful insects they are, they collect nectar from the night blooming flowers."

I have to concentrate here to say it right. I repeat Izakikk's word back to them. Izakikk nods along as I do. "Have you seen any creatures that've caught your interest here?"

"No, we were attacked by frogs and I thought I saw an interesting beetle but I couldn't leave the caravan to investigate it."

Alkaline's looking between me and Izakikk in confusion.

"Hello Alkaline. Do you want to say something?" Izakikk says.

"Blonguhr?" Alkaline says.

"No, hello." I say.

"Blon-"

"Hello." Izkikk says.

"Hello!"

"Yes, very good!"

I decide to focus building up some of Izakikk's technical vocabulary next - mushyrooms are mushrooms and the mycelium is mycelium, that sort of thing and general conversational words. Alkaline seems a little bored by the vocabulary work but enjoys the store acting.

Izakikk's very appreciative but thankfully seems still nervous about getting too close while I have Alkaline with me.

>... could we use the mycelium to make golems? Like, either as the main material in place of clay, or as the rock accents? It's like half dirt, so it might work?
On the topic of mycelium, golems cannot be made out of living things.

There's something that rarely happens with old, abandoned golems in natural settings. These overgrown golems keep functioning long after they should have worn out and broken down and frequently deviate from their original tasks. It seems they somehow refine one of the higher tiers of golemetry on their own and create a symbiosis with their surroundings.

Attempts to recreate the conditions haven't been particularly successful.

>It'd maybe keep Deem's leaky mana under control a bit more, or do other wonky and cool things with spell channels?
>I feel like that might eventually turn Deem into a walking biohazard as the fungus continues to grow, and mushrooms appear. It could perhaps also encroach on the channels in the shard over time? I probably worry too much.
I don't think I want to infest this body with mushrooms. I'm already not happy that it may have a non-zero amount of will of its own.
>>
No. 830071 ID: 673643
File 150521613722.png - (19.90KB , 600x750 , tell_me_your_secrets.png )
830071

Once that's concluded, a select group has to wait up until the middle of the night so that the séance can be conducted. I still don't think this is a good idea but this is my dungeon so I'm going to be here. I entrust the remains to Ophelia and she sequesters herself with the bones in a circle of salt.

"I think I'm almost ready. There won't be much time to discuss during the channelling so just remember you must not, under any circumstances, cross the circle."

"We just need to know who they were and what they were doing here." Merud says.

Merud, I'm doing this for your sake. Come up with some proper questions. He's not approaching this correctly at all.

I don't especially care for this, but perhaps I should give him some guidance.

Interrogation of the dead is troublesome at the best of times. The soul is long departed so in this case Lianna's clerical daughter will be feeding whatever scraps of spirit were trapped within the corpse with her own energy. This will make its own uniqueness coarsen and degrade so with such old remains we've only got one attempt at this.

Any spirit she raises will not be rational and will be traumatised by its death. Questions about its death are unlikely to be coherent. If there was anything it was attempting to hide in life it'll still attempt to hide them in death. Ghosts are trapped in the past and easy to deceive however. Something to help remind them is often useful too.
>>
No. 830080 ID: be0718

Okaaay, Doyle's going to need some de-lousing before anyone drinks from him again. When it's time for the phase-shifting parasite to come out, try putting Hin to sleep again with a fresh batch of 'satiation' potions. The only question is, which end does it leave through?
Here are five questions for the dead:
1. Why did you enter this cave?
2. Who gave you the plaque, Esra?
3. Do you have any friends that I could hire as spooky ghosts?
4. Why were you running around naked except for a charm?
5. Chocolate or vanilla?
>>
No. 830081 ID: 094652

>>830069
Careful, Deem. Parasites do things to their hosts, things that can make them more susceptible to disease if the parasites are purged. Or it could alter her brain chemistry, introduce further viral diseases, lay its eggs in her throat which can then spread to the lungs and eat as they grow from vocal stimulation, etc.

Doesn't matter how stupid a species is, give them an easy programming language and they will evolve a way to exploit it, often in ugly but creative ways.

I suggest you take it out immediately, followed by small doses of its venom and pheromones to wean her off the stuff in case it was doing something to her.

>>830071
Great. Try to bluff your way into getting intel - find out what the spirit sees as inconsequential, trivial, or good means of healthy gossip. Work on these things and keep an ear out for anything that seems like a security code - if they know anything, just tell them its been hundreds of years and those codes are stale by now, but they make for funny jokes so you'd really like to hear how stupid people get when nobody judges their private passphrases. Once the seance reaches the halfway mark, begin the fun part of interrogation and move towards an uncomfortable subject. Write down every word as the skull goes from nervous to incoherent insanity, then stay silent and let them talk to themselves about all the things they don't want you to hear but are too freaked to remember you are listening.
>>
No. 830133 ID: d79f26

the magic token should have been their's so they will recognize it.
>>
No. 830142 ID: 3ce125

>>830071
>reminder
Well there's the pendant and the chest.

Ask it if it got the loot. C'mon man did you get the chest open or what? The boss is waiting.
Who's their next of kin?
>>
No. 830150 ID: c88e6d

>>830080
Hey, yeah! It WAS naked, we didn't even find any scraps of cloth! "Why are you naked?!"
>>
No. 830169 ID: 3ae3fd

Squee!! They will likely resist an interrogation. What do we know? The chest certainly seems to have been hidden, and rather excessively at that. This seems to be the middle of nowhere and it was in the back of a cave, on a raised platform, that almost certainly required some competent swimming to get to. We do not know if they were coming or going, they could have been retrieving the chest or storing it, but the plaque suggest that they were going to do something with the chest, or rocks, rather than just retrieving or storing a single ring. They may have been attempting to open the gap that they were crushed by.
We could potentially "loosen" the spirit using the plaque... "Ersa, may this token help you shed your burdens and fly far from here" Perhaps ask it if it knows any anagrams of "Ersa"? I mean, I wouldn't want to be named "sear", but then it could be a keepsake and mocking would be traumatic and shut it down...

Try to portray yourself as the companion it always wanted...
"What does that inscription mean anyway?" It sounds pretty ominous, as though they were running away from a bad life, and a friend gifted it to them before they departed, likely to never meet again. Or it could be some sort of in-joke, or they took it off of a corpse...
"You never talk about you home?" If one assumes that their home-life was too restrictive for their tastes...
"Is it really worth all this just to hide some ring?" Perhaps they will explain their grand plans for the ring that will make this chest gauntlet sensible outside of a dungeon.
"Where are you heading to after all this is done?" May tell us who they are and where they are going, what places they know, names of acquaintances...

Flesh-phasing is a useful ability. If we kill the parasite, then we should probably feed it to alkaline. Alternatively we could try to get it into a monster, like one of those giant frogs or something. Or... Can Deem just whammy it like she did with her chickens? Or maybe it already is whammied considering that it was revived by the "denizens only" process... It doesn't seem like an overly complex organisms, and we certainly aren't going to let it continue to weaken our blacksmith so plan be is extermination and it is hardly in a position to escape, so the old carrot and stick comes with a big stick and it is probably worth getting ahold of a carrot in exchange for a particularly unusual curse, especially if we can mutate it to be more capable of infecting challengers. Also, this might be an opportunity to practise detection skills and magics. Given that there is a noticeable-sized critter than nobody has sensed, our awareness could use some tweaking.
>>
No. 830295 ID: 3abd97

>And maybe to have a big rock ready when it's forced out.
Why kill it, when you can capture it and inflict it and its spawn on adventurers?

>I'm already not happy that it may have a non-zero amount of will of its own.
If you consider it a part of you, maybe you won't be so bothered by it? It's only appropriate you should have will, after all.

>I still don't think this is a good idea but this is my dungeon so I'm going to be here.
Sign of a good boss.

>Come up with some proper questions. He's not approaching this correctly at all.
>I don't especially care for this, but perhaps I should give him some guidance.
Seems the smart thing to do. If he's only got one shot at this, laying out some clear rules / guidelines to work off of might help.
>>
No. 830306 ID: b7627b

Just one question: "In the event of your untimely and abrupt demise, how would you like your remains to be dealt with? A traditional burial, burned on a pyre, interment in a tomb or something else?"
>>
No. 830312 ID: a98542

>>830071
Okay so.

Step 1: Ask (both the merchantlady and clericface) if we can use the pendant to make the ghoasty man remember things better.
Step 2: Try to avoid letting the ghost become aware that it is dead. People tend to not react well to being dead. Just like, converse with it like it's a normal (but dazed and confused) person.
Step 3: Introduce ourselves (in a very general way - "hello I am Deem and these are my friends", not "hello I am Deem the Dungeon and these are my murderlackeys") and ask goast who it is.
Step 4: Show the ghost the pendant. Say we found it, ask if it is theirs.
Step 5: Ask the ghost how/why it got here - we are quite a ways from town, after all.
Step 6: ?????

And maybe we can just reinforce Hin to force the worm out? But like, specifically reinforce deem while excluding the worm. If it piggybacked the resurrect, it might just piggyback the reinforcement and make bad things happen. Ask Izakikk about it.

>Why kill it, when you can capture it and inflict it and its spawn on adventurers?
No. People don't come to dungeons to get parasites. Dungeons thrive on popularity. We don't want people telling other people about the gnarly flesh-crawling throat parasite they got at our dungeon. That's not okay.
>>
No. 830328 ID: b9b4da

>>830312
Fame, infamy, whatever gets their attention. I think it'd fit right in with the shadow dungeon theme. We should be a responsible dungeon, however, and ensure that its children are sterile and short-lived so it doesn't leave with adventurers that leave the dungeon's confines. Maybe up-size it a little with the earth pulse's wild magics. A totally responsible mad science experiment!
The creature isn't really flesh-crawling either, it's flesh-phasing. Is there a spell that would let us phase through flesh too and grab the interdimensional parasite?
>>
No. 830349 ID: 8d4593

We should see if we can feed the worms to Alkaline.
Phase Slime!
Both useful and terrifying!
>>
No. 830355 ID: be0718

>>830328
How about that curse of formlessness experiment?
>>
No. 830389 ID: 3ae3fd

Alkaline's body is inherently, umm, digestive? So the formlessness experiment might make it very difficult for a parasite to persist within the resultant gestalt...
>>
No. 831444 ID: 72a4bf
File 150582365614.png - (26.48KB , 800x550 , seance_advice.png )
831444

>Here are five questions for the dead:
>1. Why did you enter this cave?
>2. Who gave you the plaque, Esra?
>3. Do you have any friends that I could hire as spooky ghosts?
>4. Why were you running around naked except for a charm?
>5. Chocolate or vanilla?
Why are you so useless?

>Try to portray yourself as the companion it always wanted...
No. Its presence here is an entirely unwanted intrusion.

>Who's their next of kin?
Just one question: "In the event of your untimely and abrupt demise, how would you like your remains to be dealt with? A traditional burial, burned on a pyre, interment in a tomb or something else?"
If you want coherent answers out of a ghost you don't want to be confronting it with thoughts of its death.

>Well there's the pendant and the chest.
>Ask it if it got the loot. C'mon man did you get the chest open or what? The boss is waiting.
>What do we know? The chest certainly seems to have been hidden, and rather excessively at that. This seems to be the middle of nowhere and it was in the back of a cave, on a raised platform, that almost certainly required some competent swimming to get to. We do not know if they were coming or going, they could have been retrieving the chest or storing it, but the plaque suggest that they were going to do something with the chest, or rocks, rather than just retrieving or storing a single ring. They may have been attempting to open the gap that they were crushed by.
Right. The inscription said "Esra, may this token help you shed your burdens and fly far from here" and it's possible this person was Esra. They were definitely equipped to move the chest but it's puzzling there was no key with it. In addition to that, it was filled with rocks aside from that one ring. Were they deceived somehow?

We no longer have the chest, but I ask Liana if we can borrow the plaque and I call up Chakarchelou so we have the Covetous Ring. I keep the ring attached to the quasidragon, of course. With Chakarchelou, that brings our séance witnesses to five: myself, Merud, Moriko, Liana and Chakarchelou. Hin and Kallia both said they were tired, I put Alkaline to bed hours ago and Izakikk wasn't interested. Doyle is a pot. I think Reisarf and Stargazer are off doing their own thing.

>"What does that inscription mean anyway?" It sounds pretty ominous, as though they were running away from a bad life, and a friend gifted it to them before they departed, likely to never meet again. Or it could be some sort of in-joke, or they took it off of a corpse...
That's a good question, I entrust it to Merud to ask along with the plaque itself.

>"Is it really worth all this just to hide some ring?" Perhaps they will explain their grand plans for the ring that will make this chest gauntlet sensible outside of a dungeon.
>"Where are you heading to after all this is done?" May tell us who they are and where they are going, what places they know, names of acquaintances...
>Show the ghost the pendant. Say we found it, ask if it is theirs.
>Ask the ghost how/why it got here - we are quite a ways from town, after all.
I pass those along to Merud to ask as well.

Well I've done all I will, I wash my hands of this. Merud's looking very serious. Good luck Merud.
>>
No. 831445 ID: 72a4bf
File 150582375065.png - (35.27KB , 800x550 , worm_actual_size.png )
831445

That priest girl is starting. There's an annoying chant involved. She seems to be struggling - these are old bones after all. I said I'll witness this but I'm not going to speak up unless I absolutely have to. I have other important matters to think about anyway.

>Okaaay, Doyle's going to need some de-lousing before anyone drinks from him again. When it's time for the phase-shifting parasite to come out, try putting Hin to sleep again with a fresh batch of 'satiation' potions. The only question is, which end does it leave through?
I'm not making up a batch of potions just for that and it can travel through flesh, it doesn't does need to go through any ends.

>Maybe we can just reinforce Hin to force the worm out? But like, specifically reinforce Deem while excluding the worm. If it piggybacked the resurrect, it might just piggyback the reinforcement and make bad things happen.
If parasites were easy to separate from their hosts' bodies, they wouldn't be particularly successful parasites. I said it'll come out on its own.

>How about that curse of formlessness experiment?
>Alkaline's body is inherently, umm, digestive? So the formlessness experiment might make it very difficult for a parasite to persist within the resultant gestalt...
That might work but all Hin needs is to eat properly and get some bed rest.

>Why kill it, when you can capture it and inflict it and its spawn on adventurers?
Why would I do that when it does nothing particularly inconvenient within the span of time they'd be in my dungeon?

>No. People don't come to dungeons to get parasites. Dungeons thrive on popularity. We don't want people telling other people about the gnarly flesh-crawling throat parasite they got at our dungeon. That's not okay.
Yes, it seems it'd only be counter-productive.

>The creature isn't really flesh-crawling either, it's flesh-phasing. Is there a spell that would let us phase through flesh too and grab the interdimensional parasite?
Not one I can cast.

>We should see if we can feed the worms to Alkaline.
>Phase Slime! Both useful and terrifying!
I don't know if it'd do that, but I might as well.
>>
No. 831446 ID: 72a4bf
File 150582385267.png - (38.27KB , 800x550 , deem_toes_confirmed.png )
831446

The séance is not going well at all.

I haven't been paying too much attention but so far it seems all we know is this person was called Esra and they were after that chest.

On this side of the salt circle normality reigns but on the other the borders of life and death are blurred. Colour's muted, sound's distorted, breezes search uncertainly around the edge of this intrusion from another world.

There's muffled whispers and interrogations as Ophelia attempts to make sense out of the remains, touching the candle of her life to old ashes in the hopes of drawing out an ember. Merud's right at the edge of the circle too, voice raised as he repeats the questions as Ophelia wrestles with making the dead speak. Idiot. I'm standing here to make sure he doesn't take so much as a single absent minded half a step closer and breach the circle.

Trust a priest to mangle basic necromancy.

Wait...

Something isn't right.
>>
No. 831448 ID: 72a4bf
File 150582392740.png - (28.92KB , 800x550 , normal_interrogation_procedure.png )
831448

Something is very wrong.

There's something else nesting in those old bones. The wind howls as something fastens greedily on to the link of warmth and motion and life Ophelia's unwittingly held out to it.
What is it? Some succubus? A night hag boiled down into a curse? Is this what really killed Esra? How has it held on to such strength for so long? Did I make it stir, waking the earth-pulse as I have?

Before he can do anything, I shove Merud back. Liana cries out in alarm but Chakarchelou moves between her and her daughter, growling at the new threat. Moriko raises her hammer but wavers, clearly uncertain of what to do.

Ophelia is the only one in danger right now. A spirit can't cross the circle. I don't owe her anything. I didn't invite her here, I didn't ask her to do this, I knew raising up these old bones was a bad idea!
>>
No. 831449 ID: 72a4bf
File 150582397376.png - (29.83KB , 800x500 , crossing_the_circle.png )
831449

This cannot continue.

I break into the circle.

The wind howls. The air thickens as my own spiritual pressure invades. I tear away the link between Ophelia and that abdead thing and toss her outside. My grip tightens on the interloper. Maybe I should tear you to pieces, huh?

It squirms desperately and tosses something from deep inside itself at me.
>>
No. 831450 ID: 72a4bf
File 150582401077.png - (18.08KB , 800x550 , hiiiiiii.png )
831450

A thick darkness stinking of delirium washes over everything.

END CHAPTER THREE
>>
No. 831453 ID: 094652

whathaveyoudone
>>
No. 831460 ID: 2fe26a

Oh my god, they killed Alice! Those dirty bastards!
>>
No. 831474 ID: 91ee5f

Somehow, I get the feeling saying, "I told you this wasn't a good idea!" just doesn't quite say it.
>>
No. 831514 ID: 3ce125

>>831450
Excellent! A new monster to recruit! Pummel it into submission, Deem.
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No. 831516 ID: 1e7aa8

Cast in the name of deem, ye guilty.
>>
No. 831563 ID: 3abd97

>Trust a priest to mangle basic necromancy.
She is a child, Deem. They can't all be slimey wunderkinds.

>I knew raising up these old bones was a bad idea!
Deem's first words on waking up gets to be a very satisfied "I told you so".
>>
No. 831759 ID: ce04f2

>>831563
Actually, her first words should be used to check if everyone is ok. In case they are, then Deem can truly say it. If not, then it is time for damage control
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