Jail Quest: a text adventure occasionally illustrated.


A night of drinking and a failed attempt to cheat on cards had landed you the strangest job slash community service sentence you've ever had: ensuring Gongalla Gaol survives the reality storm called Singularity.

Now you travel around with your employer and a handpicked crew to survey the four Reality Anchors. Hey, beats being tarred and feathered, right?

You are Rosa Montagni, and after the successful cult roundup operation at Pinewatch, you've headed north towards the direction of the Reality Anchor. Alas, inclement weather greets you as you went - crevasses, flashfrost, and even a Dammerlicht batter your chartered autowagon. Just when hope seemed to be snuffed out by the Dammerlicht, you and your crew were saved by the Lady of the Pines, who deposited you near a cabin.
Your two hosts turned out to be the goddess Skadi and her wife - and that her Reality Anchor was just a short walk away. While Nemo went to check the anchor, you entertained Skadi by cooking up one of grandma Ko's recipes - but the special ingredient you added, grated duplicate relic, caused almost everyone's sins to pop out as their doppelganger of sorts. Of course it's up to you to fix this mess...

>>6274911 (OP)
Right, Valencio has handled his duplicate, you've conscripted yours to help with the situation for the moment, and Craig's got reabsorbed after you did an improptu goblin sex ed class. Purely spoken, of course. Now that you've got Nemo up to date, you turn your attention to Skadi's double - who is still gobbling up the murderchicken legs, and is now twice as big. Maybe even two and a half, now.

"Eh... this might be a problem, eh."

Happy-go-lucky Skadi muses, as if her double's size is no cause for alarm.

"How'd she get so big?!"

The goddess shrugs.

"Well, in the old days of time before time, being winter also means you're also hunger. That's just how it is, eh."

"So in short, that's your gluttony?"

"Yeap."

Great, a winter goddess' gluttony. How are you even going to tackle this? You hope your double - your greed - has better luck trying to deal with Ling and her duplicate.

Before you can think up a rudimentary scheme, however, Nemo taps your shoulder.

"Hey Rosa, is your duplicate supposed to do that?"

Confused, you follow his pointing finger to see your greed becoming the recipient of kisses from both Lings.

"WHAT."

"I believe the term is snogging, yes?"

Oh yeah, real helpful, Nemo.

"Ladies, please, one at a time!"

You don't know if your double is pulling a con over the two Lings, or actually enjoying being the target of their... ehm... compassions. Unbelievable! You've just finished explaining consent to Craig just a few moments ago!

Anyways, which problem are you going to tackle first, and how?

>CHOOSE THE PROBLEM TO TACKLE FIRST

>□ Skadi's gluttony
>□ Your greed and Ling's lust

>ALSO CHOOSE ONE FOR SKADI'S GLUTTONY

>□ Lead her out to the Dammerlicht and freeze her
>□ Point out that Skadi shouldn't hunger anymore, she got an infinite larder
>□ Maybe we can shrink her using the food shrinker?
>□ Other (fill in)

>ALSO CHOOSE ONE FOR THE SNOGFEST

>□ Clarify things with your greed first, is she running a con?
>□ Let her get snogged up, perhaps Ling's lust can get satisfied this way
>□ Pull your greed away from the kissing frenzy
>□ Other (fill in)

>>6274917
>□ Your greed and Ling's lust
>□ Point out that Skadi shouldn't hunger anymore, she got an infinite larder
>□ Clarify things with your greed first, is she running a con?

>>6274917
>□ Your greed and Ling's lust
Just deal with those two damn lesbos already, they're getting on my nerves.
And
>□ Pull your greed away from the kissing frenzy
This ain't helping nuthin', if all that stuff wasn't enough for Ling to accept the damn shadow already this ain't gonna be either.

>>6274917
>□ Skadi's gluttony
>□ Point out that Skadi shouldn't hunger anymore, she got an infinite larder
Negative infinity (unending hunger) plus infinity (the larder) equals zero. Poof!

>□ Let her get snogged up, perhaps Ling's lust can get satisfied this way
Seems harmless.

>>6274997
>Seems harmless.
It doesn't solve the situation, though. The point is getting them to vanish, and that includes Rosa's own greed shadow.

>>6274917
>□ Skadi's gluttony
You're going to break this place from growing too big, and that will let the winter cold in and we're screwed. The dumb bitches can wait
>□ Point out that Skadi shouldn't hunger anymore, she got an infinite larder
Please stop growing
>□ Clarify things with your greed first, is she running a con?
If so, we either back her up or we trust her to handle things

>>6274999
Yeah, but Skadi's growing rapidly is a highe priority right now. We can sort out the lesbian threesome situation afterwards.

>>6275073
You can do that AND pull her greed version off the Lings. If feeding the shadows makes them worse, that goes for those two doing it too.

>>6274917
>□ Skadi's gluttony
>□ Point out that Skadi shouldn't hunger anymore, she got an infinite larder
But also
>□ Pull your greed away from the kissing frenzy

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>Tie between pull away vs are you running a con
Let us consult the winds of fate, shall we?

>1: pull away
>2: isdis acon

>>6274917
A goddess' gluttony is more immediately dangerous, you figure - so you put your brain to work. You figured that her hunger stems from an age of scarcity - even more so than early Gongallan prisoners. So you turn to Skadi and her gluttony, confidence raised.

"You know what? It's not time before time anymore! You've got a working infinite larder now - which means that you can eat anything, anytime. So stop stuffing your face! No need to rush eating, your foodsource is guaranteed."

The gigantic, hungering side of Skadi stops in her shove-em-all-in buffet as the goddess proper listens with a smile. A moment later, Skadi's gluttony started shrinking, eventually dissipating into thin air.

"Oyo! I've never had anyone best my hunger that way before. Looks like Nemo chose the right crew, eh?"

Skadi seems to be very impressed with you - but too bad, you now have to wrangle your greed from the sensual clutches of the dual Ling.

"And as for you, c'mere for a bit."

"'Scuse me, ladies..."

Grasping her (your own?) shoulder firmly, you hope she gets the message.

"I really, really hope you're just trying to con ling and her lust, otherwise I'm having second thoughts about you..."

To her credit, her confidence seemed to be unwavering, despite your threat.

"Well, I mean, 200 scrips per kiss is mighty tempting..."

Damn, girl - while that is indeed a mouthwatering price, she should've calculated her self-worth into the situation. What method do you think is best used on your greed?

>CHOOSE ONE

>□ Reason that you've got access to the Black Card, so why still greedy?
> □ Tell that she needs to calculate her self-worth into the equation - are you a con-artist, or a prostitute?
> □ It seems the time has come to lay the smackdown on your wayward greed
>□ Other (fill in)

>>6277149
> □ It seems the time has come to lay the smackdown on your wayward greed
>And maybe on the Lings too

>>6277149
> □ It seems the time has come to lay the smackdown on your wayward greed

>>6277149
> □ It seems the time has come to lay the smackdown on your wayward greed
Pistol whip to the head!

Might I yet again suggest we pistol whip the shit out of Ling too? She doesn't seem to be giving a single care about actually dealing with this shadow and is actively encouraging it.

Also, I just don't like her.

>>6277358
I mean think about it, do you have any idea of how gross what she's doing is if you think about it?

Imagine if Ling was some ugly dude trying to bribe rosa's GREED SHADOW into doing lewd stuff with him? Everyone would be apalled and call him a degenerate weirdo. But because she's a woman it's okay?

>>6277373
>Everyone would be apalled and call him a degenerate weirdo.
Last quest's main love interest explicitly WAS a degenerate weird.

>>6277388
The difference is that there, Petunia doing her shit was explicitly a bad thing that she had to redeem herself for and improve over.

Everything she did with James was consensual. I mean, the first thing he did after beating her was flirting and carrying her bridal style.

>>6277390
Hit post too early, I was going to say that while Petunia actively got flak for being a shameless lecher (though honestly not NEARLY enough), Ling is doing this stuff despite knowing Rosa *isn't* interested.

So therefore, why not pistol whip her for it? Rosa sure as hell shouldn't have a reason *not* to do it.

>>6277161
+1

>>6277392
>>6277390
You asked
>But because she's a woman it's okay?
and my answer was
>Historically, yes, around here

>>6277476
Okay, but as I've told you, Petunia didn't get off completely scot free. And even if she had, why keep doing it?

>>6277477
Because they're cute, and it's tradition. Simple as.

>>6277149
> □ It seems the time has come to lay the smackdown on your wayward greed
>And beat the lings too for good measure
Anon has convinced me, we must Pistol Hwip those perverts.

>>6277149
Valencio did say that these sins can be beaten - literally or figuratively. You chose the former. Quickly gripping your revolver from your inventory, you brandish it in front of your greed.

"200 scrips?! Just 200 scrips per kiss?! What kind of lackluster price is that? You're no greed of mine! Now git, git!"

"But... but! Money!"

Blow upon blow rains upon your treasonous greed, and you swear with each pistol whip that lands she's shrunk more and more. Eventually she disappeared under your flurry of hits.

Then, you turn to Ling, who has been watching the onslaught from start to finish. Strange - her lust's gone.

"And as for you..."

Ling raises her hands in an apologetic way.

"I read you loud and clear, boss - truly, I apologize for the misconduct. Got carried away by my lust there."

"...as long as you understand that I don't swing that way, and that my greed is still part of me. Has she taken your money yet?"

"No... not yet..."

"Good. Keep it. Any deals with my greed are null and void."

You never thought beating your own sins would be so... draining. You just wanna slump to the ground and close your eyes, but you have a job to do. Speaking of which... you go and find Nemo.

"Nemo - please tell me the anchor's fine."

"There was some interference while I was checking it, but it should be good now."

"Good. Then we're done here. Let's get moving."

Nemo nods thoughtfully.

"So, where are we headed next?"

Hmm, there's only two places left to check - the war-torn West, which is under Durga's control, and the inundated East, which is the domain of Homusubi. Two deities you've only just learned a couple moments ago.

"And how are we going to get there? Autowagon's all busted up."

Valencio brings an important point. The Dammerlicht outside is never going to go away - so it'll be hard to leave the cabin, let alone heading West or East. What do you think?

>CHOOSE ONE DIRECTION

>□ East
>□ West

>ALSO CHOOSE

>□ Brave the Dammerlicht outside and walk to the nearest town, charter another autowagon there to get to your destination

>□ Same as above, but switch to the train when you reach Pinewatch

>□ Ask Skadi if she knows a way - the North is her domain after all

>□ Ask Astra to carry you to where you're supposed to go

>□ Stay and repair the autowagon

>□ Other (fill in)

>>6278354
>We didn't lay the beatdown on Ling
I am disappoint.

>□ East
'Wartorn Hellhole' feels more like a final mission area than a flooded area.

>□ Ask Astra to carry you to where you're supposed to go
And away we go.

>>6278354
>West
We don't deserve that hat if we don't head WEST
>Stay and repair the autowagon
I figure this'll be a pain if we neglect it

>>6278359
>We don't deserve that hat if we don't head WEST
Ah, but you fail to consider that if we head west NOW, we'll need to end our journey by heading EAST

>>6278358
+1

>>6278354

>□ East

>□ Stay and repair the autowagon

Things have calmed down a bit, and the Dammerlicht is bad news. Let's rest here.

>>6278354
>East
>Stay and repair the autowagon
This will save us from pain down the line.

>>6278354
>>□ Stay and repair the autowagon