/monster/ - The Last Bastion of Romance★

>Story continue

"Hells." You say, scratching the back of your head. "Feels a little weird when you all look at me like that."

"What, you don't like being the leader of a group of pretty girls?" Sophie says, lip twitching into a smirk before she yelps as Chaika uses her good arm to slap her.

"Hey! Mind your damn manners."

"S-sorry." The Cat o'Ninetails says, shrinking back a little, her cheeks red.

You cock your head at their dynamic before shaking your head and saying, "First things first, we need to get out of here and find somewhere to stay the night. I don't think that… whatever that was, will return to find us, but the guards will."

"Ah, right, the guards." Chaika sighs, her voice crackling into static before returning normally. "Give me your shoulder, Rommel."

"Aren't you like… 500lbs. or something?"

Everyone in your group looks at you in horror at the question, and Erwin sends, {You idiot. You never ask a woman how much she weighs!}

{But she's a construct.}

{A WOMAN construct, ugh}. He leaves it at that, forcing you to cough into your hand and walk over to Chaika, helping her up. Thankfully because she has one functioning leg, she can keep herself upright in some manner of speaking, though walking just is impossible without help. With her properly set, you begin walking toward the center of the district, toward where Chaika says some inns should be. Due to the lockdown, getting into the Deleorian inns would be impossible, and because of Chaika's condition you won't be able to get through the small area that Ebe and Sophie used to get here in the first place.

The others follow behind at your slow pace, something you think that Sylphie is thankful for as she frets over Mr. Ed. He whinnies at her minstrations, but doesn't push her away. Sophie helps Ebe along, who is still shaking some while holding the pieces of her guitar close to her chest. Her expression is downcast and her normally cheery attitude is quiet.

"You must be rather strong to carry 500lbs of my fat ass." Chaika says, an edge in her robotic voice.

"I work out."

"Hah, asshole. I see why those two like you." She chuckles before hissing low, "You haven't touched them, have you?"

You stumble at the question, and Sophie has to leap forward to keep Chaika from falling. Once stable, the Cat o'Ninetails gives you a questioning look, though Chaika waves her off. After she heads back toward Ebe, Chaika whispers, "Well? You fucking them?"

"Gods no, why the fuck would you ask that?"

"Because if you were, I'm not sure if I'd shake your hand or tear it off. But you clearly are a virgin, so that's comforting in some way."

"I… thanks?"

She cocks her head, the emotionless facemask looking at you with what you feel is a sense of confusion. "How in Dollora's name did you get a compliment from that?"

"I'm not interested in such things."

"Pfff, everyone is interested in such things. Some are just better at denying it than others."

"I'm a Wizard you know."

"So is their Father."

You go quiet at that statement, keeping silent the rest of the time as you walk through the streets. It was a fairly quiet travel, as most people had shut up in their houses, made either of wood or from stone shaped into a facsimile of what you've seen of Ectrian styles of square buildings with small windows. Some had small walls around them, but most merely had multiple levels, stacking about each other in odd ways.

You get stopped once in the streets by five guards who look over your group and ask you some questions. Mainly they ask about Chaika, and you explain that you were traveling about the area with your guide with your two handmaids and construct when the panic had occurred from the announcements and an accident had caused your horse to break the guitar and your construct. They poke and prod her, to which Chaika gives the most basic of answers, creating the illusion of being a simplistic construct that the guards find satisfactory. They tell you about a safe, nearby inn and one escorts you there, looking very nervous the whole time.

When you reach the inn, a square building with the picture of a golden beetle on the front, the guard leaves you and you thank him before entering. As soon as you do, a wave of heat, smoke, and conversation washes over you, making you stop and stare.

>>289798

The inn is packed full of copper skinned people and Monsters of all varities you've never seen before. While there are some Deleorians present, the vast majority are clearly Ectrian, and they chat with worried or excited tones over their alcohol and meals. Many of them have long, thin pipes that trail smoke which smells vaguely sweet to you, yet still makes you cough.

"Well don't stand in the doorway like idiots." A heavily accented voice calls. Your group turns to it to find a short, black haired woman standing behind a desk addressing you, and you stare at her.

The woman is clearly not human, as her arms and legs are covered in black chitin that end in thin, insect-like appendages. Upon her back is a set of wings that are folded into a back sheath of chitin giving her the apperance of a beetle. Which, you assume she probably is.

"If you're looking for ale, we're kind of full up. If you're looking for a room, then how may I hel-" She stops talking abruptly and leans over to look at Ebe, her eyes growing wide as she asks in her strange tongue, "hal 'ant ghandarfa?!"

Ebe looks taken aback and she says, "'awm, nem?"

The innkeeper claps her hands together and says, "Oh, wonderful! Thank the twins, we need a distraction tonight. Here, I'll give all of you free rooms if you would just sing."

Your group gives Ebe surprised looks and she fidgets with discomfort as she holds the guitar pieces close to her chest. "I'm sorry, but my ghitar is broken."

"Phah, that is no matter." The innkeeper says, waving over a slightly brown Wolfgirl who is dressed as a barmaid. They say a few words in Ectrian before she heads into another room and returns with a guitar that frankly seems much nicer than the one Ebe has, even before it was broken. She hands it toward Ebe, who looks at it with discomfort.

Her eyes shift to you with a pleading glance and you sigh before saying, "I won't force you into anything Ebe. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to."

"I… no, I'll do it." She says, sighing and turning to Sophie. "Can you look after this?"

The Cat o'Ninetails nods her head and takes the pieces with a sort of reverence. Ebe sighs and takes the other guitar, strumming it a few times before nodding to the innkeeper who claps again in delight and then hands you a few keys.

"Great, have fun, okay to the stage!" She pushes Ebe toward a little raised section of the room which probably doubles as a stage and sets her up there. Many of the patrons at this point look in interest toward the stage, clearly recognizing the Gandharva present. You didn't really believe before that they commanded this kind of interest in Ectria, but this kind of reaction is clear.

Ebe takes in a deep breath before strumming the guitar and addressing the crowd. As if by magic, the patrons all grow quiet and turn their attention to her. Taking in a deep breath, she then puts a smile on her face before beginning to dance and sing.

The effect is immediate, and the patrons grow cheery and carouse, caught up in her music. They hang on to her dancing, they way she sways her hips, and the music of her voice. Ale flows freely during this, and the innkeeper, though she cackles with greed, moves in time with the music.

And yet… something feels wrong about all of this. Yes, you can FEEL the power of her song, the rhythm she plays and the tone of her voice, but it just… doesn't have the same emotion to it. You still don't really KNOW Ebe that well, but she's been part of your band long enough that you can tell something is wrong.

"I'm taking Chaika up to the room." You say to the others, Sophie deciding to stay and watch while Sylphie goes to stable Mr. Ed who is staying outside. She takes a [Health Potion] from you, which you freely give as you're sure you can find more, and goes out to treat him. Erwin follows you up the stairs and you make your way into one of the two rooms you were given.

With a creaking sound, you lay Chaika down on the bed in the room (As you took the single bed room) and sigh, sitting down on the chair. She lifts her head and looks up at you. "Well, you got moody."

"I didn't want to hear it any longer." You say, feeling tired.

"Why, it sounded nice. What, was it giving you a boner?"

"I can see why those two grew up the way they did."

"Snark, classic." Chaika chuckles. "Why am I on the bed anyway?"

"Because you're damaged."

"Yeah, but I'm a construct, I can't feel this shit anyway." She doesn't make to leave the bed, but ends up sighing instead. "Dollora, I'm sorry, it's just who I am, and things are rather… stressful."

"I understand."

"Mmm." She hums, looking at the ceiling. "So, why are you really traveling with them?"

>>289799

"Because I need to speak with the Grand Wizard, and their goals coincided with mine." You sigh, "They also asked."

"You need to… speak with him. Your desire to speak with him is so fierce that you'd travel to Ectria to do it?"

"Yes." You say with finality.

She turns her head to you and says, "Fine. If you meant harm to him, you wouldn't need to go anywhere, and frankly, they'd never follow you otherwise. Now then, what happens now."

"That's it?" You say, blinking in surprise. When she nods her head, you shake yours and say, "Alright then. Well, it would be nice to have you along for your skills, however…"

"Yeah, I'm kind of a junk heap. Sometimes I regret that this body is made of adamantium, hard to come by and harder to work with."

"Well, we could potentially find some and-"

"And you'll repair me? Come on, don't make me laugh."

Shrugging, you say, "Fine, fine. I figured we could find a way to rig something up, but that probably won't work too well. You said you could get repaired in Havenforth?"

"Yes, the foundry there has replacement parts and Jeeves knows the basics of the Wizard's designs. We can probably make this work fairly well."

"Jeeves?"

"Head of the foundry after the Wizard himself. Anyway, that's probably the best option is to hitch a few Leyways there. I can probably manage something of a peg-leg until then, maybe regroup with the rest of you later."

"So, you do want to come along?"

"And let a strange man who is similar to their Father travel with them into danger? Yeah, yeah I will."

"Then why not stop us for now?"

"Because… because…" She trails off before sighing. "Because this might be good for them, for a little bit anyway. The way Sylphie spoke to me… I haven't seen that kind of conviction from her before. It almost made me cry in joy and rage, because I feel that she's growing, same with her sister."

"I heard you've kept them at home, hovering over them like a protective Maid. They're afraid of you."

"I…" She says, voice growing unsteady as it crackles with static. "I always saw them as… I don't know, lazy and unlike their sister, unwilling to leave the house but I never… never thought that."

"They had to leave under subterfuge and hide from you for fear that you'd take them home and hide them under lock and key, ready to emotionally, if not physically, harm them." You look into her glowing red eyes and ask, "Is that what would have happened?"

She grows quiet for awhile and says, "I love those two girls. Seeing them harmed would shatter all that I have in this shade of a life. I want them to grow and prosper but the thought of them hurting… of what they think of…" Her voice crackles as a whine comes forth before resolving back into words, "Dollora, but I was supposed to protect them."

"You still can, you know." You say, looking at your staff. "I've read Wizardquest, I've read of your history, know what revenants are." Turning your gaze back to Chaika, you say, "You could still come with us, but as an advisor, rather than a protector."

She's silent for a long while before sighing and saying, "No. I understand what you're saying, the benefits of such a thing, but I'm not Harmony. I can't do what she does, and honestly, I'm afraid getting in Sylphie's head like that would put her too much at edge. Despite what I said, she was still trembling on our way over here."

"I see." You say, looking down. "What about my staff?"

"Is that an invitation? Next thing you know, you'll be asking to touch my cogs." She pauses and says, "If you ask nicely…"

"I swear to the Gods, you damn Monsters and-" You cut off as she chuckles in earnest.

"Dollora, what has the world come to?" She shakes her head and says, "I wish that bird brain was here and not off in the damn mountains. Ah, oh well, I'll probably see her at home then."

Shaking your head, you say, "We'll help get you situated tomorrow before heading off through the pass."

"Fair enough. I know you're into geomancy and all, but you need to watch out for Wurms. They sometimes come down from Blackfire Reach and harass travelers."

>>289800

"I know." You say, nodding your head.

"Oh, you might know, but you don't KNOW." She says, chuckling. "Those damn scale-freaks are tougher than steel and dumb as rocks."

"Rocks are not dumb and I would appreciate if you don't speak about them in such a manner."

Her voice crackles and she says, "I… alright well, dumb as a sack of potatoes."

{I think potatoes are pretty smart.} Erwin sends, looking up from the bed behind Chaika.

"Alright, we'll be careful."

"Fine, fine. It's not a terribly long pass, should be able to cross it in a day or two. There's a rest stop in between the pass that's guarded fairly well, so you should be safe there as the Danuki don't want any harm coming to it."

"Just don't go off the path. The mountain rage is very large, and you can get lost easily."

"I understand." You say, nodding your head as a knock comes at the door. You walk over and open it to find the others of your band standing there. Ebe looks tired, her body covered in sweat and holding her guitar again, while Sophie smiles next to her. Sylphie's just there you guess.

"We're back!" Sophie says with cheer. "We need the key to the other room."

"Ah, right." Grabbing the key, you hand it over to her and look to Ebe before asking, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Huh? O-oh." She says, forcing a smile."Yes, it was a lovely audience. I'm just…tired."

"I see." You say, leaving at that. You resolve to speak with her tomorrow. "Get some sleep. We have some time now and things to do before heading into the mountains."

They nod and leave you to go to their room, the twins trying to chat with Ebe. Closing the door, you turn to Chaika to see her staring behind you. She says, "I sometimes wish I could still smile. Seeing them with another girl their age… are they friends?"

"They get along well enough."

"Good." Chaika says before pushing herself to fall on the floor. "Well you better get to sleep."

"Are you just going to watch me sleep then?"

She sighs and rolls over, face pointing at the floor. "That better?"

"Yes, thank you." You say, making ready for bed and crawling into it, Erwin curling up on your chest like some kind of cat. Sighing, you reach forward and scratch his ears, which makes him let out a pleased breath.

{I'm glad your alright.} You send, strong emotions coming through. He doesn't respond, but you feel a sense of comfort coming from the fox. {You know what, tomorrow, I'm getting you a rock}.

>>289801

{You seriously got me a rock} Erwin sends, staring at the chunk of iron ore before him. You smile and he looks down at the orange-red rock before looking back at you. {It's… lovely}.

{Isn't it? This is an uncommon kind of iron apparently, someone calls it Limonite or something. Anyway, kind of reminded me of your fur, thought you'd like it.}

{Yes, well, why don't you hang onto it for me, as I don't have pockets}.

{Ah, right}. You say, pocketing the ore.

>You gain [Limonite]

>You're just holding this ore for Erwin, because it's his. He should name it.

Looking up from the exchange in the marketplace, you see the rest of your group going around the morning market, just as lively as the night market. You breakfasted at the inn, free of charge again, as Ebe's singing drew in many more patrons who "Just had to stay the night." While the innkeeper complained that she'd have to clean a lot of jizz off everything, the coin was worth it.

By the time you finished, the area was off lockdown and you were able to take Chaika to the Leyway station, where she says she's going to stop in Sanctifrond first and speak with Blake about all of this. She manages to even get cargo rates for her ticket, despite the Trolls of the Union giving her weird looks. But the shoddy peg-like she's made allows her to hobble along and she leaves you after giving both of the girls hugs and you a word of warning.

And with that, you find yourself back in the market, making sure you're stocked up again. You purchase another health potion (still warm) from the same vendor and you try to look for another bottle of what Sophie bought, but can't find anything. You try to ask the witch with a little tact and she merely laughs and says, "You'll like it."

You're not certain you will.

Anyway, as you walk through the market, you find Ebe looking at Ectrian style guitars. The man behind the stand gives her odd glances and as you approach, he says, "Sir, can you move her along? I appreciate looking at her, but she's in the way."

"Oh, sorry, I think she's just looking, right Ebe?"

She blinks and then looks at you before looking down to the guitar pieces, held now in a bag in her wings. "Uhm, yes, I suppose." She looks back to the guitars before sighing.

"Why don't you buy a new one? Many of these look a lot like the one you have."

"I… it's not the same." She says, shaking her head. "This ghitar was a gift from my Mother, something she made for me for my fifteenth birthday when I became a woman. I love it, and it reminds me of her and…" She shudders. "I can't just replace it."

"Ebe." You say with a hard voice. "I don't expect you to replace such a memory, but you can't be down like this the whole way through the pass. Would a rock cheer you up?"

"What? No, why would a rock cheer me up?"

"Nevermind. Look, I know something scary happened, but do you're making Sophie and Sylphie worry about you."

"They…they're worried?" She says, seeming alarmed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

"It's fine." You say, gently patting her head. "It just means they care about you. And they also care for you to get back to yourself. We can't replace your guitar, but you can always look toward the future."

"Yeah… you're right." She says, nodding her head with confidence. "Oh, but all these ghitars are made of cheap, Deleorian materials, their sound is probably terrible."

"HEY!" The man shouts, looking worried as people give him a wide berth. If a Gandharva says its bad…

"Okay time to go." You say, ushering her to the others, who are at the edge of the market already. Gathering up with them, you look up at the morning sky, seeing it can't be before 10am.

"We ready to go?" Sophie says, seeming full of energy. "Or is there anything left you want to do?"

>What do you do?

Here we go! Back on track. I didn't want to get into the mountain pass just yet (incase you wanted something else) but otherwise, next update will be there!)

Oh, and from that last thread, it's pretty much that Monsters do age differently based on their species. Common wolf and catgirls, etc age very similar to humans, while Dragons, many lizard-like Monsters, etc age much slower. Some Monsters are just oddly gifted though, like the Cat o'Ninetails. Or maybe it's just Selene?

>>289802

Make fun of Erwin for believing a sack of potatoes could hold sentience.

>>289802

What sort of physical state are we in? we should look into books physical training and on martial arts to go along with our geomancy. Go full earthbending from avatar the last airbender, stomping on the ground to propel a rock up and punching it to move it forwards etc. Knowing martial arts be it boxing or getting out of grapples / holds would help us out in any given situation where the enemy is able to close to quickly for magic to really be a viable option.

>>289799

>Yes, you can FEEL the power of her song, the rhythm she plays and the tone of her voice, but it just… doesn't have the same emotion to it. You still don't really KNOW Ebe that well, but she's been part of your band long enough that you can tell something is wrong.

Still need to talk to Ebe about last night's performance. What's eating her?

>>289848

P.S

Rommel should ask Ebe if she'd knit him a headscarf for the desert.

>>289805

>many lizard-like Monsters

I'm fairly sure that only tortoises live notably long for animals.

>>289841

Go full earthbending Style

I agree.

We still haven't gotten any books about spirits or familars. Maybe we can research that on a scrying bowl?

>>289986

And I forgot to sage

>>289862

Where did I imply reading books does make you strong? I meant read them to get instruction on martial arts and any exercises that might synergise well with whatever one we can find a book for then obviously get working out. We could easily make stone barbells and weights for working out in our down time. BEHOLD ROMMEL AND HIS TRAVELING TEMPLE OF IRON. GAINS, PUNCHING AND KICKING ROCKS AT PEOPLE.

>>289805

Thanks for the clarification.

>>289802

>Ebe didn't want a rock

She'll get one eventually.

We still haven't gotten Ebe any form of replacement for her instrument, so we should probably get around to doing that before we leave, since a bard without an instrument is a sad bard. The inn we stayed at seemed to have a guitar worthy of Ebe, so we could try and barter for that, especially since the innkeeper didn't seem to be using it otherwise. If we can't get her to part with it, then we could try repairing the broken guitar, be it ourselves or finding someone else who can, but it seems to be FUBAR so this would likely be a waste of time - still, it's worth the attempt. Failing that, we could get Ebe another instrument that she can easily use as to expand her toolkit and to be a proper bard, but she might have objections to this or struggle to learn how to play if the instrument in question is too different from what she's comfortable with. No matter the case, make sure we keep the broken guitar safe since tossing it aside would probably break her.

Other than that and pestering Erwin until he names the [Limonite], look for anything that takes our fancy while we leave towards the pass, be it magical implements, spell books or interesting rocks. Perhaps we should also ask around to see what the current situation at the pass is, because it would help immensely to be informed about any problems we might run into other than Wurms which we still need to figure out a way to deal with.

>>289841

>What sort of physical state are we in?

From thread 1:

>Most Wizards nowadays would likely find the journey taxing, for they had forgotten the ways of the past. You remember though, and have made sure to keep yourself fit and trim, not overdoing it, but not being a flabby commoner either. As such you are of above average height with a toned physique and strong jaw line covered by a silver blonde beard that you keep well trimmed. Your hair is short and of the same silver blonde, which contrasts with your sharp, green eyes.

So not muscles on muscles, but lean. With this in mind, getting to the level of the strongman would take quite a while for us, and would require a lot of bulking up, forcing us to buy a ton more supplies than we already have and hope other settlements have more, and weight lifting in our very minimal spare time at the cost of not practising magic, which kind of defeats the point of us being a Wizard, not to mention the whole 'need to get good quality rest to actually experience muscle growth' thing of which we will never get with our luck and conditions. And winners don't do drugs, so steroids, magical or no, are off limits.

That said, it's still worth looking into if just to keep our physical condition up to standards. And you did get quads, so compromise incoming. Perhaps a spell to take on a temporary muscle Wizard form via a [Berserk] effect?

>>289854

While I'd agree since we don't actually have anything on our head currently which is heresy of the highest degree and need protection from the blazing sun which we are going to be dealing with in the desert, Ebe might find knitting difficult, what with the lack of hands for fine motor control. Best we just scour the market for any head gear we can wear that matches our current ensemble, be it the turban suggestion if you want to look like a pleb sorcerer like Jafar though thinking about it that may be an advantage for us or the classic Wizard hat, both of which are bound to be somewhere given the size of this market and the recent popularity of Wizards.

>>290019

>Ebe might find knitting difficult, what with the lack of hands for fine motor control.

. . .

You do realise she has stated before that she can knit… back in thread 2. When she was tied up in the inn.

>>290028

I had completely forgotten about that. Get her some materials in that case then.

I have.

Utterly misjudged how long it would take to cook dinner and how damn tired I am after being off work for multiple days. Needless to say, I feel like 12 hours wasn't enough sleep yesterday.

Sooo we may go back to every other day posting (assuming nothing pops up).

But I'll do my best most of the time. There's something different about writing to stave off insanity versus writing in your spare time.

>>290019

I didn't insinuate it right, but repairing that one with the available materials wouldn't work. Besides, it's too sentimental. Replacing it would suck, but yeah, they might let her have that one in the inn.

>>290019

Fiiinnneee, you can have a lovely, hand knit, headscarf turban thing. Sheesh.

Not everyone can be Bearson

>>290000

T…those digits

>>289874

I mean.

Fuck. I guess we'll look into it. Sound magic huh…

>>289859

M…muh magical realm

Oh, maybe you can just ask Sylphie about familiars.

>>289815

You've never fought a potato sir. Fucking deadly and they always have their eye on you.

>>289828

Kay'

>>289848

We can go more in depth on it, but it likely has a lot to do with being assaulted and the ghitar her Mom made being destroyed.

Hey, look what I found:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickite

Also, I just had another really edgy idea. Aluminum is completely magically inert in that magic just can't interract with it, right? As opposed to it simply blocking magic like Chaika's adamantium. So if a piece of aluminum were to be inserted into a living being or otherwise magically shielded body, then it would act as a "magical window" of sorts, yes? So if we get an aluminum spear head and glue bits of obsidian to the point then we could shank a nigga then control the obsidian razors inside his or her body and slice them up from the inside.

>>290051

>Not everyone can be Bearson

You guys better be planning a cross over at some point where you post from the wizards prospective of the encounter and slavanon posts from bearsons prospective

it doesn't have to be soon but it really should happen at some point in the future

>>290125

But muh cinematic universe!

>Story continue

"Hmm." You muse, looking out over your merry band. Well, most of them are merry anyway, but one sticks out like a sore thumb, and that's not because she's the only piece of caramel in your otherwise vanilla party. Well, strictly speaking you had like, orange and chocolate if you count the horse and the fox, but that would be a strange cold cream flavor party and you shant have any of that.

Your caramel flavored… ehm, your esteemed party member named Ebe, looks a little dull still, despite your little heart to heart. The bag carrying her items lays next to the one with the broken pieces of the guitar, or ghitar, or however she wants to pronounce it, and without the complete picture she seems a little glum. Thinking back to last evening, she did manage to rouse people's spirits well enough with the borrowed one, so it wasn't like she couldn't use another instrument, and frankly a bard without one is a sad sight. Besides, there's something else you think you can find that Ebe might enjoy.

"Well, we need to travel back through the Ectrian side of town to get to the pass anyway." You say, nodding your head. The others look to you and nod in agreement, a little puzzled at you stating fact though. Continuing, you say, "I think there's a stop or two to make along the way, a few little things extra. I assume the Ectrian side of town has a market itself?"

This last part is addressed at Ebe who startles at being spoken to, blushing. "Uhm, ah, yes it does, though not nearly as large as this one." She say, nodding. "Mostly Ectrian food, some basic household supplies, things for the community more than for the larger Deleorian markets."

"Perfect." You say, walking to the east side of town. "Oh and I'd forgotten something at the inn, let's run by there since it's on the way."

Your journey back to the inn is short and uneventful, which you find rather refreshing. After the events of the last evening, the innkeeper seems rather pleased with herself, counting coins like a Danuki after a good sale. What was oddest was that she put them inside a ceramic, spherical jar which jangles as the coins were placed inside. When she sees you enter, she stoppers the jar and rolls it toward her, wings flaring up behind her back before she stops and recognizes you.

"Oh. It's you. I thought you checked out already."

"Yes, we did, but we forgot something last night."

"Ah fuck." The beetle-like Monster says. "You're here to kill me then. Finally, all my evil deeds caught up with me." She sighs and rolls the ball of coins. "What a cruel world."

"What?" You say, blinking in confusion. "No, why would you think that? I'm actually here because I forgot to ask if we could buy that guitar off you."

"Huh? You're not here to… Ah, aha…" She chuckles, wiping sweat from her brow.

"The… guitar?" You say, looking at her askance. The innkeeper looks at you without comprehension for a moment as Ebe touches your shoulder and says, "Rommel, I don't need this…"

"Ah, but you're the only one who can play the silly thing." The innkeeper says, sighing. "It was an old trinket from back when I was in a raiding… I mean uh, back from the old country. It was just gathering dust all this time so having someone play it again and hearing the songs of Ectria again…" She gives off a soft smile, which makes her face seem rather cute, especially when applied to her small size.

"I thank you for its use, but I don't believe that I should… I mean it's not."

"It's not made of Feywood, like yours is." The innkeeper says, laughing as Ebe blinks in surprise. "I see it poking out of that bag. Rare wood, must have meant quite a lot to you."

"Yes… it does." Ebe says before sighing. "I don't believe it could be repaired out here though, Feywood doesn't grow in Deleor and the import of it is…"

"Quite expensive, yes." The innkeeper says, nodding her head. "Well, I made hand over fist last night, so why don't you just take this thing."

"Ebe cries in Ectrian, looking surprised.

"la, la 'astatie 'an 'afeal dhlk!"

" hal tarfud hadiat khbry?"

>>290345

Ebe flushes before looking down, ashamed. She mutters something in Ectrian before the Khepri chuckles and pulled the guitar from behind the counter, giving it to her. The Gandharva looks over the instrument before nodding and slinging it over her shoulder, squirming about to get it to fit right. She shrugs it into place and then bows to the innkeeper who smirks.

"Come by again sometime, pay for my next vacation why don't you? I could use a trip to Cair… well, once it's fixed anyway."

"I will remember this." Ebe says, nodding again to the innkeeper before turning back toward your group and saying, "Well, I guess we're off then."

You wave your thanks to the innkeeper who raises her eyebrows at you, to which you frown back at her and follow the others out. What you find is Sylphie poking at the guitar with a curious look before saying, "So what's this Feywood anyway?"

Ebe sighs and waves Sylphie away. "It's a rare tree that grows in the wastes. Trees in general are rare beyond the oasis and the major cities, but the Feywood trees are often solitary and grow in weird places. I don't know really why they grow there, but their wood is of the highest quality, and some say it's filled with magic."

She chuckles at this, "But that's rather silly, no human shaman or Monster Witch can use it as a magical implement, but it's quite nice looking."

This piques your interest and you look at the broken guitar again. "Maybe there is some truth to this and… wait, human shamans?"

"Ah, yes." Ebe says, continuing to lead you toward the market, the city going about its business around you. "Shamans are sorcerers of a sort. Mana crystals are rather scarce out in the desert, so humans born with magic have to resort to using runes and rituals to use their magic. It's more of an art than a science in their case."

"Huh." Sylphie says, tapping her chin. "What do the witches do?"

"They drink semen, of course." The Gandharva says, smirking. Sylphie pouts and crosses her arms, muttering about how dirty it is, all while holding vials of refined jizz in her bag. There is an irony here, but it's not worth pointing out.

"Sister, you know you like it." Sophie says. She gives you a sidelong glance and you roll your eyes before gently inclining your head. You bet she's weave shit on the damn communion matrix all day if she got the chance.

"I do not!" Her sister huffs, stamping her foot on the ground before sniffing and turning back to Ebe, following behind her. Sophie snickers before coughing into her hand and resuming the air of poise and dignity that she normally carries. If her sister takes after her Father like you assume then… Gods, the leader of the Monster Nation must be a pain in the ass to be around.

"Here we are!" Ebe says, waving a wing before you. Stopping and looking, you see a small marketplace that pales in comparison to the bustle of the main markets. Ectrian Monsters and humans walk about, chatting amicably and purchasing goods, various foodstuffs and other items to remind them of home. Looking about, you see the object you're looking for and walk up to a shop where an old, sun-wrinkled human woman sits surrounded by various cloth and thread.

" 'ahlaan bik." She says, looking at you and smiling with a gap-toothed grin. When you give her an odd look, she blinks a few times before sighing and saying in broken Deleorian, "Hello. Cloth, yes?"

"Yes, I was looking for some sewing supplies. Do you have any for sale?"

"Cloth?" She says, cocking her head and pointing.

You rub your face and say, "Yes, cloth."

"Twins above…" Ebe says, shaking her head. "Is this another nice thing for me?"

"It would have worked better if I could have purchased it before you caught me, but… yes, I remembered you like to knit."

She closes her eyes and then chuckles for a moment before bapping your head with her wing. You blink a few times as she walks over to the cloth seller and speaks in her tongue before pointing to a few spools of thread and some sewing supplies. The woman nods her head and gathers the supplies, handing them to Ebe who bows and then looks at you.

"Uhhh."

"Two silvers." The woman says, clearly having no difficulty saying this.

>>290346

You sigh and dig into your pouch to pull out the two silvers, which the woman bites before nodding and throwing into a sack. She giggles as you walk away, Ebe looking down at the supplies before putting them in her bag.

"Rommel… you're a nice guy, you know?"

"I just think the journey would be nicer if you were happy is all. Besides, I need you in good spirits in case we're attacked before you get home."

She cringes for a second before shaking her head. "Heh, is that all, huh? Whatever you say Rommel." She turns about and you shrug before noticing the twins staring at you, their ears twitching.

"Rommel never gets us guitars or cloth." Sylphie says, pouting.

"He was almost smiling while helping her, maybe he likes delicious brown." Sophie says, nodding her head.

"Oh for the love of…" You say, throwing up your hands. "Do you want a bolt of cloth?"

"Nah, I'd rather gossip." Sylphie say before giggling as you groan. Looking down at Erwin, you send,

{Don't say it.}

{But I think it's cute.}

{You also think potatoes are sentient.}

{You've never been alone in a forest with the potato king and nothing but your claws.}

There is no reason to dignify this with a response. What the hells is a potato king and why would a fox encounter it? You assume it was something from his normal fox days when things were strange and weird. Maybe he just saw an abnormally shaped potato. Maybe…

"Come on, we should get go-" You stop as you say this, noticing an alluring Lamia behind a stand, wearing a sheer costume of silk that managed to hide her shame and at the same time magnify it. She catches your gaze and her red eyes twinkle, to which she waggles a finger toward you in a "come hither" gesture. You turn and walk toward her, staring at her with interest.

"Mmmm." She says in a heavily accented Ectrian accent. "You like what you see?" She placed an arm under her chest, pushing her copper breasts up, making them more prominent. You hear a sort of rattling nearby but pay it no mind as you reach forward and her eyes twinkle.

Your hand rests upon something soft and you ask with a shallow breath, "Is this a book of magic?"

"Eh?" The Lamia says, blinking in confusion. She looks down at your hand, resting upon a leather tome before her and she blushes furiously. "Ye-yes,it is! I… oh Twins."

Picking it up, you flip through it to find it written in Deleorian. "Interesting, it's about… sound manipulation?"

"Yes." She says in a soft voice, hiding her face with her hands."It's audiomancy, basics on privacy barriers, amplification spells. Mostly cantrips that most sorcerers and witches can do despite their magical alignment, though some are aligned specifically in this field."

"Audiomancy?" You say, cocking your head. Sylphie walks up and taps your shoulder with her staff.

"Yeah, it's actually a newer field, sort of like plagamancy. In truth it's been around a LONG time, but like some schools of magic, it was forgotten. I think it's mostly used by a few Wizards these days for basic little things, but there was this one guy who used sound waves in a weird fashion."

"Yes, you can do that kind of stuff with this." The Lamia, who is clearly a Monster Witch, says, having recovered from her embarrassment. She pouts some at you, waggling her breasts and you roll your eyes.

"Yes yes, they're very nice, but I'm interested in what else you have."

"Potions, mostly. You basics, though I'm out of healing potions after last night."

"Of course." You say, nodding your head. "Do you have anything on familiars?"

"Familiarity with Familiars? Yes, I have a copy." She digs through a stack of books and pulls it out and in doing so a scroll falls from a stack, opening up to show some diagrams with a man present, arms in a strange fashion.

"What's that?" You ask and she looks down before cocking her head.

"Oh, this is a scroll detailing a shamanic ritual for mana manipulation in regards to…" She looks it over. "Geomancy, I suppose. It's written in Ectrian though, so I'm not certain how useful it would be for you."

"Hmm." You say, looking at it and then to Ebe, who shrugs.

"I can read some of it, but you have to understand, we weren't really taught much about letters." Ebe says a little sheepishly. "Sorry."

>>290347

"Hmm, well the patterns seem alright, could be neat to look into." You say, nodding to Sophie, who rolls her eyes and pays for these books along with some more mana potions for Sylphie. Can never have enough! The Lamia also as a supply of mana crystals, which you have Sophie purchase as well. When she asks why you need these, you say, "Just in case."

>You gain [Mana crystals]

>A sack-full of mana crystals, naturally rare in the Ectrian wastes, but power many magical devices and sorcerers

>You gain [Familiarity with your Familiar]

>A book on the basics of familiars and how to work with them. You know most of this from the communion matrix

>You gain [Scroll of Ectrian Geoflexing]

>You're not certain what it's really about… but those exercises look interesting, at least

>You gain [Speak Up! Audiomancy for the Astute Mind].

>A guide on Audiomancy, the manipulation of sound

Well, you think you're set now. The sun hasn't quite hit its zenith yet, and you figure you can make good time through the pass. Perhaps not make it to the rest stop yet, but you shouldn't be too far in for the Wurms to get uppity… you hope.

With preparations all set, you head out through the gate and move to the Mountain Pass. From the trees spread out before the town, all you can see is a large path heading through the forest toward the mountains that dominate the eastern sky. The sun bears down before you, illuminating the crags of the mountains, the edge of Deleor. How strange to think you'll be leaving the country you've known all your life…

Due to the pass's importance, you find yourself traveling alongside others, mainly merchants heading with carts, wagons, and all manner of things toward the pass. Thankfully you don't happen to see any slavers along the road as you travel, but you remember that you might further in, and certainly will once you reach Ectria.

Most people are very nice however, and they speak with joviality as they describe their passes into Ectria. Many of these people travel to and fro the trading outposts on the other side of the pass, though few ever go to the capital. They admit that the feelings toward Deleorians is rather shaky, and has been for the past decade or so. No one really knows why, but merchants can go through the pass without issue, though going further into the wastes is not really recommended without a guide.

>>290348

You ask one merchant, a Deleorian Wolfgirl, about slavers and she says that she's seen some, but there's really nothing they can do about it. They won't touch merchants this close to the pass though, as the guards here can only dismiss so much. People seem worried but… it's not really their problem. It's an attitude that pisses you off but is not worth dealing with at the moment.

It's early afternoon by the time to reach the pass itself to find a Deleorian military outpost, going over the people coming in and out of the pass. There is a slow down because of it, but it gives you the time to look up at the pass and truly marvel at the size of the mountains.

Raising so high into the sky that you can't see the tops from the base, the mountains rise up almost sheer at this point before turning into crags and points. While things even out a little further down, you can see how it would basically be impossible to cross these without the pass, which is a wide, open area that heads into the heart of the mountains, packed into a easily seen path due to years of traveling.

Looking about, you see an odd sight, a very tall Monster with a long, serpentine body and extremely dense scales. She's talking with a Guard, using far too many gestures as the exasperated guard shakes his head and waves over someone else to comes and talks with her, handing over some paper to which the Wurm claps her taloned hands and then springs into the air before burrowing into the dirt. You blink in surprise but the guards groan and fill in the hole. Now that you're looking, you see a few of these holes about. Common occurance, huh?

"Ah, don't worry about the Wurms." The Wolfgirl, her name being Hilda, says. "They're mostly harmless, only cause some trouble when they get confused and wander away from Blackfire Reach."

"They don't attack the merchants?"

"Nah… well, maybe if they spy a cute, unclaimed male." She looks you over. "Mmm, might want to watch your back."

"I'll be careful." You say.

"You'll be wed!" She chuckles as her wagon is waved through.

>>290349

The guards spend a rather inordinate amount of time questioning you and your group about your travel. You tell them your wards have always wanted to see Ectria and found a guide in Borne who would take you. The guards blush at seeing the faces of the beautiful twins, especially Sophie's refined elegance and they seem to buy that excuse, going through your things and not finding anything too suspicious, though they don't check your coat pockets. With a gesture, they send you through into the pass.

Though you're traveling near others coming and going, you find that the pass is oddly comforting. Trees line the sides of the mountains as you get a little further in, thinning out as the rocks climb higher, and though you see little side paths, it would be quite difficult to climb. The wind passing through down the mountains is pleasantly cool and Ebe says she can't wait until you get closer to the other side, where the pass grows hotter as you reach the desert.

Ebe practices with the new guitar, singing jaunty tunes, and you converse with Sylphie about the finer points if familiars. She tells you much you already know, but tells you some of [Metamorphosis]. She looks a little askance as she says it though, mentioning that you need a very good bond with your familiar in order to use it. While she has used it on Mr. Ed before, she's not certain you can make it work with Erwin yet. She apologizes afterward and says no more.

Making a mental note to read more about this later, during a little rest you look over that Geoflexing scroll and Sophie reads some over your shoulder, trying out a few of the moves, which looks ridiculous because she's wearing skirts and the cloak. Still, she has an air of dignity and strength with it, and the way she makes it look easy makes you ask her for pointers. She agrees to help you out later, adding, "Maybe you could learn some hand to hand skills also."

As night falls and no rest stop in sight, you continue until you see a fire in the distance and go over to discover Hilda and a few other merchants, mostly men, sitting around a fire and laughing as they eat their meals. She welcomes you to the fire and passes you a bottle of some strong smelling substance, which you decline for now, though Sophie takes a long drink before breathing out heavily and passing it back, much to the delight of the assembled merchants.

Finding it to be advantageous to be in numbers, you decide to hunker down there for the night, and Ebe performs for the group, getting back some of the good spirits she had before. As she dances, you smile and look off in the distance to see torches coming down the path from the Deleorian side. With some concern, you show it to Erwin, and you inform the others, preparing as a large wagon rolls into place, laden with metallic crates and armed men.

You stand up as a single figure walks forward, a short Monster with short, sandy-blonde hair and a cheery smile. She walks into the firelight and you see her back is covered in spikes, though her skin is the copper color of Ectria. She waves a clawed hand at the group and says, "My, finding company here. Would you mind us sharing your warmth for the evening?"

>What do you do?

"Body too large"

My arch nemesis…

The pass is nice, nice things happen here. This hedgehog is probably a nice person. She's nice.

>>290122

>>290125

Bruh, I barely know what's going on in Warriorquest anymore. I have no idea when things are and I have a rough guideline from Slavman, but bruh. Bruh. A full crossover would be weird and hard to do and it's a fanfiction within a fanfiction and we're getting into fanficception which is an actual fanfiction I think

>>290348

>we can start learning [Audiomancy]

time to get ourselves a [Stand] and since we're a geomancer, i say [Rock of Ages]

>>290353

and since i'm a retard and forgot it

>>290349

>"I'll be careful." You say.

>"You'll be wed!" She chuckles as her wagon is waved through.

Does this wolfgirl also happen to have the death sentence in 12 cities?

As for what to do… allow them to sit around but investigate the crates find out what these slavers are up to. I've got a very bad feeling about this.

Alright. First things first. We gather information as quickly as we can. We know from experience that the slavers tend to use alchemical compounds to keep their victims sedated. Send to Erwin, and ask him if he smells anything like that. While he's sniffing the air for traces, not going in and sniffing everything, we need to cast out our magical senses. Target the boxes first. Try and get a sense of what's in them by their material properties, and the forces that are being exerted on them. In other words, how much pressure is being applied to various parts of the boxes, any vibrations from the contents, and any heat that's being transferred to the boxes. Next, we search for specific shapes of metal in the area and on their persons. Specifically chains, manacles, etcetera, the implements of a slaver.

Hopefully, this will be enough to confirm that they are what we think they are.

After this, they've given us a golden opportunity for a bit of word play. They've asked us if we wouldn't mind sharing our warmth with them. Use our geomancy to pull a few rocks and ore chunks out of our pockets and float them up, use fire magic to heat them all to white hot fury, and say that we think we could share some warmth with them. Then, ask what's in the boxes.

Obviously, we'll need to rethink what we're going to do if the magical scouting brings back something wildly different from what we're expecting.

>>290345

>more ectrian

>we get an ectrian spellbook

If Ace wants us learn to Ectrian that much we should probably do it. When we finish dealing with the hedgehog we can ask Ebe about teaching us.

>>290350

Don't eat, drink, breathe, or intake in any fashion ANYTHING they give you or give off. Scan them and their stuff thoroughly.

>>290389

I agree with this, but I think we should try to knock them out instead of kill them, if they're evil I mean, because Sylphie will cry like the big wuss she is if we kill them.

>>290350

I like this anons >>290361 idea, if just because it immediately allows us to identify if the newcomers are friend or foe and then deal with them if they're the latter while we still have them at a distance and away from the group we're currently with, preventing any collateral damage when we unleash our arsenal upon the newcomers. If they turn out to be the former, then the conversation will take a rather awkward turn, but Wizards aren't strangers to social awkwardness so it's all good. Under the assumption we haven't immediately attacked them for being slavers and liberated any captives they may have, it may be worth while chatting with them to see what they know about the current situation in Ectria, given that they just came from there, as well as if anything interesting is occurring down the path ahead because it always helps to be prepared.

As for the aftermath, I'm rather interested in that [Speak Up! Audiomancy for the Astute Mind] book we got, since Audiomancy would both give us synergy with Ebe, allowing us to possibly solve the problem of her magics affecting all that can hear it indiscriminately by redirecting the sound to the desired targets or to give her [Amplify] to increase the potency, and be a way of countering Wurms which we will no doubt run into if all the foreshadowing wasn't indication enough, since our Geomancy would likely be ineffective unless aimed correctly while sound would probably be effective against beings who rely on their non-sight senses while underground - as such, I propose we look into that as soon as possible. If there's a leyline about, then I'd also suggest we boot up the [Port-O-Glass] to see if we can find anything on Wurms there to further our knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses because we are likely to encounter them more than just once on this journey. Other than that, practise our magic while we have the chance, preferably Cryomancy since Ectrians and reptilian-monsters have shown a weakness to it, both of which are going to be later encounters, and it would also help us deal with the unbearable heat of the desert alongside some minor Hydromancy for water when dehydration kicks in.

>>290389

>Use our geomancy to pull a few rocks and ore chunks out of our pockets and float them up, use fire magic to heat them all to white hot fury, and say that we think we could share some warmth with them.

Rather than use our friends, wouldn't it be a hell of a lot more efficient to just grab a couple of rocks that are no doubt surrounding us? We are within a mountain range, after all, and there's not point wasting our precious ores when a standard rock would work just as well, if not more so, in this situation.

>>290546

I'm also down for knocking them out. Or, creating a spike pit all around them if it gets to that. But, before we get to that point, we should do all the sensing we can.

>>290570

Spike pit all around them as in they're still on a platform, with a spike pit surrounding them, not outright dropping them in right off the bat.

Good thing we went to every other day because Nekopara volume 3 came out today.

You have to forgive me. I am but a man with a love for catgirls, and this one has Maple in it.

Please understand.

>>290353

Stands are like. I mean it's just.

You want to practice mental magic, you can have a stand, but it's in your head. Bearson's adventure is a different path.

>>290361

Bold, very bold. Let's see how that plays out cotton.

>>290362

Even bolder cotton! Although I wonder, what would the nice merchants around you think?

>>290365

Just in Hudson. She doesn't go to Hudson anymore.

>>290389

Sound plan

>>290527

That wasn't the intention, but Ectrian arts dictate Ectrian writing! Not everything is in Deleorian! But yes, Ebe can help, maybe some people in Ectria can help also

>>290546

Probably.

>>290560

Sound! Ha, get it, cause… sound and…

Yeah the audiomancy will be interesting to see how that plays out. As far as a Leyline, you're on the borders of one that runs through the mountains, but stops at the Ectrian side of the pass

Good thinking not using our friends, that would be very rude!

>>290353

You fool, it should clearly be We Will Rock You.

>maybe he likes delicious brown

Shit, they're on to us.

>>290615

to be honest I just want to know if there is actual grammar behind each of those lines or you just wrote what sounded like you wanted

>>290560

>geomancer with sound powers

Hmm, where have I seen this before?

Also we should bait the suspicious travelers into admitting that they're slavers before we remove them.

>>290700

So Rommel's the avatar and Toph?

>>290700

>>290704

I mean, if you want him to be. I'm just rolling around with y'all's suggestions is all.

>>290646

I don't even know man. What IS grammar? On these small things I just write like I talk sometimes. It's just a nice chat with people thing. Also, Nekopara is wonderful and I have diabetes again.

>Story continue

This Monster is, without a shadow of a doubt, a slaver. She may look all nice and innocent and smiling, but it's all a ruse, a farce to get you to lower your guard and then BAM! Off to Ectria to be the cum slave of some lazy Anubis with too much money. You won't be tricked so easily.

"Share our warmth? You say, pushing your magic into the ground, using [Survey] to see what's about. Nothing of much value, but there's a little copper, and you're damn certain you can make them "warm" for the rest of their lives with this, no matter how short that may be.

"Fire's big enough!" Hilda says, waving her flask. "How many you got with you?"

"Myself and six guards." The newcomer says, smiling toward the Wolfgirl.

"Are you sure about that?" You say, gesturing toward the wagon. "Sure you don't have any more people with you?"

The Hedgehog looks at you and raises an eyebrow. "I am quite certain. Do you believe I have stowaways?"

"No, of course not." You say, shaking your head. "Stowaways would be unintentional."

The Hedgehog gives a bell laugh, placing her hands over her toned stomach. "Oh ho! I see, I see." She turns to one of her men and says, "Open up crate three and show the nice Sorcerer what we have with us."

You frown at being called a Sorcerer, but it's probably for the best that she doesn't know your full potential. Will make it easier, although why would she open up one of her crates if there was a slave inside? Maybe one of them is empty, and they show it off as such to get through the borders…

The guard, dressed in a collection of dull, metal plates and wearing a dust cloak, walks over carrying a few bottles of wine. The merchants all around you cheer and throw up their hands as another guard produces cups and they take the proffered wine without resistance, drinking deep before you can stop them, though you doubt you could.

When the wine comes to your group, you put your hand over Sophie's and shake your head, saying, "We've had a fair amount to drink already, need to keep our wits sharp for tomorrow."

"Bah, it's a straight shot through the pass, easy traveling, easy money." Hilda says, taking another swig of the wine. "Damn this stuff is good. Is this… Loveuran?"

"It certainly is, multiple crates full of the finest bottles I could secure." The Hedgehog says, smirking as she stands at the edge of the circle.

"Well fuck me sideways." The Wolfgirl says with joviality, though you see the wink she gives to one of the guards in invitation. "Damn fine product, going to sell for a ton of gold in Ectria." She pats the ground and says, "You're alright, come and sit. What's your name anyway?"

"Nane." She says before motioning her men to sit about the fire, drinking from a bottle themselves, though it's different than the one you saw before. The Hedgehog herself takes a seat and sighs. "This climate is always so cool on this side of the pass. I do not know how you Deleorians deal with it."

"Hah, well when you come from a damn oven, somewhere normal DOES seem a little cold, doesn't it?"

"Hmph, well I suppose living in an icebox would have a similar effect."

You watch the normal camp banter with mounting unease. The Hedgehog makes no threats toward you and only one of her guards sits back at the wagon with the crates. None of the people who had any of the wine had passed out so… what gives? Frowning, you bore a hole into the Hedgehog with your eyes until she takes notice you and gives you an annoyed glance, but doesn't act on anything.

One of the guards is chatting amiably with Sophie who, like her twin, keeps her hood on while speaking with the men. She giggles, putting a hand to her mouth and egging him on, though she politely refuses the proffered cup of wine that he hands her. Good girl.

{Erwin} You send, and he rolls his eyes.

{If I get taken captive by another homicidal, super powered, robotic spirit of a crazy snake lady, I'm leaving.}

{That probably won't happen.}

>>290839

Erwin sends an annoyed sigh before slinking away to scout out the wagon. They're hiding something, you're certain of it. Well, while he's doing that

"So." You say, nodding toward Nane. "Did you travel all the way to Loveura to purchase that wine? Even with those guards, that's quite a long way to go."

"Well, Deleor is much less dangerous place than Ectria can be, and its populace is much more complacent." She shakes her head, "However, we only traveled to Sanctifrond and purchased through a wholesaler before bringing the wine back via Leyway. Expensive, but still quite the profit."

"Uh huh. And do you happen to have your Leyway tickets still?"

"Why would I keep those?" She says, seeming irritated. "There is no reason for such a thing, especially since I keep my own records." When you raise an eyebrow, she says, "No, you may not see them."

"I see." You say, tapping your fingers together. The merchants around you still carouse without concern and you begin to doubt yourself. Maybe they are just merchants with weird, slave container shaped wine crates. It's possible but…

"I've seen those crates around before, are they popular in Ectria? Seems like they'd make things stored in them rather warm in the desert heat."

"A side effect, yes, but everything gets warm, the air holes allow them to breathe a little though, so it helps out. In this climate it does excellent keeping things cool as well." She says, and you're pretty certain that's not how it works, but you keep quiet as she continues. "They're fairly standard and easy to come by, made of cheap, but sturdy Iron."

"Pretty unrefined stuff?"

"It works well enough."

"Hrrrm." You say, reaching out to Erwin, who has leapt into the cart bed. He sniffs the crates before recoiling, a sense of pain going through your mind through the bond.

{Are you alright?} You ask with some alarm.

{GAH! It's like they packed the damn things with alcohol or something.}

{Like… wine?}

{I don't know, but it REEKS. I can't smell anything else and I doubt any border Monsters could smell anything either. Either they're doing a shitty job of storing wine, or someone spilled some strong stuff on these crates.}

{All of them?}

{Ergh…} Erwin sends before the pained smell comes back. {Fuck me, yeah, all of them.}

{Can you get a look inside?}

{Too dark, nothing's moving inside there at least. If I was able to get a light…Oh wait, yeah, how about that?}

{I can put in some fire but that doesn't sound so hot with all that alcohol.}

{Pfff, sounds hot to me. Get me a distraction and give me some light}

"Distraction huh…" You say, rubbing your chin. Well, there's a lot you can do, maybe have Ebe sing to them, maybe ask more stealthy questions, maybe just-

"So, how many slaves do you have in there anyway?"

Everyone goes quiet as they stare at you with looks of shock and horror. The Hedgehog blinks in utter surprise, stuttering to get an answer from her mouth, which makes her as guilty as she possibly could be to you. Oddly enough, none of the guards stand to assault you or anything, but Hilda swings her arm toward you, spilling wine everywhere as she drunkenly says,

"What the fuck Rommel? Are you calling her f-fucking slaver?"

"Maybe I am."

"You piece of shid, I thought that you'd be a cool dude and want to f-fuck me but this is CENTAURSHIT." She stands up quickly and staggers on her feet, looking a little dazed before gasping and falling face first into the dirt, unconscious.

"H-hey." One of the other merchant's says. "Hilda can drink me under the table, what the hell is… is-ah… ungh."

He makes to stand as well and then falls over into the dirt, passed out. The other merchants who drank the wine begin to panic, but their movements soon lead into a sleep of their own, and they drift off in fitful heaps.

Your attention turns back to Nane who rises from where she is sitting slowly and says, "It seems the others have had far too much to drink. What a shame! I suppose it would be best to be going."

"Not so fast." You say, pointing at the wagons and saying, "Illumination over the carts, if you'd please."

Sophie steps before her sister, putting herself between the guards and herself, allowing Sylphie to plant her staff and channel some magic before shooting out a ball of light that illuminates the entire pass, moving slowly until it hangs over the wagon. Erwin leaps atop a crate and hisses as he sends,

{There's Monsters in here! Slavers!}

>>290840

"Yep." You say, cracking your knuckles. "Just as I thought. Don't try to hide it, you coated the cages in alcohol and put your slaves in there."

"Tch." Nane says, rubbing at the back of her head. "Multiple spellcasters. Great, I had HOPED you'd drink some of the damn wine, or maybe those stupid merchants wouldn't have moved so soon to make it look better."

"Well, I suppose this is where I tell my men to get you?" She says, nodding to her men, who had already stood, hands on their swords. "I can always use more slav-"

In the blink of an eye, Sophie dashes forward, her tails cutting the men's hamstrings, or throwing them to the ground. The one near the wagon gasps as all his companions are cut down and Sophie stands before the Hedgehog, smiling as her tails wrap back up and she gently pats the head of the now sweating Monster.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Oh." She says, looking at her men as you bonk them on the head, knocking them out cold while you make your way toward them. The ones cut by Sophie aren't cut terribly bad, and Mr. Ed stares at final man down, making him shit his pants, so says Erwin.

"Oh indeed." Nodding to the man near the wagon, you say, "You, open the cages." He fumbles about for a moment until Mr. Ed snorts and he squeals before hurrying to open the cages. Erwin watches the man as he takes out the captives, allowing you to turn back to Nane.

"So!" You say, clapping your hands together. "This was probably the easiest slaving group we've dealt with."

"How many have you dealt with?"

"You make three."

"Tch." She says, shaking her head. "We're technically in neutral territory, so I guess you'll just kill me, eh?"

"Nah." You say, rubbing your chin. "Not worth the trouble, so I think I'll leave you in a pit for someone else to find."

"Fair enough." She sits down and reaches behind her, to which Sophie slaps her hand and she curses, dropping a knife. "Fiiiiiinnneeee. Well, get on with it then, I could use a nice nap."

"I have a few questions first." You say, squatting down to look at her. "First, when was the last time we were in Ectria?"

"One month ago, it was a fairly short trip." She nods over at the lone guard who hauls out a drugged Catgirl. "Desert Catgirls are nice and all, but there's something about these fair-skinned beauties that really makes some good coin."

"Uh huh. So, what is the current political climate like in Ectria?"

"Politics?… You're an odd one. Well, I suppose the Prophet is still ruling as always. She's been active for the past oh… ten years or so, but is not far more active than before, proclaiming things about how the Twins are growing in power and that nothing now stands in our way from leaving the sands, etc etc."

She shrugs. "I think it's a load of crock, but she allows us now to enter Deleor for slaving, which was very difficult to do before, but hells, your guards are easy to bribe."

"Why is she allowing slaving though? Are slaves really that important in Ectria?"

"Yes." She says, looking at you as if you're an idiot. "Almost all construction is done by slaves, and they make a large bulk of the army. Many menial tasks are performed by slaves and frankly they're the backbone of our society."

"Disgusting." You say, spitting to the side.

"Until only recently, the Monsters here took slaves." Nane says. "Humans also used to kill them on sight. In Ectria, the weak are claimed by the strong, but there is peace. Can you say the same for your Deleor?"

Frowning at the Hedgehog, you look into her eyes and find an incredible calm there. This makes you feel rather… uneasy. Why does she look so unconcerned, why does she look like she's still in control? Rubbing your chin, you ask, "So, is your Prophet going to invade Deleor? Over the mountains?"

"They won't stop our slaving." She says, shrugging. "Why would they stop our invasion? You're too busy with Galmathoria or whatever it is. I don't care much either way, but I'd watch yourself."

"This, from someone who is a prisoner."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that for much longer. Is he opening the last crate?"

You look over at the wagon to see the man hesitate before being nudged into opening the crate and pulling something out. It's not a captive, but instead some kind of flat disk that you can smell from here. He takes a few steps away from the wagon and drops it on the ground, where it makes a hollow thunk, echoing through the Pass.

"Yep." The Hedgehog says. "What a waste, but what am I going to do otherwise?"

>>290841

"What are you talking abou-" You are cut off as the ground begins to rumble under your feet. The two Cat o'Ninetails's ears perk up and the look about in confusion as the rumbling increases in intensity. Mr. Ed rears up before turning about and kicking the guard toward the disk and then galloping away as Erwin leaps on his back. The other wagon horses bray in alarm and try to run away, but it's too late.

The guard staggers to a stop and then looks down, sighing in defeat as the ground explodes under him, sending him up into the air in a shower of dirt and rocks. He screams in terror before letting out a grunt as he hits something solid. As the dirt rains down around him, he blinks in confusion, looking down to realize he's not on the ground but rather being held up by something. Something large, scaly, and with an impressive bust.

"Oh what is that nice smell?" The Wurm says, cocking her head and sniffing. She turns to look at the disk which is impaled by one of the horns jutting from her black hair, and she says, "Ohhhh, I love this stuff!"

She makes to reach for the disk and then pauses, realizing something is already in her claws. Blinking, she looks down at her large, reptilian claws and sees the guard in them, cradled by a child. She blinks a few times before her eyes go wide and she says, "Oh! Oh! I caught a man! Haha, and Mom always said I'd get baited into something bad! Well suck it Mom!"

She leans down, her beautiful face coming to look at the man, green eyes sparkling as her serpentine lower half shuffles. "Hey, what do you think that phrase, 'suck it' means?"

The man's jaw works frantically as the Wurm looks up and over the rest of you, just realizing you're here for the first time. "Oh wow, there's so many people here! Oh and so many men! Ah, I'm not supposed to pick on people from the Pass but… but! Ahhhh!" She wiggles back and forth, a joyous expression on her face. "I'm going to get my friends, just stay here!"

She looks down at the man in her arms. "Oh, except you. You're coming with me." She says and then giggles before diving into the ground, back where she came in.

"What just happened?" You ask, looking confused as all hell.

"A Wurm was baited in and now she's going to bring all her friends and this place is going to be crawling with them." Nane says, her voice distant.

You start and look all over to find her down the pass toward Deleor. She must have slipped away in the confusion, damn her. "I'll take this as a loss, but I have plenty of capital to get home. Better than being killed in a Wurm stampede!" She shouts and then starts running, moving faster than you could have expected from such a small Monster.

"This is bad." Sophie says, throwing back her hood. "If that Wurm returns with friends, we're in some deep shit, we need to go."

"But what about all these people?" Sylphie says, looking horrified. "They're all going to be taken or even hurt by the Wurms!"

"We don’t have time to gather them all up and get away!" Sophie snaps, biting her finger. "Rommel, what are we going to do?"

>What do you do?

In Soviet Ectria, you bait Wurm!

Haha, no but seriously, a pack of Wurms is on the way, you should figure something out.

>>290819

I really wanted to make this work, but I just couldn't. I'm sorry

>>290842

fighting the wurms head on is a good way to forcibly get a wurm waifu, but we can't just let these people get hurt by a stampede

let's have ebe get ready to play some music to distract them and have sophie try to find more of that knockout wine. when the wurms return offer them the slaver guards(hopefully that will be enough) and tell them you guys are about to have a party to commemorate the wurms getting husbandos, offer the wine to them til they pass out and use the wagon to get the merchants out of there

>>290842

I really hate it when characters act smug and "in control", fuck Slyphie's feelings, next time we see this hedgehog bitch we're going to disembowel her and eat the intestines.

>What do

Use earthbending to get these people out of the way, so they aren't immediately crushed.

>>290857

Step one cast survay

Step the second locate wurm

Step z make tge rock around the wurm flow backwards in a loop at the same rate shes dig swimming forward

Then rotate her so shes actually going back to the town

>>290857

I swear, we're going to have to just start shooting every slaver we come across. Get some answers, then waste 'em.

>>290853

I think this is our best choice of action. We can't take multiple of them on at once. They need to drink a fair bit more I'd imagine. Once this is dealt with we should send a letter off to Blake letting him know of the possible invasion

Shoot Sanic. One she's a slaver and must be purged and two, she could run back and tell her slaver friends about us which would be extremely inconvenient. If we miss, ask Mr. Ed to chase her down.

As for the wurms, let's go with stealth.

Wurms navigate with sound, so how about we hide everyone behind a tree or something and use geomancy to vibrate the ground so it sounds like multiple people and wagons moving far away from us. Sort of like a more focused derivative of [Tremor].

As the other guy suggested, have Ebe put on a show for wurms. She can fly into the treetops and sing there, well out of their reach. Preferably a relaxing one that will not get the girls ovulating. Maybe get Sylpie to put on a light show too. Then shift the date rape wine to them on a levitating rock.

After our lovely guests are asleep, pillage everything we can from the slavers be on the lookout for goggles chuck everybody into Hilda's wagon and GTFO of there. Oh, and if any slaver guards are left single or try to abandon their new wives, kill them.

Please don't hurt the cute bimbo sneks.

>what do

Prepare to receive wurms!

But find out who the guards she bribed were and see them executed for aiding and abetting slavery. Leave the guards tied up for the wurms. Take the hedgehog to see which guards are taking bribes then kill her,

>>290899

This is the way to go. Snipe the slaver and try to diffuse the wurm situation peacefully. I doubt basic geomancy will do much against a wurm anyway.

>>290842

>You look over at the wagon to see the man hesitate before being nudged into opening the crate and pulling something out. It's not a captive, but instead some kind of flat disk that you can smell from here. He takes a few steps away from the wagon and drops it on the ground, where it makes a hollow thunk, echoing through the Pass.

>"Yep." The Hedgehog says. "What a waste, but what am I going to do otherwise?"

Why a slaver would have such an item in the first place is already baffling, but her believing the usage of the item in this scenario to be a waste does beg the question of what she was planning on using it for originally. Something tells me this isn't going to be the only Wurm stampede we'll encounter, so we might as well get some experience before we're forced to deal with such an event only on a grander scale.

Any way, back to the situation at hand. The only reason the first Wurm found us is because of that strange-smelling disk, so it's likely she's going to be relying on that to return to us with her friends. While I'd like to examine that disk to figure out how it attracts Wurms so we have a way of distracting them during later encounters, we don't really have the time to do so now, so we either need to dispose of it in a fashion like what >>290900 suggests or find a way of containing the smell without the destruction of the disk so we have a chance to examine it later while removing it from play, potentially in the same way the slaver did by disguising the smell with strong wine while we shove it into one of our [Trenchcoat]s pockets. The only other thing the Wurm could possibly use to guide her back to us would be her own tunnels, so figuring out which direction she went and casting a strong [Tremor] to cause her tunnels to collapse would leave her in the dark, since there are no other indications to our location. [Tremor] could also be used on the Wurms location directly as to collapse her tunnels on top of her as a means to slow her down or outright kill her if the pressure from the loosened rocks and dirt is enough to crush her soft upper body, but I doubt this will happen, since she would probably find it rather hard to dig when she has no space to work with, not to mention how disorientating the shaking of the usually still ground would be for her causing her to veer off course and waste time getting lost, so it may be worth casting it with haste.

Without any way of navigating to us, the Wurms will likely start searching the area they think we're in until they get bored and give up or find us. Moving would only give away our location to the them due to the noise made, not to mention how we would have to leave the unconscious merchants behind, so we should stay put until we can confirm the Wurms have given up via a re-purposed [Survey] to track their movements underground. Of course, staying still just means we're hoping the Wurms don't find us by chance, so doing what >>290899 and >>290900 suggest and creating noise away from our party would greatly increase our safety as the Wurms will almost certainly follow the noise, not having much else to use for tracking - in terms of where to create the distraction, I propose we do so near the Deleor side of the pass, both because the guards there seem to know how to deal with Wurms should they get too close and because the slaver is currently running in that direction, so there is a good chance her movements will lead to her getting caught in the stampede and being killed as a result, preventing her from being a threat later on.

>>290984

Double posting because the body was too long. I'm surprised I haven't had this issue sooner.

Should the any of the Wurms find us, be it the whole group or just one or two stragglers, then things will have gotten much worse. If this happens, the first thing we need to do is to elevate ourselves, the rest of the party and the unconscious merchants above ground using [Build the Wall] with as many dense rocks as we can find, because if the film Tremors has taught me anything it's that obtaining the high ground will protect you from predatory burrowers, assuming they can't burrow through the material you've used to elevate yourself and I'd like to think that there are limits to what Wurms can dig through, especially with the whole enfeebling plague the Grand Wizard brought about to monsters. Afterwards, rely on [Ice] or any other experimental Cryomancy spells we can come up with for combat and hope to gods the Wurms either die or piss off, since right now that's our best bet at dealing with them given how they are reptilian-monsters and have probably never dealt with such cold in their life since I doubt Blackfire Reach is cold in any fashion, as it was a Lizard city originally. We could also use [Pebble Gun], but unless aimed right it isn't going to do anything to the Wurms due to their hard scales, so only use it if the perfect opportunity presents itself or as a last resort when all else fails. Finally, while we probably don't have time to do so, it may still be worth quickly scanning through the [Speak Up! Audiomancy for the Astute Mind] book to see if there are any sound-based attacks we can use on the hearing-sensitive Wurms, such as the classic [Irate Frog Song] with a [Privacy Barrier] to avoid attracting more Wurms or other undesirable dangers, because our options are severely limited right now.

>>290842

So, Stupid question I know, But what would our chances of taming the wurms be?

Tell them these mean little people from the sand are trying to steal all this lands husbands and won't stop until everyone, Including the wurms, won't be able to find a mate? History from Blackfire reach shows Wurms can be sort of aimed towards a goal and we are a history buff, So why not try and talk these girls into forming a vanguard against slavers and/or potential invaders under the guise of protecting future husbands?

Can we roll for bullshitting our way out of this

>>291007

Holy shit. This could be entertaining.

>>291007

I like this idea. Forget the date rape, let's recruit these bimbo sneks as agents of JUSTICE!

Wew, diplomacy with wurms. The chances of taming them are… possible? Guess you'll have to commit to find out!

Oh boy, you guys have another day until we work this out, but it looks like y'all want to shoot the slaver and maybe reason with the wurms? I'll see what's more popular tomorrow then!

I think the real question is if you want to kill the Slaver outright or try to take her captive?

>>290984

She actually took the disk with her as it was imapled on her horn. You thought out what else I was going to say. Smartie-patootie.

Yeah you'd have to ask the Hedgehog about the disk, it just is really pungent and made an odd sound when it hit the ground. One would assume she had it handy for a reason.

I also have some art, but I'll see about getting a transparent version tomorrow. It's currently not in a good format. There's actually two pieces, hopefully the next one gets colored soon

>>291056

We don't outright kill the slaver. We need her to identify which guards are taking bribes, so they can be made an example of.

Which is something we shouldn't do ourselves. They should be turned over to the guards who are doing their job, with an implication that if this problem continues, we'll be back to sort it out in our way.

We really don't want Blake and the rest of the government getting news of us killing guards and summarily executing people, after Chaika just went and told them that the kittens are with us, but we seem like an alright guy.

>>291007

>post suggesting we use wit, charisma, and a little deception to get beautiful women to do our bidding

>post ends in 007

We have no other choice. We James Bond now.

>>291056

>I think the real question is if you want to kill the Slaver outright or try to take her captive?

>Yeah you'd have to ask the Hedgehog about the disk, it just is really pungent and made an odd sound when it hit the ground. One would assume she had it handy for a reason.

We shouldn't risk ourselves to save her life should she find herself close to death's embrace, but having her alive to explain how the hell that disk works before we end her pitiful existence would be beneficial for us in the long run should she survive. Placing my vote towards not trying to kill her directly, hindering her if we can at most, until we have our information but also not trying to save her either since nothing of value will be lost if she dies we can still access the Communion Matrix for information, after all.

>>291007

If this somehow works, then we will have not only found a way to prevent the majority of slavers from entering Deleor but may have also found a way to deal with the Wurms in Blackfire Reach with little to no bloodshed when that situation arises, since they never had a reason to be there in the first place other than 'the Danuki said we should be' and could probably be convinced to go elsewhere, such as into Ectria where it's much warmer to establish border control there, should the benefits of leaving be worthwhile and from a Wurm's perspective, they are; they'd gain more warmth and a constant supply of strong men for mating in the form of slaver groups in return for losing the gold mine, and it's not like they're actually using that gold mine, the Danuki are, so no real loss there. If the Grand Wizard can bullshit his way out of paying a bridge toll by making up an elaborate story about the bridge union, then we, a less? autistic and more cunning Wizard, can probably do something similar to a race that's likely much less intelligent and without actually having to lie. As such, I support trying this before any combat should we be found by any number of the Wurms.

>>291087

To play devil's advocate:

>"Fine, fine. It's not a terribly long pass, should be able to cross it in a day or two. There's a rest stop in between the pass that's guarded fairly well, so you should be safe there as the Danuki don't want any harm coming to it."

It's implied that pretty much all of the guards in the pass are likely on Danuki payroll, and as such are working towards Danuki interests which include fucking over Deleor. If you also consider that the slaving business pays good coin and Danuki are the physical embodiment of avarice, then it's highly probable that most, if not all, of the guards at the pass are corrupt in some fashion, especially since there was no mention of Order presence in the area, so I have my doubts that they give a shit about the local populace when the pay is good and they don't have to do much other than look like they're doing their job and occasionally talk to Wurms.

>>291098

The guards I'm talking about are the ones on the Deleor side, not the ones in the rest stop at the pass.

>>291098

>If you also consider that the slaving business pays good coin and Danuki are the physical embodiment of avarice, then it's highly probable that most, if not all, of the guards at the pass are corrupt in some fashion, especially since there was no mention of Order presence in the area, so I have my doubts that they give a shit about the local populace when the pay is good and they don't have to do much other than look like they're doing their job and occasionally talk to Wurms.

We should kill them all then if the occassion arises.

>>291180

Save the monster queen get the girl holocaust the danuki. Sounds like a solid plan.

>>290843

>I really wanted to make this work, but I just couldn't. I'm sorry

I'm very disappointed with you, Ace.

>>291056

Send Mr.Ed and maybe Sophie to capture the hedgehog.

>>290819

……

This is fucking brilliant. We tell the wurms this. If the wurms find out that slavers are stealing husbandos they're probably not going to take that too lightly. they might be dumbasses, but they're not degenerate dumbasses

For sanic we need to form rock armour around Mr. Ed, and use whatever means possible to catch up with the edgeheg. Once we're withing ramming range, we skewer sanic and disable her. Once that's done, we use whatever means we can of extracting the information from her that we need. As she's of no value to us after we get the information we drown her in the wine that she tried to use on us in whatever creative way we can think of. It would be problematic if she were left alive because of what she knows.

Lets not go edgy slaver murder. We need her to identify which guards are taking bribes, and at that point, we'll probably get more credit to being an alright person if we turn her over instead of executing her.

I also support turning the wurms against the slavers, and change my mind on killing her. We must think of what will do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.her being able to ID the guards will be a huge help.

>>291269

There must be something we can do to guarantee that she'll make correct IDs instead of giving false accusations. Otherwise she throws good guardsmen under the bus, they get the sentence that the guilty parties should've received, and we're now even further up a creek with no paddles. And since we're not the great wizard we won't be able to use this creek for much of anything.

>>291056

Interrogation is fine, but I'd rather her be dead than free. If she begins to escape, just kill her.

Oh, and just for further details on how we might recruit the wurms, have Ebe sing either a sad song of loss or a rousing song of righteous victory. Then after the performance emerge from the trees like some eccentric theatre director and introduce ourself as a playwrite who is trying to spread awareness of these awful events.

>>291267

>Let's not go edgy slaver murder.

Reported.

>Story continue

"Wurms…" You say gritting your teeth. While you've never fought Wurms before, you're DAMN familiar with the history of Blackfire Pass and how even the martial prowess of the Lizardmen was nothing compared to the power and resiliency of the Wurms. Even the Spellblades, the Monster Witches of the Lizardmen, were almost entirely killed in the fight. As far as you know, none survived when the Danuki came in.

It seems highly unlikely that you would be able to take down multiple Wurms. Taking this into consideration, it's time to figure something out. You can collapse the tunnel and maybe kill the Wurm, and definitely kill the man, but would that even stop her? If that bait, or whatever it is still remains, is it going to attract more Wurms?

Fucking hells, you should just run for it, but you can't seem to do it. You don't have any particular empathy for the people here, but it just… isn't Wizardly. What would a Wizard do, what would a Wizard do…

"Ah, right." You say, snapping your fingers and sending out some magic. The ground rumbles and walls rise up beneath you and your companions, taking you into the air. You leave the unconscious guards down, but manage to bring the merchants and prisoners up. Their horses panic, but are unable to get out from their tethers, and you're pretty sure if you brought them up, they'd run off and die or something. Mr. Ed is just fine though. He watches the whole affair with little concern.

"Ah, the [High Ground]." Sophie says, nodding her head with sagacity. "We have the advantage now."

"Pretty sure Wurms can get up here through this." Sylphie says, frowning. "It's a good delaying tactic anyway but…" She points a thumb behind her. "What about that Hedgehog?"

"Hmm? Oh." You say, staring down at the shadow that is the Hedgehog. "Tch, that's a long shot, and she's too far out of range for my geomancy."

"Think you can hit it?"

"If I had better light…"

"I can spot for you." Sylphie says helpfully. You cock your head and she taps her eyes. "I got cat's eyes you know."

"Do you have nine lives also?" You ask, pulling up a pebble and shaping it with your magic. You could try with metal but… you want to make sure you hit. "Give me some directions here."

"She's maybe… one hundred yards, no wind. An archer could probably hit this, and honestly if Mr. Ed and I went down there…"

"No, let's do this." You say, squaring the shot and opening up your [Mage Sight]. While not a good substitute for any sort of night vision, it allows you to get a better view of her. Taking a deep breath, you channel your magic, shaping the shot and at Sylphie's word, you fire the [Pebble Gun].

The pebble whistles through the night. Sylphie is right, there is no wind, and the pebble flies true and sure, zipping forward to the Hedgehog and…

Missing.

The rock hits the dirt next to the Hedgehog, but she doesn't seem to notice, running further and further away. She's still in your range… probably. Quickly pulling up a new pebble and shaping it, Sylphie gives you further orders on changing your shot, something you find weird that she's know how to do on instinct, but you don't question it and with her directions, fire another pebble. This one sails through the air and hits it's mark, driving the Hedgehog to the ground with a cry that echoes through the Pass.

"Hit confirmed, nice shot." Sylphie says, patting you on the shoulder.

"Where did you learn this kind of stuff?" You ask, shutting off your [Mage Sight]. "You're talking like some kind of war veteran."

"I mean." Sylphie says, shrugging. "I did study some aeromancy, and I'm pretty good at other studies. I think the most important thing is that Veronica would visit sometimes and she felt it was undignified for a lady not to know how to kill something with a bow."

"That…" You say, cocking your head. "Is interesting." There isn't really much you can say to that, but you certainly expected that the Ascendant would do something like that from what you've heard of her. Of course, you'd expect the Wanderer to have done that instead though-

"Don't forget our lessons with Tabitha." Sophie says, waggling a finger.

>>291281

Ah well, there's that. Sighing, you rub your chin and look down at the hole where the Wurm went. "I think the Hedgehog will live okay. She's not going anywhere far, I assume."

"Yeah, she's kind of not moving." Sylphie says, frowning. "Ehm, you didn't kill her, did you?"

"Probably not." She could maybe bleed out, but well, that's a problem for another time. "I have questions for her, she seems smarter than she lets on. But hey, Ebe." You wave to the Gandharva. "Please go collect that speedy Hedgehog. If she gives you any sass, ask her about her pre-teen kitsune friend and the egg-shaped man she has problems with."

"Uhm. What does any of that mean…?" Ebe mumbles before leaping down from the wall to glide toward the Hedgehog.

"Yes, she seems to have had a lot of bases covered." Sophie says, sitting down. "Like the alchohol to keep people from smelling things, or that strange disk she had to summon that Wurm. I wonder what it did."

"Probably resonated through the ground, making any nearby Wurms feel it in the dirt, and then the smell brought them in."

"But they're… underground."

"I don't pretend to understand Wurms."

Sophie hums and taps the wall under her. "Sylphie is right though, Wurms are stupid and don't know when to give up. The Monster Nation used to use them as living battering rams or tunnelers, but they often caused problems for our side as much as to the Deleorians."

"Our side?" You ask, giving her an odd look.

"You know what I mean." She sighs. "Easy to sway, or they used to be anyway. It was surprising to see them take over Blackfire Reach and stay there. We know the Danuki are controlling them, but it's still kind of weird."

"If Dad were here, he'd probably find some way to blow everything up with a bomb of feces or make them into some kind of personal army or something."

"I'm not your damn-." Words cut off in your mouth as your mind jogs with thoughts. Wait a minute, waaaaaiiitttt a minute. Sophie tries to ask you something, but you hold up a finger, thoughts racing.

"The Wurms can be… used." A plan forms in your mind and you begin to smile. "Oh yes, this will work."

Mr. Ed neighs and you Sylphie says, "You're scaring him."

"Nah, it's nothing so bad." You say, shaking your head. "Don't fight them when they arrive." Nothing further is said, and the twins look to each other in confusion. Ebe returns with the Hedgehog, dropping her down at the edge of the wall which you raise up before forming a little cage around the Hedgehog. She groans in pain, but the bleeding doesn't seem bad and you create a sort of roof to the cage by making an outcropping in the larger wall, holding it over.

It takes longer than expected, and yet shorter than you'd feared, before the ground rumbles again and ten feet away from the initial hole, the Wurm bursts forth, disk still on her horn. Her arms are free though, and she turns back to call into the tunnel, "HEY, OVER HERE!"

All around her more emergence holes appear as four more Wurms pop out of the earth. Why they didn't use the same tunnels as before, you don't know, but only one made a mistake and managed to plow through the fire, crying out and swatting at her burning hair as the others laugh.

"Woah! There are men here!" One of the new Wurms says, slithering up to an unconscious guard and picking him up before shaking him like a rag doll. "Aww, I think he's broken."

"Nuh uh, you just don't know how to handle a man." Another says, grabbing one of her own. "Watch." She holds up a hand and raises a pinky up before shaking him and then frowning. "Hum, maybe they are broken."

"Was this wall always here?" Another Wurm says, scratching her head. She slithers up to it and knocks on the wall before pausing, as if waiting for an answer.

"Hello?"

"BUWAH TALKING WALLS!" The Wurm says before diving down and putting her claws over her head, squealing in terror.

"I TOLD YOU ABOUT WALLS." The Wurm with the burned hair says. "I TOLD YOU!

"Uhm… hello?" You call again.

"AHHH IT JUST KEEPS HAPPENING!"

"Hey…" The initial Wurm says, rubbing her chin. "This wasn't here before, I'm sure of it. Weren't there more people also?" She taps her chin before looking up and blinking in surprise. "Oh hey! There they are! How did you get up there?"

"Don't worry about it." You say, shaking your head.

"Oh. Are you going to come down then?"

"Maybe, I think I'd like to talk abou-"

>>291282

Before you can finish, the Wurm slithers up to your wall and digs her hands into it before shouting something as she climbs it faster than you can imagine, looking on in surprise as she digs her claws into the wall and uses her tail to somehow… slither up the wall. You try to snap out crops in the wall to smash her off, but she uses them as handholds and leaps over the edge before holding her hands up as if sticking some kind of landing.

"I did it!" She says, smirking. "Hah, woaaaah we're pretty high up!"

"Drop her." Sophie says with a flat voice. You go to use the magic but then stop and shake your head. No… not worth it. Sighing instead, you raise your hand and say,

"Well that was well done!"

"I got hit in the head once by a rock!"

"Yeah that's… that's something." You sigh before shaking your head. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here."

"Huh?" The Wurm asks looking confused. "Y-you are?"

"Yes, I was afraid you wouldn't come back, and I had something important to tell you."

"Y-you do?" She stutters, placing her claws to her cheeks as they flush. "B-but I just found a Husband and… oh this is so wrong!"

"What? Oh, no, I'm sorry." You say, holding up a hand. "I didn't mean that. I would never suggest such a thing."

"Oh good." She says, placing a hand to her breast and sighing out. "Dollora… if I had to choose between men, my poor brain would be fried." She perks up and points to the other Wurms, saying, "Oh, but my friends would be good for you! You'd make cute babies!"

"Yeah… no, I have something else to suggest." Coughing into your hand, you say, "I couldn't trust this information to anyone else, because I'm afraid the men at the end of the pass are compromised."

"Well, they make deals with us something." The Wurm says, rubbing her chin.

"No, no I mean, I'm afraid they're taking money from bad people."

The Wurm's eyes go wide. "B-bad people? Like the little Lizards?"

"Worse. From mean little sand people." You hiss, and she gasps, pulling back.

"Mean little sand people?!" She says in utter horror before blinking and then cocking her head. "Wait, mean little sand people? The sand people are nice though, they give us cookies sometimes."

"It's all just a trick." You say, shaking your head. "They're giving you cookies because they're afraid of you. I've learned that this mean little Hedgehog wants to come in here and steal all the husbands!"

"But… there's a lot on the ground there…" The Wurm says, pointing down at the guards who are being roughly shaken. "And you're here."

"I'm a lucky one. You see those metal boxes?" She nods. "They were being used to steal husbands from here and take them to the desert!"

The Wurm looks distressed. "But why! There's plenty of husbands to go around!"

"They didn't want you to have them. They want to horde all the husbands for themselves. Have you seen all the wagons coming through with them?"

The Wurm looks very concerned for a moment, thinking this over. As she does, Sophie breathes in your ear, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I got this." You whisper back, and she looks at the Wurm with worry.

"I hope you're right."

"Hrrrrmmm." The Wurm finally says before tapping her head. "You're right, there have been a lot of sand people recently… I didn't know they would be doing that though…"

"Yes, if they keep doing this though, all the other Wurms won't be able to find mates!"

The Wurm looks visibly distressed, rubbing at the disk on her horn. Looking at it up close, you can see that it's more of a dome shape, and atop it sits a layer of incredibly aromatic cheese. She takes a bit and puts it in her mouth, chewing with great worry.

"Is… is that cheese?" You ask, looking astounded.

"Uh huh. Some nice person left it on the ground."

"Yes but… how did you find it?"

"I smelled it."

"You had to be like… how could you smell it?"

She shrugs, still looking concerned. "I don't know, but this kind of cheese is super smelly and all Wurms like it."

{So that's what the smell is…} Sends Erwin. {Cheese. Fucking hells, it's cheese. FUCKING. CHEESE.}

>>291283

"I… okay." You say waving a hand. "Despite the fact that this makes no sense, let's go back to the topic at hand. The mean little sand people."

"Oh!" The Wurm says, clapping her claws together. "Right! Bad things!"

"The Wurms are the only ones we can trust with this. You're the only ones who will believe us, and honestly I think it's because everyone isn't as smart as you are."

"Huh, well, yeah." She says, rubbing a hand over her mouth to hide a smile. "That's true."

"We have to be going, but you… you live here. YOU can stop them! Turn them back to the desert, break the husbands free from their cages! Save your people!"

The Wurm's eyes grow wide as you give the speech and they almost seem to sparkle in the night air. "Woaaaaah, you're right! We can do this! We should do this!"

"So you'll do it?" You say, hope building in your chest.

"Yeah! Just let me ask the Queen first."

"Eh?" You ask, taken off guard. "Your… Queen?"

"Yeah, I mean, this is a pretty important decision." The Wurm says, nodding her head. "We kind of are supposed to tell the Queen about this sort of thing."

"Well… I mean." You say, taken a little off balance. "I… suppose, but can't you tell the others and…"

"I dunno." The Wurm says, sighing. "I'm kind of a little forgetful."

"Then have someone else tell her." Sophie says with a little edge in her voice. Is it because of the circumstances or something else that she sounds so… annoyed.

"But the others are forgetful too." She points to the ground as the same Wurm someone gets her hair on fire again. Tapping her chin for a moment she brightens and says, "Oh! Why don't you tell her for us! You speak really pretty!"

"I don't think that would be a very good idea at a-ahhhh!" Sophie's words are cut off as the Wurm suddenly grabs her. She flails in the arms of the Wurm who hugs her close to her body, the Cat o' Ninetails's bladed tails bouncing off the Wurm's armor.

"Hey, I'm going to take her to talk to the Queen, okay?" The Wurm says before winking at you. "We'll stop these bad people!"

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" You shout, trying to use your magic to stop the Wurm from escaping, but before you can cast, she slides down the wall, digging one hand into the ninety degree angle of rock, using it to slow her descent. Both you and Sylphie furiously cast magic at her, changing the pattern of the wall, use air currents to push her off course, once even make a barrier of ice to lock her in place, but she plows through it all, using incredible strength, even after the weakening of twenty years ago as she slides to the bottom. In desperation, you drop the Wurm into a pit and then pause as you realize what you've done.

"Hey, thanks!" She says, holding Sophie firmly to her chest. "Go to the little buildings up ahead, we'll bring her back later!"

With a final scream, Sophie is dragged into the ground, held by the Wurm as she tunnels. The other Wurms grab the men and dig after the first Wurm until the rumbling finally finishes, and you're left atop your wall, stunned by the sudden events.

"T… they took Sophie." Sylphie says, putting a hand to her mouth. "They took my sister!"

"Rommel…" Ebe says, looking distressed. "Where could those Wurms be going? Do you think they'll really bring her back?"

You grit your teeth and feel like a fool. It wasn't supposed to happen like this, but now Sophie is gone and it's your fault. Gripping your hand tight on your staff, you growl out, "They're going to Blackfire Reach. And if my hunch is correct, when the Danuki find out who she is, things are about to get a lot worse."

>What do you do?

I'm not going to lie, all of the options beforehand would probably have ended up okay for you guys, but you chose to reason with the Wurms.

While not outright dangerous, unfortunately the Wurms are unpredictable. Well, at least she's probably alive, but… you should probably think this over now.

Oh, but you still have your captive if you want to interrogate her!

>>291247

Are you happy now? I tried.

>>291267

>Lets Not go edgy slave murderer

Slaves aren't people, so it isn't murder

>>291282

nice sbahj reference my dude

>What do?

Well, we have to get there before they do, how we do that I don't know. Do we have a map? Is there a short cut we can take with a rockslide? Should we send Ebe ahead and trust her to convice the wurms to let Sophie go?

>>291293

What would Benny Garritine do?

>>291287

Right, we should get one of the merchants awake to take care of the rest. After that, book it to Blackfire Reach, shove the danuki there into an oven calmly tell the wurm queen of the situation, and offer a chance for wide open spaces and lots of men in Ectria because everyone loves wide open spaces.

If we manage to gas the danuki use diplomacy to liberate Blackfire Reach, we could have a potential lizardman army who'd want to return the favor when we'd need it.

A suicide mission already? Sounds like fun. At any rate we need to rescue the girl before the danuki finds out who she is, then we canmaybe liberate blackfire reach and move on to ectria with an army of wurms and/or lizardmen

depending on if we can pull off such a bout of diplomacy as to get the wurms and lizardmen to work together

>>291284

This is why you don't negotiate with stupid people. Let's go to the mountain pass ahead and ask around about this "Wurm Queen". Is it too early to assume that she is just a Danuki in a very poorly made disguise who convinced the other wurms that she is their boss through trickery and lies?

>>291284

We can't let Benny Garritine down by allowing the Danuki menace to live any longer and threaten Deleor, so we need to head to Blackfire Reach immediately to enact JUSTICE upon the cretins and I guess save Sophie while we're at it since we can't let anything bad happen to her.

Getting into the city is the first issue. Taking the main entrance into the city is suicide, both because it's probably heavily guarded heading up and because we wouldn't know where the hell to go once we get inside as there is probably nothing above the surface but rubble, so we can't do that. Luckily for us, we have Geomancy, more specifically [Trench], and Wurms have a habit of not closing their own tunnels, so we can instead follow the tunnel of the Wurm who took Sophie, supporting it with [Trench] to avoid us being buried while we move, which should lead us directly to the queen, or at least close enough to her that we can find her easily. The Wurm messenger still has the cheese with her, so we can have Erwin follow the smell to avoid us being lost in the network of tunnels from the entire Wurm populace when searching for the queen. If the original Wurm attack on the city is any indication, this strategy for entrance works very well, and the Wurms would not expect someone else to use the same strategy on them that they once used themselves, so we would have the element of surprise on our side. Just make sure to use [Survey] to see how the ground around us is moving to avoid being hit by passing Wurms and raising alarms and probably dying from the impact of the collision, of course.

Once we find the queen preferably without being discovered beforehand, we can begin to plan our next moves. If >>291321 is right and quite honestly it wouldn't surprise me, since there were little to no known Lizard survivors of the attack to mention the identity of the queen other than a name, we have yet to find any description of what she looks like and Wurms are dumb enough to believe it, then it shouldn't be too hard to expose her lies though the Wurms will probably reject the Red Herb due to a lack of comprehension and unwillingness to admit they fucked up and massacre a load of innocent people or at the very least out-bullshit her with our own outrageous claims to get the Wurms to turn on her before dealing with any other Danuki in the area. If the Wurm Queen actually is a Wurm, then she is either being tricked by the Danuki or is completely aware of what is going on and is complacent with her people being pawns of the Danuki due to some benefit for her. I'm of the belief that the former is the case, because the queen hasn't been described as intelligent among Wurms, thus implying she shares a similar intellect and gullibility, and if her subjects believe the lie that "Lizards are bad people" then she probably does too in spite of how there has been no mention of the Lizards doing anything to deserve the attack other than having something the Danuki want, which isn't a crime, which probably has more to do with misinformation or trickery from the Danuki than outright malice towards Lizards, but the queen being evil wouldn't be too surprising.

>>291346

The body was too long. Again.

Assuming the Wurm Queen is indeed who she is believed to be and is reasonable, then we should be able to convince her to return Sophie to us peacefully and potentially to follow out the plan we gave to the first Wurm of having them deal with the slavers entering Deleor - bonus points if the Danuki object to this, because that would give us the perfect opportunity to expose them as the demons in fluff they are for not wanting the safety of the Wurm's future husbands and thus show that they don't have the Wurm's best interests in mind, thus giving the Wurms good reason to turn on them. Convincing her to have the Wurms leave Blackfire Reach to go to the much warmer, much more open lands of Ectria may prove to be a hell of a lot more difficult due to the stubbornness of Wurms, but we can probably do it with enough dramatic flair, appeal to emotion and autism and any spells which could benefit our performance like [Amplify]. If she isn't reasonable or is working with the Danuki to take advantage of her subjects for her own gain, then regicide may be a requirement to save Sophie and possibly liberate her subjects, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it not to mention Ace probably wants this event to take up more than one update.

Also, we should quickly interrogate the slaver about the disk and the secret Goblin recipe for the cheese for later usage before killing her and moving on, because we won't have the opportunity to have her identify the corrupt guards on the Deleor side unless the stop in the pass is indeed the only place where guards are present, in which case they're all probably corrupt what with the whole Blackfire Reach and Sophie being kidnapped situation going on of which we need to deal with immediately and we can't risk her getting away were we to let her live.

>>291321

To be fair, the negotiation worked wonders if the reaction to our speech is anything to go by, it's just that Wurms surprisingly follow their hierarchy and the Wurm we were convincing thought it would be a good idea to mention something with such a large impact to her race to her superiors, much to our chagrin.

>>291284

It's a good thing Chaika isn't here! She would've ripped Rommels head off.

>>291287

>Are you happy now? I tried.

I was only joking! And no, that was a terrible insert! You could have her grumble about her fat egg shaped nemesis and concerned preteen friend during the interrogation! Thanks tho…

>>291347

I agree to all of your shit, except for killing the slaver. Better plan instead. We force the slaver to swallow a few chunks of rock that we've marked magically to be able to track. We give the caravan leader two rocks bound together in some fashion that we're also tracking, as a failsafe. She escorts the slaver that just tried to take her and her companions back to the town, to identify the corrupt guards, and face JUSTICE. If the slaver tries to run off, she tanks the two failsafe stones apart, and we, sensing this, heat the stones in the slavers guy up to white hot fury and they cook her from the inside. Towns only a few hours away, they'll be there before the slaver can pass the stones out.

>>291362

Alternatively, if we feel it absolutely necessary to kill her, be productive about it. Impale her, and leave her visible by the side of the path with a large stone placard that reads "Slaver", in Deleoran and Ectrian.

just tell the wurms that were the earth god and our authority superceeds the queen and that we need to see her then do some not so impressive geomancy like make a ring crown of floating rocks swag on to the queen and improvise from there if wurms get in our way throw mud in their eyes and use geomancy to manipulate the mud to go through their eyeballs and attack their brains im assuming they dont want mud destroying the little grey matter they have left or we could just make it sting their eyes and threaten them with eternal pain if they dont co operate since theyre dum and will probably think were the rock god

also we should think about making floating rock swords to attack for us it'd be sick

>>291396

Are you older than 12?

>>291394

This suggestion is a bit ahead of time but I feel like it has potential. But our current mastery is not enough to pull off a bluff of that magnitude.

We would have to go all out with intimidating thematic lighting bolts and rain and have Ebe sing some menacing evil chanting as we slowly rise from a pit of pitch black tar or mud with great flaming eyebrows and shit and amplify our voice with audiomancy to scream "FOOOOOOOOOL! YOU DARE AWAKEN ME!?" while pointing an artificially constructed golem appendage attached to us at the wurm queen.

>>291396

Back to reddit you edgy 8 year old.

Just kill Sanic and any remaining guards. As much as I want these corrupt guards to face JUSTICE, we don't have time for this shit. Impale her like >>291363 suggested. We'll have to investigate later.

Chase the wurms through the tunnels. Does Blackfire Reach have any flak? If not, then Ebe flying Sylphie in is an option.

>>291394

Seconding playing god. We Sveth now. We need to learn [Amplify] so we can do the god voice. We won't have time to read, so maybe ask Sylphie.

>>291413

This is going down hill fast!

Avoid killing if possible. Send the cunts back to face Deleoran JUSTICE.

>>291284

Advocating to attempt to drill after the wurms, Gurren Lagann style.

>>291431

Things went downhill the moment our friend client got kidnapped. This is going to go balls to the wall and we are going to embrace every moment of it.

>>291396

>their internal organs are as weak as any other lifeform

That's assuming a lot about wurm biology

I could use the excuse that my shoulder is still sore from getting it worked on today but mainly it's that I was finishing another project, lost track of time, and am just too tired to write. Basically I'm scrubbing on today, but I'll have no choice but to flagellate myself tomorrow for you. So there's that.

Plenty of suggestions to work with though so let's see…

>>291294

Well, they're kind of… people.

I can't stop myself sometimes from shitty memes

As others have mentioned, there's always a tunnel system, but any larger passageway would be near the outpost. Ebe wouldn't be able to find them since they're…underground.

>>291298

Those merchants are down for the count sadly. Seems like all of the guards were carried away though.

>>291321

It's…possible? But the Queen has been seen before and she's one big ol' Wurm.

>>291346

You don't even know how many Danuki may even be there! But they are scum so it's fine.

Remember, Blackfire Reach has a dormant volcano and is actually rather warm. The Wurms theoretically REALLY like it there.

Goblin cheese recipe. Muh nigga, you FFXIV?

You are also correct on the more than one update thing. Sigh. I always hate myself for missing updates

>>291354

>Implying she wouldn't just murder all the Wurms instead

AND I'M SORRY ALRIGHT.

>>291395

Theoretically within your bounds of possibility at the moment. A little more work and you can make Iron swords do this too.

>>291394

>>291401

>>291413

You want to impersonate… Sveth…

Actually this is fine, I'm cool writing this. Might even work out alright!

>>291413

There are no defenses beyond those built by the Lizardmen that the Wurms don't really use from what anyone can tell. They kind of… aren't really afraid of anything.

>>291437

You don't need to drill terribly much, except maybe for Mr. Ed if you want him down there.

>>291444

Nice digits! But actually yes, Wurms do have fairly normal internal organs except their GI tract which allows them to eat rocks. They get no nutrition from it. They just.

Can eat rocks…

>>291610

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I THOUGHT YOU HAD UPDATED YOU FUCKING FAGGOT

Do you think we can manipulate bones

Since they are made from… welll rock like element's ie calcium

>they arnt afraid of anything

They should fear wizards

Everything

Should fear the power of the wizards

>>291615

Ace explained this offhandedly back in wizardquest.

All living things have a natural internal magical barrier of sorts. This prevents you from performing some of the more gruesome application of magic like using hydromancy to pull out all the blood out of a person's body and the like. The only people who can interact with and bypass this natural magical barrier are necromancers.

Follow using dorill technique. Upon hitting destination, dorill into queen if she is a danuki.

We 14/88 Gurren Lagann now.

>>291639

Oh so i guess we cant pull the iron or sodium from the blood or have the either… oh well would of been pretty cool to be able to use basic chemical reaction to do some crazy science based damage

Still we can at least use the pebble in the eye trick to lobotomies the fuckin jewnokos

>>291618

I am still mad best girl was not chosen

>>291609

Yes, it's fun.

>Remember, Blackfire Reach has a dormant volcano and is actually rather warm. The Wurms theoretically REALLY like it there.

They could still probably be convinced, since the benefits of leaving to somewhere like Ectria wide spaces for tunnelling, easily found mates in the form of slaver groups, not slaving away in a gold mine for no reason, no more hand-rubbing freaks in your home would outweigh the losses it's maybe colder and we don't even know how much colder from a Wurm's perspective, unless there's some other factors we're not currently aware of.

>Theoretically within your bounds of possibility at the moment. A little more work and you can make Iron swords do this too.

We need figure out how to do this at some point then and with better materials, because ranged-melee combat on top of magic is cool and would help nullify one of our issues of being pretty poor in close-quarter combat situations, even with spells like [Build the Wall] at our disposal, were we to gain the necessary weapon skills since then we could swap between melee and ranged combat at will without being put at a disadvantage in either, increasing our versatility overall and lowering our reliance on our companions. Granted, we'd need tutoring on how to use such weaponry effectively and no one in our current party actually uses any weapons, but I'm sure there's someone who could help us.

>>291401

I like this idea, especially since it's definitely something a Wizard would do, not to mention how the Wurms will probably buy it, but let's cut out the great flaming eyebrows part - that's a good way to lose your eyebrows and the rest of your hair and possibly flesh on your face if you're not careful.

>>291646

This is why we need to instead focus instead on inserting things into the bloodstream. Part of why I was shilling so hard for us to get obsidian. Just shove interesting things inside and let it take care of itself.

And since I brought it up. Along with >Wurms do have fairly normal internal organs except their GI tract

Obsidian sandstorm would be very effective at dealing with possibly hostile Wurms. Eyes, Nose or open wound would probably be more effective but I doubt even a Wurm can eat thousands to millions of shards that are sharper then scalpels and come out okay

>>291762

Let's just carve two grooves along the sides of our staff so that we can fill them with obsidian slivers to make a macuahitl. Or for when we need more defensive capabilities we could fill one groove with a stronger stone. Or for facing armoured enemies, we could turn it into a club like when we dueled Bahiti. This, along with orbiting shards of obsidian should be a pretty good melee range loadout.

>Story continue

"We have to get to Blackfire Reach before them." Sylphie says, tapping your wall with her staff. It begins to rumble and lower itself to which you stamp it with your own staff, stopping the motion. She blinks in confusion and then stamps the ground again, lowering the wall, to which you also stamp and stop it again.

"Rommel, what the fuck!" She shouts, glaring daggers at you.

"I think you need to calm down for a second."

"Oh fuck you." She says, leaping from the wall. With some concern, you watch as she slows down with a gust of air before lightly touching the ground and then glaring at you. "This is your damn fault!"

"Oh come on." You say, rolling your eyes and lowering the wall. You make certain that the Hedgehog stays in her cage as you walk over to Sylphie, a light appearing at the end of your staff. "Look, I didn't think things would end up like that, but we need to take a moment to-"

Mr. Ed trots past you and over to Sylphie. She makes to nuzzle him, but he stops before her and snorts, causing her to step back, looking confused. Ebe, with Erwin on her shoulders for some reason, lands next to your group and looks worried, holding her wing-hands together. An uneasy silence spreads through the dark pass and Sylphie turns about, her eyes shining in the wan light of the broken fire.

"Okay, fine, I'm waiting." She throws up her hands and says, "Don't blame me then when my poor sister is killed by a damn Danuki and some retarded bumpkin wurms."

Your eye twitches at her bratty behavior, but you keep yourself under check. The girl just saw her sister, the last piece of her family within reach, taken before her very eyes. You know her pain, and though it makes you want to scream along with her, you keep it within yourself as you say in a slow, deliberate voice.

"Sylphie… I understand, I really do. You need to trust me on this." You hold her gaze and her lip twitches before she turns her to the side and sighs. Nodding, you continue. "Blackfire Reach has not stayed in Wurm hands for years merely because the Lizardman are disparate. It's not even because the Wurms themselves are all that tactically smart, but it's that Blackfire Reach was built by warriors. Even an idiot Wurm could defend them."

"So, you're saying going in there is suicidal." She says in a flat tone.

"No, I'm saying going in there without a plan is suicidal." You say, returning her tone. "Which brings me to the first question. Do you even know where Blackfire Reach is?"

Sylphie looks to the side and then sniffs before saying, "I was going to ask at the outpost."

"Uh huh. So you'd go and ask at a Danuki controlled outpost about where Blackfire Reach is and then walk there through the front gate?"

"I-I mean."

"What do you think would happen if you did that? Did you know that Blackfire Reach has three layers of gates with incredible stonework and defenses that could turn back almost ANY army?"

"I mean… no…"

"Did you also know that once you get INTO Blackfire Reach, all the buildings are miniature defensible structures with open avenues that allow any defenders to rain down death upon any invaders? There isn't even a feasible way for an aerial attack to commence."

"Rommel, I think she gets it…" Ebe says, placing a wing on your shoulder. Not taking your eyes off Sylphie, you tone down your voice and say,

"Not until the Wurms attacked has anyone even gotten past the third gate of Blackfire Reach. I recall reading that the Deleorian Army used its Sorcerers to break down the first two, but the Lizardmen stopped them in their tracks. It was a rout which kept them from ever returning."

Sighing, you rub at your forehead and say, "But the one thing the Lizardmen didn't think of, the one flaw in all their defenses, was that the proud people never looked down." You point to the side and everyone's eyes move to the tunnels.

"That's how the Wurms got in, and that's how we're getting in."

Sylphie looks at the tunnel and then nods her head sharply as Mr. Ed snorts with annoyance. Ebe starts to sweat some while looking at the tunnel, rubbing her wings together in worry. Taking a deep breath, you say, "Get ready, we're chasing after a Wurm."

{What about them?} Erwin sends.

Looking behind you, you see that all the guards were taken, leaving you with the drugged prisoners, merchants, and the captive Hedgehog. You're pretty certain they aren't going anywhere. The Hedgehog though…

Sighing, you walk over to the rocky prison and raise yourself up to look into it without actually lowering the walls. As you do so, you have to push to the side, instinctively using some magic on the metal of blade flying at your face. Thankfully the iron in the blade was able to be manipulated enough to save your life! Feeling annoyed, you look down into the prison and say, "Do you want to be stuck on a pole as a warning?"

>>291820

"Well, to be honest, I thought I would kill you there." Nane says, shrugging before laying down and wincing at her leg. Looking at it with the light of your staff, you can see that your pebble buried deep into the muscle of her leg. It's probably why she's not dead.

"Good try at least." She nods her head as you thank her. "So, tell me why I should keep you alive?"

"You want to know who all the corrupt guards are to purge them and allow Deleor to have the semblance of a nation of JUSTICE?"

"Uh… well." You scratch your chin. "Yeah, that's a good reason." You also raise a finger and say, "I'd like to know what kind of cheese you're using to bait the Wurms."

She chuckles, "I didn’t get this far without having a damn plan, alright?"

She sighs and leans her head back to the ground. "I heard your little speech though, you're leaving off to Blackfire Reach, yeah?"

"Yes."

"But you can't exactly let me go, huh?"

"You're not going far. Besides, I'll let the merchants and your former captives deal with you."

"Hmmm. Better chances than dying." She says, shrugging. "Fine. First, the cheese recipe is just Limburger with Holstaurus milk. I have no idea why this makes it more pungent, but those damn Wurms can smell it from a mile away."

"Anyway…You want to know who the corrupt ones are?" She looks around before putting a hand to her mouth and saying, "All of them. All of them are corrupt."

"Eh?"

"You heard me. All the guards are bought and paid for by Danuki. Oh, maybe some of the guards are fine in Borne, but here? Nah, the ones stationed here get a nice cut for keeping the pass open to trade."

"I see." You say, pulling out your [Port-o-Glass]. The Hedgehog looks at it with confusion and you say, "Oh, I'm just informing someone about this."

"A Port-o… where were you storing that?"

"Please, these are usually half this size these days." You say, finishing the message to Chaika, who had given you her Leymail address before leaving. "Good information to have, thanks."

She glowers at you and you smirk before saying, "What, did you think I'd go to Blackfire Pass and die before I could tell anyone? Did you think that maybe you'd get out and tell the Danuki to take countermeasures?" Chuckling, you raise a rock and say,

"I hope your captives take good care of you."

"Oh fuck yo-" She says before the rock strikes her in the forehead, knocking her out cold.

Lowering the wall and pulling out copper from the ground, you fashion a chain to keep her tethered to the ground. It's not a great chain, and will probably break easily, but it's on her wounded leg. Let her have fun breaking that shit.

"You didn't kill her?" Sylphie says, walking up to you with the others in tow.

"Nah." You say, shaking your head. "She at least held up her end of the bargain. If the ones she wronged feel otherwise, well, that's their own buisness."

"Hmm." Sylphie says, tapping her chin. She walks over to her and pulls out some ink from her bag. With quick motions, she writes the word. "SLAVER" on her forehead before putting the bottle back in her back. Nodding her head, she smirks at you and says, "Let fate decide, eh?"

"And I thought your sister was the wild one."

"Sophie isn't here." She says, eyes growing hard. "But she'll be back soon."

"Right then." You say, channeling your magic. "You study [Trench]?"

"Of course." She says, sniffing and popping a [Mana Potion]. Not even looking at it with distaste, she drinks the bottle in one go and throws the vial to the side and walks into the tunnel.

>>291821

"A-are we there yet?"

You turn your head to Ebe, looking at the Gandharva in the fey light of your staves. She's sweating more than the warm tunnel should make her, and her normally caramel skin seems pale. With her looking about in distress, you can easily see that she's discomforted by the tight confines of the tunnel.

Though your progress is good making the tunnel large enough for Mr. Ed and Ebe, it's going slower than you would like. Sylphie casts [Trench] with gusto, putting an exceptional amount of effort into tunneling. You actually have to struggle to match her pace, but even still, it feels like this tunnel is never ending. You've lost track of how long you've been going, and even Erwin scouting ahead has yet to find the exit. More than once you've found a tunnel that intersects the one you're in, but you figure that Wurms don't turn much and will plow on forward. What simple creatures they are.

"Not yet, hang in there." You say, trying to soothe Ebe.

"I-I'm alright." She says, wiping her brow. "Don't think I'm asking because I'm scared or anything."

"Do you want a rock?" You ask, grabbing something from the trenching. A geode, and using your magic you crack it open to show purple quartz. "It's shiny!"

"I… I think I'm fine without any rocks, thank you."

"No one appreciates rocks…" You mutter to yourself, storing the rock and adding to your [Quartz] collection.

Mr. Ed neighs and Sylphie grunts, "He says you should just sing."

"It feels so stuffy in here, I feel like if I sing all the air will be gone!"

"Fine then." The Cat o'Ninetails says, shrugging and going back to digging.

You watch her as she works, feeling a little worried at her change in attitude. On one hand, seeing her focused like this is a godsend for her magic, but on the other hand, seeing the happy go lucky Monster being so cold fills you with a melancholy. But what can you do? Her reasons are justified so you can't really talk her out of it. It's not like you're even related to her, so why should you care as long as she gets the job done?

{Hey… I'm smelling something. It's… it's that cheese from before!}

"Where?" Sylphie shouts, clearly listening or even talking with Erwin. It's so damn inconvenient to have your secret thoughts being heard by others, damnit.

{Not terribly far ahead. I think I'm smelling something else to… a little bit of sulfur?}

"The volcano." You say, nodding your head. "We're close."

"Volcano?" Ebe says, cocking her head. "What's that?"

"In the center of Blackfire Reach is a mountain filled with lava, which keeps the whole place exceptionally warm. It's a wonderful source for forging fantastic weapons, and thankfully it's been dormant for centuries. In fact, it has only erupted once in recorded history."

"Erupted?" She asks. "What's that mean?"

"It threw magma through the skies and filled it with Ash. The devastation actually shifted the land and created the Mountain Pass, as well as shaping the area to be colonized by the Lizardmen." Sylphie says with neutral tone. "It's simple history."

"She's correct." You say, nodding your head. "The lingering smell of sulfur shows how close to the volcanic mountain we are. Thankfully if we could smell it, we'd be a little too close for comfort."

{Yeah, it's faint. But I think we're getting close!}

Nodding to Sylphie, the two of you power ahead and before you know it, you can smell something other than the stuffy air of the tunnel. Stopping short of the exit of the tunnel, you look through Erwin's eyes and see the tunnel entering into a first floor of a building. There you see the disk, cheese still upon it, sitting on a table though the room is deserted. With that in mind, you enter the room with your full group, making the exit hole large enough for the horse to enter.

"Well, we're here." You say, helping Ebe out of the tunnel. She sighs in relief, shaking herself and rubbing her wings. As she looks around the room, she pulls her ghitar before her and nods, holding it like a weapon.

"So, we've entered Blackfire Reach." Sylphie says, looking around the room. What used to be the nice first floor of a Lizardman house now lays ruined, with the majority of the furniture broken, yet still being used somehow. Only the stonework fixtures remain without ruin, though stairs leading upward you assume would show a rather intact household. A corner of cloth is where the Wurm probably sleeps and overall it feels like some kind of prison.

"Maybe the Wurms like living like this?" You mumble to yourself, to which Sylphie cocks her head, giving you a confused expression.

"Hey, is that…?" Ebe says, pointing to the blankets. You follow her gaze to see that there's something under them, and you carefully walk toward the blankets before using your staff to push them aside and reveal…

>>291822

The naked form of the unlucky guard, still unconcious. Ebe yelps and Sylphie groans as you cover him back in the blankets. Sighing, you turn back to the others and say, "Okay, I think it's time to go."

Mr. Ed snorts and then neighs a few times. Sylphie frowns but nods her head. "I agree, we do stick out like sore thumbs."

"Can you turn us invisible?"

"It's not invis-" Sylphie says before shaking her head. "Yeah, I can. Should be enough to fool some Wurms anyway. Pack in close."

With a wave of her hand, you feel a shiver as the light about you wavers. Moving out of the ruined entrance to the building, you enter Blackfire Reach proper.

To say that Blackfire Reach was grand would be exactly the right words. Blackfire Reach WAS grand. All around you sit powerfully built structures made of hard hewn stone, often chisled out of the very mountain. While not beautiful like Loveura or regal like Sanctifrond, Blackfire Reach is imposing, a legacy of martial prowess.

Everything is built with the thought of military might in mind, but even in the middle of plazas ringed by defensive structures you can see statues of powerfully built Lizardmen, the rare Salamanders, and even a large, half-destroyed structure of the nobility of the Reach. Curiously there is even one of a man standing shoulder to shoulder to a Lizardman, both looking proud and powerful.

Of course, all of them show signs of being unkempt, and even though it hasn't been a century since the fall, most are damaged or utterly destroyed. The tunnels dotting the stonework floors lay claim to the lack of foresight of the Wurms, and the only things you see in good shape are the recently laid minecart tracks running through parts of the town deep from the mines where large supplies of gold are said to exist. Gold that not even the Lizardman knew were present…

As you walk through the town, keeping yourself to the shadows, which are plentiful due to the high peaks and the imposing structures, you see many Wurms slithering about the town, some with men walking by them. They don't seem unhappy, on the contrary, they seem rather content, talking with their husbands who also seem content, if nothing else.

"Huh?" A nearby Wurm asks, making you stop in place as she looks about in confusion. "Did you hear that?"

"Eh?"

"Yeah, yeah I heard like, 'ka-clop, ka-clop. I've never heard that before!"

"Maybe it's just some rocks falling."

"Ain't no rock I've never heard."

"Maybe it's a new kind of rock."

"Woaaaah, a new kind of rock? Is that possible."

"Well, there's new food sometimes, so why can't there be new rocks?"

"Ahhh, you're so smart!"

"Hmph, that's why the Queen made me a mine chief!"

"Woaaaah." The initial Wurm says, nodding her head. "That's true, that's true. Say, did you hear that Ing'rid brought an outsider to the Queen?"

"Of course I did. She also brought some nice men too." She chuckles, "Of course, not as nice as my man. We're going to have an egg soon you know!"

"Ahhh, congratulations! Think it will be a girl?"

>>291823

The two Wurms continue blathering on before slithering away and you sigh in relief, thanking the Gods that the Wurms are so dumb. Walking through the town further, you look for signs leading toward Blackstone Palace, the old seat of the Blackfire royalty. It doesn't take you terribly long to find it, and soon enough you hide in the shadow of a ruined building, looking up the pass to the path toward the Palace.

Sitting alone from the rest of the structures, built fully into the walls of the mountain, the Palace is a large, imposing structure ringed by its own set of walls. Looking about, you can see the normally undisciplined Wurms sitting at attention, hammers held in their hands. You can't even imagine the damage these Wurms could perform with those hammers, and while they still look bored, the way they sit up as someone approaches gives you pause.

A palanquin, held by aloft by four Wurms, makes its way to the entrance of the walls and the guard Wurms halt it, one slithering forward to look into the Palaquin. You see a slim hand appear and wave her away, to which the Wurm bows her head and slithers backward. As the curtain falls back, your eyes narrow when you see a flash of brown, fluffy calves.

"Danuki." You hiss, hand tightening on your staff. "We have to get in there."

"How?"

"Well, I was planning on saving this for later, but I think now might be the time." You look to the others and say, "Sylphie, I need an [Amplify] spell cast, Ebe, I need you to play some suitably powerful music, and Mr. Ed? I need to ride you."

Everyone looks at you, flummoxed as you prepare yourself mentally for what you're about to do. Of course the Danuki won't buy it, but if you can get the Wurms on your side then…

{Uh, did anyone else see that?} Erwin sends, and your train of thought is ruined.

{Huh? What are you talking about?}

{Over there, in that ruined building.} Erwin says, nodding toward it. You look over at the building and see nothing until- a movement in the shadows. Two forms dashing between buildings. They move on two legs, but what the hells is that all about?

{Any idea?} You ask Erwin and he shakes his head.

{No, but something feels… dangerous about them.}

"Hmm." You say, rubbing your chin while the others look at you, confused at your sudden change in demeanor.

"Uh, Rommel. You alright there?" Sylphie says, waving her hand before your face.

>What do you do?

Yeah so, time to be Sveth, right?

>>291824

While this may sound stupid, I have an idea. Come in and yell out at the top of your lungs "Liar, usurper, filthy cretin!" Then go on a rant over how the danuki isn't a queen and is simply tricking the worms. Introduce yourself as lord of the mountain while showing off fancy geomancy too. Hell, make a crown out of rock and metal to go with it. Apply [Amplify] with a booming voice and Ebe's music to make us really dramatic.

Point being we use the wurms' low intelligence, plenty of flare, and a heaping helping of bullshit to get the wurms on our side.

>>291824

Drop the Sveth act for now and join Tabitha's and Alice's party. They must have a plan of some sorts that we could help with.

>>291824

Those two skulking in the shadows gee, I wonder who they are and what they're planning are clearly doing the same thing we are of sneaking around Blackfire Reach and trying to enter the palace, which means they probably have their own plans for entry which are going to differ wildly from our own. Right now both parties are in stealth, and ideally it should stay this way until we have a better opportunity to go loud and break out our original idea of impersonating Sveth or whatever other over-the-top bullshit we can come up with, because otherwise Sophie is going to find herself in an even worse situation than the one she's currently in when the Danuki start to panic at the supposedly impregnable Blackfire Reach being broken into, this time without their knowledge. Unfortunately for us, while the other party is likely aware of our position due to the way in which Sylphie's invisibility isn't being cast to manipulate light from their angle and I'd like to think at least best girl isn't as stupid as a Wurm, the jury is out on Alice's intelligence, they probably aren't aware of our conundrum with saving Sophie and are as such currently a powder keg waiting to explode and make our lives much worse when they break out of stealth to breach the palace by force.

Making contact with the other party isn't a practical option right now, partly because reaching them without giving away either of our positions is nigh impossible with all the guards and of how little time we would have to reach them before they theoretically act, but mostly because, with the exception of Sylphie of whom best girl knows personally, anyone who reaches out to them would give them reason to believe that they're compromised and to reveal themselves, only this time with both parties in the worst possible positions they could be in. We can't really wait too long either, both because Sophie's life may be in immediate danger and because there is no way to be sure of what the other party will do and when, so we're going to have to make the first move and hope the other party can improvise off of our actions.

As for what to actually do, we can either try to distract the guards and Danuki at the entrance, who would have no reason to suspect anyone to be able to enter Blackfire Reach in the first place, or we can ignore the entrance entirely and use our Geomancy to make a new entrance into the palace out of sight of the guards. The former might be a little more difficult to perform, and has the higher chance of going horribly wrong or at the very least making the guards in the palace become alert, so I would suggest we take the latter option. In terms of making our own entrance, it may be hard to get to the walls to take them apart with the guards in the area, not to mention how obvious the aftermath of our work would be due to the presentation of the walls being ruined, so I propose we use [Trench] as we did to enter the city before to dig from our current position to go underneath the walls and the palace to enter the building in a more convenient location. Tunnelling will be slower than previously, what with us not having a pre-existing tunnel from another Wurm to use as both guidance to our destination and as to lessen the amount we need to dig, but it will still be quicker and safer than our other options. Just make sure to use a modified [Survey] or something when digging so that we don't pop out of the tunnel and straight into a group of Wurms, because that would be awkward as hell.

Assuming the other group is watching what we're doing, they should hopefully cancel whatever plans they had prior, thus preventing a potential catastrophe, to use the advantage we've just presented them with by attempting to follow us underground, because it should be clear to them by our actions that we're infiltrating the palace ourselves and as a result can be trusted with knowledge of their presence, given the similar goals. As such, not collapsing the tunnel behind us while we dig should give them ample opportunity to realise that we're actively trying to help them and to then reach us without being detected - just make sure to have Sylphie near the entrance to both hide the entrance from everyone else, by using her light-warping spell and by blocking the it with her inside should someone undesirable approach, and to be a familiar, trustworthy face for the other party to meet when they reach us. If all goes well, then we will have breached the palace without drawing any attention and gained two experience party members to assist with our plans to save Sophie, kill all the Danuki present and maybe liberate Blackfire Reach via diplomacy and bullshit.

If the other party is not who it almost certainly is, then I'm going to feel very silly when everything falls apart.

>>291853

>Sylphie's invisibility isn't being cast to manipulate light from their angle and I'd like to think at least best girl isn't as stupid as a Wurm, the jury is out on Alice's intelligence

Lizardmen are immune to every type of mental, audible and visual manipulations so as long as she looks in our direction, she should see right past Sylphie's spell. So it would be as simple as drawing attention to our location without breaking our disguise. Which can easily be done by crumbling down one of the many loose structures around with our geomancy that the locals will not think twice about considering the state of disrepair that the town is in.

Also something i forgot to mention.

>"Ahhh, congratulations! Think it will be a girl?"

Fucking annihilated my sides. Top ten Wizardquest series quotes material right there.

>>291831

>Sadly the usual artist got carpal tunnel and won't be able to finish the other piece I wanted soon… Guh, I don't want to have to go hunting for someone else who does design work.

Does this mean a return to the bad old days of early Wizardquest art Ace?

>>291872

>Lizardmen are immune to every type of mental, audible and visual manipulations so as long as she looks in our direction, she should see right past Sylphie's spell.

I was under the impression Sylphie's pseudo-invisibility involves refraction of light around herself and any desired objects or persons, leading to light coming from one side effectively bending around the spell and returning to normal one the other side, giving the appearance when viewed that the object the light should be hitting is not present. Lizards are immune to mental manipulations of their senses and can detect illusions, but Sylphie's spell is not an illusion that magically tricks the user into seeing something different from reality and is instead a clever abuse of physics that changes the direction of light - if a Lizard could see through it from the hidden angle, then they would also theoretically be able to see through rippling water clearly with no refraction and be unable to see any reflections since both of those involve the direction of light being altered, and that would be weird.

>>291898

Actually your observation would make Lizardmen unable to see, period.

Gee I wonder who this could be.

I reckon we should make contact with these two since we know they are allies investigate them. We should go ahead with the Sveth act while keeping the rest hidden, but if that fails then we go loud and try to kill the danuki and rescue Sophie. With the danuki out of the picture, it is only a matter of time before all semblence of order amongst the wurms falls apart and Blackfire Reach falls.

However, it is of utmost importance that we succeed in Plan A, because Sophie is in danger, the remaining danuki need to be eliminated, any ties between danuki and wurm must be eternally severed and the pass secured against the slavers and danuki. As for the details of how we will execute the Sveth act, we need to convince them that danuki are evil and lizards are good. Come in as a benevolent, kind god. All smiles and radiance for our beloved daughters. However, as soon as the danuki opens her whore mouth we get mad and silence her with the god voice. Scold them for forgetting The Teachings and working with the danuki. Tell them about all the awful things they do like helping the husband-thieves, stealing wurm eggs and eating them, pickling baby wurms in alcohol and selling them to bad people, throwing little boys off big cliffs because they think it's funny, turning them against their lizard sisters and even stealing cakes! When the topic of evil lizardmen comes up, inform the wurms that the danuki are lying and it's actually danuki who do these awful things and they just like to blame them on lizards. We would know, we're a god after all. Then tell them that the reason why everything bad has happened has been because of danuki. Pregnancy rituals not working? Danuki poisoning the wells. Not enough cheese to go around? Danuki steal all the cheese so that wurms do everything they say. Husbands keep breaking? Danuki poisoning men to make their bones weak. Not as strong as you were 20 years ago? Danuki black magic.

The entire reason why we and Dollora made the lizardmen was just so that they could protect the wurms from the mean danuki. Then the mean danuki tricked the wurms into killing their sisters, so that nobody could protect them. Now all sorts of bad things are happening to wurms and wurms are being tricked into doing bad things.

>>291853

>>291872

Sylphie is a skilled luxomancer. It is the manipulation of light and nothing else. Tabitha The mysterious stranger will not be able to see us.

I was thinking about doing a sneak update today but I was out for way longer than expected and here we are. Well… I guess there's tomorrow.

Oh and I updated the pastebin finally. Sorry about that delay! I even added the songs that Ebe knows and some spells that Sylphie knows. Some of them may seem… new to you.

>>291841

Well, this could work with the whole Sveth thing.

>>291842

Seems most people sort of want the Sveth thing. And who is this Tabitha? I don't know that name.

>>291853

Impossible to know who they are. Just, there's no way you could know this. How weird!

>>291872

>>291898

This spell does bend the light to make someone seem invisible. It would affect Lizardmen who are highly resistant to even immune to magic that affects their minds directly, like Illusions. This magic would affect her much as a fireball would! Unless she like…put her mind into believing the fire doesn't exist and… she'd still probably be burned.

Hearing people laugh at my jokes makes me very happy

>>291878

No, I hope not. She wants to do some work and I want to pay her! Looking for new design artists sucks…Some of the original Wizardquest art was good for the price mang. Dat Selene

>>292035

Red Pill and entire race from on high. My God.

Why is lead hard to come by? Does Deleor have piss-poor deposits of it or something? Let's name the lead ore Barry.

Also, shouldn't that little illumination spell be listed too?

>>292083

>Barry

I support this wholeheartedly. Also after checking our info sheet, it seems we have some more buddies to name.

>Rock Collection

>[Copper Chunks]

>Pieces of raw copper pulled with your [Survey]. You name it "Greg"

>[Quartz Clusters]

>Clusters of Quartz dug up with your [Survey], >you name one of them, "Acilis"

>[Iron Chunk]

>A chunk of iron dug up with your [Survey]. >You name him, "Ronnie"

>[Tin Ore]

>A few pieces of tin ore. Very cheap!

>[Lead Ore]

>Two ounces of lead ore. Very expensive!

>[Obsidian]

>Chunk of black, glass like volcanic rock. Very sharp!

>You gain [Limonite]

You're just holding this ore for Erwin, because it's his. He should name it.

So let's see. We can call our tin buddy "Stan". Our Obsidian can be "Donte" because he is edgy. And lastly we should egg Erwin on to name his limonite.

>>292033

Technically they would still see light coming directly from it's source, as well as colours were light to pass through a coloured lens or another transparent object without any form of refraction occurring. That said, having your view be patches of bright light and darkness and nothing else means you might as well be blind.

>>292035

>Sylphie is a skilled luxomancer. It is the manipulation of light and nothing else. Tabitha The mysterious stranger will not be able to see us.

If the spell redirects all light, then yes. But given how we've spent our time moving from shadow to shadow instead of in broad daylight and how Sylphie says the spell "Should be enough to fool some Wurms anyway", I don't think the spell works from all angles or at the very least isn't perfect and leaves some gaps, both of which would leave us visible to someone who is perceptive to their surroundings, of which we can probably guess one of the two shadowy figures is.

>>292087

>Our Obsidian can be "Donte" because he is edgy.

This is a great idea. Here's hoping he isn't as edgy in personality as he is in form.

>>291853

>best girl

Tabitha = best girl

Damn straight she's best girl!

Possibly good waifu material! She's a sexy, mature woman. (Rommel has a thing for sexy mature women). His group badly needs someone with experience and professionalism (eye candy).

P.S

If Alice starts running her mouth:

Encase her feet in rock, use air to knock her over on to her ass, then trap her hands in rock.

Then tie a long piece of rope around her neck (loosely) then hand the other end to Tabitha. Ask her politely to; "Please keep your bitch on a short leash" and "not wanting to deal with her puppies".

If Alice threatens Rommel, ask if she wants him to; "cool her off" with some ice to her butt.

>>292114

>>292127

While I wholeheartedly agree with this idea, I think you guys may be thinking way too far ahead. Rommel in his current state is seriously mistrustful of monsters and opposed to any kind of relations, as a result of him being a classical Wizard as was the norm before the Grand Wizard decided to fuck with Solos' design using the Groodle Tether and as a result of his heavily implied prior issues with monsters in the past, so he's unlikely to pursue such endeavours let alone consider changing his stance on the matter at the very least until much later in the story.

On the topic of that spoiler text, I don't think that theory is the case. It's certainly a possibility, yes, but with lines in the final thread of Wizardquest 1 like:

>She sniffs a few times before crying into your chest. You stroke her head softly before you feel the soft touch of a furred paw on your hand and look back to see Selene standing there, Saya, Blake, Hala, and even old Hardinclouse smiling wanly and wiping their eyes beside you as Tabitha finally was able to let go of her pains.

>She takes on a faraway look, "I suppose if Blake wasn't truly my destined Husband, then there's someone else out there worthy."

…It can be inferred that she's mostly over it and is looking toward the future with at least some hope. And that was over 20 years ago; surely that amount of time would be more than enough to recover from such issues, or at the very least learn to live with them until someone else can fill that void and more.

>>292167

>I think you guys may be thinking way too far ahead.

Ok, you have a point there. Rommel has his problems and he's still too raw to beat best girl in a duel. But still… Tabitha deserves a happy ending. And it's not out of the question. He doesn't have to worry about her jumping his bone. Unlike her sidekick!

(how do you blank shit out)?

>>292169

Read the FAQ, newfag.

>>292114

I'm starting to think you may not like Alice.

>Story continue

{Leave it for now.} You send to Erwin. Whatever these skulkers want, it's none of your business. If they're here to loot some gold, more power to them. You have zero interest in anything other than reclaiming Sophie and getting the fuck out. Well, okay, maybe you have an interest in foiling some Danuki plots, but that's secondary to that first thing.

"Yeah, fine." You say, shaking your head. "Alright, like I was saying, we're going to put on a show for them."

"Is that wise?" Sylphie hisses, to which you say,

"They're Wurms, they bend to authority. And what greater authority is there than a God?"

"You… are going to summon an Avatar?" She asks, cocking her head.

"No, no, I'm going to pretend to BE a God."

"Ehm, I'm not certain you can pull off a good Dollora with those hips."

"Good thing I'm going to be Sveth instead."

Ebe, Sylphie, and Mr. Ed all look at each other with incredulity. Erwin merely sighs and rolls his eyes as you walk over to the horse and ask, "Please let me ride you?"

"We really shouldn't." Sylphie says, but Mr. Ed snorts and waves his hoof at her, to which she rolls her eyes and says to you, "Oh very well then, we don't have the time to bicker."

"Great. Ebe, get ready something… heavy."

"Uhm. Heavy?"

"Something full of power and thunder, something hard as the mountain."

"I don't really… do that." She says, looking confused. I more, you know, wave my hips at breasts at people.

"It's fine." Sylphie says, rubbing her forehead. "I'll figure something out, just play as well as you can to his insanity."

"Right then." You say, removing your shirt (But putting your [trenchcoat] back on) and showing your fairly toned chest, much to the blushing of the two Monsters. You roll your shoulders and, mounting Mr. Ed with only a little difficulty, you say. "Let's do this."

You seem to appear from nothing to the eyes of the Wurms who all look at you with mix of surprise and lust, their eyes going wide at seeing a relatively topless man in their midst. One of the nearer ones slithers up, but you point to the ground and a pillar of stone erupts before her, making her back away in confusion. As you lower your hands, you feel a magic build up in front of you, the [Amplification] spell, and you hear a powerful strum of the guitar, blasting forward with so much force that you can almost feel a palpable wind.

The Wurms stare at you in wonder as the heavy, unearthly sounds of Ebe's guitar play, the notes a little clumsy, but whatever it's Wurms you're playing to. As her cords build up in intensity, you raise your hands and fireballs spring to life before them as the earth trembles and shakes. Every Wurm in half the city rushes in at the sounds and you open hold your hand high up into the air.

"What is that sound?" A nearby Wurm asks, eyes growing wide.

"It's a Devil screaming!"

"It's an Angel singing!"

"It's the pounding of Sveth's hammer upon the anvil of time!"

"It's fucking awesome!"

"It is a gift for you, my daughters." You say, spreading your arms wide, your voice echoing with the power of the [Amplification].

"B-But who are you?" A little Wurmlet asks, slithering up next to you.

Smiling, you reach your hand down to pat her head as you say, "I am Sveth. The God of Earth and Fire."

The Wurms start chatting to themselves in loud, over-excited tones. It's not every day that a God appears out of nowhere and starts playing some pretty neat music. One of the human men points a finger at you and says, "Hey, you're just a-"

You silence him by creating a bolt of lightning that booms through the city, and shakes the very foundations, loose rocks crumbling around you. Sitting up tall on your mighty steed, you say, "I AM THE LORD OF THE MOUNTAINS."

Softening your tone, you continue, "I have come because for too long have my children toiled under the lash of an unjust rulers. The Wurms were not meant to spend their lives living in hovels, eeking out an existence under the yoke of tyrannical Danuki."

"But the Danuki are the friends of the Queen!" A Wurm shouts, to which all the others nod their heads in agreement. "The Queen says they are alright, so they must be alright!"

"Who do you trust more? Your Queen, or your God?"

>>292209

The Wurms grow quiet then, or at least quieter. They murmur amongst themselves, uncertain, and you take the opportunity as Ebe's admittedly cool music plays from behind Sylphie's little trick of the light to scan the surroundings. From where Erwin had picked out the two intruders, you see a human-looking female face with long, black hair that spots your gaze and quickly ducks back into the cover of the building. Could be a Monster but you have a feeling that it isn't, at least not one of the more monstrous ones.

Turning Mr Ed around to the guards in front of the Palace walls, you make the ground rumble and large pillars of rock appear about them, which you spray with fire. The guards shake a little and you say, "I will speak with your Queen, for the sake of my people!"

"B-But we aren't supposed to." One of them says, her hammer shaking in her hands.

"Shhh! Don't talk back to a God!" The other says, slapping her shoulder. She turns and quickly opens the gate before saying, "P-Please come in Mr. Sveth sir."

"Thank you, my child." You say, and without saying anything, Mr. Ed walks in through the open gateways. You pause a moment inside the gate and turn to address the crowd again, voice booming, "When I return, you will be FREE!"

This did not give the intended effect to the Wurms present, but some of them look about and chat with excitement, wondering what this crazy strange God is going to do and also what the hell does freedom mean?

As they bicker, you wait for Sylphie, Ebe, and Erwin to slip by under the guise of her little [Trick of the Light]. You create some extra fire for effect to obscure them and once they're secure, you turn to enter the grounds yourself when you notice someone else slip by in your haste. Two forms, one in some armor the other with a long… tail? Before you can say anything, they vanish into the inner courtyard of the Palace and out of your sight.

Frowning, you continue forward, accentuating each of Mr. Ed's footfalls via the amplification spell. Ebe's music has stopped, but it had the intended effect, and on the same token it kind of makes your own blood pump. Devil screaming, huh? Hmph, maybe!

As Mr. Ed moves forward slowly, but surely, you see movement at the Palace proper as more guards shuffle about with anxiety and you see a short woman with brown hair wearing an elaborate suit, a brown and black striped tail swishing behind her. She huffs and then walks forward, her calves covered with brown, fluffy fur, before standing before you on the path. You come within fifty yards of her and she shouts, "That's far enough!"

"Ah, Daughter of Dollora." You say, keeping up the charade. "Why do you bar my entrance to this Palace?"

"Because, you're just a pretender." She says, narrowing her eyes. "Just some juiced up sorcerer trying to fool these innocent girls into believing you're something you aren't and I won't have it!"

Pointing at you, she shouts, "Get him!"

The Wurms shuffle about nervously and you hold out a hand saying, "Peace, Daughters. Do not listen to this trickster's words."

They look about with confusion as you point to the Danuki and say, "This creature, a Danuki, why do you listen to her?"

"B-Because the Queen says so." One says, holding her hammer close to her. "And… I thought we were also Daughters of Dollora."

"Oh, my dear child." You say as the guitar strums once again, making the assembled Wurm's eyes go wide. "You are creatures of the earth, and thus my domain. How else could you swim through the ground as a mermaid swims through the sea?"

The Wurms nod their heads, seeming to understand this a little.

"Foolishness and Heresy!" The Danuki says, pointing at you. "Don't listen to this imposter, did you forget the six million Danuki that were killed by the Lizardmen?"

The Wurms turn back to her, seeming distraught. One says with a timid voice, "N-No, of course not. That's why they had to be removed, because they lived on our promised land and did such mean things."

>>292210

"Indeed!" The Danuki says, sniffing. "You and your Queen are our greatest allies and I would not see all you have worked for taken from you!"

Your stare at the Danuki with wide eyes that bore directly into her soul. Good Gods, you knew that the Danuki had to use some wise words to get these Wurms in here, but to make up that kind of shit? There aren't even six million Monsters in all of fucking Deleor! She is only slightly unsettled, and when she tries to speak again, you hear Ebe's guitar boom again, silencing her.

"What if I told you that this Daughter of Dollora speaks only lies? That there was no Horacaust, that the Lizardmen were not what they seemed to be?" When they look at you with concern you say, "Take me to your Queen. There I shall explain all to you."

"Preposterous!" The Danuki says, veins in her neck bulging. "You cannot allow him to see the Queen, I shall not allow it!"

"But… but the Queen should speak with a God." One of the guard Wurms says before all the others nod their heads in response. The Danuki looks about the assembled Wurms and then groans, throwing her hands up in the air and then turning to you.

"Fine, but when the Queen sides with me, your head will be adorned on a spike to let false Gods lay witness!" She snaps her fingers and most of the Wurm guards follow her, leaving you with one who looks very nervous and squeaks out,

"F-Follow me."

Turning about, she slithers quickly forward into the Palace, far outpacing you, and Mr. Ed slows down instead of keeping up with her, which effectively leaves you alone. Oddly enough, no other guards are in the area, and you send a message to Mr. Ed, which you know Sylphie will intercept, to which the rest of your party falls in near you, keeping the mock-invisibility up.

"What the hells, that worked." Sylphie says, whispering to you. "I didn't think it would get us this far!"

"WELL." You say but cutting off, your voice amplified. Sylphie gulps and dispells it, to which you continue. "Well, me either, but I think Ebe's playing really stole the show."

"I have no idea what I'm doing." Ebe hisses back. "This is not Ectrian music!"

"No… but it's now your music." You say, nodding your head before looking back at the Palace. "We should be going in soon, we're going to need to word this well to get Sophie out of danger and-"

A sword tip appears before your throat. Though it's pointed from the ground, the steel blade is aimed with perfect precision and you stop in surprise, too stunned to leap back from the blade. You make to say something when an angry, female voice says, "What kind of danger is Sophie in?"

You make to speak with another form, the armored one, skirts past Mr. Ed and into Sylphie's spell, saying, "Ah, you're right, there is a Catgirl in here! Clever!"

"Not a Catgirl." The woman, no, the MONSTER who has a blade to your throat says. "A Cat o'Nintetails, just like the one I assume is inside, hmm?"

As she waits for your reply, you take the moment to take in the sight of your attacker. She has a well toned, mature figure and is of average height with long, brown hair pulled into a disheveled ponytail. Her clothing seems to consist of a tight fighting black shirt and spats covered by a traveling cloak that's seen better days and a worn leather scabbard.

Her most defining features, however, are her arms covered in green scales and ending in sharp nailed fingers along with scaled ears and a long, lizard-like tail. Her heated eyes are slit like a lizard's, but if that wasn't enough, to top it all off her legs are not made of flesh and blood but instead of gleaming silver metal.

There is no doubt in your mind, there is only one person this could be. Licking your lips, you say in a calm voice, "The Wanderer, I take it?"

"I asked you a question." She says, narrowing her eyes. "You don't get to ask one of your own."

"Oh my Gods, is that Tabitha?" Sylphie says from within her spell, her concentration wavering and dropping the magic for a moment.

"But that back up!" Tabitha hisses and Sylphie yips before casting the spell again. Once concealed, the Cat o'Ninetails asks,

"Oh my Gods, but it IS you! Tabitha, you have to help us, Sophie was kidnapped by the Wurms."

"For the love of…" The Lizardman says, shaking her head and lowering her sword before ducking into Sylphie's spell. "I should have known when I saw this lout grandstanding to the Wurms atop Mr. Ed." The horse neighs and she says, "You're not supposed to let her get into this kind of trouble, you know? You're the adult here."

He nickers in what you can only assume is shame as Sylphie says, "Look, no real time to explain, but Sophie got taken to the Queen and we need to rescue her."

>>292211

"By pretending to be Sveth? Do you know how many months of planning you've ruined with this stunt?"

"We've only been here like, two days." The other woman says, sheathing her sword which glows a faint blue. "You're super dramatic Big T."

"Why did I ever let you come along with me?" Tabitha groans, placing a hand to her face.

"Well you could introduce me!" She says. When Tabitha makes no motion to introduce her, she rolls her eyes and says, "Well hello! I'm Alice! Former (second) best duelist in the Order of the Heroic Brotherhood!"

"Oh yeah, my brother in law talked about you I think. You're a total slut who can at least swing a sword, right?"

"Total sl-" Alice sputters, flailing under Sylphie's words. "And what do you mean, brother-in-law?"

"Ah, his name is Tobias and-"

"HIM!" Alice says a little too loud, to which Tabitha places a quick hand over her mouth. She mumbles under her hand something and the guard from before slithers back from the Palace, looking worried.

"Oh! There you are, I thought I lost you sir uhm… Sveth, my lord?" She fidgets and says, "Please would you come with me?"

You nod your head, not looking at the group hidden by Sylphie's spell and spur Mr. Ed onward. Briefly, you wonder if she's had to drink another mana potion for that spell, and then your mind returns to the task at hand. Entering the imposing entrance to the Palace, (still mounted), you find yourself within a large, stone entry chamber with a ruined red carpet upon the ground.

This is the only ornamentation, because otherwise the place is barren, any sign of any kind of oppulance long gone, though you suspect they didn't have much to begin with. Stairs leading to various other parts of the Palace lead off in all directions, but the Wurm leads you down a long, straight corridor toward a set of massive wooden doors. Other Wurm guards sit at attention in the Palace, though they are few in number and whisper to each other as you pass by. Clearly there aren't too many Wurms and most needed to be in the mines. Even this paltry force is still something to be reckoned with, you figure.

Erwin informs you that the others are hanging back, too much visibility in that little corridor to hide appropriately. He assures you that this Tabitha knows another way in, and they leave you to your own devices as you travel while Erwin feeds you the information to cast [Amplification] from Sylphie. By the time you enter the doorway, you have a decent grasp of the spell. Well, you hope so at least.

>You learn [Amplify]

>A simple cantrip that increases the strength of sound focused through the area of amplification.

When the doors swing open and Mr. Ed carries you inside, you find yourself staring out into a wide chamber filled with Wurms. While not as many as out in the city, there's enough in the chamber to make you pause at their density. Most are guards, but some seem like more common Wurms, huddled about on the sides before a large dias upon which three thrones sit.

Of course, looking at the larger of the three for a moment, you realize that it USED to be a massive throne that now has the back torn off, turning it into more of a bench upon which an utterly massive Wurm sits. You have to pause for a moment as you take her in, beholding what you can only assume is the Queen of the Wurms.

Where most Wurms are large, this one is a head taller than they are with scales that seem as thick as armor plates and a long, powerful tail that flicks in annoyance. Despite being so large, her more human torso retains a very mature, almost motherly shape with very large breasts held in by an ornate bra, leaving the rest of her chest exposed beyond the red cape she wears draped over her shoulders. Though she has a tiara resting atop her black haired, horned head, her most striking feature is the cool eyes that bespeak a powerful intelligence.

"There, see? I told you he's a fraud." The Danuki says, seated in the throne next to her. "Now then, send your guards after him and be done with this farce. We have more pressing matters at hand, don't we princess?"

You follow her gaze to the last of the thrones to find Sophie sitting there, her wrists and tails bound with heavy rope in a fashion where even her sharp tails should not be able to cut them. Her eyes flicker as she sees you enter, but she maintains a face of cool impartiality and says, "Do what you will, but the Monster Nation will not look kindly upon this action."

"Hmph! Impetuous sow! Your Mother has no authority here!"

"Please be quiet, both of you." The Queen says in a quiet, yet harsh voice. Sylphie immediately grows quiet while the Danuki's eyes flash, but she keeps her cool, instead looking to you as the Queen looks you over and says, "I expected a God to be a little taller."

>>292212

Feeling the wind taken out of your sails by the Queen's lack of being an utter retard, you fumble for a moment before casting [Amplify] and recovering. "If I were my true size, I would not fit in the dimensions of this room."

"All three of them?"

"I see my Daughter is possessed of unncanny intelligence." You say, smirking. "How it warms my heart to see the beauty of my labors."

"You wished to speak with me, to tell me something important." The Queen says in a flat voice. She looks over the assembled Wurms and flicks a hand, saying, "Go. I wish to speak with the God in private."

The Wurms look about in disappointment before retreating from the room in a fairly orderly fashion, the door closing shut behind them and leaving only two guards about the dias who didn't leave. The Queen looks them over before nodding her head and continuing.

"You may come off your high horse, I know you are not a God."

"How are you so sure?"

She smirks and says, "I've been around for a very long time. I've seen things most men and Monsters cannot even guess at, and I have met my God, at least in passing, and I know you're not one of her siblings."

The Danuki snickers, rubbing her hands together. "See? I told you that you weren't fooling anyone! Now then, he is still a sorcerer so-"

"From what you tell me, I suspect he is instead a Wizard." The Queen says, cutting the Danuki off who furrows her brow at the information, looking a little nervous.

"Isn't that correct?"

"Fine." You say, dropping the spell, knowing it won't have any effect any longer. Now you wish you were wearing your shirt though…

"And you can get off your high horse too."

You sniff and slide down off Mr. Ed, patting him gently and saying, "He stays away from drugs you know."

"Hah!" The Queen chuckles, a smirk coming to her lips. "A comedian who doesn't resort to slapstick, how novel these days." Shaking her head she continues, "Tell me why I should not kill you for entering my domain without reason."

"First, I have to know." You say, face growing hard. "Did you know what you were doing when you had your people invade Blackfire Reach."

The Queen looks into your eyes and says, "Yes. I knew what had to happen."

"Don't tell him anything else, that's an order!" The Danuki says, but the large Monster Queen ignores her.

"Why though? Your people work as slaves to the Danuki and their greed, and yet you allow them to continue under their yoke, but for what?"

"For a home." The Queen says, her own expression filled with resolve. "The Wurms never had a homeland, and were always the pawns of Monster Lady after Monster lady in the cold reaches of the northlands. Used as nothing more than living siege equipment, we were blind to our own fates until I had a vision after taking a head wound in the twelfth Monster Invasion. I heard the voice of Dollora, felt her presence. The fog that clouded my mind lifted, and I saw what my people lived in, saw what we called good fortune."

"And I despised it."

Her voice echoes with an anger as she tightens her claw. "With the humans mistrusting us and my own people woefully ignorant, there was little I could do but try to bring them together under my banner. I tried to educate them too but…" She shakes her head. "You can't change the nature of a race, I am afraid. No, instead I looked for places we could go, somewhere warm and safe, but everywhere was already taken, and no one would have us, why would they? We're stupid brutes who are only good at breaking things."

A dark smile comes over her face."Of course, then the Danuki came and gave us an excuse. It was something to rally our people behind and with the Danuki's backing, there would be little repercusions afterward."

"Stop, stop, stop!" The Danuki says, getting incredibly flustered. "Why are you telling him this, you oaf?"

"Because, I'm tired to having no one to talk to, no one who is intellectually stimulating. I am so very tired of being the way I am, tired enough to see my people live with food, shelter, and warmth, if little else." She sighs and looks at you with weary eyes. "Besides, it's not like you're leaving this place."

"I don't follow." You say, frowning as the guards sit up a little straighter.

"I either have to kill you, to make you my mate. Sadly the Danuki won't be happy if I let you go and fighting them would be tiresome in its own right. No, I won't disturb the status quo here, but I assure you, you won't want for anything." She sits up straight and unclasps her cloak, giving you a full view of her scantily clad beauty.

Behind her, you see a servant's door open slowly and a flicker of light as something comes through. Focusing your vision with your [Mage Sight], you can see that Sylphie and the others have arrived, hiding back and watching you for any kind of signal.

"Well?" The Queen asks, Danuki next to her sweating profusely while Sophie gives you a worried look.

>"What do you do?"

>>292214

>Does the Sveth thing

>Oddly enough this is perfect on the basic wurms

>Bypasses castle siege

>Go straight to Queen, do not collect 200 dollars

>Find yourself in an utterly different situation than expected.

Course the Queen was always a smarty-pants but this could have been different. Sadly it meant less Tabitha time, but there's plenty of time for that later! Maybe.

Writing CYOA's is fun but sometimes I feel like I've missed out on being able to make it more exciting when things like, "Roll randomly the chili powder" or "The very correct choice is made." Ah, well, as long as y'all are entertained.

>>292167

>>292169

>>292127

>>292114

Jumping a lot of guns mi amigos. I also did not know Tabitha had that much of a following. I mean, I actually didn't expect people to like Selene that much, I just made her there to be a looming threat but it SEEMED like everyone really liked her so it sort of gravitated towards it and I was happy with how it turned out.

She also has gotten over Blake but why she's been wandering around though… well maybe she'll tell you, maybe she won't.

>>292087

Solid names

>>292083

Look man, I'm just a biologist turned veterinarian. I don't much know bout rocks okay. I'm trying.

Oh right, and I have a WIP of another picture with two relevant characters but it's like, half colored so I don't know if people want to see it atm or not.

>>292114

>>292167

>>292127

I do not believe romance should even enter into the equation here. Especially since we're of the opinion that man and monster pairs should not exist. Even without that however it's unlikely she will join us once we rescue Sophie because if those goes how we think we will have liberated black fire reach. She'll likely stay behind to see that it stays liberated or until someone else comes in to take over governance. So unless that person is right outside the gates at best tabitha will be a few weeks behind us.

>>292169

>(how do you blank shit out)?

Good grief newfag, it's called a spoiler for one thing. For another, read the dang FAQ if you have a question about posting. At least then you wont give yourself away on something so simple as a spoiler.

>>292217

Now it decides to post after two damn hours. This site ticks me off at times

>>292214

1. Find out location of Sophie.

2. Signal Ebe to play that amplification music, and use the spell learned to amplify said music.

Our goal is to get pass this shit, not necessarily do anything about the Wurms and their situation, which would be nice, but none-of-the-less this isn't "Save the Wurms CYOA (With a new Wizard class!)."

Regardless of action, amplification music would be useful so if a scuffle does happen, we can back ourselves up with force, and by not completely revealing our party, we still retain somewhat of a element of surprise. (If the doors are open, then we still have somewhat of an advantage of them not only not knowing who our party members are, but what they can do.)

I'll vote for one of three actions, I guess

A) Offer to find her a less 'expensive' home on the way to the Grand Jizard.

B) Challenge her to a hole-digging contest (rigged in some way in our favor, maybe copper floors- something wurms have a hard time digging through?)- if you win, you, your party, and Sophie regain their freedom, the incident is silenced (so the Danuki won't complain, this happens either way), and we can jus be on our way.

C) Fight. We can possibly trap the wurms outside by creating a bowl-shaped smooth hard-stone cage, and we can deal with the queen with a good 'ole pebble shot. Most likely, we should go for non-lethal. Another option is just to run to wherever Sophie may be after getting the information and escaping with our party to the surface through drilling and run as fast as we fucking can away from the mountains.

Can i ask, how is being a slave force mining gold for jews any different then a slave force acting as siege engines?

She says the have safety, and security and warmth

But do they have freedom? Can they do what they please folllow their passion what there are of them anyways

Thise that sacrifice freedom for secretly deserves neither and will lose both

Not to mention the world is kind of about to go to shit hard core

>>292238

Oh also

Clearly were not going to fug her

If worse comes to worse

Necromancy the volcano

>>292237

>>292238

These. Or we could distract them while Tabby and/or Alice go for an assassination.

I have to say though, I'm hard pressed to see wurm lewds of some kind. We could play the long con by suspending our quest and over the course of several months properly seducing the queen. All the while whispering in her ear about how terrible the danuki are and eventually convincing her to have them all thrown into giant bonfires. Then just slip out after a night time romping and pick our quest back up with the Sophie, who we got the Queen to agree to sparing as a "marriage" gift, in tow

>>292240

While that would be hilarious, conjuring a volcanic explosion from a dormant volcano would easily be the biggest organic magical feat we've seen in this worlds history. You could nuke this volcano a dozen times before we could manage to set it off. What you are asking for would be for Rommel to influence the tectonic plates of this world.

>>292217

Kinda agree. I think Rommel should stay the one tree left in the hurricane. Surrounded by temptation but never giving in, Despite many, many tries and temptation. He is a proper wizard. Though I have to say, Fuck tabitha. This bitch parried god damned lightning with a metal sword back in wizard quest. Such bullshitery and outright denial of the laws of thermodynamics makes her unfit for the Wizdick. Maybe she can find an illusionist to compliment her.

>>292244

>, Fuck tabitha. This bitch parried god damned lightning with a metal sword back in wizard quest. Such bullshitery and outright denial of the laws of thermodynamics makes her unfit for the Wizdick

Sir i must disagree

The vary fact that she was able to do that shows how much shed fit in with the bulshitery that comes from being a wizard

Because ill remind you

Wizards are the one true masters of insain logic defying physics disregarding masters of all thing crazy the make cold and heat from nothing they break the laws of TD consistently

But i also agree the old school wizard is going to be alone and his power will be like that of solos

He will stand strong and resilient as solos intended

Or he will watch the world burn under his might

>The fog that clouded my mind lifted, and I saw what my people lived in, saw what we called good fortune."

>"And I despised it."

So it's all about her in the end? Has she taken a look lately on how her subjects live? They don't seem to give a shit about their "home" the whole place is in disarray and decay. It's disgusting. You'd think they'd at least take some form of care of their beloved homeland.

Seems to me the wurms mainly care about having some ground to dig through and a husband to love. I'm not sure they understand the concept of settled living. They don't really seem to get that you need to take care of your long term settlement if you want to love in it well long term.

If the queen tells herself all she's doing is for the good of her people she's either delusional or full of shit. This is not about having a home this is about mining danuki shekels.

>>292214

Compliment her, but politely decline. Stress how being under the yoke of the Danuki is no different from being the living siege engines of the monster ladies of yore. All she's doing is teading masters. Does she truly want that for her people?

Is a wurm not entitled to the sweat of her brow? "No" says the previous Monster Ladies. It belongs to the Monster Nation. "No" says the Danuki. It belongs to us. So on and so forth.

Then offer the queen a better option of the wide open deserts of Ectria. Where the wurms shall be free from both. Where they will have the warmth and safety. Where there would be husbands ripe for the picking. Screw both sides, freedom is best.

Then incinerate the danuki.

Redpilling her on the Danuki the way everyone is saying to seems to be the way to go. What needs to be focused on is the Danuki herself, since she'll keep trying to pump the queen full of lies in response to anything we say.

Throwing in some strategically placed [Amplifies] would be good for cutting the jewcoon off, and it would make us sound really cool. Maybe Ebe can play really loud and obnoxious music whenever the Danuki starts talking for a psychological effect on the queen.

If it comes down to a fight, doing what said >>292233 and creating 'bowls' in front of any entrances to the room would at least delay the dumb normal wurms.

>>292255

>What is really going on here is that some part of Wurm anatomy prevents them from fully utilizing their mental capacity.

Damn if we manage to figure that out it will change everything. It would greatly upset the balance of power in the region and potentially ruin parts of the danuki agenda. It would be like creating a new sentient species. A extremely powerful one.

On the downside the Lizards would probably never be able to retake their homelands against intelligent wurms unless they reach a diplomatic solution.

So I'm not sure if Tabitha would be too stoked if we solved the wurms retardation problem.

>>292216

We all know Selene is your waifu Ace, don't act like you didn't play a role.

>>292217

>responding to the newfag

>>292253

>compliment her

We are a wizard, not some normalfag who considers matters of the flesh.

>>292255

This might be metagaming a bit too much here. Maybe if this was slavsan I could see this wurm interpretation being true, but Ace has special characters appear all the time where things happen because "reasons" Slyphie being one of them. Trying to suggest this to the Queen will probably just aggravate her. She wasn't just miraculously saved by Dollora, according to what she has said so far she met the goddess. She doesn't seem to be the type to be able to somehow mistake the meeting.

>>292214

The only kind of diplomacy we have left is to turn her against the Danuki. We could also try to appeal to her loneliness and convince her to relieve herself from the throne, though that is almost impossible, and if she did she would probably want a mate… one which may be presented right before her…

Point out her hypocrisy. She says she cares for the fate of her people? She willing slew scores of another people, one who she knew had done her and her kind no wrong, ousted them from their ancestral home, then enslaved her own people, under a new master. Get her to take a long, hard look at herself, and ask her if she feels that this is what her people deserve.

Also. Just a thought. Is there any way we could tap into the volcano, and start fucking with it? Rile it up while it's still under our control, so that if anything happens to us, there are catastrophic results.

We've shown them the concept of a rifled firearm.

Let's show them a dead mans switch.

>>292257

Im trying my best to give you "fun"

Just dont kill of fire loli

Pls everyone else can die but not fire loli

>>292247

a story without logic, internal consistency, common sense and halfway realistic character behaviour is a shit story

and better suited for fanfiction.net

>>292214

>A dark smile comes over her face."Of course, then the Danuki came and gave us an excuse. It was something to rally our people behind and with the Danuki's backing, there would be little repercusions afterward."

She is clearly aware of what she has done and doesn't hold any regrets for the suffering she has caused, both to the Lizards and to her own people, so trying to bring up her crimes or the logical inconsistencies in her plans would do nothing to persuade her to change her stance. Presenting the red herb to her would similarly have no effect since she cares not for what the Danuki have done, nor what they are currently doing to her people, as she is just as bad as they are for knowingly and willing going along with their plans. As such, there are certainly going to be consequences for her actions because if it isn't us, the eternal nemesis of the Danuki and those that side with them willingly, who makes the killing blow, then Tabitha, of whom has just heard from the horse's mouth the reason for her people's unjust suffering, most certainly will.

Before anything else happens, we need to secure Sophie's safety, given that it's one of the major reasons we came here in the first place and her dying would cause severe problems for us, both immediately and in the future, so have the others do that while we still have the Queen's attention, preferably stealthily while we make a scene to distract because ropes shouldn't take too long to deal with. Next, we need to prevent any other Wurms from joining the scene, because we won't have enough time to convince them of their Queen's betrayal to get them to assist us while we're either distracting, talking to or fighting the Queen - a [Privacy Barrier] to prevent any noise from leaving the room Sylphie really should know this given how she knows [Amplify] and a spell of convenience like that seems like something she would pick up from her parents along with a way of dealing with any cheese that may be present encasing it in [Ice] should prevent the smell from getting out of the room should suffice. Afterwards, make sure to kill the Danuki and any others that may be in the immediate premise, because any that get away will cause problems for us later, and Benny Garritine would be sad otherwise.

As for dealing with the Queen herself, assuming combat occurs, focus on trying to restrict her mobility and keeping her above ground where we can see her via a mixture of [Build the Wall] and [Ice] from us and that [Cold Prison] spell from Sylphie assuming she still has the mana left to fight. We won't be able to completely stop her from moving or thrashing about, but we should be able to stall her enough to allow either a clean shot from our [Pebble Gun] or a strike from Tabitha, Sophie or Alice. Ebe should probably stay back with Mr Ed and not do much, because we haven't learned enough Audiomancy to have good synergy with her, and her songs would either benefit the Queen or be detrimental to us as a result of them not having proper focus.

>>292217

>From the PasteBin:

>While not hostile to Monsters, he seems to have a distrust of them and anything sexual, even though the stipulation that Wizards can have sex has been removed.

Unless I'm missing something that was said in a previous thread, the lowest opinion Rommel has of monsters is that most, if not all, of them aren't trustworthy and that he personally doesn't want to associate with them too much; never has it been stated that he opposes men and monsters who would associate with each other willingly, nor that he opposes their existence. And it's not like his opinion couldn't change at some point in this journey either. Immediately changing his mind would be dumb though, it would be a gradual event were it to happen.

Also, if Tabitha is to be believed, then she has been planning this attack for months and probably has something in place to deal with the aftermath of the planned assassination, not to mention how she would be hesitant to leave the Grand Wizard to die given all that he's done for her and how she's smart enough to realise the consequences of leaving the Monster Lady in the hands of the Prophet of whom she is definitely aware of the threat the Prophet poses, so her not joining us to increase our chances of success would be more surprising.

>>292244

Playing the long con also ensures the Prophet of the Sands has a huge opening to do whatever the hell she wants to and will likely lead to the Grand Wizard dying in some fashion since both his and his wife's lives are currently in grave danger, both of which we cannot let happen under any circumstance the latter at least until we're through with him, and even then probably not. Even if we didn't have any pressing concerns ourselves, everyone else in our party certainly does and would be more than willing to leave us behind if it meant not wasting huge amounts of time, so unless you're planning on going solo through the desert and without the knowledge the twins have, we need to deal with this now.

>You ignore her blathering about corruption when Tabitha dashes toward you, quick as a blink and you snap cast [Lightning Bolt], the power flying through Chaika to slam into Tabitha's blade, which she deftly twists and somehow manages to divert the flow of electricity away from herself, ignoring the minor arcs of power that singe her skin.

I'm fairly sure that was partly as a result of the supernatural possession and doesn't actually fuck with physics too much, but either way wouldn't a skill like that be a good thing?

>>292255

Her motivations may be understandable, but that in no way excuses all the shit she has done when she should really know better. She claims she wanted a home for herself and her people, certainly, but as >>292248 brings up her 'home' is currently in huge disarray as a result of poor management and care, which shows that she clearly does not give a shit about the living conditions, defeating the point of finding a new home in the first place if she's going to let it turn to ruin as with everywhere else her people have lived. She also claims to want her people's freedom from the status of being pawns of the Monster Nation, but then proceeds to sell them out to the Danuki to become their pawns, only now without the benefit of good opportunities to find mates due to them being coped up in mines. If she really cared about her people as she claims, then she would have moved with them into the almost certainly unoccupied deserts of Ectria near the mountains and established a presence there, because the conditions there are similar to Blackfire Reach's current status only without the whole 'slavery to the Danuki' situation she's dragged her people into, without the real need for proper care of which Wurms appear to be wholly incapable and without a need for attempted genocide on a race which, as proven by what the Queen has said, did nothing to deserve the attack. The Wurms certainly deserve better even in spite of their actions, as they have been serving as unwitting pawns throughout their history and you can't really hold a race with the intelligence and wisdom of children too responsible for their actions, but their Queen deserves nothing but to rot. As for fixing the Wurms' stupidity, assuming it's even possible with our low magical strength and lack of a Groodle Tether, it would make them lose a bit of their charm, don't you think? Just my two cents.

>>292276

>Not realizing the bullshittery that is Ace's CYOA's

>Not scheming with anons to come up with grandiose asspulls

>>292283

Not really. Ace generally only lets us do something if we can explain exactly how its possible to do. The situations we find ourselves in can be considered asspulls but our way of dealing with them mostly is logical.

>>292281

>Playing the long con also ensures the Prophet of the Sands

I was shit posting. Not a viable course of action

>>292261

We did tell them we are their god and that they are our children. Why don't we play god and make it so? It seems all we have to do is break their skulls so it can heal less tightly around the brainIn theory. The wurms we've met so far seem to be a genuinely friendly set of people at their core. While the majority of them would never become scholars, giving them an improved intelligence would heighten their and husbands quality of life substantially. Even if its just enough to be able to think independently.

>>292261

They were never going to be able to retake it anyway. The Wurms are just naturally to strong and resistant for conventional warfare. The only way they are getting back is if the Wurms leave or diplomacy achieves a duel residency. And also its been a long time. the wurms do have claim to this land at this point as well. Im sure multiple generations of bimbo sneks have been hatched here. This is their home too.

>>292214

Were in for big trouble we are fighting the queen of the stronghold of idiots, except she is not stupid and is the thoughest of them all. I say we should contact Erwin and tell him what will be our signal and say to them to find a way to make sure no more wurms get in, try to send Ebe to play one of her music and make the wurms go in a widespread orgy or something, they are not that smart so it might work the less.

Now to deal with the queen, make Sylphie use Glaciemancy to try slow her down she is a reptile after all and be careful of the raccon who knows what dirty trick it might be holding or if her gonna try using Sophie as hostage, Ronnel best way of dealing with her might be using our peeble gun or rifling, but rather than using rocks try to mold obsidian or iron into a ball and use as our weapon since normal rocks might ending doing close to nothing at queeny there.

>>292285

>all we have to do is break their skulls

I'm not sure if that's feasible in the current situation. After all we are surrounded by wurms with huge battlehammers. Also keep in mind that as far as we know there is only one case where it actually worked and a wurm skull actually broke the right way or just broke at all (if your theory is correct).

With that and the encounter with the wurms in Warrior Quest (assuming Ace runs with it) we can assume wurm skulls are though as fuck. I'm not sure if we would be able to break one even if the wurms formed an orderly line and just let us go to town. Maybe we could crack one with a well placed close ranged shot with a metal projectile but then there's always the risk that we just straight up kill the poor girl.

And telling a retard you need to put her in excruciating pain for her own good probably won't work in the first place. On the other hand just attacking them is probably not a great idea either. Wurms with giant battlehammers and all.

So if we wanna test the theory we better come up with a solid plan and not just try to improvise it.

>>292289

Now hold on. This is actually a better situation than we initially thought. The wurm queen is actually an intelligent being. We can negotiate with her and attempt to come to an agreement. though a woman who agreed to attack and kill a whole bunch of lizardmen on obvious false pretenses may not be the most moral of people. In addition to that she only traded masters. Instead of the monster lady it's the danuki theyre servants to now. I say it's worth a shot trying though.

>>292213

time for a lvl 2 bluff

tell the queen that danuki have been stealing artifacts treasure and mechanical constructs in the area so that they can exterminate the wurms without making it look like they did it and that you encountered a danuki who was doing this show her the construct core as proof and tell her about the cave where we encountered the danuki

also tell her that danuki are conspiring with eastern monstergirls who've hopped the border to steal men so that wurms outside have a hard time finding mates

tell her that you needed sophie to inform her mother about this and we informed one wurm on the way here but she stole sophie and you would like to continue your diplomatic mission

lastly inform her that not all danuki may be suspect but their cunning is what makes them supicious propose a hypothetical scenario like if one wanted to keep someone from visiting a ruler to share vital information about the realm so that the ruler being used as a pawn wouldnt be informed of such a dire situation like her supposed advisor who did such a thing after all danuki only really help danuki

also tell her through our investigations that the danukis end goal is to keep the wurms in this land and to undermine any attempts to expand wurm territory diminish them as a threat and a people until they can be easily controlled and used by only the danuki

and implore her to help her suffering people

if this bluff fails distract everyone with a dirt cloud give the signal and fucking book it

>>292321

tell her that danuki plots like this are not uncommon but this one is specific to them and has been planned to be annathetical to their intrests and that we uncovered this plan through pure coincidence

ask her what her plan is for when the wurms outside her domain start raiding large settlements desprate for mates because the danuki are stealing them and what her plan is for when these extremely large settlements unite against her domain since thats what will happen if they hold you and sophie here

>>292324

>ask her what her plan is for when the wurms outside her domain start raiding large settlements desprate for mates because the danuki are stealing them and what her plan is for when these extremely large settlements unite against her domain

Is this canon? It's probably a bad idea when trying to pull a convincing bluff to use a topic we know very little about but the queen probably knows a ton about.

We should stick to the truth which is the danuki agenda. If the queen thinks the alliance with the danukis will benefit her tribe long term she might be the dumbest wurm in the room.

S…so many replies. S-sugoi.

>>292217

Depends on how you handle it, I guess. You could maybe find a way to convince best- I mean, Tabitha to come with you.

>>292233

Sophie is like. Tied to a chair in front of you. You can see her. She's right there.

But yes, getting past this is important. Hole digging contest, ha.

>>292237

I'm glad I could deliver for you guys

Yeah she can do [Privacy Barrier]. A lot of these are cantrips, or super easy spells to learn.

>>292238

Will you live life as a Worm? Or a WURM?! Hehe.

>>292244

Nice double dubs. Anyway, yes, it's feasible that they could take her down, especially with Alice's sword.

Suspending your quest would end the storyline. You did it though! You found love! You freed Ace from writing!

Yeah no volcanic eruption. That will happen on it's own. not happen at all, this volcano is dormant.

>>292248

ooooo good points.

>>292254

>Ebe plays a rock ballad and doesn't know what the fuck she's doing the entire time because ghitars shouldn't work like this.

>>292255

If I have produced feels, then I have done good. Yay (slavbro).

Yeah, it's lonely at the top sadly. But she is a river for her people…

Hmmm. Interesting theory. Maybe!

>>292247

>>292276

>>292285

>>292283

Yeah, I mean alot of this is over the top tropes and shit based off random things i've read over the years and the massive amount of fantasy novels under my belt. But at the end of the day it's a fanfiction of MGQ with MGE monsters (and some i made up on the spot) which has grown a life of its own.

Heavens, most of the shit written in this genre is fanfiction in one way or another! It's just how you manage to work with it and make sure people are having fun! Maybe I will even some day edit this shit and sell it. And then get my ass sued.

You know, for fun.

>>292257

Ayy….

Ayy…

But everyone is having fun, right?

>>292261

A breed of smart Wurms on the major land pass through two countries and a large trade rout with control of a significant gold deposit? You have the making of a new country right there.

>>292264

But I don't have a waifu… But, well it is what it is mang, I can't convince y'all.

Reasons eventually have reasons for the reasons! But it's true, I've read the Slavian manifesto and he's got like, plans. I work off a basic outline and flesh it out from there.

>>292270

Again, no volcano times probably but yeah diplomacy!

>>292279

True, she doesn't appear stupid, and she seems to know what she did.

Seems to be a lot of advocacy for outright killing the Danuki. Y'all want this before or after we try to discuss this with the Queen?

There's usually always room for negotiation. Of course, sometimes it ends with your ward being kidnapped by Wurms.

It will be interesting to read it from the begnning to eventual end and see how he's changed

>>292281

True, smort Wurms wouldn't be the same at all, would they? I wonder though, do Wurms have the concept of having nice homes? Can they appreciate it? It's not like the Danuki care about them much. Hmm.

>>292286

It's been about 50 years. Not terribly many generations honestly.

>>292299

Also good double dubs, and yes, breaking a wurm skull would be incredibly difficult, even with your boolets. Dunno how well your obsidian would work I suppose.

>>292371

It seems highly unlikely to be honest. The Danuki agenda is far more believable.

>>292400

>most of the shit written in this genre is fanfiction in one way or another!

I feel like this applies to every genre. When it really comes down to it; what isn't just an elaborate crossover fanfic? Even the Greeks were just writing fanfiction of their gods.

But yeah, getting this published is probably a terrible idea. Maybe. Most likely. I don't know how the hell books work.

Killing the Danuki is only necessary if things go sour. If the Queen can be convinced then what happens to the Danuki is up to her. It's only fair. And if things do go sour, we have a nice advantage here. Wurm reinforcements can be easily cut off with the method mentioned previously, or even with a simple privacy barrier to hide the sounds of fighting, making the numbers on our side. Defensive spells are useless here thanks to the whole the Queen being a Wurm business, and unloading with pebbles would just tickle unless they're very well placed. Using baser spells like [Ice] and [Lightning bolt] are our best bet. [Rock Throw] too, I guess.

If Wurm reinforcements get in the room then running the hell away as fast as possible is the best option for our health.

>>292425

This is why you don't post when you're pressed on time. Now I was late, left out crucial details, made spelling and grammar mistakes in my post, and brought us that much closer to the bump limit by making a double post that has little to say.

[Rock Throw] is only good if we throw a really big rock. A good sized boulder to the tail might pin the Queen in place. Pebble shot isn't useless, but it would only work if we can get a well placed hit directly in the gut. Wurm bones and scales > pebble. Fire won't do anything here, ice is nice because reptilian and it can make openings for pebbles, lightning almost never doesn't work.

Since were are in a volcano

After we leave we need to get some sulfur so wr can make

[Fire flash powerder]

sulfur saltpeter and charcoal

>inb4 we actually summon Sveth using the power of our [rock] and [heavy metal]

>>292472

>implying sventh hasent influenced the group since we went underground and giftet the power of metal to our songbird.

>Story continue

The room grows silent as everyone looks at you, waiting for your answer. You feel hot in the warmth of the Palace, heated by the nearby dormant volcano, sweat trickling down your chest, much to the interest of the Monsters in the room. It distracts you, clouds your judgment, and you have to wipe your forehead, cooling yourself down with a thin layer of [Ice]. Sighing in relief, you feel that you have gathered your wits again to speak.

"Before I answer, I have a question for you."

"Hmm? This sounds promising." The Queen says, smirking at you and waving her massive claws for you to speak.

"You have proven yourself to be intelligent, far more than your subjects, but I have to wonder… is it lonely?"

She flicks her eyes to the side for a moment before returning her gaze to you and saying, "Why would I ask you to be my mate otherwise?"

"You know that's not what I meant."

She sits up a little straighter, looking down at you from the dais. "Of course not. In that regard, then it is not a weight I cannot bear."

"Hrrrmm, you shouldn't continue speaking to him, this is some kind of ploy!" The Danuki says, her hands rubbing together furiously. "Guards-"

"You'd know of ploys, wouldn't you?!" You shout at the Danuki, your voice being amplified to slam into her with force, backed up by the power chord of Ebe's guitar. You thank Erwin for getting your message to Sylphie and Ebe.

The Danuki cringes and looks to the door to the chamber, but nothing happens. She looks at it in distress before turning back to you in anger and growling, "Don't you use your mind games on me!"

"Then I will say the same to you!" You shout, voice and guitar making her visibly cringe.

"That will be enough." The Queen says, her voice calm, but powerful. A lingering strum of the guitar echoes these words and she blinks in confusion, looking about the room and staring at the corner where the others are hiding before frowning and turning back to you. Waving her claw again, she says, "Continue."

"Thank you." You say, bowing your head to her. Though you really want to send a smug grin to the Danuki, you keep it in check as you sweep your arm out to the Queen. "You say that you did all of this for your people, but what do they think of it?"

Your hand points toward one of the guards and they blink in surprise before looking to the Queen who nods her head slowly, giving you a suspicious look. The Wurm coughs into her clawed hand and says, "W-Well, I was born here and it's really nice all the time. Even at night it never really gets cold and there's always plenty to eat cause of the trade. And there's always work to be done, so things are pretty nice! Although…" She tenses up and looks to her Queen who turns her gaze to her in concern.

"Continue, child."

"O-Okay." The Wurm fidgets, her hammer rolling in her claws. "I… I just kind of wish we could meet more men. Maybe go out sometime beyond the pass and-"

"NEVER!" The Danuki cries, slamming her hand onto the throne. Everyone looks to her and she coughs a few times into her hand before wiping her brow and saying, "Ehehe, ah, but the world is so dangerous outside! Remember what happened to all the Danuki by those mean people?"

"O-Of course." The guard says, chuckling and then looking down, dejected. You don't think she knows that she's showing her emotions openly and the Queen looks at her with concern. She makes to reach out a claw but then stops and shakes her head, turning back to you.

"Is this all you wanted to bring to my attention?"

"Part." You say, sighing and shaking your head. "Yes, this city is warm, there is a roof over everyone's head and, I assume, the Danuki bring in food for the Wurms, changing it up every now and then to keep the workers pacified?" She nods and you continue.

"But your people are trapped here, aren't they? Trapped like children inside their homes by an overprotective ruler who believes she knows what's best for them."

As you say this, you look to Sophie, whose looks at you with an intent stare. Flicking your gaze back to the Queen, you say, "I may not personally know of your side, for I am no parent, but I do believe I know some of what your people feel. There is something comforting in safety and stability, but it is stifling! It stunts their growth and by keeping them cooped up, they will never realize their potential."

The Queen scowls at you, clearly annoyed at your words. "So you'd have me bring them back to being cruelly used and discarded as nothing but tools?"

You frown and say, "The way I see it, they still are, just for a different master."

>>292626

The Queen sits up further, her armored lower body raising her up to tower high in the room, making the Danuki look both excited and frightened. A undercurrent of violence runs in her voice as she says, "Are you accusing me of putting my people into slavery?"

A tremble of fear runs through your body at the display. You've faced down a few rather dangerous situations before, but the power and authority she exudes makes your legs feel weak and your heart falter for a moment, your mouth working soundlessly for a second before you hear Erwin's voice in your head,

{You're a Wizard, right?}

Closing your eyes, you take in a deep breath and then nod your head before looking back up at her with new determination. You stand up straight and say to her, "Yes. I accuse you of serving your own self interests in treating your people like children to be quietly put to play so that you can say, 'At least I can keep them safe.'"

She makes to move toward you, but you slam your foot onto the ground, sending forth a tremor that makes the guards coil back before moving toward you until you shout, "STOP!" Your voice amplified by your magic making them flinch back. As they do so you point at the Queen and shout, "COME NO FURTHER!"

Your words echo through the chamber with enough force to shake loose dirt from the corners of the throne room. She pauses again, looking at you with a mix of anger and careful respect, watching you for further motions. Though you take a few breaths to get your cool back, you do not move toward her in any way, shape, or form. Instead you stand strong and shrug your [Trenchcoat] off to the floor, exposing your bare chest. Sophie's eyes go wide and she blushes before turning her gaze to the side. The effect is more pronounced on the Wurms who look at you with their mouths open, seeing you as the God you pretended to be. You're no body builder, but nor are you a slouch…

"I do not wish to fight. Though I am not inclined to mate with ANYONE, Monsters included, I do not wish harm upon anyone but slavers." Your gaze hardens upon the Danuki as you say, "And though you are not free from blame, I can see that the root of this problem is her. She keeps your people locked into their cage and you are their jailor."

"And what will killing the Danuki solve?" The Queen says, holding herself up straight again, eyes focused on you. "I kill her, we stop mining the gold and… what? My subjects don't know how to grow crops, we'd have to turn to raiding, and the Deleorian government wouldn't take that kindly at all! We can't return to the Monster Nation, they'd never accept the weather there."

A tired look comes over her expression again as she breathes out, "This place was bought with too much blood as it is."

A cautious thought comes through your bond to Erwin, a sort of fear. Is there something he senses that you cannot? You feel that he's getting agitated, and you see a ripple on the other side of the room, Tabitha's face appearing as she takes a step forward, pulling her sword. You can imagine what she would think, hearing the one who orchestrated the slaughter of her people speak in such a way. If not for something that just now appeared in your mind, you'd have fallen to despair that there is no choice but combat either. And yet…

"What about Ectria?" You say, and both the Queen and Tabitha stop, looking at you warily. Nodding your head as the idea comes in further, you continue. "Living so close to the wide, open sands of Ectria, have you ever been there or considered traveling to such a place?"

"Why?" The Queen asks, looking at you in confusion. "It's a wide, open sand bowl with nothing there."

"Exactly." You say, nodding your head. "Exactly, exactly. You say your people seek warmth? Well the desert is always warm during the day, and though I hear it is cold at night, burrowing under the sands and the desert shelves is plausible, yes?"

"As far as I know, it's a vast, open space where the Wurms can spread free! If they choose to stay together with you then fine, but can't they have the option? I doubt they can cause much trouble out in the sands unless they run into Sandworms…"

One of the guards asks, "Sand Wurms? There's Wurms who live in sand?"

"I hear they're much, much larger than even your Queen." You say and the guard gasps, looking up at her Queen and struggling to imagine something like that. She sticks out her tongue and then turns to her Queen to ask,

"That kind of sounds like fun though, and if sand is anything like dirt, then it could be nice!"

>>292627

The Danuki sneers, "It's not nice at all! I hate sand, it's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere!"

"So do you."

The other guard snickers at that, looking abashed only when the Queen turns her gaze upon her. The larger Wurm grips her claws into fists and moves closer to you, looming high as she says, "You speak as if it's so easy, as if I can just move them from this place! Do you know the hardships it took to even get here, the pain I had to inflict to even gain us this home?" She leans down, her face almost level with yours, hot breath playing against your face. "It's too late to change things. I've already kidnapped the daughter of the Monster Lady, albeit accidentally. Things are not the best here, but I… I will protect my people."

Pulling up straight, she shouts toward the door, "Return to me, my subjects!"

Her voice echoes through the chamber and yet nothing happens. Gritting her teeth, she waves toward one of the guards who jumps and slithers toward it. You sigh and wave your hand, freezing the guard in place with [Ice]. The Wurm looks confused at her lack of motion and then reaches for the door, clearly unable to reach it. She groans and then wails about it being cooooold, even though the ice is already melting.

"So, you know who she is?" You say, nodding to Sophie.

"Of course she does." The Danuki says, rubbing her hands while she sports a wicked, confident smile. "It is easy to tell from those tails and that face, oh that pretty, pretty face, so much like her Mother's…" The Danuki sneers and then chuckles, "She will make an excellent bargaining chip for our- I mean… for the betterment of the Wurms, yes?"

The Queen nods and you scowl. "You'll add more blood to this? The Monster Lady is not to be trifled with, you should know this better than anyone! You have the chance to freedom and you throw it away for more slavery for your people!"

"I have had enough of this!" She says, slamming her tail onto the ground with such force that it shatters the rock of the floor, throwing up shards while making the ground shake. "I have done so much for my people. I have sacrificed my own happiness for them, to keep them safe! I have killed and dealt with things so foul I can never be free!"

Tears stream down her face as she looks at you with incredible anger. "And now, fifty years later, you come and tell me it's so simple? That everything I've done could have been avoided? That my entire life has been nothing but a damn mistake?!"

Her tails moves faster than you can see and you just barely [Build the Wall] in time to stop the brunt of her blow. It comes with enough force to shatter your hastily built wall and send you flying backward to roll on the ground in a tumble of stone.

Coughing and struggling to rise, you hear the Queen, her voice filled with sadness, wail and charge you. Looking up at her, you try to scramble aside but know you can’t make it out of the way of her devastating charge. When she's about ten feet before you, the sound of heavy footfalls fills the air and a battle cry sounds to the guitar. A flash of green and silver flies before your vision and with the sound of a hammer coming down on an anvil rings through the room.

You feel yourself be yanked to the side as the momentum of the Wurm Queen's body hitting the ground carries her forward as she slides into the wall. Blinking in confusion, you look up to see Mr. Ed let go of your pants and neigh at you, moving aside as the Queen thrashes, her tail whipping against the wall and floor, throwing up great gashes in the ancient stonework. She flips herself back up and roars, locating the source of her discomfort.

Metallic legs glimmering, Tabitha stands before the Queen, sword still in its sheath. She flips her bangs out of her face and readjusts her ponytail before sighing and saying, "Wizards… always trying to be show offs. But I suppose that's why some of you are endearing." Placing her hand upon her sword, her eyes grow hard and she says,

"Emphrasea! Queen of the Wurms! You were offered a chance to leave and let the blood on your claws be the last you shed, but you have refused it." The sound of ringing steel fills the air as she draws forth her blade, a hand and a half sword of rather plain, yet sturdy make. "I have come to deliver upon you the JUSTICE you deserve."

>>292628

"Wanderer…" You say, pushing yourself up with some effort. The attack mostly drove the wind from you, but with your fucking back getting aggravated again you feel some more pain than you should. Groaning, you push yourself up and shout, "Queen… Emphrasea, it's not too late you know. Just stand down."

"Lizardman…" The Queen says, her eyes narrowing as she looks down at Tabitha, ignoring you. "This was your ploy the whole time? Get the man to distract me and then come in for the assassination. You little lizards were always full of tricks."

"I care not to banter with you." Tabitha says, expression neutral. "I was not even born when my Mother was forced to flee from her home. Do you know the shame that all Lizardmen live with on a daily basis, knowing that they could not fight honorably against you Wurms? So many of our best and bravest were reduced to ruin, made sell-swords or giving up the sword entirely, believing that idiot forces of nature drove us out."

She grits her teeth, letting some emotion show through. "But to find out that their leader is not an overly destructive child, but instead a creature who knew what she did? It makes my blood boil with a rage that I cannot contain!" She whispers something in the Wizard tongue and touches her blade, a runic sigil etched upon it shining as the blade becomes consumed with flames. Her expression grows hard and she cries out, "Like my proud Salamander sisters, with my burning soul, I challenge you to a duel!"

Her words hit the Queen like a physical blow and she reels back for a moment before snarling back, "So be it. I will spill your blood and cement my rule upon the bones of your kind. The Wurms have found a home, and by the grace of Dollora herself, I will secure it for them!"

"You really think Dollora is the one watching his battle?" Tabitha says, voice still hard. Ebe's guitar plays again, growing louder and louder, though you really have no idea why she's playing right now though the way Tabitha's breast rises and falls and the look in her eyes, you have a feeling it's pumping her up as it pumps you up. This music can't be natural, there is no way.

"If she is not, then you had best pray it is Nerg, for you shall soon be meeting him!" Emphrasea cries, whipping forward with a sound like a whipcrack. She smashes her tail toward Tabitha with devastating force, but the Lizardman calmly leaps over it, far higher than any non-Frog girl should be able to manage, before coming down and charging at the Queen, her blade leaving after images of heat as she swings it.

The Queen intercepts the blow with her forearm, the blade bouncing off the gauntlet-like scales, but it does leave a scorch mark, making the Queen hiss as she pulls back before swiping at Tabitha. The Lizardman deftly blocks the blows, using the full weight of her Magitek legs to keep her stable. They both shout at each other before continuing to duel.

Interfering in a duel is the worst possible thing you could do to a Lizardman, you know this, and with a worried heart you turn back to the other concern in the room. The Wurm guards and the Danuki! Scanning the room, you see that Sylphie, who looks quite drained from all the magic she's been casting, having dropped her [Trick of the Light] while Ebe plays her guitar as if possessed. Instead of the normal, rhythmic motions of her hips, she stands with her feet outstretched to stabilize herself, her head banging back and forth as she strums the guitar.

She looks nothing like herself yet the undeniable power of her music echoes through the room, as if infusing the rocks themselves. Using your [Mage Sight], you see that Sylpie's amplification is gone but it's still so loud! In fact the only spell Sylphie is casting is the [Privacy Barrier] but then why is…? Turning your gaze quickly to Ebe, you see a sight burned into your eyes and you cry out in pain as your sight flicks off in defense.

>>292629

Even with your eyes closed, you can see seared into your mind's eye two strong arms guiding her hands, glowing with a light so bright it blinds you. You blink your eyes open, getting your normal vision back to see the Danuki standing upon the Dais, her eyes wound as dinner plates as she views everything going on about her. She seems almost shell-shocked from what's going on before her and you know you have a chance to take her out while Tabitha is pre-occupied.

"F-Fuck." You say, staggering to your feet. You see the frozen Wurm guard break free from her icy prison to be called back by the Danuki, slithering up before her and holding her hammer warily as the other does the same.

The Danuki takes a few, tense breaths as she looks about, picking out you one side of the room and Sylphie, Ebe, and Erwin on the other side of the room. Frowning, you feel like someone is missing when your eyes lock onto the form of Alice standing before the two Wurms, her hands at her hips.

Though she stands at profile to you, you're able to get a good sense of Alice for the first time. To say that Alice is beautiful would be an understatement. She stands tall for a moment but carries her height with a cocky confidence encased in armor that seems more functional than ornate while showing off the curves of her body. Long, raven-black hair tumbles down her shoulders and she smiles with amusement as she looks over the even taller Wurms before her.

Though everyone has treated her as some kind of idiot, the way she stands exudes confidence that is you feel is deserved. A dangerous undercurrent runs beneath her and you have a feeling she knows how to use the ornate sword that hands at her waist. Chuckling, she runs a hand through her hair and says, "Alright you two, put down the hammers before you get hurt."

"Eh?" One of the Wurms says, looking confused. "But you're a human. How are you going to hurt us?"

"Maybe she's a Wizard too!" The other Wurm says, thinking it over. "Like, one of them Women Wizards!"

"Don’t be oafish animals, there's no more women Wizards." Alice says, sniffing. You want to tell her that there have never been women Wizards, but you keep that to yourself. "Now then, be good little overgrown lizards and move aside so I can perform some pest removal."

"Shouldn't you be calling that other Monster an overgrown Lizard?" The Wurm asks, looking confused.

"I do, every day for the past two days. Sometimes multiple times a day!" Alice says cheerfully while walking toward the Wurms. "Come then, move asi-"

Her words are cut off as one of the Wurms swings their hammer toward her. In a fluid motion, Alice dodges the blow with contemptuous ease. She draws her sword in the same motion, the blade glowing a faint blue as it whistles through the air, sliding through the haft of the hammer and the Wurm's hand in one swipe. The head of the hammer and the Wurm's hand hit the floor together at the same time and the Wurm blinks in confusion before trying to hit Alice with the broken haft of the hammer, which Alice slices through again, her sword moving through it like it was made of butter.

"Huh." The Wurm says, looking stumped as blood oozes from her hand. "I could have sworn I had a hammer here a second ago."

"It's down there, you stupid creature." Alice says, walking calmly forward before dodging the other Wurm's blow with similar ease, a smile on her face.

>>292630

Your eyes go wide as she does the same to the other Wurm, leaving them both bleeding and confused. Her sword… cut through the Wurm's heavy armor as if it were nothing at all! Certainly with that glow the blade must be enchanted but to have that kind of cutting power it must be an ancient artifact, one from the old days of Wizardry. So her story about being in the Order wasn't false at all, was it? Certainly not with the level of skill she displays.

"Now then." Alice says, shrugging her shoulders. "How shall I kill me a Danuki? Oh I've wanted to even since I joined the Order and now that the chance is here, I can't decide!"

"Y-you're fucking crazy!" The Danuki says, sweat pouring from her brow.

"Pfff, nah." Alice says, chuckling before tapping her chin. "Hmm, well maybe a little bit in bed…"

The Danuki looks about in panic before her eyes come to Sophie. Sylphie sees it and shouts a warning, staggering to a knee as the constant magic she's been using has drained her of strength. Just drinking mana potions alone can't keep a Witch from feeling fatigue after all. Your gaze snaps to the Danuki who draws a knife from her suit and places it at the bound Cat o'Ninetail's throat, pulling back Sophie's head by her hair.

"D-Don't come a step closer!" She shouts, wild-eyed. "Y-you damn boyim try anything and I'll kill her, see if I don't!"

"Sophie!" Sylphie cries, tears filling her eyes. "No! Don't!"

"Ehehe… t-tell the sword bitch to stand down then!" The Danuki says, hiding behind the throne as much as she can.

Alice stares at the Danuki with flat eyes and says, "No."

"Do it!" Sylphie cries and Alice sighs, rolling her eyes and sheathing her sword, turning so she can watch the Wurms try to put their hands back on, not really seeming to get that they don't just re-attach like that.

"G-Good." The Danuki says, locking her lips. "N-now tell the Lizardman to stop the duel and surrender!"

"Good luck with that." Alice says, snorting. "You even watching that battle? With that admittedly cool music playing, I don't think they can hear anything but the blood pumping in their veins."

All eyes turn to the battle of Tabitha and Emphrasea and you know Alice's words to be dead on. The Wurm Queen bellows in rage, thrashing her tail around as Tabitha leaps over it before using the tail as a springboard to fly up and deliver a slash to the Queen's torso, her blade making a thin gash that cauterizes nearly instantly. The blow causes the Queen to howl in rage, catching the Lizardman by the blade with a wild swipe that drives Tabitha back to the ground, her magitek legs absorbing the brunt of the blow. There's no way either of them are going to hear anything.

Both duelists are breathing heavily at this point, but the difference in size might be telling. Though the Queen has multiple wounds on her body, she seems just as raring to go as before, perhaps even more so, while Tabitha is free of wounds, seems a little less fluid in her motions, having gone all out in this duel. The music seems to be suffusing her, but will it be enough to give her the edge.

No… this is her battle, you need to figure out yours before thinking more on it. Turning back to the Danuki, you glare at her as she sweats, her hand trembling with the knife in it. Terrified eyes that can spot a copper coin from a mile away scan the room, looking for anything. At this point you think she would cut Sophie's throat without hesitation. With the chaos swirling about you, your mind races, thinking about how to get out of this, thinking the same question:

>What do you do?

Wew, that's a lot of typing. I could have done a >To be continued but I want to offer the chance to choose your path to y'all.

Emphrasea… had a hard life. You can try to get through to her again if you'd like though! But it might be difficult… Oh and you have a dirty Danuki to deal with!

>>292631

Maybe we can use [Metallurgy] to make the knife too dull to cut anything? If not, we should try to shoot a rock through the danuki's head without her noticing.

>>292631

Knives are normally made of less refined metal, Meaning we should have some basic control of it. Fling it into her neck. She deserves a slow death.

I'm personally kinda torn on the Queen. She's a real asset in keeping the wurms out of trouble but she has quickly exhausted my patience. Make on final attempt to reason with her using [Ampilfy] when the dual slows down a bit. She does feel bad for her action, Tell her she can leave the slavery and bloodshed behind. If she still refuses, We put her down. Big bullet through the head.

Tabitha can't be that mad. This wasn't a normal duel, Stakes were to high. Rommel kills slavers. Escpecially the ones who abduct and threaten our Friends employers. Her code be damned

>>292631

Play on the danuki's greed. Their greed can often overwrite their common sense. Pull out a bag of coins and toss it bag at floor partway towards the danuki. Make sure it's open so coins will spill out. That should buy us a second or two to distract her. Then do as >>292655 said or if that won't work, shoot the knife out of her hand or wound her arm.

After that, cast fire and burn her sorry, greedy, ass alive.

>>292640

>>292656

These anons have the right idea. Distract and eliminate. This all has to happen calmly quickly and precisely.

>>292660

Is there even really a good solution for this? It would be a whole quest of it's own to go invent or find something to 'fix' the wurms.

The Queen said she was fighting in one of the monster wars when she was wounded, but we don't have any idea how old she was when it happened. We can pebble the wurm guards in the head to see if it does help adults; they're pretty much already already dead anyway.

If all goes well then tell the wurms that cracking the top of your skull open makes you smarter and that it's why the Queen is (was?) so cool and powerful, they'd most likely actually do it. Lots of deaths, sure, but it's a short and simple band-aid over the problem. They can use their newfound intelligence to come up with a better idea.

It's a terrible method due to ridiculous amounts of wurms dying from head trauma, then us leaving the survivors of the 'treatment' to fix all their problems on their own. But I can't think of anything else, unless we want to go on the aforementioned wurm quest. Which might be pretty fun now that I think about it.

And of course there's nothing wrong with just relocating them and leaving them to be simpleminded.

Why doesn't the MC fall down himself when casting tremor and why don't the wurms instantly bleed to death when getting their arms cut off.

Also, the idea of randomly bashing skulls in order to make wurms more intelligent is retarded.

>>292631

throw gold on the floor and when the danuki looks at the gold either shoot her in the head tremor her or have erwin take her knife or gouge out her throat

im assuming erwin would like the taste of danuki blood being a fox

>>292631

>Turning back to the Danuki, you glare at her as she sweats, her hand trembling with the knife in it. Terrified eyes that can spot a copper coin from a mile away scan the room, looking for anything. At this point you think she would cut Sophie's throat without hesitation.

Casting anything with travel time or obvious tells would lead to Sophie having her throat slit, and I'm inclined to believe that the sudden movement from a distraction attempt would also set the Danuki off and cause the same effect, not to mention how any time wasted doing anything but disabling her is time the Danuki has to do the deed any way out of fear. While we don't know what material the knife is made of, >>292655 and >>292660 are probably right in their thoughts of the knife being made of a cheap, unrefined metal - this, along with the fact that the Danuki is trembling like crazy and probably doesn't have the best grip on her weapon right now, gives us the perfect opportunity to do what >>292655 suggests, using our [Metallurgy] to grab the blade and tear it out of her hands, pulling it towards us to prevent this action from harming Sophie, before turning it back on the Danuki and ending her miserable life with it. If the knife is made up of materials we do not yet have the ability to control and we have some ability to control certain refined metals, so the knife being untouchable is unlikely, then we can either risk trying to manipulate it or try casting another spell to disable her of which has nigh-instantaneous speed such as [Lightning Bolt] or no obvious tells such as [Trench] while running the risk of the knife connecting with Sophie's throat out of pure coincidence. In the worst case scenario of Sophie's neck now being an open, bloody mess, we should still have time to force a [Health Potion] down what's left of her throat to fix it, or at least the majority of the damage, assuming the wound isn't too deep, so be ready to do that should all else fail.

Once that problem is out of the way, return our attention to the duel. While I'm definitely in agreement with >>292660 in that Tabitha almost certainly has this in the bag and deserves this victory alone, it still doesn't hurt to ere on the side of caution and be prepared for any outcome where intervention is necessary should the worst come to pass. Certainly, Tabitha has spent effectively the last 20 years wandering the land, likely fighting and defeating any powerful foes she comes across to improve her skills while the Queen has been lounging around for 50 years doing nothing to improve herself and has probably forgotten what fighting is like, but there's no telling what may happen in this struggle until it either happens or is just about to, especially with the Queen going feral and losing herself to her anguish. That said, I'm probably just being overly paranoid, as Tabitha has been preparing for this fight for a while now and likely has something in place to ensure her victory no matter what may happen; she is best girl after all.

>>292713

As for the aftermath, under the assumption the Queen isn't already dead, then have either ourselves or Tabitha finish her off. Throughout our entire conversation with her she never once showed remorse for what she did, nor any real care for her subjects outside of off-handedly mentioning them while bringing as much attention as possible to her own problems - when enraged, she focuses the suffering she has had to endure as a result of her own actions rather than her own people's or her victim's "I have done so much for my people. I have sacrificed my own happiness for them, to keep them safe! I have killed and dealt with things so foul I can never be free!" is a very fucking selfish statement given the context as it shows how she believes everything comes back to her own issues, that last line in particular being disgusting, and has refused to accept a better solution to her people's problems solely because that would mean acknowledging her own mistakes and sins, opting to instead keep up the status quo with her people suffering and to unleash her rage upon us when we call her out on her bullshit. Even ignoring that, she is irrational and heavily driven by her emotions, showing that her supposed intelligence means little to nothing in terms of making difficult decisions, making her unfit to be a ruler. She is a pathetic, egotistical coward and doesn't deserve any more chances; we've been far too kind and given her more than enough already.

With the Queen dead or dealt with in some other fashion should we decide to spare her for some reason, we become the next best thing the Wurms have to a leader since they still believe us to be their God, giving us the perfect opportunity to do whatever we want to with them. Use this is to do what the Queen wouldn't and lead them towards Ectria before leaving them to their own devices where they'll probably be okay as to not waste time we don't really have, nor become a hypocrite after the whole slavery speech thing by taking advantage of them. Unrelated to the Wurms' future, we should also heavily consider recruiting Tabitha and Alice to join us on our quest, because we could seriously use the assistance what with our party's lacking physical prowess and how Ebe has the possibility of leaving our party, seeing as she only joined to have someone to travel home with, meaning our already small party may get smaller. Convincing them shouldn't be too hard, seeing as Tabitha probably has something in place after she is victorious gaining control of an entire city under enemy occupation is rather hard to do alone to free herself up and would almost certainly want to ensure the Grand Wizard's safety, while Alice would probably join us for the excuse of physical contact with foreign men. A final point is that Tabitha may also have some knowledge to the Grand Wizard's whereabouts that the twins either haven't told us or are unaware of, given how she was in close contact with him over the past 20 years, so we should query her on that.

I was about to suggest that Rommel ask to spare the Queen's life one last time, but the other anons have it right. She was given the gift of intellect, and, while I'm sure she was influenced by the Danuki, she ultimately has misused that gift. I still don't want to kill her, but I could understand if Rommel ended up killing her anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if the Danuki attempted to start selling Wurms into slavery. Easy, profitable labor. In fact, even at this very moment, we should be on guard for that.

Actually, I take back what I said earlier. We really need the Queen's influence to stop the Danuki threat. The Danuki menace and all their schemes stop here. Removing the Queen without addressing the subsequent power vacuum is just asking for Danuki to take control of the entire Wurm populace. They set up almost a literal Devil's bargain here. They convince the Queen to earn enemies by taking Blackfire, profit off the alliance and make her an accomplice with slavery, and, then, when she's removed for her deeds, they swoop in and take control, selling Wurms as slaves. It's all win win win for them. It is the Danuki who bribed the border guards, after all, not the Wurms. They only need control of Blackfire.

Wurms are some of my favorite MGs, even though they're dumb as a sack of bricks. It hurt me a little on the inside to see the guardswurm get her hand chopped off. I'd hate for them to get fucked over because Danuki.