/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance

Summoner: Almost exclusive to monsters, the ability to summons entities into reality is a very dangerous thing for humans, dwarves and elves to attempt; let alone excel in. The process is rather complicated, Summoners are people that require heavy planning and research before unleashing hell onto the battlefield through entities of various shapes and sizes, with the best of them counting amongst the great nine-tailed Kitsunes. [Your strength entirely depend on how much time you put into improving yourself and researching your craft. Summons are very durable thankfully and can last a long time without costing you too much stamina, some creatures can easily act as beasts of labors to help for all kind of tasks.]

Astral: Taking inspiration from the stars and the ability to influence the horrors of the cosmos, this gift of magic is quite close to Blood Magic as it is heavily focused on utility while mainly influencing space and distances (creation of portals and projecting one vision into the sky for example). It is, however, extremely dangerous to use and understand the further you study into it; the craft of Astral magic is completely lost, belonging only to legends of the past. [Lowest combat potential, Astral as a magical gift is quite similar to Blood magic and alchemy with how rituals form the crux of its uses. It touches on a little bit of everything… buffs, healing, summoning. I reiterate the fact that Astral rituals can be very, very dangerous.]

>Mixer

You can combine one of the above elements with better martial skills without excelling in any areas, of course.

Holy Warrior: A self-explaining archetype, without the dedication to gods or causes. Holy magic is the innate ability to heal injuries and sickness in other (but not yourself, a very important point) and creates shields of magic to enhance defenses, with the best of them able to parry blows in the blink of an eye. Anathema to corruption, it’s magic can literally evaporate the hated tar, essentially exorcising it away, although it is impossible to truly rid someone of its plague, areas can be safely purged. [Extremely good defensive magic that can easily interweave itself with a fighting style of your choice, you can heal people so that’s always a plus. It’s possible to use Holy offensively but doing so is seen as taboo by angels and church alike, the knowledge on how to do so is sealed. You’ll need to uncover it in your adventures.]

‘’Easy now, haven’t talked for a while so you’re bound to be rusty. You seem to have kept your wits after waking up from a two hundred years nap, you elves are really well conserved.’’

Your name… right, it’s Arawn Loukanos, prince of Luminaris, the elven city-state, and by the look of things, you’ve been out of commission for a long, long time.

‘’Hey oh, listening?’’ A gray colored hand shake itself in front of your face, forcibly bringing you back at attention with those two unique…visitors, your thoughts brought you very far from whatever they were discussing.

‘’Don’t go panicking alright?’’ The Gazer tone was low and gentle as her big and numerous other eyes all locked themselves with yours. ‘’Let’s just introduce ourselves and begin from there, now Tui do so first cause I’m the most important lady here!’’

A mocking chuckle erupted out of the throat of that ‘’Tui’’ vixen whose tails twitched in some form of annoyance. ‘’Name’s Tuilelaith Helewidis but just like our little single-minded fellow here, you can shorten it for both our convenience, I’ve been giving this self-titled Overlord a hand for the last few years or so, please to meetcha Arawn, first time I’m seeing an elven prince in the flesh’’

‘’Oi don’t you go giving up my title damn it!’’ the cyclops protested right after the introduction of her… friend? Having stepped back up to her feet, the little tentacle girl had crossed her arms on her chest and was now peering at you with all those appendages and a big, broad smile. ‘’I’m Gwendolyn, the new Overlord of this forest and you, my friend, are going to be my vital underling!’’

She says, stretching her arm down at you and brimming with a strange confidence, her sole big eye seem to be shining with barely contained joy and her smile –while full of sharp teeth- transferred an honest, if foolish sentiment that really made you want to believe that childish spiel.

Perhaps it was desperation more than her charisma that made you grab her hand, you’ve woken with memories dulled by a long, long coma, what remains of your survival instinct simply scream at you to gain some form of stability, and if this ‘’Overlord’’ want to help you, then you are one step away from total desperation.

‘’Aha!” Unfortunately, she‘s not strong enough to pull you up, so you end up on your feet by yourself, relieved to find out that you are still in some nice fitting clothes. ‘’…you’re way heavier than I thought’’

‘’No matter, no matter! You seem healthy enough and you’ve got all your parts working’’ Parts? Well, your limbs are fine, if stiff. 200 years of sleep hasn’t atrophied anything, magic sure is handy. ‘’Let’s get you outta here, some fresh air would do fine then we’ll talk.’’ Her small fingers interlocks with yours and a few of her odd-eyed tentacles stretch to stare at you as she walks forward, quickly forcing you to keep a quick pace and just like that, both of you walk right outside this small white-laden room, with the fluffed female accompanying behind with a broad smile, even wiggling her ears as your stares crosses.

The world outside is one of boundless nature as you emerge from what looked like an underground shelter. Thick, tall trees, and vegetation as far as the eyes can see, with the morning sun shining through the foliage. This vision of boundless nature strikes you with potent déjà vue… your companion doesn’t allow you a moment to reminisce.

‘’Here, here follow me!’’ The little Gazer speaks and jogs toward the abrupt end of the hill you suddenly realize to be standing on, and once the both of you rummage through the thick foliage, you are greeted with a hopeful sight of civilization. Not too far from your position is the sign of a large rudimentary city built at the root of the dead elemental tree once guarded by your family; the relic is a massive corpse now well over ten meters thick and twice that number in length. Previous ruins have been repurposed as makeshift homes, repaired and brought back into proper service. Districts had naturally formed, completely incorporating old ruins into new construction… though something is odd. This couldn’t be all of Luminaris, the city of the elves was a megalopolis built by modifying and mastering nature itself; this is a much more orthodox, thousand-some city with a newly built wooden wall.

‘’Not too shabby right? We’ve only been here for two years but already managed to plop a few villages too, just wanted to give ya a proper view and a reason why I’m the Overlord, see from here? I think you can spot a few oddballs.’’

True enough, what look like half-human are wandering the plaza, though you are too far to make out much of anything.

‘’I’ve been wanting to find ya for a long while Arawn, to think you were right next door… well no matter, d’you need to be situated a little? It’s been a whole 200 years right?’’

‘’Going over everything is going to take too long’’ The vixen chose this time to speak, having somehow walked all the way to your side without creating a single sound: her proximity causes a profound sentiment of unexplainable fear to briefly squeeze your heart. ‘’You’re an elf from a completely different era, though… I think your long sleep messed up your memory, which is honestly the lesser ailment you could be suffering from. You –are- of royal blood-‘’

‘’That ain't why I went and woke you up prince… I mean Arawn. Tui here knows something about your siblings and I’ve been wanting to search for the whole elven royal family now that my people set up shop in this forest’’

Siblings…? Oh right, you’ve got two of them. One older sister by the name of Enide Loukanos who was, strangely enough, not the heir to the throne despite Luminaris operating as a queendom. She was a prodigy from what you remember, in the ‘’application of magic’’ as she kept putting it, despite being a fairly weak mage. Also, passionate about girly books, from what you remember sometime in your youth you became her exclusive critic to her burgeoning writing ambition.

Next is Gwendolyn Loukanos, your little sister and the actual heir to the city. You don’t remember her much, for she was a very introverted girl, much more likely to stand behind your mother or father rather than speak to you, the brother a full decade older. When the city started to go to hell, you were assigned to be her bodyguard, though… those memories are blurry; she’s not someone you’ve known much.

‘’You have the same name as my little sister’’ you speak toward the Gazer, whose big and small eyes start clinging in perfect synch.

‘’Seriously? Huh, that’s… odd, well hopefully there won’t be any confusion, good to know your memory is getting nicely cleaned up!’’

‘’You don’t know where they are, though, right?’’ The vixen asks, retaking the initiative of the conversation.

‘’No’’ And you doubt you’d remember, the last few days before this coma are shrouded in complete darkness.

‘’How about making ourselves a deal?’’ The small overlord speak, wiggling those fat tendrils, the words seem to trigger some amusement for the fox, for her long tongue peeks out of her lips after a worrying smile plaster that pretty face.

‘’Work for me Arawn and I promise to help you –and put this vixen here to work- in finding your sisters. I know you’re a skillful man, and I know I can trust ya, so you’re exactly what I need right now.’’

Part of you wants to ask why? Why does she trust you so wholeheartedly? You can see it in her eye: it’s shining with honesty and perhaps a little naivety, however, she’s offering something incredibly valuable. Home, allies, someplace to have as an anchor… It’s always possible to take off on your own at some later date.

‘’I’m not certain how I can help.’’

‘’You’re a tough guy!’’ The Overlord answer right back, gently tapping your shoulder with one of those odd eyed tentacle (all of them keep staring at you even when she turn around to look at something else). ‘’I want you on my team’’ She goes to slap her chest a few time for emphasis, the small yet present curves barely moving from the contact, thus for politeness sake you focus on her eye. ‘’Besides, I’m the one that insisted on waking you up, so I ought to take some responsibilities, you don’t want to wander the world after sleeping for so long right? Or maybe you can see it as an investment, since you were the prince of Luminaris you must have some skills that could be really helpful and since I’m being a benefactor, I’m hoping to gain your loyalty!’’

‘’So with that in mind!’’ The Overlord doesn’t seem to be one to follow anyone pace bur her own. ‘’How about we stretch your muscles? You aren’t atrophied or anything but hey, it’s been a while’’ with a few gentle tugs and hand squeezes the small cyclops gestured toward the city while the vixen began to walk down the hill by sliding down the dangerously steep slope whilst you and Gwendolyn had to take a more prudent approach, all the while the little Overlord murmured something about the vixen being a little ‘’special’’ as the fox made a show of waiting for the two of you to walk down.

‘’If you wanna ask me anything, don’t be stranger.’’

>[Free choice, if there’s anything you want to ask then do so, I’ll proceed with the second part of the intro otherwise]

>>142931

>Astral

>Why did we sleep for 200 years?

I've been waiting for this moment! :3

Since our last hero, Sigfried, was a mage, I'd suggest giving this one more of a physical class.

My vote is for Adventurer class.

As far as what to ask to this Gazer and her Kitsune friend… I'd like a brief explanation of where we are, like, geographically. Also, we should take our time to ask them what exactly happened to us, since we don't seem to remember it. Or at least, the most important storycal events that have taken place during our 200 year long nap.

I just caught this on the twitter directory but what the fuck happened to the main quest that ran like 3/4 years ago

>>142942

It's a combination of factors. Real life was becoming pretty hard and I made too many mistakes in the main quest by introducing too many characters without resolving much, if any plots, resulting in a huge cluster that was pure hell to plan for. I was simply too ambitious and ended up burning out, so I decided to move on. I haven't thrown away everything that happened, though, it's just that I needed to do something drastic and learn from my mistakes; we'll be able to go back in Zipangu and see how things turned out after establishing ourselves here.

>>142945

Is knowledge of the old quest required for this one? Because i am completely new and just saw this in the catalog.

>>142949

Absolutely not. This is a completely new tale, and if players decide to join back with the old guards knowledge of what happened back then still won't be necessary.

>>142949

I think there is no need. INH's quests hold all some relation between them, but there's no need to know anything about the other quests. All the info will be provided in the story as it becomes relevant, I'm sure.

That said, the first quest (Siegfrid's) is pretty interesting, so I'd recommend the read if you feel like it. It is archived here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Monster%20Girls%20Quest

As I said, though, you don't need to read it before embarking on this one. However, in case you do want to learn more about the setting without reading all the previous work, I'm sure there's a summary somewhere.

>>142950

In that case I'd like either Summoner or Astral. Ask what goals Gwendolyn has, aside from ruling the forest.

‘’That’s what we are!’’ Said the cyclops, thumping her chest with her freed hand; the other was firmly clasped with yours.

‘’Creatures under the influence of the Demon Lord and, unfortunately, victim of Corruption, everyone has their own free mind thankfully so don’t go thinking us slave to the Succubus.’’

As your group entered the city, you began to finally understand that the two semi-humans at your sides weren’t too different from the general population. Snake-like woman slithering on the ground, tall Amazonian warriors with bovine feet and horns, wet entities of all colors bouncing around, bird-like girls with wings for arms and dangerous talons traveling from rooftops to rooftops…

‘’Got some books back at home if you want a history lesson’’

Your destination was the primary fortress of this capital, a giant dead tree. The bark was completely white and from the inside, inner wooden walls could be seen patching the many honeycomb-like holes throughout the surface of this giant relic that stretched well beyond the limit of the surrounding vegetation; it was more akin to a tower rather than something that was once alive.

This… was the corpse of a great Elemental Tree, nothing more than a relic now, in the past when your family was strong and the elves called this area home, this thing was one of the four keys for elven supremacy in this giant forest.

‘’That was the Tree of Earth.’’ The answer slips out of your mouth and if it weren’t for Gwendolyn's hand, you’d be standing still.

‘’Yeah’’ the little Overlord answered, having quieted her tone for respect. ‘’Bad thing happened, but its bark is amazingly tough and the inside could house a lot of our people if not everyone in the city. It’s a great fallback position so were using it as our fortress… and a monument, something to remind everyone and ourselves that we’ll be sticking to this place.’’

You notice that the girls are giving your group a wide berth, numerous eyes planted on everyone - although you were the definite star of the show, each time you crossed gazes with one of these would-be admirers they gave you a various amount of smiles, from awkward to seductive or shy.

There weren’t a whole lot of men, though a few of them lingered around, gawking at your groups like the rest of the monsters.

‘’Lesse, do you know about the Allied Kingdoms?’’

No, but you’ll be finding out now.

The Allied Kingdoms is the official title for an amalgam of countries that banded together not too long after the fall of Luminaris, the official date being after the cataclysmic Great Crusade (that at least, is something you know well enough). Comprised of 6 countries surrounding this very forest, they are the undeniable human powerhouse in every imaginable aspect, if they could ever be of one mind.

‘’Let’s not get into too many details now’’ The fox spoke with a lowered tone. ‘’Let’s just say that we’ve been walking on eggshells ever since we came her, can’t quite trade with anyone since monsters are second-class citizens –at best- everywhere that isn’t here.’’

–

The world is large place indeed, but you’ve thankfully managed to get an idea of your situation with your companions, those two and now that their explanation was forced to a halt, the entrance of this relic-tree filled you with a brief awe. An anthill of activity from bottom to top, monsters of all kinds of race laboured here and there on constructs of woods, having repurposed the innards of this magical tree into a proper military fortress. Armaments, food stores, soldiers training on some of the wings… only half of the tree was used and it seemed to be enough for the current purpose of the monsters. It was a magnificent sight indeed to see all these bodies’ moves in the interwoven tunnels.

‘’You’ll get a map soon enough, trying to navigate this mess is a right pain but… you get used to it in a week or so, shouldn’t be too hard’’

The little cyclops was unfortunately interrupted by various cries of ‘’Overlord!’’ uttered by many of these military monsters, their races mostly ranging with beastswomen of all types, with only a few odd Lamias sticking out and quite a handful of stationary Alraunes sprouting out of giant gorgeous flowers.

‘’Hihi! I’m busy folks so go back to business aight?’’ She simply waved at the lot with her freed hand, and then directed your group toward a room beside the primary flight of stair. Inside was a proper war room with maps, books, desks and chairs littered just about everywhere in a fantastically disorganized fashion.

That’s also when Gwendolyn freed your hand.

‘’Phew alright, home sweet home’’ The cyclops spoke, launching a brief glare toward some paper on a desk whilst the white vixen lazily sat on the nearest chair, tails swishing to and fro without rest.

‘’Alright, we’ve cleared our schedule just for you, sorry for being a bit prompt in getting here but I wanted to be a little more comfortable before having the big talk.’’ The eyed-tentacles of the Gazer kept an even, uninterrupted stare right at you as she sits leisurely. ‘’So… well you can think of this place as my official greeting and attempt at recruiting, yeah. Would you do me the honor of helping me out, Arawn?’’

>Another free choice, I'll post some more info afterward but feel free to ask anything out of these two.

>>142957

>Sure

>>142957

"Those sounds like worthy enough goals, I'd be happy to assist, even if you weren't going to help find my sisters."

Those are some massive updates.

>>142962

I've been hard at work with my planning. Right now I'm officially off my safety net and entirely dependant on your interactions.

"For now, I don't seem to have anywhere else to go, so I'll take up on your offer. But, what will you do once you find my sisters? I still am not sure what you are exactly expecting from us."

So, we agree preemtively, but ask them what exactly they mean by "helping out"

>>142971

Oh right I forgot to say this was a free choice. You can act on anything said here >>142958

As for the chosen class, it seem like we've got two votes for Astral, should we wait more or would you guys be okay with accepting this one?

>>142971

>Read the papers she gave us

>>142973

I'm cool with it. I also voted for it.

Picking Astral means that we will have trouble handling ourselves in fights, and we will depend on our alies very heavily, right?

Hmmm… I'd wait a bit more, but, if nobody else adds their vote, change mine from Adventurer to Summoner.

As for what to do…The situation in the Tree of Fire sounds a bit concerning. If there's smething important going out there, we should check it out before it's too late, I think. We could also ask our new partners what do they think it's the best way to proceed.

>>142977

>Picking Astral means that we will have trouble handling ourselves in fights, and we will depend on our alies very heavily, right?

Correct. You'll also be struggling in growing stronger on your own since the only reliable teacher of the craft you can find is Tuilelaith. You'll have to invest some time (much like Summoner) to avoid straight up killing yourself. So some precision on the situation with the fairies then? Alright, time to write it up. Also I've got some infos on the other kingdoms, would you guys like to read them?

>>142971

"Fiamin?"

Astral is fine. And yes please include info on other kingdoms. I might have asked about one already without knowing it.

Sure, it'd be nice to get a bit of background info to work with.

By the way, INH, I'm a bit of a drawfag, and I specialise in monstergirls.Is it alright if I attempt to draw the characters of this quest from time to time?

Brief overview of Gwalchmai

Otherwise known as the breadbasket of the Allied Kingdoms. King Gwal administer over the most fertile lands of the allied nations, possess the second biggest army in the lands and is all around enjoying a slow yet definitive prosperity. Gwalchmai hasn’t been remarkable, no heroes or grand elite troops helped with Allied Nations many wars but its people are enjoying a simple easy life, with monsters enjoying an existence mostly free of persecutions (even if they stay second-class citizens), mostly used as cheap labours and indentured slaves with the right to buy a free existence.

The people of Gawlchmai are seen as boring by the rest of the kingdoms and it isn’t untrue, for most of them are rarely ambitious and so far nothing happened to break the trend, it is a s if the noble and the king are simply content to eke out a safe, satisfying existence. There –is- one peculiarity for these farmers; mercenaries from the world over have been flocking there in recent years and didn’t raise any ruckus so far, and the kingdom coffers seems as full as they’ve ever been.

Brief overview of Fallerin

The undeniable powerhouse of all the allied kingdoms. The grandest army, prosperous cities, the oldest noble houses, origin of various knights orders… when the king speaks, everyone listens for it would take the entire might of every other nation to stop him.

To say king Fal is aiming for homogeny is something only spoken in whispers but it’s still undeniable that Fallerin is shining well above everyone else. Expansion into the Wildlands and Contested Plains is simply more notch to put under the noble house of Fal; it’s a kingdom very hungry for lands and the barbarians and monsters of its immediate frontiers have paid a hefty price indeed for such reckless expansion that was only stopped in recent years by a decrees of the church Patriarch inside the Free City.

The natives (even the serfs) tend to be haughty bastards, viewing themselves as truly pure humans bent on greatness and the monsters in their lands are treated accordingly; not quite like literal slaves as Galehot do, but instead kept in closely monitored semi-villages where the families are usually broken apart as the individuals are constantly moved to other locations as forced labours, more often than not sent into the kingdom frontiers to create the foundations of villages.

Brief overview of Eliaures

The youngest realm, having come together forty years ago. It is a definite oddball compared to the other kingdoms, for the founder was the head of a peculiar order of knights that set out to prevent an invasion from the south, and they’ve indeed succeeded for the actions of these brave men and women resulted in the first war of the Allied Kingdoms against the country of the Pharaoh.

Neither poor nor prosperous, the army is everything for Eliaures, doubly so given its very close proximity with the harsh frontline. It isn’t rare for skirmishes to erupt constantly, and thus all military-aged men (and even women) tend to be pressed into militias. Monsters are simply unaccepted in Eliaures, all of them treated as criminals to the last, usually captured and sold for the rest of the kingdoms.

It isn’t rare for truly gruesome tales to emerge from this heavy handed kingdom, especially since most citizen’s harbour a fanatical hatred of monsters, alongside a heavy distrust of magic, for people hold a moto dearly. «Iron is our water» they view conflict as a potential for growth.

>>142981

I'm using the official Gazer and Dakini from a manga that ended too soon, so of course you can draw as much as you want.

>>142986

Also, how close is this to MGE? What are the powerlevels like? Isn't a 9 tailed kitsune supposed to be close to god tier?

>>142988

>As for the vassals, most of them are as power hungry and uppity as anyone else under feudalistic government; they’ve smelled the weakness of the queen and eroded authority wherever they could, creating quite a divide between roy

>>142988

>Also, how close is this to MGE? What are the powerlevels like? Isn't a 9 tailed kitsune supposed to be close to god tier?

There are a few changes, the MG are, for example, still very interested in men, but not as… desperate, I think.

And, yes, if last quest's two 9 tailed kitsunes are any refference to go by, the fluffy tails are overpowered. Rightfully overpowered :P

>>14299

Why is she serving gazer girl then, if she's so strong? I know gazers are pretty high tier too, but they shouldn't be 9 tail level.

>>142995

maybe it's a loyalty based on friendship, rather than on raw power?

Or maybe strength is not all it takes to really run a country properly, and the Gazer has the brains of the group, while the kitsune has the fighting power?

>>142995

>Why is she serving gazer girl then, if she's so strong?

This is a question that can only be answered by the characters, would you like to ask?

>>142997

Yes

Don't word it so frankly though, something more discrete and polite.

Friendly reminder that only INH (36ec53) should be the one bumping the thread.

>>142971

That Tree of Fire stuff seems important, and I think being a druid Earth Mage would be interesting.

>>143003

>Friendly reminder that only INH (36ec53) should be the one bumping the thread.

What do you mean by bumping? I'm pretty new here, so I don't know how that bumping system works.

Should I check the "Do not Bump" option?

>>143008

Yes, click the "Do not Bump" option if you're not the anon running the CYOA

Grammar is failing me, I'll repost again.

Aahh! One thing! If those two are gong to be our companione for now, we should ask them what they are capable of, combat-wise. Also, is our main character prepred to go into battle should he need to, or will he require some warm-up practice before departing? I think we should sort out these matters before embarking in the Fairy mission.

>>143013

Investigate with Gwen and whatever retainers she keeps.

Also >>143017

Can we use our magic to support allies yet or is that a risk of death until we put practice in?

>>143017

For the mc battle prowess, it depend entirely on the chosen class. We don't have any clear votes yet I think, but I do believe Astral might be edging out.

If Astral -is- the choice then you aren't quite ready for combat, but that doesn't mean you'll be useless. If battle does erupt, you can concentrate on buffing your companions instead of harming the opposition since that peculiar trait of Astral magic come inherently.

Are we an Astral mage, or a Summoner? I think those are the two classes with most votes.

In case the people is hesitating, what sorts of stuff would a summoner be able to summon?

Would we finally get Slimegirl summons?

>>143033

All kinds of things. Summoning is pretty damn hard for human (meaning elves, dwarves and good old mankind) but it's not impossible. You can reach out to spirits and make contracts with them, create a temporary astral[not related to Astral magic] body to house it and unleash it on the battlefield. The highest level summons are humanoid, going as high as heroics figures of immense strength (easily surpassing your own). In general term, you could summons some slimegirls if you find a few dead ones whose spirits linger in the wilds and contract them to your service. You could also try calling out to slimes if you want, the number of potential summons is very high. Pretty much tied into all kind of mythologies.

>>142992

>Overall, sex is heavily toned down, the girls are simply much much better at controlling their libidos.

FUCKEN DROPPED

>>143013

>Deploy with both

>>143028

Definitely Astral

>>143044

Wait, so you are dropping it? Or was that a joke? Argh, it's hard to tell appart irony from genuine angry statements, in the internets XP

Anyways, it seems like Astral is getting the most support, so… Ok, I'll switch my vote to astral too and be done with it.

>>143040

Astral is quite broader, mainly taking inspiration from the 7 constellations to create its spells (Haven’t come up with all of them yet, since I left the classes fairly barebones since I didn’t know what was chosen). For example one peculiar constellation is known as the Wanderer, you could channel it’s inspiration if you were to ever lose your way, or maybe find a shortcut for a military unit in the forest or alternatively curse another unit to get lost… There’s a whole lot of possibility there, as long as the spell is tied with the nature of that constellation. It’s also possible to influence Eldritch horrors, create ‘’holes’’ in reality to push one in the battlefield and unleash… well an evident devastation, but doing so is absurdly dangerous, mainly because there is an active god keeping watch over these shenanigans and she won’t be happy if you pull it off.

Though it’s possible to ‘’mark’’ people to be visited and influenced by eldritch horrors, but even doing that is stupidly risky.

>>143044

>>143050

Astral it is and it seem we'll be bringing both girls along. I'll write up the continuation, though perhaps I'll take longer, maybe close it for tonight so I can write something longer instead. We'll see.

>>143055

Hoho! So if we misuse these powers, we'll be receiving the visit of dear "Mama Schieffer" *though she won't be very pleasant with us, probably.*

The description reminds me to what we did during the last time with the Wan Wan maid, using words of power to bend reality.

Also, I'll be going to bed in about 40 minutes or so, too.

>>143055

I have to sleep now anyway, so no complaints if you close it.

>>143064

>>143065

It's fairly similar, the words of pwoer are a mixture of Astral and Blood Magic. Alright closing it now, if life doesn't interrupt tomorrow will be good to go too. Don't expect as many words though.

>>143055

Shit, I was so close to inputting on the class.

>>143068

What would you have chosen?

>>143069

Summoner, mostly from personal preference in tabletop.

A good summoner can wreck shit.

>>143055

Been playing Dominions, anon? I assume Dominions got that from somewhere else, but I am a pleb.

>>143081

Dominion is my main inspiration from the entire antiquity of this setting (that period is called the War of Pretenders), with the game magic system being the ancestor of the current way of magic. Dominion is one of my main inspiration, so you bet I've been playing.

Later on that's going to be very evident

Oh man! Its insertnamehere's Quest!

Long time reader, long time fan (Well, since the beginning and never posted)

Its so fun to see you around! :D, Too late to vote for summoner to finally get those slime girls that people kept beating around the bush in the past in? >//>

>>143432

>Maybe I'll try to be merciful and grant you a magic item for slimegirls. I'll begin the thread in about an hour.

That would work, I guess. Though, an actual slimegirl ally might probably be more interesting than a summon, I think.

Zecharia's compation was super badass and really adorable on the earlier quest, for example. >w<

>>143440

Maybe I could think about making a new companion if people want one monster in particular. A slime does seem like a good choice.

Oh my god it is actually INH! owo!

I may sound like a fanboy, but hey, cant care, I just want to tell you that you really helped me be motivated to pursue my future and put my mind to what i want to do without giving it up!

Also, Dont you dare remove humanity's inherit desire to touch that fluffy tail…

Is this where i talk about putting "her" Back in the fridge?

>>143448

You will very soon realize that this new fluff might be too dangerous to touch, do so at your own peril! Also don't forget to sage your post, only my story post ought to bump the thread.

Uhhh… What is saging? I am honestly, as said in >143189 Still quite new and dont know how to do things and such!

>>143455

Typing sage in the email field will prevent your post from bumping the thread. You can also toggle the posts options & limits and click Do not bump.

Ooooh~! This is rather interesting~

Thank you for taking the time to tell a innocent minded fool like me about these things >A<b i honestly expected flaming and such… xD

Also, On the creature, may i suggest something? Although i may be stepping outside of my bounds as a normal player.

Why not grant the players an growable entity that turns into creatures upon our interactions and reactions?

Would make things a big suprise in the "End result" and creates a incentive to react to her apart from well.. "SLIMEGURL!" (Because fluffy tail is best touch… Tho scale tail is good too)

>>143459

I can only say that I'll think about this suggestion without making promises. I've already got a set of characters that I'll take my time to introduce(instead of drowning the players in half-assed characters like I did in my previous quest), so making up a new companion would need a good amount of planning on my part.

>>143454

You and I both know that isn't going to stop us. If there is fluff, it must be touched. God wills it.

Yeah… One of the painfull parts while reading previous part was that there were such beautifull interactions possible in the past with characters that were blantantly ignored due to the large collection… But yeah! I am litterally trembling your like a big shot to me >A<

So excited!

Fucked up the text again, give me a few moments

Well, That gives more time to think! owo *goes to use that time preciously*

>>143475

And I forgot to add that it was a free choice. Ask anything you want.

>>143474

Why are posts like this allowed

>>143477

>>143476

just remember to sage in stories so that the OP only bumps it.

>>143475

"What's up with those tails?"

>>143477 Huh? Did i do something bad? D:

Hmm… It would be quite interesting to ask something about this woman's youth, possibly a few tales of glory, a few tales that we can hear to get to know her.

Because we are going to work together its better to start building up atleast some bond.

The closer the group of warriors, the better their co-operation and we may need alot of that.

Preferrably, throw in a remark about earning a feel up one of those tails, gotta act in the greater mind of fluffy

What can we ask? Hmmm….

The way her tails turned into mouths was intriguing. I am actually wondering what kind of "subspecies" of Kitsune Tui is. So far we know about Tenko and Kumiho kinds, but… Tui doesn't seem likeeither. Perhaps she's one of a kind? Still, I don't know how safe it is to directly ASK HER that question. I'd break the ice meanwhile by asking something like… "Since I don't know you nor Gwen that much, I'd like to know beforehand if there isn't any 'touchy' or unpleasant subject that would be a good idea to avoid. I really don't want to accidentally upset either of you."

Would something like this work?

>>143484

If she had stuff like that, she wouldn't have offered to do this.

>>143485

>>If she had stuff like that, she wouldn't have offered to do this.

Yeah, maybe you're right. Still, it pays off to be better safe than sorry. And even if there isn't anything, we'd give her the impression of being gentle or careful enough to consider THEIR feelings about this whole thing, so either way, I see it as a win-win. We don't risk anything by asking this, I think.

>>143488

We risk looking like a dumb pussy at 100% probability

>>143488

I agree with this disposition, rather clever, though i am going to still support fluffy tail along with you :3 , just … Look at those tails, so fluffy… alluring… 'tempting'…

Well, Seeing at your information gathering, i may be repeating myself, but i find that chosing to ask for tales of might may be a lucky shot we can get as there are obvious power struggles that she may have had can give us a great amount of insight on possible future endeavors… If albeit, the opponent didn't die or it wasn't too long ago, Gotta fish for potential allies beyond what we see now right?

>>143490

I think, knowing the Anons, woowing (or at least, attempting to woo) the fluffy tails is inevitable. However, for now, I'd not make this awkward yet .

So, I'd add about asking her "What's up with that tail-maw", like another anon suggested.

>>143493

Yeah, That is a rather good point, but i was attempting to fish for the information you were trying to get too, If we add a remark about the tail, we may have a (possible miniscule) chance to get a soft rambling about how it may be dangerous because the maw and give us a interesting new bit of information without wasting our valuable question right?

>>143495

Heheh, I'm picturing her telling us "Careful, the tails can bite sometimes".

Then, a few chapters later… BAM, she beheads an enemy by chomping their head with the tail, and our elf just stares and shudders, feeling uncomfortable and looking away, while she winks at him as he realizes what exactly she meant by that X3

>>143505

(Huh? A error for posting? weird)

You are just improving my determination to ask this… I so want this to happen now xD

>>143508

"Single"

Well, Here is my shot at being a idiot.

"Without beating around the bush, i am a man who tends to be loyal to those that have brought themselves that close towards myself, i may just be a single man but i am willing to risk my life for more than a single life to protect, Maybe you could consider yourself one of those at some point in the future too?"

(Sorry, the do not bump got removed from teh quick reply, still trying to adjust to this forum xD)

>>143508

"Single, though I reserve the right to flirt. A man can always browse the menu, even if he isn't intent on placing an order."

"Hmm, I'm not sure, actually. I don't think I could handle several lovers at the same time, but then again, I don't remember being in such a situation before, so I don't know if I'd be any good at it."

I, as a player, don't think we can keep our protagonist from pursuing several waifus at the same time, but he isn't as "greedy" as some other great men are known to be about the ladies that surround him. ;3

>>143512

dont namefag, your not on a forum newnigger.

(Anybody able to tell me what is wrong with picking a name? xD)

>>143519

It's alright, INH has already stated elsewhere that he doesn't mind

>>143521

Well, i am just curious to what the problem is in its entirity and what the problems with it may be! I call it curiousity so i may improve myself xD

>>143516

I like that idea actually. Like, we'd be reluctant to pursue several lovers on our own overtly but if the main waifu was cool with mistresses and other eager suitors also didn't mind the whole situation… Well, who's to say? We may well end up giving into our hidden Harem Lead side if that happened.

>>143524

I don't know the answer either, myself, but apparently, in anonnymus boards like these, NOT being an anon is seen disapprovingly by some.

It sounds a bit dumb to me though, but hey, I'm a 'newfag' too, amn't I? XP

>>143512

>>143519

Anonymous imageboards don't take kindly to names unless the identity is needed for the thread, like in this case where I'm the host of the story. I don't particularly mind as long as it doesn't create useless conflicts amidst the players that would make running the thread a chore, but my preference is to keep it all anonymous.

As for this personality trait, it might always change in the future. I'll begin the continuation.

Then i shall abide and abandon my name!, I just tend to always add a name for myself as a habit.

But our god has spoken, Praise be INH.

>>143531

Can you also not post in such a cringeworthy way.

>>143534

If you are able to tell me what exactly is cringeworthy? I tend to overreact and speak in a rather weird fashion!

I, on the other hand, will keep mine. When I begin posting MG drawings, I don't want people to claim my stuff as theirs, nor impersonating me or putting words in my mouth.

That said, if I ver have to vote an impopular opinion, I'll do so as an anon. I don't want to upset nor to make people mad, either. That's your job here, INH, isn't it? ^w^

>>143536

Nah, his job is to lure us into situations where he can REJOICE if ya catch my meaning.

>>143535

>I tend to overreact and speak in a rather weird fashion!

looks like you already know

>>143542

Sadly i cannot change that!

>>153539

Oh god, that is a old joke, bit too early to bring it back no? :3

Let's ask some more!

How about, the last things that went on right before we were woken up? Something like… "Let's talk about something a little less awkward, shall we? Why don't you tell me what were you girls up to, before waking me up? Any interesting tale to tell?"

We are not able to sleep at the moment, and wasting time would simply be wastefull, so a question…

Maybe ask for information on the promise that has been made between the kitsune and the gazer?, possibly even information like tales from before waking up.

>>143549

"How old are you?"

>>143560

Haha, if we ask her that, one of her tails will turn into a giant hand and she'll slap us with it into the ground.

Though, who knows, maybe our good Elf Prince is into that? Let's ask her and find out! X3

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Going with the crowd, Let us totally get a feel for that tail with this slap, Praise be the tail god

Then, after the slap is done, we grin (even though it hurts) and say something like "So that's how direct contact with a tail like these feels like? Hmm, worth it!" And then, depending on how hard she hits us, we black out or answer her next question.

>>143568

Jeebus, you are on the game today and i cannot wait for what you come up with later xD

>>143571

As I said earlier, I've been waiting for this moment! >:3 That is to say, I've been looking forward to participate in a quest made by INH for a looong time, so I'm excited about it, maybe, a little too much. I might have to calm down a bit to let the rest of the anons put their views on the table.

>>143573

Haha, i tend to get the same, but hey, what can we say?, This is what happens when a good quest is going on, people are getting excited and have trouble containing themselves! Wahaha!

>>143576

"No way. And I'm an elf, we live too long to have many ancestors."

If anybody has been attacked by one of our ancestors we may be put responsible by them and it may hurt those relationships if we attempt to not take responsibility?

But in my eyes it would indeed seem better if we act in the good of what is most important in the situation, even if it means forgetting to take responsibilities from your ancestors, we are in the now, not the past, gotta move ahead to win in this ruthless world.

Wow, she really likes tough questions, doesn't she?

My answer would be: "I think…That would depend on the gravity of the sin. If it were some really big deal and it was necessary that someone took responsability for it, then, I guess I would. Are you actually referring to a particular sin that I should know about?"

Honest answer, but we want to know what leads her to ask that, in case it's not simple curiosity.

​>>143587

Don't forget your sage.

>>143589

Yeah, sorry, I slipped. Isn't there a way to make it sage by default, so I don't have to go out of my way to check the "Do not Bump" box it every time I post?

>>143592

Type sage in your email field

>>143592

Writing sage in the email field should make it stick.

>>143605

Oh man did you make that? That is one hell of a adorable slime…

>>143612

Thanks! And yep, I did draw her.

Hopefully, pics of slimegirls are an acceptable form of apologizing. ^_^u

>>143615

If allowed by INH at the end of this session you should link your deviantart xD

>>143618

Won the game eh? What do we win!

Thank you INH~, although i am shocked at your collection of fluffy tails… Did it expand compared t o the past?

Alright, then, good night, for now. This Tui is an intriguing kitsune!

>>143615

I'm afraid I don't even have a deviant art account anymore. Maybe some other time I'll link to some NSFW gallery that I have, though my stuff is very mild.

>>143620

I meant you, sorry >_>

>>143625

So! Tell us! How excited were you personally for this quest?

Any stories for us? Maybe even a few stories about the previous "Tale of monsters"~?

>>143618

Thanks for running

Argh! I can't seem to aim my comments at the right people properly DX

>>143627

Of course I'm excited to make a new, proper quest. I've learned a good deal from my days in MGQ, with the most important lesson being to temper my enthusiasm instead of inserting characters and plots that aren't needed… and burning out as a result.

You could say that I'm being cautious right now since I don't want to fuck up again. As for stories… well I haven't written any one shots since then though plenty of stuff did happen, what's with this quest taking place a good 13 years after the first Tale of Monsters.

>>143631

So you were serious about it being a direct sequel? Are people going to call you somebody who loves to feed on our suffering upon finding out what happened on zipangu? again? xD

But all in good fun, Now, Looking back at the first one, who was your favourite char?

I'm almost expecting INH not to answer that question yet, as characters of that earlier quest might still pop up in this one.

The general consensus was that Tsu was INH's favorite.

>>143638

Well, its a land of freedom, INH can always pick to ignore specific questions of mine xD

>>143640

Is it understandable that i am afraid that some extreme fans of the first one try to force zipangu connections?

Now, A question you may ignore… is there a chance for a dwarf waifu? We need to challenge our alcohol intake!

And do elves dislike any wood based materials that are taken from felling trees? (*Now just using the last few questions to learn more about the world* xD)

>>143640

*Gasp!* H-hadraniel? B-but… But INH! That… that's a pretty nice choice, actually. :3

Will we see more guns? and more wolf maids with guns? Who knows, technology and progress march on!

>>143640

I just wonder if our secondary objective in the previous quest was ever accomplished you know the one, it involved a very big bomb and a swamp.

Oh right! We should ask them to show us a world map, and see if there's a suspicious amount of land missing from it! That should clue us a bit, even without a lot of explanations.

>>143658

I know a few artists i can try tossing that map by, want anything specific on it?

If you do not mind, albeit

>>143663

That is painfull! I know donjon has a few good random world generators and using those you could improv a map but i tend to (Due to me being overexciting) meet quite a number of people, so if you want too, i can pm you on twitter and you just give me a large list of details and go by them to see if anything is possible.

>>143668

Well I don't quite need a detailed map for an overview of all the realms, I just though having something detailed for the region we are in would be good but we can always manage without.

>>143675

Just giving options, you spend so much time behind the screens writing, cranking your brain, listening to our choices… its the least we as players can do right?

>>143679

So you are telling me "Go out and gather all artists you make me fanart"? Okay! Time to do my job as the guy doing it! xD

I'll be doing some fanart as well. By the way, I have been doodling to draw Gwen and I've just discovered… drawing one-eyed girls in a way that looks cute takes a lot of effort! This is hard!

But soon, I'll add Gazer to the kind of monstergirls I can draw! And then, Gwen comes next!

>>143685

We should at a point get a way to contact each other to devise evil artist plans against INH's sanity.

>>143687

Heheh, that'd be nice.

>>143658

>elves not being complete morons and actually using magic in an interesting fashion

Very nice.

That last question felt like some real bait, given the context of relations between monsters and humanoids. If she weren't so old, I would guess she might have family that had a hand in what happened to the royal family.

>>143688

Here's a deviant link to me, just pm me and you can get my skype or anything xD

magie789.deviantart.com

Now, INH, want a non sexualized berserker cow art piece?

>>143691

Last post before i go then, Have fun everybody!

Here you go INH, I was given this art as fanart to you but i always had to call it non sexualized berserker cow piece xD, So excuse my pronounciation! Night everybody.

http://imgur.com/a/H64BL

>>143690

Hmm, like I believe I mentioned earlier, I lost access to my Deviantart account, and I haven't even used it for a long time.

Is there any other place I can find you?

>>143691

Last post before i go then, Have fun everybody!

Here you go INH, I was given this art as fanart to you but i always had to call it non sexualized berserker cow piece xD, So excuse my pronounciation! Night everybody.

http://imgur.com/a/H64BL

Hope you like it!

>>143695

Whoops, Sorry for the double post, it didn't show the first one :/

But you can find me on chatango as therandomfox.

>>142951

I just looked at the link and holy fucking shit, 134 threads.

How long is this iteration going to last?

>>143725

As long as it need to.

>>144550

Oh! It's you! Teacup Anon! Watching your icons always amused me a lot while reading the archived quest! :3

Your body didn’t need any sleep; once morning came the scorpions-woman set to work in making breakfast for your little group whilst they contended themselves with some dried rations. You did your best to help them out since the stars had long disappeared with the coming of dawn you decided to see if you had any culinary talents and… the sorry reality was an obvious no, thankfully the morning soup for this travel wasn’t hard to salvage.

Gwendolyn woke up with the grace of a zombie. Hair completely disheveled, numerous eyes half-open, arm movement bringing the breakfast to her mouth entirely mechanical… Tui emerged from the little Overlord tent with a hairbrush and threw your way; you managed to catch it with surprising ease, it flew through the air with almost eerie sluggishness.

‘’Make her look presentable, I’m gonna go smoke a bit’’ She said, biting onto a long pipe and going off to bother the scorpions.

‘’Well now…’’

It would seem you’ve been given the duty of a butler, not that you minded really. That little cyclops was sitting there sagely, with a battlefield for dark hair; it was a simple mop that went down to the middle of her back.

‘’Mu…’’

She protested at the first stroke.

‘’Grr…’’

That was a warning once you encountered a knot.

‘’Fuu…’’

This one was a satisfied sigh when you ran your fingers through that silky smooth blanket of darkness.

She’s pretty cute.

–

Most of the day was spent getting a crash course on the local geography by Gwendolyn up until your company happened upon a fairly large village built on two sides of the main river trickling from the Lake of Purity, ferries traveled the length of the water here and there with no small amount of fishing boats sailing upward, though your group went through the pride and joy of the villagers which happened to be a wooden bridge large enough to accommodate a solid three-man rank of your bodyguards. This is where the journey took a brief respite, mostly from Gwendolyn insistence with shaking hands with the various inhabitants whilst you and Tuilelaith collected enough curious stares to make it a competition. You did overhear a few conversations about fairies; seem like the little ones made it here.

Village aside, the road was safe and the next stop was done only at nightfall, whereupon Gwendolyn insisted on another activity, namely dragging the leader of the scorpions-woman to have her teach the both of you this ‘’easy to digest travelling food’’.

–

Gwendolyn promptly fell asleep after nightfall. What a ball of energy… Hard to imagine she’s actually leading a fledgling nation of monsters, yet the weight of this responsibility doesn’t seem to bother her at all.

Tuilelaith also retreated early, leaving you alone for a good portion of the night where fatigue finally caught up and you went to sleep a few hours after what must have been midnight; the moon was hard to see tonight due to some rude clouds lingering in the sky.

You dreamt something incomprehensibly vivid.

A woman was sleeping on a bed of flower, inside a bubble world with no concept of time; the sun was ever present, warm and sensuous. The plants glowered; petals ever open wafting a perfume of life that would undoubtedly be a joy to smell. The resting lady possessed an elegant beauty rivaling the colorful flowers, short blond hair stopping at her neck, a gentle face without worrying creases of bad dreams, small delicate shoulders shaking gently with her breathing. Shapely breasts hidden beneath a thick dress of blue and red, white peerless skin reminiscent of a fairy-tale princess… A vision of paradise perhaps?

When you glanced at your hands, you didn’t see your usual pair of fleshy limbs. Those hands, they changed into metals. The fingers weren’t what they were supposed to be; cylindrical pieces were built upon strangely round joints, the palm was a solid sheet of metal with several strange indentation, as if damage. Your right hand was completely missing as if cut down and from the resulting hole, no blood spewed forth. Instead, innards spilled over, strange tubes leaking a clear liquid into the forest before coagulating in record time.

‘’Oi wake up!’’

That’s when the world shifted, your eyes opened to greet the real world and you ended up looking at three dark eyestalks that, unlike you, didn’t need to blink.

‘’Breakfast time!’’ So they retreated out of your tent and you followed quickly, not feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable despite sleeping for 4 hours at best.

Do you have some kind of legendary health?

Outside, the morning was refreshing enough to dispel most of the worries brought by this incomprehensible dream. The air was fresh and the gentle activity of the camp brought a welcoming atmosphere… and Tuilelaith managed to extract a chuckle out of you, the poor Kitsune looked like some morning after a night of hard drinking. One of her ears laid flat on her head, her gorgeous hair was a mess and there were even some knots ruining her gorgeous tails.

‘’Muh.’’ She growled toward Gwendolyn, but still took the bowl of warm food.

‘’I think Tui divorced the concept of a nice, restful night of sleep’’ Gwen whispered to you after handing over your food. ‘’But hey, keep an eye on her. Once we depart you’ll see something amazing.’’

–

Your little liege wasn’t lying. The Kitsune managed to whip up a full nine pair of hairbrushes with handles completely sunk into her tip and proceeded to toilet herself mid-walk. It took a full hour of extremely dextrous tail maneuvers for her usual elegance to revive, a time during which the scenery of the forest passed like a blur as absolutely everyone in the company observed the fox without voicing anything.

This peculiar happening was also the highlight of the day; whilst the main path branched numerously toward far away villages your destination demanded no detours and your group stopped only at sundown, this time enjoying some freshly hunted rabbits meats hunted by one of your dutiful bodyguards.

That night, you still couldn’t sleep but before you could muse about this morning dream Tuilelaith came to bother you again.

‘’That’s some endurance you’ve got’’ She spoke low, stretching gently and taking a seat beside you. ‘’Make my nights less boring, so hey I ain't complaining.’’

Whilst it may be too early to pass judgment upon this vixen potential personality, you do have the strong impression that Tuilelaith hates being bored.

‘’Another game?’’ You ask, focusing toward the sky instead of the worrying red orbs of the fox.

‘’Nope, tonight I’m going to be a teacher.’’

‘’Huh?’’

‘’Time to freshen up the basics boy. We ain't gonna knock those fairies silly but hey, we got the time right now so might as well use it. What’s a pair of insomniacs gonna do tonight anyway?’’

For some reason, she licked her lips after that statement and proceeded to act upon her words, which thankfully didn’t result in some grueling hazing, but rather a calm and, frankly, fun class of magic in general.

The concept of Focus inherent in mages, how magic can be felt like a constant breeze, the projection of one will upon the world and, most importantly pacing for if a mage were to cast too much magic, they would pay a heavy price in pain and tears. It wasn’t new teaching so much as a reminder.

>[I will have a very detailed explanation of magic soon]

You spent long years under a similar tutelage and the Kitsune gentle yet firm insistence worked much more to uncover some buried memories instead of unlocking some hidden truths of magic.

‘’Well if shit –does- happen don’t be afraid to hide behind my back’’ She says while being a full head shorter than you. ‘’I’ve skimmed over all the details anyway, there’ll be a proper practical class if you wanna take the time after getting back home.’’

She insisted that you didn’t cast anything tonight, or with the fairies if it was at all possible – Astral was simply too dangerous to underestimate.

‘’Tui, thank for this but how did you know that I’m an Astral mage?’’ That fox is full of mysteries but that peculiar one really bothers you; you haven’t embraced the state of Focus once, how could she tell you were even gifted in magic…?

‘’Kehehe’’ But she laughed, waving a few tails dismissively. ‘’A little golden butterfly told me. Aw, cmon don’t frown.’’ She whirled to face you again, holding her tongue out of her mouth in some childish taunt. ‘’An old hag like me can’t just go babbling about her secrets or we’d be here for a week, so now I’ll try to catch some shut eyes. Do try to be responsible now, might be a big day tomorrow!’’

Then this short white vixen left you alone with the stars and briefly, very briefly, you considered trying to cast an astral spell on your own, more out of curiosity than malice toward this secretive fox. The idea thankfully didn’t stick and you spent your time observing the stars again, all memories of this morning dream gone, thank to that fox.

–

‘’Oh! It’s only noon but seem like we’ll be there in an hour, we can see the tree right there!’’ The third day had you pass through another small village in the morning then spend the better part of it climbing a particularly large, steep hill empty of trees: the summit not only gave a gorgeous view of the elven forest but also the domain of the faeries and the great Tree of Fire, that was now nothing but a corpse. From this distance, you couldn’t make any peculiar distinction though its bark was completely black and its overall shape was only half of its earthen brethren.

This great monument of bygone power was the one that suffered the most during the hectic fall of Luminaris, you’ve no doubts it must be bearing countless scars. ‘’Kinda strange we didn’t cross path with any little ones.’’ Gwen spoke again; scratching the underside of her skin with one of her tentacles… in fact, the eye was rubbing her skin.

‘’Maybe they’ve hurried back into their nest? We weren’t very subtle’’ Tui spoke, which made the Gazer shake her shoulders. ‘’Maybe, we aren’t here to harm anyone but…’’ This time, she glared at the heavily armed company’’…I can understand why that’d be misunderstood’’.

Those tanned scorpions seemingly ignored their liege, yet… you caught a smile under a dark veil. Did they treat this entire endeavor like some kind of outing?

‘’Let’s go!’’

–

It was a little past midday when you encountered your first problem. Coming near the Great Tree of Fire finally provoked a reaction; countless little lights began to swirl, dance and fly in the air, with magic becoming so thick that it was impossible to find any sources. All the brilliant circles were seemingly filled with power, their numbers easily counted a hundred but they didn’t seem hostile, at least, they didn’t circle your group for they certainly had the numbers.

‘’Sorry, sorry! Can’t let you through yet, please don’t be mean okay? Please? Like… please?’’ One little voice spoke up, her voice obviously intensified by magic to be carried through to the group. For a moment, the scorpions tensed, but Gwen immediately stepped forward and sharply stuck out her arm, with a closed fist, beside her.

‘’All of you, stand down. Now. Take ten step back; these little ones live on my lands unless stated otherwise they –are- my subjects and I will not have you terrify them.’’

None of Girtablilu reacted though they obeyed the order with amazing synchronicity for their heavy (and pointy) foots dug into the grounds and they retreated as one, leaving you, Gwen and Tui facing the numerous little lights; there was some obvious magic going on to keep the fairies somewhat concealed.

‘’Oh… you’re the Overlord?’’ The same voice spoke, this time holding an obvious edge of fear. ‘’Yes, I’ve come to be a bother because you girls are being downright weird with this whole questing for male shenanigan while turning back everyone coming here for a prayer or meditation. Since we’ve established a cordial dialogue, would you mind providing me with some adequate explanation?’’

Gwendolyn crossed her arms, numerous tendrils accompanying her single stare straight ahead into the wall of light made by the fairies. The little Overlord looked more like an angry older sister rather than the leader she truly was.

’You huh… kinda came quicker than we expected…’’

‘’That’s a Kitsune with nine tails!’’

‘’Yeah and that one, this guy got weird ears, like a knife.’’

‘’No way they look like oversized leaf.’’

‘’Leaf? It’s pointy!’’

‘’Girls, please!’’

For a moment the insanely large group of fairies was lost in gossips, the middle light glowering a lovely pink brought them to silence, and that ball of color began to hover away from the group… then briefly vibrated on itself as the concealed girl went ‘’Awawa’’ under all the combined stares.

‘’U-um well… you won’t go away even if we give you some wine berries…?’’

‘’No’’

‘’R-right… okay…’’

For a moment you wonder how another king would handle this situation; the way Gwendolyn is acting right now, this strange sisterly patience would probably hurt the pride and prestige of the surrounding kings, yet this Overland is willingly going along instead of forcing herself into the Fire Tree.

‘’Mia, Mia come on we’ll be in trouble!’’ Another ball, this one completely golden, floated to the leader in pink before hovering back in the rainbow group.

‘’…right okay okay. Um well, Madame Overlord we’ve been watching over someone for a long, long, very long time now. Like, before I was born, before our parents were born too, perhaps even before the great godmother of all fairies were born! And she’s about to wake up, trouble is she need a man to help for some reason, so we need the right one.’’

‘’The ‘’right’’ one?’’

‘’Yes’’

‘’Give me more details’’

‘’We don’t have any’’

‘’…’’ Then Gwen closed her eye and rubbed her face for good measure, these faeries are certainly a bit impulsive, though thankfully they do seem to have their heart in the right place.

For some reason, Tuilelaith began laughing, which didn’t escape the girls for many of them expressed adequate remarks of fear with the gesture of the fox, with a few balls even flying back into the Tree.

‘’Well, you girls wait a few minutes.’’ And so, Gwen turned her back on them and walked toward you and Tui, her eyestalks wrapping themselves around yours and your fluffy companion’s shoulders, quickly forcing you on one knee so she can pass an arm around your neck, then repeating the gesture for the Kitsune.

‘’So, any bright ideas?’’ She asked. ‘’Bullying them into submission is out of the question.’’

‘’Being told off by a bunch of tiny girls won’t do well for your prestige milord’’

This not-so-witty banter earned Tuilelaith a ferocious glare. The single eye of the Gazer began to shine, its unique pupil projected a ferocious red light akin to a miniature sun stuck in its own sky of dusk. you could feel pain building up from behind your own eyes as if the light was somehow tickling nerves deep inside your eye sockets: thus, you did the smart thing and briefly closed your eyelids.

That vixen hasn’t lost an iota of smug when you could gaze back at her.

‘’What about you, Arawn? Wanna be a guinea pig and see if you can be the man they need?’’

Hmm… The fairies don’t look hostile; it’d be a shame to be rude wouldn’t it? It feels like you’ve got the solution to this problem on the tip of your tongue but… if you can’t grasp it, you might as well follow Gwen suggestion.

>[Free choice]

>>144580

They almost called us knife-ears, raciss fairies…

Jokes aside, let's get Tuli's opinion on the situation. Smug fluff always knows more than they let on!

I'd vote for offering our help to the fairies.

"You said you need to find the right man, do you think I could be of some help?"

>>144580

Ask the fairies how they can tell which man is right.

‘’Perhaps you’d be willing to offer something constructive instead of poking some fun, Tui?’’

‘’Yeah, do your job!’’

Gwen was quick to take your side and pester her friend fox. Tui didn’t react much though you at least managed to wipe that smugness off her face as she put out a childish grimace.

‘’I dunno’’ She began, earning her a double set of glares, which managed to flatten her fluffy ears. ‘’Oi comes on, fairies are insanely hard to predict. Forcing your way in is absolutely possible, they’ll scatter out of fear; though I’ve no doubt they have the power to kill us all if they seriously tried, that’s a whole lot of magical little girls out there.’’

A few hundred balls of lights creating a barrier around the entrance of the Tree of Fire was a mystical sight, but if all of them could employ magic, then… it’d be best to avoid imagining the worst.

‘’Maybe Arawn could be our way in’’ Gwen said, shifting her tentacles in your direction. ‘’Yeah, it seems like the best solution.’’ She agreed to her own words then gently tapped you on the back. ‘’Now follow me!’’

Thus, she broke from this odd strategic meeting and went back to facing the wall that glows.

‘’We’ve got a rare male here, an elf!’’ The little Overlord said, gesturing toward you with a few eyestalks as if you were some prised commodity.

That’s when you decided to hijack this presentation because Arawn Loukanos is no piece of meat.

‘’Indeed’’ You nodded to your little liege who briefly opened her eye in wonder before settling down in silence, thus you walked a few steps closer to the fairies. ‘’You mentioned needing the right man and I just so happen to be male.’’

‘’I’ve never seen someone like that before…’’

One of the balls spoke out loud.

‘’Right, it’s not like it’ll be hard to see if he’s the right person anyway.’’

Another answered.

‘’Besides the Overlord wouldn’t do anything bad if she get inside the Tree right?’’

Gwendolyn responded to that by nodding. ‘’Indeed, I do promise to be civil and if this man can be of use to you then by all means, use him!’’

‘’Alright! Alright!’’ The little leader flew off the wall once more, her ball turning a strange shade of purple, the magical sphere briefly trembled in its flight, then flew up and down like some kind of energetic kid before finally settling down.

‘’Just well… come inside then, all of you. We didn’t do anything bad to the Tree, the main hall is still pretty tidy…’’

Then much of the tension disappeared as many of the girls let out various signs of satisfactions to clear away the building stress. All the balls disappeared, replaced by flesh and blood tiny girls in various states of colorful attires floating in the air. From bright green hair to ink-black, with form fitting clothes seemingly made of transformed vegetation’s the numerous little women were quite the sight as they dispersed gently as Gwen made the first step toward the entrance to this mentioned ‘’hall’’. The purple colored leader was a blue-eyed blond, with hair put into a set of twintails that didn’t fall past her neck. Translucid wings extended from her back, flapping with such speed that it was impossible to discern anything but the constant afterimage.

‘’Say… how can you tell which man is right?’’ You asked, keeping your voice down. The girl dropped a few centimeters before looking at you. ‘’With some blood, though since you’re actually here we won’t be doing that… I think.’’

‘’You think?’’

‘’Yeah, I’ll bring you to our leader.’’

Your conversation was briefly interrupted when you felt a hand land on your shoulder. You came face to face with Tuilelaith, the rest of the company was proceeding smoothly inside the corpse of the Tree of Fire, with many little fairies congregating around the scorpions, flying around their weapons and moving legs with surreal dexterity; though that didn’t stop the warriors from sweating in fear of harming the fragile-looking fairies.

‘’Here take this’’ She handed you a strange item; a very nicely shaped spherical ball of complete blackness, so much that you thought it a black jade, or maybe some kind of onyx. However, something briefly shone within like a spark before disappearing entirely. ‘’Just give it back to me after we're done here.’’

She didn’t wait for any retort, she simply began walking with the rest of the group with many fairies taking the opportunity to fly around her, and a few invited themselves in the fluff of her tails.

‘’Well… um… do you want to take care of this now? Maybe you wanna stay with your friends some more?’’

>[Free choice]

>>144603

"Let's get it over with."

>>144603

Oh shit she just gave us her Star Ball. That plus the dream is making me very nervous, just as planned I bet.

We should inquire more as to the nature of the being they want us to awaken and why they seem so gung-ho about doing it ASAP. Also, ask them to define the meaning of "some" blood. Some can be anywhere from a drop to a gallon and I don't wanna find out the hard way.

No need to wait, if all is ready, we can proceed and have the talk with the leader of the fairies.

Grasp as in… holding it?

Anyways, my suggestion is to do as she asks us. And say that we recognize it somehow.

"Oh? This is weird… I feel like I've seen this arm before, somewhere. Hmm…"

>>144634

>Grasp as in… holding it?

Yeah just holding it.

Actually, is the arm epty from inside? Could it be worn as if it were some sort of gauntlet?

>>144642

Forgot that part in my description. No it's full in the inside, broken metal tubes and disussed pistons make it impossible to slip it around your arm.

>>144628

Grab it

also guys what is a star ball

I think I'll end it here for tonight, got another chunk of text to write and I'm thinking of posting a little something to help give some much needed details on a few subjects tomorrow. Sorry if this seem slow guys, I don't want to rush things.

>>144654

A Hoshi no Tama, or Star ball, as people on the boards dubbed it, is a magical orb that Kitsunes hold (This is, from the original Japanese mythos of 9 tailed foxes, not just the MG context, I think.) It is supposed to represent a part of a 9-tailed fox's soul, so it's a very precious thing to have. It means a lot for something like that to be handed to you, so, in my opinion, this is a magical artifact for sure, but I doubt it's Tui's star ball.

Of course, I could be hilariously misunderstanding Tui's personality, but from what I've seen in the previous quest, both kitsunes made it clear that giving someone their star balls was a pretty BIG deal.

>>144664

thx bay

>>144664

Also, In the context of this setting, if you do acquire the Hoshi no Tama and happen to be a mage you can basically integrate it into yourself, enabling you access to 1/3 of their power/mana supply and their own brand of magecraft to boot (i.e. a *major* power boost for any enterprising magus).

It's also a big deal because by giving it to you they literally put their life in your hands. If you shatter it, they die. Hence, the big deal.

>>144664

Yep, that's what a Hoshi-no-Tama is in a nutshell.

>>144666

Don't forget your sage. Things should be picking up, probably as soon as next update.

>>144628

Grab it. Use caution and try to keep a hand near the orb. Just to be prepared in case it activates, or the reaction causes some violence to break out.

>>144896

Don't worry I'm coming up with something adequate for the class, I just wasn't expecting it to be chosen.

>>145104

That makes me curious. What were you expecting to be chosen this time? My initial vote was for an Adventurer class, since it seemed thematically appropriate.

>>145108

I was thinking you guys would go for Summoner. I just didn't think the class with the warning CAUTION THIS IS DANGEROUS would win.

>>145110

It was the support role. As a dude in a monstergirl setting, the support role is objectively the best.

>>145110

I think, your mis-step when predicting what we would choose was that you didn't account for how COOL the "Astral" element sounds, when you put it like that. Whoooah! Check it out! The power of the STARS themselves! 8O

I don't think people usually would choose support classes, but if you make them sound badass, then… let's say people tend to go toward what sounds more badass, practicality or ease of use be damned X3.

At any rate, I'm not really complaining. We got a nice taste with the wolf-girl's almost-astral elemental magic.

>>145113

True, I'll be coming up with the 7 constellations soon, so you'll be able to think up all kinds of spells.

>>145114

If you play your card right in the upcoming arc, you'll be glad to be a support class that's for sure.

Anyhow, I'll continue the thread tomorrow and I'll probably post a little something I've been working on. A compendium of sort to details some of the things in the world so we don't need constant explanations of some concepts, which was a problem in my previous threads.

Also, the more I think about it, the beter Astral is sounding. >>145110 has a point.

It also sounds like the constellation system for magic will give us the most potential to use magic in creative ways.

Also, sharing elemental affinities with Tui seems like it will have extra benefits too.

On one hand, we have a teacher that could surely help us learn new stuff. On the other hand, we will be able to help her out in her spells, should she need it. And, in battle, there might be some nice synergy between Arawn and Tui, I believe.

>>145114

It was that and the shiny "oh shit" option of summoning Lovecraftian horrors to eat the faces of our enemies.

Even if doing so will land us a potentially bigger problem than it was meant to take care of and piss off a certain Goddess who is almost certainly watching us closely given how Tuli found out about us and our magic but hey, it's nice to know that ya can if it came down to it.

>>145123

>Also, sharing elemental affinities with Tui seems like it will have extra benefits too.

Tuilelaith isn't an astral mage. I can't say what she is… but it's true that she'd make a good teacher.

>>145124

>It was that and the shiny "oh shit" option of summoning Lovecraftian horrors to eat the faces of our enemies.

Yeah and that's the most absurdly dangerous thing you can do, the kind of stuff to pull off in extreme cases only. I'll find a way to properly balance it. Also forget not the sage, friend.

>>145127

Extreme situations would be the only time I or any other level headed individual would advocate it. One does and should not start hearing chants of "Ia Ia Cthulhu F'ghtan" unless the shit has truly hit the fan.

>>145127

>not doing it to fuck up political opponents and other rulers

>not aiming to summon the Maker of Ruins and Eater of Gods equivalents upon your opponents

>>145310

I dunno, she's obviously got a stake in us following in her son's footsteps given how she told Tuli about us. I bet she'd let it slide… but *only* if it was justified and otherwise worked out well. If we do it for shits and giggles she'll fuck us up good and proper.

It's the nuclear option, we don't use it unless we're cornered. Plus, I mean, once it's here what use does it have for us? Damn Shoggoth might well have a craving for fresh Elf meat, do not summon the Lovecraftian Horrors lightly!

Alright, I'll start in about 30 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, I'll link a tumblr I just made (I know it sounds bad). I'm not active on it, I'm simply using it to store some worldbuilding information in a tidy fashion. http://taleofmonsters.tumblr.com/

Now my next homework is to finish up the constellations.

I might be a bit busy this evening. I'll probably participate a bit later. Hopefully, the quest will still be going on by the time I get back.

‘’To think there is still a survivor of the elven royal family…’’

‘’I intend to find my sisters’’ You interrupt her musing and Tamania smiles fully, enough to briefly fill your heart with warmth. ‘’Good. Did you know that, before the fall of Luminaris, we made a pact with the elven queen? In exchange for the shelter of the Fire Tree, we were to maintain it and keep ourselves scarce until she would have need of us… though the city fell too fast for us to help, and all the Trees died anyway’’.

That’s not something you knew; faeries weren’t an odd sight near the Tree of Fire back then. Not in the numbers you’ve seen today, and news of this pact with the queen – your mother- is a first. You don’t feel surprised about this; after all, you weren’t privy to any peculiar secrets of state. That’d be the heir, which you weren’t.

‘’That was before my time’’ Despite those words Tamania still seemed filled with nostalgia. ‘’No time for reverie, would you do the honor of accompanying me, Arawn?’’

You wouldn’t go anywhere by saying no, thus you nodded and the fairy subsequently embraced Focus. Her tiny body became the nexus of a potent magical wind that momentarily robbed your breath; the blood vessels of the girl became engorged in a gorgeous purplish color and stood out against her creamy skin, forcing an ugly clash with her regal appearance. ‘’Don’t be scared now’’ She spoke with a coquettish smile, kissing her palm and gesturing that hand at you; the sheer radiance of raw strength that was emanating from her…. This girl would undoubtedly rival the great elven archmages of Luminaris.

‘’I’m sorry, I simply need to readjust to the feelings of magic’’. Tamania hovers a little closer, allowing you to details her features a little closer and, despite the color clashing with the natural green, she was definitely a girl of immense beauty. ‘’You’re pretty cute’’. Her voice came out breathlessly, then make a show of liking before flying away, magic swirling within her and then acting upon the world in seconds.

Beside you, the area leading to the exit simply…. Disappeared. What came instead was a swirl of gold, overshadowing the entirety of the door and its frame, an oval shaped manifestation of pure, raw power sprout to life in the blink of an eye; it simply came to be, just like that and the fairy hovered beside it, pointing at it with an open palm like a host.

‘’If milord would do the honor of following me…’’ Then she disappeared inside the portal. Because that’s what this thing is, a brief tear in the very fabric of reality to conquer the concept of distances; something finding its origin in astral magic.

With fingers briefly pinching the dark, warm black jade of Tuilelaith, you stepped through with momentary bravado…

…and exited in a completely different place.

Gone were the furniture and further signs of inhabitancies, instead the ground and walls looked rough and dark, and when you briefly crawled to touch the soil didn’t possess the consistency of wood; the bark was gone, replaced by something akin to glass. Now quite far from its zenith, the sun was still shining its potent rays, illuminating what would be an otherwise obscure place due to the open trunk of this Tree.

There was something else occupying all that space of this grand chamber. Elongated spherical shapes stuck to the walls producing various glowers, not unlike the protective flares of the faeries. Green, red, blue, purple, yellow… The long, thick walls of this great Tree was shining, giving a brief illusion of life thank to all the colors of these many cocoons and in the center, there was another, much bigger of these insulated pod. Large enough to hold a fully grown adult, a dull green light was projected from its folds, making it impossible to discern anything from some of the translucid coverings. There was also one other oddity; the eastern wall was covered by a particularly thick fog of gray that didn’t evaporate; it was simply stuck over the glass-like bark.

Tamania was sitting upon it with crossed legs and flapping butterfly wings, peering up to observe this sea of colors.

‘’This is where we put our sisters that succumbed to the Symptom of the Immortals’’

‘’Are your people victims of some kind of mass ailments?’’ You could only estimate the numbers of these colored cocoons; it’d be well over a thousand.

‘’No, it’s simply what happen to every immortal that isn't an elf. You see…’’ She paused briefly as you made your way toward this grand pod taking center stage in what felt like a sacred chamber. ‘’…immortality take its toll. The soul can only support so many memories and emotions, after some time, someone without lifespan will simply grow tired. They will sleep more, a slow build up that’d take years, then weeks and finally days before truly showing itself.’’

The little woman briefly ran her palm across the cocoon under her legs. ‘’Memories, emotions and the soul that grows weary. All of it swirl and mix as that person sleep and sleep; it’s impossible to tell how long this hibernation will take, nor is there any guarantee that they’d be emerging with intact memories.’’ Perhaps she was speaking of that person resting inside that glowering vegetal capsule.

‘’It’s an unfortunate truth for those that live forever though there is a very wide margin in when this Symptom trigger. Could be more than two hundred years, or maybe a single generation… it varies from people to people.’’

The number 1500 spring to mind as you bring your fingers to touch that ball in your pocket. ‘’That’s… alright, then this isn’t exactly a dreadful room.’’

‘’Of course not’’ Tamania forced out a giggle, putting an obvious cheerful mask. ‘’I called it a disease, but that’s not the cold truth. It’s a simple natural reaction to living for long stretches of times though for some reason elves were never subject to it, so I suppose there –might- be a way to cheat nature.’’

‘’Regardless’’ She swiftly moved the conversation, uncrossing her legs to rest her feet on the surface of the cocoon, tiny toes wiggling slightly against its tepid surface. ‘’Inside this pod rest Lady Titania, who’s been asleep for more than two hundred years. In fact, she was a victim of her Symptoms shortly after Luminaris fell… but this isn’t the woman that need a shining knight.’’ Her face turned toward the fog, and then the fairy lay down upon the cocoon of her godmother, stretching her palms at the gate. This position also made her green dress hug her body very closely and you had to combat the urge of staring at her womanly curves filling out the material of that dress made out of some kind of plant, obviously modified to be similar to silk.

‘’Someone older than this tree has been sleeping, kept safe in a little world of her own. It was well before yours, my or even our godmother times, but us fairies made a promise and we’ve been carrying out this duty ever since’’

For a time, Tamania kept silent as you slowly rounded the cocoon she was using as a seat, alternating your gaze between the butterfly-winged girl and that strange foggy phenomenon.

‘’Unfortunately her refuge has been breaking down ever since this Tree died. There’s scarcely anything left at all, soon enough the woman inside will disappear, that fog will return into bark and it’ll be like nothing ever happened…’’ Tamania glanced at you briefly, and then made a strange gesture as if she was trying to grasp something in your direction.

‘’…But that’ll mean failing a promise made by our mothers. Wouldn’t that be a sad thing? They entrusted something to us, doing nothing and scattering this wish is wrong, isn’t it?’’

Then the fairy lazily sat, wiggling her knees to turn her body slowly so she could face the fog alongside you.

‘’So there you have it, that’s why we’ve been looking for men, why we need you right now mister Arawn. I don’t know what you’ll find in there, but it should be safe. We were told that nobody would need protection if they reacted to that arm.’’

Timania briefly closed her eyes as her face twisted in a small grimace. ‘’I don’t know if it’s safe, so I’ll understand if you’d refuse’’. Not that’d she’d like this alternative one bit, could you truly call yourself a man if you backed out now?

>[Free choice]

>>145598

Are we armed and is it possible to bring in other people besides ourself? We're a support class, without someone to support well… we're kinda boned if shit goes south.

>>145612

No weapons aside from magic and no, nobody can accompany you, at least as far as the faeries knows. As far as they know it'll be even worse to have someone beside the chosen one to go.

>>145615

Drat. Well, if it all goes to hell I think I know what the jade does and this is a good opportunity to get these fairies indebted to our nation. Let's do this and pray nothing tries to eat our face.

Yeah, let's go in there, and keep in mind the ball Tui gave us. Also, are we supposed to take along the arm? Or does it stay there?

>>145630

The arm was left in the study room, so you don't need it.

>>145643

How far away is the girl and how quickly is the world apparently collapsing? Also, are any of those "dents" about to encroach on her position and how long would it take to get there?

Does she look like she's beginning to wake up? If she does, call her, asking her if she feels capable of standing up. Otherwise, we'll hold her up before the place where she's resting collapses. We don't want her to fall appart along with the whole place around her.

>>145652

The distance is pretty short, less than 3 meters for the altar/bed of flowers and from there, you've only got a short 5 meters to the gate of fog.

As for the speed, it's proceeding pretty fast, likely less tha ntwo minutes before it's impossible to make it back due to the holes covering the ground. For now this phenomenon is leaving the general area around her alone.

>Does she look like she's beginning to wake up?

Nope

>>145655

Then it sounds like we don't have much time to think this one through. Grab the girl in a way that doesn't risk recreating the dream and get out before the closed world fully collapses and takes us out with it. And keep that jade handy, Tuli gave it to us for a reason.

Ok, I suggest…

Picking her up and absconding (escaping) from that place before it's too late to get out.

Hmm… I want to know what others think, though. This situation is making me nervous. if there really is the risk of something going wrong, I don't want to be the only one responsible for it.

>>145687

We do the logical thing and ask our 9-tailed horror/friend: "Tuilelaith, would you mind telling me what's going on here?"

She seems to have known how it would all turn out and I for one want to hear her explanation.

Was that the goddess? Did we already make her mad? Once it's safe to do so, we ask Tui what's going on. Also, we leave the girl somewhere safe and if possible, comfy.

>>145310

Such is the risk of obtaining power! If Arawn was a summoner and I still picked up on the Dominions influence, I would be joking about summoning an Eater of Dead, or that old Wyrm, I think Terrasque was its name. Both of those are noted for being warned about those betraying you.

>>145687

Well, that was a wonderful introduction to the flaws of Astral magic.

We should ask who the girl is. Doubt we will get much more than a name, but it is worth a shot.

>>145710

We should ask what the future plans are regarding this slumbering goddess. Tuil wanted her saved for a reason, she must have some sort of plan.

"Hmm… I think we should tell Gwen about this. But, maybe letting the knowledge about this old Pretenter God awakening again spread around would not be a good idea. At any rate, will this get us in trouble?"

Also, we should probably think of a way to make up with Mother Earth. We know what sorts of stuff piss her off, but is there anything that pleases her that we could do? Maybe Tui knows, since they seem to know each other! We could always ask her how to formally excuse orselves to her 'friend'. Also, let's try and pay attention to both the sleeping girl and the probably close to panicking queen fairy.

>>145723

Introductions are in order it would seem, can't really get things rolling without knowing each other's names.

>>145723

Oh, also, ask if she's alright, stand her up, and try not to fondle any naughty bits. Let's not anger another goddess today.

>>145723

Include both the lineage of Arawn as elvish royalty and him being a vassal now in the introduction. The first to fish for information on the connection, and the second to set up for Gwen's potential recruitment efforts.

>>145736

Apologies, I forgot my sage. Will try to remember in the future.

"Hi" Would be a funny way to greet a potentially new goddess.

Jokes aside, let's make this not very awkward, nor grandiose, just make sure she's comfortable with our presence. "Hello, miss. Are you feeling alright? If what I've heard about you is right, you must have had a really long nap!"

I'll end it here and continue tomorrow, I'd like to write for the whole week end instead of pulling a one day marathon.

>>145742

Cool. Hope we get more info on Astral Magic soon, I need a framework to wrap my diabolical mind around.

Sounds reasonable to stop here for tonight.

This is a good hour to stop, at least, in my opinion.

.>>145746

What wold have meant a fuck up? And what would have happened then? If you are willing to tell us, of course

>>145752

Well I wanted this encoutner to be easy in the first place, it's impossible to predict players actions. You could have tried to seduce the fairy leader, could have angered Gwen or Tui, or lingered too long in the enclosed world… As of right now I'm starting to picture Arawn as a fairly withdrawn, very observative elf who is still quick to action. I've been using this entire small situation to help us shape the protagonist instead of putting any real perils.

>>145756

I thought as much. Still, I like how you linked the "books" to crucial characters of the previous quest. I was waiting for Deruella's meeting given how she handed Siggy the Shiki-knife just to talk as it were…

There are many potential threads you can still pull upon, and I bet you will. After all, once you've established the current MC's basic character thanks to our decisions you'll go full on Muv-Luv tragedy mode. I don't mind it, but I see the tendency. Once we're outside the character establishment phase… all bets are off. I respect your desire to REJOICE, but I'll still try to plot the course around that.

>>146053

Ask Gwen how urgent things are. If stately affairs can safely be allowed to slide for a day I don't see the harm in spending a night getting to know our new allies.

>>146063

Things are fine, if anything bad does happen a messenger would come to her.

>>146066

Then we stay here for a night and enjoy shenanigans with the fairies.

‘’Why not stay here and enjoy the night?’’

‘’Yeah, it ought to be fun. You can just see our scorpions friends are dying for some fairies hospitality’’

‘’Our new guest could use the rest’’

‘’And I’m sure these new friendly hosts of ours would like to fun with us’’

Tuilelaith immediately jumped at your side to convince your little liege as the flying ones began to disperses after the applauding; the Gazer was rather fixated on that magical item and it’s strange, uninviting greed sludge swirling within, while the entire attentions of your company fell directly on her, something that obviously didn’t escape her attention for the many eyestalks stared back as efficiently as they could…

‘’Oh fine. Let’s impose on those girls.’’

–

So began the very first festivity since your awakening. Gwendolyn new intention brought a wave of excitement to the many, many faeries dwelling inside the Tree and it seemed that its entire population gathered into the hall.

The sheer amount of brilliant, floating little girl was as scary as it was amazing but they settled nicely, bringing some more fruits from some invisible stockpile (probably only accessible by flying) and many began to bother the ten bodyguards, some of them feeling the abs of the scorpions, others knocking on their chitin, a few sitting on the shoulders of the supreme warriors…

Meanwhile, you began a thorough examination of that strange pot with Gwen and Tui after settling the Pretender into a comfortable bed.

‘’This thing is pretty heavy.’’

‘’Probably because it’s full of sludge, how do we deal with that?’’

Fortunately, a fairy came flying to the rescue. Garbed in a gorgeous red dress of stretched magical leaves, Inia hair had come undone, allowing her semi-long blond hair to freely flow with the air as she flew toward your group, accompanied by a trio of faeries holding oversized spoons.

‘’H-here taste it! Also since it’s full we’ll just… throw the sludge on the ground and be done with it, this pot always fill up every day anyway.’’ Her face was strangely flushed, those small cheeks turning into a perpetual adorable shade of reds as she seemed very adamant to keep her eyes away from you.

‘’Well hey, I’m curious how this taste.’’

‘’Let’s take a spoonful all at once’’

Following the two ladies, you gently grasped the spoon offered by a blue-colored fairy and broke the surface of this jelly… then you, Gwendolyn and Tuilelaith brought it to your mouth all at once.

‘’…’’

‘’Huh’’

The fox immediately took another spoonful, followed by you and Gwen.

‘’…’’

‘’This is fantastically bland’’

You simply need to state your first impression.

‘’It’s like eating water.’’

A few more spoons of this food still yielded no taste; no amount of sophisticated palate would find anything good or bad about this food, though if the little ones are to be believed it’s very healthy for the body.

‘’Huh… what are we going to do with that’’ Gwendolyn asked, rubbing her dark hair that was growing slightly rebellious.

‘’Trade it! Or worry about it after tonight, cmon we got other things to do’’

–

Evening fell quickly, the sun disappeared completely from the forest plunging the Tree into momentary darkness until the faeries magicked some light into existence, many plants began to glowers in magnificent colors, allowing a rainbow of red, blue, purple and gold to completely illuminate the hall anew, and with the disappearance of the sun the youngest faeries retreated for sleep, which motivated the resto break out their alcoholic treasures in the form of various berries full of homegrown beverages.

The group thus became suitably tipsy very fast. Tuilelaith had somehow began a strange game with a group of the flying little ones, nine of them sunk their lower bodies into her tails and were being swung around like sticks whilst another pair rode atop her furred ears, completely ignored the menaces and growls of this scary fox who was probably kept docile through the diligent efforts of one little fairy feeding her wine berries.

Gwendolyn was examining the magical fruits, her one eye and the many stalk seemingly squinting at a buffet as she carefully tasted a few things, the sharpness of her reactions told you that she was far from drunk.

Inia, the little red fairy, stuck to your side for a surprising amount of time without managed to utter a single word, instead the little kept an even stare on the ground with a completely red face, constantly asking you if you were enjoying yourself – which you were of course. Despite the liberal amount of alcoholic fruits in your system you weren’t feeling any signs of diminutive senses.

The girl had to go take care of a mess made by a few of her sisters, leaving you alone… though your attention was quickly caught somewhere else, one of the many balcony of the Tree became the nexus of a brief magical spell that created a quiet, soothing melody that would easily pass completely unnoticed, as if trying to wiggle itself amidst the brouhaha of festivity.

It was that strange woman, the Pretender God, now up and about, seemingly casting a spell without the disfigurement of Focus and beside her was the leader of all the faeries floating gently, her butterfly-wings leaking a brilliant trail of golden powder…

>[Free choice. You can try to spend time with anyone here, or attempt to do something else]

>>146099

Slow night for some reason, but I say we get to know our Gazer liege a bit better. We are her vassal now, might as well get to know our boss. Should probably introduce her to the Pretender as well. Also, I think Inia has a crush on us.

>>146108

Might be best to stop here tonight until we got a few more votes, since this is basically a choice to know some of the people better.

Awww, I was too late tonight! :C

Anyways, Spending time with Gwen sounds good. We could ask her how she feels about this recently awakened Pretender God.

Gwen it is, I'll have something by tomorrow.

>>146772

Let's try to get her involved in a game of some kind, ask her if there's any games she likes to play. If any involve a group we can rope some other people into it and try to get her to be more social.

So she's more introverted, right?

Well, no point in forcing her to join the fun Tui is having with the scorpions and the fairies, but as the anon before me said, there must be something we could do to liven the mood a little.

Also, if we spot Inia again, I vote for waving at her, beckoning her to join us along with Gwen. Maybe asking for the fairy for some quiet ways of having some fun?

At any rate, ignoring a fairy with a crush sounds like a terrible crime to me, so let's get her involved somehow.

>>146885

We proposed the game, might as well play it so that we learn a bit more about our Gazer buddy and tiny admirer.

>>146885

We came this far. It would be cruel to back out now.

Agreed. Gme night with Gwen

"Gwen. Let's Play a game." (in Jigsaw voice)

This is making e dubious. Also, INH, will you use this as a chance to further establish the personality of our elf, too?

Personally, I think the offensive strategy might work out well.

>>146976

It's just a game so you don't need to take it too seriously. This choice will lead into something else, but there's always a chance of making the right one, though there's no penalty if you don't either. Just think what strategy our protagonist would employ the best.

Our character? He doesn't seem agressive. So he'd go with… the 2nd one, maybe? Even though I don't see it working. But okay, he'll chose defense! Let's see what happens!

I've got a fairly important thing to write now, so unless the vote change in an hour or two I'll write with the second option.

I'll end here tonight, probably won't continue tomorrow.

>>146950

Well, a defender always has the advantage and if our side has more numbers then we can outlast em'.

Seriously I think one of the reason the monsters lost the crusade is because of their apparent reliance on "wave" type offenses that treated each soldier as if they were utterly expendable.

>>147034

There's much more to it, but that was one of the biggest fault of the monsters side for sure.

Proper thread tonight might be a little hard, but I'll at least make one update for sure.

‘’You probably could have won if you kept your knights in the melee, one of them might have been able to disrupt the sorcerer.’’

‘’Or I could have charged my archers for point-blank shots instead of trying to pull your army in the forest and split my cavalry into two groups, a smaller one to go for your camp and a bigger one to bait the Minotaur although… hiding the sorcerer with the legionaries was rather nasty’’

‘’I was mostly aiming to inflict as much casualties as possible instead of winning outright.’’

‘’Oh?’’ Enide cross her arms under her bust, making a show of seriously listening to you. ‘’Humanity won the Great Crusade by killing the competent leaderships of the monsters through surgical strikes with the heroes before engaging in a proper field battle; the monsters were aiming to kill off the armies because they knew we couldn’t replace people as easily. So by risking my leader, I could pull off my objective for this skirmish.’’

‘’And since Batrion was unsupported, he took too long to reverse the tide’’

‘’Only because the Minotaur were suitably trained and equipped to deal with him.’’

‘’Your shield wall was a bait for the hero in the first place huh?’’

‘’If you had more mages in your army, I wouldn’t have been able to pull off this tactic’’

‘’Saaay, Arawn. How old are you again?’’

You remember this question catching you off guard; it took you some time to count.

‘’Um… 8 years old’’

‘’And this is your first game?’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’So I just got outwitted and soundly beaten by a 8 years old beginner’’

‘’…’’

Enide suddenly blushed and burst out laughing at the same time.

‘’Hahaha just get some sleep damn you!’’

–

Gwendolyn did not repeat this mistake. When she noticed Batrion isolation she immediately moved her formation forward, pushing her archers out of the protective forest to screen the main battleline of swordsman while splitting her cavalry into three group, one for the main camp to force some your minotaur shock troopers to follow in order to keep your ruse, another as reserve and the last one retreated back into the forest whilst the orcish legionaries exchanged projectiles with the close-ranged archer.

You reacted by reinforcing the bottleneck in Batrion but the battlefield became a melee right around his position, the infantry desperately hacking into your blood crazed giant bulls. Everything fell apart when the knights led a suicidal charge into the Hero position, managing to open a hole for the holy man whilst the last group of cavalry slammed into the flanks of the legionaries hacking the allied swordsmen and archers to pieces.

The Hero managed to hack his way straight into the center of your heavily armored formation… and landed a strike on the sorcerer, marking the end of the round and your defeat, Batrion magic making it a sure kill.

‘’I got lucky’’ Was the immediate remark of the Overlord as she inspected the board after this mental jousting. Meanwhile, the fairy on your shoulder lightly tapped her naked feet on your body and you felt a brief tickle as her thin wings touched your cheek, successfully dispelling the reverie of the memory.

‘’No, you beat me fair and square.’’ But Gwen shook her head and replied. ‘’Too many casualties if remember the context of the Crusade.’’

‘’Gwen… you did well.’’

You spotted a brief hint of blush cropping on her gray face before the fairy suddenly flew away from your shoulders, her was face almost glued on the board.

Hmm, I'm not sure what could be done next. Is it too late to go and look for the awakened Pretender God? If so, I'm okay with skipping to the next day. Does Arawn go to bed right away? Or can he stargaze for a while?

Also, I've been trying to post that for about an hour.

The captcha wouldn't appear and I couldn't post anything, dammit >w<

>>148013

>>148012

Look like the hamster keeping the site afloat died. No worries, I can wait for more votes and just continue tomorrow.

>Is it too late to go and look for the awakened Pretender God?

Yes, you've essentially locked yourself with Gwen for tonight.

>Does Arawn go to bed right away?

No, as you've seen in the past few days Arawn is pretty weird with his body since he rarely get tired or hungry.

Then, let's stay awake killing time either until we feel sleepy or the sun rises up.

>>147982

>>148016

Let's try to get to know Gwen a little better then. Introverted types tend to be very interesting people *if* you can get them to open up to you. A difficult/time intensive prospect yes, but it can be done.

Also, the site died again shortly after you got the other anon's recommendations, I've been trying to post for pretty much most of this evening. I just now lucked out and finally got through with a working captcha. Let us hope this does not become a common occurrence.

‘’In that case, would you like to practice your tactical genius right now, Inia?’’ The eyestalks of the Gazer kept an even glare at the fairy, making her lose that bravado very quickly.

‘’Haha… well um, are you thirsty or angry? I can call some of my sisters’’ Inia face peered at you and she suddenly blushed right up to her ears again. ‘’U-um maybe not I think everyone is busy downstairs so I guess I mighthavetogoawaynowandseeaboutthisim’’

‘’Its fine it’s fine I’m not hungry or thirsty, I’ll just go get it myself if that was the case.’’

‘’O-okay’’ And then the little flying girl flew toward Gwendolyn's shoulder and took it as perch, keeping her head down as if suddenly struck by shame.

‘’What is it that my liege like to do for fun?’’ You decide to ask as you began putting the figurines back where they belonged, the room with its closed doors worked wonder to isolate the outside sounds, so the conversation could be kept at a simple, polite tone.

‘’Nothing much’’

‘’That’s a boring answer.’’

‘’Maybe I’m a boring person’’

‘’You’ve already shown me otherwise on the way here, especially when you dealt with the faeries today’’

‘’S-sorry about that we saw you coming but you weren’t like the angry villagers that came a few days ago so we sort of panicked and tried to intimidate you with numbers though it didn’t really work out haha…ha’’

Inia tightened her grips on Gwendolyn clothing and keep her head down, mumbling a few more words that extracted a brief chuckle from the Gazer.

‘’Don’t worry about it now, Inia. I just don’t have much mystery. I’ve devoted myself to my role and purpose as Overlord so… I've not much to say for myself.’’

There were obvious distance and awkwardness within Gwendolyn, she was obviously keeping you at arms-length, but you didn’t felt that it was deliberate; you’ll simply need time to nurture a proper friendship.

That's the hope anyway.

‘’Overlord hm? Does that mean you intend to lord over all monsters? Rivalling the Demon Lord?’’

‘’If that’s what it take to revive Luminaris, then yes.’’

‘’Revive?’’ What a peculiar thing to say. Your question manages to completely melt the gravitas that surrounded her, Gwen made a very visible twitch and brought a hand to rub her cheek.

‘’Ah well… um… just huh, forget I said that. Wasn’t the right term, yeah, I don’t really intend to revive what’s gone since it’s impossible, were making… I mean carving our own path.’’

‘’Don’t be afraid to ask me anything, I know my memory is spotty but I –was- a prince.’’

‘’Oh I know’’ Gwen added a polite cough to clear her throat. ‘’But amnesia ought to be coming back on its own instead of being forced, right?’’

Not that you’re an expert in such things, so you decide to voice your honest opinion. ‘’Not really, I don’t care much about being careful if I can recover some memory. The sooner the better, if there’s some growing pain I’ll just need to endure it.’’ What happened tonight during the game was undeniably important. Your older sister is a playful, charming girl who was also strangely estranged from the rest of the family, you don’t think you ever came to know why…

‘’I’d hate for something bad to happen, though… I know you’re someone of great talent, soon enough I might be unable to function without you.’’

‘’That sound like a confession’’

‘’Hmph’’

A liege that allows you to poke fun at her so leisurely is far from the norm, you had to restrain a laugh when she started to snob you. Then Inia suddenly floated away from Gwendolyn's shoulder, her flight being slightly uneven as she made a slow beeline for the door.

‘’Inia?’’ Gwendolyn called out, interrupting the flying one stride.

‘’I huh, I just think I should go’’ The little fairy couldn’t meet your eyes, so she concentrated on the Overlord.

‘’I don’t mind having you hear our conversation’’

‘’Huh?’’ Inia responded by tilting her head, causing her entire body to slightly lean leftward.

‘’I have nothing to hide,’’ Gwendolyn stated bluntly. ‘’Can you tell me the opinions of your sisters?’’

‘’Most of the villagers believe you to be a very scary woman,’’ Inia responded by keeping a low voice. ‘’But I’m glad to see that’s not the case, with tonight I think most of my sisters are going to be trusting you though I can’t speak for Tamania.’’

‘’Of course’’ Then Gwendolyn stood up from her seat and went to seat on the corner of the single bed. ‘’I’m feeling rather sleepy.’’ The set of eyed tentacles began to droop lazily, some of them laying on the bed whilst other slithered slowly in the air, with a few taking repose on her body. ‘’And I’d like the two of you to rest with me’’

With a mischievous smile, the Overlord made a selfish request that allowed you and Inia to share a rare glance, but you weren’t about to refuse; the sounds outside weren’t a bother anymore, perhaps everything was starting to calm down?

‘’I don’t mind.’’ You’ve become efficient at following the flows, a trait similarly shared by Gwendolyn. ‘’U-um…’’ Or maybe Inia was feeling your own share of embarrassment; the little fairy was possessed by some light trembling, but yielded rather fast and flew toward a pillow to take it as a makeshift bed. You ended up lying with Gwendolyn at your side, a few of her optics membranes keeping a constant stare while her big eye began to close; both of you removed only morsels of clothes, but that big bed was certainly comfortable…

…it took a surprisingly easy time for the girls to fall asleep; perhaps it was later than you thought, whilst you, of course, didn’t need any rest for some inexplicable reason, your body was simply fine.

Thus, your only option was to muse…

You’ve obviously not pierced the shell surrounding Gwendolyn. There’s a significant contrast between the times she’s doing her duty. When ordering people around or even traveling safely she’s been vibrant, bright and full of life whilst here in this calm room without anyone expectations on her shoulders she became much more demure, even distant.

It was as if the only thing that mattered for this Gazer was the Overlord, everything else did not need to exist, having inserted her very personality into the duties she has to fulfill.

Tonight was a very important hint as to who it is you’ve begun to serve. As the night continued the Gazer ended up putting her head on your shoulder and when you glanced, her mess of hair and inoffensive look filled you with an indescribable feeling; a certain nagging within you kept wondering why she was sharing a name with your little sister, whose face was still completely unknown.

This trip to the faeries was fruitful.

–

>[Free choice. The relationship with the faeries is now very good; a new option to deepen diplomatic ties can be undertaken if you want, though that'll mean staying behind for a week. Otherwise, you guys can suggest a new course of action or simply go back to the capital.]

The deepening of diplomatic ties can be done at any time, right? Then, I'd be okay with returning to the capital for now. Ah, but we need to make sure the Tree is open again to visitors and tourists. That was the incident that we came to solve here in the first place. What have the fairies said about this? Hopefully, they won't mind letting people come and see the forest now that the girl is no longer sleeping, right?

>>148364

What would be the advantages of deepening diplomatic ties?

>>148364

I think we should take care of some of the other issues in the realm before we start deepening diplomatic ties.

You are also doing a lot of foreshadowing for what is going on with Gwen. If it is what I think it is, it would explain the another reason Gwen didn't even propose a marriage for allying the elves to her; besides it being easy bait for the Church to claim magic shenanigans among other things.

>>148569

That and, well, she's a gazer. Their racial ability is hypnosis so they'd just say he's being mind controlled.

Man, I'm late, I'm not going to update tonight since I'm feeling rather sick. So I'll see about answering questions.

>>148462

>The deepening of diplomatic ties can be done at any time, right?

Yup

>What have the fairies said about this?

It's okay now since the Pretender isn't in danger anymore.

>>148499

Making them vassals, allowing you to direct their talents for the good of the realm. Potentially earn one or two companions.

>>148569

You know very well I can't say anything about that

>>148583

Yeah, monsters have a lot of means of getting what they want. I would be wary of anything like that even if I was working for her.

>>148659

I know. Its why I didn't go any further with speculation. Besides, while I love speculating about this kind of stuff, its far more fun to just continue reading and find out that way. I'm probably wrong as well.

>>148739

Such is the problems of trying to change the world. I mean, from an evolutionary standpoint and assuming things in this world mirror other worlds we come up with, well, these "nice, happy, loving" monsters are just too new and too good to be true for everyone to just get used to it all of a sudden even if that's the "right" thing to do.

It's a rather hardcore transition from a hive-mind like entity that thirsts for human flesh and destruction to an individualist mindset that only seeks understanding and peaceful co-existence. Not even all the monsters can really dig it and continue to fight the trend in their own way despite having everything to gain by just rolling with it.

Tl;Dr: Old habits die hard. Sadly, the old habit is: Kill the monsters for fun, profit, and salvation.

>>148821

The Old World to the north of the Swamp is much, much more prominent with monstergirls due to the simple fact the frontline with the Demon Lord is situated there, hence why the Purge in Gwynedd was such a big deal in the previous quest.

The Allied Kingdoms are very similar to a group of medieval realms (obviously similar to the HRE). Human males outnumbers females, villagers are much, much more likely to spend their entire existence without seeing a free monster. Livestock isn't as full of monster girls compared to the realm above the Swamp… there's a pretty big difference between the two sides, which explain why Monsters aren't enjoying a nice existence, so it'll be up to you guys to change that huh?

>>148823

Even so, it's a worthy goal. We had it during the previous quest and I bet we still hold onto it. A new world where the humans (in all their forms) and monstergirls can live in harmony and peace.

Tragic that the bomb couldn't be used to blow a good land trade corridor through the damned swamp but technology is still continuing apace. Once Cartridge Ammo and semi/full-auto firearm design hits the scene the Cursed Swamps days are numbered.

Only one bad thing, that example of progress took hundreds of years to fully materialize. Geniuses, sadly, are few and far between and, tragically, most everyone seems to specialize in what they're "worst" at if ya catch my meaning.

>>148836

>Tragic that the bomb couldn't be used to blow a good land trade corridor through the damned swamp

Well I might as well tell you guys what the bomb actually was, since that ption was impossible from the very start.

It was a kid with a modified soul rigged to blow, Mylen ended up slicing him dead with the red knife, thereby ending the threat.

>>148839

Hahaha, such hypocrisy then. Though to actually detonate an actual soul… Orion's perspective of "JUSTICE" was quite warped indeed. That Mylen delivered the finishing blow actually doesn't surprise me.

Given the shit she went through she'd know damn good and well a very important lesson. In the event of a zombie apocalypse, all bets are off. You *can't* save the baby zombie, don't even try. Kill em' on sight! Those fucking Fey man, may they all roast in a fire after what they put the poor girl through… Sad that if the last quest had continued we'd probably have memories pertaining to her as a rather "abundant" resource to exploit

>>148858

Orion was a special angel that's for sure. But yeah, people ended up hesitating at the sight while she simply walked to him and sliced his throat. Hard woman used to hard decisions and all that.

Titania situation could be remedied, of course, the faeries could become much more important later on if you invest in them

Alright next update will contain the constellations and will be about magic in general, so I might take all day to write it and only post tomorrow.

>>148821

I don't so much mean that, but even in straight up MGE where the monsters just want love, and will get it through any means possible, I would be wary of the situation with Gwen and Arawn being on the up and up if they got married. She is an precarious position politically, and suddenly she nets a royal elf that disappeared some time ago?

It would seem too convenient, even if she weren't a monster with various magic tricks at her disposal. So, its less about prejudice and more that it comes off like someone coming back from a morning jog saying they stumbled on a stash of gold bars. They might be telling the truth, but it would seem pretty damn outlandish even if its the truth.

>>148982

Well, I'm interested to see what Arawn will actually be able to do to help out.

Oh boy this is taking a little longer than anticipated. Might be late for tonight.

The interlocked points and lines disappeared, the Pretender drew another…

‘’Made of twelve stars; Hero’’

Like the Wanderer a silhouette was meticulously carved by the Pretender, only now garbed in armor, which somehow managed to project itself in details despite being made with stars.

‘’To honor the great people of the past and those that’ll come later, to pray and find the inner strength so you can rise to greatness… to fight, to struggle and triumph. The Hero is the valiant, stalwart force of righteousness; to call upon its aspect for magic means granting others the strength they need for overcoming trails and tribulation. Stronger feat of arms, stronger magic, and coordination… to encourage a lone man or an entire army, the Hero ambition is without limit and pure beyond belief. Selfless to a fault, you can’t strengthen your own self with his blessings.’’

Devona briefly balled her hand into a fist, as if caught by a sudden bout of indecision. She pressed on regardless, not too keen on losing her momentum.

‘’Made of eight stars; Serpent’’

True to its title, a serpentine, elongated shape was carved into the ether of the world.

‘’The old belief placed snakes as the masters of diseases and throughout the eras, people dutifully prayed for its good whims to spare loved the ravage of unseen nature. For a mage of the stars like you, wielding the power of health can be an extremely frightening thing…I’d suggest you to avoid calling upon its aspect without my supervision, for rituals and spells are very likely to backfire.’’

A cute, tiny smile graced her features and she cocked her head as you crossed stares, but her hand was already moving and this time, Devona took some time to stay silent as she observed the drawing.

‘’Made of nine stars; Eye’’

This time, there was no swift explanation, her beautiful sky blue eyes looked at you with utmost seriousness as she briefly hesitated to pursue.

‘’The Eye governs the aspect of knowledge and truth. To call upon its power is to cast away illusions and lies, to witness the naked truth of the world and the cosmos. To observe without intervention, to catch a glimpse of other people thoughts, to understand and impose the concepts of geas and hypnosis… the Eye is great many things, surrounded by endless perils’’

Devona briefly stopped, even waving into the drawing itself to dispel it swiftly.

‘’The last one is rather…’’ The last of her words came to naught as she bit her lower lip, her index shining once more with unique magic.

Perhaps it would have been kind to interrupt her, but your own thirst for knowledge wouldn’t allow something to gentlemanly.

Then her finger began its tracing, creating a spiral of many, many stars.

‘’Made of ever changing stars; Chaos’’

The symbol was hard to define, a spiral coiling on itself, losing and gaining glowing points, yet always keeping its shape.

‘’If there’s ever a time to break the very concept of our reality, to call upon the strength of Outsiders… then draw upon its aspect, but understand the perils you’ll be putting our own Star under by doing so. It would be best if you avoid gazing upon this constellation while under the aspect of the Eye, for I’ve not known any scholars surviving the ordeal. Chaos is the very wound of reality, the hunger, and greed of those things that means us harms and nothing else’’

Just like the Eye, Devona swiftly dispelled the drawing then let out a long, satisfied sigh.

‘’Do you… understand your power now, Arawn?’’

>[Free choice]

>>149972

Ok, so it looks like some of our spells are ritual based. What's the range on a ritual-type spell, how long do they often take, and how powerful can they get?

Questions aside, let's practice a bit. Try to use alteration to make a piece of paper really hard, then practice a holy shield (astral version), then a basic alarm system to warn us if someone's trespassing. I think those are gonna be some of our bread and butter in the buff/support department. See how much of a mana battery we got as well. We wouldn't want to burn out in the middle of an important battle.

>>149979

Oh, forgot to ask but, what's our turbocharge environment? For fire mages it's the middle of a fire, for water/fluid mages it's a body of moving water/heavy rain, what is it for an Astral mage?

I'll answer a few questions before moving on with the thread.

>>150014

>>150020

>What's the range on a ritual-type spell, how long do they often take, and how powerful can they get?

The range varies, as is the time to make the ritual. You need items, a good visualisation of your target(s), understand how many people you want to curses, the intensity of your spell. The strength is pretty much completely based on your own ambition since magic as a whole is very personalised. Of course, it's much harder to affect several people instead of a single person, rituals also take several hours to accomplish, so they are obviously very poor in battle.

>>150020

>Oh, forgot to ask but, what's our turbocharge environment?

Unknown. It'd be too easy for me to answer wouldn't it?

They are really underestimating the usefulness of those pots. An army marches on its stomach, and with things like that you are less reliant on supply lines. Granted, for it to be really useful you would need a much larger version of it.

Anyway, we might also want to ask how long some of the buffs act. If the magic that enhances materials is long lasting, we will want to start improving the weaponry and fortifications of the army whenever there is down time not taken up by training, or diplomacy.

>>150033

Or dungeon diving/relic hunting and/or attending to the needs of the people. C'mon man, fantasy setting, you just know we'll eventually catch rumors about artifacts, outlying villages going dark/silent, and the like.

Plus… we're not too far from the Swamp Deathworld, something's gonna slip by eventually and it'll demand our attention I just know it.

>>150038

Artifacts are all well and good, but you still need good quality equipment for the rank and file.

Oh no! I'm late again! I'll read real quick and answer asap!

The different kinds of constellations are very interesting! Good work on thinking all f this!

This spell that we did with the alteration constellation was pretty nice. It reminded me of Emiya Shirou's strengthening from Fate Stay Night.

About what to practice next? I think I want to try out something with the Eye constelation.

Can it grant literal sight? if so, how much work would require a spell that allows us to 'see' through a perimeter around ourselves? (To prevent sneak attacks from blind spots, this would sure be convenient, assuming entering Focus doesn't grant us this, already) Or… maybe a night vision spell, to see even in the darkness (or while our eyes are closed or covered) would be easier to cast?

>>150089

>Can it grant literal sight?

Yes, a high-level spell of the Eye could grant a bird eye view of the general vicinity.

I'll see about writing up a few ideas you guys come up with though a really heavy exercise will need a time investment. (Only available once you get back to the capital).

I see. I could just keep coming with possible spells, would that be alright?

Anyways, I think I want to priorizize on low-level spells that can be casted reliably even without much work, like the one we just did. There are times where we won't have time to prepare, and I want to be prepared for that! That is to say, have a good amount of quick spells to use on the fly, even though Astral doesn't seem too suited for that.

Surely, these quick spells will be lame, but even lame spells can come handy in the right situations if you know how to use them, and are creative enough, I think.

>>150049

We could ask if it would be possible to enhance her magic item so it gives some kind of buff to those who drink from it. We might first want to test it on some slop first, as well as see what that does to the local plants if we go that route. While it appears to have no adverse, or overly strengthening, affect on the wildlife currently, if we start fucking with it we could end up in a bad spot from the current way of disposing of the excess.

Having the forest suddenly start to invade the other realms via rapid expansion from excess growth is amusing, but would antagonize our grouchy neighbors.

>>150094

>I see. I could just keep coming with possible spells, would that be alright?

Feel free. Magic is very personal, there is no books of spells, no big rules that force you to cast a certain way. It'll be up to you guys to either make your own type of spells or improvise everything as needed.

Rituals are a bit different, though since they need hours of works.

>>150095

Not a bad idea, I might go with that while proceeding to the proper branching of choices we'll have to do once we reach the capital. Also I might take a little break of a few days to rest up, I'll try to make a proper continuation around Monday.

>>150026

I'd assume it'd be under a given constellation, but, if we cannot see them, the question becomes where, exactly, can we see them and when are the stars "right" for a given constellation?

Having a gem linked to it as hinted by the pretender could also qualify as a turbocharge for that particular branch but I bet you can't exactly make those on demand from common materials available from just anywhere, thus giving us a kind of side-quest in the foreseeable future. To turbocharge a given constellations spells, you must go on a difficult quest to make that shit work exceptionally well. A high risk-high reward type affair it would seem.

Dear lord do I shudder to think of the "chaos" gems requirements. Pretty willing to bet that the people going after that did what our pretender told us not to. Do. NOT. Gaze into the abyss with the "Eye" auspice on. That truth… yeah, not good, don't read the Necronomicon! CoC is quite clear, reading the books is a VERY bad idea!

>>150158

>I'd assume it'd be under a given constellation, but, if we cannot see them, the question becomes where, exactly, can we see them and when are the stars "right" for a given constellation?