Fantasy Steamhaven: Land of the Lost

[ArcticFox]

Lianna recited:

"I pray for the souls of the cursed and the damned,
so should they find a home in the Divine."

Then stopped, looking around, then sighed. It would be good if this worked on the vampires. However, she's prefer a prayer that's more... to the point.

 

[Cartoonicat]

An odd, barely-there warmth began blossoming in her chest as she spoke. It left her with the mild sensation of butterflies in her belly once she finished speaking.

On the next page, she would find a prayer for single cursed creatures:

"May I call upon a column of vibrant Divine Light
to smite the one fallen from grace."

As well as one for multiple cursed creatures:

"May the Divine Light spread around me in all directions
and heal the souls of their tarnish."

- Speak one of the prayers
- Read another chapter
- Close the book
- Do something else
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"May the Divine Light spread around me in all directions
and heal the souls of their tarnish."

Lianna recited again, in a whisper. Then stopped to look around. The warmth she felt before was strange, but she thought it was a side-effect of Patrick being so close just a moment ago.

 

[Cartoonicat]

With a creak, the door opened. A woman stood in the doorway with all but her face draped in black and white. Her skin was dark, illuminated by the candles around the room, and her eyes even darker. "Prayers will not summon light for the undevoted," she said, accent thick and sharp. At first, she appeared rather serious, but then she smiled. "Though they may offer comfort in other ways."

Again, the warmth from before filled her belly.

- Introduce yourself
- Ask who she is
- Ask about the zombies
- Ask about the Divine Light
- Ask about the church
- Ask something else
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Hello." Lianna greeted the nun with a small bow of her head. "I'm sorry, I would have stood up, but..." She looked down at her bandages, then up at the woman. "My name is Lianna and I'm one of the Hunters here. Patrick might have told you this already. Am I to thank you for my life?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

The nun shook her head. "You should not thank me; instead, it was the Divine who compelled me to stretch my legs and the Divine who gave me the strength to protect you." She stepped inside the room, a short woman with enough curves to change the otherwise pin-straight look of hanging robes. She shut the door behind her.

"May I ask you some questions or would you like to rest?" She did not give her name.

- Answer questions
- Ask her name
- Rest instead
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Thank both of you then." Lianna iinsisted. "I think I rested quite enough. How can I help?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

"Thank you." Taking a seat at the stool, the nun rested her hands atop her lap, fingers clasped neatly. "When was the first time you encountered the frenzied corpses? Please describe it as much as possible," she said. After a moment. She added: "Sometimes the smallest details are key to the most difficult of locks."

Yesterday was the first time Lianna had encountered the frenzied corpses, yet it was up to Lianna to decide what highlights the nun should hear.

The blood moon had not only changed Patrick and Clara into wolves, but it seemingly stopped the dead from rising and lasted through the early hours of morning. After that, the corpses returned and the two Hunters returned to their human form.

Yesterday afternoon, Lianna dug up a strange totem that Dan hypothesized had a connection to the three supernatural factions. With a journal in hand, she took the totem upon later leaving the Hub with Patrick.

After travelling a ways from the Hub, the undead began acting strange. Quick, agile, and nearly sentient save for the snarls they made. The closer they got to Lianna and Patrick the more frenzied they became, and vice versa.

- Answer her
- Make up a lie
- Refuse to answer
- Ask her name
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

Lianna's eyes widened as it dawned on her. "My pack." She said to the nun. "There's a strange contraption in it. A... totem, my mentor called it. It had made the werewolves act strange when they turned during he blood moon. What it if had an effect on the undead? They seemed to become frenzied as they got closer to me. I haven't seen them act that way before."

 

[Cartoonicat]

The nun's brows lifted. "A totem?" She looked to Lianna's pack and lifted it onto the bed. "Show it to me." She did not seem keen on rummaging through Lianna's personal items, no matter the circumstances or the state of Lianna's bandaged arms.

Lianna could show the nun the totem or put on a show and rummage through her bag, pretending she lost it.

- Reveal the totem
- Pretend it's lost
- Ask the nun to find it
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

Lianna searched through her pack, taking care to make as little movement as possible, before producing the totem. This woman had saved her, surely Lianna could trust her.

"Here it is." She said, showing the strange totem to the nun.

 

[Cartoonicat]

Eyes widening, the nun stood from her seat and shied away from the object, hand to her chest. She stared at each part of the totem, eyes falling finally on the glowing heart in the center. "By the Divine, what is... Where did you find such a thing? And-... and is that heart beating?" She paled.

Again, Lianna could tell the truth or embellish a lie.

- Be honest
- Tell a lie
- Refuse to answer
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"I found it under the concrete outside of the Hunter's Hub." Lianna said honestly. "Have you ever seen anything similar?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

The nun shook her head. "Never," she said, clutching at the chest of her robes as if it would somehow shield her. A moment ticked by, however, and her fear visibly lessened. "Actually..." her brows knitted, lips turned upside down into the slightest of frowns. She did not go any closer. "The... the shape," she let go of her robes and traced the shape in the air with her fingers. "It resembles a Devil's Symbol. See there? How the arms look like horns around the h-... around the heart."

A Devil's Symbol, the symbol used in rituals to broker a deal with demons and replace human souls with magic.

- Ask her name
- Put the totem away
- Ask about her experiences with witches
- Ask something else
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"So, witches are responsible for this." Lianna said. "But are they responsible for the undead too, or was that just a side effect?" She spoke more to herself, then shook her head and looked at the nun. "May I know your name?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

"Zenobia," she introduced herself with a name not commonly found in Steamhaven. Eyed the totem. "It screams of witchcraft, I agree... yet the heart still beats." Zenobia's frown only grew. She shook her head. "Witches use human sacrifices but I have never seen anything like that. Though... perhaps they are growing stronger."

- Comment on her name
- Ask about her experience with witches
- Ask something else
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Nice to meet you, mother Zenobia, sister, miss?" Lianna tried. "I'm sorry, I don't know which title would be appropriate." Then she added. "Do you think it would be good to destroy the totem? It makes the dead rabid, I don't feel like carrying it around the streets."

 

[Cartoonicat]

Zenobia smiled a little, "Sister, technically, though I will be transitioning to Mother soon. So... for now, just Zenobia is fine." She looked to the totem once more, smile fading. "I would destroy it and anything like it that you see. Such things are an affront to the Divine."

Lianna could destroy it or she could leave it up to someone else to take care of instead. If she wanted a more hands-on but less messy option, she could try to disassemble it.

- Break it
- Disassemble it
- Ask Zenobia to destroy it
- Wait for Patrick to return
- Keep it
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Maybe I should take it apart and bring the pieces back to my mentor. Perhaps it would give him a chance to study it further." Lianna mused. She held onto it still not trying anything, deciding to wait for Patrick to come back and help her with it.

"Thank you for your help with everything, Zenobia." Lianna said to the nun. "But, I feel good enough now. I would like to go home today."

 

[Cartoonicat]

A look of judgment crossed Zenobia's face, but the nun said nothing to discourage her. Instead, she looked to the door. "I must return to my duties," she said, "I will send your companion back in, though you should rest more before the doctor arrives."

- Ask about the doctor
- Ask something else
- Say goodbye
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

"Wait just a moment, please." Lianna said quickly as the nun was walking out. "What's the name of the doctor?" Don't say Dr Troy, don't say Dr Troy, she was chanting on the inside.

 

[Cartoonicat]

Pausing in the doorway, Zenobia lifted her brows. "Oh, right. Doctor Hill. Very good at the practice," she said, "you are in good hands." Dipping her head, she left Lianna with a smile and shut the door behind her.

Lianna was alone again.

- Rest
- Read more of the prayer book
- Mess with the totem
- Do something else
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

Oh, thank god, Lianna exhaled a breath of relief, resting her head back on the pillow. After a moment she took up the totem again, turning it over to examine it thoroughly. She poked the beating heart with her finger, carefully.

 

[Cartoonicat]

Similar to the prayers she'd spoken, the closer Lianna's fingertip came to the beating heart, the more her own heart swelled with warmth. Yet, upon touching the totem's center, the warm would vanish.

In its stead crept a coldness that began to spread from her finger to the rest of her body at an alarming rate.

- Keep touching it
- Pull hand away
- Throw the totem
- Yell
- Other

 

[ArcticFox]

With alarm bells going in her head, Lianna quickly jerked her hand back. Perhaps it would be better to do this with gloves on. She placed the totem on the end table, waiting for Patrick.