Fantasy Steamhaven: Land of the Lost

[Cartoonicat]

Mistress Gul hummed again. "Then, in exchange for tonight's refuge, you will slay a demon for me. Is that correct?" One of the vines brushed a lock of hair behind Lianna's ear while the other slithered over her shoulder.

Danielle and her fellow witch watched the scene with wide eyes. The former glanced at Lianna, struck by as much fear as her senior; despite the hot, humid air that surrounded Mistress Gul, you'd think the two had gone ice-cold, how they stiffened.

- Accept
- Refuse
- Ask for details
- Say nothing
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"I will." Lianna noted, really, what could go wrong, "But you will first have to tell me which demon and where do I find them."

 

[Cartoonicat]

Mistress Gul blinked slowly. Her smile grew. "Excellent," she said. The vine that had fussed with her hair slipped down to caress her cheek, before converging with the other vine around her neck. Quickly, they began to tighten.

"Lianna-!" Danielle protested, only to be stopped short by her senior's hand gripping her shoulder. She looked to the other witch, who swallowed dryly and continued to watch.

- Scream
- Attack
- Beg
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

Struggling to breathe, Lianna did her best to stay still. This was all a part of the bargain, she reminded herself, it must be that demons liked being dramatic.

 

[Cartoonicat]

The vines retreated, leaving behind a rash around her neck that felt mildly itchy. Mistress Gul pulled her vines completely away from Lianna, arms still crossed. "If I break my end of the deal, the rash will disperse. If you break your end of the deal, the rash will send you into anaphylactic shock," she explained. "Consider it a contract... or a collar, if you will."

Danielle gawked. "What? That's not fair!"

Mistress Gul's gaze fell on Danielle and, immediately, the rookie witch quieted. She looked back to Lianna. "I sacrifice the values I've held for millennia while you simply risk your life, whose full span cannot be considered even a fraction of the universe's," she said. "In essence, I sacrifice my values for an ant. I think this deal is very generous."

- Agree with her
- Disagree with her
- Reject the contract
- Ask for details
- Say nothing
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Well, there's no need for name calling." Lianna frowned, rubbing her neck which felt utterly uncomfortable, "But I don't mind the collar. I'll kill your demon and be free of it, but I would need those plants first, so can Danielle and I proceed with collecting them, please?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

"You are reasonable," Mistress Gul said, though she didn't sound inherently surprised. She unwrapped her arms and, with the smallest flick of her wrist, an abundance of herbs sprouted from the moss underfoot. They were exactly what Rose requested. "Treat your wolf and, when you are done, we will discuss your end of the deal."

- Thank her
- Ask a question
- Say nothing
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Thank you." Lianna nodded, then crouched down to collect the herbs that they needed. Well, that damn wolf better live.

 

[Cartoonicat]

She gathered the herbs and, as she stood back up, she'd find Mistress Gul to be gone. The corpse flower she came from rustled in a nonexistent breeze before stilling completely.

"That was... whoa," Danielle breathed. Glanced towards her senior. "Can demons even die?"

"I'm... not sure," she said. Shook her head and waved off any further questions, then pointed to a different building and nudged Danielle's shoulder. "To your quarters. I'll not have you bring anyone else down here."

"But-"

"Now, Danielle." She ushered the rookie witch away, but not before looking to Lianna. "You've entered a deal with our patron, so you're welcome here until the deal is completed or... expires." She dipped her head. "I wish you luck."

With Danielle and the other witch gone, Lianna was left to head back on her own or explore the witch coven.

- Return to the group
- Explore the coven
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Sure they can," Lianna said with a shrug. "Everything can die one way or the other." After gathering the plants, she bid her goodbye to he two witches and hurried back to the room to find the vampire doctor.

 

[Cartoonicat]

The group of survivors made camp not too far from the tunnel Danielle had brought her through. The initial, much larger tunnel Danielle called a "foyer" turned into a dead-end with a mural of a corpse flower surrounded by vines. People leaned against the wall and sat or lay on the floor, either sleeping, tending to wounded, or partaking in idle chit chat. Upon seeing Lianna return, Aunt Muriel jumped to her feet and hurried over, intercepting her path to Rosie and Blaine.

"Are you okay? Where did you go?" Aunt Muriel said. She specialized in hunting witches and would likely recognize Lianna's newfound "collar" if she noticed it, but the tunnel was dark and they stood too far from the nearest light source—a small campfire—for her to currently see. Lianna could try to nonchalantly adjust her shirt to hide proof of her and Mistress Gul's deal if she wanted.

- Tell her everything
- Don't tell her
- Other
- (Optional) Hide your neck

 

[ArcticFox]

Lianna made sure to button up her shirt so that her aunt wouldn't notice. It would be too exhausting to explain it to her now and not to mention that she would get a stern talking to.

"I'm fine," She smiled as she approached, "Just went with Danielle to get some herbs for the werewolf. If someone told me that I would end up trying to save werewolves, while hiding in the lair of witches..." She sighed, but then made to go past her aunt, "I'll come join you in a moment."

 

[Cartoonicat]

Aunt Muriel's brows knitted with concern, but eventually, she sighed. "It has been a long night... alright, come sit with us when you're done," she said. The other Hunters, save for Dan who was too busy asking the nearby supernaturals questions, watched with curious eyes. He seemed to be making several people mildly uncomfortable, though others seemed happy to share.

Returning to Rose, who now had Blaine laying back-down on the ground. His shirt had been discarded and ripped into tourniquets to prevent the blood clotting from reaching too far from the wound site. Despite being an alpha werewolf, Blaine did not have the massive frame of those Lianna had seen before; while he was tall, his muscles looked like that of an average wolf or a highly athletic human. Rose looked up upon Lianna's return. "That-... That's plenty," she sounded surprised, not to mention impressed. A medium-sized pestle and mortar sat in her lap. "While I crush these up, can you fetch that pot of water from the campfire?"

Rose hadn't any equipment going into the cave, but now she had several small things of use. Neither one looked like they fit in her bag, though, so she must have gotten them from somewhere.

- Fetch the hot water
- Ask about the equipment
- Ask something else
- Thank Rose
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

Lianna opened her mouth to protest at being ordered around, by a vampire no less, then she remembered that it was kind of her own fault, so she just sighed and nodded. She went to get the water from the campfire, then returned. Passing by Blaine, she threw a concerned look toward him, "What else do you need me to do?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

Upon returning, Rose had created a nice paste of everything but the garlic. She looked at the bulbs hesitantly. "Peeling those would help," she said, "but you don't have to." Before Lianna could respond, she reached for one of the bulbs anyway, as if not expecting the Hunter to help Rose specifically. The vampire wore white gloves stained red from the Summit fight.

- Peel the garlic
- Make Rose do it
- Watch
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

Struggling with her own values and principles, Lianna reached out to grab Rose's wrist, taking the garlic out of her gloved hand. "I said I'll help." She said. Garlic and vampires did not go well together and she needed the doctor on her best if she is to heal Blaine.

 

[Cartoonicat]

Rose blinked. Her gaze fell to the werewolf between them and she pulled her gloved hand back after Lianna took the garlic. "...Thank you," she said. Subtly, though Lianna would notice it from this distance, she glanced to her gloved hand and tested curling and uncurling her fingers.

Lianna could talk to her while she peeled the garlic bulbs or she should help in silence.

- Make a comment
- Ask a question
- Tell a story
- Work quietly
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

Lianna tried her best to scoot a bit further and turn in such a way that the smell of garlic would not bother the doctor. Only because she did not want her botching the procedure. She peeled in silence for a while, then looked over her shoulder at the vampire, "Are you sure you can save the werewolf?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

Rose didn't answer at first. Simply knitted her brows in concern, eyes sweeping over the gray marks on his body. "If I had my equipment, he'd be walking by now," she said, "but considering what I'm working with... maybe." She pressed the back of her hand to Blaine's forehead briefly. Rose looked conflicted, as though she were torn between saying something and keeping quiet, and would not meet Lianna's eyes for more than a moment at each time.

- Question her
- Change the topic
- Thank her
- Say nothing
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"What's wrong?" Lianna asked, noticing her expression. "Do you need me to do something more?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

"Wha- Oh... uh, no," Rose should her head. "I just..." She took a deep breath and met Lianna's eyes, though she still spoke in a rather nervous monotone. "I don't know if you'll believe me, but we didn't expect the Summit to turn out that way. At least, not the vampires I knew well. So..." Again, she broke eye contact, this time to grind up the peeled garlic bulbs into a paste that had her grimacing, "...not all of us are like Lucille, I guess is what I'm saying."

- Agree
- Disagree
- Ask who Lucille is
- Ask something else
- Say nothing
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"I don't..." Lianna started saying something mean, then caught herself. She trusted Landon and he was a vampire. She did not like him, but she could endure him, and Rose did not bother her so far. But she still got that feeling of dread every time she turned her back on a vampire, like any of them might pounce on her in any moment. It wasn't something she was going to be free of, ever perhaps.

"Lucille is the coven leader, I assume?" She asked instead.

 

[Cartoonicat]

Rose nodded grimly. "Landon's biological mother, though they've posed as grandparent and grandchild for the last several centuries," she said. "The prince is rumored to hate Lucille." More garlic grinding. A sudden cough. The garlic aroma was clearly getting to her, yet she continued turning it into a fine paste. "I don't think I'd blame him if he did."

At the mention of grandmother, certain pieces clicked into place while others fell apart: Sarah, Landon's old identity, lost her lover Conrad to the zombified corpse of her Grandma Lucille. As far as Lianna knew, vampires could not become zombies.

- Ask about Landon
- Ask about Lucille
- Call Rose a liar
- Say something else
- Say nothing
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"I've heard of a Lucille killing Landon's lover... but I was under an impression that she was not a vampire, but an undead." Lianna looked at Rose, trying to piece her memories together. Was she remembering this correctly? Was the name just a coincidence?

 

[Cartoonicat]

Rose frowned, faltering in her pestle and mortar work. "Lucille didn't kill Conrad," she said after a time, resuming with the garlic, "but she is responsible for his death." Once she'd created a paste, she added some of the hot water and mixed it together into a thin beverage. "She had Barille murder and disfigure a party-goer. With a switch of gowns, none were the wiser." Rose looked like she might be ill, though it could be due to the garlic aroma in the air.

- Ask if Rose is okay
- Ask Lucille's motive
- Ask about the party-goer
- Ask something else
- Say nothing
- None