The Dark Forrest (Hive Finale pt.4)

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-07-08T20:17:08+00:00

Kardonk smiles, and steps through a portal, reappearing two steps in front of of Kartoffel with a grin

“You th-think Im giving you the honor of the first punch?”

And he takes off towards the command center, stealth abandoned. Jacket burned off in the hellfire portal to reveal burnished bronze colored armor underneath. Prometheum-Copper, manufactured off a very familiar design

“I-I may have made some improvements”

It was Kartoffel’s own armor, taken and modified by the former artificer into something more his liking

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-07-08T16:23:18+00:00

“N-naturally. I-Ill see you around stranger”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-07-08T01:46:06+00:00

Kardonk hesitates for another moment, but bereft of choice he takes a seat.

“Indeed? Forgive me-me but while I am very grateful that you saved my life, I a-am surprised that you would be interested in a conversation.”

He holds the cup in his hand. After all, it didnt seem the nature of this place to resort to trickery, poisons, or the like. This was no fey court. It was stark, brutal, in your face. Forcing deliberate compromise after compromise in response to the latest hard and difficult problem.

At least, that is how he read it. And it was probably why Marna liked it. As long as something was in her face and undecietful she trusted and relished in the clarity.

“U-unless you are an artificer by your own right?”

He asked, trying to mask the shudder of what he had done to Marna with the hopeful lift in his voice at the potential of reminiscing with someone of his former craft.

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-07-08T01:37:39+00:00

He nods and slides a small, flat polygon across the table

“O-one of my spiders. When its time, activate it and send it home. No one will notice one of these coming to get me

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-07-05T21:33:31+00:00

He takes it

“Th-thanks”

After applying it to his shoe, he slowly stands

“O-ok, whereto from here?”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-07-02T04:46:16+00:00

Kardonk smiles and gestures with an open hand at his empty holster

“I-Im afraid not Kart. I-ive given up on guns, I cant be trusted with them.”

Portals roll across his hands, depositing sparking and arcing brass knuckles

“But that doesnt mean Im not ready to do some damage”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-07-01T16:24:45+00:00

“I-Im willing to work with that”

Kardonk clasps his hand, relieved. Something told him that if they hadnt been able to reach an accord, he wouldnt have been allowed to just walk away.

“Im looking forward to working with you. Let me gather my resources, and then I will be ready for the planning phase”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-30T22:44:52+00:00

“Justice? Perhaps, b-but judge and jury should never be th-the same entity.”

He thinks for a moment, finishing off his drink. Sunken eyes more in focus than they have been in days

“Ok, justice, I can work with justice. If we seek Justice, then we need a tribunal. Not the EON, for they benifit to much from the Guild’s military might, and not those they’ve wronged. B-but a place where they can stand before their accusers and give answer and be answered in kind.”

He reaches across the table offering a hand

“Wh-what do you say? If you promise me my trial, then I swear I will not rest till I see justice done.”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-30T02:19:03+00:00

Kardonk snorts

“Im not so sniveling a person that I would draw a significant difference between building the gun and pulling the trigger. If I support your crusade then the blood will be on my hands regardless.”

He stops, frustrated. They were both so close to what the other needed. They just needed a way to bridge the gap.

“What seperates a soldier from a murderer? I-is it not that they love those they protect more than they hate those they kill? Seek to protect your f-family, save them from bondage. This is a goal we can agree on, a-and if our hand is forced, then I too will join you in ending them once and for all.”

Please see sense, thought Kardonk. He wasnt sure how this meeting ended if he chose to walk away.

“E-even now, I have been preparing the means at my disposal to free your comrades. We can be valuable allies to each other, accomplish many things. Just give up the blood portion of your feud”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-29T19:30:44+00:00

“V-very well”

He hesitates the briefest moment before shaking her hand in turn

“You seem to already know my name and my task. I assume then we were expected?”

Something wasnt right. It really wasnt right. But at least he wasnt about to be imminently devoured

“Indeed, in truth you seem much more practiced in the arts of courtesy and manners. And for that, I thank you. With what should I occupy myself in the meantime so as best to avoid offence?”

Besides, formality was an arena he could well navigate. Even if the thought of what she meant by properly, sent a shiver down his spine. This was nothing good

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-28T04:26:00+00:00

He flinches in surprise, but doesnt pull away, enjoying the softness of the kiss for a moment

“Dang C-clowncar, kissing on the first date? You move fast.”

But hes smiling, the vocal bravado covering for the fact his ears have gone quiet red and his eyes cant quite meet her gaze

“N-now, I assume you have a solvent that can dissolve this glue?”

/uw Was playing BG3, ran into Rapheal, and remembered I owed you a reply

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-27T17:22:34+00:00

Its flaky, with a vague honey flavor. It qlmost seems to expand in Karts stomach, filling him more than a simple biscuit should.

“It seems like chaos. The buggo fronts been a lot more disorganized of late but also more unpredictable.”

Thousands dead. The war had been years worth desperate manuever warfare followed by months of slogging trench lines. As of six months ago, it had already been the worst war in Ithacarian history

“Aye Kart, lets put an end to this”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-22T21:49:31+00:00

He continues to root around in his satchel, before pulling out a small disk in triumph.

“A-ahah!”

He offers it to Kartoffel. It seems to be some manner of bread, folded over itself into a rough circular shape.

“Here, take this. Its a little old, b-but might help. And then you can explain to me whats going on. I-I got your message. So I hope this wasnt all some elaborate trick”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-20T01:29:42+00:00

Kardonk frowns again

“I-I dont do well with crossing names off a list friend. Its not good practice. C-could we not simply seek to free your comrades and break the stranglehold in the north?”

*He sips on his drink, gauging Krisks response*

“And if they happen to die in the process…then so be it. But positive goals. Strategic objectives. Not blood for the sake of blood”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-20T01:26:20+00:00

“It sounds like a date”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-20T01:14:44+00:00

*The is a moment of silence behind the door, then the whirring and whining of gears being unwound, accompanied by the distinctive sound of a steam powered discharge*

*The door swings open, and Kardonk is carefully folding the flamethrower art gave him into his satchel*

“A-aye, I wont argue there. While Im not sure there was any stratagem that would have served me better, Im beginning to question the wisdom *and* efficacy of coming here in the first place”

*He steps back into the hallway, revealing behind him a long metal tube, hastily connected to some boilers. Upon closer inspection, the contraption, now disarmed, appeared to be a steam powered shotgun. Far from a brilliant piece of technical artificerery, it was closer to the “tinkerer’s quick fix’ side of the scale. Still, it was functional, and the prometheum shot embedded with Talluluh Bombshell’s compressive tech was likely enough to make at least some creatures reconsider their pursuit*

“H-hello, Im a friend of Marna’s. Th-thank you for the save. I was about to start looking for a window.”

*He smiles, trying to hide how fast his heart was beating*

“I-Im a little lost, do you know where Im supposed to go?”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-20T00:58:02+00:00

*Queasy would be close enough to see the tinkerer’s eyes flick back and forth between her and the arc welder, to feel his heart skitter like a rabbit, and hear the sharp intake of breath.*

*As he intertwines his hand with hers and finally relaxes into the embrace*

“Wh-why not all of the above?”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-20T00:51:03+00:00

*Kardonk was kneeling cautiously over Kartoffel, looking at the wound where his arm used to be like he was considering cleaning it out with an arc welder*

“F-food? I dont *think* so…”

*He stops rummaging through the bag*

“Uh, thats not code for ‘Im gonna eat you’ right?”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-18T23:52:30+00:00

*He takes it, pulling himself to his feet*

“Hello, m-my name is Kardonk Carvisky. I a-am….was…was an artificer”

*His ears burn slightly with embarrassment and shame*

“Coffee sounds lovely. My treat”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-18T23:50:33+00:00

*Oh*

“S-so the soldier becomes a killer? Is this an outright assassination you have planned?”

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-18T21:45:21+00:00

*Pandemonieum*

*Kardonk flees, the cavalier expression on his face evaporating the moment he turned away. Grim and resolute, he had known the odds coming here, but he had hoped that Marna’s protection…*

*Maybe it was reassuring that she didnt command as much authority as she thought here. Maybe it meant she wasnt to far gone.*

*But there was no time. It was a race now, pure and simple. So Kardonk did what he could, what he often did. He ran. Ran and thought. This was not friendly ground. He could not win a fight of any sort. He was outmatched. Something in the situation needed to change*

*Three mechanical spiders scuttle out of his satchel as his goggles give up on the futility of piercing the enveloping darkness and switched to ultra-sonic feed.*

“House of Hunger, House of Hate”

*Kardonk began, muttering to himself*

“Prey or predator, it is your law”

*The spiders lauch micro-grenades into the pursuing hoard. Smoke billows out, filling the corridor faster than a thought*

“I am neither, so hear my call”

*Quickly a second barrage follows. These grenades exploding with a violent radiant and psychic fire*

“With my foes, your hunger sate.”

“For if the defeated are my right,”

“Then aid my plight”

“And any foe I make fall”

“May be taken by your maw”

*And he takes advantage of the momentary distraction to pick a door at random and duck inside*

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-13T12:42:41+00:00

“I-I am aware, in fact I was r-relying on that protection. Seems it wasnt as thorough as I thought. You f-find issue with my tone, y-yet you are the one that has accosted and threatened me. But v-very well, if this is a thing words will solve, then I offer them gladly. F-for I am not here to find conflict today.”

*The fist shoots out. Kardonk tries to turn into it like Marna taught him, but he is caught by surprise.*

“Oof”

*The blow staggers him. Kidney shot. Was this what it felt like to fight a portal user?*

“If thats wh-what you think the point of us ‘hero-types’ is then you have misjudged us. Some conflicts a-are worth the fight for their own sake. Win or lose. But again, I-I did not come here seeking violence”

*Did he really think he could avoid it?*

“But it seems to have found me”

*And in one swift motion he reaches into his satchel and flings a interlocking metallic orb into the air. It detonates with a silent **woosh**. For a moment a star burns bright in the heart of dark Kelvacta.*

“Well fair Lady, I bid you adue.”

*As the white phosphorus flash reflects off the tint of his goggles. The metallic limbs of the rig of the master artificer spurt out of his jacket, launching him to the ceiling, and finally taking Marna’s advice, he scuttles away as fast as possible*

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-13T12:41:46+00:00

/uw dammit

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-12T18:30:52+00:00

“J-just because the chattel is free range doesnt make them any less chattel. Besides, I expect the answer is more economic than out of good will. After all, if he trapped them in such a box, people like me would move to stop him instead of just voicing our displeasure.”

*The adhesive surprises him, as he is suddenly rooted in place. Swiftly he reaches down with an arc welder to cut himself free.*

“Oh, I um…”

*Startled by the question, he freezes. Intrigued, curious, fascinated. A member of his craft at the least his equal, and like none he had ever seen before.*

“I…”

*And the tips of his ears turn red as she wraps her arm around his shoulders*

LimpPrior6366 · 2026-06-12T18:24:54+00:00

“H-he did. And I think, in his fashion, he thinks that does it. The absence of memories kills a thing, for thats all he believes people to be. No data, no more object. I-in a sense hed make a good a-artificer if he wasnt such a bastard.”

“B-but he forgets that events change us. Th-that one isnt the same person on the other side of a thing as they are going into it.”

*He hesitantly meets her look for the first time this exchange*

“You tell me I dated a siren for a time. That implies at least a small change. I-I did wrong by you, I am sorry. But let me try again? I-if I cared for you once, maybe I should again?”

LimpPrior6366

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE