Three-Faced
Requirements: None
Rewards: 200 EXP, Streetwise skill, 1 of the following 3 Contraband items: Unrefined Liquid Diamond, Death's Dust, B-NOMALY Greymatter Sample
It's just a normal day in-
Yeah, you're not even going to get that thought out.
The scraping of metal on metal echoes through the street, a bony, beaked face slipping its way through a sewer grate, making way for a literally bony face behind the beak - a Rixixi with translucent skin in splotches slinks up from the sewers, staying low to the ground as they climb out, and closes the grate again with a whap of their tail. Slipping down the street to an alley, gait low and fast like a lizard, they move on, fast and purposeful to their destination. This whole thing seems a bit shifty, but mostly interesting - it's not every day that an Ixi that you can see parts of their insides rushes past, looking like they have everything to hide. So you watch, stepping a bit closer.
The dark, splotchy stranger makes it to their destination - eyes briefly flicking back and meeting yours for a second, and you see them nod, oh geez - and they duck into their alley, probably meeting with someone and doing something interesting and sneaky. You're so curious. It might be safer not to be involved in this, though.
You barely have time to get that last thought out before a massive fist flies out from the alleyway, throwing the lithe, splotchy stranger out with it. While the stranger was previously calm and collected, they're now in a panic, fight or flight taking them as they start to make an escape as quickly as possible. You also start to run, but you barely turn before one of the largest Ixi you've seen crashes into the middle of the street, their three heads all snapping and growling at the slinky figure sprinting on all fours away from the scene. Despite their bulk, the cerberus is fast as well, lunging past you and landing on the lithe Ixi, the smaller figure trying to squirm out of the cerberus's grasp. You feel the wind hit you in the fast as if a train just went by.
You're in the presence of an absolute powerhouse and some amazingly flexible sneaky representative of the underground. You look around you, stunned. There's something at your feet - you haven't seen anything like it before. You think the sneaky individual dropped it when the cerberus tackled them.
You look up to the pair again now. The slippery stranger is dangerously close to wrestling their way out of the cerberus's grip, but they're both exchanging words now.
"Stop resisting!" The cerberus says, their voice booming. "We're ambassadors. You've been found dealing contraband on multiple occasions. You need to come with me."
"C-contraband?!" The slippery one's voice is higher, their voice a bit muffled as if their nose was broken or held to the ground, but they still sounded a bit haughty. You're ready to make way for a smooth talker here. "Please, I wasn't aware we had laws about such here, I was merely transporting goods for friends. I know some was unsuitable for, ah, the inexperienced, but I do have friends in many, many fields. Please, I won't fight you, I- if you could just, tell me what these contraband laws entail..."
The cerberus, untrusting but not wanting to overuse their force, barely loosens their grip, and the snakelike form of the slippery stranger rockets out of their hands, slipping down another street and down an alley. The cerberus sits stunned, frustrated at their loss in this situation.
They haven't noticed you yet. You pick up the item that the stranger dropped.
PROMPTS
Pick 1 out of the following 3 and illustrate or write about it. Illustrations should be fully colored and fullbody with at least a somewhat detailed background. Literature should be 800+ words. The NPC you respond to will follow up with a response (or an admin will write up a blurb if you don't choose a NPC), and with that, the chapter will be complete!
LAWFUL
You approach the ambassador, item in hand, and wave it at them, catching their eyes before they leave. They perk up, tipping two out of three heads at you as they see a new individual holding the item they were certain they had seen their target carrying.
You turn the item in, telling the three-headed ambassador that you thought it was probably the right thing to hand this in before someone else found this on the floor and kept it. Realization hits their eyes, likely coming to the same conclusion you did, that it fell out of the other Ixi's hands during the struggle.
"Thank you for your honesty," The middle head speaks, the others staying silent but looking to you with kind expressions. "Can I give you anything to make this worth your time? I try to give back to the honest Ixi of the community as a thank-you gift - just some trinkets I've come across, but I've heard that they're fairly rare or at least well-valued."
NEUTRAL
You're not sure you want to give this thing to any of these people in this situation. This thing looks valuable, if you give it to the ambassador it's not like they'll pay you, and who's to say that they won't just suspect you as well? The other Ixi was shifty, so why trust them, they might not give you what it's worth in trade.
You make sure the cerberus still hasn't seen you, turn around, and just walk away, your new, valuable item in tow. You're going to find someone you trust to tell you what this is worth, or maybe find out yourself.
CHAOTIC
Who was that slippery Ixi?
You immediately step away from the cerberus, taking side streets to the alley you saw the lithe stranger duck into. You find another sewer grate there, and no one in the alley. Remembering how the stranger entered this situation, you slide open the grate and duck down into the tunnel.
Several twists and turns of tunnel navigation later, you make it up to a quiet location, finding the slippery stranger from earlier nursing their bruises. You pass them the item, giving them an 'I think this is yours' comment for flourish.
"Many thanks, stranger." They say, giving a small curtsy and a toothy grin. "My name is Corona. I apologize for our very... tumultuous meeting earlier. Don't hold it against the cerberus. They have their thoughts about how items like these should be distributed, and I have mine. I believe that they should be freely available, but the population should be aware of what they can do. That said, would you like to know how to utilize this?"
Use this prompt, and comment with the following form to embark on this story mode!
Link to participating Rixixi: [link to import here!]
Entry: [link to your art/lit piece]
Prompt responding to: ["Lawful", "Neutral", "Chaotic"]
Desired Item: [Unrefined Liquid Diamond, Death's Dust, or B-NOMALY Greymatter Sample]Multiple Rixixi may partake in Story Mode in the same image, with the following restrictions:
- 4 Ixi at maximum per image (other ixi can appear for Training Mode EXP, but cannot be submitted for the story mode chapter in that piece.)
- Please submit separate prompts for each Ixi!