cyoa: akechi edition

[twostringsonebow]

Hello, Recolle.

Let's play a game.

Don't worry -- it's a very fun one, and most of the work is on my part, but I think it'd be a good time sink... and you may even learn a little more about yourself in doing so. You may quit at any point of time and gain rewards from it (those are to be decided, mostly depending on how far you get in your story), though seeing it through to a satisfying end would be the most fruitful for your time.

Now.

Please pick a genre and one of the following colors: Red, Blue, Green.
1. Fantasy
2. Dystopian
3. Romance

Your story's waiting to begin. ♪

Comments

[sketchythief]

this looks fun!

green fantasy

[twostringsonebow]

(Thank you! I hope it will be.)

The world is green and beautiful, and before you is a town built of pale stone. The sky, dotted by pinkening clouds, is starting to darken as night falls; you have three party members with you, as well as your animal companion. There is one quest left to do before you turn in.

Quest: Nightwalkers

There’s been rumors of beasts roaming the streets of the nearby town, hunting down those who stay out at night. Bring peace to the night.

> Will you accept it?

[sketchythief]

of course! ill accept the quest

[twostringsonebow]

Rightly so! It wouldn't do well for these poor people to be left in such distress.

Your companions are of a like mind.

Feathers, your clever companion who prefers to roost on the slight shoulders of Fairweather, a thrifty mage, calls happily.

With you is also Father Percival, who thinks this a matter of good and evil, and Eddy, who you know has been trying to say they should accept the quest since you saw it on the billboard this morning. You just didn't really want to pay attention to him.

Fairweather presumes they'll be splitting up to gather information, then.

[sketchythief]

let's split up and gather information! i feel that we will learn a lot more and faster that way

[twostringsonebow]

You decide to split up.

Would you like to go alone? Or would you like to take someone with you?

[sketchythief]

i was gonna say feathers but it looks like he likes perching on fairweather more so i will go alone

[twostringsonebow]

If called, Feathers will join you, but he is quite fond of Fairweather. The two head off to the West, where what passes as "higher class" lives, while Father Percival and Eddy take to the church's section in the North.

You can go East, which you know is more of a slumish area with more eyes to the ground than death row, or South, out of the town. There's a few farmers and the like who tend to their crop out there.

[sketchythief]

south sounds safer if im going alone so ill pick south

[twostringsonebow]

Deciding that going East may attract the wrong kind of attention, you head South.

It's a lot of farmland. Like, a lot. You knew this on your way in initially, since this is the only way into town, but wow. So much. There aren't many people around either, being close to nightfall, but there's an older man trudging along the road ahead with a wagon strapped to a centaur's back.

[sketchythief]

i hope he knows something since hes the only one i see and i should regroup soon...

ask him about the roaming beasts!

[twostringsonebow]

The old man claims to know nothing and brusquely asks you to leave him alone, tugging at a strap on the centaur's side.

The centaur hesitates, glancing up at the town, and then at a mill farther south of you. She(?) makes a quick gesture towards it, then is reluctantly lead along by the farmer.

[sketchythief]

suspicious...

looks like ill be going to the mill! thank you miss centaur

[twostringsonebow]

If only she could wish you well.

You head to the mill, which is rather far from town itself, and peeking inside reveals nothing special; there's what you'd expect from the innards of a mill. A grindstone, a basin for the milled grains, a large, hunching shadow turning the whole thing by hand on the other side of the stone...

[sketchythief]

that definitely looks like something special... :o

get ready for combat just in case, but call out to the figure in the dark

[twostringsonebow]

The being jerks to attention, hunch turned to hulk as they lean out into the light, long brown arms muscled in a way you're certain could crush your spine in an instant--

and it's another centaur, leaning against the grindstone. This one has a hoop piercing through his nostrils, but you're not sure if that's a choice or a condition. He looks similar to the centauress you met on the road, color-wise, but as he rests against his post you can tell there's more thin scarring on his hide than hers.

"What are you doin' here," he asks, voice gruff and wary. "Master send ya?"

[sketchythief]

[ to lie or ask about the rumor

to lie or ask

... ]

"i was sent here by another centaur so that i could ask about the roaming beasts at night"

[twostringsonebow]

The centaur stares a moment longer and you get the sense that he's studying your body language for any hesitation, any cue that you might be lying.

However, since you're being truthful, you have no reason to be anything but calm. He nods, then stands and comes halfway around the grindstone.

He can't move all the way forward on account of the chains rattling behind him, cuffs snug against his ankles, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

"Hestia sent you, huh... Can't be that bad, if you're actually lookin' into the rumors. Everyone else is just shutting their eyes and turning away, just so it doesn't happen to them." He snorts, hoof scuffing at the ground irritably. "You want information? You came to the right guy."

So.

What's your first question?

[sketchythief]

"how can i get the beasts to stop hunting people? is there a way to get them to stop hurting people who stay out at night?"

[twostringsonebow]

"My advice'd just be to kill them."

He can tell from the look on your face, though, that you wouldn't like that to be your only answer. He shifts on his hooves.

"Let's see... Started happenin' a few months ago, with that new family that moved into town. Bunch of odd folks, but they're pleasant enough. Give to the temples. Tryin' to clean up the streets. But can't say I like 'em much." The centaur's lips pull back unpleasantly. "Their son tried hitchin' a ride on me and I bucked him off. Bet that boy's got a pretty scar on his face from it too.

Anyway, you oughta try talkin' to them. They've got pretty nice clothes, don't know where they live though."

[sketchythief]

[ nice clothes... nice clothes... maybe they live in the west where the "rich people" live? Daisuke thinks about this for a moment. ]

"do you think that maybe... a ritual went wrong and they started summoning monsters?"

[twostringsonebow]

The centaur shrugs, then straightens and steps back.

"Can't say. We centaur don't do dealings with demons and all the like. Just humans."

For better or worse, maybe. He doesn't seem to know anymore though... or he's not giving it up, if he does.

[sketchythief]

thank the centaur and leave him alone for now.

is there a way to contact the rest of the party members? i want to regroup and tell them what i learned