(Quest Suggestions) SongsTress Quest Episode 39: This is War (Patreon)

(Members of Star Tier or above can suggest actions for next week's episode, and they'll be voted on on Wednesday!)

The Story So Far...

Okay. The best thing you can do here is find your teammates. Whatever's wrong with you, they'll be able to sort it out - by force if they have to!

Hey, you'd do the same for them.

You walk to the end of the corridor and cautiously push the door open.

On the other side, you find a store room - or maybe it was something else, you don't know (What are you, Serenity Architect? No way, she's over in Magenta Falls). What you do know is that this mysterious room is full of a crowd of miserable looking people - fully human people. Fully human people who shy away from you as you enter, looking wary of your sudden presence.

And then- "Dancer!"

The crowd parts, and Serenity Melody charges through the gap, her drawn up hood failing to hide the happy look in her eyes. Wow, you never thought you'd be this relieved to see the brat. And there, following behind her - Serenity Scribe! Awesome, two teammates in two minutes! At this rate you'll have all the Arts ready in five!

You wave, relaxing a little yourself now that you know you're not alone. "Hey! Oh, wow, both of you are down here? Guess I found the right place."

"Yeah." Melody nods as she slides to a halt in front of you. "Just the two of us so far

I've been trying to help Scribe, but I think she's kind of out of it for this one."

"Oh?" You take a closer look at the other Serenity - and then wince. Ah. Yeah, her hair is supposed to be green, not blonde, and you're pretty sure her chest is not supposed to be that big.

"Hey D!" She waves at you cheerfully. "Are we, like, nearly done? I wanna hit the beach, my tan is, like, totally awful right now!"

Ooooh yeah, she got hit by something bad. Ouch. "What happened to her?"

There's that weird feeling in your head again, like you should already know the answer...

"She just stumbled in." Melody sighs, shrugging. "I've been down here since the start, protecting everyone I could find..." She waves around at the crowd of people, leaving a lot of details out. Understandable - if Melody was here when whatever is going on started, then she must have been here in her civilian identity. No need to share more details about that in front of the crowd. "How about you? What's going on out there?"

Ah. You've not been looking forward to this. Bracing yourself, you give your best answer. "I can't remember."

She blinks. "You can't-?"

"Not a thing." You shake your head.

"... Oh god damnit D." She facepalms, and you can't blame her! "... Well you're not planning on attacking me or anything right now, right?"

"... I don't think so...?" Yeah... Yeah, you're pretty sure, looking around the inside of your head. "No more than usual, anyway."

That gets Melody rolling her eyes. "I guess that'll do. Okay, we're fighting against a singing Desire called SongsTress who's taken over the Rose building."

You snort. "Oh, wow, seriously? So it's a musical out there?" That sounds stupid. And hilarious.

But she shakes her head. "From what Scribe's told me... Y'know, between the 'likes' and the 'ums'..." She glances back over her shoulder at the woman in question. Scribe waves cheerfully back. "Yeah, from what she's said, the Desire's too self centred to let anyone else sing. It's all just a big pop stadium for her now."

"Awh." Less fun. "Guess she's scared of competition."

"I know, right?" The pink haired woman winks at you. "Divas like her never want to let anyone else near the limelight - too terrified that they'll be outshone."

"Think you can take her?" Serenity Melody is a brat. But she's also the group's singer, and she's stupid good at it. If there's a battle of the bands in play, you're betting on her, all the way.

She hesitates. "Maybe. If she's alone. But, uh, I think we know Style isn't going to be on our side..."

Damn. You somehow already knew that, but it still sucks. Serenity Style is your team leader and strategist. If she's helping the other side, you've got an uphill battle to fight at best.

"And Scribe said that she got split off from you and Painter, so if Painter isn't here..."

"Then we're probably dealing with at least two bodyguards."

"Mm." She nods.

Not great. Converted Serenities are tough fights - and while neither of you wants to say it, both of you suspect that you, Serenity Dancer, are likely compromised. If Melody could get a one on one fight against SongsTress, then this battle could go either way, but unless you can make that happen...

"So what do we do?"

There's three... okay, maybe two and a half Serenities here. You ought to be able to come up with something, right? You're Serenities, it's your job to save the day. Come on, Dancer, use those brains that Melody's always saying you don't have - think of something!

(That's your cue, Serenity Supporters! Comment below with suggestions of what you'd like to see happen next, and I'll put it to the Vote on Wednesday! Bear in mind that Patreon Votes have a 140 character limit, so try to keep your suggestions below that.)