Chapter Text
How you wish you could return home to the night sky.
You are a STAR, and you've just lost your WINGS after a night of frolicking along the waters of LAGUNA LAKE. As such, you are unable to reunite with your fellow Stars until you recover your wings.
You’re standing on the shore of the lake. It’s the middle of the night. What do you do?
>retrieve arms
Thankfully, your arms are still intact. You take the form of a beautiful brown-skinned maiden, with a star-shaped mole underneath your eye to signify you are BORNE OF THE NIGHT SKY.
>retrieve wings
Obviously, you can't! You've misplaced them. You remember leaving them right here, on this shore of the lake! Or was it that other shore? No no. Hmm.
>==>
You decide to seek refuge in the parish of a nearby TOWN, which you learn is called KUBLIHAN.
"May I assist you, miss...?"
It's a young SACRISTAN, an assistant helping around with the tasks of the church. It seems he was in the middle of sweeping the floors and counting the money in the coffers. He introduces himself as CRISANTO.
What do you tell him?
>just a normal human maiden who has lost something
"Hmm, alright then. Although... I can tell you're different from most women. I don't know, just my intuition."
He gives you a little smile, as if having caught on.
>adopt
"Why are you here so late at night? Have you no family?" you ask him.
"My mother lives on the far reaches of the town. I stay here on most nights. It's alright, I can visit her tomorrow, as I don't have work!" he says cheerfully.
>==>
It's the following day. Crisanto says he'll accompany you back to the bay to search for what you've lost, as his mother lives along the lake!
Before you arrive, you pass through a dark neck of the woods. The sunlight doesn't seem to shine through the tree branches, and there's a chill in the air and a scent of something rotting.
"Heeheehee. You shouldn't have come here, boy."
A withered crone in a black shawl shows herself, and points a bony finger toward you two.
Crisanto jumps, and hides behind you.
"Ahhh! It's Barang the Witch! Please, do something!"
>stand protectively in front of him
You do so. Crisanto cowers behind you, clearly afraid of the witch.
>do we know any magic???
>look around for any potential smack-witch-object
You can do magic, sure, but it's incredibly weak. Basically, you can take existing moonlight and fashion it into something physical, but it's the middle of the day!
There's a BRANCH nearby, if you can keep her distracted long enough to get to it.
>KICK
>AND KICK HARD
You give her a swift KICK. By the light of the moon, you'd have punished her by now!
You nod to Crisanto, and he fetches the branch. You give Barang a good smack, which renders her unconscious and thus down for the count. You then flee back to the safety of the forest's edge, where Crisanto reunites with his mother.
"Mother! Oh, oh, it was so scary! But she saved me, Mother!"
"Oh... how wonderful," Crisanto's mother says as she turns to you. "What is your name, dear miss?"
"Diwa," you tell her.
>head back to barang and beat the everloving crap out of her while you still can
You return to the forest, but she's gone! That wily witch.
You instead head back to the town parish. Crisanto has informed you that the gossipy SISTER MINANG could tell you who's who in town.
When you get there, the church is empty. A dry wind enters the windows, and suddenly it’s sweltering hot inside. One of the statues of the saints moves. It's the Sto. Niño, an image of Christ as a young boy. He has porcelain skin and coarse, curly hair. He's also dressed in an elegant gold and crimson robe.
He yawns.
"Well, that nap took forever. Oh dear, is that a crack? That's new. Oh, and this outfit."
The Sto. Niño turns to you. "Ah! It seems I have a devotee today. How do you do, fair Star? I'm El Niño, the Heat Haze Wind."
>...h-hi
>god?
"Small G, please! Hehe. I used to go by Santonilyo, but then those pesky conquistadores went and turned me into a saint! So I just go by Santo Niño nowadays. What year is it? Ah, 1895. Man, that was a long nap. Are these islands like, still under Spanish rule? Sorry, I'm babbling. Hahaha."
You inform him of your current dilemma. He says he's willing to help, but he can only move when exposed to direct sunlight. Otherwise, you'll have to carry him.
>stay somewhere open with sunlighty
>can we destroy the ceiling to let in a LOT of light?
"Why didn't I think of that!! You're pretty smart."
The sunlight seems to shine even brighter, until the ROOF of the church caves in. You're able to get out in the nick of time, holding El Niño's tiny hand in yours.
"Oopsies," he says.
You're now in the middle of the town square. As it's the middle of the day, everyone is taking their midday nap (siesta).
>==>
After some time, you decide to take El Niño somewhere safe, and transfer him to a nearby grotto. That way, when the sun sets and he reverts back into a statue, he'll at least have a place to stay where people can find and worship him.
It's now the witching hour. You hear a guttural growl, and turn to find a nun.
"So... so hungry... Need... flesh..."
Before your very eyes, she grows bat wings, and looks at you with crazed eyes.
"Sister Isidra!" El Niño says. "I always knew there was something fishy about her. She's a vampire!! We need to do something. Oh, by the way, since it's sunset, my powers are limited and we have around fifteen minutes before I turn back into a statue. Good luck!"
>STICK SMACK
You charge at her with a STICK, but it proves useless. She instead snaps it like, well, a stick!!! Dammit.
El Niño tries to use his powers, and summons the Heat Haze. Cracks form around the earth, and there's a sweltering wind. Alas, it doesn't do much.
"Oops, guess it's time," he says as the sun sets. "Did I tell you that vampires get stronger as night falls? You'd best be getting outta here."
>==>
You stall Isidra until the MOON comes out. Yes, you can use your powers!!
Unfortunately it's waning. Therefore your powers are nigh-depleted. You hold out your hands a bit, but all you can manage to muster is a ball of moonlight as hard and dense as a large rock.
>scream: why the fuck the moon so weak? Git good, moon what are you, moon moon?
>FLEE WITH THE POWER OF SALT
You decide to FLEE, throwing some SALT at Isidra. You keep forgetting that Crisanto's mother packed you a lunch of SALTED FISH. That counts, right??
Isidra lets out a shriek of pain. You book it back to the forest, and find Crisanto's home.
"Miss Star! You've come back," Crisanto's mother, SINTA, says. "Did you eat my packed lunch?"
"Vampire. On her way," you tell her, wheezing. You're exhausted from that running.
>==>
Isidra finds you, and starts flying towards the hut!
"I'll take care of this, dear."
Sinta does some chants while dancing around with a candle on her head. She takes her loyal ROOSTER, which starts to crow. A miniature ball of FIRE appears, and heads straight toward the Vampire. It screeches in horror at the light, and flees.
>==>
"That was something, Sinta! How were you able to do that?!" you ask her.
"Well, back in the day before I gave birth to Crisanto, I was something of a shaman," she says. "Don't tell him, though. I wanted to give him a good life, free of the shackles of the magic world."
>hug her
>thank you!!
>cry a lil
"Thank you so much, Nay Sinta! I was so scared!!" you say.
"No need to thank me, dear. We're all people in need, at one point or another."
You get a good night's sleep, and head back to the town church to assess the damage done. Hopefully you can help with repairs, as the town curate, PADRE BENEDICTO, will be angry.
As you arrive, there's already someone there. It's a snobbish-looking young woman in a frilly dress.
"Oh dear. Who brought the riffraff? Pedro, fetch me some water please," she says, fanning herself. Sinta tells you this is the wealthy Doña Ambrosia, a cruel and spiteful woman. She's the richest person in town, and looks down on everyone.
What do you do?
>is there water anywhere near?
There's a river flowing a little ways west. You could easily walk to it and be back within half an hour.
>do we have any containers to store water?
Sinta brought over a bowl made of banana leaves that she's woven together, and bound with magic. It will never leak.
>start walking towards the river
"That Doña Ambrosia is a real snob, huh?" you ask Sinta.
"She sure is. You know, I heard she even threw a plate at one of her servants! I don't see why poor Pedro puts up with her. That's some real devotion."
You take some river water, and put it in Sinta's banana bowl. What do you do next?
>sinta, on a scale of one to ten, how amazing would it be if i brought ambrosia this water just to dump it on her head?
"Yes, I'd like that very much! And I know a way we can do it."
You and Sinta go back to where Ambrosia is, and volunteer to give her water. You rush over, bowl in-hand, and Sinta pretends to trip you as a prank! As intended, you spill water all over Doña Ambrosia.
"ARGH! You simpletons, unable to even get me some water! My uncle will be hearing about this!!!" she says, storming off.
You're still a long ways away from finding your wings, but you're HAPPY. Being a human is nice.