Chapter 10

Chapter 10 coverpage

Chapter 10: The Deadly Nevergreen, Part 2 began posting on [DATE]. Its tag line reads "Here There Be Monsters"

## Synopsis

Elan Aled prays at a shrine, thinking on his decision to betray Toma. His musings are interrupted by the sounds of Elka's battle with the constables. After witnessing Elka's distress, he finds the courage to intervene, saving Elka and himself. They escape by jumping into the river.

Toma, having blocked the river, is attacked by Anadyne, Knock-me-Down and several townsfolk. Toma survives the attack, but is cornered in a room behind a pymary proof door.

Quigley continues his attempts to repair Uaid, but fails. Jivi and Matty finally make it back to the workshop, letting them know about all that had happened. Quigley sets out to find Sette. Outside of the Nevergreen, he hears a guard shout that they've cornered "her." Thinking that the "her" must be Sette, he goes to investigate. After fighting some guards and townsfolk at a shrine, he's surprised to find Elka within. They briefly discuss the situation, interrupted when Elan comes with the news that Toma is trapped underground. They leave to help the others.

Unaware he's been captured, Duane dreams of various places and people in his past. Sette, Lemuel and Leysa make appearances. After following a vision of Mikaila through a wall, he emerges into the Khert. He encounters Murkoph, who attacks him and tries to break his connection with a glowing thread sticking out of his back. Lady Ilganyag swoops in and saves him momentarily, but he falls into a vision of a burning Alderode. Ilganyang reveals that they are viewing a vision of the future, and that she has a plan to make things "right" again. She tells him that he and Sette have been captured, and that he must make it back out of the Khert to save them both.

Toma wrestles with an unruly construct. Elan and Quigley show back up and kill the townsfolk outside of the door, knocking Knock-me-down out in the process. With their help, Toma manages to get the construct under control. They set off to the Nevergreen together.

Back at the Nevergreen, Sette is tied up in Stockyard's office. Starfish makes a skeevy attempt to accost her further, but Stockyard interrupts and throws him out. The dockworkers continue to load the ship while discussing Duane, who is restrained and asleep inside of the hold. The smoke eels around the First Silver have gotten more and more vicious. They begin to form into vines that expand throughout the cavern and the Nevergreen itself, threatening Sette and the dockworkers. Toby and Stockyard talk about the future and the past as Toby prepares to stab Stockyard. But Stockyard is prepared and ambushes Toby, garroting his unsuspecting subordinate while reaching through the wall. In the brothel's bar, the prostitutes and one of the guards are attacked by the smoke eels and pymarics, who have suddenly become violent. Tendrils of first silver thorns rip up through the floor and the building begins to collapse. Stockyard is grabbed by Toby's body, which has been reanimated by the silver. Down in the docks, Ana argues with Cutter, who claims that the pain from Duane and the rest of the brothel are causing the silver to react. Ana attempts to burn Duane, but is surprised to find Murkoph attempting to leave the Khert by using Duane's thread. She knocks Murkoph back into the Khert, where he gets into a fight with Duane and has his upper half degloved. Duane heads toward the exit the help of Ilganyang.

The brothel has begun to fall apart, with the silver weapon's vines spreading throughout. Sette frees herself, grabs some supplies and letters from her father and attempts to free Stockyard, who is entangled in vines. The reanimated corpse of Toby makes it to Stockyard first, though, and, speaking with the voice of Stockyard's long dead father, taunts him while pulling a noose around his neck. Toby's corpse tosses Stockard off of the ledge with the noose still around his neck, decapitating Stockyard. Ana watches, shell-shocked, as the lifeless bodies of Toby and Stockyard fall at her feet.

Duane frees himself from the Khert just as the silver reveals itself to be a humongous monster. He fights it as Sette goes to find the controls to flood the tunnel. After getting impaled on thorns, Duane helplessly listens to Cutter's mad ramblings. Cutter claims that he is actually Delicieu, the wright who made the First Silver Weapon. Quigley and Toma arrive to help the fight. Boo tries to free Duane, but is pierced by a thorn. The thorn seems to free more positive spirits, allowing Duane himself to break free. Toma, Quigley and Duane work together to fight the weapon.

Sette goes with Dawn to flood the locks in the tunnels beneath the brothel to wash the monster away. Starfish shows up, stabs Dawn and sexually assaults Sette. Sette manages to break free, stabbing him in his crotch. She then opens the locks and detonates her explosive pymarics, killing Starfish and throwing her into the roaring river.

The silver weapon is washed away with Ana, Knock-me-down and Delicieu/ Cutter within. A distraught Sette finds Duane and tells him her father's true plans. Duane understands and comforts her in a tender moment. Quigley searches for Toma, but only finds his sash. They all escape the collapsing Nevergreen and return to Iori. Bastion Winalils overlooks the ruins of the Nevergreen, observing the outcomes of his various plots.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Duane Adelier
* Sette Frummagem
* Toby
* Stockyard Frummagem
* Anadyne Frummagem
* Knock-Me-Down Frummagem
* "Vanilla"
* "Chocolate"
* "Greenie"
* "Scale Hat"
* pink haired musician
* Elan Aled
* Yerta (statue)
* Tirna (statue)
* Emil Sava-Toma
* Elka
* Ethelmik Constabulary
	+ Officer Gini/?Hamsteak
	+ Vale
	+ Perk
* Bastion Winalils
* Pantoffel
* Mathis Quigley (Sr.)
* Uaid
* Vienne Quigley
* Gerald Kilpenny
* Bobby
* Iori Ripa
* Rahm Ripa
* Jivi Flask
* Matty Quigley
* Boo
* Segil
* Tavi
* Cutter
* Silver Eel
* Dawn
* Brother Faradan (mentioned)
* Starfish
* Creg Mili (mentioned)
* Nary-A’Care Frummagem
* Mr. Sheridan
* Lemuel Adelier
* Orlina
* Mikaila Adelier
* Simon Adelier
* Leysa Adelier
* Sonum Ssael (statue)
* Murkoph
* Lady Ilganyag
* Vliegeng
* Tar-nut Frummagem (mentioned)
* Gregory
* Shirtless twink
* Younger blue haired prostitute
* Elder blue haired prostitute
* Timofey
* Pip
* Squeak

### Items/Concepts

* Kedis
* Gefendur shrine
* Marmots
* smoke eels
* Toma's spellslicer
* Knock's sawshooter
* Sleepleaf
* First Silver
* Pymaric explosives
* squishes
* Blood Amulet
* Frummagem letters
* Swarm
* Hounds
* Owls
* Khert

### Locations

* Cresce
	+ Ethelmik
		- Deadly Nevergreen
		- Ethelmik Clocktower
		- Watch House
		- Ethelmik Municipal Offices + Administration
		- Ripa's House
* Ulestry
	+ Mulimar
* Sharteshane
	+ New Tawhoque
		- Midnight Cricket
		- Criseyde Way
			* Zeal's Sweets
			* D. Adelier Scrivener
* Alderode
	+ Durlyne
* Khert

## Trivia

* Synopsis taken from this page of the stagnant author curated wiki.